Mini Eggnog Cupcakes!

I have been away from blogging for far too long. The month of November passed with several Thanksgiving projects that I will have to go back and upload including a Bourbon Pecan Pie, Pumpkin Cream Cheese Dip, Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, and Sweet Potato Pie. But unfortunately coming down with Bronchitis for four weeks knocked me out of commission and away from my keyboard during that time as well. Thankfully, winter colds are all gone now and I can talk about my most recent baking success: Mini Eggnog Cupcakes! I had planned well before the fall to experiment with eggnog baked goods in the winter, and my December office holiday party--complete with a staff potluck dessert arrangement--was the perfect opportunity to get cooking!

I personally love the flavor of eggnog, though the dairy in it keeps me from having it that often (that's why I was so happy to discover Silk Nog soy eggnog!). Since I'd mostly been making cookies for my coworkers lately, I wanted to try some sort of bread or cake with the eggnog flavor instead, and thus searched online for eggnog cupcake recipes until I came across one by Minneapolis couple Matt and Kat on their blog, A Good Appetite. It had all the important things I felt an eggnog cupcake might need: eggnog. And rum. But the amount of butter (thus fat) and use of egg whites (my dad is allergic to them) led me to alter the recipe just enough to make it my own. Even with cutting the butter content in half, however, these cupcakes still tuned out so moist (perhaps because I added extra rum), with the eggnog flavor coming through especially well when paired with homemade eggnog frosting (this I also altered from the original recipe to add actual eggnog in with the powdered sugar). Best of all, the recipe turned out to be so easy to put together the day before the office party, making little mini cupcake bites that no one had to feel guilty about indulging in!

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon rum
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup eggnog or soy eggnog
3 whole eggs


Directions


1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a mini cupcake tin with paper liners. In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the rum, vanilla, and eggs one at a time. Beat after each addition.

2.) In a separate bowl, sift the baking powder, salt, and flour together and mix well. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, alternating between adding the flour mixture and the eggnog until both are well incorporated into the batter.

3.) Fill the cupcake liners to just below the surface of the tin, smoothing the batter flat with a small spoon to spread it evenly. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until the cupcakes start to brown just slightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

4.) Remove the cupcakes from the oven and carefully turn them sideways in the tin to prevent the bottoms from getting mushy. Finish cooling on a wire rack until the cupcakes reach room temperature, then feel free to frost and enjoy! (Frosting recipe below).

Eggnog Frosting


Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
Pinch of salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
1 Tablespoon rum
2 Tablespoons eggnog

Directions


1.) Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add the salt and spices and continue to beat. Finally, add in the rum and eggnog and beat until the frosting is smooth. For a thinner icing, add more liquid. Adjust to your personal taste!

I refrigerated the cupcakes overnight, then let them sit out until they reached room temperature before serving them the next day. The hardest part about making these treats was keeping myself from eating too many of the little things as I "taste-tested" the batter, the warm cupcakes fresh from the oven, the cooled cupcakes at room temperature, the cupcakes with frosting, and the cupcakes after being refrigerated. Thank goodness they were small, and that I still had enough left for my coworkers. Have fun with this holiday recipe--both the making and the eating!

Tot Chefs!

In the public library where I work as a Youth Services Specialist, we host a quarterly baking program I dubbed "Bake with Me" where children as young as 2 and old as 6 can experience real food creation as they become tot chefs for the morning! It's a cooking class/story experience that encourages motor skills, counting skills, and creativity, while promoting special one-on-one time with parents and caregivers. For the fall season, however, our Halloween "trick" was that none of our "treats" required any baking at all! On Oct. 25, the kids and I created four special Halloween desserts that are cute, easy, and so much fun! If you need ideas for next Halloween, or for funny kids snacks any time of year, check out the simple recipes below:

Apple Fangs (inspired by the Disney Family Fun "Apple Bites" recipe)

Ingredients:

1/4 apple (cut in half twice)

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

2 almond slivers

Directions:

1.) Spoon peanut butter (or a peanut butter substitute if your child is allergic) onto the center of the apple slice.

