Apple Streusel Coffeecake

Apple-picking is seriously one of the highlights of my whole year. We always go one of the last Saturdays in September, early enough to make sure that there are apples left, but late enough to get pumpkins the same day :). My mom has totally perfected the organization of the apple-picking day - we are serious about apples around here!

Here are a few shots from the day --

I always buy a ton of apples (if you pick them, you buy them!) so I'm always looking for new apple recipes. Last year, I made apple bars, apple crostata, and apple butter. The first recipe to get my interest this year is this Apple Streusel Coffeecake - I was a little nervous making this recipe because I didn't have all the ingredients that I needed, but it was my first Sunday morning with no plans in a long time and I didn't feel like hitting up the grocery store for just a few things, so I used a few substitutions. The results were great! Besides tasting good, it also makes a beautiful presentation would be great with coffee for your next brunch or dinner.

Apple Streusel Coffeecake (adapted from Women's Day Magazine)

Ingredients
Streusel
1 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 stick cold butter, diced
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup walnuts & pecans, coarsely chopped

Cake
3 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16 ounces low-fat sour cream
2 Golden Delicious apples, diced

Glaze
Powdered sugar
Water or milk
Splash of apple wine or apple cider (optional)

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan.

2. Make streusel first: stir brown sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon with a fork or rub together with fingertips until crumbly and butter is completely incorporated. Stir in nuts.

3. Cake: mix flour, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl. Then beat the butter and sugar in a 2nd bowl with a mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, beating well after each; add in vanilla and sour cream.

4. With mixer on low speed, beat in flour mixture just until blended, scraping down bowl as necessary.

5. Add approximately 3 cups of the cake batter into pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with 1/4-1/2 cup of the streusel, then apples, then and additional 1/2 cup of the streusel. Add the remaining batter and spread evenly to cover apples and streusel.

6. Sprinkle batter with remaining streusel, pressing down lightly so it sticks to batter (the streusel will completely cover the batter).

7. Bake approximately 45-55 minutes or until a pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes before inverting. Remove pan and cool completely.

8. The glaze is optional, but I think it added a nice little bit of sweetness to the cake. I chose to make mine very thin, but if you made it a bit thicker (added more sugar, less liquid), the white glaze would also look very pretty on the cake. Anyway, to make the glaze, I added a bit of water to powdered sugar and stirred until it had an even consistency. Then I added a splash of apple ice wine that I happened to have in the kitchen - I think apple cider or even another dessert wine/extract/liqueur would have the same effect. I strained the mixture and then poured it over the cooled cake. After it seeped in, I also added some sifted powdered sugar to the top.

I'm submitting this recipe to Joelen's Tasty Tools monthly event. I love the theme this month -bakeware! I can't wait to see all the recipes - fall is the perfect month for a baking theme!

Sandi - I'm sending the below photo to you as my COTM - apples everywhere! My tip is, when you pick them, to leave a bit of the leaves and stems attached. They dry nicely and look beautiful as a fall (edible!) centerpiece.

Cheap & Chic

Its been awhile since I've posted something non-food related! I swear, if you read this blog, it must seem like I only eat, sleep and blog.

For new readers of this blog, I actually used to blog cool etsy finds, or neat websites and shopping/crafty links. I'm going to try to get back to that a bit. I love anything design-related - including a serious addiction to unique paper products, cool pottery, dishes and home decor. Tim & I still rent an apartment so I don't have much room or freedom to decorate our space, but I try to do little things around to make it at least a little unique.

Anyway, enough of the intro. Here is a cool centerpiece. All of these flowers were bought at the local regular grocery store - 4 mix & match bunches for $10!

Now, I usually don't like carnations. But when you make an arrangement of almost all carnations tightly packed together, it has a totally different effect than just one or two stuck in. Try it out. It works with all different types of flowers - another one is baby's breath. Normally hate it. But the other day, after arranging some flowers, I had it leftover. I put it in a small pottery cup - just the baby's breath - totally different look.

