Pumpkin Cheesecakes for Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkins. Quite possibly the best thing about fall. Yep, pretty sure it is. Besides the fun of pumpkin patches and carving/decorating them, the puree is so fun to cook and bake with--it can go savory or sweet and tastes delicious no matter what! I made these individual pumpkin swirled cheesecakes for our pumpkin carving contest last weekend. The food was great, the time with family and friends was awesome and of course the carving was super fun!

my 2nd place carving--a haunted house, complete with a blinking light inside!

the recipe

makes 24 standard size cupcake cheesecakes

crust

1 cup crushed graham crackers (I used about 14 full graham crackers (20 squares) and used a mini food processor to get fine crumbs)

1/2 cup whole pecans chopped in mini food processor (or approximately 1/4 cup chopped pecans)

1/4 cup butter, melted

filling

2 (8oz) packages cream cheese (don't use fat free), softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cloves

topping

3/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

cinnamon for garnish

Mix together the graham crackers and pecans (I just put it all in my mini food processor and chopped it all together.) Add the melted butter and mix. Place a heaping teaspoon in lined muffin tins. Press down to make an even layer on the bottom of the liner.

Mix the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs. Mix in the pumpkin puree and spices until just combined.

Scoop the filling into the cups on top of the crust. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes until the sides are set, but the middle still wiggles a little (but isn't wet). Let set for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely.

Combine the sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Place a dollop on top of each cheesecake and garnish with cinnamon.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

Love: cupcakes and weddings

chocolate raspberry, vanilla, and pumpkin cupcakes

Alright, so I'm a little behind (like about a month) and I can't believe I completely forgot to post about a wedding I was honored to be a part of! It was my friends Samantha and Shane's wedding, and it was absolutely beautiful! It was a fall themed wedding, so a fall-flavored cupcake was a must! We finally decided on vanilla cupcakes, chocolate raspberry cupcakes, and pumpkin cupcakes with maple buttercream. Also, I made an 8inch red velvet cake as their cutting cake. Soooo after 5 batches of vanilla cupcakes, 5 batches of chocolate cupcakes, 1 batch of raspberry filling, 4 batches of pumpkin cupcakes, 15-ish (I lost count...) batches of swiss meringue buttercream, one red velvet cake, a few many hours, plus all the bridesmaid duties I successfully made and frosted over 350 cupcakes! Luckily, I had a pretty great assistant for some of the filling and frosting! Thanks Tracy :) I secretly think she just didn't want to help decorate the reception...haha...oh well, I'll take it!

The beautiful bride and me!

my wonderful assistant (and the maid of honor) Tracy and me

I'm sharing the pumpkin cupcake recipe, which would be a great treat during these crisp fall days, or as a nice change in pace for a Thanksgiving dessert. It is moist like a pumpkin cupcake should be, with a little extra spice, and finished perfectly with the smooth, creamy, and sweet maple buttercream. It was a bit of a challenge to make these cupcakes, as I realized a month before the wedding that there was a national pumpkin shortage. Hmmm...luckily I have a pretty awesome grandma, who scoured her town to find me some....and bought me about twice as many cans as asked for...so needless to say, I'm stocked for awhile! But no worries, I've heard that the shelves are once again stocked with pumpkin!

vanilla cupcakes decorated with sunflowers

red velvet cutting cake

cake table

Pumpkin Cupcakes (adapted from this recipe by David Leite)
Make 2 dozen


4 oz (1 stick) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I use fresh ground)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup pumpkin


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line pans with cupcake liners.
Beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt and black pepper. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the mixer. Add the vanilla to the buttermilk and alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Add the pumpkin and mix until just incorporated. Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full, they will not rise very much. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.


Maple Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
3 sticks plus 2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (quality is key!)


See this post for instructions, adding the maple syrup instead of the vanilla.


Once cupcakes are cooled, frost with the buttercream and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon.


Enjoy, and take a bite!