2.) Press 2 almond slivers onto the peanut butter for fangs.

3.) Bite carefully, if you dare...and enjoy!

Mummy Wands (inspired by the Bright Ideas M&M'S blog "Mummies" recipe)

Ingredients:

1 large pretzel stick

1 Tablespoon vanilla frosting

2 mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1.) Use a spoon to drizzle or smear vanilla frosting onto your pretzel stick in strips like a mummy's wrapping.

2.) Dot the stick with 2 mini chocolate chips for eyes.

3). Time to eat it! Spookily delicious!

Banana Ghosts (Inspired by the Disney Family Fun "Banana Ghosts" recipe)

Ingredients:

½ banana (cut horizontally)

Drizzle of honey

¼ cup coconut flakes

2 mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1.) Cut your banana in half and drizzle with honey to coat.

2.) Roll the banana in coconut flakes until it looks white as a ghost.

3.) Add 2 chocolate chips for the eyes!

Spider Cookies (the most labor intensive, but the most adorable--inspired by many similar recipes, such as the Bright Ideas M&M'S blog "Spider Cupcakes" recipe).

Ingredients:

1 Oreo or other sandwich cookie

1 Tablespoon chocolate frosting

2 Tablespoons chocolate sprinkles

2 candy eyes

4 mini pretzel sticks

Directions:

1.) Dip cookie top in frosting, then sprinkles.

2.) Use dots of frosting to stick candy eyes to the cookie top.

3.) Snap pretzels in half to make 8 legs. Open the cookies and place 4 on each side, sticking them into the cream!

These directions were kept especially short and sweet so that the kids and parents could easily follow them in the limited time period of a single library program. The results were definitely a success!

Nom, nom, nom the mummy!

Spider cookies!

And some kids got a little experimental with their spiders....

Crispy Rice Treats!

 

I can't tell you how excited I was to discover Rice Krispies Gluten Free cereal! Not because I can't eat gluten (thank goodness for that--lactose intolerance is enough to deal with), but because it's actually made with brown rice! As a whole grain, brown rice makes for a healthier option than white rice, and I sure didn't expect to find it in a name-brand cereal at Wal-Mart Market. What does this mean? It means I can listen to the familiar "snap," "crackle," and "pop" of one of my favorite childhood cereals again, knowing it might actually have health benefits! It also means I can make Rice Krispies Treats for a Red Rock hiking excursion tomorrow!

Oh how I've missed Rice Krispies Treats! Ever since Kelloggs started making them with the processed high fructose corn syrup sweetener, I've stayed away. According to Kelloggs.com, however, they don't use HFCS anymore (yay!). But given the long list of ingredients and preservatives (take a look), it might just be better to make your own anyway. They only take about 10 minutes, come out warm and gooey, and--if you make them with gluten-free brown rice--can actually have some health benefits. A treat. With health benefits. Plus, oh my gosh, it's fun! Who doesn't love to get sticky?

To whip these out I just used the recipe on the back of the cereal box, but halved the ingredients since I only had half a bag of marshmallows left in the cupboard--about two heaping cups. (That's what happens when you don't replenish your supply after making marshmallow leaf wreaths to go on pumpkin pie...). The halved recipe makes about a dozen small treats (2-inch squares), or four really big treats. I've also made them before with different whole grain cereals such as Kashi GOLEAN and Erewhon brand, but it just tastes the most authentic when made with Kellogg's Rice Krispies (which I believe is trademarked, but I don't know how to type the little trademark circle symbol on this blog...).

Thus, without further ado...Crispy Rice Treats! (so I don't have to worry about that trademark symbol...).

Ingredients:

3 cups puffed brown rice cereal (like Rice Krispies Gluten Free)
2 heaping cups of large marshmallows
1 and 1/2 Tablespoons butter
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

1.) In a large pan or skillet (I used a wok!) melt the butter on low heat, then add the marshmallows and stir until all the marshmallows are melted (it will be gooey, and kind of lump together, so it helps to spray your wooden spoon or other utensil with nonstick cooking spray and stir constantly once the marshmallows start to lose their shape).

