Fall is probably my most favorite time of the year for baking because I love all things with pumpkin and apple in the ingredients.

In the kitchen today I made delicious pumpkin apple muffins – so needless to say…I’m a happy girl today. It’s a perfect Fall day to enjoy a pumpkin apple muffin and enjoy a cup of coffee because after all…it’s National Coffee Day!

I hope you all are enjoying the cooler temps and have a wonderful Sunday.

Pumpkin Apple Muffins

Muffin Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoons ground nutmeg

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup grated apple (about 2 medium sized apples)

Crumb Topping Ingredients

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons melted butter

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda and salt together and whisk the ingredients together. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, add the eggs, pumpkin and vegetable oil and mix well.

Add the pumpkin mixture to the flour mixture.

Add the grated apples and gently fold into the batter until combined.

Scoop the mixture into well greased muffin tins – you can also line with paper or silicone liners too.

Time to make the crumb topping!

In a small bowl, add the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and melted butter together and mix until all of the flour is incorporated.

Sprinkle the crumb topping directly on top of the muffin batter.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until completely done (do the “toothpick check” to make sure!)

Remove from the oven. Allow the muffins to cool slightly before removing from pan.

Enjoy! 🎃 🍎

Buttermilk Pie is one of my favorite desserts of all time. I love custard pies so much and this is truly mouth-watering delicious.

Southern Buttermilk Pie

Ingredients

1½ cups sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 large eggs, whisked

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup butter, melted

1 tablespoon loosely packed lemon zest

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Store bought refrigerated Pie Crust (or you can make your own homemade pie crust…I used the store bought refrigerated pie crust)

Garnishes: fresh berries, whipped cream, fresh mint

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the flour and sugar in a large bowl.

Add in the whisked eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla.

Pour into the prepared pie crust.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes or until almost set, shielding edges with aluminum foil after 15 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 1 hour before serving.

I piped homemade whipped cream along the edges just for some extra deliciousness 😋

We’re coming upon the time of year again to where we’ll be making a lot of delicious soup and chili. What goes best with soup and chili? Cornmeal Muffins of course 😋

Cornmeal Muffins

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2 TBSP granulated sugar

1 TBSP baking powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 cup buttermilk

6 TBSP salted butter, melted

2 TBSP honey

2 large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line the cups with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, add the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt and whisk together until combined.

In a separate medium bowl, add the buttermilk, butter, honey, and eggs and whisk until well combined.

Pour the buttermilk mixture into the cornmeal mixture and mix all of the ingredients together.

Fill each muffin cup until nearly full.

Bake for 17 to 22 minutes until the tops are a golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Cool the muffins in the tin for 5 minutes before you remove the muffins to a wire cooling rack.

Serve with lots of butter 😋

Lady Bird Johnson’s Lemon Cake recipe is from the book A White House Diary by Lady Bird Johnson which was published in 1970.

The cake was served at The White House for the wedding reception in honor of their daughter Lucy and Patrick Nugent on August 6, 1966.

Lady Bird Johnson’s Lemon Cake

Ingredients for the Cake

3/4 cup salted butter (at room temperature)

1 1/4 cups sugar

8 large egg yolks (yolks only!) ***

2 1/2 cups cake flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup 2% milk ***

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon zest

***I used the entire egg

***I used whole milk

Ingredients for the Lemon Glaze Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup salted butter (at room temperature)

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1 lemon

heavy cream (only if needed)

Directions for the Cake

Preheat oven to 325° Fahrenheit. Grease a
10″ bundt cake pan with shortening, then dust with flour. Or you can use our magic cake release recipe.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the & egg yolks together to break up the yolks until they light and lemon-colored. Mix the yolks into the butter/sugar mixture.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt.

Add the sifted ingredients in thirds, alternating with the milk. (½ of the flour, half the milk, ⅓ of the flour, half the milk, ⅓ of the flour) Beat the batter thoroughly after each addition, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add the vanilla extract, lemon juice and lemon zest. Beat for 2 minutes.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan** and bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

*** grease the pan with softened butter and dust with flour or spray with cooking spray.

Directions for the Lemon Glaze Icing

Combine the powdered sugar, butter, lemon zest and lemon juice. Use a hand mixer to mix until well combined.

If the glaze isn’t thin enough, add a touch of heavy cream to thin it out to drizzling consistency.

Once the cake is cooled, drizzle the glaze over the cake.

Garnish the cake with more lemon zest if desired.

There is nothing like a tall glass of fresh lemonade with freshly squeezed lemons. It’s also so perfect and refreshing on such a hot and humid day.

It’s incredibly easy to make and so much better than the powdered store bought stuff – just my personal opinion 😉

I also just love the smell of fresh cut lemons. Lemons are refreshing, revitalizing and good for you too – they are a great source of Vitamin C 👍

Homemade Fresh Lemonade

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup water

9 medium lemons (or more, if desired!)

7 cups of ice-cold water

As much ice as needed

Directions

Cut the lemons in half crosswise and squeeze the juice into a measuring cup until you have about 1 1/2 cups of juice.

Some prefer the pulp in their lemonade. If you want the pulp, remove the pulp and place in a small bowl to use for later use.

Make sure to discard the seeds!

Combine the granulated sugar and one cup of water (this is also commonly referred to as “simple syrup”) into a small saucepan. Stir to dissolve sugar while the mixture comes to a boil.

Set aside to cool slightly.

Pour 7 cups of ice-cold water into a pitcher. Stir in the lemon juice and pulp (if using the pulp).

Add the simple syrup to taste and a lot of ice.

Enjoy your fresh cold lemonade! 🍋