Desserts Archives | Little Spice Jar

Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Cookies (aka Butterscotch Cookies)

Marzia — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 10:30:00 +0000

Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Cookies are a fun treat to make for Halloween! These cookies are loaded with butterscotch chips and have the most delicious buttery flavor! Perfect to make when you’re having an HP movie night or throwing a Harry Potter party!

Magical!

These cookies are the most delicious combination of butterscotch and nostalgia!

It should come as no surprise that I’m one big Potterhead. I mean, I did do a whole post on the best tips for Visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter as a grown adult. I ate pumpkin pasties, drank my weight in pumpkin juice, and ate buckets of fish and chips at Three Broomsticks, but nothing gets me like a butterbeer-flavored treat! Be it a warm butterbeer or an ice cream from Florean Fortescue’s.

These butter beer-inspired cookies are one of the best cookies to come out of my kitchen. They require no refrigeration; you just mix them in a bowl, and then pop them in the oven to bake. And what you’re left with is dollops of delicious cookie dough speckled with butterscotch flavor.

And hey, I get it if you aren’t a butterscotch chip fan, swap them for white chocolate chips, and I promise you, the flavors will be just as delicious!

Fellow Harry Potter fans, this one’s for you!

Ingredients for Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Cookies:

All-purpose flour: The flour is the base of the recipe.
Leavening agents: You’ll need both baking powder and baking soda for this recipe. We’ll add these dry ingredients to the flour before adding them to the wet ingredients.
Kosher salt + flakey sea salt: You’ll need kosher salt for the batter and some flakey sea salt (such as this one) to sprinkle on top once the cookies are done baking. The butterscotch flavor becomes more pronounced with the salt, so don’t be afraid to use it in this recipe.
Ground Cinnamon: helps flavor the cookies without being too overpowering. You won’t even know it’s there, but it helps bring out some warmth in the cookies.
Salted butter: typically, salted butter is my favorite ingredient to use in baked goods. I use this for my favorite chocolate chip cookies and recommend it for many other baked goods as well. If you only have unsalted butter on hand, you can use it for this recipe, but I do suggest upping the amount of kosher salt to 1 teaspoon.
Light brown sugar + Granulated sugar: We’ll use both of these sugars and mix them with the softened butter. The sugars provide moisture in baked goods so that cookies, cakes, muffins, and brownies don’t dry out too quickly.
Butter extract + vanilla extract: The butter extract is optional, but I find that it really amps up the flavor of these butterscotch cookies. To be entirely honest, I’m not a huge butterscotch pudding mix or butterscotch chip fan, so for me, the cookies provide plenty of that butterscotch cookie flavor without needing the chips!
Eggs:
Butterscotch chips: You know how I mentioned there are people who don’t like butterscotch chips? I would be one of those people! You could even use white chocolate chips or omit the chips entirely and add a bit more pecans! We had a divided household on this one! Hubby loved the chips, while I wasn’t a huge fan!
Chopped Pecans: These add the best nutty flavor! If you’re dealing with allergies, feel free to swap the pecans for white chocolate chips. They do make the cookies a bit sweeter but also provide a more Harry Potter butterbeer cookie flavor!

How to make Harry Potter’s Butterbeer Cookies:

Start the prep. Preheat the oven. and make sure to line a baking sheet with parchment paper. This ensures the cookies won’t stick to the pan. If you have a silicone baking mat, that works too.
Combine the dry ingredients. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, kosher salt, and cinnamon. If you have larger clumps in your baking soda, I do suggest sifting it to ensure the batter mixes evenly.
Cream the wet ingredients. Add your semi-melted butter to a bowl. When I say semi-melted, I mean some of it should be liquid, while some of it is super soft and starting to melt. Add both the white sugar and the brown sugar and beat these ingredients together in a medium bowl with a hand mixer set to medium speed or in the bowl of a stand mixer until it starts to lighten in color. Then add the butter extract, 2 tsp vanilla, egg yolk, and the whole egg to the mixture.
Let’s make cookie dough. Mix again before you fold in the dry ingredients. I like to stop when the dry ingredients are halfway combined, then add the chips and the pecans and continue folding. This ensures you don’t overwork the cookie dough, and the little bit of flour helps disperse the add-ins better.
Scoop it out. Using a cookie scoop, make cookie dough balls that are about 2 tablespoons worth of cookie dough. You can speckle the center of the cookie with a few more butterscotch chips or pecans to make them more picture-perfect when they come out of the oven, but this is purely optional.
Bake the cookies. Bake the cookies until they are golden around the edges but still slightly underdone in the center. Don’t worry, the hot sheet pan will help bake the cookies all the way through. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with some flakey sea salt. Let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack. These are the perfect butterbeer cookies! Each bite has some crunchy pecans and melted butterscotch chips! They just melt in your mouth!

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Yield: ~12-14 cookies

Harry Potter's Butterbeer Cookies (aka Butterscotch Cookies)

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

1⅓ cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup salted butter, semi-melted
⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon butter extract (optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
½ cup butterscotch chips
⅓ cup chopped pecans (or white chocolate chips)
Flakey sea salt for topping

Instructions

PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2.
DRY INGREDIENTS: in a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda/powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.
WET INGREDIENTS: In a large mixing bowl, add melted butter and brown/ granulated sugar and mix with an electric mixer (or in a stand mixer) for 4 minutes or until the butter is whipped and fluffy. Add the butter extract, vanilla, and egg + yolk and mix until smooth.
MIX: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients using a rubber spatula, and mix until halfway combined. Add the chips and pecans and continue mixing until no flour pockets remain.
SCOOP: out two tablespoons worth of cookie dough using a cookie scoop and place it roughly 1½ inches apart on the cookie sheet.
BAKE: the cookies for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are golden and the center looks slightly underdone! Don’t worry, they’ll cook through as they cool.
SPRINKLE: with flakey salt and let cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Notes

Measuring the flour: The best method to measure the flour for this recipe is by using a spoon to fluff the flour. Once fluffed, use a tablespoon to fill the 1 cup measuring cup until overflowing. Use a knife to level it out without applying too much pressure. Repeat with the 1/3 cup the same way.

Cold Brew with Pumpkin Cold Foam Recipe

Marzia — Thu, 28 Sep 2023 10:30:00 +0000

This copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Cold Foam Recipe is sure to be a hit! Load up as much as you’d like on top of an ice-cold glass of cold brew coffee. Made with just a few ingredients and so much cheaper than going through the Starbucks drive-thru every morning!

‘Oh, look.. another glorious morning!’

If you can name what movie that line is from, you are my people and you’ve come to the right place!

But really, what a glorious morning it would be if you could top up your favorite fall drink with homemade pumpkin cream cold foam and be out the door without having to swing by the drive-thru to grab your $8 cup of joe in the morning. It’s life-changing.

I can promise you this: my pumpkin cold foam recipe is probably going to cost you less than the number of fingers on both hands and it’s going to make so many more batches too. We’ll use simple ingredients like heavy cream, half and half, and of course, a dash of pumpkin spice and some real pumpkin puree. Top your cold brew, homemade pumpkin spice lattes, or even pour over coffee with this.

I have a couple of different ideas for the sweetener portion of the recipe. I think my salted caramel lovers might even like my version a bit better than Starbucks’. It tastes like a salted pumpkin pie cloud!

I know, I know, that’s a bold claim but I’m serious! I’ve got your homemade iced coffee solution right here!

Ingredients for pumpkin cream cold brew:

Heavy whipping cream: Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream can be used interchangeably for this recipe. Heavy cream just has a higher fat percentage than heavy whipping cream. Not a big deal for this particular recipe.
Half and Half: in the States, this is a produce that we get here. I know that in places like Canada, the UK, and the rest of the world, this is either labeled differently or a product that might not even be available. Essentially, it is a 1:1 ratio of whole milk to cream. Since the recipe calls for a quarter cup or 4 tablespoons, you would use 2 tablespoons of whole milk and 2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream in place.
Sweetener of choice: you can use maple syrup, simple syrup, or my favorite – salted caramel syrup! This adds sweetness to the pumpkin cold foam recipe. If you aren’t a fan of salted caramel you can use vanilla extract or even vanilla syrup here to give it a lighter flavor.
Pumpkin pie spice: the pie spice contains ingredients like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice. These ingredients add warmth to the recipe and work beautifully with the natural sweetness of pumpkin puree. You’ll need anywhere from ½-¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice depending on how spicy you like things!
Pumpkin puree: You’ll need real pumpkin puree for this recipe. Be sure not to use pumpkin pie filling as that is what you use to make pumpkin pies. We need the real pumpkin to give it that real pumpkin flavor!
Kosher salt: Helps elevate the sweetness and all the pie spices used in this recipe.
Cold brew: You’ll also need your favorite cold brew coffee to serve this pumpkin cold foam recipe with.
Handheld milk frother: I know, this isn’t really an ingredient but if you have one of these or have been considering purchasing a milk frother, this is a great one that doesn’t cost much! These make it so much easier to froth or whisk the pumpkin cream cold foam. If you don’t have one and don’t see yourself purchasing one, check out the FAQs below for other options!

