Oreo Whipped Cream Layer Cake

Matthew surprised me immensely this year when it came to choosing a dessert for his birthday. You see, as I've written before, this kid HATES cake. Legitimately hates it. He will tolerates certain flavors but rarely can finish a whole piece. At birthday parties, he accepts cake only as a gateway to get ice cream. For the past few years, he has only requested fruit desserts, specifically apple pie, for his birthday.

So, much to my shock, when I approached him and asked if he wanted me to make him my Caramel Apple Pie for his birthday, he shook his head and said that he wanted a cake. And not just any cake...he wanted an Oreo cake. For some reason, Matthew developed an intense and passionate love for all things Oreo over this past year. I think it started when his 3rd grade class were learning about opinions and debates by having an Oreo taste test where they got to try six different flavors of Oreo cookies and then had to debate the merits and flaws of each one. In the tasting process, Matthew discovered that he loved all Oreos and pretty soon I found myself being suckered into buying fancy flavor packs of Oreos to stick in his lunch - Red Velvet, S'mores, Birthday Cake, Peanut Butter, Peppermint Bark, Lemon, and Apple Pie. Thus, I enabled my son to become an Oreo connoisseur of sorts.

So, really, I should have seen the Oreo cake request coming. But there was more to his request than that.

"I really don't like sugary frosting or anything. It gives me a headache and makes me feel sick," he added.

So, one Oreo cake without super sweet frosting or icing. Got it. The first thing I thought of was an old fashioned icebox cake where layers of cookies are sandwiched between whipped cream and chilled until the cookies soften and breakdown, almost forming a "cake like" texture between the soft whipped cream. Actually, that didn't sound like a half bad idea....let's just turn it into a layer cake form!

A good quality chocolate cake would be the first component of this cake. It has to be chocolaty and rich on its own yet sturdy enough to hold up to being chilled while sandwiching a whipped frosting. And the frosting would be a simple mixture of whipped cream, a touch of sugar, and lots of chopped Oreos folded together. I really like the "Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake" with coffee as a substitute for the boiling water. It's fantastic. So, that's what I used for the cake layer, only I halved the recipe to make a single cake layer. After cooling, I sliced that cake layer in half and then filled it with the whipped Oreo filling. After sandwiching the cake layers back together, I "frosted" it with the remainder of the filling. Then, into the fridge it went to chill and allow those cookies in the whipped cream to soften. Right before it was time to serve, I added a few simple embellishments - a piping of whipped cream rosettes around the top border that are topped with halved Oreos. And, of course, for my future paleontologist, a model T-Rex skeleton for the center of the cake.

Matthew was thrilled.

The whole thing looked pretty cool all lit up with birthday candles. Paul purchased trick candles because you can never have too much birthday boy spit sprayed all over the cake.

Everyone loved the cake. It was quite rich yet simultaneously not heavy (if that's even a thing). We all enjoyed pieces for dessert, then again for breakfast the next morning. Because why not? I should note that I don't think Paul actually had a slice of cake because he was going through a bit of anti-sugar phase at the moment. But the most important thing is that Matthew loved and enjoyed it!

Oreo Whipped Cream Cake
adapted from Hershey's and Serious Eats

For the Cake Layer:
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup very hot coffee (heated in microwave if necessary)

For the Whipped Oreo Filling:
50 double-stuffed Oreo cookies
4 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease, flour, and line the bottom of an 8-inch round baking pan with parchment paper.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in the very hot coffee. The batter will be thin - no worries! Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the whipped cream Oreo filling and frosting. Carefully cut 6 Oreo cookies in half and set aside. Chop remaining cookies into 1/4-inch pieces and set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip 2 cups cream on medium-high speed to soft peak, spoon into large bowl and refrigerate. In same mixer bowl, whip remaining 2 1/2 cups cream, sugar, and vanilla to soft peak. Fold into already whipped cream.

Place about 1 cup whipped cream in bowl and refrigerate until ready to decorate cake. Fold chopped Oreos into the remaining whipped cream.

Split the cake into two layers by cutting horizontally. This might be easier if you pop it into the freezer for about 30-60 minutes.

Place one cake layer on a serving platter. Spread about 1/3 of Oreo whipped cream onto cake. Top with second cake layer and use remaining Oreo whipped cream to frost top and sides of cake. Chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours to allow cookies to soften.

