Cracker Barrel Fried Apples (In the Slow Cooker!)

In the fall, nothing beats fried apples like the ones you get from Cracker Barrel. Luckily, they're incredibly easy to make in your slow cooker! These slow cooker fried apples are perfect for serving at a fall party or enjoying with a warm winter's meal. Perfect side dish for comfort food! | crock pot | baked apples | cinnamon apple | slow cooker side |

There’s just something special about going to Cracker Barrel for lunch. No, it’s not the checkers outside or the store in the front of the restaurant. It has to be the epic side dishes you can get with your meal. It never fails… my order is the same every time I go there. Chicken and dumplings with fried apples, mac and cheese, and the hashbrown casserole. For the longest time, Cracker Barrel was my choice because I couldn’t get those darn apples anywhere else. Want to know a secret, though? I learned how to make a spot-on copycat so I don’t have to drive quite as far for that heavenly cinnamon apple goodness… without further ado, here’s how to make Cracker Barrel Style Fried Apples (in your slow cooker!)

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Homemade Pumpkin Spice Mix (for coffee or cocoa)


Hello, fall... this pumpkin spice mix is amazing in hot cocoa and coffee, and it's super simple to make. Whip up a batch and keep it in the fridge for days you don't have time to make it to the coffeeshop, and use a Dixie To Go cup from @DixieProducts to be sure you can take it with you. #CupForCrushingIt [ad] | pumpkin spice latte | pumpkin spice cocoa | pumpkin spice coffee |

I pride myself on always being on time. Even if it means leaving my house incredibly early and sitting outside a place for half an hour because I arrived too soon, I pride myself on being on time. It’s just something that was instilled in me from a young age, and it’s important to me. But sometimes things don’t go as planned… and that’s when it’s time to just totally forget everything else that’s bringing me down and Crush It.

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The Best Apple Recipes, Tips, and More!

Apples are easily my favorite thing about the fall season… growing up, fall was always the season for hot apple cider from a local cider mill, cider donuts, and just spending time with family. Not long ago, I shared one of my favorite recipes so you could make apple cider donuts at home! Today, though, I’d like to share this collection of apple themed posts from other bloggers around the web! From beauty to food to activities, these are all written by members of the Social Fabric community. I know you’re going to love them, and I hope you have a great season creating many amazing fall memories with your family.

SoFabSeasons Apples

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Top Fall Activities Across the USA and Canada!

Looking for a fun fall activity to do? No matter where you live in the US or Canada, there's something for you! Check out these great ideas for fall fun around the country. What's your favorite? #Fall4SoFab

So you remember a couple of weeks ago when I shared my favorite fall activities in Kansas City? Well, it’s finally starting to really feel like fall here, and my son and I are tackling quite a few of the activities on my list of favorites. But, I recognize that not everyone is from the Kansas City area (as cool as Kansas City is, of course…), so today, I’m back with a list of, well… lists… from the Social Fabric community, which I’m so happy to be a part of. Each list contains some great things to do in specific parts of the USA and Canada, (and heck, even some stuff to do if you’re in the UK!), so wherever you’re hailing from, you’ll find something fun to do with your family.

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Easy Fall Mantel Decor (Even if You Don’t Have a Mantel!)

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveAmericanHome #CollectiveBias

Looking for the perfect fall decor ideas? See inspiring fall mantels on pinterest but don't know how to recreate them at home? Here are some tips-- even if you don't have a mantel of your own! This uses floating shelves, but you can use these tips for any mantel or shelving this fall! #LoveAmericanHome #ad

Okay, so I have to admit, I’ve had a lot of Pinterest Envy (Pinvy???) when it comes to mantel decorating. It seems like everyone has this gorgeous mantel that they update with the seasons, and I had just about had it. I was about ready to just quit Pinterest so I could stop feeling so desperate for a mantel space when I realized… hey! I have shelving that I could decorate just as easily! So, whether you have a mantel or not, I want to give you a few tips on the best fall decorating ideas for that space– from back to school to Halloween to Thanksgiving, I’ve got an idea that will transition throughout the fall, without a lot of crazy effort.

