Pumpkin Apple Streusel Muffins

The time is finally here- it's the first chill of fall.   Not only did I pull out my favorite pair of Great Aunt Maxine's crocheted slippers (that pattern should make it up shortly), but I whipped Joe up a version meant to look more like loafers after finding out he was not blessed with a pair of slippers.  And then I started up on a new Mary Jane style for myself.  I'm also back to crocheting blankets that got left behind when it got too hot to work one in my lap.

But beyond the coziness of sweaters, lovingly knit blankets and slippers are my favorite tastes of fall.  Fresh picked apples, apple cider donuts, and of course, pumpkin.  Hot mulled apple cider with a pad of butter melted on top and ein schluck of rum or whiskey if you're lucky. Mmmmm I can't wait already.

Before fall had even arrived the Sydney who I made the gluten free pumpkin bread for last fall bestowed a pantry-full of food on Joe and I before moving back to California.  This very kind gift included a big can of pumpkin that is big enough that it hasn't made it off my counter so I've been giving it the stare down for a few weeks now.  And now that it is FINALLY cooling off, I'm ready to get into pumpkin season!

During my recipe quest I came across this gem.   Not only does it include pumpkin AND apple, but it's got a yummy streusel topping made with butter and brown sugar so it really can't get any better.  I even have half a dozen apples around that are a little too mealy for my taste, so baking them is my perfect solution!

Gluten Free Strawberry Cobbler

There's some pretty exciting news on the home front here at Charm Hour.  Not only have a I graduated from nursing school with my MSN, but I am also now registered to take the national licensing exam in just a few weeks.

And while it's totally awesomely wonderful that I don't have to go to school, take tests, or attend meetings about how totally in debt I am, it is a little sad that I won't be seeing all of my friends so regularly without any of the planning and coordination that real life requires.  

This is only more true for my dear friend Sydney.  Like me she came all the way out here from the other side of the country, except she's my opposite being from California.  She also happens to have Celiac Disease, which is the impetus for all of the gluten free recipes making their appearance.  If you haven't tried it yet, think about making this gluten free pumpkin bundt cake - it's really delicious.  This cobbler came about because Sydney generously offered to leave me all of her extra non-perishable foods when she moved back to California.  It was seriously SO much food.  And considering both of Joe and my incomes are just loan overpayments, and now I'm done with school we are very much scrounging, so this is definitely a saving grace.  It was the least I could do to bake her a little something before she left- and this seemed like a pretty darn good option.  

The only problem with a lot of gluten free recipes is that they take a lot of weird flours.  It's a pretty serious investment if you're just trying to make one person a thank you gift, or make a guest-friendly dessert.  Which is why this particular dessert is extra awesome.

This uses gluten free cake mix- meaning you don't need to hunt down any strange ingredients.  I used Bob's Red Mill Vanilla Cake Mix, but there are plenty of other types out there.  All you need is the mix, whatever ingredients it calls for (probably an egg and oil) and your fruit of choice.

You'll Need:

gluten free cake mix

additional item the mix calls for (probably an egg and vegetable oil)

your fruit

a small amount of sugar

First, you're going to mix up the cake batter.  Add whatever it says it needs, and mix it all up.  Feel free to get creative and add some spices at this step like cinnamon or allspice.

Next you're going to get your fruit ready.  This is where it may diverge if you're using a different type of fruit. 

For strawberries, I just rinsed them, diced them up,mixed them with a couple table spoons of sugar and left them to sit for a few minutes.  I probably used about 2 cups of fruit, but I didn't measure or anything.

This would work for blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and any of the softer fruits like peaches.

If you're working with something harder like apples, I would sauté them with a pad of butter and brown sugar on low heat until the butter and sugar combine and the apples start to soften.

Then all you do is grease your pan, fill it 2/3 full with cake mix, and pour your fruit mix over the top.

I forgot to mix in spice with my batter, so I sprinkled mine on top.

If you've got batter left over, go ahead and make yourself some cupcakes.  You deserve it!

And then bake!  You can go with the temperature on your package, or just bake at 350 for about half an hour, or until it looks golden brown and a knife in one of the more battery parts comes out clean.

Take a big bite and enjoy!

And to Sydney- I wish you all the luck in California.  Stay in touch!

