Monday, October 28, 2013

Haunted Gingerbread House 2013



Arya in her Halloween costume!
Just three days out from Halloween and I finally finished my haunted gingerbread house! It's a gingerbread kit from Target. Other than what came with the kit, I used some store-bought red frosting, Wilton Sparkle Gels, pumpkin spice marshmallow (not really a fan of the taste, but they're cute on a gingerbread house), and Kraft ghost-shaped marshmallows. Next year I think I'm going to have to make my own  royal frosting instead using what comes with the kit because I could not get it to stick to the gingerbread (as you will be able to tell by the pictures).

You can also check out the Haunted Gingerbread House I made last year!

Target Kit

Front
I drew the ghost's face, spiderweb, and spider with a toothpick and Wilton's Sparkle Gel.

The witch head came with the kit. The body is made out of pumpkin marshmallow and covered in Wilton's Sparkle Gel.

I used Wilton black Sparkle Gel and a toothpick to draw on the jack-o-lantern's face.
A chocolate ghost marshmallow. The package came with orange ones too but I didn't use any of them.
For the green frosting on the ground, I just added a little blue and yellow food coloring to the orange frosting that came with the kit. It didn't want to stick to the cardboard any more than it wanted to stick to the gingerbread.
 
And here's a quick peak at my mom's Haunted Gingerbread House:



 Happy Halloween!


~Krissy

Also check out:
Christmas Gingerbread House


Thursday, October 24, 2013

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chips and Dried Cranberries


So I've been trying to not go too crazy with pumpkin recipes this year. Eric loves pumpkin, but I wear him out on it every fall. So this year I'm trying to be good. How good, we'll see. But I have been wanting to make pumpkin oatmeal cookies for some time now. Threw in some white chocolate chips and dried cranberries (I love dried cranberries) for good measure and came up with a pumpkin cookie that even Eric couldn't say no to (he also did not want to share them).

Recipe adapted from here.


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 15-ounce canned pumpkin
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups flour
2 cups quick oats
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until creamy. Add in pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Combine well and set aside.

In another large bowl, mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Fold in the white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Drop a rounded tablespoons of the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn a light brown.




Meet Arya, my little helper and crumb catcher and new member of our family.
Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Pumpkin Recipes
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip
Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes
Pumpkin-Black Bean Stew with Spicy Sausage 
Pumpkin Bread!
Pumpkin Butter
Pumpkin Caramels!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies
Pumpkin Fudge
Pumpkin Hot Cocoa 
Pumpkin Lasagna Rolls
Pumpkin Oatmeal
Pumpkin Penne Casserole
Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
Roasted Pumpkin Chickpeas
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Pumpkin Ale Bread

Keeping with our autumn theme, we had Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale at our wedding reception. Well, we had some left over and neither of us are big beer drinkers. We gave some away and I've been trying to come up with ideas for the rest. I love cooking with alcohol and beer bread seemed like a natural first choice! I have to say the pumpkin ale gives the bread a wonderful autumn flavor. 

Recipe adapted from here


Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 12 oz bottle of Pumpkin Ale

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch by 5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or butter.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and spices in a large bowl. Stir together until well combined. In the center of the bowl, make a well and pour in the beer. Beware: the beer will foam up. Fold the dry ingredients into the liquid until well combined. However, do not over mix or your bread will come out dense.

Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean.


Enjoy!

~Krissy

Monday, October 14, 2013

Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes


Eric's coworkers surprised us with wedding gifts--money for our honeymoon and a gift card to Bed Bath & Beyond. It was incredibly unexpected and thoughtful of them. As a thank you I baked 6 dozen mini pumpkin cupcakes and had Eric take them to work. Eric said everyone loved them--and they must have because not a single one came back home with him!

I used to make this recipe all the time as a cake with my pumpkin dip as a filling. It was my signature dessert, if you will. I always got compliments on it, and everyone wanted the recipe. Well, I ended up making this cake so much that I got sick of it and haven't made it in years. But when I was trying to decide what goodies I should send Eric to work with, my mind immediately went to the pumpkin cake. As a cupcake, I made it with buttercream and chocolate buttercream frosting. While delicious, it really is so much better with the pumpkin filling. So I will give you directions to both the mini cupcakes with buttercream and the cake.

I think this recipe originally comes from Kraft, but I've had it for so long that I no longer remember. 


