Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

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The first day of fall isn’t technically for another couple of days – but today’s weather is my perfect autumn day. As Winnie-the-Pooh would call it, it’s a blustery day. A touch of dark storm clouds and a  swirling breeze, not quite strong enough to be a full on windy day, but enough to stir the branches of the multicolored trees. Days like this make me want to fill my home with the pungent spices of cinnamon and clove. Bible study worship night is the excuse I needed to make these delicious pumpkin spice cupcakes.  I always round my teaspoons/half teaspoons of spices because I just think that makes it better. But there’s really no technical measurement for a rounded teaspoon.  So there you go.

Shout out of thanks to my sister Amy – who gave me a can of pumpkin puree, which (in my opinion) is worth its weight in gold currently due to the great pumpkin puree shortage of 2009. My grocery store still doesn’t have any of the Libby’s stuff on their shelves…and who wants to bake with organic fancy puree that’s $4 a can? Well – I guess maybe you will if you want to make these cupcakes before the regular stuff comes back in stock. :(

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes w/Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese,
softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
  1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 24 muffin cups, or line with paper muffin liners. Sift together the flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, clove, allspice, salt, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.
  2. Beat 1/2 cup of oil, applesauce, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl to combine.  Add the room-temperature eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the mixture before adding the next. Stir in the milk and pumpkin puree after the last egg. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups. I like to use an ice-cream scooper to make nice rounded cupcakes.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 19-21 minutes. Cool in the pans for 5 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
  4. While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting by beating the cream cheese and 1/4 butter with an electric mixer in a bowl until smooth. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar a little at a time until incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; beat until fluffy. Once the cupcakes are cool, frost with the cream cheese icing.

Whenever I’m frosting cupcakes, I put a ziploc bag into a glass, fill it with icing and then snip a corner – and do a swirl on top. I always go back and add more frosting it seems, because the pretty swirl just isn’t enough frosting for me.

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Glazed Lemon Cookies

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I was looking for a bright lemon cookie that I could take to game night. I had all the ingredients on hand for these – too bad I didn’t notice the fridge time prior to starting the batch. They need to chill for 2 hours to get nice and firm before slicing. Sadly – that means I couldn’t finish them in time to share with my friends tonight. I wonder what to do with the half batch I haven’t eaten on my own. Hmmmm. If you like lemon, these are for you! These  cookies  pack a whollup of lemon flavor thanks to fresh lemon zest and juice in the cookie, as well as a lemon cream cheese glaze on top. Yum.

Glazed Lemon Cookies

Glazed Lemon Cookies (America’s Test Kitchen)

3/4 C granulated sugar
2 T grated fresh lemon zest
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
12 T (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes and chilled
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 large egg yolk
1/2 t vanilla extract

Glaze
1 T cream cheese, softened
2 T fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 C confectioners’ sugar

For the cookies: Process the granulated sugar and lemon zest together in a food processor until the sugar is pale yellow and damp, about 30 seconds. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine, about 10 pulses. Add the butter pieces and pulse until the mixture resembles fine cornmeal, about 15 pulses.

In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, egg yolk and vanilla together. Do this at the last minute – if the lemon juice and egg sit together too long, they will curdle. With the machine running, add the lemon juice mixture through the feed tube in a slow steady stream, about 10 seconds. Continue to process until the dough begins to form into a ball, 10-15 seconds.

Transfer the dough to a clean counter and roll it into a 10-inch log – about 2 inches thick. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (about 2 hours). A trick to keeping your dough in a round shape while cooling is to cut a paper towel roll lengthwise and set the dough inside…it keeps the side the dough is resting on from going flat.

Adjust the oven racks to the upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Slice the dough into 3/8 inch-thick cookies. Lay cookies on the prepared baking sheets spaced about 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes or until the edges begin to brown. Switch and rotate the sheets halfway through cooking time. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

For the Glaze: Whisk the cream cheese and lemon juice together in a medium bowl until smooth, then whisk in the confectioners’ sugar. Spoon a teaspoon of the glaze onto the center of each cookie and spread it out evenly with th back of the spoon. Let the glaze dry completely, about 30 minutes, before serving.

Thumbprint Cookies

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I love this recipe for an old standard – thumbprint cookies. I have always hated the “thumb” part of making thumbprint cookies – my thumbs are not anywhere near the proper shape. Reshaping the imprint halfway thru baking with the back of a measuring teaspoon makes for nice even round hollows to fill with delicious jam. Also, the cream cheese in this recipe makes for a light cakey cookie which complements the richness of the sweet jam center.

Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint Cookies (America’s Test Kitchen)

1/2 C raspberry (or any flavor you like) jam
2 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
12 T unsalted butter, softened
2/3 C sugar
3 oz (6 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1 1/2 t vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Fill a small ziploc bag with the jam. Whisk the flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder together in a medium bowl.

In large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3-6 minutes. Beat in the cream cheese, egg and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as necessary.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds.

Working with 1 1/2 t of dough (about a small melon baller) at a time, roll the dough into balls and lay them on the prepared baking sheets, spaced about 1 1/2 inches apart. Make an indentation with your thumb (wet your thumb in water to prevent sticking) in the center of each cookie. Don’t worry if it’s not perfect – you’re going to do a second indentation halfway thru cooking.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, until they are just beginning to set and are lightly browned around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and, working quickly, gently reshape the indentation with the bottom of a measuring teaspoon. Snip a small corner off the bag of jam and carefully fill each indentation with about 1/2 teaspoon of the jam. Rotate the baking sheet and continue to bake until lightly golden, 12-14 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely, about 30 minutes before serving.

Washington Apple Martini

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This is my favorite drink. Bar none. Easy to put together and absolutely perfect.

Washington Apple Martini


Washington Apple Martini

Equal parts:
Crown Royal Whiskey (no substitutions)
Apple Pucker
Cranberry Juice

Combine all ingredients into shaker over ice and shake well. Pour into glasses and serve. If you aren’t a fan of the tartness of cranberry juice, you can substitute pomegranate juice – which turns this drink into what I call a Rogue Royal (because I came up with it while visiting my mom-in-law in Rogue River, OR). The Rogue Royal is a smoother taste, but I still prefer the original.

I highly recommend this drink when trying to forget about frustrating people in your life. Works wonders.

Chicken Pot Pie

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A nice fall day calls for a warm, homey meal filled with comfort flavors. Chicken Pot Pie fit the bill for tonight. I started with a recipe from www.allrecipes.com and added my own twist. I doubled the sauce, used a homemade crust, added a couple things and adjusted the spices. You could easily use a pre-made crust and add whatever veggies you like.  I had a couple leftover baked potatoes which I threw into the broth at the last-minute. If using raw potatoes, add to broth and cook with veggies.

Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie

  • 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – cubed
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 1 cup sliced carrots
  • 1 cup frozen green peas
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 1/2 cup sliced celery
  • 2/3 cup butter
  • 1/3 cup chopped onion
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 1/3 cup whole milk
  • 2 (9 inch) unbaked pie crusts

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C.)
  2. In a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add chicken, and cook until just not pink. Remove chicken to drain on paper towels. Add carrots, potatoes, peas, celery, garlic and onion. Add chicken broth, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
  3. In the saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.  Stir in flour, salt, pepper. Slowly stir in milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until thick. Remove from heat and add slowly to chicken mixture, stirring to incorporate.
  4. Roll out pie dough and place in deep dish pie plate. Pre-cook for 7 minutes. Pour the chicken mixture into warm bottom pie crust – scooping in chicken/veggies first and pouring broth over until pie dish is full. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several small slits in the top to allow steam to escape.
  5. Place in oven and immediately turn oven down to 35o°. Bake in the oven for 50 to 65 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Apple Pie Bars

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I’m still trying to use up all the fruit from my sister’s bridal shower. Had a bag of sliced apples that worked perfectly for these awesome Apple Pie Bars. They taste just like homemade apple pie – but they are much faster. The crust doubles as the streusel topping, which means you don’t have to roll out any dough. You don’t even need a fork – cause you can eat it just like a slice of pizza! Maybe I should change the name to Apple Pie Pizza? Whatever the name, I’m a big fan of anything that gets into my mouth as quickly as possible.

Apple Pie Bars

Apple Pie Bars (Recipe from Cuisine at Home)

Base and Streusel
2 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C packed brown sugar
3/4 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t salt
6 T cold unsalted butter (if you use salted butter, half the amount of salt added)
3 T milk
3 T unsalted butter, melted

Apple Pie Filling
3 1/2 C tart apples (granny smith works best) peeled, cored and diced
1/3 C sugar
1/4 C heavy cream
1 T all-purpose flour
1 t vanilla extract
1/4 t ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350°; coat a 10-inch springform pan with removable bottom with nonstick spray (if you don’t have a springform pan, a 9×9 square will work fine…it just won’t look like a piece of pie when you’re done).

