Apple Walnut Brownies

Well happy first day of fall to you! Are you as excited as I am? I am very very excited because well, cooler weather, shorter days, pretty trees, pumpkins, sweaters, and of course apples. All the apples!!

I am not going to lie, I was going to wait to do a big apple pick to start with my apple baking but this week the grocery store was selling apples form the orchard I am going to go picking from for a 77cents a pound!! I mean, I couldn’t not buy 20 lbs right? Sure I felt a little guilty that they were not hand picked by me, but in a way they were because I did hand pick them form the store so that kind of counts? Plus I am still going apple picking, today in fact so not harm in having a shit ton of apples.

Anyway, so apple brownies. Why, because why not. Slightly chewy but soft, dense, full of all the cinnamon and apple walnut flavor one could want or need to feel all the feels of the apple season. Made them and fed them to the people and they were gone within a minute. Huge success in flavor and texture. and best part, it was slightly chilly out when I made them so the oven on was extra nice, and my house smelled amazing. Oh gosh, I am just so excited that it’s fall, it’s the best time of year!

And now I am for real going apple picking! I’ll probably make these brownies again, just because you know, apples and I'll probably come home with another 100 lbs or more so you know, I’ll have the apples to do it.

The stuff. Apples. sugar, applesauce, cinnamon, and walnuts. Also some vegan butter, flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

FIrst, chop up the apples. And no, don’t peel them, just chop, into little 1/2 inch cubes.

Butter and sugar get a good beat until light and fluffy (I read somewhere that when you beat the sugar with butter in brownies, it helps make that crisp, crackly top)

Fold in the apple sauce and cinnamon .

Like a galaxy of cinnamon goodness.

Then all the rest of the stuff: flour, baking soda and powder, salt, apples, walnuts, get folded in too until just incorporated.

Batter gets spread evenly in a greased and parchment lined pan. (There is parchment there, I was running low so it only covers the bottom of the pan. Better if it goes up the sides though.)

Then into the hot oven they go.

Popped out at just the right moment. See the top? A bit crisped crinkly, kind of like a brownie! Now pop them out of the pan and let cool completely. Or cool enough to cut. Or, cool enough to handle and eat…..

There you go, apple walnut brownies.

And now you can officially enjoy the first day of fall because there is a lot of apple goodness in these brownies and what is fall without apples?!!

Have the best day.

-C

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Apple Walnut Brownies

makes a 9x9 pan of apple goodness

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

• 1 cup white sugar

• 1/2 cup vegan butter

• 1/2 cup applesauce

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

• 2 large Macintosh apples (about 2 cups chopped)

Preheat oven to 350

Core and dice apples into about 1/2 inch cubes . Measure out 2 cups ans eat any left over apple chunks. In a large bowl, beat together vegan butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Fold in the applesauce and cinnamon. In a smaller bowl whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Dump into wet mixture, along with the apples and walnuts and fold together until just evenly incorporated. Grease and parchment line a 9x9 baking sheet. Dump the batter into the pan and spread evenly then pop into oven and bake for 40- 45 minutes or until browned and a tester stuck in the middle comes out clean. Check after 35 minutes… you don’t want to over bake! Once cooked all the way through, remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Once cool enough to handle, remove the brownies from the pan (you really need to line the pan with parchment to do this) and let cool completely on a wire rack. When they are cool (if you can wait that long because really, these are great eaten warm too.), cut and eat.

Store left overs in a airtight container for a day or two or freeze any extra. Great warmed and serves with a scoop of some ice cream or a yogurt situation.

Peachy Sweet Buns

Who doesn't like a good bun, right?  And just because this is where my mind wonders, peachy sweet buns. Doesn't that sound like a pick up line or something you say to your significant other. Like, "Oh hey peachy sweet buns, you are looking good. Woo hoo"........ Anyway, this is not about anyones peachy sweet buns, it it about actually sweet buns so u-hum, yeah. 

I am not trying to float my own boat here, but I am really really good at making buns, and you know what, I bet that you are too. They may seem a little intimidating, but really, it's quite easy. I think what throws some people off is the yeasted dough and having to knead and waiting for the dough to rise, but don't let that stop you from sweet sweet buns. They are no harder to make then a boxed cake (maybe a little harder) and the results are by far more amazing and delightful (we don't use the word delightful enough around here) then any old box or pre-made thing will ever be. Ever. Freshly made buns are what is right in this world.

