Fall Baking

Long, dreary, rainy days of fall can feel like they are never going to end. Thank goodness for yummy things to bake! I love baking, much more than cooking, so I love this part of fall. I'd probably bake a lot more if it wasn't so messy. This last week I was on a baking spree. I baked 4 batches of Pumpkin Muffins and some Apple Bread. The muffins were gone as soon as they were cooled off. My family loves them! The Apple Bread though, well, I have the whole pan to myself. Ethan tried a bite or two but so far he isn't a huge fan yet. Thats okay. I will throughly enjoy every bite. I thought I'd share some of the recipes on here for you all. Be warned....your house will smell AMAZING :) 

Pumpkin Muffins 

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15 ounce can)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon - divided
• pinch nutmeg
• 1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Optional: half a bag of chocolate chips
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• Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined
• Stir together 1 teaspoon cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.
• Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. (Sometimes I omit this and sub in the chocolate chips instead) 
• Bake at 350 until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Brendan really loves helping in the kitchen. He helped me make the muffins and we saved part of the batch to share with his teacher. 

Lots and lots of yummy muffins! 

Apple Bread

• Bread

  
  • 1 cup butter melted
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 T. vanilla
  • 3 T. lemon juice
  • 4 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 4-5 med. granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped
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  • Streusel
• 6 T. flour
• 3 T. butter
• 6 T. sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon



First cream the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Then gradually add the dry ingredients. You'll have a very thick batter. 

Next add in the apples and stir well. Mix the streusel ingredients in a separate bowl, it will be lumpy. 

Layer half the batter, then the streusel mix, then the rest of the batter in a well grease pan. You can split it between 2 loaf pans but I don't have those so I just used a 9x13 pan. It turns out great too! 

Cook at 325 for about 70-75 min. Check to make sure its done. Let it cool a bit (which will be nearly impossible) before enjoying! 

Sit back and relax and enjoy! A cute toddler might steal a few bites but eat quickly :) 

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