The Best Apple Crisp Ever

Apple Crisp was probably one of my very first desserts I made as a child. I had a children's version of  a Betty Crocker cookbook, and I would make this recipe again and again.  Over the years I tweaked it to appeal to my own taste and it's my "go to" dessert in the Fall.  It's so easy and versatile, and you can make it in a large dish, round dish or individual ramekins.  I use sweet apples so that I do not need to add any sugar to them.  The only sugar is in the wonderful, rich and oatmeal laced topping.

This recipe will make an 8" x 8" dish or 4 individual 1 cup ramekins/dishes.

Ingredients:

6 large sweet, soft apples (like Cortland or Macintosh), peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar (I prefer dark, but light works as well)
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/3 c old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp. salt
5 T cold butter, cut into 1/2 pieces

Preheat oven to 375*.  In a large bowl, toss apples with cinnamon and place in 8"x8" dish or 4 ramekins.
In same bowl add remaining 5 ingredients.  Using a pastry blender or your hands, work butter and dry ingredients together until course crumbs appear.  Sprinkle topping over apples.  Place dish(es) on a baking sheet and bake 20-25 minutes until filling is bubbly and topping is browned.
Best served warm.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream if desired.

Yumly!

Cauliflower Soup with Roasted Brussel Sprouts & Bacon

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, fine diced
2 cloves minced garlic
1 cauliflower head, cored and roughly chopped
2 T finely minced fresh parsley
8 c low-sodium vegetable stock
6 T all-purpose flour
2 c whole milk
1 c half-and-half
1-2 tsp. salt
Ground black pepper to taste
1 container of fresh, small brussel sprouts, cleaned and roasted with a little evoo & salt
3 strips of thick bacon, cooked crisp and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Melt 1/2 stick butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook until translucent. Add the carrots, celery and garlic and cook for a couple minutes more. Toss in the cauliflower, stir well, and cook with lid on over very low heat for 15 minutes.

Add parsley and vegetable broth and simmer for 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, melt the remaining 1/2 stock butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour.  Cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Whisk in the milk until smooth. Remove from heat and add half-in-half.  Pour this mixture into the pot.  Add salt and pepper.  Simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Taste and and add more salt if needed.

Puree soup with an immersion blender for a smoother, thicker consistency.  Simmer another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add the roasted brussel sprouts and bacon.  YUM!

(Recipe adapted from Ree Drummond of the Food Network.)

Enjoy!

Sausage, Cabbage & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

8 oz. (or 4 links) hot or sweet Italian sausage, removed from casings
1 large onion, chopped
2 large sliced carrots
2 celery stalks, cut in 1/2" pieces
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1 c water
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 small head of green cabbage, cut thin
1 T flour

Break sausage into chunks into a large pot or Dutch oven. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until browned.
Add onion, carrots & celery.  Cover and continue cooking over medium heat until onions begin to soften, about 3 minutes.
Add broth, 1 c water and garlic.  Simmer 5 minutes or until carrots are almost tender.
Stir in cabbage; cook 5 minutes until vegetables are tender.
In a small bowl, stir flour and remaining 1/4 c water until blended.  Add to soup and cook 2 minutes.

(Recipe adapted from Woman's Day - March 2010)

Suga's Butternut Squash Bisque

I absolutely love the butternut squash soup at our favorite restaurant.  I can't get enough of it as it's on their seasonal menu making for a small window of opportunity.  I decided to try and duplicate it on my own.  It's not exact, but pretty darn close if I may say so myself.  This bisque has a delicate sweetness to it; not savory like the Curried Butternut Squash soup I posted last year.

Ingredients:

2 medium butternut squash, peeled, pulp removed and cut into 1" chunks
2 small carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
2 small apples, cored, peeled and quartered
1 small sweet onion, skin removed and quartered
1 rib of celery, strings removed and cut into 4 pieces
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups apple cider
1 tsp. Kosher salt
2/3 cup of pure maple syrup
1/3 c packed brown sugar
3 T unsalted butter
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 - 1 1/2 cups heavy cream (more or less depending on desired consistency)
Greek yogurt or sour cream
Ground cinnamon

In a dutch oven add the first 9 ingredients.  Cook until all vegetables are fork tender.  In small batches place in a blender or food processor and process until smooth.  Add back to the pot.  You can also use an immersion blender for this step.

Once you have processed all the vegetables and have a smooth base, add maple syrup, brown sugar, butter and spices.  Simmer on stove on low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and making sure not to burn it.  You may want to put a mesh pot guard over the top as the bisque is thick and tends to splatter.  Splatters are very hot!!  Do not use the lid to the dutch oven as it will heat up the soup too much.  Stir in heavy cream until blended.

To serve, ladle into soup bowls and top with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and sprinkle with ground cinnamon.  You can also use candied pecans or pepitas if you have on hand.

Apple Cider Sangria

Very easy to prepare and oh so refreshing.  Just the drink you want to serve this time of year at a dinner party or Halloween gathering.  I recently hosted a Soup Night, and this was a real hit and paired perfectly with the menu.

Ingredients:

1/2 Gallon of good Apple Cider
1/3 Bottle Red Apple Schnapps
2  3" cinnamon sticks
5 whole cloves
2 red sweet apples (like Cortland), cored and cut into medium size chunks (feel free to add halved grapes, orange slices, maraschino cherries)
1/2 bottle Prosecco or white wine of your choice
Dried apple slices, optional

Best prepared 1 - 2 days before serving so the apples and liquid can marry.

Using a 1-gallon glass container, add the cider, Schnapps, cinnamon sticks, cloves & apple chunks (if using other fruits, add them at this time). Cover and refrigerate.  Just before serving, remove the cloves and add the Presecco or wine of your choice.  Fill wine glasses with ice and pour the Sangria over.  If you happen to have dried apple slices, one attached to the rim of the glass makes a perfect garnish.

