Slow Cooked Cinnamon Apples

I've made cinnamon apples before, but my roommate found a recipe for them, that came in our box of crock pot liners! So I figured, what better day to make them than on a day when I'm snowed in?
I will never get over how delicious they are. I've always been a big apple pie fan, but I'm also big on textures, and the crust always leaves a weird taste/feeling in my mouth. Ask my mom.. even today, if I have a piece of pie I'll eat the center out and leave the crust skeleton behind.
This recipe is really big. I didn't take it into account until I was washing/slicing/coring SIX apples. So if you're just making these for you, or you and one other person, definitely half the recipe.
The recipe says to serve them with vanilla ice cream, but since I work at a frozen yogurt shop, I figured I'd serve them with froyo instead. So tasty! I drizzled some of the excess cinnamon-juice over the froyo, and it tasted like fried ice cream! Definitely a great treat.
Slow Cooked Cinnamon Apples Recipe

• 6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into 8 wedges.
• 1/2 c granulated sugar
• 1/2 c packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 stick butter, melted
• Optional: Vanilla ice cream/frozen yogurt

Preparation

• If using a crock pot liner, place snugly into crock pot.
• Slice apples and place in a large bowl.
• In a medium bowl, combine sugars, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
• 8 slices (1 apple) at a time, put into sugar mix and coat well, then put into the crock pot.
• Once all apples are in, pour in remaining mixture, and drizzle with butter.
• Place lid on crock pot.
• Cook on low for 3 hours, or high for 2 hours.
• Serve with vanilla ice cream/frozen yogurt, and top with extra cinnamon-juice if desired.

Cinnamon Apple Slices

Fall is here! It smacked me in the face last night when the temperature dropped to 36 and my room was freeeeezing. So what better day to celebrate autumn than with cinnamon sugar apples slices?I love apple pie, but I have one measly issue: I don't like the crust. I'm not a crust person! With french silk pie (my favorite!) I eat the chocolate and the whipped cream, and leave a triangle of crust sitting on my plate when I'm done. So I figured I'd make the cinnamon apples without that pesky crust getting in my way.

There were a lot of recipes online, but none were really what I was looking for. Several call for brown sugar, which I was going to try, but my brown sugar smelled weird, like it had gotten mixed in with allspice and ginger or something. And of course, when something smells weird it'll taste weird too, so I didn't want to risk it.
I wound up using three small Granny Smith apples (because the store only had small ones. Uh..okay?) and a simple cinnamon-sugar mixture. The brown sugar surely would've made it thicker, but this was still pretty tasty.

This recipe is the epitome of my "quick and easy" tag: Three ingredients, two and a half minutes in the microwave. The only thing that takes time is the peeling of the apples, but really, how much longer does that take?
Cinnamon Apple Slices Recipe

• 3 small Granny Smith apples
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/3 c granulated sugar

Preparation

• Peel, quarter, and slice each apple.
• Cut each quarter into relatively thick slices.
• Mix cinnamon and sugar in a separate bowl. Slowly sprinkle over apple slices, stirring to ensure that it's evenly distributed.
• In a large, microwave safe bowl (I have a large ceramic dish that resembles-- or is?-- a giant ramekin) put the apples in layers, preferably as even as you can.
• Cook on high for 2-5 minutes (our microwave heats HOT)-- I did for 2.5 minutes-- until the apples are soft.
• Stir, then let sit so the apples absorb the liquid. Stir again, then enjoy!

Apple Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream

I've wanted to make ice cream cone cupcakes for so long, but I never knew how!
Surprisingly, it was really, really, really easy.

So I made an apple ice cream cone cupcake, with cinnamon buttercream frosting. This frosting will make people bow down to you, because it's SO GOOD. It's SO GOOD in fact, that capital letters are warranted for it!

BUT. I wasn't paying attention (I was watching King Of The Hill with my little bro) so I wound up adding, instead of 1 1/2 cups of grated apple (which the recipe called for), two grated apples. I'm reaaally not sure how much extra apple I added.. but they were delicioso! Actually, I suggest it!

The batter wasn't runny like regular cake batter. It was oddly dry to begin with. Before I added the apple, it looked like fine bread crumbs. After I added the apple and mixed it in it got more liquidy, but with the apple it was more like a heavy muffin mix.
But it smelled so good! And tasted so good! There's no egg in it, so don't feel nervous about sneaking a spoonful of the batter while you're putting it in the pan.