If you are awesome and decide to make buns like any good person with a baking itch or a need for some sweet bun goodness does, make them peachy because its peach season and how can a peach bun not be that much more amazing?  Just think. Soft sweet dough, jammy cinnamon peaches, covered in a sweet lemony glaze......

Go on now, go and get yourself some peachy sweet buns.

The stuff. Flour and salt in the bowl, melted earth balance, brown sugar, yeast, warm soy milk, cane sugar, cinnamon, powdered sugar, a couple of lemons, and af course, peaches.

Warm (not hot) soy milk, yeast, cane sugar, an melted (but again, not hot) earth balance go into a big bowl and get whisked around. Then add in the flour and salt ans mix around until you just can't.

Time to knead. Dump the dough ad all the little bits onto a flour surface. Gather it all together and knead away, for about 5-8 minutes, or until the dough looks like....

This. Nice and soft and glossy.  Lightly grease the bowl ans stick the dough back into it, covered with a towel, and set for about 1 hour to rise and double in size. 

As soon as the dough is set ti rise, start on your peach filling. Chop up enough peaches that you have about 2 1/2 cups of chunks.

Brown sugar and peach chunks go into a pot and stuck on a medium heat until they start to bubble then set to a low simmer for about 20 minutes or until the peaches all break apart and reduce by half.

Add in the cinnamon and stir.. Peachy goodness. Now quick and stick that shit in the fridge or freezer to cool down.

BOOM. Dough did what it's job and doubled. Time o make the buns. 

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and roll our into a rectangle of sorts that is about 1/2 an inch thick 

Cover the surface with all the peachy jammy goodness, and sprinkle on the remaining finely chopped peaches.

And roll, as tightly as you can, without squeezing all the filling out. I roll towards me, but roll away from you if it is easier.  It might get a little sloppy... it's ok, just lick your fingers and keep going. 

Rolled and cut into 12 pieces.

Place the rolls carefully onto a grease and parchment lined baking 9x13 baking dish. In my picture I used a baking pan, which was not what I wanted to do, but I wasn't thinking properly and so that's what I did. Something with sides is preferable, but the baking pan did the job so really, your call. 

When you place the buns in the dish, place them toughen a bit, it helps then bake up high instead of out.  And any remaining go on jam that spilled out can get scraped right on top of the buns, if you didn't already eat it.

Now into the preheated oven these  babies go.

Look at those beauts. And they smell. A-MAZ-ING!! 

Right away get that glaze made. Powdered sugar, lemon zest, ans lemon juice. Super easy, just add the zest and juice to sugar and mix until smooth and glaze. 

Pour glaze over warm buns. Make sure to hit them all or someone is going to be pissed they didn't get enough glaze..... 

Then it's really just up to you whether you wait for coffee or tea or not, but really, just eat right away. There should be very little time between newly glazed buns and a bun in your face.

Enjoy the peaches!

-C

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Peachy Sweet Buns

Makes 12 Buns

• For the Dough 
  • 3 1/2 cups all purposes flour
  • 1/4  cup cane sugar
  • 1 cup warm soy milk
  • 2 teaspoon or 1 packet yeast
  • 4 tablespoons melted vegan butter 
  • 1 teaspoon salt
• For the Filling 
  • 3-4 good sized ripe peaches (about 3 cups chopped peaches)
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • Juice of half a lemon
• For the Glaze
  • 1 lemons
  • 1 1/2 cup powered sugar

In a large bowl mix together the yeast, warm (not hot) soy milk, sugar, and melted but cooled butter. Now add in  the salt and the flour. Mix until it's too hard to mix then dump it all onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 7-10 minutes until the dough is  soft, elastic-y, and smooth. Place dough back into a clean lightly greased bowl and drape with a damp towel. Let dough rise for about 1 to 1.5 hours or until it has doubled in size.

While the dough is rising, chop the peaches up until you have about 3 cups. Place 2 1/2 cups of the  peaches into a medium sized pot with the brown sugar and lemon juice and stick on medium heat. Set the rest aside. Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring and mashing with a wooden spoon every few minutes, until mixture has become thick and reduced by about 1/2. Remove from heat, stir in cinnamon,  and place in fridge to cool. 

Once thee dough has doubled, dump onto a flour surface and roll our into a retacnge that is about 1/2 inch thick  Grab your peach mixture and spread the mixture evenly over the dough. Evenly distribute  the remaining chopped peaches over jam.  And then it's the to roll.

Start from the long side and start to roll toward the other end, keeping it as tight as possible without squeezing out all the filling.  Once rolled, slice into 12 even sized buns.

