Apple Crumble Muffins

Apple Crumble Muffins
2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups non-dairy milk
3 Tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-3 apples, finely chopped, peeled or not
leftover apple crumble topping, as desired

Preheat oven to 400°F; grease muffin tins.
Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Mix wet ingredients in a separate vessel.
Add wet to dry and mix well. Batter will be lumpy.
Mix in chopped apple.
Pour into muffin tins and top with crumble.
Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.

Old-Fashioned Pear Dessert

The final post in my pear entries, and definitely my favorite (although my sweet tooth may bias things a little) - dessert: old-fashioned pear dessert to be precise. Really it's a pear tart with a nice crumble on top. This dessert consists of a rich, buttery tart shell, piled high with fresh sliced pears, drizzled with a sweet, thick caramel sauce, and topped with a buttery, sugary crumble containing a few chopped, toasted nuts for added texture and flavor. I bet a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream would go lovely on a hot slice, but it isn't necessary. This tart is good cold as well, perhaps even for breakfast. We made a double recipe, which made three large tarts. Here is the step-by-step process:

1. 1. Make the tart shell crust and line three greased and floured tart pans. Parbake the crusts for about ten minutes.
2. 2. Meanwhile, peel and slice the pears and combine with a little cornstarch.
   
3. Make the caramel filling.
   
4. Make the crumble topping.
5. Divide the pears evenly among the hot crusts.
6. Drizzle with caramel sauce.
7. Top with crumble.
   
8. 8. Bake again until golden, hot, and bubbly. 
9. 9. Allow to cool for a few minutes to set up if you can stand it, then dive in!
   

Kreibel Cake

This German apple cake/torte/squares/bars recipe is absolutely delicious - no matter what you call it! It's surprisingly quick and easy too once you get the apples prepared. I used MacIntosh apples, but I am sure most apples would work fine. This recipe was originally given in metric units and masses, but by making it, I converted measurements to Imperial for ease.

Kreibel Cake
1/2 Tablespoon butter
6 small cooking apples, peeled and sliced
2/3 cup granulated (white) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1 large egg, beaten
2 Tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 325◦F. Grease an 8x8 inch square pan.
In a large frying pan, cook the 1/2 Tablespoon butter and apples, and sprinkle with a third of the sugar and the cinnamon. Cook over low heat for about ten minutes, until slightly softened.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter until crumbly, then stir in the egg. Press 2/3 of this mixture into the prepared pan. Place the apples over top, leaving a small border around all edges. Crumble remaining mixture over top.
Bake for 40 minutes until topping is browned. Serve warm or cold. 

Jam Squares

My mother made these jam squares for the first time the other day. The recipe was given to her by my father's mother, who often used to make these. This is definitely a comforting, old-fashioned recipe. It is one of those classics that could be modernized, but really shouldn't. It has a nice sweet base, jam filling, and crumble topping, but yet they are fairly quick and easy to make. I'm sure any type of jam would do, but the ones pictured here have strawberry jam. 

Jam Squares
2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup granulated (white) sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter or hard margarine
1 1/3 cups coconut, flaked or shredded
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
jam (strawberry is pictured above)

Preheat oven to 350◦F. Grease or line a 9-inch square pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Mix in the butter, then the coconut and walnuts. Add the egg and vanilla until crumbly.
Press 3/4 of the mixture into prepared pan. Spread with jam and sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over top. Bake for about 40 minutes until lightly golden around the edges.

Date Squares

Yesterday I made a pan of date squares for the first time. I have actually only eaten date squares a few times as well, but I knew from those few tastes that I really liked them. I have been meaning to make date squares for a while now, but only got around to it now. I am certainly glad I did, as they were very tasty, and others agreed. I love dates to begin with, and the rich, sticky date filling really appealed to me. I also really like the crust, with is an oat crust, with plenty of butter and brown sugar that makes it delicious. The combination of the crust and filling is really good. There are quite a few recipes for date squares around, but all of them are pretty similar, so just choose the one that sounds the best/easiest/uses ingredients you have on hand, and you probably can't go wrong! These squares smell very good while baking. They also cut very well. I can definitely see why they are popular at parties and gatherings. The only problem is they disappear too fast. Since I only needed half a package of dates to make this recipe, I will probably be making another batch soon! Maybe I will try making a double sized pan sometime.

Cranberry Crumble Bars

I had half a bag of fresh cranberries sitting in the bottom of my fridge just waiting to be used, so I decided to try this recipe. Cranberries are a very convenient fruit, as they will keep in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to one month, and they freeze well too. We had already had some cranberry muffins, and whole-berry cranberry sauce is not very popular in this household, so I decided to try some cranberry bars for something different - cranberry crumble bars. 

They turned out to be quite yummy and made a nice fall dessert. The crust was crisp like an apple crisp topping, and the cranberry filling had just the right balance of sweet and tart, with a hint of orange flavor. These bars are good warm or cold; fresh from the oven with a little vanilla ice cream or cooled to room temperature with a dollop of vanilla icing (or whipped cream).

I found the recipe while surfing online, here it is:

Cranberry Crumble Bars
FILLING
2 cups fresh cranberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice* 
1 Tbsp. finely grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
*One large orange should do for both juice and zest. Use two if you want extra orange flavor. If you are a liitle short on juice, add enough water to compensate.

CRUST
1/2 cup butter or hard margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups oats (quick-cooking or old-fashioned)
1 cup flour (all-purpose or whole wheat)
1/4 tsp. salt

FILLING Bring all filling ingredients to a boil in a 1 1/2 quart saucepan, cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened. Cool.

CRUST Beat butter and sugar. Stir in remaining crust ingredients until crumbly. Press half of mixture into foil-lined 9x13 inch pan, spread with filling, and top with remaining mixture. Bake at 400◦F for 20 minutes until light brown.


These bars are quite flat, you could easily use a 9x9 inch pan for higher bars. This recipe could also be halved for a 9x9 inch pan.

 "Cranberry Crumble Bars.” https://www.lifemadedelicious.ca/Recipes/C/Cranberry-Crumble-Bars.aspx. Life Made Delicious, n.d. Tuesday, October 25, 2011.