Comunidad Health Foods

I'm a woman of my word: I told you I wouldn't leave you hanging in unbearable suspense after yesterday's post. You see, the cannelini-mushroom crostini was good. Very good. But I took the leftovers and, being that I can't leave things well alone, added more to it. I tend to do this a lot with leftovers, which helps me cook in batches and have quick meals without feeling as though I'm eating the same thing day in and day out. It makes sense that a lot of my second go-arounds are enormously successful (a mon avis - in my opinion, that is), because the recipes I post here are almost exclusively first attempts on my part. So, the leftovers give me the opportunity to tweak - and let me tell you, I am so glad that I did!

I added some different Fall veggies and some condiments, and mixed it into a pasta to make this hearty fall pasta dish that you must try. I don't even think I'm going to make the dip without incorporating some of these changes. It really took the dish to a new level in every way: a better variety of textures, a gorgeous burnt-orange color, and so much flavor! This was a smash hit, if you ask me - making this a unanimously approved meal.

What I wound up with was a heartier sauce reminiscent of a more traditional marinara, but so much more special. You get a complete protein without any meat, tons of in-season veggies (though frozen would work just fine here), and what I think is a pretty snazzy name. Cannelini-Mushroom - it just kind of rolls of your tongue, right? Yeah? Well, I think it does, anyway.

Well, it happened - the inevitable stress cold/miserable case of seasonal allergies. Regardless of which it is, there are some crummy feelings circulating in my body, and while I'm not doing much cooking of my own as a result (in conjunction with the mountains of work a la the "stress" part of stress cold), I do have a soup recipe that is in my freezer waiting for my sniffly self to reheat. I wish I could tell you that I'm a little bit more excited about this fact, but I'm not such a fan of this recipe. It's missing something, and has a weird something else, and maybe lots of people out there would fall in love with it...but it has been very hit-or-miss each time I've taken some out of the freezer to eat.

Curried Chicken Cider Soup sounds exotic and complex enough for my fickle taste buds, but there's something in the flavor - it may be too sweet, or maybe it needs a base with more flavor than just water. Whatever the case, I'm sharing it with you not because I think it's an epic failure, but because I genuinely believe that there are people who would really enjoy it. It's very fall-like, and I have to admit that adding some sour cream to it and using it as a mix-in for pasta was much more palatable for me. So again, I'm thinking that it just needs a little creative adjustment.

As far as actually making it goes, it's involved. This is no crockpot recipe where you can throw a bunch of ingredients into your pot, turn it on and come back 10 hours later with dinner ready. There's chopping and blending and mixing, but I was still able to complete it in an afternoon. I paired it with some nice, crusty bread the first time around, and made the note that it was simple, but potentially underwhelming as a main course. So, take that as you wish. And if you like apple cider, ginger, chicken, and the like, give this a shot - it may be my quirky eating preferences just don't align with this recipe.

Curried Chicken & Cider Soup, courtesy of Rachael Ray's Everyday magazine
Yield: 4 servings, which sounds about right to me
The Ingredients
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
salt and pepper (do it - add the salt; I didn't, but maybe that's my problem)
2 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 C apple cider
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1-in. chunks
1/2 head of cauliflower, coarsely chopped - about 4C
1/2 rotisserie chicken, skin and bones discarded and meat shredded

The Method
1. Add the olive oil, onion, ginger and 1 tsp. salt to a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally and cook until softened, roughly 5 minutes.
2. Add the curry powder and cumin, stirring for another 3 minutes. Stir in the cider and scrape the bottom of the pan.
3. Add 4C water and the sweet potatoes, bringing to a boil before adding the cauliflower and lowering the heat to a simmer. Continue cooking until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Using a blender, puree the soup in batches. When finished, return to the pot and stir in the chicken. Cook until warmed through, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

So you see, it's simple enough to make and it isn't that it tastes bad. There's just something that I can't quite put my finger on - it could be too much chicken (I used 3C of frozen cooked chicken from my roasted chicken earlier in the year), or not enough pureeing. It's more of a texture thing than a flavor thing, I think, though the flavor needs a little something, too. Again, maybe just add some salt or use a low-sodium broth instead of some or all of the water.

