This cocktail is the equivalent of an apple picking adventure at a pumpkin patch while riding on a hay ride. It’s all fall. There can’t possibly be flavors that more embody fall than fresh apple cider and bourbon.

This is a version of a Manhattan cocktail, only adding in fresh apple cider. Get it, the Big Apple?!? I know, corny. But so totally no the nose, you can’t help but love it. The bourbon, vermouth and bitters are the so good with the fresh cider.

Fresh cider is critical here. You can find it almost anywhere - even Tree Top juice makes a version of a fresh cider that’s worthy of this cocktail. Just please don’t use apple juice. Gross.

The Big Apple

2 ounces apple cider

1 ounce bourbon (or rye)

1/2 ounce red vermouth

a dash of bitters

STEP 1

Pour all ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Fill it with ice and shake!

STEP 2

Strain into a cocktail glass filled with ice and serve with a wedge of apple. Cin cin!

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Mr Hedin and I went on an anniversary trip a few years ago to a darling little mountain town where the winter is filled with cross country skiing and the summer is full of hiking. We went in April. There was neither snow nor warmth. It was not the best time to go to say the least. The highlight of the trip was the food. It was really our only great takeaway. And there was a hilarious interaction at the bar between a couple sitting across from us who clearly didn’t like each other - but loved their cans of beer. (The restaurant was fancy - not a “canned beer” kind of place)

These muffins were the star of breakfast. I try to eat something healthy for breakfast and these have fit the bill. They aren’t “health food” but they are a healthier option than almost anything else.

I don’t eat eggs, so I make them with an egg replacement - you can use store bought or apple sauce. But the eggs are a nice amount of protein for the morning.

Good Morning Muffins

Makes 18

2 cups flour

½ cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

2 shredded carrots

½ cup raisins

½ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup flaked coconut

½ cup apple, shredded

3 eggs

½ cup coconut oil

1 8oz can crushed pineapple

2 teaspoons vanilla

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin tin with 12 liners (or two with 18 total).

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all of the dry ingredients.

STEP 2

Add to the dry ingredients the carrots, raisins, walnuts, coconut and apple.  Mix gently to coat the dry ingredients over everything.

STEP 3

In a separate bowl, combine eggs, coconut oil, pineapple and vanilla.

STEP 4

Gently pour in the egg mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until incorporated.  Don’t over mix!

STEP 5

Bake muffins in lined muffin tin for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Store in an air tight container for up to one week.

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I know most people think Pumpkin Spice is THE fall flavor. But they’re wrong because that’s disgusting. The flavor of fall is this molasses cookie. Before you say they aren’t, bake them first! I promise it will change your mind.

These have the perfect flavor - they stay chewy - which is mandatory for a molasses cookie. I stick them in the kid’s lunches during these early months of fall - and then make sure there are enough left over for you to have one in the morning with coffee. I cannot recommend them enough with coffee!

Let me know if you make them and what you think. Happy fall!

The Best Molasses Cookies

makes about 2 dozen

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar + more for rolling

2 eggs

1/2 cup molasses

2 1/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ginger

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars. Whip until the mixture is fluffy.

STEP 2

Whisk in the egg and molasses and whip until fluffy.

STEP 3

Add all of the dry ingredients to the mixture and combine until just mixed.

STEP 4

Scoop out cookie dough and roll in sugar to coat. Place each cookie dough ball on a lined baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheet.

Store them in an airtight container for about a week.

HOT TIPS

• This dough is super sticky. It does best when chilled or baked immediately. I like to chill it so it can roll in the sugar easier.

• If your cookies start to spread too much, chill the dough.

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I love cooking bone in chicken. It doesn’t dry out like a chicken breast so you can forget a little bit and not have to worry. That’s a great thing with this dish because sometimes the potatoes aren’t quite done but if you had boneless chicken - then it would be super tough and gross when the potatoes were finally done.

Make sure you use some sweet apples for this recipe too - I prefer Honeycrisp apples because they have the best flavor of all the apples. Cosmic Crisp are a close second. I don’t recommend Granny Smith’s, they are way too bitter.

