Chocolate Covered Caramel Apple Bites

This awesome Fallish appetizer/dessert is from Our Best Bites. I love caramel apples and these bites put all the taste of caramel apples in a easy to eat package. You can just cover them in chocolate or you can add anything you like on caramel apples like toffee bits, mini m&m's, chopped peanuts, etc. They are fantastic party food. My kids especially loved them!

Chocolate Covered Caramel Apple Bites

5 apples (Granny Smith or your favorite apple)
1 packages caramel bits
2 tablespoons water
1 package chocolate almond bark
toppings: toffee bits, mimi m&m's, chopped peanuts, etc.

In a saucepan combine caramel bits and 2 tablespoons water and heat stirring constantly over medium low heat until the caramel bits are completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Dip apples and place on parchment or wax paper until caramel is set.

Microwave almond bark according to package directions. Core and cut apples into slices. Using a skewer or fork, dip each apple slice into the melted almond bark and set on a sheet of wax paper. Sprinkle each apple slice with desired toppings immediately after dipping because almond bark will set pretty quickly. Eat right away or refrigerate until ready to serve. These apple bites are better to serve the same day because they will crack and get mushy within a few days.

Pumpkin Roll

In my opinion pumpkin rolls are the perfect dessert. Oh how I love pumpkin baked goods and this fabulous dessert combines flavorful pumpkin cake with a creamy cream cheese filling. Cake and cheesecake in a beautiful spiral slice. It's a wonderful thing. This particular recipe is from Gimme Some Oven and it's surprisingly easy to make and so delicious. As a side note, you do need to have 15x10 inch jelly roll pan because there is just not enough cake batter in this recipe to make it in a rimmed cookie sheet.

Pumpkin Roll

Pumpkin Cake Ingredients:
3/4 cup all purpose flour (plus 1 tablespoon for high altitude)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
powdered sugar for sprinkling at the end

Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz brick cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
6 tablespoons sugar, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

To Make the Pumpkin Roll:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar for 1 minute until thick. Add in the vanilla and pumpkin, and whisk until just combined. Fold in the flour mixture with a rubber spatula and stir together until just combined.

Line a 15x10 inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper, leaving 1 inch of the parchment sticking up on both 15 inch sides of the pan so that you can easily lift the cake out after baking. Lightly mist the parchment paper with cooking spray for easier cake release afterward.

Spread the batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake for 13-15 minutes, or until top of the cake springs back when touched. Carefully lift the parchment paper and cake out onto a flat surface. Then slowly, use your hands to roll the cake with parchment paper attached - rolling from the short end to the short end - until it is completely rolled up. Transfer the cake roll to a wire rack, and cool until it is room temperature.

When the cake is cooled, make the cream cheese filling. (follow directions below)

When the cake has reached room temperature, transfer the cake roll to a flat surface, and carefully unroll it until it is flat again or mostly flat - it's okay if the ends curl up a little. Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the cake. Carefully re-roll the cake, gently peeling away the parchment paper as you roll until you can completely remove and discard it. Tightly wrap the pumpkin roll in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Remove and unwrap the pumpkin roll and transfer it to your serving dish. Lightly dust the pumpkin roll with powdered sugar, if you would like. Then slice and serve. Store uneaten pumpkin roll in a sealed container or wrapped in plastic wrap for up to 3 days.

To Make Cream Cheese Filling:
Beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Spread on cake before rolling up according to directions above.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

This is such a great cake. I absolutely love lemon cakes. This cake is moistened with a glaze and then frosted with vanilla frosting. So good! I got this recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff. I made it for a book club. It's great for any get-together of any season, but it tastes especially like Spring to me.

Lemon Poppy Seed Bundt Cake

1, 15.25 oz package lemon cake mix
1, 3.4 oz package instant lemon pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 tub vanilla frosting

Preheat oven to 350.

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, eggs, and water. Mix until moistened. Turn speed to medium high and beat for 2 minutes. Beat in poppy seeds. Pour batter into a bundt pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.

Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake for about 60 minutes in the pan.

Invert onto a cooling rack placed inside a baking sheet lined with foil. Pour glaze, recipe below, over the cake. Let cook for another 30 minutes, until completely cooled. Take lid and foil off the tub of frosting and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir heated frosting and then pour evenly over the cake. Once frosting has dried, place the cake onto a serving plate.

Lemon Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
2 tablespoons lemon juice (about the juice of 1 medium lemon)

Whisk all these ingredients together and pour over cake as directed above.

Cherry Almond Poke Cake and other Macbeth Book Club Eats

I hosted a book club for Macbeth by William Shakespeare. It was really fun to make the treats for this book club. I made this cherry poke cake and called it "Out Damned Spot" cake, which I think is super fun. And the cake turned out to be really yummy on top of looking bloody, so yay! My kids also loved the leftovers of this cake and keep asking for me to make it again. Poke cakes are easy to adapt to whatever flavor you want. You could make it with chocolate cake to make a cherry chocolate poke cake or with orange jello to make a creamsicle like cake, the possibilities are endless. I really liked the little something something that the almond extract gave this cake. It was good.

Cherry Almond Poke Cake

1 white cake
ingredients on the box to make the cake
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 small box cherry Jello
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray. In a stand mixer combine cake mix, eggs called for on box, water called for on box, oil called for on box, and almond extract. Beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Pour into the baking dish and bake for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Combine jello and boiling water, stirring for about 2 minutes or until completely dissolved. Add cold water. Set aside.

Using a wooden skewer or large fork, poke holes all over cake, about every 1/2 inch. Carefully pour jello over the cake. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. After it is refrigerated frost with frosting below and sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Frosting:
8 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed
1/2 cup marshmallow fluff
sliced almonds, for topping

In a stand mixer combine Cool Whip and marshmallow fluff. Beat until mixed and fluffy. Spread over cake and sprinkle with almonds.

I kinda went overboard for my Macbeth treats. I had of course this cake, various candies in mason jars labeled with creepy names, a veggie tray, and Fresca labeled as "flying potion" and Diet Coke labeled as "bewitching brew". I love getting into book club eats! It makes me happy.

No-Bake Individual Creamy Pumpkin Pies

Sometimes pumpkin pie can be a little heavy. This is a great, creamy, pumpkin pie treat that is not heavy at all. It's actually more like a light pumpkin cheesecake and it's made in individual servings - yummy and cute! So if you're looking for a different pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving, give this a try. It's really delicious.

No-Bake Individual Creamy Pumpkin Pies

Crust:
1 sleeve graham crackers (9 sheets of crackers)
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Filling:
8 oz package cream cheese, softened
15 oz can pumpkin
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1, 1 oz package sugar-free cheesecake instant pudding mix
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
12 oz tub Cool Whip, thawed

Topping:
prepared whipped cream
ginger snap cookies

Instructions:
Place graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until crackers are ground into fine crumbs. Add melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Pulse until combined. Place 2 tablespoons of this mixture into the bottom of 10-12 half pint canning jars, ramakins, or small plastic cups and press with a spoon just to make crust an even layer. Place jars in fridge to set while you make the filling.

In the bowl of a mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat cream cheese until light and creamy. Add pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, and instant pudding mix and beat until completely mixed, scraping down sides of the bowl. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix until combines. Mix in Cool Whip until well combined. Cover mixture with plastic wrap and allow to chill in fridge for 1 hour.

Place chilled filling in a pastry bag with large tip, or use a large ziplock and snip the corner off. Pipe the filling into the jars on top of the graham cracker crusts. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve, top individual pie with whipped cream and a ginger snap cookie if desired.

