Apple Pie Muffins - FIVE YEAR Blog Birthday!

Hey! My blog's birthday has come and gone. Once again I was too busy to post. But I feel sad seeing that it was the FIVE YEAR anniversary of when I started this blog.

 

Every year for my blog birthday post I write a recap of what's different in my life. Usually nothing much has changed and it's the same thing year in and year out. But guess what! Times, they have changed!

 

1. I'm still singing a fair amount and booking more gigs than usual.

2. I quit my office job back in May and starting temping around a couple of months ago. It's been fun if not a little unstable.

3. I'm back to running when I'm not super busy or feeling injured.

4. I have a boyfriend! Yes! It's been awhile, but I have one! It's new, so keep following my blog to see how the relationship grows (and maybe even catch a few pictures of us!)

 

Some of my favorite recipes from the last year are:

Pomegranate and Orange Sangria - This recipe is SO GOOD. Must bring to all holiday parties.

Caramel Rolls - I was so happy to ace my mom's recipe!

Dark Chocolate Ganache Crepe Cake and the version I created for July 4th: Crepe Cake with Almond Whip Cream and Cherries

Matcha Tea Cakes - It was the first time I used matcha. Expensive but fun!

 

As for this post, well, I went apple picking again and therefore needed to use up apples!

I found a nice muffin recipe and quickly put some of my prized apples in the batter. These muffins hit the spot on a dreary fall morning. If you have extra apples around, consider using this Apple Pie Muffin recipe. 

Apple Pie Muffin

recipe found here: Sally's Baking Addiction

Bake well and prosper!

Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips

Hello lovely readers! This world traveler has finally made her way back to her home, NYC! I've been here for a little more than a week and I've already baked! But I didn't take any photos of the brownies I made. However, my last week in Pittsburgh I baked AND took photos!

The dear friends I made in Pittsburgh who allowed me to bake whenever I wanted in their kitchen let me bake one more time. But they had a request: Could I use some of the zucchini that was given to them?

I was so excited about this request! Last year I wanted to bake with my NYC's friend's zucchini crop from his garden, but his crop was late/non-existent. I was overjoyed and quite amused by how large the zucchini was from the Pittsburgh garden.

 

I easily found a recipe online to make chocolate chip zucchini bread and I was quickly whipping up the batter.

It was still warm when I offered it up to my opera friends during our end of season party. The inside of the bread was moist and almost cake like and the hint of cinnamon paired surprising well with the zucchini. Let's just say it was gone before a soprano could finish singing Sempre libera.

Zucchini Bread with Chocolate Chips recipe found here: cooks.com
Erika's Extras: I omitted the walnuts in this recipe.

Bake well and prosper!

Spicy Chili Chocolate Cookies (gluten-free version)

The spice in these cookies are perfect for the cold days we keep having here in NYC. Have I mentioned that this winter's been a bad one? Oh yeah. I mentioned it here, here, and here. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

 

Two weekends ago I made these cookies to share with my fellow running team mates. A group of us cheered on other runners while standing out in the cold.

See how bundled up everyone was? Yeah. It was COLD.

 

But the chili dark chocolate mixed with cayenne pepper and cinnamon had a nice enough kick in it to help warm up whomever ate one (which was most of us.)

 

So, if it's still super cold where you are and winter seems never ending, consider making these cookies. (And if it's not, send warm weather my way and keep this recipe for next fall/winter.)

I used gluten free flour for these cookies and they turned out perfectly fine. Besides that change, I followed everything else called for in the recipe. The recipe can be found here: Completely Delicious

Bake well and prosper!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake

Wow! This is only my 3rd pumpkin dessert post on my blog. That's less than one a year! It's not that I'm anti-pumpkin. That would be silly! It's just one of those seasonal foods that I forget to use! Like blackberries! (Mental note to self: use blackberries!)

 

Do you ever find yourself at the end of a fruit or veggie season and think, "Oh, whoops! I'll remember to use that ingredient NEXT year...yeah..."? If not then you are a super multi-user of produce (or you have a garden.)

 

Well, I was glad to make a pumpkin dessert just in time for fall. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any pumpkin pie spice at Whole Foods and was about to go home and mix my own spices when I found their winter spice blend. One whiff of this blend and I was in love. I quickly added it to my items to buy and then brought it triumphantly home and made my room mate smell it. He agreed...it smells like the holidays! It was the perfect blend of spices to add to this pumpkin chocolate chip bundt cake.

I must admit that I found this recipe to be quite dense. The amount of ingredients it calls for kept surprising me. THREE cups of flour and TWO cups of sugar?! But seeing I haven't baked with pumpkin in a while, I figured this was the norm.

 

The bundt cake was nice and soft. It doesn't pack a mighty pumpkin flavor so the chocolate chips and spice were a nice pairing to make it more enjoyable. My addition to this recipe is the drizzling of icing on top. It looked rather bare without it.

And WITH the icing it makes the bundt cake look irresistible, don't you think?

 

So, besides baking with pumpkin last week, I also got this cute new boot.

I guess I was running too quickly because I tore my plantar fascia sprinting down 5th Ave at a 5:50 per mile pace. So for now, instead of "the messy chef" you can call me the "hop-a-long chef."

