Apple Butterscotch Bundt Cake

Well the Texas weather has finally cooled down, giving me thoughts about all the fall baking that is coming up and the great holidays.

This particular cake is a tasty way to welcome fall.  Anything that has cinnamon and nutmeg does the trick for me every time.  Not only does this cake have spices but also walnuts and apples, which add great taste and texture.

It is not difficult to make and does not require a lot of fancy ingredients, so it is a perfect recipe to go to when you are in a bind for time.

In my mind, bundt cakes have such great flavor that they really do not require any icing.  While I did not make the icing as stated in the recipe below, I did use a caramel drizzle. I will be serving the cake with the drizzle on the side, so people can make their own choice.  Some of the crowd is dieting and some have a big sweet tooth, so I think this was a good solution.

Apple Butterscotch Bundt Cake
adapted from Cake Simple

Ingredients/ Cake
1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts
4 cups chopped and peeled apples (I used Granny Smith)
1 1/2 cups canola oil
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
3 cups flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients/ Butterscotch Icing
1 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup or 1/2 stick of butter /cut into small cubes
1/4 tsp salt

Prepare a 12 cup bundt pan by greasing the inside with melted butter, you can use a pastry brush or dip a paper towel into the butter and coating the pan.  Then dust the interior with flour and tap out the excess.  Set aside and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Then fill the bowl of a stand mixer with the canola oil and both sugars.  Using the whisk attachment, blend for 30 seconds on medium speed.  Add one egg and whisk for another 30 seconds.  Continue with the same process for each egg addition.  Once all the eggs are blended, whisk in the vanilla extract.

Add the sifted ingredient to the batter and stir with a wooden spoon until no dry streaks remain.  Then add the walnuts and apples, folding in until all is evenly distributed.

Then spoon batter evenly into prepared bundt pan.  Place pan in oven and bake until tester comes out clean.  With my oven it took about 55 minutes.  The recommended baking time with the recipe is one hour and 15 minutes.  Remove cake from oven and place on a wire rack.  Let cool for 20 minutes and then invert cake onto rack and let cool completely before icing.

For the icing, fill a saucepan with the heavy cream, brown sugar, butter and salt.  Place pan over medium low heat and let cook, stirring constantly.  When the sugar and salt have completely dissolved, remove pan from heat and let cool.   Once mixture reaches room temperature, sift the confectioners sugar over the top, then whisk until smooth.

Take the icing and drizzle over the top of the cake, now it is ready to serve!
                    **LAST YEAR: Big Brahman Rolls** 

Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins

The yearly physical is always a nice reminder that you are not what you used to be back in your younger days. As you get older, the hereditary health issues start revealing themselves. You leave with comments floating around in you head like, "you need to work on your cholesterol level" or "you need to eat more nuts and grains".
I know about all the benefits of oatmeal but I prefer to have a little bit more variety for breakfast. This put me in a mode to find something appealing for breakfast with oatmeal in it instead of just a plain bowl of oatmeal.  Also, I did not want to be eating oatmeal cookies for breakfast. So below is what I came across.  Not sure if it is better or worse than eating cookies, but one of these muffins was very filling.
You can definitely taste the oats, especially in the top toasty part.  Even though the oats are prevalent, you get an occasional bump of sweetness from the butterscotch chips.  I get my sweet fix and I am getting my grains.  Makes me happy as well as my doctor. This recipe makes about 3 dozen muffins, but it can be easily halved should you not want as many.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins
adapted from Recipes from American Inns and Bed & Breakfasts

Ingredients
3 cups of flour
1 tbs plus 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 tbs baking powder
1 18 oz box of oatmeal or 7 cups (instant or regular)
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks of butter
1 quart of low fat buttermilk
1 1/2 cups of butterscotch chips tossed with 2 tbs of flour

You will need to start with four bowls of ingredients.  In the first bowl, mix together the oatmeal and buttermilk.  Then stir in the brown sugar.  This will need to set for at least and hour for the liquid and sugar to be absorbed.  Place the 6 eggs in the second bowl and beat with a fork until lightly frothed.  In the third bowl, sift together the salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour.  Lastly, melt the butter in the fourth bowl and allow to cool.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the top edges of the cavities of the muffin pan and place cupcake liners inside.

After your oven is preheated, butter has cooled and oat mixture has sat for an hour, you are ready to make the batter.  Mix the butter into the oats until liquid is absorbed.  Then blend the eggs into the batter.  Fold the dry ingredients into the batter until no dry streaks remain.  Lastly, fold in the butterscotch chips that have been mixed in the flour.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill the cavities with the batter.  They should be about 3/4 full.  Bake for 18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.   Let cool in pan for about 2 minutes then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
                            **LAST YEAR: Pecan Brown Butter Bread**
Please note that comments are not open due to my being on vacation for the Thanksgiving Holiday, since I will be unable to reciprocate or answer any questions.