Apple butter

Nothing says Fall to me more than apples and cinnamon. This is the perfect thing to make in early fall when the apples are inexpensive and it is just starting to get cold out. This recipe is so easy it almost shouldn't count as a recipe. The hardest part about this is waiting to eat it while your house smells amazing. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your liking - I'm not a huge fan of nutmeg so I went really light on it but you could easily add more if you like that flavor.

Ingredients:

Roughly 3 pounds of apples, cored and chopped (I used a mix of honey crisp and green apples)
1/2 rounded teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Add all ingredients except vanilla to a large crock pot and stir to combine. Cover the crock pot and cook on low overnight. In the morning, take the lid off and give it a good stir, making sure to scrape down the sides of the pot. Using an immersion blender, blend the apples until they are completely smooth and thick. Add more water if necessary to get the consistency you like. If it isn't thick enough for you just leave it in the crock pot and let it cook, uncovered, for a few more hours. Add the vanilla when it is finished cooking and stir to combine. Ladle into mason jars and store in the fridge if you'll be eating it within a week or two and freeze the rest of the jars.

Blueberry muffins

Muffins are a great breakfast food or snack and the best part about them is that they freeze really well, which means that you can make a batch and then have them whenever you want. I like my blueberry muffins with a bit of lemon, but if you don't then just leave it out.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter (room temp)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Stir in half the flour, all the salt, and baking powder and mix. Add in the buttermilk and the rest of the flour and stir until mostly smooth. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin pans with liners and spray with non-stick spray. Fill muffin cups most of the way full with batter (they will look really full, thats ok!). Top with a sprinkling of sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool for a few minutes in the pan, then transfer the muffins to a cooling rack.

Strawberry cream cheese crepes

All the prep work should be done the night before, so plan ahead for these!! Despite needing to think ahead, these are so easy. Crepes have a reputation for being challenging, but really they are quite simple. So simple that it is sort of silly that they cost $10-$15 at a restaurant.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup cream cheese
10 strawberries
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg
1 small pat of butter
1 dash salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

In a food processor, combine cream cheese, strawberries, 1 teaspoon sugar, and lemon juice. Pulse to combine then process for a few seconds straight so that it is nice and smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and refrigerate overnight. In a blender, combine the rest of the ingredients (water through vanilla) and blend until very smooth. Transfer to a sealable container and place in fridge overnight. When you're ready to cook them, place a non-stick saute pan over medium heat and spray it with non-stick spray. Place 1/4 cup of batter on hot pan and swirl the pan to coat it thinly and evenly. Cook for about 1 minute, or when the bottom begins to bubble and turn very light brown. Carefully flip crepe using an offset spatula and your fingers and cook the other side for about 30 seconds. Remove from heat and continue with the rest of the batter. To serve, place a dollop of the strawberry cream cheese in the center of each crepe and fold in triangle shape. Top with sliced strawberries or whipped cream or powdered sugar.

Sweet and sour grapes

I can't stop eating these, seriously. They are so good and they taste like candy, but you don't have to feel too bad about eating them since they are just grapes. You'll need citric acid in order to make these, which really isn't hard to find. I found some at the bulk food store by my house and it was very inexpensive.

Ingredients:

1 handful green grapes
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid (adjust to control how sour they are)

Directions:

In a small bowl, combine sugar and citric acid. Wash green grapes but don't dry them. Toss a few at a time into the sour sugar and swirl the bowl around to coat. Transfer to serving dish and continue with the rest of the grapes.

Candy canes

I will fully and readily admit that making your own candy canes is sort of a crazy thing to do. You can buy a pack of them in pretty much any flavor for about a dollar. This recipe will cost you more than that and will require much more work. All of that being said, these are still really fun to make and they are delicious. Plus there is just something sort of nice about making them from scratch and being able to control the flavor and color. I adapted this recipe from Taste of Home. Their recipe was great, but the instructions were lacking a few things that really helped the canes come together so I've done things my own way. A few suggestions: have all your equipment and ingredients ready before you start, use an accurate candy thermometer or learn how to test the temperature of candy using the cold water method, and finally pick up some latex gloves and some knit stretchy gloves and put them on before you attempt to pull the candy.