Monster Cookie Bars

A while ago when I was talking to my grandma on the phone, she mentioned that she had made these Monster Cookie bars and that they were super easy and really good. I always trust my grandmas judgement :) So 0f course I was intrigued and told her I wanted the recipe. So along came the recipe and a giant jar of Skippy peanut butter--I guess she thought I would want to make a lot :) Well I finally got around to making them and packaged some up to send to a friend and took the rest to Kansas City last weekend for tailgating at the ISU game! I got them packaged up so quick that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product...oops! They were quite delicious though, I knew my grandma wouldn't lead me astray! Just like monster cookies--moist, chocolately, and chewy--but with a little less work!

Monster Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup M&M's

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12x17 inch jelly roll pan. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter and mix until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the oats and mix well. Stir in the M&M's and chocolate chips by hand. Place dough in prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

Rustic Peach Cake

While visiting a friend in Nashville over the 4th of July holiday weekend, we had the opportunity to serve some of his friends down there by helping out a mom and her young children while their father was gone for a few weeks. My friend had called me before I left and asked if I would bring a few recipes to bake while we were there and him and the others were doing outside work. Of course I said yes, and brought a few trusted recipes and this new one to try. I figured while we were in the south, we had to make something with peaches! I had this cake on my "to-make" list for a while, and now it is going in my book as a recipe I love! Light and moist, fruity and buttery. Beautiful and delicious, easy and nutritious...hey, it has some fruit in it :)

Rustic Peach Cake

from Cook's Country, June/July 2008 issue

peaches

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 medium peaches, pealed, pitted and cut into wedges

cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup dried peaches or apricots, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9-inch springform pan. (I had to use a 10-inch, as that's all there was and it worked fine.) Combine sugar and cinnamon in bowl, reserve 2 tbsp mixture. Add peaches to bowl and toss to coat.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. On medium high speed, beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until incorporated. Reduce speed to medium low. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pan. Scatted dried peaches or apricots over batter.

Arrange sugared peaches in circular pattern over the top, reserved 3 slices for the center. Sprinkle reserved sugar mixture over peaches.

Bake until cake is golden brown, and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-45 minutes. Cool for one hour. Serve...enjoy, and take a bite!

a little blogging hiatus...but definitely not a baking one!

It's been a little over a month since my last post...I guess I could blame the BEAUTIFUL Minnesota weather we've been having. I have not stopped baking (when could I ever...) but with the nice weather I have spent more time outside, have been a lot busier at work and have seemed to have something going on every night for a while...apparently I'm reverting to my college days a little quicker than I expected! But, I have made quite a few delicious things for some parties, barbeques and family events that I'll be sharing very soon! I'm travelling for work this week, so I actually have some down time at night and hopefully can get some good recipes shared :)



Way back at the beginning of May I co-planned a bachelorette party for my awesome friend Jenn, who actually got married last Saturday...so needless to say it was another eventful weekend! Anyway, I of course went a wee bit overboard on the treats I brought--cupcakes and cookies and bars and muffins. Uff-da. I guess I just have all these ideas of what I want to bring and can't narrow it down! The cupcakes were cream filled chocolate cupcakes with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. The cupcakes were moist and had a great chocolate flavor with a suprise of sweet marshmallow-y cream in the middle. The frosting definitely is another winner! I can't seem to make anything else...and just keep finding ways to modify it to fit what I want to make. Definitely great for a girl's night...all we really need is chocolate...and cream :)

Marshmallow Cream Filling

(modified from this recipe)

2 tsp hot water

1/4 tsp salt

1 (7 oz) container marshmallow cream

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla

(I used butter instead of shortening even though it wasn't as bright of white and a little more vanilla)

Dissolve the salt in the water in a medium sized bowl. Add the marshmallow cream, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla and mix on low speed with a hand mixer until combined. Beat on high until light and fluffy.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Use the swiss meringue buttercream recipe found here, and add 4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate that has cooled a little to the frosting at the end.

Assembly: While cupcakes are baking, prepare the filling and frosting. After the cupcakes have cooled, place the filling in a pastry bag with a wide circle tip. Poke it into eac cupcake and squeeze until filled. Swirl the buttercream on top, enjoy and take a bite :)

ps...will update later with some pictures...

