Bready or Not Original: Easy Apple Cinnamon Cake
Easy Apple Cake! This delicious cake is great to bake up, slice, and store in the fridge or freezer to enjoy for weeks to come.
If this recipe looks familiar, it’s because this is a rewrite of a recipe I posted back in 2016. The original version asked the baker to arrange the apple pieces in the middle and again on top.
After making this cake many, many times, I realized that was an unnecessarily fussy step. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
I started folding all of the apple chunks into the batter, and this saved a lot of time. The apples were perfectly distributed and the taste was the exact same.
This cake remains a very favorite for both my husband and my dad. They’ll eat it for breakfast, snack, or dessert.
When I travel back home to California, I always make this cake for my dad. Since my mom doesn’t stock baking ingredients, I measure up my own (one sandwich baggy with brown sugar and cinnamon; another with flour, baking soda, and salt; one more with white sugar) and whip him up a cake in no time!
Bready or Not Original: Easy Apple Cinnamon Cake
Ingredients
- 3 medium apples peeled, cored, & chopped into small chunks
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon heaping
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs room temperature
- turbinado or maple sugar for topping optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9×9 square pan with foil and apply butter or nonstick spray.
- In a medium bowl, toss peeled and chopped apples with cinnamon and brown sugar.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together the white sugar, vegetable oil, sour cream/yogurt, and vanilla extract until it's smooth. Add the eggs.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until everything is just mixed. Fold in the apple chunks.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle turbinado or maple sugar over top, if desired.
- Bake 1 hour, until it passes the toothpick test in middle. Cool completely, chilling in fridge if desired. Use foil to list contents onto a cutting board. Cut into pieces.
- These are great individually plastic wrapped and stored at room temperature or in the fridge; bars can be frozen and keep well for months. Eat from the fridge, or at room temperature, or warm in the microwave or oven. However you eat it, it'll be delicious!
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Chewy Oatmeal Apple Chip Cookies
Apple Chips are delicious to eat out of the bag, but they can also be used to make delicious baked goods like these Chewy Oatmeal Apple Chip Cookies!
If you recall last month, I shared a new recipe for Apple Chip Blondies as I searched for ways to utilize a Costco-bought gigantic bag of apple chips. I decided to find a way to use them in cookies as well.
This ended up being tricky. I tried one recipe, and while the result was tasty, the cookies were crumbly and turned hard within a few hours. That would not do.
I turned to one of my own old recipes for Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (which I need to bake again to post here, as I posted before on my old LiveJournal). I modified it to use apple chips instead of raisins, and to use one of my new favorite grocery store finds, caramel chips.
These cookies worked in the best kind of way. The apple chips soften, but remain chewier than raisins. The cookies themselves are chewy and stay chewy in a sealed container. The caramel chips–well, like liquid caramel, they pair perfectly with apples. The caramel flavor is at the forefront, followed by the sublime taste of the apple chips.
Bready or Not Original: Chewy Oatmeal Apple Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter melted
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup caramel chips
- 1 cup apple chips broken small
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat, or use seasoned stoneware.
- Melt butter and let cool slightly.
- Mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the cinnamon, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk for 2 to 3 minutes until light and creamy. Mix in the flour mixture. Add the oats, caramel chips, and apple chip pieces. Mix until just blended.
- Using a tablespoon scoop, place dough balls on pan. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, until the edges are slightly brown and the middle is still soft. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Caramel Apple Chip Blondies
Caramel Apple Chip Blondies! This recipe is what happens for you buy a big bag of apple chips at Costco and your kid doesn’t like them.
Apple chips are pretty expensive at the grocery store, so buying them at a big membership club is a great way to get them. They are seriously delicious, crisp like potato chips but made of pure apples.
When baking with apple chips, break them into small pieces. They will soften up as they bake, taking on a raisin-like chewy texture with loads of apple flavor. Larger pieces will be even chewier, though, and get caught on the knife when slicing.
The chips are easy to break up. You can do it with your fingers or throw them into a sealed sandwich bag and smash them with a rolling pin of the bottom of a heavy glass.
In the end, these blondies are sweet and chewy with a mild but very present apple flavor throughout that’s complemented nicely by the caramel and white chocolate chips.
Bready or Not Original: Caramel Apple Chip Blondies
Ingredients
- 2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup caramel chips
- 1 1/2 cup apple chips crumbled, Bare Brand recommended
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Slowly add dry ingredients. Stir in the white chocolate and caramel chips followed by the apple chips.
- Pour blondie dough into the prepared pan and smooth out with uneven spatula.
- Bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until the top of the blondies are light golden brown and the middle passes the toothpick test. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
- Once they are cool, use foil to lift blondies onto cutting board to slice into bars.
- OM NOM NOM!
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Bready or Not: Caramel Apple Cookies
These Caramel Apple Cookies involve some extra work, but they are worth it. These are among the best cookies I have ever made. That’s saying something.
