Sour Cream Twists

Where did summer go?

I feel like I went inside my house to escape the heat and when I left the next morning the leaves were changing colors and the temperature had dropped 10 degrees.

All of sudden I'm digging for down filled jackets and wholly boots.

I'm not complaining though.

Definitely not!

I love the fall. 

I love being able to cook roasts and bake breads and pies. 

To me, there's not much better than coming out of the cold and being hit with the smell of fresh baked bread laced with roasted meat and cinnamon sugar.

YUM and YUM.

That's why I made these sour cream twists.

Pretty much just for the smell.

If I could bake these and bottle the scent, I'd be a billionaire.

No joke. Probably even a gillionaire.

Not only do they smell a-mazing, they also taste dee-licious.

The dough is really tangy and soft while the cinnamon sugar filling is the perfect blend of crunch and sweetness.

I won't be waiting too long to make these again.

Bake these! Your house will smell fantastic.

Sour Cream Twists

Makes: 24 twists

Source: Della's Favorites

1 cup sour cream

2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

2 tbsp butter, softened

3 tbsp white sugar

1 tsp salt

1 egg

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tbsp butter, melted

⅓ cup brown sugar, packed

1 tsp cinnamon 

Directions:

1. Heat sour cream to lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sour cream, butter, sugar, salt, egg and one cup flour. Beat until smooth.

2. Mix in remaining flour until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Knead on a floured board until smooth. Let rise in a greased bowl until doubled in size.

3. Roll into a rectangle, 24'' x 6''. Brush with the remaining 2 tbsp of butter. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over a lengthwise half of the rectangle. Fold the other half over the sugar half. Cut into one inch strips, holding the strips at each end. Twist in opposite directions.

4. Place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet, pressing the ends on the sheet. Cover and let rise until double in size.

5. Heat oven to 375°F. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden. If you want, drizzle with a glaze.

Cinnamon Sugar Flatbread Crackers

Do you remember having cinnamon toast for breakfast?

(I'm talking to you, sister and brothers.)

Hot buttered toast with just the right amount of crunchy brown sugar and cinnamon.

Soooo good.

Oops, hold on a sec while I wipe the drool from my keyboard.

There. 

That's better.

The only thing better than cinnamon toast are these lovely crackers.

They have the same crunchy sweet sugar topping on a crispy whole wheat base. 

Delicious!

I cheated and used a pasta maker to get my crackers thin.

I think they'd be super duper fab on a fruit tray alongside some cream cheesy fruit dip. (Think: cinnamon bun with cream cheese icing.)

Or maybe dipped straight into a jar of peanut butter.
Or dipped in some nutella.

Once you've tried these crackers it won't matter how you serve them as long as they're making it to your mouth. 

Cinnamon Sugar Flatbread Crackers

Makes: about 2 dozen

Adapted from How Sweet It Is

1 cup all purpose flour

¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

½ cup plus 2 tbsp warm water

¼ cup olive oil

2 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp granulated sugar

¾ tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. In large bowl, combine flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add water and olive oil and mix until a dough forms. Form into a ball.

2. Dust a rimless baking sheet with flour. Roll the dough out as thin as you can right on the baking sheet. Brush the dough with the melted butter. Mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle all over the dough. Use a pizza cutter to cut into small or large crackers. Bake for 8 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

'Cause baby, 

it's cold outside.

Cinnamon Hot Chocolate

Serves: 2

2 tbsp good quality cocoa powder

3 tbsp confectioner's sugar

2 cups milk 

½ tsp cinnamon or 1 cinnamon stick

To garnish (optional):

whipped cream, cinnamon stick, cinnamon hearts 

Directions:

1. Heat milk on medium low until small bubbles start to form on the surface (if using a cinnamon stick take off heat and steep for about 10 minutes or until milk reaches desired strength and return to heat). Whisk in cocoa powder, cinnamon and sugar until dissolved. Allow milk to boil just for a second (you heard me..... it makes it creamier). Garnish with whipped cream and ground cinnamon and enjoy with the one you love.

Baked Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I've always thought of oatmeal as poor man's food. 

Like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory before he got the chocolate factory poor.

When I say oatmeal, I really mean porridge.
To me, cooked oatmeal is poverty porridge.
I know you all agree with me and therefore are wondering why on earth I'd bring you a recipe with cooked oatmeal.

Well that's because this, my friend, is no poverty porridge.

