Tag: bake

Recipes

Homemade Apple Chips

Jessica Smith

Apple Chips 6

Two recipes in a row?! You are gonna be so shocked when I’m sharing a third tomorrow 🙂

Today’s recipe is for a super healthy snack: Apple Chips!

I found a recipe on Pinterest from Maggie at Vittles and Bits and just had to try it out. I tweaked mine just a bit and now am a total addict. Just what I need, one more thing to be addicted to!

I grabbed some Golden Delicious apples from the store for my chips (Maggie used Red Delicious) and set them aside to be sliced.

Then, I lined three baking sheets with parchment paper. This probably goes without saying, but since I am not a total foodie I had no idea there was a difference between wax paper and parchment paper. Rookie move. I ended up destroying a baking pan because of that, so make sure you have the right kind of paper.

Spray your parchment paper lightly with cooking spray.

Apple Chips 1

Start to slice your apples. I used three for this batch. Slice them as thinly as you can and lay them on the parchment paper. I cut some of mine in slices, others in circles going straight through the core. Either way works, just make sure there aren’t any seeds.

If you have a dog, make sure no seeds fall onto the floor. They aren’t good for dogs (or anyone, really). Just sayin’.

Once your baking sheets are covered in the thin slices, I sprinkled a mixture of Splenda and cinnamon on them. You can bake them without either, with just cinnamon, with just Splenda, with sugar… blah blah blah, you get the idea. Use your imagination. On one of my baking sheets I lightly drizzled honey on the apples — it added a really nice flavor. Next time I make them, I want to sprinkle nutmeg on top. Yum!

Apple Chips 2

Now, time to bake! I set my oven to 215 F and put those suckers in for 2.5 hours. They take a while to dry out all the way, but they make your house smell amazing the whole time. Totally worth the wait.

Apple Chips 3

When you take them out, your super thin slices will be extra crispy. Some of your thicker slices might not be all of the way dry. I found that if you put them into a container they finish drying out. Or, you can eat them that way, too. Still delicious.

Apple Chips 5

Now your chips are done. Eat to your heart’s content. It is fruit after all 🙂

Apple Chips 7

Thanks for the inspiration, Maggie!

Christmas, Craft Projects, Holiday

Salt Dough Ornaments

Jessica Smith

Our main craft from last weekend’s craft night was salt dough ornaments. Carrie, Amy and I followed an east recipe for the dough so we could make our own ornaments.

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All you need for the dough is 1 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt and 1/2 cup of warm water. I mixed ours together in my KitchenAid using the dough hook attachment, which worked great. When the dough was a little too tacky to roll out, I added a pinch more flour.

Then we set up these awesome SilPat mats and began to roll our dough.

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When the dough was an even thickness, we stamped our shapes into it. Then, we removed the excess dough and put a hole in the top of each one before putting them into the oven.

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I started to bake the ornaments at 200 degrees, but after a while I bumped up the temperature to 250. That worked great and the ornaments hardened in about 2 hours.

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Once they cooled down, I hung them on our tree using silver and red string.

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Here’s one for Remmy!

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And a little tree for our big, fat tree.

I saved a few to paint, but I haven’t gotten around to adding color to any of them yet. I don’t think they need it either. They look very pretty on our tree just as they are.

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Recipes

My Bake Off entry: Cinnamon and Sugar Cream Cheese Rolls

Jessica Smith

Today was our 2nd (sort of) Annual MarComm Bake Off at work and I made the most delicious dessert ever: Cinnamon and Sugar Cream Cheese Rolls. They are a recipe from my Great Aunt Dorothy and they are like crack. My sister Emily is always in charge of making them for the holidays, but I figured I’d take a go at them for the competition.

If you want to try this amazing recipe out, you won’t be disappointed. In fact, you’ll be addicted and will likely start making them every year, too. Good luck — it’s a tough addiction to fight, so I wouldn’t bother if I were you.

Ingredients:

  • 1 loaf of white bread
  • 16 ounces of cream cheese
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup butter
  • Powdered sugar

Directions:

  1. Combine cream cheese, sugar (3/4 cup), egg yolks and vanilla in a bowl and mix with a hand mixer until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
  2. Cut the crust off of the bread (discard crust, as well as heels of loaf) and roll each slice flat with a rolling pin.
  3. Spread a thick layer of the cream cheese mixture onto the flattened bread, then roll the bread into a little log.
  4. Optional: place on a baking sheet and refrigerate overnight .
  5. Combine cinnamon and sugar (1 cup) in bowl. Melt butter in a separate bowl. Dip each roll into the butter, then roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. Place back on backing sheet.
  6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes.
  7. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Let cool, then enjoy!

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Back to the Bake Off…

The competition was fierce, with nine desserts in the running. Check out these mouth-watering treats. Mmmmmm. Can you say “sugar coma?”

When all of the votes were tallied, we had three winners. Drum roll?

1st place winner of the golden pie plate: Rachel *cheers*

2nd place winner of the silver whisk: Julie *applause*

3rd place winner of the bronze cookie cutter: MEEEEEEEEEEE *And the crowd goes wild! (Or, at least I did.)*

I’m pretty sure one of the first things I said was, “Dana is going to be so proud.”


Man, what a fun day. Try out the recipe. It is officially award-winning 🙂

Also, a big “hey girl, heyyy” and thank you to my coworker Amy for organizing this much-needed afternoon of fun. You’re the best.