Tag Archives: cinnamon

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

14 Wednesday Sep 2016

Posted by in Breakfast, Easy, Sauces

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

This year, Lulu’s apple tree went crazy! We had tons of apples in the middle of the summer. They weren’t very big at first, but there were so many that we needed to do something about it. They were small and tart yet perfect and beautiful. Over the years, I have found Northwest gardening can be very strange…We got our fall apples super early yet my heirloom tomatoes didn’t seem to ripen until mid-September. Regardless of the unpredictability of our gardens, there is nothing quite like picking fresh fruit, vegetables, and herbs from your yard and feeding your family with them.

img_4124

For someone like me it’s hard not to just make apple cake and tortes and crisps and everything in between…but a lot of baking recipes don’t use enough fruit to get you through your bounty before things start taking a turn for the worse…so this was the year it was time to make apple butter.

I wanted to find an apple butter recipe that could go straight to the fridge or freezer, no hardcore canning skills required. Something easy like my mom’s strawberry freezer jam. The crazy part is this recipe was even easier! Throw apples, sugar, and some spices of your choice in a slow cooker. Turn on. Walk away. Maybe stir it every few hours if you are feeling crazy. The biggest effort you have to make is coring, peeling, and dicing your apples. If you have a spiralizer, your job just got way easier.

This recipe is very adaptable, depending on what kind of apples you use. You can choose to add more of less sugar depending on how tart your apples are, and no one is going to get mad if you decide to add some nutmeg or allspice to your mix. Right now we are spreading our apple butter on toast and mixing it into greek yogurt. I’ll update you with more ideas down the line!

Recipe
Slow Cooker Apple Butter
By Baked Northwest
Makes 4 (12 oz) containers of Apple Butter

Ingredients

  • 5 pounds of apples; peeled, cored, and diced
  • 2 cups of sugar (can use more or less here, depending on how sweet your apples are)
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Place the apples in a slow cooker. If you have a 6 quart slow cooker like me, it will be very full. Don’t worry – the apples will cook down by more than half. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt together in a bowl and pour mixture over the apples in the slow cooker. Mix well. Cover and cook on high for one hour.

Reduce the heat to low, stir mixture again, and cook for another 9 hours. This can be done overnight, but I found I liked being able to stir my apple butter every few hours during its low cook time, I think it made the mixture smoother in the end. At the end of about 9 hours the mixture should be thickened and dark brown. You should be able to stir the mixture and have a great consistency without having to use a blender or anything.

Turn off the slow cooker and spoon apple butter into sterile containers. Refrigerate or freeze. You should definitely give some to friends as well.

Pull Apart Mini Cinnamon Rolls + News!

12 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by in Baking, Breads, Breakfast, Entertaining, Holidays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Cinni Mini Pull Apart Rolls

Cinnamon Rolls may be my ultimate weakness. It is hard for me to resist a soft, gooey, sweet roll when I wake up in the morning and am vulnerable…everyone is more vulnerable in the morning, right? I have been waiting for an “excuse” to find a good go-to cinnamon roll recipe for awhile. One you can tweak with fillings depending on your mood or the season, one that isn’t too complicated, one I’ll use over and over.

Cinnamon Rolls!

For this particular “occasion” I knew I wanted to make tinier rolls, maybe ones you could almost just pull out of the pan with your hands and eat in one or two bites…because they are so good you’ll probably have to eat them immediately with reckless abandon instead of taking the time to grab a plate. You can also choose to go the classier route and get a knife and fork…but that’s not something I’m doing much of these days because… Continue reading →

Coffee Squares

24 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Baking, Breads, Breakfast, LuLu's Classics

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

Coffee Squares

This is one of our family’s oldest recipes that we continue to make again and again. We think it originally came from a neighbor in the late 1950’s or early 60’s. Grammy used to make it for the whole family, my mom held up the tradition when I was a kid, and the recipe is still going strong!  It’s a total classic in our family. Continue reading →

Churro Rum Baked Donuts

05 Friday Jun 2015

Posted by in Baking, Boozy, Breakfast

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Churro Rum Baked Donuts

Another day, another food holiday…out of all of the ridiculous food “holidays” out there, I’d have to say National Donut Day is probably the most legit. Why? Because: A.) Donuts are the BEST
B.) You have an excuse to eat one of the best foods ever created
C.) Lots of your favorite donuts places are giving out free donuts!

