Apple Crisp with Caramel Drops

My husband and I loved this. It was so yummy. Hope you enjoy it! Oh, and I apologize in advance for the crummy pictures...I was in a hurry. Will try for better ones next time! :)

Ingredients:

Apple Crisp:
6 Medium sized granny smith apples (peeled and sliced)
1 1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
3/4 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Quick Oats
1/2 Cup Butter
1 teaspoon Nutmeg
1 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon

Caramel Drops:
1 Cup White granulated sugar
1/4 Cup Butter
Dash of Cinnamon
Dash of Nutmeg

Directions:

Apple Crisp:

- Butter/Grease sides of a 9x11 Baking dish, and preheat oven to 375.
- Put apple slices into the baking dishes. Set aside.

- In a medium bowl mix the remaining ingredients. Mix will have a crumbly texture.

- Next, sprinkle mix onto the apples. (I also like to add an extra handful of oats on the top once I've sprinkled my mix).

- Then, just bake for 30 minutes!

Caramel Drops:

- While the Apple Crisp is baking, pour sugar into a medium size saucepan. Before you turn on the heat, shake pan so sugar is evenly distributed.

- Cook over medium heat and wait.......and wait.........and wait some more! Once, you see the edges start to melt, then shake the pan again, so it doesn't start to burn. As the sugar starts to melt more, you can stir it around.

- The sugar should obtain an amber looking color. Right after the sugar starts to smoke, remove it from heat. Now, add the butter, but very carefully, as the mixture will sputter! I suggest wearing an oven mit so you don't get burned. Next, add a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

- Now, spoon the mixture onto a silicone baking mat while it's still warm. Don't worry about it looking pretty, the excess strands will just snap off.

- Next just place them in the fridge to cool and you're done! Serve with the apple crisp...or eat them by themselves for a sweetly spiced candy treat :)

Enjoy......try the Apple Crisp and Caramel Drops with some icecream too!

Up Next :  Cream cheese filled Pumpkin Muffins!

French Bread

I absolutely love bread, so for anyone else that loves bread, here's an easy recipe for French Bread. This recipe yields two loaves (which my husband and I ate in like a day!). 

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon yeast
4 Cups flour
1 Tablespoon salt
1 2/3 Cups warm water
1/4 Cup cornmeal (optional)
1 Egg (optional)

Directions:

- Pour yeast in a small bowl and add a little warm water to proof the yeast.

- In a large bowl, mix flour (I like to use self-rising flour for my breads) and salt. Add yeast mixture, then stir in warm water. 

-Flour a clean counter surface and knead bread for 5 minutes. Let dough sit while you wash (with nice and hot water to warm the bowl) and dry the bowl. Next, knead the dough into a ball and place in the still warm bowl. Cover and let rise for 2 hours.

I just use an old plastic grocery bag to cover mine :)

-After dough has risen for 2 hours, knead for 5 minutes. Cover again and let rise one more hour.

-Next, knead dough down into a ball again, and cut dough in half. Form each half into the shape of a loaf.

-Grease a cookie sheet and place loaves on it. Then, cut diagonal slits in the top of each loaf.

-Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 30 minutes.

**This next part is optional. I like my bread with the cornmeal sprinkled on it but if you choose not to, just keep the bread in for another 5 minutes.**

-While bread is baking take the egg and pour the egg white into a small bowl.

-When bread is done baking, take a brush and brush egg white onto the tops of the loaves. Then sprinkle the cornmeal onto the loaves.

- Bake another 5 minutes. Let bread cool and then enjoy! Simple and delicious :)

Next on the bliggity blog: Either Molten Lava Cake or Apple Crisp with Spiced Caramel Drops....anyone that actually reads this have a preference? Which should I make next? 

Milk Chocolate, Hot Chocolate Stones

So, I played around with the recipe for the Hot Chocolate Stones using milk chocolate. If you want to make them using milk chocolate, follow the dark chocolate recipe but add 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup confectioners sugar into the mix after you stir the heavy cream in and before you refrigerate. That should help the chocolate to solidify and firm up in the fridge. Then continue following the dark chocolate recipe and Enjoy! :)


Next up: French Bread :) Yummy.

Hot Chocolate Stones

Here's a super easy recipe. It doesn't take very long, and just put these in a nice box and they'll make a great Valentines or Christmas present!

Ingredients:

8oz of Dark Chocolate (try to get one that has at least 70% cocoa)
1 Tbsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 cup Heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup Confectioners sugar
1/2 cup Cocoa powder

Directions:

-Chop up the Chocolate in small pieces.

