Chilled Plum Oatmeal Pudding

I enjoy oatmeal for breakfast. I usually make due with a simple packet of oatmeal, but in reality, my favorite is the good, goopy, slow-cooked kind that you have to add milk to. I typically get to enjoy that type when I am traveling and the hotel has it as an option on their buffet, or when I go out to Bob Evans or Panera for breakfast or occasionally at the cafeteria at work. I have pinned a few recipes for overnight oatmeal and crock-pot oatmeal, but haven't yet tried any of them. As I was reading through Martha Stewart Living this weekend (no idea which month), I found a recipe for oatmeal pudding. I thought that this sounded very interesting, as we are big fans of rice pudding. I also liked the idea that this could be a dessert or a breakfast option.

Her recipe indicated it made one serving, so I decided I needed to increase it so that I could make enough for the family to enjoy. I settled on tripling the recipe. I also decided to use unsweetened vanilla almond milk instead of plain. Even so, I had to add vanilla to the mix, because there just really wasn't any flavor outside of the plums that you serve on top. That being said, the oatmeal pudding, with vanilla extract added, is a great back drop for the juicy, tart plums that are made slightly sweet with the addition of maple syrup.

With the recipe tripled, I would say that it easily provides 6 servings if you are serving it as a breakfast, probably more like 12 if you are having it as a dessert. I definitely would make this again, I might even play with the flavors and try an almond extract or a maple extract instead of the vanilla next time I make it or even try sweetening it with a bit of brown sugar or honey. I also think it could be with other fresh fruit - cherries, blackberries, raspberries, etc. - although the tartness of the plum helps contribute to the flavor impact. Guess I will have to make this a bunch to try out all of the other options I have in mind.

Chilled Plum Oatmeal Pudding
Serves: 6

adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
3 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 pinch coarse salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons maple syrup
3 plums, pitted and chopped
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine oats, 2 1/4 cups of almond milk and 2 1/4 cups of water and salt in saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until oats are tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool slightly. Stir in remaining 3/4 cups of almond milk, the vanilla and 1 tbsp of maple syrup. Chill overnight.

Toss plums, 1 tbsp maple syrup and cinnamon in a bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.

Serve oatmeal topped with fruit and juices. Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.

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Carrot Cake Cookies

Last fall, when we went to Disney, my husband was on a mission to find the location at Disney where you could find the Carrot Cake Cookies that he had heard about on various podcasts and blogs. We had success and found them at the Writer's Stop in Disney's Hollywood Studios. They were were everything that he hoped for.

The other day, he mentioned that I should find a recipe to make them at home. So, I went on a search and found this version of the recipe. It seemed fairly straight-forward, so I picked up the missing ingredients and set out to make them.

He was so excited that even shared my plans on Facebook.

The batter seemed very thin, but I gave it a shot. I was right, it was a little too thin and the edges got overdone. I wound up opening up another cake mix and adding 3T of mix to the batter. The cookies came out just like I would have wanted for them too. They were not too thick, but held their shape when baking. Of course, I didn't want to have to use 1 box plus 3T of another to make these cookies in the future, so I did some experimenting. I grabbed another cake mix (different flavor) and adjusted the ingredients a little bit. I initially removed an egg, half the oil and half the water, but wound up adding the egg and the oil to the mix. I was pleased with the results.

I used the Neufchatel cheese, to reduce the calories/fat of the recipe and was pleased with the consistency and flavor of the filling. Even with that, each filled cookie is about 200 calories.

Carrot Cake Cookies with cream cheese filling

1 box carrot cake mix
3 eggs
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup water
8 ounces cream cheese
8 tablespoons butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup crushed pineapple drained
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Yield: 18 filled cookies

Prepare cake mix with eggs, oil and water. Drop by tablespoon-full on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Allow to cool 5 minutes on pan, then transfer to wire cooling rack.

In a mixer bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, pineapples and vanilla extract. Mix into a fluffy consistency.

Once the cookies are cool. Place scoop of cream cheese mixture on one cookie and spread out. Top with a second cookie.

Serve.