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake (adapted from Barbara Bakes)

Ingredients for cake:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or use a winter spice blend or make up your own spice blend)

2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup butter, soften

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 can (16 ounce) pumpkin (Erika's Extras: It's worth it to buy the better brand so as to get a better pumpkin flavor)

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (Erika's Extras: I used semi-sweet. I suggest that or dark chocolate.)

Ingredients for glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-3 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a full size bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, stir the flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition. Add the pumpkin and mix until combine. Add the dry ingredients mixing just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake 50-60 minutes or until a long thin toothpick or thin knife comes out clean.

Cool in pans 5 minutes on a wire rack. After 5 minutes invert onto wire rack. Let cool completely before adding the icing.

 

To make the glaze, sift the powdered sugar into a medium to small bowl. Stir in a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream. Add more cream to get the thickness of glaze that you desire. 

Bake well and prosper!

Cinnamon Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made some cookies Sat morning for a weekend of fun.

 

This past weekend I went to the Jersey Shore to cheer on runners running the NJ 1/2 and Full Marathon. I got to stay at a couple's beach house and wanted to bring something for us to enjoy both in the evening and in the morning.

 

I found that these cookies were hearty and are probably a better fit for Autumn. However, they were perfect this weekend with red wine in the evening and perfect with coffee/chai in the morning. And they were good fuel for all the cheering I did.

 

The runners REALLY liked that last sign. I like making runners laugh. It's no small feat to make someone laugh who's running 26.2 miles!

 

These cookies were nice and next time I'll make it with dulce de leche (which is what the original recipe calls for) instead of adding chocolate chips.

Cinnamon Walnut Cookies (adapted from Laura's Mess)

1 and a half stick of unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup dark brown sugar (Erika's Extras: I used muscovado)

1/4 cup white caster sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tsp ground cinnamon + 1/4 tsp extra, for sprinkling

2 cups (250g) plain white flour

2 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon baking soda

sea salt

1 cup raw walnuts, crushed + 2 tbsp extra, for sprinkling
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Erika's Extras: I used semi-sweet AND white chocolate chips)

Place the butter and sugars into a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream together until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla, then continue to mix at medium speed until well combined.

Sift in your flour, cornflour, baking soda, cinnamon and a large pinch of salt. Mix together, adding in the walnuts and chocolate chips when the mixture starts to come together. When well combined, refrigerate the dough for 15 minutes or until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. Take 1 Tablespoon of cookie dough and roll into a ball. Place on prepared cookie sheet and flatten each ball slightly with your hands. Press a few bits of crumbled walnut into the top of each cookie and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place the cookies into the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Bake well and prosper!

Potpourri: Baked Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

I haven't done a potpourri (a non dessert post) in awhile! But this art project was just begging to be shared. And it DID involve baking.

 

My room mate and I decided that this past weekend was the weekend to get our Christmas tree. We had decided to get a bigger tree than last year which meant we needed more ornaments. I saw a post on these cinnamon and applesauce ornaments and knew where we would be getting those ornaments from!

My room mate was in charge of rolling out the dough and cutting the shapes. He did a very good job.

He even made a mess! Such a good start to the ornaments! (Remember: If it's a mess, it's a success!)

 

Annalise from and now for something completely delicious (I just love blogs with long names!) didn't decorate her ornaments, but I saw an opportunity to use my glue gun, ribbons, and gems! (And the opportunity for wine.)

I mean, it WAS a tree decorating party. Wine was a no brainer. ;)

How cute is this snowman with his scarf?!

The Christmas lights nicely reflect off these decorative gems on the candy cane.

 

There are two special ornaments that we made because I had cookie cutters in their shapes.

Yes. I own a PacMan cookie cutter set. Not the usual suspects, eh?

Our Christmas tree looked so lovely once we were done decorating it. The red ribbon that we used for some of the cinnamon ornaments really turned out pretty and ended up looking like bows on the tree from far away.

This was such an easy and fun craft project that I plan on making it a yearly tradition. You should try it too!

Baked Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments (from and now for...delicious)

Ingredients

1 cup applesauce

1-1 1/4 cup (130 grams) ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon ground cloves (optional)

 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the applesauce, cinnamon, and cloves (if using). It may take a few minutes for the mixture to come together. You want the dough to be able to form a ball without being too sticky. Add additional applesauce or cinnamon if needed.  (Erika's Extras: I found that the extra 1/4 cup of cinnamon was much needed.) You can mix the dough by hand, it may just take longer.

2. Sprinkle a clean surface with cinnamon (like you would with flour while rolling out pie dough). Place the dough on the surface and sprinkle with more cinnamon. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough to 1/4 inch thick, sprinkling with more cinnamon to keep from sticking.

3. Cut out into desired shapes and place on the prepared sheet pan so that they aren't touching. Use a skewer to poke a hole into each ornament (to attach string). (Erika's Extras: I used the small end of a chopstick to make the holes.) Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until rock hard. (Erika's Extras: I found that the thin ones needed at least 1.5 hours and the rest were over 2 hours.)

4. Loop a decorative string through the ornament and hang on your tree. (Erika's Extras: This is the time to decorate the ornaments if you want to.)

Notes: Ornaments may also be dried at room temperature over several days.

Ornaments are not extremely fragile, but they can break. Handle with care.

Do not eat.

Bake well and prosper!