Quick & Easy Apple Tart

I made this recipe for my dad for Father's Day. It was really good, but not quite as good as the last recipe that I made from the Pioneer Woman's blog.

INGREDIENTS:

1 sheet puffed pastry, cut into half OR thirds

3 to 4 apples, cored, halved, and sliced (but not peeled)

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 415 degrees.
Place puffed pastry rectangles onto a baking pan that’s been sprayed with nonstick spray.
Add sugar and salt to apples. Stir to combine. Allow to sit for a few minutes.
Arrange apple slices on the pastry rectangles in a straight line, overlapping as you go.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until pastry is puffed and golden brown.
Remove from pan immediately and place on a serving platter. Serve plain, with caramel topping, whipped cream, or a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

Recipe from Pioneer Woman, picture from my kitchen!

Apple Dumplings

I got this recipe almost a year ago off of Pioneer Woman's blog. I have been waiting for an excuse to make it. Memorial Day was the excuse. My parents were coming over to grill out and I needed something quick and easy to make for desert.

Ingredients:

2 Granny Smith apples

2 cans crescent rolls

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla

cinnamon

1 small can Mountain Dew

Directions:

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

Recipe from Pioneer Woman, picture from my kitchen.

Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake

My church does bereavement dinners when anyone in the church loses a family member. Since I work and cannot help to serve the dinner they always ask for a cake to be dropped off on my way to work. I decided this time that I wanted to make something with a fall theme that I had never made before. I decided on this Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake because I had a pumpkin that my husband and I had gotten to take Paisley's picture with. Therefore, I got to make pumpkin filling and applesauce because we were also out of applesauce, but had plenty of apples.

The apples in the beginning

The applesauce

The Pumpkin when I started

The Pumpkin when I finished

Ingredients:
1 c. oil
3 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 c. applesauce
1 c. pumpkin
2/3 c. nuts, chopped
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg

Directions:
Cream sugar and oil; add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in applesauce and pumpkin. Sift dry ingredients together; add to creamed mixture. Add nuts.
Lightly grease sides, bottom, and tube of a 9 inch tube pan. Line the bottom with wax paper or lightly grease and flour Bundt pan. Pour in batter and bake at 325 degrees for approximately 1 1/2 hours (watch). Cool in pan for 15 minutes.

Source: The West Virginia Farm Bureau Cookbook

Apple Spice Bars

Apple Spice Bars

2 c. plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
small pinch ground cloves
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 apples, cored and diced (a little less than 2 c.)
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 9×13 pan with foil and baking spray.

In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Whisk to combine well and set aside. In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugars and butter and beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Turn mixer on slow and fold in flour mixture a little at a time until just combined. Fold in apples.

Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan and sprinkle top generously with cinnamon sugar. Bake until golden brown and top top slightly bounces back to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan, cutting and serving.

Source: Good Things Catered