Frosted Cinnamon Spice Bars

The next installment of The Great Fall Baking Marathon of 2015 is here, which means your Monday won't be quite so bad if you choose to partake. These soft, fluffy bars are packed with fall spices and molasses and topped with a velvety maple cream cheese frosting. My family was practically eating these out of the pan with a spoon, but I guess you can cut them into bars or fun holiday shapes if you want to share with other people.

The batter is essentially a cinnamon spice cake batter with some inspiration from chocolate chip cookie dough (if that makes any sense). The texture of the batter is somewhere between a cake batter and a cookie dough; it's thick enough that you can't just pour it into the pan evenly but thin enough that you don't have to press it down.

The batter starts by creaming butter and brown sugar together until fluffy. You then beat in eggs, molasses, and vanilla. The molasses deepens the flavor and adds a gorgeous color. The dry ingredients are gently folded in at the end; they consist of regular all purpose flour, baking soda, salt, and my special blend of fall spices. These are only mixed until they are just combined so that the bars stay soft and not tough.

The frosting is equally delicious and even easier to make. All you have to do is beat softened cream cheese together with some powdered sugar and fold in some maple syrup. For aesthetic purposes, you can leave some of the maple syrup in streaks and ribbons or drizzle some more on top. You can also sprinkle some cinnamon on top, either randomly or over a stencil or doily for a gorgeous pattern.

To customize these further, you can throw in some white chocolate chunks or some dried cranberries (or both). Don't let the fluffiness of the bars fool you; they can stand up to just about anything you mix in. I, however, prefer the simplicity of just the maple and the spices. The bars are great for Thanksgiving snacking or as an addition to your dessert spread (you can only eat so much pie) since they make so many from just one batch. Because they're best consumed on the first day or two, you have even more of an excuse to eat as many as you possibly can in as little time as possible.

12 T Butter, Softened
8 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
2 Eggs
3 T Molasses
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 1/2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp + Pinch Salt
3/4 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Ginger
1/8 tsp Allspice
1/8 tsp Cloves

1/4 Cup Maple Syrup

Heat oven to 350F and line a 9x13" pan with parchment.

Beat the butter and brown sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs, molasses, and 1 tsp vanilla. Whisk the flour, baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, and cloves together, then gradually add to the butter mixture.

Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 14-16 minutes or until cooked through.


Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar, remaining salt, and remaining vanilla together. Beat in the maple syrup and spread onto the cooled bars.

Makes 18
Recipe Adapted from Betty Crocker

Cranberry Apple Muffins

The Great Fall Baking Marathon of 2015 continues with an amazing breakfast treat: Cranberry Apple Muffins (in case pumpkin cheesecake isn't your thing). In case you didn't know, Wisconsin has been the top cranberry-producing state for decades now, even though New England likes to make you think otherwise (take that, Coasties). Pair them with your favorite apples from the farmers' market and an oatmeal muffin base and you've got an addictive fall breakfast.

Unlike my apple muffins, these aren't vegan. They are, however, still pretty healthy and full of carbs to get you going in the morning. You can make mini muffins for poppable bites on the go (not that regular muffins aren't portable too) or giant muffins for more of an indulgence. You can also throw in some nuts; toasted pecans or walnuts would add a nice crunch.

The muffin base is a simple oatmeal muffin base with a hint of cinnamon and some caramel notes from the brown sugar. You have your dry ingredients (flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder and soda, and salt); you can substitute up to half of the flour with whole wheat flour if that's what you're into. The liquid ingredients are buttermilk, oil, and eggs. As always, I love buttermilk for the extra richness and moistness, but regular milk will work fine if you don't have any on hand (but I highly recommend the buttermilk!). 

What makes these muffins special and seasonal are the cranberries and apples. Although there's not really a good substitute for fresh cranberries, the good news is that they freeze beautifully. I usually buy a few pounds during the all-too-brief cranberry season and freeze them for later use. Their tartness and gorgeous red color just can't be replaced. The apples mellow down the cranberries and add a little extra sweetness. I love using Granny Smith for baking, but any apple that will hold its texture and not get mushy during baking will work. As I said earlier, you can also throw in some pecans here if you so desire.

These muffins freeze as well as the cranberries themselves do, so I like to make a big batch and keep them in the freezer. I'll leave one or two (or five) out on the counter overnight and stick them in the microwave for a few seconds in the morning so that I get hot, fluffy muffins whenever I want. This delicious strategy also works for satisfying your holiday guests because nobody likes it when Grandma gets hangry.

