Pumpkin Chocolate Chip

Phew I've been busy lately! I haven't posted much since Christine's wedding, whoopsies. Well I tried the most delicious recipe the other day. It was so delicious that I made it again this weekend and have been distributing them amongst my friends. I loooove pumpkin and all things Fall/Autumn in general so I decided to get things started a bit early this year. The original recipe was for pumpkin chocolate chip bars from Bake at 350, but I also made pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes with dark chocolate icing and spiced cream cheese icing. All were delicious but I think I would like just plain muffins next time, the recipe is a bit dense for cupcakes. Here are some pics of the different goodies:




Here is the recipe from Bake at 350:

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins/Bars/Whatever Pan you have around

2c flour
1 1/2t cinnamon
3/4t ginger
1/2t allspice
1/8t cloves (you can also leave this out-I usually do)
1t baking soda
3/4t salt
1c unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4c sugar
1 egg
2t vanilla
1c pumpkin puree
12oz semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease/spray/line your pan. (This recipe will make 2 8x8 pans or 24 muffins)

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.

Cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in pumpkin puree. It will look curdled, no worries.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Pour batter into pan. Bake ~30min for bars ~18min for muffins. Cool completely in pan.

Baby Hannah with her Soccer Booties

I love to see the stuff I make on the little nugget recipients. the soccer booties I made awhile back were for one of my teammate's daughter, Hannah. I asked them to take some pictures of her wearing them and they totally delivered in spades! Here are just a few pics of her cuteness:




Hopefully that adorable face helps me sell some more booties on Etsy!

Just a New Jersey Girl and a Montana Man

They’re goooing to the chapel and they’re goooonna get maaaaarrrrried… Christine and Ben are officially Mrs. and Mr. Kroll! The wedding was this past weekend (Labor Day) and couldn’t have been more fun. I was so happy to see everyone I knew and excited to meet those of you I didn’t know. On Friday us ladies went and got our nails and toes done at May’s Landing Nails. Jen Jayne was super sweet and brought over mimosas for us to enjoy while getting pretty. Then we had the rehearsal dinner that evening at JoAnn’s down the street from St. Vincent’s Catholic Church. I was happy to finally see some of the boys arriving in NJ.





Saturday was the big day! I was awakened at about 7am by excited squeals and chatter from all the bridesmaids getting their hair and makeup done in the Furgione house. I headed over to Lauren at Textures (thanks for the info Linds) and got my hair did. Once everything was set and ready I headed over to the church with the Jaynes and witnessed the ceremony. I did my Genesis reading (half miked) and managed not to trip on the bridal runner, phew! Christine looked so gorgeous in her dress and everything was beautiful.





After a little sword arching, those of us not in photos went back to the Furgione house for some mingling. I managed to be the only one not drinking who spilled on people, awesome. After mingling and some college football, we all headed to the cocktail hour/ reception at The Ram’s Head. I was so happy to see my college friends, Houston friends, and Navy boys! The reception was wonderful; Christine and her mom did an excellent job on the planning and organizing of this part especially.









After some dancing, the garter and bouquet toss, and cake, the reception was, sadly, over. The party, however, was just beginning. We shuttled/ limoed over to Atlantic City and kept things going all night (or at least 5am for me).



I can’t even describe how much fun it was to celebrate with Christine and Ben. All I can say is, I was up for nearly 24 hours and I still wish the day had lasted longer. Congratulations, Krolls, enjoy visiting the Mouse!

Puffy Baby Quilt

I found this tutorial on how to make a puffy baby quilt on the Honeybear Lane blog and I knew I had to at least attempt this project. It looked like tons of fun and I figured it would make an excellent present for the baby in miss Amy's belly. So I headed to the fabric store and immediately bought some purple, yellow, and brown fabrics to make the pieces to the quilt. Luckily, I found out the next day that Amy was having a girl, phew! If you want to make a puffy quilt for yourself or someone special the tutorial can be found at these links: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. Here are my puffs pre-assembly:


And here are some finished product pictures:




I know baby Evan already likes his sister's blanket, so hopefully she will love it as well! Guess we'll find out December-ish?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mud Hen Bars

So, I've been experimenting with the recipe to-try pile and I came across these mud hen bars, which I had never heard anything about. Apparently it's a blondie bottom with goodies int he middle, and a meringue top. The ones I tried were peanut butter flavored so the blondie bottom was a peanut butter blondie, the center consisted of semisweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips, and the top was a brown sugar meringue. Here are some pictures of the finish product fresh out of the oven:



I must say, i think the meringue makes these obscenely sweet. If you have a fierce sweet tooth, these are for you! I would have preferred just the blondie bottom with perhaps the goodies mixed into the batter. Here is the recipe if you would like to experiment as well:

Peanut Butter Mud Hens (from Cookie Madness)

1/4c butter, softened
1/4c creamy peanut butter
1/4c sugar
3T + 1/2c brown sugar
1/4t vanilla
1 lg egg, divided
1/2c flour
1/4c chopped peanuts (I skipped these)
1/2c semisweet chocolate chips (I used my new Guittard chips!!!)
1/2c peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350F.
Beat together butter, peanut butter, sugar, 3T brown sugar, vanilla, and egg yolk. Add flour until just mixed. Stir in peanuts. Spread batter across bottom of grease 8" square pan.
Sprinkle chocolate chips and peanut butter chips evenly over batter.
Beat egg white until stiff peaks form. Bean in 1/2c brown sugar. Spread egg white mixture over chips and batter. Bake 25 minutes or until meringue is brown. Cool on wire rack for a few hours.