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Top 10 Kansas City Fall Activities (For Families)

Looking for something awesome to do this fall in Kansas City? Here's the full list of the top 10 best things to do in Kansas City during the fall if you have a family or children! These are all family friendly and oh-so-fun, so start tackling your Fall Bucket List now!

It is no secret that I absolutely love Kansas City. Everything about living here is so great– it seems like the best of all worlds with it’s small town feel and big city thrill, the fantastic weather (we are so lucky to experience all four seasons, including this beautiful fall weather that we’ve already gotten a taste of this year)… just everything. So whether you’re from here, or you’re just visiting this fall, there is plenty to do if you have a family– from animals to pumpkins and everything in between, this list has you covered with all of the coolest things to do in KC this fall– both on specific weekends and all autumn long. It’s your ultimate Kansas City Fall Bucket List!

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Pumpkin Spice Baby Shower Mints

These pumpkin spice baby shower mints are melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and they're so easy to make! No baby shower coming up? Make them in your favorite sports team colors for an easy tailgating dessert, or serve them at your Halloween and Thanksgiving parties! Plus, hello, if you don't dig pumpkin spice, you can make these in just about any flavor from banana to butter to rum!

I love a good baby shower. I mean, who isn’t a fan of welcoming new life into the world? There’s just so much to celebrate when a new baby is due. So when I found out a blogger I totally love was having a baby, I had to make some special mints to celebrate! These pumpkin spice cream cheese mints are perfect for welcoming autumn babies, but also for any celebration (like a football watch party, a Halloween bash, or Thanksgiving). Plus, they’re so easy to make that you’ll find any excuse to make them. But this time, I’ve made them to celebrate Katie from Clark’s Condensed as she welcomes her new little boy!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffles

I know we’re starting to get to the part of the year where everyone is saying “Pumpkin’s out! Bring on the peppermint!” However, I couldn’t resist just one more fall recipe before Thanksgiving. I kind of view Thanksgiving as that time where you transition from fall to winter. It’s like the last Hurrah for pumpkin spice lattes, caramel apple cider, and other truly fall-ish treats before they disappear and it’s all peppermint mochas and salted caramel brownies until spring.

So, think of these truffles as, like, Custer’s Last Stand, but in Pumpkin form. It’s Pumpkin’s Last Stand, and it promises to please and leave you with nothing but good pumpkin memories to get you through the sea of Winter Wonderland.

You’ll need everything pictured above, and water. I didn’t include water because I’m really hoping y’all have some on hand and I don’t have to tell you to buy it.

I’ve shared with you about this Duncan Hines mix before, but I have to share again, because, hello, it’s really awesome. See, when I went to New Jersey this year to the Duncan Hines Test Kitchen, I got the opportunity to reconnect with a lot of really great people, like Chef Joe. And while we were chatting, a lot of us were throwing some ideas out there that we’d love to see. It was dinner, and we were brainstorming. And this was one idea that I shared with Chef Joe. I told him I’d love to see a Pumpkin Spice Decadent mix come from Duncan Hines, similar to their Red Velvet Decadent Mix, the Strawberry Cheesecake mix, and the amazing chocolate Decadent Mix they’ve created. Because, y’know, I’m a huge pumpkin fan.

Chef Joe kind of looked at me like “Yeah, okay. I don’t know. Seasonal products can be hard sometimes because there’s not a ton of time that seasonal products are in stores.” My hopes were a little dashed, I suppose. Then my awesome friend Jeannie suggested that Duncan Hines do seasonal products on a shipper, which is a type of cardboard display, to make sure they have more prominence in stores. It was a great idea, but again, Chef Joe was kind of “Eh, I don’t know.”

So then, the next day, we were all getting pumped up. They were about to do a big reveal of the NEW products coming from Duncan Hines! It is always such an exciting part of our trip, to see the new products that Duncan Hines is releasing. They pulled back the curtain, and… OHMYGOSH! It was a Decadent Mix… but not just any decadent mix. It was THIS decadent mix. Pumpkin! I was dying. Then, they revealed the next seasonal product and, in the words of my dear friend Jeannie, “Dontchaknow, it was on a shipper!”

