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Opium used to be the big drug back in the day. I guess it was the crystal meth of the time, around the turn of the century/1920′s. It contains something like 12% morphine, and codeine & hydrocodone are derivatives of the same family of drug- hence the name opiates. It’s serious stuff. Laudanum was made from opium & alcohol & was used to treat a variety of stomach ailments fairly regularly back then. But in modern times, all we know about it is what we read from an Edgar Allan Poe story or William S. Burrough’s novels, not to mention glib pop culture references. We all remember that Seinfeld episode where Elaine’s urine test comes back positive for opium because she ate a poppy seed bagel, right? I always thought such a thing couldn’t happen, unless you eat 1,000,000 poppy seed bagels in one day. But I was wrong: eating poppy seed muffins, cakes or bagels can indeed land you in a heap of trouble. As a matter of fact, back in January of 2005, Anahad O’Connor wrote in the New York Times Science section that “eating just two poppy seed bagels heavily coated with seeds can result in morphine in a person’s system for hours, leading a routine drug test to come back positive… [therefore] because of this possibility, the federal government recently raised the threshold for opiates in workplace testing to 2,000 nanograms a milliliter, up from 300.” And by that reasoning, this cake could possibly get you fired from your job or make you lose custody of your kids. It’s loaded with poppy seeds. Loaded. Both in the cake itself and on top.

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Which is fine with me. I love me some poppy seeds. Poppy seed bagels are my favorite bagels ever. So when I was reading one of the (many, many, many, as you can see here) books I got for Christmas, Cake Ladies by Jodi Rhoden, and I saw this triple layer poppy seed cake with almond icing, I just had to make it. I never make cakes, as you probably know. This was an exception. It’s a huge cake: a pound of butter & a half-dozen eggs. But worth it. However… I ended up halving the recipe & making two dozen cupcakes instead. I know, I know.

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But it just seemed so big. So many eggs, so much butter, etc. And it is big, because if half the recipe makes two dozen cupcakes, the whole recipe must make FOUR DOZEN. That is huge. And crazy. And ¼ cup of poppy seeds is a lot of poppy seeds. It’s a wonder I didn’t get high off it. As far as the taste goes, they were pretty unique, I have to say. Very different, but I loved them. Cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, poppy seeds, almond extract & the tang from the vinegar-milk combination; all very subtle but what flavor! A surprisingly delicious winter cupcake. Moist cake filled with tons of warming spices, albeit subtle like I said, and then some crunch from the seeds. I topped them with the almond buttercream from the book and then some little flowers made of almond slices with poppy seeds for centers. Really cute, I thought. Next time, however, I’d make little red poppies out of fondant. ‘Cause that’d be doubly cute.

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Of course, I’m giving you the adapted cupcake version of the recipe that I made. For the full cake recipe, you’ll have to buy the book. Bwahahaha.

POPPY SEED CUPCAKES WITH ALMOND BUTTERCREAM ICING (adapted from a recipe by Lisa Goldstein of Celo, NC, from Cake Ladies by Jodi Rhoden)

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup honey
• 1 cup milk at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 ½ teaspoons pure almond extract
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• pinch salt
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• a pinch of ground cardamom
• ¼ cup poppy seeds

Icing:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened, room temperature
• 2 ½ – 3 cups confectioner’s sugar
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
• 2-3 tablespoons half-and-half (plus more if needed)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350° F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites together with the cream of tartar on high speed, until soft peaks form. Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl of the stand mixer, this time fitted with the paddle, cream the butter, sugar and honey together until light and fluffy. While beating on low speed, add egg yolks, one at a time. Beat after each addition. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, and beat again until the mixture is smooth, light and creamy.
3. In a glass measuring cup, combine the milk, vinegar and almond extract. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Add that mixture to the creamed butter mixture in three parts, alternating with the milk mixture, and mixing lightly but thoroughly between each addition, until ingredients are just combined.
5. Add the poppy seeds, folding them in by hand until combined. Quickly re-whisk the egg whites by hand if they’ve separated, then fold them into the batter gently, in three batches.
6. Add cupcake liners to muffin tins and fill each with batter, around two-thirds full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in each cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool 10 minutes in tins, then remove to wire rack. Cool thoroughly before frosting.
7. To make the icing, cream the butter and confectioner’s sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer until it makes a thick paste. add and combine the vanilla & almond extracts. Then add the half-and-half, one tablespoon at a time, blending on low speed until fully incorporated.
8. Add more if needed to achieve a creamy, fluffy consistency. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the paddle, bottom and sides of the bowl. Re-mix until no lumps remain.

Excuse the frosting job on the back left one; I was trying to find the best way of doing it

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They came out really rustic-looking. So much so I almost wish I had one of those cake stands made of an old tree. They’d be so sweet on one of those. Dammit, I wish I had one now! I’m going to have to get my hands on some cut down trees & get Jay to start cuttin’ it up! He’s a big, handy fella. He can do it. Why buy when you can DIY!

If you’re looking for a unique recipe to try, this is it. It’d be fabulous as a triple layer cake, too, of course. And in case you’re wondering, I got a lot of cookbooks for Christmas, so you’ll be seeing a lot of recipes from them in the coming months. And I’m not into New Year’s resolutions so they’ll be loaded with butter & eggs & sugar. I’ve got to maintain my girlish figure somehow.

And if poppy seeds don’t interest you, later on this week there’ll be a post featuring a giveaway I’m doing together with Yoyo from Topstitch, so keep your eyes peeled.

Photo: Mission Pie, San Francisco; credit: Dave Cook, Flickr

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So back before Thanksgiving, when I found out what the plans were/whose house it would be at & I was figuring out what to make & bring, I had a plan. My plan was that I was going to make two pies, hence the title of the post. Why was I going to make two pies, you ask? Well, a few reasons. One- I had recently acquired two new pie plates; one gorgeous Lola-pink 9″ pie plate from my wonderful friend Brianne (who sells Longaberger, the makers of the aforementioned pie plate which is no longer available in pink) and another beautiful eggplant-colored pie plate from Michael’s that I got for an obscenely low price. So low I won’t even tell you because you’ll hate me. But you see, the pink pie plate was important. It was especially important that I show it off properly. I ordered this cute little basketweave pink pie plate back in like, May or June, and I waited for it until October 30th… patiently. It was limited edition, immediately retired, the shipment was delayed & it was back-ordered & whatever else. And then it finally came & Brianne ever-so-kindly delivered it to me during a time when she was a bit otherwise preoccupied (her new house in Connecticut that her, her husband, her 3-year-old & her almost 2 month old newborn baby had literally just moved into was slammed by the freak October snowstorm & lost power for days). So this plate was a major thing for me. The other pie plate is lovely, and is a gorgeous color with a fluted ruffly edge, but it doesn’t match Lola or my website, so it doesn’t have as much significance. Anything that matches Lola is a must with me. My kitchen is not a masculine place, hah. Plus, being it was part of their breast cancer initiative, Horizon of Hope, & my mom is a survivor, the pink color has double significance.

