Well last but certainly not least, today I present to you the dessert for your at home Valentine’s day feast. I couldn’t possibly let Valentine’s day go by without some kind of chocolate thrown in the mix so I made some chocolate cupcakes. But these aren’t just any chocolate cupcakes, no, you need something  extra special on Valentine’s day. These decadent dark chocolate cupcakes are filled with sweet raspberry jelly and topped with homemade vanilla butter cream.

Prior to making these cupcakes I had never made any kind of filled cupcakes before. It always seemed like something that was easier to buy, but I was shocked to find out just how easy it was to make them at home. Through trial and error, I discovered that the secret is to make sure the filling is not too thick. Which means that for this recipe, it is important to use jelly instead of preserves, it will make your life a lot easier trust me. Well maybe not your whole life, but at least you cupcake life, and I suppose, if you’re having one of those days, a cupcake can make life seem a whole lot easier.

Note: If you don’t have a pastry bag, you could also cut a small hole in the top of the cupcake, fill with the jelly, replace the part you cut off, then frost as usual.

Makes 12

You will need:

• 1/4 cup dark chocolate dutch processed cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup raspberry jelly
• Vanilla Buttercream (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, flour and baking powder. In another bowl whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk and vegetable oil. Gradually whisk flour mixture into sugar mixture.
3. Fill cupcake liners 2/3  full. Bake in preheated oven for 12 – 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4. Allow to cool for several minutes in the cupcake tin. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
5. Place raspberry jelly in a pastry bag fitted with a round tip, insert tip into cupcake and squeeze 1 tablespoon of jelly into the center. (Note: You can also do this with a squirt bottle fitted with a lid).
6. Frost with buttercream frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream

You will need:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 – 2 tablespoons milk

1. Use a hand held mixer to cream butter and  powdered sugar, until smooth. Beat in vanilla. If frosting seems too dry add 1 tablespoon milk. Add more milk if desired.
2. Spoon into a piping bag and frost cupcakes.

Enjoy and Have a Happy Valentine’s day!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Let me start off by saying that I really loved the results of this recipe. They are very rich and I can only eat a few bites but I savor each and every bite that I take. Even better, the bars themselves are very easy to make and assemble. The challenge was the Gluten-Free Graham Wafers.

I have not had much experience with gluten-free cooking. Strike that. Until this recipe, I had not had any experience with gluten-free cooking whatsoever. Fortunately, I was able to find all of the flours that I needed to make the gluten-free graham wafers and I was able to prepare the dough according to the recipe instructions. But, it was one of the hardest doughs I have ever worked with, it was extremely sticky and difficult for me to roll as it was sticking to the rolling pin and cutting board no matter how much rice flour I sprinkled over the mixture.  With that said, the end result did taste very good and I’ve been snacking on the leftovers.

If you have the time, or need a gluten-free dessert I do suggest making the gluten-free graham crackers, however, the next time I make these (and there will be a next time) I may skip all of the work of making homemade graham crackers and purchase some instead.

For Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
Ingredients
1 cup (138 g) (4.9 ounces) Sweet rice flour (also known as glutinous rice flour)
3/4 cup (100 g) (3.5 ounces) Tapioca Starch/Flour
1/2 cup (65 g) (2.3 ounces) Sorghum Flour
1 cup (200 g) (7.1 ounces) Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon (5 mL) Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4 mL ) Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) (3 ½ ounces) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup (80 mL) Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover.
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Whole Milk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flours, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. If making by hand, combine aforementioned dry ingredients with a whisk, then cut in butter until you have a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.
2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.
3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with sweet rice flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.
4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of sweet rice flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.
7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.
9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups (300 mL) of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
Enjoy!

I have a confession. I am in love with cake batter ice cream. I crave it. I have dreams about it. While Ryan thinks I’m making dinner, I sneak a few bites from the carton in the freezer. I also sneak a couple of bites before I go to bed. It may be bordering on the lines of obsession but what’s a girl to do? How about make it even more irresistible? Like say, spread luscious cake batter ice cream on top of a chocolate cookie crust and top it with all of my favorite sundae toppings: chocolate syrup, whipped cream and sprinkles. Say it with me: O. M. G.

Now that I have talked up cake batter ice cream you are probably wondering where to get it. It can be hard to find but I have seen it in my local supermarket on a few occasions. For this recipe I used a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cake Batter Ice Cream with Chocolate Swirl. The chocolate swirl made for a deliciously pretty presentation. But I was first introduced to Cake Batter Ice Cream at Cold Stone Creamery a few years ago and you can pick it up there to bring home.

