Pecan Chia Pudding

I wanted to try out some chia pudding, and we also had some cashew milk I wanted to use up, so I decided to make a chia pudding with cashew milk. We also had some pecans around, and I do like Pecan Pie, so why not make something similar? Sounds like a good idea to me! Just mix together most of the ingredients, place the mixture into your serving container, and spoon some of the sweet pecan mixture on top. We refrigerated and enjoyed these pecan pie chia puddings the next day to really let the chia seeds hydrate. Enjoy!

Do you prefer dairy milk or nut milks?

Pecan Chia Pudding

by CJ Huang

A lightly sweetened chia pudding with a sticky pecan topping - perfect as a dessert and healthy enough for breakfast!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: none
Total time: 10 minutes + hydrating time
Yield: 4 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
220 grams	7.75 ounces	1 cup		cashew milk
47 grams	1.625 ounces	1/4 cup		chia seeds
		4 tablespoons		maple syrup
		1 teaspoon		cinnamon
		1 teaspoon		vanilla extract
52 grams	1.75 ounces	3/8 cup		pecans, chopped

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Stir together cashew milk, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and 2 tablespoons maple syrup.
	3. Stir in chia seeds.
	4. Coat chopped pecans with remaining maple syrup.
	5. Transfer chia mixture into serving containers and spoon (or fork if you're like me and don't want to wash another spoon) pecan mixture on top. Serve, or refrigerate to allow chia seeds to more fully hydrate.

Shared with: Full Plate Thursday, Artsy Fartsy Party, BFF Open House, Fiesta Friday, Meal Plan Monday, Traffic Jam, Saturday Sparks, Hearth and Soul, What's for Dinner?, Over the Moon, Farm Fresh Tuesday, Your Whims Wednesday, Wine'd Down Wednesday, Homestead Blog Hop, Party in Your PJs

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Easy pumpkin spice muffins - healthy enough for breakfast, tasty enough for dessert!

Caramelized Banana and Pecan Oatmeal

Add some fun flavor to your oatmeal with bananas, caramelized in their own sugar, roasted nuts, and dash of cinnamon.

Chai Cookies

Enjoy all the goodness and spice of chai tea in cookie form!

Spiced Date Ice Cream

We were trying to use the cashew milk we bought since we didn't enjoy drinking it plain, and I didn't want it going to waste. With this weather and my love of chai, I thought about making a refreshing treat. I froze this spiced date mixture to ice cream, but I'm thinking it'd be even yummier as a smoothie. Yum! Or maybe even popsicles. :) Lots of possibilities! The recipe's not too sweet as written, so you might want to use more dates or add a bit of sweetener. I really liked all the spices mixed in, and I think this would taste even better with cream instead of cashew milk since the richness would serve as a perfect counter to the aromatic spices!

Do you prefer the lighter taste of cashew milk or the richer flavor of cream?

Spiced Date Ice Cream

by CJ Huang

Aromatic spices, frozen with cashew milk (or cream) and slightly sweetened with dates for one yummy spiced date ice cream!

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: none
Total time: 30 minutes
Yield: 6 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
		1 tablespoon		ginger, grated
		1/4 teaspoon		cardamom, ground
		1/4 teaspoon		cinnamon
		1/8 teaspoon		cloves, ground
42 grams	1.5 ounces	1/2 cup		coconut shreds
		1/2 teaspoon		pepper, ground
484 grams	17.125 ounces	2 cups		cashew milk	Substitute cream or half and half for a richer ice cream.
85 grams	3 ounces	1/2 cup	12	dates
		2 teaspoons		vanilla extract	or alcohol free vanilla extract

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Chop the dates. I've found chopping the dates on the coconut shreds solves the issue of the dates sticking to each other or the the knife.
	3. Combine cashew milk (or cream or half and half) with all materials except chopped dates and coconut shreds.
	4. Pour milk mixture into ice cream maker, following instructions. Add in chopped dates and coconut shreds towards the end of freezing time.

Shared with: Delicious Dishes, Wonderful Wednesday, Waste Less Wednesday, What's Cookin' Wednesday, Wednesday Showcase, Creative Ways, Pinworthy Projects, What's For Dinner? Sunday, Happiness is Homemade, Nifty Thrifty Sunday, Sustainable Sunday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, What'd You Do This Weekend?, Turn It Up Tuesday

Cinnamon Applesauce

With all the apples we had around and not enough time to eat them all, I decided to make some slow cooker applesauce. I also threw in some cinnamon since I prefer cinnamon applesauce. You can easily experiment with a variety of different seasonings. I'm thinking I want to try apple pie spice next! Also, just a quick note about the texture - we like it chunky, so I don't bother peeling or pureeing. If you prefer a smoother texture, you could puree the apples before or after cooking. Using a few different varieties of apples helps give your applesauce an extra depth of flavor. Pink Lady's are some of my favorites!

What's your favorite variety of apple?

