Peppermint Patty Cupcakes (vegan)

Last week was Thanksgiving which in my mind marks the end of pumpkin season and the start of peppermint season.  These little cupcakes are the perfect way to kick off a month of holiday baking.  They are adorable, moist, and pack a strong peppermint punch.  Layering chocolate ganache on top of the frosting is a bit more work than a normal cupcake, but this step shouldn’t be skipped.  The chocolate provides the perfect balance to the very sweet and minty frosting.

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Vegan Maple Walnut Cupcakes – Mini Post #7

I debated whether or not I should include the word “vegan” in the title of this post, because I know that it turns some people off.  And that’s a shame because these cupcakes and every other cupcake I’ve made from “Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World” have been absolutely delicious.  They were a huge hit a vegan’s friend’s birthday party, but they were equally well received by Pat’s coworkers who were shocked to find out that they didn’t contain any butter or eggs.

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Pumpkin Roll – Mini Post #6

Recently one of my best friends got a promotion at work.  I wanted to make him something as a congratulations and I knew it had to be a pumpkin roll.  He is a fiend for pumpkin desserts and I’d been promising him one for years.  I didn’t make it sooner because I didn’t own a jelly roll pan so I finally broke down and bought one.  This recipe isn’t difficult except for the the rolling – as you can see my cake cracked, but the slices still look beautiful and it tastes really delicious.

I wish I knew why my roll cracked.  I followed all of these tips, except I used parchment paper instead of a dish towel to roll it up.  I plan on trying the cake again for Thanksgiving, so I’ll try a towel then and see if I have better luck.  Read the rest of this entry »

Pumpkin Waffles

I’m going on a camping trip and I’m going to bring: a coat, board games, hiking boots and a waffle iron. (remember that car game?) Any good camper brings their waffle iron right? So what started as a camping trip a turned into a rustic house on a lake trip,  which was fine by me because it meant I could ‘plus one’ my iron.

I packed up all the dry ingredients from home, spices, sugars and the pumpkin to make the execution easier. I still had quite a bit of pumpkin left over from pumpkin cookies and pumpkin ice cream (yes I promise I’ll post!) so I decided pumpkin waffles would be a great way to start a weekend away. Also my boyfriend has a certain obsession with the orange squash. There were many other recipes for waffles that included buttermilk, but to pack buttermilk for a cabin on a lake just seemed silly so I only looked for recipes that did without. Though buttermilk is inexpensive it’s only sold in quart size and whenever I buy I feel obligated to find a use for the rest of it (Red velvet cake is the most popular solution).

After some craigslist searching we found a terrific little house on a lake about 2 hours outside of NYC. I was thrilled and excited to be waking up to this both mornings. (below exhibit A.)

(Exhibit A. Peace and Serenity)

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Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars – Mini Post #5

Not the prettiest picture, but trust me – these bars are so good.   They perfectly capture the flavor of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and have been a huge hit whenever I’ve made them.

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Pumpkin Bread – Mini Post #4

I made this bread using half pumpkin and half pureed sweet potato because it was what I had on hand.  This moist and sweet quick bread was delicious.  I’m sure it would be equally good with all pumpkin or with another winter squash substituted (I’ve also made breads with acorn and butternut squash). In my cookbook this recipe was labeled as “spiced” pumpkin bread, and while I thought the amount of spice was perfect I’d recommend increasing the spices if you want something with a more pronounced spice flavor.

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Russian Tea Cakes – Mini Post #3

These are my Mom’s favorite cookie and I recently shipped her a batch for her birthday.  These cookies go by several names – you might know them as Mexican Wedding Cookies or Walnut Snowballs – but they are all the same basic recipe.  I’ve made these with many different varieties of nuts depending on what I happen to have in my freezer and they’ve always tasted delicious.

Packed and ready to go

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Baklava Bites – Mini Post #2

I recently tried baklava for the first time, and decided I’d like to try and make it at home.  I chose this recipe because it made a small quantity and the bite size portions seemed a bit more appropriate for a weeknight dessert.  The recipe is really good, but I only got 16 baklava bites – not 24.  You can substitute any nuts and dried fruit you prefer.  I used hazelnuts and dried pineapple.

This recipe tastes best the day its made.

Printable recipe at Food Network

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Cornmeal Cranberry Scones – Mini Post #1

Last week I started a new job where I’ll only be working 3 days per week.  In my additional free time I plan to do volunteer work, study for the GREs, and attempt some more challenging baking projects like croissants or homemade pretzels.  I’m looking forward to devoting more time to the blog.  Before I kick off what should be a banner year of holiday baking, I wanted to share some of the recipes that I’ve made over the past few months,  but haven’t gotten around to writing about.  For the next week I’ll put up a mini post each day or so with a picture, recipe, and a sentence or two with notes.

Cranberry Cornmeal Scones

Pat’s great aunt clipped this recipe for me from the newspaper.  It’s from Ocean Spray and as I was mixing the ingredients together I suspected the scones might be a bit dry.  I made a few on-the-fly changes and  I’ve posted my modified version below and highly recommend it.  They’re easy to make and have a pleasantly moist and crumbly texture.  Like all scones they’re best fresh from the oven, but the next day they still tasted quite good after warming in the microwave for 20 seconds.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup 12 tbsp. (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter
2/3 cup milk 2/3 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup 1 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400º F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt in medium bowl and stir until mixed. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Add cream and stir with fork just until a sticky dough forms. Gently stir dried cranberries into dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently about 10 times.  At first the dough will be quite crumbly, but it will come together as you need it.  Pat dough into a ½-inch thick circle.  Cut to dough into 8 triangles like a pizza.

Arrange triangles 1 inch apart on baking sheet.  Brush with an egg and sprinkle with a coarse sugar.
Bake 14 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.   (Mine took 18 minutes to cook). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

I saw this recipe on an episode of Everyday Italian years ago.  I was intrigued because I love lemon desserts and cheese, but didn’t get around to making it until last week when I had a container of ricotta in my fridge that needed to be used up.  These cookies aren’t the best looking thing I’ve ever made and I originally hadn’t planned on putting them up on the blog because I think they appear a bit sickly, but the positive reaction from my coworkers made me realize the recipe is a real gem.

These cookies have the texture of a little cake.  They are only subtly sweet and would be perfect with a cup of tea.  They would be a nice addition to a holiday cookie platter, since the tang of the lemon would provide a nice balance to many of the richer holiday treats. Read the rest of this entry »