Best Ever Carrot Cake Cupcakes

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A few years ago I made some cupcakes for a friend and somehow that turned into a full time job! These days I make a lot of cupcakes. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas or improvements on old recipes. I had been using a carrot cake cupcake recipe from a well known cupcake cookbook, (that shall remain nameless) and it was good. Adequate...tasty enough but nothing to write home about. Earlier this week I was asked to make some carrot cake cupcakes so I started Googling recipes and came across this one. The name grabbed me right away, The Best Ever Carrot Cake Cupcakes. That was exactly what I wanted. Not just it's an okay, tastes pretty good, carrot cupcake but The Best EVER! With pineapple and applesauce in the batter, I knew these would be a super moist cupcake. I decided to top them with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Guess what?? These really are The Best Ever carrot cake cupcakes.
I may still look to perfect other cupcake recipes but my search for the perfect carrot cake cupcake is over.

Best Ever Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Printable recipe

Ingredients:

4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 8-oz. can of crushed pineapple, well drained
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Small pinch of ground cloves
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans

For Frosting:

1/2 cup butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Milk
Toasted pecans, chopped (optional for garnish)

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, apple sauce, sugars, pineapple and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and small pinch of ground cloves. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecan. Line a muffin tin with cupcake wrappers. Fill each liner 3/4 full. Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 min. Let cupcakes cool completely. While cooling, prepare frosting.

Frosting:
In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add milk a tablespoon at a time, if needed to get a smooth consistency. Top with the toasted chopped pecans.

Source: Paula Deen for Smithfield

A perfect dessert for Thanksgiving!

Pecan and Chocolate Chip Mini Pies

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Sorry for the long absence from posting here. Other parts of my life have had to take precedence over blogging, as of late. As much as I love both baking and blogging, I've had to put things on hold somewhat for the time being. Hopefully life will return to some form of normalcy very soon. Until then I'll do the best I can to share as often as I can. By the way pecan pie is great comfort food!

Pecan pie ranks right near the top of my favorite desserts. I'm pretty much a pecan pie purist. I don't usually  like to mess around with the traditional pecan pie I grew up eating. I posted that recipe here, way back when I first started this blog. It will always be a favorite of mine but decided to try something different this time. I mean pecans and chocolate are a match made in heaven, so I broke with tradition and have to say I was not disappointed. These little pies are very tasty. Mini pies are the perfect single serving and would be great for entertaining.

I discovered Lyle's syrups a couple of years ago and love the flavor. The golden syrup is great in all kinds of baking and can be used a substitute for corn syrup in many recipes. I highly recommend using it for this pie but if you can't find it you can use a light corn syrup instead.

Pecan and Chocolate Chip Mini Pies
Printable recipe

Crust:
Your favorite recipe for a single crust pie, dough chilled. I like the crust from this pie. You could also use a refrigerated store bought pie crust.

For the filling:
3 large eggs
¾ cup Lyle's Golden Syrup*
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups pecan halves, or coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400°F, and place a large baking sheet on the bottom rack.

Roll out the crust to ¼" thickness. Cut the crust into 6" circles using a pastry cutter, and press each circle into a mini pie pan or a jumbo muffin tin.* If you don't have a 6" round pastry cutter divide your dough into 6 equal pieces and roll out each individual piece into a 6" or larger, ¼"-thick round. Press them into the pans.

Refrigerate the pan until the filling is ready.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, syrup, sugar, melted butter, salt, and vanilla.

Divide the chocolate chips evenly among the pies, sprinkling them  into the bottom of each pie.
Pour 1/3-1/2 cup of filling into each of the pies. Divide the pecans evenly among the cups, sprinkling them over the filling. Fill each pie or muffin tin about 3/4 to the top. Don't fill to the pies very top of the pie pan.These pies puff up a good bit while cooking and will cook out if overfilled.

Place the mini pie pans or muffin tin on the heated sheet pan, and bake for 15 minutes; then reduce the oven temperature to 300°F and bake for another 20 minutes or until the centers of the pies are set.
Remove from the oven, and cool the mini pies completely in the pan before removing them and serving.

Yield: 6 mini pies or jumbo muffin size pies. 8-10 regular muffin sized pies.

source: King Arthur Flour Recipes

*you can also make these using a regular muffin tin but will need to adjust the cooking time slightly. I baked these  for the first 10 minutes at 400 degrees and 15-17 minutes at 300 degrees.

I made a few in a regular size muffin tin. Perfect party sized pie!

