Apple Pie Stuffed Snickerdoodles

September 8, 2020

“I choose to slow down to connect with the gift I’m given in this moment.”

HELLO FALL!

Something about this season really just gets me every dang time! I don’t know if it’s the beauty that fall brings in New England (yes, I know I live in the south now!), the fact that I was married in the fall, the smells and flavors, the coziness… the list truly could go on FOREVER! There are just so many amazing foods that make me think of fall, apples and apple pie being at the top of the list!

I’ve done my fair share of apple desserts, and it helps that my husband and son love all things apple—I mean my husband buys apples specifically for himself… and that being said, I just wanted to add another good one to the books! This all started with me really wanting to make snickerdoodles, but that just doesn’t sound exciting enough for me, which is where the apples came in. As my 4-year wedding anniversary is coming up in just a few weeks, I will most likely spend every day until then reminiscing about what a beautiful, crazy, exhausting, perfect day that was, and there were SO many apples included in it. Like so many. One of the tiers of our cake was apple pie, we had baskets of apples all over the venue (a family tradition, oddly enough!), my father-in-law brings up said baskets every time we are together, part of my gifts to my bridesmaids were fall scented (mainly apple) candles, the list goes on and on.

Anyways, stuffing these spiced up cookies with some delicious apple pie filling only made sense! I’ve stuffed cookies before, like these caramel stuffed gingerbread cookies or maybe these caramel corn Nutella cookies helllooooo (!!), and I just love it! It’s a fun little surprise and adds so much more flavor. These cookies are soft and chewy all on their own but adding extra moisture to the middle only ups their game! I’ve also increased the spice level as well. Cinnamon is great and all, but freshly grated nutmeg and some cloves really intensify the fallness in this cookie!

While our fall here in Atlanta is still in the 80’s, there is definitely some foliage going on in our backyard and I’ve added some candles to the mix, so we are getting to the coziness level that I love! Our son may not remember his first fall except through all of the hundreds of photos we take per day, but I hope that when he starts to love all of the seasons like I do, it’s the smells and colors and flavors that bring him joy, just like they do me!

apple filling ingredients

Apples—2 large, I love Gala or Honeycrisp

Cinnamon—1 TBL

Lemon Juice—½ lemon

Water—2 TBL

process

Cut up your apple into small, bite-sized pieces. Peeling is optional, I prefer to keep the peel on!

In a small saucepot, combine apples, cinnamon, lemon juice and water over low heat

Continue to stir every minute or two to make sure that all of the apples are getting cooked evenly

Cook until the apples become soft, this should take about 10-15 minutes depending on how small you have cut the apples

Remove from the heat and allow to cool while you’re making the cookie dough

cookie ingredients

Butter, room temperature—8 oz, or 1 C

Brown Sugar—6 oz, or ¾ C

Coconut Sugar—4.5 oz, or ¾ C

Eggs—2

Vanilla Extract—2 tsp

Flour—18 oz, or 3 C

Salt—1 tsp

Baking Soda—1 tsp

Cream of Tartar—2 tsp

Cinnamon—2 TBL

Nutmeg—1 ½ tsp

Cloves—1 tsp

process

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the softened butter and both of the sugars

Cream on medium speed for about 10 minutes, making sure to scrape down the bowl often

Once fluffy, turn mixer to low speed and add in the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time

Beat until combined, again, making sure to scrape down the bowl often

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves

Slowly add this to the mixing bowl, while on low

Scrape down the sides of the bowl

Once all combined, turn the mixer off and prepare 2 cookie sheets with either a Silpat, nonstick spray or parchment

Scoop out all of the cookie dough using either a small-sized ice cream scoop, or about 2 TBL of dough.

Take one ball of scooped dough and flatten it

Add in about 2 tsp of the cooked apple pie filling

Take another ball of dough, flatten, and cover the apples

Pinch the sides together, roll the large cookie dough ball in your hands to make sure that no filling will leak out, and place on the baking sheet

Do this with the rest of your cookies

You may have some left-over apple-pie filling! This is amazing for a snack, my 7-month-old loves it, as it is just soft enough for him to eat!

Put your cookies in the fridge while you preheat the oven—this is the only chilling that is necessary!!

