Caramel Apple Upside Down Cakes

“Can we get to the place where there is no place to get to?”

— Michael Stone

How is it possible that in 30 years of my life, I am just now making an apple upside-down cake?! These little babes have changed the game!

There’s nothing like a pineapple upside down cake, am I right? It’s so sweet and gooey and honestly, perfect. Years ago, I made a pineapple upside down layer cake—now THAT was extravagant! But, this year, it’s like something hit me and I finally made a caramel apple upside down cake. YUM. As my husband loves all things apples—he has his own honey crisp apple section at our house, loves apple pie, we had an apple pie tier in our wedding cake… I decided to make these for our anniversary this year! Sadly, it was sort of a fail, they just didn’t come out the way that I wanted, mainly because it was so last minute, and I was pressed with time as our baby was most likely crawling around like a madman! Anyways, I knew that I needed another go with these, so, voilà, we did it!

To start, I made a caramel. All on its own. On the stovetop, like the true pastry chef that I am! (laughs a little) And from there, I used a tried and true banana cake recipe that I have, tweaked it slightly, and made that the cake! It’s so dang moist (sorry!), not overly sweet, the perfect blend of fall spices, this is what dreams are made of—thank you Hilary Duff. Was I nervous that the caramel would stick when I took them out of the oven? Duh! But did it? Hell no. This cake seriously must love me because it came out so. dang. perfect.

So now, about a month after our anniversary, I have the most incredible anniversary cake for you! Of course, I did make these mini chocolate anniversary cakes years ago, and those are GOOD, but these are better! What can I say, we love an upside-down cake, we love an apple!

Oh, can I also add in that I made these all within Oliver’s 90-minute nap?! I believe it took me under an hour from start to finish, including the clean up!

caramel ingredients

Butter—2 oz, or 4 TBL

Brown Sugar—2.75 oz, or 1/3 C

Cinnamon—1 tsp

Vanilla Extract—½ tsp

Apple—1 medium

process

In a small sauce-pot, melt the butter and brown sugar together

Allow to boil for 1 minute

Remove from the heat and mix in the cinnamon and vanilla

Pour into the bottoms of your muffin pan, I used a large muffin pan, this makes 6

Press your apple slices on top of the caramel and set aside while you make the cake batter

cake ingredients

Butter, softened—4 oz, or ½ C

Coconut Sugar—4 oz, or 2/3 C

Banana—2 medium, ripe

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Flour—5.5 oz, or 1 C

Baking Powder—¾ tsp

Baking Soda—½ tsp

Salt—½ tsp

Cinnamon—2 tsp

Cloves—½ tsp

Milk—2 oz, or ¼ C

process

Preheat your oven to 350˚ F

In a large bowl, combine your softened butter and sugar

Mix in the mashed banana—I find very brown bananas are best for the job!

Add vanilla

In another bowl, soft together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves

Add this to the wet ingredients and fold in until just combined

Add in the milk

Fill up each muffin cup until they are about ¾ of the way full

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan, and bake for another 10-12

The cakes should spring back when touched, and you can always do the toothpick test.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes

Carefully, flip the muffin pan over before the caramel becomes too solid and cool

To enjoy, warm up so you have a soft caramel and a warm cake!

Bon Appétit!

Tahini Chocolate Chunk Cookies

“The present is the only thing that has no end.”

— Erwin Schrödinger

This may be a little crazy to say, but these cookies deserve an award! They honestly taste like fudgy brownie cookies, and I am shook.

When I made them for the first time, I immediately texted my old roommate, apologizing for turning down tahini all of those times that we lived together. She tried to get me to try it in every form, even the wonderful chocolate halva bars—I always turned it down. But now, many years later, I’m in LOVE! The flavor is never too strong for me, but it adds this richness that I simply cannot explain, taking anything from good to outright insane and necessary and mouthwatering.

The wonderful thing about these little bites of deliciousness is that they do not need a mixer, there are no fancy baking steps involved, just mixing the wet ingredients together, the dry together and combining the two for a rich and decadent batter, which makes an unreal cookie. As we know, I’m all about the speedy yet worth it desserts or treats these days, as my little one is on the go when he’s awake! He’s also still not eating chocolate or sugar or any of my specialties yet as he is still only 8-months-old, SO it’s not like he can take part in all of this fun because he also puts everything into his mouth!

Anyways, these cookies are worth going to the store to get a HUGE jar of tahini if you don’t keep some in your fridge or pantry at all times! It’s hard to believe that these taste like brownie batter but in cookie form, but they do—trust me. Hell, you can even make them vegan if you want to sub in a banana for the egg, make them GF if you swap out the flour, these are quite friendly to any changes that you feel necessary to make. Just know, these won’t last long, and if you think that the 1 dozen that this recipe makes is enough for the week, HAH (!), think again, my friends!

ingredients

Tahini—5 oz, or ½ C + 2 TBL

Eggs—1

Vanilla Extract—1 tsp

Honey—1.75 oz, or 3 TBL

Coconut Oil, melted—1.75 oz, or 3 TBL

Cocoa Powder—2 oz, or ½ C

Flour—1.5 oz, or ¼ C

Salt—1 ½ tsp

Maca Powder—2 tsp

Baking Powder—½ tsp

Dark Chocolate—3 oz bar, or ½ C

process

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, maca, and baking powder

In another bowl, whisk the tahini, egg, vanilla and honey

Add in the coconut oil once it has been cooler slightly so that it doesn’t cook the egg

Combine the wet and dry ingredients, folding together with a spatula

Fold in the chocolate, this can either be chips or a chopped up dark chocolate bar

Scoop into about 2 TBL sized balls either onto your baking tray or into a container to allow to firm up in the refrigerator for at least an hour

When you are ready to bake them, preheat the oven to 350˚F

Place on your baking pan that has either been sprayed with nonstick spray or is lined with parchment or a Silpat

Bake for 10 minutes

Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes on the tray before transferring them onto a cooling rack

Store in a sealed container in the fridge

Bon Appétit!