Apple Betty

With all the apples we got from the orchard a couple weekends ago, I've had a lot of apple recipes tossing around in my mind. Trying to decide what to bake is always hard.... so many ideas, so many options! (Hint: don't search apple recipes on pinterest. It is slightly overwhelming!)

However, this is something that always make it onto the list. Apple Betty is similar to most fruit or berry crunch recipes. Fruit/berry on the bottom, flour & sugar mix on top. I've considered adding oats, to make it seem more healthy... but I've never actually tried it. Maybe next time! Either way, this is AMAZING. I could eat the whole pan. I'd feel horribly sick, but I think it would be worth it....

I have no idea where she originally got it, but I got this recipe from my mother in law. We were downstate visiting them one weekend, and she made this for us. I immediately told her I needed the recipe. Everyone else ate it with ice cream... forget that, I just want two servings. ;)

Printable Recipe

(Excuse the poor picture, I forgot to take one of the whole pan... it was mostly gone, and I had some in a bowl before I remembered!)

Apple Betty

Ingredients

• 4 cups sliced pared tart apples
• ¼ cup orange juice (optional, I never use this-if I remember right, neither does my MIL.)
• 1 cup sugar
• ¾ cup sifted all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• dash salt
• ½ cup butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. Mound apples in a greased 9” pie plate (or 9”x9” baking pan). Sprinkle with orange juice, if desired.
3. In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly; sprinkle over apples. 
4. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is crisp. *Watch time! Usually done early.
5. Serve warm with ice cream, if desired.

Yield/Time

9 servings

1 hour

Nutrition Facts *I calculate nutrition facts for reference only, this is not done scientifically

245/serving

Source (for original): my mother in law

Remember, comments are loved! What's your favorite crisp or crunch recipe?

Spiced Apple Cider Donuts

I love donuts. Love, love, love donuts. (My waistline doesn't. Oh well. I only ever eat them in the fall, so that makes it ok... right?) Pumpkin donuts and these apple cider donuts are my favorites! I've been making these for a few years, and we always go through them pretty quickly. I won't tell you how quickly we went through the 5 dozen donut holes.... but it was fast enough we didn't have to worry about them going stale. ;)

This being apple season, I'm sure I'll make these a few more times! Only problem is the cost of the apple cider. WOW. I don't know about you guys, but it's crazy how expensive apple cider is. I don't buy it unless it's on sale... and even then I'm fairly cheap frugal, and don't buy it very much.

These donuts are totally worth it, and really don't call for a lot of the cider. (Oh, you may want to cut the recipe in half or so.... it does make a lot.) They are great to make as donut holes, especially for little fingers! As with the pumpkin donuts I make, the cinnamon sugar coating is optional. I usually do about 3/4 with coating, and 1/4 without coating. Either way, they get devoured!

Printable Recipe

Spiced Apple Cider Donuts

Ingredients

• 2 cups apple cider
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ½  teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted
• ¾ cup light brown sugar 
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup milk, room temperature
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup cinnamon sugar mix

Directions

1. Simmer apple cider over medium heat in a small saucepan on the stove for 15-20 minutes. Add cinnamon sticks, spices, and/or orange slices for flavor if desired. Simmer down to ¾ cup, then remove any cinnamon sticks/orange slices. Cool in the refrigerator (or freezer) to room temp.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a mini muffin pan/donut pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
3. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar together until smooth. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, and concentrated apple cider.
4. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; slowly pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk until all ingredients are just combined; some small lumps may remain. Do not overmix. 
5. Pour the batter into the mini muffin pan, filling ¾ full. If making donuts, fill donut pan ⅔ to ¾ full. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The donuts will take the same amount of time.
6. After baking, dunk the warm donuts all the way into the cinnamon sugar, mixing it around so the entire donut is coated. Repeat with all the donuts, if desired.

Yield/Time

5 dozen donut holes/28 donuts

3 hours

Nutrition Facts *I calculate nutrition facts for reference only, this is not done scientifically

Without sugar: Holes: 52  donuts: 77

With sugar: Holes: 64 donuts: 138

Source (for original): Sally’s Baking Addiction

Remember, comments are loved! What's your favorite homemade donut recipe!

Baked Pumpkin Donuts-the taste of fall!

I love fall. This is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. Getting ready for all the fun of the holidays, the leaves are beautiful, it's not too hot or too cold, and I have the desire to bake even more than normal. Good times!

I started my fall-style baking yesterday. I really wanted to make spiced apple cider donuts, but I didn't have any apple cider. Dug through my pantry, found a can of pumpkin puree, and decided to find a recipe for pumpkin donuts instead!

These are perfect. I made donut holes, that's our preference with little ones in the house, and they turned out great. They are full of pumpkin, are deliciously moist, and have plenty of spices in them! 

