Fall: Pumpkin Bars

In high school AP German class, after the exam, we had to translate a recipe for cobbler (a krümeltorte, technically), make the recipe, then bring it in to class for a massive cobbler gorge-fest. (Unless you translated it incorrectly, in which case, no I don't want to eat your nasty concoction, thanks.) I remember my friend Jen gave up on translating/making the topping ingredients (methinks senioritis hit her junior year) and topped hers with yellow cake mix and melted butter. I thought this was the strangest thing, but she assured me that this was how her mother makes a shortcut cobbler.

Yeah, that crumbled yellow cake mix tasted better than my homemade topping (Butter, Zucker, Mehl, Backpulver, Ei, Vanille-Extrakt, und Salz, for those curious).

So when I acquired a recipe that included probably my favorite non-chocolate sweet (pumpkin) with that surprisingly tasty yellow cake mix topping, I knew we had a winner.

The good: You don't need special equipment. The bad: It takes an hour (or more) to cook. The worse: Despite my alterations, this ain't health food. But boy is it good!

Pumpkin Bars
30 oz. can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
14 oz. can evaporated milk (fat free works perfectly well)
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 c. sugar
splash of vanilla
1/4 t. cinnamon
2 T. pumpkin pie spice (or your favorite combination of nutmeg, cloves, etc.)
one box yellow cake mix (you could totally use only a half box and save the rest for next time)
1.5 sticks butter, melted (it calls for 2 sticks (!), but I'd start with 1 and add more if needed)
1 c. chopped pecans (I just eyeballed it)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and the spices with a whisk or spatula in a bowl. Spread into 13 x 9-inch pan.

Sprinkle cake mix on top. Pour melted butter over cake mix. Top with chopped nuts.

Bake at 350 for 1 to 1.5 hours. (70 minutes worked for me)

I took this picture at a Navy football tailgate. Perfect recipe for traveling!

Magic Coconut Pie

Well, it's mom's birthday again. This is her one time per year that she can beg for coconut—and coconut-hating dad can't do anything about it. :)

I was slightly skeptical about this one. It sounded so 50s. Seriously, Bisquik and coconut and no pie crust? It reminded me of this awful Bisquik Mexican dish I had to eat as a kid. Um, enjoy your "pie" mom! But I immediately changed my tune when I started breathing in the warm coconut, which reminded me so much of our honeymoon to Barbados and this coconut pie we would order at this bar on the beach. It was coconut and eggs and sugar and probably nothing else and it was just so amazing. This pie... this is my new pie. Custard on the inside, crunchy on top. We just loved it. Well, not dad, but the rest of us. ;)

Recipe from Baker's coconut bag.

Magic Coconut Pie
2 c. milk
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. Bisquik
4 eggs
1/4 c. butter, softened (at room temp)
1 t. vanilla
1 1/3 c. Baker's (preferred by my mom) angel flake coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix milk, sugar, Bisquik, eggs, butter, and vanilla in a blender on low speed for approximately 3 minutes. Pour into a greased 9-inch pie plate. Carefully sprinkle with coconut, making sure it doesn't overflow!

Carefully slide pie into oven and bake for 40–45 minutes or until center of pie is set (no longer jiggles when you attempt to take it out of the oven) and top is golden brown. Serve either warm or cool.

Store leftovers (ha!) in the refrigerator.

Custard!

Anniversary

I think I might belong in chocolate blog prison, but I bought a store cake for our second anniversary. The horror! Take me away, baking police. (In my defense, we had only been stateside for some 24 hours and jet lag had taken its toll.)

But, I doubt you've had the Wegmans chocolate cake. If so, you might understand. Soooo fudgy. The frosting is so good, and I generally HATE frosting. They make mini cakes that could totally pass for the top tier of a wedding cake, except this is anniversary #2 and the small wedding cake tier was SO last year. And the bigger cake costs less per pound... like my rationalizing? :)

Happy 2nd anniversary, sweetie!

Not Chocolate: Beachy Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

It's now a tradition that I make something sweet for our annual beach trip with my husband's family. Last year's cookies were a little too labor-intensive (especially since they were eaten in about two seconds) but this year, I have the perfect recipe.

While perusing the new Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book, I found both a snickerdoodle cupcake recipe and a creative way to frost cupcakes so that they look like the beach. Since cinnamon sugar looks like sand to me, I decided to combine the two recipes into the perfect beach cupcake. All you need to embellish them are graham crackers and cocktail umbrellas (or palm trees), which I found on clearance at Party City. Since I decided to assemble these at the beach rather than have them in the hot car, I made my own version of seven-minute frosting, rather than Martha's, since hers involves 230-degree syrup and a candy thermometer. (Which, for those just tuning in, I have not used since December 2007. OUCH.)

Beachy Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c. cake flour (not self-rising)
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 T. ground cinnamon
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 c. sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. milk
2 graham cracker rectangles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. In a large bowl, stir together both flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

Marshmallow (or Seven-Minute) Frosting
2 large egg whites
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. light corn syrup
2 T. water
1 t. vanilla extract

Combine frosting ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. When cupcakes are cool, frost.