Mini Pumpkin Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting
Cake
Ingredients:
1 yellow cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Either line mini muffin pan with mini cupcake papers or grease and flour them (this is what I did).

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients together with an electric mixer until well combined. Fill the mini muffin pan 3/4 of the way full with the batter. Bake for 10 to 14 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes come out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 to 6 tablespoons milk
(if you want chocolate buttercream frosting, add 1/2 to 1 cup cocoa powder, sifted)


Directions:
Place the the butter into a large bowl and cream with a hand mixer or standing mixer.  Add vanilla and mix. Add 1 cup of sugar and blend on low speed until well incorporated. Then add another cup of sugar and beat until well blended. By now your buttercream is getting thick. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons milk and mix. Blend in the the final cup of sugar. Add a couple more tablespoon of milk if desired. (Beat in the cocoa powder, if desired). To get light, smooth buttercream you need to blend the buttercream for 15 to 20 minutes on low.

Frost your mini cupcakes. Store in an airtight container.



We got a standing mixer as a wedding gift and I am in love with it! Making buttercream has never been so easy!

The stackable wire racks were also a wedding gift that I love!
Four Layer Pumpkin Cake
Ingredients:
Cake
1 yellow cake mix
1 cup canned pumpkin
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Filling
1 8-ouce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup powdered sugar
1 8-ounce tub cool whip, thawed
1/4 cup caramel topping

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine all the cake ingredients together with an electric mixer until well combined. Evenly divide the batter between the two cake pans. Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until creamy. Add powdered sugar, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice. Combine well. Gently fold in the cool whip.

Once the cakes have cooled, cut each horizontally in half with a serrated knife so you now have four layers. Place one cake layer on your serving plate. Spread 1/3 of the filling on top of the cake. Continue to stack with remaining cake layers and filling. Drizzle the caramel topping over the top of the cake.

Store in the refrigerator.

Just typing out the directions to the pumpkin cake kind of makes me want to make it again. Maybe for Thanksgiving?


Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Pumpkin Recipes!
Cheese Tortellini in a Pumpkin Sauce
Cinnamon-Sugar Pastry with Pumpkin Dip
Pumpkin-Black Bean Stew with Spicy Sausage 
Pumpkin Bread!
Pumpkin Butter
Pumpkin Caramels!
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies
Pumpkin Fudge
Pumpkin Hot Cocoa 
Pumpkin Lasagna Rolls
Pumpkin Oatmeal
Pumpkin Penne Casserole
Pumpkin Swirl Brownies
Roasted Pumpkin Chickpeas
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Homemade Streusel Topping for Muffins, Pies, and Coffee Cakes

I made streusel topping for the first time to put on top of an apple pie. It was so good that I just might put it on top of my apple pies from now on. It's a simple, quick, easy thing to make. I can't believe I hadn't made it before now.

Streusel recipe comes from here. It will make enough to cover the top of an 9-inch pie plate.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. You can use a fork or your fingers to do so. I cut the ingredients together with two knives. You could also toss all the ingredients in a food process and pulse until the mixture becomes crumbly.

Sprinkle over pie (or muffins or coffee cake) before baking.


Enjoy!

~Krissy

Delicious Apple Pie

I'm going to start right off the bat by telling you that the photos in the post are deceiving. I made a spicy sausage quiche for dinner the other day. I had a few scraps of dough left over from the crust, and I remembered Eric giving me puppy dog eyes when he found out I had a delicious apple pie recipe that I had never made for him. So being an awesome wife, I made a couple of mini apple pies in ramekins. I used my usually apple pie recipe but just eyeballed the ingredients instead of measuring them out like I usually do for this blog. So this is a recipe for one apple pie, not mini apple pies.

I make my pastry from scratch, but you could very well use store-bought pie crust.







 Ingredients:
Pastry Dough
2 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
5-7 tablespoon cold water

Apple Filling
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 cup white sugar
1 table cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening using two butter knives until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until the mixture is evenly moistened and clings together when pressed into a ball. Divide the dough in half, shaping each half into a 1/2-inch thick round. Wrap each dough round in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, toss the sliced apples with the sugar, cinnamon, and cornstarch. Set aside.

