I made some things

Dear God,

Let the beautiful photos of the things I forgot to post rid me of the guilt of eating them,

Amen

The midwest was a place of beautiful baking with counters so spacious the eye could not see the end (maybe a bit of an exaggeration). I can't help but make something & drag people in with me when I am there.

First I was in Michigan where I decided I must make some red velvet scones. Red Velvet was on my mind for whatever reason & I had someone state the would eat said red velvet scones and I was off to the races.

Then I went to Indiana and somehow bamboozled my mother in to aiding and abedding my cookie shenanigans. I made the cake batter cookies that had been pinned on Pinterest --- with a few changes-- I won't tell you what because it would tell you that my math skills have deteriorated along with many of my motor skills post baby.

They turned out fine, thank the lord... there were just...a lot more of them than we expected.

Then for valentines I made choc covered Oreos. Yum.

Pepperoni cheese bread

Here's what you do if you want to be happy tonight....
Go buy some French bread dough- or make it like I did (in bread maker) and spread it out in a 12 in square.
Put a few TB o' mayo in the center, then layer slices of pepperoni & mozz cheese. Pinch the edge to seal, let rise 45 min.
Bake at 350 for 25 min & enjoy.
You WILL enjoy.

Berry Upside Down Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

I adapted a recipe from this blog: http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/blueberry-buttermilk-upside-down-cake/

I did almost exactly what she said.... Except I just HAD to change something. I used mixed berries instead of blue & I made a nice brown sugar coffee glaze for the top.

Aaron, I promise there will be some when you get home!! ;)

Apple Cinnamon Scone from a bag

Since I unfortunately never mastered a scone I wanted to eat from scratch, I have resorted to a mix.
Once when galavanting around MI I spotted this brand of scone mix & they were delicious.

But, since I can't make something fro a mix without some doctoring I did the following:
Instead of water I used half & half
I added 1 tsp of butter flavoring (since real scones have butter)
And 1 tsp of vanilla (because everything needs vanilla)..
Then I added a nice vanilla cinnamon glaze to the tops. Yummy.

Best Macaroni & Cheese :D

Yummy yummy in my tummy.
My friend Elsa made me this Mac & Cheese when I had just came home from the hospital with Penelope.
Aaron & I really liked it so I knabbed the recipe from her.

Here is the link: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cheeses-baked-macaroni-and-cheese/detail.aspx

So tonight I tried it w/ Penelope in tow.
The only thing I did differently was parmesan cheese rather than breadcrumbs & I accidentally dropped 10 pieces of macaroni on the floor... And left it there.
It looked like this....

October = Pumpkins and Apples

Here are a couple of things I made last weekend:

1. Apple Oatmeal Muffins (made from Apple Ridge Orchard's apples) with this recipe, with slight alterations:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/_mobile/recipefinder/apple-oat-muffins-ghk1007

I used 1/4 cup extra of brown sugar, added 1 TB vanilla, added about 2 tsp extra cinnamon, and increased the shredded apple amount to 2 cups. No walnuts for me.

They were pretty... and delicious actually.

2. Pumpkin Aebelskivers

Recipe:

2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 T Sugar

4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 egg yolks

2 egg whites

4T butter, melted

2 cups buttermilk

Then you make them like regular Aebleskivers- mix dry ingredients, mix wet ingredients separately (excluding egg whites),

then mix both together... beat egg whites until peak appears, then fold in. butter Aebleskiver pan and cook. Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture.

Results:

Yummy yummy in my tummy- (Sorry Penelope, it's crowded these days).

Delicious Lazy Man's Cream Cheese Apple Danish

I adapted a version of this http://annies-eats.net/2010/11/16/spiced-apple-cream-cheese-danish-braid/ danish from that lovely website and made it 'easier'.

It is delicious I must say.

What you'll need (I made 2 because I wanted to have some to share):

1 box (2 sheets)Puff Pastry from the freezer section (unless you want to make your own)

4 Apples thinly sliced. I don't peel them becasue I think it's wrong.

4 TB brown sugar

4 TB butter

2 tsp Cinnamon

shake shake shake (three shakes) of nutmeg

8 oz cream cheese

2 tsp lemon juice

3 TB of sugar

cinnamon sugar (for sprinkling)

********************************************
Preheat oven to 400 degrees

First- lay out the pastry dough because it has to thaw.

Second- add apples, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and nutmeg to a sauce pan and cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes. Then let it cool for about 10 minutes.

Then, Mix the cream cheese, lemon juice & sugar and spread down the middle of the pastry (it will be divided in 3rds. I sprinkled some cinnamon sugar over it.

Layer the apple mixture over the cream cheese and cut strips into the pastry and fold over (in a braiding fashion if you so please.

Brush with butter.

Put in the oven- for 13 minutes, then rotate the pan for another 13 minutes.

Mix 2 cups of powdered sugar with 2-3 TB of milk (Add milk slowly until the consistency is right) Then drizzle glaze over the top.

The finished product - YUMMY

YUMMMY.
YUM.