Apple Cardamom Upside down cake- recipe

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This is the best morning cake I’ve ever eaten.

We bought a huge basket of fruit off of a truck in Onancock and had plenty of apples to eat up- so I ended up

making this cake 3 times- that’s right THREE times- in the 2 1/2 weeks we were down here over Christmas!

I can imagine it only gets better over time- but it was always gone before I got back to have another slice!

Make sure you make it in a round metal cake pan- the first time I made it was in a square glass pan and the

caramel on top didn’t brown or spread into an appetizing looking  topping!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

6 TBS. unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup flour, AP

1/2 tsp cinnamon, plus extra to sprinkle on apples

1/2 tsp  cloves

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

2 large apples, peeled and cut into slices

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F.

Melt 4 TBS butter in small pan over low heat, add brown sugar and stir.

Allow to bubble for 2 minutes and pour into bottom of 9" pan and spread- set aside.

Peel and slice apples and arrange on top of prepared pan, sprinkle apples lightly with cinnamon.

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Warm the milk in a small pan, add butter and melt.  Let cool slightly.

Beat eggs, add sugar and beat for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves- add to flour , then milk, making a smooth batter.

Pour over apples in pan.

Bake for 45 minutes, then cool in pan for a full 15 minutes.  Turn over onto serving plate.

Great served with lightly whipped cream.

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I made this version in a glass square pan- good, but pale and not enough caramel on top.

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The third version had glazed pecans added after baking.

Change up the spices to your liking- I would leave out the cloves and use nutmeg.

Or allspice.  The only spices I would keep constant are the cinnamon and the cardamom.

If you try it, let me know what you did, and how it turned out !

Happy Holidays

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from my family to yours!

We really did have a wonderful time here on Chincoteague Island this year!

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Santa and his helper Elf passed out the gifts…

071Meredith got a sword from our Whole family,(Allyson and Chad and Chad Tyulty  as well)

She is a Lieutenant Commander and needs a sword for ceremonial purposes.

084Willow had to check it out- it is pretty heavy!

147The boys liked the toys.

242And everyone loves the Island.

 

294from the light house…

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…to the park.

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We felted soap-

347and loved the results!

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And now, everyone has gone their own way- Meredith to Hawaii and then

Australia, Jordan to Akron, Luke, Willow and the boys are leaving for Long Island

in the morning and Cynthia,Frank and I are spending the next two days cleaning

and winterizing the house before we leave.

The gifts we gave and received do not compare to the joy we shared as family.

I got lots of hugs and kisses from the little boys- and had the privilege of spending

quality time with my children, sister and husband.

Wild Life Refuge- Assateague Island, VA

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Literally thousands of wild migratory birds were landing and circling the wild life loop the other

night.   The sound of all these wings and calls was eerily out of this world.  I had goosebumps

listening to the numerous flocks of ducks, geese, terns- so very many birds- all in one place.

Just thought you might enjoy seeing them along with us.

Meredith took the pictures from my car window.

Done!

I started on the gingerbread house this morning.

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I wasn’t very encouraging to start out with- it looked sloppy and rough.

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I had intended to add a lot of architectural points-  in fact- I wanted to

add a gable and put the house up several inches off of the base with stairs coming

down and I just ran out of time.

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I designed the roof with white chocolate and royal icing.

Then I added the porch and whipped up some more royal icing- and pasted it all

together- covered up the edges with royal icing- and-

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added some landscaping.

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The end result is not bad. 

The gingerbread competition is tomorrow.

I’ll let you know how that all goes.

Procrastinating.

I’m leaving for two weeks tomorrow.

Friday is the deadline for the gingerbread house

Saturday is the competition.

I haven’t put the house together yet.

I am afraid it will fall apart.

Afraid it will break in places I can’t repair.

Afraid that it will not meet up to my expectations.

I haven’t been this bad at finishing a project since I was in school.

AND I have a cold.

I’m going to try to finish up the house tomorrow night and early Friday morning.

And I will take pictures and post them.

But…

do I have to say it?

I’m disappointed in myself.

Sad smile

Boo.

Pizzelles- a recipe

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They cook up like waffles- only much thinner and crispier.

They are crunchy and aromatic and taste like anise.

You make them two at a time- so it takes a LONG time to make 3 1/2 dozen.  It takes

twice as long to make 7 dozen and you burn a lot if you get involved in multi-tasking.

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But when everything goes right and they come out golden and delicious- they can

be addicting.  My husband ate 5 while we were talking about the upcoming wedding

of our nephew the other day.  He had his hand out for the sixth and I asked him to

slow down- he was eating them faster than I could make them!

So- here’s the recipe I used.

3 large eggs

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 tsp anise extract

1 tsp  vanilla

1/2 cup melted butter

1 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

small pinch of salt

Beat the eggs and sugar together until  all the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is

just a little stringy.  Add vanilla and anise extract ( you can leave out the anise if you

prefer just a vanilla flavor).  Add just a bit of the melted butter, beat it in well and then

add the rest of the butter.  Sift together the flour and baking powder and add !/4  cup at

a time with your mixer on low so that the flour doesn’t jump back up at you.

Add salt at end and give it one more mix. 

Preheat the pizzelle iron- waiting until the red light turns green and then lightly oil and

place one largish teaspoon of batter ( it will be rather stiff) into the center of the round.

Close down lid and wait until the light turns red and then back to green and open top- about 2 minutes.

Place on wire cooling rack until stiff and cooled and then stack them up!

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I only paid about $12 for the iron a couple of years ago- it was a good investment!

In My Kitchen- December cookie edition

In my kitchen–

are trays and trays of cookies.

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But it is not about Christmas!  My nephew is getting

married tomorrow and he’s asked me to make cookies.

In my kitchen-

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Is my pizzelle iron- I made pizzelles for the wedding, too!

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and I sewed up a little pouch to hold them on their tray.

In my kitchen-

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is a pomegranate waiting for the right moment to peel and eat!

In my kitchen- 041042

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is a beautiful pewter tea humidor that is holding the most fragrant fruit tea.

I really love the scent, but something in this tea makes me cough- so mostly

I just smell it.

In my kitchen-

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are these plates for parties!

I love parties!

Tomorrow is the wedding – so I will have NO more cookies in my kitchen.

Until I make some for Christmas!

What’s in your kitchen?

Check out Celia’s blog for other kitchens to explore!

And where was I all this time?

I hate it when bloggers just quit.

They don’t say goodbye or see you later.

They just, well, quit.

I haven’t done that, my dear friends… I have been gone, and been

very busy and will probably not posting as often as I’d like, but I

won’t just quit!

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I’ve been in New York- Long Island- or should I say Oyster Bay to be

more specific?!

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We’ve been at the beach, gone shopping at IKEA, built a gingerbread house,

stamped, colored and drawn pictures, read MANY books, watched the 2nd “Cars” movie-

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watched football,  read the NY Times, played with the camera- or Aidan (aged 3 years ) did!

And I made a lot of cookies and worked on my gingerbread house before I left-

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And , of course, I made bread.

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And went to tea parties!

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So- I have been a very bad blogger lately- and I apologize.

Thanks for your patience- and I promise to post pictures of the

house when I’ve finished it!