Apple Cupcakes

Good morning! I'm soaking up the last month of my favorite season! I love everything fall! The trees, the leaves, the orchards, the weather, the hoodies, the campfires. It's so fun! And not to mention the  fall themed food that go right along with this season, all things caramel, cinnamon, apple, cider, nutmeg, and pumpkin. It's literally all my favorite things.

So in celebration of my favorite season, I made some fall treats for my husband's work. His coworkers do this tradition called a friendship plate. The staff is divided up into list and each list gets cute dish which the first person must fill with sweet treats and then pass to another person on your list. After you enjoy your treats, you fill up the plate with sweets and pass it on to someone else. By the end of the year everyone has been gifted a dish of goodies. Isn't that so sweet?

In honor of fall I made snickerdoodle blondies, which were heavenly to say the least. Yes, I did try some of the scraps before wrapping up the rest of them and yes, I will post the recipe soon. And I made cupcakes shaped like apples. This is so easy and so cute, I had to share how to make your own apple cupcakes on here. 

 The cupcakes can be homemade, box, whatever. I happened to get a caramel apple box mix on sale for 88 cent last week so I cheated this time. I added cinnamon and caramel extract to help it out. Then choose your favorite icing and simply spread it on evenly to make a nice dome shape. 

Now here's the fun part. Take white sugar and put it in a ziploc bag. Add a few drops of red gel food coloring. Zip the bag and smush! Knead the sugar, toss the sugar. Just keep mixing it until all the dye has been well mixed into the sugar and the sugar is now completely red.  
Then pour the sugar in a small, shallow bowl (I used a coffee cup) and dip the frosted cupcake in upside down, paying attention to fully cover all the icing with red sugar. 

When you are done insert a popsicle and add a green mini m+m for decoration and there you go.

Rum Raisin Cinnamon Scones

For the month of October, we were challenged to make scones by Jaida from Sweet Beginnings! I'm a big fan of starbucks cinnamon chip scones so I immediately decided to try to make something like that and they turned out fantastic.  However my husband requested scones with raisins so I combined two recipes to make one awesome scone, rum raisin cinnamon scone! And it turned out delicious!!

Scones:

2 cups flour

3 tbsp brown sugar

2tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, cold

2/3 cup whole milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp rum

1 egg

1/2 cup raisins

Filling:

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp heavy cream, and some more for brushing

Icing:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tbsp heavy cream

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp corn syrup

1. Mix all dry ingredients for scones together in a large bowl.  Cut in cold butter using a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture resembles course crumbs.

2. Add in extracts, milk, egg, and rum. Mix well. Gently fold in raisins. Pour mixture onto a large piece of wax paper to form a rectangle (about 5 by 10 inches).

3. Mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and heavy cream in a small bowl for filling. Spread across the top of half the scone dough.

4. Using the wax paper, fold the dough in half by putting the dry scone dough over the side with filling. Press dough down sealing in the filling and stretching the dough out into a large 12 by 6 inches rectangle.

5. Using a sharp knife dipped in flour, cut the rectangle into 8 squares and then cut each square diagonally to make 16 triangle scones.

6. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and brush with cream. Bake on 400 degrees for 13-16 mins.

7. While scones cool, make icing by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Drizzle icing over scones and let it set.

Sources: Adapted from Stella B's Kitchen and Created by Diane

Italian Butter Cookies

As long as I can remember I have had a love for these cookies. It's truly closer to an obsession. Like I could eat a lot of them. Especially the chocolate dipped shells and the sandwich ones! When I was little, my Dad took me to this adorable bakery every Sunday after church and let me get four cookies of my choosing. And every week I got some variation of these cookies! It was my special father-daughter date time with Daddy. We would drive home from church while I munched on the cookies and I would just yap on and on about life while my dad just listened. It's still one of my all time favorite memories. The bakery closed many years ago and last month it was knocked down. But even now when I drive by all I think about is driving home from church with my Dad and my cookies.

So after years of searching and trying out recipes, I found a fantastic recipe which is as close as possible to the cookies from this bakery. They are simple butter cookies that start with an almond paste base. You can find them at almost any bakery in NJ or NY, but I have never mastered them myself until recently. And I have the approval of one of my best friends, who is also addicted to these cookies, and  from everyone at the bridal shower of a close friend, so they were a total hit!

The real difference I learned with other recipes and attempts was whether to use butter or shortening. It ends up the recipe I found uses both, butter and shortening, as well as almond paste to make a great mixture of flavor and texture. This cookie is both crumbly but not too dry and just melts in your mouth. Hope you love these as much as I do!

For this month's What's Baking challenge, Nicole, from Seven ate Nine, choose Italian theme and I was thrilled! Being fully Italian and growing up cooking, eating, and loving all things Italian, this is my favorite challenge yet. So I am here to share the best Italian butter cookie recipe I have found! Mangia!