Place on a lightly greased and parchment lined 9x13 inch baking sheet or pan and let rest and rest for another20 minutes or so. OR if you want to wait to bake them off, cover them with plastic and set into the fridge for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake, remove from fridge and let the buns set on counter to come to room temperature before baking. 

Preheat oven to 350.

Place rolls into oven. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until all the buns have gotten a nice golden brown on top, and if you want to take the internal temp, that the temp has reached 190. 

Once the buns are done  baking, mix together the zest and juice of the lemon and powdered sugar. If the glaze seems to thick, add more juice or water, to think, add more sugar. Pour glaze all over warm (but not hot) buns.

And now all you need to do is serve up those buns right away, nice and warned.

Any left overs should be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days but should definitely be warmed up in the microwave for a minute or two before serving. They also freeze well too. 

Cherry Upside-Down Cake

Every year the same thing happens. Cherry season hits, I indulge and buy a few pounds of those cherries with great intentions of making something great, something to share, but then I always end up eating them all myself. What can I say, I love me some cherries.

But this year I realized my mistake. If I really did want to make something  with cherries other then eating them all,  I needed to buy a shit ton of cherries so I would have enough for my belly and some to share.  So I bought like 6 pounds at once so I would have to bake something before they went bad.  (Honestly I could have eaten them all but I was able to control myself.) 

I was going to make a straight up cherry pie, put then that would take me making pie dough, which I really like to do in most cases, but was just not feeling it this week. Plus that would have require a hell of a lot more cherry pitting which again, wouldn't have been that bad, but I was just hot really feeling it. But upside down cake, that I was feeling.  I always like the visual aspect of an upside- down cake so cake it was, cake it be.  Upside side down cake with a little lemony lemoness and  lots of gooey cherry goodness. Simple and stunning and better then cherry pie because it is baked upside-down and you can't bake a pie upside-down. 

I did good. (Here I pat myself on the back, give myself a high five, and finish off with a double thumbs up) 

The stuff. Flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in the bowl. A bowl of fresh cherries. White sugar, canola oil, soy milk, a lemon, a little apple cider vinegar, some vanilla extract, melted earth balance, and a bit of brown sugar. 

This is the most labor intensive part, pitting cherries. What I do is cut the cherries in half and then with my thumb, dislodge the pit. Pile the un-pitted halves to the side and once done pitting, double check you got all the pits out. No one will like you, including yourself, if they bit down and crack a tooth on a cherry pit. 

Cherries are pitted so now take the melted earth balance and brown sugar and mix together in the bottom of your greased cake pan. I lined my with parchment which I think was a good idea so you might want to do that too. Mix the mixture around to evenly coat the bottom then place the cherries in, singled layered and not overlapping, but get as many in as you can. (You can do them all facing hte same way like me or not, I don't know if it would really make much of a difference.) 

Time for cake batter. Mix the sugar and zest of the lemon into the bowl of flour, baking soda and powder, and salt. 

In goes oil. milk, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla. Give it all a good whisk 

Stop when it is all mixed and incorporated. Don't want to over mix or the cake with get tough. 

Batter gets poured right onto cherries in pan and the whole sha-bang gets popped into the oven for about 50 minutes to turn into golden brown, upside-down cherry greatness. 

Now for the best part, you must wait at least a few minutes, if not ten, to pop the cake right side up? Or os it now upside down? And be careful cause it's hot. Tip . Before inverting cake, run a knife around the edge of the pan to make sure cake is loose. Once cake is upside down on cooling rack (use a cooling rack, not a plate so the  bottom dset getting soggy), give the pan a good tap tap with a wooden spoon until the cake pops out.  If a cherry or two got stuck, its ok, just stick it back to the cake.. no one will know. 

And loooooook at that. Upside down cakes are always like magic. 

As you can see, it didn't stand a chance. A piece cut within minutes because how can you not.

I finally did it, I shared my cherry stash, and I feel good about it because all the people looooved the cake so it was worth it. And I still have cherries left for me!!

Now go upside-down a cake. 

-C

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Cherry Upside-Down Cake

makes a 10 inch upside-down cake. 

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1  teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup neutral flavored oil (I used canola) 
• 2 tablespoons earth balance or vegan butter substitute 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 lemon 
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups sliced in half and pitted cherries
• 3 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350. 

Start by rinsing and pitting cherries. Remove all stems, cut cherries in half, and remove pits. I use my thumb and just kind of pop them out, but do it anyway you feel like. If using a fancy de-pitter, you are going to want to cut the cherries in half.  After you have removed all pits, DOUBLE CHECK that there are no pits.. Pits will crack a tooth for reals.

