Happy Halloween!

Here are some pumpkin spice cupcakes with butterscotch maple frosting. Hope everyone has a lovely holiday!

Mom's Birthday Cake

My family and I celebrated my mom's birthday recently, and as per usual for our family gatherings, they requested I make a cake. I went with a simple almond cake, frosted with a cocoa & amaretto cream Swiss meringue buttercream. It was excellent! The almond & amaretto flavors were strong, but not overwhelming. And most importantly, my mom loved it.

Pumpkin, Three Ways

When I first heard about the pumpkin shortage this year, I ran to my local supermarket and snatched up as many cans of pumpkin purée as I could find. I just can't imagine the fall holidays without the stuff! (And yeah, I know true foodies cook down their own pumpkin, but what can I say, I'm lazy and I don't notice enough of a difference in the taste of the two to warrant the work of making my own purée.)

I have a ton of the stuff sitting on my shelves now, just begging to be used. I've already made pumpkin cupcakes, bread, and muffins this fall, but I wasn't sure what to make after that. I definitely wanted to try something different, though. Fortunately, almost all of the food blogs I read have published pumpkin-themed recipes this month because, well, 'tis the season. I decided to give three recipes I'd seen recently a try, and boy, am I glad I did!

First, I made these savory pumpkin cheddar biscuits, from the blog Slashfood:


I didn't make too many changes to this recipe -- I just added a little extra garlic and some fresh garlic chives to the dough, and some extra shredded cheese on top. Also, if you're anti-Bisquick, you could try making a homemade version of the baking mix, or playing around with adding pumpkin to a from-scratch drop biscuit recipe.

Next up were these delicious pumpkin brownies from Baking Bites:


I used walnuts in these instead of pecans, because I didn't have any of the latter in the house. Also, because I'm not crazy about the flavor of cloves, I cut that down to 1/8 teaspoon. I added in a little ground ginger (probably about 1/8 teaspoon) as well. In addition, because I had some left over from another recipe, I sprinkled both milk chocolate and butterscotch chips into the brownie batter. These were phenomenal!

Finally, check out these pumpkin pie bars from Joy the Baker. These were gobbled up so quickly that I didn't even have time to take a picture of them. They would be fabulous for both Halloween AND Thanksgiving.

Do you have any other favorite pumpkin recipes? I am thinking of trying my hand at making some sort of pumpkin pasta or pasta sauce next. Maybe soup, but it'd have to be an amazing pumpkin soup to compete with the killer butternut squash soup recipe I already make!

Recipe: Caramel Apple Crisp

Above you'll find a slideshow of a step-by-step illustrated guide to making my caramel apple crisp. It's one of my favorite fall desserts. Hope you enjoy!

(P.S. - Click on the "Caramel Apple Crisp set" link to go to the set's Flickr page. Each photo there will have accompanying recipe instructions when you click on individual photo pages.)

Stuffed Acorn Squash

The onslaught of not one, but TWO nor'easters this weekend has brought windy, rainy, and unseasonably cold weather to my part of the Northeast U.S. And what better remedy is there than a hearty, cold-weather dish like stuffed acorn squash?


(Apologies for the crummy cell phone capture, by the way. My ancient camera is not being too cooperative lately.)

This delicious meal is actually quite easy to make. Just take two acorn squash, cut them in half lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds and the pulp. Put them in a large roasting pan, drizzle 'em with some olive oil, and season with salt & pepper. Roast them in a hot oven (I set mine for 425˚F) for about a half-hour, or until they're just becoming fork-tender.

While the squash is roasting, brown a package of ground turkey in a large pan. Add chopped garlic (8-10 cloves), shallots (2-3), and mushrooms (I used 1 package of white button mushrooms), and saute until they're soft. Season with salt, pepper, and a little parsley.

