Berry-Lemon Bars

This is a variation of this recipe: Lemon Bars

I wanted to make it a bit different so I grabbed a bag of frozen blackberries, defrosted them and threw them in the blender with the rest of the ingredients, they turned out awesome! Fresh berries would also work but the produce stand didn't have any.

I love the color!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Filled Gingerbread Cookies

Sorry to say I don't have a gingerbread recipe to post, I've made it from scratch plenty of times but I can't find the recipe I used this last Christmas.

Recently I was given a huge thing of pre-made gingerbread dough and wanted to do something with it, so this was the result.

Filling:
4 ounces Cream Cheese (Room temp)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 teaspoons pumpkin powder or puree.
Cinnamon, ginger, clove and nutmeg to taste

Prepare your dough and filling, refrigerate both until it's easy to work with (About 20- 30 minutes). Pre-heat oven to 350.

Method One: Whoopie-Pie pan
1. Press dough into bottom of the whoopie pan cavities.
2. Take a small amount of filling and place it in the center, flattening slightly.
3. Cover it another another piece of flattened dough
4. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top (optional)
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to sit for ten minutes before trying to remove from pan.

Method 2: Hand-Rolling
1. Take some dough and roll it into a ball then flatten in your hand (You might have to flour your hands to keep it form sticking).
2. Take a small amount of filling and place it in the center, wrap dough around it.
3. Roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture (optional)
4. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 7-10 minutes.
5. Allow to sit on the pan for a few minutes before trying to transfer to a cooling rack.

Pumpkin Spice Snicker Doodles

Recently I've been wanting to fix a problem I have with pumpkin cookies, they come out too cake like. I decided to order some pumpkin powder from Barry Farm. This was my first test with it but I have other ideas.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (Room temp)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup pumpkin powder
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Cinnamon, nutmeg and clove to taste

To roll your cookies in/sprinkle on top:
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin powder

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on high speed. Add the egg and vanilla, beat until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl sift the pumpkin powder, flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and spices.
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. 
4. Let dough chill for 30 minutes to one hour.
5. Preheat your oven to 300° and line a baking sheet.
6. In a small bowl, combine the sugar with the cinnamon for the topping.
7. Roll dough into small balls and toss in sugar mixture. Press lightly onto baking sheet.
8. Bake 12-14 minutes then allow to cool (They won't seem done in the middle but they need time to set up, if you bake them too long they will get hard).

So how did they turn out flavor wise? Honestly I feel the pumpkin is lost. I will add more next time.

Homemade Spice "Drops"

Recently I've been wanting to try and make more candy and I thought "Hey, why not spice drops?". Well like most times when I make candy, the first attempt is usually a "learning experience" haha. These look great but I needed to add more flavoring, they ended up tasting kinda like gelatin still. But they look pretty!

Ingredients: 

4 Tbsp gelatin (that’s about 6 envelopes)

1 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups boiling water
4 cups sugar
Orange Extract

Pumpkin Spice Extract (Candy oil)

Food coloring (I used four colors)
extra sugar for coating

Directions:

1. In a large pot, soften gelatin in cold water for five minutes. Stir in boiling water until gelatin dissolves.
2. Stir in sugar and bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 25 minutes. Stir constantly.

3. Pour mixture into 4 – 3X5 pans. (I used smaller pans so I could do other colors)

4. Add extracts and food color to each pan. Stir until thoroughly combined.
5. Cover pan and chill overnight in the fridge.
6. Cut gelatin mixture into 3/4 inch cubes using a knife dipped in hot water.
7. Separate cubes and roll in sugar until coated on all sides.
8. Place on wax paper and leave at room temperature for two days to crystallize.

Delicious Banana Bread

 

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup coconut palm sugar (Or any sugar you use)

1 teaspoon cinnamon (I use more)

2 tablespoons ground flax (+1/4 cup water)

4 ripe bananas, mashed

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup unsweetened plain yogurt (I used So Delicious)

1/2 cup "Mix-Ins" (Anything you want, I used crushed up banana chips)

Preheat oven to 350° and grease (or line) a loaf pan.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cinnamon. Set Aside.

In a small bowl combine water and flax to make a "flax" egg. Let sit for several minutes. If you'd rather not use flax then replace it with two eggs.

In a third bowl mash the bananas and combine with the milk and yogurt. Mix in the flax "egg".
Stir wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined (don't overmix). Fold in your mix-ins.

Pour batter into prepared pan (I sprinkled a little coconut palm sugar and cinnamon mixture top) and bake for 60-70 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Mississipi Mud Cake

My mom saw Mississippi mud cake on TV and asked me to make it, since I had all the ingredients I figured why not.

Cake:
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Topping:
Miniature marshmallows

Icing:
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup chocolate almond bark
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° and grease or line a 9x13 inch pan.

1. Combine the sugar, salt, and flour in a large mixing bowl.
2. Bring the butter, oil, cocoa, and 1/4 cup water to a boil in a saucepan. Add to the flour mixture. 
3. Beat together the eggs, baking soda, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to the chocolate mixture, mix well.
4. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes.


Icing:
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and melt together, whisking until smooth. Set aside.


Topping:
1. Put the cake on a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly before covering in mini marshmallows.
2. Pour warm icing over and let sit before serving. Enjoy.

"Reeses Pieces" Fudge

Despite the name, no, these don't actually contain reeses pieces (Though I suppose people could if they wanted to). The flavor just reminds me of the candy.

Ingredients:
1/2 Pound (Half package) white almond bark
1/2 Pound (Half package) chocolate almond bark
1 cup peanut butter (Creamy or crunchy, I used crunchy)
1 cup of any mix-in you want (Optional)

Directions:
1. Melt the almond bark in a saucepan over medium-low heat (Stirring constantly until smooth)
2. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and mix ins until well incorporated.
3. Pour into a lined 8-inch pan and chill until firm.