Apple Squares

Most criminally delicious use of fruit...since Kali's peach upside down cake, that is. ;) This is my take on a recipe from allrecipes.com. I doubled the apples from their recipe (and I think I might go crazy and quadruple the apples next time), replaced walnuts with pecans, and added only half the cinnamon sugar. Here's my variation:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1/2 white sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup apple, chopped
• 1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp white sugar (for topping)
• 1 Tbsp cinnamon (for topping)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x9 pan. Mix together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Blend in the mixture of dry ingredients until just combine, then add apples and pecans. Spread mixture evenly in greased pan. Combine the remaining cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the top.

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes until bars spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan and cut into squares.

I may or may not have had these for breakfast this morning. Okay, I did. And they were delicious! I also think these would we awesome with whole wheat.

Peach Crisp

We decided to make a crisp with the fresh peaches we got from Atle this fall. The plan had been to dutch oven it, but we ended up making it at home so I used my sweet new ramekins. I tried a new recipe from Anne Burell of the Food Network. Such an awesome crisp recipe! I'm planning on trying it with apples soon.

For the filling:

• 5 large ripe peaches, pitted and cut into chunks
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup tightly packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• Pinch kosher salt

For the topping:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into pea sized pieces
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 to 2 tablespoons cold water
• Special equipment: 6 (6-ounce) ramekins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the filling:

Toss the peaches in a large bowl with the zest and lemon juice. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir to combine. Divide the filling evenly between the ramekins.

For the topping:

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor except the water. Pulse until combined, this will take about 30 seconds. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture is clumpy but crumbly.

Top each ramekin with the topping. Be sure to loosely sprinkle the topping and not pack it down. The idea is to look very crumbly and craggy.

Place the ramekins on a sheet tray and bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the filling is hot and bubbly and the topping, brown and crispy.

* I used pecans instead of almonds and left the raisins out. So good!

Pineapple (or Other Fruit) Skillet Upside-Down Cake

By popular demand, here it is, from Rick Bayless' "Mexican Everday" cookbook.

So YUMMY!

Ingredients:

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 1/2 cups pineapple, or berries, or peaches, or apples, or nectarines, or... you get the picture
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (or soured milk) or plain yogurt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375*. Melt butter in a 10" skillet with an ovenproof handle, preferrably non-stick, over a medium heat. Swirl it around until it turns nut-brown then pour into a medium bowl. Without wiping the pan out, sprinkle the brown sugar into the skillet and top with a fruit layer.

In a bowl, mix together the flours, salt, soda and baking powder. Mix the white sugar in with the browned butter. Add the egg and mix; then add buttermilk/yogurt and mix. Pour into the dry indregients and whisk together.

Pour batter over the fruit. Put skillet in oven and bake 35 minutes or until cate is golden brown and springy to the touch. Remove and cool 10 minutes.

Put a plate over skillet, and using oven mitts, flip them over together in one quick movement. Remove the skillet and serve cake!