Apple Crumble Bars

I've already gone apple picking twice this season, yet I've neglected to post an apple recipe.  Oops?

The truth is, I've only made one so far.  Double oops?

But, in the hopes of regaining at least some of my food blogger status, it was a really good recipe and I still have 20 billion apple to use.  Soooo, hopefully there'll be a bit more of an apple explosion in the weeks to come.

Back to today's recipe.  It's simple, yummy, and positively full of fall flavor.  We've got apples, cinnamon, some maple syrup, all baked to warm perfection.  With vanilla ice cream or whipped cream it would be absolutely perfect.

So there.  Let the apple season of Mix it Up begin!

Apple Crumble Bars
For crust:

• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp milk (or more if dough seems to think)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted

For Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups chopped apples
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp cornstarch/arrowroot flour/starch
• 2tbsp maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350F.  Grease an 8x8 square pan.  Mix together dry ingredients for crust in a large bowl.  Add wet and mix until a sticky and thick dough forms.  Add more milk if needed.  Take about 2/3 of the dough and press into the bottom of the pan until the whole area is covered.  Set aside remaining dough.  In another bowl, mix together all filling ingredients.  Pour filling onto dough in pan.  Scatter remaining dough in top.  Bake in preheated oven for 25-20 minutes, until crust has turned golden brown.  Let cool before cutting into 16 squares.  I think these are best served warm.

Date Cinnamon Rolls

Cinnamon rolls used to be my favorite.  As in, more than chocolate cake, more than candy bars, and more than just about any other dessert you can think of.

It was partly about the smell, partly about the taste, and a whole lot about the ooey gooey filling and the super soft, fluffy bread.  And those times when you get to eat it while it's still warm?  Don't even get me started!

A little while ago, I decided it was high time for me to create a "health-ified" Cinnamon Roll recipe.  After some rising, some kneading, and some a lot of eating, I knew I had created a winning dish.

First of all though, I want to make it clear that this recipe will not yield a classic Cinnamon Roll.  Instead, this recipe will yield a Cinnamon Roll that's low fat, low sugar, and actually acceptable for breakfast.   A Date Cinnamon Roll, if you will.

The filling for these guys is 100% butter and oil free.  The yummy gooey-ness that still remains is because of the maple syrup and dates used.  Yummm...

The bread part of these rolls is part whole wheat and all delicious.  I will admit it's a bit denser than you may be used to, but this isn't a bad thing at all.  It actually makes the rolls a ton more filling!

If you don't believe me, just give the recipe a try for yourself.  It may look complicated, but I promise it's much easier than it sounds.

Date Cinnamon Rolls
Bread:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 2 tbsp lukewarm water
• 1 tbsp dry active yeast
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cup spelt flour

Filling:

• 6 dates, pitted
• 2 tbsp soaking liquid (see below for clarification)
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp milk
• optional: 1 tsp orange zest

Instructions:

1. Stir together milk, oil, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan and heat to lukewarm.  
2. Place lukewarm water in a small bowl and pour yeast on top.  Let sit 5 minutes.
3. Stir yeast/water mixture into lukewarm milk mixture.  Transfer to a large bowl.
4. Beat in half of flour (you can start with whole wheat or spelt) with an electric mixer or by hand.  Continue adding flour until a soft dough forms.  You may not use the entire amount of flour listed above.
5. Let dough rest 10 minutes before kneading well.  After kneading, let rest another 10 minutes.  
6. Grease a large bowl, place dough inside, and cover with a damp cloth.  Allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
7. Turn dough onto a floured surface and roll into a 12inx10in rectangle.  
8. Place dates in small bowl.  Cover with water, and let sit at least 5 minutes.  Transfer dates to another bowl, but don't get rid of soaking liquid because you will use some as part of the filling.
9. Add remaining filling ingredients to bowl with dates.  Fork mash until mixture is mostly smooth and spreadable.
10. Spread filling evenly onto rolled out dough.  Roll up tightly like a jelly roll and slice into 12 pieces.  
11. Place each slice in a greased 9 in round pan.  Cover and let rise another hour.
12. Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until slightly browned.  If possible, serve while still warm.  Recipe makes 12 Cinnamon Rolls.

Sunday morning breakfast?  Sounds great to me!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:  

Date Sweetened Nutella

Honey Cinnamon Pretzel Twists

Today is about pretzels.