Back to these flowers. I decided to take the emphasis off the flowers (and how cheap they are) and put it on the style of arrangement - so I made several small arrangements in containers that I had around - a few different size drinking glasses, a beer glass, and one tea cup. An odd number usually works the best - 3, 5, 7.

My table is small and round, but these would work great down the center of a longer table too. I added a small succulent (hens & chicks) to the mix as my 5th piece. I think it looks pretty good! You could also separate the containers and use them around the house as a way to unite the different rooms. Try it out sometime!

I'm also entering this into the Centerpiece of the Month event - a great monthly event now hosted by Sandi at the WhistleStop Cafe. Thanks Sandi!

These were....ok.

As is obvious from this post, this post and this one too :), I definitely am a citrus fan. So, for Easter, I decided to make some lemon bars to go along with the asparagus tart that I was bringing to my mother-in-laws for dinner. I have a large stack of cookbooks in my kitchen and I grabbed a few in the hopes of finding a quick and easy recipe. My mom bought me a Paula Deen cookbook awhile back and I'd never made anything from it. I figured that Paula would be the perfect person for a homey dessert like lemon bars, but I guess I was wrong. They were really....average and just ok. Nothing too special or super delicious.

You can find the recipe for Paula Deen's lemon bars here - I didn't change anything, so I thought instead of re-posting the recipe, I would post some tips. These bars are not a lost cause - they have a nice flavor and I think with a little help they could be really good. I did find a few other lemon bar recipes by Paula Deen - maybe she tweaked it since the cookbook?

• Add a little more lemon: Maybe its just me, but I like the taste and flavor of lemon. These bars were pretty sweet and were missing that over-the-top lemon flavor. I think a bit more lemon zest would give them a kick.


• Thinner crust: The crust on these bad boys was huge! I know that it doesn't look very thick in the photo, but I removed some and some of it stuck to the pan. It seemed like there was more crust than filling and the crust was also a bit tough. I think I overcooked mine a tad, but I would definitely reduce the thickness of the crust next time.


• Less butter: This is a shortbread crust, but I feel like you can definitely go a bit easier on the butter (2 sticks!). The crust was a bit greasier than I would like and it was definitely not as tender as a normal shortbread. The main point of the recipe is the lemon part so I feel like you are really eating so much of your calories here in the crust.

Even though the bars were not perfect, I'm still entering them in Joelen's Tasty Tools event! Cooking or baking with citrus is the perfect way to use your microplane zester - I LOVE mine and use it all the time (even as a replacement cheese grater once in a while). I have definitely almost zested my knuckles with it too :)

If anyone has any great lemon bar recipes - please post in the comments! Have a great weekend!

Vegetarian Mondays and CLICK!

Awhile back, I announced that Tim and I were going to try to eat vegetarian at least a few times a week - not that much of a challenge for us because it wasn't like we always had meat for dinner, but I really wanted to up the caliber of our meatless dinners as well as reduce our meat intake for personal reasons (some of which can be found here).

To give an update, we have been doing great! I have not been all that great about blogging all of our meatless meals because they usually occur on a weeknight and I have serious issues shooting food in the dark, BUT today you are in luck! This recipe was so good that I had to post it. So simple and good is what I should say. Seriously - only about 4 ingredients!

Asparagus & Gruyere Tart (adapted from Everyday Food)

Ingredients

1 sheet puffed pastry, thawed

1-2 bunches of asparagus, ends trimmed

1 cup gruyere cheese, shredded

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Kosher salt/pepper

Extra virgin olive oil, for brushing

Steps

1. Prepare puffed pastry. You only need one sheet. Thaw it per the directions on the package (unless you make your own puffed pastry, then you are seriously amazing). Note: don't leave it to thaw too long prior to baking. The first time I made this tart, I left my dough out to thaw on the sheet pan a few hours while I was doing other things and it did not rise properly.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough out to an approximately 16 x 10-inch rectangle (Mine was more like a square and it really does not matter too much - just don't spread the dough out too much) on a lightly floured board.

