The second dessert I made for Thanksgiving was an upside-down-apple-pecan pie, which was a breeze to make and, more importantly, a pleasure to eat.

I know that every time I try to make a pie with pastry on the top, it ends up tasting fine, but looking a bit like a disaster. I’m definitely not one of those people that can make food look pretty. This pie takes away that challenge though, as it’s baked like a regular pie, but once it comes out of the oven, it’s flipped upside down. Because of all the sugar, butter and pecans you put on the bottom of the pie plate, a caramelized syrup of buttery, candied pecans covers the whole thing. Inside, there’s a thick layer of spiced apples, which cuts the sweetness of the crunchy and gooey topping.

The recipe asks for refrigerated pie crusts, which I used (and enjoyed just fine!), but I’m sure you could use your own homemade crust if you prefer. I liked how easy it was just to pop a piece shell into the plate and then another shell right on top, so I do recommend using that method, unless you’re a vehement homemade crust lover.

This is a great variation on the typical apple pie, and that pecan topping is magical. Oh, and definitely serve this thing warm!

Upside-Down Apple Pecan Pie
adapted from The Cutting Edge of Ordinary
Printable Recipe

6 tablespoons butter, melted & divided
½ cup packed light brown sugar
¾ cup chopped pecans
2 refrigerated pie crusts
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
5 large firm apples, peeled, cored and cut into ½ inch slices

1. Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Coat a pie plate with nonstick cooking spray and line it with parchment or waxed paper. Coat the paper with cooking spray also.

3. In a small bowl combine 4 tablespoons of melted butter, the brown sugar and the pecans. Mix well and spread evenly over the bottom of the pie plate. Place one of the crusts in the pie plate, pressing it firmly against the nut mixture and up the sides of the plate. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and the remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter. Mix well. Add the apples in and toss gently to coat. Spoon into the pie crust.

5. Place the second crust over the apple mixture. Trim and fold the edges together to seal. Cut some slits in the top of the crust for venting.

6. Position a cookie sheet on the bottom oven rack to catch any juices that may leak from the pie while it’s baking. Bake 1 to 1 ¼ hours or until crust is golden brown. (Watch the baking time; I made two of these pies, and the first one almost had a topping of burnt pecans!)

7. To invert the pie, please a plate on top of the pie, and flip it over. Remove the pie plate then gently lift the paper. Serve while still warm, or reheat gently when it’s time to serve it.

So what did we do with all those apples we picked? Well, not a whole lot! Not yet anyway…Thanksgiving is going to use up a bunch of them in a dessert I’m anticipating eagerly.

So while I wait for that, I decided to make a some apple cinnamon buns to tide me over. Good choice! There are many things I loved about these cinnamon buns. The dough comes together easily, though with all that rising, it does take the whole evening. It’s worth the wait though; the end result are warm, tender rolls with a swirl of apple chunks, brown sugar and lots of cinnamon. Of course, they are best right out of the oven, but 20 seconds in a microwave is all it takes to get them just as delicious the next day. I also love how these get baked in a lined muffin tin – it keeps them small (so that you don’t feel as guilty popping one, two, three) in your mouth in one sitting, and the paper-liner keeps any brown sugar/butter/apple filling pressed right up against the roll.

I didn’t make the apple cider glaze that’s included in the original recipe, but just whipped up a plain milk and icing sugar glaze that suited these buns just perfectly. I’m sure the apple cider glaze would be an amazing choice though!

I’d make some changes to the original recipe, which are reflected in the recipe below. I also halved the original recipe to make just 12 rolls, also reflected in the recipe below.

Apple Cinnamon Rolls
adapted from Paula Deen
Printable Recipe

DOUGH
1 cups 2% milk
1/2 tablespoon active dry yeast
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 eggs
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

APPLE CINNAMON FILLING
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1/2 cup loosely chopped pecans (optional – I didn’t add these)
1 3/4 cups finely chopped tart apples

DOUGH
1. In a small saucepan or a microwave oven, warm milk to about 110 F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the milk.

3. Add salt and two cups of flour and beat for two minutes. Beat in eggs and butter.
4. Stir in the remaining flour a half cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about five minutes).

6. Place the dough in a large bowl and cover it with a towel. Set in a warm place and allow to rise for 40 minutes or until approximately doubled in volume.
Roll out dough into a long rectangle about 1/4” thick.

7. Brush with about half of the melted butter.

APPLE CINNAMON FILLING
1. To make the filling, in a medium-sized bowl, mix sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, pecans, and apples.

2. Spread the pecan/apple mixture evenly over the dough, leaving about an inch empty on all sides.

3. Roll dough over itself from back to front along the long side of the rectangle to form a log. Slice the log into 12 even pieces

4. Line muffin tin with paper liners and place each piece of the log in a cupcake liner. If they don’t fit, fold the ends together to make a “C” shape. The pieces should come to about the top of the liners.

