Happy Halloween!

Check out the rice krispie treats I made for work!

Pumpkin Biscotti with White Chocolate

Dessert for Two
Yields: About 12

God I love pumpkin. I'm pretty sure everyone is getting sick of me bringing in pumpkin flavored desserts but I don't care. Beggars can't be choosers, right? I have always been curious about making biscotti. Turns out? It's easier than I thought!

First I started with the egg, sugar and baking powder. Can you see where it started to ribbon on itself when I lifted the whisk out of the bowl? I whisked this for a little bit longer until the ribbon was more pronounced.

Next I added the rest of the dry ingredients except for the flour. The recipe makes note that the order in which the ingredients are mixed is important so I made an extra effort to pay attention to the directions.

After I added the flour, I shaped the dough onto a baking sheet. I didn't worry about making it perfect, as I think biscotti is always best looking when it's not perfect. I also didn't have pepitas so I left them out. No big deal. I didn't think much was missing.

I baked the dough for 40 minutes in the oven at 350F. I cut it into (somewhat) even pieces and baked again at 300F for another 30 minutes, flipping them half way through.

When they were cool, I dipped them in melted white chocolate and admired how pretty they were:

You probably noticed some changes around here. Don't worry, construction on the site won't be forever. I'm working on adding more to it and getting it the way I have envisioned my website to be since the beginning. I'm learning a lot in terms of how much work blogging can be but I'm coming along. Everyday is a new experience and I'm excited to be sharing it!

Ingredients:

1 large egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

pinch of ginger

pinch of cloves

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups flour

3 tablespoons pepitas, lightly toasted

4 ounces real white chocolate, chopped

 

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

In a medium bowl, beat together with a whisk the egg, sugar and baking powder. Beat vigorously until the mixture turns pale yellow and falls back in ribbons on itself when you lift out the whisk.

Next, add the pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, salt and vanilla. Continue whisking, aerating the mixture.

Finally, sprinkle the flour on top and fold it in with a spatula. Fold in the pepitas last.

Shape the dough into a flat log about 3″ wide by 8″ long using wet fingertips. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, turn the oven down to 300 and let rest for 15 minutes. Slice into 1/2″ slices, place them back on the baking sheet and bake another 30 minutes, flipping them half-way through.

Let cool completely on a wire rack. When ready to serve, melt the white chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave. Dip half of each biscotti into the white chocolate and let set before serving.



Applesauce Coffee Cake

What an awesome fall weekend! The weather was perfect, I spent time with special people and of course, I was a baking fiend. Fall just seems like the perfect baking weather. The windows were wide open and the sun was shining. I can't imagine anything more relaxing. Well, maybe I can but at that moment in time I couldn't.

While running my errands I came across these at Trader Joe's. No wonder I love them so much! I had never seen them before and I don't usually spend money on flowers but I just had to pick one of these up. And they aren't really flowers. Just a pumpkin tree.

So moving on to why you are here. I'm not a coffee drinker, really. I usually drink it on the weekends or sparingly at work. I have to be in the right mood for it. With this coffee cake though, I am definitely in the right mood for it. This recipe isn't as sweet as I would have liked but it was still good with coffee. And it's super healthy. Well, as healthy as coffee cake can be.

I used whole wheat flour and Splenda brown sugar and mixed the dry ingredients. I probably would use more cinnamon next time but I love cinnamon.

The reason I chose this recipe was because it used yogurt and I was trying to use mine up before it expired. I realized the other day that most of my baking is the result of not wanting to be wasteful.

I lined my pan with parchment paper since I hate washing dishes.

Again, I would add more cinnamon but that's just me!

And sprinkled on top...

 Perfect baking for a fall day!

Applesauce Coffee Cake

Yields: 12-16

(Never Home) Maker

Cake Ingredients:

1-1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup applesauce

Topping:
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 tablespoon Earth Balance
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a square baking dish (9 in. x 9 in.) and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
In a smaller bowl, combine the Greek yogurt, maple syrup, vegetable oil and applesauce. Then add the mixture to the dry ingredients.
Combine with a spatula until everything is wet/together -- but resist over-mixing.
Pour mix into your prepared pan.
Then combine all the topping ingredients in a small bowl using a fork. Spread mixture over your cake batter.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes -- until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Let cool.