Preheat your oven to 350˚F

Once your oven is preheated, you now have two options: you may either bake just like this, or you can mix ½ C of sugar with 1 TBL of cinnamon and dip the tops of the cookies in this for extra flavor and crunch! They are so good both ways, but I love the added spice!

Bake for 12 minutes, rotate the pan, then bake for another 8 minutes

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack

These are best enjoyed warm, so if you are reheating, a good 20-30 seconds in the microwave does the trick!

Bon Appétit!

Tahini Apple Coffee Cake

November 8, 2016

Okay, so I have SO MANY NEWSES!

· 15 days until Thanksgiving

· 16 days until the Gilmore Girls reunion

· 6 ½ weeks until Christmas (woah…)

· WE HAVE A NEW FAMILY MEMBER—Mr. Raleigh, the handsome little Chihuahua terrier, is the newest man in my life…and I’m obsessed beyond words with him! He loves walks, playing with his Cat In The Hat toy, peanut butter, puzzle pieces (learned that when I found one in his mouth…).

· Oh, and hey, here’s a new recipe for you below!

It’s been quite a week if I must say. It all started with last Thursday when I went to the animal shelter to just look, and then I fell in love with Raleigh and adopted him right away! I may have just called Roberto and been like, hey dear...I got a dog...that okay? THANKS! I mean, little Raleigh was hugging my arm, yes hugging my arm. I didn’t know dogs could do that, but he did and I never want him to let go!

Yes. I am one of those dog obsessed people, and this is the first pup I’ve gotten outside of family dogs, so I’m even MORE excited! Prepare for Raleigh to be in every single post, all over Instagram, all over everything! I just can’t get enough of his little face and snuggles.

Okay, well, besides all of that excitement, I start a new job today—hello 4am baking shifts, woo! If ya’ll are ever in Atlanta, check out Little Tart Bakeshop, so jazzed to be a part of this incredible team! Hmm, I also am part of that annoying Puts Christmas Decorations Out on November 1st club. So yeah, what’s up Nutcrackers, Christmas lights, pine tree candles, Christmas Spotify…we’ve got it all here in this apartment! I totally appreciate Thanksgiving and all it has to offer, but I want to enjoy the entire holiday season for 2 months…so I basically throw up holiday music, decorations, food, you name it, until January 1st!

So, my friends, now let’s get to the slightly less exciting part of the post—this coffee cake! I only say less exciting because I want to continue to talk about Raleigh for another 500 pages, please.

This all started when I saw tahini at Trader Joe’s and decided to get over my fear and just buy it. My darling culinary school girlfriend, Alex, is obsessed with this. I mean, maybe it’s because she’s Armenian, or maybe it’s because it’s SO freaking good! I was a hater for years, and then after eating a spoonful of this, I yelled at myself for missing out on it for so long. Next I thought I would spice this up, literally. After receiving my copy of Molly On The Range—her blog, and cookbook, are must reads!—I was inspired beyond belief to make some hawaij and use it in something (the recipe for it below can be found in her cookbook!).

Note: hawaij is a beautiful combination of every good spice that you can imagine! Literally, think of holiday spices, and boom, you've got hawaij! The combination of nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, ginger and cinnamon will make you believe in love.

So, that’s when tahini + hawaij = DING DING coffee cake!

There are also some apples throughout it to add another level of flavor and moistness. This cake is totally different from your typical coffee cake…but it pretty much is a perfect match with coffee (kinda like Raleigh and me!). But don’t worry, there is still that crazy buttery, sugary, yummy crumb that should be in and on every coffee cake ever—I could never leave that out!

Now, as we celebrate all of the exciting things to come in the next 7ish weeks, you have this new recipe to try out as well! It will pair amazingly with any Thanksgiving table, Gilmore Girls party, holiday gift shopping breakfast, brunch…oh I can go on and on! So stop being an idiot like I was so long, get a few jars of tahini, and get to baking!

crumb ingredients

Flour—2 oz, or 1/3 C

Brown Sugar—1.15 oz, or 2 TBL

Salt—1/8 tsp

Hawaij (see below)—1 tsp

Butter—3 oz, or 6 TBL

Oats—1.5 oz, or ½ C

process

In the bowl of your mixer, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, hawaij, and oats.