How to make Starbucks pumpkin cream cold brew:

Add it all together. In a 2-cup measuring cup or a tall mason jar, combine the heavy cream, half and half, your sweetener of choice, pumpkin purée, pie spice, and kosher salt.
Make it frothy. Then use a handheld frother, a frothing jug, or even a blender, and blend the ingredients. Keep in mind if you use an electric frothing jug, you want to make sure to do this on the cold setting. You want the foam to be thick and super aerated.
Make cold brew and serve. Once the cold foam is thick and aerated, you can stop. Add ice and homemade or store-bought cold brew to your favorite glass. Finally, top with a few tablespoons of pumpkin cold foam. Taste and adjust with more pumpkin cold foam as desired. Honestly, it only takes a few mins! Serve and enjoy!

FAQs about this recipe

What can I use to make the sweet cream cold foam if I don’t have a handheld milk frother?

You can use a traditional blender, a shake blender, an electric cold foam frother, or even a mason jar with a tight-fitting lid would work. You can also stir with a manual whisk until it comes together but this does take quite a bit of elbow grease!

I’m not a fan of maple syrup, what other flavors can I use to sweeten my pumpkin cold foam recipe?

You can use sweetened condensed milk, vanilla syrup, salted caramel syrup, or even simple syrup if you’d like. I find that honey does get a bit grainy, especially when the milk products are cold (which they need to be to aerate better!) so I don’t suggest using that.

How do you store pumpkin sweet cream cold foam?

Make sure to keep leftover pumpkin cream cold in an airtight container topped with a tight-fitting lid in the fridge. You don’t want to leave it open as it will absorb all the refrigerator smells!

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Yield: Serves 4-6

Cold Brew with Pumpkin Cold Foam Recipe

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

This copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Cold Foam Recipe is sure to be a hit! Load up as much as you'd like on top of an ice-cold glass of cold brew coffee. Made with just a few ingredients and so much cheaper than going through the Starbucks drive-thru every morning!

Ingredients

½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup half and half
2 tablespoons maple syrup or my favorite salted caramel syrup
2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
½ - ¾ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of kosher salt
prepared cold brew, for serving

Instructions

COMBINE: In a 2-cup measuring cup or a tall mason jar, combine the heavy cream, half and half, maple syrup (or salted caramel) pumpkin purée, pie spice, and kosher salt.
FROTH: Using a handheld frother or in a frothing jug, combine the ingredients. Keep in mind if you use an electric frothing jug, you want to make sure to do this on the cold setting. Once the cold foam is thick and aerated, you can stop.
SERVE: Add ice and cold brew to your favorite glass. Top with a few tablespoons of pumpkin cold foam. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

Sweeteners: You can use sweetened condensed milk, vanilla syrup, salted caramel syrup, or even simple syrup if you'd like. I find that honey does get a bit grainy, especially when the milk products are cold (which they need to be to aerate better!) so I don't suggest using that!
Storage: Make sure to keep leftover pumpkin cream cold in an airtight container topped with a tight-fitting lid in the fridge. You don't want to leave it open as it will absorb all the refrigerator smells!

Chai Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Marzia — Thu, 14 Sep 2023 10:30:00 +0000

The perfect accompaniment to a cup of coffee! These spiced chai pumpkin cheesecake muffins are tender and loaded with warm chai spices. No dry crumbs here, just tender, delicious pumpkin muffins all around!

New fall favorite muffin recipe right there!

And I’ve got pumpkin fever. As in, give me all the pumpkin spice, savory pumpkin (or any squash, really) recipes, and all the pie, cupcakes and muffins you can find. I’ll take it all.

These pumpkin cheesecake muffins happen to be the newest addition to the party. They’re ridiculously perfect served with a warm mug of joe. Not too sweet, topped with cheesecake batter and tender on the inside. If there’s anything I love more than cake or muffins, it’s those same things topped with cheesecake!

A few weeks ago I ran a poll on Instagram asking if you guys would like to see a cheddar jalapeno bread on the blog or if you’d rather see chai spiced pumpkin cookies. And though these are indeed not the cookies I talked about, the flavors are the same — just in muffin form. My favorite thing(s) about these spiced chai pumpkins cheesecake muffins? I can’t pick just one. They make your house smell all warm and fuzzy. They’re not overly sweet. They’re great with a warm mug of tea or coffee for breakfast or a midmorning snack.

What can I say?! I like sweet stuff for breakfast sometimes!

Muffins in the fall are my favorite things to bake. Don’t get me wrong, I make plenty of casseroles too, but muffins like these healthy carrot cake ones not only make your house smell like fall but also allow you to pack in veggies or squashes into something compact and easy enough to grab and go for breakfast.

Today’s pumpkin cheesecake muffins have two main parts: the chai spiced pumpkin muffins and the cheesecake batter topping.

What is chai spice?

Chai spice is a blend of warm spices used in making masala chai. Usually, when you’re making chai tea/lattes, you use them in the whole form, but for today’s recipe, we’re using the ground version to flavor our pumpkin cheesecake muffins.

What do I need to make the pumpkin cream cheese muffins?

All-purpose flour: is the base of this recipe.
Baking soda: is the leavening agent we use in this recipe.
Salt: this one is pretty self explanatory.
Sugar: you’ll need both brown sugar and granulated sugar.
Chai spices: You can use pumpkin pie spice for this recipe or you can make the custom blend that I use for my homemade chai spice. If you want this to be a true, chai-flavored pumpkin muffin, I suggest using my unique blend of cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom. Allspice is one of those ingredients that is heavily used in pumpkin pie spice but not in chai spice. I also like to add nutmeg, but this is also not a spice that is typically used for pie spice.
Large eggs: add structure and stability to this recipe.
Pumpkin puree: gives the recipe moisture and makes the muffins tender and moist. Be sure to use homemade or canned pumpkin puree and not pumpkin pie filling. The filling contains sugar and spices and since we’ll be adding these in ourselves, the pie filling won’t be a suitable substitute for good ol’ puree!
Oil: adds moisture to the recipe and is the main source of fat.
Pure vanilla extract: adds the most delicious scent and flavor. We’ll use this in both the filling and the muffin base.
Softened cream cheese: we’ll use the cream cheese to create the filling or the topping/
Powdered sugar: sweetens the create cheese mixture.
Lemon juice: adds a bit of tang and makes the cream cheese mixture taste like cheesecake!

How to make pumpkin cheesecake muffins:

Do the prep work. Start by preheating the oven. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray of add paper liners to the muffin tin. Set this aside for now.
Whisk the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground spices and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set this aside for now.
Whisk the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients. This is the sugar, eggs, pumpkin purée, oil, and vanilla extract. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Make the cheesecake batter. Add the cream cheese to the bowl of stand mixer or use a bowl annd ann electric mixer and whip it together to loosen it up. Then add the powdered sugar, vanilla and the lemon juice and mix until just combined.
Load the muffin tins. Scoop the pumpkin batter into the lined tin. If you want to use the cream cheese filling in the center, add a tablespoon to each of the muffins once they are halfway filled and then add more pumpkin muffin batter on top to fill the liners about two-thirds of the way full. More ways to use the cheesecake filling below!
Bake the muffins. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the muffins rise and are golden brown on top. Insert a toothpick in the center to see if they muffins are cooked all the way through. Allow the muffins to cool for a bit. I like to serve them at room temperature with a warm mug of coffee!

Ways to use the sweet cream cheese filling:

Okay. So you’ve got a few different options.

You can add a dollop of the cheesecake batter on top of the muffins as I did. I find this more visually appealing, and I love that the cheesecake batter is front and center.
You can use a piping bag to insert the cheesecake filling into the center.
You can add a dollop to the top the way I did and then swirl it around to give it a more marble effect.
You can fill it inside AND marble it on top.

There’s so much you can do with the filling. And what I love the most about it is that this recipe is super forgiving, all of these methods work!

FAQs about this recipe

Can you freeze spiced chai pumpkin cheesecake muffins?

YASS! You can bake these muffins off, allow them to cool to room temperature and then pop them into zip top bags and freeze them for up to 3 months. Just let them defrost in the refrigerator overnight, and they’ll be ready to enjoy just in time for breakfast!

How long will these last?

My experience with these muffins is that they hold up pretty well for 4-5 days. If it’s hot where you live, they may not hold up that long. Usually, I’ll bake a batch and send some to family or friends and keep a few for us. Or I’ll do option number two below.

What can I use in these pumpkin cheesecake muffins if I don’t like chai spice?