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Mini Cannoli Cups

I am always on the lookout for easy to make and enjoy treats to be able to put together for a gathering with friends, a nice treat for the family after dinner or treats to take to parties or work. I tried my first cannoli when I was traveling for business in Boston. There was something very satisfying about the crunch of the shell and cool creamy, richness of the filling. I certainly didn't see Cannolis as something that I could undertake, but when I saw a friend share about mini cannoli cups on Facebook, I decided this might be the way for me to recreate this treat at home.

I made them for dessert on Sunday and the family thoroughly enjoyed them. My son even asked to pack one in his lunch the next day. At about 95 calories per cup, they can easily be a portion controlled dessert that allows you to enjoy a treat without too many calories - the bigger challenge is resisting eating more than one.

Mini Cannoli Cups

Yield: 24 cups

Ingredients:
1 box refrigerated pie crust (2 crusts)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 (15-ounce) package ricotta cheese
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Strain the ricotta cheese, using a cheese cloth or coffee filter. (you can skip this step, but it will give you a thicker filling) Place the cheese into your mixer bowl and add sugars and vanilla. Mix.

Place in a quart size bag and refrigerate. Filling can be kept in the fridge up to 3 days before using.

Preheat oven to 425.

Roll out pie crusts and sprinkle each all over one side with sugar and cinnamon. Roll over dough with rolling pin gently to push cinnamon and sugar into the pie crust.

Using a cup or biscuit cutter, cut out circles in the dough.

Lightly press the circles into ungreased mini cupcake pans to form a pastry cup. Gently prick the bottoms on the cups with a fork.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely.

About an hour before serving, make a small cut across the corner of the plastic bag to fill cups, squeezing the filling into each cup. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and dust with powdered sugar.

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Pumpkin Bread

After making the Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake for Thanksgiving, I found myself with leftover pumpkin. I only had a large can at home, so my leftovers were just over 15 oz. I wanted to make something easy with the pumpkin, so I looked for a bread type recipe in my collection. I have made some in the past, but I don't think this was the one - unfortunately, I hadn't written any of them in my cookbook, so I was left guessing. I decided to add chocolate chips to one of the loaves of bread, I didn't have minis, which I prefer in bread, so I used regular chocolate chips.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 eggs
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin (or 15 oz fresh pumpkin)
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray the bottom of two bread pans with cooking spray.

Blend the flour, baking soda, spices and salt, set aside.

Combine the sugar, eggs, oil and pumpkin in a bowl. Stir with a whisk until combined.

Fold in the dry ingredients, stirring until combined. If you are adding chocolate chips, add them and stir to combine.

Pour into two prepared bread pans. Baked for 50 - 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for a few minutes in pans before turning out.

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Oreo Cream Cheese Cookies

My husband is a big cheesecake fan, but it isn't always the easiest dessert to take with you to a gathering. So, when we were invited to a gathering and he mentioned wanting cheesecake, I decided to find a portable version and discovered these cream cheese cookies. They sounded delicious, so I gave it a shot, making a few adjustments including increasing the batch size.

Now, clearly, they don't have that silky texture of a cheesecake, but from a flavor perspective they definitely are a cream cheese cookie and deliver the flavor. Everyone loved them and I think they were even better the second day (I had left some of the batch at home for us).

Oreo Cream Cheese Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened
6 ounces cream cheese softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups Oreo Cookies, crushed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and cream cheese until thoroughly combined.

Add sugar and vanilla, mix well.

Add flour one cup at a time and mix on low just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Pour Oreo crumbles into a bowl. Scoop dough out and roll into roughly 1.5" balls, then roll in cookie crumbles, coating thoroughly. Be sure to cover the dough balls really well in crumbs, as this is what holds the cookie together while baking.

Space cookies about 1-2" apart on sheet. Bake on center rack about 14-15 minutes and allow to cool on sheet several minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.

I actually ran out of Oreo cookie crumbs the one time, so I swapped out the end of the batch to graham cracker crumbs. They were equally delicious in my opinion.

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Cherry Swirl Cheesecake

Back at Thanksgiving, I made a Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake (you can find that recipe here). Recently, we had friends over and I decided that a cheesecake would make a great dessert. The Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake recipe that I had used produced a very nice cheesecake, so I wanted to use that recipe, but didn't feel like pumpkin said spring. I felt that I needed to use something for a swirl, but it had to be 'wet'. I decided that for this first attempt, I would try a ready made pie filling, so I picked up a can of cherry pie filling.