Now, these are good dipped in butter & coated in cinnamon sugar, but they are great by themselves too. Adrian, oddly enough, seemed to prefer them without coating. Nate, Gabriel, & I preferred them with the coating. (I won't tell you how quickly my family of 4 went through a batch of these...)

These are a perfect baking idea for a rainy fall day!

Printable Recipe

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Ingredients

Donuts

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ginger
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Coating

• ⅔ cup cinnamon-sugar mixture
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spray 2 mini muffin pans with non-stick cooking spray; set aside. (Alternately, lightly spray donut pan.)
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, spices, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the pumpkin, brown sugar, egg, milk, butter, and vanilla. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients; add the wet ingredients until just combined. 
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans, about ⅔ - ¾ of the way full. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Note: metal pans take slightly less time than silicon; watch closely if you are using metal. Donut pan may take longer.)
5. Remove from the oven, and place the donuts on a wire rack to cool. 
6. Once cool, dip each donuts  into the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Be sure to coat well.

Yield/Time

40 donut holes

(maybe 13 donuts?)

1 hour

Nutrition Facts

47/donut hole

(71 with cinnamon sugar)

144/donut

(220 with cinnamon sugar)

Source (for original): Live Well Bake Often

Remember, comments are loved! What's your favorite fall baking recipe?

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

I've talked before about how much I love fall, and in Michigan we are still having some very fall-like days. In between the days where mother nature doesn't know what season it is, of course. Even though all the hunters were complaining, I was enjoying the warm rain we got on Sunday. (Well, until the wind got scary and people started posting about tornadoes on facebook. Then, not so much.) It was a perfect fall baking day.....

And since it was a fall baking day, that meant pumpkin! Well, I was debating between pumpkin bread and Nutella banana bread, but the pumpkin won out. I have a pumpkin bread recipe that I love (as well as a pumpkin streusel muffin recipe), but I wanted to make some changes to make it a little healthier. 

(And who said healthier is a bad thing? Look at how tasty that looks!)  

I was debating on the changes to make, and decided on this: sub part of the butter for Greek yogurt, cut down on the sugar, and sub half the flour for wheat flour. I was debating on also switching the sugar to brown sugar, but decided against it. (Didn't really make it any healthier, would add some calories, and since there was already molasses in this, I was afraid of adding brown sugar.)

Since I was making so many changes at once, I cut the recipe in half so I would only make one loaf. (That way, if it failed, I only had to pitch one!) 

Overall, we are definitely pleased by the changes! Cutting down on the sugar makes a significant difference in taste; it tastes less like a sweet bread now. We all still loved it, but if you prefer a sweeter quick bread, I would add the full amount of sugar. It would be easy to vary the sugar content (from ¾ to 1 cup per loaf) depending on how sweet you would like it. 

One thing that I would suggest, that I didn't think of beforehand, was increasing the spices if you are cutting down on the sugar. The pumpkin is more noticeable, but the cinnamon & cloves aren't very dominant. I honestly can't say if that's because of the sugar decrease, or if I just didn't notice it before. Either way, I would suggest increasing the spices.

To make things easier for people who don't want to have the healthier version or who want to compare, I'm posting both. Check them out, & let me know if you make one or both!


First, the version I made today: (this makes one loaf, just double if you would like to make 2)

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened    
• 1 ½ tablespoons Greek yogurt 
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs    
• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• ⅓ cup orange juice    
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract    
• ¾ cup + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (to double, use 1 ½ cup + ⅓ cup)
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder    
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt    
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl, cream butter, yogurt, and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the pumpkin, orange juice, molasses and vanilla. 
3. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture and mix until blended. Pour into a greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pan.
4. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
5. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from the pan to wire rack. 

Yield/Time

16 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 65 min. + cooling

Nutrition
120 calories per slice




Now, the original (this makes 2 loaves, cut in half if you would like to make 1):
(Oh, and please note: if you make it without the whole wheat flour, it's NOT going to look like my picture. I don't have any pictures of the original recipe, but there is a significant color difference when you switch out some all-purpose flour for whole wheat.)

 Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

• ¾ cup butter, softened    
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs    
• 2 cups canned pumpkin
• ⅔ cup orange juice    
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract    
• 3 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder    
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt    
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ to 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add the pumpkin, orange juice, molasses and vanilla. 
3. Combine dry ingredients; add to the creamed mixture and mix until blended. Pour into two greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pans.
4. Bake for 65-75 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
5. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from the pans to wire racks.

Yield/Time

32 Servings

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 65 min. + cooling

Nutrition Facts

145 calories per slice

Source (for original): Taste of Home (Note: The original original also called for pecans & raisins, to be added after the dry ingredients. I don't like pecans or raisins, so I never made it that way.)

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins: The Taste of Fall!