If you’re hesitant to try chai flavored muffins or don’t like chai spice, you can use pumpkin spice in these muffins as well. Swap the ground spices for a total of 1 tablespoon of prepared pumpkin spice.

So good I’ll be making these again before pumpkin season is up for sure!

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Original recipe posted Oct. 2018, updated Sept 2023.

Yield: 14-16 muffins

Chai Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

Muffin:

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons EACH: ground cinnamon AND vanilla extract
1 teaspoon EACH: baking soda AND ground ginger
½ teaspoon EACH: salt, ground cloves, AND ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 (15-ounce) pure pumpkin puree
½ cup oil (coconut, olive, vegetable, canola)

Cheesecake batter:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon EACH: vanilla extract AND lemon juice

Instructions

PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF. Spray two muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, ground spices, and salt; set aside.
WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, pumpkin puree, oil, and vanilla extract. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix using a rubber spatula until *just combined*
CHEESECAKE BATTER: Add the cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the cream for 30 seconds just to loosen it up, add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice and mix until *just combined*
MUFFINS: Fill the muffin pans with the pumpkin batter about two-thirds full. Add a tablespoon worth of cheesecake filling to the center and you can press it in, leave it on top, or swirl it on top using a toothpick to make a design. You can also use the cheesecake batter and a filling rather than a topping, if you'd like, both methods work!
BAKE: Bake the muffins for 16-19 minutes or until the muffins have risen and are golden brown on top. Let cool for a few minutes before trying to remove from the pan. Serve warm or room temperature!

Creamy, Dreamy Lemon Tiramisu

Marzia — Thu, 22 Jun 2023 10:30:00 +0000

Lemon Tiramisu is the summer-inspired dessert you didn’t know you needed! Ladyfingers dipped in lemon basil simple syrup, layered in a dish topped with a whipped mascarpone mixture and lemon curd! It’s the stuff lemon dreams are made of!

Creamy, dreamy, and lemony!

My favorite descriptors for a perfect summer dessert. Luckily for me, my homemade lemon tiramisu hits all of those marks. It’s no secret that I love a good lemon dessert. See here and here for proof.

For this recipe, we start with a homemade lemon simple syrup – don’t worry, it’s just a combination of water sugar, lemon juice, lemon slices, and basil. If you can toss it all in a saucepan, you can make this easy simple syrup recipe (which, might I add is great for summer cocktails and mocktails?)

To make the whipped mascarpone filling, we’re going to whip together a combination of cream cheese and mascarpone cheese in a stand mixer and then add in a packet of vanilla pudding mix to stiffen the mascarpone cream. I like to use French vanilla pudding mix so that it’s speckled with vanilla bean throughout.

And then it’s on to assembly! Start with the savoiardi cookies (or ladyfingers) dip them in the lemon syrup, make a single layer in the dish biscuits, add mascarpone cream, followed by homemade or store-bought lemon curd. Repeat these layers one more time and you’ve got a fun twist on a classic Italian dessert!

Ingredients for Lemon Tiramisu:

Cream Cheese: You’ll need both a package of cream cheese and a package of mascarpone cheese. Using a combination of these two products helps cut down a little on cost.
Vanilla pudding mix: You’ll need a small pack of vanilla pudding mix. I find that it not only whips the cream cheese into a wonderful, almost banana pudding-like texture. But it also adds sweetness and the perfect vanilla flavor. I like to use French vanilla pudding mix for this, if you can only find vanilla, it’s fine just add a teaspoon of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
Lemon curd: You’ll need roughly 12 ounces of homemade or store-bought lemon curd. Lemon curd is made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, sometimes lemon zest, and thickened with egg yolks.
Ladyfinger cookies: These are easily available in most mainstream grocery stores these days. Sometimes they’re in the international aisle, and brands such as Delallo make these. Sometimes, you can also find them in the cookie aisle, depending on where your grocery store stocks them. You can also purchase them online.
Sugar: You’ll need a 1/4 cup sugar to sweeten up the lemon basil simply syrup! Bonus: The syrup works beautifully with sparkling water to make an Italian Soda!
Lemons: Fresh lemon juice and lemon slices go into the simple syrup recipe. This gives the simple syrup a luscious lemon flavor. We’ll soak the ladyfingers in this syrup before layering it in the dish.
Basil: I used fresh basil from my garden and any variety you like eating will work well for this recipe.

How to make my lemon tiramisu recipe:

Start with the simple syrup. You’ll combine all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Once the syrup reaches a boil, we’ll cook it for another 30-45 seconds before removing it from the heat. Let the lemon slices and basil steep in the simple syrup for a few minutes before discarding them. Remove the simple syrup from the saucepan and let it cool completely.
Whip the mascarpone mixture. I like using a hand mixer and a bowl for this step but a stand mixer will also work. You’ll want to whisk together the mascarpone cheese and the cream cheese until it’s light and airy like whipped cream. Add in the vanilla pudding mixture and continue mixing. Then slowly add the milk in batches while you run the mixer on low. Using a spatula, stir the mixture to make sure it’s evenly combined.
Layer the tiramisu. Dip each ladyfinger into the cooled simple syrup quickly and line half of the fingers in an 8×8 baking dish. When the dish has an even layer of biscuits, top it with half of the fluffy mascarpone mixture. Then we’ll add half of the lemon curd on top. And basically repeat the same layers until you’ve used up all the ingredients. Cover the dish and pop it in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours. Something magical happens in there. The ladyfingers puff up into a cake-like texture and the lemon flavor is beautiful throughout! It’s good old summer magic!

FAQs about this recipe

Does Tiramisu taste better overnight?

Refrigerating tiramisu overnight helps firm up the mascarpone layer while turning the ladyfingers into a beautiful cake-like sponge.

How long does Tiramisu need to rest in the fridge?

I like to cover the dish loosely with plastic wrap and pop it into the refrigerator for a minimum of 4 hours. Tiramisu tastes best when it’s had a chance to sit for 8-12 hours before serving.

What is tiramisu filling made of?

Typically, it’s made from mascarpone cheese and egg yolks. For my eggless tiramisu recipe, I like to use cream cheese and mascarpone with some pudding mix to help set it.

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Yield: Serves 9-12

Creamy, Dreamy Lemon Tiramisu

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Lemon Tiramisu is the summer-inspired dessert you didn't know you needed! Ladyfingers dipped in lemon basil simple syrup, layered in a dish topped with a whipped mascarpone mixture and lemon curd! It's the stuff lemon dreams are made of!

Ingredients

Tiramisu:

1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone, softened
1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, softened
1 (3.4-ounce) instant vanilla pudding mix (french vanilla preferably)
1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
12-ounces prepared lemon curd
1 (7-ounce) package ladyfingers

Soaking syrup:

½ cup water
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup lemon juice
1 lemon thinly sliced, seeds removed
handful of basil (or 1 tbsp dried lavender)

Instructions

SOAKING SYRUP: Combine all the ingredients for the soaking syrup in a 1-quart saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. When boiling, cook for 45 seconds, then remove from heat and let steep for 4 minutes. Remove the lemon slice and basil ANd discard. Pour the syrup into a shallow bowl and allow it to cool completely.
MASCARPONE MIX: In a large mixing bowl, whip the cream cheese and mascarpone together with a hand mixer until completely smooth. Add the instant vanilla pudding mix and continue to mix until smooth. Make sure all of the pudding is mixed in by mixing it with a spatula. Then slowly add the milk in batches while you run the mixer on low.
TIRAMISU: Dip each ladyfinger in the syrup and then place in an 8x8 baking dish. When the dish has an even layer of ladyfingers, stop. Spread half of the prepared mascarpone over the ladyfingers. Then dollop half of the lemon curd and spread it out into a thin layer. Dip more ladyfingers in the lemon basil syrup to make a layer for the dish. Then finish with the mascarpone and finally the lemon curd. Cover the dish and allow the tiramisu to cool for at least 4 hours, and ideally, 8-12 hours so that it sets up. Garnish with lemon slices if desired.

Notes

Pudding mix: I like to use french vanilla pudding mix. You can also use regular vanilla and amp it up with a teaspoon of vanilla extract or bean paste.

Key Lime Pie Bars

Marzia — Mon, 22 May 2023 10:30:00 +0000

My Key Lime Pie Bars are outrageously delicious and you need less than 10 ingredients to make them! These squares are zesty, filled with lime juice, and are the perfect springtime dessert! And the crust is seriously irresistible!

Something about springtime just makes me CRAVE lime-y desserts that are citrusy and tangy. These key lime pie bars are always the first desserts I crave when spring finally hits. It makes me feel like the humid wind blowing through my hair came straight from the Florida Keys. Or like I’m on vacation or something!

Key Lime Pie Bars! Have you had them? For me, it all starts with the perfect crust and the creamy filling.

