Happy Halloween!

So I am taking the fondant and gum paste class from Michaels. We just finished week two of our four week class and we learned how to do draped fondant. The picture that was supposed to be our inspiration was kinda lame, so I decided to go for a Halloween theme. I think the pumpkin is a nice touch, personally. It is a pumpkin cake, and since I posted it last time, no recipe this time.

On a happier note, we dressed up our cat. He is not amused. We were though.

Happy Halloween!

And the pumpkin obsession continues...

Yes, as you can see I am still going through a pumpkin and square things obsession. This week I needed to make a cake for my cake decorating class that I am taking, and I decided that since EC and I don't really need a whole 8 in. cake I would make a 6 in. cake. This left me with leftover batter, so I made cupcakes, which we are eating, so now that I think about it, it is still the same amount of cake. Sigh, another good idea gone to waste. I guess I should have thought that through better.
To make these little gems I simply used one of the first pumpkin cake recipes that came up in my Google search. They are pretty good, but it is the cream cheese frosting that makes them amazing, I think. But I have also recently discovered that I really like cream cheese frosting, not as much as EC does, but it is pretty yummy.
Pumpkin Cake
From This Site

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups pumpkin puree or cooked mashed pumpkin

Preparation:

Combine sugar, vegetable oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl; mix well. Sift dry ingredients into a separate bowl; stir into oil mixture, beating well. Stir in pumpkin puree.

Pour batter into two greased and floured 9-inch round layer cake pans (or two six inch cake pans and 1 cupcake pan). Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes (less for cupcakes, be sure to check them often). Turn out onto racks to cool. Frost pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting and eat.

Rich Choclate Pumpkin Truffles

I was looking through a Lindt truffle catalog a while back and I saw an advertisement for Pumpkin Truffles. Chocolate and pumpkin combined, two of my favorite things. And I am obsessed with Lindt chocolate - I have even been to a Lindt chocolate factory. But, alas, Lindt Pumpkin Chocolates are not in my budget, so I thought I would give them a whirl at home. My first attempt was last weekend. I googled a recipe and the same recipe came up over and over. I thought to myself, "everyone is making this recipe, I want to try a different one." So I found a different recipe for pumpkin truffles and I was excited to try it. So after taking over a half an hour to melt the chocolate, my truffles were ready to be dipped. I dipped one, tried it, and almost had to spit it back out. Way too much ginger!! Ugh, I shudder at the thought.

So, I thought to myself, "maybe I will try the other recipe." So I did. Much better. So. Much. Better. Easier to make too. So, I gave all of the yucky ones to EC, which he happily ate (shudder), and I plan on indulging in the good truffles.

Rich Chocolate Pumpkin Truffles

From the Internet

2-1/2 cups (about 62) crushed vanilla wafers
1 cup ground almonds, toasted
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar, divided
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup (6 ounces) NESTLE® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, melted (follow melting direction on NESTLE package)
1/2 cup LIBBY'S 100% Pure Pumpkin
1/3 cup apple juice

Directions

COMBINE crushed cookies, ground almonds, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and cinnamon in medium bowl.
Blend in melted chocolate, pumpkin, and apple juice.
Shape into 1-inch balls. Chill.
Dust with remaining powdered sugar just before serving.

Elegant Chocolate Torte

Once again we had a birthday at my workplace. These people, they keep having birthdays. Seriously. This cake I was more than happy to make though, because it was for my part time office mate, and I really like her, she makes me laugh. And when I asked her what type of birthday treat she liked, she said all kinds, as long as it didn't have bananas or nuts in it. I could have hugged her for her simplicity and wide range. This allowed me to try a recipe I have been eyeing for a long time but couldn't bring myself to make it for just EC and I, because, in all reality, we shouldn't eat a four layer cake between the two of us. That isn't to say that we couldn't, but we really shouldn't.

