Apple Pudding

My husband reminded me the other night that I couldn't allow fall to go by without making apple pudding for him. I've been so caught up in searching out new recipes to try, I'd forgotten about one of his favorites.

I'm not sure where the name of this recipe came from because it's been handed down from generation to generation in his family. Even my mother-in-law wasn't sure were the name had originated. It's not a pudding at all....it's baked apples with a cake-like topping. Whatever the name, it's called comfort food filled with lots of memories to my husband.

For the best results, use Granny Smith apples--lots of them! In these pictures, I've used 4 really large apples but that wasn't nearly enough after they had cooked down. I would recommend using at least 8 (yes, really!) large Granny Smith apples. Pile them high in the pan (and over the top of it) because they will cook down.

Apple Pudding

8x8 dish
8 - lg. Granny Smith apples, sliced thin
1/3 – ½ C. sugar
3 tsp. apple pie spice

Preheat oven to 350*

Preparing Apples:
Slice apples thin and pile high in dish. Sprinkle with sugar & spices and set in oven so that the apples can start cooking while you are preparing the cake topping.

I made two errors right off the bat...I chopped up the apples instead of thinly slicing them and I didn't use nearly enough of them to (over)fill the pan. Oh well, we gobbled it up nonetheless.

Cake Topping

Sift together in a bowl:
1 ½ C. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp salt

Cream together in another bowl:
1/3c. sugar
¼ C. butter flavored shortening
1 egg, whipped

Alternate flour mix with ¾ c. milk into the creamed sugar mixture. Spoon on top of apples.

Bake for approx. 35 minutes or until light golden brown.

Enjoy!

Cooking with Alicia & Annie Blog Event for October - I won!!

I am such a happy camper today! I was notified that my entry for Amish Funnel Cakes was randomly chosen to win the Taste of Home Cookbook that was offered for entering the Cooking with Alicia & Annie Blog Event. Thank you so much, Amanda! I'm sure I will put this cookbook to good use!

If you haven't checked out this blog event yet, be sure to do so. November's prize is really cool, too! You can enter as many times as you want, so get in there and do what you do best...cook! The rules are simple to follow and there are tons of recipes to choose from.

I'll see ya there in November!

TWD ~ Chocolate - Chocolate Cupcakes

Today's Cooking with Dorie recipe is for Chocolate - Chocolate Cupcakes. You can check out the recipe for these chocolatey cupcakes on Clara's blog, IHeartFood4Thought.

Even though the recipe is suggested to be for adults to enjoy more so than children, I made the cupcakes for my son's 11th birthday. I made them more kid-friendly by stuffing the cupcakes with a rich, fluffy buttercream icing and then topping the ganache with colorful candy sprinkles.

When I first made these cupcakes I was extremely disappointed in them--the cake seemed to be missing "something" and I had trouble with the ganache clumping up in the bowl. The only part of these cupcakes that seemed to be any good was the buttercream icing that I used to fill the center of each cupcake.

I was determined to try to make these work!

Here is what I did:

I mixed the batter as instructed. The only difference to my recipe is that I grabbed semi-sweet chocolate instead of bitter-sweet chocolate by mistake, so that is what I used. I altered the cooking time to 17 minutes @ 350*. I tried rushing the process by trying to fill the cupcakes with the buttercream filling before they were completely cool--what a mistake! The cupcakes fell apart. At this point, I was really getting aggrivated so I decided to walk away and give the cupcakes time to cool. This was a good thing! The cupcakes held together much better when they were completely cool.

I filled the cupcakes with this recipe for
buttercream icing:

1 stick of butter, softened
1 TBSP vanilla
1 3/4 C. powdered sugar
1/8 C. whipping cream

Whip butter until fluffy. Mix in vanilla. Alternate mixing in powdered sugar and whipping cream until the icing is fluffy and smooth- this could take several minutes. Use an icing bag to pipe icing into cupcakes.

I made the ganache as directed but I had trouble with it clumping and not staying smooth enough to ice the cupcakes. I added 2 tsp. of milk to the chocolate mixture and then microwaved it for 15 seconds. After stirring it vigorously for about 3o seconds, the consistency was perfect. I spooned the ganache on top of each cupcake, allowing some of it to run down over the sides. Then a splash of colored candy toppings made them look festive.

We were running short on time due to having plans to take my son out for pizza for his birthday, so I left the cupcakes on the rack to dry.

When we returned from our trip, my son was eager to try one of his cupcakes. The time away that allowed the cakes to absorb some of the moisture from the buttercream filling, and combined with the ganache, it turned the cupcakes into a special dessert. Since the cupcake itself is not overly sweet, it made for a great combination with the sweet filling and chocolate topping.

I'm glad that I decided to follow through with this recipe instead of giving up on it.

Pineapple Dream Cake

For a while now, I've been looking for an easy dessert recipe using pineapple. Something that wasn't heavy, instead light and airy. I found this recipe for Pineapple Dream Cake on FruitCake Recipes.

Their recipe called for yellow cake, I used a white cake mix. Theirs called for Cool Whip but I whipped my own from heavy cream. The end result was very good! Both the cake and icing are light and airy.

This recipe would be great to make a trifle--bake the cake and cube it, and then layer it with vanilla pudding and the whipped cream/pineapple mix. :) Add in some blueberries and/or strawberries for color and you'd have a pretty springtime dessert!

Here is my version:

Pineapple Dream Cake

1 box white cake mix
3 eggs
1 -11 oz can of mandarin oranges, undrained
1/2 C. oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*. Lightly spray a 9 x 13 cake pan with cooking spray.

Stir together all ingredients and pour into greased cake pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean --my cake baked for 30 minutes. Cool completely then top with pineapple frosting recipe. (below)

Frosting

12 oz heavy cream
2 TBSP sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
20 oz. can of crushed pineapple, undrained
1 lg. box of instant vanilla pudding.

To whip cream, chill a metal bowl and beaters for a few minutes before using. Pour the heavy cream into the bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Add in sugar and vanilla and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

To the whipped cream, add the crushed pineapple and dry vanilla pudding. Mix together until everything is well blended.

Spread frosting on cake. For the best taste, refrigerate for at least 2 hrs. Keep the leftovers refrigerated.

UPDATE: This cake was nice and moist the first day but after refrigerating it, it wasn't exactly dry but it wasn't as moist as I like a cake to be. So...I will definitely make this again but the next time I'm going to add one more can of mandarin oranges -that have been drained (reserve juice)-to the cake mix. Then, once the cake has cooled after baking, I'm going to poke some holes in it with a fork and pour the leftover mandarin orange juice over the cake, then frost it. I think that this will help to keep the cake a bit more moist. If you try this, please let me know how it works out.

MMM! Sweet Oranges

Everyone knows that you shouldn't go shopping when you are hungry but what happens when you are shopping and the food starts calling your name? Such is what happened on the last shopping trip to Sam's Club. I had my list in hand and was sticking to it...until was passed a huge bowl of freshly cut oranges packed in ice. I was trying really hard to stick to my planned budget but we wandered over to try the oranges anyway. From the first bite, my kids wanted me to buy a bag. After two more isles of "would you please buy a big bag of them?!?", I gave in. We now own a huge bag of oranges. I'm not upset about it because it could've been much worse--the kids could've been begging for candy or other junk. Instead, they wanted nature's own sweet treats.

Want a bite? MMM..they sure are juicy!


We have been enjoying them for breakfast and for dessert. With the loads of sweets that we've been eating lately, this is a really nice change.