Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

How was your weekend?

Ours was really nice. Saturday we visited our friends and their brand new baby boy. I forgot what it felt like to hold a baby who weighs practically nothing and it was glorious. We both fell asleep pretty early on Saturday night, but were up early Sunday morning for music class and my brother-in-law's birthday celebration. Sunday ended later than I wanted, as always. I made these bars for Steve's birthday party. It felt really good to get creative and baking in the kitchen again. 

I always love apple desserts. Is it me, or is there just no better smell than apples mingling with cinnamon and sugar? I need to bottle that and carry it around with me. Our whole apartment smelled unbelievable on Saturday evening. While Shaun watched college football, and Penelope snoozed, I worked on finishing these bars with a glass of wine in hand. It felt like old times. Windows cracked with a cool breeze, candles burning, decadent smells permeating the house and everyone feeling sleepy on a Saturday night. It's one of my favorite feelings...all of us home, cozy and taken care of.

I used a bunch of recipes that finally led to my inspiration for these bars. I love bars so much. They are perfect for sampling and snacks, and really perfect for taking to a birthday celebration. They require no cutting once at the party. Instead, they can just be grabbed and eaten, with sticky fingers and cake crumbles tumbling down. I added kosher salt to the tops of these. It melted right into the caramel topping, but make no mistake, the saltiness was the perfect balance to these super sweet bars.

As for the caramel topping? Though you can use caramel from a jar, I really recommend this topping. The key here is that it sets, so you don't have to worry about the caramel running once you cut into them. It's an easy topping and I really think it's worth it. I could just eat it all with a spoon.

Salted Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

For the crust:

1 box yellow cake mix, minus 1 cup

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 egg

For the apple cheesecake filling:

2 8oz pkg cream cheese, softened

2 eggs

1/2 C + 1 Tbsp granulated sugar, divided

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 baking apples, peeled, cored & chopped

1 tsp cinnamon

For the salted caramel topping:

1/2 C butter

1/2 C brown sugar

3 Tbsp evaporated milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 C confectioners sugar

1/4 tsp coarse salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" pan and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the cake mix (removing 1 C of the plain cake mix; set it aside, pack it away. we won't be needing that 1 C here), oil and egg with a wooden spoon. Once incorporated, press into the bottom of the pan. 

Peel, core and chop up the apples. I used Granny Smith. In a bowl, mix them with 1 Tbsp sugar and the cinnamon. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl, mix the cream cheese, 1/2 C sugar, vanilla and eggs with a hand mixer until combined and smooth, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Fold in the apple mixture.

Pour apple cream cheese mixture over the crust. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Mine had a few crumbs on it and I took it out to continue cooking in the hot pan while it cooled.

Once cool, make the caramel.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar and evaporated milk and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and confectioners sugar until smooth. Pour over the tray of bars and let set. Sprinkle immediately with salt.

Once cool and before cutting them, refrigerate the tray for 30 min to 1 hour, or overnight. Use a sharp knife and cut carefully. Since the bars are now cold, they should cut nicely and cleanly. 

Sprinkle extra salt before serving if needed.

I hope you like these bars. I had a lot of fun creating and baking them! I think they were a hit at the party. Too bad I'm starting back hardcore on Dukan today, or I'd be having one of these babies tonight. Instead, I'll live vicariously through my weekend self, when I devoured many!

How was your weekend? 

What is your favorite apple dessert?

Also: chocolate caramel apple bars, apple upside down cake, apple cupcakes + cinnamon frosting, apple cranberry strudel, caramel apple cider shake

Pumpkin Picking

I'm sorry for being MIA over the last few weeks. I couldn't believe when I realized that my last post was just about a month ago...um, how is that possible? The last time I was missing for such a long time, I had some big news to announce. No big news this time, but just life running by oh so quickly. I've spent the last few weeks seemingly slogging through the weekdays (albeit on autopilot some days) and really taking time to soak up our weekends...living in the moment, without whipping my camera out at every turn. It's been fun, but I've missed blogging! This post is a long one, so hang on to your hats!

This past weekend, we took Penelope pumpkin picking. It's like an annual right of passage before Halloween, and it was made significantly more fun this year with a little one in tow. We weren't sure how much she'd really enjoy the experience, but being the inquisitive little baby that she is, P practically ate it right up.

