Monday, September 30, 2013

Halloween PEEPS S'mores Trifle


My mail, probably yours as well, consists of bills, junk, a few magazines, more junk, maybe something I ordered, and more bills. Every once in a while something unexpected and fun comes along with the usual daily mail. It's the hope that there might be something fun and exciting in the day's mail that makes me keep an eye out for the mail delivery truck. A couple of days ago I received a box full of Halloween PEEPS in the mail. Now that's what I call fun mail! The nice folks at PEEPS sent me a few of their Halloween themed PEEPS to try. Thanks PEEPS!
In case, if you didn't already know, PEEPS are not just for Easter anymore. Nope they've gone multi-holiday! There are now Halloween and Christmas PEEPS, in addition to the traditional Easter PEEP. No more waiting and entire year for PEEPS to return! 
Anyway, I wanted to use my PEEPS in a fun Halloween-ish dessert. With PEEPS being super fun marshmallow treat, I immediately thought of doing s'mores. PEEPS and s'mores, are a perfect match, but I didn't want to melt my  PEEPS, I mean look at how cute they are! So I decided to layer the PEEPS in a s'mores trifle. How cute and yummy is that? PEEPS, chocolate, whipped cream...Happy Halloween!


Thursday, September 19, 2013

Apple Cranberry Crisp with Ginger Cookie Crumble

Yeah it's almost officially Autumn! Walkers Shortbread has sent me some cookies to use in Fall Fruit themed desserts. Since apple crisp is one my favorite Fall time desserts I decided I'd incorporate Walkers Stem Ginger Shortbread Cookies  into the crumb topping of an apple cranberry crisp. The buttery ginger-y cookies make this crumble topping really delicious. After I cooked the crisp I served the crisp topped with ice cream and crumbled a couple more the stem ginger cookies over the top. Delicious! I think the Stem Ginger Shortbread Cookies will be a regular addition to my apple crisps in the future!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Pumpkin Spice Scones

To most,I would imagine, the day after Labor Day has no real significance. Yes it means back to school or work and maybe the vague sense of a slight shift in the universe, indicating summers imminent end. Nothing really changes. It was still 90 degrees here in Alabama that day. Still the same summertime weather as the days leading up to the day after Labor Day. Only now it's after Labor Day and we all know what that means... Right? The much anticipated return of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Lattes!! Of course I had to have one, in spite of the very summer-like temps and humidity. I've been craving that pumpkin spiced drink since it went away last year and it was BACK! Ok so maybe I broke a sweat and had to turn up the air in my car just so I could drink it, but whatever...totally worth it! Anyway as you might have guessed my love for pumpkin and spice runs deep.
While I was getting my PSL from Starbucks, I saw that they also sell pumpkin spice scones. I guess I've been living under a rock or something but I've never had a pumpkin scone. I did not buy one of those but did come home and look to see if I could find a recipe to make them. Apparently I was living under a rock. How had I missed these scones? Eaten along with a cup of hot coffee, it's quite possibly my new Fall obsession! 
I usually change a few things here and there in recipes that I make. I didn't change much on this one with one MAJOR exception: The original recipe said that the spiced glaze frosting was "optional"...umm I had to change that to mandatory!!  

Pumpkin Spice Scones
SOURCE: Tasty Kitchen
YIELD: 8 SCONES

FOR THE SCONES:

2 cups all purpose flour 
1/3 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoons ground ginger 
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 stick unsalted butter, frozen
 ½ cups pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie filling
 ½ cups heavy cream 
FOR THE ICING: (MANDATORY)
 1 cup powdered sugar 
½ teaspoons cinnamon 
¼ teaspoons ground ginger  
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla 
heavy cream, just enough to thin the icing to a honey like consistency 
½ cups toasted, chopped pecans 

METHOD: 
In a small bowl, mix the pumpkin and cream, keep in the fridge until you use it. In a large bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and  nutmeg. Add the frozen butter by grating it with a cheese grater over the flour mixture. Work quickly so the butter doesn't have time to soften. Quickly mix butter curls into the flour mixture with a fork. Pour the pumpkin and cream into the flour/butter mixture. Fold with a wooden spoon just until flour is moistened well.Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board and gently knead over a couple of times. Pat the dough into a circle about 1 inch thick. Cut the circle into 8 sections, like you would to slice a pie. Separate scones and place onto a cookie sheet. Put the scones in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
Bake at 400ºF for about 25 minutes or until just firm and golden around the edges. Let cool to room temperature. 
While the scones cool; Mix together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, ginger powder, corn syrup, and vanilla. Add heavy cream in small amounts at a time, stirring until icing reaches the consistency of honey. Use a large spoon to drizzle the icing over the cooled scones. Immediately sprinkle the toasted pecans over the tops.Store scones in an air-tight container.