I'm sorry for the lackluster delivery! I feel like I usually come gushing to you guys about the most super awesome meal I just made and how you absolutely need to try it right. now. Hopefully this hasn't discouraged you, at least not too much. I promise I'll come back with something I can endorse more enthusiastically next time. I do have a cookie exchange for my dietetic association coming up, so that shouldn't be too hard - you know how I love cookies!

After a week like the one I've had, and on a night when I'm finally beginning to feel the chill in a not-yet-heated apartment, I could think of no better recipe than this Chicken Chutney melange to warm my thoughts and soothe my entire body. There's a reason you haven't heard from me in so long, and believe me, it has nothing to do with a lack of recipes. My computer Note Pad is overflowing with my list of recipes to share with you, but I have been running nonstop and, unfortunately, am only beginning to see a slight decline in work load and responsabilities. But, c'est la vie of a college student come Thanksgiving. It's crunch time, folks, and I've got it coming at me from all fronts.

So no, I did not eat this belly-warming Chicken Chutney One Pot tonight, as it has been long gone from even my freezer for several weeks now (yes, I am that behind on posting, for shame), but I will hope that telling you about it will feel almost as comforting. You see, this is the epitome of a chilly fall meal, the kind that tastes, smells, and all-out exudes autumn-ness and warmth. There are parsnips and apples and cranberries, apple cider and allspice and cinnamon, and a whole lot of rib-sticking flavor sopped up beautifully by the right loaf of bread. It's spicy in that ginger-and-cinnamon kind of way, and sweet with the dried fruits and apples - but still savory with some chicken and butter and mustard. This one-pot meal has it all, except, I guess, a proper name, to my knowledge. One Pot? I like melange much better, though I guess uppity-French words don't necessarily describe a down-home almost-stew type of meal very accurately. Regardless of what you call it, it's good.

Chicken Chutney One Pot (actually, Chutney Chicken One Pot, but I liked the way it sounds the other way), courtesy of Rachael Ray's Everyday magazine
Yield: 4 servings
The Ingredients
2lb. boneless, skinless chicken thigh or breast, cut into large chunks - I'll give you 3 guesses which cut of meat I chose.
Salt and Pepper (salt optional, according to me)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tart apple, peeled and chopped (I believe I actually bought Granny Smith instead of just grabbing whatever I had lying around, which is inevitably never Granny Smith)
1/2C dried apricots, chopped
1/4C dried cranberries
1/4C dark or golden raisins (I used dark)
2 Tbsp. white balsamic vinegar or cider vinegar (I used apple cider - as in, not vinegar - and then cut back a little, but clearly not enough, on the preserves later on)
1-in. fresh ginger, grated or finely chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground allspice (I used nutmeg)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1C chicken stock
1/3C apricot preserves (I'd go down to 1/4, I think)
2 Tbsp. grainy mustard
Crusty whole grain bread for mopping (seriously, even the recipe recommends whole grain bread - it's perfect for this kind of meal!)
Additions: 1 sweet potato (or, if you're concerned about sweetness, you could try 1 regular potato), chunked (no need to peel!)

The Method
1. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet, head the oil over medium-high heat and throw in the chicken. Turn once after 5 minutes, then cook about 5 minutes more...though I think that with the chunks I made, it didn't take quite this long. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add the butter to the empty pan and melt it before adding in the parsnips, onion and apple (add the potato here if using). Season again with salt and pepper. Cook approximately 5 minutes, until the vegetables soften up.
4. Stir in the dried fruit, vinegar/cider, ginger, cumin, allspice/nutmeg, and cinnamon. Scrape the pan to get all the good bits up.
5. Stir in the chicken stock, preserves, and mustard. Lower the heat.
6. Return the chicken to the pan and simmer until the dried fruit plumps up, approximately 5 minutes.
7. Serve with bread and, if you're me, some apple slices left over from cutting the recipe in half and only using half of an apple. As Rachael would say, dee-lish!

I made 2 servings and froze one, and enjoyed it immensely later on. I'm actually kind of craving it now, just telling you about it. It may have been sweet, but you can adjust that to your liking. It's just this perfectly wholesome meal for cooler weather, and what are you left with to clean up, really? Some cutting boards and a pot? A spoon? If you're me, you're left with a big mess, but you're not me, so you probably cook with a touch more grace and efficiency.