Chef Joe said it was SO hard not to tell us the night before, but he just had to wait for the big reveal! It’s the key thing that tells me they really did listen to our thoughts and advice from the previous year. I definitely get how Chef Joe said it was hard to keep it a secret, though, because then *I* had to keep it a secret from all of you until it hit stores! Crazy! In fact, I still have a few secrets that my lips are sealed on.

Anyway, just like the other Duncan Hines Decadent Mixes, this cupcake mix comes with your cupcake mix (enough for twelve), frosting mix, and a pastry bag so you can fill and decorate cupcakes easily. You’ll want to set the frosting mix and pastry bag aside for now, and grab your cupcake mix.

Mix it up according to the ingredient instructions on the back of the box, but instead of putting it in a cupcake pan…

…put it in a greased 8″ round cake pan. I used my Wilton Ultragold for this one. Bake at 350 for about 28-30 minutes, then remove it from the oven and let it cool completely.

While that cools, you’ll want to mix the frosting pouch, but you’re going to just totally disregard the package directions for this one. Take 1 block of softened Philadelphia cream cheese (8 oz) and mix it with the frosting pouch using your mixer of choice until it’s well blended and creamy. Don’t add the water or butter listed on the back of the package. It’s totally not necessary, as the cream cheese is enough, and will give it that cheesecake taste.

Once your cake is cooled, shred it to bits. I can honestly tell you, making cake pops is the easiest way to save your sanity when you have a child experiencing the terrible twos. While he is throwing a temper tantrum in the background, you can just tune him out to shredding cake instead of pulling your hair out. It’s a great way to keep that bald spot you’re getting the size it is instead of letting it get bigger. (Zach really isn’t too deep into the terrible twos, luckily, but those teeth are killing us!)

From there, you’ll mix in large spoonfuls of the frosting, stirring and rolling until your shredded cake mixture is more like a thick dough that can be rolled into balls.

Roll them into balls about quarter-sized, and then chill them for at least half an hour.

There are two ways you can finish these, both involving Wilton Candy Melts. The first way to finish them is to grab the Vanilla melts (or white, or whatever your favorite vanilla-ish dipping melt is). The second way, which will really pack in the pumpkin flavor, is to use the Pumpkin Spice Candy Melts, pictured above.

They smell so good! Go ahead and melt those in the microwave or in a double boiler the way you would typically melt chocolates. For microwave, I’ve found that trying 1 minute, stirring, and then doing additional 30 second increments if needed is an easy way to melt without scorching.

It’ll look creamy. If you used vanilla instead, it’ll look just like this, but white instead of orange.

I decided to make some of each! Dip the ball into the melts, then tap off the excess and place them on waxed paper. While they’re wet, you can sprinkle on some cute fall sprinkles!

Or, you can tint leftover vanilla melts green using Wilton gel food coloring, and use the pastry bag that came with your Duncan Hines Decadent Mix to pipe little pumpkin vines and stems onto the orange balls.

So yummy. They’re like, melt-in-your-mouth yummy.

 

How do you feel about winter flavors starting before Thanksgiving? Would you prefer to wait until after for peppermint, or do you like to bring those flavors on early? Let me know in the comments below!

Ultimate Showstopper Pudding Pecan Poke Cake

Every year at Thanksgiving, I try really hard to top the dessert I brought in last year. So many readers, and so many family members, raved about the Better Than Pumpkin Pie dessert that I knew it would be hard to beat.

However, I thought about what constitutes the perfect Thanksgiving dessert. Everyone loves a good pumpkin pie. Everyone else loves a good pecan pie. So how do you combine those flavors in a new way? Well, for one, you can’t top those pies with another pie…

So it’s time to go to a CAKE.

Not just any cake. An Ultimate Showstopper of a cake. A cake that is so moist, so decadent, and yet so light and airy, that you could easily eat the whole thing yourself. Easily.

And the best part? This is not hard to make.

Start with Cool Whip, Jello Pumpkin Spice Pudding, and Betty Crocker Butter Pecan Cake Mix, plus the ingredients to make the cake and pudding as listed on the back of the box. You can also add in pecans or cinnamon (or both) as a garnish at the end.