I simply swapped the same amount of cherry filling as there had been pumpkin and skipped the pumpkin pie spices. I relied on my mixer to beat apart the chunks of cherry, but allowed some chunks in the swirl. It was met with rave reviews. I was very pleased with the result. It gives me inspiration to try more...I'm not sure what I will try next, but some ideas that I have include caramel (ice cream topping), lemon (lemon pie filling) and chocolate (hot fudge or chocolate syrup).

Cherry Swirl Cheesecake

Servings 10

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter melted
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup cherry pie filling

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray 9" spring-form pan with cooking spray. Combine the crushed graham crackers and melted butter. Press into the bottom and up sides of the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, and vanilla. Cream until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reserve 1 cup of the batter, refrigerate covered. To the remaining batter, add the remaining sugar and the cherry pie filling. Mix until blended.

Remove the plain batter from the refrigerator and spoon about half onto the crust in dollops. Cover with the pumpkin batter and then dollop the remaining plain batter on top. Using a butter knife, gently swirl the batters together.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack in pan. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.



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Italian Wedding Cake

Several years ago, when I first started at my current company, someone made this cake for a carry in event and it was wonderful. I, of course, asked for the recipe and make it from time to time. The ricotta cheese mixture, as it bakes into the cake, gives it a bit of a cheesecake flavor/texture. I love the whipped topping too.



Italian Wedding Cake

1 Marble Cake (or Yellow Cake and 1/4 cup cocoa) Mix, prepared according to package directions.

I wasn't able to get a marble cake mix in my preferred brand locally, so I used a yellow cake mix and after mixing it pulled out 1 cup of the batter. I placed the remainder of the batter into the prepared pan. Then, to the 1 cup of batter I had reserved, I added 1/4 cup of cocoa. Then, like with a marble cake mix, I added the chocolate batter in spoonfuls and then ran a knife through it to make the batter marbled.



In a bowl, combine the following:
2# Ricotta Cheese
4 eggs
1 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Blend until well combined. Spoon on top of the cake batter in the pan.


Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Topping:
1 tub Whipped Topping
1 small box Chocolate Pudding
1 c milk

Combine and spread on cooled cake.



Enjoy!


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Chocolate Banana Upside Down Cake

Today was the 50th Birthday of one of my coworkers. When I looked into my pantry to decide what to make this morning, I realized that I had some bananas that I thought would be good to use, as they were starting to reach overripe. I had some butterscotch chips, so I thought that maybe I would make some sort of banana butterscotch bars, but I wasn't well prepared, as I was out of flour. That meant banana bread was out of the question too. I didn't have a 'plain' cake mix that I could mix in the bananas, but I did have a chocolate cake mix that came with a fudge filling. I also had no frosting and wasn't really in the mood to whip any up. So, I decided that I would do a banana upside down cake with what I did have on hand. The mix was for a full cake, so unlike my pineapple upside down cake, I made it in a 9x13 pan.



Chocolate Banana Upside Down Cake

Banana Topping
6 T Butter
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
3 bananas, sliced

Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in brown sugar until dissolved, allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. Pour the sauce into buttered pan. Distribute banana slices over the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

Chocolate Cake

Prepare cake mix according to package directions or whip up your favorite homemade chocolate cake. Gently pour over the bananas.

Bake according to package directions. Allow to cool on wire rack for 15 - 20 minutes. Invert onto plate. Slice and serve.

I had a piece this morning when it was still warm, it was so delicious and the banana topping made it so moist. I do recommend a more ripe banana, they tend to be a little sweeter and in my opinion a little less 'starchy'.


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M&M Pretzel Bark

Pinterest Strikes Again!

I actually found two recipes that sounded good to me and decided to combine them. The first was for Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark and the other was for M&M Bark. I liked that the salted caramel one made it's own caramel and I liked the use of the M&Ms to dress up the pretzel bark. I combined the two recipes and added a few things from my caramel puffcorn recipe and voila! M&M Pretzel Bark was born.

They are not the prettiest of treats, but they make up in taste what they lack in appearance.

It is YUMMY! It is ADDICTIVE!

