Recipe ideas can come from anywhere.  This post is proof of that.  The idea for baked apples was driven into both my head and that of my oldest son one afternoon during an episode of “Little Bear” that the youngest was watching on NickJr.  It only took one mention of honey baked apples to have us both drooling over the concept.

Luckily for us, Fall is upon us and with it are apples.  The stores are overflowing with fresh, delicious apples of every variety, shape and color, all perfectly ripe and in-season, so getting the right ingredients was no chore at all.  The only difficulty was in coring the apples… Or it would have been, if I hadn’t had two very eager kids helping me with it.

So here I present to you the new favorite dessert in the Russell household.  A dish that has been given nods of approval from all but my youngest, the nuggetarian. (I couldn’t get him to try it.  Had he done so, I’m sure he would like it as well.)  It’s cold outside folks.  Isn’t this the perfect way to end a long day?  Just this and a Muscatto and all is well.

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My boys are very interested in cooking and I have to say quite honestly that nothing in the world could make me happier.  I’m working hard to keep that interest alive, so when my son reminded me I’d promised them banana bread this weekend I decided that if he wanted it that badly, he could help make it. He was happy to oblige, even with one arm in a cast.

I may have helped with some of the more difficult parts of the recipe (like cracking eggs, which can be difficult enough for a ten year old with full use of both arms), but for the most part, this is Erik’s bread.  He even made adjustments to the original recipe to suit his tastes.  While this only included adding more nuts, it still made me very proud.

E. Did a wonderful job of following the directions even though as you can see from the collage above, he had a little bit of help from his youngest brother, which at times may have seemed like more of a bother than a help.

And how was the end result?  See for yourself:

All hail the budding chef enjoying the spoils of his labors.  I’m not sure if he would have enjoyed the bread as much as he did if he hadn’t had a hand in it.  he was proud beyond belief, to the point of calling it “his masterpiece”.

I couldn’t agree more.

What are you waiting for?  Get in the kitchen and cook something with your kids!  You’ll love every minute of it and so will they.

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I take a good deal of pride in making really good burgers.  The problem is, what’s the point of making the perfect patty, regardless of what went in to it, if you can’t be proud of the bun that it rests on?  I usually just grab some kaiser rolls and call it good, but today I decided that I’d had enough!  I was going to take some pride in my buns!  Err.. Rolls! I mean really.  How can you be a “seat of your pants” cook and not have pride in your buns?

Just in case you’ve never looked, there are as many recipes on the Internet for hamburger buns as there are for burgers, so choosing just one wasn’t easy.  There are whole wheat, artesian, gluten-free, honey glazed and so many more it boggles the mind. In the end I bowed to the fact that this recipe at allrecipes.com was the simplest of the ones I found, and I only had to adjust it a bit to fit in with what I had on hand.  Not only that, but it made a lot of buns, so there will be leftovers for egg sammiches in the morning. (Bonus!)

As for why I needed buns…  Well, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to find out, won’t you?

(These are actually pretty good sized.  I just have really large hands!)

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‘Tis the season for giving, cheer, gifts, and cookies with a resemblance to snowballs. Today I present you with a double helping of Holiday cheer, from our home to yours. Both of these cookies are guaranteed to warm your heart, and one will warm your tummy as well! Don’t let the resemblance fool you. These cookies may look alike on the outside, but the differences between them are like night and day. (Or chocolate and vanilla, as the case may be.)

Though I’ve posted My Aunt Thelma’s Tea Cookie recipe before, I really can’t do Christmas without them. They are a Holiday staple in my household, as they have been for the past 25 years and I doubt they will be going anywhere soon. These little treats are the ultimate in decadence, and should be eaten without remorse for what they will do to your waistline. It is Christmas, after all!

Be warned, the Brandy Balls are intended for mature audiences. These are a no bake cookie, therefore they hold about 90% of the alcohol content they were originally given. The flavor is intense and eating too many before driving is discouraged by both the management of this blog as well as state troopers anywhere in the country, not to mention M.A.D.D.

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I think I’ve died and gone to heaven this time folks. I can’t even begin to do justice to the flavors and textures in this sweet dish. The first thing you are greeted with the crisp phyllo shell, then there is an explosion of espresso and chocolate so strong and rich that it nearly assaults the senses. This is followed by the chewy caramel, which finishes on the tongue with flavors reminiscent of a caramel cappuccino. And all in a bite-sized treat.

The fabulous thing about it is that I came up with the recipe all by my little self! I’ve been wanting to revisit chocolate since I made these little fillo cups in January of this year. Even then I had already decided to go for a bit of mocha flavor, and I’m so very glad I did! Decadent just isn’t a strong enough word for this, and I’m in chocolate-coffee heaven, and will be until all of these little morsels have been eaten. (Which I’m sure won’t take very long.)

These tartelettes are a perfect holiday confection. They travel well (the filo cups come in a convenient plastic carton that can be used to carry them), hold their texture for several days, and are actually better the second day. As a matter of fact, I recommend making them a day before you plan to eat them.

Enough of my blathering, on to the good stuff!

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AB has never done me wrong. Oh, I’ve done his recipes wrong in the past, but on closer inspection it always turned out to be something that I did, vs. anything that was incorrect in the procedures or methods he handed out. He did us right again this time, and I thank him for it greatly.

My wife whipped these up for breakfast the other morning. All-in-all, it took roughly twice as long as it would have to use a mix, and the result was so much better that I’ll never consider the mix version again. To be honest, I don’t have a lot to say about these, or the process. Just that they were a hit with the entire family, from myself, to Mr. Seat of his Diapers, everyone loved them.

Even Buster our Boston Terrier managed to sneak a few bites. (Though I think Lil’ man might have helped!)

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Everyone has certain foods that remind them of their youth. A taste or smell that takes you back to a time when your biggest worries were things like what to wear to school on Monday, or whether that certain someone would actually look at you in a classroom. A time when things were a bit simpler, when Saturday mornings were the only time to watch cartoons and you waited all week for it.

I may be dating myself a bit here. I’m sure some of my readers had Cartoon Network when they were young, or had other pursuits. Regardless, I think you get the idea. For me, one of those foods that takes me back to those times is the simple, unassuming All-Bran Muffin.

The Kellogg’s company began printing recipes on the sides of its cereal boxes in 1916, so as far as I am aware, the recipe for this little slice of wonder has been located on the side of the All-Bran® package since the name was changed from Krumbles sometime before 1920. Advertising for the All-Bran Muffin exists from 1920, so it has definitely been around for quite some time, and with good reason!

The variations on this classic are endless. But for my tastes you just can’t beat the original, as it’s printed on the side of every box. Enjoy with a little jam, honey or fruit. Or, if you’re a southern boy like me, just spread a little butter in a nice warm muffin and have at it!

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When Lis from La Mia Cucina interviewed me, one of her questions was when I was going to stop waffling on the subject of baking and actually “…bite the bullet and bake us up something fab to drool over…”?

The answer to the question is “I did it on Monday.”

This bread is a lot more tricky to make than it looked in the directions. My wife attempted it the night before I made this, and the recipe failed her. It could be humidity levels or it could be a curse placed on my family by gypsies, but that dough was never gonna work.

The next morning I vowed that no recipe which includes a full can of beer was ever gonna whoop my beer hunting tush (my manliness was at stake here, not to mention the senseless loss of a perfectly good pale!) , so I bought a 24 oz bottle of Corona and went after a double batch. It didn’t take long to discover I was going to have to wrestle with it though.

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