The batter can be used in regular cupcake tins or in the ice cream cones (obviously.) My suggestion, though, is to make 20 instead of 24. Because they don't rise exponentially, this'll let you fill the cups more fully.

As for the cinnamon buttercream, depending on whether you frost it on with a knife or use a piping bag, you'll either need one batch or two (two batches being a full bag of powdered sugar.)
Really, I cannot recommend this frosting enough. It would be good thinned out as a glaze for muffins, or added to waffles, or even as an accent on ice cream. Om nom nom!
Have an enemy? Give them one of these cupcakes. They will never say another bad thing about you.

Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream (in an ice cream cone!) Recipe

• 20 ice cream cones, or 20 cupcake papers
• 1/4 c butter, softened
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Beat butter until fluffy.
• Add sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and cream together. (Texture will be weird)
• Combine flour and baking soda, then add slowly to mixture and beat. (Texture will resemble bread crumbs.)
• Add apples, and beat together on a low speed so the apple juice gets into the mixture, but so the grated apples are still visible.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes. (See below for what a finished cupcake will look like inside.)
• Let cool completely.

Cinnamon Buttercream Recipe

• 1 lb (1/2 bag) powdered sugar
• 1/3 c butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 c milk

Preparation

• Use a mixing spoon to combine cinnamon and powdered sugar. This will ensure that the cinnamon is fully infused later.
• Add in butter, vanilla, and about half of the milk.
• Blend together until thoroughly mixed, adding more milk if neccessary.
• Note: Don't overdo the milk. You want THICK frosting.
• Note: If you plan to pipe, definitely make the double batch.
• Pipe onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes.
• Then, sit back and enjoy as eeeverybody who sees them fawns over them!

Tip for piping the ice cream cone design:
Start in the middle of the cupcake, and pipe slowly in a spiral until all of the cupcake is covered.
Pipe a second spiral in the center, on top of that.
In the very center, squeeze out one more bit of frosting, then push down and pull up to get the tip!

Center of the cooked cupcake

Glazed Apple Cookies

I'm in Lawrence instead of Olathe tonight, so I had to look up a recipe online instead of using my book. So I went to http://www.allrecipes.com/ and typed in "cinnamon", and this is what popped up!

Now, I made one batch (to feed my roommate and his friends who are over) and I intend to make another later tonight, but my first batch came out...weird.

They flattened a TON, and also fell apart when i tried to use a spatula to get them off of the parchment paper (which I use in place of a greased cookie sheet.)

The walnuts in the recipe are optional, but I don't like walnuts, and I don't like raisins (in my cookies!) either so I left both out and replaced them with cinnamon chips. Tasty!

Some of the reviews suggested grating the apple instead of dicing. I grated one and diced the rest (I used 1.5 apples, roughly). I also used a paper towel to absorb the juice from the apple (HIGHLY suggested) but the dough was still really, really runny.

I think I'm going to leave the milk out of the next batch, and when I put the dough on the paper try to make it really high instead of spread on the paper, to keep it from spreading AS much.

As for the glaze:
I'm not sure who did the measuring for this, but everything seems off. I think by the time I got the consistency I wanted I'd used almost 1/4 cup of Half and Half (and they suggest 2.5 tablespoons) so just keep the H&H on hand.

They sure are cute, though!!

Glazed Apple Cookie Recipe:

• 1/2 cup shortening (I'm going to use butter for the 2nd batch)
• 1 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup raisins (or cinnamon chips-- or neither!)
• 1 cup peeled, finely diced apple (I used 2 Granny Smith)
• 1/4 cup milk

• 1 1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup half-and-half (use as needed to get proper consistency)

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Beat shortening (or butter) and brown sugar together. The recipe says "until light and fluffy" but with this much sugar it didn't get fluffy at all. Beat in the egg; here's where it got light and fluffy.
• In another bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.
• Blend half of the mixture into the butter/brown sugar. Add apples, walnuts/raisins/cinnamon chips, then stir in the rest of the mixture.
• Use a tablespoon to put on a greased cookie sheet (or parchment paper) and put them WELL apart. Recipe says 1 1/2 inch..I suggest more.
• Cook for 10-12 minutes, put on cooling rack.

Glaze Preparation

• Blend powdered sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and H&H
• Get to a thin consistency for spreading, but not too runny.
• Either spread over the entire (still warm) cookie, or:
• Put in a Zip-Loc bag, snip off a corner, and drizzle designs!

This recipe has my tweaks that I think will make better cookies in the future. For the original, go here!

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Glazed-Apple-Cookies/Detail.aspx