Halloween Cookies

Some Halloween sugar cookies I made, the frosting is confectioners sugar and milk.

Recipe Review: Jack o' Lantern Cupcakes

This recipe came from Crazy About Cupcakes. I love this book, their caramel apple cupcakes are are one of my favorite things ever. My only issue with the book is that the recipes rarely come out to 24 cupcakes. With the apple recipe I can usually get 18. With this recipe I got 24 but many of the cupcakes were only half filled once they had cooled.
The cupcakes are pumpkin flavored, with vanilla and chocolate frosting.
The directions were changed slightly into my own words.

Pumpkin Cupcakes:
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (I only had light brown)
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Insert liners into cupcake pan.
With a mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar till fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Add the dry mix to the creamed mix, alternating with milk. Mix till integrated.
Add the pumpkin and vanilla, beat till smooth.
Fill the liners one half to three quarters full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pan.

Chocolate Frosting:
6 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
Black coloring gel
With a mixer on low to medium speed, cream together the butter and vanilla. In a separate bowl combine confectioners sugar, sugar, and cocoa. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mix till fully integrated. Slowly add the milk to the frosting till you've reached the desired consistency. You might not use all of the milk (I didn't). Beat in the mixer for 1 minute or until creamy. Add black coloring gel and mix till you reach desired color.

Vanilla Frosting:
3 cups confectioners sugar
1 stick of butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
Orange food coloring
With a mixer gradually add the sugar to the softened butter. Stir in the vanilla and milk, beat until smooth and spreadable. Add a little more milk or sugar as needed. Add orange food coloring.

Frost the cooled cupcakes with the orange frosting. From here the recipe instructs to "with a knife, rough out jack o lantern faces with black frosting. Clean up the edges with the toothpick". I tried this without much success. Instead I just used a toothpick, dipping it into the chocolate and 'tapping' it onto the cupcakes.

The cupcakes are pretty good, they have a mild pumpkin flavor. The frosting is very sweet, but its missing something that would make it more than just decent. The cake and frosting don't blend very well together though, and that was the thing I disliked the most.

Overall rating out of 5:

Recipe Review: Sweet Potato Pie

I had my first taste of sweet potato pie ever earlier this month, at Little Pie Company. Amazing. I can't wait to go back and give them a proper review. Their delicious mini pie inspired me to make my own.

I used the filling recipe from The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook.

Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick of cold butter cut up small
2-3 tablespoons of ice water

Filling:
Half a stick of butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potato, well drained
2 eggs at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt

I used two fresh sweet potatoes, peeled, cut up small, boiled, drained, and then mashed.
I would also suggest using a full teaspoon of cinnamon, maybe even a teaspoon and a half, if you like a stronger cinnamon flavor.

I used a different but similar recipe for the crust. I also don't own a food processor or a pastry blender, but my regular blender seemed to work just fine (if your using a regular blender I would suggest cutting your butter into tablespoons)
The directions are adapted to my own own words and are slightly altered.


Directions
Crust:
Place flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. With a pastry blender cut in the butter until pieces are pea sized. Sprinkle the ice water over the flour mix in tablespoons, tossing with a fork until the dough is moistened. Form dough into a ball. On a slightly floured surface, roll out the dough to fit a 9-inch pie plate. Bring dough to pie plate, poke holes in the bottom of the crust with a fork, and fold the edges under around the rim and crimp.

Cut a piece of fin foil big enough to cover your pie. Coat it with about half a tablespoon of butter. Place the tin foil over the pie and press the buttered area down. If you have pie weights place them on top of the foil. I used two measuring cups filled with raw rice (you can re-use the rice for this purpose in the future). Bake for 10 minutes, then take the pie crust out of the oven. Take off the weights and foil. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and put pie crust back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Take out and cool.

Filling:
With a mixer, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on a low speed until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add the sweet potatoes, the eggs, milk, and bourbon. Beat till well combined. Add the vanilla and spices, mix well. Pour the filling into the crust and bake for 45-55 minutes, until filling is set or a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool pie for half an hour before serving.


The recipe does not mention how to store the pie. If your not serving it immediately or within the next few hours, I would put it in the fridge, covered (this is what I did). Before serving let it warm to room temperature (unless you like it cold as some folks do).

The verdict? Delicious! I could use a stronger flavor, maybe slightly more cinnamon and nutmeg, but otherwise the taste is excellent. The texture could use just a little work, though I'm almost positive this is my fault- I don't think my butter was softened enough. Don't skip the bourbon! The taste comes through and gives it the perfect bite.

Overall rating out of 5:

MaggieMoo's New Halloween Ice Cream Cupcakes

I love this cow.

You can check out all of Maggiemoo's ice cream cupcakes here. The Halloween cupcakes come decorated as a jack-o-lantern, mummy, Frankenstein, and an eyeball.

MaggieMoo's has a location in Bayside, Queens. 39-33 Bell Blvd, 11361

From their website, "MaggieMoo's Ice Cream and Treatery is a chain of independently owned and operated franchised stores that specialize in serving super-premium ice cream and desserts. In 1989, MaggieMoo's opened its first store in Kansas City, Kansas. The brand is known as the innovator of the world's first ice cream cupcake, and has consistently been awarded blue ribbons by the National Ice Cream Retailers Association."

Original photo can be found here.