Sophistimom Tartines

I saw these on Sophistimom's blog a few years ago and made them not too long after that.  They are so delicious!

Granny Smith Tartines with Black Forest Ham and Brie

french bread
1 Granny Smith apple
6 oz Brie cheese
4 or 5 slices of Black Forest Ham

Preheat the oven to 400.  Then start slicing, first the bread.

And give the bread a nice little toast in the oven.

Now, the apple and cheese.

Now, you're ready to build.

Place them in the oven for 8-10 minutes.  And have a snack while you wait...with the dog looking longingly at your food.

When done, the cheese will be all melty and yummy-looking.

Enjoy!

Apple Pecan Cheesecake

Another dessert that I took to a friend's house.  Our whole family was asked over for dinner and I got asked to make dessert.

Apparently, my friends think I like to make dessert.

They are right.

Let's talk cheesecake.

Who doesn't like cheesecake?  I mean really.  If you're human you like cheesecake.

Yum!

Break up some graham crackers and crush them up in a food processor.  Yes, ours is a mini one.

Put the graham cracker crumbs, butter, and sugar in a bowl and mix.

Press the crumbs into a pan to make the crust.

The tin foil is so it's easy to pull the whole cheesecake out for nice presentation- this doesn't work haha

Lots of cream cheese.

I like to use light cream cheese or reduced fat.

It gives me the illusion that it's better for me.

Add sugar and vanilla.

And some sour cream...I know kind of weird

Throw in the eggs.

Pour the cheesecake batter over the crust.

Peel and chop up three apples.

I used Granny Smith that we picked at a local orchard.

I like the tart apples for baking.

Add sugar, cinnamon, and pecans to the apples and give a good mix.

This makes the cheesecake that much better.

Sprinkle the apple pecan mixture over the top of the cheesecake.

Then put it in the oven and die while you have to smell the delicious cinnamon and apple.

It was a hit at the dinner.

We're all still eating it because it made a lot.

I bought some tea cups at an estate sale and had to use the plate for my staged picture.

You can find the original recipe here.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

The other night Jessie and I were supposed to go with The Chad to the midnight release of "Halo Reach," but The Chad fell asleep.  Jessie and I were still going to go so we decided to make muffins to keep ourselves awake.  I wanted to make something with apples, or applesauce.  So, I found a recipe and tweeked it a little to come up with something DELICIOUS!

All the ingredients laid out here, no not nice and neat because Jessica wasn't paying attention enough when I started to take that picture.  (I love you, Jessie :)

First, let me say I let Jessica take all the pictures (I guess since she's a photographer she should be the one to take them), but she wasn't paying attention the whole time so there aren't pictures of every step.

But first throw all the wet ingredients and the sugar into a bowl.

Now add the flour.

Then add the rest of your dry ingredients.

And...let your measuring spoons and cups stack up nicely.

Now everything's mixed up so nicely.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tin.  I used three tablespoons in each cup, but if you want more of a top to them I'd use four.

In a small bowl, mix together brown sugar and oatmeal.

Sprinkle the muffin batter with brown sugar and oatmeal mix.  Then pop them in the oven.

Then after 50 excruciating minutes of smelling the amazing-ness and waiting impatiently, they come out like this and are AMAZING!

Jessica and I shared this one then...a few minutes later I ate my own.

The Chad ate two of these for breakfast the next day and took the rest to the guys at work and they didn't last very long.

I have to add a little tip for all you bakers out there.

I needed cake flour for a recipe we were going to make this muffin night, but we didn't have something else so we couldn't make it.  We also didn't have cake flour, but I found a substitution for it.  So, moral of the story is- if you need cake flour for a recipe, but have none here's what you do:

1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour + 1/4 cup of cornstarch = 2 cups of cake flour  I can do math!  Aren't you proud?!

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

1 1/4 cup plain applesauce

2 apples (Fuji or Gala are probably best), cored, peeled, and cut up into small pieces.

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

3 tbsp milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a muffin tin with papers.

Combine the first six ingredients in a bowl, and mix thoroughly.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.  Then add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.  Use a tablespoon measuring spoon, and spoon 4 tablespoons into each muffin cup.  Combine in a small bowl then oatmeal and brown sugar.  Sprinkle the mixture on the top of each cup of batter.  Bake for 50 minutes.