Pumpkin Muffins

My friend Andrea posted a photo on her Facebook page with me tagged in it that she thought I would like…since she knows of my pumpkin obsession!

recipe

Instead of a yellow cake mix I used a spice cake since it had….well spices in it! I thought it would be comparable to what is used in pumpkin pie.

Ingredients

I just did like it said and mixed the pumpkin into the cake mix and put 1 and 1/2 scoops into a muffin tin lined with papers. The can of pumpkin in the picture is 15oz and since I make my own puree I measured out that amount.

filled and ready to bake!

cooked and cooling.

I just tasted one and OMG they are so delicious! They came out light, fluffy and tasting just like pumpkin bread/roll/pie etc….so very good! Yummy! I suppose you could top with frosting (for the ones I made cream cheese frosting came to mind) but then they’d be cupcakes…right? I highly recommend this very easy and delicious recipe!

Almost Homemade Sausage Cheese Biscuits

My boyfriend likes to eat these sausge rolls from a local bakery and/or sausage cheese biscuits from McDonald’s. Only problem is they cost a lot of money in the long run so I thought of a way to make portable breakfast pockets at home!

Ingredients:

Filling Ingredients (biscuits not pictured)

1 roll 10ct biscuits (I used Best Choice Texas Style)

cooked, crumbled up sausage

shredded cheese

scrambled eggs (optional)

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and press the biscuits down flat.

Pressed dough

The I topped half of the dough with a mixture of sausage, cheese, and/or eggs.

Filled dough

Once you’ve filled them enough top with the other dough circles and seal them up.

Rolled edges

First I rolled the edges of the bottom dough up and over onto the top layer.

Crimped edges

Use fork to crimp all around the rolled edges making sure they are sealed up tight. Pierce the tops of the rolls (to vent steam if needed) and then spread with butter and top with salt.

Brushed with butter and a sprinkle of salt.

Poke holes

I then baked them according to the biscuit package.

Finished and ready to eat!

 

Alterations/Tips

#1 I made these a few weeks back and when they came out the biscuits puffed up quite a bit more then I expected since I had pressed them flat.

Yummy!

Since they puffed up then the ratio of bread to filling was off and there was barely any filling. So next time I make these I will use a rolling pin and roll the dough out until it’s 1/8 inch thick, or as thin as I can get them without breaking the dough.

#2 I also plan on using cooked sausage patties instead of crumbled sausage since it will fill it up easier. My boyfriend likes those pre-made banquet sausage patties so I will use those.

#3 You can use any filling you want like ham, eggs, cheese, hash browns, bacon…the possibilities are endless!

My boyfriend said these were good and I plan on making them for his breakfast so he can eat on the go and save us money in the long run!

Homemade Chocolate Frosting

One day I was baking a cake when I realized that I had no store bought frosting on hand! So after a quick scan in my cupboards I found powdered sugar and cocoa powder that I had bought for holiday baking. So  a quick search and I found a simple recipe for chocolate frosting!

Ingredients:

3 cups powdered sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 stick unsalted butter

1/4 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

The inspiration: http://www.simplyscratch.com/2010/07/homemade-chocolate-frosting.html

Cocoa powder and powdered sugar blended together.

Sift sugar and cocoa powder together in a bowl then in another bowl cream together the butter and vanilla. Add a cup of the cocoa sugar mix to the butter then add a bit of milk then more of the sugar coca mix. Keep mixing the sugar cocoa and milk until you get the desired consistency.

Finished frosting!

Then you use the frosting!! I spread mine over a sheet cake and it was delicious!!

cake ready to eat!

Tips from me:

#1 I didn’t have a sifter to mix the sugar and cocoa powder so I added each to my food processor and pulsed it for a bit until it was blended!

#2 For thicker frosting use less milk and for thinner frosting, like a glaze, use more milk.

#3 Before you go and buy anything at the store look in your pantry! I am big on reusing items and I used up the rest of the cocoa powder and powdered sugar that I had purchased for Christmas cookies!