They also might involve some blood-letting. Let’s just say I will never again try to grate apple. I’m fine with finely dicing with a knife from now on.
But hey, as history and mythology has taught us, sometimes blood-letting comes to good purpose. These are chewy, sweet, soft apple cookies topped with caramel. If that’s not worth sacrifice, what is?
Use some variety of sweet-tart apple like you’d use for a pie. I used Braeburn, but Granny Smith and Jonathan are also good choices. 1 cup grated/diced is most of a medium apple.
These cookies reminded me of a fresh-made and frosted version of the Little Debbie’s Apple Delights that I loved loved loved as a kid. I have never before had a homemade cookie that was like this.
You may have some frosting leftover at the end; I had about 1/3 cup. Just look for random things you can frost like Golden Oreos, the cat, graham crackers, human flesh, etc. Trust me, you don’t want this apple-caramel frosting to go to waste.
Modified from Fall Baking 2016 by Better Homes & Gardens.
Bready or Not: Caramel Apple Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, softened
- 1 1/4 cups brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- sprinkle cloves
- sprinkle nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1/2 cup apple cider or juice
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup tart apple peeled and coarsely shredded or diced, most of a medium apple
Frosting:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 Tablespoons apple cider or juice
- 2 2/3 cups confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat butter until smooth, then add brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg, and salt. Continue to beat until fluffy, scraping bowl as needed.
- Beat in the egg and apple cider or juice. Slowly mix in flour. Fold in the apple bits last; dough will be very soft.
- Use a tablespoon scoop to space out dollops of dough on the parchment paper. Bake about 12 to 14 minutes, until golden brown; be careful not to under-bake, as the cookies need to be sturdy enough to be frosted. Completely cool cookies on wire rack.
- When the cookies are cool, begin making frosting on stovetop. On medium heat in small saucepan, stir together brown sugar, butter, and apple cider or juice. Heat until the brown sugar is dissolved. Gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.
- Begin frosting cookies immediately; the back of a spoon works well. If the frosting in the pan begins to harden, stir in a few drops of hot water until it is smooth again.
- Store cookies in a sealed container at room temperature with wax paper between the layers.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Apple Butter Bars
Last month I shared a recipe for Apple Butter Oatmeal Bars. This time around, I’m sharing easy and straightforward Apple Butter Bars.
This is a totally original recipe out of necessity. I tried another recipe, and ended up with a crumbly mess. Therefore, I decided to adapt my Lemon Cheesecake Bar recipe.
That attempt turned out perfect. It’s fast to make, as you don’t have to bake in stages, and the end result was cohesive.
Do note that these are best chilled. They will get softer if kept at room temperature for a while.
The taste is phenomenal. The crumb layers taste like vanilla shortbread, with a sporadic crunch from nuts. The thin layer of apple butter adds just the right about of spice and flavor.
This would be great with other fruit butters, too!
Bready or Not Original: Apple Butter Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup walnuts chopped finely
- 1 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter 1 1/2 sticks, softened
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups apple butter or other fruit butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a large bowl, blend together flour, walnuts, confectioners' sugar, butter, and vanilla, until it is crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 cups of crumbs; press the rest into the ready pan.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the edges are turning golden brown and crust is set.
- Pour apple butter over crust and smooth to edges. Crumble reserved flour mixture all over the top. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes.
- Cool to room temperature then chill in fridge. Use foil to lift out bars to slice. Store in sealed container in the fridge for maximum flavor and cohesiveness.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies
If you love apples and oatmeal cookies, this unique recipe combines those loves in a delicious new form!
These Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies are thin and super chewy. Don’t substitute applesauce here. You need real apple butter, homemade or store-bought.
The dough can be finicky to work with. I use well-seasoned stoneware for my cookies, and I was surprised that my first batch completely stuck to the pan. After over a decade of seasoning the stoneware, that almost never happens!
The solution is simple: parchment paper. Keep it on the paper to bake and to cool, allowing the cookies to completely set. That doesn’t take long.
The end result is a thin, chewy oatmeal cookie with a rich apple flavor. I’ve never had anything quite like them!
Modified from Apple Butter Cookies in Best Loved Cookies & Bars by Taste of Home.
Bready or Not: Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter half stick, softened
- 2 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons apple butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, oats, and apple butter.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Gradually mix them into the butter mix, followed by the pecans and raisins. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper; note that the paper is a necessity, as this dough is very sticky. Scoop dough by teaspoonful, with lots of space between each dollop to account for spreading.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Use parchment paper to lift the cookies onto a rack to cool, and put fresh paper on the cookie sheet. Prepare the next batch. By the time the next cookies are baked, the previous batch should be set and ready to move off the cooling rack.
- Pack cookies with parchment or wax paper between layers, as they might stick together.
- OM NOM NOM!