A tablespoon at a time, add the butter.

Mix until the butter is about hazelnut size.

Set aside until ready to use for the cake.

hawaij ingredients

Nutmeg—½ tsp

Cardamom—2 TBL

Cloves—½ tsp

Ginger—2 TBL

Cinnamon—½ tsp

process

Combine all ingredients and store in airtight container until ready to use.

cake ingredients

Butter (room temperature)—4 oz, or ½ C

Tahini—3 oz, or 1/3 C

Sugar—6 oz, or ¾ C

Eggs—2

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Yogurt—4 oz, or ½ C

Flour—8.25 oz, or 1 ½ C

Baking Soda—¼ tsp

Baking Powder—¾ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Hawaij—½ tsp

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Apples (sliced)—2

process

Preheat your oven to 375˚ F.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the butter, tahini and sugar.

Once light and fluffy (after about 5 minutes), add in the eggs and extract.

Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each egg addition.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, hawaij and cinnamon.

Alternating with the yogurt—I use full-fat—add in the flour.

Once all of the ingredients have been added, spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Put about half of the batter in the bottom of the pan.

Sprinkle with some of the crumb that was made before—about ¼ of it.

Lay half of the sliced apples on top of the crumb.

Use whatever your favorites are! I used a Granny Smith and a Gala, a nice contrast of tart and sweet.

Sprinkle about another ¼ of the crumb on top of the apples, followed by the remainder of the batter.

Layer the rest of the apples on top and sprinkle with the rest of the crumb.

Place in your preheated oven for 35 minutes.

After the 35 minutes, cover the pan with aluminum foil so that the top will not brown any more, and just the cake will bake.

Bake for another 25 minutes—test with a toothpick to check doneness.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool completely on a cooling rack, and enjoy with a lovely morning or afternoon cup of coffee!

Bon Appétit!

Candy Cookie Cake

October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween, my friends!

What are your plans?! Trick-or-treating? Passing out candy? Ridiculous parties? Or, if you’re like me, you'll be devouring all of the candy you had to buy, knowing that no one will come up to your apartment door ringing the bell…

Yes. That’s me. I can’t resist the candy aisle for any holiday, and when you can get an assorted bag of all of the best mini-size chocolates, you go for it! As a chocolate-obsessed gal, I just can’t help myself and I’m not ashamed. Funny story—I recently did a small “about me” for my job’s website and had to write about my favorite foods…all I could think of was, well, chocolate…

Yes, Katie’s favorite food is chocolate…who am I?!

ANYWAYS! Back to this glorious cookie cake. As I mentioned in my post here, cookie cakes are just like a dream of mine—and I always am tempted to buy one when walking past Mrs. Fields. So, of course, challenge accepted, and I had to make this, especially since I’m trying to use the pounds of Halloween candy that I bought so I don’t binge eat it every night.

I also feel like, if I was to get actual Trick-or-Treaters and if handing out baked goods was acceptable, this would be the most incredible treat ever!! Like, oh yeah, if you go to Katie’s house, you can get slices of a cookie cake that is stuffed with candy…basically a 2 for 1! Ahh in my wildest dreams…

AND what I love so much about this is that you can put anything you want in it—yum! I mean, Kitkats, Twix and Snickers are the best chocolates to choose, but I won’t judge if you chose something a little less exciting and wonderful. So, if you’re like me and you bought way too much candy, this is a perfect way to use it! Bake up a few of these cakes, invite over some friends, watch Hocus Pocus, or even Saw, drink so wine—really there’s nothing you can do wrong with this candy-filled cake. While I do sometimes miss the weeks of costume making and end up wearing basically a black dress with cat ears, this new tradition I have of putting on big sweats and stuffing my face with candy and wine (maybe “Crazy Dog Lady” is this costume?) is something that I can get on board with!

cookie ingredients

Butter—4 oz, or ½ C

Brown Sugar—3 oz, or 1/3 C

Sugar—1 oz, or 2 TBL

Eggs—1

Vanilla—½ tsp

Flour—6 oz, or 1 C

Salt—½ tsp

Baking Soda—½ tsp

Halloween Candy, chopped—3 oz, or ¾+ C

process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Add in the egg and vanilla.

