Swedish Apple Pie

As promised.. the apple recipes begin!

I made 2 apple crisps the first day back from the orchard but was afraid to try an apple pie, as my one experience with making pie dough went rather poorly. I was telling this to my friend Bruce when he busted out a delicious apple dessert (we were at his apartment, and unbeknownst to myself, he had also just gone apple picking.) Turns out he had a recipe for an easy-breezy apple pie! So, I stole it.

Swedish Apple Pie: 

Ingredients:

About 4 Medium/large apples – peeled, cored and sliced.

1-2 TB cinnamon sugar (aka ground cinnamon and sugar) \

¾ cup butter

1 cup flour (I used brown rice flour, can also use all purpose)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

½ cup chopped nuts (optional) (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 350*

This was my first layer of apples

1. Fill pie dish about 2/3 of the way full with apple slices.  
2. Sprinkle apples with cinnamon sugar.  (I actually forgot this step!)
3. In a small pan melt ¾ cup butter.  Remove from heat.  
4. Add to butter the flour, sugar, egg and nuts.  Mix with a spoon until blended. 
5. Pour over apple slices.



The batter will sort of seep in between the apple slices, but you can give it a hand by squishing it in too for a more uniformed apple to crust ratio.

6. Bake until golden brown (About 30 minutes).

Mine looks black rather than golden brown because half way through I realized I forgot the cinnamon sugar step and I sprinkled cinnamon on top! Doesn't look to pretty- but still delicious.

 

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 6: Funfetti Cupcake

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 6: Funfetti Cupcake 

This is the only cupcake to date that was note first inspired by Pinterest. 

When I first asked Jordan what kind of cupcakes he wanted for the wedding, his first response, in all seriousness, was Funfetti. In general, funfetti is not the first kind of cake I think of when I think of wedding cakes, but it is his wedding too after all - so if he wants a funfetti cupcake- he will get a funfetti cupcake gosh darn it! 

It seemed a little too much like cheating to straight up use a box of Funfetti cake mix and funfetti frosting though, so I decided to try to be a bit more creative.  I used the base of the Wedding White Cupcakes and add in nonpareils (I wanted to use regular sprinkles, but they were no where to be found in the grocery store.) 

For the frosting I also tried another version of the "Best Buttercream" 

1 cup unsalted butter, softened  

1 cup white granulated sugar

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 cup milk (I used Silk Light Soymilk)

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/2 tablespoon sprinkles or nonpareils 

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, mix flour and milk stirring constantly until batter becomes thick. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl place butter and sugar and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. This can take a long time (10-15 minutes) to get the granulated sugar fluffy but it is worth it. If you have a stand mixer- this would be an ideal time to use it. 
3. Add cooled flour/ milk mixture to butter and sugar, and beat. 
4. Add in extracts and some sprinkles or nonpareils and beat until combined. 
5. Refrigerate for about 1/2 an hour until slightly thickened. 
6. Pipe or spread onto completely cooled cupcakes. Add any other decorations (I added some more nonpareils on top). 

Conclusion: 

• As you can see in the interior picture above - there were some holes and tunnels in the cake. This can be a result of over mixing. Also adding the dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly can help prevent this as well.
• I also made these at the same time as the wedding white cupcakes where I admitted to undercooking them, so these also came out a bit undercooked. 
• Overall I did really like the taste, and the texture likely would have been good if they were not undercooked. 
• Nonetheless-- I think the box of funfetti cake would still win in this situation unfortunately. 
• Boxed cake 1 - Jamie 0 

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 5: Champagne Cupcakes

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 5: Champagne Cupcakes


Inspiration picture via Pinterest  via Eats Well with Others  Recipe modified from Eats Well with Others 

Champagne Cupcakes 

Makes about 6 cupcakes 

Cake 
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cups AP flour
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup non-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup champagne, prosecco, or any sparkling wine

Champagne Custard Filling
• 1/4 cup light cream, divided
• 1/4 cup champagne or prosecco
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 2.5 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 whole egg
• 1 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Champagne Frosting
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp champagne or prosecco, divided
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar

Start the cake!