Reason two for the pie dramatics: I like pie- not really fruit pies, but chocolate, Shoo-fly or creamy ones; like coconut cream, chocolate cream, etc. Those are the kinda pies I can get diggity down with. Just me, a pie, a fork & some whipped cream. And reason three? Because I have a ton of pie recipes that I’ve never made. For example, Nigella Lawson’s Girdlebuster Pie. Tell me you aren’t intrigued by the title alone! And there are tons more, some of which are very traditional, some not so much, and others slightly too complicated for an everyday pie. But nonetheless, I had these two pretty little pie plates & I so desperately wanted to use them. That said, I had all intentions of making two pies for Thanksgiving. But alas I did not. And why not? Because this one pie that I tested out in the few days before turkey day was so simple yet so amazing I couldn’t bear to make another. What was it? Maple syrup pie. MAPLE. SYRUP. PIE. Read it again: maple syrup pie. Thanks to that book by Patty Pinner that it came from, my pie-making life was changed. Seriously. This pie made me rethink my non-pie-making self. It took no time at all and yet there it was, smelling all fantastic &… maple-y. Like a Shoo-fly pie but maple. I’ve made some things from the book before (namely a lemon ice cream that was so creamy & delicious it was like frozen lemony perfection) but this is just… so crazily simple & yet so delicious. I just don’t even know. But… *sigh* …unfortunately, the pie didn’t photograph well, and didn’t last very long either, admittedly. It did taste like sticky, sweet, gooey heaven on a plate.

However… it just didn’t look very good in pictures. Actually it looked downright awful; kinda poo-ish. And I used the eggplant colored pie plate, so it was all kind of dark. If you’re a blogger who takes pictures of food you know things like shoo-fly pie, pecan pie, chocolate frosting & chocolate cookies are the hardest things to photograph well. Especially in bad lighting, and my kitchen sadly has horrid lighting. And on top of that, like I said, it definitely didn’t last long enough for me to attempt another photo shoot in better light. So I was on to my next (& newer) plan: another pie. I didn’t know what kind, yet, but I just knew I’d have to use these pie plates for something photogenic & post-able!

And so Halloween came & went. Then I made the maple syrup pie, then Thanksgiving passed, & no more pie. Two batches of cupcakes instead. Then it started to inch closer to Christmas, and still no pie. Cupcakes, gingerbread cookies, brownies, etc… but I still hadn’t found the perfect pie. I kinda stopped looking for one in all the holiday hubbub. The pie plates looked more & more lonely every day. And then… crustless cranberry pie came into my life.

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They say you find it when you’re not looking. Whatever “it” is.

See back before Christmas, Rosella, a friend of mine who I’ve known since freshman year of high school (which is far longer ago than I’d like to admit) had me & my mother over for coffee with her & her mom (& Rosella’s one year old baby, Giovanna). I know Rosella so long I remember when her niece was Giovanna’s age. I know her from back when we wore spike bracelets to school, when she dyed her hair green in her mom’s white bathroom sink & we “borrowed” her parents’ Infiniti to go joyriding a few too many times. I could mortify us both by posting a picture of us way back then but I won’t. And anyway, we’re talking about pie. So we all got together & Rosella served this crustless cranberry pie. Wow. SOLD. And I don’t even like cranberry. Forreals. Cranberry, almond, streusel… it was like a berry crumble-type thing. Like a coffee cake. Made in a pie plate. And it was so good. So that night I asked her for the recipe & she told me it was from AllRecipes.com! So I downloaded the app immediately. My faith in recipe websites has been restored.

CRUSTLESS CRANBERRY PIE (courtesy of Jean at All Recipes, with alterations)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons set aside for topping
• 1 cup white sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole fresh cranberries (or whole frozen)
• ½ cup sliced almonds, divided, half set aside for topping
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ cup butter, melted, plus 2 tablespoons butter just softened, set aside for topping
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° degrees F. Grease one 9″-inch pie pan (or 8″ x 8″ glass baking dish).
2. Combine the 1 cup flour, white sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the cranberries and half the almonds, and toss to coat. Stir in the ½ cup melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla and almond extracts. If you are using frozen cranberries, the mixture will be very thick. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
3. In a small bowl, mix the 2 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons softened butter, brown sugar & ¼ cup almonds together to make a streusel-like topping. Sprinkle mixture on top of pie.
4. Bake at 350° degrees F for 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean.

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This would be great with fresh blueberries in the summer, too. Or raspberries, or blackberries, or even chopped strawberries… with a bit of lemon zest. Totally adaptable. The original recipe calls for walnuts, but I took the advice of the commenters & went with almonds since that’s what Rosella did with her version, so if you prefer walnuts then that’s okay too. It’d probably be great in any capacity. I can even see it with a spoonful of fresh berry jam on it, or vanilla ice cream. Served warm or room temperature, with coffee, tea or cranberry ginger ale, it’s fantastic any way you like it. I scaled back the amount of cranberries from two cups to one, because I felt like one cup was just fine. Feel free to add the full two cups. But even if you don’t, and you end up with a practically full bag of cranberries, you can make tons of other neat cranberry stuff- amaretto cranberry sauce, pomegranate cranberry sauce, cranberry muffins (this recipe would work excellently in muffin form), cranberry bliss bars, etc. Or even make a second pie. I mean, this is a pie you can have for breakfast.

