Creative Confectionery Blog

Summer Pie

2011-07-04T08:10:00.000-04:00

Summer time is the best. The weather is warm, the sun is out (generally) and the produce is flourishing! There are tons of fruits I look forward to in the summer: peaches, plums, nectarines....but especially cherries.

For me, the more turgid the cherry (turgid = full of water to the point where the skin is stretched tight and the fruit has an audible "crunch" to it when bitten) the better. Once my cherries start to go soft they become less appetizing to me. Recently my mother bought a few bags of cherries, forgetting that we had some at home, from the grocery store. I've noticed that BJ's wholesale club sells much better cherries from a turgid standpoint, proven to me by the lack of firmness of these grocery store cherries after about a week of sitting in the fridge. I also noticed that some of the cherries were starting to bruise and become inedible even for those who like less firm fruit. Instead of wasting them, I decided to try my hand and cherry pie.

I found a great recipe on epicurious.com for cherry pie that I'd definitely recommend: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Classic-Sour-Cherry-Pie-with-Lattice-Crust-242514

I pretty much followed the recipe as written, though I decreased the amount of sugar by a few TBSP because I used fresh cherries, and the filling came out beautifully!

For the crust, I had planned to use my usual recipe. This time I realized a little too late that I only had about 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour. So, I substituted cake meal:

for the other two cups of flour and followed the rest of the recipe. I must say, the crust came out amazingly! It didn't burn as quickly as the normal recipe does if not watched properly, and the consistency was light, flaky and delicious!

Life Changes

2010-12-10T15:38:00.000-05:00

So it has been almost 6 months since my last post...and sporadic before that. This is because I made some major changes to my life that left me with very little time to bake & post about it...

I used to be in advertising, which I found very unfulfilling...so I decided to change it up in a major way. I am currently in my first semester finals of a program that will be leading me to medical school :)! It has been so interesting so far ... despite it taking away from my baking.

One thing I've had to learn in the last six months is how to make quick dinners so that I can concentrate on studying. Here is a great rub that can be put on any kind of steak & make it amazing!!! It is called kitchen bouquet:

I love it on fillet and on flank steak...but it can pretty much be used whenever. Try it out and tell me what you think...or if it's already a staple of yours...what do you use it for?

Double Tomato Bruschetta

2010-07-07T10:09:00.000-04:00

Some of my girlfriends in NYC and I have started a tradition of Tuesday night get togethers, complete with wine of course. We also always have some sort of snack to go with our date - who doesn't get a little hungry when drinking wine & chatting with your girlfriends? You know what I'm saying...

This week I decided to provide a snack a little more exciting than our usual chips & salsa / cheese & crackers combination. I found a fantastic spin on the classic Bruschetta recipe that we all died for. The recipe can be found on AllRecipes.com (one of my favorite sites to find new & delicious recipes to try). Here is the recipe for your enjoyment:

Double Tomato Bruschetta

6 roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup fresh basil, stems removed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 French baguette
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven on broiler setting.
In a large bowl, combine the Roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.
Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown.
Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese.
Broil for 2 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.(The original recipe calls for 5 minutes but it does not take nearly that long.)

You will definitely have extra, so either save for a later date or perhaps halve the amount of ingredients the recipe calls for (except you definitely want the whole baguette!)

Becomming a Runner...

2010-04-21T08:54:00.000-04:00

I have always dabbled in running - a few years ago I actually got up to 4-5 miles a day, 3-4 times a week (which is A LOT for me, not really enjoying the sport). No matter how you slice it, you have to admit, ladies - consistent running over a reasonable period of time makes our legs look fabulous! This is why I keep coming back...keep trying to make myself enjoy running.

Recently a friend of mine introduced me to a 5k prep running program that I have really enjoyed. It is called the Couch to 5k Running Program located at CoolRunning.com. I've really enjoyed the way that the program has built up my stamina. I've altered the program a little for myself - if one of the weekly steps was particularly hard (or if my schedule didn't allow me to do all three portions of a weekly step), I repeated it the following week to ensure that I was ready to take on the increased challenge of the week following. You may not have to do this - this was a personal choice of my own.

Right now I'm on week five - I did step 2 today, which was to run a mile, walk 1/4 mile, run a mile. I am happy to report that this was relatively easy for me & I was able to run faster than my usual pace - great personal success!

Once I'm finished with this program I plan to continue to build my stamina to increase the amount I can run - maybe even try a 5K or 10K at the end of the summer.

If you know if any good programs that cater to longer distances, I'd love to check them out :).

Delicious Low Calorie Dessert

2010-04-20T19:05:00.001-04:00

I keep saying that I'll start blogging regularly again - this time I promise it!

Recently I instituted "project sexbomb" as my friend Abbie so nicely coined my "look good for 5th year reunion" personal project...funny, I know. I have great friends. This project has lead me to be creative while trying to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Here is a recipe for a DELICIOUS and very low calorie, healthy dessert that you must try!

Balsamic Strawberries

5-7 ounces Strawberries

1 packate Splenda

1/4 tsp Balsamic Vinegar

Cut up strawberries into quarters (or more if you have big strawberries). Place in bowl.

Sprinkle Balsamic Vinegar (yes, you only need 1/4 tsp!) over strawberries & toss slightly.

Sprinkle Splenda over strawberries - toss slightly.

Enjoy!!!

It has been a while...

2010-02-17T07:09:00.000-05:00

I know it has been a while...a few fun facts that I found out about moving/upgrading your blog:

1.) Wordpress charges to host you own domain name (I guess so that they can support the service they provide for you...eh...no thanks...)

2.) It costs a lot of $$ to have someone do an upgrade for you...

So...I'm just going to work with what I have - rearranging has begun. As soon as it is finished, I will start the normal blogging process back up!

Hope everyone is have a great 2010 so far!

New Site Template!

2009-11-19T16:09:00.002-05:00

CreativeConfectioneryBlog.com is undergoing some major maintenance – we’re moving to a WordPress.com format to better adapt to the vision of the blog. The format of the posts is also going to change to a more organized, day of week format so that you can check in on the topics that most interest you! Here is what I’m thinking right now…if you have better ideas, let me know!

Sundays: Great Dinner Idea for the coming week

Mondays: Cookie of the Week

Tuesdays: NYC Restaurant Review

Wednesdays: Guest Blogger or Blog Topic Picked by a reader – is there a recipe you’ve been eyeing but aren’t sure you want to try it yourself? Send to me!

Thursdays: Dessert Recipe (aside from cookies of course!)

Fridays: Baked Goods Decorating Tips & Ideas

Saturday: Day of Rest for the blogger :)

*Jen*

Trip to the Homeland: Israel

2009-11-06T15:02:00.005-05:00

From October 12^th to October 23^rd I was lucky enough to participate in an amazing adventure offered to young Jewish people from the age of 18-26 known as Birth Right. There is much debate about the purpose of providing 18-26 year olds with a free 10 day trip across the globe to Israel. My tour guide jokingly referred to it as “birth rate”, referencing the fact that part of the purpose is to try to get young Jews to fall in love with and marry other young Jews.

Whatever your perspective, everyone has to agree that it is an amazing opportunity. It was one of the best experiences my 26 year long life has offered to me. And, of course, there was AMAZING food there – which is what I’d like to share J

One of the coolest thing was the variety of fresh fruit ready-for-the-picking along our many hikes:

Fresh Pomegranate from the tree – better than anything I’ve bought in the stores here. You can taste the sweetness by just looking at this picture! (Note: this particular pomegranate was bought but the ones we picked were just as juicy & tasty!)

Carob – a super food that helps with many things including improving digestion, lowering cholesterol and it’s an antioxidant. You can read more at http://healthmad.com/nutrition/12-great-benefits-of-carob

Orange with green skin – I’m not sure exactly what this was called – they’re the size of a tangerine actually. They’re SO good – I’d say better than any orange or tangerine I’ve had in the states.

Bamba - one of the favorite snacks of Israeli youth. They have the consistency of cheese puffs but they're peanut butter flavored!

Fresh made pita bread – one of the nights while in Israel we stayed in a Bedouin Tent. The food there was incredible. By far my favorite thing was the fresh made pita. The woman making it had a sphere shaped hot metal cooking device – she stretched the dough out in a manner similar to pizza dough, cooked one side on the sphere & then flipped it. AMAZING!

I also had a ridiculous amount of Falafel…see picture of me and some of my group members eating – I’m not sure I’ll be able to have this again for a while :)

And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t share with you a picture from the market in Jerusalem – a foodies dream place! Fresh, delicious looking & smelling fruits, veggies, spices, candies, pastries, breads, meats & fish! (And I’m sure I’m missing some food groups represented…)

Back in Business

2009-11-04T16:30:00.002-05:00

Clearly I have been MIA for a while...and for that, I apologize! A lot has been happening over the last few months that has, sadly, taken me away from blogging. Luckily, I have lots of great stories & foods to share with everyone!

If your curious - the two biggest things in the last few months are that:

1.) I've moved to NYC from Boston (a little sad, but what a wealth of food experience opportunities I've just gained!).

2.) I spent 10 wonderful days in Israel due to my eligibility for Birth Right - it's great to be Jewish. Tons of stuff to share with you all from there, including fresh-from-the-tree fruit, delicious pita bread & more!

This weekend I'm having a house-warming brunch, so be prepared for some awesome recipes!

Also, holiday season is upon us...which means I'll be sharing tons of awesome cookie recipes - check in if you love to bake for the holidays!

Independence Day Recipe

2009-07-02T08:25:00.004-04:00

Happy almost 4th of July to you all! If you live on the east coast...particularly in New England...join me in crossing your fingers that it will actually be sunny this weekend. To date, I've been wondering whether I really live in Boston...or if I somehow ended up in Seattle, WA - which, for the record, has had a ridiculous number of sunny days to date. Back here in Boston, I am not sure there was a single day in June without rain. Depressing...I know...

To brighten up the mood, I'd like to share with you all one of my favorite summer time picnic/pot luck recipes that everyone will enjoy. It is a lemon-pineapple Jell-o mold that is both creamy & jiggly...and entirely delicious.

You can use any type of mold that you like, though I strongly recommend avoiding anything with tight or sharp edges - because of the milk factor in this recipe, it's not as solid as a normal gelatin mold. I use the following products, which I found on Amazon.com (click on the picture to find the listing):

The nice thing about this container is that both the top & bottom come off, allowing you to retain the shape of your treat. It also is a great carrying container - after setting, just keep it in the container until you're ready to serve.

Here's the recipe; enjoy!

Pineapple-Lemon Jell-O Mold

6 ounces lemon Jello
1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple in syrup
2 cups water
8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1 (16 ounce) container of cool whip

Drain pineapple and reserve juice, set pineapple aside.

Combine reserved juice and water, heat in microwave until very hot.

Stir jello into hot water/juice until dissolved. Do not heat further in microwave. Over-heating jello will denature gelatin and it will not set.

In separate bowl, stir cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add jello mixture into cream cheese.

Add pineapple

Chill until thickened, fold in cool whip.

Turn into a ring jello mold and chill for 6 hours or overnight.

Mmm Challah...

2009-07-01T10:28:00.004-04:00

For those of you who have been reading my blog since September, you know that I'm a HUGE challah junkie. I probably like it more than anything - cake/ice cream...etc etc.

I've plugged this place before - but really, you have to check it out:

LucysSweetSurrender.com

Located in Cleveland, Ohio, this place is out of this world. My favorite thing there is their Apple Challah...but they also have other ridiculously delicious confections, like their strudel. My family has been ordering from them for parties since I was a kid...we had tons of cherry & apple strudel for my Batmitzva party when I was 13...by my request of course :).

Don't live in Cleveland, Ohio? No problem...they ship it all out! Believe me...it's worth checking out. My mom sends my challah every once in a while - best surprise gift ever!

I was in Ohio for my dad's 60th birthday this past weekend & stopped in to visit Lucy's (and to get some Apple Challah, of course!). The man who owns the place, Michael Feigenbaum, is really personable & a great pastry chef. To order, you can either visit their site or email him at info@lucyssweetsurrender.com. They also have a blog, which you should check out:

ForHavensCake.blogspot.com

Let me know what you think once you've checked it out. Oh, and if you need some visual stimulation to order from them, check out this giant challah, courtesy of Lucy's Sweet Surrender:

Fiber One Pie Crust, by Reader Request

2009-06-18T07:42:00.005-04:00

One of this blog's readers reminded me that I never shared with you the awesome, healthified version of Pumpkin Pie that I found about a year ago. I believe I promised it to you guys around Thanksgiving - so sorry for the delay! It really is a great recipe though...and summer is a great time for pie. So, the timing is perfect!

I actually found this recipe on one of my favorite sites: Hungry Girl. If you haven't checked it out yet, it's a really great concept: she provides substitute recipes for foods that are normally very high in calories and fat. I've tried many of her recipes in the past - some have been remarkably similar to the "real thing".

This substitute Pumpkin Pie recipes does a number on the nutrition facts of this classic pie recipe - so much so that you can actually have two servings & not feel guilty! Pretty awesome, right? Hungry Girl reports that a serving of her pie (1/8 of the final product) has only 133 calories, 3 grams of fat, 9 grams fiber, only 8 grams of sugar and 6 grams of protein. This is in comparison to a normal slice of pumpkin pie: 400 calories, 18 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber, 28 grams of sugar and 7 grams of protein (recipes will vary).

The recipe does use sugar substitute, but honestly, I don't think you can really taste it. Here is the recipe for you:

Hungry Girl's Lighter Pumpkin Pie Recipe

For Crust

2 cups Fiber One Brand Cereal

1/4 cup light whipped butter

1 tbsp. Splenda

1 tsp. cinnamon

For Filling

One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

One 12-oz. can evaporated fat-free milk

1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (I really like baking with these!)

3/4 cup Splenda

1/4 cup sugar-free pancake syrup

1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (I combined nutmeg, cinnamon & ground cloves for this)

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. salt

Optional Topping: Fat Free Reddi-wip or Cool Whip Free

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine butter with 2 tbsp. water. Microwave until just melted, and set aside.

In a blender or food processor, grind Fiber One to a breadcrumb-like consistency. You can also get the right consistency by smashing up the Fiber One in a bag using a hammer. It's not nearly as easy as using a food processor, though.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter mixture and crumbs with remaining ingredients for crust. Stir until mixed well.

Spray an oven-safe 9-inch pie dish lightly with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute crust mixture, using your hands or a flat utensil to firmly press and form the crust. Press it into the edges and up along the sides of the dish. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the filling. Mix well.

Pour mixture into pie crust. The filling may be taller than the crust - according to HG, this is okay. If you have any left over, place in small, greased ramekins & bake for about 22- 28 minutes (ovens will vary - important to pay attention to these as they can dry out easily).

Bake pie in the oven for 45 minutes. Allow pie to cool slightly after removing from the oven.

Refrigerate for several hours (overnight is best). Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

MAKES 8 SERVINGS

"Friendly" Nostalgia

2009-06-17T15:20:00.005-04:00

This past weekend I was down at my beach house in New London, CT with some girlfriends from college. Conveniently, my beach house resides in the same town as our Alma Matter (Connecticut College). The point of the weekend? To catch up & to go to all of our most memorable places from our 4 years together. You know what we realized? About 95% of what we wanted to do while reminiscing had to do with eating…yikes…I’m not sure how I stayed thin in college…

One of my favorite traditions with these ladies was to go to Friendly’s for dinner & ice cream…especially the ice cream. If you haven’t been, it really is quite the treat. One of my friends never fails to get the Reese’s Pieces sundae (which, I might add, is quite tasty). If you went to Friendly’s as a kid, though, you might remember something called the Cone Head Sundae…you know…ice cream in a bowl, chocolate dipped sugar cone for the hat, whipped cream for the ears, Reese’s Pieces under the ice cream & used for the eyes/nose…so fun!

Somehow, my friend Katrina was able to talk the waiter into creating this Sundae for her (so if you go & it’s not on the menu…don’t take no for an answer!). I must say, he did a great job & it was really cute. Take a look:

It’s funny how so many traditions revolve around eating…I’m sure you all have your eating traditions with friends, family, coworkers…etc. My advice? Everything in moderation…life is too short to deny yourself, but you don’t want to gorge on high calorie snacks all day either J

Happy eating & happy summer! Hopefully it’s warmer where you are than here in Boston – it has been the coldest June!

3 Keys to Chewy Cookies

2009-06-12T08:32:00.005-04:00

The PR department at my company often receives free magazines where our stores have had products featured. One of my absolute favorite publications, Cook's Illustrated, is amongst those publications. This is absolutely awesome because I can peruse the recipes, tips and tricks for free!

A few days ago I was looking through one such magazine and happened upon three great tricks for making deliciously perfect chewy chocolate cookies. I'm certainly going to be trying these out; I thought some of you might appreciate them as well.

Eliminate the Yolk: Reduce your egg(s) to just the white portion. This cuts excess fat, which can make cookies too tender.

Incorporate Cocoa: Use powder cocoa rather than melted chocolate in your batter. This will help to keep tenderness in check. (Use a high quality cocoa so that you don't lose the intense chocolate flavor). You can also substitute more cocoa for some of the flour to enrich the chocolate flavor without hurting the consistency. Be careful to not subsitute too much - the reaction between the flour & liquid ingredients greats gluten, which helps the cookies stick together.

