Apple Cinnamon Donut Cakes

Happy New Year! It's a new year and another opportunity to make a fresh start. I don't usually make resolutions, rather I use the new year to set some intentions and put together my to do list for the year. Number one on my list this year will be to dive back into blogging. I took a little bit of a break from blogging in 2019 as you might have noticed. I spent the year reassessing, refocusing and recovering from 3 surgeries after an abnormal mammogram last May. I'm all recovered and ready to jump back into my creative space of food and fun Halloween ideas and projects. But before I get ahead of myself and dive right into Halloween, I have a 'better late than never' recipe to share. I made them before Christmas and never got around to posting them. So these Apple Cinnamon Donut Cakes are my first post of 2020. A delicious cinnamon sugar coated, 3 bite morsel of apple cinnamon cake! Make a batch. Invite your girlfriends over for coffee, cake and conversation to kick off the new year! Enjoy!

Apple Cinnamon Donut Cakes

Makes ~2 dozen

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cardamom
1 t. salt
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup apple cider
1 cup applesauce
3/4 cup olive oil or canola oil
3 t. vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, and salt. Set aside. 
In a medium bowl, combine sugars, apple cider, applesauce, olive oil, vanilla extract, and eggs and whisk until mixed. Combine wet and dry ingredients and whisk until incorporated. Spray mini bundt cake pan with baking spray. Using a medium cookie scoop, fill mini bundt cakes half full, taking care not to overfill. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and then turn out of pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.  

Prepare cinnamon sugar. Combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl and mix. In a small bowl, melt butter in the microwave. 
Brush donut cakes with melted butter and then roll them in cinnamon sugar until completely coated. Serve. Store covered at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Other dessert recipes to try:

Red Velvet Brownies with Cookie Crumble Frosting

Gingerbread Spritz Cookies

Gingerbread Petits Fours with Cinnamon Buttercream

Apple, Fennel, and Onion Slaw

I've been blog cooking Thanksgiving dishes all week and I must say...I'm stuffed! I've gained 5 pounds this week alone and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. I've had to make most of my the recipes twice to tweak it here or there until the flavors are just right. So the day I started this salad was a welcome reprieve from the "Chilaquiles Corn Bread Stuffing, Creamed Corn Casserole, Pumpkin Challah bread, Corn and Squash Casserole, and Pumpkin Pasta Manicotti Eating Extravaganza" of this last week. It's simple, light and loaded with deliciousness. This recipe is so good, I surprised myself. 😋 Besides it's awesome flavor, it's a make-ahead salad so it's super easy and convenient to make and bring to Thanksgiving potlucks or family get-together any time of year. 
Shred up some crunchy green cabbage, slice up some paper-thin red onions, shave up a bulb of fennel, cut up some super sweet crisp apples like Honey Crisp, Pink Lady, or Rockit™ apples toss with a sweet Maple Dijon Vinaigrette and refrigerate overnight! Let the flavors mingle and get to know each other and come morning, you have the perfect blend of fresh and bright, crunchy and sweet Apple, Fennel and Onion Slaw! Happy Thanksgiving!

Apple, Fennel, and Onion Slaw

 Serves 10-12


1 head of cabbage, finely shredded
1 small bulb fennel, cored and thinly shaved
1/4 red onion, thinly shaved
3-4 sweet crisp apples, cut into matchsticks (I used Rockit™ Apples)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sliced almonds


Maple Dijon Dressing
1 small shallots, finely minced
3 T Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2  t.  salt
1/4 t. pepper

Prepare dressing first. Combine all ingredients, adding the oil slowly while whisking to emulsify the vinaigrette and set aside. 
Next, prepare the vegetables and apples. Finely shred cabbage, rinse and spin dry and place in a large bowl.Thinly slice about 1/4 cup of red onions and add to cabbage. 

Cut apples into matchsticks and place in another bowl and squeeze with lemon to prevent browning, let apples sit in lemon juice while preparing the fennel. 

Cut fennel in half and remove the core and then finely shave thin slices of fennel placing the shaved fennel in a small bowl with about 2 T of dressing. Stir to coat fennel with dressing to prevent browning, then add it to the bowl with cabbage and onions. 

Now add the apples and almonds to the bowl. Add about half the Maple Dijon dressing using tongs to turn and coat the vegetables. Add salt and pepper to taste, cover and refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Reserve the remaining dressing. The next day, remove slaw from the fridge. Note that the cabbage has softened a bit and some of that water has now collected at the bottom of your bowl. Carefully drain some of that liquid that collected overnight and then toss with more of the reserved dressing and enjoy! Top with more almonds if desired.

More recipes to try:

Cream of Mushroom Soup with Pancetta

Kale Salad with Walnuts and Golden Raisins

Sauteed Collard Greens

Apple Cardamom Tart

The holidays are fast upon us and I'm feverishly working on some new Thanksgiving dishes, starting with this comforting Apple Cardamom Tart. An absolutely delicious, not too sweet alternative to apple pie. It begins with a buttery sweet pastry crust, layers of tart Granny Smith apples sauteed in butter, sugar and honey, and topped with an easy condensed milk custard delicately spiced with cardamom. Serve it warm out of the oven with vanilla ice cream or at room temperature with hot tea or coffee. Perfect for the holidays!