Combine 2 C flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt for the base and streusel mixture in a bowl. Transfer 3/4 C of the mixture to a second bowl; set aside for the streusel. Cut 6 T cold butter and milk into the remaining dry ingredients using your (clean) fingers or a pastry blender if you’re fancy. Mix until clumps form.

Pat mixture evenly into prepared pan, using the bottom of a measuring cup to tamp down the dough. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until set and golden at the edges. Stir melted butter into the reserved streusel mixture until sandy; set aside.

Toss all ingredients for the apple filling together. Arrange over the hot base, pushing apple pieces to the edges of the pan to completely cover the crust.

Sprinkle apples with the streusel topping and bake until apples are soft and topping is golden, 30-40 minutes. Cool bars for at least 30 minutes before removing the side of the pan and cutting into wedges. Store bars at room temperature or chill. Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or just eat it with your hands right out of the pan. :)

Devotional – Delighted to Know You

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Zephaniah 3:17 The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

I love people. Some of the most fulfilled moments in my life are when I really connect with another human being. That’s probably why it hurts me so much when I feel disliked, judged, misunderstood or outright lied about. Pretty much, I want to be liked by everyone. When it is wholly apparent that someone seems to loathe me, especially when it seems to be for reasons I can neither control nor change, it’s possibly the deepest wound I can bear. It hurts me beyond measure when someone’s aversion to me affects those I love. I really don’t know how to handle it.

You can probably tell, I’m struggling with a personal relationship right now. But you know what? God is faithful. I am not an early bird, but this morning, I awoke at 5 o’clock and couldn’t get back to sleep. I had a rough afternoon yesterday, discovering a duplicity that shocked me, and wrestled with my own emotions for hours before sleep finally came. The battle continued as soon as my eyes opened this morning. I tried to work it off at the gym, but still felt unsettled when I got home. I should have known to go to God first. This verse in Zephaniah (a book I don’t think I’ve ever read before) was like a soothing balm to my soul. As I re-read the verse, God’s love overwhelmed human hatred. I remembered that it really doesn’t matter what someone else thinks. It’s not important. I am precious to the Lord. He delights in me. What an amazing thought! Not just that He knows who I am, or that He occasionally checks in on how I’m doing. He delights in me. This same word (suws) is used in Isaiah 62 to describe a groom delighting in his bride. That’s how highly God thinks of me. Wow.

So really, how can I let the resentments and judgements of one little person affect me if I know I’m all good with God? Later in this passage (vs 19) God talks about dealing with those who oppress me – giving praise and honor where I’ve been put to shame. I am a fixer. It’s what I do. If something is wrong, I want to talk about it – out in the open and deal with it. But sometimes, that just adds fuel to a situation that’s being manipulated already. I need to rest in the knowledge that God has my back. I don’t need to prove my worth, argue my convictions or convince anyone to like me. I just need to respond in love, not allowing anger over the hurt to take hold, realizing that the only One who matters is already delighted to know me.

Oh Jesus, thank you so much for being with me this morning as I struggle with hurt. Thank you for calming my aching heart with your love and showing me (again) that the situations of life are never outside your command. Help me to hold on to your peace thru all conversations – to cling to your word’s promises and not allow the ugliness of revenge and resentment to seep into my relationships.

Cathartic Couponing

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Did you ever just have a really lousy afternoon? Me too. I had one today actually. Everything in me wanted to verbally assault someone. Or possibly eat an entire half-gallon of ice cream…and some butter drenched bread. Instead, I went couponing. It was totally cathartic.  I spent $24.43. At regular prices – here’s what I could have purchased for that dollar amount. Five boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios…maybe six boxes depending on where you shop.

$25 - Five Boxes

Here’s what I got for that same price:

Cathartic Couponing

Cathartic Couponing Haul

20 Boxes General Mills Cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Trix)
10 Bags Chex Mix
10 Boxes Green Giant Frozen Veggies
10 Cans Progresso Soup (fall lunches for my honey)
1 Tontino’s Pizza
1 Box fruit snacks

Total Regular Price: $139.24
Total Savings: $114.81
As if that weren’t good enough – I got back 3 FREE 12-Pack soda coupons…that I’m going to use tomorrow to score Coke 12 packs for a dollar…which will in turn score me some free crackers. Yeah – pretty much, Albertsons (and coupons) totally rock my world. And, blowing off steam with coupon shopping saved me the cost of a therapy session and hefty legal fees if I’d let my fury get the best of me. Double win!

Walgreens Cheap Toiletries

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Sometimes being a girl kind of stinks. Men – you can stop reading now. Trust me…there’s nothing in this post you’re going to appreciate.

