Disclaimer: Thank you to #AppleWeek Sponsors: Rodelle, Dreamfarm, Casabella, Flahavan’s Irish Oatmeal, Pryex, Chicago Cutlery, Rainier Fruit, and Veggie Wash for providing prizes for #AppleWeek free of charge. These companies provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for #AppleWeek. All opinions are my own.
AppleWeek is finally here! More than 25 awesome food bloggers have come together to to celebrate one of our favorite fruits, the apple. This week more than 100 recipes will be shared all using apples. To start off the week I’m sharing Caramel Apple Nut Bars. For this recipe I used oatmeal from Flavahan’s and honeycrisp apples from Rainier fruit plus really useful measuring cups and spoons from Dreamfarm.
Caramel and apple are a match made in heaven. It is a quintessential fall combination. Adding nuts take them over the top. It’s not only delicious but a perfect dessert, snack or even breakfast. Well, it does have apples and oats which are breakfast foods, right? After these bars had disappeared, I thought they would make a delicious base for an ice cream sundae. Add more nuts, a drizzle of caramel over some vanilla ice cream. Yum! I’ll have to remember that for next time. There is sweetness, crunch and creaminess to these bars. A little bit of everything. They didn’t last long.
A big, big thank you goes out to our hostess of AppleWeek, Carlee from Cooking with Carlee. Without getting into a lot of blogger speak, just know there is SO much that goes into organizing and orchestrating a week-long blogger event. Especially with so many participants. She secured all of the fabulous sponsors who donated such wonderful prize packages. Check them out below and be sure to enter at the bottom of this post.
Total time includes cooling time.
Ingredients
- 2 cups Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
- 2 cups Flavahan's quick-cooking oats
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cups butter, softened
- 1/2 cup caramel topping
- 3 tablespoons Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour
- 1 medium Rainier Honeycrisp apple, peeled, chopped, about 1 cup
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
- In large bowl, beat 2 cups flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and butter with mixer on low speed until crumbly. Press 3 1/4 cups of the mixture in pan. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven but keep oven on.
- In small bowl, mix caramel topping and 3 tablespoons flour, stirring well to combine completely. Sprinkle apple and nuts over partially baked crust. Drizzle with caramel mixture. Sprinkle with remaining crust mixture.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Cut into bars to serve. Drizzle with more caramel sauce, if desired.
Notes
Adapted from Betty Crocker.
Apple Bacon Turkey Burgers from Jonesin’ for Taste
Apple Brickle Mini Tarts with Oatmeal Crust from The Freshman Cook
Apple-Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Apple Cobbler French Toast Casserole from Tip Garden
Apple Fritter Yeast Bread from House of Nash Eats
Apple Oatmeal Coffee Mug Cake from Corn, Beans, Pigs and Kids
Apple Oatmeal Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Apple Pie Steel Cut Oatmeal from Cooking With Carlee
Caramel Apple Nut Bars from Family Around the Table
Cinnamon Apple Cider Sangria from The Redhead Baker
Creamy Maple Gouda Apple Soup with Pecan-Oat Granola from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
Healthy Apple Muffins from Caroline’s Cooking
Mulled Apple Cider from Books n’ Cooks
Oatmeal Crusted Apple Stuffed French Toast from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
Salted Caramel Apple Cake from Grumpy’s Honeybunch
Savory Apple Sausage Tart from The Crumby Kitchen
Vanilla Brined Pork Chops with Applesauce from Bear & Bug Eats
Swedish Apple Oatmeal Pie with Vanilla Sauce from All That’s Jas
Torta di Mele Sicilian Apple Cake from Girl Abroad
Prize Pack #1 from Rodelle:
A baker’s dream come true! This delicious prize pack includes premium vanilla products, gourmet dutch-processed cocoa and specialty extracts.
Items include:
Pure Vanilla Extract, Gourmet Dutch-Processed Baking Cocoa, Gourmet Vanilla Extract, Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Beans, Organic Vanilla Extract, Organic Chocolate Extract, Almond Extract, Vanilla Paste, and some fun baking supplies to whip up your next batch of goodies with!
Prize Pack #2 from Dreamfarm and Casabella:
a clip n strip shears
a set up levups
a set of levoons
Prize Pack #3 from Flahavan’s Irish Oatmeal:
Prize Pack #4 from Pyrex and Chicago Cutlery:
Prize Pack #5 from Rainier Fruit:
Today is Julia Child’s birthday. She is an American icon. The impact she had on cooking, food, wine and the enjoyment of cooking, wine and food lives on in the food bloggers around the world. As a young girl I remember hearing about her shows. Then as I got older I got to watch her on PBS. My favorite show was with Jacques (Pepin) and Julia. Their show was Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. A companion cookbook to that show was published and my wonderful Mom bought me an autographed copy. It’s that cookbook I used to find this recipe for Julia’s chicken. A recipe all of use thoroughly enjoyed.
We eat a lot of chicken and our Sunday meal is often whole roast chicken. This was an easy pick. Roast chicken with lemon and herbs is a more sophisticated version of the roast chicken I normally make. A few notes about how I changed her recipe up. I did not roast any vegetables with it. I used herbs de provence because it’s what I had and we like it best. I also did not truss the bird. It’s not something I ever do and in the interest of time I decided to forego it. I actually made two roast chickens this particular night. I have teenage boys, need I say more?
I’m excited for my first post with a new group of bloggers. This fun group focuses on wine and food pairings, a passion of mine! Many know that my husband and I have been in the wine business for nearly 30 years. Need less to say I was happy to find a group of like-minded bloggers. For today I’ve paired a hassleback chicken Cordon Bleu with 2013 Vergelegen Chardonnay Reserve from South Africa.
Blueberry muffins are a favorite in our house. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of blueberries by themselves but I do love them in things like muffins, pancakes and bread. So, when I found this recipe for Jumbo Blueberry Muffins on the Taste of Home website I had to make them. Blueberry muffins are a fond memory from my youth. My Mom made them often. I think they were a favorite of hers. Or maybe my Dad’s.