🍏🍏🍏The french sweet dough (Pate Sucree) recipe is definitely worth the trouble and is best made a day ahead, but if you don't have that kind of time, feel free to use your favorite pie crust recipe. 🍏🍏🍏

Apple Cardamom Tart

(Pate Sucree recipe from Teri Appleton Villanueva and adapted tart filling recipe from Del's Cooking Twist via Yummly)

Make dough one day ahead.
Pate Sucree (French Sugar Dough)

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup ice water
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
8 oz. cold butter, unsalted, cut into pieces

Lightly beat egg yolks with ice water and set aside. In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt until combined. Add butter and process until mixture resembles a course meal, about 20 seconds. With machine running, add egg mixture in a slow steady stream. Process until dough just begins to hold together. do not process more than 30 seconds. Shape dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm. About 30 minutes or overnight. 

Prepare tart pan (I used a ~8-inch diameter tart pan) with cooking spray and cut out a parchment circle that fits the inside bottom of the pan. Smooth out any air bubbles created between the parchment and the cooking spray. Set aside.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 12 inch circle and fit it in your tart pan, taking care to work the dough up the tart pan sides. Using a rolling pin, cut the excess dough.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, Freeze tart pan for 30 minutes while the oven comes up to temperature. Remove tart dough from freezer, line tart dough with pie weights and bake blind for 20 minutes to set sides. Remove pie weights and bake another 15-20 minutes. Leaving the oven on, set the baked tart shell aside to cool a bit. While the tart dough bakes, prepare the filling.

Apple Tart Filling
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
1/4  cup butter, unsalted
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
2 eggs

Peel and slice apples. I used an apple slicer/corer and then sliced the apple slices in half again. Squeeze a bit of lemon juice on the apple slices to protect them from browning. In a large skillet, melt butter and sugar. Add apples and honey. Stir to coat and let apples simmer about 5 minutes. Remove apples from pan and set aside. add condensed milk to the butter sugar remaining in the pan. Simmer on low, stirring continuously for about 3 minutes. Add 1/4 tsp cardamom and remove from heat.  Allow to cool for a bit. Beat eggs and quickly stir them into the condensed milk sugar mixture. 

 

Assemble your tart. Place apples in tart shell and pour the condensed milk sugar mixture over the apples. 

Bake at 375 degrees on the bottom rack of the oven for about 25-30 minutes or until custard begins to turn golden brown. Cool and serve warm or at room temperature.  Enjoy!

Other recipes to try:

Rustic Apple Torta

Red Velvet Brownies with Cookie Crumble Frosting

Orange Cornmeal Cake

Rustic Apple Torta

You've probably noticed that the last few recipes I've shared have been by Teri Appleton Villanueva. Chef Teri was my instructor for the last 3 months when I took her Pro Chef Series at Chef Tech Cooking School, here in Long Beach. She is an amazing chef, excellent teacher, and an accomplished recipe developer. All of the dishes we prepared in class were hers. It was such a great experience and I learned so much that I've decided to pick out my favorite recipes from class and blog them starting with this Rustic Apple Torta. 
Confession...I'm not much of a dessert gal and I know this is going to be completely un-American, but I don't like apple pie either. *cringe* 
Don't hate me...I'm not sure why, I just never liked the apple and cinnamon flavors together in an apple pie. I love the smell of a cinnamon apple candle. I can burn that thing all day, everyday, but the flavors? Not so much.
So here is quite possibly the closest thing to apple pie as I'll get. And in my opinion, it's absolutely the best-est apple pie-like dessert.  The apples hold up and aren't soggy or watery. It's not too sweet, no cinnamon and the crust is so buttery and flaky and just about the best thing ever. I can go on and on, but rather than talking about how good it is, it's time to make it and see for yourself. Enjoy!

Rustic Apple Torta

(recipe from Teri Appleton Villanueva)

Sour Cream Pie dough
7 oz. unsalted butter, cubed, cold (14 Tbsp)
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
generous 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

Cut butter into cubes and freeze for 10 minutes. In food processor, pulse together flour, salt, baking powder and sugar until well combined.  Scatter half the butter over the flour and pulse about 6-8 times until it resembles course corn meal. Add remaining butter and pulse 3-5 times until butter is pea-sized. Transfer from processor to a medium bowl and stir in the sour cream. Knead by hand just until dough comes together. Pat into a flat disk, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. 

Almond Cream
1/4 cup dry roasted, unsalted almonds
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cold
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla

In a food processor, grind the almonds together with sugar and flour to a fine powder. Add butter and process until well mixed. Add egg and vanilla and process until well mixed. Scrape into a small bowl and refrigerate unitl firm, about 30 minutes.

Prep apples:
2 Granny Smith apples
2 Golden Delicious apples

Adjust oven rack into lower middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel and core apples and cut into thin slices. Set aside.

1 egg whisked with 1 T water
Brown Sugar

Roll sour cream dough to a 1/4 inch thick, 14 inch circle. Place on parchment lined tray. 


Spread almond butter out to a 12 inch circle. Fan apples out decoratively on dough, leaving a 1 inch border to flip up and over the edges of the apples to form a rustic looking tart. If you look closely you will see that I alternated each row with Granny Smith and Golden Delicious apple slices. Too pretty.

Brush edge of tart and apples with egg wash and sprinkle generously with brown sugar. 

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until crust is golden brown when lifted with the spatula to check underneath. Cool on rack. Serve.

Other recipes to try:

Lemon Butter Cookies

Orange Cornmeal Cake

Cinnamon Cheesecake Cookies