And my crust, I guarantee, is like no other you’d had before. That’s because I add a few not-so-traditional ingredients for key lime pies into the crust. I know you’re giving me the look, but let me say that cinnamon and ground pecans are going to take these bars to the next level. The Cheesecake Factory uses nuts in some of their cheesecake crust to make the flavor so unique, along with a pinch of cinnamon. The cinnamon flavor isn’t noticeable if you’re worried about that. Just a quarter teaspoon makes the crust so delicious but keeps the eater guessing what it is that makes these key lime pie bars so addicting. You’ll also find a few typical ingredients like a boatload of fresh lime zest and lime juice in the filling.

Overall, these are sweet but tart, and totally irresistible.

How to make the best key lime pie bars:

Ingredients for key lime pie bars

Graham cracker crumbs: I like to buy whole sheets of graham crackers in a box and then break them down into fine crumbs in the food processor. You can also just buy premade graham cracker crumbs these days so it cuts down on the prep work a little bit.
Ground pecans: Adds nuttiness and texture to the key lime pie bar crust.
Granulated Sugar: Adds sweetness to the graham cracker crust.
Ground cinnamon: Just a pinch works so beautifully with the other crust ingredients.
Butter: You’ll need a stick of melted, unsalted butter to use from the pie crust.
Large Egg Yolks: You’ll need to separate 3 yolks from the eggs. I find it easier to separate the egg whites from the yolks while the eggs are cold. You can use the leftover egg whites for breakfast the next day or to make a meringue!
Sweetened condensed milk: Adds sweetness to the key lime pie bars and keeps the bars nice and firm. A lot of recipes call for cream cheese, but I opt for sweetened condensed milk here and it’s absolutely perfect.
Lime Zest: You‘ll need a good bit of fresh lime zest for this recipe. Make sure to use a good zester to help get the lime zest nice and fine. We’ll add this to the filling and whisk it together so that the flavor of the zest carries throughout the lime bars.
Lime juice: Feel free to use key lime juice or regular lime juice for this. Nellie Key lime juice is the stuff that comes in a bottle, usually in the juice section of the grocery store. Key limes have a slightly floral scent and make the bars so much more delicious, but I do understand they aren’t available everywhere. You can also use bottled key lime juice for this recipe, but I tend to like the freshly squeezed version better.

How to make the best key lime pie bars:

Set yourself up with the basics. You want to start by preheating the oven. You’ll also want to grab an 8×8 baking pan for this recipe. Spray with cooking spray then line with a sheet of parchment paper. This keeps the sheet from moving around too much when you the press mixture of graham crackers into the pan.
Make the crust. In a small bowl, combine the crushed-up graham cracker crumbs, ground pecans, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. Make sure that all the crumbs are evenly coated in the melted butter. This will make it much easier to press the crust into the prepared pan. Dump this out into the 8×8 pan and press it out to an even layer. It helps to use round bottom glass sprayed with cooking spray to aid in this step. Bake the crust for 10 minutes.
Make the key lime filling. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks together for 2 minutes. You want to do this when they aren’t cold from the fridge, they mix much easier when they’re closer to room temperature. Then add the condensed milk and continue to whisk until the mixture is combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixer, and add the lemon zest. With the mixer running on low, slowly drizzle in the lime juice while the filling combines. Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and then bake the key lime pie bars for 15 minutes.
Have patience, let them cool. When the bars are out of the oven allow them to cool on a wire rack without attempting to remove them from the baking dish. The filling will continue to set as it cools.

FAQs about this recipe

Can you freeze key lime pie bars?

Yes, absolutely! Many readers have mentioned that they’ve made and frozen my key lime pie bars recipe successfully.

How do you get the slices to cut cleanly?

I like to dip my knife in hot water before attempting to make cuts. Cut all the way down to the crust with a very sharp knife, then wipe the knife between cuts to help keep things clean. It also helps to redip your knife in hot water between cutting pieces.

Does this recipe have enough crust?

I think compared to most key lime pie bar recipes, my recipe has an abundance of crust – some might say too much. Something to consider if you usually prefer significantly more filling to crust. I’m the kind of girlie that wouldn’t mind pushing the filling-to-crust ratio closer to 50:50. But this recipe has a 60% ratio of filling to crust and I love how they slice up beautifully!

Can I make these bars with any other citrus fruit?

I’ve also made these into lemon pie bars and they are absolutely fantastic! I love topping them with a dollop of whipped cream.

If you like this recipe, you might also like:

Original recipe shared March 2015, updated May 2023.

Yield: 16 squares

Key Lime Pie Bars

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups graham cracker crumbs (12 large rectangles)
2 tablespoons ground pecans
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
3 egg yolks, room temperature
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
4 teaspoons lime zest (about 3 limes)
½ cup key lime juice (regular limes are fine too)

Instructions

PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray an 8x8 square baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, set aside.
CRUST: In a small bowl, stir together the graham cracker crumbs, ground pecans, sugar, and cinnamon. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. Make sure all the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the baking pan and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, leave the oven on.
FILLING: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the yolks for 2 minutes. Add the condensed milk and continue to whisk for another 2 minutes. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides, add the lime zest. With the mixer on low, drizzle in the lime juice, let the mixer run for 2 minutes once added. The pie mixture will be slightly thicker when done. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 15-17 minutes. The filling will finish setting when the bars cool, but it shouldn't be too liquidy.
SERVE: Cool completely on a wire rack. Filling will set as it cools. Refrigerate for at minimum of 2 hours, and ideally overnight. Slice and serve chilled.

Mini Fruit Tarts with Vanilla Pastry Cream

Marzia — Mon, 08 May 2023 11:00:00 +0000

Easy Mini Fruit Tarts filled with an easy homemade from-scratch vanilla pastry cream! Top fruit tarts with strawberries, kiwi, mandarin slices, or anything else you please! These mini fruit tarts are the perfect bite-sized dessert for a bridal shower, baby shower, Mother’s Day, or afternoon tea!

Mini Fruit Tarts are my jam!

You know how sometimes you have a favorite dessert that just has a choke hold on you and no matter what you do you can’t stop thinking about it?

Well, that’s what the La Madeline Fruit Tart was for me.

Creamy and delicious vanilla pastry cream speckled with vanilla bean paste. Sweet and tart topped with fresh berries, kiwi slices, mandarin oranges, and slivers of red grapes. The shortcrust pastry was always buttery and lightly sweetened. And the whole thing together was a harmonious bite of buttery pastry, smooth vanilla creme patisserie, and tart fresh fruit segments.

Today I’m showing you my quick and easy mini fruit tarts where I’ve gone ahead and used mini store-bought tart shells instead of making the shortbread crust from scratch. This cuts down on the prep work for this recipe quite a bit. It also makes homemade mini-tarts a lot more accessible for those of us that aren’t big on baking! But you could certainly use your own recipe to make the crust as well. You could also make sugar cookie cups made from store-bought sugar cookie dough and just press it into your muffin pan and bake. I do find that this makes the fruit tarts significantly sweeter than using shortcrust pastry tart shells or mini pie crusts, so I usually prefer to stick with the other options.

I’m also skipping the kiwi, oranges, and grapes and going all in with the berry medley – bring on the blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries! Fruit tartlets are festive enough for the 4th of July and yet easy and pretty enough to serve at a Mother’s Day brunch or a shower!

Ingredients for Mini Fruit Tarts

Mini Pie or Tart Shells: You can use store-bought prepared tart shells that don’t require any preparation or you can use mini pie shells that just require baking. You can also make homemade shortcrust pastry tart crusts from your favorite recipe and fill them with my pastry cream recipe and top them with fresh fruit.
Assorted Fruits or Berries: this time around, I made this recipe with just fresh berries. You can also use your favorite cubed fruit instead. Mangoes, kiwi pieces, red grapes cut in half, mandarin slices, and so many other things would work beautifully on these.
Apricot Preserves: I thin out apricot jam and use it as a glaze on the tarts. It not only gives the fruit tarts a beautiful sheen, but it also adds just a hint of sweetness to tart fruits.
Granulated Sugar: This is the sweetener for the pastry cream.
Egg Yolks: Are used for the creme patisserie. The fat in the yolks adds richness and thickens the vanilla pastry cream. Egg yolks are a very common ingredient in pastry cream for many tart recipes.
Cornstarch: Helps thinking the creme patisserie (or vanilla pastry cream.) A lot of recipes call for flour instead of cornstarch, but I find that cornstarch not only makes the pastry cream gluten-free it also gives it a silkier texture than flour.
Milk: We’ll simmer the milk with the heavy cream to create the custard for the mini fruit tarts. I usually prefer to use 2% milk here because the heavy cream, it gives the pastry cream the right ratio of cream.
Heavy Cream: Goes in with the milk. Heavy cream is labeled as ‘heavy whipping cream’ in some countries. Essentially you want a cream that has at least 36% fat content.
Salad Butter: I like to use salted butter that we’ll add to the pastry cream right at the end. If you don’t have salted butter on hand, just add a pinch of kosher salt when you’re stirring in the butter.
Vanilla Bean Paste or Vanilla Extract: I like to use vanilla bean paste for this recipe because the pastry cream then has speckles of vanilla bean running through it. If you don’t have vanilla bean paste on hand, feel free to use vanilla extract. The only difference is you’ll want to up the amount of extract you use and add it in at the end so that it doesn’t evaporate when you’re cooking the creme patisserie.

