Apple Pie Filling!

Tyler discovered that you can pick the apples in the orchard on campus for $0.50 a pound! So last Monday we went and picked some apples. Then we thought, how cool would it be to can them??? So we got a recipe from my mom for making apple pie filling, bought some canning jars, and then went and picked more apples.

Would you like the recipe?

1-Make a family trip of picking a gazillion pounds of apples (okay, we only picked 15 pounds...)



2-Put your son in his bouncy seat and try to keep him happy.

3-Slice up all your apples (you can also peel them if you'd like, Tyler opted for keeping the skin on ours) and fill your jars up half way.

4-Make your sauce:

4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 tablespoon nutmeg
10 cups water
Boil until thick and bubbly, then add 3 tablespoons of lemon juice. (this will make enough sauce for approximately 7 quarts.)

5-Cover your apples with sauce. Then fill the jars with more apples and cover with more sauce until you have left 1 inch of head space (where the bottle neck starts).

6-Cover your jars in boiling water for 20 minutes.

7-When the 20 minutes is up, turn the pot off and let the jars sit for 5 to 10 minutes (so they can cool).

8-Take the jars out of the water and turn them upside down to finish cooling and seal. They might leak so be sure to place them on newspaper, a towel, in a box...some way to keep your counters safe!

9-Tie with a pretty bow and share a few jars with the neighbors. :)

10-Enjoy apple pie, and feel accomplished knowing it was all done with your own hands!

Cookies 'N' Cream Cupcakes

I promised to post pictures and my cupcake recipe. Unfortunately, I once more forgot to charge the batteries for my camera, so the only picture I have is a not-so-great one from my phone. Use your imagination, I guess!

Since I didn't dress up for the Trunk or Treat, and no one wants to hear about a funeral, the only thing I'm going to add to this post is that Tyler surprised me by coming to visit after he got off work Saturday afternoon. It was a fantastic surprise. :)

And now, without further ado...

Cookies 'N' Cream Cupcakes

*found in Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman

Makes about 18-20 cupcakes

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup half-and-half or light cream

1 cup coarsely crushed Oreos (or other sandwich

cookie)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.

3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and half-and-half or cream and beat until batter is smooth. Fold in crushed cookies.

4. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.

I froze the cupcakes overnight to hold in the moisture and make them easier to frost the next day. Today I ate a left-over cupcake and it was still super moist...after sitting on my counter top (half-heartedly covered in plastic wrap) for almost two days. The recipe comes with a frosting recipe as well, and I will put it in this post, but I have not tried the recipe myself. To save time I bought Pillsbury Chocolate Fudge frosting, and then just decorated the top of the cookies with left-over crushed Oreos (Halloween ones that I spent DAYS finding). I felt that the frosting I used was too overbearing for the cupcake and next time I would use a frosting with a less over-powering flavor. Also, I lathered a bunch on. Maybe a thin layer would have been better! Try experimenting and if you find something that works well, let me know!

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces good quality white chocolate, broken into pieces

3/4 cup cream cheese, softened, cut into pieces

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

1. In microwave, or a double boiler, melt white chocolate until smooth and creamy, just a few minutes. It should be warm to the touch.

2. Beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate and beat again until smooth. use the frosting immediately or it will harden.

Note: this frosting looks like the cream filling in sandwich cookies.

I think this recipe would also be awesome using Christmas or Easter Oreos. The colored creme in the middle makes it so much more fun!

Amazing Cupcake Recipe!

Especially following the failure of my last cupcakes (or more specifically...the frosting from my last cupcakes...), I was really excited to discover a delicious recipe today. Here's the back information: I wanted to make a treat for the women I visiting teach. I was thinking about making cookies, but I really prefer the dough to the actual cookies. I do, however, have a passion for cupcakes. And although I had been frustrated with my last batch of cupcakes, I was loving the dollop of raspberry preserves in the middle. So I decided to try doing that again...this time making chocolate raspberry cupcakes. I would like you to know that as a general rule, I don't like things with chocolate in it. I love chocolate itself, but I hate chocolate ice cream, chocolate pudding, and chocolate cake. It was okay though, I was making these for other people!

I didn't have a chocolate cake mix in my cupboard (big surprise there...since I don't usually eat chocolate cake!) so I decided to make one from scratch. Which seemed intimidating at first...but turned out to be fairly simple. Here's the recipe I used:

Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes

3/4 c. shortening
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c. milk
2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa (6 tbsp.)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Blend above ingredients and last of all add 1 cup boiling water. Spoon batter into the bottom of cupcake liners, adding a dollop of Raspberry Preserves in the middle, and spoon more batter on top, filling the cupcake liner 3/4 full.

Bake at 350°F until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean (approximately 20 minutes).

The cupcakes came out of the oven looking fabulous! I was so happy that they hadn't spilled over the edges. They were beautifully round on the top and everything. I didn't take a picture because at this point I didn't know they were going to be good enough to blog about. :)

After the cupcakes had cooled, I used the following recipe to make frosting. And let me warn you, it was so good that I had a hard time keeping myself from licking the sides of the bowl!

Chocolate Butter-cream Frosting

1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
1 lbs. powdered sugar
1 tbsp. cocoa powder
1/4 c. water

Cream first 4 ingredients until well blended (3 minutes) on medium speed. Add sugar, cocoa and water; beat until well blended. *You may want to add extra cocoa powder depending how chocolate-y you want your frosting to taste.

This time I didn't go through the hassle of trying to make the frosting go on the cupcakes all fancy. I just frosted them with a knife and put some pink sugar sprinkles on top to go along with the Raspberry theme.


Seriously, I just can't get over how well these turned out. And how easy they were to make. I had no idea I could make cake without a pre-boxed mix and have it turn out so well, without taking tons of extra time. Try it, people. I liked it and I don't like chocolate cake! And to vouch for it even more...I gave some of the extra cupcakes to someone else in the ward and they called me five minutes later saying they usually hate cupcakes but love these.

Cherry Cordial Kiss Cookies

Our ward had a Potato Bar Social after church today. I volunteered to bring two dozen cookies. Originally I was going to make cake cookies (so yummy) but then I remembered we have a gazillion cherry cordial kisses left over from our wedding reception that need to be put to good use. So I made Kiss cookies! But not Peanut Butter ones...I wasn't sure how that would taste with Cherry Cordial Kisses. I found the recipe through Google and thought I'd share, since they turned out pretty well.


Butter Kiss Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
35 milk chocolate (or Cherry Cordial, your pick) candy kisses, unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
3. Add the flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls.
4. Place on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until set. Press Kiss in center of each cookie. Cool on wire rack.