I had so much fun making this cake. I loved curling the chocolate - mostly because all of the curls that didn't turn out had to be eaten immediately, or at least that is what I told myself. I thought the cake itself turned out ok. The filling was a homemade pudding, and the only type of pudding I have ever experience was the Jello brand, and I have to say, I am a bigger fan of the Jello brand, so maybe next time, for simplicity's sake I will use boxed pudding. But then I would feel like it wasn't completely homemade. What an internal dilemma.

And the drama with this cake - when I went to Winco to pick up chocolate syrup to make the cake, they didn't have ANY! The entire shelf was empty of all chocolate syrup! They had strawberry, crackle, carmel, hot fudge, but no chocolate syrup. So I had to go to a different store. And then when I got home I found some chocolate syrup in the fridge, which has led me to the conclusion that it is time to clean out the fridge and take stock of what is in there that is usable.

Elegant Chocolate Torte

From Taste of Home

Ingredients:
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups milk
1 cup chocolate syrup
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

BATTER:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups chocolate syrup
1/2 cup water

FROSTING:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup chocolate syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: For filling, in a small saucepan, combine flour, sugar and salt. Stir in milk and syrup until smooth. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir a small amount of hot mixture into egg; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in butter and vanilla. Cool to room temperature, stirring often. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Stir in vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with syrup and water. Beat just until combined. Pour into two greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Cut each cake in half horizontally. Place one bottom layer on a serving plate; spread with a third of the filling. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining cake. In a mixing bowl, beat frosting ingredients until stiff peaks form; spread or pipe over top and sides of cake. Yield: 16 servings.

Pepperoni Lasagna Rollups

So, as I was trying to do a post today about Pepperoni Lasagna Roll-ups, I decided I would get the recipe from the Taste of Home website, which is where I get a fair amount of my recipes, because I get the magazine in the mail. So tonight, I went to log on, and it told me I had to be a subscriber. Which means - My account has expired! That means no more Taste of Home magazines in the mail until I remember to renew my subscription. It is kind of a traumatizing thought for me, since just earlier today I was talking with a coworker about how much I love the magazine, and since that is where I got the Pumpkin Scone Recipe that I still need to post on too. Trauma, Trauma, Trauma.
I guess this means I will simply have to press forward, without publishing the recipe, so I really hope I don't accidentally drop my magazine in a sink full of water (which may or may not have happened before) and ruin it and have to take apart all of the pages and blow-dry it, while thinking about the movie The Incredibles because they have to blow-dry their books too because Mr. Incredible sets of the fire sprinkler system, and then I will think about how it is that they have sprinklers in their house when most people just have smoke detectors, and now I am thinking about how my BFF says she likes my blog because I usually stay on topic. Sorry, that is a quick glimpse into my thought process, it usually involves Disney movies.
So these are very good, and very simple to make. I was actually surprised at their simplicity. I almost forgot to put the Swiss cheese in them though, so I had to unroll my first one and add cheese, because I love cheese and leaving it out would just be not good.So, if you are ever looking for a simple easy recipe to make, and you like pepperoni and think it should be used on more than just pizza, I definitely recommend these.

Apples - 55 Pounds to be Exact

Last weekend EC and I went to a somewhat local orchard to pick apples. At $0.25 a pound, it was too good of a deal to resist. We may have, however, gone a little overboard in our picking. We ended up with 55 pounds of apples and a gallon of apple cider (which we pressed ourselves, I know, be impressed).
Right now I am sure you are thinking - 55 POUNDS OF APPLES, WHAT DOES ONE DO WITH SO MUCH APPLES? Thank you for asking, I will tell you. One cans 21 quarts of apple pie filling.
So now you are thinking, that is a lot of apple pie filling, Jenni, you will have to eat 1.75 pies a month if it is for a year supply. Well, HA, jokes on you! I have already given away two quarts of it, so I will only have to eat 1.58333333 pies a month. Except for the fact that we still had leftover apples, so I am also eating plain apples.And apple turnovers, but that is a post for another day. For now, if anyone knows anyone who needs an apple pie, let me know, and maybe I can help you out.

