Take advantage of autumn ingredients with these three fall desserts. As the weather gets cooler and everyone starts to spend more time indoors, fall can be a season with a lot of desserts, from Halloween treats to Thanksgiving staples, like pie.
To enjoy the desserts of fall without compromising your weekly progress at the gym, try these desserts which are a slightly healthier take on autumn dessert staples. These recipes are so simple. In addition, these recipes tend to be quite forgiving, so if you make a measuring mistake or two or need to substitute an ingredient based on what you have on hand, your end product will still be good.
German Apple Cake
Ingredients:
- (1) 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- (1) 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp butter or buttery spread or applesauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 3-4 apples
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Butter an 8 or 10 inch round cake pan (or similar size square pan) and cover butter with thin layer of flour so that cake will not stick to pan. Cream together butter and 2/3 cup sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and combine. Spread mixture evenly into greased pan. In separate bowl, combine remaining 1/3 cup sugar with cinnamon. Peel, core, and slice apples. Place apple slices in circular pattern (see image) onto batter in pan so that they overlap. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over apples. Bake for roughly 45 minutes.
Pumpkin Pie with Streusel Topping
Ingredients:
- Graham cracker crust shell
- 1 can pumpkin (16 ounces)
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup firm butter or butter substitute
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a bowl, combine pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices, and salt. Pour into unbaked graham cracker shell and put in oven for 15 minutes. While pie is in oven, make the streusel topping by combining brown sugar and flour and cutting in butter until mixture is crumbly. Stir in pecans and set streusel aside momentarily. After pie has been in oven 15 minutes, reduce oven temperature to 350. Bake for another 25 minutes, then sprinkle streusel topping over pie. Continue baking at 350 for about another 15 to 20 minutes.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 9 ounces semi sweet or bitter chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 9 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
Preparation:
Prepare about 36 mini muffin paper or aluminum foil liners. Place peanut butter, 2 tbsp butter, and salt in bowl and put in microwave for about 60 seconds, stirring every twenty seconds, until soft. Stir in confectioner’s sugar. Put chocolate and 1 tbsp butter in separate bowl, microwave following same procedure until melted. Spoon a small amount of chocolate into bottoms of mini muffin liners. Add about a teaspoon of peanut butter over chocolate. Add more chocolate over peanut butter so peanut butter is covered. Put in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes to let set. May be stored in the fridge or freezer.
Happy making and happy eating, Collegiettes!