“Come join Love the Pie with TidyMom  sponsored by Cherokee USA, Le Creuset, Wilton,Bags by Bloom and  Harvard Common Press”

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Saltine Toffee Bars

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AKA: crack

Seriously this stuff should probably come with a warning. I've heard that some people become addicted to crack after just one use. I don't know about crack, but these toffee bars had me addicted after just one bite. They are sweet, salty, chocolatly, caramley, crunchy...in short, delicious! Everything that I love about toffee with the added salty crunch from the saltine cracker. The list of ingredients for these bars may leave you somewhat unimpressed. If you've never had them before, you maybe be thinking; saltine crackers, really?!? I know, it's kind of odd and  not a very exciting sounding ingredient. I've heard these bars referred to as trailer trash toffee. If you make them, you'll wonder how you've lived your life without them and won't care what they're called.
Most times in baking, you have to put in a good bit of time/effort to achieve results this scrumptious. Fortunately (or maybe unfortunately!) these saltine toffee bars are so easy and quick to make, you can feed your addiction anytime.

Saltine Toffee Bars

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1-1/2 sleeves of saltine crackers
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

 Arrange the crackers in a single layer on the baking sheet so that there are no empty spaces in between them. Crush a few remaining crackers into small crumbs, to be used as topping, and set aside for now.

 Place the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir while the butter melts, and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Once boiling, carefully pour the sugar-butter mixture over the crackers on the baking sheet in an even layer, trying to cover most of the crackers. If you miss some spots, don’t worry as the toffee will spread in the oven.

Bake the toffee crackers at 350 degrees for five minutes, until the toffee is bubbling all over. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for one minute.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the hot toffee, and allow them to sit for one minute to soften and melt. Once softened, use an offset spatula or knife to spread the melted chocolate over the entire surface of the toffee in an even layer. 

While the chocolate is still sticky, sprinkle the top with the reserved crushed crackers, chopped nuts, sprinkles or any combination of the three.

Top the bars with nuts, crushed crackers, even sprinkles!

Topped with yellow and orange sprinkles, they're perfect for Fall/Halloween parties!

Refrigerate the pan to set the toffee and chocolate for about 30 minutes. Once set, break into small uneven pieces by hand, and enjoy! Store uneaten saltine toffee in an airtight container for up to a week.

Just don't blame me if you find yourself addicted!

Pumpkin Pie Biscotti

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 Our weather has been perfection this week. Crisp cold nights followed by clear cerulean blue sky days with hardly a cloud to be seen. The perfect weather to pick back up my afternoon hot tea ritual. What goes better with a mug of hot tea than a crunchy, not too sweet piece of biscotti. My love for all things pumpkin has been well documented on this blog. I'm pretty sure that I have posted more recipes with pumpkin as the star than any other ingredient. My love for that orange squash runs very deep ! I've been craving pumpkin pie for a couple of weeks now. So of course when I came across a recipe for pumpkin pie biscotti, I HAD to make it immediately. The biscotti contains all the spices found in pumpkin pie as well as pumpkin puree. The pumpkin puree gives the biscotti a beautiful orange color and really ups the pumpkin flavor. It's perfect if you are needing an afternoon pumpkin pie fix to go with you cup of tea!

Pumpkin Pie Biscotti
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup mashed canned pumpkin
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
1cup pecans , coarsely chopped


Method:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl; stir well. In another bowl, combine pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla, stirring well with a wire whisk. Slowly add pumpkin mixture to flour mixture, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. (Mixture will be very crumbly; it will gradually become moist after stirring.) Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add pecans. Cook, stirring constantly, until nuts are slighty browned. Remove from heat and cool completely. 

Knead or gently stir cooled nuts into dough. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 portions. Lightly flour hands and shape each portion into approximately 2 x 12" long log. Place logs  lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake for 25-28 minutes; cool logs 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300. Cut each log diagonally into 1/2" slices using a serrated knife. Place slices on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes or until they reach the desired crunchiness. The biscotti will get a bit crisper as it cools. Cool completely on wire racks.

source: Southern Living 1996 (adapted)

All that's missing is a piping hot cup of Chai tea!

Halloween Wreath

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I realize that no baking is involved with this post. However since this blog is my little corner of the internet and I do occasionally do more than bake, I thought I share this little Halloween project I did this week. I have to start by saying that I am not a crafty person. Not. At. All. I don't have the patients for things like scrap booking or sewing. Which is kind of strange since I have no problem working on a cake for hours at a time or decorating dozens of cupcakes. 

 I blame my decision to do this little project totally on Pinetrest. I have seen so many cute crafty things posted there that I began to feel like a loser for not even owning a glue gun. When I came across this wreath, I thought it was adorable. It looked pretty easy so I thought I'd try my hand at making one. I didn't want to spend much on the supplies because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to make a wreath I actually wanted to hang! This wreath not only looked fairly easy to make but the supplies were inexpensive as well. I think all total (including purchasing a tiny glue gun for $3.00) I spent under $15.00 to buy everything I used to make it. 

This project is definitely on the easy side. Pretty much the only skill you need is knowing how to tie a knot. Perfect for the craft challenged person, such as I. 

