Bailey had a very enjoyable Christmas. He received lots of goodies from family and even Santa. The one gift Bailey did not enjoy: his Christmas sweater. My mom purchased matching red sweaters for all three schnauzers in the family. I … Continue reading
So I’m going to switch things up a little on this blog… I’m going to try and blog more frequently. It may be about random life happenings and it may be related to specific topics. If it’s too much, let … Continue reading
It’s been over a week now since we visited the apple orchard… and we STILL have apples. Are you surprised though? We got 10 pounds of apples for two people. That’s a little much. I’ve still been enjoying every bite of it though. Apples with peanut butter. Apples in salads. But the master of all apple concoctions is…. (drum roll please) APPLE SPICE CINNAMON BUNS. Oh yes. I went there.
I found this recipe initially on one of the food blogs I follow called Honeystuck. She is a vegetarian who also shares a good amount of vegan recipes. She is also located in Charlotte! Imagine that. 🙂 I decided to blend her recipe along with a recipe from my Chloe Coscarelli cookbook for regular cinnamon buns that I have made before. They were delicious but a pain in the butt to make because the freaking yeast took hours to rise. I guess I had forgotten how long it took because this time the yeast did not rise AT ALL. It sat in my kitchen for the entire afternoon and nothing happened. It ended up being spilled by Eric accidentally after cleaning up dinner. So that was that. Find an alternative.
Lucky for me I also own a Breville bread maker who happened to have a recipe for cinnamon buns. Okay guys… back in action. So I took the recipe from my Breville bread maker and used the apple mixture for the inside of the cinnamon buns from Honeystuck. I actually doubled the amount of apple mixture because i wanted it oozing with apples. Â I still used the icing recipe from the Chloe Coscarelli recipe. You can’t mess that up: water and sugar.
What resulted was mouth watering, gooey, apple deliciousness. My mouth is literally watering just thinking about those. I decided to make two batches.
We are having lots of folks from other offices visiting our office this week so I thought what better way to welcome them! I also have my dad coming in town to help a neighbor with painting so I’m sure he will munch on a few and take some back home to my mom. Who would deny cinnamon buns? Even Eric who is not a fan of cinnamon flavored foods loved it. They are THAT good.
I also found via YouTube that Chloe Coscarelli also has a recipe for pumpkin cranberry cinnamon rolls with maple frosting. Those will definitely be made for Thanksgiving.
If you don’t have a bread maker, I would suggest popping over to Honeystuck’s blog for the dough mixture.
Otherwise see below:
Breville Dough (turned vegan):
1 cup non-dairy milk (at 80 degrees)
2 servings of egg replacer (2 tbsp egg replacer powder & 3 tbsp water)
1/4 cup Earth Balance (cut bite sized pieces to throw in)
1 tsp Salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp active yeast
Directions:Â
1.) Throw ingredients based in order above into bread maker bowl.
2.) Set to Dough-Bread setting on Breville Bread Maker and done!
Apple Filling from Honeystuck (1 serving):Â
*Note: You could also probably use margarine instead of the coconut oil for a more cost friendly version. Coconut oil is expensive if you don’t already have it on hand.Â
Directions:Â
1.) Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
2.) Microwave for 1 minute then stir until coconut oil is melted.
Putting it all together:Â
1.) Roll out the dough into a good sized rectangle on a lightly floured surface. Breville says 13 inches long and 6 inches wide. I did it a little more than that to get 17 cinnamon buns.
2.) Add apple filling on top of dough.
3.) Roll into a tight roll.
4.) Using a sharp knife, cut into 12 or however many buns.
5.) Place buns close together in a casserole dish.
6.) Let it sit for 45 mins to rise.
7.) Bake at 350 for 30 mins or until golden brown on top.
Icing:Â
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp of water
Directions:Â
1.) Place sugar in a mixer or bowl.
2.) Stir in water until you’ve reached your desired consistency.
3.) Drizzle icing over top the cooked buns until you are satisfied.
Lastly… ENJOY! I know my co-workers are going to be happy to see me! 🙂
Not that Bailey really went anywhere, but he is back in case you were wondering. 😉
Bailey also needs a haircut… but that’s besides the point.
During our trip to the mountains this past weekend, we stopped into my favorite restaurant Tupleo Honey Cafe. Note to all those interested: the location in South Asheville accepts reservations and generally seems to not be as busy as the one in the downtown area. Not that it doesn’t get busy… but it’s bigger so they can seat more people. Just a tip if you don’t feel like waiting 2 hours or more for lunch.