I love this for a weeknight dinner. You can get it started and help with homework while it finishes cooking. And you can let it sit too - we’ve done this dinner when we know we have ‘late plates’ for kids at activities. It’s just as delicious several hours later!

Apple Roasted Chicken

with bacon and potatoes

Serves 4

4 lb bone in chicken breasts

1 onion, sliced

4 strips bacon, chopped

2 large honeycrisp apples, sliced

2 cups chopped baby potatoes

4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 cup white wine

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 425

In a large pan, cook onion and bacon together until onions are translucent.

STEP 2

Place chicken, bone side up, in the pan and let sizzle until browned.  Flip over and season with salt & pepper.

STEP 3

Pour in white wine and top with apples, thyme, and potatoes.

STEP 4

Bake 20-25 minutes until a thermometer reads 160 when inserted into the meat.

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Fall just feels like oatmeal cookies to me. I used to make them for football games, because my mom made them for football games, so I’m sure that’s a part of the reason. This week I started to wonder how I could make them even more “fall” feeling. So I swapped out the raisins for craisins and added butterscotch chips (which are literally what fall tastes like). I think they are a pretty epic fall cookie. What do you think?

Fall Oatmeal Cookies

makes about two dozen

1 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup quick oats

2 cus butter scotch chips

1 cup craisins

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Whip until light and fluffy.

STEP 2

Combine together the flour, baking powder and oats - then blend into the stand mixer. Blend until just barely combined.

STEP 3

Toss in butterscotch chips and craisins and blend until totally incorporated.

STEP 4

Scoop on to a baking sheet and bake 12 minutes until browned on the edges. Let cool on a wire rack and keep in an airtight container for up to one week.

These go perfectly with a cup of hot apple cider. 😉

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Apple Cider Cocktail

4 ounces fresh apple cider

2 ounces bourbon

1/2 ounce allspice dram

Fill two cocktail glasses with ice. In a pitcher, stir together all ingredients. Pour the cocktail over the ice dividing it equally between both glasses

Cin cin!

Today is the day and my daughter is the most excited of anyone. We’re hosting a little movie night at our house tonight complete with all of the spooky foods, cocktails, and mocktails. Here’s a snapshot of what we’re doing!

For your drinking pleasure…

Corpse Reviver no.2 Cocktail

Super kid (and kid at heart) friendly

Halloween-ies with ketchup blood

It’s delish and a little elegant

Apple Cider Skull cakes

Spooky enough to eat a handful

Eyeball Meringues

For a Harry Potter binge

Butter Beer Cookies

For the kid’s at heart

Ice cream floats made with purple & green sodas

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There’s something about a spicy, smoky margarita that feels perfect for Halloween! These are something you can make in a pitcher too - so you can serve them at a party and not have to keep shaking. Just mix the ingredients and then let guests shake to order. Better yet, find a friend who likes to work the bar - it’s usually someone who wants to chat with everyone, but also needs to keep their hands busy. I know who I always choose - it’s a great friend to have!

Try a few mezcals before you settle on one. Everyone likes something a little different and mezcal is unique because it’s so smoky. Like when you pick a scotch, they all taste a little different. It’s handy to buy the tiny little bottles first to try out the varieties. Those big bottles seem even larger when you don’ like what’s inside!

Mezcal Margarita

serves 2

4 ounces mezcal

1/2 ounce jalapeno syrup

1 dash triple sec

juice of 1/2 a lime (2 ounces)

lime wedges

coarse sea salt

STEP 1

Rub the ridge of one glass with the lime and dip half of the rim in salt. If you dip the whole thing, you can end up with a mouth full of salt and no one needs bloated fingers tomorrow. Fill the glass with ice and set aside.

STEP 2

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour mezcal, jalapeño syrup,, triple sec and lime. Shake aggressively for a few seconds. Strain the cocktail into the salted glass. Squeeze a lime wedge over the top and serve.