I really like how the wreath turned but next time would do a sturdier base for my wreath. Because was trying not to spend too much and bases can cost as much as $10.00, I bought a foam piece from Lowes for .97 cents and cut it to the size I wanted. I saw this idea on Pintrest and thought I'd give it a try. It was okay but was definitely not as sturdy as a foam base would have been. I also thought it was a bit too narrow. I liked that it was black so I didn't have to worry about it showing through the tulle. However if you make this wreath I would recommend using a different wreath for the base. One like this or this would work better. 

Supplies:

1 base for wreath between 12 and 14 inchs

2  25yard spools of black tulle ( I found them at Wal-mart the amount you need will depend on how large around your base is. I used 2  25yard spools.)

1 yard large rick-rack (also found at Wal-mart. Hancock Fabrics carries it as well)

2 yards of wide orange ribbon for bow and to hang the wreath (again Wal-mart)

Decorations of your choice. (I found mine at Hobby Lobby for 30% off so they cost me less then $2.00 total.)

How To:

Cut your tulle into about 16 inch lengths. I measured out 16" on my table and marked it with two pieces of painters tape. This way I could just unroll and cut between the marks and not have to measure out each piece.

Next tie the tulle around the wreath and knot it in a basic knot. Like if you were tying you shoe laces in a knot: right over left, left over right. Continue to tie the strip all the way around the wreath. Try to keep the knots lined up. As you tie the strips, push them tightly together so that there are no gaps. The more piece of tulle you put, the fuller your finished wreath will look.

Hot glue your rick-rack around the edge where the knots are. Can I just tell you how much I love this orange rick-rack!

My lack of glue gun experience can be seen where I got some on the tulle!

 Now your ready to add the fun stuff. This is where you can be creative and do whatever you want. I made a bow using 2"wide orange ribbon and hot glued a tiny spider in the center. I like the way the ribbon bow came out but wired ribbon would have probably been easier for a novice at bow making. I glued the bow and the Beware sign to lower right side of the wreath

I looped a piece of the orange ribbon around the wreath and hung the Trick-Treat sign from the ribbon. How long your ribbon needs to be depends on how far down on the door you want the wreath to hang.

I had fun making this wreath. Watch out, I have a glue gun now. Who knows whats next!!

Not too bad for a first time wreath maker.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

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Hubs tells me all the time that I like to do things the hard way. He says this when I choose to make something rather than buy it or make do with what I have rather than buy something new. Even if that something new would make my life easier. Usually it's because I'm being cheap thrifty. However sometimes it's because I get an idea and just want to see if it will work. That's how these cookies came about. I was wasting time doing important research on Pinterest. In the interest of public safety, I feel I must warn those that don't already know about Pinterest. I'm not sure what happens, maybe a quantum time leap, or perhaps it's in its own time zone or something. All I know is that when you visit Pinterest, what feels like 5 minutes in Pinterest time is actually an hour in real time. Consider yourselves warned! Anyhooo, back to the cookies, so I saw some cute candy corn shaped sugar cookies while surfing around Pinterest. I liked that they looked like candy corn but didn't have to be decorated. They looked easy, a departure from my usual way of doing things. This was a week or two ago and I didn't pin the picture, which I realize kind of defeats the purpose of Pinterest. I couldn't find the picture again so I decided I'd just wing it and see if I could make some cookies like the ones I had seen. I have since seen other ways to make candy corn cookies but I like how these came out and they really are easy to make.

These are perfect for when you need a fun Fall/Halloween dessert, like school parties. You could go super easy and use store bought sugar cookie dough to make these cookies. No judgement here! However this recipe for sugar cookies is simple to make and tastes delicious. The dough doesn't need to be chilled before using, so it's quick to make as well.

Easy No-Chill Sugar Cookies
Source: Food.com submitted by Chef.Jules
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

orange and yellow gel food coloring
candy corn cookie cutter (or you could cut out triangles)

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Divide dough into two balls.

To make Candy Corn Cookies:

Divide your cookie dough into three equal pieces. Knead orange gel food coloring into one piece and yellow into another. Leave the third piece white. Roll the dough into logs about 1 inch wide and 6-8 inches long. Put each of the logs side-by-side and slightly push them together like in the picture below.

Roll the cookie dough out approximately 12" wide and about 1/8" thick and cut out with a candy corn shaped cookie cutter. If you don't have a candy corn cutter you can just cut out triangles.

Kind of has a 70's vibe going!

I sprinkled some with sanding sugar and left some plain.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 6 - 7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. I line my pans with parchment paper or a silpat for easy cookie removal.

I didn't waste the leftover pieces of cookie dough. I gathered them all together, added more orange gel coloring, rolled out the dough again and cut out pumpkins.

I got a little over a dozen candy corn cookies. I made small and large pumpkins and had a dozen pumpkin cookies when I was done.