le fleur d'Pumpkin

Last week I had a WHOLE day off of work. I was ubber productive in my cooking - possibly to the point of manic. For part of the day I went and cooked with my friend in the ward, and after much indecision on both our parts (we decided that one of us needed to be decisive, and then couldn't decide who), EC finally helped us decide what to make. So, I lugged all of my stuff up to my friend's house and spent a wonderful afternoon hanging out and cooking. This was the first thing that we baked - Spiced Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese Layer. Unfortunately, I realized after we had decided that you made them in mini loaf pans, not normal loaf pans. Fortunately, my friend was brilliant enough to suggest that we use her bundt pan (which was nice and floral) and it turned out beautiful and amazing.

Pumpkin Spice Bread with Cheesecake Layer
Adapted From: Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Cheesecake Layer:

9 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 TBSP all-purpose flour

1 large egg

Pumpkin Spice Bread:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp fresh ground nutmeg

1 cup pumpkin puree(plain, not the already made pumpkin pie kind)

½ cup canola oil

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 325F.

Lightly grease and flour three mini loaf pans (or a bundt pan, in my case). In a medium mixing bowl, combine all the cheesecake ingredients; beat until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Set aside.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices; set aside.Place pumpkin puree, vegetable oil, eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl of an electric stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat for about 1 minute, until fully combined.

Add flour mixture into the pumpkin mixture and mix just until combined.Pour half of the pumpkin bread batter evenly into the three prepared loaf pans. Spoon cream cheese mixture on top of pumpkin batter layer and then pour on the remaining pumpkin batter.

Bake in preheated 325 oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool bread in pans for 10 minutes.

Remove bread from pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve at room temperature or cool.

Waffkins

Interesting name, I know. That is what EC dubbed the Pumpkin Waffles that we had for dinner the other night. Can I just mention how excited I am about the fact that it is fall, which means it is pumpkin season? I love everything pumpkin - pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, and especially pumpkin bagels with pumpkin cream cheese from Einstein Bagels. So when EC suggested we make these for our date night, you can imagine my enthusiastic response.

They were pretty good, however I ended up putting in pumpkin pie seasoning, because I think you are supposed to use pumpkin pie pumpkin, and silly me, I just used plain pumpkin. But after I added the seasoning, ohh baby!

I definitely recommend eating them with ice cream. But I think that waffles should only be consumed with ice cream, unless you are in Europe, and then you can eat a Belgium Waffle with powdered sugar, or even better, Belgium chocolate, mmm.

Toasty Pumpkin Waffles

from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1-1/4 cups milk
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
4-1/2 teaspoons butter, melted
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Additional maple syrup, optional
Directions: In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk the egg, milk, pumpkin and butter; stir into dry ingredients until blended. Fold in pecans. Bake in a preheated waffle iron according to manufacturer’s directions until golden brown. Yield: 4 servings

What's the one most important thing our society needs?

That would be harsher punishment for Parole violators, Stan...and World Peace!

As I mentioned, this week was our office manager's birthday. She has a thing for peace signs, so I decided in honor of her I would make peace sign sugar cookies. And, you see, this is why I strive not to be creative, because whenever I am, it takes way more effort than anything should. Seriously. They turned out cute, but out of about 2 dozen cookies, only less than ten actually turned out looking like peace signs. The other ones got all bloated in the oven, it wasn't pretty. Ugh. But the ones that did turn out looked super cute, so here's a shout out to you, Miss Office Manager, Happy Birthday!

Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies
From Baking: From my home to yours by Dorie Greenspan

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Sugar or cinnamon sugar, for dusting (optional)

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.

1. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated — because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.

2. Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage (the diameter is up to you — I usually like cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter) and wrap in plastic. Whether you're going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)

3. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

4. If you are making roll-out cookies, working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies — I like a 2-inch round cookie cutter for these. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the rounds onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies. (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) After you've rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.

5. If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of space between the cookies.

6. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you'd like. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.

7. Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

You're such a Square!

On Monday I swore to EC that I wasn't going to make any more desserts this week because we still have cookies in the house. Then, it turned out two people at my work had birthdays this week and we were celebrating them today. Since I have become the unofficial birthday treat maker, I had to make something, I couldn't let them be birthday treat-less. This is a stressful job for me, since I don't know exactly what types of desserts people like and I would feel awful if I showed up with something that they detested or were allergic too. So after some sleuthing by me and my coworker, we landed on white and chocolate cake. Boring. I know. So, in an effort to spice things up, I made the cupcakes square!

Cupcakes taste so much better in square form, everyone agrees.

I used WAY too many recipes on these little buggers to post them all, so here is the recipe for the vanilla cake, vanilla frosting, chocolate cake, and chocolate frosting. They were a success, and I renewed my vow to not make anymore desserts this week.
And then I found out it was our Office Manager's birthday this week too. Sigh.

Now Accepting Applications

This weekend I must have been in a sour mood, because all of my cooking adventures were lemon-y. Maybe my body was simply craving fruit and it figured the only way that it would get some would be through a pastry of some sort. Interesting thought...if a cookie has lemon in it then it must be a fruit, right? I think so. So, I made these Slice 'n' Bake Lemon Gems. The only problem is, is that now I have over a dozen cookies left over at my house and nothing to do with them. I think I need to make more friends, because I think the friend that I have up here is getting slightly overwhelmed with all the baked goods I try to pawn off on her. Hmm, so I am now taking applications for friends for anyone who lives in my area. As payment for being my friend, I will bring you yummy things to eat!

Slice 'n' Bake Lemon Gems

From Taste of Home

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup colored nonpareils

LEMON ICING:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Directions:
In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in lemon peel. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. Shape into a 1-3/4-in.-diameter roll; roll in nonpareils. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until firm. Unwrap and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 9-11 minutes or until set and edges are lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing to wire racks to cool completely. In a small bowl, combine icing ingredients. Spread over cookies. Yield: 28 cookies.

Not My Gumdrop Buttons!

I have a friend who recently broke up with her partner. In an attempt to do something to be helpful (although I can almost hear my BFF telling me "Jenni, stop trying to be helpful!") I baked her "The Perfect Man."

In case you can't read it, it says:

The Perfect Man

He's Sweet
He Always Listens
He Brings You "Flours"
And If He Annoys You, You Can...
BITE HIS HEAD OFF!


So, B, I hope you enjoyed your perfect man!

Gingerbread Men

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp (freshly) ground nutmeg
pinch ground black pepper (optional)
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup coffee or water
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cinnamon.In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in molasses, water and vanilla, then gradually add in flour mixture until a smooth dough forms. Divide dough into two or three pieces (dough will be quite soft), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until firm.
Preheat oven to 375F.

For softer cookies:On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just under 1/4 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice (2-3″ gingerbread men are ideal!) to cut dough. Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on size of cookie cutter. Cookies should be slightly firm to the touch at the edges. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For crispier cookies:On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just under 1/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters of your choice (2-3″ gingerbread men are ideal!) to cut dough. Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on size of cookie cutter. Cookies should be slightly firm to the touch at the edges and will be lightly browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
When cool, decorate with lemon icing (recipe below).
Makes about 30-40 gingerbread men, depending on size of cookie cutters used and whether you make them thick or thin.

Lemon Icing
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tbsp tsp lemon juice

In a small bowl combine powdered sugar and lemon juice. Substitute milk or cream plus 1 tsp lemon extract, if no fresh lemon juice is available. Add enough lemon juice to make the icing thick and pourable, but not runny (start with 1-2 tbsp and add more if necessary. You can always add a bit of extra sugar to thicken it if you add too much) and stir until very smooth. Scrape into piping bag with a fine tip or a ziploc bag with a corner cut off and pipe onto cooled cookies. Allow to set for at least 30 minutes, until firm, before storing cookies in an airtight container.