Cinnamon Applesauce

by CJ Huang

A simple, yet flavorful cinnamon applesauce made in the slow cooker. Use a few varieties of apple for some extra yumminess!

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 4 hours
Total time: 4 hours, 5 minutes
Yield: 16 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
2867 grams	6.32 pounds			apples, chopped	I like to use a few different varieties for extra depth of flavor.
13 grams	1/2 ounce			cinnamon

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Place apples into slow cooker, and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Cook for approximately 4 hours, or until apples soft, stirring occasionally. Puree if desired for smoother texture.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

After making some Spiced Pumpkin Bread, we decided we didn't really want another loaf of bread. What to do? I thought of just putting the loaf in the freezer for later, but as usual, we had no more freezer space. Then we thought about Bread Pudding. I'd never made Bread Pudding before, so I had even more motivation to try it out! In fact, we liked the Pumpkin Bread Pudding better than the spiced pumpkin bread by itself. I didn't put a whole lot of spices into the bread pudding since I'd already used quite a bit in the bread. Next time, I might drizzle some sweetened condensed milk on top to give this bread a bit of extra sweetness since I didn't add any sugar. You could easily use one, the other, or both depending on your preferences. (We also had this Pumpkin Bread Pudding as breakfast, so I wanted to maintain at least some semblance of healthiness!)

How do you adjust recipes to make them more "breakfast appropriate?"

Pumpkin Bread Pudding

by CJ Huang

Make your Spiced Pumpkin Bread into some Pumpkin Bread Pudding almost healthy enough for breakfast.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Yield: 12 servings

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
		2 cups		milk
			3	eggs
		1 teaspoon		cinnamon
		5 cups		pumpkin bread, cubed	I used Spiced Pumpkin Bread.
		2 tablespoons		vanilla extract

Methods:

	1. Gather all materials.
	2. Combine milk, eggs, and vanilla.
	3. Place pumpkin bread cubes into a baking dish, and pour milk, egg, and vanilla mixture over bread. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes.

Spiced Pumpkin Butter

Got some extra pumpkin? Make your own spiced pumpkin butter, and sweeten it up with a bit of maple syrup for an additional layer of flavor!

Spiced Pumpkin Bread

A moist and flavorful spiced pumpkin bread.

Sweet Potato Chocolate Cherry Bread

A moist spice cake with sweet potatoes, cherries, chocolate, and of course, spices.

Dutch Baby

A Dutch Baby pancake flavored with vanilla and cinnamon, then topped with powdered sugar and a bit of lemon (or your usual pancake toppings).

Quick Peach Cobbler

A quick and easy peach cobbler - perfect for a quick dessert (or anytime).

Raspberry Cream Cheese Stuffed French Toast

Fill your French toast with some raspberry cream cheese for a fun and tasty twist on an old favorite.

Cranberry Sweet Potato Bread

A sweet and tangy quick bread with cranberries and sweet potatoes.

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

Crunchy oatmeal cookies with a crisp surface, enhanced with toffee bits.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Medjool Dates

Roasted butternut squash, mashed with caramelized onions, with some chopped Medjool dates mixed in.

Red Wine Poached Pears

It’s said that variety is the spice of life, and of course, the selection of a novel entrée is no different. I find myself focusing on every other permutation of main dish, side dish, and salad but often lose sight of the desserts. Maybe it was the way I was raised, but I rarely make desserts, which is not to say that I don’t enjoy eating them. Lately, we've been getting a lot of pears, so I decided to roll up my sleeves and look for a sweeter treat. That's when I found this recipe on The Charm of Home and decided to give it a try. This super easy recipe is sure to make pears that much more delightful. And then, after you've had the pears, you can further thicken the sauce into a wine jelly! Don't you love it when a recipe makes two things in one? I know I do!



 
Red Wine Poached Pears by Morsels of Life
A sweet juice-laden pear infused with a red wine sauce, then coated with a slightly tangy reduction.

Prep time: 1 minute
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 21 minutes
Yield: 2 servings

Materials:

• 2 pears


• 1.5 cups red wine


• 1/2 cup sugar


• 2 tablespoons lemon juice


• 1 tablespoon cinnamon, powder

Methods:

1. Combine all materials except pears, then heat and stir until sugar dissolved.


2. Add the pears and bring to a boil, then decrease heat and simmer until pears soft.


3. Remove pears, but continue to reduce the sauce. Once sauce reaches desired consistency, pour over pears and serve.


4. If desired, the leftover sauce can be reduced even more to form a wine jelly. James used it for PB&J, but I'm sure you can be more creative.

 

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Linked to: These Chicks Cooked, Tuesdays at the Table, Tuesday Talent Show, Tasty Tuesday Party

Cinnamon Cranberry Biscuits

In the continued quest for a better (read: tastier) breakfast, I decided to further my experiments. I'd made some garlicky cheddar biscuits before, and cheese was a fine addition to the biscuits, but the wheels of my mind began to turn to the possibilities. Looking to my leftovers for some inspiration, I found a bag of half-used dried cranberries from a past foray into homemade granola. Why not go toward a sweet breakfast instead of a savory one? Adapting the cheddar biscuit recipe to something sweet, I decided to press forward with cranberries, but they needed the right accompaniment - a bit of cinnamon. Despite its deceptive simplicity, the right balance of cranberries to cinnamon made these results enjoyable. I would definitely recommend at least trying the recipe and putting your own personal twist on this recipe.



