Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins

Unless you've lived in a hole over the last several weeks, you've noticed that there are a plethora of pumpkin recipes all over the foodie world. I have bookmarked more than my share and wish I had the time to bake every one of them. However, it would take me forever to bake and blog them all this Autumn season, so I'll try my darndest to get to as many as I can. *wink*

You all know that I have four kiddos that are incredibly crazy about anything muffin-y. Well, when you tell them that their favorite breakfast item has been baked up with pumpkin, they flip. Who knew that all I have to do to enjoy a few minutes of blissful peace is to serve up some pumpkin-y treats? So, when I was browsing through some of my fall baking magazines and saw these little treasures, I began fantasizing about what to do with my brief enjoyment of silence as my little wolves devoured their first taste of autumn.

These muffins were fantastically moist and flavorful and the addition of cranberries offers a nice tartness that offsets the sweetness of the pumpkin perfectly. I also chose to top each muffin with decorator sugar crystals that gave a nice added crunch to the tops.

If you've not jumped off the pumpkin baking wagon yet, you might want to consider baking these little gems for your breakfast table. Your family will definitely thank you!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!


Pumpkin-Cranberry Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I omitted)
Decorator sugar crystals

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 regular-size muffin cups with shortening or cooking spray or line with paper baking cups.

2. In large bowl, mix flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Stir in pumpkin, oil, eggs, cranberries and pecans just until dry ingredients are moistened. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle sugar crystals evenly over batter in each cup.

3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan to cooling rack.

Source: Betty Crocker Fall baking 2008

Success Hint: Take care not to overmix the batter. Overmixing can result in tough muffins with peaked tops and tunnels inside.

Ham and Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo

Have you been looking for a quick and easy weeknight dinner recipe? This dish is super easy and perfect for a busy family, yet looks and tastes special enough to prepare for dinner guests too. And to top it all off; it's prepared with just FIVE ingredients!! Perfection!! Don't let the lack of time and ingredients turn you off from trying this dish. Nearly every delicious bite is full of cheesy goodness and the sun-dried tomatoes offer an added "wow" factor that my family absolutely loved. Be sure to give this one a try!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

On a side note; my friend Sarah is tomorrow's (Thursday 10/22) featured blogger for SITS and is hosting a fantastic giveaway. Please check out her wonderful food blog and leave a comment to enter!!


Ham and Sun-Dried Tomato Alfredo

8 oz. uncooked linguine
1/4 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup cubed fully cooked ham

Cook linguine according to package directions.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet coated with cooking spray, saute tomatoes for 1 minute. Reduce heat; stir in cream and cheese. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat. Simmer, uncovered , for 5-7 minutes or until thickened.

Drain linguine; stir into sauce mixture. Add ham; heat through.

Source: Taste of Home's Simple & Delicious Sep/Oct 2009

Autumn Cookie Bouquet

Oh my dear blogger friends; are you terribly disappointed in me and my lack of posting over the last month? Goodness, I've been incredibly sporadic with keeping you informed on the happenings in my kitchen! Just when I think that life will calm down a bit and I will have ample time to spend on doing things for me; such as blogging; my kids' activities, homework and obligations grab me by the shoestrings and we're off and running again and again. This first nine weeks of school has been quite an adjustment for our family and just thinking of all that has gone on around here tends to wear me out all over again...whew!! I have so many fun and fantastic recipes to share with you and I'm hoping (crossing my fingers) to catch up over the next few weeks.

This past week our bakery was busy with several bouquet orders and they turned out so incredibly cute that I had to share these with you first. The Fall cookie bouquet was a "Get Well" bouquet and our client was thrilled with the idea of using an Autumn theme. Check out the cookies below to see how each cookie turned out. We baked each shape with our regular sugar cookie dough and also in our chocolate sugar dough. Both were delicious!!

Autumn leaves filled with orange royal icing and sprinkled with a combination of red, orange and yellow sprinkles.

Autumn leaves filled with yellow royal icing and piped with brown and orange. We then pulled a toothpick through the wet piping to blend the colors.