Photo: Lauretta Jean’s + Café Vélo, Portland; credit: Leela Cyd Ross

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It’s true- I had it for breakfast, around 10 a.m., that day at Rosella’s mom’s house. It’s a dessert, it’s a breakfast, it’s a pie, it’s a cake. It’s everything. So really, where have you been all my life, crustless cranberry pie? The dish that made me like cranberries. Sorta. I’m still not big on them, but this pie definitely made me rethink my almost 30-year long cranberry strike. I made it for my “second Christmas” yesterday & it was a massive hit. And in my beautiful pink pie plate! Squee. Best of all? This one was extremely photogenic. And I’m no master pie-maker, I’m totally more a cake-girl than anything else, but because this is more like a coffee cake you don’t have to be a master pie-maker! No pesky crust, no bothersome filling. Easy as 1-2-3. You don’t even have to make it in a pie plate. But when you have such a pretty one like I do, why not?

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Clearly the mathematical reference in the title is purely for satirical reasons. I failed math one semester in high school, it shames me to say. I got a whopping 35 on one of my math regents. I’m not bragging, and I am certainly not proud of it. I can’t help it though, I use the other side of my brain. I got a 90 on my History Regents, an 88 on Chemistry and a 92 on English. But you give me a math equation involving numbers & my mind shuts off. This doesn’t make baking difficult at all, though, because of a bevy of apps that provide me with the exact measurements & equivalents that I need, if I should need them (most of them I have memorized by now). I never thought I’d say it but my iPhone has made my life considerably easier, thank you Jay. So yes, I know the term 2πr, and that it means that the radius squared multiplied by pi (π) or 3.14 or ²²⁄₇, equals the circumference of a circle. However that’s where my knowledge ends. Don’t even ask about my problems with the Pythagorean Theorem. I was pretty decent at truth tables but linear pairs? Forget it. Yes, I pity my future children too; they will be seeking math homework help from the internet. Or iPad apps. But that’s okay, because they will be so insanely excellent in History & English they’ll really frighten you. As well as correct your grammar.

So really, I did make two pies. Just not at the same time, and nowhere near the same type. Pie(s) are squared.

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That little mickey on the right is my mom! Super cute, right? Anyway normally, this time of year, I do a kind of list of awesome baking/cooking/whatever-related presents, sorta like a (very brief) gift guide. But this year I just didn’t feel like it. Mainly because I had no ideas, but also because I just wasn’t digging it. So I’m sorry… but on the plus side, you get an extra recipe post out of it. And it just so happens to be jelly.

This jelly might frighten some of you. Or at least the mention of Red Hot candies that go in it might frighten you. But I assure you that it’s nowhere near as frightening as you think. The heat from the candy literally disappears & leaves a bright red, beautiful jelly that’s got an amazing cinnamon-apple flavor that kinda reminds me of not only candy apples but Apple Jacks cereal. And of course, it’s perfect for Christmas.

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I love Red Hots. But then again, I’m a big fan of anything spicy or “hot.” While I was making this jelly, I ate the entire rest of the bag of Red Hots, standing at the stove stirring the pot. Seriously.

But like I said above- what happens in that pot is magical. The “hot” of the Red Hots just goes away. You’re left with a fantastic cinnamon-apple jelly that’s sweet & not spicy. And of course, perfect for gift-giving. The color is just so beautiful. Really ‘candy apple red‘ and definitely has that candy apple taste.

Candy apple is made by coating an apple with a sugar layer.

The most common sugar coating is made from sugar, corn syrup, water, cinnamon and red food coloring. The sugar syrup is created by boiling the ingredients in a saucepan. The liquid should reach about 300 °F (150 °C) on a candy thermometer. Dip the apple with the sugar in the “hard crack” stage. The sugar will harden within an hour.

Humid weather prevents the sugar from hardening.^[3]

Jelly apples, found in New York’s Coney Island area, are related but have a soft candy (“jelly“) coating and a cherry flavor, not cinnamon. Some have sprinkles on them or coconut.

It’s stupid easy to make this, too. If you’ve got any canning experience at all, you can do it blindfolded. Maybe not literally, we don’t want any hot sugar accidents. Of course, as usual, I write this assuming you have full knowledge of home-canning procedures & safety measures, etc. If you don’t, or if you’re new to it, then please take a minute to read through the USDA’s National Center for Home Food Preservation’s website on it before starting. This happens to be incredibly easy to make, and there’s no concern about the acid/sugar levels in it, but if you’re a newbie it’s always good to do your research first.

CANDY APPLE JELLY (Betsy Porter’s recipe from AllRecipes.com)

Makes about 6 half-pint jars

Ingredients:

• 4 cups apple juice
• ½ cup red-hot candies
• 1 (1.75 ounce) package powdered fruit pectin
• 4 ½ cups sugar

Directions:

1. In a large kettle, combine apple juice, candies and pectin.
2. Bring to a full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar; return to a full rolling boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Remove from the heat; skim off any foam and undissolved candies. Pour hot liquid into hot jars, leaving ¼-in. headspace. Adjust caps. Process for 5 minutes in a boiling-water bath.

Gorgeous & simple. All of my candies dissolved so I didn’t need to skim any off. I will say though that my jelly took a day or two to set because I used liquid pectin (at least I think that’s why), but ultimately it did set beautifully. I suggest using the powdered as the recipe asks for, just to simplify your life. I like to make things difficult for myself. Life is hard when you’re a rebel.

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Once they were set, sealed & cooled, I made the cutest little ‘jar cozies’ out of red polka dot wool. Kinda like the jelly jar’s version of a Christmas sweater, haha. Then I tied ribbons & Christmas charms on it, printed up pretty labels for the top and safety-pinned a label to it describing what’s inside. I think they look perfectly suited to this time of year. I can’t wait to give them as gifts. But for now, maybe I’ll have some on toast… and I heard using it as the jelly in a PB&J is delightful, if you’re into that kinda thing. I am not. Speaking of pimping my preserves, Pimp That Preserve 2011 is officially on! So if you’re so inclined, get your booty over to the Well Preserved FB page, go to the album for Pimp That Preserve 2011 & vote for my jars! I entered two- my amaretto cranberry sauce & a champagne jelly (that won’t be posted for some time yet, sorry!), so go take a peek. It’s super easy, just click ‘like’ to vote for a particular jars’ decorations *ahem*mine*ahem* No seriously, you can vote for whoever you like, there are some awesome entries!

I decided this year would be a practically 100% homemade gift year for me. Meaning very few people will get anything bought, if any. I myself, while having tons of ‘wants’ & things I lust for, most of which is totally unnecessary or extravagant… I don’t need anything. And I know that I’ll get some things that I don’t need anyway, & I’ll love them. It’s just part of my attempt to try & be simpler & more noble, I guess. Eh. Whatever. I wouldn’t be turning down any Le Creuset or Tiffany’s, you can bet on that.