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add this into your creamed mixture.

Scrape down the sides of your bowl.

Add in your chopped candy (reserve a small handful)—whatever you like best!

In terms of Halloween candy, I chose chocolate because, to me, that goes yummiest with this cookie cake! From there, pick your favorites. Mine happen to be Twix, Snickers and Kit Kats, but the candy aisle is your oyster!

Spray a spring form pan or a tart pan with nonstick spray.

Press the cookie dough in the pan, leaving about ½ an inch around the edge so that the cookie can spread slightly.

Sprinkle the remaining chopped candy on top of the cookie dough.

Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes so that it will firm up.

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350˚ F.

Bake your cookie cake for about 20 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden.

The center may look underbaked, but it will finish baking from the heat of the pan outside of the oven.

Allow to cool completely before decorating!

buttercream ingredients

Butter—2 oz, or ¼ C

Shortening—0.5 oz, or 1 TBL

Confectioner’s Sugar, sifted—5 oz, or 1 C

Cocoa Powder, sifted—0.5 oz, or 2 TBL

Milk—0.5 oz, or 1 TBL

process

In the bowl of the your mixer, cream the butter and shortening until smooth and fluffy.

Sift together the confectioner’s sugar and the cocoa powder.

Slowly add this into the mixer, scraping down the sides when necessary.

Add the milk in about a teaspoon at a time—you may need more if you want it a little creamier.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and then turn the mixer up to medium-high to give the buttercream a nice, final whip.

When your cake is completely cooled, you can begin to decorate with the buttercream!

Put it into a piping bag with whichever tip you’d like to use—a star tip will make nice rosettes or a rope, but it’s whatever look you’re going for.

Pipe around the outside boarder, decorate with some sprinkles or some more candies of your choice, and devour!

Bon Appétit!

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

October 19, 2016

Remember when I said that July was crazy? And I promised to never go that long without a recipe again? And then I went missing for two months…

So…hi…

I’m Katie! I love chocolate, dogs and running. I also could go on crunchy leaf walks all day, listen to Christmas music year round, and I thoroughly enjoy eating 4-5 spoonfuls of peanut butter each day.

Did I mention that I have been terrible in this relationship of ours? I promised to give you oodles and oodles of mouthwatering, button popping recipes in return for your love and devotion to my blog. And now we are here, and I am re-introducing myself because I am sure that you have forgotten who I even am!

I’m not going to bother you with long stories of why I was MIA, ohhh just got married, went on a honeymoon, and MOVED...but I am now BACK! And, while it may take some time to get back to my regularly scheduled posting, I promise to never let you down again.

How has your fall been? Full of pumpkins and candy corn and leaves and sweaters and apple picking and warm coffee and cold nights?! Please answer yes to all of those.

If the colors don’t make you obsess about this absolutely incredible season, then I sure hope the fireplaces do, or the fact that you can comfortably wear leggings and huge sweaters because 1. It’s not too cold out and 2. Sometimes a little extra room is needed for all of those Halloween candies that you just had to have.

This is also the time of year that I start to get way too excited for the holidays. I knowwww it’s still October, but sometimes humming a little Jingle Bells gets the best of me. Have no fear! That will all be kept to myself, and I will not start truly decorating and watching Elf on a daily basis until the day after Thanksgiving!

So, my sweet, loving, always-there-for-me friends, I have the perfect fall brunch (or really any day of the week) addition. I threw so many spices and so many apples into the middle of buttery cinnamon rolls, then topped it all with oats, and boom.

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls.

Can we read that one more time?! Apple. Pie. Cinnamon. Rolls.

There is no such thing as too much butter, especially when it’s mixed with a crazy amount of cinnamon and nutmeg. The salivating has begun.

When you stuff these rolls with way more apples than it can handle, I mean HELLO! It’s just gorgeous. Absolutely stunning.

A glaze is optional, but I have not added it to these simply because I want you to taste every single spice covered, butter soaked, apple bite in these!

