 Mom's apple tree produced mountains of apples this year, so the ones that have not yet found themselves tucked into pie, have become a myriad of other delectables. These bars are a riff on our classic fruit bar, and play up all those things we love about apple pie. We have quite a few recipes here that showcase the versatility of our recipe, the Lemon Blueberry Crumb Bar, Rhubarb and Mulberry Crumb Bar, Cranberry Orange, mixed fruit, Apricot, you get the idea. We love this recipe as it feels like dessert, but also feels like a decent snack for the kids. Win win!
Apple Pie Crumb Bar 1 9x13 pan, about 16 bars 1-cup brown sugar 3 cups flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. cinnamon, divided ½ tsp. salt 1-cup cold butter cut in cubes Zest of 1 lemon 2 eggs 3 cups diced, peeled apples ½ cup sugar 2 tsp. tapioca flour Juice of 1 lemon 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract Preheat oven to 375 Grease a 9 x 13” inch Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, ½ tsp. cinnamon, salt, and lemon zest. Then, add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any large pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, ½ tsp. cinnamon, tapioca powder and Vanilla extract and mix. Carefully stir in apples. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.
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 We haven't made banana bread for awhile, so when we spotted some brown bananas in the fruit bowl, it was time to revisit the trusty favorite. However, then we realized while we had the right bananas we had no flour, too much pie and bread making going on! We did have a bag of gluten-free flour on hand from out gluten-free pie dough experimenting, so we thought we would give it a try. As we were experimenting anyway, we tried adding in some tahini and flax to play with texture and flavor. There have been a lot of recipes we have read lately using tahini is sweets, and we are digging the nutty sesame flavor it imparts. So far, as the loaf is half-way gone, no one has even suspected it is gluten-free, and the tahini gives it this unexpected buttery flavor. Looks like a win all the way around!!!
Gluten-Free Tahini Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips makes one loaf 1 1/3 cups gluten-free flour (we use Cup4Cup) ¾ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon cinnamon 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 3 tablespoons tahini 1 tablespoon flax seeds 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup sugar 2 large eggs lightly beaten 1 tsp. vanilla extract 2 very ripe bananas, mashed ½ cup chocolate chips or you can omit chocolate and add ½ cup chopped nuts Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 6-cup loaf pan, or line with parchment. Whisk all dry ingredients together in medium bowl. In a stand mixer or using a large bowl and a hand-held mixer, beat on high speed the butter and the sugars until lightened in color and fluffy. Add Tahini and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and beat until the mixture resembles sand, making sure to scrape down the sides. Slowly add in the beaten egg, a little at a time, and then add vanilla. When combined, carefully fold in banana and chocolate chips (or nuts). Scrape into prepared pan and bake about 60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool entirely before unmolding. If you omit the chocolate chips bump sugar up to ½ cup sugar, and ½ cup brown sugar. Also, if the bread is browning too quickly, cover with tinfoil and continue baking  We have been making Dutch Babies, or puffed pancakes forever. They take a little more time then regular pancakes, but are so worth it. And beside, most of that extra time is just waiting at the table for them to bake! These pancakes are light, subtle sweet and decadent at the same time. The top ridge, crispy, while the bottom always has this custard quality. We have experimented over the years with many combinations including the classic with lemon squeezed on at the end, blackberries and buttermilk, matcha, and even chocolate. The same basic recipe can be tweaked with different fruit, and different extracts like Vanilla. If you need to make a larger pancake, you can do this recipe times 1.5 and place in a twelve inch oven proof skillet. Be sure everyone is at the table when it comes out of the oven as the puff never lasts! Almond Raspberry Dutch Baby Pancake Makes 1, 9 inch pancake ½ cup milk ½ cup flour ¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar 2 eggs ½ teaspoon almond extract 4 tablespoons of butter ¼-1/2 cup raspberries Preheat oven to 425 Whisk together the flour, milk, eggs, ¼ cup of sugar and the almond extract until smooth. In an oven proof 9 inch skillet melt butter and swirl along the sides of the pan. Add batter and scatter raspberries on top. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar. After about 1 minute, place in oven and bake for 12-15 minutes. Pancake will be puffed and golden brown. Serve immediately with syrup or jam  We have to admit that we were shocked that these worked and by worked we mean that the kids ate them and thought they were doughnuts! We are always looking for ways to get more fiber and protein in the kids and while you may think buckwheat is just that, wheat, but it isn't! Buckwheat is actually a seed, so for those that are gluten sensitive, it is gluten free, grain free. We didn't replace all the flour with the buckwheat, so this recipe is not gluten-free, but we did cut down quite a bit of it, and the buckwheat imparts a nutty, earthy flavor to these baked doughnuts. The kids preferred the chocolate drizzled ones, and we liked the powdered sugar so make some of each! Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Doughnuts Makes about 6-8 1 c. flour ½ c. buckwheat flour ¾ tsp. salt ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. nutmeg ½ tsp. cinnamon 6 tablespoons butter, softened 1/3 c. sugar 2 tablespoons honey 2 eggs, beaten 1 tsp. Vanilla extract 2 ripe bananas, mashed ½ cup dark chocolate chips ¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 Grease doughnut pan In a bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together. In a stand mixture beat butter with sugar and honey until light an fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add dry ingredients and mix until resembling sand. Add a little bit of egg at a time, scraping down the side of the bowl. Add vanilla and mix. Fold in the mashed bananas and then the chocolate chips. Carefully fill the doughnut pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, checking at 25 to see if a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes then remove from pan. Dust with powdered sugar or drizzle with melted chocolate and sprinkles. Be sure to check out our Etsy store for our BAKED GOODS blank notecards!   We are always game to trying something new and when Zest Tea, @getzesttea, sent us some apple cinnamon tea to try, we thought "why not bake with it?" The results were by far the best muffins we have made in awhile. Adding the additional layer of flavor the tea imparted to the butter, really made these muffins sing! The apple cinnamon flavor was pronounced, not lost in the baking. We are definitely going to play around with some other flavors of tea and will let you know how they turn out! A friend suggested ear grey and cherries.....yummy! Apple Cinnamon Tea infused Muffins Makes 10-12 ½ cup or 1 stick of unsalted butter ¼ cup loose apple cinnamon tea 1 ½ cups flour ¾ cups sugar plus 1 tablespoon 1 ½ tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. salt 1 tsp. cinnamon plus ½ tsp. ½ cup milk 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract 1 egg 1 cup grated apples, about 1 large apple. Preheat oven to 375 Grease muffin pan with cooking spray or butter and set aside. To make your tea infused butter, melt butter then add the tealeaves. Let heat over low for about five minutes, it will continue bubbling. Remove from heat and set aside for another few minutes. Butter will look a little green, but don’t worry! Using a fine meshed strainer or sieve, pour butter through and push on leaves, squeezing out all you can. Set aside. In a medium bowl, add flour, ¾ cups of sugar, baking powder, salt and 1 tsp. of cinnamon. In another bowl, add egg and gently whisk. Add to egg, the vanilla, tea infused butter, and milk and mix. Add to flour, with the apples and stir until all is incorporated. Mix remaining sugar and cinnamon in small bowl and set aside. Scoop batter into muffin cups, filling about ¾ of the way. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake for 20-23 minutes until slightly brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan, then remove and serve.   We were getting sick of banana bread, if that is possible, and the kids decided for the week that they were not eating bananas. So, we tried a banana cake and said kids went crazy for it! The seven-year old ate most of it by himself for breakfasts many days in a row. We topped ours with a chocolate ganache but feel free to top with cream cheese frosting or vanilla ice cream. The cake is not too sweet and very moist thanks to the buttermilk and the graham flour gives it a nice texture. Banana Cake Makes 1 9 inch cake 2-3 ripe bananas, mashed 1 ½ c flour 1 ½ c graham flour 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. cinnamon ½ tsp. nutmeg ½ tsp. salt ¾ c canola or coconut oil 1 c sugar ½ c light brown sugar 3 eggs, whisked 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 ½ cup buttermilk Preheat oven to 350 degrees Spray or butter your cake pan so batter will not stick and set aside. In large bowl whisk together the flour, graham flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and set aside. In a stand mixer or bowl with a hand mixer cream the oil and the sugars together for about 2 minutes. Add the mashed bananas, the eggs and the vanilla and briefly beat until mixed. Then add the dry ingredients alternating with the buttermilk and ending with the dry ingredients. (Dry can be done in 3 parts.) Batter will be lumpy so do not over mix. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. *Frosting is optional: you can top with your favorite cream cheese frosting or drizzle with chocolate ganache.   Canned pumpkin is something we always have in our pantry no matter the time of year. It lends a earthy, tenderness to cakes and we have even used it as a way to vary a basic tomato sauce. It also can be added to hummus to give it a different spin or heated low and slow on the stove with some brown sugar to become a pumpkin butter for breakfast toasts. This cake is a yummy take on a classic coffee cake, and trust us it wont last long. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Streusel Cake For the cake: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup whole wheat flour 2 teaspoons of cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup canned pumpkin puree 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips For the streusel: 1/3 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup whole wheat flour ½ cup packed light brown sugar ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks ½ cup chocolate chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with cooking spray or rub with butter. Set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Add the pumpkin puree. Reduce speed to low, and mix in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan. To make the streusel, in a medium bowl, combine the flours, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add in the butter, using your fingers or a knife, and cut butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle streusel evenly over the top of the cake. Next, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cake. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the sides pull away from the pan and a toothpick comes out clean. Place cake on a wire rack and cool completely. Cut into squares and serve.  Somehow by magic, the now seven year old has decided this is his favorite cake. Not, chocolate, not some basic vanilla buttercream frosted, but this carrot cake. It feels like a gift, and while we may not be cake boss decorators, he loved his (healthy) birthday cake. This is filled with carrots, warming spices and the tangy sweet frosting provides a nice balance of flavors. We don't put raisins in our carrot cake, but feel free to stir in a half cup after processing everything together. Carrot Cake Serves: 10-12 (4 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped 1 cup of pecans or walnuts 1 cup brown sugar ½ cup granulated sugar 1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon of baking soda 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla extract ½ cup vegetable oil ¼ cup Greek yogurt 2 eggs Preheat the oven to 325 F. Butter a 10-inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. You could also use a square pyrex baking dish. In a food processer process the carrots and nuts until finely chopped. Add the rest of the ingredients and process, scraping down the bowl occasionally, until combined. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until when tested with a toothpick or wooden skewer, it comes out clean. Allow cake to cool completely in the pan before turning out and frosting. For frosting: 1 cup cream cheese, chopped and softened ¼ cup fresh ricotta or goat cheese 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice ½ tsp vanilla extract zest of 1 lemon Combine all the ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake. It helps to have frosting at room temperature before frosting cake.
For the month of October, we are donating a portion of the sales of our greeting and note cards to help those in Puerto Rico. Be sure to check out our Etsy site!   We have made banana bread too many times to count as somehow when you have little kids around, you always have overripe bananas! My mom and I argue about this recipe all the time and go back and forth over who's we like better. This recipe is our compromise! Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour ¾ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon nutmeg ½ teaspoon cinnamon 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup sugar 1 tablespoon honey 2 large eggs lightly beaten 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 very ripe bananas, mashed ½ cup chocolate chips or you can omit chocolate and add ½ cup chopped nuts Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 6-cup loaf pan. Whisk all dry ingredients together in medium bowl. In a stand mixer or using a large bowl and a hand-held mixer, beat on high speed the butter and the sugars until lightened in color and fluffy. Add to sugar and butter the dry ingredients and beat on medium speed until resembling sand. Slowly add in the beaten egg, a little at a time, then add vanilla. When combined, carefully fold in banana and chocolate chips (or nuts). Scrape into prepared pan and bake about 50-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool before unmolding. If you omit the chocolate chips bump sugar up to ½ cup sugar, and ½ cup brown sugar.   We are always playing around with ways to get more fiber and food into the smallest child in the morning. These oat based muffins are filling and tasty, a great start to the day. And, the chocolate tricks him into eating more then a single raspberry for breakfast! Chocolate Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins Makes 12 1-cup flour ½ cup oat flour ½ cup rolled oats ¼ cup oat bran ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar ½ tsp. salt 1-tablespoon baking powder ½ tsp. baking soda ½ tsp. cinnamon ¼ tsp. nutmeg ¼ cup cacao powder 2 eggs 1-cup sour cream ¼ cup milk 4 tablespoons melted butter 1 tsp. vanilla extract ½-1 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate Preheat oven to 400 Line muffin pan with paper liners or grease with butter or spray with non-stick baking spray In a bowl whisk flour, oat flour, rolled oats, oat bran, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda, spices and cacao powder. In a smaller bowl whisk eggs, sour cream, milk, melted butter and vanilla. Add liquid to dry ingredients and mix with a few strokes to combine. Mixture will be thick. Fold in chocolate chips. With an ice cream scooper fill muffin tins and bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.   