Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ahhhh pumpkin season is here at last! I know technically I could bake with pumpkin year round, but pumpkin cookies in the spring just aren't as magical. These cookies are deliciously moist and cakey with a lovely pumpkin spice flavor. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Oh It's Just a Trifle

Every year for the Admiral Nelson Ball I bring my little ol' trifle. Except it's not so little, and apparently it's a big deal. I've even been donned the title Trifle Lady! I figured it was about time that I shared my recipe with you.

Vegan Vanilla Cake with Chai Frosting

It was my sister in laws birthday last weekend and she recently has decided to become a vegan. Having lots of previous experience cooking and baking for a vegan friend I volunteered to bake the birthday cake!

After lots of Pinterest searching I came across this amazing recipe by The Almond Eater and we both decided that this was the cake to make! I'm not going to post the cake directly here because that would be stealing her awesome work but you can click this link to go get the recipe yourself. I followed it almost to a T except I used a different type of butter. My grocery store does not sell Earth Balance, although I have purchased it at a different store and really do like it. But they did have a new butter called Melt and I decided to give it a try! It's made using coconut oil and it definitely does have a coconut taste. I decided this would work well in this instance because coconut and chai are friends!

Everybody loved the cake and the frosting too! And as I predicted they did go well together! I think this is probably the moistest cake I've ever made it was so soft and delicious. If you are in need of a vegan cake recipe I highly recommend it.

To celebrate her birthday we all went out to eat at a restaurant called the Veggie Grill, they have wonderful food. Then we went back to my parents house and had cake and presents. And lots of fun with lots of little ones running around! 

By far my favorite photo of the night!

I am so lucky that the Lord blessed me with Lindsay as my sister in law! I love having her as my special sister that I can confide in and share all sorts of mommy experiences with! Happy birthday Lindsay! 

My Favorite Things - Baking Edition

I started blogging because I enjoyed reading other people's blogs and wanted to share my own experiences with the world. Lately something I've been enjoying about other folk's blogs has been their favorite things recommendations. Not every product is something I want or need but it really has opened my eyes to lots of neat and helpful things out there. Without further ado, I bring you the things that I'm loving too!

Baking Hack

A little while ago I decided I wanted to make a trifle using angel food cake. I found a box for it at the grocery store and figured it would be easy!

Lavender Cookies Recipe

For my Grandma's birthday I decided to bake her some lavender cookies with dried lavender from my garden.

4th of July Rice Treats

This is my Pinterest success from the 4th of July!

Easy Truffles

We served up these yummy truffles at the Oscar Party with Movie Food.  They were the Miracle Pill from "The Princess Bride."

Gourmet Cookie Favors Recipe

When you have a coed party it is difficult to find a suitable coed favor/gift for everyone.  Enter the chocolate chip cookie.  Who doesn't love a tasty, gourmet cookie?  I've served these before at the Italian Bridal Shower and because they were such a big hit I knew I needed to serve them again for the Volunteer Appreciation Dinner.

Elf on the Shelf - Baking White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Tinsel decided that he wanted to help me with the baking, so he pulled out his apron and was waiting for me in the kitchen!
We made my favorite holiday cookies: white chocolate cranberry oatmeal cookies and it's you're lucky day we're even going to share the recipe with you!

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

This Saturday was my mom's cousin Julie's annual Christmas Cookie Party.  Every year I try to bake a new recipe, this year I came across a delicious recipe for Peppermint Crunch Brownie Cookies at Six Sisters' Stuff.

Black Berry Pie Recipe

Our wonderful friend Mikey (ok Mike, sorry can't break childhood habits with old friends) baked us this AMAZING black berry pie!  He was very generous and offered to share the recipe with you lucky folks!  Mikey also has his own cooking blog, you should go check it out here!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies

Had enough pumpkin yet?  Me neither!  So here is another totally awesome recipe that everyone loved!  I found this recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Brownies over at Pennies on a Platter.

And the best part is, they are even (a little bit) healthier because you are baking with PUMPKIN!!!!

Sail Boat Baby Shower Cake

The cake survived!  I just had to let you know upfront in case you were worried after my last cake mishap The Chocolate Upside-Down Cake fiasco.  Although technically the last cake I baked was for Ben's 30th birthday, it was supposed to be a fedora but turned out looking like a stetson, and I was too embarrassed to even blog about it...

Back to the good news, this cake survived and thrived!  Here he/she is:

I began with three boxes of white cake mix.

Pumpkin Waffles

We decided to have a special breakfast last Sunday so I whipped up some Pumpkin Waffles!  The recipe came from AllRecipies.com it also included Apple Cider Syrup, but since I was missing the key ingredient apple cider I opted not to make it this time, but I definitely do want to try it in the future.

As I was making the waffles an old Donald Duck cartoon came to mind.  Make sure you learn from Donald's mistake and do not add rubber cement to your waffle mix!

Healthy Individual Pumpkin Cheesecakes

More pumpkin, that right folks, I just can't get enough of it!  This is a recipe I found on a blog that I love to follow: http://www.eat-yourself-skinny.com/2012/09/mini-pumpkin-swirl-cheesecakes.html
I highly recommend it, these were low fat and tasty!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies

Fall is near and I couldn't wait any longer, I had to make something with pumpkin in it!  I have been pinning up a storm and found this recipe for Pumpkin Snicker Doodle Cookies - MUST HAVE NOW!

Graduation Cupcakes

My brother in law Tim just graduated from high school, hooray!  Therefore I volunteered to bring a tasty treat to the grad party = cupcakes!!!!!!  Not just any cupcakes, graduation cap cupcakes to be exact!

