om nom nom straight from the spoon

making honey apple butter

“So what is apple butter anyway,” you ask suspiciously, because frankly that sounds pretty weird. It’s not actually all that weird. It’s really a kind of apple jam. It’s a baked reduction and you can flavour it in a bunch of different ways and I’m getting better at it and it’s getting better as I do. I believe it’s called ‘butter’ because it’s lovely and smooth with maybe just a hint of apple graininess in the texture, not because there’s any actual butter involved. It preserves FOREVER–the stuff stays good,…

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Kitsnacks: Cocoa Brownies

This is our family’s go-to brownie recipe: Cocoa Brownies 3/4 c sugar 3/4 c flour 1/3 c cocoa powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup butter, room temp or softer 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla Whisk the dry ingredients together. Add butter, eggs and vanilla and mix. Scrape into a 9×9″ buttered pan. Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes, until barely done (a fork inserted in the centre should come out slightly gooey but not *wet*). Allow to cool. Frost as desired. (I usually use chocolate buttercream frosting.) Eat! Makes 16…

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Kitsnacks: Pumpkin Muffins

I made a batch of absolutely gorgeous pumpkin muffins this morning. Light, fluffy, tender, just the right amount of sweetness. The dog ate half of them. #ragemachinemurderbot Baloo’s Favourite Pumpkin Muffins: 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree 4 eggs 1 cup melted butter 2/3 cup water 2 cups white sugar 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger Whisk wet ingredients together in a large bowl. Whisk dry ingredients together in another bowl.…

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Kitsnacks: Apple Pecan Cookies

About 45 minutes ago I said I thought I was going to go invent some apple pecan cookies, and did. It’s possible I should invent baking recipes more often. This is my third or so original recipe and so far I’m three for three… Kit’s Apple Pecan Cookies 1/2 c soft butter 1/2 c brown sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cinnamon 1 1/3 c flour 1 c chopped toasted pecans 1 c peeled, diced apple Cream butter and sugar; add…

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blackberries, crumbled and plucked

I was faffing around on Saturday trying to convince myself to get my act together enough to Make The Apple Pie, and mumbled, “Or maybe I could just make a blackberry apple crumble, that’d be easier,” in the vicinity of our guest, who said, “I didn’t know that was an option!!!”, thus indicating I should do that. :) I poked around the internet and couldn’t find a recipe I really liked, so I kind of invented one. It went like this: Kit’s Blackberry-Apple Crumble 1 oz butter 1 oz sugar…

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