How to make mini fruit tarts that are perfect to entertain with:

Whisk together the base. To start with, you want to make sure your tart shells are prepared. I usually buy store-bought ones that just need to be baked. I preheat the oven and bake them off while I’m making the cream patisserie so that they can cool off and be ready to fill once the pastry cream is cooled. Combine the egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl until the mixture is creamy, pale and yellow in color. Add the cornstarch and whisk it together until combined. I like to use a hand mixer for this step because it cuts down on the elbow grease quite a bit. But you could also do this with a whisk if you prefer.
Bring the milk to a simmer. Add the milk and cream to a medium saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. You don’t want the mixture to boil because the fat will separate. Instead, you want to just keep an eye on the rim of the saucepan to see when tiny bubbles start to form. When the mixture has tiny bubbles forming, remove it from the heat source. While the stand mixer (or hand mixer) is running, slowly pour the cream into the yolk mixture. The key is to continue whisking so that the egg yolks don’t curdle. Pouring the warm cream slowly into the egg mixture is known as tempering the eggs.
Cook the creme patisserie. Transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and cook this over medium-low heat. Whisk or stir the mixture constantly to keep things from sticking to the bottom. Add the vanilla paste and continue to cook the pastry cream until it thickens. Once it’s thick, transfer the pastry cream to a fine mesh strainer and strain it into a heat-proof bowl. Then add the butter and stir to combine. If you’re using vanilla extract, this would be the time it add it in. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over the surface of the vanilla pastry cream. You want to make sure that there aren’t any air bubbles between the cream and the plastic. This helps ensure that the filling doesn’t develop a layer of skin on top. Then place the filling in the fridge and allow it to cool completely.
Make fruit tarts. Whisk the pastry cream with a hand mixer until it’s smooth. You want it to be airy and light and this helps with that! Fill each tart shell with about 2 tablespoons of pastry cream. I like to use a piping bag to make it neat and clean. Then top with fresh berries or cubed fruit. Melt the apricot preserves in the microwave with a splash of water. You want it to be a glaze-like texture. Whisk with a fork to thin out the glaze. Then brush the fruit lightly with this. Allow the fruit tarts to cool for at least 1 hour before serving. This allows the glaze to set up beautifully and also gives the pastry cream a chance to set as well.

FAQs about fruit tarts

How do you keep mini fruit tarts from getting soggy?

When you cool the creme patisserie before piping it into the fruit tart shells, you eliminate the chance of the fruit tarts becoming soggy.

What is the best filling for tart?

Vanilla pastry cream of creme patisserie is the best filling for a fruit tart.

What is the clear jelly on fruit tarts?

It’s typically apricot preserves that have been thinned out with a little water. It adds a nice glisten to the fruit on top and gives them a bit more flavor.

Can I make the pastry cream in advance?

Yes, the filling can be made up to 48 hours ahead of filling the tart molds. Just make sure to cover the surface so that the pastry cream doesn’t form a skin. You’ll also want to make sure to whisk the pastry cream with a hand mixer to make sure it’s smooth before filling the tart shells.

If you like this dessert recipe, you might also like:

Yield: ~12-16 filled tarts

Mini Fruit Tarts with Vanilla Pastry Cream

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Additional Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Pastry Cream:

½ cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks, cold
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup 2% milk
1 cup heavy cream (36% fat)
2 tablespoons salted butter, cold
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (double if extract)

Tarts:

13-15 mini tart shells (see notes)
~2 cups assorted fresh berries (or diced fruit)
2 tablespoons apricot preserves

Instructions

WHISK: In a heatproof bowl with a hand mixer or the bowl of your stand mixer with a whisk attachment, combine the egg yolks and sugar until creamy and pale yellow; approximately 1-2 minutes. Whisk in the cornstarch until combined.
SIMMER: Heat the milk and cream in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles start forming around the rim of the saucepan. Do not let the cream boil. Remove from heat. Gradually pour the hot cream in a steady stream into the egg mixture while the mixer runs until completely incorporated and smooth.
COOK: Transfer the mixture back into the saucepan and then heat over medium-low heat whisking constantly. Add the vanilla paste (don’t add extract yet.) Allow the pastry cream to cook until it thickens; about 4-5 minutes. Once thickened, remove from heat. Strain the pastry cream through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl. Then stir in the butter and add vanilla extract (if using.) Press a sheet of plastic wrap over the surface of the pastry cream and make sure there aren’t any air bubbles between the cream and the plastic. This will keep the patisserie cream from developing a skin. Bring to room temperature and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before piping. The filling can be made up to 48 hours in advance.
TARTS: Whisk the pastry cream with a hand mixer until smooth and airy. Pipe into prepared tart shells. Top with fresh berries as desired. Melt the apricot preserves in the microwave with a teaspoon of water for 15-30 seconds and brush the fruit with this using a pastry brush. I like to refrigerate the fruit tarts for 1 hour before serving, but this is optional.

Notes

Tart shells: Use your favorite shortcrust pastry recipe, store-bought shells, or even cookie cups made out of sugar cookie dough. My grocery store sells ~2-inch pie shells that I blind baked and used for this. Use pie weights or beans if you feel the crust may rise during baking.
Fruit toppings: I like to use a berry medley for this typically. But sometimes I'll do chunks of kiwi, mango, or even grapes. Feel free to use any fruit that you like here.

Super Moist and Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

Marzia — Thu, 09 Mar 2023 11:30:00 +0000

These Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins are made with less sugar than your average muffin recipe and more tender than any you’ve ever had before! These are also loaded with tons of shredded carrots, coconut, and juicy raisins. So easy, healthy, and delicious!

HEALTHY carrot cake muffins!?

Muffins like these healthy carrot cake muffins have a special place in my heart. Especially for breakfast. Am I the only one that rolls out of bed and wants something desserty as part of my breakfast to wake up my tastebuds? My husband is completely the opposite. He won’t even think about anything sweet until he’s had his savory breakfast + coffee. And then he’ll proceed to ‘breakfast dessert’ as he calls it.

I absolutely love the smell of something warm and cinnamon-y wafting from the kitchen in the morning. The sweet scent of bread, muffins, or pancakes just puts a spring in my step. The way the heat radiates out of the muffin liners from a warm banana nut or carrot muffin just makes my whole day better.

The carrots are the star of the show but we also have a ton of supporting actors – enter raisins, crunchy walnuts, and shredded coconut to add lots of flavor and texture (!!!) One thing I love doing is sprinkling a handful of rolled oats on the bottom of my muffin pan before pouring in the batter and then topping them with another pinch of oats. This provides a nice added crunch to the muffin tops plus it makes them look so much prettier. And let’s face it, this is practically carrot cake in muffin form, minus the cream cheese frosting.

What I love most about these muffins is that you don’t have to use any special equipment to make them. Sometimes you just want to grab a whisk and do it the old-fashioned way while you’re standing there lost in thought or in my case, binge-listening to podcasts.

Is that a thing, binge listening?

Ingredients for homemade carrot cake muffins

Flour: You’ll need all-purpose flour for this recipe and you can replace some of it with whole wheat flour as well. I haven’t tested the recipe with all whole wheat but I do think the muffins may be too dense if you made them with all whole wheat.
Baking Soda: It may seem like a whole lot of baking soda! 2 Tsp!
Spices: You’ll need kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger to add warmth. You’ll also need two heaping teaspoons of cinnamon.
Oil: I love using melted coconut oil for these muffins because it enhances the shredded coconut flavor and makes the muffins much lighter than if you were to use butter. You can also use canola oil or vegetable oil if this is typically what you have on hand at home.
Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is partially responsible for adding sweetness to the recipe as well as moisture.
Unsweetened Apple Sauce: Apple sauce provides a deeper flavor and cuts out some of the added sugar.
Greek yogurt: adds protein and reacts with the baking soda to help the muffins rise a bit. To make these dairy-free I suggest using coconut yogurt or something similar.
Eggs: Adds structure and stability to baked goods.
Vanilla: 2 teaspoons vanilla extract is the perfect amount of vanilla. It shines beautifully in the recipe.
Shredded carrots: You’ll need two whole cups of shredded carrots for this recipe. The carrots and moisture to the muffins and they’ll shrink into teeny tiny bits in the muffins so you won’t even know they’re there.
Add-ins: I use shredded sweetened coconut, raisins, and walnuts. These add, color, and texture to the muffins. They pair beautifully with the cinnamon and ginger in the recipe. The other ingredient that you won’t find in other carrot cake muffin recipes – oats! The rolled oats – not oat flour. I sprinkle them in the muffin tin and on top of the muffins to add a nutty taste and some texture.

