Tag Archives: Fall

Apple Layer Coffee Cake

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Talk about a disaster. I wish I took a picture of this cake when it got totally defaced. It would have been a perfect picture to go next to “disaster” in the dictionary.

Apple Layer Coffee Cake | Beautiful Disasters

This cake took me about 2 hours to bake. Yes, 2 HOURS!

Apple Layer Coffee Cake | Beautiful Disasters

I originally thought it would take just about 1 hour, but nooo, you have been warned.

Apple Layer Coffee Cake | Beautiful Disasters

All my talk really should not deter you from this cake, because despite the trouble it gave me, it may be one of the most delicious things I have ever put in my mouth.

Apple Layer Coffee Cake | Beautiful Disasters

Holy apples. I put just about as much apple in here as it could take, which is why I think it took so long for mine to bake, because the apples were so juicy and the moisture was just not letting the batter bake. Granny smiths may be better for this recipe, but I used a mix of gala and honey-crisp and it was prime.

Apple Layer Coffee Cake | Beautiful Disasters

Apple Layer Coffee Cake

(Makes 1 Large tube cake)

4 Tablespoons brown sugar

5 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups white sugar

pinch of salt

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/3 cup apple cider

4 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

5 small-medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin

  1. Preheat oven to 325˚ F and grease and flour a large tube pan.
  2. In a small bowl, with a fork, mix cinnamon and brown sugar until fully combined and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Mix in oil, apple cider, and vanilla extract. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
  4. Slice peeled and cored apples and set aside. Spread a third of that batter into the bottom of the prepared tube pan. Arrange a layer of the apples over the spread batter, sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over apples. Add another layer of the batter of cinnamon-sugar mixture, then another layer of apples and another layer of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Add the final layer of batter, then sliced apples, then generously sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar over top.
  5. Bake cake in preheated oven for 90-100 minutes, or until heavy, set, and the batter is baked up. Try sticking a toothpick through to see if batter comes out on the toothpick tester. Because the apples can have quite a bit of moisture, it can be difficult to tell when the cake is done, so it may actually take a lot longer than the given time. Mine took 2 hours to bake up, it all depends on your oven and how juicy your apples are. Let baked cake cool for about 10 minutes in pan on wire rack, then place cake pan on top of a long neck bottle (like a wine bottle) to let cool for about 30 minutes. Slide a knife around the edges of the pan and invert cake onto serving plate. Enjoy! When not eating, cover with plastic wrap.

Apple Layer Coffee Cake | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: The venom of a small scorpion is much more toxic than the venom of a large scorpion.

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Thanksgiving Dessert Round-Up

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So I was going to do a full Thanksgiving meal round-up..then I realized that with the recipes on my blog her at Beautiful Disasters that a dessert round-up would be much more appropriate. So here you go, everything you need for a sweet and delicious Thanksgiving dessert table! Note that all these recipes can be made ahead of time (1-2 days ahead, ideally) to save yourself a headache.

  1. Pecan Pie

  2. Homemade Toffee

  3. Pumpkin Pie

  4. Vanilla Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream

  5. Gram’s Apple Crisp

  6. Gram’s Apple Cake

  7. French Silk Pie

  8. Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

  9. Homemade Caramel Corn

  10. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spice Buttercream

  11. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Marshmallow Buttercream

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Chocolate Almond Joy Cookies

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High school students often get a bad rep for being major procrastinators.  Printing off papers the passing period before class, coming up with a speech on the fly, glueing together random things for a project and calling it an A+ effort…you know how it is.

But I would just like to make one itty bitty observation that has really hit me hard this week.

High school teachers procrastinate until like the final day of every grading period to have their tests. They could at least spread out the tests throughout the week..but no. They must all have them today.

All of the big kahunas are today. AP stats is the one I am most scared for. I’ve literally said multiple prayers leading up to today’s test. May God be on my side!!!

To cope with my teachers’ major procrastination, I have made chocolate cookies studded with some cute little Almond Joy Pieces.  These are a little spin-off of my Reese’s Pieces cookies, just with a yummy slice and bake chocolate cookie dough that could not be any easier to make.

Keep your fingers crossed for me today!

Chocolate Almond Joy Cookies

1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons butter

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cups flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

7 snack-sized almond joy pieces packages

  1. Beat butter with vanilla extract until creamy. Mix in sugars and salt. In a separate bowl, sift together flours, cocoa powder, and baking soda. Slowly mix in dry ingredients to butter mixture.
  2. Roll cookie dough into a log in plastic wrap (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter) and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Unwrap cookie dough log and cut into 1/2 inch thick cookies, place on cookie sheet evenly spaced apart. Press about 5 Almond Joy pieces into each cookie. Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, then place on wire rack to finish. Enjoy!

