Easy & Delicious Baked Apples

[This isn't exactly my recipe, but since I have participated in the buying of ingredients and it was baked in my oven, I figure it counts :)]

AK first made these divine baked apples for me a few months ago (it's his mom's recipe, thanks JW!), and it's a great alternative dessert if you don't want to serve baked goods, or if you have vegan friends but don't want to just serve raw fruit.

AK's mom uses Rome apples, but I have also tried these with Braeburn apples and they were great. Whatever apples are good for making apple pie will work. Just hollow out the center, fill them with raisins, sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzle with agave and them bake them in the oven until they are soft and sweet. Yum!

I like eating the apples as is, but I bet they would be great chopped and served over oatmeal or yogurt for breakfast, or over ice cream for dessert!

Easy & Delicious Baked Apples

6 large apples
dark raisins
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup agave

Directions:
Core the apples so you remove the seeds and most of the core, but don't cut all the way through to the bottom. Place in large baking dish.
Fill apple centers with raisins until they are full (amount will depend on how big the apples are and how much you cut out). Sprinkle with cinnamon, drizzle with agave and bake in the oven at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes until the apples are soft. Serve hot or cold.

The cost:
apples: 3.54
raisins: 1.99
agave: 1.99

Grand total: $7.52; serves 6-8

Sweet & Smoky Glazed Almonds

TJs carries a number of candied nuts, but I always hate buying such a teeny tiny bag for the same price as a full pound of un-candied nuts. I got home last night wanting to bake, so I decided to try candying my own nuts!

The first idea that popped into my head was brown sugar and smoked paprika, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't totally crazy and setting myself up for a flavor combination disaster, so I did a little internet searching and found this recipe by Smitten Kitchen. I made some recipe adjustments: I used just almonds, reduced the sugar since I don't like super-sweet candied nuts, used sweet smoked paprika rather than hot, and upped the cooking time just a bit. I also removed the nuts from the egg wash before sprinkling with the sugar mixture because there was a lot of extra liquid and I didn't want the sugar to dissolve and melt (although it still ended up doing that anyway...so my I'm saying my almonds are glazed rather than candied :)).

I think these came out great! Just the right balance of sweet and salty, a little pizazz from the cinnamon, and a mild smoky hint to finish things off. I'm taking them into work today so I don't eat them all, they are addictive!

Notes:

• Make sure you buy raw nuts if you are going to be doing any kind of roasting with them; if you buy pre-roasted, you'll end up with brittle and overcooked nuts.
• I didn't feel like waiting for my egg white to come to room temperature, so I put it in a warm water bath by nesting 2 of my awesome metal mixing bowls (kind of like a double boiler) from Webstaurant Store (@webstaurant) and it was room temp in less than 2 minutes.
• Thanks to my beautiful sister (a potter as well as an amazing cook) for the serving dish featured in the above picture!

Sweet & Smoky Glazed Almonds

Ingredients:

1 egg white, room temperature
1 tsp water
1 lb raw almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, paprika, cinnamon, salt and pepper; make sure there are no lumps.
3. Whisk egg white and water until frothy. Add almonds and stir to coat.
4. Using a slotted spoon, remove nuts from egg wash and spread in a single layer on a greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with sugar mixture, tossing to coat, then re-spread in a single layer.
5. Bake nuts for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Allow nuts to cool, breaking up any that are stuck together. Store in an airtight container.
7. Take them into work so you don't eat them all.

The cost:
nuts: 4.49
other ingredients: <1.00

Grand total: 5.49

Dinner Party Dessert: Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Cake

Yes I know, you've seen to many banana baked goods recipes, and you're right, this is another variation of plenty of previous recipes. What can I say, bananas make a great base for baking, and frankly, I never have any leftovers :)

Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Banana Walnut Cake

Ingredients:

3 overripe bananas, pureed
2 eggs
1/4 cup applesauce
splash of vanilla
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 + 1/4 cups gluten free flour
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree and spray a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, blend bananas, eggs, applesauce and vanilla.
3. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, salt & pepper. Add baking soda and baking powder.
4. Stir in 1 cup of flour; the batter should be pretty thick, so if you had large bananas add up to 1/4 cup more flour.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.
6. Pour into pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes until edges are browned and top is firm.

The cost: $4.00, give or take

An Adventure in Vegan Baking: Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

I've been thinking for a while I'd like to try vegan baking (which mostly means no eggs). Last week when I saw a recipe from my Twitter friend, the Lazy GF Chef, that looked delicious and happened to be vegan, I decided to try it :)

I made a few adaptations: My cocoa looked yucky so I used chocolate chips instead; my vanilla and cinnamon are both very strong so I used half of what the recipe called for (learned from experience on this one); I used a bit less soy milk because my bananas were quite large; I added nuts because I like the texture they add; and I did muffins instead of a loaf because portion (read: self)-control is much easier when I have muffins with finite mass.

These muffins were great--moist and sweet (although a very different flavor with agave rather than sugar, I hadn't baked with agave before as a main sweetener; it also makes these significantly more expensive because agave by volume costs a lot more than sugar does).

Thank you, Lazy GF Chef, for facilitating my vegan baking adventure with your utterly delicious looking chocolate cinnamon banana loaf!

Vegan Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
Adapted from The Lazy GF Chef

3 overripe bananas, pureed
1/4 cup light olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup agave
1/4 cup soy milk

pinch of salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Bread Mix)

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Combine bananas, oil, vanilla, agave and soy milk. In a separate bowl, combine salt, cinnamon, BP., BS and flour. Using a whisk, stir dry ingredients into wet until well mixed.
2. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Divide evenly into greased 12-muffin tin and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.

The cost:
bananas: .57
agave: .75
soy milk: 1.79
flour: 1.25
other ingredients: <1.00

Grand total: $5.36

Cinnamon Chocolate-Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Okay, so I could probably use a more concise name for these cookies, but they are well worth the mouthful. A while back when I was making chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies I realized I had some leftover chocolate covered raisins; you wouldn't think it'd be so different from using chocolate chips and raisins, but wow, they transformed these cookies from delicious to sublime. I like to add cinnamon to desserts around the holiday season for a bit of extra cheer :)

Note 1: This is my cookie recipe, but you could also use any oatmeal cookie recipe and just add chocolate covered raisins.

Note 2: It is very easy to overbake cookies because they keep cooking even after you take them out of the oven. If the cookies still seem a little soft, don't worry as long as they don't seem "soupy."

Cinnamon Chocolate-Covered Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp bourbon (optional)

1 1/2 cups flour
3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1 cup chocolate covered raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Cream margarine and sugar until smooth; blend in eggs one at a time, waiting until one egg is combined before adding the next. Add bourbon and vanilla and mix until combined.
2. In another bowl, mix together flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and spices. Stir into wet mixture until just combined.
3. Fold in chocolate covered raisins (and nuts if you are using them).
4. Spoon mixture onto greased cookie sheets (make sure you leave space because these cookies will spread out). Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (1-2 minutes longer if you like crispier cookies).

The cost: Around $3.00 per batch, give or take.