Are you hoping for anything special from the big guy in the red suit on Christmas Day?

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When I was little, my Aunt Winnie bought me a book called the A Perfectly Irregular Christmas Tree. It told the story of a little tree that grew to become the tall, beautifully lit Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center, and at the back of the book, it told the story of the origins of the tradition. Ever since then, I’ve been totally in love with the concept. Not that I wasn’t before that… but it wasn’t until that book that I really even thought about it. It was sort of like I just assumed the tree was always there or something. I know, silly, but come on, I was like, what, 7 years old?

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Basically there’s a very important history behind the origins of that big ol’ tree, and not many people know it.

Although the official Christmas tree tradition at Rockefeller Center began in 1933 (the year the 30 Rockefeller Plaza opened), the unofficial tradition began during the Depression-era construction of Rockefeller Center, when workers decorated a smaller 20 feet (6.1 m) balsam fir tree with “strings of cranberries, garlands of paper, and even a few tin cans” on Christmas Eve (December 24, 1931), as recounted by Daniel Okrent in his history of Rockefeller Center.^[10] Some accounts have the tree decorated with the tin foil ends of blasting caps. There was no Rockefeller Center Christmas tree in 1932.

The decorated Christmas tree remains lit at Rockefeller Center until the week after New Year’s Day, when it is removed and recycled for a variety of uses. In 2007, the tree went “green,” employing LED lights.^[11] After being taken down, the tree was used to furnish lumber for Habitat for Humanity house construction.^[12]

Anyway, in addition to all that New Yorker-ish stuff about me, I also love to bake, as is evidenced by this blog. And occasionally I get an urge to do so randomly, or I get inspired by something. So it happened one night that I wanted to make some frosted (or iced?) cookies, and I got the idea that they just had to be gingerbread. I had a few recipes already, stashed in cookbooks or ripped from magazines, most of which were supposedly awesome, but I thought I’d check Twitter & see if anyone had any they really liked. Gabrielle from The Punk Housewife responded super quick with a vegan version from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero.

Now, I’m not vegan. I’ve made awesome vegan cupcakes before, and even made a dip entirely with vegan-friendly cheese & other non-dairy products (which I can’t say I’d do again, really). I have no problems with vegans or anything, but I myself can’t do it. I have a hot, dirty love affair with butter & cheese… & I like it. So I don’t usually have things like soy milk on hand, & if I’m going to bake something I’m usually going to go “whole hog” so to speak. However, by sending me that recipe she gave me a sort of kick in the pants to use that recipe as inspiration & then build on it with a few non-vegan tweaks. Sure, I could’ve just made it by substituting the soy milk with regular, but where’s the fun in that?! Basically, it forced my hand to do my own little gingerbread cookie thang. And that’s just what I did. So thank you, Gabrielle! I totally de-veganized that puppy. I made up my own little gingerbread cookie recipe as I went along, and then what did I do with that dough? I cut out little trees, as my homage to the big 74-foot guy in Rockefeller Center who just so happened to be having a little party & “lighting” in his honor last week. Of course mine weren’t lit- but they were all iced up with some royal icing & sprinkles.

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Yeah, at this time of year EVERYONE makes cookies, especially gingerbread, & everyone seems to be in on the “fancy royal icing decorating” craze now as well. But I’m not aiming to be like everyone else, so hopefully mine are not only perfectly imperfect (more on that in a bit), but unique.

GINGERBREAD COOKIES CUPCAKE REHAB-STYLE

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg
• ½ cup molasses (I personally like Brer Rabbit full flavor, even though that & Grandma’s are now owned by the same company)

Directions:

1. Unroll a fairly large piece of plastic wrap & sprinkle lightly with flour. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice & ginger together in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Add egg & molasses one at a time to butter/sugar mixture, beating after each until combined.
4. Add flour mixture gradually, until a sticky dough forms. Form dough into a ball the best you can & place on plastic wrap, rolling it up tightly. Chill for anywhere from 1 hour to overnight (but no longer than that).
5. Remove dough from fridge & if too firm, let sit for 20-25 minutes before rolling out. The dough will be quite sticky, so have flour on hand. Preheat oven to 350° degrees F, meanwhile roll out onto lightly floured surface to about ¼ – ½” thick. Using cookie cutters, cut out shapes & using a thin spatula, carefully place onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (they will be very soft!!! BE CAREFUL HERE). Re-roll the scraps left over until you haven’t got enough left to use, then just lay the pieces on the sheet (they make for nice nibbles later while you’re decorating your cookies).
6. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven & allow to cool on the sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

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ROYAL ICING

Ingredients:

• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tablespoons milk or water
• 4 tablespoons meringue powder

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. If too thick, add more liquid, if too thin, add more sugar. Add food coloring as desired. Ta-da!

There are tons of different recipes for royal icing- some include pasteurized egg whites, some using regular old egg whites, some meringue powder, some just cream of tartar. Any of them work just fine as long as they’re the right consistency for what you’re using it for; i.e. outlines, flooding, etc. This particular recipe can be halved, quartered, doubled, tripled, etc. to suit your needs.

So once these babies are 100% cool, you can decorate them all fancy-like using that royal icing there. I obviously made little trees, so I decorated them like trees (duh). You can make anything from snowflakes to bells to holly to whatever. And then just decorate them using the icing & top it with quins, jimmies, sanding sugar, dragees- anything! The icing part can be a bit tricky if you’re not used to it. I’ve been icing cookies with royal icing since my mom made gingerbread & sugar cookies when I was a kid & let me decorate them. Now, I’m far from an expert on this, my main decorating niche lies within the cupcake sphere, so I’ll leave the explanation of how to decorate/frost cookies like a pro to Marian at Sweetopia who really is the expert. She not only does it way better than I do, but her explanation of how to decorate the cookies is probably way better than I could write. Not that mine came out terrible… I mean they’re cute, fairly neat & most importantly they taste great. So they’re not perfect, they’re ‘perfectly irregular’; like the tree in the book. But thats totally cool with me. I’m not perfect either. What in the world is perfect, exactly?

Well, cookies & tea are pretty damn close.