3. Transfer to baking sheet and lightly score the dough approximately 1-inch from the edge to mark a rectangle. This is the area that will puff up the most during baking. Prick the inner area with a fork approximately every 1/2 inch. If you care if your tart is a perfect shape, you can also trim the edges to make all sides even. Bake until puffed and lightly golden, approximately 15 minutes. Make sure you don't overbake during this round because the second time around, it will burn (learned from personal experience :).

4. After the tart shell is baked, cut asparagus to fit the inner area of the tart. Put shredded/grated cheeses in the bottom of the tart shell. Fit asparagus in rows (alternating ends and tips) over cheese to fill tart. Brush with olive oil and season with salt/pepper. Bake until asparagus are tender (approximately 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your spears).

This dish was perfect as part of a main course and also as a side dish (I brought it to Easter dinner and it went over great!).
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Not to take away from the great recipe above :), but I am really excited about CLICK this month! The theme for this monthly food photography event was metal and I was determined to get out a photograph that I loved before the deadline. So, here is my take on metal in the kitchen!

CLICK: March 2008: Metal Essentials...

A Hint of Spring...

I love flowers - so when my husband bought these tulips for me (for my birthday!), they made me excited for spring. We still have snow on the ground here, but I think spring is right around the corner.

I'm also sending this post off to Sandi at Whistlestop Cafe for the Centerpiece of the Month event! Its been a few months since I have participated, but I'm back!

A Heart Tart

When I saw Zorra's "A heart for your Valentine" event - I just had to participate! After all, I did already profess my love for Valentine's Day (and all other holidays, for that matter :).

This event calls for sweet or savory recipes that are either heart-shaped or heart-decorated. I don't have a heart tart pan, so I went the heart-decorated route. The result is a Bittersweet Chocolate & Berry Cheesecake Tartlet - What do you think?

And...get this - its not that fattening! I love to make cheesecake and frequently make all different versions, but have never tried the low-fat cream cheese. I had saved this recipe awhile back and decided to give it a whirl for the filling - but change up the crust and toppings just a bit. I much prefer to make smaller, individual desserts, rather than large cakes or tarts because it is just Tim and myself in the house and we never finish the larger desserts. Plus, individuals look so cute and are perfect for a romantic Valentine's Day Dinner!

Bittersweet Chocolate & Berry Cheesecake Tartlets
(adapted from Everyday Food)

Note: I made 3 tartlets, but had enough batter to make about 3 or 4 more - the original recipe calls for a regular 9-inch tart pan. You could also use a mini-cheesecake pan - I would just make the original amount of batter (or half it) the first time to get a better handle on how much you need for whatever pan you would like to use. Then just watch the oven - the baking time will need to be adjusted.

Ingredients
~ 1 cup chocolate cookies
1/3 cup almonds
3/4 cups sugar, separated
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 bars (8 ounces each) reduced-fat cream cheese @ room temperature
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch salt
Berries (for decorating tart tops - I used a combination of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries)
Confectioner's sugar (for dusting)
Bittersweet chocolate, melted (a few ounces should be fine - but that depends on how many tarts you make and how decorative you would like them to be!)

Steps

For the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a food processor, grind cookies, almonds, and 1/4 cup sugar until finely ground; add butter, and process until moistened. If you find that your crumbs are too wet or too dry, add either more chocolate cookies/wafers or more butter. Transfer to removable-bottom tart pan(s). Using the base of a dry measuring cup (and your fingers!), press mixture firmly into the bottom and up sides of pan. Freeze at least 15 minutes.

For the filling: Clean food processor. Place cream cheese, sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar, egg, vanilla, and salt in food processor; blend until smooth. Place tart pan(s) on a rimmed baking sheet; fill with cheesecake mixture. Bake until filling is just set, approximately 23 minutes for my little tarts (the original recipe recommends ~30 to 35 minutes for larger tarts). Transfer tart pan(s) to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, refrigerate until cold.