I bring up Bailey because during our day trip we took some time to walk around the downtown Asheville area and I finally got the chance to visit the Three Dog Bakery. I’ve seen this bakery on television several times and I always mean to stop by whenever I’m in Asheville. If you don’t know what Three Dog Bakery is ( and can’t tell from the name) it’s a doggy bakery. They make treats out of all natural ingredients. Safe enough for humans to eat… although I’m sure it would be a fairly bland treat. They make beautiful treats, truffles, and even birthday cakes for pups. I should have taken pictures of everything. The birthday cake was adorable and I think they even had carrot cake pupcakes.
They also have all sorts of puppy accessories. We ended up buying this really cool traveling water bottle for dogs. You fill it with water and it has a ball in the top to stop water from flowing through unless the dog pushes on it with his tongue. We thought that would be an invaluable purchase for long trips, hikes, and visits to the dog park. Not to mention, it’s so freaking cute.
I knew I could not leave this place without buying Bailey some sort of treats. So I picked out three cute ones. 1.) Football since his dad is such a big football fan. 2.) Squirrel with carob coated tail (instead of chocolate) since Bailey’s favorite toy is his stuffed animal squirrel. 4.) Ghost – well obviously because Halloween is coming up.
Today in celebration of the Carolina Panther’s win over Minnesota, I let Bailey have his first treat.
He enjoyed it so much that he was wagging his tail the entire time he was eating the treat.
Wait till he finds out he has two more waiting for him… 🙂
After making the apple crisp dessert the other week, I have been itching for a trip to the mountains to visit an apple orchard. Eric and I went with one of my old roommates several years back and I haven’t been back to one since. I googled apple orchard and what do you know… Sky Top Orchard is the first hit. Seems pretty popular. So I decided I was going. After finding out that this place was also only 36 mins away from Tupelo Honey Cafe, I knew another stop was mandatory.
If you have seen my post from another trip I had to Asheville, you will see why I love Tupelo Honey Cafe so much. I’ve been back twice more since that trip and every time the food is out of this world. I loved it so much that I bought the cookbook and I am actually making a black bean burger from from the cookbook this week for dinner. I’m seriously obsessed. Luckily, we are getting one of these restaurants in Charlotte in the coming months. Let me tell you, I will be first in line.
We invited my mother-in-law on our day adventure as well, and I’m so glad we did. I am very fortunate to have a mother in law who is amazing. We have so much fun hanging out. So off we went bright and early Saturday morning up to the mountains. We got to the Orchard right at 9 am which was when they opened. Note to others: that is the way to do it. The place was packed by the time we were ready to leave. So getting there early is the way to go if you want a peaceful experience and not one with a bunch of crowds and chaos.
You would not believe the amount of apples they had. I was blown away with just the large selection of apples in the front store. Once you are ready to pick some apples, they hand you a map of the farm. Looking out from the store, you can see apple trees for days. Plus there are so many different types of apples. Apples I have not even heard of. Â They even have a sample table which is a great way to try all the different kinds of apples. We just wandered around the orchard picking apples as we chose. We ended up picking several different kinds.
Eric loves Granny Smith apples, so we got a good amount of those for him. We also got my favorite apples: Fuji; love me some Fuji apples. Then we picked up a bunch of random apples in twos including: Rome, Cameo, Arkansas Black, and Pink Lady. I’m sure we will not be able to tell the difference now between all of the apples, but we picked the nonetheless.
After picking apples we headed back to the storefront where we browsed through all the jams, jellies, butters, and apples. They also have fresh apple cider and apple pies. We all bought cider but Eric’s mom bought an apple pie (I need to ask her how it was). It looked mighty tasty!
But the best part of the trip is the apple cider doughnuts. OMG… you walk up to the stand to purchase doughnuts and the heavenly smell of sugar and fried bread is in the air. It’s enough to make anyone salivate. I of course had to buy a dozen and it took all I had not to eat them all while holding the warm package in my hands. Ohh they are delicious. Eric and I had several with apple cider for breakfast the following day. You HAVE to heat them up. They are 10X better warm. Throw them in the oven at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes and its sheer perfection in your mouth.
The views at the top of the orchard were also wonderful. You can pick your apples while enjoying the mountain views in the background. The air was crisp and the leaves were just beginning to turn. The skies were overcast which all came together to make a perfect day for apple picking. I plan to make it a tradition to go up there every year. And hopefully with Sarah and James, Eric’s sister and boyfriend. This is an experience that everyone should have. Nothing like a day in the NC Mountains.
We went home with 10 pounds of apples each. Now I’ve got several dishes in mind this week with all these apples. We are having apple, fig, and Gruyere cheese paninis this week, apple based salads, grilled apple, and I may even make some apple cinnamon buns with whatever is leftover next weekend.
How are you celebrating fall?
The Modern Ballantyne Wife 