I do realize that some of you won’t be able to give your taste buds the wonderful gift that is cake batter ice cream because its simply not available in your area. If this is you, use a chocolate vanilla swirl or your favorite ice cream. It may not be the same, but its still ice cream on top of a cookie crust with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and sprinkles so it can’t be that bad.

Serves 8 – 10

You will need:

• 2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 pint cake batter ice cream
• chocolate syrup
• whipped cream
• sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine cookie crumbs and butter in a bowl and stir until crumbs are moistened. Press crumbs firmly onto bottom and up sides of a 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom. Bake until set, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
3. While crust is cooling, set ice cream on the counter to soften.
4. Once the crust has cooled and the ice cream is soft enough to spread, spread the ice cream onto the crust.
5. Freeze until the ice cream is  firm, about 1 hour.
6. Remove from freezer. Use a knife to loosen the sides of the crust and gently press up tart bottom to release it from the sides.
7. Slice into 8 – 10 pieces. Drizzle each piece with chocolate syrup, top with whipped cream and sprinkles. Serve.

If you aren’t serving 8 – 10 people, just slice a piece for yourself and cover and freeze the rest of it. That is what Ryan and I did and we’ve been enjoying it for about a week now.

Enjoy!

There are only a few short days until Christmas eve. This means that Santa will soon be packing up his sleigh and heading to the houses of all those on the nice list. Since I have always viewed the cookies and milk you leave for Santa on Christmas Eve to be a last ditch effort to get on the nice list, I thought I would share these cookies that are sure to guarantee you a permanent spot. How could they not? They are fudgy, they are chewy, they are minty and they are oh so chocolatey.

Someone recently asked me what the most popular recipe on the blog is. Without hesitation I said the Fudgy Brownie Cookies that I shared last Spring. After all, everyone needs a good chocolate fix every once in a while. And while I believe they are darn close to perfection on their own, with all the candy canes I have lying around, I thought I’d see what they were like with a minty kick. Scrumptious was the answer.

I originally planed to roll the raw cookie dough in crushed peppermint candies before baking but the candy canes didn’t hold up so well during the 10 minute baking process. As a result, I”m asking you to break all the rules and (gasp!) remove the cookies from the oven halfway through the cooking process to add the candy pieces to the top. But trust me,  the cookies will turn out just fine.

One last note, after having made fudgy brownie cookies multiple times now, I have noticed that some brownie mixes work better than others. Pillsbury and Duncan Hines produce a perfectly chewy brownie cookie while the Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix produces a slightly more cake like cookie.

Okay, okay enough jabbering. Without further ado, I present to you Fudgy Brownie Cookies part II: The Christmas Addition.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

You will need:

• 1 (19.5 ounce) package brownie mix
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter melted, cooled
• 3 – 5 tablespoons cold water
• 1 teaspoon mint extract
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
• 2 – 3 candy canes, cut into small pieces

1. In a bowl whisk together brownie mix, flour and brown sugar.
2. Using a heavy spoon, stir in eggs one at a time. Stir in butter, 3 tablespoons cold water and mint extract. Batter will be thick. If it is too dry add one or two more tablespoons of water. Fold in semi-sweet chocolate chips. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.
4. Roll tablespoons of dough and place on the prepared cookie sheet, about 3 inches apart. Press down slightly. Don’t flatten completely. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven. Place 4 candy cane pieces on each cookie. Put cookies back in oven and cook for 5-6 more minutes or until cookies are set.
5. Remove from oven. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a couple of minutes. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Now, just be sure to save some for Santa.

Enjoy!

Can you believe that Christmas is in a little over a week? I know, it kind of crept up on me too. With all of the shopping, decorating and preparing for the big day time has kind of slipped away and until recently I had not done any Christmas baking. Pretty shocking huh? Well since I could not let the Christmas season pass me by without at least a little baking, I dropped everything else I was doing last Sunday, hunkered down in the kitchen and created these scrumptious little devils. With all of the flavors of one of the Christmas staples and a little maple frosting on top, these cupcakes would make a great addition to your Christmas celebrations.

I will have to say that coming up with the frosting for this recipe was a bit of a challenge for me. Since most people associate eggnog with rum, I thought a rum frosting would be perfect. But alas, I didn’t have any. And it was raining. And I was in my pajamas. And I didn’t feel like driving around town looking for a liquor store that is open on Sundays, so I had to make do with what we had. Which happened to be cream cheese and a little maple syrup. Thus, maple cream cheese frosting was born and it was so good we didn’t even miss the rum.

