Apple Pie Quick Bread with Cranberries

This is based on my traditional quick bread recipe. I had half of a container of apple pie filling left and decided to dump it into some batter. The result was extraordinary! I will be making this as gifts for sure!

Ingredients:

2 eggs
3/4 cups of sugar
1/3 cup of canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups apple pie filling*
3/4 cup of dried cranberries
1/2 tsp cinnamon, optional

Preheat oven to 375

In the bowl of your mixer beat together eggs, sugar and oil until pale yellow and fluffy. Add vanilla and baking powder and gradually add in the flour. When all is well mixed (mixture will seem dry - not to worry) add the apple pie filling* and cinnamon if desired. A chunky cinnamon flavored apple sauce might be a very good substitute. Mix well, add cranberries, mix well.

Into a pre-greased bread loaf add the batter.
Bake for approximately 1 hour.

The inside will be soft and moist!

A is for Apple (muffins)

School is but a day or two away. Most likely you will want to spend the last day of summer outside, in the yard, at the beach or park with family and friends. Unless it's raining where you live. Or you have a sick little one. Then you'll want to bake. Why not bake something healthy and nutritious and delicious? Give the kids this treat before school starts tomorrow. You'll thank me!

Ingredients:

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

3 cups of flour, unbleached

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup of canola oil

2 eggs

1 tsp of vanilla

1 cup of unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup of skim or 1% milk

2 small or 1 large apple cut into 1/4 inch pieces (leave the skins on for extra fiber!)

1 cup of raisins (dried cranberries could be substituted)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

- In a large mixing bowl add your dry ingredients, mix well
- Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla, mix well
- Stir in apples and raisins

Line muffin tins with paper liners or spray with a non-stick cooking spray.

Fill each cup about 3/4 to the top.

Bake for about 25 minutes.

(My muffin tins are 2 different sizes. This made 48 muffins, medium and large.)

We gobbled up a few initially and then placed the rest in a Ziplock bag and tossed them into the freezer. For future use.)

Yogurt Spice Muffins

I was looking for a recipe yesterday in which I could use some of my yogurt and strawberries in a muffin. I have some berries about to turn. I didn't find what I was looking for, instead I found a recipe from Food & Wine. It looked really good. I tweaked a few things to simplify it -- instead of adding nutmeg, and allspice and cloves and cinnamon I used pumpkin pie spice. I love the rich spicy flavor. I opted to cut out the butter (4 tbs) and make these a low fat muffin -- Paula, I see you shuddering over there! And to add texture and fiber I added a cup of oats. And raisins because my kids go nuts over raisins. Other than that, it's the same recipe!

These are not a light and fluffy muffin, but are dense and very filling. They were fabulous fresh out of the oven and the following morning I popped them in the microwave for 12 seconds to warm them a tad.

Ingredients:

2 cups of all purpose flour (I used unbleached)
3/4 cup of brown sugar
1 tbs. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 Tbs. pumpkin pie spice
2 large eggs
1 cup of vanilla (or plain) low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1+ tsp. vanilla extract (I always add extra!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix together dry ingredients, set aside
In a large bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, yogurt and apple sauce and vanilla. Mix well, gradually add in dry ingredients, mix well until all is combined. Fold in raisins and oats.

Spoon the batter in to prepared muffin cups. (Use liners, because there is no oil in this recipe the muffins will stick!) Bake for 20-25 minutes, until read. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Applesauce Oatmeal Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Like an oatmeal raisin cookie for breakfast! As my daughter said after her first bite "I've never had a muffin before, until I had this!"

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups of brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups of flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups of applesauce (unsweetened)
2 cups of raisins
2 cups of oats

Directions:

In a mixer cream the butter and brown sugar. When well mixed add eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl sift together dry ingredients, and add to the mixture alternately with the applesauce. Mix well. Stir in raisins and oats.

Pour into lined muffin tins and bake for 20 - 25 minutes until firm to the touch. Let cool about 5 minutes before serving.

Applesauce Coffee Cake

I need a whole section on cheating! We've been so busy that while I still need to cook I need to cook quickly. Breakfasts are a major pain in the derriere around here. Rebecca won't go near anything that has milk in it these days. And while Christopher would prefer eggs and sausage I prefer to keep him away from the sodium and saturated fats. He's a skinny kid, but who knows what will happen in the years to come... there is a history of high blood pressure on both sides. But, really the truth is not so much about nutrition, but about time! I just don't have the time to prepare him a fully cooked meal every morning.

I am a sucker for a good sale. At Stop & Shop I found Pillsbury's bread mixes on sale. I grabbed a few boxes. And because I can not leave well enough alone... because I must tinker with everything I came up with this. And the result was amazing... outstanding, even according to my kids and spouse. I have been serving it for 3 mornings now. Whatever will I do after tomorrow when there is none left?

To make this applesauce coffee cake you will need

1 box of Pillsbury's Cinnamon Swirl Quick bread

2 cups of applesauce (I happened to have some of my homemade stuff in the fridge)

2 Tbs. water

1/2 Cup of raisins (optional)

1 smattering of chopped walnuts (optional)

I followed the directions on the back of the package using 2 Tbs. of canola oil instead of 1/3 cup, 2 Tbs of water instead of 1/2 cup, the recommended amount of eggs and the applesauce. I also added the raisins and mixed well. I poured the batter into a rectangular cake pan (9 x 14) and drizzled the brown sugar mixture from the package on the top followed by my smattering of chopped walnuts. I baked the cake per the instructions on the back of the box. (Test with a toothpick, you may need a little extra time). Let cool about 5 minutes prior to serving.

What you'll get is a rich, dense, moist cinnamony treat!

Warm Applesauce with Homemade Granola

I had a bag of Macintosh apples sitting on the counter. I bought them to use for baking. I'm not a huge fan of them raw. Picked off the tree they are close to being the perfect apple, but as soon as they separate from the branch and end up at the store they've become too mealy for my liking. They are, for me, the perfect cooking apple, however.

I decided to make some applesauce yesterday. I had just whipped up a batch of our all time favorite granola and thought that the granola might taste quite nice sprinkled over some warm apple sauce. I was envisioning a healthier version of an apple crisp -- one of my all time favorite desserts next to apple pie.

So I cut my macs in half. I do not have an apple corer. I have always meant to get one but never have. Instead I used my melon baller. And it worked wonderfully! I just scooped out the seeds and the stems came right off.

I love to cook the apples with their skins on. I love the color the skins turn the apple sauce. And also, I am pretty darned lazy! Once the apples have cooked and cooled the skins peel right off -- no vegetable peeler or knife needed!

I just added some water to my large pot. About 2 cups.

Then I added my apples (use 10 -12) to the boiling water

I placed 2 Tbs of ground cinnamon* into the water and let cook about 20 minutes.

If there is too much water left over do not worry, just place the apples in a colander and let the water drain. On the other hand, if you see your pot needing more water add about a cup to the apples.

The apples, when done, should mash like a mashed potato.

Remove the apples from the pot and place in a colander to drain.

Let cool.

Add about 2 Tbs. of brown sugar -- taste while you add as this should not be overly sweet.

Remove skins prior to or after mashing.

Depending on how you like your texture you may want to use a ricer, a potato masher or simply a fork.

*If the applesauce appears too brown you may want to wait and add your cinnamon after the apples have cooked. I just like the extra flavor you get from the cooked cinnamon.