Caramel Apple Pecan Cups

This is what Fall is all about. 

The rich aroma of crisp apples and cinnamon combined with the welcomed warmth of the oven that magically transforms simple ingredients into a delicious treat.

I love fall. The sights, scents, the cool breeze and of course the endless list of things you can do with pumpkins and apples.

Here is a treat that I came up with today that is sure to hit the spot if you're looking for a sweet treat on a cool fall evening.

*Sweet Dough*

1 stick unsalted butter at room temp

1 cup sugar

1/2 Tsp baking powder

1/4 Tsp salt

2 cups flour

3/4 cup milk

In your stand mixer beat together butter and sugar until it's smooth. Mix in salt, baking powder and flour. Mix in milk on medium speed until the dough is smooth. Set aside.

*side note- the sweet dough recipe above is the Kuga dough recipe, if you are making Kuga with it, set aside about 1/3 cup of the dry dough mixture before you add the milk to serve as the crumble topping on the traditional Kuga.

*Apple Filling*

5 medium size Granny Smith apples

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup roughly chopped pecans (optional)

1/2 Tsp apple pie spice or cinnamon

2 Tsp flour

Peel and dice apples.

Toss with a small amount of lemon juice to prevent browning.

Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Once it's melted add brown sugar. Stir constantly until bubbling. Remove from heat and add pecans, apples, apple pie spice and the flour to thicken. Stir together until completely mixed.

You can either spread your dough out on to a shallow baking sheet or use a muffin pan like I did. 

Either line the muffin pan with cupcake liners or generously spray with cooking spray. (Cupcake liners are easier.)

Spoon in dough and press it into a cup with your fingers. (You may need to grease your fingers because the dough tends to be sticky.)

It should look like this: 

Fill your dough cups with the apple mixture, be careful not to over fill because the dough will puff up when it's baked. 

You may have leftover dough and filling. The recipe makes a bit more than what is needed to make a muffin pan full.

Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes until slightly golden around the edges.

Enjoy!

Banana Bread made with Coconut Oil!

I buy bananas and rarely do I run out. In other words I usually buy bananas just to watch them ripen, and rot. I really need to start forcing my family to eat their fruit! Until then, my overly ripe bananas get put to good use making this amazing recipe and this time I used a little twist and substituted oil and butter with coconut oil!!!

Banana Bread

with coconut oil 

Preheat your oven to 325*

Makes 2 large loaves

Dry Ingredients

3 cups flour 

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon (I use a little extra)

1/2 tsp ground ginger powder

1/2 tsp salt

Whisk together and set aside!

Mash 3 to 4 ripe or previously frozen bananas. 

I prefer ripe bananas to frozen, brown, slimy ones. ;)

For a little more moisture since I am using just ripe bananas I like to add some form of 100% juice to my mashed bananas. In this case the pink tint to the bananas comes from Tropicana Farmstand Strawberry Banana juice. You can use this or skip it. It is a personal preference.

If you chose to use it, 1/4 cup is all you need!

Set the bananas aside and start working on your wet mixture.

Wet Ingredients

1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter 

(Substitute Coconut Oil at 1:1 ratio, in other words use the same amount)

3 eggs

2 tsp pure vanilla

1/2 cup vegetable oil

(Substitute Coconut Oil at 1:1 ratio, in other words use the same amount)

First mix together your sugars and the 1/4 cup of coconut oil until it is well mixed

add 1 egg at a time

once all of your eggs are incorporated into the sugar mixture you can add your pure vanilla and the 1/2 cup of coconut oil.

Mix all together and you're ready for the next step!

**(you can either melt your coconut oil or leave it as a soft solid, I don't recommend using really firm coconut oil, it mixes better if it is soft or in a liquid state)**

add your bananas to the wet mixture and stir or use your electric mixer on slow speed

once you have mixed the wet ingredients together you can add the dry mixture

stir together with a spoon until it is well mixed. 

generously oil your pans with coconut oil or you can use cooking spray

I prefer to stick with coconut oil for this recipe

evenly distribute your batter into your oiled pans

bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 325*

insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf to check if it is done, if the toothpick comes out clean then the bread is done!

There you have it! Two perfectly delicious loaves of banana bread!

Enjoy!

-N