This baked oatmeal is homey, creamy, rich and tastes of prosperity but can be made on a poor man's (or lady's) budget. 

It's great for a crowd and can easily be adapted to use up fruit that may be nearing it's expiration date in your fridge or freezer.

I know I'm not the only one with it..... aging fruit..... it's time to part ways and use it up. 

Make this great custard-like oatmeal (that, thankfully, has few porridge-like qualities) and serve it with a buffet of toppings like brown sugar, honey, milk, dried fruit, and toasted nuts.

Baked Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Serves: 4 - 6

Source: Two Peas and Their Pod (barely adapted)

2 cups old fashioned oats

¼ cup light brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ cups skim milk

½ cup applesauce

1 tbsp melted butter (or coconut oil)

2 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large apple, cored, diced (and peeled if your not lazy like me) 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. 

2. In a large bowl, stir together oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, applesauce, butter, egg whites and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients and stir until combined. Gently stir in apples and pour mixture into prepared pan.

3. Bake for 20 minutes or until oatmeal is set. Serve warm with brown sugar, milk, toasted nuts and/or dried fruit.

Substitutions I've tried that work: 

*subbing in 1 whole egg for the 2 egg whites

*1 cup old fashioned oats and 1 cup kamut flakes

*1 small apple plus a handful of blackberries

Cinnadoodles

I made 135 of these cookies last week.

I know I usually exaggerate, but this is for real.

One hundred and thirty five cookies.

Wow. Sometimes I amaze myself.

They weren't all for me, though.

9 dozen (108 cookies) were for a cookie exchange.

I've heard a lot of good and bad things about cookie exchanges but I'm happy to report the one I attended (thanks to Crystal for hosting it) was a success!

There was an excellent variety of baked goods being exchanged and they were all delicious:

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Butter Tart Bars

Chocolate Caramel Crunch Cookies

Peanut Butter Balls

Chocolate Chunk Brownie Buttons

Gingersnaps

Chocolate Pecan Caramel Thumbprints

Not bad, eh? (My canadian accent really comes out at Christmas time)

Best of all, I can justify eating more baking because, you know, I wouldn't want to offend anyone by not eating their goodies ; )

Packed up and ready to be exchanged

Cinnadoodles

Makes: 4 dozen cookies

Adapted from here. Inspired from here.

2 tsp cream of tartar

2 ¾ cups flour

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ cups sugar

1 cup butter ( I used ½cup butter and ½ cup margarine)

2 eggs

1 cup cinnamon hearts or cinnamon chips plus more for on top of each cookie

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions:

*Note: The cinnamon hearts (or chips) can either be mixed in right away with the dry ingredients or a few can be stuffed into the middle of each cookie dough ball. I used the second method because I didn't like the look of the cinnamon candies throughout the batter. When they were cooked they sort of oozed and melted all around the cookie. By stuffing them in the middle the cookie had a cinnamon centre. Regardless of my choice, either method will work fine.

1. Mix together the cream of tartar, flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon hearts (see note above). Set aside.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and continue beating until well blended.

3. Add dry mix to the creamed mixture and blend until thoroughly incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl, mix together the ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon.

5. Form into balls ( I weighed mine out into 25grams) and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Press 1 cinnamon chip or candy into the top of the ball for decoration.

6. Place cookies 2'' (they spread a lot) apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350°F for 11 minutes.

Chai Shortbread

It can't be Christmas without shortbread!

It's no surprise that shortbread is sorta like the quintessential baked good of Christmas.

Tender, buttery, sweet goodness formed into a cookie.

Delicious.

It's also no wonder why the world only makes shortbread once a year;

if we made it all the time we'd all weigh 500 pounds and have heart conditions.

Well, maybe not you..... you probably possess a lot more self control than I do.

Because my mom usually makes authentic shortbread (ya know the stuff that's just butter, cornstarch and icing sugar), I opted to make this chai shortbread.

It's based on a scottish shortbread recipe which uses rice flour to give the cookie a nice texture.

They're kind of gritty, but like gritty in a good way.

 Like if you wanted to eat a gritty cookie that was also buttery..... not gritty like sand, gritty like sugar crystals....... 

I'm ruining this cookie for you, aren't I?

The grit is a good thing.

Just trust me.

Even better than the grit is that I adapted this recipe to work in my cookie press by adding a few drops of water to the cookie dough.

(I can be pretty sharp sometimes, when I'm not having a blonde day).