5. Cover the cupcake tins and set in a warm place to rise for another 40 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 F.

7. Evenly distribute the remaining ¼ cup of melted butter over the tops of the cupcakes.

8. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tops are golden.

APPLE CIDER GLAZE
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon apple cider

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix powdered sugar and apple cider until fully combined.

2. Drizzle over cinnamon buns.

I realize Soli’s stitched up finger isn’t pretty, so let’s get rid of that as the first post. Here’s a quick post on our apple-picking day. Apple-picking used to be the cheap way to get apples, but really, we could’ve gotten our apples for cheaper at the grocery store. But whatever – it’s fall, we live in Quebec, and apples are everywhere, so the experience is worth it.

Our usual orchard seemed to be closed down, so we went to new one down the road in St-Antoine-Abbe that featured a big pirate ship and karaoke, as well as a shop with my much-desired white honey and Soli’s loved apple doughnuts. I enjoyed this one – it was small enough, but had a wide variety of apples. Its small size was a bit problematic, as there were only one or two rows of trees of a certain variety of apples. Our favourite, the honeycrisp, was all picked out because there was only one row of trees, so I had to use my height to get to all the apples at the top of the trees, the ones no one else seemed to be able to reach.

I loved some varieties, and wasn’t at all interested in others. Honeycrisp, Empire and Lobos were fantastic. We left the Macintosh and Spartans unpicked. I guess that’s the reason you go apple-picking – not to save money, but to sample the apples, choose only the ones you love, and come away with a fresh mix.

And you also get to spend a day in the sun, out in the country. A great way to say goodbye to summer.

Of course, I now have to find a way to use all these apples. Apple-cinnamon buns, anyone?

It seems like just yesterday I was saying how hot it was, and now I’m bundling up in sweaters and scarves to go out in the evenings. Fall is definitely here, and I can’t say I’m that pleased about it. However, even though the weather is just going to get colder and colder, all the fall produce that is becoming available cheers me up a little. And what says fall better than the apple?

It seems I’ve become allergic to apples (as well as cherries, almonds, peaches and plums), so that when I eat them in their raw form, my mouth and throat get intolerably itchy. When I cook these foods though, the allergen seems to get cooked off. So rather than suffer through an apple-less fall, I decided to turn a big bag full of apples (fresh off a neighbour’s tree, and a little questionable in their quality- -scaly bits on the peel, lots of bruises, etc) into apple butter. Though it took some time and work, spending my chilly Labour Day over a stove simmering apples with cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins for hours was just perfect.

I love the final product! It took a whole lot of apples to get just one pint of apple butter, but what else would these apples had been good for? I don’t have a foodmill, so the apple butter has a just few chunks of apple in it, along with juicy, plump raisins. The butter is thick and rich – sweet, but not overpoweringly so, so the apple is still the number one player. I added a nice dose of cinnamon and nutmeg, which I loved. I was going to add some rum while it was reducing, but after tasting it, I decided it was too delicious to add alcohol to. Imagine! Am I saying that?

This stuff is great on toast, or my favourite, with a good, salty cheese. A grilled cheese sandwich with this and sharp cheddar would be heaven. Soli wants to use it with pork, and I’ve enjoyed it with pate. If I can stop eating it straight out of the jar and have enough left, I would love to make some cinnamon rolls with it. But whatever we do, I’m sure it’ll be just fantastic.

Cinnamon Apple Butter with Raisins
adapted from Chickens in the Road

APPLE PULP

Measurements are a bit tricky for this, because it’s hard to tell how much apple pulp all your apples will yield. I would just go with however many apples you want, and figure out the measurements for your apple butter once know how many cups of apple pulp you have

4 pounds apples, cored and cut into chunks (I had about 20 smallish apples, but because I had to cut away a lot of the apple to throw away on account of holes, I ended up with a lot less apple pulp, only about 4 cups)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
Water

1. Fill pot halfway with water (make sure it’s a big enough pot that all your apples chunks cook evenly). Add cup of apple cider vinegar and apples.

2. Boil until apples turn soft (but make sure they don’t turn to liquid!)

3. Remove apples and put through a foodmill (or, if you don’t have a foodmill, push the apples through a fine sieve. A lot of the peel will just fall off, though it did take me a long time to pick the apple peel out of the sieve…next time, I would peel those apples!)

APPLE BUTTER

I ended up with about 4 cups of apple pulp, so these are the measurements I used. All of it can easily be increased.