Makes 12

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon iodized salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup eggnog
• Maple Cream Cheese Frosting (see recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in cupcake pan and set aside.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, using a hand held mixer cream together oil and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla.
4. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the bowl. Mix until combined. Beat in eggnog. Gradually add in remaining flour, beat just until combined.
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full with cupcake mixture. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs on it
6. Allow to cool for a few minutes in the cupcake pan. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Frost with maple cream cheese frosting.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes

You will need:

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Using a hand held mixer on medium speed cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Beat in maple syrup.
3. Gradually add in powdered sugar and beat until it becomes a thick spreadable mixture.

If these don’t fill your appetite for eggnog and you’re looking for another way to enjoy the seasonal favorite, check out this Eggnog French Toast that I shared last year. That’s right, eggnog for breakfast.

Enjoy!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

I was really excited when I saw this month’s challenge, I had always wanted to try making cannoi at home. I didn’t have any cannoli forms but found some at a local kitchen supply store for $4.  Considering I how much I enjoyed this recipe, I am pretty confident they will more than make up for the small cost.

When I checked the calendar I realized that posting day was going to fall on the day after Thanksgiving so I decided to go with a Christmas theme. I dipped the cannoli in a couple of ounces of melted dark chocolate and then dipped them in sprinkles. I let them sit for a few minutes and then filled them with Peppermint Mascarpone Filling. It was deliciously Christmas-y.

Since I was using dark chocolate for the dipping I decided that I would use red wine instead of white wine for the dough. Thus, my cannoli were a little darker than usual but they were still scrumptious. Lisa Michele noted in the original challenge that for those who don’t like to cook or bake with alcohol – grape juice, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, apple juice..any sweet juice of a fruit, especially ones used in or to make wine, can be substituted. Just add a little more vinegar to insure you get enough acid to relax the dough.

Due to time, I only cooked half of the dough and refrigerated the rest. If you cook the whole thing double the peppermint filling recipe.

Lidisano’s Cannoli
Makes 22-24 4-inch cannoli
Prep time:
Dough – 2 hours and 10-20 minutes, including resting time, and depending on whether you do it by hand or machine.
Filling – 5-10 minutes plus chilling time (about 2 hours or more)
Frying – 1-2 minutes per cannoli
Assemble – 20–30 minutes

CANNOLI SHELLS
2 cups (250 grams/16 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons(28 grams/1 ounce) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.06 ounces) unsweetened baking cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon (1.15 grams/0.04 ounces) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon (approx. 3 grams/0.11 ounces) salt
3 tablespoons (42 grams/1.5 ounces) vegetable or olive oil
1 teaspoon (5 grams/0.18 ounces) white wine vinegar
Approximately 1/2 cup (approx. 59 grams/approx. 4 fluid ounces/approx. 125 ml) sweet Marsala or any white or red wine you have on hand
1 large egg, separated (you will need the egg white but not the yolk)
Vegetable or any neutral oil for frying – about 2 quarts (8 cups/approx. 2 litres)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted, cooled slightly
1/4 cup Christmas sprinkles

DIRECTIONS FOR SHELLS:
1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the oil, vinegar, and enough of the wine to make a soft dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and well blended, about 2 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge from 2 hours to overnight.

2. Cut the dough into two pieces. Keep the remaining dough covered while you work. Lightly flour a large cutting or pastry board and roll the dough until super thin, about 1/16 to 1/8” thick (An area of about 13 inches by 18 inches should give you that). Cut out 3 to 5-inch circles (3-inch – small/medium; 4-inch – medium/large; 5-inch;- large. Your choice). Roll the cut out circle into an oval, rolling it larger and thinner if it’s shrunk a little.

3. Oil the outside of the cannoli tubes (You only have to do this once, as the oil from the deep fry will keep them well, uhh, oiled..lol). Roll a dough oval from the long side (If square, position like a diamond, and place tube/form on the corner closest to you, then roll) around each tube/form and dab a little egg white on the dough where the edges overlap. (Avoid getting egg white on the tube, or the pastry will stick to it.) Press well to seal. Set aside to let the egg white seal dry a little.

4. In a deep heavy saucepan, pour enough oil to reach a depth of 3 inches, or if using an electric deep-fryer, follow the manufacturer’s directions. Heat the oil to 375°F (190 °C) on a deep fry thermometer, or until a small piece of the dough or bread cube placed in the oil sizzles and browns in 1 minute. Have ready a tray or sheet pan lined with paper towels or paper bags.

5. Carefully lower a few of the cannoli tubes into the hot oil. Do not crowd the pan. Fry the shells until golden, about 2 minutes, turning them so that they brown evenly.

