Pumpkin Gooey Butter Bars

November is flying by and, sadly for the turkeys and leaf garlands, Thanksgiving is getting passed up.  While I may be guilty of already decorating for Christmas (my tree is lit and sparkling at this very moment!) I definitely haven't forgotten about the Thanksgiving desserts.  I love pumpkin and these pumpkin gooey butter bars are a great new addition to the recipe book.  With just a couple little tweaks to Paula Deen's recipe, don't worry I didn't take out any of the butter, I had a pan of easy to share and even easier to eat pumpkin pie-esque bars of goodness.  Thanks to the richness of the stick, or two, of butter and the warm spice of pumpkin, these bars flew out of the pan before I could blink and the recipe requests are streaming in at about the same pace.  Though there are doubters, I promise this was an easy bake that ended with more butter wrappers to trash than dishes to wash.  An extra bonus of this tasty treat is the wonderful holiday smell of it baking in the oven, and it was even better than the smell of my candles because I got to eat it...lots of it!  So, if you're like me and are already counting down to Christmas, take a moment and save some room in your stomach for these festive fall pumpkin gooey butter bars.

Ingredients
1 box               Yellow Cake mix
1                     egg
1/2 cup            butter
15 oz               Libby's Pumpkin Pie Filling
8 oz                cream cheese, softened
3                    eggs
1 tbsp             vanilla
1/2 cup           butter
2 cups            powdered sugar
Plus extra powdered sugar for decoration.

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Spray 13x9in baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
3.  Melt 1/2 cup butter.
4.  Mix yellow cake mix, 1 egg, and melted butter until consistency similar to cookie dough.

5.  Press mixture into baking pan, evenly covering bottom of pan.

6.  Melt 1/2 cup butter.
7.  Mix pumpkin pie filling and softened cream cheese until smooth.
8.  Mix in 3 eggs and vanilla.
9.  Mix in melted butter.
10.  Mix in powdered sugar.
11.  Pour pumpkin batter evenly over dough in pan.

12.  Bake for 50-55 minutes, making sure not to overcook so it stays gooey!
13.  Let cool, just a little, and enjoy :)

Pumpkin, gooey, and butter...three great words and one fabulous Thanksgiving dessert!  Happy early Turkey Day and happy baking :)

Trick or Treat! Spooktacular Halloween Cookies

I love an excuse to bake and frost cookies, and Halloween is the perfect one right about now.  There are witches, ghosts, monsters, jack-o-lanterns and so many other spooky inspirations lurking about.  A few drops of food coloring and festive treats can turn the standard sugar cookie into the perfect Halloween sweet.  It's definitely a bit of a process, but that's the best part!  With a baseball game in the background, I whipped up the cookie dough, took a break for it to chill, then rolled and cut out my cookies.  After they cooled, I turned on a good movie, got comfy in my chair, and covered the table with trays of cookies, bowls of frosting, and lots and lots of sprinkles, chocolate chips, and m&m's.  So pick a movie, clear your space, and gather your goodies for some Halloween baking to get you in the trick or treating spirit!

Sugar Cookie Ingredients
1 cup            butter
1 1/2 cups      sugar
3                  eggs
1 tsp             vanilla
3 1/2 cups     flour
1 tsp             baking soda
1/4 tsp          salt

1.  Cream together butter and sugar.
2.  Mix in eggs.
3.  Mix in vanilla.
4.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt).
5.  Form dough into a ball, place in bowl and cover with cling wrap.
6.  Chill for 3-4 hours...this is the hard part!
7.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
8.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
9.  Start with half the chilled cookie dough and leave the other half in the fridge.
10.  Flour rolling surface and rolling pin.
11.  Roll out cookie dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
12.  Flour cookie cutters and cut out dough.
13.  Place cut out cookies on cookie tray with a little bit of space for spreading.
14.  Bake 6-8 minutes.
15.  Let cool and of course taste one or two to avoid any tricks!

Buttercream Frosting
1/2 cup            butter
About 1 cup     powdered sugar
1 tsp                vanilla
Splashes of milk for consistency
* All ingredients can be adjusted to get the desired consistency of frosting

1.  Cream together butter and sugar.
2.  Mix in vanilla.
3.  Mix in small splashes of milk until frosting is just right.

Divide your frosting, mix your colors, pick your toppings and happy decorating!

pumpkins, ghosts, and witches, oh my!

ghosts in the moonlight

witching hour

going batty

peppy pumpkins

Happy Happy Halloween!!!

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate; yum, yum, yum :)  Chocolate is a good start to anything, and three times the chocolate is three times as good!  These cookies have chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, and chocolate/cocoa powder.  They taste just like eating a chocolate bar but with a perfectly soft cookie texture.  These were quick to bake and quickly gone.  A sprinkle of powdered sugar was the finishing touch to make these cookies Black and White Party ready.  The triple chocolate cookies were a great compliment to our outfits and deco, and will definitely be making more party appearances...and lazy day ones too!