Mmmmm...Pumpkin!

My favorite season is easily Fall. With fall comes the leaves turning into a technicolor living masterpiece, the weather getting cool enough for jeans and maybe a sweatshirt but not yet singing your extremities with cold, and most importantly everything is pumpkin flavored. I looooooove pumpkin. I decided to get a jump start on the pumpkin and hope that maybe the Texas weather would follow my lead (fingers crossed!) My good friend Anders is leaving us for cooler weather and greener pastures in Seattle. So, since he will miss my fall baking this year, I baked chocolate pumpkin cupcakes for his going away party this past Saturday. They were pretty delicious but I think just full on pumpkin cupcakes with the chocolate chips would have been tastier (but then I'm a pumpkin-aholic). Here's a pic of one of these beauties:


I also made chocolate chunker cookies that I read about on The Cookie Scoop, but i forgot to take pictures of those. They were practically gone by the time I left the party, so I guess they were delicious. I'll post the recipe for these as well in case you want to try without first seeing pictures, be daring!

Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes (from The Cupcake Project)

1 1/2 c flour
1t cinnamon
2t pumpkin pie spice
1t baking soda
1/2t salt
1 1/2 c sugar
3/4c pumpkin puree (stock up now, it's already hard to find!)
2 lg eggs
1/2c vegetable oil
1/2c orange juice
4oz bittersweet chocolate, melted (I used 70% cocoa Ghirardelli)
1 1/4 c semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat to 350F

Whisk together flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Mix in the oil, orange juice, and melted chocolate. Slowly add the flour mixture until fully incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. fill cupcake foils 3/4 full, bake for 20-25 minutes.

Spiced Cream Cheese Icing

1 (8oz) brick cream cheese, softened
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1t vanilla
1T pumpkin pie spice
powdered sugar to preferred consistency

Beak cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in vanilla and pumpkin pie spice to taste. Add powdered sugar until you reach your desired consistency.


Chocolate Chunker Cookies (from The Cookie Scoop)

1/3c flour
1/4c cooca
1/2t salt
1/4t baking powder
3T unsalted butter
6oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used 70% cocoa Ghirardelli)
1oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped (I skipped this)
2 lg eggs
2/3c sugar
1t vanilla
6oz semisweet chocolate chips
6oz white chocolate chips
anything else you wanna throw in, nuts, raisins, etc

Preheat to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.
Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and unsweetened chocolate, stirring frequently. In large bowl beat eggs and sugar on high speed until they are pale and foamy. Beat in vanilla. On low speed, add melted chocolate/butter mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure the mixture is homogeneous. On low speed mix in the dry ingredients. Dough should be thick and shiny. Stir in your chocolate chips and any other add-ins. Drop generous tablespoons onto baking sheet, about 1" apart. Bake 10-13 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

Super Bored= Cooking Yummy Meals

Lately I've been pretty bored without a whole lot of soccer and no more roomie (seriously, what do you all who live alone do with your time?!?!), I've been spending a lot of time going through my 'recipes to try' pile. Last week I made some delicious summer pasta. It was suuuper delicious and lasted forever (love leftovers!). Here is a pic of the delicious dinner I enjoyed all last week:


I also finally tried the recipe I had for, quite possible, my favorite dessert from a restaurant: the Applebee's blondie. Now, I'm not really a fan of Applebee's food, but the blondie they serve sizzling on a cast-iron skillet has been quite possibly the best dessert I've ever eaten in a restaurant. Here is a naked blondie:


And here is the blondie with the delicious sauce and Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla ice cream:



Sooooo delicious, it was exactly as I remember it, such a great recipe find!

Summer Pasta

4 medium ripe tomatoes
1/4c thinly diced red onion
1T balsamic vinegar
6T extra virgin olive oil
1/4c chopped fresh basil
s&p freshly ground
1 lb curly pasta (I used girelle)
1pkg mozzarella pearls (or chopped ball of fresh mozzarella)

Chop tomatoes, red onion, and basil. Throw into a large bowl with the balsamic vinegar, olive oil and s&p. allow to marinate at room temperature for about an hour.

Add the mozzarella to the bowl. Cook the pasta according to the package. Drain pasta fully and add to bowl. Toss pasta until it is entirely covered. Serve!


Applebee's Blondie Dessert

Blondie:
1c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/8 t baking soda
1/8 t salt
1/2c chopped walnuts
1/3c butter
1c packed light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 T vanilla
1/2c white chocolate chips
Sauce:
3/8c maple syrup
1/4c butter
3/8c brown sugar
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 t vanilla

Preheat to 325F

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add chopped nuts, mix well.

Melt butter, add brown sugar and mix well in a large bowl. Add egg and vanilla, mix until completely incorporated. Add flour mixture, a little at a time, mixing well. Stir in white chocolate chips. Spread into an 8" square pan. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Sauce:
Combine syrup and butter, cook over low heat until butter is melted. Stir in brown sugar until dissolved. Remove from heat and beat in the cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Heat until desired consistency is achieved.

Serve blondies with sauce and ice cream. Enjoy!