 
Cinnamon Cranberry Biscuits by Morsels of Life
A comforting, warm breakfast treat combining the sweet tanginess of cranberries with a hit of cinnamon.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 15 minutes
Yield: 12 servings

Materials:

• 2 cups instant flour mix


• 2/3 cup milk


• 1/2 cup dried cranberries


• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Methods:

1. Mix all materials until soft dough forms


2. Bake at 400F until golden brown.

What are some of your favorite modifications?

 

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Linked to: Tasty Tuesday

Pear with Toasted Walnuts

It's been a while since I've made dessert using fruit, so when I saw this recipe from Summer Tomato a while back, I thought I would give it a try. The pears I needed to use up also helped. :) I didn't have the Bosc pears she called for, so I used D'Anjou instead. This recipe is really quite simple and straightforward. The only thing to be aware of when making this dessert is not to put your face directly over the reducing balsamic vinegar - or you'll get a nice dose of acetic acid. That, and don't burn your walnuts. This recipe will create a savory dessert that perfectly combines sweet flavors from the pear (fruity sweet), balsamic vinegar (tangy sweet), and cinnamon (spicy sweet) with the nutty flavor of toasted walnuts. (Does that even make sense?) Each aspect brings a different type of sweetness to the table, an combined together, the complexity of flavors forms a dessert you're just got to experience for yourself! This is a quick dessert that only seems like it took a long time to make. Serve it at parties and wow your guests! (Use the oven instead of the stove for quick scale-up.) This dessert was good enough to eat on its own, but you could also try it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! I know this recipe doesn't call for any additional sugar, but trust me, you don't need it. I was initially skeptical too - would it taste good as a dessert without any added sugar? It does, I promise.


Pear with Toasted Walnuts (printable version)
A savory dessert contrasting aromatic, sweet pears with fragrant, tangy balsamic vinegar, topped with the smoky and nutty flavor of toasted walnuts

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 20 minutes
Yield: 1-2 servings

Materials:

• 1 pear, cored
• cinnamon, powdered
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon butter (optional)

Methods:

1. Reduce balsamic vinegar by gently heating and swirling. When it's ready, it should coat the back of a spoon and taste pleasant.
2. While reducing, cut pear into about 8-10 slices.
3. Toast walnuts.
4. Cook pears about 3-5 minutes on each side, until desired level of tenderness reached.
5. Place pears on a plate, sprinkle on chopped walnuts, drizzle with balsamic vinegar reduction, and top with a few dashes of cinnamon.
6. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Leave a comment telling us about your favorite fruity dessert!

Cinnamon Muffins

Since I was tiring of my usual breakfasts, I thought I could make some muffins. I had already made some bacon and cheese muffins, but I still had some room in the oven. (I like to completely fill the oven when I use it, especially during the summer months - something about efficiency. :P) Another bonus for these muffins is that all the materials are things you probably keep stocked, so you can make these anytime without running out to the store - another point for efficiency! Since the bacon and cheese muffins are savory, I thought these cinnamon muffins would be good to switch up the flavors a bit since they're sweet.

Although I didn't opt to make a topping for these muffins, you could easily add a cinnamon sugar topping. I've also made similar muffins, and served them as dessert by using 2 layers of cinnamon sugar - one as a filling (so it was like a layer cake), and one as the topping. Fun thing about those - the filling allows the muffins to separate more easily, so you could have your own muffin tops with cinnamon sugar on both sides! Only downside is that you get left with a lot of muffin bottoms - time to make cake pops! Hopefully materials and methods for those will be coming soon.

Anyway, back to these cinnamon muffins! They are quite cinnamon-y, and with just the right amount of sweetness. The tops were crisp, and the insides soft - an excellent way to start your day. And no problem if you're in a rush - these muffins are just as delicious on the go!

What are your favorite kind of muffins?

Cinnamon Muffins

by CJ Huang

Easy cinnamon muffins with a crisp exterior protecting the soft interior.

Yield: 12 muffins

Materials:

Mass	Weight	Volume	Number	Material	Notes
			1	egg, beaten
		1/2 teaspoon		salt
		1/2 cup		milk
		2 teaspoons		baking powder
		1/4 cup		butter
		1.5 cups		flour
		1 tablespoon		cinnamon
		1/2 cup		sugar

Methods:

1. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder together, forming the Dry Team.
2. Stir together sugar, egg, milk, and butter, forming the Wet Team.
3. Combine Wet Team and Dry Team.
4. Pour into greased muffin tin, and bake at 375F until golden brown and delicious, about 20-30 minutes.