Ingredients
1 cup           butter
1 1/4 cups     sugar
2                 eggs
1/2 cup        cocoa powder
2 1/4 cups    flour
1/4 tsp         salt
1 tsp            baking powder
1 bag           milk chocolate chips
A few squeezes of Hershey's chocolate syrup
Plus powdered sugar to complete the ensemble

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3.  Cream together butter and sugar.
4.  Mix in eggs.
5.  Mix in cocoa powder.
6.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder).
7.  Mix in a few squeezes of chocolate syrup.
8.  Mix in chocolate chips.

9.  Place golf ball-sized scoops of dough (thanks to my little ice cream scoop!) onto cookie sheets.

10.  Bake 10 minutes.
11.  Let cookies cool slightly and dust with powdered sugar.

12.  Get your chocolate fix while they last!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting

I'm back :) and taking a giant leap from sugar-free to sugar-full!
You can never go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie, and there's not a thing wrong with turning the classic favorite into a cupcake smothered in brown sugar frosting.  This chocolate chip cookie cupcake combines the familiar flavor of the cookie with the fluffy texture of a cupcake.  And the sprinkles on top (I don't like those sundae cherries!) is the brown sugar frosting that tastes just like cookie dough.  Have the brown sugar and your packing spoon ready because this recipe calls for quite a bit of it.  With every spoonful of brown sugar, my stomach growled a touch louder and I could hardly wait for the final product...and I didn't.  I couldn't resist eating the brown sugar frosting straight out of the bowl.  Luckily, and a bit surprisingly, there was enough frosting to pile high on all the cupcakes and with a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips, these cookie cupcakes were ready for a hungry stomach and a glass of milk.

Cupcake Ingredients
1 1/2 cups            butter
1 1/2 cups            brown sugar (I did say these were sugar-full!)
4                       eggs
2 2/3 cups          flour
1 tsp                   baking powder
1 tsp                   baking soda
1/4 tsp                salt
1 cup                  milk
2 tsp                  vanilla
1 bag                  chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients
1 1/2 cups            butter
3/4 cup              brown sugar (just can't get enough!)
3 1/2 cups           powdered sugar
1 cup                  flour
3/4 tsp               salt (or 1/2 tsp if you prefer!)
3 tbsp                milk
2 1/2 tsp             vanilla
+ a few handfuls of mini chocolate chips for decoration :)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners.
3.  Cream together butter and sugar for cupcakes.

4.  Mix in eggs, one at a time.
5.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt).
6.  Mix in milk and vanilla.
7.  Toss chocolate chips in a small handful of flour so they don't sink to the bottom!
8.  Stir in chocolate chips.
9.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full.

10.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.
11.  Let cool, if you can!
12.  Meanwhile, get started on the frosting by creaming together butter and sugar.
13.  Mix in powdered sugar.
14.  Mix in flour and salt.
15.  Mix in milk and vanilla.
16.  Frost the cupcakes, and don't forget to taste a spoon or two for quality control :)
17.  Sprinkle each cupcake with mini chocolate chips immediately after frosting to make sure they stick.

18.  Enjoy your tongue twisting chocolate chip cookie cupcakes with brown sugar frosting and chocolate chips on top!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pudding Pie Bites

ssshhh these are almost sugar-free (just 1 tsp)!
This was my first attempt at diabetic-friendly desserts and it was much sweeter than expected.  It took some planning, and lots of asking questions, but these little pie bites turned out to be fun treats for everyone.  With just a box of pudding, a spread of peanut butter, and my pie crust (minus a teaspoon or two of sugar), I had a classically yummy flavor combo to keep the taste-buds, waistlines, and blood sugar happy.

Crust Ingredients
1 1/3 cup        flour
1 tsp               sugar
1/2 tsp            salt
1/2 cup           chilled shortening
3 tbsp             ice water

Chocolate Pudding Ingredients
1 box Sugar Free Chocolate Fudge Jell-O Instant Pudding (plus 1 3/4 cup milk according to pudding pie filling instructions)

Peanut Butter Spread Ingredients
* This was a work in progress so the measurements are as close as I can remember, but you can't really mess up with peanut butter :)
1/2 cup         peanut butter...JIF Creamy of course!
A few splashes of milk
A capful of vanilla

1.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Spray mini cupcake pans with nonstick baking spray.
3.  Whisk together pie crust dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt).
4.  Cut in shortening using a pastry blender.
5.  Add water one tbsp at a time, using a pastry blender to combine each.  Dough will be crumbly.
6.  Form dough into disk.

7.  Flour rolling surface and rolling pin.
8.  Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thickness.
9.  Use a star cookie-cutter, or cutter of your choice, to cut out pie bite shells.