Place reserved whipped cream in pastry bag fitted with star tip (I had to rewhisk it a bit to "fluff" it up). Pipe 12 whipped cream rosettes around perimeter of cake and garnish with reserved Oreo cookie halves. Add a dinosaur to the center (optional).

Cranberry Pear Crumble

Let me tell you a story about the time Matthew conquered the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot.

Our little neighborhood association, like so many others, puts on a largely informal Turkey Trot the morning of Thanksgiving. I enjoy running as my workout of choice. I enjoy the challenge of increasing mileage and bettering my pace. Paul hates running. To his credit, he did try to run with me a couple of times and concluded that he, unlike every other person on the planet, was not built for running. He could be an awesome runner, but his genetics prohibit him from realizing his potential. So, I'm used to running alone for the most part.

Then, Matthew grew up and decided that he wanted to run with me. We would go for jogs here and there and even did a few races together. At his school, he joined the running club and did very well there. His coach even called him out as being one of the better distance runners in his grade. So when I decided to do a Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day, I assumed that Matthew would have no problem running it with me. I signed him up and told him about it later.

Matthew was very excited to hear about the race. But, his excitement quickly turned to concern: "But...I haven't practiced running around here."

He had a reason to be worried. We live in a very hilly area. We have lots of high ridges and very little flat ground. The race course around the neighborhood looked to be quite difficult with all its elevation changes. Matthew was used to running flat courses for the most part.

"You'll be fine!" I assured him. And I really thought he would be.

So, bright and early on Thanksgiving morning, we registered and got a free t-shirt and did a few stretches in preparation for the great race. There were a couple hundred other people gathering by the starting line and Matthew excitedly began pointing to each and every person, "We are going to beat that guy, and that lady with the weird hat, and that guy and that guy and those kids...."

I cut him off and told him not to be overconfident. I'm certainly not the fastest person in the neighborhood and I'm pretty sure he's not either.

When it was time to start, Matthew and I lined up towards the front and then...we were OFF! We flew through the first half mile, well ahead of the rest of the pack. I was so proud at how hard Matthew was working. His arms were pumping, his legs were flying, and he was chatting, laughing, and having a grand old time. Then, suddenly he fell silent and his pace began to slow. I slowed right along with him but continued talking to him to try to encourage him. Suddenly, he burst into tears: "I HATE this! This is horrible! Why would anyone do this for fun?"

I told him that he's done this before and reminded him that he enjoys running. He spat back: "Yeah, but I HATE all these hills!! They are so hard!"

I told him to walk if he needed to, but he didn't really slow. He just kept going, complaining about how much his lungs hurt (although he was talking really well so I could tell that he was hardly gasping for breath) and how cold it was outside. The whining continued for the next mile or so until Matthew announced flat out that he wanted to quit. I told him that we were still a ways from home so we would have to walk a fair distance to get back there anyway, so he might as well finish the race, walking, running or otherwise. He decided to stop and walk for a bit at that point. Only his definition of walking was akin to a very slow crawl. It was at this point that I grabbed his arm and began pulling him along with me up the last big hill. And he had the audacity to ask: "Mommy, can you carry me? I can't move any more!"

I told him he had to be joking. Besides, the finish line was less than a quarter mile away. So, I made a deal with him. Let's run as hard as we can to the finish line. The faster we go, the sooner this perceived ordeal will be over.

"Ok...." he sniffed. Then, we began to sprint. We sprinted down the block and circled around our neighborhood park. Matthew began whimpering again but I egged him onward. When he saw the finish line, he suddenly regained his enthusiasm and triumphantly ran across. When his time was read, I informed him that he had beat his last 5k by nearly five minutes.

"WOOO-HOO! I did AWESOME Mom! That was so much fun! Let's do it again! Oh, and I BEAT you Mom because I crossed the finish line FIRST!" Matthew crowed as he fist pumped the air.

What a difference 20 seconds makes. He went from being defeated, beaten, and exhausted to cocky, triumphant, and arrogant. He had beaten incredible odds to become a running legend in his own mind. He actually asked me if he had earned a trophy. No trophy, but he did earn a banana and a bottle of water.