I liked how easy and delicious this frosting is! I have been using it ever since for all my cakes, brownies, and cupcakes! At first my daughter wasn’t sure if she wanted to try it. I realized then just how little I made basic items like frosting if her only exposure in 13 years is store bought! I informed her that before once upon a time people had to make their own cakes and frosting at home before mixes and store bought frosting was available. She then tried a slice of cake and declared it was the best frosting she’d ever had! Now I make it a point to make a lot of stuff without mixes so she can taste real home cooking!

 

Happy Pinning!!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Two things I have mentioned a once or twice or twenty is that I like to save money and reuse items I have on hand. After Christmas I got some cheap premade Pillsbury peanut butter cookie dough for less then $1 a roll. After Easter I snagged mini Reese’s peanut butter cups on clearance for $0.98 a bag then I used $1/2 coupons on top of that to pay $0.96 for 2 bags ($0.48 each)! On the package of cookie dough it give a recipe for peanut butter blossoms that uses Hershey Kisses. Well I thought why not use the peanut butter cups I got instead?

Ingredients

1 roll Premade or Homemade Peanut Butter cookie dough

1 Bag of peanut butter cups

2 tbsp sugar

peanut butter cups

cookie dough

Roll cookie dough by the tablespoon into balls then roll those is sugar.

dough rolled in sugar

Cook for 9 minutes at 350 or whatever your dough suggests then once done remove from cookie sheet and place on flat surface or cooling rack. I lay my fresh baked cookies on the counter that is covered in paper towels. Then press a piece of candy in the center of the cookie before it cools down.

finished and ready to eat!

 

Tips By Me:

#1: I have made these with Hershey’s Kisses before and the candy gets soft quickly but as the cookies cool the candy hardens back up slightly. With the peanut butter cups however they melted significantly, mine were even frozen, before they cooled. So I would suggest freezing the candy because room temperature candy may melt completely before they can cool to harden.

 

Happy Pinning!

Single Serve Chocolate Chip Cookie

99.999% of people love fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies….right? They are so yummy and gooey but, admit it, it can be a lot of work and clean up to get those luscious cookies. Well the pin I found is perfect for those moments when you would kill for a fresh cookie but don’t have the time for a full batch of cookies!

Ingredients

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp white

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 egg yolk

3 drops vanilla

1/4 flour

1-2 tbsp chocolate chips

pinch of salt (optional)

 

Melt the butter and add the sugars, salt, and drops of vanilla.

Butter, Sugar, and Vanilla

Then add the egg yolk and blend well

After Egg Yolk

Mix in the flour and add the chocolate chips

Finished batter

Microwave 40-60 seconds until done and enjoy!

Hot, Fresh Cookie

Tips

#1: Start with 40 second then if not done put in for 20 seconds more. I put it in for 60 seconds right away and while it was very good it was a tad overdone and crumbly because it was cooked a tad to long.

#2: I used farm fresh eggs that I get from a co worker and they have dark gold yolks which make baked good look almost neon. So your batter will not be as yellow as mine so do not be worried!

#3 This is very rich so you can split into 2 pieces and top with vanilla ice cream to make a delicious treat!

This was the fastest cookie I have ever made and it was so delicious! It made a lot and my daughter and I were able to share it since it was so rich. It hit the spot nicely and I will be making this again!

 

Happy Pinning!

Pie Crust

Most people think making a homemade pie crust it so difficult or time consuming so they would rather buy  pre-made ones. I about fell over when I saw how much refrigerated pre-made pie crust cost! It was about $5 for 2 crusts! Buying those graham cracker and/or Oreo ones cost about $4 for 1! Pie crust is not that hard to make nor does it take a long time and it costs less the $1 if you use items you have at home.

Ingredients for Single Crust: 

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick Crisco baking stick shortening OR 1/2 cup Crisco shortening…make sure it is cold. Chill it in the fridge for a bit before using it!