1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup plus 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar (sifted)
4 egg whites
3 oz almond paste
pinch of salt
1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder (optional)

Optional toppings and decorations:
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped and 1/3 cup heavy cream (for making ganache)
sprinkles
maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half
jams

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment, beat just the almond paste on medium high until it becomes soft. (Wish I had the homemade kind, but I just used the canned one) Then add the butter and shortening and continue to cream them all together. *It is important that the butter is room temp

2. Add in the confectioners' sugar while mixing on medium to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Continue by adding in egg whites and extracts slowly and keep mixing on medium. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

4.  Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) together in the mixer until blended in and stop. If you would like all or part of your dough to be chocolate, add in cocoa powder. I made half of mine chocolate and kept half vanilla.

5. Fit pastry bag with a large star tip and fill with dough. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Begin to pipe star, shells,  or fingers. Try to keep your baking sheets with similar shapes to not alter cooking time, because the thicker and bigger cookies will of course bake slightly longer.
*If making star/rosette shapes cookies, you can add a maraschino cherry to the center of each cookie or cover with sprinkles.

6. Bake cookies in 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from sheets and let completely cool on drying racks.

7. Now onto decorating, the fun part! For the star/rosette cookies they were decorated before baking with sprinkles or a cherry. The fingers are traditionally done with either jam or chocolate ganache filling, but feel free to experiment with your own ideas. I used a raspberry preserve in a ziploc bag with a small cut on the tip to fill the vanilla fingers. Just squeeze the jam in the middle of the flat side of the cookie and then place another flat side down on top to make a sandwich. For the chocolate fingers, I used chocolate ganache. It is made my simply heating whipping cream in microwave for approx. 2-3 minutes until hot then pouring over chopped chocolate. Allow it to sit for 4 minutes then stir until smooth and thick. Using a spoon, I spread the ganache in the middle of the finger cookie and top some of the vanilla finger cookies. The shells are simply dipped in the remaining ganache and then sprinkled. Allow all the cookies with ganache to set fully.

My favorites were the vanilla shells with ganache and sprinkles, vanilla fingers with raspberry jam, chocolate fingers
with chocolate ganache, and chocolate rosettes with maraschino cherries. Enjoy! What are your favorite kinds! If you make a variation of this recipe or try new shapes and toppings, please share them! I love to see new inventions of old favorites. My next project, might be cream cheese (cheesecake like) filling.



Source: Woodland Bakery in Chatham, NJ's website

Irish Carbomb Cupcakes

For this month's What's Baking Challenge, Angela from The Tiny Tyrant's Kitchen were asked to bake your favorite cocktail. And I had made these cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day and they were a huge hit! So I decided to feature them here. They are cupcakes made up of Guinness chocolate stout cake, Jameson chocolate ganache, and Bailey's Irish cream buttercream. The picture below is from St. Patrick's day when I had made a variation. Some cupcakes regular size and also some mini cupcakes with a chocolate ganache topped with sprinkles and toffee and white chocolate cinnamon sugar pretzels. My husband brought the mini ones into work and everyone went crazy for them! Hope you enjoy it!

For the cupcakes:

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2  eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

For the ganache:

8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tsp Irish whiskey

For the frosting:

3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperate
3 tbsp Baileys
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk (if needed for thinning)


For cupcakes:
1. Melt butter in a large saucepan and then add stout beer. Let simmer for a minute and then whisk in cocoa powder. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat eggs and sour cream on low. Add in chocolate stout mixture.

4. On low speed, gradually add in the dry ingredient mixture.

5. Line cupcake pan and spoon batter in cups til 3/4 full. Bake on 350 degrees for 16-18 minutes. Let cool completely.


For ganache:
1. Place chocolate in a glass bowl. Heat heavy cream until simmering and then pour over chocolate. Let sit for 3 or 4 minutes to melt the chocolate.

2. Whisk until smooth. Stir in the whiskey. Let cool to thicken.

3. To prepare the cupcakes for the ganache filling, take a small pairing knife and cut out a cone shaped piece of cake from the center of the cupcake top.

4. Use a tiny cookie scoop or piping bag to fill the cupcakes with ganache.

For frosting:
1. Cream the butter on high until fluffy.

2. Add the powdered sugar gradually.

3. Pour in Bailey's and vanilla. If the frosting is your desired, spreadable consistency then it's ready. If it is too thick add a tbsp or two of milk to thin it out or if it is too thin add a tbsp or two of powdered sugar.

4. Use a knife to spread your frosting on cupcakes or fill a piping bag with a your desired tip and frost cupcakes. Decorate with mini chocolate chips, a chocolate drizzle, nuts, etc. Whatever you like!


Source: adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Mini Snickerdoodle Sandwiches

 

This month I had the privilege of hosting the What's Baking Challenge and I chose for all the participants to bake mini or bite-sizes treats. I don't know if you love all things cute and petite, but I do! A mini cupcake or mini donut is just so adorable as well as tasty! So for April's What's Baking challenge, I decided to make mini cookie sandwiches. And my husband was craving snickerdoodles terribly so that was decided.

 

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2¾ cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 quart ice cream, vanilla or caramel
lollipop sticks

1. Beat softened butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy.

2. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating after each one.

3. Add in vanilla and beat for a moment to incorporate.

4. Mix flour, cream of tartar, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl. Slowly add the dry flour mixture to your batter continually beating.