Meanwhile, using a small food processor or a ziploc bag and a rolling pin, crush graham crackers until fine and the consistency of sand. Rather than dipping each frosted cupcake upside-down into the crushed graham crackers, which I found to flatten the frosting, sprinkle the crushed grahams onto the top of the frosting (with a bowl underneath to catch the excess) until thoroughly covered. Top with a drink umbrella.

(No time to crush graham crackers? Just give each frosted cupcake a sprinkle of cinnamon sugar instead.)

Best enjoyed on the deck of your beach house. :)

Happy last weekend of summer!

inkpad eats Maine

If you aren't planning a trip to New Hampshire/Maine, the following might be boring. Similarly, if you don't like other people's silly travel pictures, move right along. Otherwise, here's what we indulged in while on a recent vacation! (eleventy billion lobster rolls are excluded; we're talking SWEETS!)

First stop was my aunt and uncle's house in New Hampshire. The main goal was relaxing (which we totally needed, by the way) but on one occasion, we wandered into nearby Plymouth for an afternoon out. Surely a small college town (the other PSU) had ice cream...

Introducing Sweet Kathy's, Plymouth, NH, a few shops down from Anderson's Swedish Bakery (of note: hubz and I both have Swede in us)

M had the monster "Iditarod" sundae, thankyouverymuch. I had the much more modest scoop of Coffee Kahlua Brownie. I was very tempted by the blueberry ice cream, considering where we were, but I decided that could wait until Maine.

Another outing was to nearby Lake Winnipesaukee. Certain areas have definite tourist traps, and Kellerhaus, near campy Weirs Beach, is certainly no exception, but it is a MUST STOP. An ice cream Smörgåsbord?!


We had dough boy, peanut butter chocolate chip, mint chocolate chip, butterscotch, hot fudge, chocolate jimmies (I call them sprinkles, but when in Rome, er, New England...), M&Ms, spanish peanuts, walnuts, whipped cream, an American flag (random)...

Then we bought some cashew and peanut turtles to go...

Next stop: Maine! I solely determined our coastal route based on this place: The Harbor Candy Shop in Ogunquit, ME. I couldn't decide what to get on my first visit and bought an impulse Dark Caramallow.


And the Bread & Roses Bakery next door was fabulous. (We liked these Magic Bars enough to get them on the way back to the airport too!) Coconut, buttery crust, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, oats, nuts. Sounds like magic to me.

We looooved the sweets at locally owned 3 Dogs Cafe (the website will send you into a sugar coma) in Rockport, but devoured them too quickly to take a picture. Let's just say a HUGE rum ball coated in Oreo crumbs, a peanut butter cup that was really like a flattened buckeye ball, and an elephant ear for M. Yummmm. And we sort of like Labs. I think they do too. A lot. Seriously.

Since you can't do Maine without blueberries, let me recommend the wild blueberry pie at Cappy's in Camden, ME. Small and very sweet berries. Delicious with ice cream. My horrible picture does it no justice!

And, I guess the last sweet of note was wedding cake. ;) (congrats, you know who!)

We highly, highly recommend NH and ME! For sort of more than food.

(I promise to never again put so many links in a post. Oh wait. My London review is coming soon...)

Birthday

Ever wonder what a chocoholic would eat on a day all about her? (July 18, so I'm a little behind...)

This (Michel's Chocolate Bar, basically a large Kit-Kat bar with hazelnutty goodness).


This (they forgot my birthday candle and brought out another scoop of homemade ice cream, with a candle this time, with our check).

And this (both the Chocolate Truffle Cake from my coworkers and mom's Inside-Out Chocolate Bundt Cake, yes, with ice cream).

Oof.

Six Ingredient No-Bake Cherry Cheese Pie

I don't always have time for an elaborate recipe, especially in summer when I don't want the oven on and the frozen pina coladas are beckoning. ;) This would be perfect for the upcoming Labor Day... though I made this for July 4 and am just now blogging while at the beach. :)

This is a simple, no-fail recipe for a delicious pie. Sure, you can make it a little bit more homemade by making a graham cracker crust or a regular crust, but why bother if you don't have to bake the rest? This recipe is just from a simple online search. The cheese part isn't quite like cheesecake, but a slightly tangy cream cheese. Enjoy!

Six Ingredient No-Bake Cherry Cheese Pie
Store-bought graham cracker crust (reduced-fat or regular)
8 oz. cream cheese (I use reduced-fat Neufchatel)
14 oz. sweetened condensed milk (I use fat-free)
1/3 c. lemon juice (sure, fresh would be great, but RealLemon is my friend)
1 t. vanilla extract
21 oz. store-bought cherry pie filling (or blueberry, or...)

Using a hand-held or stand mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy then add sweetened condensed milk until well combined. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla. Pour into graham cracker crust. Chill for at least 3 hours, or until set, in the fridge.