I would highly recommend this, and if you're really daring or if it's a snow day and you just have nothing else to do with your life, after you finish making me jealous you can whip up your very own homemade bread to pair with this. Because really, that trumps any crusty loaf a grocery store can offer about a dozen times over.

But as is the case with my life right now, there's no time for the luxury of homemade bread. Soon enough, though, in a few weeks - just you wait until the semester ends and time is all I have. Just you wait to see what I've got in store for you then.

I have temporarily traded in my apple hat for a pumpkin hat, in order to share with you a healthy but decadent recipe appropriate, in my book, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or even dessert. Here's what you do: you take yogurt, pumpkin, and some syrup and spices, and you slather them between two pieces of deliciously, perfectly cooked french toast, and you let the pumpkin filling melt and warm just a little bit before slicing the whole thing in half and enjoying it immensely. The inspiration for this little gem of a sandwich came in stages: first, I really wanted to make some brinner (breakfast for dinner), but omelets are an all-too-common lunch item for me and pancakes are a little labor intensive/difficult to cut into small servings; second, I wanted to do something fall-festive, as usual; third, I was shockingly interested in venturing away from the world of apples. And so, there you have it: pumpkin-stuffed french toast, one of the few things in this world that are both saintly and heavenly (re: indulgent) at the same time.

Now, of course, I'm not ready to write this down on a recipe card just yet and sticking it into my recipe box for good. It's rare that I'm satisfied with anything, even a recipe borrowed from an already-perfected-elsewhere, on the first go-around. I added too much cinnamon, though I combated that a little bit by upping some sweetness (maple syrup) and pumpkin puree. Also, if you want this to be for a dessert or you just like things really sweet, you might be disappointed in the sugar level of this. I found it to be excellent for dinner, but my sweet tooth was still yearning for a little bit more simple carbohydrates in that meal. As it was, it was mildly sweet and very pumpkiny, and extraordinarily creamy. Be sure not to overcook the french toast - for me, this is critical for anything french toast related, and especially so for something like this. I briefly considered added some apple to the sandwich (ha! You thought I was over that!) but had just eaten an apple earlier in the day and didn't really feel like another one. Plus, it was nice to have just the pumpkin in there. Something like raisins might be nice, though, even just as a topping.

Pumpkin-Stuffed French Toast
Yield: 1 Sandwich, plus extra filling (trust me, you'll be thankful for this)
The Ingredients - The French Toast
1/2 C egg whites
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. maple syrup
1 Tbsp. pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
2 slices bread (I used whole grain oatmeal bread, and loved the delicateness - yes, I'm using the word delicate to describe a whole grain - of the oatmeal component; it was a very soft bread)
butter, for cooking (1/2 Tbsp. or less)
The Ingredients - The Filling
6oz. plain greek yogurt (you could also use vanilla, or even regular yogurt - though it might be less creamy with the latter)
3/4C pumpkin puree
1 tsp. cinnamon (1/2 - 3/4 tsp. might have been more appropriate)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. apple cider
1 tsp. brown sugar

The Method
1. Combine all of the filling ingredients in a small dish or bowl, and set aside.
2. Combine the egg whites, cinnamon, milk, syrup, and pumpkin puree in a shallow dish (like a pie plate), and set aside.
3. Melt the butter in a skillet, preferably big enough for two slices of bread to fit side by side. Keep the heat fairly low - no higher than medium.
4. Dip each piece of bread into the egg dip, letting both sides soak up the liquid, and place onto the skillet. Cook for around 2 minutes; the bottom should be a nice golden brown. Flip over, and place about 1/3 of the filling onto one half. Cook open-faced until the piece without the filling is cooked on both sides.
5. Place the "empty" piece of bread on top of the one with the filling, and cook for a little bit longer; this whole process from the time you flip the pieces of bread to the time it's all finished should only take another 2 minutes or so.
6. Plate, cut in half, and enjoy!

This is one sandwich you'll want to eat with a fork and a knife, and you can certainly enjoy it open-faced if you want a smaller meal.

As for all of that pumpkin-yogurt filling you'll have left-over...well, okay, you could keep the filling the same and make 2 more sandwiches, and then you wouldn't have any extras. However, I would highly recommend keeping some of this in the refrigerator - use it as a parfait with granola and dried fruit, add it to some oatmeal (more on that later!), use it as a dip for - you guessed it - apples, it really is versatile. Plus, it doesn't use the whole can of pumpkin puree, so you have extra of that to do with as you wish, too. If you're worried about not using it all at once, freeze it in 2 Tbsp. portions so that you can pull some out as you need/want it (ice cube trays are great for this).