I used Holiday Mini M&Ms to decorate mine. I think they are the right size, but supposed you could use regular if that is what you had on hand. I threw the bark into the freezer before cutting/breaking it into pieces.

M&M Pretzel Bark

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 (16-ounce) bag mini pretzel twists
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups M & Ms

Line a large jelly roll pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Fill the pan with a single layer of pretzels.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the brown sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Bring it to a boil, while stirring. Allow it to boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and baking soda, stir.

Pour evenly over the top of the pretzels. Put in the oven at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top. Allow to sit for a couple of minutes, then use a spatula to spread the chocolate chips over the surface. Sprinkle with M&Ms, pressing gently to secure them into the soft chocolate.

Allow to cool. Break into uneven pieces. Enjoy!

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Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars

I love chocolate. I love caramel. I am in love with all of the new sea salt caramels. So, it was only natural when I found this recipe for Salted Caramel Bars from Annie's Eats on Pinterest, I knew that I had to try them.

I was looking for a treat to bring to work to share for our holiday goodie day and I chose this opportunity to try out the new cookie.

I must say that these were quite the hit. There was something so intriguing about the slight bite that the shortbread lent to the cookie combined with the ooey-gooey yumminess of the homemade caramel and the flavor of the chocolate with the touch of salt giving it the final touch.

I left some home for the family and my son, after trying just one told me that I wouldn't have to worry about any of them being wasted.

Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars
Servings 48

Shortbread:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar

Caramel:
1 cup butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 (14-ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk

Chocolate:
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips or baking chocolate, cut into bits
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
Sea salt or Fleur de sel, for sprinkling

Yield: about 96 1" squares

Shortbread: Preheat the oven to 325° F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well blended. With the mixer on low speed, blend in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Press the dough into the prepared baking pan. Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool completely.
Caramel layer: Combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, stirring constantly. Continue simmering and stirring until the mixture is just below soft ball stage, about 230F. Pour the mixture over the shortbread layer and allow to cool completely.
Chocolate: Combine the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 1 minutes and stir. Continue heating 30s at a time, until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour evenly over the caramel layer and use an offset spatula to smooth the top. Allow to cool for a minute or two and then sprinkle with Fleur de sel. Chill, covered, until firm enough to slice. Cut into 1" squares.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I mentioned yesterday, I tried two Pumpkin Cookie recipes on Sunday. This one was found on AllRecipes. I essentially followed the recipe, only skipping the walnuts and increasing the baking time.

These cookies are similar to a sugar cookie recipe that I love that uses oil instead of a solid fat, uses both baking powder and baking soda, and uses milk.

These cookies turned out a nice rich color and with the addition of the cinnamon had a nice pumpkin spice type of flavor.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 3 dozen cookies

1 cup pumpkin pureed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine pumpkin, sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in milk. Add the milk to the pumpkin. Add flour mixture to pumpkin and mix well. Add the chocolate chips.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Since I liked different aspects of both cookies, the next logical step was to combine the two batters. After baking the 3 dozen of each, I had some extra batter so I mixed them and baked that for 16 minutes. The result was interesting, I think I liked it. The one in the middle is the blend:

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Pumpkin Cake Mix Cookies

After making our Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake this weekend, I was left with about 3 cups of fresh, pureed pumpkin that I wanted to use up before it had time to go bad. I decided that it would be used to make cookies. I found two recipes that both sounded good to me and decided I would make both recipes.

The first was a cake mix recipe. I am a fan of convenience and like that it had two ingredient - pumpkin and cake mix. Now, I will admit that at first I was a little skeptical about this recipe, it sounded very similar to a muffin recipe, so I was worried that it wouldn't hold on the pan and would run off. I did make a minor adjustment and added a bit of baking soda so that they would rise and not flatten. I also added butterscotch and white chocolate chips to this batch.

The cookies turned out very moist and cake like. My son really enjoyed the addition of the butterscotch chips.

Pumpkin Cake Mix Cookies
1 box yellow cake mix
1 3/4 c fresh pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c butterscotch chips
1/2 c white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the cake mix, pumpkin and baking soda in a bowl. Mix until combined. Stir in chips.

Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool on pan for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.


