ginger nutty granola clusters

Granola is my go to breakfast when we have it in the cupboard (and my babe's go to as well!) so I try to bake my own on a regular basis. It's generally cheaper, lower in sugar, and more delicious this way! So now that the weather is cooling, I can't help but pop a tray in the oven whenever we're running low. 

Now, the serious specialness about this granola recipe in particular... the major clumping! I've been working on making clumpy granola for quite some time and I've finally mastered it with this recipe! There is really nothing quite as awesome as chowing down on giant clusters of mapley oaty goodness. This granola comes out of the oven in one large chunk, easily broken into whatever size best suits your cravings. Easy peasy! 

So! What are you waiting for? It's time to get some seriously awesome homemade granola clusters in your oven! Within an hour, you'll be big time snacking on these delicious treats! 

ingredients: 

3 cups thick rolled oats 

1/4 cup flour (whole wheat or all purpose) 

1 cup hazelnuts (or other nuts!), coarsely chopped 

1/2 cup maple syrup 

1/4 cup vegetable oil 

2 tsp vanilla 

1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger 

instructions: 

• Combine oats, hazelnuts, and flour in a large bowl, and stir until evenly combined. 
• Add syrup, oil, vanilla, and ginger and stir again until the liquid is evenly distributed throughout the oats and nuts 
• Cover a baking sheet (or two, depending on the size you use) with parchment or a silicone baking sheet. Spread granola mixture onto baking sheet and flatten with your spatula into a tightly packed layer, about 1/2 inch thick. 
• Bake at 300 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until the granola is lightly browned. 
• Let the granola cool in the pan completely, then gently lift the granola off the pan and break into pieces. It should be a (mostly!) solid piece in the pan so you can break the chunks off in whatever size you please! 
• Store in an airtight container. 

classic cinnamon rolls

My sweet man absolutely loves cinnamon rolls. He can hardly ever pass up a particularly good looking one in a pastry case, so it was really surprising when I realized that I've never actually made homemade cinnamon rolls. For myself or for him! So the other day when we had some leftover cream cheese frosting from another project, and he quickly mentioned cinnamon rolls being a good project to use it up - I got right to work! Mostly because I wanted to make his favorite for my love, but also because I knew I would eat the whole container of frosting in one sitting if I wasn't careful! 

I started with the enriched dough recipe from The Cooks Illustrated Cookbook... because it is my bible and I always trust it for classic pieces of a recipe like this. In making the dough, I promptly remembered why making yeasted doughs is basically the best thing to do in the kitchen. Dough Therapy - I'm talking about those blissful minutes spent kneading the perfectly elastic dough in preparation for the first rise. Few baking moments make me happier, and I bet a lot of folks would agree with me! 

I rolled out all the beautiful pinwheels of cinnamon heaven this recipe makes, but only left four of them for baking immediately. The rest I spread on a Silpat covered baking sheet and froze, tossing them in a freezer bag once they were solid. I'll pull them out as needed, defrost in the fridge overnight, then rise and bake! Who needs Pillsbury for cinnamon rolls on demand? 

If you've ever been overwhelmed by the idea of cinnamon rolls or thought you wouldn't be able to achieve a perfect one at home - I'm hear to tell you that you can! There may be a lot of steps, but it really isn't that hard! Plus, I've divided up the tasks for you so you can make the dough ahead and finish the process in the morning. Just-out-of-the-oven cinnamon rolls are the perfect way to impress your friends at brunch! 

So here you have it - a classic homemade cinnamon roll slathered in cream cheese frosting. If you can manage to slip out of bed and pull them out of the fridge to rise early in the morning (then head back to bed of course), you'll have a warm breakfast before you know it! Just don't turn your early morning alarm off like we did... or your other half will be at home eating all the cinnamon rolls while you're at work! 

Enriched Dough

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup water 

 2 - 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 

1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 

1 Tbsp active yeast 

1/3 cup sugar 

1 tsp salt 

4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled 

2 large eggs

instructions: 

• Warm milk and water in a small pot over medium heat to 110 degrees. 
• While the milk and water are heating, combine whole wheat pastry flour, 2 cups all purpose flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer (or a large bowl if you're doing this by hand). 
• Once milk and water have reached 110 degrees, whisk together with eggs and melted butter. 
• Using the dough hook, or a wooden spoon if you're doing this by hand, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry with the mixer running on low speed. Let the mixer incorporate all of the ingredients, occasionally stopping the machine to stir up the dry ingredients from the bottom of the bowl. 
• Once a shaggy dough has been created, run the mixer on medium and knead until a smooth and satiny dough is created, about 5 minutes. If after a few minutes, the dough still looks wet, slowly add additional flour (a few Tbsp at a time) until it is no longer overly tacky. (knead by hand if not using a mixer). 
• After 10 minutes, dump dough out onto lightly floured surface and hand-knead for 5-10 additional minutes. You could do this in the mixer, but it is so much more fun by hand! 
• Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with plastic or a damp towel, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. 