I like pretzels.  I like the crunchy ones, the gigantic ones, and the ones dipped in chocolate.

I also like the healthier whole wheat once covered in honey and cinnamon that you can make entirely from scratch.

But c'mon, honey and cinnamon and carbs and the promise of no guilt.  Who wouldn't love these guys?

Plus, they're totally do-able to make at home.  As long as you keep yeast and whole wheat flour handy, you probably have everything you need to make them in your kitchen now.  Oh yeah, and don't let the bit of yeast in these pretzels scare you.  It's nothing to worry about, and you don't even have to wait for the dough to rise in this recipe.  How awesome is that?

Let's talk about the glaze now.  It's pretty yummy.  All ya do is mix some honey, cinnamon and water together, and then pour a bit on top of the pretzels when they're done baking.  If you wait to eat them long enough, the mixture sort of dries and creates a sweet coating.  So. Good.  Or you can eat them right after adding the glaze.  That's good to.

Actually, pretty much everything about these pretzel twists is good.  Soooo... I think all just stop talking and give you all the recipe.  How does that sound?

Honey Cinnamon Pretzel Twists

• 3/4 cup warm water (lukewarm)
• 1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast (1/2 package)
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (see notes below for substitutions)
• 1/4 tsp salt

Glaze:

• 1/2 tbsp honey
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tbsp water

Preheat oven to 425F.  In a large bowl, mix together water and yeast.  Let sit a couple minutes, until yeast is dissolved.  Mix in honey and salt.  Slowly add in 1 cup flour and mix until combined and sticky.  Continue adding flour, a bit at a time, until dough is no longer sticky.  If the dough bounces back when poked, it's time to knead.  Turn onto a floured surface and knead for roughly 5 minutes, you want a smooth ball to form (see first picture below).  To make 'twists', cut off a small piece of the dough.  Cut that in half and roll out each half into a log shape (the thinkness/length is up to you).  Twist the logs together and pinch at the ends.  Repeat until all dough has been used.  Bake for 5 minutes, then change oven to broil and broil another 3-5 minutes, watching carefully to avoid burning.  Meanwhile, make glaze by whisking together all ingredients in a small bowl.  When pretzels are done, pour a bit of glaze on each one.  Glaze can also be used as a dip if desired.  Makes 18 twists.

A few notes:

1. These pretzels are whole wheat, and they use whole wheat flour.  However, if you'd prefer you can use all purpose or even spelt as a substitute.  With all purpose the pretzels will obviously be lighter in color, and they'll probably also be a bit fluffier as well (the whole wheat ones are fluffy too, though).

2. Not into sweet pretzels?  No big deal.  Though the honey glaze on these guys is delicious, you can easily leave it out if it's not your thing.  How about an egg wash and salt instead?  The choice is yours.  Just make the base pretzel recipe above and add whatever else you like.

Enjoy the recipe everyone!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Whole Wheat English Muffins

Apple Cinnamon Bread

I miss strawberries.  And blueberries and blackberries and raspberries.

Winter where I live is terrible in terms of fresh fruit.  There are apples, oranges, and pears and that's about it.  Don't get me wrong, I love the fruit we have, but I epecially love berries.

The frozen kind doesn't count.

Lately, I've started to see the berries I miss so much appear in the grocery store again.  Except now it's almost worse.  Because they cost way too much.  I absolutely hate buying things for too much money.

So now, I'm stuck in one of those "so close yet so far" situations.  Yeah, it stinks.

But let's start talking about the good.

I finally decided that I should just try to make the best of the fruit I've got.  You know, instead of drooling over the $10 packages of strawberries.  So I used a couple of the apples sitting on my counter to make Apple Cinnamon Bread.

You wanna know how awesome it was?  So awesome it made me forget about blueberries.  And in case you're not aware of my love for blueberries, that's pretty darn awesome.

Apple Cinnamon Bread

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oats, ground into a fine flour (oat flour)
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• pinch cloves
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• the leaves of 1 bag apple cinnamon tea (caffeine free)
• 1/3 cup egg whites (2)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp applesauce
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2/3 cup apple cider
• 1 medium/large apple, cut into small chunks

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large bowl, combine first 10 ingredients.  Whisk together.  Add in egg whites, applesauce, vanilla, molasses, and apple cider, and mix until a smooth batter forms (it will be runny).  Fold in apple chunks.  Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely before slicing or removing from pan.

