Pear Cinnamon Streusel Muffins

How hard is it to get a picture of a muffin I thought to myself as I looked through what seemed like 100 bad ones.  Let's not get distracted by the fact I took 100 shots of said muffin in the first place.  The muffin just wasn't having any of it.  I advised the muffin, look just sit there looking darn delicious and appealing.  Matter of fact turn your chin down a little bit to the right and you will eliminate the old double muffin chin.

Apparently the muffin didn't want my sage advice; neither did Hot Dog Dude when I told him he should probably review all the invoices before I sent them out for the third time the other day. Apparently my teenage daughter passed up on the advice of her older (yet wiser) mom when she downloaded crap I told her not to on my work computer.

It's okay, I had no plans for this morning besides backing up the computer before having it repaired and having to start all over again on the invoices that were stored on it that need correcting again.  It's flippin okay because I have my Siamese twins helping me at work in the office today and I have a whole container of muffins and no one is here to stop me from eating them all.  Also the boss isn't here to catch me wasting company time blogging instead of working.  Bwahahaha.

Pay back is sweet I tell you.

Pear and Cinnamon Streusel Muffins 

Muffin batter:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

2/3 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup peeled and diced pears, 1/4-inch sized

Streusel: 

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine in bowl flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter, cream cheese, milk, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon and stir to combine. Fold pears in gently.

Divide batter between 12 muffin cups lined with paper or foil liners.

In a small bowl combine light brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon and crumble together with your fingers or a fork until the mixture starts to clump a bit.

Divide the streusel evenly over the 12 muffins.

Bake for 17-19 minutes.

p.s. Whenever I make anything with cinnamon it reminds of Becky - Baking and Cooking a Tale of Two Loves because she keeps her house stocked with a Costco sized container of cinnamon that she bakes up all sorts of treat with, besides the fact she is extra sweet herself.

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your day, I've decide today is a waste so why not polish off the rest of the muffins.

Gina

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

Boring Pumpkin Pie? Try "Pumpkin Pie & Crumb Cake in a Jar"

Perhaps I'm a little long winded at times and make you wait much too long to get to the good stuff. Well today is your lucky day and we are going straight to dessert.  Especially when that dessert involves pumpkin pie, crumble cake, and a chance encounter in the oven.  

Pumpkin Pie 

15 ounces pumpkin puree

6 ounces evaporated milk

3/4 cup milk (low-fat works fine)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl combine pumpkin puree, evaporated milk, milk, sugar, eggs, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and salt. Whisk until well combined.

Spray (7) eight ounce glass (heat-resistant) jelly jars with a little no-stick spray.  Divide the pie mixture evenly between the jars; they end up about 2/3 full.  Place them on a baking sheet and set aside.

Crumble Cake

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup butter, cold, cut into 1/2" sized pieces

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 of a vanilla bean, split and seeds removed or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch salt

In the bowl of a food processor combine the sugar, flour, butter, egg, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Pulse a few times until the mixture is still crumbly but starting to hold together.  If you don't have a food processor you can do the same thing with all your ingredients in a bowl and cut the butter in the bowl with two knives until it is in tiny pieces.

Divide the crumb mixture evenly over the pie mixture in the jars.  (I know I'm showing only 6 in the shot, but 7 does work a little better.  I was just out of jars and didn't want to dump a whole jar of jam.)

Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is set and you can see the pie in the bottom part setting.

Serve at room temperature with whipped cream or not, but really come on is there anyone out there that actually prefers their pie without whipped cream?

If you don't have any jars use an 8" x 8" baking pan.  You may need to adjust the baking time by a few minutes. When I'm unsure as to the bake time, I will start lower like 30 minutes and then add time as I see how it's coming along.

My Aunt has informed me I haven't been keeping up with my blog regularly.  I assure you I haven't gone rouge, it's just I had this very important painting to finish up for my niece.  That and a garage full of boxes to still deal with, but the boxes make my head hurt and I'd much rather deal with a unicorn and Rapunzel.

Seriously - call me if you don't like whip cream with your pie, we need to discuss this pronto because there is a whole world with whip cream in it that you are missing out on.

Enjoy,

Gina

Lattice-Topped Apple Pie Tart

I'm sitting here trying to write the story of the photos of an Apple Pie Tart I baked, yet my tired wrung out brain is fighting me tooth and nail.  I've been wandering as of late, my mind that as. My mind has been wandering to far away places, reading more and thinking about the future.  A future that includes a nephew due to arrive shortly and news today that twins are on the way from my other sister-in-law. I've been wandering to all the dark and dusty alley ways still untapped in the crevices of my mind.  I think sometimes in order to find yourself you must get lost, completely and utterly lost.

Funning thing is no matter how lost I get I or how much I fight the path my life is destined to be on, something gently guides me back in the right direction.  I wandered upon  Nick Malgieri's book Bake! and was guided straight to the kitchen where I set about baking his Apple Pie Tart on a leisurely Saturday afternoon.  I lovingly placed the apple bits in the pastry shell, sprinkled it generously with sugar, I placed a photo on Instagram and had my brother, sister-in-law and niece at my door in half an hour.  We ate pie and ice cream for dinner, played games and stayed up late.