Remove the squash from the oven and scoop the meat & veggie mixture into each one. Top with some grated cheese (I find a mild cheese works best). Pop it back into the oven until the squash is soft to your liking, and the cheese is melted and bubbly. Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Can you tell that autumn is my favorite season? These are standard vanilla cupcakes with caramel bits and Granny Smith apples baked inside, and Swiss meringue buttercream with a caramel sauce drizzle. I brought these along to a friend's birthday party, and they got rave reviews. That really pleased me; I was worried the cupcakes wouldn't come out that well. The recipe I used is one I recently created, but had not tested. Thank goodness they came out so well on the first try!

Baileys Chocolate Cheesecake

This was my very attempt at making a cheesecake. I was fortunate that it turned out so well!


This cheesecake has a chocolate graham cracker crust, Baileys-flavored filling, and a chocolate drizzle on top. Cheesecakes are a lot more labor-intensive than my standard dessert fare of cupcakes, but they're worth it. Some tips:

• Let the ingredients come to room temperature. Especially the cream cheese. It needs to be super-soft to blend without leaving lumps in the batter.


• Use full-fat ingredients. This is not the time or place to bring out the reduced-fat cream cheese from the depths of your fridge.


• Definitely make the extra effort to bake your cheesecake in a water bath. I've never had any cracks in my cheesecakes, and I'm pretty sure it's because I always use a water bath.


• Be careful not to overbake the cheesecake. Get an oven thermometer to ensure your oven is pre-heating to the right temperature. And leave the cheesecake in the oven only for the time specified by the recipe. The cheesecake might not look done when you pull it out (it may jiggle in the center), but it will set as it cools.


• Let your cheesecake chill overnight in the fridge before serving it!

So, I am thinking next time I make this, I might use the chocolate mint flavor of Baileys instead, and add crushed Andes mints on top for garnish. What do you think?

Pears, Honey, and Cinnamon

My awesome Central Jersey town runs a weekly farmers' market during the summer and early fall, and despite being within walking distance from it, I only checked it out for the first time last week. Sadly, it was also the market's last day for this year. But I scored a lovely assortment of locally-grown & locally-made breads, cheeses, veggies, and fruits. Among my haul was a number of pears that I peeled & diced, then cooked on the stove top with some butter and sugar (brown and white) until they were soft and covered in a nice, thick syrup. Naturally, I decided to make cupcakes out of the pear mixture. You can never go wrong with cupcakes, right?


These are pear cupcakes, with honey cinnamon Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. The pears were SO flavorful in the cupcake -- they did not disappoint. Also, this was my very first attempt with SMB frosting, and I have to say, it did not turn out to be the disaster I thought it would be. I liked it a lot better than traditional buttercream. And I think I might substitute ginger for the cinnamon in the frosting next time, just to see how it pairs with the pears and honey.

Pumpkin Bread

Nothing screams "autumn" like a batch of pumpkin quick bread, am I right?


This particular version contains both chopped walnuts, and a layer of sweetened cream cheese filling. But you could leave either one (or both) out if you prefer.

The little pumpkin-shaped breads came about courtesy of a ghost-and-pumpkin pan I picked up at Michaels. It was perfect for the little bit of leftover batter I had!

Tis the Season... For Apple-Picking!

I made these for Thanksgiving last year:


These are apple spice cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. And sure, you can make them from scratch. But if you're feeling super-lazy, here's a faster recipe: just combine a box of spice cake mix, 1 can of apple pie filling, 2 eggs, and a teaspoon of vanilla, and bake your cupcakes as directed. I prefer homemade to canned frosting, but you could always use the canned stuff. Just toss a teaspoon or two of cinnamon into your frosting. Yum!

October Means Pumpkins!

Pumpkin white chocolate chip cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, anyone?


Happy first day of October! My favorite time of year is upon us. The air is crisp and cool, the leaves are changing colors, and pumpkins are cropping up all over the place. To celebrate, here's a photo of pumpkin white chocolate chip cupcakes I made a few years ago, when I first got into cupcake baking. I'm looking forward to a lot of fall baking this year!