Having A Crumb-y Day

I don't subscribe to Everyday Food, but I do love it. I love how fuss free the recipes are and the photos that accompany them. Instead I get suckered in at the cash register into buying them. I especially love the holiday issues filled with turkey, stuffing, cranberry, sweet potatoes, pies, and cookies. Oh, and the holiday cookie issue just has me salivating!

I flip through the pages and I honestly want to make every recipe. I DVR Everyday Food and Everyday Baking on Saturday mornings but I don't particularly like the hosts though because they don't have any personality and are clearly reading from teleprompters. But, the food always looks good and that has to count for something, right?

Then I got the Everyday Food cookbook. That allowed me to look at it at my own leisure (without the hosts) and without the clutter of all the little magazines. Most of those recipes that are in the smaller issues are also in this book, and they're divided by season. Genius. This recipe is adapted from the Blueberry Crumb Cake. This cake is very good with blueberries, but I decided since it is fall, that I'd try it with apples. Though, pears or blackberries would be good in this too.

Apple Crumb Cake adapted from Everyday Food

FOR THE CRUMB TOPPING

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter

FOR THE CAKE

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2/3 cup low-fat buttermilk, well shaken
• 2 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped
• Powdered sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make crumb topping: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, and salt. Cut in the butter using your hands or a pastry blender until large, moist crumbs form. Chill until ready to use.

Butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately until just combined. (Batter will be very stiff.) Fold chopped apples into the batter and spoon into prepared pan.

Generously sprinkle cake with crumb topping. Bake until golden brown and a tester comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before cutting into squares.

Serves 9-12

NOTE: Granny Smith are good baking apples, because they hold up without getting mushy, but this cake only bakes for 45 minutes, so they'll maintain their texture. I used Red Delicious apples, because I had an entire bag of them, but use your favorite type.

It's a Classic

We travelled a lot when I was a child. We didn't take family vacations, but instead moved from Texas to Virginia, twice by car. Just the four of us, my mom, my brother and my sister in an '80's model Oldsmobile Cutlass- white with burgandy cloth interior with a trailer hitch. Trailing behind was a U-Haul trailer.

It's a long drive to Northern Virginia from the Texas Panhandle and we (I say we, but my mom is the only one who drove) would do it in about 24 hours. We didn't stop much except to eat or pull over so my mom could buy no-dose and a cup of jo.

When we did stop it was usually at Cracker Barrel because they were in every state we drove through- Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee- and they were open for 24 hours. We usually ordered breakfast no matter what time of day it was and we played that little triangle/golf tee game they left on the tables. When we were done, we were allowed to browse through their gift shop (which I still love today) and we could get one thing. We either got those 10 cent multi colored spiral candy sticks or rock candy and we'd trade in the car.

I still love Cracker Barrel and all it's coziness, but sadly my husband is not a fan. He grew up on Luby's Home Cookin' and he always gets the same thing- fried fish, mac and cheese and fried okra. When he craves home cookin' that's where we go. Every once in a while I can talk him into going to Cracker Barrel, but it's not often.

I knew if I wanted to try this Coca-Cola cake at the restaurant, I'd have to wait a while. So I searched the net and found this recipe. My husband loves coke, as we call it here in the south, so I knew he would enjoy this cake. It tastes very much like the Texas Fudge Sheetcake, I make for him every birthday, except it has marshmallows and not nuts. It was a little gooey-er from the frosting that melted into the marshmallow topped cake, but it was really good. It had a mild chocolate taste and was very tender and moist, but I couldn't really taste the coke in the cake or the frosting. My husband had 2 servings in one night (and every night there after til it was all gone), not bad for a man who's not a fan of Cracker Barrel. Hopefully I've changed his mind.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Coca-Cola Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 cup Coca-Cola®
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Heat butter, cocoa and Coca-Cola® to boil and pour over the flour mixture. Mix well. Add eggs, buttermilk, vanilla extract and marshmallows and blend. The batter will be thin with marshmallows floating on top.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 6 tablespoons Coca-Cola®
• 1 box confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Boil first three ingredients. Remove from the heat and blend in the sugar and vanilla extract. Spread on warm cake.

NOTE: I added half a teaspoon of cinnamon to the frosting to bring out the chocolatey-ness. Yum!

Stinky Girl - Stinky Cookies

Autumn's 4th birthday was in September. I made her some stinky dog treats and she loved them! Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

I made her cheesy bacon doggie treats last year when she turned 3, so this year I wanted to make something a little different. Not that she cares...I'm sure she'd eat the the same bacon and cheese bones everyday and not ever complain, but I like for her to have a diverse palette- ha!

I have a doggie treat book I found on clearance a couple years ago. A lot of the recipes have funky stuff in them like- desiccated bone meal, raw chicken and pork livers, kelp powder, processed cheese spread, and many more odd things that I do not keep in my house nor would I buy just to make dog treats. So I found a recipe for carrot and cheese dog treats and subbed the ground beef for canned tuna. They were so stinky but of course it smelled great to her!

Carrot & Cheese Dog Treats from Tasty Treats for Demanding Dogs

• 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
• 2-3 tbsp. grated dried cheese (Parmesan)
• 1/2 lb. lean ground beef, cooked and finely minced (or one small can of tuna in water-do not drain)
• 1 large carrot, peeled and finely grated
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder*
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. beef or chicken broth (if you use tuna, you don't need the broth)

1. Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Lightly grease or use parchment paper to line 2 baking sheets. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl combine both flours, cheese, cooked beef or tuna, carrots and garlic powder.

3. In a small bowl, using a wire whisk or electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs until foamy before beating in the broth.

4. Using a large spoon, a spatula or your hands, combine the two mixes, blending until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a soft dough. If the mixture seems a little dry add a little more broth a tablespoon at a time. If it is too wet add a little more flour.

5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured flat surface, and using a rolling pin, roll out to 1/4-inch thick. Use a 1 1/2- inch round cookie cutter to cut out as many cookies as you can, reworking the scraps as you go. The dough will become stiff as it is reworked.

6. Place the cookies side by side on the prepared baking sheets and bake for 20-30 minutes or until the cookies appear very dry and the edges are lightly golden. Remove the trays from the oven and cool to room temperature. Turn off the oven.

7. When the cookies have cooled completely, put all the cookies on one cookie sheet and return them to the cooling oven. Leave them undisturbed (read: do not open the oven during this time) for 8-16 hours.

NOTE: I used the full amount (3 cups) of all-purpose flour. And I substituted the ground beef for a can of tuna in water. If you use the tuna, do not drain it. It is enough liquid that you don't need to add the broth.

These are fairly easy to make, you just have to make sure you allot the time to make them. I made them in the evening and left them in the oven (per the directions) over night. You really must not skip this step because the cookies need to dry out. Leaving them in the dry warm oven depletes their moisture so you can keep them longer at room temp. Doing this will also make them really hard, so don't be alarmed if they feel like hockey pucks. If they still have moisture in them, they will spoil- you don't want that and neither do your dogs.

Also, I used a 3x1 inch (bone shaped) cookie cutter and they baked for 45 minutes before they turned golden. This recipe made about 36 3-inch cookies. Depending on how thick you roll the dough and the size of the cutter, your results may vary. I then used a smaller 1-inch pumpkin shaped cookie cutter for the scraps.

*Some dogs may be allergic to garlic, so leave this out if it's a concern.

I promise your pooch will LOVE these! They're so much better for them than the store bought chemical laden variety and they're cheaper- win win!

**Don't forget to vote tomorrow!**