How to make the best carrot cake muffins

Prep things. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350ºF. You’ll want to line a cupcake pan with paper liners or just spray it with cooking spray. I sprinkle the bottom of the liners or the muffin tins with half the oats. Save the other half for the topping!
Sift the dry ingredients. In a bowl sift the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
Mix the wet ingredients. Add the brown sugar and oil and mix them together with a whisk, a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer until they’re combined. Add the yogurt and apple sauce until they’re fully mixed. Don’t worry if the mixture is a bit gritty, it’ll all work out! Add the eggs one at a time beating well after each one is incorporated. Then stir in the vanilla.
Make batter. Manually stir or fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Taking care to make sure you work out all the flour pockets but don’t over-mix. Add your add-ins and then divide the batter into the prepared pans. Don’t forget to sprinkle the remaining oats over top and shaved coconut too if you’d like.
Bake the muffins. Until they’re golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffin comes out mostly clean. Moist crumbs are fine, you just don’t want wet batter! The serving size is a muffin, but don’t be surprised when you find yourself going back for more!

FAQs about this recipe

Can I use honey or maple syrup instead of brown sugar?

I know a lot of recipes call for honey or maple syrup. The truth is, I’ve never tested this recipe with a liquid sweetener to I’m unsure if that will work.

Can I swap the spices?

Some people like using ground cloves or a little grating of nutmeg, feel free to spruce these as you’d like!

How do you store the muffins?

I keep them in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. If it’s particularly warm where you live, I’d store them in the refrigerator and then reheat a muffin for a few seconds in the microwave or just bring it to room temperature on the counter before enjoying!

If you like this recipe, you might also like these muffins:

Original recipe posted Jan 2014, updated March 2023.

Yield: ~16 muffins

Super Moist and Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Ingredients

2 cups flour (I use 50% whole wheat and 50% AP)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon EACH salt and ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
⅔ cup melted coconut oil (see notes)
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup greek yogurt
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups carrots, finely shredded
1/2 cup EACH shredded sweetened coconut, raisins, AND walnuts
1/4 cup oats, divided

Instructions

PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. If you want, you can line your cupcake pan with paper liners. Or spray the insides with cooking spray. Sprinkle half the oats on the liners, set aside.
DRY INGREDIENTS: In a medium bowl, sift together the flour(s), baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, set aside.
WET INGREDIENTS: In a large bowl with a whisk, hand mixer, or stand mixer, on medium speed, combine the brown sugar and oil. Beat in the yogurt and apple sauce until fully combined - about 1 minute. Mixture will be gritty and thin. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
BATTER: With a spatula, manually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and all flour pockets are gone - do not overmix. Fold in the finely shredded carrots, shredded coconut, raisins, and walnuts. The muffin mixture will be thick. Pour into prepared cupcake pans. Sprinkle the remaining oats on top and shaved coconut too if you'd like.
BAKE: Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Let cool for several minutes before devouring!

Notes

After making these muffins more than a dozen times after originally posting the recipe back in 2014, i've found that I prefer them with ⅔ cup of oil rather than the originally stated amount of '¾ cup'. However either amount will work.

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake

Marzia — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 11:30:00 +0000

Leftover Cranberry Coffee Cake is the perfect thing to bake when you’ve got cranberry sauce to use up! Jumbo lumps of almond streusel, a ribbon of sweet cranberry swirl in the center, and a moist, delicious cake all around!

Day after Thanksgiving or Christmas breakfast. Check.

Asking for a friend: calories don’t count on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, right?

This warm and cozy orange cinnamon cranberry sauce coffee cake is the perfect thing to serve for breakfast the next day. When you’re done setting aside a little bit of the cranberry sauce for your moist-maker sandwich, use the rest to make homemade cranberry coffee cake.

It has crunchy almonds on top and a sprinkle of orange zest that pairs beautifully with the cranberry sauce in the center, and can we just say that those jumbo lumps of streusel topping will knock your socks off?

Your whole house is about to smell warm and cozy and Christmasy. A warm cup of coffee or even a London fog latte to go alongside this cake is truly all you need!

Ingredients for leftover cranberry sauce coffee cake:

Unsalted Butter: We’ll use the butter in both the streusel topping and the coffee cake. You’ll want to melt the butter for the streusel topping so that it’s super easy to combine. The other stick of butter should be at room temperature so that it’s soft enough to beat for the coffee cake.
All-Purpose Flour: I typically use unbleached flour for all my baked goods.
Kosher Salt: the sodium helps enhance the flavor of the sugar and all the other ingredients in the recipe. We’ll use it in both the crumb topping as well as the coffee cake itself.
Eggs: are used to add flavor, texture, and structure in the form of protein to the coffee cake. Remember, a coffee cake is a bit more dense than a traditional cake so that’s why we’re using an extra egg in the batter.
Leavening agents: You’ll need both baking powder and baking soda for this recipe. These ingredients will react with the sour cream and milk that we’re using and cause the coffee cake to rise.
Sugar: You’ll need both brown sugar and granulated sugar for this recipe. Granulated sugar will go into the cake batter and a 50:50 ratio of brown and granulated sugar will go into the streusel we’ll sprinkle on top of our coffee cake.
Sour cream: adds a beautiful little tang to the cake. In the past, I’ve also used plain yogurt or greek yogurt in place of sour cream and it usually works pretty well. I do suggest using a good full-fat or higher-fat yogurt. None of the 0% stuff, please!
Milk: helps thin out the batter just a tad bit.
Extracts: You’ll need both vanilla extract and almond extract for this cake. Don’t worry if you’re not an almond extract fan! We aren’t using a ton in this recipe. If you’re worried, you can omit the almond extract and just up the vanilla by another 1/2 teaspoon. This is my favorite almond extract; it smells so good!
Leftover cranberry sauce: whether you make cranberry sauce from scratch or you buy it in a can, you can make this recipe. You’ll need 1 cup of cranberry sauce for this cake. Keep in mind that cranberry sauce is different from cranberry jelly. Be sure to use a sauce that has some whole berries for added texture. Bonus: did you know that cranberries are a powerhouse of nutrition? They’re a good source of vitamin C, vitamin E, and fiber.

Instructions on how to make cranberry sour cream coffee cake:

Make the crumb topping. Add the almonds, salt, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon to a bowl and whisk it together using a fork. A fork works best because you can rake it and create crumbs once you add the melted butter. It forms really large crumbs, don’t worry; once it cools down, you can break up the crumbs as needed.
Prep work. Start by preheating the oven. You’ll also want to spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray. I typically line the springform pan with parchment but that’s optional. Set this aside for now.
Combine the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt to a small bowl. Mix this together and set it aside until you’re ready to add it to the whipped butter mixture.
Make the batter. Whip the softened butter in a bowl until airy. Then add the granulated sugar and the orange zest. Mix together until the sugar and butter combine. Then add the eggs, one at a time, waiting until the first is mixed in before adding the next. Flavor the cake with almond extract and vanilla extract. Then we’ll add the dry ingredients alternating it in batches with the sour cream and the milk. Start with ⅓ of the dry ingredients, run the mixer, then add the sour cream, dry ingredients, milk, and finally, the remaining dry ingredients. I like to stir the batter by hand with a rubber spatula towards the end so that you don’t end up over-mixing it.
Bake a cake. Spoon half of the batter into the prepared springform pan. Drop the cranberry sauce in dollops over the cake batter. And finally, spread the remaining cake batter over the cranberry sauce. Sprinkle the prepared crumb topping over the cake and bake it in the oven until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Crumbs are fine; you just don’t want wet batter on the skewer. Cool the springform pan on a wire rack.

FAQs about this cranberry coffee cake recipe

Can you add icing or glaze to this coffee cake?

You can definitely drizzle it at the end if you’d like. Combine ½ cup of powdered sugar with a few teaspoons of milk. Start with 1 teaspoon and add more as needed. You don’t want the confectioners’ sugar to become too liquidy, so go easy here and add just what you need. The thinner the glaze, the more it’ll run off the coffee cake!

How do you make fancy cranberry sauce?

Check here for a homemade cranberry sauce! You can add in vanilla, fresh herbs, and tons of other ingredients to make it fancy. There are directions for both a saucepan stove top version and one that you can toss in the slow cooker!

How long does homemade cranberry sauce last?

Leftover cranberry sauce can easily be kept in the refrigerator for 7-10 days. So you can plan on making this cake a whole week after Thanksgiving if you’d like!

