teacher by day - chef by night
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HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2011!
The color was just right, the flavor was awesome, and they are so easily adaptable to whatever you want to make with them! I can see these guys being so cute for Winter in a Snowman (or snowflake) pan!!!
We had an issue with hot peppers this year, and by “issue” I mean Rich grew habaneros & I evacuated the house while making hot sauce, burned my skin a few times, and also was overwhelmed with the amount of spice and had no idea what to …
I first made these Caramel Apple Bars from My Baking Addiction for school a few weeks ago & they went like hot-cakes (or hot apple pie, if you will). I didn’t take photos that time AND I slightly under-baked them, so they didn’t turn out as pretty and I wasn’t happy with their looks. It was requested that I make them again (and immediately – in a “you should leave school immediately and make them again” kinda way, which I obviously didn’t do but instead waited a few weeks). In an effort to keep my friends at school and avoid a roit, I finally decided to whip these up again…
They are really easy to make, so I don’t know what took me to long to make them again! SO – since October is both National Apple AND National Caramel Month, I decided I should make them again (in our school we celebrate something called “Apple Crunch Day” so I brought in chewy apple bars to celebrate with my co-workers).
These can easily be made without the caramel if you want to skip that step and then they are more like “apple pie bars” but with the caramel – it really kicks it up to the next level. These are nice and sweet and just the right amount of chewy-ness and you can have more than one since they have fruit in them (so that makes them ‘healthy’).
WARNING… Once you make these you will be making them again because people won’t stop asking you until you do!! So, Happy Caramel/Apple Month & good luck…
borrowed, loved & saved from My Baking Addiction!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 inch pan.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together: melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar, until smooth. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture until just combined, then stir in the apples and walnuts (if using).
Spread the mixture evenly into prepared pan. In a cup or small bowl, stir together the remaining “topping” cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over the top of the bars. Bake for 30-35 minutes in preheated oven; bars should spring back when lightly touched. Cool in the pan, and cut into squares.
When cool: drizzle them with melted Caramel Bits or Caramel Ice Cream Topping or Melted Chewy Caramels & carefully remove from pan then enjoy!
I also want to try these tasty looking bars from Joanne but knew that I needed to make these bars again first!
And I leave you with this, Today’s Question of the Day… Is there a dish that you make that everyone always wants the recipe for or that you are always asked to bring places?
I love using my crock pot! It usually gets pulled out an average of once a week during the fall/winter months. There is just something so wonderful about spending some time in the morning to put together a meal and then coming home at the end of the day to the house smelling amazing and your dinner practically done!!
Fall is in the air. We did our apple picking a few weeks ago and then last weekend we headed to the corn maze. After Fun Fall Frolicking we needed some tasty fall dishes.
As a Society, we LOVE our house to smells good – we light candles, we buy air fresheners, and we use room sprays. But I am telling you, the absolute best way to get the house smelling yummy is to just cook something yummy!
There is something about food cooked in a Crock Pot/Slow Cooker that makes us happy. Not only does it make the house smell amazing for hours, but you get some amazing food to eat when it is all done (with almost no effort), how could that NOT be something wonderful!.
This Crock Pot (Slow Cooker?) Apple Butter does just the trick!! After growing up at Quiet Valley Living Historical Farm and “knowing” how hard it was to make Apple Butter (at Harvest Festival every year… open fire, lots of stirring, etc) I never thought that I could really make this delicious treat. I love Quiet Valley and hate to take some profit away from them by making my own Apple Butter – but thanks to Full Measure of Happiness, I found that it could be so easy! After picking about 30 pounds of apples at Heckman’s Orchard with my family I couldn’t wait to make my house smell amazing with this Apple Butter.
Now, about a year ago I would have dreaded peeling/cutting the approximately 20 (+) apples that went into this Apple Butter. But that was before my dear friend Teresa & her husband got me this Apple Peeler/Core-er/Slicer last year for the holidays. I’m telling you – go get one, I did all the apples in about 15 minutes without any work and just a little bit of counter wiping when I was done. This contraption is awesome for any apple slicing needs (with or without the peel) and can also supposedly be used to make those really cool spiral/tornado potatoes – I’ll have to try that and get back to you!
So get out your Crock Pot and make your house smell delicious (other tasty smelling options are: chili or chicken or soup or pork or whatever). Trust me – your nose will enjoy it as will your stomach when you finally indulge in the fruits of your non-labor!
ALSO – if you love this Apple Butter and you love Pumpkin, then you will love another recipe I have. Please go ahead and enjoy this Apple Butter, and when you run out of this version… go ahead and make some awesome Pumpkin Apple Butter!
For this post, I used these items, which you can purchase at Amazon:
Apple Slicer/Peeler (highly recommended)
One Year Ago – Scott’s Pizza Tour – seriously, you should take one, we love Scott!!
And I leave you with this, Today’s Question of the Day… What treat do you splurge on in the store or local fair/etc that you’ve figured out how to make (OR that I should try to figure out how to make for you)? – I know that Rich loves fancy BBQ Sauces, I should try to make them after we get inspired by others (OR we can just continue to support local businesses and buy their delicious sauces, who knows)