1. Preheat oven to 350* F
2. Prepare cupcake pan and liners (about 6) 
3. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Set aside.  
4. In another bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda until combined. Set aside. 
5. In a third separate bowl, mix Greek Yogurt and Champagne together.  
6. Slowly add the flour mixture and yogurt mixture (alternate between the two) into the butter and sugar mixture and mix until combined. 
7. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full with batter. 
8. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when touched lightly in the center. 

While the cake is cooking start on the custard! 

(Sorry I am copying this part of the recipe almost verbatim because I was so afraid to mess it up!! Again- all credit goes to Joanne-eats well with others! ) 

1. In a medium bowl mix 1/8 cup of cream with corn starch. 
2. Combine the remaining light cream, sugar and 1/2 cup champagne in a saucepan; bring to a boil then remove from heat.
3. Beat the whole egg and egg yolks into the cornstarch/heavy cream mixture in the stand mixer.  With the stand mixer on, slowly pour 1/3 of boiling champagne mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs do not cook.  Return the remaining champagne/heavy cream mixture to a boil.  Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens.  Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.
4. Cut hole out of cupcake (Again I just used a cupcake corer) and fill with cream. 

Finally make the frosting: 

1. In a sauce pan heat 1/2 cup of champagne over low heat until it reduces to about 1 tablespoon. (keep an eye on this I kept letting it reduce too much and having to do it again!) 
2. In a large bowl cream softened butter and powdered sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add in the Tablespoon of reduced champagne and 1/2 Tablespoon of champagne from the bottle and continue to beat until well combined. 
3. Pipe or spread on cupcakes and decorate as desired! We added some cute little Nonpareils and sprinkles.

This picture shows the champagne cupcakes and the Wedding White cupcakes 

Conclusions 

• The frosting was sweet, but not too sweet. 
• Cake was moist, fluffy and had a nice crumb. 
• I could have eaten that champagne custard with a spoon (Ok, Ok- I totally did with the extra!) 
• Nonpareils make cupcakes super cute- but I am shocked I didn't break my teeth trying to eat them.

Along with taste testing cupcakes today - we were also quite productive by:

• cleaning the house
• sending out save the dates 
• and giving Ghreylin a shower! This is how he positions himself when he wants you to spray under his wings.  

Photography by Jordan Garry unless otherwise stated

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 4: Irish Cream

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 4: Irish Cream 


Inspiration picture via Pinterest  via Redheadrecipes.com  Recipe Adapted from http://redheadrecipes.com/

These cupcakes include a chocolate Guinness cupcake, with a irish whiskey chocolate ganache filling topped with a swirl of Bailey's Irish Cream Butter Cream. -- How can you go wrong?! 


Irish Cream Cupcakes 
(Makes about 12 cupcakes) 


Cupcake: 

• 1/2 cup regular Guinness
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1 cup white sugar 
• 1 cup all purpose flour 
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 1 whole large egg
• 1/3 cup Fat Free Chobani or other Greek Yogurt

Chocolate Whiskey Ganache Filling 

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips 
• 1/3 cup light cream 
• 1 TB unsalted butter, softened 
• 2 tsp Irish Whiskey (If you do not have this around feel free to skip it- but it does make a lovely addition!) 

Bailey's Buttercream Frosting 

• about 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened 
• 4 tablespoons Bailey's Irish Cream 

Start the cupcakes: 

1. Preheat oven to 350* F 
2. Prepare your muffin pan and cupcake liners (about 12) 
3. in a small to medium sauce pan heat the guinness and butter over medium heat, until butter is melted, stirring occasionally. Add in unsweetened cocoa and stir. Remove from heat and set aside. 
4. In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 
5. In a medium bowl combine eggs and greek yogurt. 
6. Mix Chocolate and Guinness mixture into your egg and greek yogurt mixture. 
7. Next mix your Guinness/ Egg/ Yogurt mixture into your flour mixture until combined. 
8. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely. 
9. Once cupcakes are cooled completely, remove the centers using a cupcake corer/ apple corer or a knife. (I took the easy route and used a cupcake corer). ** Some people recommend freezing your cored cupcake before filling it. I am always to impatient, so I have yet to try this. 

In the mean while the cupcakes are baking you can work on the ganache. 

1. In a sauce pan, simmer the light cream over medium- low heat. 
2. Stir in the chocolate chips until smooth. 
3. Add butter and whiskey and mix. 
4. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 
5. Once complete cool, fill the holes you made in the cupcakes with the ganache. 

Finally make your Bailey's Frosting (You may be able to do this while your cupcakes and ganache are cooling) 

1. In a large bowl whip softened butter and powdered sugar until fluffy. Add in Bailey's and continue whipping until well combined. 
2. Pipe or spread frosting onto cooled, and filled cupcakes. 
3. Top with some cocoa powder if desired. 

Voila! 

Conclusion: 

• I made these guys at the same time as I made the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes - so most people just kept saying they liked the Reese's cupcakes more.  I personally liked these ones better.  
• The cake crumb was a little drier than the Reese's (But I guess my homemade cake can't compare to Duncan Hynes extra Moist!) 
• The frosting was a little on the sweet side-- I personally like frosting really sweet, but maybe a bit more butter/ less sugar could have decreased the sweetness and improved the piping ability. 

Photography by Jordan Garry unless otherwise states. 

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 3: Wedding White

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 3: Wedding White Cupcakes


Inspiration Picture via Pinterest and Recipegirl.com. Recipe adapted from Recipegirl.com. 

I made a half batch of these-  but below to keep it simple is the amounts for a full batch (about 36 cupcakes)


White Wedding Cupcakes 

1 box white cake mix ( I used Pillsbury Super Moist White Cake Mix) 
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups water
2 Tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fat free (0%) Chobani 
4 large egg whites

1. Preheat oven to 325* F 
2. Prepared Cupcake pan and liners (about 36) 
3. Mix Cake mix, flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until well blended. 
4. Fill cupcake liners ~1/2- 3/4 of the way full. 
5. Place in oven and bake 18-22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
6. Remove from oven and cool completely. 

For the Frosting I did a buttercream somewhat based on "The Best Buttercream Recipe" - which I keep trying different ways to discover the truly BEST Buttercream. 


1 cup unsalted butter, softened  - divided
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup milk (I used Silk Light Soymilk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract  (or whatever other kind you want- I also tried almond extract)

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, place 1 Tablespoon of butter with flour and stir for about 1-2 minutes. Add in milk slowly, stirring constantly until batter becomes thick. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. In a large bowl place the rest of the butter and sugars and beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. This can take a long time (10-15 minutes) to get the granulated sugar fluffy but it is worth it. If you have a stand mixer- this would be an ideal time to use it. 
3. Add cooled flour/ milk/ butter mixture to butter and sugar, and beat. 
4. Add in extract and beat until combined. 
5. Refrigerate for about 1/2 an hour until slightly thickened. 
6. Pipe or spread onto completely cooled cupcakes. Add any other decorations (I added colored sugar below). 

 For the version I put on this cupcake I added a bit more butter and a little bit less sugar-- the result came out almost like whipped cream! It was soo fluffy. I think next time I will follow the recipe I wrote above a bit closer since I like my frosting sweeter.

The Results:

• The cake had great flavor and was super moist.
•  I think I slightly undercooked them, so they were a bit to gummy in the middle so be sure to double check the doneness.
•  The frosting was great! Like I said above- depending on your taste you may want to tweek the amounts of butter and sugars to get it sweeter or fluffier.

Photography by Jordan Garry unless otherwise stated.

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 2 Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

Wedding Cupcake Trial: Part 2!   Peanut butter cup cupcakes 

Here is the inspiration picture (via Pinterest) and the recipe was adapted from RealMomKitchen.com 

I made a whole batch of these ones. 