A true family classic. We have been making these brownies for over thirty years. They are a more cake like brownie and rich with chocolate and always studded with extra chips. The third generation is on their way to making these without help, just a watchful eye as the chocolate melts on the stove. If you wanted to tweak this a little, on a few occasions we have added a few tablespoons of espresso to compliment the chocolate, but we recommend not serving those to small children who you want to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. Double Fudge Brownies makes 1 9 x 13 inch baking pan 1 ½ cup sugar 2/3 cup butter ¼ cup water 1 12 oz package of chocolate chips plus 1 cup extra chocolate chips (or butterscotch) 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 eggs 1½ cup flour ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup of walnuts or pecans (optional) Preheat oven to 325 Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan or pyrex baking dish Place sugar, butter and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in all but 1 cup of chocolate chips and the vanilla. Allow mixture to cool, then beat in eggs one at a time. Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. After sifting, fold in chocolate mixture and remaining cup of chocolate chips and nuts if using. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake in preheated oven at 325 F for 40-50 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Not sure about you, but we tend to overbuy at the Farmers Market this time of year, as the fruits just seem to beckon with their siren call. This means we are always looking for ways to use up fruit that is on the verge. You can make this treat with really any combo of berries and stone fruits. This bar hits all the right notes, sweet, tart, chewy with a little crunch. The addition of the almond extract instead of our go-to vanilla gave the bar a surprising undertone that was tasty. The kids had seconds! We made a second version a few days later with raspberries, strawberries and plum and used lime instead of lemon as we had no lemons. It was tangy, sweet and even better! You make the call based on the citrus you have on hand, may try orange next time! Mixed Fruit Crumb Bars Makes one 8 inch cake pan or one 8 inch square Pyrex ½ cup brown sugar 1 ½ cups flour ½ tsp. baking powder ¼ tsp. salt ½ cup cold butter, cut into pieces Zest of half a lemon 1 egg 2 cups mixed berries and or stone fruit cut into small pieces (this had blackberries, strawberries and plums) ½ cup sugar 2 tsp. cornstarch Juice of ½ lemon 1/2 tsp. almond extract Preheat oven to 375 Grease an 8’ inch cake or Pyrex baking dish. In a medium bowl mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Then add in the cold butter and egg, cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork. You can also use your fingers to break up any large pieces of butter. Once the mixture resembles crumbs, press half into the pan. In another bowl, add sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and almond extract and mix. Carefully stir in fruit. Spread fruit with juices evenly on top of dough and sprinkle with remaining dough. You want some fruit peeking out. Bake 40-45 minutes until fruit is bubbling and topping is golden brown. Cool before slicing.   We got in the habit of making this cake to use up fruit that was on the verge of being overripe. The plums give it a sweet and sour counterpoint and its a great little cake for afternoon snacks or bring it to a pot luck. Plum Snackcake with Pecan Topping Topping: ¼ cup packed light brown sugar ¼ cup all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (¼ stick), plus more for coating the pan ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon Pinch fine salt ½ cup finely chopped pecans Cake: 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt 1/3 cup whole milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¾ cup sugar 6 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature 2 eggs, at room temperature 5 medium plums, pitted and cut into ¾ -inch pieces Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Coat an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with butter and set aside. To make topping, in a medium bowl use your fingertips and work the brown sugar, flour, butter, cinnamon, and salt until the ingredients come together. Stir in the pecans, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use. To make cake, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Whisk together the milk and vanilla extract in a small bowl and set aside. Combine the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. You can also use a hand held mixer. Add the eggs 1 at a time, letting the first completely incorporate before adding the second. Add a third of the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pour in half of the milk mixture and mix on low until just incorporated. Repeat, alternating dry and wet ingredients and ending with the dry ingredients, until completely incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer, fold the plums and turn the batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved topping evenly over the top and bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 20 minutes before serving. |
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