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Amazing. There is nothing, NOTHING like a good cookie. I have to say I really, really loved these. I had like 8 of these the first night, with a cup of Licorice Spice tea. So after that one batch of trees were such a success, the next night I made some little Christmas wreaths. I used green royal icing this time, along with red tie-dyed looking marzipan for the bows, and some round pink sprinkles in different sizes that Lyns sent me back in October. I wasn’t 100% pleased with how these came out though. I think I like the trees better. Oh well. It was a cute concept, poor execution.

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It was almost disgusting how good they were. The dough is very soft. VERY. Which admittedly can make it very hard to work with. It will definitely be a tricky dough, but the flavor is so amazing & perfect, and the texture is also so amazing & perfect, it’s well worth it. Just right for a cold December night while looking at how pretty your tree looks under a blanket on the couch. The best chewy gingerbread cookie I’ve had in a while; not hard as a rock & teeth-breaking, not flavorless nor overpowering. They’re just the right amount of soft, sweet & spicy.

But at this time of year, you can’t keep ‘em all to yourself. Or rather you can… at the risk of being compared to Ebenezer Scrooge. I prefer to share the wealth (to an extent). I put them in a little box (originally a cupcake box, I just removed the insert) courtesy of Bake-A-Box that was perfect for showing them off. And how cute is that gingerbread ornament?

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As if you haven’t noticed, I’ve been including vintage postcards at the bottom of all my holiday posts. This one is just so pretty I had to share it, plus it’s eerily perfectly appropriate for this post; it’s a big, beautiful tree & the baubles on it look just like the ones on my cookie wreaths.

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So am I going bananas? Not really. Well, kinda. I guess I’m sorta going bananas. Between the holidays, blogging & getting myself together “in real life” I’m kinda pulled in a million directions lately. And truth be told, it’d be nice if this horrendous cold/flu/whatever it is I have went away for good, & took the lingering cough/malaise with it. Not only all that- but where has the time gone?! I feel like Sleeping Beauty; as if I fell asleep in July, after canning fresh fruit & veggies & sweating my ass off… & woke up to Thanksgiving being over & the temperature dipping down to the 30′s at night. Strange. But my saving grace in life is staying busy, enjoying the little things & the sad truth that food rules my life; put those together & no matter what happens you’ve got a broad who’s cookin’ something up. So this blog will never see a lull in posts, hah.

And of course, I like to try unique things. And banana jam sounded pretty unique. Not only that, but bananas are good for ya (thanks, Wikipedia!):

Bananas are an excellent source of vitamin B6 and contain moderate amounts of vitamin C, manganese and potassium.

Along with other fruits and vegetables, consumption of bananas may be associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer and in women, breast cancer and renal cell carcinoma.

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This particular recipe was something I stumbled on coincidentally after realizing my bananas had once again turned dark brown & spotty. My mind started to click through recipe ideas. See, I hate throwing good food or fruit away, especially when it still has delicious potential. Yet I didn’t feel like banana bread, I couldn’t even fathom banana ice cream & I was too tired for making muffins, so luckily this recipe found its way onto my laptop screen one dark, chilly, quite frozen evening at about 11 p.m. However, I didn’t actually open it to use it until the next day. In case you’re wondering, that’s Pepperidge Farm cinnamon swirl bread, toasted, accompanying it. But I guarantee you it will be equally stellar on whole wheat or white toast, pancakes, or vanilla ice cream. Or now that I think about it, bran muffins, too… or a spoonful on top of oatmeal.

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BANANA BROWN SUGAR BUTTER/JAM (adapted very slightly from Neo-Homesteading)

Makes 1 8-oz. jar

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas, the riper the better
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. In a small pot combine banana, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, lime juice and butter.
2. Whisk over medium heat for 5-8 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved and the the banana has softened. Adjust the heat as necessary to prevent burning. Using the whisk thoroughly smoosh the banana.
3. Once the mixture is smooth-ish, you are simply thickening without burning. The mixture will bubble 3-4 minutes over medium heat and it should be about ready at this stage. Refrigerate and use within one to two weeks.

Note: I did indeed say this recipe makes ONE 8-ounce jar. You may halve it to make a 4-ounce jar, or double it, but being I’ve done neither I can’t vouch.

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AMAZEBALLS. Super rich, buttery & caramel-y ’cause of the brown sugar. Holy crap. If you like bananas, this is a must-make for you. The only downside? Banana can’t be canned safely (unless you’ve got a pressure canner), so it has to be eaten pretty quick. But if you make a small batch, 4-8 ounces, that should be fine. Especially for a brunch date or something, where more than just one person will be having it. Maybe for a Christmas morning brunch, maybe even for an afternoon tea. Speaking of Christmas, it seems it’ll be here before we know it! Jeez, seriously, is it just me or does it seem like just last week it was June?

This has a very home-y flavor, sweet & kinda rustic. Reminds me of a fall morning, a fireplace going at a nice blaze & old family photos.

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That photo is so important to me because it’s the only photo that I have of my great-grandmother as a young woman. She’s all the way on the right, holding my grandmother in her lap, and the woman next to her is my great-great-grandmother. I’m lucky to have pictures like this, and I know that. This time of year especially it’s important to remember family & the generations before you, even if it’s only by doing a holiday tradition that’s been passed down through the years. As my Christmas tree goes up this week, & I start to put up my lights & garlands, I’m struck by that. How each generation of my family has done the same thing before me. I can trace parts of my family back to the 1100′s & that’s the one thing that can humanize them & make them relatable to me when they’re just names/dates on paper- that they all celebrated Christmas, albeit in very different ways, & loved their families. So time goes on and the generations go on… and at some point, we’re all just special, cherished photographs on a wall.

Well that was fucking cheerful. Sorry. Have some banana jam & you’ll cheer right up. Anyway, like I said- I personally can’t believe it’s almost December, let alone almost 2012, can you?