Grease and line a 10 inch cake pan with parchment. Dump the melted earth balance and brown sugar in bottom and mix together. Spread mixture all around then grab sliced cherries and place them, single layered, into mixture. Get as many as you can in there without overlapping.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, baking powder and soda, the salt, the white sugar, and the zest of the lemon. Once fully combined add in the soy milk, apple cider vinegar, the oil, and the vanilla. Mix that all up until just combined. Pour batter all over the cherries in the pan. Level out batter and pop into the oven (middle rack) for 45-55 minutes, or until the cake is a nice deep golden brown and a tester stuck in the middle comes out clean.

Once the cake is bake, let it sit on counter for about 10 minutes.  Once slightly cooled, grab knife and run it along the edge of the cake. Take a cooling rack and place on top of cake then flip upside down. Tap around he pan with a spoon then gently lift pan away. 

Tada. You should have yourself something fantastic and great. And no worries if a cherry or two got stuck to pan, just pop it back on to the cake.

And now all you need to do is eat the cake. So do that. 

Cinnamon Walnut Rhubarb Bread

The day started off with rhubarb soup and ended in cinnamon walnut rhubarb bread. The bread was a star, the soup, not so much, which sucked because I was so excited and so sure it was going be fantastic. Tomatoes, rhubarb, and fresh ginger. Doesn't that sound good? I still have hopes for the combination, but the batch I made was way way to acidic and thick and spicy because I added so much fresh ginger to it that it made the mr's eye water and my nose run a little. So yeah, the soup needed work, but I was not going to end my day of rhubarb cooking with a fail. Also I felt like I owed it to the mr to make him something that he found edible. He really did not like the soup.

I knew the mr wanted (or at least he hinted at) pie but I had no time for pie. I already spent the morning making not so good soup and I had shit I needed to do. Pie would just take a little to long. Quick bread was more in my time frame. A few minutes to chop and mix, toss it into the oven for a while. and done.  I had time to cleaned up, run to the post office and bank (I should probably tell you not to leave your oven on when you are not in the house, but I do, but only for short periods of time. And don't tell the mr. He will kill me) and come back to the house not on fire and fresh cinnamon walnut rhubarb bread. I felt redemption, even this it was not pie. The mr didn't complain, not one bit. 

And by the way, the soup made it's way into a different batch of soup that had other stuff in it and it WAS fantastic. 

The stuff. Rhubarb and walnuts and a bowl with flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Also have coconut oil, brown sugar, soy milk, and a little dish or more brown sugar, cinnamon, and coconut oil for the topping. 

Chop rhubarb and walnuts into small pieces, not tiny pieces, but not big ones either. 

Mix the brown sugar and coconut oil into dry mixture, then add in the milk and vinegar and mix until just incorporated (don't over mix).

Don't forget to mix in the rhubarb and walnut pieces. 

Pour batter into a greased pan and then its  time for the cinnamon sugar topping. (cinnamon+sugar+coconut oil=rainbows?)

Cinnamon sugar topping  gets crumbled on and I found a few stray walnuts so I tossed those on top too.  

Now it's time for the oven.

Look at that, fresh from the oven. So handsome.  Pop it out of the tin and get it onto a wire rack to cool. 

And when it's cooled a little and you are ready to take a seat, you slice and eat.

-C

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Cinnamon Walnut Rhubarb Bread

makes one loaf

• 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cups brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 cup soy or another plant milk
• 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted and cooled)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 stalks rhubarb (2 cups chopped)
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Cinnamon Sugar Topping

• 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 hefty tablespoon cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 350

Chop rhubarb into small 1/2 inch pieces. If your walnuts are whole, chop those up into small pieces as well.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix together then add in the brown sugar and  the melted coconut oil and mix. Then add in the say milk  and apple cider vinegar and mix until all is incorporated.  Stir in the chopped rhubarbd and walnuts.

Pour batter into a well greases bread pan. For the cinnamon topping, just add the cinnamon and brown sugar to the melted coconut oil and mix.  Crumble the mixture on top of the bread. if you have a few more walnuts, you can toss those on top too. Pop bread into preheated oven.

Bake for 60 -70 minutes  or until a tester stuck into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack. When ready, cut and eat.

Bread lasts 3 day in airtight container on counter, a few days longer in the fridge.  Freezes well. 

