09/23/2011 
As soon as Christmas is over, pumpkin leaves my life until Autumn. On this first weekend of said season, you can bet I’ll be roasting a pumpkin or two. I LOVE baking with pumpkin, so I am way familiar with roasting my own to get that amazing puree.
If you’ve never done it, you’re missing out! It’s so easy and so delicious. This is my method–
1. Chop off the top, then cut pumpkin in half from top to bottom & scoop out innards (save the seeds!)
2. Put face down in a baking dish with a bit of water to steam up & place in 350F oven for 45 minutes to an hour OR until you can pierce the skin easily with a fork.
3. Let it cool a bit, then peel off the outside skin and place in food processor or blender to puree.
4. Place in a strainer lined with cheesecloth over a bowl. This dries it up a bit–it can be super watery!
5. Use immediately, or place in storage bags to put in your freezer for later use. I suggest storing in 1 cup increments, as that’s usually how much you need in recipes.
Here are a few of my favorite pumpkin recipes and some that I plan on trying this Fall.
–The BEST Pumpkin Cupcake, posted here last year.
–Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
–Gluten Free Pumpkin Whoppie Pies
–Pumpkin Pie
Do you have any favorite pumpkin recipes? Sweet or savory, I’m interested!
12/16/2010 
There’s a family cookie exchange on Saturday, so I’m doing some testing. I have made thumbprint cookies almost every year since 2003. That’s 2 years before my motherhood. I’ve always been more of a baker than a cook. If I could provide cupcakes for breakfast and cookies for dinner, I would.
I also made some with raspberry jam, per my mother’s request.
Anyway, this year, I wanted something a little different. I decided to try my hand at ganache. Delicous, velvety, ganache heaven. I went with a bittersweet chocolate, so the flavor is very dark. I think it complements the cookie very well! I’ve always loved the flavor of dark chocolate, however, I am wondering if I could make the ganache with white chocolate, so that I could tint it red and make these more festive. Any thoughts on that?
Yum.
Are you baking any cookies for the holidays? I would love to browse recipes and/or baking blog posts!
11/01/2010 This is probably the least-Halloweenish cupcake ever (minus the awesome Martha Stewart cupcake liners I got on sale the day before)! However, it’s the only part of the day my husband requested. And not even directly. That guy can’t make a food decision to save his life! But he did say it was one of his favorites and I really wanted to try it, so I made them.
I originally planned to turn them into cute owls or scary werewolves, with candy and piped frosting and blah blah blah. I’m pretty gnarly at planning and ended up making the frosting while cooking dinner, so needless to say, I ran out of time. They still looked pretty sweet–
I got this recipe from my aunt. It’s the one she uses when she makes this enormous german chocolate bunny cake every Easter. It.is.scruuuuumptious!
Ingredients:
1 egg
5 1/3 oz can of evaporated milk
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
dash of salt
1 1/3 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions
In a saucepan, beat egg lightly. Stir in milk, sugar, butter, and salt. Cook and stir over medium heat for 12 minutes, or until thick and bubbly. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool thoroughly, then spread on cake (or cupcakes!)
I would double for layer cakes. I was only able to frost about 12-13 cupcakes.
If you try the recipe, I hope you like it! October had 2 cupcakes because I accidentally skipped a month somewhere! I’m all caught up and brainstorming ideas for November’s cupcake recipe. Any suggestions??
p.s.! don’t forget to enter my giveaway, lovelies!
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