Fall Cranberry Apple Crisp

This is one of my all time favorite recipes for fall; it’s quick, easy, and surprisingly healthy! Aside from that, it’s delicious.. Sweet apples combined with tart cranberries, crunchy granola, and autumn spices make for a prefect introduction to fall.

Fresh out of the oven!

This is probably a serving size.. but, uh.. I probably eat two servings in a sitting.

This post wouldn’t be complete without the recipe, of course!

Cranberry Apple Crisp

Serves 8 to 10

Top this comforting autumn crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream of a dollop of yogurt before serving, if you like.

Ingredients

3 to 4 medium to large crisp red apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup apple juice
1 1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 cups granola

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine apples and cranberries and pour into an 8- or 9-inch square baking dish.

In a small bowl, whisk together apple juice, flour and pumpkin pie spice. Pour over the fruit. Sprinkle granola evenly over the fruit and lightly press down. Bake until hot and bubbly, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm, room temperature or cold.

Nutrition

Per serving: 100 calories (20 from fat), 2.5g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 10mg sodium, 19g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 10g sugar), 2g protein

(Recipe source: Wholefoods.com)

Summer Strawberry Cake

Designing collections essentially means that you’re always thinking at least a full season ahead..usually 6 months or more! This happens so often, that I sometimes forget to live at least a little bit in the season we’re in right this moment.

Not wanting summer to completely pass me by without notice, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and went strawberry picking with my guy. I’ve been wanting to do this since May; needless to say, it was long overdue! We packed a lunch and headed west towards Highway 1, to Swanton Berry Farm in Pescadero – a cute little town along the California coast.  Swanton’s has two strawberry fields to choose from. One field is north of the farmstand, and overlooks the ocean. The second field is adjacent to the farmstand itself. We chose the field overlooking the Pacific. Wouldn’t you?

Sadly, I didn’t remember to bring my camera, but we did get a couple of pics on the cell phone.

 

These berries have a pretty amazing view, don’t you think?

 

Pretty little strawberry blossoms..

 

We ended up coming home with 6 pounds of strawberries! Not wasting any time, this weekend I made a batch of strawberry jam, strawberry butter, and strawberry cake. We’ll be having strawberries on our salad today, and will freeze the remaining berries for using later on. (Maybe strawberry rhubarb jam?)

The strawberry cake:

Topped with a dusting of powdered sugar..

Full cake!

Close-up – Yum!

My only regret is that we did not have any vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream. Darn. This recipe was ideal, because it only makes one pan of cake – perfect for two people! (Or four, if you feel like sharing…) Here’s the recipe, courtesy of Martha Stewart’s website:

Strawberry Cake

Martha Stewart Living, June 2005

• Yield Makes one 10-inch cake

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 10-inch pie plate. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
2. Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.
3. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture. Transfer batter to buttered pie plate. Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
4. Bake cake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour. Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack. Cut into wedges. Cake can be stored at room temperature, loosely covered, up to 2 days.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies and the Approaching Fall Season

Growing up in New England,  I became a pretty huge fan of the Fall season. It’s hard not to love the beautiful changing leaves, bright orange pumpkins, crisp apples, spicy cinnamon, fuzzy knit scarves and fall boots. Let’s not forget the pumpkin spice lattes! Mmm. Admittedly, I’m not a coffee drinker. I make an exception for those lattes!

Even though I no longer live in New England, I still crave everything that Fall has to offer and typically start looking forward to it as early as August.

I’ve recently become addicted to Pinterest, which has sparked my Fall passion just a little bit early this year, as I feverishly “pin” a billion seasonal decorations and recipes a full 9 weeks before October even arrives.

With that being said, I thought I should share one of my favorite Fall recipes. I can usually hold out until September before I make these tasty little treats, but I make no promises this year!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Decidedly more common on the east coast, I’ve been introducing whoopie pies to my friends here on the west coast.  These are so good, that I’ve had requests to make them every year for the past 9 years and counting. The spiced cream cheese filling is plentiful. Leftovers are also great used as a topping for banana bread, gingersnaps, etc..

Tip: Use a “cookie scoop” (or small ice cream scoop) if you’d prefer evenly sized, round cakes formed in the easiest way possible; Unless you’re a whiz with the double spoon action.. in that case, disregard the tip!

Cake Part:
1/2 can regular sized (14oz) pureed pumpkin (about 1 cup)
1/3 C softened unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 package spice cake mix [this is literally the only recipe I make that uses a box mix! I should convert it to a regular recipe at some point..]
1/2 C milk
Parchment paper for lining the baking sheet

In a large bowl, beat pumpkin and butter until smooth. Add spice cake mix, eggs, milk, and beat at a low speed until combined for 1 minute. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a spoon or mini ice cream scoop to ladle scoops of batter, about 3 inches apart, on the lined cookie sheets. Bake at 375-F until lightly browned around the edges (about 15 minutes.) Cool the cakes on the parchment paper placed on a cooling rack so they do not become sticky.

Filling:
1/2 C softened unsalted butter (you could get away with using less if you want)
8oz package cream cheese, softened
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 of a 7oz jar marsmallow creme (you can use fluff if you don’t have creme. Just ‘melt’ it slightly in the microwave for a few seconds first to thicken it)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Mix dry ingredients in small bowl. In mixing bowl, beat butter until smooth. Add cream cheese and marshmallow creme and continue beating. Add the dry ingredients, a little at a time, mixing until smooth and incorporated. The longer you mix it the fluffy it will become.

Once the cakes are cooled, spread filling on the flat half of one cake, and top with another cake to make a sandwich. Enjoy! (Don’t be surprised if you can’t eat just one!)