Fall Baking List

There maybe only 13 days left until the official start of autumn but it arrived here early and that only means it's time to make my fall baking list. I make lists of all sorts, I'm not addicted to lists but with age, life and obligations, they do help me stay on top of my game. Food lists are my favorites, fall and Christmas lists just excite me! I bake for the joy of it, and don't eat alot of what I bake, thank goodness but before I bake and treat the family, I make sure what I'm baking is good, somewhat healthy and fun. There are many ways to turn a not so good for you recipe into a better for you recipe. Take chocolate cake/cupcakes for example. I made a batch for our Labor day cookout, I always replace the veggie oil with canola which is much better for you. I never use lard/Crisco and have cut out veggie oil 10 yrs. ago. Olive oil and canola oil are the only oils I use and there are many more good oils out there too. For a moist cake/cupcake, I use applesauce in some but in chocolate I use coffee instead of water. It gives a richer taste but doesn't taste like coffee and I usually have a cup left over from the morning pot. Some flavored teas are nice to add to cake mixes in place of the water, I've used a pomegranate tea in a red velvet cake that was so moist and full of flavor. I also use orange juice when making a orange cake or lemon juice in a lemon cake, all replacing the water in the recipe.

As you know, I'm always on the hunt for a new, odd recipe and most times the name of the recipe calls to me. I'm sure you've all heard of monkey bread, right? Have you heard of it's cousin, Gorilla Bread? Well, thanks to Mommy's Kitchen this monster bread is a upgrade of monkey bread and full of gooey yum-ness!

Gorilla Bread

1/2 c. sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1 c. brown sugar
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
2 12oz. can refrigerated biscuits (10 count)
1 1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Spray bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Mix the sugar with cinnamon. In a saucepan, melt butter and brown sugar over low heat, stirring well, set aside. Cut cream cheese into 20 equal cubes. Press the biscuits out with your fingers and sprinkle each with 1/2 tsp. cinnamon sugar. Place a cream cheese cube in the center of each biscuit, wrapping and sealing the dough around the cream cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 c. nuts into the bottom of the bundt pan. Place half of the prepared biscuits in the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, pour half of the melted butter over the biscuits, and sprinkle on 1/2 c. nuts. Layer the remaining biscuits on top, sprinkle the remaining sugar/cinnamon mixture, pour the remaining melted butter on top and sprinkle of the remaining nuts. Bake for 30 min. Remove from oven and cool for 5 min. Place a plate on top and invert. If you dare, you can make a powdered sugar glaze by mixing powered sugar, butter, vanilla and milk together till you get a smooth icing to drizzle on top.

I know what your thinking, wow that is sweet. But not really. Just 1/2 c. sugar. Since brown sugar has molasses in it, it makes it a bit better for you. And all that cinnamon is really good for you. Check out all the healthy options cinnamon has for your body and immune system. And in a recent report, it was found that butter has many healthy goodies for you compared to margarine. I've switched to butter after reading that and if you think about it, back when all we had was butter, heart disease was very rare, it wasn't until someone invented margarine that heart disease became popular. Plus, once in awhile, you gotta treat your loved ones to something sweet from the oven esp. for the holidays. So add this to your fall baking list and please share one of your favorites for fall baking.