Random Fact of the Day: The state of Florida is bigger than England!

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Half Baked Cookie Bars

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Somebody please tell me how the heck Thanksgiving is happening next week!?!

It seriously feels like it was Halloween just yesterday.  Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love the holidays but it scares me when time goes by this fast. I already feel like I am behind in the game for Christmas shopping. :o

I think I’ll just ask Santa this year to take care of all the gifts I’m supposed to give away ;)

One of the things that I am super excited about for Thanksgiving this year is that my brother will be coming back to the windy city (from sunny L.A.) to eat loads of turkey as a family. Because what better way is there to reunite as a family than stuffing your faces?

My sister will be coming home from college as well, which is exciting too, but she’s always just a few hours away. It’s a little different with my brother. It is so darn expensive and hard for him to take off work that coming back home is just hardly an option. Having family so far away can really be tough because nothing compares to sharing the same room. Thankfully he will be back for Christmas, too!

Enough of my family talk, I hope you guys are all starting to figure out your Thanksgiving menus! I know I’ve been thinking about ours. Seriously be sure you hit the grocery store before the day before Thanksgiving… or else plan on spending hours in the checkout line :/

One last thing..I actually have a recipe to share! Despite all my babbling, there is a real recipe I have buried in this post ;) Half baked cookie bars, halfway bars, mud hen bars, I have heard them called many different things. All you really need to know is that they are super delicious, and don’t let the meringue part scare you…it is the easiest and tastiest thing on the planet.

Half Baked Cookie Bars

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg, separated

1/2 Tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cut two pieces of aluminum foil and fold them to match the width of the pan. Press one piece into the pan lengthwise and the other into the pan crosswise with the ends hanging over the sides of the pan. Spray foil with cooking spray.
  2. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside. Using a mixer, cream together the butter, white sugar and just 1/4 cup of the brown sugar.
  3. Separate the egg, set the egg white aside in a small ramekin. Mix the yolk into the butter-sugar mixture until completely absorbed, then mix in the water and vanilla extract. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and beat gently until all the flour has been absorbed and the dough looks crumbly.
  4. Press the cookie dough gently into the pan with your hands, making sure the surface is even.
  5. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the cookie dough and use your palms to press them slightly into the dough. This will help keep them from moving when you add the meringue.
  6. Using a mixer, with the whisk attachment, start whisking the egg white. Gradually increase your speed to medium-high. When the egg white is very frothy and looks like loose foam, start adding the remaining 1/2 cup of brown sugar a little at a time. Continue increasing your speed to the highest setting. When all the sugar has been added, continue whipping the meringue until it holds a soft peak.  It should look like glossy, soft-serve ice cream.
  7. Use a spatula to gently spread the meringue over the chocolate chip layer.
  8.  Lightly press a piece of parchment paper on the top of the meringue. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the parchment. Continue baking for an additional 5-10 minutes, until the edges look toasted and are pulling away from the sides of the pan. Wait until the pan is completely cook before lifting out the bars and cutting them into pieces. I waited a couple hours for mine to cool. Enjoy!

Random Fact of the Day: 40% of all indigestion remedies sold in the world are bought by Americans.

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Reese’s Pieces Cookies

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I think that I may have a smelling fetish.

It’s really kind of weird. Like I smell a lot of stuff. A lot.

Before I eat any food, you can basically guarantee that I am going to take a big giant whiff of it. I also have to admit, I’m not too subtle about it either. I will literally stick it right under my nose, almost touching it, just to get the whiff.

Not only do I do this with food, but I also do it with freshly washed clothes. As I am putting my clothes away, I smell almost everything before it goes into the drawer. (me: Oh, yep, nice job washing machine. Yeah. That’s fresh.)

The last main thing I smell quite frequently: my hair. I don’t know why. Sure it usually smells nice, but for some reason, I feel like there are some days where my hair is just totally scent-less, yet I KEEP smelling it. Please tell me I’m not alone here on the whole sniffing fetish.

Any fellow sniffing fanatics out there?

Nope? Okay, well I guess I’ll just offer cookies for your friendship. They’re loaded with Reese’s Pieces (basically the candy of the Gods) IN the dough and pressed on top, so you pretty much have one bomb of a cookie. Super easy and super yummy!

Reese’s Pieces Cookies

2 sticks (1 cup) butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)

1 teaspoon kosher salt

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 cups Reese’s Pieces (about 16 fun size bags)

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Cream together butter and sugars until creamy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Slowly add in flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Once dough comes together, by hand, fold in about 3/4 cup Reese’s Pieces.
  3. Scoop dough onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Press 2-3 Reese’s Pieces into the tops of each cookie. Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden. Let cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Random Fact of the Day: Instead of a birthday cake, many children in Russia are given a birthday pie

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