Scones!

It's no secret that I adore sweet baked items. If I had to rank texture of said sweets, it ascending order it would go: sticky (cinnamon rolls), gooey (butter cake), crumbly (biscotti), dry & cake-y (tea biscuits, scones).

Now, don't misinterpret, all of these are highly ranked, in fact, now I find myself craving a cinnamon roll, but I digress...

Every time I go to Starbucks, I buy 3 of those petite vanilla bean scones. They're so tasty. I love the little crack as I bite into the vanilla bean glaze. Yum. After scouring (OK, I looked at a few sites), I decided upon the Pioneer Woman's mock up. And, while I'm discussing the Pioneer Woman, I feel disappointed at how commercial she has become. I think it's awesome that her blog is popular, it's also super cool that she has a cookbook, but really, a show on the food network? Eh. I've lost my interest.

Anyhow, (man! why do I keeping going off on tangents?) I made her scone recipe, except I used pure vanilla extract instead of vanilla beans (or caviar as she calls it, which actually, is kind of annoying). Sorry Pioneer Woman, I may have your love of cooking, baking, and photography, but I do not have your bank account.

Summation: the scones were very good, I will make them again, but smaller.
They weren't *exact* replicas texture-wise, but they are super delicious either way.

Powder Room Cupcakes

So, a couple (few?) years ago my lovely friend Heather purchased Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and surprised me with it. I've made many a cupcake from that book, although, admittedly, I often didn't make them vegan. I just like the clever cupcake flavors.
Each time I look through that book, 2 cupcakes stand out. The green tea cupcakes, which I've made numerous times (non-vegan) and love. I make myself a green tea cake for my birthday each year (OK, 2 years in a row, but probably for the rest of my life until I decide that I don't feel like baking myself a cake anymore.) My daughter hates it, but I don't care. It's my birthday and if I want to pay $11.00 an ounce for matcha, then I'm gonna do it, dammit!
The second cupcake is the cover girl of the book. Rosewater pistachio. I know. I don't really care the pistachio as a nut, but in things, it doesn't bother me. And rosewater, I had no idea what it tasted like, but it sounds cool and worthy of a fancy-schmancy cupcake. On a trip to Whole Foods, at least six months (probably closer to a year) ago, I purchased some rosewater. It's been sitting in my cabinet.
I finally put it to use. It smells good, but not edible. I blame this on my Aunt Rose. Well, she's my great-aunt, but whatever.
She had a "powder room" off of her kitchen. It was overly pink and smelled rosy. I didn't realize it at the time, but the second I had a sniff of the clear liquid I was about to pour into cupcakes, I was immediately was standing in Aunt Rose's powder room. Gross. I'm about to flavor the cupcakes with the scent of a bathroom.

So, I can't really give an unbiased opinion of these cupcakes since I feel like I'm eating bathroom smell. I think it's needless to say that I will not be making these again. Abby enjoyed the first bite and finished the cupcake, but didn't want anymore. And she doesn't even have the bathroom memories, so that says something.
Oh, I didn't add the cardamom that the recipe calls for because I've realized that I only like cardamom in chai. It annoys me in anything else.

FOUR.

My daughter turned four years old on the 8th. If you want to watch time fly, have a kid. Seriously. *sigh*
She had a birthday party at Bounce U which was super fun for everyone, even the adults!

(yes, that's me on a slide.)

I made her a birthday cake that really disappointed me, but everyone else seemed to like it. I get frustrated when my ideas do not come to fruition and therefore the end result is a huge disappointment. I did, however, like how the little chocolate characters turned out. The cake was delicious too... chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.


I made her a birthday banner based on Alicia Paulson's idea, but I made little pockets on the back of the flag pieces so that the name pieces can slide off and on and therefore be personalized for other people's birthday as well.


For her actual birthday, we spent the day doing fun traditional Philly things including a horse and carriage ride (first time for all of us!), light show, and a visit to the Dicken's Village topped off with a visit to Santa. She confessed to me later, "I told Santa I was good so he would bring me presents." Ever the politician, my daughter. Ooh, we also had lunch at Sabrina's.



Family came over for a pizza dinner (her request) and I made yellow cake with cream cheese frosting. She did not like the cake. At all! It was ok to me. It was a bit rough and had more of a pound cake texture. I feel this may be due to the fact that I used regular flour instead of cake flour. It was also in the fridge because I made the cake a day and a half ahead of time and didn't want to leave the cream cheese frosting out.




