Today is National Acorn Squash Day.

2 servings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut squash lenghtwise.

Remove seeds and pulp.

In each hollowed out cavity add 1 tbsp each of butter, sugar, raisins, cranberries and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Season with salt and pepper. Now you have a well of sweet gooey yumminess.

Place in baking dish and cover with foil. Bake until soft 1-1 1/2 hours.

Acorn Squash Full Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut squash lenghtwise and remove pulp and seeds.

2. In each hollowed out squash add 1 tbsp each of butter, sugar, raisins and cranberries and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.  Season with salt and pepper.

3. Place squash in baking dish and cover with foil.  Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until soft.

Today is National Almond Buttercrunch Day.

Really quick and easy candy to make.

You need:

Place your almonds in a small skillet.

Over medium heat stirring constantly toast the almonds until lightly browned.

In a large saucepan over medium heat add the sugar and butter.

Once the butter has and sugar has melted pour in the water and cornstarch.

Allow the sugar to boil stirring occasionally.  Once it has reached 250 degrees on a candy thermometer pour the mixture evenly and carefully into 2 cookie sheets.  Spread it out evenly.

Melt your chocolate in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.

Pour even amounts of chocolate on top of the sugar.

Spread it completely on top.

Get right into the corners.

Sprinkle the almonds on top of the chocolate.

Place the cookie sheets in the fridge for several hours.  Once it has completely hardened it can then be broken into little pieces.

Almond Butter Crunch

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt the butter. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Stir in the water and corn syrup
2. Cook the butter and sugar until it reaches 270 degrees, stirring often.
3. Grease 2 cookie sheets.
4. Pour the hot sugar onto the cookie sheets and let it harden.
5. In a bowl over a pot of boiling water melt the chocolate chips. Once completely melted pour the chocolate over the top of the harden sugar and spread it out evenly.
6. Sprinkle the almonds on top and let it cool completely in the fridge. Break into pieces before storing in the fridge or freezer.

Today is National Chinese Almond Cookie Day.

Almond Cookies

1. In a bowl stir together flour, ground almonds, baking powder, and salt.
2. In another bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in egg white and almond extract.
3. Stir flour into butter mixture and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the fridge and chill for 2 hours.
4. Roll the dough into ¾ inch ball and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Using the bottom of a glass flatten slightly. Press an almond into the centre of each cookie.
5. Bake in preheated 350 degrees F oven for about 12 minutes or until set but not browned.

Do not refrigerate at any time.

Day 1: Receive your starter. If you are starting your own batter then mix 1 cup all purpose flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk in Ziploc baggie.

Day 2: Squeeze bag.

Day 3: Squeeze bag.

Day 4: Squeeze bag.

Day 5: Squeeze bag.

Day 6: Add 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup milk.

Day 7: Squeeze bag.

Day 8: Squeeze bag.

Day 9: Squeeze bag.

Day 10: Combine in large non-metal bowl; batter, 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup milk. Mix with non-metal spoon or spatula. Pour 3 1 cup starters in Ziploc bags and use one for a new cycle and give the other 2 to friends with these instructions. Write today’s date on each bag to indicate what is Day 1.

To remaining batter add:
1 cup oil
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1 box vanilla instant pudding
2 tsp cinnamon
Optional: 1 cup pecans and/or 1/2 cup raisins

Mix together 1 cup sugar and 2 tbsp cinnamon.

Sprinkle half this mixture in 2 greased loaf pans. Pour batter evenly into pans and sprinkle remaining sugar mixture over top. Bake in 325 degree F oven for 1 hour or until golden.

Variations:

Omit cinnamon and vanilla in batter recipe and add 2 mashed bananas.

Omit vanilla pudding and add 1 box butterscotch pudding and 1 cup butterscotch chips.

Omit cinnamon, nuts and vanilla. Use lemon-flavoured pudding; add 1 tsp lemon extract and 2 cups coconut.

Add 1 cup drained crushed pineapple, 1 cup shredded coconut and pistachio pudding.

Add dried apples and caramel instant pudding.

Omit cinnamon and vanilla pudding from batter recipe and add 1 box chocolate pudding, 3 tsp. Cocoa and 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Bake 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours.

Today is National Angel Food Cake Day.

This has to be one of my all time favorite cakes. So nice and light and airy. Oh and fat free too!

Angel Food Cake

makes 10 servings

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Measure the cake flour and confectioners’ sugar and sift three times.
3. Measure into large bowl egg whites, cream of tartar and salt; beat with wire whip or electric mixer until foamy.
4. Gradually add sugar 2 tablespoons at a time; continue beating until meringue holds stiff peaks.
5. Fold in vanilla and almond extracts
6. Gradually sift flour-sugar mixture over the meringue; fold in gently just until the flour-sugar mixture disappears.
7. Push batter into ungreased 10-inch tube pan; gently cut through batter with a knife.
8. Bake in preheated oven until top is lightly browned and springs back when lightly touched. (Start watching it at 35 minutes.)
9. Invert pan until completely cool.