4 cups apple pulp
1 ½ cups sugar (this depends on taste, of course)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup raisins

1. Combine apple pulp, sugar, spices and raisins in a heavy-bottomed large pot. Simmer slowly until mixture thickens and rounds up on a spoon. (May take a couple of hours.) Stir frequently.

2. You can choose to can this, if you wish. Just follow your regular canning procedure. Since I didn’t have much butter, it wasn’t worth canning it, so I just filled my jar and stuck it in the fridge. Next time, I’ll definitely make more and can some for later use.

As promised, here’s one of the things I made with my own pureed pumpkin: Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake. I’ve been avidly following the Food Librarian’s bundt-cake-baking-fest and have pretty much decided to make every single one of the posted cakes. The first one I tried, given I had so much pumpkin puree as well as plenty of apples, was the Pumpkin Apple Spice Cake. What a great first choice!

I appreciated a lot of things about this cake. This recipe made 6 smaller bundt cakes, each one a wonderfully moist cake with plenty of warm, fall spices that shone brightly against the pumpkin and big chunks of apple. Apple doesn’t often tend to stand out in their flavour, but I found they did in this cake. The pumpkin taste is mild and complemented by the cinnamon and cloves. One of my favourite things about the cake was that it wasn’t very sweet – there’s not much sugar in here, and so the apple, pumpkin and spices are not overpowered with sweetness. Oh, and does this ever make for a moist cake and when it’s served the same day it’s made, it has a nice crisp crust . Yum!

I was going to make a honey frosting to go with this, but after eating my first mini-bundt, I realized it wasn’t necessary. These are great all on their own and a perfect fall bundt cake.

Pumpkin Apple Spice Bundt Cake
adapted from The Food Librarian

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
10 Tbsp butter, softened a bit
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin purée
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups of diced Granny Smith apples
Powdered sugar to sift on top

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.

2. Mix dry ingredients in medium bowl and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until well blended. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each completely. Add the pumpkin and blend well. Add vanilla and blend well. Stir dry ingredients into wet, a third at a time, stirring as little as possible to blend completely. Fold in the apple chunks.

4. Spray bundt pan (I used a pan with 6 mini bund molds) generously with nonstick cooking spray. Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until cake starts to turn golden brown and whole kitchen smells good. Removed from oven and let cool in the pan for five minutes. Check to see if you need to run a butter knife along to break the edge away from the pan, but be careful not to damage the sides of the cake. Invert onto a plate and allow to cool completely. Sift powdered sugar onto the cake and serve.

If you like this, you might also like:

Mini Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Orange Spice Pumpkin Bars with Browned Butter Frosting
Fresh Mango Bread

Last weekend was Canadian Thanksgiving, and when deciding what I wanted to contribute to the meal, I decided on the dessert and bread. I had big plans for the dessert – big, delicious, decadent plans. These plans fell apart, just like they do every year. I procrastinate and procrastinate, and when I finally head out to buy my pureed pumpkin (on the night I have to make my dessert), all of the stores are sold out. I biked to four different grocery stores in frigid windy weather in search of the elusive pumpkin, but to no avail.

After sadly making my way back home, I panicked slightly and tried to take stock of the ingredients I did have. Luckily, I had bought a big bag of apples the night before, and frozen cranberries had been on sale the week before…and that’s when this Thanksgiving’s somewhat lame dessert was born. I followed this basic recipe, making some changes along the way.

Not that this Apple-Cranberry Maple Crisp with Rum-Soaked Raisins was bad…it’s just that Thanksgiving is all about eating like a gigantic pig and loading up on starches, carbs, fats and big platefuls of rich desserts! A fruit crisp is hardly Thanksgiving-worthy, even though it might be tasty.

This crisp wasn’t my favourite crisp, but it was a good alternative. I really appreciated the juicy tartness of the cranberries – a welcome change from the usual dried cranberries. I couldn’t really taste the rum in the raisins, so I may leave that step out next time. It had a lot of cinnamon flavour, but I’m definitely including some other spices next time…perhaps some ginger and cardamom. The maple didn’t really stand out either, so I may try making a maple whipped cream instead of the plain whipped cream I made to go with it (which I think is an important element).

Overall, it’s a fine fall dessert and a good way to use up all those in-season apples and cranberries here in Quebec. Quick, easy, and filled with sweet and tart fruits. However, it’s not what I would call an appropriate Thanksgiving dessert (but I will make my original plan still!).

Apple-Cranberry Crisp with Rum-Soaked Raisins

8 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 1/4 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup raisins
2 oz rum
1 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups rolled or quick oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut in small pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 X 13 inch baking pan or casserole dish with vegetable spray.

2. Combine rum and raisins in a small bowl. Microwave on high until boiling. Stir and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix apple slices, cranberries, raisins, maple syrup, 1/4 cup flour and 1 tablespoon cinnamon together. Spread in prepared pan, and set aside.