Halloween Candy

October is my favorite month and along with October comes Halloween. Along with Halloween comes candy. With Halloween candy comes fat, calories, carbs and nothing that is remotely good for you except for being delicious. So I've assembled a table of nutritional information in one single place for you to reference this season. Just because I love you guys so much!

Does this  make you think twice before you eat those 4 packs of candy corn? It does for me!

Maple-Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Adventures in Cooking
Yields: 36

Some people say Christmas is the happiest time of the year. Not me though. I think it's fall. There's something so great about the leaves falling and the smell of fall. I love the color scheme of red, orange, yellow and brown. I love the look of pumpkins. This was the perfect fall weekend. Not too chilly, not too hot. I spent a lot of it in the kitchen. I made pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin muffins and butternut squash soup. And I loved every minute of it.

There's some controversy over Whoopie Pies. Did they originate in Lancaster, Pennsylvania or in New England? I think they are more New England than anything but everyone has varying opinions. Either way, they are tasty little treats that scream "FALL IS HERE!"

I've been so excited for fall to bake with pumpkin. It's by far my favorite flavor. This recipe was so easy to follow. It was basically "mix the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients and then  mix them together. So I mixed the wet:

When I added the butter though, I realized I was going to need my stand mixer:

And I was right. The butter creamed much easier when I used the mixer and added the dry ingredients:

I also used Splenda, which you will see that in the way that they baked. At first I thought it was because I used parchment paper (hey, I'm lazy and don't like washing my pans!) but I also tried to bake them on a greased cookie sheet and they didn't spread really. So I can only assume it's because of the Splenda.

See? They puffed up but didn't spread.

Next I started on the cream cheese frosting. I whipped the egg white vanilla until it was stiff. I wanted to get a picture of the white cream cheese mix because it was pretty but I forgot so here is the spatula instead:

After adding the cocoa:

I scooped what I would call a dollop onto each cookie and sandwiched it with another:

Ta-Da! The finished product:

These were a huge hit at the office. One guy asked for the cookie recipe, which I gladly sent him. You can find it below.

Pumpkin Maple Whoopie Pies

2 Eggs

2 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

1 Cup White Flour

1 and ½ Cups Sugar (I used Splenda)

1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

½ Cup Butter

½ Cup Oil

2/3 Cup Maple Syrup (I used all natural maple syrup, not Mrs. Butterworth's or Hungry Man Jack, which is loaded with high fructose corn syrup)

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Baking Powder

1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

½ Teaspoon Cloves

½ Teaspoon Allspice

½ Teaspoon Ginger
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

 

Preheat the oven to 350F. In a large bowl mix together all of the liquid ingredients until well blended. Add all of the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

 

Scoop a tablespoon of the batter and place it onto a well-greased cookie sheet, making sure to place each tablespoon at least 3 inches away from the others, as the whoopie pies will spread out when they bake.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and allow the whoopie pies to cool for 20 minutes before attempting to remove them from the pan.

 

Chocolate Cream Cheese Filling

 

1 Egg White

2 and 2/3 Cups Powdered Sugar

8 Ounces Cream Cheese

4 Tablespoons Butter

¼ Cup Cocoa Powder

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

 

Beat the egg white and vanilla extract together on high speed for 1 minute, or until the egg white mixture becomes slightly stiff and shiny. Add the cream cheese and butter and continue to beat until the mixture becomes relatively smooth. Add the powdered sugar and blend until thoroughly combined. Then add the cocoa powder and blend until the coloring is consistent throughout the filling. Set it aside.

To assemble the whoopie pies, simply place a teaspoon to a tablespoon (depending on your filling preference) of the filling onto the bottom side of one of the whoopie pies. Place another whoopie pie on. Continue to repeat this process until all of the whoopie pies have been assembled.