Adapted from Nick's recipe.

Flaky Pastry Dough

2 cups all-purpose flour (spoon into a dry-measure cup and level off)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon cold water if necessary

In a food processor combine flour, salt, and baking powder and pulse to combine.  If you would like more detailed crust explanation there is one on my Dark Chocolate Cream Pie.

Add pieces of butter and eggs and pulse a few times until starting to combine.  Add the water if the dough isn't coming together enough.

Divide the dough into 1/3 and 2/3 sized pieces onto pieces of plastic wrap, flatten and wrap tightly in the plastic wrap.

Store in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours before rolling out.

Apple Filling

3 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, halved, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch dice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces

Finishing

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the bigger piece of dough on a floured surface and place the crust into an 11" tart pan with a removable bottom.  Use your fingers to make sure it gets into the sides and edges of the pan.  Cut off any excess from the top.

Put the apples in a large bowl.  In a small bowl mix the sugars, flour, and cinnamon.  Scatter 2 tablespoons of the sugar mixture onto the bottom of the tart crust.  Pour the rest over the apples and use a large spatula to mix together.

Scrape the filling into the prepared crust and redistribute the apple pieces so that the top of the filling is level rather than domed.  You really have to work those apples in with your fingers, but they should all fit.  Dot the filling with small pieces of butter.

Roll out the other 1/3 of the crust into a rectangle on a floured surface until it's about a 1/4" thick.  I had to go a little thinner, because I didn't have as much dough to work with.

Use a pizza wheel or serrated pastry wheel to cut dough into 1/2" wide strips.  Place 4 or 5 strips an 1" apart or so going in one direction and then the same amount, going the other.  I just pushed the edges down to the edge of the crust with my finger and cut off any extra.

Brush the top of the crust with a little water and sprinkle with the two tablespoons of sugar.

Place the tart pan on a baking sheet so it won't leak in the oven.

Bake for 45-55 minutes.

I've been fighting who I am as of late, rebelling if you will, and balking at the path I'm supposed to be on. It's funny though the harder I fight it, the more it seems futile.  This pie pulled me right back into a warm, comfy, familiar place, one that I have been many times and one that I want to visit many more times to come.  Matter of fact, I'm not sure if I can ever look at a traditional apple pie again and want it in the same way I used to.  This tart version was need I say, gasp, pretty impressive.

Maybe I can bake my way back and things will fall back into place, it's worth a shot anyways.

Do any of you have a way of finding your way back when you are lost?

Gina

Caramel Apple Cupcakes or a.k.a. "The Hills Have Eyes Cupcakes"...

Doctor Franken-Recipe was as it again, the Doctor kind of has this bad habit of experimenting with recipes until some ghoulish (or delicious - your call) creation awakens.  There were all these twisted thoughts of Halloween goodies lurking around in the dungeon called my brain.  I pulled out the high-kilowatt capacitor and added some extra juice (Earl Grey Juice).

I sewed on different parts of some of my all-time fall flavors.  Tweaked here and consulted with Egore there. Flipped the switch and with a burst of electricity that shot through my kitchen and probably startled the neighbors too, these "Hills Have Eyes Cupcakes" were born (insert evil laughter here).  It didn't even take that much of an electrical charge either. Just try explaining this though to angry firemen whose dinner you just disrupted when you blew the transformer to the neighborhood and they had to come out and respond.

Good thing I had some cupcakes as a peace offering or things might not have ended so well for the good Doctor.

Caramel Apple Filling
1 cup (or 2 medium) apples, diced 1/4-inch I used Envy which is similar to a Honeycrisp (a firm and sweet apple will work well)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Juice from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

In a small saucepan combine the apples, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon and cook on medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until most of the juice has evaporated.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Apple Cupcake Batter
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a clean bowl beat the 3 egg whites until they form stiff peaks.  Set aside.

In another bowl combine butter, egg yolks, flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt.  Add the apple filling and then fold in the egg whites gently.

Place paper muffin liners in 12 muffin cups and divide the batter between the liners.

Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

These cupcakes are a little denser like an apple pound cake so don't worry if they don't rise too much.

Caramel Buttercream
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Salted Caramel - You can use store bought or here is a recipe for you

Recipe for Caramel:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons water
Pinch Flake Sea Salt (such as Maldon)
1/2 cup heavy cream

A tutorial on the caramel is here if you are interested.

In the bowl of a mixer beat the butter until light and fluffy, slowly add the powdered sugar in and keep beating. Slowly drizzle in caramel, if the frosting is too runny add a bit more of the powdered sugar.  Also I put my frosting in the fridge for a few to set up because my caramel was still a little warm when I added it.

For assembly of the cupcakes, use a round tip with a 1/4" opening to pipe the frosting on and use store bought googly eyes that were prettied up with food color markers and a little colored sugar.  You could even buy cupcakes and give them the spooky treatment and call it a night.

Don't be Doctor Kill-Joy and have a little fun with your cupcakes this Halloween!

Enjoy,

Gina