I guess you can say that this is my most popular cake right now. It totally makes sense though, look how cute it is! Kids love it because of all the transportation included; moms love it because it’s sweet and young and whimsical. Win-win! So this is my second version of this cake. The original had larger cars and trains. I made them smaller to fit more around the cake. I also designed some cloud cutters, car cutters, and a train cutter to speed up the decorating process. You can also purchase the cutters to make this airplane topper. Once you have the cutters, check out my tutorial for putting it all together. Stay tuned for my two tier version of this cake!
Don’t get me wrong, I love the summer. But there is something so great about Fall…oh yeah-pumpkin spice overload. Now I agree that the pumpkin craze can get a little overwhelming, but I absolutely love it! I think I’ve shared more pumpkin recipes than any other category. These cookies use pure pumpkin puree just as my pumpkin snickerdoodles (first blog post ever!!), doughnuts, doughnut holes, cinnamon buns, and hamantaschen. Last year I discovered pumpkin spice pudding mix and used that to make chocolate chip cookies, and simple pumpkin spice pudding cookies. I have a few more ideas for this pudding mix and I hope to do some recipe testing soon.
These cookies are similar to a classic cinnamon twist cookies, but they are perfectly seasonal. The pureed pumpkin give these a nice orange color. The cookie dough has a blend of pumpkin spice flavors mixed inside. Then the cookies are rolled in cinnamon sugar and twisted into this cute shape. These cookies are perfect alongside a cup of tea or coffee as the weather starts to cool down. My recipe is dairy-free, margarine-free, and freeze beautifully.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the sugars with the oil and eggs and beat until combined.
Add in the vanilla and pumpkin and mix to combine.
Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and nutmeg. Mix on low until the dough comes together.
Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour so the dough is easy to work with.
In a small bowl mix 1.2 cup sugar and 1 Tbs. cinnamon.
Once dough is chilled, scoop dough into about 2 tsp. sized balls. I use a cookie scoop for even and easy measuring. Roll each ball of dough into a log about 3 inches long. roll the dough in the cinnamon sugar mix. Flatten dough slightly and then twist and set onto parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for about 8 minutes until just lightly brown.
For some reason I really like baking cookies. Alot. Most of the recipes I share are for cookies-they look good, are easy to bake and serve and they freeze well. For the holiday season my most popular recipe is for simple honey cookies. I also shared a recipe for honey sugar cookies and honey whoopie pies which are like an elevated snack cookie/cake hybrid. So naturally when I found an old recipe for apple honey cookies I knew it would be a perfect recipe for the Jewish New Year. After baking the first batch, the cookies were just too soft and tender to hold up as a cookie, and they were coming out all wonky instead of perfectly cute and even. I thought they would be better suited as a muffin. They needed a bit of excitement though, the batter itself was a little one note for me. So I added a simple crumb topping. Then the crumb topping really just needed a bit of icing, but that’s totally optional. My family really doesn’t like traditional honey cake so I’m always looking for recipes that work in apples and honey and this one is perfect! The muffins are sweet, spiced and tender with bits of fresh apples throughout. The crumbs give the muffins a bit of a crunch and the icing adds a touch of sweetness. There is quite a bit of honey in the recipe and these muffins go perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee, but they definitely don’t taste like that old school dry honey cake.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin or cupcake pans with 18 liners and set aside.
Cupcakes
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the shortening, brown sugar, and honey until smooth.
Mix in the eggs and sour cream and beat until smooth.
Slowly add in the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla.
Peel and core the apples and then dice them into small pieces. Stir them into the batter.
Divide the batter between the cupcake pans, filling each about ¾ of the way full.
Crumb Topping
In a small bowl, mix the xugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon. Pour in the oil and mix until large crumbs form.
Sprinkle about 1 Tbs. of topping on each muffin.
Bake for about 15 minutes until the muffins are golden brown and spring back to the touch.
Allow to cool before adding the icing.
Icing
In a small bowl, pour in the powdered sugar. Slowly sir in a bit of water at a time until the icing is a nice thick consistency. Use a spoon to drizzle a bit of icing on each muffin. I prefer to fill a disposable pastry bag with the icing and drizzle it that way. You can also use a Ziploc bag and snip the tiniest hole in the corner.
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Some tips: I like baking with granny smith apples since they don’t break down in the oven, they really hold their shape.
Store in an airtight container, but I wouldn’t keep them at room temperature for too long, since the apples can start to go bad. Refrigerate for short term, but the fridge can cause baked goods to dry out. The best storage solution is to freeze them until ready to serve. The muffins defrost really quickly.
