Fall Inspired Recipes: A CT Blogger Round-Up

The only dignified way to deal with the loss of summer and its endless farm fresh produce is to focus on the bounty of fall fruit. Apples, pumpkins and squash tend to soften the blow of leaf raking and the dwindling hours of daylight.  

For a little fall recipe inspiration, we turned to a few Connecticut bloggers and asked them to share their favorite fall fruit-filled recipe. The results–cocktails, pies, muffins and breads–will inspire you to retreat into the kitchen, and in some cases mix a drink and toast the change of seasons.

Thank you to all for sharing your recipes and easing us into the fall season!

Pumpkin French 75

Liz Dorney | Twilight at Morningside

This is the classic French 75, spiced up for Autumn. The bartender at Bespoke in New Haven revealed the secret ingredient is pumpkin butter. If you can’t find pumpkin butter, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s are a good place to start. This light cocktail tastes like Fall in a champagne glass.

Pumpkin French 75
serving: 1

1 oz Plymouth gin
1 T pumpkin butter
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
3/4 oz simple syrup
3 oz Champagne - chilled
Optional: cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar

Rim the glass (optional): Blend sugar with a dusting of nutmeg and cinnamon. Wet the rim of a champagne flute with a lemon wedge. Dab the moistened rim in the sugar mixture.

Shake gin, pumpkin butter, lemon juice and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Strain the mixture into the flute. Top with chilled Champagne and serve.

Apple Pecan Cake

Kate | Stamford Notes

My family does a huge Thanksgiving every year. With 70 guests, it's a big event filled with food and fun. Most people bring entrees and sides, but my parents are in charge of desserts. It’s a fantastic spread of cakes, pies, cookies and ice cream with homemade fudge sauce. Although not the flashiest item on the table of sugar sin, one of my dad's favorites is his Apple Pecan Cake. It's moist, beautiful and full of fall flavors. When people go for the chocolate choices, it's all for the best - it means we can have apple cake for brunch!

Apple Pecan Cake

3 eggs
1 teaspoon soda
1-1/2 cups oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
3 cups Granny Smith or Golden Delicious apples, chopped into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pecans, chopped
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon soda

Beat eggs; add oil, sugar and vanilla. Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add flour mixture and beat well. Fold in apples and pecans. Bake in tube pan, about 1 hour or so (usually 5-10 minutes after one hour) at 325 degrees Fahrenheit or until done. When cake is done, top with the glaze recipe below.

Apple Strudel Muffins

Emily Cahill | A Change of Eatery

Baking apple streusel muffins is my favorite way to welcome the onset of Autumn. With a delicious cinnamon crumb topping and moist apple chunks, they’re the perfect accompaniment to morning coffee (or a pumpkin spice latte in my case). I made them for a breakfast gathering in mid-September and enjoyed the most incredible fall morning for baking. With the windows open, coffee brewing, and muffins in the oven, baking at 7 AM was worth it for the aromas alone.

Apple Strudel Muffins | from allrecipes.com 

Makes 12 muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped apples
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.

Pumpkin Muffins 

Lauren | Chat ‘n Chow

These are great toasted with butter or I sometimes mix together cream cheese & agave but you could do whatever and I'm SURE it will taste great! The consistency of these muffins is dreamy - fluffy & moist NOT heavy.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 C white flour
1 C wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
zest of one orange (remember organic) and juice reserved seperate
3/4 C raisins or craisins
3/4 C packed brown sugar
3 T molasses
1/4 C melted butter
2 eggs
1 small can packed pumpkin
1 t vanilla extract
3/4 C lowfat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 butter 12-cup muffin pan. Bring juice of one orange to a boil and add raisins - set aside. Sift or wisk together flours, baking soda, salt and spices. Beat sugar, molasses, butter and egg until well mixed then add pumpkin zest and vanilla. Add flour and milk to sugar mixture until just combined (Don't over beat), pour juice off of raisins & add. Pour batter into tins. You could even top with a crumb topping and that would be great! Bake for 20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool 10 minutes and remove from tin and let cool completely on rack.

Deep Dish Apple Pie

Amanda | BonVivantella

Every fall since I was a little one, I have gone apple picking - I'm sure it started with school trips to the orchard.  As soon as I discovered my love of baking, I began turning my finds into baked goods - crisps, cobblers, cakes, and more.  Every year though, I always end up coming back to the same recipe, my version of what once began as the Joy of Cooking's classic Apple Pie.  With a flaky crust and a rich, gooey center, it screams fall to me!