-Place chocolate in a medium size bowl and add nutmeg and cinnamon. Set aside.

 
-In a medium size saucepan, bring heavy whipping cream to a boil over medium heat (this should take only about a minute or two).

-Next pour the whipping cream over the chocolate and let stand for three minutes.

-After mix has sat for three minutes, stir until smooth.

-Next, lay out plastic wrap and pour chocolate mix onto it. Wrap the chocolate up, and refrigerate until firm.

-Once chocolate mix it firm, cut into chunks.

-Lastly, dust chocolate chunks in cocoa powder or confectioners sugar, and you're done! Easy!

Put these in a nice decorative box and they'll make a sweet present. I'm not a big fan of dark chocolate (though my husband liked these), so I'm going to experiment with the recipe and see if I can make this with milk chocolate. I'll try and post the tweeked recipe later if I can get the milk chocolate ones to turn out. :) Enjoy!

Chocolate cupcake with Caramel drizzle and Spun sugar topping.

    I love baking, so I thought I'd start a baking blog. I'm not a professional, but I enjoy learning how to bake new recipes. To start, here's a recipe for Chocolate cupcakes with Caramel drizzle and Spun sugar topping. I hope you enjoy it :)

Ingredients: 

Cupcake batter:

1 cup boiling water

1 cup cocoa powder

1 cup milk

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or margarine, softened

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cups applesauce

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Icing:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon granulated white sugar

Caramel Drizzle:

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup cream

1 tablespoon corn syrup

2 tablespoons salted butter

Spun Sugar:

2 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon corn syrup

Directions:

Cupcakes -

-Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin pan with liners.

-In a medium size bowl, whisk together boiling water and cocoa powder. Next, stir in the milk. Set this aside for now. 

-In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside as well.

-In a large bowl, cream the butter, then add the sugar and beat until fluffy. Stir in the applesaue, then add the vanilla. Stir in the 1/3 of the flour mix until just combined. Then add half of the cocoa mix and stir. Continue until both mixes are gone.

-Fill liners about half way with batter and bake for about 15-20 mins (or when a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean). 

Caramel Drizzle -

- In a saucepan, mix together sugar, water, and corn syrup. Bring mix to boil, without stirring, on high heat. Boil until it reaches a golden amber color. Remove from heat and carefully add the cream in a steady stream, stirring constantly. Mixture will expand and sputter, so please be careful. Next add butter and stir until butter is melted. Cool to room temp

Icing -

- In a large bowl, stir together whipping cream, sugar and vanilla. Cover and chill in fridge for 30 minutes. Once chilled, beat mix until stiff peaks form. 

 *Picture is with icing and caramel drizzle*

Spun Sugar - 

-Prepare area by taping two sticks to your counter (see picture below), and laying down (alot!) of newpaper to catch spills. Also, lay out a cookie sheet and spray it with cooking spray. 

  * I added alot more newspaper than what this picture shows. I covered my whole floor.*

- In a large metal bowl, fill half way with ice water. Set aside. In a saucepan, mix together sugar, water, and corn syrup. Without mixing bring to a boil, on high heat, and continue boiling until mixture reaches 310 degrees. (Now, I was baking this without a candy thermometer to tell me when my spun sugar reached the 310 cracking point, so needless to say, it took quite a few tries, but it ended up being about 6 minutes of boiling time once the mix started to boil). Once mix has reach 310, remove from heat and place saucepan in the metal bowl of ice water. (This 'shocks' the mix and stops it from cooking more). Make sure no water accidentally spills into the sauce pan! 

-Dip a fork (or wire whisk) in the mix and drizzle some on the greased cookie sheet. Make any shape you like. You can also dip the fork in the mix and quickly shake it over the two sticks. (Feel free to youtube 'Spun sugar' and a bunch of videos will come up showing you how to do this, since reading it just doesn't quite paint the picture of how to do this). Very fine strands of sugar will catch on the sticks. You can ball this up to make little 'nests' or 'balls' to put on top of the cupcakes. I recommend putting them in your fridge right away, as my kitchen was so warm from the baking that the spun sugar nests started to melt! And don't worry if any of the spun sugar gets on your apron or clothes, just soak them in hot water before throwing them in the wash and it should come off. 

  *I also made some chocolate frosted ones, but that icing was just from a tub*

Now put it all together - 

-Once cupcakes are cooled. Ice them, then drizzle some of the room temp caramel overtop. Lastly, add the spun sugar and you are done! Enjoy :) 

Next up on the bloggity: 'Hot Chocolate Stones', so stay tuned :)