Slow Cooker Cider Applesauce

Like most New Englanders, we always have tons of apples come Fall. I made my very first apple pie this year and it was YUM! Another favorite is apple crisp - although I have yet to make one this year. Have to rectify that STAT!

Last year I started making apple sauce to use up apples we had sitting around, and then I freeze it. It's pretty good if I say so myself! Usually, I just cook the apples on the stove until they're good and soft and then call it a day. But this year I ran across a recipe on Pinterest for Cider Applesauce in the slow cooker! It's crazy easy and tastes delish.

I modified it a little bit, but the original recipe can be found using the link above.

Ingredients
enough apples to fill your slow cooker, any flavor of your choosing - peeled, cored and cut
2 tsp Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend*

Directions
Layer apples and spice blend until the slow cooker is full. Cook on high about 4 hours, or until apples have completely softened. 

Serve hot, or freeze for later use.


*The Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend is a Pampered Chef product that includes cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and orange peel. It's a great substitute when making apple pie or pumpkin pie.
The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Another recipe found on Pinterest. Seriously... that site is crazy addictive!!!

Original recipe is found at the King Arthur site.

The Little Ladies got me a donut pan for my birthday in June (with the help of their dad), and I finally decided to christen it. Little Lady #2 is down for a nap (which means it's quiet!!), so Little Lady #1 and I went to work!

It was a pretty easy recipe to make. We didn't have pumpkin pie spice, so we used the make-your-own method that's listed. I found that 12-13 minutes was a way better time than the 15-18 that's listed in the recipe. Speaking of... the recipe on Kind Arthur's site doesn't mention an oven temp (at least not that I saw), so I went with the 425 that's listed on the pan. I might try 400 next time though.

Little Lady #1

Place the following in a mixing bowl:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Beat everything together until smooth.

Add 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, stirring just until smooth.

Lightly grease two standard donut pans. (I only had one pan, so I just kept re-using it)

If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a couple of standard muffin tins; they just won’t be doughnuts.

Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full, using a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well; a tablespoon cookie scoop helps with this task. I found 4 scoops per donut well worked well.

If you’re making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you’ll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans).

Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you’re using self-rising flour, bake for the longer amount of time.

If you’re making muffins, they’ll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar. Or better yet, pumpkin-spice sugar, made by combining the aforementioned pumpkin pie spice (or substitute) with granulated sugar.

If you’ve made muffins, sprinkle their tops heavily with the spiced sugar of your choice.