3. Combine rolled oats, brown sugar, 3/4 cup flour and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a large bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in cold butter until mixture is crumbly, or it resembles very small peas. This step can also be done in a food processor. Spread evenly over fruit.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-55 minutes, or until fruit is bubbly and crisp topping is lightly browned. Let cool slightly before serving.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Whipped Cream Recipe

2 cups cold heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Using a stand mixer or a hand-held mixer with a whisk attachment, whip cream until almost stiff.

2. Add confectioners’ sugar and extract, and beat until stiff.

3. Refrigerate until ready to use.

If you like this, you might also like:

Apple and Cranberry Crisp with Ginger-Pecan Topping
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Caramel Apple Cupcakes

I hope everyone had happy and peaceful holidays! I ended up doing some baking (but no photos, so unfortunately, no posts), taking care of a sick cat, and packing. I’m sorry to say goodbye to the holidays, but looking forward to the new year.

I received More from Magnolia as a Christmas present this year, and have been very excited to make something from it. Of course, I wanted the famous cupcakes to be my first, but unfortunately, didn’t have any self-rising flour at home, so I ended up going with this recipe, as it meant not having to leave the house on a cold, wintery day.

I am not crazy about it. It’s okay, but it’s lacking something. I find it extremely sweet – too much so. Next time, I’ll definitely cut the sugar in the topping. The hazelnuts were definitely a hit though, a touch of sweetness and nuttiness.

The filling was okay, but the apples didn’t stand out at all. I would add some cinnamon to the filling next time, and probably more apples.

As for the crust – again, it was just okay. Soli swears his piece had a bitter taste in the crust, but I don’t taste that at all. It’s a typical crust that stands up well to the filling.

If you like super sweet apple desserts, you’d probably like this. As for me, I’m hoping the cupcakes turn out better!

Apple Tart with Hazelnut Brown Sugar Topping
adapted from More from Magnolia

BROWN SUGAR TOPPING
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts

FILLING
3 cups thinly sliced tart apples
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CRUST
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

TOPPING
1. In a medium-size bowl, mix together the flour and sugar.

2. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the hazelnuts and, using your hands, toss until all the ingredients are well combined. Set aside.

FILLING
1. Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently until the fruit is evenly coated. Set aside.

CRUST
1. In a large bowl, on the low speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.

2. Add the egg and egg yolk, and mix well. Add the flour and baking powder, and beat just until combined.

3. Gather the dough into a ball and on a lightly floured surface, roll it out to fit a 10-inch tart pan. Fit the dough into the pan and trim the edge flush with the rim of the pan.

4. Transfer the fruit filling into the crust and sprinkle the borwn sugar topping evenly over the fruit. Place the tart on a baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes in a 325 degree F oven.

5. Cool on a wire rack for 1 – 2 hours. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I love apple crisps, especially when the evenings start cooling off and you have to start turning on the heat inside…then popping an apple crisp in the oven, the house filling with the smell of cinnamon…Mmmm!

Last night, I made the best apple crisp I have ever tasted and have finally found my go-to recipe for this perfect autumn dessert.

The topping:
The toasted pecans are amazing in it! Chunks of crunchy, flavourful nuts, mixed in with ginger, and a nice, strong sweet cinnamon. It’s perfectly crunchy and packed with dynamic flavours. Best.Topping. Ever. I will also try to use the topping on muffins.

The fruit filling:
As equally tasty and exciting in its multitudes of flavours. The tart granny smith apples join well with the dried cranberries, and the crystallized ginger in here adds that extra oomph. After baking, the filling does not get soggy, but the apples retain a bit of their crunch.

I prepared the recipe a bit differently, using a 9″x9″ glass baking dish and adding lemon juice to the apple mixture. The pan choice made no difference to the overall result, and the lemon juice was a good addition.

All together, probably the best crisp you will ever prepare. Honest.

Apple and Cranberry Crisp with Ginger-Pecan Topping
adapted from Bon Appetit

FILLING
4 medium Granny Smith apples (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, cored, chopped into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

TOPPING
1/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2/3 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

FILLING
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Butter four 1 1/4-cup custard cups or soufflé dishes.

3. Mix all ingredients in bowl. Let stand until juicy, about 5 minutes. Divide filling among prepared cups.

4. Bake until bubbling at edges, about 20 minutes.

TOPPING
1. Blend first 7 ingredients in large bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until coarse meal forms. Mix in pecans with fingertips.

2. Crumble topping over hot apples. Bake until topping is golden brown, apples are tender, and juices are bubbling thickly, about 25 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Test-kitchen tip: To toast pecans, preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the pecans in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until slightly darkened, about 8 minutes.