Frosted Apple-Cinnamon Drops

I was feeling a bit nostalgic the other evening and reminiscing about apple cookies my mom used to make for us when we were little.  I did a little research and I found an old recipe in a Sunset Cookie book that sounded similar, but I felt it needed a little something-something to make it worthy of adding it to the cookie line-up this year.

Brown butter, oh yeah that ups the deliciousness factor.  Cinnamon Chips, heck yes, I saw Liren - Kitchen Confidante post a Pumpkin Cinnamon Chip Muffin  recipe some time back and I swear I looked high and low for those darn chips.  I finally secured some at my local Tar-jay, you should have seen me it was ridiculous.  Here I am telling everyone in the isle, "Omg, they have cinnamon chips, do you know how long I've been looking for these?"  Of course they didn't, but I sure was proud of myself.  It was the equivalent of scoring the last talking Elmo (yes I'm acutely aware I'm dating myself here) the day before Christmas.  So if you see the chips in your local store, throw them in your cart a.s.a.p., or if you spot the last bag in someone else's cart and they somehow manage to work their way into your own cart (I saw nothing).

Frosted Apple- Cinnamon Drops

Cookie Dough
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups finely chopped granny smith apple (about 1 and a half apples)
1/2 cup cinnamon chips (I found Hersey's brand at my local Target)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Add butter to a small saucepan and heat on medium-low heat until nicely browned.  Usually takes about 5 minutes.  To a large bowl add the brown sugar and browned butter, stir to combine.  Add the egg, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and milk and stir until combined.

Stir in the chopped apples and cinnamon chips.  If you can't find the cinnamon ones, I think semi-sweet chips would be great in these too.

Scoop tablespoon sized amounts of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat.  These spread a bit so leave a little room between each cookie.  Should get 27 cookies or more depending on size.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until browning slightly on the bottom.  If you press one with your finger and it doesn't start to spring back they need a little more time.  Let cool.  For the most even baking I like to rotate my pans from upper to lower and lower to upper halfway between cooking time.

Icing
4 tablespoons butter
2 ounces cream cheese
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Zest from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine butter and cream cheese in a small saucepan and heat on medium-low heat until melted and whisk a little to combine. Whisk in powdered sugar, lemon zest and juice.  Should be a nice drizzling consistency.  If it seems too runny; whisk in more powdered sugar a spoonful at a time.  You can drizzle the icing over the cookies with a spoon or put it into a piping bag.  Let icing firm up and store the cookies in between layers of wax paper in an airtight container.

Like the cute red heart on these?  I just reserved a small amount of the icing and tinted it red and piped on a heart.  Adds just a little extra love I think.

Enjoy,

Gina

Sourdough Bread Pudding with Apple-Raspberry Sauce

I was on a mission this morning to clean the house, catch up the laundry, and clean out the fridge.  I was on a roll until I got half way into cleaning out the fridge.  Before you go thinking it's because I'm a slacker let me assure you there is a perfectly good reason why I didn't ever finish cleaning out the fridge.

I was busy pulling out all the items in the way back of the fridge that expired way too long ago when a half eaten container of raspberries (due to expire at a moment's notice) caught my eye, then a couple of lonely apples that were on their last legs.  I had to drop everything and do something about their desperate situation.

I decided to fix a small batch of apple-raspberry sauce and while I was pulling out a pot I noticed a loaf of sourdough bread on the counter that had been there so long it was as hard as a rock. (Cough, cough.) It's not that I'm usually that neglectful with my ingredients; its just things got a little hectic around here this weekend with my daughter going to homecoming.

Before I knew it I was whipping up a batch of bread pudding to accompany the sauce.  Besides bread pudding always scores me bonus points with Hot Dog Dude, it's his favorite dessert on the planet.

Sourdough Bread Pudding

4 cups milk

4 eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar + 2 teaspoons

2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 loaf sourdough French bread, cut in 1-inch cubes

2 ounces dark chocolate, chopped in large pieces

2-3 tablespoons butter

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cut the loaf of bread up into 1/2" cubes and place into a buttered 9" x 13" x 2" baking pan.

Heat milk in a saucepan on medium heat until bubbles appear around the outside edges, remove from the heat.

In a large bowl add the 2 whole eggs and separate the other 2 and add only the yolks, save the whites for an omelet or something.  Add the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Beat together to combine.

Slowly drizzle in the warm milk while whisking.  Strain the milk mixture with a fine sieve and pour over the top of the bread cubes.  Let sit for 15 minutes.

Cut up the chocolate and sprinkle over the top of the bread mixture.  Cut the butter up into thin slices and add to the bread mixture and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 teaspoons sugar.

Bake for 50 minutes or until the edges of the cubes start to brown a bit and most of the milk is absorbed.

Apple-Raspberry Sauce

2 medium apples, skin removed, cored, and chopped in 1/4" pieces

1/2 cup apple cider or apple juice

3-4 ounces fresh raspberries

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Add the diced apples and juice to a small saucepan and cook on medium to medium-low heat for 8 minutes with the lid on and then add the raspberries and sugar and cook for 5-6 more minutes uncovered.  Once all the fruit is tender, turn the heat off and puree the mixture with a handheld immersion blender or food processor.

Tangy sourdough bread, melty dark chocolate and a zippy fruit sauce, maybe I will add this dessert to my all-time favorites list or at least until the next time I have dessert anyways.  I'm anticipating my next dessert to be within the next 48 hours because I like to keep myself on a strict dessert schedule.  I like to think it compensates for my lenient housekeeping schedule.

Enjoy,

Gina