Overall, a great few days. My daughter is pretty awesome.

October 9. Pumpkin Buns.

I'm not a fan of those "woman's" magazines (with the exception of "Bust"). I prefer house, craft, or cooking magazines. BUT, when I'm in work and it's S L O W, I'll read anything. "Rod and Reel"? Why not?! "Men's Health"? Pass it my way!
That's how I came upon this recipe for pumpkin buns. A co-worker brings in her "Family Circle" and"Woman's Day" mags. I'm a sucker for any magazine with pumpkins or Halloween items on the cover.

I photocopied the recipe a few weeks ago and finally decided to make it yesterday. I didn't have to work and Abby didn't have school. There was time for this recipe... finally. Then I realized I finished up my butter on the snickerdoodles. I used Promise Light spread. Worked well and cut back fat. That's good. I added some cinnamon & nutmeg to the dough. Then I realized I was out of 10x sugar for the glaze. Boo! BUT, I did have cream cheese, so I blended that with about an 1/8c granulated sugar and a splash of milk. That worked well and probably canceled out the usage of the Promise Light.

The first rise took awhile, longer than the recipe-stated 75 minutes. I just left it for 2+ hours. It rose nicely. We rolled out the dough and added the filling (added a bit of nutmeg to this too). Rolled it and sliced it and let it rise again. They looked beautiful!


While they were baking my house smelled divine! When they cooled a bit, I smeared the cream cheese topping on them and served them to some of the neighborhood kids since one of them came in for a bit and smelled them and promptly asked for one! They were a delicious success. Time-consuming, but tasty. Admittedly, the pumpkin flavor was kind of lacking. The pumpkin gave the finished buns a nice orange hue, but left a very mild pumpkin flavor. The filling was good, but I guess I'm greedy because I wanted more filling!

Unfortunately, I do not have a photo of the finished product because my husband, ever vigilant about the potential for ants, put them in the fridge and now they look kind of gross. I'm sure their texture changed as well. Oh well. At least I had one yesterday.

Easy as Pie.

I have a confession. It's difficult to admit. It's kind of embarrassing as well. Please don't think any less of me.

OK.

Here goes...

I suck at making fruit pies. There. I said it. *looking down at feet*

Seriously. I've never found a crust recipe that tastes good to me. There is never enough filling and/or it's too runny. The crust gets soggy. I want to be good at making pies. They seem so comforting. And so simple. I don't have a family recipe for fruit pies either, which kind of makes me sad. Now, if you need an heirloom poundcake recipe, or a cheese pie recipe, or a cookie recipe, then look no further, I've got you covered.

Where am I going with this? Well, I had about 8 about to rot peaches. (sounds yummy, right?) But seriously, they were so sweet, too soft for me to want to just eat them. So, I went to epicurious.com for a recipe for anything peach-related that didn't involve milk (none in the house) or eggs (still in my mother's fridge). Pie! Ooh. Look at this pie recipe! Sounds good and a little different! No bottom crust to get soggy! The reviews say how easy it is! I have cardamom! Serendipity!

So, Abby and I started with the crust (after warning her that pie crust must chill in the fridge for 7 years... that's the pre-school equivalent of 1 hr.). Things were going swimmingly. Ooh, and the raw dough is very tasty! This is going to be the perfect summer's evening dessert.

We work on the filling. I'm thinking I may not have enough peaches, so I added a mango. Same color and equally as sweet. I'm so creative! We smell the cardamom and declare it wonderful.

Finally the pie crust is ready to roll out. The child does this (with some help from me) and she expertly cuts out little hearts with a cookie cutter.

After consulting with my friend and expert apple pie baker, we conclude just to sprinkle the crust with water (remember, out of milk & eggs) to make the raw sugar stick to the crust. No biggie.

The pie comes out of the oven. My house smells pretty damn delicious. This will be so good!!!

After everyone was in bed (my husband went to bed early and my daughter had Mr. Softee for dessert), I cut myself a slice of the pie.

The result: Meh.

The crust, well the crust was delicious. I will keep this crust recipe. The filling was scanty and reminiscent of baby food laced with perfume. The cardamom just didn't do it for me. Too much, or just not the right spice for me. I think allspice would have been perfect. I would normally say, "Oh well, next time." But, I'm pretty sure there won't be a next time. Hey, at least it's pretty!