Ok, so I just want to clarify one thing before you run off into your kitchen to make this (because that's obviously what you're dying to do).

It says tea in the ingredients.  That does not mean the liquid that tea has been steeped in.  No, no, no.  It literally means the tea leaves.  Like in my Mixed Berry Oatmeal and Apple Cinnamon Muffin this helps to add a ton of flavor in a very easy way.  If you don't happen to have apple cinnamon tea, then you have to go buy some this instant because it's the best thing ever I suppose you could make the bread without, but I'd definitely add some spices and taste the batter to make sure it's got enough flavor for your liking.

Alright, now you can sprint to your kitchen.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Honey Flax Bread

Flourless Oatmeal Cookies

These are strange cookies... strange but good that is.

You see, it was one of those recipes where I was literally just throwing things together in the bowl of my food processor.  Totally and completely winging it.

The whole time I was making these, a little voice in my head was saying "they won't taste good, they'll be a huge failure".  Honestly, that was actually a pretty logical thing to think given the fact  that I was combining cottage cheese, cauliflower, and prunes.  Really, where on Earth could that be heading?

As it turns out, it was headed towards oatmeal cookies, though I didn't know that until mere minutes before they entered the oven.

The whole cookie baking process went a little bit like this:  Throw some cauliflower into a food processor.  Add in a couple scoops of cottage cheese.  Blend.  Add in cinnamon, ginger, and maple syrup.  Blend.  Taste.  Add in a couple prunes and some honey.  Try to ignore the voice in your head telling you that whatever you're attempting to make won't turn out.  Blend.  Realize that the random assortment of foods in your food processor is going nowhere fast.  Decide that you need to add oats (duh).  Mix some oats with some other stuff in a bowl and pour the liquid from the food processor on top.  Taste.  Have the genuis idea that you should turn the random mish-mash into cookies.  Bake the cookies.

Phew.  As you can see, these cookies provided quite the adventure.  And that adventure didn't exactly seem like it would end well, did it?  I agree.

In fact, I was holding my breath as they came out of the oven, and hesistated to try one fearing that  the result would be, well, disgusting.  It wasn't until a family member wandered into the room, took a bite of one of the cookies, and commented "good!" that I dared to try a little as well.

And guess what?  They were good.  Really good.  Who knew?

Flourless Oatmeal Cookies

• 1 cup frozen cauliflower, thawed
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese (I used 1%)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 prunes, soaked in water for a couple minutes (the longer they soak, the better)
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• pinch salt
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.  Combine cauliflower, cottage cheese, cinnamon, ginger, milk, maple syrup, honey, and prunes in food processor.  Process until smooth.  In a large bowl, mix together oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar.  Pour the mixture from the food processor into the bowl with oats.  Mix to combine.  Fold in cranberries and raisins.  Form dough into cookies and place on greased baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes.  Let cool before removing from baking sheet and serving.

Well, now you know how to make one strange cookie.  I promise that if you give the recipe a try, the result will be much better than you'd think!  Enjoy!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Strawberry Oatmeal Cookies

Cinnamon Sweet Potato Chips

Cinnamon and sweet potatoes.

A match made in heaven, no?

Though I love sweet potatoes, I've never been a fan of the classic brown sugar, marshmallow, and butter combinations.  Honestly, the thought of marshmallows and sweet potatoes just makes me want to puke.

But cinnamon, oh cinnamon, well that's a different story.  I absolutely adore cinnamon and sweet potatoes together.  Whether it's sweet, savory, or something in the middle, it disappears into my belly right away.

Last weekend I had some free time and a bunch of sweet potatoes.  Insert sweet potato chips.

I didn't want plain old sweet potato chips, though.  Nope, I wanted something special.  So I added cinnamon.

And can I just say: YUM.

This cinnamon added just the right of sweetness to the already sweet sweet potato, and the sprinkle of salt I also added balanced out everything with just a touch of savoury.

Perfection in a chip.