For the decorations! Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and fill a piping bag with melted chocolate. The piping bag should have a very small round tip attached so you can write/draw words, shapes or in this case, HEARTS! Pipe out hearts - I did heart outlines and filled hearts - on the parchment. I cooled mine in the freezer so they would harden quickly.

Use berries (I patted mine dry first with paper towels to remove excess juice [I had to use frozen berries because they are out of season here]) to make two concentric circles around the edge of the tarts. Once the chocolate hearts are hard, use them to decorate the center of the tart - I pushed mine into the cheesecake and left a few around the outside of the plate. Dust the top of the tart with confectioner's sugar and EAT!

The full round-up of entries can be found here!

A is for Asparagus

Or Aphrodisiac...

Now I know a lot of you out there seem to dislike Valentine's Day (from what I've been reading anyway) because its too "commercial" or too "fake;" however, I choose to celebrate this holiday for its many virtues. I mean, red, pink, hearts, chocolate, love - what's not to like? In our house, we love any excuse to celebrate and definitely don't think of it as a day where we are required to buy gifts or be thoughtful - we like to!

I usually like to make a fancy dinner or dessert on Valentine's Day, instead of going out. For example, last year I made Tim a full box of homemade truffles and candies as a gift and he mastered the art of filet mignon for our dinner. It was great - really fun to try and make restaurant-worthy meals at home. I hope to post a few Valentine's ideas this weekend for anyone looking for something new and exciting to make.


Anyway, I saw a great event going on over at Mele Cotte - Kitchen of Love - a round-up of recipes featuring ingredients known to be aphrodisiacs! How great is that? Here is my contribution - Phyllo-wrapped Roasted Asparagus - absolutely delicious and a definite aphrodisiac (or so says my husband - although I think he is just trying to get me to make them again :). These make a great appetizer for any party!

Phyllo-wrapped Roasted Asparagus

Ingredients
Phyllo dough, thawed
Prosciutto (very thinly sliced)
Asparagus (ends trimmed)
Extra virgin olive oil
Canola oil spray
Grated parmesan cheese
kosher salt/pepper

Steps
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Drizzle olive oil over asparagus and season with salt/pepper. Roll around asparagus to make sure they are equally covered in the oil and seasoning.

3. Set up your phyllo dough. Cut each sheet of dough into 4 pieces (one cut in the horizontal direction and one cut in the vertical direction to make 4 rectangles).

4. Prepare prosciutto - tear each slice into a few pieces (you only need a small piece for each asparagus). Wrap a small piece of prosciutto around the center of the asparagus and then wrap up in the phyllo. The prosciutto should be covered but the ends of the asparagus should still be visible.

5. Put spears on parchment-lined baking sheet. Spray lightly with canola oil spray (or other cooking spray) and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Bake about 15 minutes or until browned and crispy. Enjoy!

The Recipe Exchange...

Didn't turn out so well for me :) I should rephrase - the German Chocolate Pie that I made tasted really good (how could chocolate, coconut and pecans be bad!) but it just didn't look at good as I would have liked. Totally my fault, by the way - my pie plate was too deep and apparently, I burnt my crust; plus, the bottom crust was a bit soggy. Who knows, definitely not my day. I normally would have tried it again but with all the things lined up to make for Christmas, I just couldn't spare the ingredients. I ended up taking the pie to work for our holiday potluck - it got very good reviews so I would suggest trying the recipe if you like chocolate and pecans. Please let me know how it turns out!

I really like the idea of a non-fruit pie and the layer of chocolate on the bottom was genius. Thanks to Katie of Good Things Catered for hosting this fabulous and fun event, I can't wait to what recipes everyone else made!

German Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick (4 ounces) plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, 1 stick chilled and cut into small pieces 1/4 cup ice water

2 large eggs

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2 1/2 cups (about 10 ounces) pecan halves, coarsely chopped

3/4 cup sweetened flake coconut

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Steps

1. In a food processor, pulse the flour with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add the chilled butter pieces and pulse until coarse crumbs form, about 5 seconds. Drizzle in the ice water and pulse just until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap; flatten to form a disk. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch round; transfer to a pie pan. Cut the excess dough to leave a 1/2-inch overhang. Using your fingers, roll the dough edge under and crimp. Prick the bottom of the pie shell with a fork; refrigerate for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

3. Line the shell with foil and pie weights or dried beans; bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans, reduce the heat to 375º and bake for another 12 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the eggs. In a heavy, medium saucepan, whisk together the remaining 5 tablespoons butter and 1/2 teaspoon salt with the brown sugar and corn syrup over medium heat until melted and smooth. Whisk the sugar mixture into the beaten eggs. Stir in the nuts and coconut.

5. Spread the chocolate chips in the pie shell. Pour in the filling and bake until set, about 25 minutes. Let the pie cool completely before slicing.

A Tale of Two Thanksgivings...

in photos!

I made several dishes for the two Thanksgiving meals we attended this year (Thanks Mom and MIL!). They included mini-black bottom cheesecakes, a cranberry linzer tart (from Orangette - it was delicious, extremely fruity, tart and sweet all at the same time), my favorite roasted brussel sprouts, a cheese platter (assembled it so I can't take credit for the actual cheese, but I did make the chocolate-covered seckel pears, which were a huge hit!), an apple crostata, and cranberry bellinis (cranberry juice + prosecco or other sparkling wine = easy and so good!). Tim also made his "famous" roasted red potatoes, which I'll have to have him post about another time. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day....

Love this table setup - maybe COTM?

Love these...

Red sunflowers - the colors are so beautifully vibrant and striking. They automatically put me in a good mood; especially when I come home from work and they are just sitting there, making my table look so beautiful, seemingly without any effort at all.

I decided to put my hat into the blogging event ring again for Centerpiece of the Month (originally from Talk of Tomatoes, but hosted this month by Whistlestop Cafe Cooking) using my beautiful flowers.

My lighting was not optimal for the below photos, but you can still see the insane depth of the color of the blooms. I paired them with some maples leaves I collected and the whole design just seemed to glow.

Cupcake Hero - Battle Lime!

So, here is my entry for my first blogging "competition" - held by Laurie at QuirkyCupcake. I didn't put too much pressure on myself this go round :) The ingredient for this month's all-cupcake contest is lime. Great choice! For my entry, I figured that I couldn't go wrong with chocolate and citrus, right? I bring you my entry - Chocolate coconut cupcakes with lime cream cheese frosting.

Thanks Laurie for starting this up - the challenge helps to inspire!

Chocolate Cupcakes (original recipe from Ina Garten; edited by me!)
Ingredients
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, shaken, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup good cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup semi-sweet/bittersweet chocolate chips
Squeeze of lime juice

Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
2. Cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. 3. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, lime juice and coffee.
5. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
6. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended.
7. Fold the coconut and chocolate chips into the batter.
8. Divide the batter among the cupcake pans
9. Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
10. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Lime Cream Cheese Frosting!
Ingredients
1/2 pound cream cheese, at room temperature
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar, sifted (amount dependent on the amount of lime juice)
Lime juice (amount depending on how sweet/tart you like it!) and ~ 1 tsp of lime zest
Coconut and mini-chocolate chips for topping

Steps
1. Mix cream cheese and butter together.
2. Add vanilla.
3. Add lime juice (start with juice from 1/2 lime), zest and sugar (start with 1 cup)
4. Add more lime juice and sugar depending on taste and consistency - you want it to be thick and hold its shape (add more sugar if not thick enough).
5. Top with coconut and chocolate chips!

Notes
1. I like my frosting really tangy, so I added a significant amount of juice - it was delicious but definitely go in stages because you can't take it out!
2. I loved the frosting and liked the cupcakes - they were great right out of the oven, but after a few days, the insides were a bit dry and crumby. I think it may be a result of my using 2 large eggs instead of 2 extra-large eggs. Next time, I will try to make the cupcakes a bit more moist.
3. Did I mention that the frosting tasted amazing :)?