While I may have been out of your life for a little while, I promise that the couple of pounds I’m giving back to you through these cinnamon rolls will make up for it!

dough ingredients

Milk (110˚-115˚F)—4 oz, or ½ C

Molasses—1.5 oz, or 2 TBL

Sugar—4 oz, or ½ C

Yeast—1 packet

Butter, soft—4 oz, or ½ C

Eggs—2

Milk—4 oz, or ½ C

Flour—18-20 oz, or 3 ½-4 C

Cinnamon—2 tsp

Nutmeg—1 tsp

process

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the milk (warm), molasses, sugar, and yeast.

Let sit about 10 minutes so that the yeast can begin to activate—you’ll notice the yeast bubbling and thickening.

While the activation process begins, combine the eggs and second milk in a bowl.

In another bowl, combine your flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Start with the 3 ½ C of flour, more may be added later.

After the 10 minutes, with the mixer on low and using the dough hook, stream in your eggs and milk.

Add in the softened butter, a tablespoon or so at a time.

Once all combined, slowly begin to add in your flour/spice mixture.

When all added, turn the mixer up to medium-high speed and let the dough hook knead for about 10 minutes.

If you notice that the dough is still sticky about 5 minutes in, you may add more flour, about a tablespoon at a time, until the dough begins to hold its shape better.

After mixing the dough for 10 minutes on medium-high speed, transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and allow to rise until it has doubled in size.

filling ingredients

Brown Sugar—6 oz, or 1 C

Butter—6 oz, or ¾ C

Cinnamon—2 TBL

Nutmeg—1 tsp

Apples—3 medium, diced

process

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and spices.

Cut up the apples to a small dice.

Reserve both the apples and the butter mixture until you’re ready to use them in the cinnamon rolls.

assembly

When your dough has doubled in size, turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.

Knead the dough just slightly with your hands and form it into a ball.

Using a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle about 24”x10”.

Spread the brown sugar/butter mixture all over the rolled dough.

Sprinkle the apples evenly on top.

Starting at the bottom, roll up the dough into a large log.

Cut this into 12 (roughly) even pieces—I like to cut it in half, and then make 6 even slices from each half.

Place these rolls into a well-buttered baking dish.

Allow to rise again, until the cinnamon rolls are all squished together.

Now you have two options—you may either 1. Bake right away, or 2. Put in the refrigerator overnight for the following morning.

If you decide to reserve until the following morning, or at least a few hours, do not let rise a second time and immediately put in the fridge after you put the rolls in the buttered dish.

If you decide to bake them right away, preheat your oven to 375˚ F.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool just slightly, and enjoy!

Bon Appétit!

Whole Wheat Spice Bread

November 26, 2015

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

…Or should I call it Leftover Friday? Was everyone’s Thanksgiving absolutely magical? Was it full of mashed potatoes and love, wine and gossip, five slices of this semifreddo and the parade?! I sure hope so!

Is it just me or does everyone stuff themselves even more with leftovers the day after Thanksgiving? Basically being like oh shoot! There’s 10 more pounds of stuffing and gravy and turkey and brussels sprouts and beans and I need to eat them all RIGHT NOW. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?!

While everyone has their day of Thanksgiving traditions, I feel like the day after is just as special—yes, I am referring to fueling up with a leftover brunch and listening to Christmas music… So, rather than throwing every single food that was so beautifully displayed on the table yesterday—decorated with cute little pumpkins, candles, the nicest dishes—into one massive bowl and mixing it into just a pile of amazing, I was like oh. Man. I. Must. Make. A. Sandwich.

Game changer! A Thanksgiving sandwich?! Hey, I think Ross kind of had the idea going, even throw in a gravy-soaked piece of bread in the middle, “the moist maker” if you will.

Bring in the whole wheat bread.

Yes! Whole wheat! Spices! Molasses! This breads flavor is so full of warm cinnamon and allspice, it is just slightly sweet with natural honey, and so hearty from the whole wheat flour. Who doesn’t love freshly baked bread first of all, but the smell of it baking in the oven is better than any candle I own! It’s also great friends with turkey and gravy, or better yet, a nontraditional leftovers brunch of eggs and some fried prosciutto! Like, what?!

What doesn’t go well on this whole-wheat spice bread? I couldn’t tell you!

So whether you went out at midnight for some shopping, or decided to stay in your PJs all day and eat plate after plate of potatoes, this bread makes for the perfect brunch, lunch, or anytime leftover companion!