Today is National Anisette Day.

Anise Biscotti

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or foil.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
3. In a small bowl combine the brandy, anise extract and vanilla.
4. In a medium bowl combine the flour, salt and baking powder.
5. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the butter and stir well.
6. Mix in half the brandy mixture.
7. Add another third of the dry ingredients, followed by the remaining brandy and finishing with the last of the dry.
8. Stir in the almonds and anise seed.
9. Form the dough into two logs 2 x 13 inch long on and place one on each cookie sheet.
10. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until firm to the touch. Cool completely.
11. Reduce the oven to 300 degrees F.
12. Cut the logs into 3/4 inch slices and place those on cookies sheets.
13. Bake for 20 -25 minutes, turning once, until dry and browned. Let cool.

Today is National Raisin Day.

1. Combine all the ingredients and chill in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.

Today is National Apple Strudel Day.

This is so much better than strudel.

You need:

Milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Separate your egg white and egg yolk.

Let’s start by making the dough.  Add the egg yolk to a measuring cup and then add just enough milk to make 2/3 cup of liquid.  Beat together well.

In  a medium bowl combine the flour and salt. Add the cubes of butter.

Cut it into the flour until the dough resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in the milk and form two balls of dough. Set aside. 

Roll out one of the balls of dough into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle.  Place it carefully on the bottom of a baking dish.

Cut, peel and slice 8 cups of apples.

Layer the apple slices evenly on the dough.

In a bowl combine 1 cup sugar, nutmeg and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.  Sprinkle this evenly over the apples.

Roll out the second ball of dough to the same size and place it over the apples.  Seal the edges.

Beat the egg white till frothy.

Brush the egg white over the top of the dough.

In a small bowl combine the remaining 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp of cinnamon and sprinkle it on top.

Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes.

Mix together the powder sugar, water and vanilla.

Drizzle it over top of the apple bars.

Let it cool then cut into squares.

Apple Bars

For the crust

1. Add the egg to a measuring cup and pour in enough milk to make 2/3 cup.
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour and salt.
3. Cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Stir in the milk until the dough forms a ball. Divide in half.
5. On a lightly floured surface roll out the first half of dough into a 15 x 10 inch rectangle. Place in the bottom of a baking pan.
6. Roll out the second ball of dough to the same size.

For the filling

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Layer the apples over the dough in the pan.
3. In a bowl combine 1 cup of the sugar, the nutmeg and 1 1/2 tsp of the cinnamon. Sprinkle this over the apples.
4. Place the second piece of dough over the apples.
5. Beat the egg white well and then brush the surface of the dough.
6. Combine the remaining 2 tbsp sugar with the 1 tsp cinnamon and sprinkle over the brushed dough.
7. Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes until lightly browned.

For the icing

1. Combine all the ingredients and drizzle over the cooked bars. Cut into squares.

Today is National Apple Betty Day.

There are so many different ways to make apple desserts like pie, dumplings and crumble but this recipe is probably the easiest of them all.

Apple Betty Recipe

Serves 8

You need:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie plate.

Slice 4 cups of apples.  I recommend having 8 apples around.  Depending on their size and how many times you eat a slice it may take that many to get 4 cups.

Place in bottom of pie plate.  Nothing fancy.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.

Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  It’s easier if you A) have butter at room temperature, B) cut it into cubes first and c) have one of these handy dandy pastry blenders.

Scatter mixture over the apples.  Nothing pretty about that but wait till you taste it.

Bake for 45 minutes. It’ll be nice and golden brown.

Scoop some vanilla ice cream in a bowl.  You can’t have apple anything without vanilla ice cream

I like the really good vanilla with the black specks.  They are from the vanilla bean.

Now scoop some of the hot apples into the bowl.

Look at that!  The ice cream slightly melting and mingling with the apples.  Delicious!

Apple Betty Full Recipe

Serves 8

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 inch pie plate.
2. Mound sliced apples in the pie plate.
3. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. Scatter over the apples.
5. Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm with scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Today is National Cheesecake Day.

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs and butter until it forms a coarse crumb. Press into the bottom of a 9″ spring form pan.
3. Bake in oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.
4. Reduce oven to 325 degrees F.
5. In a bowl over a pot with simmering water melt the caramels into the whipping cream. Stir until smooth. Reserve 1 cup for the filling and refrigerate the remainder.
6. In a large bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until combined.
7. Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat well.
8. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.
9. Fold in the caramel sauce then the apples.
10. Pour the mixture into the pie crust and bake for 15 minutes.
11. Reduce the temperature to 275 degrees F and continue to bake 70-90 minutes longer or until set in centre.
12. Let cool then place in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Serve it with the caramel sauce.

Today is National Apple Dumpling Day.