We drove a bit North to Hillsdale's Demarest Farms for the pumpkin pick. The farm is complete with hayrides, pumpkin and apple picking, some small animals for feeding and an extensive farm store with many delectables for its visitors. We planned the day to wake up, get ourselves together and head out in hopes of beating the crowds. I'm happy to report that arriving by 10:45AM really made a difference. Just after we arrived, the lines seemed to get significantly longer for both the farm store and hayrides!

We started out our trip with a hayride to the pumpkin patch. Being a neurotic first time Mom, I was a little nervous about taking my 8-month-old on a hayride, but I just held on tight and we made it. Penelope had no idea what was going on, but she loved looking around at everything!

When we arrived at the pumpkin patch, we headed straight for the animal pen. We showed Penelope the baby cow and little goats.

Shaun also purchased some feed to entice them over our way!

Though the animals were limited, I know Shaun was beyond excited to bring Penelope to see them. He's one excited Daddy ;)

We then wandered over to the pumpkin patch for some photo-ops and to pick out our pumpkin, of course. I found the grassiest patch I could so that P could sit and play (and I could hopefully catch some of it on camera).

Of course, the first thing she did was try to get grass directly into her mouth. It took a little coaxing to get her to see the pumpkins, but once she did, it was all over.

Despite many {many} attempts to get her attention for a little pumpkin posing, she was completely smitten with the pumpkin. Since she loved this giant one so much, we decided that was the one she needed to have. (And I have a fun plan for what we're going to do with it, so stay tuned!).

Take a hike, Mom, I'm busy!

After we were properly pumpkinned, we hitched a hayride back to the farm and to snack on some of the local eats.

No fall farm visit is complete without apple cider and apple cider donuts. We also shared this amazingly delicious (yet somewhat greasy) potato pancake. 

Even Penelope had some of the soft potato and she agreed that it is one of life's greatest treats.

All in all, it was a great day. Penelope was a champ...she saw her first cow, played in the dirt, picked a pumpkin and we had a fun time just being a family of 3 on an autumn weekend!

Fall Dinner Party

Happy Monday! It's hailing here in NYC this morning but I have a giant coffee and some scrambled eggs with toast to keep me company while getting through this gloomy morning. This past weekend, in addition to indulging during the Giants and Jets game, Shaun and I hosted our first official dinner party in our new abode! With lots of help from my mom, we decked the place out with fall flair in preparation for the party. Oh and did I mention that the food was abundant and delicious to boot?

This week I'll be wrapping up some specifics for you, but today let's start with the menu. My mom and I wanted a sort of Americana theme so we dished up some comfort classics. Here's the breakdown:

Hors d’Oeuvres
Shrimp Cocktail
Buffalo Chicken Dip (Shaun’s specialty)
Cheese Board
Smoked Salmon with cream cheese & capers (more on that here)

Dinner
Mixed Greens with Beets & Pomegranates
Pulled Pork & Shredded Turkey
Macaroni & Cheese
Stuffed Peppers

Dessert
Maple Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
Apple Pie
Molten Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chip Cookies

If it seems like a lot, well...it was! Needless to say that with all of this delicious food, Shaun and I are sittin' pretty with lots of leftovers to get us through the week. In fact, yesterday was so full of lounging, recovering and eating that my breakfast consisted of a cupcake and a healthy dose of Teavana's Earl Grey Creme.

Is there anything more comforting on a lazy Sunday morning while catching up on Barefoot Contessa eps? Anyhow, for today's tidbit, I'm showing you how to pull together a quick and easy cheese board. I simply picked up a few of my favorite cheeses, including Blue, Aged Cheddar, Garlic and Herb Goat, and a giant wheel of Brie. I spread them out on a large cutting board and created tiny flag labels out of scrapbook paper, toothpicks and tape so that all the guests would know exactly which variety of cheese they were about to get down with. 

I also included a small bowl of honey which is absolute heaven when drizzled on a wedge of blue cheese atop a multigrain cracker. The sweet and savory combination is to die for! I could eat this all day every day...and sometimes do. I served a plate of crackers and melba toast to complement the cheese and the smoked salmon platter. Any cracker of your choice will do!

So there you have it. A sneak peek into our first dinner party in our new home. Stay tuned for more recipe roundups this week. So what I want to know is: What is your favorite hors d'oeuvres? Is it a creamy dip? A basic cheeseboard? Dish in the comments!