Crock Pot Hot Cocoa

This is a great hot cocoa recipe if you want to serve a group of people all at once, because it's so much easier than cooking homemade hot cocoa on the stove and of course it tastes much better than the packets. I made it recently for a book club I hosted. This is also a fun thing to make if you are having breakfast for dinner. My kids love having hot cocoa with breakfast for dinner meals. Oh, and one other great thing about this recipe - it is a great food storage recipe as it calls for ingredients you probably have on hand in your pantry. Yay for a great all around recipe!

Crock Pot Hot Cocoa

1, 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 1/2 cups water
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons powdered sugar (or more to desired sweetness)
marshmallows or whipped cream for serving

In a slow cooker combine sweetened condensed milk, salt, water, and vanilla. Whisk in cocoa powder and powdered sugar until completely combined. Heat on low for about 3 hours or until very hot. Serve with marshmallows or whipped cream.

Easy Caramel Toffee Dip

This dip is perfect for the Fall apple season. It is so yummy!! It tastes kind of like eating caramel apples without all the work. It really is so easy to make and is a great Fall appetizer.

Easy Caramel Toffee Dip

1, 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup Heath chocolate toffee bits, plus more for topping

In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, combine cream cheese and brown sugar. Beat until smooth. Add vanilla and mix in well. Add toffee bits and mix until combined. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Top with additional chocolate toffee bits and serve with cup up apples or graham cracker sticks.

Noodle Kugel

Here's another recipe I made for my Ladies Auxiliary book club. It's noodle kugel with dried cherries, which is a traditional Jewish pudding/dessert. It tastes kind of like a bread pudding with noodles instead of bread. I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, again, and I was really happy with it. When I was reading The Ladies Auxiliary I wondered what in the world the kugels they were always mentioning tasted like and I'm happy I made this, because now I know.:) You can make this ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge until you are ready to bake it, just let it sit on your counter for 30 minutes to let it come to room temp.

Noodle Kugel

1 lb wide egg noodles
2, 8 oz blocks cream cheese, softened
1 lb 4% small curd cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter, melted
8 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup dried cherries (I used a 6 oz package which was a little over 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a baking dish that is bigger than 9x13 (I used the next size up).

Boil the noodles for just 5-7 minutes, not all the way cooked. Drain in a colander.

In a very large bowl beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add cottage cheese and beat for another minute. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add sugar, melted butter, and beat, scraping down sides again. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each egg. Add cinnamon, vanilla, and mix. Stir in dried cherries. Finally, mix in the drained egg noodles, carefully mixing until incorporated. Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 1 hour. Check to see if the center is set. You may need up to 30 minutes more until the center is set and sides are browned. Serve hot or warm.

Here's all The Ladies Auxiliary book club eats laid out before my guests arrived. There's challah with butter and freezer jams, noodle kugel, hamantaschen cookies and Oreo truffles, pita chips and carrots with hummus, kosher dills, and my big ol' water dispenser down there at the end. I loved cooking all these new foods. It makes me want to go through my local library's ethnic cookbook section and try some new recipes!

Hamantaschen Cookies

These little cookies are Hamantaschen, a traditional Jewish cookie made for the celebration of Purim. I made them for a book club I hosted for the book, The Ladies Auxiliary. They are yummy little cookies, and remind me of the Finnish Ribbon Cookies I make every year for Christmas (I'm half Finnish, so that's a tradition that helps me remember my roots in Finland). The dough is much like a shortbread dough with a little cream cheese added for tenderness, and then the cookies are filled with jam. I had a hard time keeping the corners sealed - they want to become little cookie disks in the oven. Maybe chilling the formed cookies again and really pinching the corners would help. I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen, which is an excellent food blog with amazing photography.

Hamantaschen Cookies
-makes about 20-24, 2 inch cookies

8 tablespoons butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 + 2 tablespoons flour (plus 2 tablespoons for high altitude)
 jam - I used raspberry and apricot

Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and mix for 1 minute. Add egg, vanilla, orange zest, and salt and beat until combined. Add the flour and beat. Mixture should come together and be a little sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour.