Rum Churro Baked Donuts

Oh, and my instagram feed has been blowing up over it all week. Nobody got this excited for National Burger Day, just sayin’. For my first official celebration of Donut Day, I chose to bake some at home. A donut pan was a wedding gift I gave to myself, since part of me was a little too embarrassed to register for it. I now realize how crazy I was being – everyone needs a donut pan! They are inexpensive, and if there is going to be a guilt-free way to eat donuts, it’s when you bake them. Plus, this recipe is a cinch to make.

Churro Rum Donuts

For my next baked donut extravaganza, we will need to talk about the correct spelling…is it donut or doughnut? Doh!

Churro Rum Baked Donuts

Recipe
Churro Rum Baked Donuts
Makes about 18 donuts
By Baked Northwest

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 1/4 cups milk (I used nonfat, but whole or any other milk would work)
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp dark Rum (such as Meyers)
  • Baking spray

For the topping:

  • 8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp dark rum (optional)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a donut pan well. If you have more than 1 donut pan, use them both! I had to do 3 batches in the oven because I only have 1 donut pan.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In another smaller bowl, whisk together the egg, milk, melted butter, vanilla, and rum. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until combined.

Spoon the batter into the baking pan, filling each one about three-quarters full. Careful here, if they are too full you will not have a hole in your donuts when they come out of the oven! Bake for 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

While donuts are baking, make the topping: Melt 8 tablespoons of butter in a small saute pan with the rum. Let the butter melt completely and get a little bit bubbly before turning off the heat. Stir well to make sure the rum is incorporated. Combine the cinnamon, sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl or a plate (whatever will be easy to dip your donuts into).

Remove donuts from oven. Allow to cool for a few minutes. You may want to use 2 wooden skewers to loosen the donuts around the edges, mine didn’t fall out of the pan, they had to be finessed a bit before removing. Remove donuts onto a wire rack with some wax paper or a baking sheet under it, to catch little bits of cinnamon sugar after we dip them!

Dip each donut into the butter, then into the cinnamon sugar mixture, I just dipped the tops, but you can certainly do both sides if you are feeling wild.

 

Whole Wheat Honey Oatmeal Bread

23 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by in Baking, Bloggerific, Breads

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Whole Wheat Honey Oatmeal Bread
I’m so happy I participated in Joy the Baker’s Baking Boot Camp this year. The boot camp is long over, but the skills I learned with yeast were unforgettable! I got over my fear of making anything that you had to let rise once or twice. More than anything, I learned it just takes time and patience, not pastry chef skills.

Continue reading →

Gingerbread Dutch Baby

06 Saturday Dec 2014

Posted by in Baking, Breads, Breakfast, Holidays

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gingerbread Dutch Baby

Happy Saturday! Just a quick and easy little holiday breakfast recipe for you. My obsession with Smitten Kitchen continues…and I made this gingerbread dutch baby this morning. I didn’t stray too far from the original recipe, but I used a 10 inch cast iron skillet instead of a 9, cut back on the butter and used nonfat milk instead of whole. Enjoy!

Recipe
Gingerbread Dutch Baby
Makes 1 (10 inch) Dutch Baby, serving 2
adapted from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Ingredients

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp unsulfured molasses
  • 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp (a dash or two) ground ginger
  • pinch of ground cloves
  • 1/8 tsp (dash or two) nutmeg
  • dash salt
  • 1/3 cup milk (I used nonfat, though the recipes suggests to use whole)
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • Powdered sugar and maple syrup, for serving

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F. Crack the eggs into a blender and run until they are pale in color. Add remaining ingredients except for the butter and powdered sugar, and process until smooth. Add the butter to the cast iron skillet (I used a 10 inch, though the recipe suggested a 9 inch) and put in the oven for a minute until the butter is melted. Swirl the butter around and up the sides, making sure the pan is nicely coated.