So, you see, I am capable of making a fall dish without apple in it! I also have a lot of recipes saved to share that are not fall-themed, but since it's getting to be close to Thanksgiving and once that comes, it won't even be November anymore, I figured I should cram them in while I still can.

I'm very good at creating names for recipes, no? But really, the title of this post says it all: amidst all of the apple goodness I've been gabbing on about, these really do take the cake. Or top the cake, whatever that saying is. The point is, they're good. Really good. And they are so enormously bursting with fall that your belly will have its own private autumn party once it realizes what delights you have just fed it. What's more, I would actually be able to justify eating these muffins for breakfast, whereas I place most of the other muffin recipes I've seen in my cupcake folder. Seriously, take a look: whole wheat flour - check! olive/canola oil - check! actual fruit - check! low fat dairy - check! modest amounts of sugar (but in somewhat sneaky forms) - check! See, it's really not so bad. Definitely a breakfast "splurge" compared to my usual kashi + lowfat milk/yogurt + fruit, but it also won't be sending me running for the treadmill at record speed, or really any speed at all.

These apple cider muffins have gotten everyone's stamp of approval and L, in particular, enjoys them immensely. The recipe is actually supposed to make donuts, but as I've yet to get my hands on one of those cool donut pans, I decided to give it a shot in muffin-form, muffin tins being the closest contraption I had to a donut pan. I will, of course, try these out as they were meant to be when my restraint gives in and I buy myself more kitchen equipment (or the holiday gift gods endow me with wonderful goodies next month), but if you're like me and all you have are some muffin tins, do. not. wait. They are beyond moist, and rolling them in a cinnamon-sugar mixture - though a little weirder for a muffin than a doughnut - adds this slight crunch that really can't be beat. They aren't super sweet, in fact I'd call them pretty mild, but man could I eat a whole batch of them.

My one and only complaint, okay well maybe the first of two complaints, is the salt. I know, I know, I really need to stop on my salt rampage at some point, and I've likely gone psychotic with how stubborn I am about limiting my intake (I promise you that I do consume a decent amount - well over the minimal amount required for your body to not go kaput on you). But I added half the amount of salt, since I wasn't using any salted butter or really any food sources of sodium at all...and I taste it. No one else has complained of it, so maybe you should make it the way the recipe intends, and leave me to my deranged salt-free existence, but I can taste it when I bite into the muffin. It's this very vague, subtle flavor - certainly an entirely different beast than taking a handful of potato chips or biting into a pickle; rather, it tastes a little bit like you've been inhaling ocean air for an afternoon and the taste just kind of...lingers. I've experienced this before with foods, so next time I will try eliminating the salt altogether and just see if it changes it.

The second complaint is that I baked them without cupcake liners, just greasing the pan with some olive oil because, as I've mentioned before, it's all I really keep on hand aside from butter. But you see, olive oil has a fairly low smoke point, and whether or not this is indeed the culprit, my muffin exterior that came in contact with the pan was just a teensy bit browner than I would like. This could also be a result of my having kinda dark muffin tins, though I think I baked these the second time entirely on lighter metal pans. So I'm going with the no liners thing. You don't really notice it when you bite into it, but you can see that the outside edges are darker. Like I said, the salt thing was my only real complaint. And even that might be a figment of my imagination.

Moral of the story? Bake these. They don't require much apple, though I have upped the amount and will either do so again next time or leave even more in larger chunks. I just can't get enough of that! You probably have all of the ingredients on hand except the apples (and maybe apple cider and maple syrup, and maybe yogurt, but I think those three are all pretty standard at this time of year - maybe?) and they're super easy to make. Anything that doesn't require me to whip out my hand mixer is a winner in my book. Although you probably could use a real mixer if it pleased you. But really, even with mixing it all by hand, the most labor intensive part is chopping the apples, and - sshh! - you can totally use a food processor for that.


