Baked Apple Breakfast

The instructions are both in the body of the post and consolidated at the bottom for ease of reference when making. Good luck and enjoy!

These apples are glorious. 

They can be served with greek yogurt for breakfast or a "smart" dessert.

If you are feeling particularly decadent, then you should pair a warm apple with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

Preheat your oven to 350°F

Ingredients: 

9 Honeycrisp Apples - cored

1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats

1/2 cup Truvia (brown sugar)

1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract 

Juice of 1 Lemon 

1/4 tsp Almond Extract

Brewed Chai Tea

Butter at room temperature

Mix together the oats, Truvia, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and almond extract. Combine them until they become a crumbly mixture.

Core the apples. 

I decided to cut away parts of the tops with a pairing knife to better hold the filling.

Fill the apples with your dry oat mixture. 

Pour about 1/2 inch of chai tea into the bottom of the baking dish. 

Don't be bothered by any fallout from the apples. The oats in the chai will cook while in the oven to become a delicious oatmealish sauce. 

Top each apple with a pat of butter.

Use the rest of your oat mixture on top of the butter. 

Tent your baking dish with Aluminum Foil this will help to steam the apples.

Place your baking dish in the oven for 35 minutes. 

Remove the foil and allow them to cook for another 10 minutes uncovered. 

Take your apples out of the oven. While it may be tempting to dig into them right away, don't. 

A scalding apple cannot be enjoyed.  Let them sit for 5-10 minutes. 

Plate with some of the sauce from the bottom of the pan.

Ingredients: 

9 Honeycrisp Apples - cored

1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats

1/2 cup Truvia (brown sugar)

1 tbsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract 

Juice of 1 Lemon 

1/4 tsp Almond Extract

Brewed Chai Tea

Butter at room temperature

Instructions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F
2. Mix together the oats, Truvia, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and almond extract. 
3. Core the apples. Optional, carve the tops into cups. 
4. Fill the apples with your dry oat mixture. 
5. Pour about 1/2 inch of chai tea into the bottom of the baking dish. 
6. Top each apple with a pat of butter.
7. Top the pat of butter with any remaining mixture.
8. Tent your baking dish with Aluminum Foil this will help to steam the apples.
9. Bake--covered--for 35 minutes. 
10. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes uncovered. 
11. Take your apples out of the oven.  Let them sit for 5-10 minutes. 
12. Enjoy!

Irish Soda Bread

I wish I had photos for you of the bread but unfortunately, it was all gobbled up faster than I expected. So this post will be accompanied by some photos from the Irish pub we stumbled upon in Peru. 

Ingredients 

* 4 cups all-purpose flour

*3/4 cup white sugar 

* 1 tsp salt 

* 1tsp baking powder 

*1 tsp baking soda 

1/2 cup butter at room temperature (I personally like Kerry Gold Butter) 

1 1/2 cups raisins 

1 1/2 cups buttermilk at room temp

3 eggs 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

Grease and flour your baking pan. 

Mix together all your dry ingredients. 

Begin to cut the butter gently into your dry ingredients until they are well combined and then mix in your raisins. 

In another container, whisk together the buttermilk and the eggs. After they are both mixed together, mix this into the flour/butter paste. 

Place the dough into your buttered pan. 

Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour the top of your bread will be golden brown. 

When you remove the pan from the oven, allow it to cool for a little while before removing from the baking pan (10-15 minutes should do it). 

Serve with butter, jam, a Guinness or whatever goodies you have in mind.

Happy St. Patty's to you whatever your altitude!
Have fun! Stay safe!

German Apple Cake

This is by far one of my favorite things about fall... German apple cake. 

This is also a great recipe if you need to bring a dessert to a holiday party. 

However, this is not diet friendly nor diabetic friendly. 

Ingredients: 

- 2 eggs 

- 1 cup of vegetable oil 

- 2 cups of white sugar 

- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 

-1/2 teaspoon of salt 

- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

- 2 cups of all purpose flour 

- 1 teaspoon baking soda 

- 4 cups of apples, peeled, sliced very thing

- Pinch of nutmeg 

- Pinch of powdered ginger

The key to this recipe is mixing. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Flour and grease a cake pan.

Mix the eggs and the vegetable oil thoroughly until they have a creamy consistency. Add the vanilla to the liquid mixture. 

Slowly add the sugar, mixing thoroughly. 

Combine the dry ingredients separately. Slowly add to the liquid batter until thoroughly incorporated, it's going to get a little difficult to stir the batter as you continue.

Fold in the apples to the mixture. 

Pour into the prepared pan. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes. 

Once the cake is cooled, you can dust with confectioners sugar or homemade icing from confectioners sugar, water and holiday spices.