Mmmmm Christmas Cookies

This year I decided to try to make chocolate sugar cookies...sounds like a good thing made better :D
I looked everywhere for a recipe and this one said it was tried and true that they had perfected the cocoa powder to sugar ratio after much trial and error. Well the recipe made beautiful cookies that lied out evenly, cooked without spreading etc etc....but they taste like chocolate cardboard so...that is fun! But regardless for the sake of Christmas Tradition we still decorated a few for Santa!

Apple butter and pumpkin pancakes

So neither of these were huge undertakings so one shared blog of fall food goodness should subsisse!! The pumpkin pancakes were so easy probably cuz I did them lazy style by just adding pumpkin to the pancake batter only took a couple seconds!!! I was impressed I don't make pancakes after a few morning meltdowns I had given up. But these sounded so good i has to give it a go and they turned out THICK but not burnt so I'm making progress.

And Kyra loved them!

The apple butter,  just grabbed a simple recipe off of Pinterest and dove in. I have never made anything of this sort and although the pictures look like other apple butter pictures it seems odd to me. I guess cuz butter is like thick creamy and this isn't it really should just be simply called what it is, apple jam! Lol either way it tastes good! I refrigerated one and froze two, one I am gonna save for the holidays for Dustin to try!!

Apple butter however is a process to make.

Step 1: peel the apples. Why are peelers made so crappy? They are metal are hard to grip and don't do a good job has to be a simpler idea!! Maybe I just got a cheap one,  but it was all I could find at the px.

Step 2: Slice into quarters. This was like the easiest step for me!

Step 3: Cut out the core. Obviously if you have an apple slicer/ corer you are way ahead of the game and very smart my friend!

Step 4: Cube the rest of the apples, helps it cook faster. Than add 1/4 cup brown sugar, some cinnamon, some all-spice, and about 1/2 cup of water with the apples into the crock pot and let cook on low over night approximately 10 hours.

Step 5: Take a potato masher, and smash it down to mush land!!! Haha I guess you should proceed to cook it for a couple hours longer but I didn't....so mine is a bit more chunky than would be normal so mine is a mix between apple sauce and apple butter!  Also at this step you can stick it in the blender if you would like no chunks at all!!

Step 6: Can it, or in my case Tupperware it!! And store accordingly!! Or just eat it yummy!!

So my verdict on attempting them both for the first time???


AMAZING, MUST HAVE FALL TREATS, they will be made again next year!!

Apple Pumpkin Crisp!!

I was out walking my dog this evening and boy oh boy has it gotten chilly out there already. Granted I was only wearing jeans, flip flops, and a hoodie, so that could have calculated for some of it. When I packed away my summer clothes my flip flops probably should have went with them and probably will join them sometime tonight before bed.

With all that being said the heaters are turned on low, and the best way to warm a house is to bake!! And well we have tons of apples and I prepared for the season sell out of pumpkin pie filling weeks ago. So when I came across a recipe that used both I was SOLD!! Plus it kinda crosses two things on my list off at once pumpkin pie and apple crisp. But since it is more of a crisp I am going to just cross of apple crisp for this one!

Here is a quick List of what you need:

Ingredients

• 2 cups APPLES, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup FLOUR
• 3/4 cup BROWN SUGAR
• 1/4 cup BUTTER, softened
• 3/4 teaspoon PUMPKIN PIE SPICE, divided
• 1 cup PUMPKIN PUREE
• 1/3 cup WHITE SUGAR
• 1/4 cup MILK
• 2 Tablespoons FLOUR
• 1 EGG

And the Directions are so easy you could do it in your sleep!! Okay maybe not!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place apples in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Microwave 2 1/2 – 4 minutes, until apples are crisp tender.

In a small bowl, mix together 3/4 cup flour, brown sugar, butter and 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice. Stir together until crumbly, set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, sugar, milk, 2 Tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice and egg. Pour over apples in pie plate. Sprinkle crisp topping mixture over pumpkin layer.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and set. Let cool 30 minutes, serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

As I write this blog I am in the 30 mins cool stage which is TORTURE because it smells so amazing! The cooking 30 mins was nothing because I was working out so I could consume the calories this thing probably has in it!

Would look prettier in a pie pan as it was supposed to but I don't own one!

Wouldn't this be super yummy with ice cream on it?

Here are the yummy results...As I eat it I am wishing I had some Vanilla Ice Cream or Frozen Whipped Cream!!  Can't wait to feed Kyra some tomorrow I can bet she is gonna love it! I even resisted eating more than one even tho my taste buds were screaming at me!