Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread

This was seriously one of the easiest and quickest monkey breads I have made. I simply used 2 tubes of buttermilk biscuits, some sugar and cinnamon and some apple pie filling that I had made a few weeks ago. Oh, I forgot .... I also drizzled some caramel topping on to make it have that caramel apple flavor that we like. Once you tip it out of the prepared pan, it's ooey gooey goodness personified. And the kitchen still smells great (just like fall!)
                                             Caramel Apple Cinnamon Monkey Bread

                                
Ingredients:

• 2 tubes of buttermilk biscuits
• 1/2 c sugar
• 3 tbsp ground cinnamon (or so)
• 2 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
• approx. 20 oz of apple pie filling (home-made or canned)
• Caramel topping (I used Smuckers)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray a 9x13 loaf pan with cooking spray
3. In a medium bowl, toss unbaked biscuits in 2 tbsp butter or margarine to coat. Place sugar and cinnamon in a Ziploc bag and add biscuits, toss to mix thoroughly.
4. In the same medium bowl, combine biscuits with apple pie filling, stirring to mix.
5. Spoon  into prepared loaf pan and drizzle with caramel topping.
6. I had a bit of left-over canned cinnamon syrup and drizzled that on top too, just because.
7. Place in preheated oven and bake for approximately 40 minutes - until biscuits are golden and any syrup on bottom has been mostly absorbed.
8. Let stand for about 10 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the loaf pan to loosen the loaf and upend onto a wax paper coated cookie sheet (I cheated and reused the Ziploc bag for this).

Ours turned out a bit gooey because of the extra cinnamon syrup, but mmm boy! what flavor! I ate too much for lunch with some cheddar cheese <shhhh>. 

Note: The original recipe called for 4 tubes of biscuits! Really! I used 2. If you don't toss the biscuits in the melted butter and before coating them with the sugar, the loaf will be somewhat drier. We like gooey better. You can also cut the biscuits in half or quarters before doing the coating. Whatever floats yer boat. I was lazy and in a hurry so I just left them whole :)

Yabluchnyk: Ukrainian Apple Cake

Anyone who shares Ukrainian/Russian/Mennonite roots has a Baba, Nana or Babuchka who makes this dish. Some simply call it "apple cake" but the real name is Yabluchnyk.

Yabluchnyk (Ukrainian Apple Cake)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup cream
• 4 large apple - peeled, cored and thinly sliced

 Streusel Topping

• 2 tablespoons cold butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly butter an 8 inch square baking dish.

2.     Sift together 1 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cut in 1/2 cup of butter until the mixture is crumbly.

3.     Stir together the egg with the cream and gently mix into the flour until a soft dough has formed.

4.     Press into prepared baking dish.

5.       Layer the apples into the dish overlapping, in neat rows.

6.       Prepare streusel by mixing the brown sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Cut in 2 tablespoons butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over apples.

Bake in preheated oven until apples have softened, and topping has browned, about 25 minutes.

May be served with heavy cream, whipped cream or ice cream. Also delicious when served with a mixture of brown sugar and sour cream.

Apple Raisin Strudel

Apples and raisins combined in flaky pastry. How can you possibly go wrong? Yum!

Puff Pastry Apple & Raisin Strudel

Total Time:  1 hr 0 min

Ingredients

·         2 large Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and sliced 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick

·         1 lemon, juiced

·         1 cup raisins (softened for approximately 20 minutes in hot water, then drained)

·         1/4 cup sugar, plus 3 tablespoons and 1 tsp ground cinnamon

·         2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus 2 tablespoons butter, melted

·         All-purpose flour, for dusting

·        1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (available at most supermarkets)

Directions

1. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F
2. In a medium bowl, toss the sliced apples with the lemon juice until the apples are thoroughly coated.
3. Add the softened raisins, 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 tablespoons cold cubed butter. Toss well. Set aside
4. Lightly dust the counter or work surface with flour. Lay the puff pastry on top and dust the rolling pin with additional flour. Gently roll the puff pastry to 1/8-inch thickness
5. Spread the apple and raisin mixture over the bottom half of the puff pastry square leaving about 1-inch of space along the side edges. Fold the top half of the puff pastry over and pinch to seal the edges together.
6. Brush strudel with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and reserved sugar. 
7. Using a serrated knife, make several diagonal slits along top of strudel.
8. Place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, rotating halfway through to ensure even browning. Bake until puffed and golden. Adapted from my Mennonite Cookbook.

Variations on the theme

Cranberries  and apples make an ideal combination near Christmas, as do strawberries and rhubarb during summer.