Fall Desserts: Apple Goodie

If you like apple pie but aren't crazy about the crust (like me) then this post/recipe is for you.....

After we went apple picking, I thought I wanted to make an apple pie.  I went over to my godmother's house and asked her if I could borrow her Apple Slicer/corer.  I knew it would make my life easier for sure.  I don't have time for by- hand anymore.   I live my life by the whole...."Work smarter, not harder" alot lately.

She asked me if I really liked the crust in apple pie and Iwas like ..eh... not as much as the filling. She then asked if I had ever had or made something called Apple Goodie. It was basically as the numminess of the filling without all that pesky crust.  Since I was not looking forward to that part anyway I was sold.  She said her mom would make it all the time back when she was little . I went home that night and looked it up on Google. Gotta love Google.  Of course there are 18 billion recipes ( ok, I exaggerate but there could be) for Apple Goodie. I searched through a bunch of them a nd landed on this one from Experience Ohio Amish Country . I didn't have any ingredients I didn't like or didn't already have. Sweet.

I was headed over to my parents house the next day I decided to make it there and have my mom to answer any baking questions I may have.

Apple Ingredients:

1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 qt. sliced apples ( I think next time I would add more.  I love the apple part as much as the crumble)

We picked out the best Jonathans we had and then got to work peeling and slicing them using the Pampered Chef slicer/corer.  The girls got to help out with Grandma's supervision.

 You can see S  HAD to come see what we were doing...

 and then do it TOO!

                    

 I would have actually added even more apples because I thought there wasn't enough but I guess it all depends on how much you like your apple to crumbles ratio.

Mix together sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and apples. Press into a cake pan.

The recipes didn't call for any particular type of pan so I used my Pampered Chef Stone  8x8 pan.  I just like how evenly everything cooks in the stoneware.

Topping:
1 c. oatmeal
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. flour
1/4 tsp. soda
1/3 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. butter
Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter. Put on top. Bake at 350° until nice and brown.

cutting in the butter with a pastry cutter

 Dry mix added to top of Apple mix

The original recipe had no time given for how long to cook. For my  attempt, I first did 30 minutes  and looked at it and then did 10 more  because it didn't look  brown enough on top.  And then another 5 so... I ended with 45 minutes and at 350 degrees, that's not too surprising that it took that long. BUt I think  the time could be diffrerent for everyone based on your oven  how it cookes things.

I really liked it and I can't wait to make it again.  FYI..... It  was still very good and crispy warmed up in the microwave later :)

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY Show Off
-I should be mopping the Floor
Great Fun 4 Kids

Tuesday
 Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime -The Winthrop Chronicles

Wednesday
 Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
 -SNAP

Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
- The Shabby Cottage The Taylor House- House of Hepworths 
Two In Diapers-Mommy Brain Mixer


Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now
Here Comes the Sun

Saturday

Six Sister's Stuff
Cheerios and Lattes
Natasha in Oz -Say G'Day

Wacky Cake (Copy Cat)

When  I saw Debbie over at Debbie Doos was having a copy cat party, I wanted to copy so many things that I sadly don't have the resources to do ( sigh).  But I happened ,just the other day, get an email feed  from Mal over at  The Chic Geek . She had just made this "Wacky Cake" from America's Test Kitchen .  It looked great and with ingredients that everyone usually has. And I did, woo hoo!

They are cooking through the decades and this cake happens to be from around the 1940s during the war when certain ingredients were rationed at different times. It contains no milk products ( yea for us lactose intolerant), no egg sand no nuts. They called it wacky because it was made without those ingredients and right in the baking pan.  I call that awesome cake because I only had one pan/bowl to clean after I was done.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup natural cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 5 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup water
•   Confectioners' sugar for dusting

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 8-inch-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in pan.

 3.Make 1 large and 2 small craters in dry ingredients. Add oil to large crater and vinegar and vanilla separately to remaining small craters.

I used my measuring cups for the craters. They were already dirty, so why not?

4.Pour water into pan , and mix until just a few streaks of flour remain. Immediately put pan in oven.

 3. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes. Cool in pan, then dust with confectioners’ sugar. (If tightly wrapped, cake will keep for 3 days at room temperature.)

Right out of the oven. The pan is not pretty but who cares.

Thanks for sharing, Mal.

 I will say it tasted great.  Next time I make it I might make some kind of icing because I have the world's biggest sweet tooth.  But my hubby even went back for seconds and if he doesn't have a sweet tooth, that's saying something.

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY How Off
DIY Shop - Lines Across My Face -I should be mopping the Floor
Great Fun 4 Kids

Tuesday
How to Nest For Less - Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime - Debbie Does Creations - Funky Polka Dot Giraffe
The Winthrop Chronicles


Wednesday
 Thrifty Home - Someday Crafts - Sew Much Ado
- Junk in Their Trunk  - Southern Lovely  -SNAP

Thursday
My rePurposed Life - Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
Loving this Crazy Life - Fireflies and Jellybeans - The Shabby Cottage
The Taylor House- House of Hepworths


Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty -  My Turn(ForUs)
Delicate Construction
Serenity Now
Here Comes the Sun

Saturday
Six Sister's Stuff
Be Different Act Normal
Cheerios and Lattes
Natasha in Oz -Say G'Day

Sunday
Nifty Thrifty Things

Caillou Party for S

My little baby, S, turned 2 last week.  I swing between thinking ...man...she can't be that old already.. ..to...she's already 2 ?  I don't want her  to not be my baby any more. But as all moms say, they'll always be my babies.