Use Less White Sugar: By replacing some of your white sugar with dark corn syrup and dark brown sugar, you'll help to boost your cookie's chewiness.

Cook's Illustrated is now available through an online subscription! So, you don't have to sort through paper magazines anymore...just sign in online!

"Curiouser and Curiouser"

2009-06-10T10:30:00.001-04:00

It is my eventual goal to open up a business whose main objective is to sell deliciously irresistible baked goods. These days, with The Food Network becoming more an more popular, the food market is becoming increasingly competitive. Because of this fact, it is important to have a unique & thrilling concept that draws a crowd.

Now think...try to remember a time when you ran into a coffee shop or bakery in your home city or in a city you were visiting and thought "wow, what a great idea". Or maybe I'm describing your favorite place to go for regular brunch dates with your friends...or the local coffee shop you curl up and read in every Sunday afternoon. You know what I'm talking about - that great idea that you wish you had come up with...

I just got back from yet another weekend in NYC (do I live in Boston or NYC? I'm starting to wonder...). While there, I went not once but twice to one of my favorite bakery businesses in the city. The first time was to pick up one of their famous Pumpkin Scones (A-MA-ZING), and the second time was to have brunch with my friend Kristen.

The place is called Alice's Tea Cup and is the greatest concept for all ages. From small children to great grandparents, and all that fall in between, this place is perfect. When kids arrive, they're dusted with "fairy dust" and outfitted with "fairy wings" that they wear throughout their dining experience. The place is great for any dining experience: a couples brunch, a casual meal, or little kid's birthday parties. And did I mention the scones?? Out of this world...I need to find the recipe for their pumpkin scones (help!)...like I just said, they're incredible. Crispy on the outside, fluffy and hearty on the inside...just enough sugar to satisfy and sweet tooth, but not overwhelming.

The wait staff there is young and energetic, and the atmosphere is adorable. The decorations literally make you feel as though you've fallen into the Alice in Wonderland book. The walls are covered with pictures of Alice in Wonderland statues (from around the city) and quotes from the story. Many of the tables are old sewing tables, which ads even more flavor to the place.

Aside from the scones, which I think you get by now that I LOVE, their tea is brewed upon ordering and is incredibly tasty (huge variety available too). The rest of the food is well made and worth checking out too.

NYC has three locations; one on the Upper West Side and two on the Upper East Side. Be sure to get there early (around 9/930) on a weekend if you don't want to wait...once you get into "normal" weekend waking hours, you can expect to wait for over an hour. Surprised? I told you...it's really good :). They also have a display counter where you can get baked goods to go (the scones I keep raving about as well as cupcakes, cookies & other great confections).

Check them out - you won't be disappointed.

Challah Bread

2009-06-09T07:12:00.004-04:00

There are many reasons that I love being Jewish, but one of the big ones is the food. Cultures around the world focus around traditions including cuisine. Being a self admitted carb-a-holic, being Jewish works out quite well for me...not so much for my diet; thank goodness for self control.

One of my personal favorite "dishes" of Jewish cuisine is the traditional bread called Challah. A white, fluffy, sweet bread, this stuff is to die for. When I was little, my family coined the phrase "Challah hollower"...apparently I only enjoyed the soft inside and therefore chose to pull that out of the loaf to the horror of the rest of my family. By the way, I do enjoy the crust now :).

Now living in Brookline, MA, there are a lot of great places to buy delicious challah: Clear Flour Bread Bakery, The Butchery, and there is a woman who makes amazing challah & sells it at the JP Licks on Harvard Ave (in Coolidge Corner). Back in Ohio, where I'm from, there is this bakery called Lucy's that makes the most insanely delicious Challah I've ever had in my life. They have a variety of flavors, my favorite being the apple cinnamon. I've heard from my mother that they're closing...I'll be home in a few weeks and plan to go beg for some of their recipes...we'll see how that goes...

Personally, though, I love to make it! Time consuming? Maybe a little...but the dough tastes aweseome and, quite honestly, there is nothing like filling the apartment/house with the smell of freshly baked bread. And the taste...incomparable!

Last weekend I visited my friend in NYC - the main purpose of the visit was to attend the Belmont Stakes (awesome!). As a thank you to her for constantly hosting me, I brought her my "famous" cinnamon sugar challah (I say "famous" because she is obsessed).

Here is the recipe that my mother shared with me - I'm not sure where she got it, but it's awesome.

Challah Bread

(Thanks to my sis for the pic - she made it recently as well!)

4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached flour or bread flour
1 package of dry yeast or 1 cube of cake yeast

1 1/4 cups lukewarm water

1/4 baking powder
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t vanilla
3 large eggs
3/8 cup oil (corn or vegetable)
3/8 cup + 1/8 TBSP sugar

Place 3 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center.

Blend the yeast with 1 cup of water. Stir to dissolve.

Pour yeast mixture into the well in the flour.

Using a fork begin stirring the yeast mixture in the well, gradually blending about ¼ of the flour into the yeast mixture.

Cover the bowel with a damp towel and set in a warm place to stand for 45 to 50 minutes.

Sprinkle baking powder, 3/8 cups sugar, cinnamon, and salt over the flour and yeast mixture.

Add the vanilla, 2 eggs, oil, 3/8 cup of oil and the remaining water. Blend with the fork.

Add one cup of flour and work into the dough with hands. If dough is sticky add up to another cup of flour.

Continue to work the dough with hands for another 10 minutes. When dough does not stick to hands, it is ready (add more flour if necessary).

Shape the dough into a coarse ball. Cover with damp towel and let rest for 20 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a floured board or granite surface and knead, adding flour as needed to keep from sticking, about 5 minutes.

Shape dough into a smooth ball. Place in floured bowel. Cover with damp towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto the floured surface. Cut dough into four equal pieces and shape each into a rope. Avoid handling dough too much.

Line the four ropes vertically next to each other. Pinch together at one end. Braid by bringing the far right rope over, under and over the next three ropes. Repeat until ropes are braided together and pinch ends together.

Tuck ends of braid under the loaf.

Place loaf on a generously greased 15 x 10 baking pan. Cover with damp towel and allow to rise for one hour. Volume should approximately double.

Preheat oven to 325°

Beat the remaining egg with ⅛ t sugar and brush over the loaf.

Bake for approximately one hour.

When Exactly Are Cupcakes Done?

2009-06-07T07:41:00.001-04:00

Often I am asked during my cupcake classes "when do you know that cupcakes are done?" There are a few methods that you can use to test cupcakes during the baking process.

The first thing you want to watch for is for the top of the cupcakes to start "poofing" up. A good recipe will always cause your cupcakes to rise above the top of the tins. At the same time, you'll notice cracks in the surface to appear. Your cupcakes will be nearing baking completion when the cracks start to look fibrous rather than wet. The exposed surface area will also start to turn a slightly darker color than the batter. Vanilla cupcakes will start to turn a golden brown; chocolate cupcakes will start to turn a deeper dark brown color.

When your cupcakes start look look as described above, insert a toothpick into the center of 2-3 of the cupcakes (in various parts of the muffin pan). If the toothpick comes out clean, they're ready. Be careful not to wait too long as they can bake too long and dry out.

If you don't have toothpics, you can also feel the tops to see if they're done. Using very little pressure, lightly tap on the top of the cupcakes. If they give but bounce back when you relieve the pressure you're placing on them, they're ready. If they're not ready, they'll feel squishy (like the batter isn't fully baked).

Potassium Packed Party Pastries

2009-06-06T07:00:00.002-04:00

Potassium is a very important vitamin - it helps with blood pressure regulation and muscle contraction. Low potassium can cause your muscles to cramp - you know, those oh so unpleasant "charlie horse" level muscle spasms - not fun.

When muscle cramps happen, say in a sports game or during a run, often the quickest piece of advice is to eat a banana. But hey, wouldn't it be way more fun AND delicious to eat a banana CUPCAKE?? Yeah, I thought so :)

This recipe is packed with potassium goodness, as well as all the other ingredients that make a ridiculously tasty after-meal treat. My favorite combination, using this recipe, is the combination of the chocolate frosting recipe I shared yesterday and this banana cupcake recipe. To top it off (both for additional taste & for a cute look) I add chocolate sprinkles & a slice of banana

DE-LI-CIOUS!

(pic with cream cheese frosting)

This recipe tastes a lot like banana bread - it actually requires one banana more than my favorite banana bread recipe. The difference is the consistency of the pastry - it's not quite as dense as a banana bread, keeping the "cupcake" quality. They also bake up with a nice rounded top - perfect for icing/frosting. Whether you choose to eat solo or top with chocolate or perhaps cream cheese frosting (see below), you'll achieve a treat that your whole family/party/office will enjoy.

Banana Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) Unsalted Butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed Bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
2 large Eggs, room temperature
1/2 tsp pure Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla.

Make a well in the center of flour mixture. Place banana mixture in well. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (careful not to over mix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25-30 minutes.

Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with frosting of choice. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place on one each cupcake, if desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz Unsalted Butter, softened
4 oz Cream Cheese, softened
2 cups Powdered Sugar (Confectioners' Sugar)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer.

With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy.

Beat in the vanilla extract. Chill before using.

Cupcakes Cupcakes Cupcakes

2009-06-05T07:00:00.002-04:00

I've posted before about my side hobby/job as a baking instructor at the Boston Center for Adult Education (by the way - teaching a cookie class on July 23! click the cookie pic in the upper left corner for more details). Last night I had my first class in their brand new kitchen at 122 Arlington Street - AMAZING kitchen. I felt like I was teaching a class on the Food Network or something...all stainless steel appliances, beautiful assortment of mixers, pots & pans, bowls...ah...amazing!

The class was a lot of fun too - I stuck with the standard (but delicious) chocolate & vanilla cupcakes. I did add one fun cupcake recipe: banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...mmm. The banana cupcakes were AMAZING with the chocolate frosting actually...yum!

The vanilla cake recipe that I used is my go-to that I've blogged about before: http://www.creativeconfectioneryblog.com/2009/01/classic-vanilla-cupcake.html

The chocolate & banana cupcakes baked SO well in the new, state of the art ovens - actually better than the vanilla ones - not too sure why that was. These are great recipes to use though. Some are from the recipe files of the famous NYC bakery Magnolia Bakery, and some are others I've had or found along the way...

Today I'm sharing the chocolate cupcake & chocolate frosting recipes - banana cupcakes, vanilla & cream cheese frosting recipes coming soon :)

Chocolate Cupcakes
(makes 24 cupcakes)

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 cup Sugar, granulated
1 cup firmly packed Light Brown Sugar
4 large Eggs, at room temperature
6 ounces Unsweetened Chocolate, melted*
1 cup Buttermilk
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers. Set aside.

Using a double boiler, slowly melt the unsweetened chocolate, being careful not to burn. If you don't have a double boiler, use a pan with a bowl over it with an equal sized diameter. Once you have this, here is what you do:

- Fill a small to medium sized pan 1/2 way with water. Heat until simmering.
- Turn the heat off & place bowl immediately over hot water. This will keep the

chocolate from burning

- Add the chocolate in pieces, constantly stirring, until all is melted. Set aside.

In a large bowl, on medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.

Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about three-quarters full (a little higher is okay).

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in the tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins & cool completely on wire racks before icing.

Chocolate Frosting

2 3/4 cups Confectioners' Sugar
6 TBSP Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
6 TBSP butter
5 TBSP Evaporated Milk (add more, 1 TBSP at a time, of the frosting seems to dry)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa 5 times, and set aside (really important to get the right consistency)

In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk (split the sugar mixture into 3 or 4 parts for this altering method).

Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy.

If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar (more milk if too dry, more sugar if too soupy).

**Before frosting your cupcakes, make sure that they're completely cool or this frosting will melt.

No Double Boiler? No Problem!

2009-06-04T07:33:00.003-04:00

Many great baking recipes require a double boiler to melt chocolate. Problem is, many of us (myself included) do not own a double boiler. Bummer...

Please don't let this fact persuade you to avoid recipes requiring ingredients like melted chocolate, or more expensively - to go out and buy a double boiler.

Do you have a standard small-medium sized pot? Do you have a mixing bowl? Great - then you can melt chocolate in your very own home!

Here is what to do:

Fill your pot up 1/2 way with water. Place over stove & heat until the water comes to a simmer/almost boil.

Place bowl over the pot & turn the heat OFF. Chocolate burns very easily, creating a gummy, congealed consistency. Turning off the heat slows the melting process only a tiny bit & makes burning the chocolate much less likely.

Once your bowl is over the pot, with the heat off, add 1-2 pieces of chocolate. Stirring constantly, you should start to see the chocolate pieces melting almost immediately. Once these pieces are mostly melted, add 2 more pieces. Continue until all pieces are melted.

I recommend doing this almost immediately before you need to add this ingredient to the recipe. Allowing it to cool some is okay, but you don't want it to re-solidify in your bowl.

Good Luck!

Nut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

2009-06-02T12:00:00.001-04:00

I happened across this recipe when baking with a friend a few months ago. I have to say, this is one of the better peanut butter cookie recipes I've found. The oatmeal inclusion gives these cookies a great, chewy texture. When I made these a few months ago with my friend we used Almond Butter - I liked this better than peanut butter, though I do like the peanut butter version as well.

Here's the recipe - enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

1 stick Butter, softened
1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar, lightly packed
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
3/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Quick Oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and peanut butter together in a large mixer on high.

Add the sugar, brown sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the mixture is fluffy.

Add the egg and beat until combined. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and oats together in a separate bowl and add to the butter mixture. Mix until well combined.

Place the batter onto a sheet pan by the tablespoonful, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake in the top half of the oven until the cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.

Spin on Summer Pasta Salad

2009-06-01T12:00:00.001-04:00

Most of what I know about cooking, I learned from my mother. I'm not sure how she knows what ingredients combine to make a great pasta salad - but she certainly has a knack for it! The following recipe is a spin off of a non-pasta salad that she made a few years ago. It's quite healthy & delicious!

When you think of summer cooking, I'm sure one of the biggest themes that come to mind is Barbecue. Grilled veggies, hot off the grill, comprise my favorite summer side items. One favorite in particular is asparagus. The tomato is also one of my favorite summer sides - I guess that's a fruit though :).

For a friend's barbecue yesterday I created a pasta salad that combined my favorites listed above with the idea of a pasta salad. Because it's bathing suit season, I decided to steer clear of the creamy pasta salad variety. Try to combine these flavors in your head: grape tomatoes, asparagus, balsamic vinaigrette and blue cheese. Tasty, right? Add in some bow tie pasta of your liking and you have a great side dish for any summer barbecue. Below is the recipe in full.

Vinaigrette Based Pasta Salad

1 box Bow Tie Pasta (I prefer Barilla as it is multi-grain & a healthier choice)
1 small container Grape Tomatoes
1 large bunch Asparagus
Crumbled Blue Cheese (to taste)
Newman's Light Balsamic Vinaigrette (to taste)

Bring a pot of water to boil. Break off the ends of your asparagus spears & throw away. Chop the usable part of your spears into 1.5 - 2 inch pieces.

Blanch your asparagus pieces. To do this, place into boiling water & cook for approximately 5 minutes. Immediately strain & allow to cool.

Cook your pasta as described on the box. Strain & cool about 5 minutes.

Combine your pasta & asparagus. Cut grape tomatoes in half & mix into the pasta/asparagus mixture.

Add blue cheese & dressing to taste. I added about 3 - 3.5 ounces of crumbled blue cheese and 7 TBSP of dressing to my salad.

Refrigerate for 2-3 hours (until everything is nice and cool). Stir before serving to make sure the dressing is covering all of your ingredients.

Enjoy!

Grilled Summer Dessert

2009-05-30T07:59:00.004-04:00

When I do have time to watch television (which doesn't seem to be much these days), my tv is tuned to The Food Network. This morning, thanks to my cat, I was up watching this very network at 7am this morning. Though I wish I had slept a bit longer, I did get the chance to catch a great idea for a summer fruit dessert. This recipe requires very few ingredients and only about 40 minutes - most of which is just waiting.

I'm a huge fruit fan, so of course I needed to try this right away. I ran up to my local grocery store & picked up three types of fruit: a red plum, a white plum & a nectarine. You can really use whatever sweet fruit you want - Giada (the chef showing this recipe on TFN) recommended strawberries & pineapple as great alternatives.

So - you want to buy stone fruit that is firm but gives slightly to the touch. You need one of each fruit for every two people you'll be serving.

First, soak the appropriate number of bamboo skewers in water for about 30 minutes. This keeps them from burning during the grilling process.

Once your skewers are ready, slice each of your pieces of fruit in half & remove the pits. Next, skewer 1/2 of each type of fruit onto your skewer (so you have 1/2 nectarine, 1/2 red plum, 1/2 white plum - or whatever fruit you've decided to use).

Place your skewered fruite cut side up on a plate & sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar. This recipe would be excellent by itself, but the inclusion of sugar gives the surface a sweet crispy taste that is to die for!

Heat up your grill and place skewers cut side down. Grill for about 5 minutes. Remove & plate on a serving platter along with some pretty green adornments - Giada used mint leaves, which I thought looked beautiful.

Hamentashen - It's a Jewish Thing...

2009-05-29T18:24:00.009-04:00

Hamentashen is the traditional cookie eaten during the Jewish holiday Purim. Purim is a festival that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people of the ancient Persian Empire from Haman's plot to annihilate them.

Aside from their religious significance, Hamentashen are simply very delicious cookies! A wheat based butter cookie filled with a variety of fruit (chosen to your liking), these cookies can be enjoyed by anyone!

I recently participated in this group for young Jewish professionals in my area - great time & made some amazing friends. Last night we had a mini-reunion full of delicious food. As the resident baker, I decided to stay with the Jewish theme & made Hamentashen.

I found a great recipe on RecipeZaar.com. For the filling I used the Italian Wild Cherries that I won last fall with my Pie of the Vine Grape Pie. These were the perfect fruity adornment to my Hamentashen. You can use any flavor you want, though: strawberry, apricot, peach, poppy seed, prune...really, whatever your heart desires! I'll bet chocolate would be good too...Nuetella anyone??

Here is the recipe - again, very delicious!

Purim's Hamentashen Cookies

3/4 cups Butter (1 1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup Sugar
1 large Egg
1 tsp grated Lemon Zest or 1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Salt
Filling of choice
Additional Sugar (for sprinkling)
2 1/4 cups Flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter in a bowl. Add sugar & beat until fluffy.

Beat in egg, lemon and vanilla.

Add flour & salt in 3 portions, mixing each time thoroughly. (If batter is still sticking to the sides of the bowl, add water at 1 drop increments until batter pulls away from the side of the bowl)

Place dough in a ziplock bag & refrigerate for 1-2 hours (until workable).

Roll dough out between two waxed paper sheets to 1/4 inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, cut dough into circles ~ 2.5 - 3 inches in diameter. Place on pre-greased cookie sheet.

Spoon a small amount of filling into the center of each circle. **Note: you are going to want to put more filling in than needed - too much will ruin the way the cookies bake & will cause the dough to spread too thinly across the cookie sheet. If you're using cherries, you want to place only 2 cherries (3 if they're very small) in the center of your dough.

Fold & pinch up the side of your cookie in three places using your thumbs & two fingers so that you create the triangle shape. Pinch the corners together so they're completely sealed. You only want a small portion of the filling exposed - all else should be covered by the folded up dough.

Sprinkle a small amount of sugar over each cookie. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (until the edges JUST start becoming pale golden. Any longer and the dough will start to spread too much.

Cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet & then move to cooling racks until your cookies are completely cool.

And finally, of course......Enjoy!

95th Beach Birthday

2009-05-24T09:08:00.006-04:00

Aside from beach time, this Memorial Day weekend marked the 95th birthday of my grandfather. Friends and family gathered from all parts of the country: Hartford, CT, Washington DC, Cleveland Ohio, Boston, NYC & more to help celebrate the big day in New London, CT. It should come as no surprise to you that I offered to bake the cake for the occasion.

I've been coming to New London, CT for my entire life. Every summer for a week (and more frequently now that I live in Boston) I have come here, to the beach, to enjoy the warm weather & to visit with my family. Memories of sand castles, sea glass, beach umbrellas and 60's style yellow bed comforters fill my head when I think of this town (the cottage that my family owns is cute, but it needs a little decoration updating).

Using most of these memories, I began to craft the idea for a beach style birthday cake. Before I get into the details of the cake creation, I have to say a HUGE thank you to the best cake creation assistant in the word: Miss Sophie Hannah Ludgin. Sophie is my 6 1/2 year old cousin from Washington DC. She is very smart & very creative, so she was a HUGE help to me when deciding exactly how to decorate the cake. Sophie mixed the icing & created the "sand" for the cake, as well as decided how to adorn the cake with the gold & silver dragee balls. Here is a picture of us with our cake:

I've seen many examples (online & on one of my favorite TV shows - Ace of Cakes) of beach themed cakes using both brown sugar and graham cracker crumbs to simulate sand. I went with the graham cracker version.

Tip 1: if you use chocolate frosting & the graham cracker crumbs, you achieve a s'mores - like tasting treat - really good! Make sure the crumbs are mostly finely crushed so that they spread easily.

Tip 2: Another tip to get the surface area looking "beach like": mix vanilla & chocolate icing together to achieve a camel-colored frosting. It makes your job a lot easier than trying to cover the entire surface area with graham cracker crumbs (a little hard to get the crumbs to complete cover the cake surface area).

Tip 3: Make sure each layer of your cake is leveled before you stack the next level. If not, you might have cake tipping problems. I ran into this - as a fix, I stuck a folded paper plate under the side of the serving platter in order to ensure the cake sat level until time for serving.

Warning: Do NOT mix the graham cracker crumbs into the frosting. They soak up the moisture from the frosting & make it very hard to spread. It might work if you use the crumbs sparingly & have very sticky frosting, but I suggest first spreading the frosting & then, using your hands, cover the frosting surface area with the crumbs.

Using gum paste & royal icing, I crafted beach umbrellas & a shovel and pale for decorations. Dragees served as fancy adornments. I also made chocolate shells using old Madeleine cookie pans (this worked REALLY well).

**Note about the umbrella with "Budweiser" on it - inside family joke. My grandfather won a beach umbrella that looked like that about five years ago & insisted on our using it instead of buying a new one - slightly embarrassing with all of the little kids & older residents on the beach...

The cake came out as a huge success - everyone loved it & it tasted great. Highly recommend a similar style for a beach themed party!

"Carrots" to Satisfy Summer Time Cravings

2009-05-18T05:11:00.006-04:00

I've always lived in an area that experiences the four seasons....though to be honest, it's more like 3 months of awesome summer, 2 months each of spring/fall, and then 7 freezing months of winter. Don't get me wrong, the snow is beautiful & can be fun. But, it makes my morning commute close to unbearable when the wind is blowing across the Mass Ave. bridge, bringing the temperature down to close to negative degrees as I'm hurriedly shuffling to the Prudential Center. Not my favorite thing to do...

But we don't need to talk about that now - it's almost summer! Late spring/summer/early fall is my FAVORITE time of year. You know - no jackets needed, warm air blowing...so nice! Yes, some days can be very hot, but I personally prefer that to the freezing cold described above. And, you know what else is great about the summer? Frozen Yogurt! I'm not talking about the Pinkberry stuff that tastes like you put a cup of Dannon yogurt into the freezer...I'm talking about non-fat frozen ice cream. The sweet stuff. This is, by far, the best summer treat available.

1.) It tastes amazing - the consistency is perfect for sliding down your throat & cooling your body temperature without needing to pause in your mouth to melt as some ice creams do.

2.) Two words: non fat (or in some cases, low fat). I'm always watching my caloric intake, so the fact that most frozen yogurt (ice cream) places serve a non-fat option is awesome to me.

3.) The swirl factor. Not only can you get this tasty, non fat treat in many places - but you can enjoy two flavors at once! Usually I'm a chocolate/vanilla swirl kind of girl. I don't like the artificial flavors that some places pump into their froyo - too fake.

So now are you with me? Froyo = awesome. Moving along, this past weekend I visited a friend in NYC (the same friend who went on the cupcake excursion with me last fall - delicious but SO much sugar!. The more I visit NYC the more I love it - maybe a move in my near future?? I'm hoping so). For brunch on Sunday we went to the famous "40 Carrots" inside Bloomingdales. Let me tell you, it was awesome! I highly recommend it to anyone living in/visiting NYC. The food was quite good, but the highlight was, of course, their selection of frozen yogurt.

They have three consistent flavors & then a flavor of the day (alternating each day of the week). The consistent flavors are vanilla (this is the tart pinkberry type), chocolate & coffee. The flavor of the day yesterday (and every Sunday) was blueberry. I opted into a combination coffee/blueberry dish with some chocolate covered Gogi berries on the side.

Looks good, right? A few tips for you:

1.) Try to go on a Sunday - the blueberry is AMAZING. (The coffee was also incredible).
2.) Chocolate covered Gogi berries - while rich in antioxidents, not so tasty. They're kind of dry & not worth the extra calories (in my opinion).
3.) Get the regular size (not the large). As you can see from my photo, the regular size gives you a LOT of frozen yogurt. I saw a woman order the large...it was about the amount of ice cream you'd get out of a pint of Ben & Jerry's. While not as bad for you as B&J's, believe me - too much!

If you get the chance to go & try another one of their special flavors, let me know how it is. I may need to make a special trip out to try again! (Who are we kidding...I'll definitely be stopping back in.)

Back in Boston now, I'd highly recommend a stop at J.P. licks. They have a good selection of the soft serve stuff, complete with any toppings you'd like.

Welcome Back Recipe, Just in Time for Spring!

2009-05-14T19:06:00.009-04:00

So sorry to everyone following this blog for my absence - it was a very busy end of the winter. Now that the sun is shining, the weather is warming up, and there are leaves on the trees, I promise to make more regular posts, filled with AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS recipes for your enjoyment :).

I was out in California about 4 weeks ago, visiting a childhood friend of mine. If you ever make it to LA, I highly suggest you check out the horseback riding to the Hollywood sign - it was SO fun. The guides were very friendly & the horses were safe & steady. Check it out:

Also while in L.A., my friend and I flexed our baking muscles both to share our mutual love for sweets & to celebrate her boyfriend's birthday. What better ingredient to choose during the spring than a lemon? Think about it...lemonade, lemon ice, lemon-lime popsicles...they all scream warm weather.

Our baking item of choice: Lemon filled Vanilla cupcakes with a sweet Meringue Frosting. Believe me...delicious! I think her boyfriend actually downed three of them in one sitting. Check them out:

And, of course, here is the recipe :)

Vanilla cupcakes: recipe provided in a previous post - find it HERE.

Once you've baked the cupcakes and have let them cool, cut out a small section from the top center of the cupcake (about 1/2 inch deep and with a thick border to ensure the stability of your cupcakes). With the cut out portion: cut the soft middle part of the cake off, but keep the top portion to place on top of the lemon filling once placed in the hole you've created. See images below:

Lemon Filling:
(makes 1 cup)

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs + 2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 TBSP cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup water
1 tsp grated lemon zest

- Heat butter & lemon juice in med pan until mixture is hot - 130 degrees.
- In med bowl whisk sugar & eggs/yolks until blended. Add dissolved cornstarch.
- Whisking constantly, add butter/lemon juice mixture slowly.
- Return to pan & cook over med heat until thickened & just boiling ~ 6 minutes - thickened sauce will allow for a path created with finger on back of spoon
- Press plastic wrap to top of sauce once placed in cool bowl - refrigerate until chilled.

Finally, top with Meringue Frosting (recipe below)

1 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp. vanilla flavoring extract

Boil sugar and water over heat until syrup spins a thread.
Pour very slowly onto stiffly beaten whites and beat until smooth and stiff enough to spread.
Add flavoring.
Spread on cake.

Get ready for more to come!

Cupcakes to Sizzle Your Date Night!

2009-01-22T16:45:00.000-05:00

A quick note: sorry for the absence...with the economy the way that it is now, my "real" job had to take precedence over my blogging hobby...

2009 is starting up with a bunch of cupcake classes! My first one, coming up this weekend, is called “Hot Cupcakes for Cold Nights”…oh la la! J These cupcakes are ideal for your special night (ehem, Valentines day coming up!) or just a date night with your sweetheart…Or maybe you’re celebrating something with your girlfriends. Really, these unique recipes are good for any night that you deem special.

Why are they good for date night? Well…they play upon well known aphrodisiacs! Honey, Champagne (alcohol), chocolate…delish! The perfectly baked cake combined with the rich & creamy butter cream frostings really make these a delectable dessert!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Champagne Frosting

Makes 12 cupcakes

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

5 tablespoons boiling water
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs, separated

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a cupcake pan with wrappers or butter and flour tins.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave on low, 1-2 minutes. Add boiling water and stir until smooth, then set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add chocolate & mix until fully combined.

Add flour, baking powder and salt, mix 20 seconds on low.

Add milk and vanilla and mix until just combined.

In a separate bowl, whip egg whites on high until fluffy. Use a spatula to fold the whites into the batter until just combined.

Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full and bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.

For the Frosting (separate ingredients from list above):

Whip 1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter with 3 cups powdered sugar until mixed.

Add champagne slowly, 2 tablespoons at a time, whipping after each addition, until you reach a smooth, thick consistency is reached.

**If you want your icing to have more of a champagne flavor, add more powdered sugar as you add more champagne to retain the thick consistency needed for spreading over the cupcakes.

Lemon Cupcakes with Honey Frosting

Makes 12 cupcakes

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 egg yolks

1 tablespoon lemon juice

zest of 1/2 a lemon

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line a cupcake pan with wrappers or butter and flour tins.

With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy.

Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Add zest and lemon juice and mix to incorporate.

Add flour, baking powder and salt, mix 20 seconds on low.

Add milk and mix until just combined.

Fill cupcake tins 3/4 full and bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.

For the Frosting (separate ingredients from list above):

Whip 1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter with 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons heavy cream and 1/4 cup honey until thick and creamy. (Works best if you add each one at a time, combining after each new ingredient)

**Raw honey will produce a more complex flavor.
**Make sure to test the batter before cooking as you want to ensure at least a subtle lemon flavor.

The Novelty of Cake Pans...

2009-01-08T08:53:00.008-05:00

If you have kids or go to a lot of theme parties (superbowl, halloween, birthday etc) then you should pay attention to this post!

I'm very into trying to craft my cakes into my desired shape by hand, but somethings are too intricate & detailed for the human hand (mine anyway). During these circumstances, I resort to one of my favorite bakeware lines: Nordicware.

Not only is Nordicware made in an eco-friendly way, but they have a huge variety of shapes to satisfy almost any cake shape requirement! From sand castles to trains, flowers to sea shells, hearts, roses and creatively shaped bundt cakes...Nordicware can do it all. Bakeware.com is a great place to find good deals on these pans too...much more reasonable than Williams Sonoma (which I love...but my wallet cannot always afford).

I have a coworker whose birthday was earlier this week. He is the ULTIMATE Boston sports fan...to the point where the walls surrounding his department's desks are covered in news clippings, ticket stubs & posters. What better cake to make for him than a stadium - with the help of Nordicware, I was able to create a cake that blew his sports passion-filled mind away:

Here is the Nordicware pan that I used - pretty cool, huh?

I used mini chocolate chips for the "people"...sugar cookies for the floor & for the back boards, mini-reeses for the hoops, vanilla icing for the majority of the cake, and then piped green royal icing for the details.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes

2009-01-07T06:44:00.004-05:00

courtesy of Bostonista.com

Personally, I love vanilla cupcakes. But sometimes, nothing beats a deliciously moist & chocolate packed cupcake. You know what I'm saying...sometimes nothing beats CHOCOLATE! :)

Many of you mentioned to me that you loved the sour cream addition to the vanilla cupcakes. Well, you'll love this one then! Enjoy :)

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes

2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, good quality
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sour cream
4 large eggs
1/2 cup coffee, strong
1 tsp vanilla

*You can leave out the coffee if you don't like that flavor

**To lighten up this recipe substitute:

1/3 of the flour for whole wheat
Baking Splenda for 1/2 the sugar
Light Butter
Low Fat Sour Cream
Egg beaters for the eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Line tins with baking papers (I prefer tin foil ones). Sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl placed over a sauce pan of gently simmering water, melt together the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat. Whisk in the sour cream, eggs, coffee, and vanilla until well combined.

Add the flour mixture and whisk until evenly combined. Fill each cup 2/3 full. Bake until a skewer inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean...about 20 minutes.

The Classic Vanilla Cupcake...

2009-01-04T17:47:00.004-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone! :) Sorry for the extended absence...the holidays can be a crazy time, as I'm sure you all understand.

As promised, my new theme is going to be one that everyone should appreciate: the always classic cupcake! Everyone loves them...the perfect size of cake that comes in pretty much any flavor you can imagine! By the way, if you're ever in NY, you should really try some of their cupcake shops...so good!

To start off with, I'd like to share with you quite possibly the best vanilla cupcake recipe I have ever had! Moist & flavorful, this recipe is to die for, and it uses ingredients that you're sure to have in your fridge...

Best Vanilla Cupcake Recipe...Ever!
Makes 24 cupcakes

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp vanilla, or add another flavor
1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place papers in 2 (12 cup) cupcake pans.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In your mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until thickened and lightened to a cream color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the oil and vanilla until blended. Mix in the sour cream. Mix in the flour mixture until it's incorporated and the batter is smooth.

Pour into prepared cups and bake 18-23 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let sit in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and completely before frosting.

And, of course, enjoy! :) More to come...

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-27T07:03:00.002-05:00

I will be home for the last three nights of Hanukkah, but I'll be back with great new recipes next week. Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Request: If you have an excellent recipe for Cupcakes: traditional or original, I'd be so appreciative if you'd share them with me. I have to get ready for my 2009 cupcake classes, and am looking for something new to share with the Boston community!

You can either:
1.) Leave a comment with the link

or

2.) Email me at CreativeConfectioneryBlog@gmail.com

Thanks & Happy Holidays!!!

~Jen~

The Best Way to Find Great Bakeries...

2008-12-26T09:48:00.003-05:00

You all have one...that hugely popular or hole in the wall bakery in your neighborhood that you just couldn't live without...

I live in Boston, MA...Brookline - to be exact. Boston is laden with great bakeries & restaurants, so it isn't hard to find a great place for a fresh loaf of bread or deliciously sweet cookies, cannoli, cupcakes & more. The North End houses two of my favorites (both very well known): Modern Pastry & Mike's Pastry. Personally, I adore Modern...but Mike's is quite famous & absolutely delicious. Visiting Boston? You should devote a night to excellent Italian food (anywhere on Hanover Street) followed by a visit to one of these great bakeries (or both??).

Sometimes, though, I don't want to travel all the way to the North End. Yes, Boston isn't huge, but if you have ever ridden the T, you understand why it can be quite the trek.

Growing up Jewish, I have quite the palate for Judaic baked goods: Challah, Hamentashen, Rugula...etc etc. A while back I promised a Challah tour of Boston - believe me, that is still coming. Though excellent bakeries, neither Modern nor Mike's can satiate my desire for the described baked goods. I found a place right in my own back yard though...

What is there to do on December 25th in Brookline, MA when you're Jewish? (Aside from going to the movies) You can walk around the neighborhood, just North of Coolidge Corner, and visit the Jewish Family owned stores. And guess what I found - an amazing bakery (that I definitely should have stumbled upon before) boasting an excellent selection of my favorites: Kupel's Bakery. They have an amazing selection of baked goods: cookies, the items I talked about above, tons of bagels (many varieties of whole wheat!) and much much more. You should really stop in here...I grabbed a loaf of Challah & two Hamentashen cookies (one raspberry & one apricot) - wow - so delicious! I'm now officially a regular...

So I encourage you: slow down your life & take a walk through your neighborhood. You never know what you'll stumble upon...

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies?!?

2008-12-25T08:00:00.002-05:00

Okay, I couldn't resist...here is one more for the road! I LOVE sugar cookies...they are, hands down, my absolute favorite! Always have been...

Problem: I am slowly turning into a health nut with a HUGE sweet tooth - unlikely pairing, right? It's hard to resist those colorful delights around the holidays! Well...here is a whole wheat sugar cookie recipe to knock your socks off w/o adding so many extra pounds!

Nutrition Facts for Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies:

(per cookie)

126 Calories

4g Fat

1g Protein

22g Carbohydrates

0g Fiber

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah to Everyone!

Whole Wheat Sugar Cookie Recipe

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1 egg white

1 1/4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract

Icing Icing

2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

2 large egg whites

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. For cookies, whisk together first 4 ingredients (through baking soda) in a medium bowl.

2. Beat butter and sugars together in a separate medium bowl until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl, and add the egg white and vanilla and almond extracts; beat until just combined.

3. Add flour mixture, and stir until incorporated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 4 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 325°. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray.

5. Dust a work surface with flour. Turn out chilled dough directly onto work surface. Roll dough out to a 1/4-inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes in dough, and gently transfer them to baking sheets.

6. Bake cookies for 12 minutes or until set but not browned. Remove cookies from oven, and cool for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

7. For the icing, whisk together all the icing ingredients in a large bowl until completely smooth. Mixture should have consistency of a glaze. (If it's too thin, add a bit more sugar. If it's too thick, add a few more drops of lemon juice.) If you don't like lemon flavoring, use water instead of lemon juice.

8. Transfer icing to a pastry bag (or a zip-top plastic bag with a small hole in one of the bottom corners). First, outline the cookie or desired design, then fill it in. Let icing harden before serving. Cookies can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Last Cookie Recipe of the Season!

2008-12-24T09:45:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas Eve to those of you who celebrate! Even though I don't, the holiday spirit is infectious! And...it's still Hanukkah, so I can relate to the cheer of the season.

Today will be my last holiday cookie oriented email. Post holidays I will move into a new theme: cupcake recipes! I will actually be asking for all of your help...my next class that I am teaching is called "How to bake the Perfect Cupcake". So many of you are so talented...if you have any show-stopping recipes that you think people would really enjoy, shoot them my way. I'd be honored if you'd allow me to impart them onto my class.

Then, in February I have a second cupcake class called "Hot Cupcakes for Cold Nights". My plan is to include Red Velvet for sure...because, come one, it screams Valentines Day :). The theme of the others...ideally...will be to focus on ingredients that are considered Aphrodisiacs. A little risque, I know, but that's the theme of the class the center created! So...obviously something decadently chocolate...but I need more ideas! If you have a recipe that you think is awesome & caters to the February Romance theme...please shoot them my way.

As I'll have a post after each of these classes on the class, I'm commited to giving you credit! If you've blogged about your recipe, make sure to include the link to the post in your email. I'll be sure to give you ample credit!

Now, here is the last recipe I am giving for the holiday cookie baking season!

I work at a company that gets a million gift baskets every holiday season. Yesterday, in one of the baskets, there were the coolest looking cookies: Shaped like walnuts with a pecan pie type filling (except with walnuts instead of pecans)...these guys were majorly decadent & original. I've searched around & found a recipe that sounds like it may replicate. The recipe is from cdkitchen.com.

You'll need a special baking tin for this: walnut tins. *that link takes you to a chocolate mold - check manufacturer for details on whether or not they can go into the oven!

Ingredients

***Pastry for shells:***

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 pound soft butter

1 1/2 cup icing sugar

1/2 cup finely ground walnuts

1/4 cup milk, more as needed

***Filling:***

1 cup milk

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups icing sugar

1/2 pound butter

2 teaspoons cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup finely ground walnuts

2 teaspoons rum or rum extract

Pastry for shells:

In large bowl mix flour, baking powder, walnuts, icing sugar, add butter in pieces and work with hands until blended.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup milk over mixture, make sure dough stays together add more milk if needed. Shape into big ball.

Take approx. 1 tsp. dough and press into walnut tins. Put tins on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees until light brown. Approx. 10-12 mins.

Filling:

Put milk, egg yolks, and flour in blender and mix until smooth.

Pour into small non-stick pan and cook on medium until thick and comes away from sides of pan. Cool.

In small mixmaster bowl add icing sugar, butter, cocoa and vanilla. Blend. Add small pieces of cooked mixture as this is blending. Then add rum to taste. Add walnuts.

Blend until mixture is creamy & fluffy.

Fill shells with approx. 1 tsp. of filling and put shells together.

Peppermint-Topped Brownies from MyRecipes.com

2008-12-23T09:24:00.004-05:00

I've talked about how I love MyRecipes.com before. Luckily for me...as I start to run out of my favorite cookie recipes to share with you (okay, I have a million more...but this one has to be shared) they send this AMAZING looking recipes! I certainly need to test it out. Maybe I'll do this on Thursday while most of you are celebrating Christmas :)

Use your imagination...think about this combination: rich, gooey, thick chocolate combined with the cool, refreshing taste of peppermint...delicious, right?

Boy, do I have an awesome recipe for you! Please enjoy - let me know how it comes out! You can use this with any similar mint...not sure how good spearmint would be...but you could try it if you want.

Peppermint-topped Brownies

Yield
Makes about 25 brownies

Ingredients

10 tablespoon butter, plus more for pan
6 ounces good-quality bittersweet chocolate, broken into large chunks
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
80 hard, round, red-and-white peppermint swirl candies (17 oz.; see Notes)
1/2 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup whipping cream

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9- by 13-in. baking pan. In a medium saucepan, stir butter and bittersweet chocolate over very low heat with a heatproof rubber spatula until just melted (do not let simmer or boil). Remove from heat and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Slowly pour chocolate-butter mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly. Into a separate bowl, sift flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder, then whisk together. With a clean rubber spatula, gently fold flour mixture into egg mixture until just combined.

3. Spread batter evenly in the baking pan. Bake 20 to 30 minutes, or until brownies are firm, beginning to pull away from sides of pan, and a toothpick inserted in center emerges with only a few crumbs clinging to it. Let brownies cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

4. Reduce oven temperature to 300°. Line a level, rimmed 11 1/2- by 16-in. baking sheet with parchment. With a pencil, draw a grid of 1 3/4-in. squares on parchment (5 rows of 8), leaving about a 1-in. border, and turn parchment over. Place a mint in the center of each square. Bake 15 to 25 minutes, or until completely melted into 1 large sheet, but remove before candy begins to turn yellow. Immediately score peppermint squares with a pizza cutter, using pencil lines as your guide. If scored lines don't hold, rescore quickly. Let candy cool completely. Gently break into squares along score lines. Arrange, bake, and score remaining 40 candies the same way (you'll have extra squares; pick the prettiest).

5. In the top of a double boiler or a metal bowl set over simmering water, combine chopped semisweet chocolate and whipping cream. Cook, stirring often, until melted and blended. Remove from heat and let ganache cool until just warm.

6. Pour ganache over cooled brownies in pan and allow to set until firm, about 2 hours at room temperature or 1 hour in the refrigerator.

7. Place peppermint squares bottom side up on ganache, leaving enough room between squares to cut brownies. Cut brownies into squares along edges of peppermint tops, wiping knife clean between cuts. Remove brownies from pan, discard (or eat) scraps, and return brownies to pan. Cover with plastic wrap, making sure wrap does not touch peppermint, and refrigerate 3 hours (to soften candy a bit). Serve slightly chilled.

Holiday Parties are Coming

2008-12-22T09:42:00.005-05:00

Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah, you probably have a few holiday parties lined up for this week. Lucky for you, I have tons of holiday recipes ready for you to bring to your potlucks or to feed your guests.

Though I have many wonderful cookbooks, my favorite recipes come from my mom & a few families that I've known my entire life.

Because today is the first day of Hanukkah (last night was night #1) I am going to share my family's Latke recipe with you. These are so delicious! You can also substitute 1/2 of the potatoes for sweet potatoes to make an awesome rendition to my holiday favorite.

Potato Latkes

10 medium white baking potatoes

2 medium yellow onions

2 large or extra large eggs

¼ cup all purpose flour

salt and pepper to taste

vegetable oil

Peel and grate the potatoes and onions (I do this with a food processor).

Place the potatoes in a strainer and press out as much liquid as possible reserving the starchy sediment at the bottom of the bowl. Return the grated potatoes to the bowl and blend the potatoes with onions,eggs, flour, salt and pepper.

Heat about ½ to 1 inch of oil in a frying pan. Drop about 1 T of the potato mixture for each latke into the skillet and flatten with spatula.

Fry latkes, turning once, until golden and crisp on each side. Drain on paper towels.

Serve with apple sauce, sour cream, or Greek yogurt.

And the Winner Is...

2008-12-21T08:56:00.003-05:00

Thanks to everyone who has entered my contest for 2 oz of Gold or Silver Dragees! I hope you've enjoyed my posts this month.

The winner, randomly selected, of this contest is...

Megan of Megan's Munchies!!!

Megan - your choice: 20z of Gold or Silver Dragees :).

Today, having just had a huge snow storm here in Boston & another one coming, I will begin to experiment with fondant! Stay tuned this week for the results :)

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
~Jen~

Easy Fantasy Fudge

2008-12-17T11:22:00.003-05:00

Ever had the urge to make a big batch of fudge to give away as holiday gifts to your friends/family/coworkers, but thought "well, I don't have a candy thermometer & fudge is super difficult to make"? Well I have the recipe for you!

Here is the best fudge recipe for any kitchen - the ingredients are super easy to find & the process is easy enough for anyone who has ever baked or cooked before. And, the fudge is FANTASTIC!

Easy Fantasy Fudge

3 c. sugar

¾ cup (1½ sticks) butter or margarine

1 5.33 oz. can evaporated milk (⅔ c.)

1 Jar (7½oz) Marshmallow Fluff

1 tsp. vanilla

1 pkg semisweet-chocolate pieces (2 cups)

1 /2 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan; set aside.

In large saucepan combine first 4 ingredients. Stir over low heat until blended.

Heat to a full-rolling boil being careful not to mistake escaping air bubbles for boiling. Boil slowly, stirring constantly, 5 minutes. **I've made this to the point where the mixture is very hot but not quite bubbling and made sure to cook it for about 7 more minutes after very hot. It turned out great!

Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and chocolate until chocolate is melted. Add nuts.

Turn into greased pan and cool. Makes 2½ pounds.

Yields: 2½ pounds

Holiday Culinary Decorations

2008-12-16T10:20:00.007-05:00

As you all know, on Saturday I will be announcing the winner of my Dragee give away! All you have to do is become a follower of this blog & you're automatically entered to win your choice of silver or gold dragee decorating balls. Not sure what these are? Take a look:

There is a plethora of other decorating accessories to choose from out there. Here are a few other ideas that I love.

Sugar Sprinkles:

You can find these in a huge variety of shapes, colors & sizes. The other day I found some in the shape of holly & others in the shape of pine trees! I've also seen Stars of David recently...

**The Star of David Sprinkles are for Meg - sorry again for the confusion! :)

Sugar Crystals:

These are much finer than sprinkles, but are great to add color without additional shape.

Chai Flavored Short Bread

2008-12-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

Chai - no, I'm not referring to the letter in the Hebrew alphabet.

Who doesn't love a hot cup of Chai tea or a Chai Latte from the local Starbucks? I certainly do! And with this recipe, you can munch on a shortbread cookie flavored with the spices known to our taste buds as belonging to the delicious Chai tea flavor...

Chai Flavored Short Bread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash of ground cloves
Dash of freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup powdered sugar
10 tablespoon butter, softened
1 tablespoon ice water

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife.

Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through pepper), stirring well with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed just until combined (mixture will appear crumbly). Sprinkle dough with 1 tablespoon ice water; toss with a fork.

Divide dough in half. Shape dough into 2 (6-inch-long) logs; wrap each log in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour or until very firm.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Unwrap dough logs. Carefully cut each log into 18 slices using a serrated knife.

Place dough circles 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes.

Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

Lemon Bars to Sweeten Up Your Holiday Cookie Plate

2008-12-14T10:18:00.003-05:00

It seemed that everyone really loved the bar recipe I last shared, so here is another one for you! First, a quick update: yesterday I taught my first cooking class "Sugar & Spice: How to Bake Delicious Holiday Cookies" - it was a huge hit & a lot of fun! I look forward to January when I start teaching cupcake classes :)

For today's holiday cookie recipes I'm going to share with you one of my fruity favorites: Lemon Bars! These bars are gooey, sweet & have just the right amount of lemon to give it a tart kick! Plus, of course, dusted with powdered sugar...yum! Please enjoy :)

Lemon Bars

Picture Courtesy of RecipeMatcher.com

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Powdered sugar

Combine 2 cups of the flour and 1/2 cup of the powdered sugar. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until you have a crumbly mixture.

Firmly press mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch pan.

Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Whisk eggs in a large bowl; add 2 cups sugar and lemon juice. Combine remaining 1/4 cup flour and baking powder; stir into egg mixture. Pour batter over crust.

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until set. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into bars, and sprinkle evenly with additional powdered sugar.

Then, of course, enjoy!

Christmas Cookies for the Football Lover in your Family

2008-12-13T07:00:00.004-05:00

Even though we're quickly approaching the holiday season, we can't forget that it's still Football Season! What better way to celebrate both than to make holiday cookies to the theme of the great sport??

Now, I don't know all the intricacies involved in the sport...I know you need 10 yards for a touchdown, I know the Quarterback is super important - without a good one you're basically "up the creek" so to speak...and I know the shape of a football. Alright...finish your laughing - baseball is more my sport...

Really, for this baking adventure, all I need is the last part, anyway :) To decorate these cookies, I used the corn syrup method to add the sprinkles & then used white icing for the laces.

The cookie batter is my same sugar cookie recipe that I used for the Christmas Tree Cookies earlier this week. Below find the corn syrup method.

Corn Syrup Method for adding sprinkles to your sugar cookies:

Once you've baked your cookies & they've cooled, heat 1/4 cup corn syrup in the microwave until warm - the warmer corn syrup will be thinner & easier to spread. Use any type of paint brush (cheap child's brush works well) or back of a small spoon to cover the desired area with corn syrup. **If you want only a section covered in the sprinkles, only cover that part with the corn syrup.

As soon as you've covered your area, dip your cookie in your desired sprinkles. They will stick to the corn syrup. You can also sprinkle over the area & then knock off the excess.

Allow about 5 minutes for the corn syrup to solidify on the cookies - then use the royal icing (in a piping bag) to decorate as desired.

Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cookies

2008-12-12T07:00:00.003-05:00

One of my good friends, Jon of Food Fight Blog, recently posted about his mom's famously delicious trifle recipe. If you've never experienced trifle before, I'd highly recommend doing so. His recipe (and the pic!) looks really good! I think it'd be a great dessert to bring to a party - particularly if you're strapped for time.

Trifle isn't the only great holiday dessert in my book, though...and I'm sure many of you agree! Maybe it's the tradition of fruit cake, but something about the holidays makes me love cookies with dried fruit it them even more.

Here is a great cookie recipe that combines the sweet, sultry flavor of cherries with ooey gooey chocolate. Delish, right?? :) What is it about chocolate & cherries that makes you want to cuddle up with that special someone? ;-) Enjoy a little something new in your cookie traditional gift giving basket!

Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cookies

Photo from MyRecipes.com

- Ingredients -
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
2/3 cup dried tart cherries
3 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk or fork. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until well blended. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture. Beat just until combined. Fold in cherries and chocolate chips.

Drop 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or just until set. Remove from oven; cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

---

Don't Forget : Holiday Give-Away!

Win a 2-oz bag of Dragees (silver or gold, your choice!)
Enter before my 100th post on the 20th of December
All followers are valid entries into the give-away!

Eggnog Tea Cookies

2008-12-11T07:00:00.001-05:00

Image from Eggnog.ws (a website about eggnog!)

I have one word for you: Eggnog. The delicious, creamy, incredibly bad-for-you but oh so delicious holiday drink - spiked or not - that everyone looks forward to. I even look forward to it, and I'm Jewish! :)

Here is a recipe that I found a while ago that is quite delicious. Though the recipe does not call for actual eggnog, the addition of nutmeg & rum makes them taste just like the favorite drink of the holidays.

Eggnog Tea Cookies

- For the Cookies -
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp grated or ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup grated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

- For the Icing -
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
2 TBSP milk
1/4 tsp rum flavoring or light rum

Red & Green candied cherries for decoration (to make a holly type decoration - don't use maraschino - too squishy & wet!)

Stir flour, nutmeg, and salt together for the cookies in a bowl; set aside. (To use whole nutmeg, grate it on a spice grater, or scrape the surface using a paring knife. The entire nutmeg is usable and keeps indefinitely in an airtight jar.)

Cream 2 sticks butter and granulated sugar together in another bowl with a mixer until smooth. Add egg and vanilla; beat until incorporated, then mix in the flour mixture just until blended. Cover and chill dough for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.

Roll dough into scant 1 1/2-inch balls. (Use a TBSP measure.) Arrange on prepared baking sheets spacing 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes, or until firm to the touch and light brown on the edges. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Blend powdered sugar, 2 TBSP butter, milk, and rum flavoring together for icing, using a hand mixer. Frost cooled cookies, then decorate with candied cherries or ground nutmeg. Allow icing to harden before packaging cookies.

Oatmeal Turtle Jumbles

2008-12-10T07:01:00.000-05:00

I'm going to change things up a bit and share with you a great holiday bar cookie that I stumbled upon the other day. To quote from the magazine:

"Sturdy, dense, and stick-to-your-teeth chewy, one of these rich turtle bars will satisfy the most ravenous sweet tooth."

This home made holiday cookie bar is the perfect combination of caramel, chocolate & pecans - how could you go wrong?? Trust me, even your pickiest friends will love these!

Oatmeal Turtle Jumbles
Makes about 32 bars
Total Time: About 1 Hour

For the Base & Topping:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup purchased caramels (about 24), halved

For the Filling:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; coat an 8 1/2 x 12-inch baking sheet with nonstick spray.

Cream butter and both sugars in a bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix to blend, followed by the flour, baking soda, and salt; mix to incorporate.

Blend in oats with a pastry blender or wooden spoon. Crumble 2 cups of dough over the bottom of the prepared baking sheet. Press to cover base of the pan (don't push dough up the sides); set aside.

Add halved caramels to remaining dough, working them in with your fingers; set aside for the topping.

Melt chocolate chips, condensed milk, and cocoa powder together for the filling in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook until mixture is smooth, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Off heat, stir in the pecans and vanilla.

Pour the filling over the dough in the pan and spread evenly. The layer will be fairly thin.

Crumble dough with caramel pieces evenly over the top of the chocolate. Bake bars for 30 minutes, or until chocolate is set and topping is firm. Cool bars completely before cutting.

**You can freeze these bars up to 1 month.**

**Do not double the recipe. If you want to make twice the bars, make each recipe separately for them to come out correctly.**

Sugar Cookie Christmas Trees & A Holiday Give-Away!

2008-12-09T07:53:00.011-05:00

Happy December 9th to everyone! Wherever you are - I hope you're staying warm...winter has finally come to Boston, MA, which means more time inside for me (I'm not the biggest on cold weather, though I live in the NE of the states).

The holidays are not too far away: Christmas day is only 16 days away; Hanukkah starts in 12 days; Kwanzaa in 17 days. I have yet to do any of my holiday shopping...though most of my friends & family are probably expecting some sort of culinary surprise from me.

Holiday Give-Away: My 100th post is quickly approaching. It seems to be tradition amongst my fellow foodies to celebrate with a give-away. I had the hardest time locating a store that actually sold decorating dragees (you know, those silver/gold/shiny cookie & cake decorating balls). I have finally located them & would love the chance to share some with you! So, on December 20th, I will be posting my 100th blog post & will be announcing who wins a free 2oz bag of dragees: silver or gold - your pick! To Enter: Simply become a follower of this blog! If you're already a follower, you've already entered :). Also, if you refer someone to the blog & they post a comment or email me telling me so, you get another entry!

This blog post is dedicated to showing you a cute, crafty idea (that I saw on the Martha Stewart website - with my own special variations) for your holiday sugar cookies. Below are pictures of the trees as well as an awesome sugar cookie recipe that I've recently found in a holiday baking magazine. Please enjoy!

Sugar Cookie Christmas Trees!

Follow the sugar cookie recipe below (or another sugar cookie recipe if there is one that your particularly enjoy) and then the step-by-step decoration & assembly instructions to give you an awesome holiday gift for family & friends!

For these trees you will need a variety of star shaped cookie cutters - I have a pack of 5 Star-of-David cookie cutters: this allows me to use them for Hanukkah cookies (as I'm Jewish) and also for projects like this one.

To Assemble:

(You will need to have prepared piping & flooding royal icing to your desired green tree color (recipe below); you will need fondue/shish kabob wooden skewers, piping bag & tip, dragees and/or other decorations, colored yellow sprinkles, saran wrap):

Once you have your dough prepared and chilled, cut out cookies of each of your varying sized stars - each tree will need one of each size. I think that five stars looks great for these trees, but the number is up to you. Place cookies on a non-stick, sprayed cookie sheet & bake in your oven for 7 minutes at 350 degrees.

Important step: As soon as your cookies come out of the oven, CAREFULLY poke a hole in the center of each one with a thin fondue/shish kabob skewer, making sure to create a large enough hole to eventually stick the skewer back through it. Allow cookies to cool, approximately 10-15 minutes.

Once your cookies are cool, use your piping royal icing (already inserted into your piping back with a fine pointed tip) to outline the edge of the cookie as well as the edge of the hole you created in the last step. Hold the bag at a 45 degree angle for the best results.

Next, use the flooding royal icing to fill in the body of the cookie. Before the flooding icing becomes too dry (this happens pretty quickly) use your dragees, sprinkles, and other cookie decorations to decorate each cookie as desired. If your icing has already dried, you can use your piping icing to create small dots on which to place dragees & other decorations. For the best control in making these dots, keep the icing bag perpendicular to your cookies (straight up and down). Allow cookies to sit approximately 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, you will need to create a "tree topper". I hand molded 5-pointed stars, smaller than my smallest cookie cutter star. Eventually you will be using yellow sugar sprinkles on these. You can either cover the cookies in the sprinkles now, or use the corn syrup method to put them on after the cookies are baked (350 degrees for 3-4 minutes, flipping 1/2 way). I used the corn syrup method in the pictures you're seeing.

As soon as your "tree topper" comes out of the oven, stick a 4-inch section of the skewer into it. This will act as your grounding rod for your tree. Once your "tree topper" is cool, use it (attached now to the skewer section) to thread the decorated cookies by size (biggest on bottom, smallest on top). You are now able to lift your tree by the bottom cookie & your creation should stay together.

To package, I used regular saran wrap, closing the top with a small piece of gift wrapping tape, and pinching the saran wrap together so that it enclosed the tree. I cut off the excess saran wrap, but left enough so that the pinched part remained closed.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

makes 2 dozen 3-inch cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar

minced zest of 1 lemon (optional)

1 egg

2 TBSP heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together & set aside.

Cream butter, both sugars, and zest in a bowl, blending until smooth. Add egg, cream, and vanilla & blend again until smooth.

Add 1/2 dry ingredients, blend, and then add the remaining dry ingredients & blend until you have a sugar cookie dough consistency. Shape dough into disk, cover in saran wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours before rolling.

Once chilled, roll out & cut with cookie cutters. Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes (depending on oven) until top of cookies are soft but solid to touch & edges are a slight golden brown color.

Royal Icing

1 lb powdered sugar, sifted

1/3 cup water

2 TBSP powdered egg whites

Food coloring (if desired)

For Piping Royal Icing: mix ingredients together.

For Flooding Royal Icing: Add additional water until icing flows from a spoon in a thick ribbon.

Spicy Gingerbread People

2008-12-07T09:03:00.004-05:00

During this time of year many people are busy making gingerbread people, houses, cookies...the list keeps going. I'm a huge fan of ginger, so I almost always love any gingerbread that I come across. This recipe is particularly good, however! I'm going to be making a gingerbread house in the next few weeks & plan to use this recipe for some of the decorations.

Spicy Gingerbread People Recipe
Makes 2 dozen 3-inch cookies
Total Time: 50 minutes + chilling

2 cups all-purpose Flour
2 TBSP ground Cinnamon
1 TBSP ground Ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground Cloves
1/2 tsp ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground White Pepper
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1 stick unsalted Butter, softened
1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Molasses
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Stir flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, baking soda, and salt together; set aside.

Cream butter and both sugars in a bowl with a mixer, blending until smooth.

Blend molasses into butter mixture, then beat in egg and vanilla until fully incorporated.

Add half the dry ingredients and mix until nearly incorporated, then mix in remaining dry ingredients. Shape dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic, and chill it at least 2 hours before rolling out.

Preheat oven to 350F; line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut chilled dough in half. On a well-floured work surface roll one portion to about 1/8-inch thick. Flip and turn dough often during rolling to prevent it from sticking.

Cut out dough with 3-inch cookie cutters. Transfer cookies to prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart. Punch holes in cookies if desired (for ornaments). Chill and re-roll dough for additional cookies.

Bake 10-12 minutes, or until set; do not over bake. Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack. Decorate as desired; store in airtight containers for up to 1 week.

Kiflins with Vanilla Bean Sugar

2008-12-06T06:11:00.000-05:00

Here is another great recipe for your holiday cookie baking pleasure! There are quite a few different recipes to make this type of cookie, but the general theme is a deliciously creamy butter cookie rolled in powdered sugar. These cookies are a winner in anyone's book - not healthy but, during the holidays, it is okay to splurge with a few!

Kiflins

For the Vanilla Sugar -
2 cups powdered sugar
1 vanilla bean, chopped

For the Dough -
2 cups slivered almonds
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Process the powdered sugar and vanilla bean in a food processor until the bean is completely ground; set sugar aside. (Vanilla sugar may be made up to 1 month ahead and stored in an airtight container. The flavor will deepen the longer it sits.)
Pulse almonds in a food processor until finely ground; do not over process. Transfer almonds to a bowl, then add butter, sugar, and salt. Cream with a mixer until blended
Add flour and mix just until combined. Chill for at least 30 minutes until it’s easy to mold.
Preheat oven to 350 °F; line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or spray with cooking spray).
Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls, then mold each into a crescent shape. Arrange on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until cookies are just set and golden on the bottom.
Cool cookies on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Roll cookies in vanilla sugar to coat.

*I haven't made these w/o the vanilla bean, but I'll bet they would be just as good if you didn't have the resources/time to include it!

This is one of the recipes I'll be teaching in my class next week. Very easy to create!

Holiday Cookies Galore

2008-12-04T11:22:00.007-05:00

Every year I get very excited for the holidays because I have a million excuses to bake lots of delicious cookies & am able to avoid eating them all :)

There are tons of resources out there - wonderful cookbooks, cooking magazines, talented bloggers & awesome websites.

One of my favorite cooking websites happens to be MyRecipes.com. They have a wide assortment of recipes for you to browse. Even better: they have daily emails that you can sign up for that give you recipes in the theme of your choice! Currently I'm getting cookie recipes daily from them & I have to say...they're fantastic. Here are some highlights:

There are many more great recipes - definitely go check it out!

Linzer Ribbons with Raspberry & Apricot Fillings

2008-12-03T15:30:00.004-05:00

Linzer cookies are one of the most popular cookies during the holidays - and really...they're delicious all of the time! The buttery, delicious cookie wraped around a sweet fruity filling...yum!

A week from Saturday I am going to be teaching a holiday cookie baking class & this recipe is definitely on my list to teach! It's very easy & the cookies turn out fantastically!

The recipe recommends toasting your hazelnuts first so that you can peel off the bitter skins - I did this & it was very easy to peel. One note...definitely do NOT buy the hazelnuts in the shell...they have very hard shells that are a huge pain to crack. I suggest either buying the pre-chopped hazelnuts (the bags will give you the exactly right amount) or buying the pre-shelled, whole hazelnuts & then toasting them to get rid of the skins.

And now, the recipe! Please enjoy :) You could also use this dough recipe to make traditional Linzer cookies in star/circle shapes & then fill with fruit.

Linzer Ribbons

Makes 54 ribbons
Total Time: 1 1/2 hours + chilling

For the Dough

1 1/2 cups hazelnuts

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (1 cup)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Pinch of ground cloves

Minced zest from 1 lemon

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

For the Filling

9 TBSP raspberry preserves, stirred

9 TBSP apricot preserves, stirred (I used peach - very good!)

Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F; line three baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick spray (if you have really good, non-stick sheets).

Remove skins from nuts. Coarsely chop 1/4 cup nuts and set aside. Pulse remaining nuts in food processor until finely ground; set aside (you should have an additional 1 cup).

Cream butter and sugar in bowl with mixer until blended. Add vanilla, cinnamon, salt, cloves, and zest; beat until combined.

Blend flour and 1 cup ground nuts into butter mixture until dough forms.

Divide dough into 6 equal sized balls, wrap in plastic & chill for 30 minutes.

Gently roll each portion of chilled dough on a lightly flour surface to form a rope about 10 inches long and 1 inch in diameter.

Place two ropes on each of the prepared baking sheets (you can put more if you have large sheets - these don't expand too much), flatten ropes slightly, and using your thumb press a 1/2 inch deep trough down the center of each rope. Use your other thumb to keep sides of dough from spreading too much.

Score each strip of dough in 1-inch intervals at an angle, and prick bottom of toughs with a fork to prevent bubbling. Bake strips for about 10 minutes (dough will spread and puff slightly).

Remove strips from oven & deepen troughs by gently smoothing them down (back of spoon or finger will work - careful not to burn yourself).

Fill each trough with 3 TBSP jam, then sprinkle with reserved nuts.

Bake 10-15 minutes longer or until edges are golden and jam is bubbly. Let cookies cool on pan for 15 minutes, then cut through score marks. Dust with powdered sugar.

Sweet Dreams Cookies

2008-12-01T13:33:00.003-05:00

I learned all of my basic cooking & baking knowledge from my mom. This Thanksgiving I rifled through her cabinet of recipe books & binders. I came across many recipes that she made while my siblings and I were growing up - many that I had forgotten about until recently.

One such recipe is for a delicious spin on Chocolate Chip Cookies that my mom found in 1986 in a Bon Appetit magazine. These cookies, known as Sweet Dreams, are a Ludgin family favorite. By adding additional spice & powdered sugar to the traditional CC cookie recipe, an out of this world cookie was born. With the holiday season upon us, this is a great treat to serve to your friends & family. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family has.

Sweet Dreams Cookies

Makes about 6 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter

1 1/2 cups firmly packed Light Brown Sugar

1 Egg, room temperature

1 tsp Vanilla

2 cups unbleached All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Salt

1 12-oz package Semisweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup chopped Walnuts (optional)

1 cup Powdered Sugar

Cream butter using electric mixer. Beat in brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl, and then blend into butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm (Can be prepared 1 day ahead.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets. Break off small pieces of dough; roll between palms into 1-inch rounds. Dredge* rounds in powdered sugar. Arrange rounds on prepared sheets, spacing at least 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on sheets. Transfer to racks and cool. Store in airtight container.

*Dredge: roll so that the surface of the rounds are covered in powdered sugar.

Tips for The Perfectly Decorated Sugar Cookie

2008-11-30T10:30:00.008-05:00

It's crazy how we all plan & calculate our menus for weeks as Thanksgiving approaches...and then it's over. My family has all gone back to their respective states & I go back to Boston the day after tomorrow. It's not all sad, though...now it's time to start planning for the December holidays!

This year, Hanukkah falls right over Christmas! For the past few years, Hanukkah has fallen far before Christmas. As my friends got excited for Christmas, my holiday was already over. Because the two holidays fall at the same time this year, I want to celebrate by having a holiday recipe and/or holiday recipe/decorating tips every day until December 28th - the last night of Hanukkah!

You already saw my first holiday cookie recipe - the Cinnamon Bun Cookie Recipe - it was a huge hit with my coworkers and you all seemed to love it. Tuesday I'll be sharing my favorite Rugula cookie recipe (you know...the hazelnut flavored butter cookies with fruit jam in the middle). This recipe is very easy to follow & easy to impress your friends with!

Today I'm going to share with you a few great tips for icing and decorating your holiday sugar cookies.

Tip #1: Use an icing recipe that calls for powdered egg whites.

You know the traditional sugar cookie icing that is really sweet & makes the cookies extra delicious, and yet doesn't move when you stack or wrap the cookies? The secret ingredient to getting the icing to harden & stay in place is the solidifying ingredient. Powdered egg whites is one of the best ones - added protein as well!

Tip #2: Use Dragees to decorate your cookies

Don't know what dragees are? They're those silver/gold/pearl hued decorating balls on professionally decorated cakes & cookies. I always have the hardest time finding them in my grocery stores in Boston, but there are several vendors online - Amazon.com seems to have the best pricing on these. They come in a wide variety of sizes & in many colors.

Tip #3: Outline & then Fill with Icing

Sometimes it is hard to get the icing to sit in the right places. By outlining the desired area, using a piping bag or pre-bought store icing, and then filling the area with your icing (you can use a small spoon or an icing knife) you will better control your icing.

Tip #4: Use warm corn syrup to control sprinkles

Warm corn syrup can act as a "glue" ingredient to control where your sprinkles lie on your cookies. To use, warm light corn syrup (be sure to use light...dark may pigment your sprinkles or cookie surface) in the microwave or on the stove. Use any paint brush to paint the desired area of your cookie. Sprinkle desired decorating sprinkles over the corn syrup painted area & then shake off excess sprinkles.

Have other decorating ideas but don't know how to best control them? I have many other tips...just leave a comment & I'll get back to ya! :)

Thanksgiving Pie!

2008-11-26T07:00:00.001-05:00

In my poll to see which type of pie you all love best for Thanksgiving, Pumpkin Pie won by a landslide! For a great recipe, you should really try Libbey's pumpkin pie recipe - I made it a few weeks ago & posted about it - find it HERE. Though classic Pumpkin Pie is great, I want to share a few variations with you for this holiday season. The first variation is for those of you trying not to pack on the pounds this holiday season. I found this lighter pumpkin pie recipe on the Hungry Girl website - one of the best locations for alternatives to my favorite splurges.

Hungry Girl's "Too-Good-To-Deny Pumpkin Pie"

For Crust
2 cups Fiber One Original Cereal
1/4 cup light whipped butter or light buttery spread
3 tbsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1 tsp. cinnamon

For Filling
One 15-oz. can pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)
One 12-oz. can evaporated fat-free milk
1/2 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute
3/4 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
1/4 cup sugar-free pancake syrup
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
Optional Topping: Fat Free Reddi-wip or Cool Whip Free

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine butter with 2 tbsp. water. Microwave until just melted, and set aside.

In a blender or food processor, grind Fiber One to a breadcrumb-like consistency. In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter mixture and crumbs with remaining ingredients for crust. Stir until mixed well.

Spray an oven-safe 9-inch pie dish lightly with nonstick spray. Evenly distribute crust mixture, using your hands or a flat utensil to firmly press and form the crust. Press it into the edges and up along the sides of the dish. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients for the filling. Mix well. Pour mixture into pie crust. The filling may be taller than the crust.

Bake pie in the oven for 45 minutes. Allow pie to cool slightly. Refrigerate for several hours (overnight is best). Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Cut into 8 slices and, if you like, top with Reddi-wip or Cool Whip before serving!

The next variation is one of the pies featured in the pie contest that I won last weekend. The girl who created it calls it Pumpple Pie: A combination between Apple & Pumpkin Pie. Sounds pretty good to me!

Pumpple Pie (Pumpkin & Apple!)

Makes two 9" Pie Crusts (store-bought works great too)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
2 sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Mix 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon each salt and sugar in a medium-size bowl. Cut 2 sticks chilled unsalted butter into pieces. With a pastry blender, cut in butter, working until mixture resembles coarse meal.

2. Add 4 tablespoons ice water; work with hands until dough comes together. If dough is still crumbly, add more ice water a tablespoon at a time (up to 4 more tablespoons). Do not overwork.

3. Divide dough in half, and flatten halves into disks. Wrap disks separately in plastic; refrigerate at least 1 hour.

4. To form the pie shell, roll the dough on a floured surface into a 14-inch round. Wrap around rolling pin and carefully unroll over a 9-inch pie plate.
Fit gently into bottom and side of plate. Use kitchen shears to trim dough to a 1-inch overhang; fold under, and seal to form a rim.

5. After filling pie with filling, roll the remaining crust over the pie and crimp to seal both layers. Egg wash top of crust and edges. Decorate how you wish.

That one sounds pretty good, huh? Now, which of you readers LOVES pecan pie? You know...the super sweet, super sugary, super horrible for you pie made with lots of Karo syrup? Yeah, now you're with me :). More and more, I keep hearing about pumpkin pecan pies...they sound very interesting, though I haven't tried on yet...here is a sample recipe of it for you to try.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

3 eggs, divided
1 cup canned solid pack pumpkin
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 ts ground cinnamon
1/4 ts ground ginger
1/8 ts ground cloves
2/3 cup karo light or dark syrup
2 tb butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1 prepared deep dish pie crust*

Preheat oven to 350.

*If using a frozen pie crust, do not thaw; preheat a baking sheet in the oven and place the pie on the cookie sheet to bake.

In small bowl, combine one egg, pumpkin, 1/3 cup sugar, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Spread in pie crust.

In medium bowl, beat remaining two eggs, slightly. Stir in corn syrup and remaining 2/3 cup sugar, the butter and vanilla; stir until well blended. Stir in pecans. Carefully spoon over pumpkin mixture.

Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until filling is set around edge. Cool pie completely on wire rack.

Please share your variations on Pumpkin Pie - I always love trying new things!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Hot Chicken Chili for Cold Nights

2008-11-24T17:31:00.008-05:00

Every fall my mom makes this awesome Chicken Chili recipe. When I was in high school, we always had these blow-out Halloween parties, and this was the main dish that everyone loved! It's not just for halloween though...

This sweet, spicy dish is perfect to warm up the body & fill up the stomach. It's hearty & healthy & absolutely to die for. Plus, it is very easy to make for a huge group of people & doesn't take much time at all!

I've been meaning to make it since October...I may have even mentioned it in a previous post. Last night I decided it was about time - you should really try this one out; it's worth it!

Mom's Chicken Chili

A great recipe for chili lovers everywhere – a colorful blend of bright red peppers, hot green jalapenos, and creamy white chicken meat. A spicy dash of cinnamon and a handful of grated chocolate make this dish reminiscent of Mexican mole. Lavish on the garnishes and make this mean into a fiesta.

6 T. olive oil

1 very large yellow onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 sweet red peppers, seeded, cored, and diced

4 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced*

3 T. chili powder

1 ½ t. cumin

1 t. coriander

Pinch ground cinnamon

6 chicken breasts, skinned and boned

2 cans (16 ounces each) chopped tomatoes in puree

8 ounces pitted ripe olives, sliced

1-cup beer

¼ cup grated unsweetened chocolate

Salt, to taste

Sour cream (garnish)

Grated cheddar cheese (garnish)

Sliced scallions (garnish)

Diced Avocados (garnish)

*Jalapeno peppers are VERY hot. I usually substitute a less hot green pepper. If you use jalapenos, wear plastic gloves while handling them, and do not touch your eyes, mouth, etc.

Heat half the olive oil in a Dutch over (or large pot) over high heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the red and jalapeno peppers and sauté over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Stir in the chili powder, cumin, coriander, and cinnamon and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and set aside.

Brown the chicken in batches in the remaining 3 tablespoons in a large skillet just until cooked through.**

Cut chicken into 1-inch cubes. Add the chicken, tomatoes with the puree, olives, and beer to the Dutch oven and stir to combine. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Stir in the chocolate and season to taste with salt. Serve immediately.

*** Pass the sour cream, cheddar cheese, scallions, and avocado in separate bowls.

** I bake the chicken breasts. Then I cut each breast against the grain into three even pieces, and then shred the chicken before adding it to the pot.

***I think these tastes just as good, if not better the next day.

A side story before you go on your way...if you haven't been introduced to him yet via my blog, below is a picture of my cat Milo. While making this chili, you would think he'd be sitting nearby, begging for a bit of chicken, right? Not my cat. He LOVES fruits and veggies...so much so that he chewed through my shopping bag and got to one of my tomatoes! I ended up cutting one up & he went to down. Don't believe me? See below...

Pie Contest Win!

2008-11-22T18:34:00.002-05:00

Thank you to everyone who supported me in the pie contest on TheKitchn.com. Guess what...

...yep, I won! This weekend seems to have gotten away from me...more great cookie recipes for the holidays tomorrow :).

Love to all of my family, all of my friends, and all of you foodies who helped to bring me this win!

Winner of Enstrom's Contest!

2008-11-21T08:44:00.004-05:00

Thank you to everyone who sent in submissions for my Enstrom's chocolate give-away! I have to say, I'm glad that I didn't have to choose the winner by myself - there were quite a few really good entries.

My "panel of judges" consisted of a crew of coworkers who consistently sample my baking & who are also huge lovers of chocolate. The race was close, but I do have a winner:

Congratulations to Maddy of Largo, Florida!

Here is what she had to say about chocolate:

"Every Person is like a chocolate bar… it’s what’s on the inside that counts =)"

Maddy, I couldn't agree more :). My coworkers loved the enthusiasm for chocolate & overall optimism exuded by this quote. 1 pound of Enstrom's almond toffee chocolate is on its way to you - enjoy!!! :) It's really great for baking...and trust me, you'll have plenty to eat & bake with!

I went to check out Maddy's blog after emailing her to notify her that she'd won - it is really worth a read! Not only does she have a clever title, BakePrayLove, but the dialogue she uses in her posts is witty & entertaining. Earlier this month she posted a recipe for Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars - they look awesome!

Congratulations again to Maddy - stay tuned, everyone, for the next Creative Confectionery contest!

A Weekend in DC

2008-11-20T14:15:00.012-05:00

As I mentioned last week, I spent the weekend catching up with some amazing friends down in the District of Colombia...

...don't I have beautiful friends??

Our weekend reunions usually consist of three things: eating, going out, and cuddling with each other while watching a movie like we used to in college. I think that last one is probably a girl thing...though I don't want to stereotype :).

My friend Cadie was our lovely hostess down in DC and, as always, she didn't fail with her plans for where we were going to eat. Of all of the places we went over the weekend, I feel that three deserve mention & a trip to visit for all of you who happen to find yourselves in DC after reading this blog post :)

Friday night we arrived at Cadie's apartment around 10:30. And...we went out! For our first night we decided to go with tradition & head to an area called Adam's Morgan - a street full of bars, small convenience stores, and probably my favorite eatery in the area: Alberto's pizza. There are several similar places on the street that serve pizza in the same style as Alberto's...but they aren't as good, in my opinion. Imagine: a large pizza cut into four pieces...and you get one! That is Alberto's...another place on the street has a name that describes this portion of pizza perfectly: Jumbo Slice! It really is a jumbo slice of pizza...I recommend Alberto's Chicken Pesto Pizza, for sure :).

Saturday morning (well, it was probably afternoon by then) we had plans to go to a brunch place called Tryst. Inside it looks like an oversized Starbucks, but with a way cooler, more original looking facade. By "looking like starbucks" I mean that there is a counter to order coffee & pastries and an abundance of small tables, couches, and people writing papers/reading. (One thing that is different - they do offer table/couch service to order delicious food - apparently their waffles are to die for). This place is so popular that we weren't able to find a place for our small group to sit.

Luckily, the same people own a restaurant called "The Diner" next door that boasts a similarly delicious menu. The Diner is true to it's name: it is not nearly as chic as Tryst on the inside & is packed with tables & booths. The food was great, though!

Being the first time I had eaten all day (at this point it was around 12:30pm or 1pm), my eyes were definitely bigger than my stomach. After perusing the menu, I decided on pancakes with their banana walnut sauce. The pancakes were average, but the sauce was SO good! It was rich, thick & deliciously hot over my cakes. I couldn't finish it, but I enjoyed what I did eat very much.

My friends & I also decided to go with milkshakes because...well...we were on vacation, right?? That is what we told ourselves anyway...and like a true diner milkshake, my strawberry one was really good.

After quite a few hours of digestion & watching Sex & the City together, we headed to dinner at a place called Bistro Du Coin. A french style restaurant, this place was delicious!

I ended up having steak with mashed potatoes and a rich béarnaise sauce. I recommend it cooked no more than medium...

One of my friends had mussels with a yellow curry sauce - if we hadn't had plans to go out after dinner, I definitely would have gotten that - it was really delicious.

We also got a few desserts: chocolate lava cake, crème brule & a lemon tart. My friends, like me, each have an insane sweet tooth...so those were gone before I could snap a picture.

Have you ever dined in DC? What is your favorite place?

Cinnamon Roll Cookies: Tis (almost) the Season!

2008-11-19T11:24:00.011-05:00

First, allow me to start my post with two things: one, I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days...I do advertising for an online retail company, so the holiday season is very busy! Secondly, not to worry, I'm not done with my delicious pie posts! Thanksgiving is next week, after all!

This actually reminds me...I'll post again tomorrow, but please remember to help me out by voting for me on TheKitchn.com's pie contest! Voting happens tomorrow & Friday. You can find the link to my entry by clicking on the picture in the upper left hand corner of the Creative Confectionery Blog.

On December 6th I will be teaching my first "official" class at the Boston Center for Adult Education. The topic? Holiday cookies! Growing up Jewish, my December was full of chocolate gelt & latkes...so I only got the occasional holiday cookie if friends baked them for my family or if I insisted on baking them :). Needless to say, baking cookies is one of my most FAVORITE things to do. I love combining new ingredients & playing with the shapes to make my cookies extra special. To me, Christmas really is the Cookie season :).

Between now and the 6th (and I'm sure long after) I will be testing different recipes for my class (and after the 6th, for my own amusement). I have been doing a ton of research, have purchased many magazines & books, in order to prepare for this class.

The first recipe I'm sharing with you comes from a holiday cookie magazine that I found at Borders with my dad a few weeks ago when I was on Long Island. These cookies are so cute & mighty tasty as well! I brought them into work today & have a few quotes for you, from my coworkers, to let you know how they turned out! Please enjoy this recipe & the awesome feedback I received:

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

(makes around 36 cookies)

For the Dough:

3 cups All Purpose Flour

2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

2 sticks Butter

1 cup packed Brown Sugar

2 tsp Vanilla

2 eggs

For the filling:

1/2 cup granulated Sugar

2 TBSP Cinnamon

For the Icing:

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup Confectioners Sugar

1 tsp powdered egg whites

*the egg whites aren't totally necessary, but they'll make your icing more solid

Combine filling ingredients in a small bowl & set aside.

Combine all dough ingredients, except for sugar & butter, in a small-medium bowl. Set aside. In a larger bowl, combine butter & sugar until smooth. Add vanilla & eggs & combine until smooth.

Gradually add the flour mixture just enough so that you have a solid, cohesive mixture. Do not over mix.

Lay out a large piece of waxed paper & pat the dough, with your hands, into a long rectangular shape. Place a second piece of waxed paper on top, flip, and peel the original waxed paper off of the dough (this will allow you to roll the dough more easily in a few steps).

Dust the dough with about 1/2 of your filling. Make sure that you do not use too much filling, or it will be hard to roll your dough.

Next, roll your dough long ways so that you create a circular pattern similar to that of a cinnamon bun. Dust your roll with the remaining filling & refrigerate until your dough has hardened & is easy to work with (similar to when making sugar cookies) - 1-2 hours.

Coat 2 cookie sheets with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove dough from fridge & slice into 1/2 inch slices (you can decide the thickness of your cookies). Place the slices on your cookie sheets. These cookies don't expand too much, so an inch to and inch and a half between cookies is fine.

Bake in the oven 8-12 minutes (depending on the oven) so that your cookies are firm but soft to the touch. Remove & allow to cool 5-10 minutes.

While your cookies are cooling, mix together your icing ingredients. Sprinkle the icing across the tops of your cookies to give them the desired cinnamon roll affect.

Enjoy these cookies warm or cooled...they're absolutely divine!

Don't believe me? Here is what my coworkers had to say:

"Jen, this is a really, really great cookie. I really like the density of it – if that makes sense. I’ve always preferred this kind of texture to the gooey, right out of the oven treats. I also like, because of the cinnamon roll theme, that I can talk myself into eating one for breakfast. That was very tasty, thank you."

"These are great. Thank you :) They are very dense. Making them small is a great idea. I don’t’ know how many holiday treats I would be able to have after one of these!"

"Another DELICIOUS creation, Jen."

"Really tasty…Loved the look of it and the texture, too…It’s really an adorable cookie."

"Hey, props on the cinnamon roll cookies. Delicious!"

"Hey, I tried your cookie and I liked it! It reminds me of Christmas"

**Results of Enstrom's contest later this week!!!***

Orinoco in Boston, MA

2008-11-15T05:00:00.007-05:00

One of the many blessings when living in Boston, MA is the variety of restaurants available to both residents & visitors. The list of choices is endless...

Want great Italian? Go to the North End.

Want chic atmosphere & excellent seafood? The South End is a great bet.

Does Pub Food fit your fancy? There are great bars & pubs in the Back Bay.

Like Jewish & Russian cuisine? You can find some great places in Brookline & Newton.

Want the best burger in Boston? Bartley's in Harvard Square, Cambridge boasts the title for many.

The list keeps going. Aside from the North End's reputation of amazing Italian restaurants, you can find a wide variety of excellent eateries of any style all over the place. You can understand, now, how hard it is to find a favorite. Well, ladies and gentleman, I think I can say that I have one :).

Orinoco, located both in Brookline Village on Harvard Ave & on Shawmut Ave. in the South End, is by far my favorite place to eat in Boston. I have yet to be disappointed! From their amazing variety of fresh mojitos to the interesting & extremely well cooked Venezuelan cuisine, this place is tops on my list!

I ate at Orinoco last Sunday for lunch with a friend of mine & was just as amazed as ever. One of the best things about this place is the taste & heartiness of their food. The portions are not overwhelming...often my eyes are bigger than my stomach...but don't be fooled! Venezuelan food is ridiculously filling - a proper serving size is more than enough!

Before I tell you what I ate, let me first say that you have to try anything that sounds cool/delicious. I promise you won't be disappointed, so please don't be intimidated!

I had the Mechada Arepa - Venezuelan-style stewed shredded beef on a hearty corn based muffin (the same shape as an english muffin, but much more dense). The shredded beef is sweet & absolutely amazing! I cannot get enough of it...and as a sandwich on the arepa, it is the perfect amount of food to fill your belly perfectly.

I also had a side of sweet plantains. If you've had these at other places, you still haven't had them. Orinoco is the king of sweet plaintains. Just check out the picture:

If you visit Orinoco for dinner, I suggest trying the Datiles for an appetizer: bacon wrapped, almond filled dates. These are out of this world!

The people who work at Orinoco are great too...they're more than happy to explain what the different items on the menu are.

You want to visit Boston now, right? ;-)

---

I am in DC this weekend visiting with friends, camera in tow. Stay tuned for some fantastic food fun from DC!

Holiday Foodie Giving & Entry in Pie Contest

2008-11-14T09:57:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I was featured on TheKitchn.com - to read the full story, visit the link below:

Jen's Pie Contest Entry

I work in the Prudential Tower in the Back Bay of Boston, MA. Once a year we have an event called Soup Fest where local restaurants tantalize our taste buds with their best soup recipes. On top of this, there is a program called Community Servings where you can purchase a holiday pie. Proceeds are given to those in need this holiday season - what a great cause! I highly recommend participating - it is only $25 and you make someone's holiday very special.

Community Servings had some samples available at Soup Fest - this years were sweet potato pie. Have you ever had this? It is AMAZING! Dare I say, better than Pumpkin Pie!!! (though it does taste similar)

Please remember that this time of year is a time to give thanks & to help those people less fortunate to have a happy holiday season as well.

Butternut Squash & Broccoli Risotto!

2008-11-13T10:22:00.004-05:00

I was walking up my road this morning, on the way to the "T" (for all of you non-Bostonians, this is our main source of public transportation), and noticed that all of the beautiful orange, red & yellow leaves that once coated all of the trees...were now at my feet. It was about the same time that the warmth of my apartment wore off & I realized how cold it was outside...serious brrrr!

Some of my favorite recipes to create & play with are those involving Risotto. Creamy, hearty & warm, I have yet to meet a Risotto that I do not enjoy!

The other night I was scrounging in my fridge (I still need to go to the grocery store) to figure out what to make for dinner. I had a hodge-podge of items including some leftover butternut squash and some broccoli. I remember that I had some Arborio rice in my cabinet & thought "hm, that might be really tasty together!" This combination ended up being the perfect meal to warm & fill me up! Here it is - hope you enjoy! Risotto is really a very versatile dish - I highly recommend trying your hand at it :)

Butternut Squash & Broccoli Risotto

(Serves 4)

1 cup Arborio/Risotto Rice

3 cups Chicken Broth (Swanson's = best!)

1/2 cup Cooking Sherry

1 1/2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 small yellow onion, chopped

1 cup mashed Butternut Squash

1 cup Broccoli tops

Cook broth in a sauce pan until simmering.

Meanwhile, sauté onion & garlic in a medium pan until translucent. Add all rice & cook until slightly browned.

Add cooking sherry (or white wine if you prefer) and cook (stirring occasionally) until completely absorbed. Next, add broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing it to completely absorb before adding more.

Once all broth is absorbed, stir in butternut squash & broccoli. Serve & enjoy!

Free Pound of Chocolate: One Week Left!

2008-11-12T08:51:00.004-05:00

Happy Wednesday to you all! Before I get to my contest reminder, I need to give a shout out to this new oatmeal concoction that I tried this morning:

Oatmeal with Peanut Butter!

I've seen many fellow bloggers add things like almond butter...but I only had pb...so I tried it. Very good & adds some protein to your breakfast. I highly recommend trying this...

So, the contest! We now have only 7 days until the contest is over. It's almost the holidays...who doesn't love chocolate, especially at this time of year!?!?

To win a FREE pound of Enstrom's Chocolate Almond Toffee (I can tell you from experience...seriously yum!) all you have to do is email me at CreativeConfectioneryBlog@gmail.com with a quote about Entrom's Chocolate similar to the famous line from Forrest Gump:

"Life is Like a Box of Chocolates, You Never Know What You're Gonna Get"

Now, your entry doesn't have to sound exactly like this...it just has to be a simile or metaphor with similar cleverness :)

You may be wondering what you're going to do with an entire pound of chocolate. Well, aside from eating it (bc it is AMAZING) you can also bake with it! I created some delicious cookies using a chocolate chip cookie recipe I have but substituted the Entrom's for the chocolate chips. They were a HUGE hit. Take a look for yourself:

Enstrom's also provides a handful of other baking ideas, using their chocolate. I'll guarantee you that all of these are amazingly delicious. Check them out here.

Again, enter by emailing your creative quote to CreativeConfectioneryBlog@gmail.com

Thanks to all of you who have entered so far...lots of stiff competition already!

Pie Contest Entry - Pie of the Vine!

2008-11-11T10:21:00.004-05:00

As you may have read in my post about TheKitchn.com's pie contest, you could enter up to two pies, one in each category. The categories were "Classic" and "Original".

I decided to go with one pie entry, and for it to be in the "original" category. Given that every time I mention my Grape Pie recipe, people say "what? I've never heard of grape pie before!"...I thought this would be the perfect entry!

I've posted the recipe for this pie before...you can find it here.

For this entry, though, I thought I should step up the design a little bit. Though a lattice top is always pretty & nice, I like to get creative with my pie crusts when I have the time.

I went with a grape vine design, coloring it with purple, green & brown food coloring to give the design as "real" of a feeling as possible.

Voting occurs on November 20th & 21st! Please remember to vote for me :) I'll be posting a reminder as we get closer as well :)

Now, for some pictures of the pie! :

What do you think? Any feedback would be most appreciated :)

Pie Contest - Last Day to Enter!

2008-11-10T15:27:00.002-05:00

Just a reminder to those of you who were thinking of entering TheKitchn's pie contest...you must enter no later than 11:59pm TODAY! For more information, visit my previous post HERE.

I have entered & will share with you tonight my pie :) I'm pretty proud of it...

Pie Baking Class: Apple Pie, Mermaid Pie & Cheesecake!

2008-11-09T08:53:00.031-05:00

At my office I am known as one of the few resident bakers. Many times, I will bring in one of my confections & my coworkers will make comments like "wow, I wish I could do that"...and I thought "you know, it's not really that hard & I love showing people how to bake..."

Thus was born my first official baking class! I have recently been hired to do a few baking classes at the Boston Center for Adult education (first one in December!) so this was a great opportunity to get some practice in.

The reason for the pie theme was the time of year! I wanted to show my coworkers how to make a classic home made pie crust, an apple pie, and then a few other fun desserts!

The menu ended up being two pies: Apple & Mermaid (from the movie The Waitress) as well as a decadent New York Style Cheesecake! The experience was a huge success, they each took home some delicious slices of pie that they made & the confidence to try it out this holiday season :).

The apple pie was the same recipe I shared with you from my friend Alexa. You can find that recipe here or by navigating through previous posts.

I highly recommend these other two recipes as well - they're really easy & fun to make. The Mermaid pie is perfect if you're baking with kids! The filling actually tastes quite a bit like chocolate chip ice cream! For the cheesecake, we ended up making a sort of raspberry sauce that was perfect on top!

Without further adieu, I give you Mermaid Pie & New York Style Cheesecake!

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie
(from the movie “The Waitress”)

9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form.

2. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.

3. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.)

4. In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight.

5. Top with mini marshmallows and rainbow sprinkles. (Maraschino Cherries optional)

Serves 8. **The next time I make this, I may toast the marshmallows before serving so that they stick a bit better to the rest of the pie.

NEW YORK STYLE CHEESECAKE

1/4 c. butter
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c. sugar
4 (8 oz.) cream cheese (Philadelphia)
1/2 c. flour
4 eggs
1 (14 oz.) condensed milk
1 tbsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Melt butter. Stir in crumbs and sugar. Pat firmly on bottom of buttered 9-inch springform pan or pie pan.

In large bowl, heat cheese until fluffy.

Beat in flour and eggs; mix well.

Add condensed milk, and vanilla.

Pour into pan over crumbs.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. This ended up being a little too long for my oven. I would start at 40 minutes & start testing the cake every five minutes. It should still be a little giggly like pumpkin pie is when you take it out - refrigerate for it to finish congealing to the correct consistency.

Cool to room temperature. Garnish as desired. I mashed up some fresh raspberries & added about 2 tbsp sugar for garnish. This was perfect - fresh & sweet!

Chocolate Wow - Chocolate Cake

2008-11-07T09:48:00.008-05:00

Last weekend I visited my sister on Long Island. Saturday night a bunch of us went out to dinner at Sagamore Steakhouse in Syosset, NY. Though this place is quite pricey, the food was pretty good & the wine list incredibly extensive. The real highlight of the night, to my delight, was the dessert! From custard to apple pie to ice cream, they had it all in quantity & absolute heavenly taste :).

Though, in general, I try to eat healthy & avoid foods/desserts laden with calories, there was one item on the menu that I could not pass up: their Chocolate Wow Dessert. All I have to say is, see the image below & you'll understand how amazing it was!

Amazing, right? The main cake consisted of rich chocolate cake with a white chocolate creamy layer on top. Then, they placed a huge amount of thick, creamy chocolate mousse. The shape of the cake was a half sphere, iced with a thick chocolate fudge frosting. On the side of the cake they included a giant brownie-like chocolate cookie, home made whipped cream, chocolate twist sticks & squares of chocolate. The plate is decorated with chocolate & caramel sauces as well as chocolate shavings.

One word: Rich!

I am still trying to talk the restaurant into giving me the recipe, but so far I haven't been too successful. So, I'm going to give you a few recipes that you could use to concoct this delicious dessert yourself :).

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

4 tbsp (60 g) butter
4 squares (4 oz.–112 g) unsweetened chocolate
2 cups (400 g) sugar
2/3 cup (160 ml) milk
2 tsp (10 ml) pure vanilla extract

Scald the milk and pour it over the chocolate, stirring until melted. Add the sugar & mix well. Then, cook for 6 minutes over low-med heat. It helps to use a double boiler or place the mixture in a glass bowl over a pot with 1-inch of simmering water. Add the butter and cook for 6 minutes more. Take off the heat and stir in the vanilla. Beat the mixture until thick enough to spread.

Chocolate Mousse (From Epicurious)

2 cups chilled heavy cream
4 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
7 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped

Heat 3/4 cup cream in a 1-quart heavy saucepan until hot. Whisk together yolks, sugar, and a pinch of salt in a metal bowl until combined well, then add hot cream in a slow stream, whisking until combined. Transfer mixture to saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until it registers 160°F on thermometer. Pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or in a glass bowl in a microwave at 50 percent power 3 to 5 minutes), stirring frequently. Whisk custard into chocolate until smooth, then cool.

Beat remaining 1 1/4 cups cream in a bowl with an electric mixer until it just holds stiff peaks. Whisk one fourth of cream into chocolate custard to lighten, then fold in remaining cream gently but thoroughly.

Spoon mousse into 8 (6-ounce) stemmed glasses or ramekins and chill, covered, at least 6 hours. Let stand at room temperature about 20 minutes before serving.

White Chocolate Mousse (I think this is what the white layer was)

1 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla

Heat water in saucepan, with sugar, until sugar is dissolved. Add chocolate chips and melt until smooth. Set saucepan in cold water to cool mixture. Place in the fridge until thoroughly chilled. Whisk smooth. Beat cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Fold into cold chocolate mixture. Pour into serving dishes and enjoy.

Rich Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together the egg, milk and oil. Stir in the sugar, cocoa and flour, mix until smooth. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Large Chocolate Cookie

This cookie actually tasted a ton like my Chocolate Crackle Cookies. Just omit the powdered sugar if you don't want it to be partially white.

Whipped Cream from Scratch

2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Add the cream, and whip quickly with a wire whisk until the cream is slightly thickened.

Now add the sugar and any flavorings.

Continue to whip until cream forms soft peaks. Don't whip beyond the soft-peak stage, because the cream will get stiff and curdle.

Whipped cream made with good-quality cream should last for 24-hours.

Pie Baking Contest! Hosted by TheKitchn.com

2008-11-06T12:25:00.004-05:00

A friend sent me the link to this Pie baking contest & I thought I'd share it with all of my foodie friends!

TheKitchn.com (that's right, no "e") is hosting a pie baking contest! There are two different categories in which you can enter:

Categories are broken down by what kind of pie it is.

Classic: This is for the pumpkin pies, apple pies, pecan pies - and everything else that usually shows up on the holiday table. Also the vegan and gluten-free versions of these classics! If you have to ask whether it's classic, well, then it goes in the next category...

Original: This is for those mixed fall fruit pies, the savory egg and Swiss pies, the meat pies and other unusual pies that we hope also end up here.

You can decide which category your pie goes into.

And for prizes, some really awesome stuff!!!

There are Two Category Winners. Each will win:

Pie plates: The winner of the Classic category will receive a Hess Earthenware Pie Plate, and the winner of the Original category will receive an Emile Henry Pie Dish.

A copy of Flo Braker's brand-new (and gorgeous!) hard cover book, Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Every Celebration, published by Chronicle Books.

A jar of Zingerman's very special, extra fancy Italian Wild Cherries. (a $48 value). These would make an incredibly flavorful and special mix-in or topping for nearly any pie. (Great for cocktails too.)

Three Special Mentions

Their editorial team will choose three special mentions, each receiving:

One Emile Henry pie dish.

A copy of Flo Braker's Baking for All Occasions: A Treasury of Recipes for Every Celebration, published by Chronicle Books.

Everyone! What we'll all get through the Best Pie Bakeoff:

Lots of new pie recipes.

Increased confidence and good ideas for holiday pies.

The deadline for entering is quickly approaching: November 10th at 11:59pm EST. Voting will be taking place November 2oth and 21st. Until then, TheKictchn.com will be posting the entries on their site.

Enter TheKitchn.com Pie Contest Here

I wish you all the best of luck! I can't wait to see some of your great creations on the site!

'Change Has Come to America'

2008-11-05T08:06:00.008-05:00

Like I hope many of you, I spent last night watching the election, anxious to learn the fate of our country's leadership for the next four years. To my excitement & relief, the United States has entered into a new age: we now have our first black President. Aside from race, I truly believe that Obama has the potential to bring great changes to this country - I hope that he is true to his word & that he is able to bring unity & prosperity to the US over the next 4+ years.

Moving away from the politics of the last 24+ hours; Last night I attended a small gathering of friends to watch & celebrate election day. We had lots of food, lots of political commentary & chat, and in the end - were all very excited with the outcome!

Some of the foodie highlights from last night included:

A home made american flag cake! Credit to this one goes to my friends Alexa & Tom, who hosted the party. Vanilla cake (colored red & blue) along with vanilla icing, blueberries & strawberries made for a delicious & simple election day cake:

Though I didn't have much time, I still managed to flex my foodie muscles with a cute chips & salsa idea: white & blue cornchips with red salsa: Red, White & Blue baby!

Both of these ideas lend themselves to everyone: Democratic, Republican, or whatever your party, or not, everyone living in the USA is a citizen of the same country.

Once the election results were announced, however, my political opinions showed through as I celebrated with friends Obama's victory with an Obama inspired drink:

The Obamakaze

1 part Blue Curacao

1 part Vodka

1 part pineapple juice

Here's to a bright future in the coming months & years in the USA!

Contest! Win an Entire POUND of Enstrom's Chocolate!

2008-11-04T10:12:00.008-05:00

As the holidays approach, more and more people are starting to think about gift purchasing. Christmas/Hanukkah aren't the only holidays where gifts may be necessary; who are you having Thanksgiving with? If it's your friends, in-laws, parents or siblings, it is customary to bring a housewarming gift. What is, hands down, the best housewarming gift to bring?

CHOCOLATE

With all those brands out there, it can be hard to choose which type of chocolate to purchase for your hosts - Christmas or Thanksgiving. Here is where I give you my two cents. If you haven't yet, you HAVE to try Enstrom's Chocolate.

Enstrom's was created almost 60 years ago by a man named Chet Enstrom. The business began when the chocolate almond toffee he perfected for friends & family started to build a reputation. Since around 1960, the Enstrom family has been using the same recipe requiring all natural ingredients. The recipe continues to be passed down through generations, providing

choc-o-holics like us with some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted!

The Enstrom family has really built a great business with a quality product. And, they have been nice enough to allow me to give away to one lucky Creative Confectionery winner, and entire POUND of their famous Chocolate Almond Toffee!!! (see image above - amazing, right?)

As a fellow foodie & huge fan of chocolate, I would not steer you wrong. This stuff is amazing. Aside from their Chocolate Almond Toffee, Enstrom's also boasts a plethora of other chocolate items including their seasonal Peppermint Cookie Bark. This stuff is so popular, it often sells out before the end of the season! They also have amazing looking chocolates filled with vanilla cream (my favorite!).

Enstrom's didn't even forget those of us trying to watch our sugar intake! They have quite the selection of Sugar Free treats as well!

To Enter:

Because it is now November 4th, I thought it might be nice to get into the holiday spirit. If you're interested in receiving a free pound of Enstrom's Chocolate Almond Toffee, please send an email to CreativeConfectioneryBlog@gmail.com. In the email, please answer the following:

"Life is Like a Box of Chocolates...You Never Know What You're Gonna Get" - Forrest Gump

Everyone knows the movie - create a similarly clever line that includes something about Enstrom's Chocolates. You can use their website for inspiration! Click the link below:

Enstrom's

This contest will run for two weeks. Please email CreativeConfectioneryBlog@gmail.com no later than 11:59pm on Tuesday, November 18th. The winner will be announced on November 19th both on this blog & via email. The winner will be chosen based on creativity by a panel of my Boston foodie friends :).

You can also leave a comment if you'd prefer to submit that way - though it may give others ideas for entries! :)

Creative Confectionery Recipe Feature on Cookware.com!

2008-11-03T11:07:00.005-05:00

Really exciting news...one of my favorite recipes, Chicken Stir-Fry, has been featured on the recipe section of Cookware.com! Complete with a photo and everything...still cool, even though there is no credit reference :-p.

Check it out

Pie Crust: From Store Bought to Home Made

2008-11-03T08:41:00.008-05:00

Fun to create & fun to eat, pie is one of the staple fall time desserts. Frankly, I think it's great all of the time :).

When you're making a pie, you have to decide how much time you want to invest & answer two questions:

1.) What type of crust do I want?

2.) Do I have the time/desire to make the pie crust from scratch?

In this post, I'm going to examine 3 of the options for pie crust: Home Made, Pillsbury Store Bought & pre-made in the pan (like graham cracker crust).

#1 for Taste & Technique: Home Made

Nothing beats home made pie crust. You can adjust the pieces and parts of the recipe to your taste as well as add spices to add that personal touch to your pie. For example, a pumpkin or apple pie would be absolutely amazing with cinnamon & nutmeg infused in the pie crust. Ground cloves would also be excellent! Or, imagine a chocolate mousse pie with flecks of dark chocolate mixed into the crust...mmmmm good!

I have tried substituting both Blue Bonnet & I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, as well as have made the crust with regular butter. Normally I'm a huge proponent of substitution for a healthier dish, but when it comes to pie crust, real butter is the best way to go. The substitutes don't create the correct consistency, often making the crust gummy & not as pliable.

Here is my recipe:

For two pie crusts:

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

1 stick Butter

3 TBSP cold water
1 TBSP Sugar

Mix flour and sugar together. Dice up butter into 1/2 inch cubes & pinch into flour-sugar mixture. Add water, one TBSP at a time until dough is mold-able & will roll out into a usable pie crust between two sheets of waxed paper. You can add 1 TBSP sugar if you want a sweeter crust, though this one comes out really well!

For Easy of Use while maintaining a Home-made feel:

If you don't have the time/ingredients to make your own crust, I recommend buying a tube of store bought & shaping it yourself into your pie dish. These crust do come out delicious and are incredibly easy to bake with. However, there is a certain amount of satisfaction in making every piece of your pie "from scratch". You also have complete control of all of the ingredients involved, which is nice for someone who needs to worry about allergies or prefers organic.

Other types of crust: store bought Graham Cracker

When making something like a cheesecake or even a pumpkin pie, a graham cracker crust may be the way to go. You can even get them in a low fat variety. While I still prefer to make all of my crusts from scratch, I do use these every so often.

If you're looking for an awesome, healthier alternative to the normal pumpkin pie recipe, you have to check this one out. It's quite impressive & much better for you! It's great with a spoonful of light/sugar free Cool Whip!

November Pie #1: Pumpkin Pie

2008-11-02T10:12:00.009-05:00

Pumpkin pie is one of the most popular pies in the states...maybe after apple pie, which is the "all American" favorite. It's delicious custard filling melts in your mouth in perfect harmony with the pumpkin flavor soaked buttery crust. Thanksgiving without Pumpkin Pie is really not Thanksgiving, in my book.

This weekend I made a quick trip to Long Island, NY to visit my sister & to help her move into her new place. I wanted to bring her a housewarming gift...so what better than the classic (and her favorite) pie: Pumpkin Pie? I was certainly the most popular person on the airplane yesterday morning as the stewardess announced that I had a pie sitting on my lap :).

Though I like to experiment with my own variations on pie, for Pumpkin I always defer to the recipe on the back of Libby's pumpkin can. It's the perfect combination of sweet, pumpkin & consistency. The pie was a hit & was very easy to make - you should try it out for your loved ones this holiday season! It took me about 70 minutes to make & traveled very well:

Pumpkin Pie

*For the pie crust, refer to my pie crust recipe
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
2 eggs
1 (15 ounce) can LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
1 (12 fluid ounce) can Evaporated Milk

*To make this healthier, try these substitutions:

Use Splenda instead of 1/2 the sugar
Egg Beaters instead of Eggs
Fat Free Evaporated Milk instead of Whole

Preheat your oven to 425 F.

Make pie crust, roll out & form into a 9-inch pie pan.

Combine the sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves in a small bowl. Beat eggs lightly in large bowl - no need to do this if you use Egg Beaters. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. This will be a very soupy mixture - not to worry, it turns out perfectly after baked.

Pour into pie shell. It will reach almost to the top, if not fully to the top. You may have about 1/4-1/3 cup left over that you don't use. This is fine - taste it...it's delicious!

Bake for 15 minutes at 425, then reduce temperature to 350 F. Continue to bake for 40 to 50 minutes (depending on oven) until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean (it took my oven 40 minutes). Cool for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. (Do not freeze as this will cause the crust to separate from the filling.)

November 1st: Pie Season!

2008-11-01T03:28:00.005-04:00

Pie is one of my all time favorite baking adventures! It ends up with such a pretty & delicious picture! Who can resist??

This month I plan to do a lot of pie baking. Next weekend I'm actually doing an informal "this is how you bake a pie from scratch" class for a group of my coworkers. Documentation to follow :) I love teaching people how to cook! It's such an enjoyable hobby of mine, and I love the satisfying feeling of converting yet another kitchen disaster into the next big foodie :)

Some great news! I recently acquired a position at the Boston Center for Adult Education teaching some baking classes! December 6th: Holiday Cookies! I'm going to be looking for the best recipes to teach people...if you have any "must have" recipes, please send them my way!!! January & February consist of some cool cupcake classes - be sure to check out my blog for those recipes as well in the coming months.

This weekend: off to help my sister move into her apartment on Long Island! Sadly, not the hugest foodie weekend...though you never know!!!

Early next week I will be running a contest to win a FREE 1 POUND box of Enstroms chocolate...I have to tell you, this stuff is to DIE for. Make sure to check in early this coming week for details on how you could be the lucky winner of delicious, delicious chocolate!

Additionally, the winner of the "best first date food" poll is TAPAS! I'm actually not surprised & whole heartedly agree! So, a wonderful tapas menu will be coming to you shortly :)

Google Halloween Party

2008-10-31T09:40:00.005-04:00

This year, instead of a typical December holiday party, Google Boston opted for a late October Halloween themed holiday party. If you've read my blog before, you know that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays - so I was totally psyched about this!

Last night was the party - I have to say, Google never fails to impress me! Handling my company's relationship with Google is one of the best perks of my job! The people there are extremely friendly & they absolutely know how to have a good time.

Aside from what ended up being top notch entertainment, complete with dancing & belly dancers (yes, I learned how & it was fantastic - a great workout!), the food was excellent. I have to say that the food combined with the belly dancing lessons were the perks of the night! Oh, and the fact that my team won the group costume contest! See our costumes below - we won a free happy hour at a Boston area bar...not too bad :)

I work for a company called CSN Stores, a one stop shop for all of your home/office furnishing/goods. (Sorry, had to plug the company for a sec - it's how I'm able to entertain my baking hobby). With over 250 stores, we all represented our company by dressing up like one of our domain names. I'm in the front in purple - I represented BedroomFurnitureDirect.com.

So last night I discovered how amazing of a workout belly dancing is! I'm pretty sure I worked off all of the martinis I ingested via this belly dancing lesson. We learned from a group called Vadalna Tribal Dance Company. You can check them out at http://www.vadalna.com/.

Now, on to the food! The spread was quite intense - tons of Mediterranean food including olives, cheeses, prosciutto, breads, pasta salads & more. They were also walking around with small bites including mini hamburgers, fillet on crackers & bacon wrapped scallops! One of my favorites of the night was an amazing tomato bisque served in a shooter with a small square of grilled cheese skewered & resting on top of the shooter. I have to say - what a way to serve grilled cheese! This was such a cool idea for an appetizer...I'm going to have to make these for my next party:

They also had a delicious Halloween themed drink: Blood Orange Martinis! These were super delicious! Here's a recipe I found for them on the Food Network website.

I hope everyone has a very safe & happy Halloween! :)

Top Ten Halloween Party Necessities

2008-10-30T08:23:00.005-04:00

Believe it or not, Halloween is tomorrow! I've said it before, but Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday of the year. Everyone is in a great mood, has so much fun, and can act silly because, really, how can you act serious in some of these costumes people come up with??

Many people, some of you included, will be having parties this week. I have personally been invited to four different parties over the course of three days, though I know people who are even more socially booked this year!

Whether you're having a party yourself or you plan to attend one/several, there are certain party items essential to any successful Halloween party. Here are ten that, in no particular order and in my opinion, are must-haves:

Costumes

I'm sorry, but anyone who attends/throws a Halloween party without a costume is incredibly lame. There is really no other word for it! :) From the garment district to Walmart to made-from-scratch, there are countless places from which you can buy/make a costume. Be creative!

This year I am going as a "Party-Referee" - yet to be determined what exactly this means :)

Tasty Baked Treats

No Halloween party is complete without a foodie coming up with some snack that is Halloween themed and outrageously creative. How better to wow your guests than with a highly imaginative plate of cupcakes or cookies? It is not necessary to break the bank or spend hours upon hours to create these masterpieces either! Just use your imagination.

For some inspiration, checkout my jack-o-lantern and candy corn cupcakes. Also, Recipe Girl had an incredibly cute & highly creative idea on her blog last week for candy corn themed sugar cookies. Don't they look amazing??

Also, for you Hungry Girl fans out there, she has a few great ideas for healthy treats!

Boo-worthy Brew

If you're 21+, your party definitely needs to have a Halloween inspired drink or two! Tonight I am attending the Boston Google Halloween bash at the top of the Taj (I work in Advertising doing Search Engine Marketing - great perk, huh? :)). They plan to have a drink they are calling the Ghooooooogletini. I will try my hardest to get the bar tender to tell me the recipe so that I can share it with you tomorrow!

One of my foodie friends created a drink they call "The Vampira". Sounds good to me!

CANDY

Seriously, if you didn't know this one already, you had a very deprived childhood. The "adult" way to trick-or-treat is simply to have these treats readily available at every corner & on every table at your party. It's a good idea to make a mixture so that everyone can find their favorites. I recommend candy corn, Reese's mini peanut butter cups, fun sized Snickers - 3 Musketeers - Milky Ways - Butterfingers - Kit Kat's...I'm sure I'm missing many more. These are just my favorites :)

Oogly Hors d'oeuvere's

Though candy and baked goods are amazing, you should probably feed your guests and yourself real food too. I grew up always having amazing Chicken Chile made from scratch by my mom. I tried to get this recipe in time for this blog post but my mom is a busy woman and I forgot :). It is a great recipe for the fall/winter though, so I will be posting about it later.

Pillsbury has some fantastic ideas for Halloween themed Hors D'oeuvere's. You can either buy their dough or you can make it from scratch. Either way, these are totally worth checking out!

Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin!

This gorgeous gourd has been made famous by the Halloween holiday. So, any party without pumpkins & pumpkin flavored foods is lacking in Halloween spirit. First of all, you HAVE to have at least one jack-o-lantern on your stoop. The foodie part comes into play when you bake the pumpkin seeds for the party!

Pumpkin seeds are rich in nutrients & are incredibly tasty when baked with some salt! I've also heard of people flavoring them with spices like cinnamon/sugar or cayenne pepper!

Ghoulish Games

There are tons of Halloween themed games that you can create with food. For example, you could peel grapes & place into a bowl for a slimy eye ball simulation or boil a soupy bowl of noodles to pass off as brains. This is geared more towards children's parties...unless you're a child at heart. If that's the case, then go for it!

Spooktacular Sounds

You have to have awesome music at any party, but Halloween necessitates an extra bit of musical investment. Having scary music playing in dark corners of your party & more secluded areas (ie away from the dance area) are must haves to create the perfect spooky ambiance.

You can download some for free here.

Haunting Hallucinations

Okay, not really hallucinations - what I'm talking about here are crazy decorations that make your guests look twice. Growing up, my family had crazy huge Halloween parties complete with out of this world decorations! One of my favorite pieces of decoration was a wall hanging that followed you with its eyes. It also startled passers-by with witty commentary: "hey you" "where you goin" - in a booming voice. We got a ton of our decorations at our local Halloween store (trust me, every city has at least one this time of year). You can also get great stuff at places like Target & any drug store. Also, BJs and Costco have great stuff in bigger sizes & bulk.

Frighteningly Fantastic Friends

And finally, what party would be complete without the best guest list?? Make sure to invite all of your insanely creative, have-a-good-time, friends to your party! It's great to have the best food, best music, best decorations...but without your best friends there, there would be no party!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Candy Corn Halloween Cupcakes!

2008-10-29T05:00:00.000-04:00

As Halloween approaches, I keep getting these great ideas for delicious Halloween treats! One of the important things for these types of treats, in my opinion, is that they're easy to make, super tasty, and fun for any age to make!

Tina of CarrotsnCake.com generously offered me a spot on her blog to do a guest post. Being October, I had to go with a Halloween theme!

If you are a regular visitor, you'll remember a poll I ran for the "best type of Halloween candy". I apologize for it taking a while to announce the winner: Candy Corn! Though there are many treats available on Halloween, I think this one jumps out to people as primary to the holiday. (Come on, Snickers & Reese's are good all year round :)).

So, I created Candy Corn Halloween Cupcakes, complete with little "candy corn" bugs caught in a scary web!

Here's the recipe:

1 Box Yellow Cake Mix
1 Tub Whipped White Frosting
Red & Yellow Food Coloring
Black Gel Icing
White Gel Icing
Traditional Candy Corn

For this recipe I used my go-to Pillsbury & Betty Crocker baking supplies found in any local grocery store. I have a great yellow cupcake recipe from scratch that I will be sharing on my blog in the near future. The nice thing about using boxed cupcake stuff, though, is that you can really concentrate on the creative decorating, which was my objective.

Mix together the cake mix as directed on the box (you will need 3 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, and water). Divide prepared mix into two small bowls evenly. Next, add red & yellow food coloring to one and yellow to the other so that you get a bright orange color in one and a very yellow color in the other. Even though you’re using yellow cake mix, putting a bit of yellow food coloring inside really enhances the color!

The key to the character of these cupcakes is to see the whole thing. So, spray your cupcake pan(s) with cooking spray & place your cake mix directly in, without cupcake liners. First, place in orange cake mix and then yellow cake mix. Do this slowly so that the colors don’t mix. If it looks like the orange is seeping up the sides, don’t worry, t he inside of your cupcakes will still have the correct “candy corn color” arrangement when done. I realized this morning I switched the order of the orange & yellow – oh well! :) Bake as directed on the box. When they come out and have cooled for about 10 minutes, place on a plate and put into the fridge for about a half hour so that they are very cool.Once your cupcakes are cool, frost them with white icing. Place back into the fridge for another half hour so that the icing sets. Then, remove from the fridge & decorate with black icing to create the “spider’s web” effect.

For the candy corn bug: I used the white & black icing to create the eyes and wings. For the eyes, you place two white dots directly on the candy corn and then use a toothpick to make the black pupil. Place the bug on top of the cupcake and press down gently with a toothpick. Use the black gel icing to “capture” your bug in the web.

These cupcakes are super fun, very easy, and child friendly :) And, they taste great!

You should absolutely check out Tina's blog - she's very inspirational & had great product & recipe recommendations. Check it out here.

I'm still trying to come up with a good name for these guys...any ideas are welcome!