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Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake

One of my favorite fall flavors is Pumpkin. At our house, we enjoy treats like Pumpkin Pudding and Pumpkin Sherbert year round - made from canned pumpkin. In the fall though, I prefer to bake with fresh pumpkin.

After Halloween, we take our small 'pie' pumpkins and roast them up in the oven, scoop out the meat and mash it. Then, of course, we roast the seeds. This year, we roasted two pumpkins and got about 4 cups of pumpkin puree from them.

Since it was just the four of us at our Thanksgiving meal this year (we had had Thanksgiving with my extended family the weekend before), I decided to go with a pumpkin cheesecake this year, instead of the traditional pie. I tried and tweaked a new recipe. It was well received by the family. I think that the fact that it only used two packages of cream cheese was part of the secret - it gave a better texture, as it was able to cook more evenly then some of the larger, thicker recipes we have had in the past. I didn't do a water bath and it cracked, but I am okay with that - function over form, taste over appearance. This recipe is a definite keeper.

Pumpkin Marble Cheesecake

Servings 10

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter melted
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 cup fresh pumpkin pureed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg


Preheat oven to 350.

Spray 9" spring-form pan with cooking spray. Combine the crushed graham crackers and melted butter. Press into the bottom and up sides of the pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Combine cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, and vanilla. Cream until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reserve 1 cup of the batter, refrigerate covered. To the remaining batter, add the remaining sugar, the pumpkin and spices. Mix until blended.

Remove the plain batter from the refrigerator and spoon about half onto the crust in dollops. Cover with the pumpkin batter and then dollop the remaining plain batter on top. Using a butter knife, gently swirl the batters together.

Bake for 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack in pan. Refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving.

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Brownie S'mores Cupcakes

The other evening, I was out meandering on Pinterest (I do a lot of that) and stumbled upon a post for Brownie Marshmallow Cupcakes at Striving to Be Bold. They sounded very intriguing to me, but I knew that if I made them, I would have to change them up. I wound up making several changes and in the end, I made Brownie S'mores Cupcakes.

Brownie S'mores Cupcakes
yields 12 cupcakes

1 pkg Brownie Mix Family Size (for 13x9 pan) prepared
Mini-marshmallows
Graham Crackers, broken (about 3 full, 4 cracker sheets)
1/2 c Milk Chocolate Chips

Prepare a cupcake pan with pan spray.

Ladle enough brownie batter into each cup to just cover the bottom.

Into each cup, place about 4-5 mini-marshmallows making sure that they are in the middle and not touching the edge.

Top with the remaining brownie batter.

On each cupcake, sprinkle some graham cracker pieces and crumbs. Add milk chocolate chips.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and add 6-7 mini-marshmallows to the top of each cupcake.

Return to the oven and continue to bake for another 10 minutes.

Allow to cool before removing from the pan.

These cupcakes were so nice and ooey-gooey in the middle and the toasted marshmallow on top was delicious.

We took them to a game night with friends and they were a hit.

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Apple Crisp

It is really beginning to feel like fall outside and of course, in my world, along with fall comes apple cider, apple dumplings, and apple crisp.

It's funny, when I was a kid and they would serve us apple crisp in elementary school, it was one of my least favorite desserts. I'm not sure how they made it but I'm guessing that in their crisp portion they must have had oats and maybe even nuts. (would they have been able to do that thirty something years ago?) I can remember picking through it to try to 'save' the apples, but wanting with all of my heart to avoid getting any of the crisp.

At home, well, that was a different story. My aunt gave had a recipe for apple crisp, that I can only describe as satisfyingly simple and wonderfully delicious. There are five ingredients - apples, flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon. The topping is very similar to what you would receive on top of a crumb pie.

It is a family favorite for my kids too. Even my coworkers request it special from time to time - 'not just for my birthday' said one coworker.

I don't use a specific type of apple when I make it, in fact, I generally prefer to mix it up and use at least two varieties of apples when I do. I have even been known to substitute in a couple of peaches for an apple and peach crisp.

Apple Crisp
8 Apples, peeled and diced

1/2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
6 T butter
Cinnamon

Place diced apples in a square baking dish.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Crumble together the flour, sugar and butter. Distribute evenly across the apples. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

Enjoy! I prefer it served warm and typically reheat it if I am having some later.

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