Baked Applesauce Donuts

I really wanted to make some autumnally appropriate baked goods, but it’s still a million degrees here and the last few weeks the internet has been overloaded by pumpkin. Pumpkin is not my thing. It looks gross and even though I can’t remember what it tastes like (I’ve only had it twice), I’m pretty sure it tastes gross too. Apple seemed to be a seasonal flavor that was more my speed.

I had two problems with these when they were done. They were extremely dense. Super dense baked goods can just be the outcome of gluten free baking. It happens. I’ve also never made donuts before, let alone baked, gluten free donuts, so I’m not quite sure why these were so dense, but they were. The donuts were also insanely sweet. I know donuts are meant to be sweet, but I think the combination of sugar and applesauce (even though it was unsweetened) was just too much. If I made these again, I would probably scale down the sugar even more to maybe just 2 tablespoons. Because they were so sweet, I decided not to make a glaze for them and warm from the oven, they did not need one either.

Baked Applesauce Donuts
Inspired by this recipe.

 

This recipe will make 6 round donuts or 4 cruller/bar donuts.

• 1 cup all purpose flour (I used Better Batter)
• 6 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease a donut pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir in applesauce, eggs, vanilla and butter. Beat together until well blended.
3. Fill each doughnut cup approximately 3/4 full. Bake 8 to 10 minutes for a round donut pan or 15 to 20 minutes for a cruller/bar pan in the preheated oven, until donuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.

Apple Coleslaw with Poppyseed Dressing

I first had this coleslaw at a Texas barbecue place in Tokyo. It’s owned by a real, live Texan, so it was pretty much perfect. I had never had ribs or brisket that tasted that good before. But me being the odd person that I am, the thing that I enjoyed most about the meal was the coleslaw. I’ve never really been a fan of coleslaw before, but since I’ve been on this weird brussels sprout/cabbage bender the last few months, I have a new-found appreciation. In my mind, this might be the perfect combination for a coleslaw. Since cabbage is a fairly bland base, you need to jazz it up a bit and the sweetness of the apples and honey and the tart vinegar in the dressing definitely do that.

I will admit, I just bought a bag of already shredded cabbage. It definitely sped up the preparation process. I was also happy to discover that the (little bit of) leftovers kept really well overnight and made for an excellent morning snack. I am already looking forward to making this all summer long.

Apple Coleslaw with Poppyseed Dressing 

• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 1/4 cup honey
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 medium cabbage, cored, finely shredded or one package of shredded cabbage
• 2 large carrots, peeled, julienne
• 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
• 2 Fuji apples, cored and chopped

1. Prepare the Poppy Seed Dressing. In a medium bowl, combine the first 5 ingredients together until well blended. Set aside.
2. Prepare the salad. In a large bowl, combine the cabbage, carrots, scallions, and apples. Pour in the dressing and toss until well blended. Refrigerate at 30-60 minutes before serving, mixing the salad at least once to distribute the dressing.

Thirsty Thursday: Apple Cider Margaritas

I was on the fence about trying this margarita from the beginning. I’m not a big fan of gold tequila or cinnamon, especially when combined (too many flashbacks to shots at Morrison’s in Budapest (yes, in Budapest they serve shots of gold tequila with cinnamon and a wedge of orange, kinda horrible, kinda great)) and I have always had an issue with apple juice ever since I was on a field trip in preschool and the kid next to me yacked up their juice box during a tour of a hospital. I went to a dirty, hippie parent-child ‘workshop’ (not a preschool, a workshop) and they were really big into broadening our horizons from an early age and took us on many field trips to hospitals, marine biology labs and the city jail, but in fact these attempts have left me with a lifelong fear of needles, apple juice and law enforcement officials (but that’s another story).

I digress, you all don’t need to hear about my issues that stem from early childhood, let’s get back to this marg. So, like I said, I was apprehensive from the get go. I was only able to get about 2 sips into this thing before I had to add some lemon juice. SWEET. So, so sweet. I do not like sweet margs, tart and tangy is how I roll. I added some fresh squeezed lemon juice and it helped improve the drink a lot, at least for me. I guess I can now say, I’ve finally met a margarita I don’t like, but if you are a fan of super sweet drinks or apple juice this would probably be right up your alley.

Apple Cider Margaritas (from How Sweet It Is)

• 1.5 ounce Grand Marnier/triple sec
• 1.5 ounce gold tequila
• 5 ounces apple cider/juice
• orange segments and apple slices
• cinnamon + cane sugar + coarse sugar for glass rimming
• cinnamon sticks for garnish

Thirsty Thursday: Ginger, Apple & Bourbon

I came across this cocktail on Pinterest. I’m completely obsessed with Pinterest and have come across all kinds of great things on there, like christmas present ideas, recipes, shoes, things I need to buy my dogs, bridesmaids dresses, paint colors, and this wonderful little drink. You can find anything and everything on Pinterest. If you haven’t developed a Pinterest habit yet, be warned, it’s an amazing time waster.

I have mixed feelings about bourbon. I want to like bourbon, it’s trendy, all the cool kids like it and most of my male friends seem to enjoy it in mass quantities, but since I am not trendy, cool or male, I just can’t commit to actually liking it. But I try. If bourbon always tasted as good as it does in this drink, I would totally be it’s biggest fan.

This is a super simple cocktail, it’s very tasty and perfect for autumn!