Deep Dish Apple Pie ~ Adjusted from Joy of Cooking's Apple Pie, 

Serves 12

Flaky Pastry Crust:

• 2.5 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup Solid Vegetable Shortening
• 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon Ice Water (+ 1 to 2 tablespoons Ice Water, if needed)

Pie Filling: 

• 5-6 pounds McIntosh Apples (or other tart apple), peele, cored, and sliced 1/4" thick
• 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 3 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
• Fresh Juice of 1 Lemon, strained
• 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon + 1/8 teaspoon
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/8 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces
• 2 teaspoon Granulated Sugar

Make the Pastry Crust: Using a rubber spatula, mix the flour, granulated sugar, and salt together. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients. When finished, some of the fat should remain in pea-sized pieces; the rest should resemble breadcrumbs. The overall mixture should seem dry and powdery. Drizzle over the ice water over the flour/shortening and cut with the blade side of the spatula until the mixture is evenly moistened and begins to form small balls. Press down on the dough with the flat side of the spatula. If the dough balls stick together, you have enough water; If not, drizzle over another 1-2 tablespoons more ice water. Cut in the water until the dough forms a ball. Divide the dough into two, ball each piece, and flatten into disks. Wrap tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Roll the first disk into a round large enough to fit a deep dish pie pan, ensuring that it fits by turning the pan upside down over the round.  Fit into the pan by using the rolling pin to lift the round into the pan and trip the overhanging dough to 3/4" all around. Refrigerate. Roll the other half of the dough into a top large enough to cover the top of the pie, about 12-13." Refrigerate it as a flat round.

Compile the Pie: Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Measure 12 cups of the peeled and cut apples. Combine the apples with the brown sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Let stand 15 minutes, stirring several times, so that the apples soften slightly and will better fit into the crust. Pour the mixture into the bottom crust and gently level with the back of a spoon. Dot the top with the unsalted butter.  Brush the overhanging edge of the bottom crust with cold water. Cover the top crust, the seal the edge, trim, and crimp or flute. Cut steam vents in the top crust and sprinkle with granulated sugar and cinnamon. Bake the pie for 30 minutes. Slip a baking sheet beneath it, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F, and bake until the fruit feels just tender when a knife or skewer is poked through a vent and thick juices have begun to bubble through the vents. Let the pie juices thicken as the pie cools for 3-4 hours. To serve the pie warm, heat it in an oven on 350°F for 15 minutes. Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a slice of cheddar cheese, or a glass of cold milk!

Asian pear, Carmelized Onion & Blue Cheese Flatbread

Chef Nicole Straight | Time to Eat!

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 Naan (Indian flat bread, available at most grocery stores)
• 1 cored, thinly sliced Asian pear
• 1 cup Caramelized Onions (see recipe)
• 1/2 cup Maytag blue cheese, crumbled
• ¼ C. candied pecans (available at Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods)
• 1 C. arugula
• pinch of black pepper

For carmelized onion: Thinly slice 1 onion and sauté in a large nonstick pan on medium high heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 4 minutes. Add a pinch of kosher salt and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Remove from heat and let onions cool. 

Instructions: Preheat oven to 450°. Brush olive oil on the flatbreads and cover with the sliced Asian pears and caramelized onion. Sprinkle with the cheese, then the pecans. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, add a large handful of arugula leaves, slice into small pizza slices and serve immediately.

Blue Jay Orchards Cider Donuts

Amy (yours truly) | CTbites & Motoamy

Although this is a bit of a cheat, I couldn't NOT include my favorite fall indulgence on this blogger round-up. I love to bake myself into a frenzy but nothing speaks of fall like warm cider donuts from the local orchard, Blue Jay Orchard. I am coming forward for all you healthy food bloggers out there to say it's okay to indulge in a cider donut once in a harvest moon. I admit there seems to be a fried dough for every season and state fair, but this cinnamon-sugary approach is by far the best. So go ahead, indulge.

Blue Jay Orchards is located in Bethel at 125 Plumtrees Road. Info: BlueJayOrchards.com

Comments

[DMS]

I am very fond of these delicious treats. You will need to get to Blue Jay Orchards early as they tend to sell out on weekends. I recently found another enticing treat locally at Beardsley Cider Mill at
278 Leavenworth Road, Route 110 in the White Hills section of Shelton, CT 06484
Info@beardsleyscidermill.com • 203-926-1098.
I must say they are AWESOME they are usually warm are filled with real apple pieces you can actually taste and iI suggest that you indulge in the sugar variety and you will not be disappointed.
I am a fan of Blue Jay Orchards and these either beat or give serious contention to what they produce.

[Pauldz]

Cider donuts from Blue Jay farms and others in the area can't hold a candle to the ones we get at Averill Farms in Washington, CT. They fry them continuously during the day in their barn, and theres' nothing like them!