Happy Halloween and Happy Apple Season!

What do I love about the fall most? After the running weather....Apples.

Apple picking, Apple pie, Apple Cider, Cider Donuts

Hurricane Irene cut the apple picking season short this year.......No annual trip to Fishkill happened. Soooooooooo we just went to the farmer's market and bought apple and pretended we had just picked them and then continued the tradition of apple pie baking.

Same lovely recipe as last year!

Lemon Poppyseed Cookies

I bought poppy seeds back in June to make muffins and as much as I love muffins, I felt like putting them to a different use with this cookie recipe. If you are a lemon lover, you will love these cookies and their tanginess.

I made this delectable recipe, which was a hit at the Fat Kid's Club meeting, aka Sheena pot luck birthday party.

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 3 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest (2 to 3 lemons)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds


Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Simmer lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook until reduced by half and then add 1 stick of butter; stir until melted.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, cream remaining stick of butter and 1 cup sugar with an electric mixer.
5. Mix in egg and lemon butter. Mix for about 3 minutes.
6. Then add in vanilla and 2 teaspoons zest.
7. Finally add in flour mixture and poppy seeds.
8. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons zest. Use this to roll spoonfuls of dough in before putting them on cookie sheet.
9. Cook for approximately 11 minutes.

Martha Stewart is to thank for this recipe!

Maple Almond Granola

I love making homemade granola. The first time I ever made it, I followed Alton Brown’s recipe (minus the coconut.) It was amazing. It is super sugary and almost too candy like; right up my alley! Since then when make it, I don’t go to great lengths to measure things. I kind of just throw a bunch of crap in and test it to make sure it tastes good and then cook it up.

One thought I must share from my experimenting: I usually use honey because it is way cheaper then maple syrup, but man, maple syrup makes for an even tastier glue! This batch got its extra scrumptious base thanks to Leslie’s bridal shower favor.

I made a batch today, which came out tasty as always. Here’s the run down:


Ingredients:
- 4 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 1/4 cup wheat germ
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup

Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients.
- Next add in wet ingredients and mix to coat all oats thoroughly.
- Pour mixture onto sheet pans or anything you have the has sides, so mixture won’t pour out into your oven. I made do with 4 pie pans!
- Cook for an hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
- After you remove it from the oven, you can add any dried fruit you desire!