Breakfast Recipe: Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Turnovers

Fresh-out-of-the-oven turnovers are a great way to start the day. The apple turnover is a classic, but in this recipe we've spruced up with gorgonzola. There's something about that flavor combination that we can't resist, especially served in a bundle of flaky puff pastry.

Ready to make your own? Just gather up some apples, walnuts, thyme, honey and gorgonzola and follow these simple instructions. 

P.S. We've found that the filling for this turnover is so tasty, you'll want to experiment with other uses for it. Try it wrapped up in a tortilla, as a pizza topping or thrown together to make a gorgonzola Waldorf salad. 

Apple Walnut Gorgonzola Turnovers

(Makes 24 turnovers)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups peeled, cored, chopped apples (use a good cooking apple such as Jonagold, Granny Smith, or Golden Delicious)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crumbled)
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 7-ounce prepared puff pastry sheets (total 14 ounces)
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Microwave chopped apples on high heat for 5 minutes until cooked through. Remove from heat and let cool. Drain excess moisture.

2. Once cooled, chop further so that the pieces are about 1/2-inch square. 

3. Combine apples, walnuts, gorgonzola, thyme and honey in a small bowl.

4. Preheat oven to 400°F. Working with one puff pastry sheet at a time (leave the second one in the refrigerator until using it) roll out the pastry to a size of 9-inches by 12-inches. Cut into 12 3x3-inch squares.

5. Paint 1/2-inch of border around each square with beaten egg. Place a heaping teaspoon of the apple walnut mixture in the center of the squares. Fold over the squares into a triangle shape, stretching the dough if necessary to cover the filling. Use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges.

6. Place triangles on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, with space between them. Chill for 5 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.

7. Whisk half a teaspoon of water into the remaining beaten egg. Use a pastry brush to paint on the tops of the pastry triangles for a nice glaze.

8. Place turnovers in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until nicely puffed up and lightly browned. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

9. Serve either warm or at room temperature. Sprinkle with extra sugar if desired. Enjoy! 

Note: If using prepared frozen puff pastry sheets, they should be defrosted in the refrigerator at least three hours before preparation.

Sweet & Nutty Pecan Pie Muffins

You might call them breakfast, you might call them dessert, but we call them the perfect snack for any time of day. A twist on the much-loved pecan pie dessert, these muffins are a sweet morning indulgence or mid-afternoon treat.

We’ve made it even sweeter by adding a pecan streusel to the top – feel free to omit the pecans from the streusel if you don’t love the extra nuttiness, or keep them if you love the flavor and texture. The cinnamon-y twist rounds out the fluffy muffins quite nicely, though you can also skip the streusel and still have some seriously tasty treats.

These muffins sure are sweet, but what else would you expect from pecan pie?

Pecan Pie Muffins

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

• 1 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

For the streusel:

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped (optional)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. If you have a food processor, combine the brown sugar and pecans and grind them together in the food processor. (Otherwise, finely chop the pecans by hand.)
3. Add the pecans, brown sugar, and flour to a large bowl and make a well in the center of the mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until foamy and stir in the butter and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the well in the dry ingredients and stir everything together until combined well.
5. To make the streusel, put the flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, and pecans (if desired) into a medium bowl and stir them together with a fork until combined well.
6. Generously grease your muffin pans and spoon batter into the cups, making sure to only fill each cup 2/3 of the way full.
7. Sprinkle the pecan streusel on top of each muffin, pressing lightly on each batch of streusel to make sure it sticks to the batter below.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test – place a toothpick into the center of a muffin and if it comes out clean, the muffins are done.
9. Remove them from oven and take the muffins out of the pan immediately, and place them on wire cooling racks. Serve warm (and consider also serving with cream cheese).
10. Enjoy!

Classic Dessert Recipe: Apple Crumble

There is something deceptively simple about an apple crumble. It's almost like a deconstructed apple pie: sliced apples mixed together with a coarse crumble made from cinnamon, sugar, and perhaps a few extra additions. From there, bake and you have a fantastic dessert! Finding the right combination of ingredients, however, is the real trick. How can you make the crumble crisp without it being too dry, while at the same time not making the crumble too sweet or too rich to render it unpalatable?

For our recipe, we wanted to try and make a crumble that really had a little crunch to it. Some recipes call for just a combination of flour, sugar, and salt, but we instead added some oats to the mix which lowered the sweetness overall. To help bind it all together, we threw some cornstarch in with the apples, also adding some lemon juice to increase the sourness and add a little acidity. Keep reading below for our favorite apple crumble recipe...