And that is how Matthew conquered the Turkey Trot and secured his new PR in a 5K of 31  minutes and 33 seconds. I also managed to secure my worst time in a 5K. It was a historic day for all.

Since this monumental feat of athleticism occurred on Thanksgiving Day, it seems fitting to share with you a new dessert I tried for our post-turkey sugar binge: Cranberry Pear Crumble. This recipe was so good, so delicious, so refreshing, so festive that it will most certainly make an appearance at future Thanksgivings. I'm actually debating about serving it as part of our Christmas dinner. There is just something magical and festive about the combination of sweet pears and tart cranberries. I love the light pink color the cranberries lend to the dish - so pretty to look at as you scoop individual portions. I loved this slightly warm with a large scoop of vanilla ice cream but it honestly didn't even need it as it was so delicious on its own. I baked the crumble in pie pans to make it look like pie since I didn't make an actual pie this year - I simply ran out of time! Thank goodness this recipe was easy and quick to prepare or we might not have had a dessert for Thanksgiving this year.

BUT, the single best part about this crumble was the leftovers! We enjoyed them for breakfast in the days following Thanksgiving. I was so sad when it was finally all gone. But like I said, I might be making another batch for Christmas.

If you love pears or just want to try a different dessert this Christmas season, give this easy crumble a try!

Cranberry Pear Crumble
adapted slightly from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

2 to 3 pounds ripe pears, peeled and diced (6-7 cups, about 5 medium pears)
12 ounces (about 3 cups) fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped in half or lightly pulsed in food processor or blender
1 cup (7.5 ounces) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup orange juice (can use fresh juice from orange), apple juice or cranberry juice

For the Crumble Topping:
2 1/2 cups (12.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
14 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the pears, cranberries, sugar, tapioca flour or cornstarch, orange zest, and cinnamon. Stir well. Add the juice. Stir to combine.

Spread the fruit mixture evenly in the pan.

For the crumble topping, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture forms pea-size and slightly larger clumps.

Crumble the topping evenly over the fruit.

Bake for 45-50 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is golden. Once removed from the oven, let the crumble rest for 15 minutes (the filling will thicken a bit as it sits). Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Twix Blondies and a Halloween Recap

This begins my annual Halloween post. The post I write every year detailing what my kids wore on Halloween night, what their Jack-o-lanterns looked like all lit up and glimmering spookily in the night, and, at the end, a recipe utilizing a small portion of the pounds and pounds of candy they collected from our neighbors. This recipe for Twix blondies is definitely one of my absolute favorite ways to use candy bars in baking. My kids collected an exorbitant number of fun size Twix bars this year and they are more inclined towards the sugary sweets rather than the chocolate so they were more than happy to donate their Twix for this recipe. Plus, I just portion the blondies out and freeze them individually wrapped to use in their lunches in the coming months. So, they still get to eat their candy, just in a re-purposed manner. So don't feel too sorry for them. My sisters always tease me about using my kids' candy for baking.

But before we get to this incredible recipe, lets recap how the kids looked in their costumes. We actually trick-or-treated three separate times because we're insane and really enjoy standing in long lanes while waiting for our turn to beg for candy. Instead of putting together new costumes for the kids, I just told them to hunt through their dress up box and find something to wear. Unfortunately, that didn't work too well for Matthew who has grown so tall over the past year that nothing fit him. He had his eye set on dressing up as Spider-man after seeing a costume at Costco while we were shopping. I told him that he could earn the costume dollar by dollar by performing extra tasks around the house. Matthew diligently pulled weeds, raked the yard, picked up dog poop, and dusted furniture, eventually earning enough to purchase his costume. He was proud.

Emma also wanted to earn enough money to purchase a new costume. She had spied a fairy costume at Costco and I told her that she could do the same as Matthew and perform extra chores to earn it. She worked hard for a day and earned a total of three dollars before deciding that it was just too much work and abandoning the project. She chose to be Princess Belle while trick-or-treating at the zoo and then switched to wearing Matthew's old dragon costume when the weather got more chilly. She was perfectly happy with her choice and the dragon costume strangely fit her personality.

