Just Call Me The Fall Baking Queen
Guys, I have an addiction and it AIN’T going anywhere anytime soon…
I can’t stop baking. 👩🏼🍳
I don’t know if it’s because I love fall so much or because we recently went apple-picking, but I have been spending hours in the kitchen making seasonal muffins, breads, squares, and cookies. 🍎
Hopefully my clothing keep fitting okay, or else I may need to cut this obsession back a bit. 😂
With the winesap apples we picked (FYI: this varietal is sweet with a tangy finish), I made these delicious treats:
Cinnamon Apple Pie Bread
Major props to the blog Wishes and Dishes for this heavenly bread recipe. I was searching for a fairly easy recipe one morning (yes, I’m the crazy girl who sometimes bakes before work), and found myself on their page. What I loved about this bread was the layering style. You basically pour the batter, lay the apples, sprinkle on the sugary crumble—and repeat. It almost reminded me of a coffee cake with the crumbly top.
I brought it to work and it was GONE within an hour. It was so funny, people kept walking by (it smelled that good), and were like, “Hmmmm, what is that?” Before I knew it, I had an empty bread pan. I guess that means it was a goodie! One friend even noted how “fluffy” the bread was. I’d say that’s a good sign.
Tip: Make two.
Best Apple Crisp
I got this season’s apple crisp recipe from Delish and it was a hit it our house! The contrast of warm apple crisp and cold vanilla bean ice cream is to die for. I like how this recipe uses slices of apple. When they bake, they really soften and end up melting in your mouth.
Tip: Vanilla bean ice cream sets this off. Go the extra mile and get a really yummy brand—like McConnell’s. Store your apple crisp in the fridge.
Apple Blondies
A big thanks to Num’s The Word blog for this tasty treasure. I was looking up more apple recipes and stumbled upon this blondie variety. Sam and I LOVE blondies so I already knew this would be great.
Tip: Refrigerate after a day. These get sort of soggy because of all the liquid in the apples, so to make them last, keep them cool.
Squash, Kale and Sausage Casserole
This recipe has autumn written ALL over it. My friend sent me a different recipe (from the Huckleberry book), but this one is really close. Thanks, Love and Flour blog!
This one’s a little time consuming so start in the morning. You have to roast the squash, cool them, hollow them out, and blend them. You’ll end up layering the ingredients and topping with the sausage/breadcrumb mixture.
I loved the fall flavors of this. This bake would be a great potluck meal or even a make-ahead meal for weeknight dinners. If you’re not a big sausage fan, you can replace with chicken sausage or just ditch the meat all-together and use more kale. So many options!
Tip: Allow for this dish to cool for 20 minutes or so. If you try to cut into it beforehand, it’ll spill over your spatula and be more of a bowl-meal than a plate-meal. Catch my drift?
Contest-Winning Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
Yessss, Taste Of Home—this was so good. Instead of making the two breads like the recipe called for (rebel), I made one bread and used the rest of the batter to make muffins. Just keep an eye on them as they bake since dividing them in this way was a more spontaneous move. 😉 The combo of pumpkin and chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet) is unreal. Pumpkin puree really mixes in well to baking recipes because of its smoothness and more mild flavor.
I think what I really loved about these were how moist they were. They kept well for a few days.
Tip: Get those elastic-waist pants ready.
What are you baking up in your kitchen these days? I’d love to know.
I may be apple’d out at this point, so I’ve been wondering what I should bake next.
We have a pretty low-key week ahead of us because on Saturday, we’re off to Hawaii! So pumped. We’ve never been before. If you have any Oahu reccs, send ’em our way!
Have a wonderful Monday. Stay outta trouble. 😉
xoxo,
Ari