Ginger, Apple, & Bourbon (from The Tampopo Press)

• Apple juice or cider
• Ginger ale or ginger beer
• Bourbon

Apple and Pear Crumble with Cheese

This is a recipe I stumbled across recently, but I’m already a big fan.

Initially, I was looking for a way to use up some pears and apples I had that were about to go off, which seems to be a pretty common thing for me lately. I was also intrigued by the cheese aspect of the topping. I love crumbles of any kind, mainly because of the oatmeal topping, but I would never have thought of adding cheese. The cheese didn’t really add any flavor to the crumble, but did provide a nice creaminess to the whole crumble, that you wouldn’t normally find.

When it comes to crumbles, I hate when the ratio of fruit to topping is off. The fruit is good, but so is the topping. You need to have a balance. With most crumbles I feel like you need to double the topping to get a good balance going, but this recipe brought the perfect ratio.

The recipe is from a British site and uses a British cheese, which is great if you are living in the UK. If you are living in California however, Wensleydale, is a bit more difficult to find in these parts. If only we had Waitrose! I struck out at both Trader Joe’s and a local fancy pants grocery store, so I headed to Whole Foods and had a very in depth conversation with the cheesemonger about the merits of wensleydale (ps. how do I become a cheesemonger?). The cheesemonger was quite apologetic about the lack of selection when it came to wensleydale, but in the end I totally lucked out. They only had one wensleydale in stock, but it was one with cranberries in it! I was pretty excited about adding both cheese and cranberries to the crumble. Like I said, the cheese provided a really nice creaminess to the whole crumble and the cranberries gave it a nice tart bite, which complemented the whole dessert perfectly.

Apple and Pear Crumble with Cheese (adapted from Good Food Channel)

For the topping

• 50 g/scant 1/2 cup plain flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Mix)
• 25 g/1/4 cup rolled oats (I used Bob’s Red Mill GF Rolled Oats)
• 85 g/1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 50 g/1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 50 g/1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 50 g/2 ounces wensleydale cheese, crumbled

For the filling

• 50 g/1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 2 large apples, peeled, cored, chopped
• 2 large pears, peeled, cored, chopped
• 25g/2 tablespoons sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C/gas 5.
2. To make the topping, put the flour, oats, sugar and hazelnuts into a large bowl.
3. Rub in the butter until the mixture has an even crumbly texture. Stir in the cheese.
4. To make the filling, melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the apples and pears.
5. Stir in the sugar and cook for about 5 minutes, until golden brown and tender.
6. Spoon the fruit into a pie dish.
7. Sprinkle over the crumble topping and bake for 25 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with custard, cream, or ice cream.

Slow-Cooker Pear and Apple Butter

So, I might have overdone it at Costco with the pear and apple purchases. Luckily, I found a recipe to help me use them all up.

Now I’m not going to lie, I probably won’t be making this again. It pretty much takes a whole day to make and I only ended up with 3 half-pint mason jars of butter. I also nearly destroyed my crockpot. I think the second round of 4 hours in the slow cooker is a bit much. A good quarter of this ended up burnt to the pot and it was next to impossible to get off. I swear it still smells like pears and apples. Don’t get me wrong, this is very delicious, but I think I’ll be finding an other way to use up my excess pears and apples in the future.

Slow-Cooker Pear and Apple Butter (from Martha Stewart)

• 2 1/2 pounds Bartlett or Anjou pears (about 5)
• 2 1/2 pounds McIntosh or Gala apples (about 5)
• 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cinnamon stick

1. Peel, quarter, and core pears and apples. In a food processor, finely grate fruit (in batches if necessary), then transfer to a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker. Stir in dark-brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon stick. Cover and cook on high, 4 hours.
2. Remove cinnamon stick and reserve. Transfer mixture to processor (in batches if necessary) and process until smooth. Return to slow cooker, along with cinnamon stick, and cook on high, uncovered, until mixture is thick and browned, 4 hours. Discard cinnamon stick and let mixture cool. Transfer to airtight containers and refrigerate, up to 3 weeks, or freeze, up to 3 months.

Green Apple Bites

This is the perfect last minute Halloween snack! I really like the tart Granny Smith taste with a tiny bit of sweet caramel. The two go great together.

I used jarred caramel (the kind for ice cream), but you could melt caramel candies or use caramel from a caramel apple kit if you have those around. I microwaved the jar of caramel for 30 seconds and it was the perfect consistency for dipping.

Green Apple Bites

• Granny Smith Apples
• Caramel
• 1/2 of a Lemon

Cut apple into bite-sized pieces or slices. Squeeze lemon over apple pieces and stir to coat. Dip apple pieces into caramel using a toothpick. Place on serving plate.

Thirsty Thursday: Cider Smash

This is a perfect autumn cocktail. When I first read the ingredients, I really wasn’t too sure about them going together all that well, but since it was a Martha recipe, I decided to just go for it. When has Martha ever been wrong?

It’s a tiny bit sweet, with a nice and crispy, tanginess, kind of like a granny smith apple. If you want to get really wild and crazy, you could sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top, but let’s not get too carried away here.

Cider Smash (from MarthaStewart.com)

• 2 ounces bourbon
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 ounces chilled sparkling apple cider
• Thin apple slice

Pour bourbon and lemon juice into a tall glass. Top with apple cider. Garnish with apple slice.