Lucia, my sweet little girl, was the only one of my children who did not complain for a new costume. Rather, she was more than happy to wear a different costume from her dress up box for each trick-or-treat outing. First, she was Doc McStuffins, wearing the same costume she wore last year, at the Boo at the Zoo. Then, she decided to be Minnie Mouse, complete with wearing a pair of my pumps. I really had to talk her out of shuffling around in those. Finally, for the chilly Halloween night, she wore a baby elephant costume she had found in one of our clothing bins that I had completely forgotten about.

And baby Daniel was a character from the 100 Acre Wood each time, Tigger first and Eeyore second. Paul wasn't too happy with the Eeyore costume since it was a pink and purple color and little old ladies kept coming up and telling us how beautiful our baby girl was, but it didn't bother me. Eeyore is a boy after all and someone telling me my baby is beautiful is always a welcome compliment.

And once again, I could not get Paul to dress up in a costume so he just went as a grumpy old man. I went as a tired Mom.

As typical, we began Halloween night with a simple dinner of subs and pizza. Lucy picked out decorations for the table, including "spooky spider" napkins and plates. Emma made a hand out of popcorn and candy corn at school that she just had to have displayed in the center. The kids ate well before lighting our jack-o-lanterns on the front porch. I actually helped carve the pumpkins this year, but I'm really not so great at it. Emma wanted me to make a spooky cat and while I was carving it I accidentally cut out the ear and dislodged the whole body from the circle meant to hold it intact. I propped it up with toothpicks long enough to have it lit, but by the end of the night the entire thing had fallen out of the pumpkin. Epic fail.

The kids drew their own designs for the pumpkins. Lucy adamantly wanted a sad pumpkin.

Matthew went with a big, happy pumpkin. With eyebrows. He was very adamant about it having eyebrows.

And Emma wanted to the pumpkin face adorning the front of her favorite stuffed animal "pumpkin bear", a teddy bear inside a jack-o-lantern that she has been sleeping with the for the past couple of years.

It was a freezing cold night. The kids did great despite the frigid air with the exception of Daniel. He wanted none of it and made his opinion known. He lasted a grand total of three blocks before I turned around to take him back home. Lucy chose to join me. Daniel was much happier once we got him in front of a roaring fire which is where he wanted to be in the first place. I was secretly glad that he gave me an excuse to get home.

Matthew and Emma did a few more blocks with Paul before they also retreated inside. Not that they had any lack of candy. I don't think we have ever collected so much candy. I'm crying just thinking about all the cavities.

So when I took about 30 mini Twix bars to make these blondies, it did not make so much as a dent in the actual candy collection of these kids. And between you and me, I would gladly buy a bag of mini Twix just to be able to make these blondies. They are sweet, salty, and extremely addictive. They have a bit of a different texture than other blondies thanks to the shortbread cookies in the Twix bars and I personally just love it! So did Paul and all the kids. Way better than eating a Twix bar straight up.

Twix Blondies

3/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon flaked (or coarse) sea salt
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
30 mini Twix bars coarsely chopped - about 2 cups worth.
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9×13 baking pan with foil and coat with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the butter and brown sugar on low speed. Add in the eggs, vanilla, baking powder and salt and mix until smooth.

With the mixer still on low add the the flour and mix until just combined.

Stir in the Twix and chocolate chips until evenly incorporated.

Spread batter into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes until the edges are set and the center is almost set.

Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Concord Grape Pie

After spending a few hours harvesting Mr. Wheeler's garden, we took home quite the bounty of fruits and vegetables, but had an especially large box full of concord grapes. Now concord grapes are delicious on their own, but I personally hate eating them because of their seeds. To me, they are hands down the best grapes for jam. Paul and I had already been planning to make a big batch of jam with them, but when we selected a recipe we realized we had enough grapes to make a quadruple batch, approximately 3 gallons of jam, with another couple quarts of fresh grapes leftover.

What to do with all those extra grapes?

That's when a very special memory that I had subconsciously tucked away somewhere in the deep trenches of my brain suddenly came to the forefront. When I was four months pregnant with Matthew, I attended a simple gathering at the home of a friend in Erie. Although Paul and I had been living in Erie for about a year, we still had not really made any close friendships. My boss at the time had tried to connect me with various families in the area and that was how I somehow got on the invite list for this particular party. Regardless, while snacking on zucchini bread and chicken salad, I struck up a conversation with a very friendly, bubbly, and intelligent woman named Jessica who was there with her husband Jesse. They had been married the year before me and Paul and, as I learned through our conversation, had a daughter named Sophie who was almost 18 months old. Jessica was so very excited to see that I was expecting and we chatted endlessly about pregnancy, birth, and parenting. I felt a great connection with her immediately but did not even think to get her number at the time.

