AppleSauce Coffee Cake With Caramel Sauce

Today was my co-worker's Birthday. Last night I made a cake for her. I was going to bake a chocolate cake with chocolate icing, but, after going to Cookie Madness blog decided to bake her Quick Applesauce Coffee Cake. And it was worth baking. Everyone loved it. The Applesauce.. I made from scratch and my son made Caramel Sauce to go with it. This recipe is included as well.

Applesauce Streusel Coffee Cake

Cake:
1 2/3 cups cake flour or 1 ½ cups all purpose
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
3/4 cup applesauce**
1/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Streusel:
1/4 cup cake or all purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Dash fresh nutmeg (1/8 tsp)
4 tablespoons cold butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans (don’t need to toast)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a 9 inch round spring form pan or an 8 inch square metal pan with flour-added cooking spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, soda, cinnamon, allspice and brown sugar; set aside.

In a large bowl, mix melted butter, applesauce, sour cream, vanilla and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients and stir until mixed. Pour into pan.

Make streusel. In a mixing bowl or food processor, mix together all dry ingredients then cut in butter.

Sprinkle over top of cake. Sprinkle nuts over top of streusel.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown around edges.

Cool slightly. Remove sides of pan and cut into triangles.
Serves 6

I have included the site I found the Caramel Sauce Recipe.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup of sugar

6 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1. First, before you begin, make sure you have everything ready to go - the cream and the butter next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel is a fast process that cannot wait for hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Safety first - make sure there are no children under foot and you may want to wear oven mitts; the caramelized sugar will be much hotter than boiling water.

2. Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart or 3-quart saucepan. As the sugar begins to melt, stir slowly with a whisk or wooden spoon.

3. As soon as all of the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color), immediately add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.

4. Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Count to three, then add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk to incorporate. Note than when you add the butter and the cream, the mixture will foam up considerably. This is why you must use a pan that is at least 2-quarts (preferably 3-quarts) big.

5. Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass mason jar and let sit to cool to room temperature. (Remember to use pot holders when handling the jar filled with hot caramel sauce.) Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm before serving.

Oatmeal Muffins

I made these on the weekend and added the photo to the recipe. I have added the link to the recipe. In making them again, I found they were a little flat. Isn't funny how your memory of things change when you actually taste the item. When I make these again I will add a bit more spice to them and the thinly sliced apples. Adding the maple icing does add to them.

Doughnut French Toast

During this week I woke up in the middle of the night and could not get back to sleep. So I turned on the tv and watched last weeks episode of Nigella Express. She made this Doughnut French toast. So when I got up for work in the morning, I just had to try it. It was really good. On Saturday I made it for Daniel, he liked it as well. This recipe is for one, so just increase to how many people you are making this for. This is in the Nigella Express Cookbook.

Doughnut French Toast

Ingredients:

1 egg
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup white sugar
1 slice bread cut in half
1 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. oil

Directions:
Combine egg, milk, vanilla in large flat bowl. Mix well.
Place bread in bowl and let it soak up egg mixture on first side then the other.
In fry pan add butter and oil, when hot add the bread slices.
Cook until browned on both sides.
Remove from pan and place in white sugar, coat on both sides.

Place on plate add a bit of butter and add maple syrup.
Nigella did make a strawberry sauce:
4 to 5 strawberries
place in blender
add icing sugar 1/4 cup
a squirt of lemon juice
blend together and then pour over french toast

Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies

I found this recipe on eat me, delicious and had to try them. They taste very good. I did change the recipe as you will see. I used about 1 1/4 cups of finely ground oatmeal in place of some of the flour and used 1/2 cup chocolate chips in the plain dough. The red sections are what I changed.

Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies
adapted from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle

Makes about 34 3-inch cookies or 55-60 small cookies.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (1 1/4 cups flour)
(1 1/4 cups finely ground oatmeal)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted*
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet bar chocolate, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
(1/2 cup chocolate chips)
1 cup pecan pieces

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375F.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars at medium-high speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of th bowl as necessary. At low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until blended.

4. Transfer 1 3/4 cups** of the dough to another bowl and set aside. Add the cocoa powder to the dough remaining in the mixer bowl and mix on low speed until blended. Add half of the chocolate and half of the pecans and mix until well blended. Stir the remaining chocolate and pecans into the light coloured dough.

5. Fill one side of a measuring spoon with the light dough, making it well rounded, not level. Fill the remaining half with chocolate dough. Roll the dough into a bowl and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Moisten your palm to prevent sticking, and flatten the dough into a 1 1/2 inch disk. Repeat the remaining dough, spacing the cookies 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the lighter dough just begins to color. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

I had to much chocolate dough so the last 6 were just chocolate cookies.

Porketta

Dan made this a couple weeks ago. I had to wait for him to write out the recipe for it. This was very flavorful.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp. each:
• rosemary
• fennel seed
• oregano
• lemon zest
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• 2 tsp. course ground pepper
• 1 1/2 tbsp. salt
• 3 to 4 lbs. boneless pork roast

Put all the ingredients (except meat) in a food grinder or mortel and pestle. Take your mixture and rub all over the meat. Place in frig for 4 to 24 hours. The long the better as it heightens the flavor the longer you leave it.

Preheat oven to 375F and roast uncovered for 20 minutes. Then reduce to 325F and roast for 40 to 60 minutes or until internal temperature is 160F. Allow roast to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.

Oatmeal Muffins

When I had my appendix out in junior high one of the lunches they served these amazing oatmeal muffins in the hospital, when the food was good. A lady I worked with brought in a cookbook and this recipe came the closest to those. I made these on the weekend. They were a little flat in taste I thought so I add a maple icing. Maybe if you added more spices and thinly sliced apples. That will be the next thing I try.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Grease 12 medium-sized muffin cups

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (unbleached)
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg

Stir in:
3/4 cup rolled oats (large flake oats)
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar

Beat together:
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil or melted shortening

Add liquid to dry ingredients and stir only until combined. (Batter will be lumpy). Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Makes 12 muffins

Maple Oatmeal Muffins

I cut this recipe out of a magazine many years ago. I have made them often. The maple gives them a wonderful flavor. When I make these again I will add a pic.


Maple Oatmeal Muffins

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups flour (unbleached)
3/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cups butter
3/4 cup uncooked quick rolled oats (I used large flake oats)
1 beaten egg
1 cup undiluted carnation 2% evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. maple extract
chopped nuts

Directions:

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs. Stir in oats. Add egg. Carnation and maple extract. Stir until moistened. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full and sprinkle tops with chopped nuts.
Bake in hot oven 400F. for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pans; serve warm.
Makes 1 dozen muffins