Easy Apple Crisp

As my air conditioner hums away, I lose myself in that little corner of my mind that I have set up for fall now. We bought apple cider yesterday and you better believe that I warmed up a mug, added some cinnamon, sipped, and enjoyed.

Ahh yes, I can see the leaves coming down now.

So now I'm thinking that it's going to be full fledged fall cooking. Weather be damned. I have a really, really, really good imagination. This could work for me.

Our families new favorite dessert is apple crisps. We love it. Bailey finishes hers and then hovers around Arthur and I waiting for her next bite. We were making these soy free and dairy free by using Earth Balance Vegan Butter, but Bailey's symptoms have returned for the last few weeks and when I tried to introduce milk or soy products back into the diet, there's no changes. Not sure what that's all about since I thought for sure she was cured for the first two weeks of the trial. I'm afraid to start taking more out of her diet though without talking to a dietitian or seeing if the doctor will just go ahead with the allergy testing. It's been really frustrating. So for the next few weeks, we are just back to normal everyday eating seeings how it's not making a difference any way.

The recipe I've been using for the apple crisps (kind of) is from here. I made a few adjustments because hers is SUPER easy, but I never keep prepackaged oatmeal in the house, just the big tub of it. So we do it the long way. But never fear, this is still pretty stinking easy.

 

Apple Crisp

(Serves 4, about 200 calories)

 

 

Ingredients

2-4 medium sized apples
      (I like pink lady’s mixed with granny smith)

2 teaspoons cinnamon, or to taste

1 ½ tablespoons brown sugar

1 cup instant oatmeal

2 – 4 tablespoons butter, cubed

 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut apples into cubes into an 8x8 baking dish. Sprinkle with ¼ to ½ teaspoon of cinnamon.
3. Sprinkle apples with half of the butter. (Does not need to cover the whole thing, just a small amount to keep apples moist during baking)
4. In a separate bowl combine the oatmeal with the remaining cinnamon and brown sugar. Pour over apples.
5. Sprinkle remaining butter over the top of the oatmeal.
6.  Bake for 30-40 minutes.



 

I peel my apples for the simple fact that Bailey won't eat the peels, but you can leave them on and it's really just as delicious. Most nights we just eat it straight out of the oven like this, but last night...

 



 

we decided that we would go all out and have apple crisps a la mode! That's right! Melty, warm, delicious, right out of the oven. Like a warm apple pie...

 

My only problem is that I can't eat just one serving. But it's just oatmeal and apples, right? This could totally count for breakfast food! Right?! Oh well, I get a cheat day once (most days) a week.

 

And if you do just want one serving, just use about 1/4 to 1/3 of the recipe and put it in a small baking ramakin.

 

What's your favorite fall back dessert (HA no pun intended!!)?

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies

You know sometimes how you think, "Oh man, wouldn't this (insert random craving here) be freaking amazing right now?!" And then if you are like me, you get on the internet and start searching for hours (sometimes days!) for the one recipe that looks good enough to satisfy your craving and pray that you have all of the ingredients in the house (because seriously I am not getting out of this house right now with the baby that is sleeping and the 4 year old that is running around telling people crazy stories about, "this one time... (insert embarrassing stories here)" oh and I haven't dressed or showered today). Phew, if you read that all in one breath you can hear the real stress that it puts me in to think about shopping on a day when I can't do it by myself or with the man to help, ha!
 
SOOO, anyway, the point is that they had some fresh raspberries on sale at the grocery store this weekend, and all I could think was how good would it be to make some cookies with them. Now truly, the only raspberry cookies that I have ever had that didn't involve jelly, were the ones from Subway, but they are amazing, so I set out to find a recipe.
 
That was on Saturday. So much for mere hours of searching...
 
The only thing I could find were recipes that included using Jiffy's Raspberry Muffin Mix as the base. Which sounds great too, but I have fresh freaking raspberries to use here!
 
I searched for muffin recipes that I could convert to cookie recipes. It wasn't too promising. I'm not a master baker or anything so I wasn't sure how to convert what liquids to what percent dry.
 
At the end of it, I made a dangerous preposterous adventurous? decision:
 

 I would write my own recipe!

 
I'm not gonna lie, you know that anxious, adrenaline rush you get when you start your first day of school, or a new job, or you just found out you're pregnant, that's what this gave me. I was shaking. I was terrified. I told my mom I wish she was here to hold my hand while I did this. (Yea, I'm a grown woman that still likes my mommy to be there for me when I need her, what of it?)
 
And without further ado, here it is, my first cookie recipe.

EEEEEEEEKKKK!

(P.S. unfortunately this is not a dairy free or soy free recipe, but sometimes mama needs a special treat too! Sorry Bailey!) And for the calorie counters out there, 114 in each cookie.

 

 

White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies

(Makes about 40 cookies)

 





Ingredients

4 oz cream cheese
1/3 cup butter flavored shortening
1 ¼ cup brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 oz (about ¾ cup) fresh raspberries, broken into small pieces
1 11.5 oz package of white chocolate chips

 

Directions

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees .

2.       In a large mixing bowl cream together the cream cheese, shortening, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

3.       In a small bowl mix together milk and lemon juice, let stand about 15 minutes, or until appears curdled.

4.       Add curdled milk, vanilla, and egg to mixture.

5.       In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.

6.       With mixer on low, slowly incorporate dry with the wet, just until mixed.

7.       Gently fold in white chocolate and raspberries.

8.       Place rounded tablespoonfuls of batter on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

9.       Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cookies are done when they begin to brown around the edges and have a moist, golden brown appearance in the middle.

 

 

 

In hindsight, I definately forgot how rich white chocolate is and they covered up the raspberry taste more than I cared for, next time I think that I will cut the white chocolate chips down to just a cup and increase the raspberries to a full cup as well.

 

 



 Despite the richness of the white chocolate, these guys were pretty awesome! I asked the man to be as critical as possible and he says he doesn't like flat cookies. Ha. Well the good news is that even though they are flat, they are still very chewy and moist. And you can defintely taste that little "cheesecake" kick. (Plus, he must not care that much that they were flat because by the time I was done baking 3 were missing)
 

 

 

 As I am an incredibly novice baker, I honestly have no idea how to make a cookie not as flat, any suggestions? Or do you have a raspberry cookie recipe that you love? Let me know, I would love to try it!