Mini Mango Pies

As I mentioned in my post for crocheted sunflower coasters, my amazing, supportive, brilliant preceptor Lisa is leaving for Cleveland.   Our unit threw was throwing a little goodbye party for her, so I obviously took this as an excuse to have a new adventure in the baking arena.

I had come across these cute little hand pies by Handmade Charlotte on Pinterest.  They're filled with a sweetened cream cheese and jam, and are pretty simple and very adorable (if a little bit time consuming).  So at work on Wednesday I asked Lisa about her favorite fruit.

As you can guess by the title, her favorite fruit is the mango.  This eliminates the jam and cream cheese filling concept, and led me to the more exciting concept of executing the filling.  The tricky part is that mangoes can be a little stiff, and the shortened baking time with a mini pie means it might not have time to soften.

My favorite apple pie recipe calls for sautéing your apples with butter and sugar for a little bit to speed up the ooey-gooey process. So that's what we did with the mangoes!  I mean if it goes wrong people will still pretend they like it, so what's the worst that can happen?

I also took on the ambitious challenge of making my own pie crust.  For a lady who loves pie (it's only a million times better than cake), I'd never gone to the trouble to make my own crust.  I just buy those rolled up raw dough ones from Pillsbury and they're totally fine.  But what's summer without adventure?!  So we're making real crust.  It was a little frustrating (especially with the heat) but turned out to be entirely worth it for a coworker to tell me, "this crust is amazing, it tastes just like my grandmother's."  There's no greater complement.

The crust recipe I used came from smitten kitchen. Personally, I think what makes it extra yummy is the orange zest.  Any maybe the buttermilk.  Whatever makes it, it's great.  Well worth the effort, in my humble opinion.

Peach Muffins

Peaches have taken over the farmer's market.  After bringing home my box of fruit, I realized a few of them were pretty bumped up.  I was a little grumbly about it until I stumbled past this post on The Vanilla Bean Blog that was guest written by a couple cooks.  It's a healthy peach muffin recipe that uses greek yogurt to make it a little healthier.  Because I don't have greek yogurt, and it's too hot to leave the house right now, I quested across the interwebs for a similar recipe.  I found this decidedly less healthy recipe, and with a few changes came up with the recipe you see below.

It seemed ideal to take those squishier peaches and book them to good use in some baking.  And I seem to be really into this fruit muffin thing lately.  I posted these Strawberry Muffins just last month, and the Banana Muffins a few months ago.  Plus I bought zucchinis today with the sole intention of turning them into zucchini bread, so that's probably not too far behind.

Check out how moist that little darling is!  Absolutely amazing.  I threw in some chopped green apples in this one, hence the not-orange-bits.  We had one lone apple that was past it's prime so I thought I'd give it a new life.  The recipe below just uses peaches, but of course you can swap in other fruits too (mangoes would be AWESOME!).  Be adventurous!

Fresh Strawberry Muffins

As you can probably tell by this being by third strawberry-related post in a row, buying two pints of strawberries might have been a bit much.  The better part of the first batch went into sauce for our french toast and some strawberry rhubarb crisp.  A few days laters the already ripe strawberries were getting a little harried by our very warm kitchen and our fridge that has a tendency to freeze things.

Before they got squishy and gross I figured I'd be best to bake them up.  I scoured the internet for a recipe that I could bring to work with me so it wouldn't go to waste.  Most recipes seem to be in the cobbler/pie variety- which are delicious but pretty impractical for nurses running in and out of the break room in a jiffy.  And then I came across these muffins!

You should know if you're considering making them that they're a little time intensive.  There's a couple steps, and they take probably 2 hours or so.  It's good for a summer day when you're doing other things and can jump in and out to check on them.  It's not terribly complicated, but maybe not worth the trouble if it's not a labor of love.  For me, I was enjoying a nice summer morning where I didn't work until 3, so I had time to bake and stress-relieve.

They end up being the consistency of a nice gooey banana muffin, with a light, sweet strawberry flavor on the inside and a strong tangy flavor from the roasted strawberries on top.  And, of course, they're best warm and fresh from the oven.  This makes 1 dozen muffins.

Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake

As mentioned previously, Joe's family does food in bulk.  Between having a six-person immediate family and being part of an Italian extended family that often comes together for meals, every meal involves twice the necessary amount of food. There are always delicious leftovers to be had.