Kinda Vegan Cupcakes.

I bought a dozen and a half eggs while I was at the grocery store getting the dinner supplies me and my sister needed to make dinner at my mom's house. Me & Abby were going to do some baking! She had the baking itch, and I kinda did as well. I planned on going through the Martha Stewart Living from February which featured a ton of awesome cupcake recipes. I made one awhile back and was looking forward to trying something less complicated, but just as delicious.

And then I left my mom's house and the eggs in her fridge. *sigh*

So, out comes the good ol' "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World." I swear, that is the greatest cupcake book ever! I wanted to try the chai latte cupcakes, but the three-year-old won. She just wanted chocolate cupcakes, so that's what we made.

I didn't feel like making frosting, so I decided to dip some super delicious and sweet strawberries into those freakishly unnatural candy wafers that are sold at the craft stores. (I have a lot left over from the shower cake I made last month.) I topped the cupcakes with the dipped strawberries and viola! A delicious Abby-pleasing cupcake.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread.

I bought some yeast the other day with the intention of making some whole wheat sandwich bread. After some internet searches, I came upon this cinnamon raisin bread. It's a quick bread and therefore doesn't require yeast. Ah well.I did alter it some. I used 1% cow's milk because some one finished up "mommy's milk" (light vanilla soy) with her Life cereal. I also used agave nectar instead of maple syrup. I also tossed the raisins in some cinnamon. I also skipped the nuts. The bread is tasty. And the house smelled wonderful... I got my first glimpse (sniff?) of autumn and got a little giddy. After the bread cooled, Abby & I had a half a slice each. I said, "Seems a bit chewy." She said, "It's supposed to be." And I realized she was right. It was more of a bread texture then the texture I thought it should be (banana bread-kinda-cakey-texture). In total, Abby had 2 1/2 pieces yesterday. I had 1 1/2. We put some butter on it and it was delicious!
A bonus: Super low in fat! Since I skipped the nuts (Abby doesn't like them) it only has 1 gram of fat per serving. Actually, it's probably less since the recipe cuts the loaf into 8 servings... we're getting more than that from the loaf.

Cakes.

The weekend was full of baking.
On Friday, I spent the majority of the day baking and preparing the decorations for my cousin's girlfriend's shower cake.
I finally used the chocolate decoration ideas from The Whimsical Bakehouse. I love that book. The recipes are delicious (I used the chocolate chip pound cake recipe from the book, but my own cream cheese frosting recipe) and the pictures are lovely. Many compliments on the cake. That made me happy.

On Sunday I made a banana cake (from the same book). The cake itself was good. The filling was OK. It was supposed to be french custard, but it just wasn't coming together properly. The frosting was a heart patient's bane. Chocolate chips, heavy cream, butter, and corn syrup. I didn't even use the full amount of butter called for ( 2 1/2 sticks!!!) because it just seemed wrong. Everything assembled was good, but next time, the banana cake with either be sprinkled with powdered sugar or topped regular chocolate frosting.

Muffins.

So I had some overripe bananas. Was thinking about making a banana cake. With butterscotch custard filling. And chocolate glaze. Then I realized, who the hell feels like doing all that in the spur of the moment? Not me.
I was gonna go the banana bread route, but took a detour when I decided muffins would be a better choice to bring to work.
I used the "Joy of Cooking" recipe. Eh. I didn't put nuts in it because the child doesn't care for nuts. It needs them. I put in mini chocolate chips (2/3c) that was a good addition. The banana flavor (3 bananas) was lacking. I knew I should've used the 4th one. Oh well. Next time.

It's 5 o'clock Somewhere.

For the record, I strongly dislike Jimmy Buffet and the fact that you can't mention a margarita without his name coming up. But, I just did it, so I guess I'm part of the problem.

Anyhow, one of my sisters recently had a BBQ. I made the margarita cupcakes from "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World," only, they weren't vegan. Go figure. I used real butter and real milk. I got some tequila from my sister. I was not spending money on tequila that I will never drink just to get a few tablespoons for a recipe. I have some tequila leftover and will probably make these cupcakes again. Soon.