Filling & Forming

ingredients: 

3/4 cup brown sugar 

2 Tbsp cinnamon 

1 tsp ground vanilla (or extract) or seeds from 1 scraped vanilla bean 

6Tbsp butter, melted

instructions: 

• When the dough is close to finishing it's first rise, make the filling by stirring together all ingredients in a small bowl until fully combined. 
• When the dough finishes rising, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a 12 by 16 inch rectangle as rectangular as you can get it. Spread the filling as evenly as you can covering the entire rectangle except for an inch along one of the long edges. 
• Starting at the long edge across from your clean edge, carefully roll the dough into one giant log. A bench scraper is a great tool to use if your dough is sticking to the counter at all. Brush the clean edge with a little milk when you're getting lose to it, and press to seal the roll together. 
• Using a sharp serrated blade, cut the long in half. Cut each of those pieces in half to give you four even sections, then cut each section into three equal pieces to give you 12 total rolls. 
• Lightly grease the pan you plan to use. A 9x13 will work great for baking all the rolls at once, and whatever size will allow you to place them with an inch or two of spacing will work if you're baking a smaller number right now. Cover the pan lightly with plastic wrap. Freeze any rolls you want to save for another day. 
• To bake the same day: Let rise in a warm place for another 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the rolls have doubled in size. Then bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees, or until golden brown. 
• To bake the next day: Place covered pan in the fridge overnight. Remove from fridge about 3 hours before you plan to serve the rolls, and place on the top rack of your oven with a bowl of boiling water beneath to warm the space. Let rise for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size (replacing the water partway through to speed up the process). Remove from oven, preheat, and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

ingredients:

8oz cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cups unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup maple syrup  

1 1/2 tsp vanilla (or 1tsp ground vanilla) 

pinch of salt 

3-4 cups powdered sugar 

1 Tbsp milk

instructions:  

• In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a medium bowl with a strong arm, beat together cream cheese and butter until fully combined and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
• Add maple syrup, vanilla, and salt and mix to combine. 
• Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, mixing until fully combined with each addition. Alternate with the addition of 1tsp of milk at a time. Once 3 cups of sugar has been added, check the frosting for texture, and continue adding remaining cup a little at a time if needed. 
• Frost cinnamon rolls while still warm! 

spiced apple cake with caramel

Apple cake just might be my very definition of fall. When the apples ripen and the summer days start to cool enough that I'm overly excited about my oven all over again, it's this apple cake that I always want first. It is sweet and decadent, but also full of fruit - so I'll go ahead and say it makes a great breakfast (though it definitely won't keep you full all morning). So if you're a fan of pie for breakfast, this may just be your new go to for the fall! 

This apple cake mixes a hearty (half) whole wheat cake spiced with ginger and nutmeg with a hefty serving of apples to create a perfect fall cake.

First we gently stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, carefully folding them together with a rubber spatula to create a thick batter. 

Half of the batter goes into the bottom of our pan, then a thin layer of apples are placed in the middle of the cake to bring some apple richness throughout the entire cake. 

Next comes the rest of the batter and that hefty serving of apples, then your ready for the oven. Putting this many apples on our cake will keep the cake super moist (maybe event too wet in some folks minds... but I sure love a moist cake!). If you want a less moist but still absolutely amazing cake, use a bundt pan! 

Then we just need to bake it, for quite a long time, until the center is fully cooked. And voila - cake! 

I know I'm using a glass dish that differs from the suggested 8x8 size in these photos. I highly recommend you use a metal 8x8 baking dish. The cake will cook more evenly, and not have as thick of a bake line as mine did (the darker edge where the cake is touching the pan). 

But whatever you do use, the cake will be delicious, and you will rejoice!

Last but not (by a long shot) least, I couldn't help but top this apple cake with a drizzle of the easiest caramel you've ever laid your hands on. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the slow gentle process of caramelizing a hefty serving of cane sugar to create a luscious caramel... but I also understand that not everyone feels so comfortable melting sugar. If you're feeling adventurous or love making caramel, my recipe can be found buried in this lengthy recipe for brownie ice cream sandwiches (yes, I put a layer of caramel in them... because obviously brownies and ice cream wasn't enough decadence).  

This caramel I'm sharing here, on the other hand, requires basically no work and no worry. If you're having a lazy day, but also really want a helping of caramel sauce for your cake, your ice cream, or your spoon - this is it my friends. You're welcome. 

The cake recipe was adapted from the wonderful Smitten Kitchen. 

Apple Cake 

ingredients: 

2 large apples, cut to a small dice 

2 cups + 2 Tbsp cane sugar 

1 Tbsp cinnamon 

1 Tbsp vanilla 

1 cup vegetable oil 

4 eggs 

2 Tbsp lemon juice 

1 1/2 cups white flour 

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour 

1 Tbsp baking powder 

1 tsp salt 

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

instructions: 

• Prepare an 8x8 square baking dish by buttering and flouring it. 
• In a small bowl, stir together apples, cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp sugar. Set aside. 
• In a large liquid measuring cup or medium bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Start by whisking together eggs, oil, lemon juice, and vanilla. Once combined, add in the remaining 2 cups of sugar and whisk to combine. 
• Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl until evenly combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until all the flour clumps have been incorporated. 
• Pour about half the batter into the bottom of the pan, then sprinkle a very sparse layer of apples over the batter. Spread the remaining batter over the thin layer of apples, then cover the top with the remaining apples. 
• Bake at 350 for about about 75 minutes, or until the center is cooked. 
• Drizzle entire cake with the caramel, or each slice as you're serving. 

Super Simple Caramel Drizzle 

ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

4 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

pinch of salt  

instructions: 

• Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk to combine as the butter melts. 
• Continue stirring and cooking until the mixture starts to boil lightly. Let it boil for a few minutes, stirring constantly. 
• Remove from heat, pour into a glass container, and let cool completely before using.