Fall isn't complete without Candy Corn! These were so much fun to create!

Every squirrel's favorite, Acorns!! I think this was my favorite of the bunch.

All of our cookie bouquets are potted in our signature, customizable, clay pots. How can you not love all the colors of Fall? Cute!!

Wouldn't these make a great Thanksgiving gift for your dinner hostess? Or a cute centerpiece for the kids' table? Adorable and edible! Or, maybe, a special "Thank You" gift for your kiddos' teachers. If you're interested in ordering for Thanksgiving, please contact us and we can customize your bouquet. Watch for our Christmas themed pots too; coming soon!

We also completed another adorable baby bouquet last week. This was to be the centerpiece for a baby shower for a precious little girl due to arrive next month. Yes, you are reading the rattle correctly, her name is to be Poet Scout. Very artistic!

This time our little duckie didn't want to darn the standard "duck" yellow, so we dressed her up in light lavender and gave her tiny pink beads at her neckline. Very chic and stylish don't you think?

I just love little baby bottles!!

When a baby gets a bottle, she also needs a cute little bib too. Less mess for Mom. :-)

I hope you've enjoyed my little tutorial of last week's kitchen happenings! I promise to catch you up on all the yummy sweet and savory recipes we've enjoyed lately.

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Source: Decadent Dreams Bakery Originals

Double-Decker Confetti Brownies

I know it seems that I've been posting a lot of sweets lately, but with all four kids in school and packing lunches, I've been baking a lot of sweets and love sharing each of them with you! :) I promise to post some great new dinner recipes that are quick and delicious and perfect for your busy weeknight meals.

These double layer brownies were fantastic and pleased both the brownie lovers and cookie lovers in our family. My "confetti" (the mini M&M's) in the cookie layer sunk, so the bars weren't as cute as I was hoping for but they were still a huge hit with my little critics. The entire pan was devoured in one day between lunches, after school snacks and my 42 year old cookie monster.

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Double-Decker Confetti Brownies

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, melted
1 cup M&M's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Mini Baking Bits, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease 13x9x2 inch baking pan; set aside.

In large bowl cream 3/4 cup butter and sugars until light and fluffy; beat in eggs and vanilla.

In medium bowl combine 2 1/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt; blend into creamed mixture.

Divide batter in half. Blend together cocoa powder and melted butter; stir into one half of the dough. Spread cocoa dough evenly into prepared baking pan.

Stir remaining 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup "M&M's" into remaining dough; spread evenly over cocoa dough in pan. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup "M&M's".

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until edges start to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely. Cut into bars. Store in tightly covered container.

Source: The Great American Cookie Cookbook

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Cake

This past weekend my friend Sarah's son (Josh) celebrated his 3rd birthday. Josh is a huge fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I mean, the boy LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Did I mention that Josh Loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? I did? Oh...okay. Sorry. Can you guess what the theme of Josh's big party was? Here it comes.....wait for it....almost...there....Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! Yay-you guessed correctly! You're SO smart!

Well, anyway, I was thrilled when Sarah asked me to help her with creating Josh's birthday cake. When she showed me her plan for the cake I knew we would have so much fun baking and decorating together. She baked the cakes, I prepared the fondant and we got together Friday night for the fun. Between giggles, pizza, six kids and two husbands we completed Josh's cake. I must say that we were pretty pleased with how it turned out. But, more importantly, the very special birthday boy LOVED it and that's all that counted!!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Black and White Cookie Ripple Coffee Cake

When I saw this cake on Donna's (My Tasty Treasures) blog I nearly drooled and knew instantly that I would be making this cake SOON!! I mean, seriously, who could resist eating a coffee cake loaded with Oreo cookies? This is my kids' definition of breakfast perfection! Have your precious little ones ever asked if they could have cookies for breakfast? Just this once, Mom...PLEASE?? Well, now you can say "Yes, you can!" You'll immediately become "World's Best Mom" in their eyes when you serve them a generous slice of this delicious coffee cake. :)

The cake itself is pretty much a standard coffee cake recipe, nothing too sweet. The sweetness and goodness is added with the cookies, and for our cake I used Double Stuff Oreos. To me, there is no other Oreo comparison. If it's not Double Stuff, leave it on the store shelf. I thought the double cream would be wonderful in the cake and it certainly did not disappoint! The kids loved, loved, loved this cake and ate it for their after school snack as well as breakfast. This cake will certainly be making future appearances at our table!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Black and White Cookie Ripple Coffee Cake

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups buttermilk
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
30 + coarsely chopped sandwich cookies (OREOS!)