I did had some sea salt to the frosting, which really helped cut the sweetness and added to the whole margarita experience. Very, very delicious. Those vegans know their margaritas.

Strawberry Cake.

My husband turned 39 last week. He either requests no cake or an ice cream cake. This year, it seemed he was leaning towards "no cake" and I find that unacceptable for a birthday. So, I found this cake in my recent Cooking Light and decided to give it a go. I knew he'd be OK with a CL recipe. He's very calorie conscious.

The reviews on the Cooking Light website are very mixed. Some people say the cake simply tastes like flour, others rave. In our house, we all enjoyed it. Honestly, I do think it could use more strawberry flavor in the actual cake, but I'd be concerned that adding more strawberry puree would make the cake too dense. I will make this cake again and play around a bit. Perhaps I will add some vanilla extract; I thought it was odd that there wasn't any in the recipe. Or, maybe some strawberry extract for more strawberry flavor. But I don't know... I've never used that before and don't really know what it tastes like. Is it too artificial tasting? Another thing I've decided to do... add strawberry preserves in between the layers.
The frosting was pretty good, but I really didn't see the point of the orange juice (used that instead of the Grand Marnier). There was no orange flavor, maybe add some zest? But I don't know, I think I'll just skip the orange all together next time. It didn't do a thing.
Overall, good cake, just needs a few alterations to make it great.

Cupcake Critique.

I know, two blogs in one day. Total craziness, right? (Especially considering this whole potty-training non-sense that's going on in my house!) Well, I have several things that I wanted to blog about and they're building up. The more they build up, the less likely I am going to blog about any, so I figure two in one day is a good thing.

And so, onto today's blog #2:
A few weeks ago I picked up Martha Stewart's February magazine. Admittedly, I only usually buy the Halloween and Christmas Martha mags because she kinda annoys me. Not the way Rachael Ray does, but in the way that she's the MacGyver of crafting. Just use dental floss, a thumb tack, and several skeins of yarn and voila! A bookcase. Anyhow, I was instantly drawn to the pretty picture on the cover: vibrantly frosted mini cupcakes in the shape of a heart. Too cute!

I have this habit of buying a magazine like that and letting it lay around my kitchen for weeks and weeks. This magazine was no exception. Usually during breakfast & lunch I look at it. Over and over. And over.
Finally I decided it was time to get off my ass and make one of the cupcakes. I had super black spotty bananas and decided to give the Banana Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream a go!

The Review:
The cupcake itself: YUMMY! Deliciously banana-y. Delicious texture too...I actually went out and bought the cake flour as opposed to my usual unbleached all-purpose. The only change: I used diced walnuts instead of pecans (Why? Cheaper, and, well, I don't really like pecans.)
Will make the cake again. Definitely!

The frosting: Don't forget to take an aspirin to thin your blood with this mofo. 3 sticks of butter! THREE! Oh, and lest I forget to mention the 80 gazillion steps. Make the caramel, cook the eggs whites over double-boiler, whip egg whites, whip butter separately. PAIN. IN. THE. ASS. The caramel itself was very good. The icing, while everyone who ate it enjoyed it and complimented on how "light" it was, wasn't that wonderful to me. Perhaps it was all the work, or maybe it was the thinning of the arteries that supply blood to my brain as a result of eating the frosting, but I just didn't think it was worth it. On the plus side, it wasn't too sweet, which a lot of people like (I am not one of them), on the negative side, 3 sticks of butter (which, in my opinion could've been reduced by half!), heavy cream, sugar, and egg whites.

Cupcakes.

Yesterday we made some cupcakes. I wanted to make some green tea cupcakes to use up the remainder of the matcha I purchased in October, but Abby turned her nose up at that idea and announced that she wanted "an-nell-ya" cupcakes. So, since the base for the green tea cupcakes is Magnolia Bakery's vanilla cupcakes, that was easy. I figured, heh, I'll just double up the recipe and make 12 vanilla and 12 green tea. Well, as you know, it helps to actually READ directions. Apparently, the quantity was already doubled. Instead of have 12 and 12, I had 24 and 24. I made 48 freakin' cupcakes yesterday.
We made Hershey's chocolate frosting for the vanilla cupcakes and an adaptation of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World's version of greentea frosting. (I used real butter...sue me.)