2.) Remove the marshmallows from the heat, add your cereal and continue to stir until the rice puffs are evenly coated. It should look something like this:

Gooey, beautiful mess.

3.) Spray a flat container (like a brownie pan) with nonstick cooking spray and press the gooey mixture into it until the treats are flat. I like to put a plastic baggie sprayed with nonstick cooking spray on my hand to press the mixture down and shape it into something resembling rectangular.

4.) Allow the treats to cool, then cut them into squares and share with your friends! The original recipe recommends serving them the day they're made to preserve freshness, but they should keep at least a day or two longer in a sealed container. After that, they'll start to get hard, so eat 'em up fast! (Which shouldn't be a problem).

Next experiment I might try more fun shapes (pumpkin or sushi anyone?) test out a peanut butter base instead of regular butter, or dip the finished products half in dark or white chocolate to see just how tasty these brown rice treats can get! The results of such experiments will most assuredly appear on this blog, even if I end up eating the evidence....

Easy Breezy Morning Cinnamon Rolls!

And now for a change of pace. Don't worry, pumpkin, I still love you. But I opted to not add pumpkin to this particular recipe experiment since, for me, cinnamon rolls are more of a Christmas morning treat. In fact, every Christmas morning for at least four years now, I've made cinnamon rolls for breakfast--a late breakfast after our family's opened all our presents because, well, even gooey, delicious cinnamon rolls take a backseat to presents.

The recipe I use for Christmas involves a biscuit dough instead of a yeast dough so you don't have to wait for the dough to rise. Simple, short, and sweet. But last week I happened to see a freshly made, already packaged pizza dough at Whole Foods that looked awfully tempting. I wondered, could I make cinnamon rolls with pizza dough? It has been done before. As soon as I found out that the pizza dough was actually whole wheat (the only kind of pizza crust I don't feel guilty about eating, and such a rarity to find!) I was sold.

Taking the filling recipe from my Christmas Morning Cinnamon Rolls (since I know from four years experience that those always turn out awesome), I created Easy Breezy Morning Cinnamon Rolls that might just become my new Christmas morning bun. And also possibly an item for the next bake sale. Since cinnamon rolls are so much fun to make (you get to roll them up!), I took pictures of the entire step-by-step process so next time you want to bake cinnamon rolls you can know exactly how to put them together too!

P.S. Your house will smell amazing.

Ingredients:

Flour (for dusting)
1 package whole wheat pizza dough (though any kind of pizza dough will work)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon melted butter
Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread flour on a wooden cutting board or surface of your choice for rolling out your dough, creating a thin layer to keep the dough from sticking. Dust your rolling pin with a touch of flour as well. Then roll your pizza dough into the shape of a rectangle, slightly larger than 9x13 inches (see picture below). It should be about 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch thick.

2.) In a large bowl, combine the sugars, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Add the melted butter and stir until the mixture resembles wet sand. Spray your dough rectangle with just a touch of nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle the sugar mixture on top evenly, patting it into the dough. Be sure to reserve a little bit of sugar mixture for the pan.

3.) Using your fingertips, roll your dough rectangle into a log shape slowly and carefully so that it stays together and doesn't stick to your floured surface. Crimp the edges together to seal the log and then flip it over so the seal is on the bottom.

4.) Cut with a serrated knife into 8-16 pieces depending on the size of your log and how thick you want your cinnamon rolls to be. I like to cut my logs in half and then cut each half in half until I get at least eight pieces, but this time I somehow ended up with 14.

5.) Spray a round 9-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust the bottom with the remaining sugar mixture (you may need two pans if you end up with 14-16 rolls). Place up to 8 cinnamon rolls in each pan, flattening them just slightly. You can arrange them with one roll in the center and seven around the edges. Make sure they don't touch and have enough room to expand while baking. Then bake approximately 18 minutes, keeping an eye on them so they brown but don't burn. Cool at least 10 minutes before icing.

