A good blogger would have had an incredible picture of this apple crisp, but a good daughter was too busy preparing it for her parents. There are times were life gets in the way of my food photography and this was one of those times.

I love my quick apple crisp recipe (scroll to snack #2), but since my cake mixes are being used for my new favorite peanut butter cookies, I thought this would be a good time to try making an apple crisp the good old-fashioned way.

I found a recipe that I thought would fit the bill perfectly for an evening with my parents. I prepared the skillet ziti with chicken & broccoli, a big batch of breadsticks, this apple crisp and some decaf coffee to polish it all off.

The dinner turned out delicious and this apple crisp was perfection. This recipe is not too sweet and the crumbly topping came together beautifully. I used Granny Smith apples because I like how sturdy they are and how they can hold up to just about any bit of baking. I am also fond of a tart apple with a sweet topping. I served the crisp with a big scoop of Cool Whip.

The frugal gal in me can never waste anything though and while I worked on the rest of the dinner, the apple peelings and cores were simmering away (in water) on our stove, sprinkled with a little cinnamon from the pantry. It smelled like apple pie all day as I tidied the house and got everything ready for a fun evening.

I hope you can give this recipe a try- it was a great way to polish a meal off.

Apple Crisp (The Good Old-Fashioned Way)

6 cups sliced, peeled apples
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3/4 cup rolled oat
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Place apples in a buttered 2-quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice. In a small bowl, combine rolled oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into mixture until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over the apples. Bake for 40 minutes or until apples are tender.

One of my favorite things to make for our company is my favorite Jewish Coffee Cake recipe. This recipe was given to me by my best friend’s mother. She told me that no matter how many other types of cakes she made, this was always the one that was requested and was always the favorite among her family members.

It should come as no surprise that it has become a favorite in our family too. This is the cake that made me a famous woman at my husband’s work, and I have scored more than a few friends at potlucks, toting my cake around town. It has even been served for my husband’s birthday dinners, making it just the right cake for any occasion.

The orange juice gives the cake a little tang and the cinnamon gives the cake a little spice to balance out the sweetness. With a dusting of confectioner’s sugar, you can hide any flaws and make it look like the star of any occasion.

This cake graced my table this past week, as I gathered my friends together to have a knitting night. My mother-in-law came to give us a class on how to knit hats and my girlfriends brought their knitting supplies to learn from the Master. Yes, I am finally learning to knit in the round and hope to have some fun projects to share with you soon!

Oh, and did I mention that the cake is made out of a cake mix? Don’t tell anyone! That will have to be our secret!

Fast Coffee Cake

1 package vanilla instant pudding
1 package yellow cake mix
½ cup oil
4 eggs
1 cup orange juice

Mix these ingredients together and then swirl the following through the cake batter 1/3 c. sugar, 4 t. cinnamon, 4 t. sesame seeds (optional). Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees in a well-greased and floured bundt pan. Allow cake to cool for 45-60 minutes in pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

There are very few nights where we don’t have a guest sitting at our dinner table. Although I put a lot of thought into our main dishes, I have to say, dessert sometimes gets the short end of the stick when I am entertaining.

I happened upon this recipe for peanut butter cookies that will make a regular appearance for busy weeknight invitations though! The recipe yields between two to three dozen (depending on the size of your scoops) and is made from items out of your pantry. Best of all, you can get all the ingredients at Aldi, which is a bonus in my book!

Be sure to keep the cooking time to the ten to twelve minutes and don’t let the lighter color fool you. I had some burnt cookies in my first batch because I left them in the oven too long. Let them cool as instructed and then place them on a pretty plate for serving. Then you need to complete the most difficult step of all…Try to graciously accept the compliments without giving away your cooking secrets (which I never can do myself!).

I piled these on one of my trays with a carafe of decaf coffee, mugs, creamers, and and special coffee syrups. It was the perfect way to end an evening and I look forward to serving these again and again!

Elaine’s Peanut Butter Cookies (Courtesy of AllRecipes.com)

1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Pour the cake mix into a large bowl. Make a well in the center, and add peanut butter, oil, eggs, and water. Mix until well blended. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten slightly using a fork dipped in water.

3. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cookies set on cookie sheet for 2 to 3 minutes before carefully removing from the cookie sheet to cool on wire racks.

I am curious, what is your go-to dessert dish when you are having company? I would love some new desserts to add to our dinner table!

