Apple Blackberry Cake / Bread

Last week I was going through some papers and found a recipe I cut out from a Martha Stewart magazine. It was for an Apple Blackberry Cake / Bread. The picture looked delicious! Even though we planned on camping for the weekend, I decided to make the cake/bread... I assumed whatever didn't get eaten during the week, we'd just bring along with us... I assumed wrong... Nothing was left. I made this cake/bread on Tuesday and it was eaten by Friday morning from just the two of us. It was a big hit in the kitchen and something I'd make again. The recipe was sugar quick and easy.

Granulated sugar, for pan
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp butter, melted
2 tbsp butter cut into pieces (for topping)
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp packed light brown sugar (for topping)
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
4 apples, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges (I used granny smith apple because they're my favorite)
1 cup blackberries
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1. Butter a 9" springform pan and dust with granulated sugar.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
3. Whisk together melted butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar, milk and eggs in a separate bowl. Whisk flour mixture into wet ingredient bowl.
4. Spread batter evenly into prepared plan. Arrange apple wedges over batter and sprinkle with blackberries. Gently press fruit into batter.
5. Combine remaining 2 tbsp brown sugar, cinnamon and remaining 2 tbsp butter into a bowl. Cut into pieces and sprinkle over fruit.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 24-50 min or util cake tester is clean.

Caramel Apple Cookie Challenge

Today begins the baking week. Well, it's always baking week but since the hubby is out for 2 weeks, it's really baking week. I thought about doing some sort of silly challenge like in Julie and Julia. Then I thought about Maddie, and I didn't think it was feasible to bake one new thing every day. I have a list of things that I want to bake while hubby is out, so let's just see how far I get.

Day 1 started out with a Caramel Apple Cookie Challenge. I saw cookies in the store a few weeks ago for Caramel Apple Cookie. They sounded and looked delicious. After researching multiple recipes, I ended up with 2 that I liked. So I tried both Contender #1 and Contender #2 from 2 different food blogs.

Contender #1

For Contender #1, I used butter instead of shortening and added in a caramel syrup. It did not end up looking like the picture shown, as you can tell. My cookies ended up being much flatter. And I wouldn't really say these ended up being cookies. They taste more like a cake than a cookie. On top of that, I would call these cookies Cinnamon Apple "Cookies".

Contender #2

I followed this recipe exactly with the exception of the caramel baking bites (because I couldn't find them). I used regular chewy caramel that I cut into small squares. If I make this recipe again, I might use hard caramel. The chewy caramel got so softed while baking and made the cookies sticky. I could barely get the cookies off the silpat. The cookies were really chewy and soft. I think this recipe might be better as a bar.

Neither contender 1 or 2 photographed well. I think they both taste better than they look. But hands down, for taste, go with contender 2.

It's not fall without apple pie!

Part of the Fall season means taking a trip to Julian for apple pie. Now add to the list of apple pies places I've tried: Apple Alley Bakery. Apple Alley is located in a small alley sandwiched between the Julian Drug Store and the Julian Cafe. It is a small shop serving lunch and pies. They also have a selection of other pastries, turnovers, tarts, and cookies. We got the lunch special which included your choice of 1/2 sandwich, soup or salad, chips, and a slice of pie for $8.95. The sandwich was just meh (I got the vegetarian) but it was just enough food so that I was still hungry for pie. They have several different types but these were the two we chose:

Apple Boysenberry


Caramel Pecan Apple


They were good, but I can't compare them to the others since they weren't traditional apple pies and it's been so long since I've had actual pie from Julian Pie Company or Mom's. This may call for a blind taste test in the future... you know, for "research purposes."

Apple Honey Challah

A new Martha Stewart magazine came out this week and she had a recipe for Apple Honey Challah. Let me say, it was a LOT of waiting. There are 3 times to wait for the dough to rise... I'm not sure if the rising was worth it all because I think some of the bread fermented during all the "waiting". Still tastes great but it took awhile.

1 stick butter
3.5 c bread flour, un-bleached
3/4 c warm water
2/3 c honey
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
2 tsp Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp Coarse Salt
2 green apples, peeled and cut into ¼" thick slices

1) Butter a large bowl and melt 4 tbsp butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat; let cool.

2) Combine 2 tbsp melted butter, the flour, water, 1/3 cup honey, the eggs and yolks, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Mix until dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes.

3) Transfer dough to a buttered bowl and brush with 1 tbsp melted butter. Cover. Let rise in a warm place until dough almost doubles in size. About 1½ hours.

4) Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Pat into an 8½x14" rectangle. Top with apples; knead to incorporate. Return to bowl and brush with the remaining melted butter. Cover. Let rise again until doubled, about 1 hour.

5) Pre-heat oven to 375°F

6) Butter a 9" round cake pan. Roll dough into about a 24" rope and coil in concentric circles and transfer to the pan. Cover and let rise again, about 45 minutes. (My bread, at this step, overflowed out of the pan. Next time I might use this recipe in 2 pans or 1 large pan.)

7) Heat remaining 4 tbsp butter and 1/3 cup honey a saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts. (This produced quite a bit of “sauce” so I would trim down on the butter and honey.) Brush the dough with the honey-butter mixture. Bake until golden brown and firm, about 30-35 minutes. (190°F internal temperature)

8) Brush the baked and warm challah with the remaining butter-honey mixture. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 30 minutes. Turn out loaf from the pan and let cool.

Apple Bread

This recipe has been a big hit with everyone! I think I've made somewhere around 5-6 loaves in the past month. I can't get enough of how good it is. The picture doesn't do justice!

Apple Bread

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 Granny Smith apples - peeled and chopped into big chunks

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.

2. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beat eggs, lemon juice and vanilla.

3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir until moistened.

4. Stir in apples.

Topping

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp brown sugar

6. Combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter until crumbly.

7. Spoon half of the batter into a buttered 9x5 loaf pans. Sprinkle with half of the topping. Spoon remaining batter into the pan and sprinkle with the remaining topping.

8. Bake for 55 minutes at 350 degrees.