To supply daily feasts, Joe's mom frequents an Amish auction to buy produce in bulk to freeze for future use.  Last time Joe's parents came up for a visit they brought us a tub of frozen raspberries from the auction.  Because of the limited space in our freezer, they went in the fridge so I wanted to use them up before they turned.

I found this recipe for raspberry almond coffee cake on allrecipes.  It is absolutely delicious.
The full recipe is typed out at the bottom.

 they seriously look so good!

Banana Muffins!

Okay so I totally love banana bread, but I never have a whole bunch of brown bananas.  I mean they sell them when they're practically lime green still, and Joe eats them like it's a contest, so I'm lucky if there are any left by the time they get to the point of brown spotting that I like them.  But I often get one  or two very sad bananas left behind.  My favorite recipe from my friend Beth calls for 4-5 bananas.

So I made some adjustments and have a recipe for 2 bananas that makes 6 muffins or one small loaf.
It's perfect!
The full recipe is at the bottom.

Ingredients:

flour (all-purpose or bread)
baking soda
cinnamon
allspice
salt
sugar of your choice
1 egg
applesauce OR vegetable oil
bananas
sour cream
vanilla extract

The Steps:

Mix your dry ingredients in a small bowl:
1/2 + 1/3 cup of flour- bread flour makes it a little loftier, but all-purpose is just as delicious- just use what you have.  Add a dash of salt, and as much spices as you like.  I put in a lot of cinnamon and allspice because they're my favorite.
Set this aside.

Mix 1 egg and 1/2 a cup of sugar.  I prefer brown sugar, but use white sugar or honey depending on what I have around.

Add 1/4 cup of applesauce or 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil.  I prefer the applesauce as it's healthier and less greasy feeling, but -again- use what you got.

Now add your bananas, 2 hefty dollops of sour cream, and a dash of vanilla. You can go generous on your 'measurements' of these things.

Sometimes I just use a potato masher in the mixing bowl and make my life easier.  Especially when my banana goes from brown to black and leaky before I get around to bread making.  If they're soft and ripe you could squish them with the side of your spoon.

Slowly stir in your bowl of dry ingredients.
Add nuts if you're into that kind of thing.

Pour into your pan/muffin tin, which you should grease and flour (I use Pam spray) or put in those handy paper liners.

don't worry about those banana chunks- they'll be delicious.

Bake!  About 30 minutes at 350.

I think bread flour was the source of the extra fluffiness in this batch. 

 mmm...   melted butter.

The Full Recipe:


1/2 + 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon (at least)
1/4 tsp allspice
dash of salt
1/2 cup sugar of your choice
1 egg
1/4 applesauce OR 3 TB of vegetable oil
2 bananas
2 TB sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Set oven to 350.  Grease and flour your pan.

In a small bowl mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.  Use cinammon and allspice to your taste- I like a lot but make it how you want it.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl mix egg and sugar.  I prefer brown sugar, but white or even honey can work fine.  Stir in applesauce or vegetable oil.  Add mashed bananas, sour cream, and vanilla, mix well.  Mix in the flour in increments, add nuts if you like them.  Pour into pan and bake about 30 minutes until browned or knife comes out with a thin coating of batter on it.

Double-Box Dessert

This is literally one of the easiest desserts ever.  And it is freaking delicious.  

My family was never huge on sweets, and my mom was never big on baking them.  But one thing we often make and always love is brownies.  We have never made them from scratch.  In fact I can't possibly fathom why anyone would when brownies made from a box are PERFECT.  Just don't even try to screw with that.

A while ago I came across the Slutty Brownie, a drool-worthy concoction of chocolate chip cookies + oreos + brownies.  And if that's possible, then pretty much anything is possible.

Being a great lover of the peanut butter and chocolate combo (who isn't?!)  I created this version which I am tentatively calling the Double-Box Dessert - peanut butter cookies with brownies on top!  Delicious.  

If you want to get crazy, throw some chopped up peanut butter cups in between those layers and you'll have a gosh darn masterpiece!