Wedding Bliss!

the cake stands on each table

Brooke and I with some cupcakes :)

So it's been a while since my last post, but I have a good reason! I was preparing for, making, and decorating cupcakes for a wedding I did the weekend before last (April 9)....then I guess I was just in recovery mode last week ;) The cupcake baking went really smoothly....the filling not so much...but the decorating went better than I expected! Everything ended up turning out fine! Even the two hour drive only caused a few cupcake fatalities :) I was so blessed to be making these cupcakes for my sister's (and my) friend Brooke. She was a beautiful bride and it brings me joy that I could help make her special day complete!

the "cake table"

The cupcakes I made were:

White chocolate raspberry with swiss meringue buttercream (top)

Chocolate mocha with mocha filling and frosting (bottom right)

Red Velvet with buttercream and chocolate ganache (bottom left)

my apartment cupcake operation :)

I'm going to share my swiss meringue buttercream recipe on my blog. I was definitely scared to make this because I had tried it once before and failed, but after reading in depth about it I realized what I thought was failure was actually supposed to happen :) So, take my word for it...it's not as hard as it looks.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

will frost 24 cupcakes or a double layer round cake

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

3 sticks plus 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1-1 1/2 tsp vanilla (or other flavoring)

Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in a metal bowl (I use my metal bowl that goes with my Kitchen-Aid mixer) and place over a double boiler.

Continue whisking and heat until the sugar is dissolved and not grainy....I feel it between my fingers. Place bowl on the mixer (or transfer to your mixing bowl) and use the whisk attachment to beat the egg whites and sugar until white and approximately double in volume.

The mixture should stay in place when you remove the whisk from the bowl (but not to stiff peaks). Switch to the paddle attachment. Cut the sticks of butter into pieces, and add it about a stick at a time and keep beating! It is ESSENTIAL that the butter is at room temperature. If it isn't, it will not incorporate correctly! When you're adding the butter is the time that it might look a little soupy and gross.

DON'T THROW IT OUT, JUST KEEP BEATING!! It might also look a little "bubbly" but it will eventually come together and be smooth, buttery, velvety, etc...all those good things!

Mine took only 3-4 minutes to come together, but on some websites I was researching it on, I read it could take up to 10 minutes! Just be patient, and you'll be rewarded :)

Enjoy, and take a bite!

Truffles...oh so EASY!

Truffles, like a lot of candy making can be intimidating. VERY intimidating.

Even for someone like me...a kind of self-proclaimed "foodie"...I have always been a little scared...or I guess more apprehensive of trying to make them. In order to find a winning recipe to start my truffle adventure with, I went to the most reliable baking/cooking/candy source I know--Betty Crocker :)

I have now found out what I have been missing all this time! There is absolutely nothing to be scared of. As long as you can be patient and attentive, there is no way you can mess it up! I made them for the first time to take to a girl's day with some friends...I figured chocolate would go over well! I loved them so much, I made a different variation to give to a friend for her birthday last Tuesday. They're just so super easy and fancy....love it!

So, for the recipe :)

Chocolate Truffles

(adapted from Betty Crocker's Marvelous Chocolate Truffles)

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips or 12 oz. semisweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

4 Tbsp. butter

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

sprinkles, nuts, other toppings

Melt chocolate, heavy whipping cream, and butter in a heavy saucepan on low heat or over a double boiler.

Once completely melted, cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until firm, stirring occasionally. Take out and scoop and roll into balls. Place on foil or wax paper lined baking sheet. Freeze for at least 30 minutes. Take out and dip in melted chocolate or peanut butter chips. Sprinkle toppings over melted chocolate shell before it cools.

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffles

(adapted from the BHG New Cookbook)

1 cup dark chocolate chips

2 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream

6 Tablespoons seedless raspberry preserves or jam

cocoa powder, chopped nuts, sprinkles, edible glitter, other toppings

In a double boiler or in a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt the dark chocolate chips and heavy cream together. Remove from heat and stir in seedless raspberry preserves. Allow to cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until firm, stirring occasionally. Using a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon, portion the truffle mixture and roll into balls. Place on foil or wax paper lined baking sheet. Place in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and roll in toppings.

My personal fav is the red one in the back...rolled in EDIBLE GLITTER...yes there is such a thing...A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Enjoy, and take a bite!