5. Combine cinnamon and sugar in small bowl or cup.

6. Pinch very small dime sized balls of dough and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture until fully covered.

7. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes on 350 degrees.

8. Let cookies completely cool on drying racks. Take out the ice cream to soften while cookie cool.

9. Then take softened ice cream and spread onto one cookie and press second cookie on top of ice cream. Or if you'd like to have cookie sandwiches on a stick, insert a lollipop stick into the ice cream before placing the second cookie. You will want to keep these in the freezer until time to eat!

 

Source: Lovin' From the Oven

Brownie Strawberry Trifle

For this month's What's Baking challenge hosted by Sandra from She Cooks and Bakes, we were challenged to make something with Valentine's Colors, of course, because it's February. February is the all about love in our house because it's also the month of our anniversary! So I loved this theme! Unfortunately, I had high ambitions for making cupcakes that mimicked our wedding cake and they were a fail. A tasty fail though. The cupcakes baked with an air pocket in the middle and the bottoms were a bit stuck. So we ate them with forks. I guess we will put that on a try again another time list.



Since the cupcakes were a fail, I went with a something different that I knew to be a tried and true recipe. The baker's chocolate brownie recipe. I've used it many times before and it has always turns out well. It was used for these mini brownies previously and they were yummy! I added some fresh whipped cream, strawberries, and chocolate to turn those brownies into a cute Valentine's trifle. This could either make one large trifle or a bunch of individual trifles. I opted for individual, because I love all things cute, small, and personal sized. Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day!




4 squares unsweetened Chocolate
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 pint strawberries
1 bag heart shaped marshmallows
6 oz dark chocolate
1 oz white chocolate (for drizzling)

1. Start by making brownies first. Melt the chocolate squares and butter in medium sized bowl in the microwave for about two minutes or until melted. Stir until thoroughly mixed together. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. Transfer chocolate mixture to a mixing bowl and add in sugar. Beat to incorporate.

3. Add in eggs and vanilla on low. Mix in flour and nuts until well blended.

4. Grease a foil lined 13" x 9" pan and pour batter into prepared pan. Bake the brownies for 30-35 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let cool. Remove and cut into chunks.

5. To make the whipped cream, start by placing your mixing bowl in the freezer for a few minutes. Then add cold heavy cream to your chilled bowl. Whip the cream on medium speed until it begins to thicken.

6. Add in confectioner's sugar and vanilla while continuing to beat on medium. Keep whipping until soft peaks forms. Reserve a handful of strawberries with the pointiest shape. Slice the rest of the strawberries lengthwise.

7. In your cup or trifle bowl, make a base of brownie chunks. Then add a dollop of whipped cream. Next, sprinkle strawberry slices on trifle, placing some slices flat against the bowl's side for appearance. Now add another dollop of whipped cream, with some heart shaped marshmallows placed against the side of the bowl.

8. Finish with a decorative strawberry heart *how to make chocolate strawberry hearts directions below*. Repeat layering in remaining trifle cups, about 15-20 depending on size of vessel.

9. To make a strawberry heart, take the reserved strawberries and cut in half lengthwise. Then make a v-cut in the top. Ta da two cute hearts from one strawberry!

10. Melt chocolate in microwave on 15 seconds intervals stirring repeatedly until melted.

11. Spoon chocolate onto one side of strawberries. Let set, then flip and spoon chocolate onto other side too. Microwave white chocolate in similar fashion and then drizzle over chocolate strawberry hearts. Let set and use for garnish.



Source: Kraft Recipes

Salted Caramel Pie

For this January's What's Baking Challenge, we were asked by Melissa from I Was Born to Cook, to make a snowy day sweet, which couldn't have come at a more perfect time since we just had a lil snow storm locally. My favorite part of a snow day, is cuddling inside with some warm blankets and a few good movies, and or course, some festive baking. This is a great snow day treat since the sweet and slightly salty pie is simple to make and you can't stop eating it!

1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 5 ounces)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 cans sweetened condensed milk (14 oz)
Fleur de sel
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar




1. In a small bowl, mix the graham crackers crumbs with the melted butter and brown sugar.

2. Press the crumb mixture into a 9" pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and let cool.

3. In a large glass 13" x 9" baking dish, add the sweetened condensed milk. Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp fleur de sel on top of the sweetened condensed milk. Cover with foil.

4. Place the baking dish into a large roasting pan and pour hot water into the roasting pan until about 1/3 up the way of the baking dish.

5. Place in a 425 degree oven for 2 hours, stirring two or three times throughout the cooktime. Continue to replenish the hot water in the roasting pan as needed.

6. Once the condensed milk has taken on a golden caramel color and thickened as well, remove it from the oven. The mixture may be lumpy, but don't worry it will smooth out as it cools.

7. Spoon the caramel into prepared pie crusts and cover by pressing plastic wrap sprayed with vegetable oil on top of the pie. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

8. Whip heavy cream with powdered sugar until light and fluffy, then pile high the fresh made whipped cream onto the pie and serve!



Source: Food And Wine