Icing Recipe!

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons soy creamer (or milk product of your choice--milk, half and half, and buttermilk also work)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.) Carefully pour your powdered sugar in a bowl (powdered sugar always makes a mess when I use it). Add the soy creamer or milk product of your choice and the vanilla. Stir to combine then drizzle over cooled cinnamon rolls.

I've had problems making icing in the past since it used to end up tasting too much like powdered sugar for me. But using a thicker milk product (soy creamer or buttermilk instead of milk or soymilk) and adding vanilla really turns this icing into the perfect match for your cinnamon rolls.

With only one tablespoon of butter in the filling, soy in the icing, and whole wheat dough as the base of the rolls, you can actually count this breakfast treat as relatively healthy (as you nom on the gooey bottom of the roll and lick up all the frosting). So go on, have another one. Christmas is still two months away. You'll have plenty of time to make more for your family and friends then.

The gooey bottom of the roll.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Are you sensing a theme here? Ah, the image below that I saw on Pinterest (originally from MemeBase.com) sums it up nicely:

So after previously blogging about pumpkin pie and pumpkin cupcakes, why not blog another pumpkin experiment--this one you can drink. I also found this recipe on Pinterest, originally from the RedHead Recipes blog. Pumpkin Pie Smoothie. This one (unlike the cupcakes, sorry) has a few more health benefits, and some of my favorite staple ingredients including nonfat Greek yogurt and soy milk (though I actually used almond milk--my milk of choice). The resulting smoothie had a perfect creamy pumpkin pie taste, though seemed to be lacking a little sweetness. If I were to make it again, I would cut back on the ice that I think watered it down a little, and either use sweetened vanilla yogurt or add a little maple syrup. Yum! For now, though, here is the original recipe.

Ingredients:

1 small banana, frozen, peeled, and diced
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup nonfat Greek yogurt (I like the FAGE brand)
3/4 cup vanilla unsweetened almond milk (might try it with the sweetened kind or light soy milk next time)
A few shakes of pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of cloves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 ice cubes (might skip the ice cubes altogether and add an extra half of frozen banana)

Directions:

1.) Add all ingredients in the blender and blend for approximately 10-15 seconds until the banana chunks have broken down and the smoothie is smooth.

2.) Pour into a glass and sprinkle the top with a little more pumpkin pie spice and cloves.

That's it! Smoothies are pretty easy to throw together, though it takes a few experiments to get the flavors and textures just right. Be mindful of how powerful your blender is and how thick or thin you prefer your smoothies to be. This makes a great breakfast and a nice, healthy snack!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Bake sale recipe #3! More pumpkin....

This was a brand new one for me. I don't usually buy cake mixes in a box so I didn't know much about the FUN da-Middles product, which turned out to be the main ingredient in this recipe. But anything with "pumpkin" in the title always immediately intrigues me. When I was introduced to the website Tablespoon.com, the first recipe that caught my attention was one for Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes. Did that just say "pumpkin pie" and "cupcake" in the same sentence? Yes, please!

The neat thing about FUN da-Middles compared to other cupcake mixes is that they come with a packet of cream filling that you can bake right into the center of each cupcake. The neat thing about the Pumpkin Pie Cupcake recipe I followed for my final bake sale item was that you could make that filling taste like autumn with a little maple syrup in the center of the cream.

This recipe I pretty much followed exactly according to smwise--another blogger named Stephanie who originally posted the Pumpkin Pie Cupcake recipe. You can check out her awesome directions and photos here, but I'll still re-post the recipe below!

Ingredients:

1 box Fun da-Middles yellow cupcake mix with creamy vanilla filling
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup canned pumpkin
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
maple syrup

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with paper liners. Then beat together the cupcake mix, water, pumpkin, eggs and pumpkin pie spice. (It's recommended to use an electric mixer on a low speed for 30 seconds and then a medium speed for 2 minutes, but I just used a fork and my arm muscles to power through as I counted in my head).