You can make extra of these great desserts and freeze them right before the baking stage to pull out on a later date.

makes 1 dozen

For the dumplings

For the syrup

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.

Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. I like to cube the butter then use a pastry blender to make this task a bit easier.

Gradually add milk mixing well.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. To make the dough easier to work with split it in half.  Roll out into 1/8″ thick rectangle.

Cut into 5″ squares.

Peel, core and slice apples.

Place 3-4 slices of apple on each square.

Sprinkle with 2 tsp sugar,

Then a pinch of cinnamon,  a pinch of nutmeg, and dot of butter.

Moisten edge of dough with water.

Bring corners to centre.

Pinch edges together to seal.

Place dumplings 1″ apart in greased baking dish.

To make syrup, melt margarine.

Add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and hot water. Stir to dissolve.

Pour over dumplings. Since I am only making 2 dumplings I will only use 1/6 of the syrup. You can change the amounts accordingly to your serving sizes. The full serving is for 12 dumplings.

Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with heavy cream or ice cream.

Apple Dumpling Full Recipe

Syrup:

Today is National Apple Pie Day.

Served warm with vanilla ice cream….yum!

Apple Pie

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Line a 9-inch pie plate with one of the pie crusts trimming away the excess and crimping the edges.
3. Toss the apples with the sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, nutmeg and salt.
4. Whisk together the egg yolk and water to make an egg wash. Brush this over the whole crust in the pie dish.
5. Spread the apples in the pie shell and dab the top with pieces of cold butter.
6. Cut the remaining pie crust into strips and use them to make a lattice pattern on top of the pie. Seal the edges and brush pastry with egg wash.
7. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes in preheated oven. To help stop the edges from burning place the pie plate on a baking sheet and place the whole thing in the oven. This will keep the direct heat from the cooking the edges too fast.

Today is National Apple Turnover Day.

Not a turnover recipe but a really good apple one.

Apple Strudel Muffins

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.. Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.
2. In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla.
4. Stir in the apples and then gradually blend in the flour mixture.
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.
6. In a small bowl mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon.
7. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.
8. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Today is National Expresso Day and National Cranberry Day.

Just in time for American Thanksgiving.

Apple-Cinnamon Cranberry Sauce

Makes 2 cups

1. In medium pot heat water, apple juice and sugar until sugar dissolves completely.
2. Add in cranberries, apples, cider vinegar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Simmer until cranberries begin to burst, about 10-15 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and serve hot, or let cool before covering and placing in refrigerator to chill.  Cranberries will get bitter if left on the heat so make sure you remove them after the 15 minutes.  Sauce will thicken as it cools.

Today is National Applesauce Cake Day.

I love a really quick and simple loaf bread. If you want an even tastier loaf add some raisins or apple pieces to the batter. Or even better substitute the applesauce with one that is a combination of fruits.
Okay let’s make this!

You need

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened applesauce
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease and flour 2 loaf pans.

I think the best things begin with a bowl of sugar.

To it you are going to add your applesauce,

Oil,

Eggs,

And Vanilla.

Beat everything together until smooth.

I think the second best things begin with flour.

And to the flour add your baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. 

Mix your dry ingredients together well then pour them into the applesauce mixture.

Just stir this all together until combined.  If you plan to add any extras this is where you can stir them in.

Pour the batter into your prepared pans, till about halfway full.  This bread will rise so don’t try to cram it all into one loaf.

In a small bowl combine the remaining sugar and cinnamon.

Sprinkle this evenly on top of the batter.

Make sure you get in to the corners.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until tester comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the loaf.  As you can see the cinnamon sugar seems to just sit on top of the bread.  This is a good thing. 

First it helps create a crispy top.  But most importantly when you slice into the bread the cinnamon sugar falls into the cuts and sticks perfectly to the front of the bread.

There is no need for butter here.

Applesauce Loaf

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Light butter and flour 2 loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl beat together the sugar, applesauce, oil, eggs and vanilla until smooth.
3. In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
4. Stir the flour mixture into the applesauce mixture until well combined.
5. In a small bowl combine the 1/2 cup sugar and cinnamon.
6. Pour into prepared pans, sprinkle with sugar/cinnamon mixture and bake for 45- 55 minutes or until tester comes out clean when inserted in the centre.

Today is National Oatmeal Day.

Rib sticking goodness!!!

Apricot Honey Oatmeal

1. In 3-quart saucepan, bring water, apricots, honey and cinnamon to a boil. Stir in oats; return to boil.
2. Reduce heat to medium; cook about 1 minute for quick oats (or 5 minutes for old fashioned oats) or until most of liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally
3. Remove from heat. Let stand until of desired consistency.

Today is National Crabmeat Day.

Asiago Cheese and Crab Dip

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix together crab meat, 1 cup of asiago cheese, romano, mayonnaise, garlic and onion into a small baking dish.
3. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.
4. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

Serve hot with bread slices and sticks.