Thankfully, Jessica's husband Jesse visited my office on business later the next week and I took the opportunity to slip him a note that I had quickly and rather sloppily written out with my name and cell phone number on it. I instructed him to give it to his lovely wife and have her call me.

A few days later, she did.

Jessica invited me to attend the annual Halloween night at the local zoo with her and Sophie. Jesse had to work that night and she really did not want to attend alone. I thought it would be fun especially since I really had nothing going on since Paul was also working late that night. We met up at the very crowded event and had a wonderful time walking baby Sophie through the trick-or-treat lines ensconced in various locations around the dark zoo with what seemed about half of Erie's other youngsters. When Sophie had tuckered out from all the walking and candy collecting, Jessica invited me to come to their apartment to continue our conversation. I figured that Paul wasn't going to be home for another two hours, so I agreed.

At her apartment, I left my cell phone in the car - I still am terrible about keeping it on my person - and headed inside where Jessica and Sophie served me my very first slice of grape pie. I did not even know you could make grapes into pie! But then again, I had never lived anywhere where concord grapes, the plump, juicy, ultra-sweet grapes used to make jam, jelly, and Welch's grape juice grew so abundantly. That pie was a revelation. At first, I wasn't sure what I would think of grapes in a pie, but it was pretty fantastic. Jessica gave me a slice to take home to Paul who, unbeknownst to me, had come home early only to find our home totally dark and me missing. He had proceeded to drive all over the city, calling my cell phone over and over but receiving no answer since I had left it sitting in my car. He was filing a missing person's report with the police when I finally walked in. Paul sure wasn't happy with me, but that slice of pie served as a nice peace offering.

Through the years, Jessica has remained one of my dearest friends. From that first meeting, we have watched our families grow and now have eight children between us. Jessica was one of the first people to hold three out of my four children, and I'm certain if there wasn't 1,500 miles between us she would have been at the hospital shortly after Daniel was born as well. Our children are close friends with one another and my kids often think of Sophie, Bella, Maddie, and Francis more as cousins than friends. She and Jesse are the godparents of our daughter Emma and continue to have a wonderful, impactful presence in her life even with the distance between us. Our family misses seeing them on a regular basis, but I know that we will always remain close. They are family to us!

So, when debating what to make with all those concord grapes, I texted Jessica and asked for her recipe for that delicious grape pie because that recipe is more than just a list of instructions and ingredients to me. Rather, it's a precious memory of the day I met one of my best friends.

Concord Grape Pie
adapted slightly from Jessica's recipe

1 recipe or your favorite double crust pie dough prepared
1 1/2 lbs of Concord grapes (after removing from stems)
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp (6.0 oz) sugar
2 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

On a lightly floured work surface, roll 1 half of a double crust pie dough into a 15-inch round. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate, pressing it into the edges. Trim to a 1-inch overhang all around. Cover with plastic wrap; chill pie shell until firm, about 30 minutes. Repeat process for rolling out dough for the top crust. Transfer to a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the pie.

Wash grapes and discard any that are under-ripe, damaged and blemished.

Remove the skins from the grapes by pressing them between your thumb and forefinger. Put the skinless grapes in a medium saucepan. Reserve the skins in a small bowl.

Gently mash the grape pulp in the medium saucepan to release their juice. Cook over medium low heat until grapes come to a full boil, and simmer, covered, for 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Press the grapes through a fine sieve and discard the pits.

In a heavy bottomed pot: combine the grape pulp, grape peels and all the remaining ingredients . (You’ll have about 1 1/3 cups of pulp – add everything else and you’ll have about 2 cups) Bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring continually until the filling is slightly thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 400°F with a rack in the bottom third of the oven with a pizza stone or baking sheet on it.

Transfer the cooked filling to the prepared pie shell. Moisten the edges of the pie crust with water and attach the top crust, crimping the edges to seal the crust.