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See here’s the deal: I don’t just bake or make edible stuff for Thanksgiving or Christmas. My mixer isn’t pulled out for the holidays then covered up again for another year; she’s in a place of honor where she belongs. I always have a variety of flours & sugars, not to mention honey, sprinkles, buttermilk and unsalted butter in the house at all times. I’ve got cookie cutters that are discolored & well-worn, not brand new & shiny. I have baking pans & cookie sheets out the ass, most of which have seen better days. I have plastic bins overflowing with muffin & cupcake liners for every day of the week let alone season. I have Mason jars & lids stashed everywhere & there’s liquid pectin in my fridge. I’m a full-on, from-scratch baker/cook/canner, 12 months out of the year. I make time to bake & make homemade food & confections every week, because it’s not only enjoyable but also because it’s important to me. It keeps me happy, well-fed and most importantly sane. So I have recipes bookmarked (both on Firefox & literally bookmarked in books), earmarked, cut-out of magazines & taped to notebooks, some even stored in the “notes” section on my iPhone. They’re everywhere. I get them in e-mails from family members, on Facebook, on Twitter (or I should say via Twitter, since fitting a recipe in 140 characters is kinda hard) and more. Both virtual copies & hard copies. They’re stashed all over my house from the bedroom to the kitchen to the living room. I have notes on the calendar about them, memos in my phone about them, and reminders on my laptop. I spend my spare moments before I fall asleep searching the internet for things like whiskey-pickle recipes or unique ways to use up dried cranberries. Insane? No. It’s entirely possible that people who don’t do that are far more insane than I am. Because of the fact that it keeps me sane.

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Anyway while I bake a lot, and make a lot of cupcakes… I wanted to make an extra special batch of cupcakes for this Thanksgiving, and I do think these fit the bill. I toasted the frosting & I think that just adds to it. Of course, I can’t have one yet because they’re all for tomorrow- but I tasted some batter & OH MY GOD. I don’t even like sweet potatoes & that’s some good shit.

Jay will be home from Texas for turkey day, too, which is an added bonus. I’m picking him up from La Guardia in a couple of hours, after a long day of baking & packing up food. Mi familia will be together tomorrow & stuff our faces full of that food, & that’s just the way it should be. This Thanksgiving is the first one I’m, or we’re, celebrating without my grandma. It’s rough, and I know Christmas will be tougher still. But she wouldn’t want me to complain or be sad. She loved the holidays, & so I’m doing my best to celebrate her memory as well as each holiday. This Thanksgiving we’ll all raise our glasses of wine & toast to Aggie, and of course Uncle Pat, and at the same time be thankful for all we do have & that includes family, and of course for me it includes these two sweet little faces…

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SWEET POTATO CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• pinch of salt
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup canned whole sweet potatoes (unsweetened), mashed
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° degrees F. Line twelve 2 ½-inch muffin cups with paper bake cups; set cups aside.
2. In medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt; set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition until combined. Add sweet potatoes and vanilla, beating until combined. Add flour mixture; beat until combined (batter will be thick).
4. Divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake about 20 minutes or until tops spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on wire rack for 1 minute. Remove from pan and cool completely.

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SEVEN-MINUTE FROSTING

Makes about 4 cups, plenty of frosting for 12-18, possibly even 24 cupcakes, depending on how high you frost!

Directions:

1. Combine ¾ cup sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230° degrees.
2. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add remaining tablespoon sugar, beating to combine.
3. As soon as sugar syrup reaches 230° degrees, remove from heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use immediately.

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Just remember: you really do need a stand mixer for this frosting. Unless you have Incredible Hulk muscles & don’t mind standing there beating egg whites until stiff for possibly 15-20 minutes or more and then beating the hot frosting itself for 7+ minutes by hand. However, you can make a marshmallow frosting using Fluff that’s awesome too, and tastes similar (a bit sweeter) & can be toasted as well.

And of course I boxed them up in Bake-A-Box boxes. The liners are greaseproof natural, unbleached liners from Layer Cake Shop. I bought the fall leaves from Sugar Robot on Etsy. They’re paper… but they’re edible! How awesome is that?! Supposedly they taste like vanilla. We’ll see. Oh, and those other cupcakes are cinnamon-vanilla (recipe here) with a vanilla frosting in plain white liners for the finicky among us who perhaps won’t eat the sweet potato cupcakes. These have little vintage-inspired turkey toppers on ‘em.

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Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful day tomorrow, even those of you who don’t celebrate it for whatever reason. Enjoy your friends & families, & pets. I hope that you’ll consider a donation to help feed someone who can’t feed themselves tomorrow, or if you’re able to you’ll volunteer at a shelter or food bank or soup kitchen. But at the very, very least, please make a $5 or $10 donation to the ONE campaign, Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, or Share Our Strength. Please think about those less fortunate than you, when you’re “counting your blessings” tomorrow.

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So, I bought these really cute fall leaf sugar decorations & I wanted to use them desperately, and what else would I use them on but cupcakes!? Cute little fall cupcakes that are dark chocolate cupcakes, spiced with cinnamon & cayenne pepper topped with brown butter frosting. Simple, but let’s be honest, I just made them to use the little leaves. Yes, I made cupcakes just to use decorations I bought.

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But in all fairness, it’s fall! I was so inspired by the fall colors in the table runner & the icing leaves, not to mention the gorgeous fall leaves outside my window.

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So I had to. I really did. Despite the fact that I’ve been baking so much lately (& cooking) that I think by December 1st, Jay will have to roll me down the stairs & into the car… or possibly just roll me down the street like a not-as-blue-but-just-as-round-Violet Beauregarde. Yeah. Despite that, I had to make them. And of course, I had to do the brown butter thing. Jay’s leaving tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. for San Antonio, Texas. He doesn’t get any cupcakes as punishment for leaving me & going off to do cool stuff without me. Alas, someone has to do the dirty work around here- baking, cooking, etc. We can’t all be rock stars; some of us have to rock out the kitchen instead of the stage. At least he’ll be home by Thursday!

What was I saying? Brown butter, that’s right. Brown butter is so amazing. If you’ve never had it, you need to make it immediately. I’m not kidding. It’s a game changer; a sweet, caramel-y, soft, kind of burnt taste that is sublime in frosting. You’ll want to frost every cupcake you make with it. Great with caramel, vanilla, chocolate, spice cake, malted milk cake, apple cake, just about anything/everything. It’s basically perfect. I’ve used it before on cream soda cupcakes & that was heavenly.

DARK CHOCOLATE SPICE CUPCAKES

Makes 12 cupcakes

Get these ingredients:

• ¼ cup Hershey’s® Special Dark unsweetened cocoa powder (or another dark cocoa powder of your choice)
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup whole milk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

Then you should:

1. Preheat oven to 350º degrees F. Line a 12-count cupcake tin with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together cocoa powder, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, flour, salt and baking powder. In another bowl whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla, milk and vegetable oil. Gradually whisk flour mixture into sugar mixture. Mix until thoroughly incorporated.
3. Fill cupcake liners ⅔ 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 pan, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Frost only when completely cool.