Summary:
Vanilla cupcakes were pretty good, I think the chocolate frosting is too strong for them. They could definitely benefit from a subtler, less sweet frosting. The green frosting probably would've been perfect.
Green Tea cupcakes were not actually cupcakes, but miniature loaves since I don't have that many cupcake pans. I forgot that I wanted to add more matcha then the recipe called for. I am in love with the flavor of matcha and find the cakes and frosting to be just about perfect.

So, out of the 48 cakes we had yesterday, how many are left today? Two. Yes, two. Abby ate about four cupcakes today. (I had three...did I just admit that?!) I brought some to my parents' house and to work. I licked the frosting off one of the green tea cakes and got rid of the rest. That's how much I love them...I sacrificed them for the sake of the greater good (my waistline.)

Cookie Exchange.

I hosted a cookie exchange on Friday night. I know, the smartest thing to do just after starting Weight Watchers (again.) But, I did, and I'm glad because it was fun. I learned about some things that I just didn't need to: something that involves a glass inserted into an area of the body...I'm just gonna leave it at that, and that the I am a very lucky lady to have wonderful, talented friends and family, a kick-ass husband, and an amazingly, well-behaved little girl.
I made two drinks. One looked pretty, but was not too good. One that was just beige, but was quite delicious.
Drink #1:
Pecan Pie Martini (sounds good, right?)
Firstly, I have to say that I abhor Rachael Ray. This is one of her "recipes." Seriously, Rachael, did you even *try* this recipe? Really? Did you? Because, if you did, (and I'm not gonna blame her fully because I should've thought of it too, but then again I don't get paid gazillions of dollars for thinking up stupid abbreviations and grinning like the joker) but, the corn syrup solidified in the shaker with the ice and vodka. Duh. Corn syrup + ice = clogged shaker holes. Could barely get the drinks out. I didn't even make one for myself because based on my guests reactions, it hardly seemed worth the effort. On the plus side, the rim
was tasty: corn syrup, toasted pecans, and brown sugar. (Oh, and in my defense, I was perusing my sister's Rachael Ray mag when I saw the recipe...I didn't go hunting for it. I think it hunted me down.)

The next drink, I will give the credit to Rachael, or one of her drunken interns: Oatmeal Cookie Crusher. Delicious! (Not delish or yummo, thankyouverymuch!)
Again, not much to look at, but quite tasty. This isn't a drink for a hardcore drinker, really. It's too sweet, but that's fine with me because I like sweet girly drinks. There. I confess. But, I also love me an extra dirty martini with three olives, so go figure.

Now, onto the cookies. It was a COOKIE EXCHANGE, afterall.
I, in an attempt at watching my points, made three cookies from Cooking Light:
1. Double-chocolate biscotti (good, but could've been better by adding some orange zest, or dried cherries and/or cranberries)
2. Swedish Almond-Cardamom Stars (eh, won't make again. I don't know why I insist on making cut-out cookies. I hate the process.) Plus, I don't know what makes them "Swedish."
3. Chai shortbread. (Will make again, but will increase all spices about 75%-100%) Not spicy enough for me. I didn't get a chai feel.
I have pictures of these cookies, but am not going to upload them right now because I just realized I've spent too much time on the computer and I need to get moving. Instead, I will leave you with just a few photos from the delicious creations my friends and family made:

Whole Lotta Bakin' Going On.

Yeah. Roll yours eyes at the title. I already did.
My birthday was Friday. I made myself green tea cupcakes with the matcha I bought a week or so ago. I got the recipe here. The cupcakes are sooo good.
The green tea flavor in the frosting is perfect, but the cupcake flavor is a bit too subtle for me. Next time, I think I'll just use my usual white cupcake recipe and add the matcha. I'll do the same with the frosting: just use my usual butter cream recipe and add matcha to that. I've also made myself some green tea latte, well, as much as a latte you can make without an espresso maker to steam the milk.
I also made an apple pie since I wasn't sure how well the cupcakes would go over. The pie was pretty good, the crust was uncooperative and I really didn't feel like fixing it, so I just pieced it together in the pie plate. No one noticed, or cared, really. I used up the apples from our apple picking last Friday.

Yesterday me and Abby made iced pumpkin cookies inspired by this blog. (I didn't use that much cream cheese.) They were very good and I'm glad I left them at my parents' house.

Pumpkin Cupcakes.