10.  Lightly press shells into individual mini-cupcake holes.
11.  Fork the bottom of shells to make sure they don't puff up...we need plenty of room for the peanut butter and chocolate!

12.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.
13.  Meanwhile, use a mixer to whip peanut butter and vanilla with milk until desired consistency.
14.  Next, prepare chocolate fudge pudding pie filling according to box instructions: whisk dry pudding mix and milk by hand for 2 minutes or until smooth.
15.  Make sure pie bite shells are cool before filling.
16.  Spoon peanut butter spread into bottom of pie bite shells.
17.  Fill remainder of pie bite shells with chocolate pudding pie filling.
18.  Refrigerate peanut butter chocolate pudding pie bites for a few hours...one is good enough if you can't wait :)

19.  Enjoy! And you can even have seconds, or thirds, since they're basically sugar-free!

Job Opening: Zesters Inquire Within

After making the dreamsicle cookies I have a little quirk to add to the list...I do not like zesting, not one bit.  It turned my fingers orange and left a stain on my shirt.  Some of the trouble may have come from my not having a real zester and using a cheese grater instead, but I still don't like it.  Right after I hire a dishwasher or two for my bakery, I'll hire a zester!  So, if you don't mind zesting oranges and such I'll leave a spot open for you in the bakery someday :)

Orange Dreamsicle Cookies

Orange you glad it's not s'mores :)
This little cookie was a sunny treat in the midst of a cloudy start to September.  From the cheerful color to the pop of orange flavor and smooth white chocolate, this dreamsicle cookie was a fun take on the summery popsicle, and more sharable too!

Dreamsicle Cookie Ingredients
1 cup           butter
1/2 cup        sugar
1/2 cup        brown sugar
1                  egg
1 tsp            orange extract
2 1/2 cups    flour
3/4 tsp        baking soda
1/4 tsp         salt
2 tbsp         orange zest (zest of 2 oranges)
1 bag           white chocolate chips

Orange Glaze Ingredients
1/2 cup        powdered sugar
1/4 tsp         orange extract
2-3 tsp        milk

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3.  Cream together butter and sugars.
4.  Mix in egg and orange extract.
5.  Mix in dry ingrdients (flour, baking soda, and salt).
6.  Zest oranges.
7.  Mix zest into dough.
8.  Mix in white chocolate chips.
9.  Place golf ball-sized scoops of dough onto cookie sheet (I use a little ice cream scoop...one of my favorite baking gadgets!).

10.  Bake 9 minutes.

11.  Let cool and snack on one or two just to make sure they're ok :)

12.  Meanwhile, whisk together glaze ingredients until desired texture.
13.  Drizzle the glaze over the cookies with a whisk, adding an extra burst of flavor and fancy!

14.  Enjoy! These disappeared by the handful so make sure you don't miss out :)

S'more S'mores Please

I did say I love s'mores...
My mom is hosting a backyard campout party next weekend and she put in a special order for a s'mores-like dessert for the party-goers who won't want to roast marshmallows.  While I'm not sure who wouldn't want to roast a marshmallow, I am sure that I'm up for taste-testing s'mores desserts!  These s'mores bars turned out just right; there's a nice crunch to the top cookie, and the inside is a gooey, melty mess of chocolate and marshmallow, just as it should be.  The only bad part about them is their 8x8 pan isn't quite big enough.  So, here's to next weekend's anti-mallow roasting partiers and to campfire-less s'mores lovers...enjoy!

Graham Cracker Cookie Ingredients
1/2 cup        butter
1/4 cup        brown sugar (plus an extra spoonful or two!)
1/2 cup        sugar
1                  egg
1 tsp            vanilla
1 1/3 cups     flour
3/4 cup        Honey Maid Cinnamon graham cracker crumbs (about 1/2 a pack of crackers)
1 tsp             baking powder
1/4 tsp          salt

Chocolate Ingredients
2 extra large Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars

Marshmallow Ingredients
1 1/2 containers Jet Puffed Marshmallow Fluff (about 1 1/2 cups)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Spray sides of 8x8in baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper.
3.  Place 1/2 pack of graham crackers in a gallon back and smash or roll into crumbs with a rolling pin.
4.  Cream together butter and sugars.
5.  Mix in egg and vanilla.
6.  Mix in dry ingredients (flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt).
7.  Press half of the dough into the baking pan, evenly covering bottom of pan.

8.  Place chocolate bars side by side on top of the dough in baking pan.

9.  Spread marshmallow fluff over chocolate bars.  This is a sticky job, but a little extra marshmallow never hurt!

10.  Roll out remaining half of graham cracker cookie dough to size of 8x8 pan.

11.  Cut or tear dough into pieces (I tried to do it with one big piece and it did not work at all) and completely cover marshmallow fluff, sealing all sides of pan.
12.  Bake for 30 minutes.