There’s so many things we have to purchase that men (in general) don’t have to really worry about. And it adds up fast. Really fast. Girly things aint cheap. Probably because “they” know we need them and will buy them at whatever price. Boo. But – with coupons and a little planning…you can stick it to the man – and get your girl stuff cheap!

Girly Stuff

I went to Walgreens today – and here’s what I purchased:

3 Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color (I’m gonna go a little more auburn for fall)
1 Garnier Super Hold Hairspray
2 Schick Intuition Plus Razors (with refills!) — I love these things…shave soap built in. But they are SO expensive normally I can’t justify buying them.
2 boxes Playtex Tampons (18 ct)
Colgate Whitening Toothpaste

Full price, this stuff would have been close to $80. Just the razors alone are $11.99 each normally (highway robbery!). The hair color is 8 or 9 dollars a box typically…sometimes you can find it on sale for $5.99. Even on sale, this stuff comes to around 65 bucks. Like I said – being a woman just isn’t cheap. But!! I only spent $17.28 – and got a $2 coupon to use the next time I’m in Walgreens. So, like I spent $15.28.

You know what though…I’m actually a little annoyed, because the cashier wouldn’t let me use my $1 off coupon for my toothpaste…because I had more coupons than items. I was irritated, so didn’t think clearly enough to just grab a 39 cent candy or something and then use my coupon…silly me. I gotta convince myself that the dollar is not a big deal considering I saved over $50.

I used several coupons from my newspapers ($3 off each of the hair color, $1 off the hairspray) and printed others ($2 each box of tampons and Facebook gave me coupons for $4 off each of the razors…and they were buy-one-get-one-free). You can see all the scenarios at my fav couponing site – www.fabulesslyfrugal.com

Sometimes being a girl kind of stinks. There’s so many things we have to purchase that men (in general) don’t have to really worry about. And it adds up fast. Really fast. Girly things aint cheap. Probably because “they” know we need them and will buy them at whatever price. Boo. But – with coupons and a little planning…you can stick it to the man – and get your girl stuff cheap!

Nectarine Raspberry Pie

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We had a bunch of fruit leftover from my sister’s bridal shower this weekend. So, I took the nectarines home, combined them with some raspberries I had in the fridge and tried out a new recipe for pie. It was kind of a complex recipe – but the pie was really good. Very flaky crust with a lot of flavor and perfectly tart filling.  I’ll probably make some tweaks the next time I make this pie though (I always go “by-the-book” the first go round of a recipe). I would have liked more fruit in this pie, I like mine mounded up, and the filling was just a smidge runny – probably will cut back on the added juice next time. Overall though, excellent.

Nectarine Raspberry Pie

Nectarine Raspberry Pie (America’s Test Kitchen)

Crust:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
16 T butter (two sticks), diced and frozen for 10 minutes
1/3 C ice water
3 T sour cream

Filling:
2 1/2 pounds nectarines (about 5 large), pitted and sliced
1 cup raspberries
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1 t lemon zest
2 t lemon juice
2 T cornstarch

1 egg white
sugar

Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine.
Sprinkle the frozen butter over the flour, and pulse until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Combine sour cream and ice water. Pour 1/2 mixture into food processor and pulse until incorporated. Repeat with 2nd half of sour cream/water mixture.
If the dough doesn’t come together, sprinkle a tablespoon of ice water at a time until it does.
Divide the dough into two discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour.

Stir the nectarines, raspberries and 3/4 cup of sugar together in a large bowl. Let sit for 1 hour or until fruit has released it’s juice.
Drain any excess juice in a large colander (reserving 1/4 C of juice) and toss the fruit with the lemon zest, juice and cornstarch. Taste a piece of the fruit. If it is tart, add an additional 1/4 cup of sugar.

Roll one disc of dough into a 12-inch circle, and carefully fit the dough into a 9-inch pie plate, leaving the overhang. Cover with saran wrap and freeze, about 30 minutes. Fill the crust with the fruit mixture.
Roll out the remaining dough into a 12-inch circle, and carefully fit the dough over the pie plate.
Trim the excess of dough to about a 1/2 inch, press two doughs together and fold under. Crimp to form a neat edge.
For lots of great pie crust ideas – click here! As you can see, I went pretty boring with mine today. I didn’t have a whole lot of time for fancy-pants crust.

Golden Crust

Beat the egg white and brush it on top, sprinkle with the sugar.
Bake at 425 F for 25 minutes, then reduce to 375 F and bake an additional 25 to 30 minutes.
Let cool at least two hours before serving. Cover loosely with saran wrap and store at room temperature.