The Best of Fall: Crock Pot Apple Butter and Healthy Pumpkin Doughnuts

A weird thing happened here in New Hampshire last night. We had an earthquake! A 4.5 magnitude earthquake! At first I thought it was a big truck going by the house. But then the pictures on the wall started to shake. Poor Cooper was cowering by my legs. I immediately called Ron since he had just left to go to the gym. He texted me and said he didn’t feel a thing. He was too “in the zone” with his workout. 🙂 Thankfully everything is OK. It just added a little excitement to my Tuesday evening!

I’m still on a baking spree around here. It must be the cooler temps and the rainy days. Last week, I decided to try to make my own Apple Butter. I had never had it before but it sounded good. I had a bag of local Gala apples sitting in my fridge so why not?

After researching it a bit on the internet, I came up with a recipe for the Crock Pot (love, love, love that thing!).

Crock Pot Apple Butter

8 apples cored and chopped

1 cup unsweetened Organic Apple Juice

cinnamon

1. Core and chop the apples.

2. Place apples in crock pot. Sprinkle with as much cinnamon as you want. (I like LOTS).

3. Set the crock pot to high for 4 hours.

4. After 4 hours, add the unsweetened apple juice. Stir.

5. Let apples cook for 4 hours. Stir every hour.

6. After 4 hours, apples should be browning. Pour the mixture into a food processor. Blend till smooth.

That’s it! Super easy and delicious! We’ve been enjoying warm apple butter on toast and in oatmeal. Yum!

Of course, I’ve also had pumpkin on the mind. When my kids started to eat more solid foods, I would make homemade healthy doughnuts for them to snack on all the time. I’ve done it in many different flavors – blueberry, spinach, butternut squash and raisin, carrot, pineapple, etc. All super yummy and are devoured in minutes! It’s been awhile so I pulled out the doughnut pan and baked up some to enjoy. Be aware – These aren’t your typical doughnuts. They’re more dense and not even close to being as sweet. The original recipe is for muffins which I’ve made too.

Healthy Pumpkin Doughnuts

1 1/2 C white whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 C pumpkin

1/2 C coconut or canola oil

2 eggs  or flax “egg” (2 Tbsp ground flax mixed with 6 Tbsp hot water)

1/2 C unsweetened Almond Milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 C pure maple syrup

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease doughnut pan.

2. Combine dry ingredients. Mix well.

3. Add wet ingredients. Mix well.

4. Bake 15-20 minutes (depending on your oven) or until a toothpick comes out clean.

I have to share one more yummy thing we’ve had this week. I can’t take credit for the recipe. It’s from Emily @ Daily Garnish. She has WONDERFUL recipes and this is one of them – Quinoa and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash. This recipe just screams FALL!

Definitely making this again and again!

I’m linking up with Jen for more WIAW!