13.  Cool, cut, and (in the words of Ham) stuff!

Spiced Apple CupCrisps

To kick off the new school year, I gave the apple a starring role in my latest baking endeavor.  While the apple does make a nice teacher gift, I thought my teacher-in-training friends would prefer their back-to-school apples in a cupcake.  So, I set out to turn a can of apple pie filling and a box of spice cake into an apple crisp-inspired cupcake.  I was a little hesitant about how the two would combine and I was a lot unhappy when the cupcakes first came out of the oven.  The texture of the cake was weird and I was on the verge of scrapping the whole project.  But, with some encouragement and eye-rolling from my sister, who was managing the project over iChat, I stuck to it.  I really liked how the maple cream cheese frosting turned out and figured, with my fingers crossed, that it would go a long way in masking a few cake quirks.  Luckily, after a night in the fridge there was no masking necessary; the cake set-up quite nicely, the crisp topping actually crisped and was a nice contrast to the soft cake and baked apple pieces, and the frosting was the perfect touch of sweet to finish it all off.  With just a bit of beauty sleep, these Spiced Apple CupCrisps earn themselves a passing grade, and maybe they can even keep the doctor away for a day or two!

Spiced Apple Cake Ingredients
1 box          Spice Cake mix (plus oil, water, and eggs according to instructions)
1 can          Comstock Apple Pie Filling

Crisp Topping Ingredients
1/2 cup        flour
1/2 cup        brown sugar
1/4 cup        butter (if butter is unsalted add 1/2 tsp salt...or maybe just 1/4 tsp!)
1 tsp            cinnamon

Frosting Ingredients
1 can          Cream Cheese frosting
To Taste     maple syrup
Pinch          cinnamon

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Line cupcake trays with paper cupcake liners.
3.  Prepare cake batter according to box instructions.
4.  Cut canned apples into bite size pieces (I just chopped around in the can with a butter knife).
5.  Stir can of apples and filling into cake batter by hand.
6.  In a separate bowl combine all Crisp Topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until well combined and crumbly.

7.  Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full, making sure there are some apple chunks in each cupcake.

8.  Cover batter with small handful of crisp topping.

9.  Bake for 20 minutes.
10.  Let cupcakes cool.
11.  Meanwhile, empty can of Cream Cheese frosting into mixing bowl.
12.  Mix maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon into cream cheese frosting until desired taste (I love maple so I added quite a bit, but be sure to go slow so it doesn't get too sweet...if there's such a thing!)
13.  Now for the fun part, frost cupcakes!

14.  Let set in fridge, then enjoy this cupcake-take on apple crisp!

Happy back to school baking :)

Funfetti Cookies: To Frost or Not To Frost?

Funfetti cupcakes are the good luck charm and feel better treat for my sister and I when school and tests roll around.   But when the start of this school year came along, all too soon, we were looking for something a little different.  So, we turned to a back-of-the-box twist on our back-to-school go-to and made Pillsbury Funfetti cookies.  Lose the water and an egg, add a little more labor, and the result is a cheerful batch of soft colorful cookies.  This is when the frosting or no frosting debate came along.  With Funfetti cupcakes there's definitely no debate, frost with the one and only Duncan Hines Rainbow Chip frosting.  This same frosting atop the Funfetti cookies won my and my mom's vote, but my dad and sister voted for frosting-less cookies.  That leaves us with a 2 to 2 tie and so the question remains:

to frost...

or not to frost?

Cookie Ingredients
1 box        Funfetti cake mix
1/3 cup     oil
2              eggs
* Duncan Hines Rainbow Chip frosting...optional!

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.  Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3.  Stir together cake mix, oil and eggs.
3.  Roll dough into ball about the size of golf balls.
4.  Place dough balls onto cookie sheet.
5.  Flatten dough balls into disks about 1/4 inch thick.
6.  Bake for about 10 min or until lightly golden (the box says 6-8 min, but mine took longer).
7.  Let cookies cool.
8.  Now it's up to you, frost or not...but I do recommend it!

An Oldie But Goodie

Every summer our town has a little antique fair and my mom, sister and I use it as an excuse to get out of the house.  Generally we leave empty handed, but this year we were all bit by the vintage bug.  Rather than just combing the tables and tents of old smelly stuff, we stumbled across some great finds.  My pick of the day waaaas...

                     ...this great old mixer, red just like my new one!
It caught my eye from a couple tables over but I tried to be sly and not act too excited.  I apparently wasn't particularly sneaky because the seller saw me eyeing the mixer and came right over to make her pitch.  Just a couple dollars off the sticker price and I was sold!  This awesome little mixer has now found a home across the stove from my shiny new one in my apartment sweet apartment.  Though it may not get as much use as the brand spakin' new one, this vintage mixer will certainly get its fair share of looks!