I wanted my house to smell good. Nice and fally. Ya know, cinnamon-y. So, instead of lighting a candle, I decided to do it the real way. The way that helps you maintain your way above average weight. I baked. (Plus, I had a lot of cream cheese left over from my baking for my sister's housewarming.)

I adapted a recipe from my Philadelphia cream cheese cookbooks. This recipe was supposed to be some sort of pumpkin bar with cream cheese frosting. I just made cupcakes. I didn't have enough nuts, so I used half nuts, and some raisins. It made 24 cupcakes. And the frosting? Divine. Or evil. Depends on how you look at it. Cream cheese, butter, 10x, and cinnamon. (view the photo large so you can see the little specks of cinnamon.) So delicious. I knew they were really good when my normally self-controlled-around-sweets husband had two at a sitting.

Why the Gods Invented Nutella.

My first Nutella experience was years ago. I was still living with my parents. I was still eating meat. I was still going to the Italian deli every Saturday with my mom. The deli had a lot of imports from Italy: Italian greeting cards with saints on them, Italian sodas, and the sweet thick chocolatey goodness that is Nutella. I'm pretty sure my mom bought it on a PMS-induced whim. The container recommends spreading it on bread. We just dipped spoons into it, as I'm sure most Nutella disciples do.
Now, I don't live with my parents, I don't eat meat, and the Italian deli is closed. But I can buy Nutella in the average-Joe grocery store; however, I don't because I cannot live with the guilt that is involved with being the sole consumer.
I never made anything with Nutella until I found this cake recipe. It is delicious. It is loaded with hazelnut happiness. It has more calories and fat than you need in a week. It is definitely a special occasion cake. My sister asked me to make it for her friend's birthday. (Happy Birthday, Cate!)
The recipe is from "The Whimsical Bake House."



Hazelnut Cake with Nutella Mousse & Nutella Butter Cream

Cake:
1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/4 c. sour cream
2/3 c. finely chopped toasted hazelnuts

• Grease 2 8" round pans. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat butter and brown sugar at high speed unti light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
• Sift dry ingredients together.
• Add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture alternately with sour cream.
• Beat until smooth.
• Stir hazelnuts in by hand.

Pour 3 cups of batter into one pan and the remaining batter into the other. Bake the less full pan for 20-25 minutes and the fuller pan for 30-35 minutes, or until cake tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes before turning the cakes out of the pans.

Nutella Mousse:
2 c heavy cream
4 tbsp. 10x sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. nutella

• Whip heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla in electric mixer at high speed, until stiff.
• Soften nutella in microwave for 10-20 seconds
• Gently fold nutella into the whipped cream.

Nutella Buttercream:
( I am not using the book's buttercream recipe; I'm using my own with the deletion of all but a tsp. of vanilla, and whatever nutella is leftover from the mousse.)

12 tbsp. melted butter
6 c. 10x sugar
2/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
remanding nutella

• pour melted butter into mixer bowl
• alternately add 10x sugar and milk
• add vanilla
• mix in nutella

Assembly:
(Cut each cake in half horizontally making two layers per cake; 4 layers total.) Please note, in photograph, there are 3 cakes instead of 2.

• Bottom of cake
• Mousse
• Top of cake
• Buttercream
• Bottom of cake
• Mousse
• Top of Cake
• Frost with Buttercream.
  

Apple Crisp.

I've had this recipe for years. I make it every autumn. Due to those two facts you'd think the recipe would be perfected. Nope.
I tried gala apples instead of granny smith. Eh. Too mushy.
Added more nutmeg. Nope. I don't know why I can't just accept the fact that I don't care for nutmeg in anything except pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread.
This one also ended up a bit soupy. Overall, I liked the crisp part better than the apple part. I'm thinking I just may make up some "crisp" and have it on hand as a topping for misc. autumny treats. (And I wonder how I gained those 20 lbs.?)

Recipe:
5-6 GRANNY SMITH apples
1c brown sugar
3/4c oats
3/4c flour
1tsp cinnamon (I don't measure, but I'm pretty sure I use more.)
1stp nutmeg (if you don't have a non-pumpkin aversion to it.)
1 stick of softened butter
1/4c apple juice or water

• 375 degree oven.
• mix apples with cinnamon and nutmeg and put in pie plate
• blend remaining ingredients...top apples
• pour juice over top
• bake 35 minutes