Chocolate Upside-Down Cake

Two Moms & Two Birthdays in One Week right before a big camping weekend, sure I can bake you both a cake! I did too!  And both had sad fates....

Both cakes were made from Duncan Hines Chocolate Fudge cake mix.  I made my own butter cream icing from scratch using the Wilton recipe but then I decided to flavor them differently.

Cake #1 
For my Mother in Law and Step-Father in Law (their birthdays are less than a week apart).
This cake received the new Duncan Hines Frosting Flavor Creations icing treatment!  I stumbled upon these while walking through Target, and just had to try them!
The chocolate outer icing was flavored with:  Chocolate Almond
I found it to be a bit too sweet for my preference, and probably won't use this flavor again.

But the filling was regular butter icing flavored with: Mint Chocolate

This was delicious!  I will definitely use that flavor again!

Here is Cake #1 all done and ready for action!

Even though my husband carefully held it the entire 45 minute car ride to their house, it slid around in the cake carrier and all of the sides were completely destroyed!  Luckily I married into a very loving family and they didn't mind one bit!  Sorry for the lack of pictures, I was too horrified/embarrassed to take any....

Cake #2
For my Mother and Brother (their birthdays are 4 days apart)

This time I filled the cake with canned cherry pie filling that I mashed up (since the cherries were whole).

The outer frosting was again homemade butter cream that I added dutch baking cocoa to, it was perfect, not too sweet and nice and chocolatey!     

 This is the last picture you will ever see of my beautiful cake!

I had learned my lesson from cake #1 this week, and I taped the cake circle to the carrier bottom so that it wouldn't slide around - this worked perfectly, no smooshed sides!  But we were running late, so I quickly grabbed the cake and gifts from the car to hurry into the restaurant to meet my family.  I did not check the cake carrier, I should have, from now on I will ALWAYS CHECK THE CAKE CARRIER, because dun-dun-dunnnnn it came undone!!!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen here we have: Chocolate Upside-Down Cake:

I couldn't believe it, there she lay in the middle of the parking lot in all her glory!  Literally I began to throw a childlike tantrum in the parking lot - stomping my feet with frustration at the situation.  (Wouldn't you too?)  The hostess at the restaurant saw me sadly scoop her up and put her back inside the cake carrier and then stand there wondering now what.  She kindly brought me out some napkins to wipe off my very chocolatey hands.

 The restaurant was very nice and provided us with a very large slice of cake for the whole family to share after hearing our sad story.  In the end we were all able to laugh about it and smile while taking pictures of the disaster.  Maybe next year my mom actually get to eat a homemade cake from me, because I will try again!

Me and My Awesome Mom Laughing and Smiling 

The lessons I learned this week:

#1 Always tape the cake circle to the cake carrier so it doesn't slide around!

#2 ALWAYS check the clasps on the cake carrier so it doesn't come undone!

I hope you all can learn from my mistakes, I know I have!

Strawberry Filled Cake

Last week was my dear friend Denise's birthday.  I decided to bake a cake and bring it to our small group.  Since it had been really hot lately I decided the cake needed to be light and refreshing, so I did some experimenting.  I didn't have time to bake from scratch so instead I started with a Duncan Hines Classic White Cake mix.

This cake slicer came from Walmart a while ago, but I love it!  It makes leveling/cutting the top off a cake and slicing it in half a breeze!

Remember this cake is supposed to be "light and refreshing" therefore I decided to shy away from traditional icings.  I chose to make a whipped icing from my favorite Cool Whip!  After some googling I came across this recipe:   http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cool-whipped-frosting/
Super easy!  Mix a box of pudding with a cup of milk, then mix it together with Cool Whip.  I chose to use White Chocolate Pudding instead of the vanilla it called for, and I left out the tablespoon of vanilla because I wanted the frosting to taste more like the white chocolate and I wanted it to keep its crisp white color.  Note: I also doubled the recipe to make sure I would have enough frosting.

I decided I wanted the cake to have a strawberry filling so I took some thawed frozen strawberries and put them in the food-processor.  Then I strained them so they wouldn't be so runny.  I then began to worry that the strawberries might still be absorbed into the cake, so I decided to put down a layer of icing and put them on top.

 

A tip of mine is to always line the bottom of the cake pan with a piece of parchment (I've had enough failed cakes to last me a lifetime - I want that cake out of the pan in one piece).  Now, onto some frosting!

Now you might be wondering why there is paper underneath my cake.  This is an awesome Martha Stewart trick to keep icing from getting on the cake stand.  I decorate my cakes right on their stands, and I can be a bit messy.  All you have to do is place the wax paper beneath the edges of the cake and then pull it out when you're done and you're golden!  **Make sure to use several pieces and do not put them very far in**

Next up was decorating, my favorite part!  I whipped up some royal icing in a bowl using the Wilton recipe: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Royal-Icing and added some pink food coloring.  Another totally cool trick I learned, this time on Pinterest, sorry I never actually pinned it, just saw it on someone else's board.  Anyways the trick is to put your pastry bag in a glass and turn the cuff of it out.  Then you can scoop your frosting in without needing a third hand (my husband was pleased not to be my third hand this time)!  Wa-la, no mess!

By this time I was running out of time for fancy decorating and had to put together some quick embellishments.  I love decorating with fruit, it lets everyone know what flavor is in your cake!  So I chopped up some fresh strawberries and added some swags to the sides of the cake.

We didn't end up eating the cake right away, as we had someone running late.  Even though I put the cake in the fridge the pink frosting began to melt into the cake, maybe the freezer would have prevented this, but I think the best option is to just eat it right away!  Still yummy though!

Baking is always so rewarding and such an adventure!