3-6 tablespoons cold water

Blend flour and salt together and set aside. If using Crisco baking sticks cut them into small cubes before using. Cut the shortening into the flour using a pastry blender, If you don’t have a pastry blender (I don’t) use a butter knife, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs about pea size.

Cut shortening into flower

Crust ready for water. See the pea sized lumps of shortening?

Sprinkle 3 tablespoons of water onto the flour and shortening mixture then use a fork to mix the water into the flour. Add another tablespoon of water until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together. Shape dough into a ball then roll out onto a floured surface until it is the desired thinness. Then fold the dough in half then pick it up and distribute it into the pie pan, make sure not to stretch the dough when unfolding it. Let it rest loosely in the pan.

Formed and ready to roll

Seeing if the crust is big enough for the pie pan.

Ready to fill!

Once the crust is in the pan take a fork and gently press against the dough hanging over the edge of the pan to remove the excess. Then you are ready to fill and bake it!

Tips:

#1 For ease in rolling, wrap dough in plastic wrap the chill for 30 minutes but no more then 2 days.

#2 Instead of rolling it out on a floured surface you can place the dough between two sheets of wax paper then roll the pin on top of the wax paper.

 

This the recipe I use every year to make delicious homemade pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas! Happy Pinning!

Snowball Cookies!

Wow have I really been gone that long? How time flies!! Recently work has been very busy and I have had a ton of changes in my life! So I recently haven’t been doing any Pinterest-ing but I do have some things from the holidays to share! I  have had a major lifestyle change and have cleaned up my eating along with doing DDP Yoga (check it out it’s freaking awesome) so anything new I post will be healthier 🙂

Peacan Cookies Ingredients

2 cups flour, all purpose

2 cups finely chopped pecans (any nut really)

1 cup softened butter

Powdered Sugar

Toss everything but the powdered sugar into a bowl and combine, dough will be crumbly.

Dry ingredients

Finished dough

See how crumbly it is? This is normal since there is no egg to really make it stick like other cookie doughs. Scoop dough and form into roughly 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet.

Rolled and ready to bake

Bake at 325 for 18-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Once out of the oven allow to cool for five minutes then roll them in powdered sugar.

Roll in powdered sugar after baking.

Let them cool completely then roll in a second coat of powdered sugar

After cooling roll again in powdered sugar

These are very crumbly cookies so don’t be alarmed if they crumble slightly when you roll them around the powdered sugar. These are delicious, melt in your mouth cookies and I love making them! I always will make me a hot chai tea latte and then sit down to enjoy a few while I admire the sparking Christmas lights 🙂

Happy Pinning!

Oreo Cookie Balls

So now that life has settled down following the holidays and my boyfriend’s surgery I can finally relax and post about all the yummy treats I made! One things I made is Oreo Cookie Balls…they are easy to make and very yummy!

Ingriedients:

1 package Oreos

1package Cream Cheese

Ingredients

All you do is put the whole package of Oreo cookies into a food processor and crush until there are fine crumbs.

Processed oreo cookies

Then you add the room temperature cream cheese to the processed Oreo cookies and form into a soft dough.

Oreo crumbs mixed with cream cheese.

Then you form the mixture into round balls about bite size and place on a cookie sheet. Then place into a freezer until they are solid and ready to dip.

Formed into balls and ready to cool.

Once the balls are frozen melt chocolate in a bowl, I used white chocolate chips, until smooth. You can use any kind of chocolate or almond bark for this step.

Melted white chocolate

Once the chocolate is melted enough to be creamy and smooth you dip the balls into it until fully covered. Then you place them on wax or parchment paper to dry.

 

Rolled in white chocolate and ready to cool again.

Tips From Me:

#1 When I first made this with my mom they didn’t coat very well the first time so once they hardened I dipped them a second tim to cover any  holes.

#2 These can be made with any flavor of Oreo cookies! These are really rich on their own and the added flavor will add to the richness. My sister once made some with mint Oreo cookies and they were divine but very rich and I couldn’t manage to eat more then half at a time!