I love fall. It's quite possibly my favorite time of the year, for some many reasons. My birthday, beautiful weather (sometimes; I do live in Michigan), changing of the leaves...

...and, of course, the food. There are endless great things about fall food. Fresh apples from the orchard (made into apple bread, applesauce, apple jelly, apple pie, apple crisp, etc.), peaches, warm thick stews, soups with Grandma's homemade noodles, fresh venison, pumpkin bread, pumpkin streusel muffins.... 

I could go on & on, but I'll stop there & actually share the recipe for the muffins!

I love to bake with pumpkin, but I restrain myself and only do it in the fall & winter. It just doesn't seem right to be eating pumpkin in the spring or summer. To make up for this, of course, I have to make quite a few pumpkin-themed baked goods while I can. I have a recipe for pumpkin bread that I love, and I usually make at least a couple batches of these muffins. 

They have just the right amount of pumpkin--I like pumpkin, but not if there's too much. (For example, I just don't like pumpkin pie. I've been told that mine is amazing, but I don't eat it.) The streusel topping adds quite a bit to it, too. And, if you are trying to watch your calories, these aren't even that bad for you. (The fact that they have pumpkin makes it a health food too, I'm sure.)

If you are a pumpkin fan, I would highly recommend these muffins. They are amazing!

Remember, comments are love!  

(Isn't the plate cute? I got a set of those & ones that say "Trick or Treat" clearance at Meijer a few years ago, after Halloween.)

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

Ingredients

• ¼ cup butter, softened    
• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar    
• ⅔ cup canned pumpkin
• ½ cup buttermilk (If, like me, you don't keep buttermilk on hand, you can easily sub with 1/2 tablespoon melted butter + enough milk to make 1/2 cup.)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons molasses   
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 teaspoon baking soda    
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon    
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice    
• ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon salt    
• 2 tablespoons cold butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and ¼ cup brown sugar until light & fluffy. Beat in pumpkin, buttermilk, eggs, & molasses. 
3. Combine 2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices & salt; gradually add to pumpkin mixture until blended. Fill prepared muffin cups ⅔ full.
4. For topping, combine ¼ cup flour and 3 tablespoons brown sugar; cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over batter. 
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack.

Yield/Time

18 muffins

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 20 min.

Nutrition Facts

One muffin: 148 calories, 6 g fat (0 saturated fat), trace cholesterol, 336 mg sodium, 39 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein.

Source (for original): Taste of Home

The Best Apple Bread

I love fall! And while it was 90+ on Tuesday, we are having some beautiful fall weather now. (What? I live in Michigan. Drastic weather changes are normal.) My birthday is in the fall, it's back to school time (not that it's applicable to us right now, but I like school...), it's hunting season (hello, fresh venison), the leaves change, and.... FALL BAKING. Apples, pumpkins, peaches... I instantly get hungry in the fall because I think of all the things I could bake. 

I haven't done much with fall baking yet (remember the 90+ degrees?); partially because I know as soon as I buy pumpkin I am going to go crazy. I am slightly more reserved about making apple/peach things... but when I make pumpkin streusel muffins, I would be happy to eat nothing but that all day. Not so great when you need to lose weight; I don't think those things are all that good for you...

I did finally do some fall baking though; I made some apple bread! Michigan apples are starting to be available, and I had bought some at the store a couple days before my mother-in-law gave me a couple dozen. So, with a few dozen apples sitting on my counter, I made a couple loaves of apple bread to put in the freezer! 

The Best Apple Bread

Ingredients

• 3 Cups finely chopped apples
• 2 Cups sugar
• 1 Cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
• 3 Cups all purpose flour
• 2 Teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon baking soda
• ½ Teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Peel and finely chop enough apples to equal 3 cups. Set aside. (To give you an idea of how many apples: the apples I had for this batch were small, and I used maybe 5-6.)
2. Stir together sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl.
3. Stir together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; add to sugar mixture, stirring just until blended. (Batter will be stiff.) Fold in finely chopped apples.
4. Divide batter evenly between 2 greased and floured 9”x5” loaf pans. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes to 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pans, and cool on wire racks.

Yield/Time

Yields: 10 slices/loaf, 2 loaves

Prep/total: 1 hour 30 minutes

Nutrition Facts

Calories: 207/slice

Source (for original): unknown

I have frozen a few loaves for the last year or two, and they do come out of the freezer well. I love having apple bread (and zucchini bread, and banana bread...) throughout the year, so it works out well. 

Sorry for the lack of nice pictures.... 1) I have a not-so-great camera, and 2) putting bread in the freezer means I don't actually cut into the bread, so no pictures of the inside. 

Just trust me, and make this bread-it's amazing. There's a reason I call it The Best Apple Bread!

Happy Baking!  If you try the recipe, please comment & let me know; I would love to hear what you think!