Roll out your first dough round with a rolling pin until the dough round has about an 11-inch diameter. Place the dough over a 9-inch pie plate. Press the dough evenly onto the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Be careful not to stretch the dough. Trim any excess dough that hangs over the edges of the pan. Reserve trimmings for another use if desired (see cinnamon-sugar pastries). Fill the pie with the apple mixture.

Roll out your second dough round as you did the first and place over the filling. Trim the top crust so about 1/2 inch fall over the edge of the plate. Fold the edge of the top crust under the edge of the bottom crust, pinching the edges together to form little ridges. Cut several slits near the center of the pie to allow steam to escape.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until the juices form bubbles that slowly burst.

Allow to cool before eating.

Dress your pie up:
1. Turn your trimming into decorations for the pie. Use small cookie cutters to cut shapes out of the left over dough and place on top of the pie. I usually make leaves.

2. Give your pie a shiny top by lightly beating  an egg white and brushing it on top of the pie before baking it.

3. Or if you want a golden brown top, beat a whole egg and brush the top of the pie before baking.

4. Like your pies to have a little sparkle? Brush the top of your pie with a beaten egg than sprinkle a tablespoon of white sugar on top.

Homemade Streusel Topping 
You may have noticed that my mini pies have streusel on top instead of another layer of pastry. This was the first time I made my own streusel. It is sooo good with this pie. It might just become the new way I make an apple pie.

Streusel recipe comes from here. It will make enough to cover the top of an 9-inch pie plate.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl. You can use a fork or your fingers to do so. I cut the ingredients together with two knives like I did to make the pastry. You could also toss all the ingredients in a food process and pulse until the mixture becomes crumbly.

Sprinkle over pie (or muffins or coffee cake) before baking.


Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Apple Recipes!
Apple Chips
Apple Cider Cake
Apple Cider Cupcakes with Caramel Filling and Spiced Rum Frosting
Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Spiked Apple Cider Bon-bons

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Candy Corn + Peanuts = PayDay Candy Bar


Every year it seems like there is a new seasonal candy for Halloween. Candy Corn Hershey Kisses (they taste like vanilla frosting to me) as well as Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses (these just taste weird to me) have been around a while now.
Pumpkin Spice Kisses
Candy Corn Kisses

This year I've discover Branch's Smores Candy Corn--and you know what? It's actually pretty good.
Better than regular candy corn in my opinion (unless that candy corn is homemade!)

Brach's S'mores Candy Corn 9oz.
Brach's S'mores Candy Corn

Then M&Ms came out with Candy Corn M&Ms which I still need to try!

Candy Corn M&Ms


But I have tried the Pumpkin Spice M&Ms. A friend on Facebook posted a picture of them and I had to find them. They're sold only at Target (at least according to the sign in front of them) and were hidden at the checkout lanes. They are sooo good. Instead of being overwhelming pumpkin spice, they're chocolate with a hint of pumpkin spice. I was impressed and hope they make another appearance next year.





Now onto the title of my post. Eric is all about the candy corn-peanut mix. I'd never had it before. So when he saw a bag at the grocery store (Brach's) on our honeymoon, he had to have it. I was skeptical that it would be anything special. But the peanuts totally change the taste of the candy corn! It's like addictingly good. The taste reminded me of something and it took me a few day to figure it out that it taste just like a PayDay candy bar!


The mix accompanied when hiking, rock wall climbing, and ziplining!

Pigeon River






Enjoy!

~Krissy

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Roasted Peeps in Hot Chocolate

Halloween Peeps!
This totally isn't a recipe, but it's just a fun way to change up hot chocolate. And I may have mentioned it before in a couple of other posts, but I thought it deserved it's own post too--it's just that yummy and fun.

So on our honeymoon Eric and I made peep smores and I had the thought to put a roasted Peep in a cup of hot cocoa. (A regular roasted marshmallow would be fabulous too!)



Halloween Peep Smores!


I highly recommend making your own hot chocolate mix. You'll never go back to the store-bought stuff, trust me.

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix
Ingredients:
3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions:
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Pour about half of the mix into a good processor and pulse until the chocolate chips become finely ground. Pour into an airtight container. Repeat with the other half of the mix.

To make a cup of hot chocolate: heat up 1 cup milk or water, pour in 1/3 cup hot cocoa mix, and stir.









And you might just want to put a pumpkin Peep in your pumpkin hot cocoa!



Enjoy!

~Krissy