{MSC} BONUS: Applesauce-Spice Cupcakes

Over the weekend, I posted about a dessert dish I made for Thanksgiving — Pecan Pie Cookies. The other dessert I made was determined by the MSCupcake Group — our November Bonus Challenge — Applesauce-Spice Cupcakes.


I knew these were going to be a hit, as well as SUPER moist ('cause of the applesauce)! I was right! Another super easy and delicious recipe!


After reading, Martha's frosting recipe, I thought it would be too sweet, so I went with another one that I found on www.allrecipes.com. I thought this one was pretty good and not overly sweet. The ingredients are:
• 4 ounce cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey

cwf ::: Flourless Chocolate Cookies

Today's another double header post day. Be sure to come back later this afternoon to see my second Thanksgiving dessert.

In case you missed it, I joined another baking group last month. We're baking thru Chocolate Epiphany: Exceptional Cookies, Cakes, and Confections for Everyone by Francois Payard. Some of the recipes in the book are quite extravagant — to me, a little on the difficult side — but probably because I read thru the book rather quickly.

I got to choose this month's Chocolate w/Francois creation. I wasn't really up for a challenge yet so I chose something super quick & easy. As stated in the cookbook:

Their crackled surface gives them an elegant look, and because they're so easy and take barely any time [or effort] to make, they are great for last-minute entertaining. They have a slightly crunchy texture and a soft, almost brownie-like interior.

Enough said. These were awesome!

Ingredients:
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar
• pinch of salt
• 2 3/4 cups walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
• 4 large egg whites, room temp.
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Place a rack each in the upper and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Combine cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, salt and walnuts in the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for 1 minute. With the mixer running, slowly add the egg whites and vanilla. Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes, until the mixture has slightly thickened. Do not overmix it, or the egg whites will thicken too much.

With a 2 ounce cookie or ice scream scoop or a generous tablespoon, scoop the batter onto the prepared baking sheets, to make cookies that are 4 inches in diameter. Scoop 5 cookies on each pan, about 3 inches apart so they don't stick when they spread. If you have extra batter, wait until the first batch of cookies is baked before scooping the next batch.


Put the cookies in the oven, and immediately lower the temperature to 320 degrees F. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes, or until small thin cracks appear on the surgace of the cookies. Switch the pans halfway through baking. Pull the parchment paper with the cookies onto a wire rack, and let cool completely before removing the cookies from the paper. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 days.


NEXT MONTH: Pine Nut Turron Cake

ːcookie carnivalːPecan Pie Cookies

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving!
For the holidays, I take on the task of providing the dessert course of the meal, and it usually takes me a few days (to a few weeks) to come up with my dessert options. This year, I let my baking groups choose for me.

First up, Pecan Pie Cookies... (recipe can be found here)
which was the November recipe for the cookie carnival, chosen by Jen from Beantown Baker. As stated in the recipe, these cookies are "the flavors of pecan pie in a special thumbprint cookie."

And were they ever! Easy to put together, a cinch to bake and delicious!
(Be sure to come back on Monday afternoon to see the cupcakes I made for Thanksgiving.)

::SMS:: Raised Waffles with Warm Brown Sugar Bananas

"Leggo my eggo!?" Where ARE the eggos?

Have you heard about the Eggo shortage? Two months ago, they were on sale. Now, you can't even find them. Perfect timing for a Sweet Melissa recipe! Thank you Lauren of Fried Pickles and Ice Cream, who chose this Sunday's recipe.

I made these twice. Last weekend, was my first attempt. I started the batter the night before and in my haste, and a not-so-thorough read of the recipe, I tossed the eggs into the batter that night. In the morning, I added the baking soda and made the waffles. The batter was super-thin. It took me a few tries but I eventually got a normal looking waffle. The first two had a lot of holes in them. While my waffles were "rising," i made the brown sugar bananas.