Apple Cider Muffin-Donuts, courtesy of Squirrel Bakes
Yield: Almost 2 dozen muffins, closer to 18
The Ingredients

If you're looking for a side dish that screams fall without you having to loosen the notch on your proverbial belt several times, look no further! Alright, there are healthier fall-inspired dishes than this sweet potato and apple gratin, but compared to the sweet potato casseroles topped with marshmallow and all of those darn pies, this really is pretty saintly. And if you're wondering what this mystery dish looks like, I apologize for the lack of eye candy - you can see a picture of it, though not at its most photogenic, right on over here.

I did doctor up the original recipe just a little bit to make it the teensiest bit healthier and, even more realistically, to suit the ingredients I mostly had on hand. Especially now that I'm stocking a kitchen just for myself, I'm not going to run out and buy an ingredient unless I'll use it more than just once (unless, of course, that one recipe calls for the whole thing). The gratin turned out really well, and I'm even considering making it a second time already - something that almost never happens in the Floptimism kitchen, considering the mountains of clipped recipes I have taking up residence in any spare corner I can find.

It's not an overly sweet casserole, despite the combination of apple + syrup, though I don't know that I'd pair it with a main dish smothered in any kind of saccharine glaze. As it was, paired with the savory mustard chicken and vaguely bitter kale, I found it to be perfect - but we all know by now how consistently obsessed I am with contrasting flavors/textures/you-name-it. The sweet potato and apple gratin on its own doesn't really offer this, though perhaps a little bit on the texture front with the soft apples and crunchier breading as a topping, so it's good to put it up against something on the more savory side of things.

Or, you know, eat it with whatever you please. Since when did I become the expert on food pairings?


Sweet Potato and Apple Gratin, courtesy of Cooking Light
Yield: 8 servings (I cut everything by 4 to give me just 2 servings)
The Ingredients
3C thinly sliced, peeled granny smith apple, approx. 1.25lb
1 tsp. lemon juice
4 small sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced, approx. 2lb.
1/4C maple syrup (I used the cinnamon-infused bottle that I had on hand)
1 Tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. salt (c'mon, omitted)
1/4 tsp. black pepper (I don't measure this, since I almost exclusively use that McCormick 'fresh ground' container)
cooking spray (I only keep butter and olive oil in stock for greasing purposes, so I just used a little bit of oil and a paper towel to spread it around)
2 (1-oz) slices white bread (I used whole grain and don't see any reason why not - it turned out perfectly well)
2 tsp. olive oil
1/4tsp. ground nutmeg

The Method
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and coat a 9x13 dish with spray or oil (I used an 8x8 since I was making such a small batch).
2. Combine the apples and lemon juice in a bowl and toss to coat. Add in the next 5 ingredients (sweet potatoes through the pepper).
3. Place the mixture into the dish and bake for 25 minutes. Stir, then place back in the oven for another 15 minutes (40 minutes total).
4. While the casserole is baking, pulse the bread in a food processor approximately 10 times so that it measures around 1C.
5. Add the bread crumbs with the oil and nutmeg in a bowl and stir to mix well. Sprinkle over the casserole and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until golden. Let stand 10 minutes to allow the juices to thicken (but let's face it - I probably only waited a grand total of 5).

The original website posted the nutrition information as well, so you can check that out if you're interested with the understanding that it can vary a great deal: the type and brand of bread, whether or not you use salt, pure maple syrup vs. aunt jemima's, they all impact it. And regardless of the calories that the website says, this is worth trying. Along with all of the other fall recipes my kitchen has been brimming with - so don't forget to keep coming back. If I don't overwhelm you with delicious recipe finds for this upcoming season, I will be impressed.

When I grow up, I want to live in a town small enough that I can bake my own Halloween goodies for trick or treaters, and not be looked at like a monster trying to poison our darling youths with anthrax-infused candy apples. Don't get me wrong, I love candy as much as the next American, but I love baking even more, and having an excuse to dole out said baked goods. Plus, it's just so much more festive, creative, and interesting to give out a homemade confection. But alas, trust in this world is all but obsolete. Even I have been trained to fall into this trap of cynicism. I remember just after 9/11, going trick or treating to this one house where a woman opened the door with an apron on, offering us (if memory serves me correctly, which it has been known to not do) candy apples or regular candy. My entire group gossiped about how she was so clearly cooking up some poison to inject our candy with. What darling children we were, right? Poor woman - all she did was offer us a nice, homemade treat, and even at 11 or 12 years old, all we could say of her was that she was obviously trying to kill us. Happy Halloween!

