Fall Fun: Halloween Edition

When I was younger (or, more honestly, when I was in school) summer was always my favorite time of year. My birthday is in June, the days are longer, the weather is beautiful and school was out. But after a few years of living in DC where summer = a sweaty hot smelly mess of a city I've really started to love and appreciate fall.

Last weekend my friend L invited us girls to go to a corn maze and pumpkin patch up in northern Maryland. After an hour and a half drive we finally reached our destination - complete with pony rides, farm animals and hay rides! I decided to pick up two pumpkins for J and I to carve that evening.

Pumpkin Patch!

 

On the ride home I had this flash back to being a kid and carving pumpkins with my parents and brother. I called my Mom and asked her for her recipe on how to roast pumpkin seeds - something I remembered her always doing after we carved pumpkins.... Well... seems I was a bit wrong. The wonderful picture I had in my head was a bit off - seems we only roasted the seeds once and it wasn't my Mom, it was my Dad who was in charge of that "fun little project". So I chatted with my Dad and managed to piece together a recipe from his memory.

First - Have some fun carving your pumpkin! Cut the top off, scrape all the guts out (keeping them aside in a bowl) and go to town!

Pumpkin Guts!! Eeewww

Once you have finished carving your pumpkin its back to the pumpkin guts! Pick out and clean all of the seeds and set them aside (you can discard the rest of the insides).

Clean Up Seeds

In a larger bowl mix 8 cups of water with 1/3 cup of kosher or sea salt. Add the seeds and allow them to soak over night.

Soaking Seeds

After the seeds have soaked overnight allow them to dry on a baking sheet lined with paper towels. This should take an hour or so.

Let 'em dry!

While the seeds are drying preheat an over to 250*. After they have dried, coat the seeds in a little bit of olive oil and spread them out evenly on a baking sheet. I would recommend baking them on a piece of parchment paper as it makes clean up a breeze! Bake the seeds in the oven for 1 hour. Every 15 minutes turn and shake up the seeds a little bit.  Allow them to cool for 10 minutes and then store them in an airtight container for up to one week. Enjoy!

Our final creations! J's is on the left (with a mustache! How creative!!) and mine is on the right :)

Happy almost Halloween!!

M is for Muffin... take 2

A few weeks ago I blogged about my favorite type of muffin... the corn muffin (you can revisit the post here) this week I offer you another muffin selection - the blueberry muffin. This is a longtime favorite of fearless taster J and also friend, and bride to be, M but I am a recent convert :) Like mixing chocolate and fruit I was always a little skeptical of muffins with fruit inside. Boy was I wrong. The blueberry muffin is quite the delicious treat!

This recipe makes 12 standard size muffins and you can use either fresh or frozen blueberries. Just remember if you use frozen blueberries let them sit out for a little bit before you start baking. Other than that this is a super easy and super fast recipe to make!

Ingredients
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of baking powder
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk (close to room temp)

1 to 1 and 1/2 cup(s) blueberries
1/4 brown sugar (for topping)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (for topping)


Preheat the oven to 350.
In one bowl combine all of the dry ingredients (the flour, the 1/2 cup of sugar and the baking powder) and set aside.

In a another bowl combine the butter, milk and egg and mix well.
Also, keep your blueberries and topping sugar to the side at this point :)

L to R: Dry... Wet... and Blue

Then quickly add the wet ingredients to the dry.
You want to mix the ingredients until they are combined but do not over work the mixture.
Once combined, gently fold in the blueberries.
Fill your 12 muffin cups evenly.

Filled muffin cup

Bake the muffins for 10 minutes and then take them out of the oven to add the sugar topping.

Close up of the muffins after 10 minutes

My messy sugar topping - I just used brown sugar but would really suggest mixing the brown and granulated sugar!

Put the muffins back into the oven and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes - mine were done after 15! Test the "done-ness" by looking for a golden brown color and testing it with a toothpick!

Enjoy!

Frosting Fridays

I thought I would start something new on the blog - at least for the next few weeks - where every Friday will be all about frosting :) And that is also pretty much how I came up with the oh so clever name "Frosting Fridays".

