Apple coffee cake

Apple season is in FULL force. And I am not one to be left behind on ANYTHING kitchen related. I have been baking and cooking with apples for weeks now.
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. Isn't that what they say?
What I love best about baking is that my house gets all nice and cozy warm and smells better than any candle can make it smell. Of course my waist line could do without it, but I can't say that I MISS my girlish figure, I am still carrying around my toddler figure. :)
Apple coffee cake is something I have always wanted to try my hand at and a post by Betty Crocker led me to the path that I wanted to take. Of course I changed a bit here and there to make it my own. Not a lot of changes but a thing here and there. I personally don't like nuts in my breads and desserts so I purposely leave those out. But if you are nuts about nuts, by all means try it with them mixed in.
One of the nice things about making this coffee cake was that everything was mixed my hand. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE using my mixer, but for something this fast it was nice to not have to pull it out of its little cubby hole.
I did end up doubling the coffee cake batter portion of the cake as I think my square pan is a bit larger than 9 inches. It made a fabulously puffy bread that I am sure you will enjoy with your morning coffee.

STREUSEL TOPPING

• 2/3 cup Original Bisquick mix
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup cold butter

COFFEE CAKE

• 2 cups Original Bisquick mix
• 2/3 cup milk
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 medium cooking apples, peeled and thinly sliced (2 cups)

GLAZE

• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 to 3 tsps milk

1. heat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch square pan with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix 2/3 cup Bisquick mix, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until crumbly; set aside.
2. In medium bowl, stir together 2 cups Bisquick mix, 2/3 cup milk, the granulated sugar and egg; beat vigorously for 30 seconds with a spoon. Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. arrange apple slicked on batter; sprinkle with half of the streusel topping. Spread with remaining batter; sprinkle with remaining topping. Sprinkle with nuts.
3. Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on cooling rack for about 20 minutes. In a small bowl, stir glaze ingredients until smooth enough to drizzle. Drizzle glaze over warm, NOT HOT, coffee cake.

FRESH Caramel Apple cake

About a month ago my friend S told me about apple picking in the Queen of England's winter home's orchards. Now I have lived in England for 6 years so far and this was the first time I had heard of this! I called my friend B and off we went with our familes to pick the Queens apples from the Queens orchards and enjoy some apple yummys. I am not lying to you when I say that I came home with about 10 - 12 kilos of apples. FABULOUS! But what the heck was I going to do with all that.
Well first I baked a pie. And then another and then another. I gave those away. :) I LOVE apple pie but a family can only go through so much of it.
Two french apple pies and a double crust pie. The only reason I made French apple pies was because I ran out of crust and had nothing for the top. I think fast on my baking feet sometimes. My crust is fabulously flaky and I use it for just about everything. I just cant get it to set up properly. Tastes great; looks terrible. Practice makes perfect I always say. Just keep making it and eventually it will come out the way I want it to.

This cake I made a couple of weeks ago. It was a hit! Everyone loved it and everyone wanted more. I have made this cake three times since then and am so thankful I had bunches of apples from the picking. Each cake takes 3 cups of apples. The batter was THICK and sticky and very tough to mix after all the flour went in. I thank my good sense for buying a heavy duty mixer 6 years ago. Without it I would be completely lost. In fact I have been toying with the idea of getting a second. But I was promptly talked out of that and convinced that the best thing would be to just get another bowl and flat mixer blade.
I should point out that this cake is dangerously good. I love the gooey mixed with the spice of the cake. If you have apples that you need to do something with and you and your family are all pied out, I recommend you try this cake.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups chopped apples, such as Rome Beauty
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• Brown sugar topping, below

Preparation:

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; set aside. Beat eggs; add sugar and oil and beat for 3 minutes. Gradually stir in sifted dry ingredients. Fold in apples and vanilla. Pour batter into a greased and floured 10-inch tube pan and bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Invert on a plate or platter, pour topping over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven. Let cool.  
Topping

• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

Combine topping ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a full boil and boil for 3 minutes. Pour over cake right out of the oven.

In the beginning...

I have seen and read blogs by others and thought to myself, 'I can do that!' For the most part the blogs I read are non-sense to me and really so is this one, but at least this one will be MY non-sense.
I really enjoy baking and my trials and errors are usually rather fun to watch. I enjoy trying new recipes and usually I bake once a week at the very least.
I started baking about the time I moved out of my house. I have to say that I did not have a calling for it from childhood. I did not "enjoy" it. I did not help my mom out when she was baking or cooking. I started cooking and baking out of necessity. My family needed to eat and I did not want to eat frozen foods.
My passions are cookbooks and online recipe sites. I have enough to start my own bookstore. It is how I started my journey into cooking and baking. I tell everyone, "anyone can cook, all it takes is the ability to read and follow directions."
A lot of times when I am looking for something to make, I look through all my cook books and find the perfect recipe. Then I rip it apart and make it my own. After all, written recipes are merely suggestions. :)
Dessert breads are the best things to bake and really very easy, flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and a few other ingredients and you have yourself a delicious homemade treat to have with your coffee or tea in the morning!!
I bake pies rather frequently. Apple is my favorite and gets made VERY often. I love making cookies and cakes and breads and delicious meals that are sure to satisfy every hunger.
I live true to my married surname, I am a true BAKER.