Bake the cake as listed on the back of the box. You’ll want to do the directions for a 9×13 pan. (Of course, this recipe works for round cakes or other things, but I’ve found the 9×13 is easiest to cut and serve at a large family event).

As you allow the cake to cool for about 10 minutes, you can begin making your pudding, again, according to package directions.

Using a wooden spoon handle (or any similarly sized object), poke holes in the cake just about every inch. Make sure you poke the holes as deeply as you can– you’ll want to feel as though you’re hitting the bottom of the pan.

While the pudding is still soft-set, you’ll want to pour the pudding over the warm cake.

Spread it evenly over the entire cake. The pudding will start seeping into the holes of the cake and adding a moist, flavorful infusion.

Finish the cake with a container of Cool Whip, and then sprinkle cinnamon or chopped pecans over the top. Or both. You choose.

I knew this cake was probably the right kind of cake for Thanksgiving when my brother, who doesn’t often indulge in the food I make, ate 3 pieces in one sitting. It’s THAT good.

If you’re planning your Thanksgiving desserts, I’m telling you, don’t leave this one off the list. It’s so easy that you could almost make it blindfolded while cooking your turkey, but it won’t fail to impress your guests. I’m telling you, this is THE dessert to serve at this Thanksgiving if you’re a fan of pumpkins and pecans.

 

What are your plans for Thanksgiving dinner? Let me know in the comments below!

Perfectly Pumpkin Vanilla Bars

Some people mark Halloween as the end to all things pumpkin. Of course, Hobby Lobby starts discounting Christmas in, like, July, so really, our holiday schedule is thrown way out of whack.

I think that post-Halloween pumpkin is the best kind of pumpkin. There’s no reason to pass on all things pumpkin until after at least Thanksgiving! You might remember that I’m a huge fan of pumpkin. As evidenced by my Better Than Pumpkin Pie dessert that was a huge hit last Thanksgiving. Or my Pumpkin Butter recipe that has been a huge reader favorite this season. Or maybe even my Pumpkin Spice Krispie treats from last year.

No doubt about it, I love Pumpkin. So, even though we’re well into November, I still have just a few more pumpkin recipes left in me. My hope is that you’ll find something yummy to take to an upcoming Thanksgiving feast, or at the very least, enjoy while you cry over the Christmas music that started just after Halloween on some stations.

These Perfectly Pumpkin Vanilla Bars are so easy and tasty that you might want to consider making a double batch. Yum.

You’ll want to start with the Pumpkin Creme cake mix from Pillsbury. It comes with the vanilla mix that they use as a filling in the cake. I’m going to use it in a slightly different way in these bars, however.

In addition to the mix, you’ll need some milk, oil, eggs, and sprinkles, though the sprinkles are optional.

Set the vanilla filling packet aside and just pour the pumpkin cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add in your egg, 1/4 cup of milk, and 1/4 cup of oil.

It will be an incredibly thick batter, and it will smell really, really awesome. So… try not to eat too much of it before pressing it into a greased 9×9 pan.

Just like that.

For the vanilla topping, you’ll want to mix together the filling packet, plus 2 tablespoons of oil and 2 tablespoons of water.

Spread this as evenly as you can on top of the pumpkin batter.

You’re going to bake these for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

It’ll have a fun layered effect when it’s finished.

While the bars are still slightly warm, gently press your fall sprinkles into the top. Then, the hard part… waiting! You have to wait a full hour for these to cool. Don’t try cutting them sooner– they’ll fall apart!

Voila! Worth the hour wait… and so delicious. They’re a bit ooey-gooey and packed with fall flavor. The vanilla offsets the pumpkin perfectly for a delicious finish.

I got ten thin bars out of my 9×9 pan. You can also cut them into squares, triangles, or any other delicious desired shape you’d like.

Maybe eating something pumpkin will help counteract the Christmas special you’re watching on TV before Thanksgiving has even come and gone.

Are you a die-hard holiday separationist, waiting for one to end before the next begins, or do you blend your holidays in the last half of the year? When do you feel pumpkin is “out”? Sound off in the comments section below!