Take advantage of this time of year and make these cookies (with or without a cookie press).  It's the only time of year no one will judge you for eating the whole batch by yourself.

Chai Spiced Shortbread

Makes about 4 dozen sandwich cookies

Generously adapted from: Land 'o Lakes 2008 'Holiday Cookies' Magazine

For the cookie:

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup powdered sugar

½ tsp ground cardamon

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

½ cup rice flour (brown or white)

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

For the buttercream:

2 tbsp cream or milk

½ tsp instant coffee granules

2 cups powdered sugar

¼ cup butter, softened

¼ tsp ground cardamon

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp ground ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine all cookie ingredients except flour in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour and continue beating until well mixed. If you are using a cookie press, add 1 tbsp of water to the dough and beat until incorporated. 

2. If using a cookie press, proceed according to the manufacturer's instructions. If not, shape dough into 1'' balls. Place 2'' apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet; gently flatten.

3. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until set and cookies are lightly brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire cooling rack. Cool completely.

4. Meanwhile, combine cream (or milk) and instant coffee in a medium bowl; stir until coffee is dissolved. Add all remaining buttercream ingredients; beat at low speed until moistened. Increase speed to high; beat until smooth and creamy. Spread 1 tsp of filling onto bottom side of 1 cookie; top with second cookie, bottom-side down. Repeat with remaining cookies.

Apple Butter

Not too long ago, I made some spiced vanilla pear butter. 

I had originally intended on subbing apples into the same recipe to make apple butter but that thought quickly bored me...... so I went a different way :)

I cored the apple before I noticed the recipe said to leave the cores in.... oops.

The cinnamon, cloves and allspice in this recipe are right up my alley and a nice change from the pear butter's cardamon and vanilla.

I used a baby food mill to get the apple skin out of the sauce.... worked like a charm!

I reduced the vinegar down to about ¼ cup and I wish I hadn't. Even though I also reduced the sugar the butter is overly sweet and I think the proper amount of vinegar would've balanced out the sweetness.

Just an observation.

Nonetheless, I have a bunch of this stuff now (12 x 4oz jars!) and it's still pretty good.

I've been stirring it into plain yogurt, quinoa and oatmeal for breakfast and giving it away in Christmas packages.

This was attached to my legs during this whole apple butter making process.... Pick me up!

Apples are still in abundance around here and this would make a great (and cheap) homemade gift.

Just in case you were wondering ;)

Apple Butter

Makes: about 3 pint jars

Source: Simply Recipes

4 pounds of apples (use good cooking apples such as Granny Smith or Pink Lady)

1 cup apple cider vinegar

2 cups water

sugar (about 4 cups)

salt

2 tsps cinnamon

½ tsp allspice

½ tsp cloves

juice and zest of 1 lemon

Directions:

1. Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them (much of the pectin is in the cores and flavor in the peels), cut out damaged parts.

2. Put them into large pot, add the vinegar and water, cover, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook until apples are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Ladle apple mixture into a chinois sieve (or foodmill) and using a pestle force pulp from the chinois into a large bowl below. Measure resulting puree. Add 1/2 cup of sugar for each cup of apple pulp. Stir to dissolve sugar. Add a dash of salt, and the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

4. Cook uncovered in a large, wide, thick-bottomed pot on medium low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to make sure a crust is not forming at the bottom. Cook until thick and smooth (about 1 to 2 hours). A small bit spooned onto a chilled (in the freezer) plate will be thick, not runny. You can also cook the purée on low heat, stirring only occasionally, but this will take much longer as stirring encourages evaporation. (Note the wider the pan the better, as there is more surface for evaporation.)

Canning:

5. There are several ways to sterilize your jars for canning. You can run them through a short cycle on your dishwasher. You can place them in a large pot (12 quart) of water on top of a steaming rack (so they don't touch the bottom of the pan), and bring the water to a boil for 10 minutes. Or you can rinse out the jars, dry them, and place them, without lids, in a 200°F oven for 10 minutes.

6. Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal. If you plan to store the apple butter un-refrigerated, make sure to follow proper canning procedures. Before applying the lids, sterilize the lids by placing them in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Wipe the rims of the jars clean before applying the lids. I use a hot water bath for 10 minutes to ensure a good seal.

As an alternative to stove cooking the puree you can cook uncovered in a microwave, on medium heat to simmer, for around 30 minutes.