Form dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (can hang out in your fridge for a couple days till you are ready to bake).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out chilled dough on a well floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness. Using a round biscuit cutter (mine was just under 2 1/2 inches), cut the dough into circles. Spoon a little jam (about 1/2 teaspoon) into the middle of the circle and fold up 3 sides to create a triangle. Pinch the corners together really well and give them a little twist. Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on parchment or silpat lined cookie sheets until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Cook on wire racks. Store in an airtight container.

Challah

Last night I hosted a book club for the book The Ladies Auxiliary. It's all about an orthodox Jewish community in Memphis and one of the things I liked most about the book is how much it talked about food. Every chapter made me hungry! So for the book club I tried my hand at a few traditional Jewish foods: challah, noodle kugel, and hamantaschen cookies. This is the recipe for the challah, which is an eggy braided bread with a glazed crust. It's a great bread, but I'm not gonna lie, it takes more time and effort than other yeast breads. The 3 risings (actually 4 if you count the rise after its braided) take some time and rolling out the strands of dough for the braid gives your arms a nice work out. But don't let me scare you, the dough, though firm, is easy to work with and the resulting awesome bread makes it a labor of love.:)  I got this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and this youtube video really helps to review the process and braiding.

Challah
-makes 2 loaves

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 3/4 cups warm water
1/2 cup oil (canola, vegetable, or olive oil)
4 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
7 1/2 - 8 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 egg, for egg wash
poppy seeds or sesame seeds for topping, optional

In the bowl of a heavy duty mixer (I have a Bosch) combine the yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and the warm water. Let sit for 5 minutes or until foamy.

Add oil to the yeast mixture, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time. Add sugar and salt and mix. Add 4 cups of flour and mix with dough hook for 1 minute. Gradually add more flour a cup at a time until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and is pretty firm, for me I used just under 8 cups total. Knead with dough hook at medium high speed for 5 minutes.

Turn out dough and form into a smooth ball. Place in a large oiled bowl and cover with non-stick sprayed plastic wrap. Allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down dough, form into a ball again and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch down dough one more time and allow to rise again until doubled, 1 hour.  (That's 3 risings in the bowl.)

Punch down dough and turn onto a floured surface. Separate dough into 12 equal pieces. Take 6 of these pieces to form 1, 6-strand braided loaf (cover the remaining 6 pieces of dough with plastic wrap so they don't dry out). Take each piece and roll into a snake/strand that is about 12 inches long and tapered at both ends. When you have 6 strands it's time to braid. You can look at my pictures below for the visual on the braiding or watch the youtube video, but here goes: take the 6 strands and pinch them together at the top. Now you have a 6 legged octopus. Take the outside right strand and take it up and over to the left, take the outside left strand and take it over and up to the right. Now you have a 2 armed, 4 legged creature. Take the left arm and bring it down in the middle. Take the outside right strand and take it over and up to create a new left arm. Take the right arm and bring it down in the middle. Take the outside left strand and take it over and up to create a new right arm. Take the left arm and bring it down in the middle. You do this, replacing arms, down in the middle, braiding until you get to the end of the strands, then you take the ends and pinch them together and under to form a nice braided loaf. Did you get that? Good. Now, do it all over again with the other 6 pieces of dough to form another loaf. Place loaves on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheets (or you can place them side by side on one baking sheet if you only have 1 oven - they might stick together in the middle when you bake them, but that's okay, they'll still bake through and be easy to pull apart). Beat the remaining egg and brush over the loaves. Set remaining beaten egg aside. Allow loaves to rise until doubled, 40 min. to 1 hour. Brush loaves again with egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds if desired (I went for poppy seeds).

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven, on the middle rack, for 30 - 40 minutes. Traditional challah is deeply browned and glossy, but of course you can cover the loaves with foil if they are getting too browned for your tastes. Cool loaves on a wire rack.

**Leftover challah makes great French toast!