I asked S , a few weeks ago what kind of party she wanted and showed her a catalog of birthday supplies that I got. She immediately pointed to Caillou.  For those that don't know, Caillou is a show about a bald little 4 year old boy, his mom, dad, sister Rosie and cat, Gilbert. Caillou is always learning how to be a good boy and  grow up. We watch the episodes that are on the  Sprout channel which is an off shoot of PBS. There are other episodes I've seen where Caillou is much more whiny and a pain but they are never on Sprout and I don't know why. As always , we have a tight budget so I knew I was doing everything myself.

So I started with the invitations...

I grabbed some clip art off  the internet and then made this file in Photoshop.( I can send you the file if you want. I haven't figured out how to make it downloadable here) Then I sent it to Walgreens and had it printed as 4x6s. So $2 for all the invites. Score!

Caillou is always wearing yellow, red and blue. A nice easy color combination to do and available everywhere. Since I did the colored circles on the invitations , I went and cut out, using my handy dandy circle cutter from Micheals, a whole bunch of red, yellow and blue paper circles. The pack of colored printer paper was $4 at Walmart.

I also bought a tiny  6" tall Caillou plush/plastic doll at ToysRUs. I figured it was double duty decoration and toy when the party was over.

  The dessert portion of the party was cupcakes and ice cream.  So I made vanilla cupcakes with chocolate butter cream icing and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese icing.  The cupcake recipe was from Tidy Mom. And they really were very good. The chocolate butter cream recipe was from the back of the C&H powdered sugar box. Very tasty. And the cream cheese icing recipe was from the  Betty Crocker (everyone has it ) binder cookbook. I used a cupcake holder that my mom always lets be borrow.

I know...the tape is tacky butCaillou had to hold the sign

To go with my primary color/Caillou, theme I also bought some M&Ms. After I was done icing the cupcakes, I sat there, picked out the red, yellow, and blue candy and put them on the cupcakes to match the paper circles. I also cut up the box that  the Caillou toy came in , taped the images to toothpicks and added them to the cupcakes for more fun.

I went to the party store by our house and got a bunch of balloons in red, blue and yellow. Some even had a 2 on them. When I was at Trader Joes, I also picked up some gorgeous yellow sunflowers to go with my theme.

I went downstairs and started slapping the circles as randomly as I could on the walls. I  really liked how fun everything looked and how easy and cheap it was.

S loved everything. She loved playing with her friends, opening her presents, and eating her M and M's. She had quite a haul.  I can't wait to see what next year's party theme will be.

S, K, and the banner  Grandpa made.

Yea..sugar and candy!

Mmm...Chocolate

Monday
What is the Gunny Sack -Making the world Cuter -Debbie Doo -DIY How Off
DIY Shop - Lines Across My Face -I should be mopping the Floor


Tuesday
How to Nest For Less - Tip Junkie - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia -The Kurtz Corner
Sugar Bee - Romance On A Dime - Chronic Christian Crafter - Funky Polka Dot Giraffe
The Winthrop Chronicles


Wednesday
Oopsey Daisy - Thrifty Home - Someday Crafts


Thursday
My rePurposed Life - Beyond the Picket Fence - Somewhat Simple - Live Laugh Rowe
Loving this Crazy Life -Scrappy Crafty Happy - Fireflies and Jellybeans - The Shabby Cottage


Friday
Naptime Crafters - Stay At Home Nation
Young and Crafty




Saturday


Six Sister's Stuff




Sunday
Nifty Thrifty Things


Other Fun Blogs

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've  been on the lookout for nummy things to eat that maybe won't upset my stomach and that 's hard to accomplish right now. I found this out on Pinterest. The most amazing site that will suck you in for hours.  But it's a wealth of knowledge  that on my own I would never find. That's how I justify it to myself and my husband.

I found this recipe for  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies ( flourless) from Amira at Divine Baking. She says she got it from Epicurious but I couldn't find it there.

  

1 cup super chunky peanut butter (She used Smooth)
1/2 cup (packed) brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (about 6 ounces)
 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Mix in chocolate chips. Using moistened hands, form generous 1 tablespoon dough for each cookie into ball. Arrange on 2 ungreased baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
Bake cookies until puffed, golden on bottom and still soft to touch in center, about 10 - 12 minutes. Cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; cool completely.

Makes 20 cookies.



They tasted so good. I couldn't even tell they didn't have  flour or MILK! Even J liked them. Probably because I used chunky peanut butter and he loves the chunks.