5. Autumn Baking
You’ve been to the apple orchard and now it is time to make something that screams autumn. Something with cinnamon and nutmeg – you know the aromas and flavors. You could always use apples in the apple strudel for Oktoberfest or make my favorite: Apple Crisp.
Making apple crisp is relatively simple, except for one tiny thing: paring the apples. I suggest investing in a high-quality hand peeler—I use OXO because they are more comfortable.
This one is $10.99 at Target and $10.94 at WalMart, but $11.84 at Amazon. I have never actually used one of those crazy vise-looking machines but they are worth investigating if you are making large batches of desserts or even just preparing them to freeze and use throughout the year.
This CucinaPro model above is available at Target, Walmart, and Amazon ranging anywhere from $18-23 dollars.
My apple crisp recipe is fairly simple and makes an 8x8 inch pan of crisp. It is simply this:
Apple Crisp
4 cups sliced, pared tart apples (4 medium)
2/3 to ¾ cups brown sugar (packed)
½ cups Gold Medal Flour
½ cups oats
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup butter or margarine softened
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease square pan. Place apple slices in pan. Mix remaining ingredients thoroughly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake 30 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is golden brown. Serve warm with ice cream.
I prefer to serve it with vanilla ice cream, but my mom likes to get decadent with cinnamon instead.
I am not necessarily a big fan of pie – I am a sugar fiend, and let’s face it, pie crust is not very sugary.
However, the best pie crust I ever tasted was made like this:
Grandma's Pie Crust
4 cups flour
1 ¾ cup Crisco
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 egg
½ cup water
Crumble flour, shortening, sugar and salt together until course. In a separate dish, beat remaining ingredients. Add to flour mixture, beat until it clings together. CAN BE MADE AHEAD OF TIME – FREEZES WELL.
You could always simply buy the pie crust too. I have used Pillsbury in the past because they are fairly easy to roll out and work with. I am sure there are store brands that work just as well also.
When it comes to filling that pie, if you had just been to the Apple Orchard, you could do the simple mixture from the Apple Crisp, or go all out with this Betty Crocker classic filling:
Betty Crocker Apple Pie Filling
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoons nutmeg
½ teaspoons cinnamon
dash salt
6 cups thinly sliced apples
2 tablespoons butter
Those are early baking recipes for the fall, with the first of the fresh harvest in the apples. But there is always a slight transition when you shift from leaf watching and apple picking to the pumpkin recipes that come out around Halloween and Thanksgiving…or fourth of July it seems in the case of the PSL.
I love pumpkin as well, and for a long time I was a basic PSL fan – until they were too sweet for some odd reason – I mean I love sugar! I never miss having at least one Dairy Queen Pumpkin Pie Blizzard each year, too. There is something about the warm flavors inherent in Fall food…
My favorite recipe is so easy, and I always feel like I make it kind of “healthy” so that I don’t feel too bad when I sit and eat a container. It really doesn’t involve “baking” per say, but it is still a fun treat!
Pumpkin Fluff
1 8 oz tub cool whip (thawed)
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
1 box sugar-free instant vanilla pudding
4 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice
Mix until well blended.
You can serve it with apple slices or graham crackers…however, my hack is to scoop little dishes of it with Nabisco’s Scooby Snacks. They are nice and sturdy to scoop a lot of dip!
If you are a little more traditional in your Pumpkin baking, an easy and addictive pumpkin bar recipe uses a traditional pumpkin pie filling and tops it with a yellow cake mix. It gives it a little sweetness and crunch on top. Whip up some fresh cream and that is a great fall recipe.
Pumpkin Bars
Make regular pumpkin pie filling. Pour into a cake pan. Take white cake mix and 1 stick of butter, blend together until crumbly. Sprinkle over pumpkin mix. Bake 1 hour at 350. Top with whip cream.
I always use the Libby pumpkin pie recipe. Of course, you could always buy there premade filling to make it easier.
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 large eggs
1 can (15 ounces) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
Of course, you could take the pumpkin pie filling and make an actual pumpkin pie using the crust recipe, but I prefer the bars because they –surprise—have more sugar in the crunch.
I know you are questioning what in the world I eat at Thanksgiving then. Every year I skip the pie and make a Pumpkin Cheesecake instead. It’s a little more involved in the baking process, but totally worth it. I promise.
Pumpkin Cheesecake
1 ¾ cup crushed graham crackers (about 14 sheets)
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
7 Tbsp. salted butter, melted
3 (8 oz) pkg Cream cheese, softened
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. ground ginger
1 ½ cups pumpkin puree
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
To prepare crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, mix together crushed graham crackers and light-brown sugar. Pour in melted butter and mix until coated. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9” spring form pan—leave one inch from crust to top. Bake 8-9 minutes. Remove and cool, reduce oven to 350 degrees.
To prepare filling: In a large missing bowl at low-speed blend together cream cheese, light-brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth, about 30 seconds. Mix in flour cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix on low speed just until combined. Add in whole eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition until just combined. Then add egg yolks and mix until just combined. Lift and tap mixing bowl against the counter several times to release air bubbles from mixture. Pur it into the graham cracker crust and bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Then turn off oven and allow to rest 25-30 minutes without opening the oven door. Remove and allow to cool 15 minutes before covering and chilling for five hours.
Throw some fresh whip cream on that and I could it a whole cake. I wouldn’t recommend that, because I may have tested that theory.
Quick breads are always an easy fall baking treat, too. I actually make pumpkin bread at Christmas as presents; my aunt used to make it every year and I picked up that tradition. I usually make mini loafs out of this recipe, because if you use a regular loaf pan, they are extremely dense. The great thing about breads, also, is that you could make them now and freeze them and take them out throughout the winter for a quick snack or for overnight guests.
Pumpkin Bread
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil,
water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl,
whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon,
nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into
the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the
prepared pans. Bake for about 60 minutes in the preheated
oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center
comes out clean.
Pumpkins in the tummy, and pumpkins on the mind. The closer Halloween comes the more the gourd takes over décor, flavor, and fun!