BROWN BUTTER FROSTING

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 4 cups powdered or confectioner’s sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• dash of salt

Directions:

1. For brown butter, in saucepan heat ½ cup butter over medium-low heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes; cool thoroughly. Using a fine mesh sieve, strain the butter so that any large burned fat solids aren’t included in the frosting. Fine specks are expected & totally fine, though.
2. In bowl, beat the other ½ cup softened butter with mixer on medium 30 seconds. Add cooled brown butter; beat until combined.
3. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and dash salt. Beat in 1 to 2 tablespoons half-and-half, use more if needed until spreadable. Use frosting immediately. If frosting begins to set up, stir in a small amount of boiling water.

Probably wasn’t a good idea to use black liners & take the pictures on a black runner, but I did like how they matched

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The ‘use immediately’ thing is 100% true. The nature of this frosting is that it sets up fairly quick. That can be a pain in the ass at times, but it’s well worth it.

I absolutely love brown butter frosting, I can’t say enough about it & I’d love it on just about any cake or cupcake or cookie. But on these it’s especially delicious. The cupcakes are like a Mexican hot chocolate-type of flavor, which I love, not to mention incredibly moist. Combine all that with the brown butter flavor & it’s just amazing… it’s so warming & fall-like. A great Thanksgiving cupcake. And don’t be scared of the cayenne! I promise you, it adds a slight warmth (or heat) but it won’t make you run for the hills. So many people are afraid of using cayenne or chili powder in their baked goods, but I’m telling you, when mixed with chocolate & cinnamon- it’s mind blowing.

And in true holiday form, as per usual, here’s the Thanksgiving tree in all her glory!

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For those of you who are unaware, my mom puts up a tree for every holiday. I post pictures of them with one of my holiday posts; it starts after Christmas with her white winter tree, then Valentine’s, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, etc. Most recently I posted the Halloween tree. They’re usually the same though, year to year, with just a few changes- new ornaments, perhaps some new lights or ribbon, etc. It’s a fun tradition I always look forward to.

One thing that will be different is I won’t be hosting Thanksgiving this year, so for once I won’t be doing all the cooking! I will, however, be doing the baking. I do look forward to sharing those baked goods with you next week, but in the meantime, go make these cupcakes. Seriously.

Each year, this particular time of the season is my favorite. I love fall weather, when it’s cool but not too cold yet (well, usually, this year we had snow before Halloween), the leaves are changing (again, usually, not so much this year), and of course Halloween & Dia de Los Muertos. The Mexican Day of the Dead has always been a holiday I’ve appreciated. The concept of it is one I think more Americans should embrace.

Dia de los Muertos is a traditional Meso-American holiday dedicated to the ancestors; it honors both death and the cycle of life. In Mexico, neighbors gather in local cemeteries to share food, music, and fun with their extended community, both living and departed. The celebration acknowledges that we still have a relationship with our ancestors and loved ones that have passed away.

- source

This year it especially hits home for me. Halloween marked the beginning of a long season of “first holidays” without my grandmother. My grandmother loved Halloween, as did her mother before her. And ever since I was a child, my Nana told me about All Saints’ Day/All Souls’ Day. She told me about all the superstitions her Irish grandmother & mother told her as a child. And those two holidays have a big tie-in with Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). The main difference being the Irish are very melancholy, sad and superstitious about it, whereas the Mexican view is much more celebratory: celebrating the dead AND the living, and reflecting but not being regretful. I love that! I’m not religious, not particularly spiritual, yet I find this to be a wonderful “holiday” that most Americans get totally wrong but could really, genuinely learn from. I also love the tradition of going to the cemetery & cleaning up & sprucing up the graves, decorating them & making them beautiful. Too many Americans forget about their deceased ancestors remains, and don’t bother to ever “visit” them… and trust me, the “Perpetual Care” you pay for ain’t so perpetual. Not only that, but opening yourself up to another culture & it’s traditions is so amazing. You learn so much, & not just about yourself.

Anyway, one of the most famous images of the Day of the Dead, aside from the sugar skull, is the Catrina, or the female skeleton. Popularized in 1913 by José Guadalupe Posada in a print/zinc etching he created of a figure he called La Calavera de la Catrinas or La Calavera Catrina.

© José Guadalupe Posada

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On that same note, one of my favorite artists, Sylvia Ji, paints a lot of Catrina-themed women. I just adore her work and I think they’re so beautiful. The Catrina or Calavera is another aspect of Dia de los Muertos that makes me love it. I’m so inspired by these, as well as the imagery of Dia de los Muertos.

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Last year I made tres leches coconut cupcakes for Dia de los Muertos with little hand-painted sugar skulls. I still think they were completely amazing & adorable… but I didn’t want to repeat the same thing this year; I hate reruns. I wanted to do something a bit different. My friend Xenia asked me for my grandmother’s photo to add to her altar which was chosen for Noche de Altares (A Night of Altars), an event in Santa Ana that takes place tomorrow, November 5th. I was flattered that she would think of me… but also it gave me the bug. So I thought it was a great idea to make my own! It was a very small & simple one, but I think it served the purpose. I used the traditional marigolds, but some chrysanthemums too. So here are some pictures of my altar, and once the event is over I’ll add the pictures of Xenia’s as well, or a link to her post about it.

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It’s just a small, simple altar, but I think it’s beautiful. Represented in the altar: my grandmother Agnes & grandfather Clarence, my great-great-grandmother Winifred Mackin, her daughter Mary & husband Thomas Rooney, my other great-great-grandmother Frances Hebrank & her husband Henry Sonnanburg, my great-uncle Pat, my great-aunt Winnie & her husband Sam Prybuski, my uncle Kenny, my great-aunt Eleanor Sonnanburg & her husband Frank Rooney, and my great-uncle Jack Sonnanburg; all deceased. I think it’s a gorgeous tribute. So in addition to creating my own altar this year, I also made Pan de Muerto. My grandma loved my baking, and my uncle Pat couldn’t eat a lot of sugar or carbs, being a diabetic, so as my offering to them this Day of the Dead, I thought this was appropriate on so many levels. Plus, it’s a day for celebrating life too, and what’s more celebratory than baking delicious bread & enjoying it!?

