How 'Bout Them Apples?

As I mentioned previously, the star of this week's blog is apples.  And I STILL have more to get rid of, so if any of you have any fantastic apple recipes, please send them my way.  I had a pretty busy baking week, so this blog entry will be a bit longer than most.

First up....

Apple Spice Drops

You can find the recipe for these cookies here: apple spice drops.  I call these "Breakfast Cookies" because they taste almost like an apple coffee cake.  They are sooooo good.  I always throw in more apple pieces than the recipe calls for because I love how it tastes.  No one wants to get an apple cookie minus apple pieces.  These cookies most definitely make your kitchen smell like fall, so it's a great way to celebrate the season.

The next apple recipe I threw together this week was Impossibly Easy French Apple Pie.

Impossibly Easy French Apple Pie

 This recipe really is impossibly easy and on top of that, it comes out tasting like pure apple pie heaven.  You can find the recipe on the Betty Crocker website here.  I threw this together right after work and then took it over to my friend Melissa's house to bake while we watched some quality TV (I use the word "quality" loosely here, 90210 won't be winning any emmy's). 

This recipe consists of three basic steps:

1. The apples

(covered in cinnamon and nutmeg...oh the smells)

2.  Pouring the batter onto the prepared apple covered pie pan (so pretty)

3. Covering everything in a brown sugar & pecan streusel (yes it tastes as good as it sounds)

Melissa and I managed to eat a third of this pie right out of the oven.  It was that good.

Last, but certainly not least, I hosted a Beauty and the Beast DVD re-release party this past week.  Yes, I know I'm almost 27 years old, please don't judge.

I chose to make Champagne Truffles as my dessert because of the French setting in the movie. 

Champagne Truffles

These are a favorite of my friend Angela, so I knew at least one person would be excited about them.  You can find the recipe I used here.  Truffles sound fancy and difficult, but they're really easy to make once you've gotten the hang out of it.

This recipe requires very few ingredients:

(Champagne or Sparkling wine, butter, one egg, chocolate and whipping cream)

Getting the chocolate ready is my favorite part, there's nothing better than the smell of melting chocolate.

I make it look so easy!  Don't be discouraged if you burn a batch of chocolate, it happens...a lot.  Just make sure you have some extra on hand, just in case.

As a side note, I hate hate HATE opening up bottles of champagne.  I am Marshall in How I Met Your Mother.  I'm really scared of opening them, because I'm positive one of these days I'm going to hit myself or a friend in the face with a cork.  So I always go outside to open bottles, just in case I break something in my house (windows, glasses, faces, etc). 

And this is my neighbor's fence that the cork shot over when I opened the bottle, causing all the dogs in the neighborhood to go on a barking spree.  Graceful, I am not.

A lot of making truffles involves waiting.  Waiting for chocolate to thicken, waiting for it to hold its shape...just waiting.  But in the end it is so worth it.  I roll my truffles in powdered sugar rather than cocoa powder, it's just a personal preference.  And now some party favor photos :)

Apple Spice Drop Cookies in the CUTEST little cupcake holders from Bakeitpretty.com

Tea, in honor of Mrs. Potts and a candle for Lumiere.

Champagne Truffles: The finished product.

Ok, so that's it for this week!  Next week will probably be less eventful, I have no idea what I'm making yet, so we'll just call it a surprise.

It's Fall Baby!

As promised, I brought in the Fall weather with my seasonal baking.  You're welcome to all of you sweater weather lovers out there!

Pumpkin Pecan Cookies with Chocolate Chunks

This recipe is courtesy of Bakerella and you can find it on her website here.  I had wanted to bake these cookies about a month ago (I was a little too excited for fall).  Unfortunately we had a massive pumpkin shortage in the Midwest and I couldn't find canned pumpkin anywhere.  Luckily, it is now pumpkin season so we have an abundance.  Some cookie photos for your viewing pleasure...



Ok, so I am not a pumpkin fan, but these cookies are goooood.  My dad approves of them, he was especially happy that I hadn't allowed them to cool enough before packing them, making it impossible to have just one cookie because they were sticking together.  I skipped Bakerella's frosting for the cookies, I really didn't see the point since they were so good naked. 

Next week is all about apples.  I don't have a choice.  My mom and I did a little shopping this weekend and she surprised me with next week's star ingredient: Apples.  And a lot of them.  It may not seem a lot to some people, but a single person living by herself can only do so much with a bag of apples before they go bad.

I have this many apples...

(That makes me giggle)

Don't they look delicious though?  Apple Spice Drop Cookies are on my list of things to do this week, you'll see pictures next week when I post.  Also, champagne truffles and photos of my suhweet! Beauty and the Beast party.  Yes, you read that right.

Apple Cider & Spice Cupcakes

Welcome to the new baking blog!  I decided to change my blog name and address to make it a little easier to follow.  I think it's pretty self-explanatory. :)

I thought I'd kick things off the right way with something fall and something cupcake.  I found the recipe for these in Phyllis Hoffman's Celebrate Fall magazine.  I LOVE her magazines. I "borrowed" this one from my mom.  I have an addiction to magazines with fall covers.  If it has anything to do with fall, I must own it.  And I never throw them away.  If anyone is looking for the fall Midwest Living 2007 issue, you know where to find it.

I edited her recipe only slightly to fit my particular tastes.  I made all of the cupcakes mini-size and I diced the apple instead of using apple shavings. I also used apple cider that I made myself instead of store bought.

If I ever make these cupcakes again, I will definitely not use the apple cider frosting recipe she includes.  It was too buttery for my taste.  I think I would use a Vanilla Buttercream with the same cinnamon sugar mixture sprinkled on top.

Regardless, they certainly look pretty!  Instead of topping with marzipan apples, I piped the icing on and sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar.  A few of the cupcakes are still naked because I ran out of frosting.  On the plus side, I didn't really like the frosting that much and these are soooo good plain.  Cupcakes without frosting are just muffins in my opinion, and therefore fit to eat for breakfast.  At least that's what I told myself this morning when I had two.

These cupcakes are my first attempt at ushering in the fall weather.  90 Degrees at the end of September is not acceptable! This week was apple and cinnamon, next week will be pumpkin and pecans!