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup corn syrup

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon flavored oil (or 1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons extract) like cinnamon, vanilla, or peppermint

food coloring

Directions:

In a large, heavy bottomed pot combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and cream of tartar together. Heat over medium-low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Once dissolved, stop stirring completely. Clip a candy thermometer on the pot and heat the candy to 280 degrees (soft crack stage). Remove from heat and add flavoring. Divide the candy between two oiled cookie sheets. Add food coloring to one of the pans and stir to combine. Put on knit gloves, then put latex gloves on top of that. After the candy has cooled for about a minute or so pick up the non-colored candy and stretch and pull it for a while until it turns shiny and white. Place this back on the pan and pick up the colored candy. Stretch and pull it the same as you did for the white part. Once both have been stretched and are soft and pliable, press the colored part onto the white part and massage until they form one smooth log. Stretch and smooth that log until it forms a long, thin rope. Cut into smaller sections and twist each section so that the typical candy cane stripes appear. Cut into 4-6 inch lengths and curve the top around so that it forms a cane shape. Place on a plate and allow to dry for 24 hours before eating to prevent them from being sticky. 

Cough drops

It is starting to get cold out, which means that getting sick isn't far behind. I caught a cold early this year and after trying to find a flavor of cough drops at the store that didn't make me cringe I decided to try my own. These aren't medicated at all but if your sore throat isn't bad these will do the trick. The two pictured are vanilla/peppermint and honey/lemon/sage but you could really flavor these however you'd like.

Ingredients:

For vanilla peppermint:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
1/3 cup water
2 drops green food coloring
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
powder sugar mold (just pour 2 cups powdered sugar in a 9x13" pan and press a measuring spoon in it until little holes remain)

For honey, lemon, sage:

1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon sage
zest of one lemon
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup water
juice of one lemon
2 drops yellow food coloring
powder sugar mold (see above)

Directions:

(If making the honey, lemon, sage option: boil 1/2 cup water, 1 tablespoon sage, and lemon zest together. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 20 minutes. Strain and measure out 1/3 cup) Both versions follow the next steps: Combine water (or sage/lemon water), sugar, and corn syrup (or honey) in a large, heavy bottomed pot. Heat over medium-low heat and stir until sugar is fully dissolved. Stop stirring and boil mixture until it reaches 300 degrees*. Remove from heat and add flavorings and coloring. Spoon the syrup into the holes that you created in your powdered sugar and transfer to the refrigerator. After a few minutes remove from the refrigerator and shake the pan so that the powdered sugar coats all the sides. Let them rest until they fully harden.

*you can either use a candy thermometer (which is great if yours is accurate) or you can do what I did and do the cold water test. All you have to do is fill a dish with cold water and spoon a bit of your syrup into it. If it is at 300 degrees it will harden instantly and you can hear a "clink" when it hits the bottom. It will not form a ball and there will be hard strings of candy throughout the water.

Boozy worms and dirt dessert

I am super proud of this one, I have to admit. It combines all the things I love: pudding, gummies, alcohol, and cookies. This is certainly not the version you grew up with as a child and you should definitely be careful while eating this because there is a LOT of vodka in it. If you're not making it for halloween you don't have to decorate it like a graveyard - I just thought it was cute.

Ingredients:

2 packages of chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
1 cup whipped cream flavored vodka
1 package cool whip
1 individual size package of oreos, crushed
12 milano cookies, with the bottoms cut off
1 package gummy worms
1 cup vodka

Directions:

Two days before you need the dessert soak gummy worms in vodka and cover. They will absorb it over the next couple days, just make sure to stir every once in a while to prevent them from sticking together. A day before you need the dessert mix the pudding with milk and beat for a few minutes with an electric beater or stand mixer. Mix in the whipped cream (or vanilla, or regular) vodka and beat for another couple minutes. Fold in the cool whip and mix gently until it is combined. Transfer mixture to a 9x13 pan and freeze. It won't freeze solid because of the vodka. The day you need it take it out of the freezer and scoop out spoonfuls of pudding, in the hole you created bury the vodka soaked worms, then place the pudding back on top and smooth out. Do this all over the pan. When all the worms are buried top with the crushed oreos. Place milano cookies in the pudding to look like tombstones. Place in freezer until you're ready to serve. The texture will be sort of mousse like at the beginning but the longer it sits out the more pudding-like it becomes.