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OT - Forn Friday

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Happy Friday, STalkers! We made it!!! Okay, almost. Biggrin

'Forn' is 'food' and 'p0rn' combined.

Did you notice that it's Fall? Leaves are going from green to yellow, orange, red, umber, butterscotch, marmalade, currant, gingerbread, gold, bronze, scarlet, and cinnamon.... Have I painted a picture? Smile

The first thing I think of with the advent of Fall? Apples

When I was little, my family would go apple picking every year. We rode in a open-sided wagon to get to the apples. The decaying leaves and fresh apples combined to make a heady perfume - oh, how I love that smell! Dad would pick me up and set me on his shoulders. He held the basket while I picked the apples. There was an apple press and we would always get a cup of freshly made apple juice before we left. For a couple weeks after picking, our home was positively aromatic with apples while Mom made apple sauce, apple butter, and apple pies. I wish I could travel back in time for a few short hours and peek in on that kitchen. 

So... Apples. What's your favorite way to eat apples? Biting into that crisp juicness? Sipping cold, delicious cider? Spooning up some cinnamony sauce? Dollops of apple butter on a hot, buttery biscuit? A warm slice of pie with apples oozing onto your plate?

Here's a recipe for Apple Butter Muffins.

APPLE BUTTER MUFFINS

  • 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup apple butter (homemade is best!)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 5oz can evaporated
  • Sugar, to sprinkle
  1. In a small mixing bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar until fluffy.
  3. Add the egg to the sugar mixture; beat well.
  4. Beat in the apple butter and vanilla.
  5. Stir lemon juice into the evaporated milk.
  6. Beating at low speed, alternately add the flour and the milk mixtures to the apple butter mixture until just combined.
  7. The less you mix the more tender the crumb.
  8. Grease or line with baking papers, 24 muffin cups.
  9. Fill each cup 2/3 full.
  10. Sprinkle lightly with sugar.
  11. Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.
  12. Cool on wire racks.

Hope you have an enjoyable weekend!!
Aniki

Comments

advice.only2's picture

All of this sounds amazing! If I had to pick I would say a fresh apple, or a candied apple on a thorny stick.

For me fall is all about soups, I love to make up a big pot of simmering seduction and eat it out of a mug while sitting wrapped up in a nice cozy blanket.

That and the baking, I love baking fresh breads to go with the soups, and cookies. My family loves chocolate chip cookies, but I always make one special cookie sans chocolates for myself and eat it hot out of the oven, so good!

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Advice, your Fall soup description is me in Winter! There something so appealing about that scenario. Especially with a mug of my Mom's chicken & rice soup.

One cookie withOUT chips - do you not like chocolate?

advice.only2's picture

I do like chocolate, but the one cookie without the chips is like a unicorn. True story one time DH ate my unicorn cookie! OMG that was a hill to die on! lol.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Bad DH!

I like chocolate, but do not like chocolate chip cookies. I like the dough - until the chips are added. For whatever reason, they "taint" the taste of the dough. 

notasm3's picture

EZ - just make the cookie without the chips.  Nuts are good if you like them - but it's not a bad cookie just plain.  I've made those when I didn't have any chips.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

That's what I do! I typically use butterscotch chips in place of the chocolate ones. If I'm out of chips, I add cardamom. :)

ITB2012's picture

We make what we call "mapple" (never had to spell it before, so that's my guess).

It's basically hot, spiced apples. I had NOTHING in the way of a dessert one night so I came up with that. (Before stepmotherhood - BSM - I always had dessert with the meal, literally with the meal as another side dish so it became just another option and not a big deal to get to at the end.)

Peal, core, and chunk some apples. Pour maple syrup over them. Sprinkle on some cinnamon/nutmeg. Cover and microwave until the apples are soft and hot. (Maple syrup + apples = Mapple)

Sometimes I make MAPPLE for breakfast and throw in some yogurt and granola so it's like an apple crisp.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

That sounds delicious!

My Mom would core an apple, fill it with a mixture of butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, the drizzle maple syrup over it, and bake! Sometimes she would add chopped pecans to the 'filling' mixture. Nom nom nom...

advice.only2's picture

I'm so curious how you pronounce this?
Like "mmm-apple"
or more like "maaaa-pple"

ITB2012's picture

I love me some pumpkin spice. Pie. Soup (got a killer recipe for hot and sweet pumpkin soup, it's got jalapenos in it)

Muffins. Bread. Coffee. Beer.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Pumpkin soup with jalapenos?! I'm intrigued! How about pumpkin Spam? Wink

DH is already pestering me to make my pumpkin bread pudding.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Oooooooo, with curry, too! There is no way my husband would eat this. I can already see the look on his face if I suggest it. ~snort~

However, I could cut the recipe in half and use the rest of the pumpkin for some Pumpkin Fool!

Siemprematahari's picture

Love this Aniki! You make me want to appreciate and embrace the Fall even more.

Thanks for the amazing recipe Biggrin

Aniki-Moderator's picture

Hola Siempre!

I don't know what it is about the smell of decaying leaves, but it's probably my favorite fall scent. Hot, mulled cider smells pretty good, too...

Fall is when my body starts waking from Summer hibernation. Winter is when I really come alive!

thinkthrice's picture

Autumn leaves, wood stoves, crisp air, aged port wine...

Meanwhile we are in Key West.  Chef is behaving for the most part after almost losing my work laptop at the Atlanta airport!

Mojitos and Conch!