Basically, all of that is to say, I am skeptical that my dream of having a white picket fence and a dog and cat and kids and hubby, opening the door on Halloween Night in my own finest apron, letting the smell of cinnamon and apples waft out to the trick-or-treaters, and offering them my best sugary concoction I can muster that year...well, I'm skeptical that this will ever happen. This year, to try to come as close as possible to this lofty dream, I have retreated to my parent's small mountain home for the weekend - and, yes, I baked my little heart out. It's really for a bake sale for my college's student dietetic association, so I guess that's pretty close to handing it out to trick or treaters. Just minus the cute costumes, and plus a little price tag on each scone and muffin we dole out.

I have yet to make the apple muffins (that's on the menu for tonight), but the apple scones are baked, cooled, and individually wrapped. Unfortunately, this means I have no pictures of them (no camera). I will do my best tonight to get a little photo shoot going and edit this post, but if you really want to know how wonderful they look, head on over here to see the ones that the original blogger took.

I really hesitate to call these scones at all. They lack the firmness that a scone should have, and the dough was really more of a batter than anything else. Essentially, they turn to be delectable little apple cake slices, with just a little bit more body. The recipe claims the dough will be wet, so I don't think that I necessarily did anything wrong (except, perhaps, use more than half all purpose flour, which absorbs less liquid than whole wheat, and bake them in a higher altitude than usual). If you find that your dough/batter is as liquidy as I did, you might be better off making these drop scones; but if you find that I have just made a teensy blunder and yours are the picture of perfection, go right ahead and make them as the recipe states. Either way, you'll wind up with a baked good that tastes delicious and a house that smells like fall. Not too shabby, eh?

Apple Scone Cakes, courtesy of Acquired Taste
Yield: 16, apparently, but I doubled it and got 24...and probably shouldn't have even stretched it that much.
The Ingredients
2C flour, half whole wheat (mine was more of a 3:1 ratio because...well, it was just more convenient at the time)
¼C sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt (omitted, salted butter)
½C butter, cold and cut into pieces
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 apples, peeled and cut into small pieces (I used about 7 smaller ones when I doubled it)
1 egg
½C milk (I used 1%)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. brown sugar


The Method
1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and 3/4 of the cinnamon in a large bowl - though I wouldn't complain much in eating one of these with all of the cinnamon added here, and even more added later on...
2. Add in the butter with your hands, using a pinching motion to create a sandy-textured mixture. This should take around 5 minutes.
3. Add the apple pieces and be sure to incorporate fully.
4. Meanwhile, beat together the egg, milk, and lemon juice. I used a fork and my poor wrist because we lack the finer luxuries of a fancy mixer or even a whisk, but I think it did the trick just fine. Not that I would choose to do it again if I had another tool handy.
5. Pour the liquids into the apple mixture gradually, taking time between additions to mix thoroughly. This is where the recipe assures you that the dough should be very wet. Check.
6. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead 4-5 times. Ha! A video clip of me trying to need this batter would be one of the most ludicrous scenes you've seen in a long time, I can assure you. If you would call your "dough" a "batter," please do us all a favor, and skip this step, as I so foolishly did not.
7. Transfer the dough to a well-oiled (but not excessive) baking sheet or pizza pan - or, again, if you have a batter, just put it straight from the bowl to here. Using your hands or the back of a spoon/spatula, pat the dough into a 1/2" tall round, and cut into 8-16 slices. I found that 8 produced very appropriate scones, but I suppose that 16 would work, too.
8. Sprinkle the brown sugar and cinnamon over the top, as I so carelessly forgot to do and instead rushed halfway through the baking process, and bake for 15-20 minutes (or until the tops are a nice, golden brown). I found that 20 minutes was even a little bit too short, so I took them out, separated them from the circle they made, and baked them even more. And probably could've baked them longer still. Like I said, using the "drop scone" method would have made my life much easier yesterday.

All in all, I can't complain about them. They may not have turned out as a typical scone should, and scone conoisseurs all over would flock to criticize this product. But to any person who just likes apples and cinnamon baked together, this is sure to please. It's light, definitely not dry, and very enjoyable. Hopefully the people at the bake sale tomorrow think so, too!

Happy Halloween!