Apple Crumble

(makes 2-4 servings)

Ingredients

FILLING

• 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
• 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 granny smith apples, peeled and cut into cubes
• 3 medium golden delicious apples, peeled and cut into cubes
• 2/3 cup sugar
• a pinch of salt
• a pinch of cinnamon
• a pinch of nutmeg

TOPPING

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup slices almonds
• 1 cup oats

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine cornstarch and lemon juice until the cornstarch dissolves. Add the apples, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, then toss to combine. Transfer the mixture to individual portioned ramekins (pictured above) or to an 8" square baking dish. Cover tightly with foil.
2. For the topping, combine the sugar (reserving 1 tablespoon to the side), salt, and flour in a bowl of a blender or food processor. Drizzle with vanilla extract. Pulse to combine (about 5 1-second pulses). Add the butter, half the almonds, and half the oats. Process or blend until the mixture clumps together in large, crumbly balls (about 30 seconds). Make sure to occasionally scrape the sides of the bowl. Sprinkle remaining almonds and oats and combine with two or three quick pulses.
3. Transfer the mixture to a parchment-lined baking sheet and spread into an even layer. Bake the topping in the middle rack and the apples on the bottom rack for about 20 minutes, or until the topping is lightly browned and firm (about 20 minutes). Remove both from the oven.
4. Remove the foil from the filling and gently stir. Lift up the crumble from the baking sheet by the parchment paper, and still grasping the paper carefully slide pieces into the filling evenly (or if that doesn't work, use a spatula or large spoon). Bake the mixture in the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until the apple is tender and bubbling around the edges. Cool on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes. Serve as is, or with custard.
5. Enjoy!

Decadent Muffins: Raspberry Cheesecake

Because they sort of count as breakfast and also kind of count as dessert, raspberry cheesecake muffins are the perfect snack to enjoy at any time. And once you have a bite, you’ll probably be nibbling on them throughout the day, anyway!

If you don’t have raspberries on hand or would prefer another fruit, that’s fine too – you can use this muffin base as a foundational recipe and substitute other fruits that’d complement the cheesecake flavors nicely. Blackberries, blueberries, and strawberries are all solid alternatives.  And if you don’t have buttermilk on hand, try one of our favorite kitchen tricks: Put a tablespoon of lemon juice into a measuring cup, and then fill the rest to the one-cup mark with milk. Let it set for five minutes, and voila – homemade buttermilk!

This recipe makes about two dozen muffins, so there will be plenty to share.

Raspberry Cheesecake Muffins

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen; can also substitute other berries)
• Zest of one lemon

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix the cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl, then beat with a mixer on high speed until well-blended.
3. Add the sugar to the mixing bowl and beat until fluffy; then, add the vanilla, egg whites, and egg and beat well.
4. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then, gradually add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the cream cheese mixture while beating on low speed. Make sure to start and end with the flour mixture.
5. Gently fold the raspberries and lemon zest into the cream cheese mixture.
6. Place 24 cup liners in muffin cups, then spoon the batter evenly into the liners. Bake them for about 25 minutes, and test them with a toothpick in the center to make sure it comes out clean. (If not, let them bake for a few more minutes.) 
7. Remove the muffins from the pans and let them sit on a cooling rack for several minutes before serving.
8. Enjoy!

Decadent Breakfast Recipe: Caramel-Cinnamon Apple Waffles

When it’s prime apple season this is the perfect recipe to utilize all those Granny Smiths. With soft and tender apples, this breakfast is a comforting and warm way to start the day. We love waffles and pancakes equally, so if you don’t have a waffle iron or just prefer to make pancakes, go ahead and do that instead—you can’t go wrong on this one!

Cinnamon Apple Waffles

(Serves 4-6) 

Ingredients 

Apples:

• 3 apples, peeled and cubed; 2 tart, 1 sweet
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 

Waffles:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 ½  cups almond milk (or regular)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1/4 cup almonds, garnish
• Whipped cream, garnish

Directions

1. In a large, hot skillet, melt butter and add apples, stirring occasionally. After a few minutes, add cinnamon and brown sugar, reduce heat and cover to let soften completely (4-5 minutes). Once softened, remove cover to let caramelize, then take apples off heat.
2. Preheat waffle iron.
3. In a large bowl, beat eggs until fluffy and sift in dry ingredients; then add milk and oil. Mix well, just be careful to not overmix.
4. Add in half or all of cinnamon-apple mixture (depending on whether you want some for garnish). Fold in well. If batter appears too thick, add more milk.
5. Spray waffle iron with non-stick spray and pour in 1/2 cup of batter. Cook according to waffle iron instructions, or until golden brown.

Casserole Dessert Recipe: Sweet Blackberry Cobbler

We are not picky about our fruit desserts: tarts, pies, crisps, crumbles…we love all of them! A cobbler is a nice choice because of it’s biscuit-like topping that goes so nicely with the sweet and tart fruit bubbling away beneath it, soaking in all its yummy juices. A little more thought goes into this dessert than that of a typical crisp, but when you see and bite into the cobbled-together crust (cobbler, ha!), it’ll all be worth it! 

Blackberry Cobbler

Serves 8

Ingredients

• 8 cups fresh or frozen blackberries (if using frozen: thaw thoroughly, rinse and drain before use)
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons butter, cubed, divided
• 1 1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for topping
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup shortening (Crisco)
• vanilla ice cream, garnish
• butter or non-stick cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375º F and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
2. In a bowl, mix blackberries, 1 1/4 cup sugar, lemon zest and juice together. Spread out evenly in baking dish.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Add the butter and shortening and mix together with a pastry blender or fork until coarse and crumbly.
4. Slowly pour milk into flour, mixing as you go. Dough should smooth out and not be sticky.
5. Tear off small pieces of dough and press gently on the blackberries. Continue until berries are covered.
6. Sprinkle 1-2 tablespoons sugar over the top and place in oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling.
7. Serve warm and with vanilla ice cream.