Almond Oat Rhubarb Cookies

The rhubarb is ready and I am ready. There will be rhubarb in everything for weeks. But what to start with? I was debating if I should go classic and make a pie, or maybe savory and make a rhubarb tomato soup (going to make that soup later), or maybe just a big batch of jam to stick on and in everything.. Then I remembered  that I had a cookie dream last fall, a dream that I had made almond rhubarb cookie. (that is the extent of my dream memory)  And who am I to ignore a cookie dream? So I starting off rhubarb season with cookies. 

These cookies are all sorts of good. They have oats, almonds, flax, and a vegetable (because we all know that rhubarb is technically a veggies right?) so right there is a good enough excuse to make them. And to eat whenever, including breakfast, because remember, all the good stuff. But don't let that good stuff fool you. These cookies are just as good, if not better then any other cookie. Soft and chewy. So nutty, sweet but not too, and rhubarb all tart and fantastic cutting in to say hey hey hey. These are springtime, any time, cookie time cookies. Dream cookies that are now reality cookies.

Let the rhubarb begin!

The stuff. Almonds, oats and rhubarb. Brown sugar, vegan butter, a flax egg, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla and salt.

First we need to turn the oats into flour so blend them in a food processor until that happens 

Next up are the almonds. These you want to pulse for about 2-3 minutes they become  more of an almond meal the flour. Don't over blend or else you might end up with almond butter. 

Next up. Sugar, vegan butter, cinnamon, vanilla, ans flax egg all go into a big bowl.

Mix well until all combined and incorporated. 

Now add in the oat flour, almond meal, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder.

Stir it up and there you go.. but the rhubarb!

Remove the leave from rhubarb if you haven't already. They will kill you!(or make you violently ill). Chop the rhubarb stalks into small pieces that are roughly the same size as chocolate chip. Some chunks can be a little bit bigger, but you don't want the piece too big or else you will end up with soggy cookies.

Rhubarb goes into cookie batter Mix it all in. 

Scoop out dough onto baking sheet and give them all a good pat to flatten them down a good bit. Place them into the oven for  17-22 minutes to bake. until nice deep golden brown.

Golden brown and baked all nice. Look at those rhubarb chunks. So pretty.

Cookies out on a wire rack to cool and firm up a bit.

So now you eat yourself a cookie. Or two.

-C

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Almond Oat Rhubarb Cookies

makes 18-22 cookies depending on size

• 1 1/2 cups raw almonds

• 1 1/2 cups old fashion oats (gluten free if needed)

• 1/3 cup vegan butter room temperature

• 1 flax or chia egg (1 tablespoon ground seed and 3 tablespoon water)

• 1 cup packed brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon

• 2-3 stalks rhubarb (about 1 1/2 cups chopped)

Preheat oven to 350

Add oats to a food processor and blend until the oats turn into flour, which will take about 2 minutes. Dump the now flour into a bowl. Add almonds to the food processor and pulse for 2-3 minutes until the almonds turn into fine meal. Dump into the bowl with oats.

In a large bowl mix together the vegan butter, brown sugar, flax egg, and vanilla until fully incorporated. Add in the oat and almond flours, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and mix until la dough forms. 

Grab rhubarb and chop into little pieces that are roughly the size of a chocolate chip. Measure out 1 1/2 cups and dump into batter. Mix until incorporated. 

Scoop out cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten each cookie to aboutt 1/2 inch thick. Place into  preheated oven. and bake for 17-22 minutes (rotate after 12)  or until a nice golden brown on top and bottom. (Depending on your baking sheet and stove, it could take a few minutes longer, just keep your eyes on the cookies!)  Once bakes, place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are very fragile until they cool off so be careful handling them. 

Let cool and eat. And yes, these are 100% exceptable to eat as a breakfast cookie. 

Left over cookies should be stored in an airtight container at room tempature for 2-3 day, longer in the fridge, and can be frozen .

And eat yourself a cookie. Or two.

Cookie anecdote.  I placed a cookie sheet full of cookies back into a cold oven to store while I was cleaning up the kitchen. And left them there and kind of forgot about they, And then I cranked the oven on to make dinner and a few minutes later smelled something burning. OH fuck... the cookies! I pulled them out just in time to see that I had completely burnt the bottoms. SO PISSED ( I might have raged cried a little). But you know what I did? I cut all the bunt bottoms off and placed the crumbles up un-burnt bits onto a bowl. The mr came home and ate the bowl of crumble and was happy as a clam. And lucky had left out half of the cookies l on the counter so not all were lost. But lessons learned. Cookies crumbles are just as good as whole cookies and always check the oven before turning it on. There might be cookies in there!!!