ALTERNATIVLY

I often will not fill the glass with ice in the beginning, but pour the ice the cocktail was shaken with into my glass. There’s a little melt that happens when you shake and I like to capture all of the flavors. But it’s not traditional, so you do you.

to make the jalapeño syrup

Combine together in a saucepan, 1 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar and 1 jalapeño, sliced but not seeded. Simmer until the sugar has melted and the liquid has reduced. Let cool before using.

What’s better than pigs in a blanket? The correct answer is nothing.

This time of year we are eating quite a few pigs in a blanket thanks to the football season - it’s the perfect food for grab and go eating. Which makes it the perfect food for grab and go Halloween eating. I don’t know about your house, but this holiday doesn’t exactly lend itself to sitting around and eating a large meal.

To make these, I used crescent rolls and lil’ smokies. It’s so simple. I don’t really think this needs a recipe, but I’ll type one out anyway. Usually I serve a lil’ smoky with mustard because ketchup is gross. But in this case, it needs to look like blood. So ketchup it is! (I put mustard in a bowl on the side when serving)

Halloweenines

1 package lil’ smokies

2 packages crescent rolls

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll one package of crescent rolls. Use one of the triangles to make the base of your hand.

STEP 2

Slice the remaining rolls into strips. Start wrapping the lil’ smokies and laying them out to form a ‘hand'.’ Use the remaining strips to drape across the top of the lil’ smokies to hold them all together. Repeat with the second roll of crescent rolls and the rest of the lil’ smokies to form a second hand.

STEP 3

Bake about 15-20 minutes until golden brown on a lined baking sheet. Serve with ketchup!

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There is nothing the kids love more than when I make meringues. It’s a fan favorite - and one of the simplest treats you can make! They are literally three ingredients. The secrets are:

1. Don’t make these when it’s pouring down rain, the humidity kills them.

2. Don’t go too fast with the sugar. Be slow.

3. Watch your oven temperature and don’t rush anything.

These are super elegant for this holiday that doesn’t always inspire elegance!

Eyeball Meringues

Makes about 1 dozen

4 large egg whites

pinch of salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon meringue powder

STEP 1

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with sil-pat or parchment paper.

In a stand mixer, whisk together egg whites and salt until bubbly.  With the mixer running slowly add sugar and meringue powder. Whisk until stiff peaks form - about five minutes.

STEP 2

Fit a piping bag with an Ateco number 12 piping tip. Paint stripes on the inside of the piping bag using red food coloring. Carefully fill the piping bag with white meringue.

STEP 3

Gently pipe out giant dollops. Place a candy eye in the center of each circle to flatten out the piping point.

STEP 4

Bake meringues two hours until crisp to the touch.  Remove from oven and let cool 10-15 minutes. Store in an airtight container (I use a ziploc bag) for about a week.

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This is one of my favorite cakes to make this time of year! When you have cute cake molds, you need a cake that doesn’t need a frosting so you don’t cover up the design. I found this cute skull mold earlier this year - Pearl’s favorite holiday is Halloween - so I had to buy it when I found it!

This cake can be made in any shape. I usually choose a regular round cake mold. But you can change it up for the holiday. I hear there are turkey molds so this could be darling for Thanksgiving too.

APPLE CIDER CAKE

½ cup butter, room temperature

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

½ cup apple cider

½ cup chopped apple

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons apple cider

STEP 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the skull mold cake pans and dust them with flour. It’s super important to flour the pans when there are details like this!

In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and spices.  Set aside.

STEP 2

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla.  Whip together until it lightens slightly in color (about 1 minute).

STEP 3

Add half the flour to the sugar mixture in the stand mixer.  Stir until just barely combined.

STEP 4

Pour in apple cider and mix.  Add remaining flour and stir until just barely combined then incorporate the apples.

STEP 5

Pour the mixture into a greased 9-inch round pan.  Pop into the oven and bake 35 minutes – or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool. Mix together the powdered sugar and cider - then pour it over the top of the cake slowly and let it drip off the sides.

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