Since Wednesday's post was all about cookie cutter cookies (and since I promised you a frosting that would go nicely with said cookies) the first official Frosting Friday Frosting will be... Royal Icing.

Royal Icing is pretty darn awesome for a number of reasons. It is super simple to make, it does not take much time to prepare, it hardens as it dries (making it ideal for decorating cookies) and since it is pure white you can color it with coloring gel. You can find icing coloring gels at craft stores and cooking specialty shops or online here.

So here is what you need:

5 cups of confectioners sugar
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Icing colors
Decorating bags and tips (or multiple ziplock sandwich bags)
Toothpicks

In a mixer, whip egg whites until they are white and foamy.
Slowly add the sugar.
Once all of the sugar has been added add the vanilla extract.
Allow mixer to run for 7-8 minutes.
And that is it :)

I told you it was easy.

The hard part is actually working with the icing. Royal icing dries super quickly so it is best to have a game plan in place before you begin to even make your cookies. When you are not using the icing it is best to cover the top of your bowls with a clean, damp cloth.

You will need two types of icing per each cookie. A thick icing to outline the cookie and a slightly thinned icing to fill it (this is called flooding the cookie). For the cookie below I needed four different types of icing: A thick white icing to outline the entire cookie and tooutline the logo in the middle, a thin white icing to fill the cookie outside of the logo outline, a thin purple icing the fill the inside of the logo and a thick dark purple icing to write the letters. You will also need a frosting bag with a tip or a zip lock bag for each color and thickness.

The directions below are for how to outline and fill a cookie with white icing:

No matter what colors you choose to play around with in the end you will always want to keep the majority of your icing white and thick. So start by taking a few spoonfuls and putting it into either your frosting bag or into one corner of your ziplock bag. If you are using a ziplock bag squeeze all of your icing into one corner and carefully cut off a tiny part of the corner allowing the icing to be piped out. Carefully outline your cookie.

To thin out your icing, spoon  about 1/4 of a cup into a bowl and slowly add water and mix. You want the icing just thin enough so that it will have a ribbon effect when coming off of the spoon. Follow the same instructions for filling a ziplock bag (or, just fill your next decorating bag) and fill in the middle section of your cookie. Be careful not to over flow the edges!! You can use a toothpick to help guide the icing around the cookie and to pop and air bubbles you see.

Always let your cookies dry over night on a baking sheet or cooling rack! If you do not let them fully dry you will end up with fingerprints and smudges all over.

Once you have the hang of outlining and flooding your cookies try adding some coloring. The directions for how to pipe the outline and how to flood the cookie are the same no matter what color icing you are using and no matter how big (or how small) your cookie is.

Enjoy!!

Cookie Cutter Cookies

I'll admit, I've only ever ventured into the world of cookie cutter cookies around Christmas. There is nothing like going home and crowding around the counter with my mom and my brothers cheerfully baking Christmas cookies or ummm.... more realistically, arguing over who makes the best cookies, who will be stuck with the toy soldier cookie cutter (that darn cookie burns every single time) and who used the last of the red sprinkles. Either way - a totally awesome time :)

But this time I had something a little more creative in mind. My cousin M is pregnant and due in late November. Super exciting as this is my first cousin to have a little nugget. Sadly, I was unable to make it home to RI for her baby shower but I still wanted to send her a little something to let her know I wish I could have been there. And then it came to me - baby themed cookies! Naturally I used it as an excuse to go to Sur La Table to browse the cookie cutter section - they seriously have great cookie cutters, usually under $1 each! Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself here. Also my cousin C's new show Pictureka! premiered this week on the Hub Network. So... I also had to make some celebratory cookies to ship out to LA.

Cookie Ingredients

3 cups of all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup of sugar
2 sticks of butter
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract (Optional)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350*

My prep!

Combine the flour and baking soda in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together.
Add the egg and extract (s).

The butter, sugar, egg and extract doing their thing!

Slowly add the flour mixture.
Once combined roll dough out onto a well floured counter. (It helps to coat the cookie cutters in flour as well).