Applesauce Spice Cake

This my non fancy shmancy cake.
It's what'd I'd call an 'everyday cake'.


Everybody needs to eat a little cake everyday.
I know I sure do.

Didn't someone once say, ''An apple a day keeps the doctor away''?

Well, that's all I'm doing here. Staying in good health.

They didn't specify it couldn't be in cake form.

In fact, I think what they meant to say was, ''An apple, made into applesauce and then made into spice cake topped with light cinnamon cream cheese frosting a day will keep you in such high spirits that your health will have to go the way of your smile and that's what will keep the doctor away.''

I speak only truth.

Leave me a comment with your favourite everyday cake.

Spiced Applesauce Cake w/cinnamon cream cheese frosting

Serves: 10

Source: Smitten Kitchen

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

⅛ tsp cloves

½ cup soft unsalted butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 ½ cups unsweetened apple sauce

For the frosting:

5oz cream cheese, softened

3 tbsps unsalted butter. salted

¼ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup icing sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Butter an 8- or 9-inch square cake pan.
2. Make cake: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Beat butter, brown sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in applesauce. At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just combined. The batter will look a little curdly and uneven but don’t worry, it will all bake up perfectly in the end.
3. Spread batter evenly in pan and bake until golden-brown and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a plate. Reinvert cake onto a rack to cool completely. 
4.Make frosting: Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy. Sift confectioners sugar and cinnamon over cream cheese mixture, then beat at medium speed until incorporated. Spread frosting over top of cooled cake.

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

This is fall flavored syrup.

Just trust me on this.
I don't lie about fall.
Or syrup.

As Buddy the elf once said,

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup."

Of course I'm not an elf but I do have an affinity for elf culture,

so I take my syrup seriously.

This syrup is really yummy.
It's intended to be used to make the infamous pumpkin spice latte but I've only used it on pancakes so far.

It was a little thinner than regular pancake syrup but it still worked well and tasted great.

This whole straining thing didn't work for me. I cooked the mixture too long which made it too thick.

The cloves and nutmeg are definitely the dominate taste so feel free to adjust the spices to your preference.

Happy Fall!

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

Makes: about 1 ½ cups

Source: Cook Like a Champion

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp cloves

½ tsp ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

3 tbsp pumpkin puree

Directions:

1. In a small pot over medium heat, dissolve sugar in water.  Once sugar is dissolved, add remaining ingredients.  Allow to cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring frequently.  Do not boil.
2. Strain mixture using cheesecloth or a tea towel.
3. Pour into a small (8-10 ounce) bottle and store in the refrigerator. 

Linked to: Seasonal Sundays

Cinnamon Pumpkin Hummus

Happy almost Thanksgiving Canada!

Here's what I'm thankful for:

1. I am thankful to be a Canadian. I wouldn't do well in a third world country.
I don't even like to go camping!

2. I'm thankful that I'm a Christian. Again why I don't camp, I hate smelling like smoke.

3. I'm thankful for my family.

Most of the time.

(Jury's still out on a particular brother who never calls me.)

4. I'm thankful for breastfeeding. Seriously, how many times in my life will calories be sucked out of my body. For free!

(Sorry, that was borderline inappropriate, wasn't it?)

5. I'm thankful for relatives with vast DVD collections. It really saves me money. Thanks you guys!

6. I'm thankful for people who are addicted to Jus Juiced coffee.

You all hold a very special place in my wallet heart. 

7. I'm thankful that babies are easily amused. Give the baby a spoon and a face cloth and she's amused for half an hour. Toys are so over rated! 

8. I'm thankful that my family is full of adventurous eaters that'll eat anything.

And I mean anything.
(Except that one time with the baking soda biscuits.....)

Even the baby liked it.

8. I'm thankful that I have another can of chick peas in the cupboard to make this delicious fall snack for the family that eats anything and everything.

Cinnamon Pumpkin Hummus 
Makes about 2 cups 
Adapted from:  Naturally Ella

1 can chick peas (rinsed and drained)
1 cup pumpkin purée
1 tbsp tahini
2 tbsps olive oil
2 tsps cinnamon (add more or less according to your taste)
½ tsp nutmeg
¼ cup pumpkin cooking water or just water (add more if you like a thinner hummus)
salt

Directions:
1. Add all ingredients to food processor or blender and purée until smooth.
2. Add salt to taste. To serve, drizzle with olive oil and freshly ground pepper. Serve with pita wedges or rice crackers.