Cut six small slits in the crust to act as vents. Place pie on the pizza stone, protect the edges with a pie ring, and bake for 30 minutes at 400° F and then reduce heat to 375° F and bake an additional 25-30 minutes until the filling is bubbling. Cool on a wire rack for at least 3 hours before cutting.

Apple Dumplings with Cider Sauce

Life does not stop moving and that is the reason I cling to for being the worst blogger on the face of the planet. First, I broke my foot. Then we discovered that I have a serious pregnancy complication. Next, my husband received a job offer in a city far, far away and after much prayer and discernment we decided to jump at the opportunity. Over the course of a week, we accepted that job offer and listed our home for sale. I've been going crazy packing up boxes, clearing out our home, all while still on crutches and with a growing bump that makes it quite difficult to perform simple tasks like bending over. Oh, and with my pregnancy complication, I'm not allowed to lift over 5 pounds and technically should be resting nonstop. But how can I do that with three little ones while preparing for a move?

Due to all this, my time in the kitchen as been nonexistent. Friends have been gracious and generous enough to bring us home-cooked meals that have greatly alleviated the burden of meal preparation for us, especially since the crutches have made this and other daily tasks ridiculously cumbersome.

However, I do have an amazing dessert alternative to pumpkin pie to share with you today. I actually made this shortly after my injury. In fact, this recipe made me decide that I wanted to spend as little time cooking in the kitchen as possible until my foot completely heals. While this recipe would certainly be fun to prepare with two healthy feet, I was incredibly frustrated with my awkwardness moving about the entire time and declared "Never again shall I cook with crutches!!" to Paul as I angrily moved about. However, again I stress, this recipe is certainly simple and fun to prepare in ideal circumstances. The dough comes together quickly in the food processor and is pretty much fool-proof in my opinion. It folds beautifully over the apple halves and bakes up to a flakey, tasty biscuit-like consistency. Each dumpling perfectly conceals an apple half filled with a delightful mixture of raisins, butter, and brown sugar. The final cooked biscuit is drizzled with tantalizing cider sauce that, while optional, adds quite a bit of flair and additional apple flavor to the humble dumplings so I certainly would not skip it!

I would certainly eat one of these over pumpkin pie!

Apple Dumplings
Recipe from Cook's Country

Dough
2½  cups all-purpose flour
3     tablespoons sugar
2     teaspoons baking powder
¾    teaspoon salt
10   tablespoons (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and chilled
5     tablespoons vegetable shortening, cut into ½-inch pieces and chilled
¾    cup cold buttermilk

Apple Dumplings
6     tablespoons sugar
1     teaspoon ground cinnamon
3     tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3     tablespoons golden raisins, chopped
4     Golden Delicious apples (see note)
2     egg whites, lightly beaten

Process flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until combined. Scatter butter and shortening over flour mixture and pulse until mixture resembles wet sand. Transfer to bowl. Stir in buttermilk until dough forms. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead briefly until dough is cohesive. Press dough into 8- by 4-inch rectangle. Cut in half, wrap each half tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine sugar and cinnamon in small bowl. In second bowl, combine butter, raisins, and 3 tablespoons cinnamon sugar mixture. Peel apples and halve through equator. Remove core using a melon baller and pack butter mixture into each apple half.

On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough half into 12-inch square. Cut each 12-inch square into four 6-inch squares. Working one at a time, lightly brush edges of dough square with egg white and place apple, cut-side up, in center of each square. Gather dough one corner at a time on top of apple, crimping edges to seal. Using paring knife, cut vent hole in top of each dumpling.

Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange dumplings on prepared baking sheet, brush tops with egg white, and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar. Bake until dough is golden brown and juices are bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 10 minutes.

Serve with Cider Sauce (recipe below).

CIDER SAUCE

Makes about 1½ cups

To make this sauce up to 2 days in advance, reduce the cider mixture until it measures 1½ cups, then refrigerate. When ready to serve, return mixture to simmer and whisk in butter and lemon juice off heat.

1     cup apple cider
1     cup water
1     cup sugar
½    teaspoon ground cinnamon
2     tablespoons unsalted butter
1     tablespoon lemon juice

Bring cider, water, sugar, and cinnamon to simmer in saucepan and cook over medium-high heat until thickened and reduced to 1½ cups, about 15 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter and lemon juice. Drizzle over dumplings to serve.

