apple – On An Even Kiel

Andrew and I went apple-picking with some friends a couple of weeks ago and came home with a lot of apples! So I started looking for some yummy-looking apple recipes. I’m not brave enough to try apple pie, because I hear crusts are tricky. Plus Andrew isn’t a big pie guy. Something about the cooked fruit…

Anyway, I was most excited to try out the caramel apple cupcakes recipe that I found at fort & field. And yes, they are delicious! The recipe makes a dozen cupcakes, which is about 11 more than we needed. So I brought 11 cupcakes to the childcare center that I used to work at. 🙂

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2-3 Granny Smith or Rome apples (about 1 pound), peeled and shredded
1-1/2 cups chewy caramel candies
1 Tablespoon heavy cream

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with baking liners.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Grate your apples to ensure you’ll get apple with every bite of caramel.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and granulated sugars until smooth. Whisk in the oil and vanilla. Stir into the flour mixture until just combined; stir in the apples.
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan until almost full. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
5. In a small, microwavable bowl, combine the caramels and cream. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each one until caramel is melted and smooth. Dip cupcakes upside down into caramel and let cool. (I chose to just spoon the caramel on top and spread it with a spoon… seemed easier to me!)

That’s the cupcake that I barely shared with Andrew, because it was so delicious! 🙂 Oh, don’t put plastic wrap on them or you’ll be scraping caramel off and re-applying it to cupcakes. Probably should have seen that coming…

I was pretty sure this recipe was going to be good after reading through the ingredients, and I was right! I had planned ahead and made a loaf of French bread earlier in the week (the recipe I used for the Spiral Stromboli made 2 loaves of bread). I knew I had to make this recipe soon, because if I didn’t, Andrew was going to eat that loaf of bread!

This recipe goes together pretty quickly, which is nice when you don’t want to spend a ton of time in the kitchen…like on a Friday evening. 🙂

Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour, 5 minutes
Serves: 6

oil for dish
4 large eggs
1-1/2 c. whole milk
1 T. Dijon mustard
1/8 t. freshly grated or ground nutmeg
Kosher salt & pepper
1 12-oz loaf French or Italian bread, cut into 1″ pieces
1 small red onion, cut into 1/4″ thick wedges
1 crisp red apple (such as Gala or Braeburn), cut into 1/4″ thick wedges
4 oz sliced ham, torn into 2″ pieces (I had a 7-oz container, so I just threw it all in there)
4 oz sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
green salad, for serving

1. Heat oven to 350F/180C. Oil a 2-1/2 to 3-quart baking dish (I just used a 9×13″ pan). In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, mustard, nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper.
2. Add the bread and let sit, tossing occasionally, for 5 minutes.
I cut up the rest of my ingredients while the bread was soaking, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to show the quickest way I know to cut an onion:
First cut off the non-root end (the part without the hair-like things). Peel off the skin. Cut the onion in half through the root (this will keep the onion held together). Now make slices through the onion (like the picture above), making sure not to cut through the root. Then just slice off the root end, and there you go! Okay, back to the recipe…

3. Fold the onion, apple, ham, and cheese into the bread mixture.
4. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Bake until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean (cover the bread pudding with foil if it browns too quickly), 45-50 minutes.
Serve with salad, if desired. Which we did:
What a great dinner! I love starting a meal off with a nice salad, and this bread pudding was both filling and flavorful. I can’t wait to make this one again!

**Each serving has about 367 calories, 13 g fat, 155 mg cholesterol, 830 mg sodium, 20 g protein, 42 g carbohydrates, and 2 g fiber. If you use more ham like I did, these numbers obviously won’t be right. 🙂

Tag: apple

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