After the 3 hours, take out of the fridge and top with the cherry pie filling. I like to leave a little edge of white so you can see the different colors, especially at July 4th! I also don't use all the cherry syrup, but rather, focus on getting all the cherries and whatever syrup comes with them so that the pie doesn't get too runny. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

Not Chocolate: Patriotic Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes

Browsing through one of my favorite blogs, bakerella recently featured a recipe from the June 2009 Martha Stewart Living magazine. Oh my. I had to make these pancakes.

Full of sweet blueberries (purchased at a stand on the way home from Harper's Ferry), crunchy cornmeal, and tangy buttermilk, these were such a hit!

And, it was fun to make them extra patriotic... by making a star shape out of the blueberries as you drop them onto each pancake, when you flip them, the star is cooked in on the back side. :) Adorable! That was a nice surprise.

Patriotic Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes
from Martha Stewart Living, June 2009

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. cornmeal
1/4 c. sugar, plus 2 t. for blueberries
1 1/4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
1/4 c. milk
3 T. butter, melted and cooled
1 egg lightly beaten
2 c. blueberries
Extra butter for coating griddle
Maple syrup

Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside.

Whisk together buttermilk, milk, melted butter, and egg in medium bowl.

Add milk mixture to dry ingredients and whisk together just until combined. (Lumps are ok!)

Toss blueberries in a bowl with 2 t. sugar.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Melt butter over surface of griddle. (Repeat as necessary throughout the process.) Drop batter on griddle using a 1/4 c. measure each time. Add sugared blueberries to each pancake, in a star shape if you like! Cook for about 3–4 minutes then carefully flip and cook for another 2–3 minutes.

To keep pancakes warm, I put a piece of foil in a 225 degree oven and pile the cooked pancakes on the foil as I make the next batch on the griddle.

Now that's a pancake.

How to throw an ice cream bridal shower :)

As a fun little rest from typical food blogging, I thought I'd show off the decorations I did for my best friend's bridal shower.

To say that Sara likes ice cream is a bit of an understatement. Take my obvious love of chocolate, change it to ice cream, and multiply it by 10. Seriously. When I visited her in grad school, we had mudslides when I got there at night, ice cream for breakfast in town, s'mores for an afternoon snack, a normal dinner (with dessert, probably), then ice cream for breakfast the next morning. :)

So, naturally, I always envisioned an ice cream bridal shower for her.

Ice cream cookie cutter favors:


Dressed up with stamped labels and cupcake ribbon from Michaels:


Shower invitations (name smeared out for internet safety!) I made with help from Design-her Gals. An ice cream cone accessory = freaking awesome.


Ice cream sundae glasses with peony "ice cream" and long sundae spoons from Williams-Sonoma several years ago. (The handles are imprinted with ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and sherbet.)


How I set up the entry table. Note the ice cream favors in their own sundae glasses, pink M&Ms from Michaels in sundae glasses with the long spoons again, and a framed invitation (the mat was the cute polka dot wrapping paper I found at A.C. Moore that reminded me of ice cream!).


Sara even got ice cream lingerie and this cute apron! And one of my gifts was this from C&B.

A good shot of the table set up for dessert. Among other things, ice cream cone cupcakes (friend made), ice cream bonbons from Trader Joe's (in cupcake mini muffin paper liners from Michaels), and the rest of the "ice cream" peonies and ice cream scoops between the flower arrangements for extra emphasis... just incase you haven't caught on yet.


Happy shower, Sara!!

Captain Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookies

After making my famous Captain Crunch chicken* for my friend's bridal shower, I had lots of leftover Captain Crunch in the cupboard. For most people, this wouldn't be a big issue. And while I love cereal and have it every morning, I didn't grow up with sugary cereal and with the exception of Lucky Charms, I think they're all way too sweet for my 5:30 a.m. breakfast.

It was quite serendipitous then that Peabody would post her recipe for Captain Crunch chocolate chip cookies the week I had leftovers!

Deliciously salty, this recipe produces a thin, crisp cookie. I used regular (not mini) chocolate chips that I already had on hand, and added more than a cup of them... shocking, I know. :)

*Ask nicely, and I'll share, but this isn't a chicken blog. :)

Captain Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

1 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1 ¾ c. all-purpose flour
1 c. Captain Crunch Flour (pulverized Captain Crunch – It takes about 2 ½ cups Captain Crunch cereal to make flour. Just place in food processor and pulse until it becomes powdery.)
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 c. (or more...) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Using a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar, and beat on medium-high for about 3 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds. Reduce to low speed and add the flour, Captain Crunch Flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until completely combined. Add chocolate chips and mix until fully incorporated.

Spray baking sheets with cooking spray or use a Silpat. Use a cookie scoop to form cookies and drop onto sheet. Bake at 375 for 9 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 3 minutes, then move to rack to finish cooling.

He certainly wants some of these...