2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 Cups Buttermilk
1/4 Cup Oil
2 Eggs
1 Cup Oats
1 Apple, Peeled, Cored, & Diced
1 Cup Cranberries

Heat oven to 400F and line a muffin tin with paper cups.

Whisk the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Whisk the buttermilk, oil, and eggs together and fold into the flour mixture. Gently stir in the oats, apples, and cranberries.


Scoop the dough into the cups and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through.

Makes 22
Recipe Adapted from Nutty Nutrition

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cheesecake Bars

Based on a spike in posts like gingerbread scones, pumpkin oatmeal cookies, and maple apple spice cake, I'd say you guys are in the mood to bake stuff, which is why I'm kicking off The Great Fall Baking Marathon of 2015. Get ready for pumpkin, gingerbread, cranberries, apples, and spiced everything. You can lick the bowl, put on a few pounds to keep you warm through the winter, and win over a ton of new friends (or at least that's my plan).

I'm starting with these pumpkin cheesecake bars because it's all the flavors of fall packed into a portable cheesecake, which, let's face it, is the perfect vessel for just about anything. It has three layers: a gingerbread shortbread, pumpkin cheesecake filling, and a gingerbread streusel topping. Bonus: it's even easier than it sounds since the shortbread and streusel are basically the same dough.

The gingerbread shortbread is essentially just a spiced shortbread with some molasses. It starts with flour, baking soda, salt, and my special blend of fall spices. If you have pumpkin pie spice on hand and would prefer to use that, go ahead. Next, I beat some butter and plenty of sugar together until fluffy, then I add some molasses. The molasses adds color and keeps the shortbread moist throughout the long baking process, since cheesecake takes a while to cook. The flour is added to the butter mixture until just combined. You don't want to overwork it or it will get tough.

I take out about a cup of the dough, which should be somewhat sticky. That portion of dough gets combined with some extra flour to make it crumbly and streusel-y so you can actually sprinkle it onto the cheesecake. The rest of the dough is pressed into your baking dish and chilled until firm. This refrigeration step also helps avoid overbaking while the cheesecake cooks and keeps the shortbread flaky (the same process applies to pie crust).

Now for everyone's favorite part: the cheesecake. There aren't any surprising ingredients here--just cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and what makes this recipe special: pumpkin and even more fall spices. I've found that a can of pumpkin is the perfect amount; you get plenty of pumpkin flavor and color without ruining the texture or having random containers of pumpkin left over. If you want to pull an Ina Garten and make your own pumpkin puree, I totally respect that (as long as you aren't all condescending because I'm not using the *good* pumpkin puree). Just be careful that you're using pie pumpkins for this and not your standard Halloween pumpkin. I tried to cook with a regular pumpkin once and it was a terrible, terrible idea.

To assemble the bars, gently spread the cheesecake batter onto the chilled shortbread dough and crumble the streusel on top. Bake it for about 35-40 minutes or until just set. For cheesecake novices, please be warned that the toothpick test definitely does not work on cheesecake. I once baked mini cheesecakes for two hours (until they were practically burnt) because the centers just wouldn't give clean toothpicks. After you bake the bars, it's time to test your willpower. These bars will only be pretty and have the right texture if you let them chill overnight. Technically, overnight refers to approximately 8 hours, so if you wake up in the middle of the night and start eating these with a spoon straight out of the pan I promise I won't judge.

2 3/4 Cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ginger
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Cloves
2 Sticks Butter, Softened
2 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cup Molasses
8 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
1 15 oz Can Pumpkin
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs

Whisk 2 1/4 cups flour, baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp allspice, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, and 1/4 tsp cloves together. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar together until creamy. Stir in the molasses, then gradually add the flour mixture until just combined.

Remove 1 cup of the dough and combine that with the remaining flour until crumbly. Refrigerate until cold. Press the remaining dough into a deep 9x13" pan lined with parchment and refrigerate until cold.

Heat oven to 350F.

Beat the cream cheese and remaining sugar together until fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, then add the pumpkin, vanilla, and remaining salt, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, and cloves.

Spread the cheesecake filling onto the chilled dough and crumble the streusel on top. Bake until browned and just set, 30-40 minutes.

Makes 24
Recipe Adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody