Classic Pumpkin Pie

Figured it was about time I finally wrote my pumpkin pie post. It's from an old cook book I photocopied from my mom and grandmother called Pies Husbands Like Best. Aaaahhahaha! But seriously, it's really simple, classic pie recipes, and they will never fail you!

Apple Almond Streusel Mini Muffins

I made these for a Halloween treat for my office. They disappeared from the kitchen almost immediately. Here we have apple almond streusel mini muffins!



The original recipe calls for Amaretto which usually I'm all for, but I didn't have any on hand. Someone must have drank it all...hmm... I've noted the substitution below! Also I suggest increasing the streusel topping, I wish I'd had more, so I've bumped it up in the recipe below. It's hard to have too much crumb topping. :o)

Apple Almond Streusel Mini Muffins
Adapted from ButterYum

For the streusel topping

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon plus a pinch extra ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons sliced or finely chopped almonds

3 tablespoons butter, chilled

For the muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sugar

2 ounces cream cheese

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon almond extract OR 2 tablespoons amaretto (almond liqueur)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup finely chopped apple apples

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Make the streusel topping

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and almonds.
2. Cut in the butter using a pastry cutter, fork or by hand until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Place in fridge until ready to use.

Make the muffins

1.  Preheat to 350F and line muffin pan with paper liners. 
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and set aside.
3. In a second small bowl, combine apples and 1 tablespoon flour and also set aside for later.
4. In a third small bowl, combine sour cream and milk and set aside for later.
5. In a large bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter.
6. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy. 
7. Add almond extract (or Amaretto), vanilla extract, and egg and beat until well blended. 
8. With the mixer on slow, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 of the sour cream mixture, the another 1/3 of the flour flour, then the remaining 1/2 sour cream, and finally the remaining 1/3 flour mixture. 
9. Stir in apples and spoon into prepared pan.
10. Go get your streusel topping and sprinkle it generously on top of the unbaked muffins.
11. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
12. Cool in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

Easy Pumpkin Danish

I have but one photo to share with you of my pumpkin danish. Because we ate them all right away!



These are made by whipping up the filling, then cutting frozen puff pastry into quarters for each danish. I'm usually such a purist when it comes to baking, but I love puff pastry, and don't mind buying it! My advice on using the puff pastry is to let it thaw out in your fridge if possible, if it gets too warm, it's difficult to unfold! Also if you can, I recommend drizzling with glaze and dusting with powdered sugar right before you serve them, otherwise it melts into the danish!

Lemon Chiffon Layer Cupcakes

This is a repost of a recipe from my other, short-lived blog. I've decided to focus on masquerading domesticity here, so now it will be a one-stop-shop for all my baking cleverness! So here you go!

These are lemon chiffon cupcakes, with a layer of lemon curd in the middle and topped with vanilla glaze and a homemade candied lemon peel!

Lemon love!



So they weren't perfect! I'd never made chiffon cake before and it wasn't that difficult. But I wasn't really sure what to expect when I baked it into a cupcake. First I knew I wanted to slice them in the middle so I could add the layer of lemon curd, so I baked them without wrappers which is ALWAYS a headache! Never have I ever baked a cupcake or muffin where I didn't murder at least 3 before they came out of the pan when they had no wrappers.

Also I expected they would behave a bit more like an angel food cake which creeps up the side of the pan then keeps going. As you can see here, they didn't do that.

And, my vanilla glaze recipe was wrong wrong wrong, so I ended up adding too much milk. I adjusted the recipe below though so you can make a proper vanilla glaze.

Candying the lemon peel was fun though, if not a little stressful! If you're going to take on all parts of this cupcake, I suggest making the candy lemon peel first, then the lemon curd, then the cupcakes and finally the glaze.

Mini Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

These are quite possibly one of my favorite cupcakes I've ever made. Ever. You can taste both the pumpkin and the coffee. I love the whipped cream frosting and the vanilla bean caramel is super impressive and delicious. These cupcakes look great and they taste incredible.

 

Pumpkin Brownie Bites

I tried to make these last year, and even though I messed them up and they burnt to the pan, the salvageable parts were still good! So I thought they deserved a second try.

 

This year I made the pumpkin cheesecake batter first, then the brownie batter. Since as the brownie batter cools, it gets thicker and then harder to swirl. It still only turned out okay. Am I the only one with this problem? My espresso cheesecake brownies also advised to make the brownie portion first, how does any swirling get accomplished this way?

Anyway, I also baked them in wrappers, as I had issues with the outsides of them burning last year. Gggrrrrr... Also I had a ton of cheesecake batter left over, both this time and last. I think they looked pretty evenly split, but who knows, I just made a bunch of mini pumpkin cheesecakes, also delicious.

Brown Sugar Maple Glazed Baked Mini Donuts

I love brown sugar. When I can, I've been sneaking it into things to make them extra tasty, like my brown sugar snickerdoodles. I did the same here for these brown sugar, maple glazed baked mini donuts! I brought them to a brunch and they went over very well!



This made about 30 mini donuts. Also the glaze came out a little thin and I had to re-dip them. Although it's possible they could not have been cooled all the way, so just in case, don't add all the milk to the glaze at once! Add it little by little to make sure you get the right consistency!

Also I always use a piping bag to fill the pan with mini donuts. A spoon just won't cut it, so if you don't have real piping bags do the trick with a zip lock bag instead. I pipe in a somewhat thick "layer" of batter into the bottom of each cavity. If filled too much they won't look like donuts after they rise!


Brown Sugar Maple Glazed Baked Mini Donuts
Adapted from Glorious Treats

For the donuts

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 egg

1 1/2 Tablespoons butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.  Spray mini doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Add buttermilk, egg, and butter and stir until just combined.
4. Pipe the batter into your donut pan with a piping bag or zip lock bag with the end snipped off.
5. Bake 4-6 minutes or until the top of the doughnuts spring back when touched. 
6. Cool in pan 1-2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. 

For the maple glaze

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons milk

1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons pure maple extract

1. In a small bowl, stir together sugar, milk and extract until sugar is completely dissolved.  
2. Make sure donuts are completely cooled, then use glaze immediately to dip the donuts.
3. Place on baking sheet until glaze is set