Apple Season!

The first time I had this cake was 3 years ago. One of my coworkers baked it and I politely passed because I didn't "do" hot fruit. She insisted I try it so I sucked it up and prepared myself for a nasty, mushy apple dessert. What I found though was heaven.

I've made it a few times since and I swear it gets better each time. I laugh thinking back to the first time I made it. There weren't any specific directions on the topping, so I poured the melted butter on top of the partially baked cake followed by a mixture of brown sugar/flour/cinnmon. Little did I know it was supposed to be a crumb topping. Oh I've come so far....

This cake may just be the perfect fall dessert. In fact, someone even said this cake "tastes like fall". It would be prefect for breakfast with a Chai Tea Latte or Caramel Macchiato. I've also served these as Apple Bars. We had it for dessert the other night after our Mac and Cheese. The cake is moist with a nice hint of cinnamon and cloves and a fabulous baked brown sugar crumb topping. The house smells amazing when you add the crumb mixture to the top. Oh and I should warn you, it's so easy to devour this. Take it into work, your coworkers and waistline will thank you.

Apple Cake


*I'm so bummed my pictures don't look very good, they do the cake no justice. The stupid sun didn't want to cooperate today. Oh how I miss summer.

Ingredients:

2/3 cup oil
1/3 cup orange juice
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cup flour
1tsp each:
cinnamon
salt
baking powder
baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves
3 cups chopped apples (I used granny smith and fuji)

Topping:
3 TBSP melted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
Dash Cinnamon


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan.

Beat oil, OJ, eggs, and sugar until well-blended. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in apples.

Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 30 minutes Prepare topping (mix topping ingredients until crumb mixture forms). Sprinkle topping on top of cake and bake an additional 20 - 30 minutes.

More Hot Fruit?

After giving Juicy Strawberry Scones a shot and actually liking them, I wanted to make another recipe that involved Strawberries. I planned on making these Strawberry Muffins for breakfast on Sunday, but the mister and I didn’t get out of bed til 11:00 – this is something that never happens. So tonight I decided to play hooky from all my school work, make the muffins and do quite a few blog updates.

I put these in the oven, ate dinner, and forgot about them. They turned out a bit more brown than I would have liked, not burned or anything, just not as soft as I would have liked. Don’t worry though, that didn’t stop me from eating 2 of them for dessert. =)

Strawberry Muffins
A Taste of Heaven Cookbook




2 1/4 Cups Flour
1/3 Cup Sugar
3 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1/2 Cup Oil
1/2 Cup Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 Cup Sliced Strawberries (I chopped mine)

Stir together flour, sugar, baking power, and salt in a large bowl. In a small bowl beat eggs and then blend in oil, vanilla and milk. Add contents of small bowl to contents of large bowl. Mix until moistened. Fold in strawberries. Spoon into greased muffin tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden.

Red, White, and Yum.

Happy 4th of July! This morning we woke up and went on a bike ride. Afterwards, I was starving and thought I would make something special since it's a holiday.

Bisquick Strawberry Shortcake.
(Pre-Topping!)

I know most people think of this as a dessert but today, I rationalized that this is most definitely a breakfast food. I mean it consists of biscuits, strawberries, and milk err...... vanilla ice cream and whip cream.

2 1/3 c. Bisquick baking mix
1/2 c. milk
3 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. butter
1qt. strawberries, sliced and sweetened
Whip Cream

Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Mix first 4 ingredients until dough forms.
Knead 8-10 times on surface dusted with Bisquick.

Roll 1/2 inch thick.
Cut with 3-inch cutter dipped in Bisquick.
Bake on cookie sheet until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.

Split shortcakes, fill and top with strawberries and whip cream.
Serve while the biscuits are still warm!

View from Top w/o Whip Cream:

With Whip Cream - YUM!

Next time I make this I will change a few things. I'll make my biscuits bigger and I won't cook them as long. They weren't dry by any means but if they were a little doughier (is that a word?!) that would have been good too. I ended up using 2 biscuits cut in half for each plate, next time I'll just make them twice as big.

I Love this recipe for 3 reasons 1) It is easy 2) It is delicious 3) I can use the leftover biscuits for another meal if I want to.

When cooking if I can make a recipe somewhat healthier I try to.... for this I used the Heart Healthy Bisquick, low fat whip cream, and low fat ice cream.