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes 

(Makes about 12 Cupcakes) 

• 1 box (18 oz.) chocolate cake mix -- I used Duncan Hines Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake 
• 1 cup Fat Free Greek Yogurt  -- I used 0% Chobani 
• 1 cup water
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (12 oz bag) Reese’s miniature peanut butter cups, unwrapped
• 1 cup butter, softened

Peanut Butter Frosting 

• 2 cups Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 cup butter, unsalted, softened
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 6 Tablespoons milk, -- I used Silk Light Original 

1. Preheat oven to 350* 
2. Prepare cupcake pan with cupcake liners (About 12) 
3. In a large bowl mix cake mix, greek yogurt, water and eggs. Beat on medium speed, scraping side of bowl periodically. 
4. Scoop batter into prepared cupcake pans, filling about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way filled. 
5. Place unwrapped Reese's cup into cupcake batter so that about 1/2 of it is sticking out of the batter. The peanut butter cup will continue to sink while cooking, if you push it too far down it will stick to the bottom of the cupcake liner and make it hard to eat. 
6. Place cupcake pan into preheated oven and bake for 18 minutes or until cupcake springs back when touched lightly. 
7. Remove from oven and cool completely. 

For the Frosting: 

1. In a medium to large bowl beat butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until well blended. 
2. Add sugar and milk in 3 segments, beating in between and scraping down the sides. Add more milk if needed to achieve desired consistency. 
3. Pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes. 

Conclusions: 
* These cupcakes got rave reviews! 
* Nice and moist, with a great crumb. 
* Great flavor. I think the Dark Chocolate cake really helped! 
* The only issue with these was some I pushed the Reese's Peanut Butter cup in too far, thus it stuck to the cupcake liner - so make sure to have it sticking out at least 1/2 way before baking! 
* I think these will definitely be appearing at the wedding - unless I get sick of making cupcakes by then ;)   


* Photography by Jordan Garry (other than the first picture attributed to RealMomKitchen.com) 

Chai Cupcakes with Honey Ginger Cream

As promised,  here is the first of my trial wedding cupcakes! 

Chai Cupcakes with Honey Ginger Cream 

This recipe was inspired by Pinterest, (as usual) via this picture:

I adapted the recipe from Whisk-kid.com  to make it cupcakes. Plus, since I am just taste testing I have been halving all of the recipes so I don't wind up with obscene amounts of cupcakes! 

Chai Cupcakes  (Makes about 6 cupcakes)

2/3 Cup milk (I used Silk Light Soymilk)
3 Tbsp loose black tea (I couldn't find loose black tea at the regular grocery store so I just used 4 tea bags and dumped them out.)
1 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp fennel
1/2" of ginger, peeled and grated
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1.5 c all purpose flour
1 c  sugar
1.5 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c unsalted butter, softened

Simmer milk, tea, cardamom, fennel and ginger in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it bubbles. Remove from heat and continue to steep for 5 minutes.  Strain milk mixture into a bowl, trying to get out as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids and set milk aside to cool. 

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Prepared cupcake cake tins with liners.

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, egg yolks, vanilla and 1/6 cup of the chai milk. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Beat on low to combine, then add the butter and remaining chai milk. Beat on low speed to blend, then raise speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture in three additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl often and mixing just to incorporate. 

Fill cupcake liners about half way and place in preheated oven. Bake for ~25 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in the center.  Place in refrigerator to cool completely. 

My cupcakes came out rather high. I am not sure if that was due to overfilling the cupcake liners or if this recipe really just does puff up a lot. 

In order to make frosting the cupcakes easier I cup off the tops of the cakes. 

Honey Ginger Frosting

3 oz light cream cheese, softened
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c  honey
1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
1.75 c  confectioners' sugar

 Place cream cheese, butter, honey and ginger in a bowl and beat on medium to medium high. Add in confectioners sugar slowly, scraping down the sides of the bowl periodically. 

Refrigerate until a slightly thicker consistency. 

Once the frosting and cupcakes were cool, I piped the frosting on. 

And then decorated with a sprinkle of cinnamon: 

Ta-da! 

Conclusion: 


* the taste was quite delicious. I personally think it could have deal with maybe even being a bit more Chai-y 


* the texture was a bit dense and some complained it was dry.  This may be due to overcooking, or perhaps to using light milk? Or maybe the baking powder I used was past its prime so it did not rise the way it should have. 


* the frosting was good, but did not pipe well. Even the ones that were pictured with the nice piping eventually all flattened out. More butter would likely help the frosting to stand up better, or just spread the frosting. 