If you like this recipe, you might also like:

Yield: Serves 10

Leftover Cranberry Sauce Coffee Cake

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Leftover Cranberry Coffee Cake is the perfect thing to bake when you've got leftover cranberry sauce to use up! Jumbo lumps of almond streusel, a ribbon of sweet cranberry swirl in the center, and a moist, delicious cake all around!bdesser

Ingredients

Crumb topping:

½ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ cup toasted slivered almonds
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
⅓ cup EACH: light brown sugar AND granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Cranberry Cake:

2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon EACH: baking soda AND kosher salt
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
Zest of 1 orange
3 large eggs, room temp
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
⅓ cup sour cream
¼ cup milk
1 cup leftover cranberry sauce (or store-bought)

Instructions

CRUMB: In a medium bowl, combine the almonds, salt, flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon. Combine with a fork. Use the fork to stir while you pour in the melted butter, breaking up any large crumbs. Place the bowl in the fridge while you make the batter.
PREP: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9-inch springform pan with cooking spray; set aside.
DRY: In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, soda, and kosher salt.
BATTER: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add sugar and orange zest and continue to beat for another 1-2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time waiting until each is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla and almond extract; mix to combine. Stop the mixer; scrape down the sides. With the mixer on low, add the following ingredients, ⅓ of the dry ingredients, then the sour cream, another ⅓ of dry ingredients, then the milk, and finally the remaining dry ingredients. Do not overmix. The batter with be quite thick and that’s okay.
BAKE: Spread half of the batter in the prepared pan. Drop the cranberry sauce in dollops and then spread it out. Top with the remaining cake batter. Use an offset spatula sprayed with cooking spray to help spread it easily. Top with prepared crumb topping. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out mostly clean. Loosely tent the cake with foil if the top starts browning too much at any point. Crumbs are fine, just no wet batter! Let cool for 10-15 minutes before removing from the springform pan.

Notes

Storage: Store any leftover coffee cake in an airtight container to keep it from drying out. Coffee cake naturally has a more denser texture than other cakes so it's best when consumed in 1-3 days.

Salted Caramel Apple Dip

Marzia — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 10:30:00 +0000

Caramel apples in dip form! Caramel Apple Dip starts with a layer of whipped vanilla cream cheese, topped with gooey caramel sauce on top and layered with chopped peanuts to give it a sweet and salty flavor! Slice up some granny smith apples and serve along for dipping!

This is the perfect dip to make for apple season!

Pumpkins are pumpkins, but apples reign supreme for me.

Caramel apples are one of my favorite things from my childhood. A tart apple covered in gooey, shiny caramel and sprinkled with peanuts? YES, PLEASE.

As an adult, I’ve found many ways to sneak apples into everything in the fall. I mean, of course, once you’ve made all the homemade cider, cider braised pot roast, apple pie french toast bake, and you’ve still got apples on hand – a homemade caramel apple dip is a no-brainer! It’s perfect to have around in the fridge to dip your apple slices in for an after school snack, fall gatherings, and it makes for the ideal movie marathon snack as well.

Unpopular opinion: peanuts are superior to chocolate toffee bits! I like to use granny smith apples for this dip because the tart apples work beautifully with the sweetness of the caramel dip and the lightly salted peanuts. I know a ton of people top the dip with toffee bits or heath bits.

If you’re a sucker for a good caramel apple dipped in peanuts – this is how you’re going to want to make your caramel apple dips from now on!

This was a huge hit for us!

Ingredients for caramel apple dip recipe:

Caramels: I like to use soft caramels and melt them down with a little heavy cream. This makes making this dessert so much quicker with a semi-homemade twist! Salted caramel sauce would be delicious for this recipe, and you can use it for my caramel apple cinnamon rolls too! Of course, you could also use a jar of your favorite premade caramel here as well if you’d like!
Heavy Cream: to thin out the caramel chews! If you use premade caramel sauce, you can skip this ingredient completely.
Cream cheese: I like to soften the cream cheese to room temperature for a couple of hours so that it whips up nicely.
Mascarpone: In addition to the cream cheese, I like to add a large dollop of mascarpone. This gives the dip a richer, more luxurious flavor. I like the sweetness, slight acidity, and complexity it brings to the dip! Honestly, it makes the cream cheese layer taste like a no-bake cheesecake, and I’m all about that! However, you can easily substitute the mascarpone with additional cream cheese if you’d like.
Vanilla extract: a teaspoon vanilla extract and mascarpone are a heavenly combo! It gives the dip a fresh vanilla scent.
Powdered sugar: adds sweetness to the cream cheese mixture. The powdered sugar, combined with vanilla, cream cheese, and mascarpone, makes the cream cheese taste like a cheesecake.
Lightly-salted peanuts: I just chop them up on a cutting board, or you can toss them in a food processor to break them down quickly! As I mentioned, feel free to do a 50:50 combo of butter toffee bits and peanuts or all toffee bits instead. You could even use chocolate chips.
Granny Smith Apples: Slice up your fresh apples and serve them alongside the dip! You could also use graham crackers or ritz crackers for this!

Instructions for how to make a salted caramel apple dip:

Melt the caramels. Unwrap all the caramels in the pack. This takes a while, so make sure to round up a helper or two! Once you’ve unwrapped them, throw them into a sauce pot and melt them down with the heavy cream over low heat. Let them go low and slow. Once it melts, allow it to cool to room temperature.
Mix the cream cheese layer. Add the cream cheese to a bowl and whip it together using a hand mixer. Once the cream cheese is smooth, add the mascarpone, vanilla, and start with five tablespoons of powdered sugar. Mix again using the hand mixer until smooth. Then taste and adjust with more powdered sugar as desired. Keep in mind that a significant amount of the sweetness for this dip comes from the caramel layer! So don’t go overboard here!
Spread it out. Spread the cream cheese layer at the bottom of the serving dish. Top with the caramel layer. It should be cool enough to spread out. Then top with the chopped peanuts or toffee bits. Pop the dip in the refrigerator for at least an hour so that the caramel layer firms up a bit more and so that it’s more scoopable! The cream cheese layer also holds better once chilled.
Serve it up! When you’re ready to serve, slice the apples and serve them with the dip. Make sure to scoop up a little of the caramel layer and the cream cheese mix!

FAQs about this recipe

How do you suggest storing leftovers?

You can transfer leftovers to an airtight container, or you can easily place plastic wrap over the serving dish and refrigerate.

Would brown sugar or stevia work for the cream cheese mixture instead of powdered sugar?

I’ve only tested the recipe as written, so I’m unsure.

What kind of apples are suitable for caramel dip?

I like to use granny smiths because the tartness helps cut the sweet caramel. But any apple you like to eat would also work here! Honeycrisp, fuji, pink lady, and golden delicious are other options that would also work!

How do you thin caramel if it gets too thick?

If you find your caramel is still thick with two tablespoons of cream, add in a third tablespoon to help thin it out further.

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Yield: Serves 8

Salted Caramel Apple Dip

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

Caramel apples in dip form! This starts with a layer of whipped vanilla cream cheese, topped with gooey caramel sauce on top and layered with chopped peanuts to give it a sweet and salty flavor! Slice up some granny smith apples and serve along for dipping!

Ingredients

1 (11.5 ounce) packet of caramels (regular or salted)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, softened
4 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened (see notes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons powdered sugar
⅔ cup lightly-salted peanuts, chopped (or use pistachios, almonds, etc.)
3-4 Granny Smith apples, sliced for serving

Instructions

MELT: Add the caramels to a saucepan with cream and heat over low heat until the caramels melt into a creamy sauce; set aside and allow the sauce to cool.
MIX: Add the cream cheese to a mixing bowl and using a hand blender, blend until smooth. Add mascarpone, vanilla, and powdered sugar; mix to combine. Taste and adjust with another tablespoon of powdered sugar if desired. Remember, the caramel will add lots of sweetness, so I usually don't add more!
SERVE: Spread the cream cheese mixture in a 2-quart baking dish and smooth it out into an even layer. Pour the caramel on top and spread evenly. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Allow the dip to cool for at least 1½ hours so that the cream cheese layer and caramel firm up. It’s much better to scoop that way! Serve with apple slices.

Notes

Swap the mascarpone: I like to use a little mascarpone to elevate the flavor of this dip. It makes it creamier and a bit richer in my opinion. Feel free to use another 4 ounces of cream cheese if you don’t want to use mascarpone!
Swap the peanuts: To make this more of a peanut allergy-friendly dip, feel free to swap the peanuts for toffee bits. I love the combo of lightly salted peanuts with caramel, and it helps curb the sweetness! You could even do a 50:50 mix of the two!
Swap the caramel: You can swap out the homemade caramel sauce for jarred caramel sauce; it works beautifully!
Swap the apples: Granny smith apples add a tart element and curb the sweetness from the caramel, so I think they work best for this recipe. If you'd like to use a different apple variety, you might want to cut back on the powdered sugar in the cream cheese layer to 1-2 tablespoons.