THE VERDICT: I thought the waffles were bland, even with the brown sugar bananas. I LOVED the syrup though. Were my waffles flavorless because of my egg mishap? I dont know, but there was only one way to find out. Make them again (with some adjustments)!

~~~

Second Attempt

So yesterday, I did it again. The adjustments:
• Instead of 1 teaspoon of sugar, I used 2 teaspoons of cinnamon-sugar
• Instead of a pinch of nutmeg, I used 1/4 teaspoon
• Instead of adding in the eggs when I shouldn't have, I added them in the morning like i was suppose to.
• I added 2 teaspoons of vanilla when I added in the eggs.
• I pulled out my Belgian waffle maker.
• For the syrup: I omitted the alcohol altogether. Instead of 1/2 cup of maple syrup, I went with 1/4 cup of maple syrup + 2 tablespoons of honey. Instead of cooking the bananas in the syrup, I added them on top of my cooked waffle and then spooned the syrup on top.


THE VERDICT: Much tastier than the first time. The texture was about the same and I think I know why: my waffle maker's setting should be set slightly higher than what I had it on. I'm definitely going to make this again, using my 2nd version; perhaps, I'll even come up with something else. That's whats' great about these recipes, there are so many great variations!

Giveaway Winner!!!

YOU'RE ALL THE BESTEST — now I know how to increase traffic to my blog — host a giveaway! Wasn't this fun? It was fun for me to read all your comments and I thank you, thank you! I will definitely be hosting another giveaway soon.... maybe for Christmas? New Years? MY Birthday? You'll have to come back again and again to see what I'll do next, won't you?


And now the winner....
Using random.org

Congratulations, NINA!!! I'll be emailing you shortly for your mailing address. Check out Nina's blog, too, because we're in two of the same baking groups!

{MSC} (Candied) Sweet Potato Cupcakes

It's a double header post day! Today is the 15th of the month and what do we have? MS Cupcakes! Today is also Sweet Melissa Sunday... click here for my Butter Toffee Crunch.


I actually made these cupcakes two weeks ago for Megan's 2nd Birthday-Halloween Party. For the party, I made 1 dozen Chocolate Spiders, 1 dozen Vanilla Cupcakes and 1 dozen of these SWEET Potato Cupcakes. Took me two nights but I got it all done.



I made the sweet potato cupcakes the night before the party. As soon as they came out of the oven, I shoved one down my throat. OMG.... these were unbelievable! (I love sweet potato pie and after years of searching, I found a recipe my family and I fell in love with.) I cant even describe my love for THESE cupcakes. I regretted making the vanilla cupcakes because I surely should have made 2-3 dozen of these babies. They were HUGE hit at the party!


Martha Stewart suggests using a marshmellow topping for the cupcakes.... i guess for the "candied" part of the name. I think sweet potatoes are perfectly sweet so there was no need to add more sugar to the recipe (besides, there was already and overload of sugar on the table).... so I just made a whipped cream topping with 1-2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.

I can't post the recipe cause those are one of the rules to the MS Cupcake Club. If you want to make these, I suggest you go buy the cookbook because these cupcakes are definitely worth the price of the book! I thank all the MS Cupcake Bakers for baking with me this week and I hope you all enjoyed my pick. Be sure to check out everyone else's blogs -- click here for the list.

Don't forget to enter my Blogiversary Giveaway for your chance to win some cool colored cupcake liners -- all you have to do is leave a comment and you'll be automatically entered -- there are 2 days left!

::SMS:: Butter Toffee Crunch

Kaitlin of Kait’s Plate chose this weekend's SMS recipe: a candy recipe! I can't remember if i have EVER made candy before (besides caramel). I read this recipe over quite a few times. The first thing that caught my attention was that the recipe would yield THREE POUNDS of CANDY! Hubs is not a big candy eater, let alone candy with nuts — and I wasnt about to make 3 lbs of this stuff. I cut the recipe down — way down — to 1/4 of the recipe. According to my calculations, it would yield approximately 3/4 lb — still a lot of candy if you ask me.


You're suppose to use a rimmed cookie sheet or a jelly roll pan. All my cookie sheets are the "un-rimmed" kind and ummmmm.... I.... uh.... dont have a jelly roll pan. I do have a lot of 7" round aluminum cake pans and when I say a lot I mean I bought a case of these and have about 150 of these in the basement — hubs is not too fond of my side of the storage area.