6. Lift a cannoli tube with a wire skimmer or large slotted spoon, out of the oil. Using tongs, grasp the cannoli tube at one end. Very carefully remove the cannoli tube with the open sides straight up and down so that the oil flows back into the pan. Place the tube on paper towels or bags to drain. Repeat with the remaining tubes. While they are still hot, grasp the tubes with a potholder and pull the cannoli shells off the tubes with a pair of tongs, or with your hand protected by an oven mitt or towel. Let the shells cool completely on the paper towels.

7. Dip the cooled cannoli shells into the melted chocolate and then dip into the sprinkles. Allow to set for 5 minutes while you prepare the filling.

CANNOLI FILLING (Fills 10-12 cannoli)

1 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons crushed peppermint candies, plus more for garnish

1. Place mascarpone cheese, 1 tablespoon of sugar and crushed peppermint candies into a bowl. Stir to combine. The mixture will turn pink. Taste and add more sugar until desired sweetness.

ASSEMBLE THE CANNOLI:

1. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain or star tip, or a ziplock bag, with the peppermint filling. If using a ziplock bag, cut about 1/2 inch off one corner. Insert the tip in the cannoli shell and squeeze gently until the shell is half filled. Turn the shell and fill the other side. You can also use a teaspoon to do this, although it’s messier and will take longer.

2. Sprinkle each end with peppermint candies. Serve.

I was very pleased with the results of this cannoli. I think I will use the left over dough to try a savory version. And one last note, if you’ve got people in your household who can’t eat dairy have no fear, we even made some for my lactose intolerant friend. We skipped dipping hers in the chocolate and substituted dairy free cream cheese for the mascarpone. The results were just as delicious.

Now, who’s ready for the Holidays?

I just love cooking for people so when a dear friend of mine called and suggested that we do dinner, I was more than happy to have her and her boyfriend over to our apartment. This dear friend I should mention, happens to be lactose intolerant. I have found cooking without dairy to be pretty easy so the dinner part was a cinch. Where I was stuck was dessert. I just wasn’t sure how I was going to jump that hurdle. After reviewing my Pumpkin Cake recipe, I realized I could use that for a base and add a few more ingredients. After a quick call to my friend to verify that she could eat a couple of things, I headed straight for the kitchen and baked these super-moist, super chocolaty dairy free Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes.

I do have a bit of a confession to make. My grocery store did not have soy butter nor did they have a small container of soy milk so I was out of luck when it came to the frosting. Or so I thought. To my surprise, when I called my friend to confirm a few things she told me that there are a few brands of frosting out there that actually do not have any dairy in them such as Pillsbury.  Surprising I know. But anywho, that is the frosting that I used for these cupcakes. Now if you are not concerned with dairy simply make or purchase your favorite frosting. The frosting that I use on my Chocolate Egg Stuffed Cupcakes would be delicious on these.

Makes 18-24 cupcakes

You will need:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon iodized salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 cup pureed pumpkin
• store bought vanilla frosting
• orange sugar crystals

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and baking powder.
3. In another bowl whisk together eggs, vanilla, sugar and oil.
4. Slowly whisk dry ingredients into into sugar mixture. Fold in pureed pumpkin.
5. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in cupcake tin for 5 minutes.
6. Remove from cupcake tin and place on cooling rack to cool completely. Frost and sprinkle with sugar crystals.

Now if only I could figure out how to make dairy-free Reese’s Peanut Buttercup Cheesecake for my friend. Oh well,  until then at least we can enjoy these and I hope you do too.

Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger…cookies. Yep that’s right, in an apparent flashback  to my 90’s childhood  I’m embracing these peanutty candy bars once again. Only this time I’m not eating candy bar after candy bar while channeling Bart Simpson. Instead I’m chopping up Butterfingers and adding them to cookies while I channel Betty Crocker. Oh how the times have changed.  

These chewy cookies were a spur of the moment concoction resulting from an unplanned trip to our local Target.  Sandwiched in between the rows of Halloween costumes and Christmas decorations (I know, early right?) there were aisles of fairly priced Halloween candy, including our childhood favorite: Butterfingers. So I picked up a couple of bags and headed home. Once home, the rain pounding on the windows and the warmth of a fire brought on a baking mood that I just couldn’t shake.  However,with only a few hours before I had to head out of the house for our dinner reservations I was short on time.  So whats a girl to do? Suddenly it came to me:  Baking mood + short on time + Butterfingers = Butterfinger Cookies. It was the perfect way to spend my afternoon and the perfect excuse to skip dessert at dinner that night.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

You will need:

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon iodized salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted, cooled
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup chopped Butterfinger candy bars (about 8 “fun size” candy bars)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In another bowl beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy. Beat in vanilla. Beat in eggs 1 at a time.
4. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until well combined.
5. Fold in chopped Butterfingers.
6. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet. Cook 8-10 minutes or until edges start to brown and cookies are set.
7. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet. Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

Serve with ice cold milk.

Enjoy!

Chocolate and caramel is a winning combination under just about any circumstance. OK maybe not chocolate caramel hot dogs but it is good just about any other time. Take this dip for instance. Creamy caramels are melted with half and half, cinnamon and vanilla. Then melted dark chocolate is added to the mix and the whole dip is topped with chopped nuts.  Trust me when I say it will satisfy any sweet tooth craving.

I have not had much success with making my own caramel in the past so I use a bit of a short cut with this caramel dip recipe. With Halloween season in full swing and the candy aisles in the grocery store busting at the seams with candy it seemed like the perfect opportunity to stock up on some chewy caramels. And as it turns out, not only are chewy caramels the perfect treat, when melted they also make a mean dip.

Makes about 1/2 cup

You will need:

• 25 caramel candies, wrappers removed
• 1/3 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• chopped nuts, optional

1. In a small saucepan combine caramels, half and half, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon. Cook over low heat until caramel melts. Stirring frequently until smooth.
2. Meanwhile, in another small sauce pan melt chocolate over lowest heat possible. Stir frequently until melted.
3. Pour melted caramel mixture into a bowl. Stir in chocolate. Sprinkle with chopped nuts.
4. Serve warm.

This dip is best served when it is warm but cools off rather quickly. If it does become too hard, you can pop it in the microwave for 30-45 seconds to soften it up a bit.

While this dip is good enough to eat right off the spoon it is also a nice accompaniment for apples, pretzels and graham crackers. If you decide to take a ride on the crazy train and try it with hot dogs, let me know. I’m curious.

Enjoy!

You may be wondering why this cake has a candle in it. While I will say hello to the latter half of my 20’s on Friday, that is not the reason. This cake has a candle in it because exactly one year ago today I posted my very first post on Life’s Ambrosia. I can’t believe that it has already been a year. And I could not think of a better way to celebrate this occasion than with a super moist pumpkin cake with delectable Amaretto cream cheese frosting.

When this blog was started on October 7, 2008 it was a bit of a smorgasbord, if you will, of topics. And there were actually two writers. We had so many ideas in our heads of what we wanted to do. We wanted to write about food and travel. We were going to have a section about wine, our favorite books and daily quotes. Like I said, a smorgasbord.  About a month after starting the blog,  my friend decided that it wasn’t the right fit for her. However, we had the domain name for at least a year  so I figured what the heck, why not keep it going? After a few weeks of rather sporadic posting, I finally got into a groove. The cooking, the writing, the picture taking, it all became a part of my (and Ryan’s) everyday life. The smorgasbord of topics was whittled down and the blog became a lot more food focused. After a whole lot more cooking, one new camera and a fresh new design the blog evolved into what you see today.

Despite all of the cooking and writing that I do,  this blog would not be what it is today without the help of others. First of all, I want to say thank you to my dear husband Ryan. We make a great team. Without your awesome web design and photog skills as well as your willingness to try just about anything I cook, I would probably be spending a lot less time in the kitchen and a few more hours watching SVU reruns. I want to say thank you to my family and friends who have given me tons of inspiration, recipe ideas, tips and memories along the way. And I cannot forget you, my readers. I want to thank you for your wonderful comments and the heads up when you find typos.  Thank you for reading every day and thank you for joining me on my journey as I explore my passion for food. It’s only just getting started.

And now…Let’s eat cake!

Update: Remember when I said Thank you for the heads up on typos? Yeah I owe a big thank you to   Cheryl R for catching the fact that I missed the sugar in the original post of this recipe.  It’s in there now.

Makes 1 (2 layer) cake

You will need:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1  cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin
• Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans. Set aside.
2. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
3. In another bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla.
4. Slowly whisk flour mixture into egg mixture. Fold in pureed pumpkin.
5. Evenly divide cake mixture between the two prepared cake pans.
6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs on it.
7. Cool cakes in pans completely before transferring to a cake plate. About 1 hour.
8. Once the cakes are cool, spread a layer of Amaretto cream cheese frosting on the top of one cake layer. Place the other cake layer on top. Use remaining frosting to frost the cake.

Amaretto Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough to frost 1 (2 layer) cake

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon Amaretto
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar

1. Using a hand held mixer, cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth.
2. Beat in Amaretto.
3. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until frosting becomes thick and spreadable.

So thank you again everyone. And as always, enjoy!