2.) Fill each cup in the tin about 1/3 of the way up. Knead the filling packet 20 times to mix it up, cut the corner off, and then squeeze the filling into the center of each cup, dividing it equally until it's all gone. Add a couple drops of maple syrup to the center of each filling, then scoop the rest of the batter on top of the cups until all are filled to the top and the cream is completely covered.

3.) Stephanie (smwise) recommends topping the cupcakes with pecans (which I love), but I was in a hurry to get these done before the bake sale, so you can always skip that step, especially if you plan to frost the cupcakes after they've cooled. Bake approximately 24-29 minutes, then cool 20 minutes before removing the cupcakes from the tin. Frost or drizzle with more maple syrup if you desire.

Unfortunately I didn't get to taste test these because I can't eat the cream filling, and they disappeared before I had a chance to find out if anyone liked them. I'm assuming their disappearance is a good sign....

That's it for my bake sale recipes! (I figured there was no need to write about my bake sale caramel apples since I covered that recipe in a previous September blog post, here). Even more pumpkin goodness to come soon! Because I just can't get enough of the stuff....

Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Bake sale recipe #2! It's PUMPKIN TIME!!!

Every year I wait for late September/October to roll around. Yeah, the weather is getting cooler and Halloween can be fun, but what I'm really waiting for is super special treats that are only--say it with me--seasonal.

Pumpkin Spice frozen yogurt at Red Mango.

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino at Starbucks (with soymilk, please)

Pumpkin breads, pumpkin cakes, and quite possibly best of all...Libby's canned pumpkin returns to grocery stores so that I can make Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie!

Of course, what would even the most traditional holiday recipe be without a little experimentation? I could just follow the recipe on the can every single time, but I've made variations of this recipe with pumpkin butter, with different spices, and even with sweet potato! But if you need a go-to Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie recipe, this one really can't be beat!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white sugar
1 and 3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (a substitution that Libby's recommends instead of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves--I prefer the pumpkin pie spice since it has a little bit of nutmeg in the mix, which goes exceptionally well with pumpkin)
2 eggs
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin (make sure it is 100% pumpkin and nothing else!)
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk (not condensed milk, which I tend to keep calling it accidentally. Also, I prefer to use Nestle brand fat-free if possible, or at least 2%).
2 empty 9-inch pie shells (I like using whole wheat crusts from Whole Foods, but any 9-inch pie shell will do. You can also make your own! But I don't have a recipe for that yet...). 

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Combine the sugar and spice in a small bowl and mix well.

2.) In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then stir in the pumpkin and the sugar mixture. Gradually stir in the milk.

3.) Pour into the pie shells, filling them as much as possible (if you're using a deep-dish pie crust that Libby's recommends, you might only get one pie out of this). Line the edges of the pies with crumpled foil to protect the outer rim of the crust from burning (a pie crust shield will also work for this if you spray it with nonstick cooking spray first so it won't stay stuck to your pie after baking).

4.) Bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake another 40-50 minutes (I find that 10 minutes, then 40 minutes works well for cooking without burning, but oven temperatures do vary). Cool pies about two hours before serving, or refrigerate overnight. (To me, they taste best cold, straight from the fridge, with a dollop of soy whipped cream).

My twist this year for the bake sale was a fun idea to decorate the pie that wouldn't melt in the fridge the way whipped cream eventually does. I wanted to use one of the leaf-shaped cookie cutters I got from Williams-Sonoma as well, but didn't have any extra pie crust to use them to decorate the edges (also, I'd tried this before at Thanksgiving one year--the pie dough leaves ended up falling into the filling or burning...). If only there was something I could cut into the shape of a leaf that wouldn't perish and could still look pretty. I searched my cabinets, trying to come up with something. Then I spotted a product I'd bought recently for future s'mores experiments: Kraft Jet-Puffed StackerMallows. That's right, flat marshmallows!

The results:

Ah, I love this season.