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Marzia — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 10:30:00 +0000

Caramel apple cinnamon rolls stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar, caramel, granny smith apples and drizzled with homemade apple cider caramel sauce and pecans. My cinnamon rolls have the most wonderful, bakery-style, buttery flavor! These apple cinnamon rolls are the perfect fall treat!

Feeling all the fall vibes today!

It’s that time of the year again when calories don’t count! HA. If only that were true!

Today, I’m bringing you apple cinnamon rolls drizzled all over with cider caramel sauce! I‘m telling you, if you’re looking for a weekend baking project, you’ve found it. Gooey caramel apple filling all wrapped around pillowy soft bakery-style cinnamon roll dough. You could totally frost these with cream cheese frosting like I do my 1-hour cinnamon rolls, but I like to go in with that leftover apple cider caramel or salted caramel sauce, and it’s golden brown fall perfection. It’s totally giving sticky buns meets caramel apple pieces.

Caramel apples give you that bobbing-for-apples autumnal feels. If you’ve gone apple picking recently, first of all, you need to make yourself a batch of homemade cider. And then, you need to make these caramel apple rolls. The center is filled with brown sugar, pecans, apples, and cinnamon.

It totally tastes like a slice of apple pie but in breakfast form. So basically, it’s a swirled version of my apple pie french toast bake topped with caramel sauce. If it doesn’t feel like fall where you live (it definitely doesn’t feel like fall where I live) then these extra indulgent, feels-like-fall, all hugs and smiles caramel apple cinnamon rolls are exactly what the doc ordered.

Ingredients for caramel apple cinnamon rolls:

Flour: The protein content of all-purpose flour is ideal for making cinnamon rolls. You’ll also need a little extra flour for the surface.
Milk: warm whole milk is added to the dough. This adds hydration, structure, and strengthens the dough.
Instant Yeast: ferments the sugar that we use in the rolls. It also helps the dough to rise by releasing carbon dioxide.
Sugar: You’ll need both granulated sugar and brown sugar for this recipe. I like to use white sugar in the dough and brown sugar for the cinnamon swirl in the center.
Powdered Milk: This is my secret ingredient in making bakery-quality cinnamon buns at home! Most grocery stores carry this in the baking aisle; you can also purchase it online here.
An Egg: helps strengthen the structure of the final baked product.
Butter: adds flavor, tenderness, and moisture to the rolls. When we add melted butter to the rolls, the fat coats the flour and ensures that less gluten is formed, so the rolls are melt-in-your-mouth delicious!
Spices: You’ll need ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and kosher salt for the dough. These add flavor.
Diced apples: I love using a nice and tart green apple for this recipe because it balances out all the sweet ingredients in the recipe. You can swap that with any other apples that are suitable for baking.
Pecans: Chopped toasted pecans pair beautifully with the tart apples and the sweet caramel sauce.

How to make apple cinnamon rolls:

Yeast likes things warm to get it going. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the milk and water. Heat it for 30-45 seconds until warm but not hot. Add the melted butter to the mixture, then check the temperature using a food thermometer. It shouldn’t be any hotter than 105ºF; if it is, just let it cool a bit.
Make the dough. Add the flour, sugar, salt, powder milk, and yeast to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add the milk mixture and the egg. Mix together until a soft dough forms. You can add additional flour as needed. If you live somewhere humid, you’ll need more flour than if you live somewhere dry! When the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and comes together, remove it from the stand mixer, cover it, and let sit for 10-15 minutes. This allows the gluten to relax. If you were to roll this right away, the dough wouldn’t stretch the way we need it to!
Make the cinnamon brown sugar filling. Add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a bowl; set it aside for later. This would also be a good time to dice up a granny smith or Honeycrisp apple.
Make rolls. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and make sure to flour your rolling pin. Make a nice big rectangle. Then spread the surface with softened butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Make sure to cover the dough all over. Drop apple chunks and drizzle with salted caramel or apple cider caramel sauce on top. Roll the dough into a tight log. Make sure to tuck and pinch the ends. Cut the ends off to make clean pieces. Then cut the log into 12 equal pieces. I like to use dental floss, but you can also use a sharp knife. Place the rolls in a lightly greased baking dish.
Let the dough rest and rise. For the second rise, I like to warm the oven to 200ºF, turn it off and then place the rolls inside covered with a damp tea towel. The warm oven is an optimum atmosphere for the dough to rise; it’s warm and dark. If the oven is in use, my favorite trick is to preheat the dryer (yes, the kind where you dry your clothes), turn it off then place the dish inside (covered with a damp cloth.) This does the same thing without putting the oven out of commission!
Preheat the oven and bake. When the dough has risen, remove it from the oven and preheat the oven. Bake the rolls for 16-22 minutes or until the center roll is cooked through and no longer raw. Let the rolls cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then drizzle with more apple cider caramel or salted caramel. Serve warm!

FAQs about caramel cinnamon rolls:

Can I use active dry yeast instead of instant?

Yes, you can. The only difference is you’ll have to proof the yeast. So add it to the warm water and milk (before adding the butter) and let it hang out for 10 minutes. Then allow more time for the dough to rest and double in size once the dough is mixed; about 1 hour. And again, you’ll have to let it rise for longer for the second rise right before baking, about the same; 1 hour.

Do I have to use powdered milk?

2 tablespoons of powdered milk gives these rolls the most amazing bakery-like texture and flavor. It’s something that I almost always include in my baked goods – check out my 1-hour cinnamon rolls for proof!

What caramel do you use?

I’ve used a homemade apple cider caramel, a homemade salted caramel with vanilla, and I’ve even used several brands of store-bought caramel sauce. If I go the store-bought route, this one has been my favorite!

How do you store these cinnamon rolls?

If I’m making this a couple of hours ahead of serving, I store them at room temperature until service, covered with a sheet of aluminum foil. If I’m making them a day or so ahead of time, I usually prefer to pop them in an airtight container and refrigerate them until ready to serve.

Do I have to bake them in a 13×9 pan?

These rolls can be baked in a 9-inch round pie dish as well. Keep in mind that the pie dish typically holds 11 rolls – not the full 12. You can also make these in a muffin pan to get individual cinnamon rolls.

Other apple recipes to try:

Original recipe shared Oct 2014, updated with new images, post, and minor recipe edits, Sept 2022.

Yield: 12 rolls

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Prep Time 45 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

Cinnamon Roll Dough:

4 tablespoons melted salted butter (or ghee)
¾ cup milk (such as dairy, almond,etc)
¼ cup water
3¼ - 3¾ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 ¼ teaspoon instant yeast
2 tablespoons powdered milk
1 egg, room temperature

Caramel Apple Filling:

⅔ cup light brown sugar, packed
5 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
5 tablespoons salted butter, softened
1 large Granny Smith apple, cored and chopped
¼ cup toasted chopped pecans, optional
¾ cup caramel sauce (homemade or store-bought)

Instructions

WARM: In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the milk and water for 30-45 seconds. Check the temperature, it should be about 105-108ºF. If it’s hotter, you’ll need to allow it to cool at room temp until it reaches that range. Add the melted cooled butter to the milk mixture.
DOUGH: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook (or hand mixer with dough hook) combine 3 cups flour, sugar, salt, powdered milk, and yeast. Mix for a few seconds, then pour in the milk mixture and egg. Beat on medium-low speed until the flour is incorporated; about 5 minutes. If the dough is sticky, add ¼ cup of flour at a time until it pulls away and forms a ball. Run the mixture for another 5 minutes on medium speed. Remove dough from hook, spray dough with oil spray, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 10-15 minutes.
CINNAMON BROWN SUGAR: In a small now, whisk together the brown sugar, cinnamon, and ground nutmeg; set aside.
MAKE ROLLS: Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. With a floured rolling pin, roll it out into a 14x10 inch rectangle. Spread the softened butter over the surface using a butter knife. Sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Top with apple and pecan pieces. Drizzle ½ of the caramel sauce on top. Roll the dough tightly, tuck and pinch the ends and cut into 12 even pieces, using a sharp knife or dental floss. Place rolls in a lightly greased or parchment-lined 13x9 baking pan.
REST: Loosely cover with a towel and allow the rolls to rise in a warm, dark place for 20-35 minutes. TIP: heat a 200ºF oven, turn the oven OFF and place rolls inside.
BAKE: Remove the dish from the oven. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Bake the rolls for 16-22 minutes or until golden. Remove and let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Drizzle with remaining caramel sauce and serve warm.

Notes

Alternate pans: If you bake these cinnamon rolls in a 9-inch round pie dish, you’ll only be able to fit 11 rolls. You can also bake these in a muffin pan to get individual cinnamon rolls.

Update 9/22: recipe updated with minor edits and easier to follow directions.

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