Bake for 10-12 minutes or just until the edges are just golden brown.
Allow cookies to COOL COMPLETELY and then frost to your liking :)
(Also, you can decorate with sprinkles and colored sugar prior to baking)

I decided to go with royal icing for the cookies. I'll be posting that recipe on Friday so check back!

The baby themed cookies for M!

The Hub and Pictureka! themed cookies for C

Close Up!

Cooking With Sugar... its like cooking with fire only a lot sweeter!

In the next few weeks I'll be sharing a few really great recipes for things like buttercream frostings and meringues and all sorts of sugary treats! But before we can get to the fun part there is one really big housekeeping task that needs to be taken care of.

Cooking with sugar.

It seems simple as it is something that we do all time time - a cup of sugar here, a few tablespoons there - and we don't always give it much thought. Depending on what you are creating the only step you need to take it to measure and add it in.

However, there are those occasional recipes where you need your final product to have a bit more stability such as frosting on a cake that needs to sit out for a little while and not look droopy. One way to achieve this is by making a frosting that calls for sugar to be cooked to what is called the soft ball stage. You pretty much take water and sugar in a pot and cook it on the stove until it reaches a specific temperature range. The phrase soft ball refers to the fact that you will be able to roll a bit of the cooking sugar syrup into a small ball that will hold its form if left alone but will smush down if you pinch it with your fingers.  Technically you can use a candy thermometer and cook it until it reaches 235*-240* but I can never find my thermometer when I need it so I'll also share some fun tricks.

So here we go :)

Things you will need
A clean pot, preferable a stainless steel sauce pan (not a non-stick one!)
A lid (a cookie sheet works perfectly fine if you do not have a lid)
A candy thermometer (optional)
Clean hands (You should always be washing your hands if you are cooking, but for this recipe it is really, REALLY important for this technique)
A cup of ice water
A metal spoon

Ingredients
1 lb of sugar
1/2 cup of water (plus extra on the side, if needed)
1 ounce of Karo light corn syrup

Directions

• Make sure your hands, pot and sugar are all clean. For sugar, this means making sure there is nothing contaminating the sugar and take out and clumps.
• Put sugar in the pot
• Add the 1/2 cup of water
• With your hand stir all of the sugar and water making sure that there are no dry spots. You need to do this with your hand and not a spoon because it is easy to miss spots.
• Once mixed, rinse your hand and run along the inside of the pot making sure all the sugar is off the side. If you do not do this step, you can end up with burnt sugar. And trust me, its not fun... at all.
• Put your sugar on the stove, heat at medium high
• Place the lid on but leave vented (or balance a cookie sheet, also vented)

A peak into the sugar as it starts to come to a boil

• When your sugar starts to boil, add the Karo syrup (this step is optional, but it works as "insurance" to help make sure it comes out right)
• If you are using a candy thermometer, place in the pot now and continue until it reaches 235*-240* then remove from heat 
• If you are not using a thermometer let the sugar come back to a boil for a full minute
• Dip the spoon into the sugar and then place into the ice water - pull some of the sugar off of the spoon, roll in your fingers and see if it holds its shape. If not, allow the sugar to boil for another minute and try again. 
• Repeat until the sugar holds its shape but can be smushed with your fingers.
• Remove from heat

The final product!

You now have sugar that has been cooked to a soft ball stage! While you haven't created anything that you can eat at this point, knowing how to make this will come in handy in the near future :)

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

OK, so maybe the first week with real fall weather isn't the best time to write a post about ice cream.... but lets face it is there really a bad time for ice cream? I didn't think so :)

My favorite KitchenAid Stand Mixer accessory is hands down the Ice Cream Maker Attachment (as seen here). It is super easy to use and once you find the perfect recipe it is pretty darn hard to mess up the process. Once you make your first batch I promise you will be hooked! You can make super rich, decadent chocolate ice cream or change up a few ingredients and have a skim milk version that tastes just as creamy.