I quickly made my candy in a round cake pan. When I mean quickly, I mean you have to work super fast during the time it takes your sugar to go from 280° F to 290° on a candy thermometer. One other adjustment I made (because I love almonds) is right before you add the chocolate, I added another handful of almonds (and I used slivered almonds).


The end result was one big hunk of candy and it was a little on the thick side too. I tried to break this by hand but got chocolate all over my fingers. The only thing I could find in my drawers that had substantial cracking power was my meat tenderizer! So I whacked it to bits.


I liked the toffee crunch a lot and its quite addicting. I might end up hating myself if I eat all this cause of what this is going to do to my teeth! If I smash this up some more this will work great as an ice cream topping too!

First Blogiversary & Giveaway

In 2004, I bought my first home. As soon as the kitchen was ready, I baked up a storm. In 2007, I got pregnant and the baking came to a halt. A year after my baby girl was born, I started baking again because I decided to bake her birthday cupcake. Pretty soon, friends asked me for recipes and urged me to blog about what I was doing in the kitchen.

Here we are --- 27,000+ hits, 130 blog entries, 4 baking groups (Sweet Melissa Sundays, MS Cupcakes, Cookie Carnival & Chocolate w/Francois) and a long list of blogger friends --- one year later!

I can't believe it's been a year already. I've baked, ate & shared so much --- wouldn't you think i'd be tired by now, especially with raising a toddler, who's been going thru her terrible twos since she was a year old --- NOT! I'm hooked! I can't stop. And I'm so glad you're all along for the ride with me.

So what's a blogiversary without a giveaway? To celebrate and to thank all of you, my dear friends, followers and blogging buddies, i'm hosting my first giveaway! One lucky person will receive this... a beautiful rainbow assortment of cupcake liners.


Just leave a comment and enter by 11/17/09. I'll randomly choose and announce the winner by 11/19/09. Good luck!

::SMS:: Apple Cranberry Muffins

After baking (& cooking) for my daughter's birthday party, one would think I'd be exhausted and take a break from baking for awhile, right? Yes and no. Yes, it WAS a little tiring but do I want to take a break? No. There's so much good stuff to bake & eat!

So here we are for another installment of SMS. Jennifer of Maple N’ Cornbread chose this week's recipe — PEAR Cranberry Muffins w/Gingersnap Crumble — which is a "spin-off" of a previous SMS recipe. You see, Melissa Murphy has a recipe for Sweet Muffins, and with that you can make just about any type of sweet muffin, using the basic dough. In August, we made Peach Muffins. Today, I made APPLE Cranberry Muffins.

I pretty much did the same thing I did last time:
• I made half the recipe.
• I used 3 tablespoons of heavy cream.
• This time, instead of using honey, I added 1 tablespoon of agave nectar.
• Instead of pears, I used apples because that's what I had.
• Instead of the gingersnap crumble topping I just topped the muffins with cinnamon sugar because I liked it a lot the last time I made these muffins. I liked these as much as I liked the Peach Muffins. These were good... nice and tart from the apples with just enough sweetness from the cinnamon and sugar.

Happy Birthday, Baby & Happy Halloween to All

First off, I'd like to apologize to Candace of Candy Girl and to all the other SMS Bakers for not making the Sweet Almond Bread Pudding this weekend. Please be sure to check out what they've done cause it's an easy recipe and I will make it one day.

This is why I've been slacking on my posts. I've been planning this for the past 2 weeks. My Baby's TWO!!! And to celebrate, we combined her birthday with Halloween.


Here's the rundown of the food:
Whole Wheat Pasta w/Turkey Sausage & Mushrooms for the kids
My dad made his Curried Chicken Empanadas
(both of which I totally forgot to take photos of)

Hot Artichoke/Spinach Dip
(Food Network's "Lighter" version)


Sandwich Platter from a great deli near our house


Can't have a birthday party without cupcakes and you cant have a Halloween party without something black or orange.... so I combined the two.




Chocolate Spider Cupcakes


Vanilla Cupcakes w/Vanilla Buttercream (tinted orange)




The Birthday Cupcake


The Birthday-Supergirl


Supergirl, eating her cupcake


Supergirl & Friends: