All posts filed under: All Recipes

Apple Hand Pies

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Would it really be Thanksgiving if there wasn’t some apple pie for dessert? An apple dessert is a must-have for my family during Thanksgiving. Over the years, apple desserts have taken different forms on my family’s Thanksgiving table. It’s been in classic pies, crumbles, and cakes. Since Thanksgiving is toned down this year, I wanted to make a dessert that was individual but still had all the best flavors of Thanksgiving. That’s where these individual apple hand pies came into play. Apple Hand Pies These apple hand pies might be a little untraditional for Thanksgiving, but they have everything that you want out of a traditional pie. They are stuffed with a gooey apple filling and have a crust that is super flakey and buttery. The pies are also topped with a little turbinado sugar for a little extra sweetness. The best part of these apple hand pies? You get one all to yourself. The mini pies are the perfect size for an individual portion, meaning you don’t have to share. If this isn’t a perfect dessert for 2020 then I …

Apple Cider Caramel Shortbread Cookies

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I think I’ve fallen down an apple-themed dessert hole! For the past month, it has been all about the apples. Apple cake, apple cider donuts, and apple pie cookies. Luckily, they haven’t gotten old yet and there is still plenty of apple baked goods to go around. Which leads me to these apple cider caramel shortbread cookies. Apple Cider Cookies These apple cider caramel shortbread cookies first came to life when I was scrolling on Instagram. I saw Smitten Kitchen post a recipe for apple cider caramel candies that looked pretty irresistible. She made them as little individual candies, but I thought they would be great as a filling inside chocolate or a cookie. After some thinking, I settled on making them with shortbread and chocolate. I made caramel pretzel shortbread bars from Sally’s Baking Addiction over the winter and thought this would go well with a similar combination. The only thing I wanted to change though was the mess. When I made those bars, and while they were absolutely delicious, they were super messy …

Leftover Candy Rice Krispy Treats

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Happy 50% off on candy day! It’s the day after Halloween, so you know what that means. Tons and tons of leftover candy. Candy is great on its own, but it is even better surrounded by melted marshmallows and rice cereal. These leftover candy rice Krispy treats are the perfect way to consume all of your leftover candy! The recipe is pretty versatile and can be used with whatever candy is around the house. I used Sally’s Baking Addiction and her classic rice krispy recipe for the base of this recipe. From there, I loaded it with leftover candy. I used all chocolate candy, but feel free to add in whatever you have! Now the candy was truly all over the place. I added in about one cup of leftover candy in the middle, along with chopped up pieces on top. Most of it melted, creating this chocolaty, caramel, peanut butter goodness. This step is totally optional but SO delicious. If you just want to put the candy on top, make the recipe like normal …

Chocolate Halloween Bark

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Bark is one of the most crowd-pleasing desserts on the planet! Seriously, who doesn’t love a mashup of chocolate, Oreos, and candy? This chocolate Halloween bark is certainly decorated for the upcoming holiday, but you can easily make this any time of the year. This chocolate Halloween bark is also pretty easy to make. As long as you have access to a microwave, you really can’t screw it up. All you really have to do for this recipe is melt chocolate. Sounds pretty easy, right? For the Halloween decorations, I decided to go with these edible googly eyes. I also used them to make my Halloween monster cupcakes and they were a huge hit. I love using them as decorations and will have to find a way to use them on non-Halloween themed desserts! Along with the edible eyes, I used the Halloween themed M&Ms. They come in green, orange, and purple and look great as a topping. Now, this bark is all about the layers. I layer white and semi-sweet chocolate first, followed by …

Monster Cupcakes

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It’s spooky season! Halloween is right around the corner and while trick-or-treating may look a little different this year, the spirit certainly does not. These monster cupcakes are the perfect treat for the holiday. They may not be very spooky, but they are very adorable. Making these little monster cupcakes was really fun. Also, they are very easy to make and easy to get creative with! All you need is a few cupcakes, frosting, edible googly eyes, and some piping tips. Now, this can be as easy or as hard as you want it to be. I made the cupcakes and frosting from scratch, but they easily could have been made out of a box. For this recipe, I turned to Sally’s Baking Addiction and her yellow cake recipe. It is super fluffy and light. For the buttercream frosting, I used the recipe from Chelsweets. Her buttercream is great for making decorative cakes. Once the cupcakes cooled to room temperature, it was time to create the monsters. I stacked two cupcakes on top of each …