But before I go one making up new exciting adventures, let's just get going on the basics:

Popovers and Tea

My grandmother, Onnie, is one of my favorite people to have ever graced this earth.  She was a difficult, strong-willed, opinionated woman, and I loved all of those things about her.  Up until her very last days she made her own decisions and stuck to them.

Growing up neither of my grandmothers fit the cookie-cutter, kids' book picture of a grandmother.  Both of mine were strong, passionate women, with their own loves and interests to guide them.  To my recollection neither of them have ever baked me cookies.  When I was little I thought it was so strange that all of the media representations of grandmothers are sweet, rotund, delicate women with quiet voices and gentle attitudes.  Mine were nothing of the sort.  They were happy to tell you off if you were wrong and were never particularly adept in a kitchen.

It took me years to realize how truly fortunate I am to have these women in my life growing up.  I learned that women need to do what's best for them and their family.  I learned to keep that good man if you find him, but don't be afraid to get rid of those that don't treat you the way you deserve.  I learned that women are strong, confident, and opinionated.  And in this world that is no small thing.

They also introduced me to many of the passions that drive this blog: knitting, crocheting, sewing, and a totally healthy obsession with my dog.

As I said earlier, my grandmothers rarely cooked.  But each have a few specialties, and this is one of Onnie's.  For me, they're one of those comfort foods that takes me right back to my grandmother's dining room.  It always makes me smile to remember the way she would tease my brother by knocking on the underside of the table and saying that the geese had come for him.

  They might be a New England thing; they seem pretty British.  Where ever they came from they are most definitely amazing.  Popovers are this buttery, delicious, light, eggy roll made in a muffin tin.  They take a little bit of time, but the recipe is pretty simple, and they only have four ingredients.  Give them a try.

The delicious final product!  

Intrigued?  Read on for set-by-step pictures, and the recipe at the bottom.

Irish Soda Bread

This weekend was St. Patrick's day, also known as my anniversary, so it's a pretty exciting weekend in our house!  In honor of our mutual Irish heritage I decided to try out something totally new - Irish Soda Bread.  Joe is especially fond of dense breads, and this is super simple and takes very few ingredients so it was destined to be a great new addition to our recipe book.

I based my creation off of this recipe.

The Ingredients:

1 cup buttermilk - OR - 1 cup milk and 1 tsp vinegar stirred together and left to sit for 10 minutes

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbs sugar


Mix dry ingredients, stir in buttermilk.

If it's too sticky, add some flour.  If it's too dry and won't stick together, add a dab of milk.  It probably won't be perfect.

You can also add exciting things like nuts or dried cranberries or more sugar, but it was my first time so I went basic.

TOO STICKY!!!  Add more flour. 

Now that looks more like bread dough.

Don't forget one of the essential essential elements of Charm Hour- your drink of choice.

And you gotta go Irish on St. Patrick's Day if not always.  

Challah!

My wonderful boyfriend Joe is jewish and I am very excitable about holidays, so I decided to go all out this September and make a fancy Rosh Hashanah dinner!  I had never made bread before (or anything with yeast) but that is no reason to hold back.

I found this recipe on allrecipes, and followed it for the most part:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/miriams-not-so-secret-challah/detail.aspx

A word to the wise:  this takes a LONG TIME.  Three hours according to my source, longer for me in practice.  That whole waiting for it to rise part is annoying, and if you get impatient and hungry like me you should start an hour earlier than you think is necessary.

Gluten-free Pumpkin Bundt Cake

As a student I have a massive procrastinating habit.  I've come to terms with it, and still getting everything in on time, so it doesn't bother me in the slightest.  When I'm in group projects, it's a whole different story- especially when my group members are friends.  So for this assignment everyone else spent 2-3 weeks on, I obviously devoted two solid days to, and got it in a whopping two hours before it was due. I felt bad about everyone else spending hours dutifully hunting down data that I just used without having to yell at the internet so I solved this problem with baking! As one of our members has the very sad condition of Celiac Disease (I would mourn the loss of bread/bagels daily), this baking project is gluten-free.  She also LOVES pumpkin- so this is right up her alley.

That said, I want to be clear that I RARELY bake without gluten and am not in any way an expert on this matter.  According to the World Wide Web, some people can't even have their food cooked with utensils that used flour in a previous life, so check with your food recipients on the seriousness of their condition before you give them a bad case of bowel grumpiness.