Cinnamon Sweet Potato Chips

• 2 sweet potatoes, washed and dried
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt per baking sheet
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon per baking sheet

Preheat oven to 300 F.  Slice potatoes thinly with a mandolin slicer or a knife.  I used a mandolin slicer.  Grease 2-3 baking sheets.  Lay potato slices in a single layer on baking sheets.  Drizzle with just a bit of oilve oil.  Flip over slices so that both sides are thinly coated in oil.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and salt (1/4 tsp of each for every baking sheet).  Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, flipping chips over every 20 minutes or so.  Take chips out while they're still a bit chewy, they will harden up with time.  Store in an airtight container.

Oh, and one more thing.  These chips are baked not fried, which means they're not nearly as bad for you as most chips.  Which means you can eat more.  Which means you'll probably want to double the recipe.  Just saying.

Enjoy!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Molasses Granola

Oh boy, just a day past Thanksgiving and I'm already all geared up for December flavors.  But can you blame me when gingerbread, pepperment, and egg nog taste so darn delcious?

Lately, I've been throwing either mollasses, pepperment extract, or a whole bunch of cozy spices into just about every dessert/snack/breakfast I make.  There have been a lot of yummy dishes coming out of my kitchen, and I'm so excited to share them all with you.

I've decided to kick off the party with a breakfast recipe, 'cause, you know, breakfast is the first meal of the day.  Also, it feels like it's been foreeeever since my last breakfast post (and that definitely needs to change)

So, without further ado, let me introduce you to Molasses (a.k.a. Gingerbread) Granola!

In all honesty, I've never been a huge fan of granola.  This is mostly because pretty much every brand sold in stores has some sort of nut in it.  I don't like nuts in my granola.  In my mind, that meant that granola wasn't something I would ever buy, and therefore I would never eat it.  And that was that.  It was settled.

But then, one day while clicking through recipes online, I stumbled upon a recipe for nut-free granola and decided to give it a try.  This Molasses Granola is just a modified version of that first granola recipe.  I upped the spice level, adding in molasses to sweeten, and BAM, yummy holiday breakfast in under 5 steps.

The great thing about this granola is that it's super customizable.  The recipe below is very basic, and you can add in whatever you like to make it your own.  Nuts, seeds, dried fruit.  The choice is yours.  Just be sure to have it match with the gingerbread theme.  I think dried cranberries could potentially be very tasty.

Another nice thing about this breakfast, especially for those of us watching our weight, is that it's fat free and uses a pretty small amount of sweetener compared to many other granola recipes.  In other words, the granola you see above and below is actually healthy as supposed to many other brands that just pretend to be.

And, if you can believe it, on top of all that other awesome stuff, this granola also manages to taste really, really good.  It's like a spicy hug first thing in the morning :)

Super Easy Molasses Granola

• 2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tbsp mollasses
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tbsp water
• 3 cups rolled oats
• optional: any add-ins you like: dried fruit, nuts, seeds*

Preheat oven to 350F.  Place oats in a large bowl.  Combine applesauce, mollasses, cinnamon, ginger, and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Remove from heat and stir until well combined.  Pour wet ingredients over oats and mix.  It may seem a bit dry at first, but just keep mixing and try to coat everything as best you can.  Scoop combined mixture onto a baking sheet and spread into an even layer.  Bake for 20 minutes, flipping pan halfway through.  Then turn oven off, but leave granola inside, with the oven door cracked open slighty.  Let granola cool completely in oven, then transfer to an airtight container.

*If you add a large amount of add-ins you may have to adjust the liquid level slightly.  Just add more water.

So what will you do with your Molasses Granola (providing you make a batch, but c'mon it takes like 5 minutes of hands-on time so how could you not)

Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

• Add a couple handfuls of your favorite nuts to the recipe above and have your granola with milk for breakfast
• Layer the basic granola recipe with greek yogurt and pomegranite seeds to make a beautiful and delicious fall themed parfait
• Sprinkle the granola (with any add-ins you like) over your morning bowl of oatmeal because you can never have too many oats
• Add dried cranberries to the mix and keep it in a bowl on your counter so you can grab a handful whenever you need a quick sweet and tart snack

Now you come up with some of your own ideas.  Believe me, there are so many more!

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Carrot Cake Cookie Bites

Apple Cinnamon Bake

I'm somewhat of a maniac in the kitchen sometimes.

Or perhaps that's a bit strong of a word.  What I mean to say is somethimes I get a bit crazy.  Crazy ingredients, crazy foods, crazy behavior.  