Cinnamon Pear Loaf Cake

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We all know apple cake is good but what about pear cake? Pears tend to get lost in the shuffle in the fall baking season. I am here to change that with this cinnamon pear loaf cake! Now, I’ll be honest. This loaf cake was originally made with apples and it was great. However, I’ve made countless apple cakes throughout the years and had some pears laying around the house and thought that they would taste great in this batter. Turns out I was right. The pears seamlessly replace the apples and add such a juicy flavor to the cake. Remind me again why we don’t use pears more often? Now, this cake is LOADED with pears. If you are a big pear fan, then I would suggest adding in 3 chopped pears as I did. If you like pears but want more of a fluffy cinnamon cake, stick with adding in just 2 pears. The cake will still have a strong pear flavor, they just won’t be the dominating factor in the cake. Let’s …

Apple Date Crumb Bars

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As much as I hate to admit it, summer is officially over. Stone fruit is off the shelves and has quickly been replaced with so many apples! With the change in the season, I quickly transitioned some of my favorite summer desserts into fall treats, starting with these apple date crumb bars. Over the summer I shared this recipe for peach and cherry cobbler bars. To give it a fall twist, I swapped out the peaches and cherries for apples and dates. It’s the perfect seasonal swap for this decadent bar. Along with the change in the filling, I loaded up on the fall spices. Cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg are mixed into the fruit filling to make this dessert even more seasonal. The spices are also thrown into the shortbread crust bringing the flavors full circle. Now, these apple date crumb bars can be made in either an 8×8 or 9×13 inch baking dish. The summer crumble bars were made in a 9×13 inch dish allowing for a smaller and thinner bar. However, I decided to go with an 8×8 …

Chocolate Swirl Pumpkin Bread

Chocolate Swirl Pumpkin Bread

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Love chocolate? Love pumpkin bread? Well, have I got the perfect combo for you! This chocolate swirl pumpkin bread is a pretty perfect fall dessert. The bread uses an entire can of pumpkin and is full of strong fall flavors including cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. To finish it off, melted dark chocolate is swirled throughout the loaf. This pumpkin bread was adapted from Butternut Bakery and her Pumpkin Bread with Maple Glaze. The picture of this dessert kept following me all over Instagram so I decided it was time to give it a try. The recipe has a great balance of spice and pumpkin, keeping the loaf flavorful but not overpowering. I decided to go with the recipe from Butternut Bakery after having a little mishap with my own pumpkin bread. I attempted to make a chocolate swirl pumpkin bread similar to my banana bread recipe. Turns out swapping the pumpkin for bananas isn’t as easy as it seems. The batter basically didn’t cook through and it was super dense. The only silver lining is …

Apple Cider Donuts

Apple Cider Donuts

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Apples are finally back in season and you know what that means! Fresh apple cider. Do you know what is even better about fresh apple cider? Fresh apple cider donuts. Now the best apple cider donuts are the ones that are piping hot out of the fryer and doused in cinnamon and sugar. Now, those situations are usually best created while picking apples. So, while that may not be easy to recreate at home, these baked apple cider donuts might just be the next best thing. These baked apple cider donuts are made with fresh apple cider. Now, to get the maximum flavor out of the apple cider, I use an apple cider reduction. This creates an intense apple flavor and brings out all the best notes from the cider. To make the apple cider reduction, all you have to do is boil the cider and let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes. It should reduce significantly in size and have a darker color when done. The rest of the recipe is pretty typical and …

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Cake

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It truly wouldn’t be fall baking season without some pumpkin, right? This year I am going full force into fall flavors. We’re taking apple pie cookies, cider doughnuts, and this pumpkin spice coffee cake!! I love a good coffee cake. It’s a great dessert and a true crowd-pleaser. Most importantly, you can eat it at any time of the day. It goes great as a breakfast dessert (is that a thing?) and even better after dinner with a hot drink. Regardless, coffee cake is always a good idea. Especially this pumpkin spice coffee cake. So, let’s talk about the cake. For the base, I adapted Sally’s Baking Addiction sour cream coffee cake recipe. The cake is super moist and light. In order to make it seasonal, I added in some fall spices to the batter. However, it didn’t stop with the spices. Next, I took some classic canned pumpkin and mixed it in with about 1/4 of the batter. This gave some of the batter a good pumpkin layer and added in more fall flavors. …