pumpkin patch spice cupcakes

happy halloween ... my mom and i made these themed cupcakes for our neighbors and austin's advisory! they turn out so well with their stems and vines -- and aren't as time consuming as you would think.

recipe
pumpkin spice
1box yellow cake mix
1c canned pumpkin
1tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3/4c buttermilk
1/3c vegetable oil
4eggs

decorating
12 standard cupcake liners
24 mini cupcake liners
4 green licorice twists (twizzler rainbow twists)
1can (16oz) plus 1c vanilla frosting
1c orange decorating sugar
green licorice laces (watermelon madness fruit streamers)

preheat oven to 350degrees. (follow instructions on box) then cool. cut licorice twists into little stem pieces. tint the vanilla frosting orange with food coloring. tint 1/2c of the orange frosting with a darker shade of orange and spoon in a ziploc bag. place the sprinkles in a shallow bowl. spread the light orange frosting on all the cupcakes and roll into the sprinkles. then with a wooden skewer make ridges in the top of each cupcake. then pipe a line in the indentations you made to make the ribs. insert the stems/ cut green vines and arrange on a plate, enjoy!

this recipe comes from 'hello, cupcake!' baking book that my mom got one year. i don't usually spend so much time and energy decorating cupcakes but i thought these were worth it for halloween! they taste really good because in the cake mix you substitute buttermilk for the water making the cake extra moist. these are deliciouss!!

pumpkin white chocolate drops

back for fall break! this recipe is so easy to make and the best fall cookies ever. whenever it's thanksgiving time i'm craving these pumpkin cookies -- so i decided to make them for justin's bithday down at the kelley's.

recipe
batter
2c butter, softened
2c sugar
1can (16oz) solid pack pumpkin
2eggs
4 c flour
2tbs. pumpkin pie spice
1tsp. baking powder
1/2tsp. baking soda
1bag (12oz) white chocolate chips

icing
1container (16oz) cream cheese frosting
1/4c brown sugar

preheat oven to 375degrees. beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. add the pumpkin and eggs; beat until smooth. add flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder and baking soda. beat until well blended. then add the baking chocolate chips. drop tablespoonfuls onto the greased baking sheets. bake 14-18min then cool. combine frosting and brown sugar then spread on warm cookies. makes 6dozen.

this recipe comes from kristy! they always turn out good. this recipe makes so many cookies (this is a big recipe) that you can easily cut it in half. that's what i did this time because we only had half the amount of icing in the house. everyone loved them, the white chocolate chips add a really good crunch.

chocolate- hazelnut drop cookies

wanted to make something yummy for our boat dinner with all the neighbors tonight on the lake. i thought these would be a hit because all kids love chocolate and cookies!

recipe
1c butter, room temperature
1/4c plus 1c powdered sugar
1tsp vanilla
2c flour
1/2c nutella

preheat oven to 35o degrees. grease to baking pans. in an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. then add the vanilla. gradually add in all the flour then the nutella. using a small cookie scoop, drop the batter onto the pans. bake for 10- 12minutes. cool completely then roll the cookies in the powdered sugar. store in an airtight container.

i've never made these before and they turned out really well -- light and buttery. the recipe comes from giada again (starting to really like her cookie recipes!). they are suppose to be relatively small cookies and i was able to get about 3dozen out of the batter. i took them out at 10minutes and made sure to cool completely before adding the sugar. great simple, chocolate cookies ... enjoy.

my last blog before i go down to school, so stay tuned until i'm back home for one of my fall breaks!

peanut butter blackberry jam cookies

i just saw giada making these on her show the other day and thought i'd try them, they looked so good! they stood out to me because they're not your usual combo of cookie ingredients -- peanut butter, chocolate and blackberry jam. but they end up complimenting each other very well ...

recipe
1c flour
1/3c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2tsp. baking soda
1/8tsp. salt
1stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4c peanut butter, room temperature
3/4c sugar, plus 1/4c
1/2c packed light brown sugar
1egg, room temperature
1tsp. vanilla
1/4c blackberry jam

preheat oven to 375degrees. grease to baking sheets. sift together the dry ingredients in one bowl. then in an electric mixer beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars together. add the egg and vanilla. mix until blended then pour in the dry ingredients. form the dough balls and roll in sugar. indent with finger and spoon 1tsp. of jam on each cookie. bake for 11-14minutes. cool and enjoy!

this is my first time making them and i loved how they turned out! giada makes some really good recipes. the only change i made was eliminate the 'rolling in sugar' all together (done it before with for the peanut butter blossoms and thought it was unnecessary and messy!). i baked them for exactly 11minutes and they were slightly undercooked, just the way i like mine. made two dozen cookies. next time i would add more jam ... they just tasted so good with the jam!

coconut macaroons

i've made these before and they are so delicious, that is if you like coconut! very easy to make and requires very little ingredients.

recipe
14oz. sweetened shredded coconut
14oz. sweetened condensed milk
1tsp. vanilla
2large egg whites, room temperature
1/4tsp. kosher salt

preheat oven to 325degrees. combine the coconut, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. whip the egg whites on high speed with a whisked paddle attachment until they make medium-firm peaks. carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture. drop the batter onto greased sheet pans with an ice cream scoop. bake fore 25-3o minutes or until golden brown.

this recipes from barefoot contessa, family style. today it was a little tricky for me to bake these. for some reason the batter was runny when i put it in the oven so i tried another batter and whipped the egg whites a little longer (firmer peaks!) and that seemed to help. so remember to make sure the egg whites form peaks. other than that i thought they turned out. baked them for about 15-2o minutes instead. so good!! --oh and you can dip the cooled cookies in melted chocolate which makes them all the more yummy

peach&blueberry crumble

i made this yesterday just for fun. it has finally felt like summer here with weather this week in the 80's, so i thought a nice fruit dessert was in order.

recipe
fruit filling
6-8 firm, ripe peaches
2tsp. grated lemon zest
2tbs. squeezed lemon juice
1/2c sugar
1/4c flour
1c (1/2pint) fresh blueberries

crumble topping
1c flour
1/3c sugar
1/4c brown sugar
1/2tsp. kosher salt
1/4tsp. cinnamon
1stick cold, unsalted butter, diced

preheat oven to 350degrees. to peel the peaches skin off easily you can boil the peaches for 30seconds in  boiling water then place them immediately in cold water. peel the peaches and slice them in wedges. add all the filling ingredients, blueberries last. let the mixture sit for 5minutes then pour into pan. for the topping combine all ingredients in an electric mixture until butter is the size of peas. sprinkle evenly over filling and bake for 40-45minutes. serve warm or room temperature.

this recipe comes from barefoot contessa at home (yet again!) her fruit crisps are the best. never made this one before and thought it turned out really well. nice and crunchy on top with a sweet, gooey filling for the bottom. i took the crumble out at 40minutes and served it with homemade whipped cream. contessa made this recipe as separate crumbles, in individual ramekins, but either way works. easy to make and a great summer dessert!

scotch shortbread

want to make cookies but don't have any eggs? make these. very simple cookies and so buttery and addictive! made/ decorated them for my tennis kids.

recipe
1c butter, softened
1/4c sugar
2c flour

preheat oven to 35o degrees. mix butter and sugar together then add the flour. if dough is crumbly add 1/2tbs. more of butter. roll on a lightly floured board. cut into small shapes about 1/2'' thick. place 1/2'' apart on sheet. bake for 20minutes.

this recipe comes from my mom. so easy and delicious the only changes i made was doubling the recipe (make about 30-35cookies) and took them out a few minutes early then frosted them! mmm, usually not frosted, but good either way.