#3 If the almond bark is clumpy and doesn’t coat well add a bit of shortening to it and reheat. This should help thin it out a bit to make it easier to coat with.

I love making these because they are so simple if you ever need a quick dish for a party, potluck, or unexpected guests this is a go to recipe!

Happy Pinning!

Pumpkin Puree Part 2

In another post I covered how to make your own purred pumpkin for cooking and in it I said:

“I found nicer, darker pie pumpkins at a local market that sells Amish and Mennonite produce (they were $1.49 each) and I will bake them today but I don’t expect much change.”

Well I cooked some up recently that were a nice dark color and the puree they made was so much better then the pale ones at the grocery!

Nice dark pumpkin.

I cooked them according to my old post (here: https://aradiasilvermoon.wordpress.com/2013/09/29/pumpkin-puree/) and pureed them in my food processor. The puree came out so nice and dark! You could definitely tell the difference!

Freshly pureed

Fresh puree packaged for freezing.

 

Old vs. New

In this photo you can see the old, pale puree laying on top of the darker, newer pumpkin. Now I know you are thinking did it really make any difference? In cooking no it didn’t but the darker puree had a richer taste to it…hard to describe…but it was better tasting.  Another problem I ran into was after packaging them in baggies it was difficult to get the puree out and some got stuck. Since I measured these out at precisely the amount needed for the items I was making leaving some behind wasn’t ideal. Then I came up with an idea on how to get the puree out without leaving any behind! I cut the end off the baggie and slowly squeeze out every drop, if you have ever iced cakes this way then it’s the same concept.

Pumpkin out of a baggie

So when making your own puree I would recommend getting the darkest pumpkins so you can get that dark, rich tasting puree for your baked goods! The pale puree works great too and tastes good, so much better then canned versions, so either way it’s a healthy and tasty addition to your cooking!

Happy Pinning!

Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies!

Ok so I heard about this thing called chocolate chip brownie cookes and I thought “OMG that must be heaven on a plate! It’s almost to good to be true!!” then I did some searching on Pinterest, I had to type it in just like it is on the title because “brownie cookies” gets you a bazillion ways to use a brownie mix to make cookies, and I found them!

Now while I did pin a recipe I only used it for the basic guidelines: temp and time to bake.

The pin:  http://pinchofyum.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-brownies

Now how I made them was like this:

Ingredients

Brownie mix and chocolate chip cookie dough.

Now to make the cookie dough I simply followed the Nestle toll house recipe. After this I mixed up the brownies according to the instructions on the box. After that I took a cake pan, the pin used a smaller square pan for thicker ones. But mine after baking filled the whole pan, and spread the brownie batter around.

Brownies on bottom

Then I used my cookie scooper to put the cookie dough right on top of the brownie dough and finally I took a spatula and smoothed the cookie dough around a bit.

Ready to bake!

Bake in the over on 350 degrees for 40 minutes then cool and enjoy!

Cooling down…

 

Ready to eat!!

Tips by me:

#1 When they came out and I scooped out the first piece I noticed that there was more cookie then brownies, unlike in the original pin. So I decided that next time I will put half the cookie dough on top and bake the rest as cookies!

#2 If you like gooey brownies or cookies then bake for 35 minutes. If you like them fully baked then cook until a knife or toothpick comes out clean after being inserted into the center.

#3 To make it even easier (for time crunched people) get a packaged cookie mix along with the brownie mix. Follow all instructions on both mixes, layer then bake!

#4 Don’t be alarmed at how brown the cookies are on top but if your cookie part is done before the brownies (insert toothpick all the way to the bottom of your pan to see if the brownies are still undercooked) then cover the dish with tin foil to keep the cookies from burning.

These were super easy to make and sinfully delicious! This was definitely a hit with my family and I doubt they will let me bake regular cookies or brownies ever again!

Happy Pinning!