Blue Cheese Bites

We have mini, two-bite muffins for our bake this month. They are flavored with a tang from blue cheese and the sweetness of figs.

It is a fairly simple batter that is only difficult mixing in the olive oil…that sure took a minute, and also the planning because this batter needed to chill for a minimum of two hours.

We are told these would be a good addition to serve when entertaining…at a brunch or with cocktails. Maybe because we didn’t do either, and tried them on their own, these didn’t really impress us. They weren’t bad, but just didn’t do much for us. 🤷‍♀️

Caramel-Pear And Five-Spice Upside-Down Cake

Quite a sophisticated name for a modern twist on a pineapple upside down cake!

This one combines fresh pears with a batter flavored with lemon…zest and juice, ginger, Chinese five spice powder and topped with a homemade caramel…also flavored with some lemon juice.

All of it easy and straightforward…the batter even getting mixed up in the food processor.

The caramel is swirled in a warmed pan to get the sides and bottom coated…pears placed in any design, and then topped with the batter. The whole thing is baked for about 40 minutes, baking nice and tall. Mine went higher than the cake pan! After cooling for a few minutes, the whole thing is inverted on a serving platter.

Our recipe tells us the top will be a deep mahogany color…mine was not, but no impact on the flavor. This was loved by all. The five spice packs a punch, cooled by the sweetness of the caramel…and everyone loved the texture of the cake…as Dorie said, somewhere between a sponge and loaf cake. Delicious.

I think this would be equally, if not better, with apples. Just might have to try that variation out. 😍

This one is a keeper!

Caramel-Apple Crisp

Welcome Fall! We baked an apple crisp with a twist…caramel apples!

This came together rather easily…I am always a little concerned making caramel, but this one came out perfectly. Three easy steps and you have a delicious crisp ready to serve.

• Make the topping…Dorie calls this streusel more “earthy” because in addition to the usual ingredients: flour, both sugars, butter, cinnamon, salt, vanilla…we add oatmeal and wheat flour. This gets mixed up and chilled for at least an hour.
• Meanwhile, make the caramel. You start out with sugar and water, but in this recipe, also corn syrup…once amber colored, butter, heavy cream, and fleur de sel get mixed in and finished off with some vanilla.
• Last step…4-5 apples are chopped and mixed with some of the caramel (I used a mix of Gala and Granny), placed in a pie plate…covered with the topping…and then baked for about 45 min until golden and bubbling

I knew we would love this…and we did. You would expect this to taste like apple pie, but it is different. The sweetness is toned down and balanced with the “earthy” topping. I am sure an addition of some ice cream on top would take the sweetness up a notch, but we enjoyed it plain and simple. 😍

This one is a keeper!