Apple Crisp

Picture courtesy of Allrecipes.com

Hello again everyone! It has been a while since our last post. This perfect winter treat is one of my ultimate favorites. Loaded with scrumptious calories. I made this for my little brother's birthday months back. It's so easy and simply divine. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, cold
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
2. Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
3. Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Cut the butter in the mixture. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

Serves: 12
Prep time: 30 min. Cook time: 45 min. Ready in: 1hr. 20 min.
Amount per serving: 316 calories 8.4 grams fat

Triple Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I found this pan at Walmart for $18. I can't even count how many times we have used it in the past few weeks. We LOVE this pan. It is so easy to use and when used correctly every cake comes out perfectly. They are beautiful little cakes that never cease to impress. For the final course of our Fall feast we made these mini bundt cakes with a simple Triple Chocolate Fudge cake mix. We added more chocolate chips and topped it off with strawberries and this Chocolate Ganache.

Ingredients

• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl. Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, watching very carefully because if it boils for a few seconds, it will boil out of the pot. When the cream has come to a boil, pour over the chopped chocolate, and whisk until smooth. Stir in the rum if desired.
2. Allow the ganache to cool slightly before pouring over a cake. Start at the center of the cake and work outward. For a fluffy frosting or chocolate filling, allow it to cool until thick, then whip with a whisk until light and fluffy.

We hope you enjoy these easy and yummy recipes for the fall season!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread

Yes, it is that time... Fall time = amazing food!! Yay! And you know what, I don't care if it's STILL hot outside. Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. Now that I'm obsessed with cooking and baking yummy food it has made Fall all the more exciting. Mr. Niu has been working so hard every day. He works part-time, goes to school full-time, he is taking a GRE prep class (4 hours per class) AND he still makes time for his church callings and most importantly the love of his life, me! I wanted to surprise him one Saturday afternoon. He has been craving pumpkin chocolate chip bread. Sooo... I found this moist and chocolatey bread.

Ingredients

• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional) - We prefer no nuts in our breads ;)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 1 pound size coffee cans, or three 9x5 inch loaf pans. (Or you can use muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees F.)
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, water, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Blend in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Fill cans 1/2 to 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 1 hour, or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Cool on wire racks before removing from cans or pans.

Servings: 36
Prep time: 30 min. Cook time: 1 hour Ready in: 1 hr. 30 min.
Amount per serving: 177 calories, 6.9 grams fat

Raspberry and Almond Shortbread Thumbprints

I have wanted to try these for quite some time. We decided to make them for an end of summer BBQ. WOW! These delicate babies have so much flavor and melt in your mouth! Instead of raspberry jam I used my Mom's famous strawberry jam..... mmmm..... so good.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened not melted
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and white sugar until smooth. Mix in 1/2 teaspoon almond extract. Mix in flour until dough comes together. Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls, and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Make a small hole in the center of each ball, using your thumb and finger, and fill the hole with preserves.
3. Place the cookie sheet with the cookies in the freezer for 10 minutes.
   
4. Bake for 14 to 18 minutes in preheated oven, or until lightly browned. Let cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet.
5. In a medium bowl, mix together the confectioners' sugar, 3/4 teaspoon almond extract, and milk until smooth. Drizzle lightly over warm cookies.

Servings: 36
Prep time: 30 min. Cook time: 18 min. Ready in: 1 hr. 15 min.
Amount per serving: 104 calories, 5.2 grams fat

Sweet Potato Casserole

The weather today has been wet and gloomy... I guess that's why I'm posting tasty and warm comfort foods. This is the perfect holiday sweet potato dish. The hubby and I love it as dessert too! Just thinking of it makes my mouth water. So yummy!

Ingredients

• 4 cups sweet potato, cubed
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  

Topping: (double, if desired)

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.**I baked the sweet potatoes for an hour in a preheated oven at 400 degrees F. Before baking I poked each potato a few times with a fork. Do not wrap the potatoes in foil to bake. After baking I cut each potato in half and scooped out the yummy goodness. The taste is so much better when you BAKE the potatoes first.**
2. In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In medium bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

Serves: 12
Prep time: 30 min - 1 hour Cook time: 30 min. Ready in: 1 hour
Amount per serving: 195 cal. 7.8 grams fat

- Mindy

Wedding Cakes - Fondant

Mindy & Jon

Ivory fondant with pearl dust.  Elegant!

Sarah & Aaron

Very colorful inside.  I used blue and yellow Jimmies

to make a "funfetti" cake that matched the color scheme.

Shara & Shane

Each tier is decorated to look like an elegantly wrapped gift.  

Inside are swirls of blue, yellow and white cake. 

Shara helped design this fantastic cake.  She and her mother rolled the many edible fondant pearls. 

Sarah and I worked for several weeks on this project, but it was worth it!

Natalie & Josh

Edible pearls covered in gold pearl dust.

Jennifer & Ryan

A simple design, but so lovely.  I used Swarovski crystal beads

 on gently curved wires to add some sparkle.

Wedding Cakes - Buttercream

Alisha & Jared

Michelle & Sam

Melanie & Nick

 

Amber & Cameron

Christina & Kyle

A wedding on the Delta Queen, Sacramento River.

The Bishops

A Fall Wedding

A reception at the Allen home.

Sara

Kent & Kristina

This is the first wedding cake I helped Sarah with.  She was told she could choose any design.  The entire cake is piped in basket weave, very time consuming.  Sarah did a fantastic job.

Birthday Cakes

Kelly, born on St. Patrick's Day, gets a lovely green cake.

Primary colors for young Russell.

Every little boy loves baseabll!

Smoothly iced basketball cake.

Sarah tries her hand at decorating a basketball cake. 

This one is done using a star tip.

A deliciously large baseball.

A simple way to decorate a cake.  A paper character cut-out.

Mari's yellow puppy cake. 

Made of pound cake, Hostess Cupcakes & Twinkies. 

What a "sweet" little puppy.

           Now that Bradford is older he prefers brownies.  They are just as easy to decorate as a cake.             

A family favorite - Petit Fours. Yum!

Hilary celebrates her 18th birthday.

Sarah heads off with a tray of  birthday petit fours to share with her friends.

My friend Chrissi wanted a lesson in cake decorating. 

So we designed a postage stamp cake for her father's 70th birthday.

This was for Great-Grandma Hogge's birthday.  Mari decided to help decorate, which she did by smearing orange frosting on the white cake.  So I turned it into a marble frosted cake. 

It turned out quite well for a faux pas.

Hilary and Hailey wanted a chocolate cake that looked like fondant. . . but wasn't. 

They seem pleased with this rendition. 

My twins ten years apart, Sarah and Bradford, celebrate their half birthday

 by each decorating their half of a cake.  Kids love to decorate cakes.

Sarah helped decorate this cake for her friend Crystal. 

You can tell she is pleased.

Pink roses and pearls for Sarah's 9th birthday.

Hilary, Uncle Andy, and Grandma Stowers often celebrated their birthdays together. 

Here we have white cake and whipped frosting with

fresh strawberries on top and as a filling.  So refreshing!

Chocolate on chocolate. Always a great combination.

Here, the "twins" share a cake and make birthday wishes.