Any tips for improving the recipe are welcomed! 


What is your favorite kind of cake?? 

 (Photography by Jordan Garry)

Semester 1 Internship Down!

This past Tuesday was the last day of my internship for this semester. I had been interning at Caritas Carney in Dorchester, working in outpatient counseling.

Overall, it was a great experience. I had previously done most of the work I done at my internship through school or other jobs, but practice makes perfect. Also, my preceptor was AMAZING. She is just one of the nicest women, and was constantly full of great advise. Since I was about the same age as her kids she seemed to form kind of a maternal bond and kept giving me words of encouragement and advice for the future.

Since I was leaving, I wrote her a Thank You card and decided to make some Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies!


I basically used this recipe from allrecipe.com (check out the link):

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cup canned pumpkin
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• y f1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions

1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

I did not add the walnuts, and used less chocolate chips. I also used a about 1/2 white unbleached flour, and half whole wheat pastry flour.

I usually never measure ingredients, and I generally barely follow recipes. but since these were a present, I followed more carefully to ensure they came out good.


I packed up about 20 cookies for my preceptor and kept a few for Dan and myself (have to taste test them!)

Despite decreasing the chocolate chips - they were still a little too chocolatey. I generally love chocolate, but these were just a bit too squishy.

Also, they were a little bland for a pumpkin pastry product. If I were to make them again I would add more cinnamon and some pumpkin pie spice. They were very soft and tasty. THey also weren't very pumpkiny tasting despite having a whole can of pumpkin (they were very orange, but I think the excess chocolate drowned out the pumpkin) so these would be a good option if you were just trying to sneak in a vegetable but were not persay that interested in a pumpkiny taste. I personally love pumpkin, so in my opinion I would want to taste it a little more.

Sookie as usual was being very helpful in the process. She had a fun time trying to play with one cookie as a hockey puck, so I tried to catch her in action. The first time she got her head in the way :

And then she decided to look up just as the flash was going off.

I need to work on my photography skills, and she clearly needs to work on her modeling.

I Will Not

I Will not binge eat today.

Goal of the day.

I have so much to do, and I am really trying to get it done today. Strike that: I will get it done today.

Today's To Do List:

Shower
Laundry
Clean Room
Put Grades in Grade book
Write Quiz
Write thank you note for internship
Bake Thank you treat for internship
Send internship evaluation in to advisor
Find Planner
Organize Wallet
Call 21st ammendment
(I managed to lose my wallet when drunk the other day hence the last two)
Buy stamps (had a book, it had been in wallet.)
Buy Lactaid (see above)
Move Bike
Figure out why power point assignment not working.
Lab 6:30-8:30

*Those in red have been successfully completed thus far.

I am too busy to binge eat. Although I did already manage to eat a pound of rice today.... but -there is no sense claiming defeat. I have a bad habit of once I start to screw up I just say screw it and completely give up. I cannot do that today.

Clean room!! (more or less)


And I'm off to finish my list-- and not binge eat in the process.
Wish me luck!

Now go get things done!

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

I love all things pumpkin.

Pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin flavored coffee, .. and lately I have been craving pumpkin bread.

Since I have been experimenting with Vegan baking I decided to attempt a Vegan Pumpkin Bread recipe. And a whole wheat bread would be even better.

I couldn't find any recipes I really liked so I kind of combined a few and here's what I came up with:

3.5 cups flour (I used 2.5 cups whole wheat, and 1 cup all purpose)
1/2 cup sugar
2 TB baking powder
1/2 ts salt
cinnamon (~ 2 TB)
pumpkin pie spice (~ 1/2 TB)
all spice (1 ts)
1 cup apple sauce or vegetable oil (I used 1/2 and 1/2)
2.5 cups canned pumpkin
~2/3 cup water
4 TB ground flax seeds


Mix flour, sugar, powder, and spices. Then add everything else. Mix well. if it is too watery add more flour.

Put into a greased baking pan/ bread pan. (this is too much batter to fit all into one bread pan.)


Bake for about 50 minutes at 350*

You could also add some chocolate chips to the batter for some delightful chocolate pumpkin bread.

Enjoy!