Apple Cinnamon Cookie Bars

First of all, Happy Veterans Day to the soldiers (past & present). Thank you for your service and sacrifice! Josh and I have the day off today, yippee! We are meeting our good friend Lincoln for lunch and plan on enjoying our day together.

I am a firm believer in the theory, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." I eat at least one apple every day. I just love them. I like all varieties, but Josh is picky, he only likes the really tart apples-Granny Smith are his favorite. Honey crisp, Jazz, and Mutsu are my top three, but again, I have a special place in my heart for all apples:)

Fall is the perfect season for baking with apples. The apples are so good right now...and cheap too:) I decided to create an apple cinnamon cookie bar since I already created an apple cinnamon cookie earlier this fall. You all know I love my cookies:)

I started with a basic bar dough and added in lots of cinnamon and spices. I am in love with nutmeg, all spice, and cloves-so I added in a little bit of each. I decided to add in a handful of too, because I personally love the shriveled little guys, but you can omit them if you wish. I used Granny Smith apples so Josh would be happy and tart apples really are great for baking. I sprinkled the dough with extra cinnamon sugar before putting them into the oven.

It is important to let the bars cool before cutting/serving because they are very soft when they are warm. I know it is hard to wait, but these are well worth the wait, I promise. I am going to be making these every fall. I hope you will too!

Apple Cinnamon Cookie Bars

(Printable Recipe)

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of fresh nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
Pinch of ground cloves
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
1/2-3/4 cup raisins (you can leave these out or try dried cranberries)
2 apples, cored and diced, I used Granny Smith
Cinnamon Sugar mixture to sprinkle on top

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 by 13 pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter with the sugars on medium until creamy. This will take a minute or two. Scrape down the sides if necessary.
On low, add the eggs, one at a time. Beat until combined. Add in the vanilla. Beat on medium until everything is smooth and mixed together.
Turn mixer on low. Add a little flour. Slowly mix and add until all of the flour is combined. Don't over mix.
Stir in the raisins and apples.
Spread the dough evenly into prepared pan. Use a spatula to make sure the dough is nice and even. Sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.
Bake for about about 30 minutes. You want the bars to be golden brown.
Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a rack. Cut the bars once they are cool. Serve and enjoy!

If you like these bars, you might also like:
Apple, Pecan, and Cinnamon Crumble Bars from Dessert First
Caramel Apple Bars from Recipe Girl
Apple Pie Bars from Cookie Baker Lynn
Applesauce Spice Bars from Two Peas and Their Pod

Pumpkin Blondies with Cinnamon and White Chocolate Chips

I met Gaby, from What's Gaby Cooking?, at the Blogher Food Conference in San Francisco. We follow each other's blogs, we are friends on Facebook and Twitter, and we email, so it was nice to finally meet in person. We have a lot in common-sometimes we post the same or similar recipes without even knowing it:)

We wish we could cook and bake together, but she lives in California and I am in Utah. So every Friday we are teaming up from afar and posting similar recipes. For the next couple of weeks we will be focusing on our favorite fall recipes. Today is Pumpkin Treats-I made pumpkin blondies and Gaby made pumpkin cheesecakes. We hope you enjoy our joint posts.

It's not fall without pumpkin treats, but there is a pumpkin shortage going on. Aggh! I had to go to 4 stores to find 3 cans of pumpkin. I bought them all. I will have to be very selective on what I bake with pumpkin this fall until the shortage is over.

I started out with pumpkin blondies. Of course, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lots of vanilla were involved. I also threw in cinnamon chips and white chocolate. The blondies were more cakey than a normal cookie blondie, the pumpkin kept them very moist. I loved the cinnamon and white chocolate together too. I highly recommend you try that combination.

We took the pumpkin blondies to our neighborhood party and they were gone in minutes-no joke. Everyone was asking for the recipe. So here you have it! Good luck finding pumpkin-if I see you at the store, I will tackle you for it:)

Don't forget to check out Gaby's pumpkin swirl cheesecake! It looks super duper delicious!

Pumpkin Blondies with Cinnamon and White Chocolate Chips

Adapted from Martha Stewart

(Printable Recipe)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.Spray with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt.
With an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Add the pumpkin puree. Reduce speed to low, and mix in the flour mixture until just combined. Don't overmix. Stir in the white and cinnamon chips by hand.

Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. The sides will pull away from the pan and brown a bit. Do the toothpick test, if it comes out clean. They are done. Cool completely in pan. Lift the blondies from the pan, using the foil. from pan. Peel off the foil and cut into squares.

If you like these pumpkin blondies you might also like:

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Bars from Megan’s Cookin

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies from Cookie Madness

Pumpkin Bars from Real Mom Kitchen

Pumpkin White Chocolate Scones from Two Peas and Their Pod

Hazelnut Cinnamon Brownies

This week has been really busy with work and trying to get ready for our trip to San Francisco. I am so excited. I feel like a giddy school girl! We are leaving tomorrow. Yahoo! I am not the biggest fan of road trips, but Josh doesn't mind driving. We have books on cd, good tunes, snacks, and each other. It should be an adventure!

We are going to spend time with Josh's family, explore the city, and enjoy some tasty eats. The highlight is going to be the BlogherFood conference though. I will try to take good notes and lots of photos to share with everyone when we return.

I recently made these brownies for a party at work. They were accepted and devoured with smiles. The brownies are thick, rich, and loaded with chocolate and hazelnut goodness. I love the slight addition of cinnamon too. The crushed hazelnuts on top make add a nice touch too.

If you are a hazelnut/Nutella fan these are going to rock your world!

Hazelnut Cinnamon Brownies

Recipe from Sugar Plum

(Printable Recipe)

1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (I used mini-chips), plus additional for sprinkling on top
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup Nutella
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon hazelnut extract
1/4 cup finely hazelnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line an 8x8-inch square baking dish with foil; grease foil.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder and salt; whisk until combined.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; remove pan from heat and stir in chocolate until melted. Beat together melted chocolate and granulated sugar, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, for about 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to medium and beat in Nutella, eggs, vanilla, and hazelnut extract. Beat until smooth and well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined; scrape batter into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle batter with chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Bake for 23-25 minutes, or until set. Cool completely before lifting foil out of pan and slicing into bars.