There are all sorts of ice cream recipes - some are custard based (with eggs) and some are "simple" (milk, cream, sugar, flavoring). Some require you to cook the ingredients beforehand and others just have you give it a quick stir. No matter what type of recipe you chose there is one tip you want to remember when making ice cream. Before you pour your ingredients into you ice cream maker give it time to chill. chill. Chill. Did you get that? It really makes a huge difference. Your ice cream maker will be ice cold and if you pour in a mixture that is closer to room temp you will end up with a grainy final product rather than a smooth, silky ice cream. So have some patience, let it chill in the refrigerator until it is cold to the touch.

My favorite ice cream has always been mint chocolate chip. Bonus points if it is mint cookies and cream! (again, not exactly a fall flavor but I will give you a substitution in the recipe to make cookies and cream ice cream AND mint cookies and cream). If you chose to make the vanilla base you can go ahead and toss in any "mix in" you desire - chocolate chips, cut up pieces of your favorite candy bar, caramel, fudge - go nuts!

Mint Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Ingredients

2 cups of milk
2 cups of heavy cream
1 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Make this two teaspoons and leave out the mint extract if you would like a vanilla ice cream)
1 teaspoon mint extract
1 cup crushed cookies (left overs from this recipe are perfect)

In a large bowl stir together the milk, cream, sugar, salt and extracts.
Stir until the sugar has disolved.
Let sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
While the mixture is "chilling" assemble your ice cream maker.
Pour the mixture into your maker and freeze according to manufacturer instructions adding the cookies at the end.
For KitchenAid ice cream makers the process should take less than 30 minutes.

2 minutes in

15 minutes in

25 minutes in

Your ice cream will be the consistency of  soft-serve.
Stir in your cookies and then spoon into freezer proof containers.
Let your ice cream stay in the freezer for 2 hours before serving.
Enjoy!

The Final Product!

M is for Muffin

Growing up I was a pretty picky eater. There were tons of foods that I would not even consider trying and would just push away... onions, blueberries, gravy, mashed potatoes, bananas... just to list a few. Fortunately, these days, I can proudly say that I have grown out of most of my food aversions :)

One thing I have always LOVED is a warm, homemade corn muffin. There is something about those golden little muffins that I cannot resist. Personally, I prefer my muffins to have a little bit of sweetness to them, not sugary or candy-like, just a little sweet from a touch of honey. I know that this immediately will make my version of corn muffins a "no go" for any southerners. Traditionally southern cornbread is not sweet and you will very rarely see a southern corn muffin. You will sometimes hear the sweeter kinds referred to as "Yankee cornbread".

Obviously, corn meal is the most important ingredient in the corn muffin and in my opinion it just comes down to personal preference. There is yellow or white corn meal and for the recipe below it is really up to you. In the south, you will normally see white corn meal, but I grew up on corn muffins made from the Jiffy box so I'm partial to the yellow corn meal. One thing you want to avoid picking up while shopping for corn meal is a "corn meal mix". This is not referring to the boxed muffin or cornbread mixes but rather a blend of corn meal and flour with a touch of a few other ingredients. Make sure you read the packaging closely and pick up one that is plain corn meal :)

And my last quick note before the baking starts. This recipe calls for 1 cup of milk and you can actually use any kind! For a more tender muffin stick with whole milk. You can certainly use skim milk (I have!) but beware that they might have a bit of a dry texture so pull them out of the oven a minute earlier than recommended :)

Enjoy!

Honey Corn Muffins
Ingredients

1 cup corn meal (yellow or white) 
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of milk
2 large eggs
4 tablespoons of butter, melted
1/4 cup of honey

Preheat oven to 400*

In a large bowl, combine corn meal, flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
In a second bowl, whisk together the milk, eggs, butter and honey.

Wet and dry ingredients

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.
Stir just long enough to combine all of the ingredients, this is a batter you do not want to overwork.
Let rest for 5 minutes.
Place muffin liners in a 12-muffin pan.
Evenly divide mix to make 12 muffins.

Filled muffin pan :)

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

Yummmm

Let cool for a few minutes and then enjoy!

The final product, just waiting to be enjoyed!