Soften butter by letting it stand for 30-45 minutes at room temperature or cut into chunks and allow to stand for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Coarsely chop the Oreos (I followed Donna's suggestion and put 20 chopped cookies in one bowl for the filling and the remainder in another bowl for the topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a tube pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a mixer bowl, cream softened butter and sugar on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs 2 at a time, and blend on medium speed until blended, scraping bowl often to make sure no butter or sugar sticks to the bottom. Add vanilla and buttermilk and blend well. Fold in the dry ingredients and blend until batter is smooth, about 2 to 4 minutes. Pour 2/3 of the batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle 2/3 of cookie pieces over batter (the 20 cookies), putting more on perimeter than directly in the middle (cookie pieces are less likely to sink when dispersed this way).

Top with remaining batter and top batter evenly with remaining cookie pieces.

Bake 45 minutes and then reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Finish baking until cake tests done with a cake skewer that almost comes out clean, another 15-20 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan before turning cake out onto a serving plate. Let cake cool completely before adding glaze.

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2-6 tablespoons buttermilk

For glaze, whisk sugar, butter and vanilla together. Slowly add enough buttermilk to make a thin glaze. (I used about half the milk). Drizzle glaze over top of cake with a fork or whisk. Let glaze set.

Source: Donna of My Tasty Treasures

"Pleasing His Chocolate Cravings" with Chocolate Thumbprints

If you read my previous post then you understand the title to this one. As I previously stated, I've been baking special treats to put in my kids' lunches to let them know that I'm thinking of them during the day. My first "special" treat was met with a 75% approval rating, only disappointing our 9 year old son because of the lack of chocolate in the blondies. So to appease his chocolate craving, I searched and found the recipe for these remarkable, delicious cookies. Plus, Marty was headed to a meeting with some men who had requested some baked goods. I was thrilled to make two of my boys happy with one recipe. :)

These were a lot of fun to bake up and filling the centers of the cookies with the peanut butter filling gave me a little creative outlet. The only change I will make to the original recipe is to use mini-chocolate chips instead of regular sized. Using mini chips would allow making the "thumbprints" easier than maneuvering the larger chips.

Oh, did you ask how these tasted? Well, they were irresistible! If you've ever eaten a buckeye (the peanut butter ball covered in chocolate made to resemble a buckeye) then you can imagine the taste of this cookie. The filling was fluffy and creamy and complimented the chocolate cookie perfectly and tasted so similar to the buckeyes my family loves!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Chocolate Thumbprints

Cookies
1/2 Butter Flavor Crisco Stick or 1/2 Cup Butter Flavor Crisco all-vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Cream Filling
2 tablespoons Butter flavor Crisco Stick or 2 tablespoons Butter Flavor Crisco all-vegetable shortening
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheet with shortening. (I used parchment paper)

For cookies, combine 1/2 cup shortening, granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, vanilla and egg yolk in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add melted chocolate. Mix well.

Combine flour and salt. Add gradually to chocolate mixture at low speed. Mix until blended. Add chocolate chips. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Press thumb gently in center of each cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Do not overbake. Press centers again with small measuring spoon. Remove cookies to cooling rack and cool completely.

For peanut butter cream filling, combine 2 tablespoons shortening and peanut butter in medium bowl. Stir with spoon until blended. (I used my hand mixer.) Add confectioners sugar. Stir well. Add 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Fill centers of cookies.

Source: The Great American Cookie Cookbook