Enjoy!

Pretty Pink Applesauce

Applesauce is the easiest thing in the world to make and tastes so much better than store-bought.  A huge return for little effort.  Well, yeah, there are the apples and the fact that you need to remove their peels, or do you?  If you have a food mill at home, even that step can be skipped which narrows it down to coring and quartering.  Of course that is made simple by using the apple corer tool available everywhere for purchase.  I add the reddest of the peels back to the pot and cook along with the apples.  This gives the applesauce its pinkishness.

I do not add anything to my applesauce while cooking it as I am never sure of all the recipes I will use it for, and not everyone wants the sugar.  On the plate, however, I add a little brown sugar, a tab of butter and some ground cinnamon.  I like to serve it over top of homemade biscuits or Johnny Cakes.  Fabulous for breakfast!

If you are so inclined to make the best of everything, including the cores, refer to my recipe for Apple Peel & Core Jelly Jars!

Ingredients

6 lbs. red apples, peeled, cored & quartered (reserve peels)*
    Note: If you are using a food mill you can keep the peels intact
4 c water

Brown sugar
Butter
Cinnamon

Add prepared apple pieces to a dutch oven.  Add several of the reddest peels to the pot and add the water.  Bring to boil on high heat.  Reduce and continue to cook until all the apples are very tender (about 40 minutes).  With tongs, take care to remove all the peel from the pot.  If you like your sauce on the chunky side as I do, take a potato masher and go thru the apples until you reach the desired consistency.  If you prefer a smoother consistency, you can put small batches in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.  You can also process only half the batch if you want some chunkiness.  If you are using a food mill, process according to manufacturer's directions, leaving peels behind.

Store in container with lid in refrigerator up to one week.  When ready to service, heat in pot or in microwave safe dish.  Add brown sugar, butter and cinnamon to taste.

Best Ever Cranberry Pumpkin Bread

The original recipe calls for cranberries.  I made mine with 1/3 cup each of cranberries, chopped figs & golden raisins.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1 can (15 ounces) 

4 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup orange juice or water

1 cup sweetened dried, fresh or frozen cranberries, OR

1/3 cup each cranberries, chopped figs & golden raisins

PREHEAT oven to 350° F. Grease and flour two 9 x 5-inch loaf pans.

COMBINE flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil and juice in large mixer bowl; beat until just blended. Add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture; stir just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans.

BAKE for 60 to 65 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe makes two loaves.

(Recipe adapted from VeryBestBaking.com )

Spiced Apple Pumpkin Butter

Ingredients

2 c of fresh pumpkin puree or (1) 15oz. can
1/2 small apple, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
1/3 c pure maple syrup
2 T brown sugar
1/2 c apple cider
1 T fresh lemon juice
2 T boiled cider (optional)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1/8 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients into a large, heavy bottom sauce pan.  Bring to simmer on medium-low heat; then reduce to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30-45 minutes or until liquid is reduced and mixture turns dark.  If a smoother consistency is preferred, use an emulsion blender or a regular blender and process until desired consistency.  Divide among 2 jars and secure the lids.  Bring to room temperature before refrigerating.

Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

In this recipe I used small seeds from Sugar Pumpkins.  Larger seeds from regular pumpkins would require longer baking times.  I will put those in parenthesis.

Ingredients

3 c raw pumpkin seeds (from 6 Sugar Pumpkins)
Olive Oil
1 rounded T of Kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp Ancho Chile Powder

After removing flesh from the Sugar Pumpkins, separate the seeds and rinse thoroughly.
Preheat oven to 300*.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.  Spread out the pumpkin seeds in a single layer and bake for 20 (30) minutes; stirring halfway through, to dry them out.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl or ramekin, mix salt, garlic powder and chili powder together.
Increase oven temp to 350*.  When seeds are cool enough to handle, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with spice mixture.  Coat seeds completely using your hands.  Spread out in even layer and return to oven for 16 (24) minutes; stirring halfway through.  Pumpkin seeds should be crunchy.

Variations:
Cinnamon-Sugar: For a sweeter snack, replace olive oil with melted butter and replace the spice mixture with 1/2 T Kosher salt, 1 1/2 T granulated sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon.
For spicy sweet, add 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper to the above mixture.
Maple Brown Sugar: Another variation would be to replace the butter with maple syrup and replace the spice mixture with 1/2 tsp Kosher salt, 3 T brown sugar and 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper (optional).
Experiment.  Really, any combination of your favorite spices would work here.

Sugar Pumpkin Mum Pots

Great Fall decoration for door prizes, to enhance a dinner table or make individual pumpkins for each guest with their name written on the leaf as place cards.

Supplies:

1 Sugar Pumpkin
Pumpkin Carving knife or other small sharp knife
Pumpkin flesh removal scoop or big spoon
Drill with 1/4" drill bit
Assorted Mum stems
Silk leaves (optional)
Sharpie w fine pt. (optional)

With a sharp knife cut a circle 1" below the stem of the pumpkin, make cuts at an inward angle so the top does not fall into the pumpkin when replaced.
Using a scoop or large spoon, remove all of the flesh inside (reserve pumpkin seeds for roasting later. See my recipe for Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds).
Drill 5 evenly spaced holes around and through the pumpkin about 1" down from opening.

Fill with water and replace top.
Trim leaves from stems of Mums and cut to fit through the holes and well into the water.
If you want to add a message or use as place settings at a dinner party, write on the silk leaves with a fine point Sharpie.  Attack to pumpkin with a straight pin.  Hot glue will come loose unless you are using artificial pumpkins.