While this specific recipe has no crazy ingredients, and no outragious outcome, I did feel a bit funny while making it.  That feeling probably had to do with the fact that I had next to no idea what I wanted to make.

The only thing I was sure of when I started making this dish was that apples would be involved.  That is it.

Everything else that's in it was just thrown together because of split-second decisions and thoughts of what would be easiest to fish out of my extremely full refridgerator/pantry.  See what I mean by crazy?

I'm just glad I managed to keep track of everything I was dumping into my mixing bowl, because the end product was pretty darn delicious.

Juicy apples baked just until soft, a crunchy oat topping, and a generous coating of cinnamon to top it all of.  Why yes, crazy is a good thing sometimes.

Apple Cinnamon Bake

• 3 apples, cut into cubes
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 tbsp buckwheat groats
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon (in addition to the 1/2 tbsp)
• 1-2 tbsp applesauce (start with 1 tbsp)

Preheat oven to 380F.  Combine apples, cinnamon, and maple syrup in a large glass baking dish and toss to coat all apple pieces.  In another small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and mix to combine.  If mixture is too dry, add another tbsp applesauce.  Sprinkle oat mixture over apples, trying to make it as evenly spread as possible.  Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the apples are soft but still have a bit of a crunch to them, and the oat topping has browned.  Let cool.  Serve topped with ice cream, whipped cream, or a dollop of greek yogurt.

I find it sort of awesome how my extreme random-ness in the kitchen somehow turned into a mouth-watering masterpiece.  For example, the apple are baked only slighty, and not until really mushy like in other apple recipes, not because I actually wanted them like that, but because I was too impatient to let them cook enough.  And yet, I think I like the apples with a slight crunch much more than how they're normally baked.

It's just fate doing it's thing, I suppose.  I can say for sure, however, that this crazy (and super successful) apple experiment will most definitely lead to more kitchen outragious-ness.  Most likely involving lots of random ingredients thrown together.  I doubt they'll all turn out as good as this, but, hey, you don't know until you try!

Have you ever had a kitchen experiment go fabulously well?

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Kid-Friendly No Bake Cinnamon Rolls

Easy Homemade Pumpkin Butter

So, yeah, more pumpkin.

What can I say?  I think I'm in love...

Just kidding.  I'm not that crazy.  I just happen to rarely use up the whole can of pumpkin in one recipe, causing me to make something different, causing me to eat it and, causing me to remember how amazing pumpkin is, causing me to open another can, causing the cycle to repeat itself.

Oh, wow.  It's only my second pumpkin post of the season and I'm already ranting like crazy.

That's probably because the two recipes that have been posted are just a few tiny little fraction of everything I've made.  Let's just say that the before mentioned cycle has been repeated, oh, I'd say around 4 times.  Perhaps that gives you a better idea of the amount of pumpkin dishes I've prepared.

You'd think I'd be tired of pumpkin by now, wouldn't you?

Definitely not the case.  I'm still going strong, and will probably get even stronger as soon as the really chilly weather rolls in.  In fact, I do believe that on the first truly fall morning, I'll be sure to spread some of this delicious pumpkin butter on my toast, and enjoy it with a big cup of steaming tea.  And then I'll probably make a good 12 more pumpkin desserts.

Mmmmm.  That day will certainly be a delicious one.

Super Easy Pumpkin Butter
(makes around 1 small jar, depending on how much you let the butter thicken)

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• pinch cloves
• 1-2 tbsp maple syrup (if you want a sweeter butter, use more)
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Then, pour mixture into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring often and scraping down sides to prevent sticking, until mixture has thickened into desired consistency.  I wanted my butter pretty thick so I let it simmer for a long time.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Store in an airtight container, or jar, in the fridge.  Some ideas on using your pumpkin butter include spreading it on toast, topping pancakes with it, stirring it into oatmeal, or just eating off a spoon.

The proof of how tasty this stuff is, is right in the pictures.  It tasted sooo amazing, that by the time I even got around to getting my camera out, the jar was more than half empty.  Yes, it's that yummy.  So good that even my shouts of "Don't eat that yet, I haven't taken pictures!" were ignored by my family members, as they dunked in their spoons.

Oh, well.  At least it proves that the recipe was a success.  A big success.  Try making it and I guarantee you, and your family members, won't be able to resist, either.

Revisited Recipe of the Day: 

Lemony Pound Cake