My sister-in-law’s boyfriend celebrated his birthday Friday night. To help out with the evening’s festivities, I offered to make the cupcakes for his special day. I found a recipe in my favorite cupcake book, “Cupcakes from the Cake Doctor” and picked her “Best Birthday Cupcakes” recipe.

These cupcakes are as close to a bakery cupcake as I will probably ever make. They are light and sweet, but not too sweet. They have a great consistency and are perfectly moist and sturdy enough to hold up to a good dose of yummy frosting.

I will probably never search for the perfect birthday cupcake again after sampling these. I paired the cupcake with her Chocolate Syrup Frosting which was the perfect way to top this delicious cake.

No more searching, ladies! This is THE cupcake for every celebration. Enjoy!!

The Best Birthday Cupcakes

24 paper liners

1 package plain butter recipe golden cake mix (I subbed with white and loved it!)

1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Syrup Frosting (recipe to follow)

Colored sprinkles or candy cake decorations for garnish

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line cupcake cups with liners. Set the pans aside. Place the cake mix, cream cheese, sugar, water, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend on low speed with an electric mixer for 30 seconds, until the ingredients are well blended then stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Increase the mixer to medium speed and beat for 1 1/2 minutes to 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should be smooth and thickened. Spoon or scoop 1/4 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it two thirds of the way full (You should get between 22-24 cupcakes). Place the pans in the oven. Bake the cupcakes until they are golden and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 24-27 minutes. Remove pans from oven and place them on wire racks to cool for five minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edges of the cupcake liners, lift the cupcakes up from the bottoms of the cups using the end of the knife, and pick them out of the cups carefully with your fingertips. Place them on a wire rack to cool fifteen minutes before frosting. Meanwhile prepare your frosting…

Chocolate Syrup Frosting

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup chocolate syrup

3 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the butter, cocoa powder, and chocolate syrup in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until just combined (about 30 seconds). Stop the machine and add the sugar, milk, and vanilla. Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated, 1 minute. Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more. Use to frost your cupcakes.

*This post originally aired on October 8, 2007*

Welcome to a Play It Again, Momma week! This week we will be highlighting some of our favorite entries and today we kick off the week with three great recipes. I hope you will join me this week as I highlight some oldies, but goodies!

We had a reason to celebrate this week because my husband started a new job. We are so grateful that he has been given this opportunity and that he will be able to start a new adventure on his career path.

We wanted to do something to celebrate his first day of work so we made him one of his favorite treats…Snickerdoodle Cupcakes!

These are so delicious and I got the recipe from one of the Cake Doctor books. It has been a favorite in our house for several years and a frequent request for family birthdays.

The cake has just the right blending of flavors and the cake mix make these easy to whip up for unexpected company. It is the cinnamon frosting that pushes it over the top though so take the time to make the icing from scratch since you are saving time on the cake by using the mix!

I hope you can try these in your house- let me know what you think!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes (these can be made into a cake too- whichever you prefer)

1 package plain white cake mix
1 cup whole milk
1 stick of butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Frosting:
1 stick butter
3 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
3-4 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and flour & grease 2 9″ pans (for cakes) or line your cupcake tin. Place cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend for three minutes (stop to scrape once). Pour into pans and bake for 27-29 minutes (for cake) or 22-25 minutes (for cupcakes). Allow the cakes to cool completely.

Beat butter until fluffy for frosting. Add all other ingredients.

Note: I froze half of these (without frosting) to keep in our freezer for another occasion. They freeze very nicely!

For my brother’s birthday, he requested his favorite pie… Key Lime! I had never made this type of pie before, but was up for the challenge after hunting around on Recipezaar.com for the perfect recipe.

I used this recipe for the crust which contained the graham crackers and oatmeal, instead of just the plain oatmeal crust. It turned out perfect and made the crust a little heartier and a tad less sweet, which balanced the citrus wonderfully.

I don’t have any pictures of the pie because we gobbled it up too fast, but it turned out wonderful. I used this recipe for the filling and the only thing I didn’t like about it was that I thought I should have doubled the filling for these pies. I had a lot of crust and a little filling, which made it look more like a tart with too much crust. Regardless, everyone seemed to really enjoy it and I was proud to get to help with the celebration!

I look forward to making more of these this summer. Lucky for me, it is the only pie my husband will eat so I am glad to have found a recipe that he liked.