French Apple Cake

Some of my favorite memories with my children have been made at the various festivals and harvest playgrounds that pop up during this season. Last weekend, the kids and I traveled to a tiny little historical town for their apple festival. We have gone every year as a family since we've been married and although Paul was unable to join us I had no plans to skip this year! The weather was beautiful and as a result the festival was so incredibly crowded and busy. Aunt Jen was able to meet up with us and the kids always enjoy spending time with her. She's the greatest.

While Matthew was at school during the week, the girls were being particularly good so I surprised them with trip to our local farmer's market where they set up a whole bunch of fun inflatables for the kids to plan on, a petting zoo, a corn maze, and a not-so-scary haunted house. Plus, they have a whole bunch of creative pumpkin displays for the kids to look at - pumpkins decorated as all kinds of familiar characters including Winnie-the-Pooh, Monster's Inc., Mickey Mouse, Paw Patrol, and so many more! The girls were psyched to discover where we were going but for some reason turned into shy little things once it came time for them to climb on the inflatables. I had been secretly hoping that they would go off and play and I could sit and listen to a podcast while observing them. But of course, since they were scared and all, I ended up having to climb up and down all these inflatables with them and spent the majority of our time worrying that my weight was going to pop one of them. Thankfully, that did not happen and we all had a good time but it was certainly exhausting!

We couldn't help but stop and feed the goats, llamas, and alapcas on our way out. The white llama there was extremely friendly. Normally, I find llamas extremely standoffish but this little guy kept nuzzling my shirt with his nose and putting his face in our hands because he enjoyed being stroked so much. I kept trying to take pictures of the girls feeding the littlest goat - he was so adorable - but that llama kept photobombing the pictures by bending his neck in front of Lucy and completely blocking her from the camera. He was a really friendly little llama. 

Afterwards, the girls and I stopped by Panera for lunch where we split a salad, a sandwich, and a few bagels. Their Cherry-Vanilla bagel is back in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I couldn't be happier with that. It's by far their best bagel in my opinion. 

I had a wonderful day with my two beautiful girls! We all came home pretty exhausted and both girls took a long afternoon nap which is highly unusual for them!

As promised, I have a few more apple goodies to share with you starting with this French Apple Cake. French Apple Cake in all its simplicity actually makes for quite the elegant dessert. Sliced apples are cooked in batches in butter, allowed to cool just a bit, and then piled high into a springform pan. A thin batter is then poured over the top of the apples before the whole mixture is baked. The apples and batter in the center of a cake create a custard layer while the batter gathered on the tops and sides forms a thin, cake-like crust. For easier slicing, let the cake cool a bit before being served with cinnamon whipped cream or ice cream. I adore how many apples are packed into this simple dessert and it is way easier than making pie when you have a craving for an apple-themed sweet. Paul thought this would make a great brunch item and I agree that he is right - it is composed of mostly fruit after all!

Give this French Apple Cake a try with all the beautiful apples available!

French Apple Cake

adapted slightly from Milk Street

Note: Please notice that this recipe calls for salted butter!

8 tablespoons (1 stick) salted butter, plus more for the pan

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1 1/2 pounds granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 pound Braeburn or Golden Delicious Apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch slices

12 tablespoons (149 grams) white sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons brandy or calvados

2/3 cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour, plus more for pan

1 teaspoon baking power 

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 375 degrees with a rack in the middle position. Coat a 9-inch springform pan with butter and dust the inside with flour. Tap out the excess and set aside.

In a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Cook, swirling the pan frequently, until the milk solids at the bottom are golden brown and the butter has a nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Pour into a small heatproof bowl without scraping out the skillet. Stir the nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice into the butter and set aside.

Add all the apples, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the salt to the still-hot skillet and set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until all moisture released by the apples has evaporated and the slices are beginning to brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Add the brandy and cook until evaporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Transfer to a large plate, spread in an even layer and refrigerate uncovered until cool to the touch, 15 to 20 minutes.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla, and 9 tablespoons of the remaining sugar. Gradually whisk in the browned butter. Add the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until smooth; the batter will be very thick. Add the cooled apples and fold until evenly coated with batter. Transfer to the prepared pan, spread in an even layer and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

Bake until deeply browned, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, about 2 hours. Run a knife around the inside of the pan and remove the sides before slicing.