Pour the batter into the prepared skillet, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pancake has puffed up and browned a bit. Mine went in for the full 20 minutes and didn’t really poof until the last five minutes of baking.

Remove pancake from oven and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve slices directly from the cast iron skillet with warm maple syrup.

Sweet Potato Pie

23 Sunday Nov 2014

Posted by in Bloggerific, Desserts, Entertaining, Thanksgiving

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sweet Potato Pie

Let’s talk Thanksgiving – if there is one thing I have never understood, it’s having TWO potato dishes – mashed potatoes AND a sweet potato casserole. I get it if you are having 30 people over for Thanksgiving…yeah, you are going to need a lot of dishes and a lot of food. But for a smaller get together, I feel like a person should only have to worry about 1 potato dish and leave room for the other good stuff – stuffing, rolls, veggie sides…and DESSERT.

Sweet Potato Pie

If you want both, I think a sweet potato pie is the way to go! We have the same idea as a pumpkin pie going here – but instead we use real sweet potatoes! Doesn’t that make you feel great about yourself? And pssst – I really think this sweet potato pie is better than pumpkin pie!

Sweet Potato Pie

Continue reading →

Pumpkin Bread (with some special add-ins)

21 Tuesday Oct 2014

Posted by in Baking, Breads, Desserts, Easy, Holidays

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread is kind of a ‘duh’ thing to be making right now. I mean…………it’s time for pumpkin EVERYTHING. This year is worse than any other year. I have never seen so many ridiculous flavored pumpkin things…but that didn’t stop me from buying some “Limited Edition” Pumpkin Spice flavored “morsels” (do you HATE the word morsels too?).

Pumpkin Mini Loaves

Yeah – I just had to. But thankfully, I found a pumpkin bread recipe that will last for years to come. It will still be good even after these pumpkin chips get discontinued forever and ever. It will taste good in July, considering the way things are going these days Halloween stuff will probably start hitting the stores mid-summer in the years to come.

Pumpkin Bread

The reason this pumpkin bread recipe is great is because you use an ENTIRE can of pumpkin. Nothing is worse than opening a can of pumpkin and having half of it sitting around with you twiddling your thumbs, not knowing what to do with it. Yes – this recipe makes 3 loaves, but the bread freezes great, and ’tis the season to start pawning off all of your baked goods on family and friends.

tasty fillings

Loaf and mini loaves

Side note: I really like using a mini-loaf pan for these sorts of things because they are super fun. If you don’t have a mini loaf pan, use the cheap store-bought foil ones – they work WAY better than my fancy Le Creuset loaf pan (sad but true).

Pumpkin Bread

Until next year, pumpkin bread. I’ll definitely be revisiting this recipe. Do you have any favorite pumpkin bread recipes you would like to share? I’d love to find the ultimate recipe, and for now this one is close!

Recipe
Pumpkin Bread (with pumpkin chips and walnuts!)
makes 3 (7×3 inch) loaf pans, or about 24 mini loaves
adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

  • 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 3 cups white sugar
  • 3 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 cup chopped, roasted walnuts (optional)
  • 1 cup (or about 10 oz, aka a whole bag) of pumpkin flavored morsels (can sub white choc chips too)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 3 (7×3 inch) loaf pans, or use a mini loaf pan if you have one.

2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Add the chips and walnuts, if using. I roasted my walnuts in a skillet on low heat for a few minutes before adding, just to amp it up a little. Pour into the greased pans.

3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the oven, only about 25-30 minutes if you are using a mini loaf pan. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool and invert bread onto a wired rack if desired.

Homemade Applesauce

08 Monday Sep 2014

Posted by in Easy, Healthy, LuLu's Classics, Sauces

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Homemade Apple Sauce

When life gives you apples…you make…applesauce! Lulu’s apple tree produced a lot of good (and yes, a few bad) apples this year. While I would have liked to make 10 batches of apple cobbler, I felt like applesauce was a little more practical and healthy. Plus, I had never made homemade applesauce before, and it’s a pretty dang easy, wing-it recipe. From scratch applesauce is also about 130912830912 times better than anything you would buy at the store. I don’t care how cute those little squeeze tubes are!

Apples

Continue reading →