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PAN DE MUERTO (BREAD OF THE DEAD) (from Look What We Brought You From Mexico! by Phyllis Shalant)

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup (half a stick) margarine or butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 package active dry yeast
• ¼ cup very warm water
• 2 eggs
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, unsifted
• ½ teaspoon anise seed
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons sugar

Directions:

1. Bring milk to boil and remove from heat. Stir in margarine or butter, ¼ cup sugar and salt.
2. In large bowl, mix yeast with warm water until dissolved and let stand 5 minutes. Add the milk mixture.
3. Separate the yolk and white of one egg. Add the yolk to the yeast mixture, but save the white for later. Now add flour to the yeast and second egg. Blend well until dough ball is formed.
4. Flour a pastry board or work surface very well and place the dough in center. Knead until smooth. Return to large bowl and cover with dish towel. Let rise in warm place for 90 minutes. Meanwhile, grease a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Knead dough again on floured surface. Now divide the dough into fourths and set one fourth aside. Roll the remaining 3 pieces into “ropes.”
6. On greased baking sheet, pinch 3 rope ends together and braid. Finish by pinching ends together on opposite side. Divide the remaining dough in half and form 2 “bones.” Cross and lay them atop braided loaf.
7. Cover bread with dish towel and let rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix anise seed, cinnamon and 2 teaspoons sugar together. In another bowl, beat egg white lightly.
8. When 30 minutes are up, brush top of bread with egg white and sprinkle with sugar mixture, except on cross bones. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

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I made mine a bit differently. I used about a ½ teaspoon anise extract in the actual dough, seeing as how I had no anise seed. I used 100% butter, not margarine. Also, obviously, I made my bread in a round shape and covered it with a rough-shaped cut-out dough skull & crossbones. Of course, as the bread bakes & rises the shapes don’t exactly stay together but I think that adds to it. You can also paint the dough or color parts of it using food coloring. The anise didn’t make it overwhelmingly “licorice-y” at all, so don’t be afraid to do it. It actually was so subtle, I could barely taste it. I put this bread in the ‘quick & easy’ category because I was surprised at how simple it was to make. I think it definitely makes things easier if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, however. The crumb of the bread was fantastic, too.

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I hope all my family had a wonderful Day of the Dead, wherever they are in the great beyond. Maybe they came to pay a visit & saw my altar for them.

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“As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well used brings happy death.” Leonardo da Vinci

This post is not particularly Halloween-y, but it is very fall-related (the apples, the caramel, whatever & whatnot, etc). Not exactly horror movie stuff. It also does not contain a recipe, just a link to a recipe. Despite all that though, it does contain an important lesson. It’s also pretty funny, so I suggest you read it all; especially if you want a laugh (at my expense, admittedly).

Okay so, I’m far from perfect. Even though I say I am & act like I am most of the time, I’m aware that in reality I am not. I lack patience, I get frustrated easily if things aren’t going 100% smoothly, I can lose interest if it’s not going quickly enough for me and sometimes, just sometimes… I get distracted by pets/music/television/my iPhone/Jay/my reflection in the microwave/a mug of delicious coffee/shiny objects, etc. I admit this. But how could this sleeping cuteness not distract me, I ask you?

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Also, I don’t know everything. I know that. Despite acting as if I am in fact the smartest person alive, I know there are things I don’t know. So yeah, I’m aware I’m not all-knowing and I am not perfect. And you should know that, too. If you’re coming here looking for perfection, or someone who’s all-knowing… keep on clicking, ’cause that person doesn’t blog here. The person who blogs here is a rebellious, at times indifferent, at times rushed, at times ill-prepared person who just so happens to love baking, cooking, canning, preserving, and all things culinary in terms of it being a “hobby”, or much-beloved stress reliever (although I will not deny the fact I’d love my own bakery, I’m aware of the difficulties & realities of it). I am not a chef, I was never trained at a Le Cordon Bleu culinary school, I have no excuse for why I think I should have a blog like this. I just know what I love to do, and as far as baking goes (and cooking, too, but that’s pretty easy)- I’m pretty fucking awesome. I rock hard at cupcakes, my ice creams are phenomenal, my stuffed shells/lasagna/macaroni & cheese dishes are legendary, my risotto is never gummy & my frosting skill cannot be beaten. I’ve made homemade pasta without a machine that was perfection. All that, I can do in my sleep.

Canning… I’m new at. Relatively. I only started in July, so I can hardly be called anything but a newbie. I knew that my first few amazing attempts at canning would be marred by an epic failure. I’ve made amazing pickles, awesome jams, fantastic preserves, much-requested marmalades, super jellies, etc. So I knew that nobody could have that much good luck when first beginning anything. The bottom had to fall out, the other shoe had to drop, all those cliches. I knew I’d probably end up with moldy pickles or a watery jelly at some point. Except I really did end up lucking out this time, even with my “failure”- turns out, caramel apple syrup that was supposed to be a caramel apple jam isn’t so bad after all.

Cute little mistake…

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See this is what happened: I found a recipe I wanted to make, and obviously given this time of year, I had a bunch of apples; particularly some firm but soft-spot apples (two Granny Smith, two Gala, and one who’s sticker came off so I have no idea) that I wanted to use up and of course, there were a few sad, empty Ball® jars looking lonely. So I said, “Self, we’re going to make this nice, fall-like recipe known as caramel apple jam.” Apparently, myself and my “self” were not on the same page. I was doing about 300 other things at the same time- washing apples, peeling apples, coring apples, dicing apples, sterilizing jars & lids, measuring spices, finding the brown sugar, drinking coffee, talking on the phone, texting, watching Dr. Phil (okay that last one is a lie, I swear). And I ended up throwing these things in the pot and cooking ‘em up and then plopping them in the jars & sealing them, only to realize, as they were processing in a water bath… that I did not add the pectin.

I DID NOT ADD THE PECTIN.

Do you realize what I just wrote? Yes, I understand that sour apples that are not too ripe naturally have enough pectin to make jam. I know that, I’ve read the books & websites. And I know non-sour, not-ripe apples have decent amounts of pectin anyway. But I didn’t let them cook long enough to take advantage of that, because I cooked them as though I did add the pectin. Not only that, but I thought I’d like a chunkier jam, so I left the apples for the most part in chunks, which didn’t cook down much, leaving even less pectin in the mix.

See the dilemma? No? Okay, maybe this will explain it. Or maybe this post where I kinda went into detail about pectin. See now? Yeah. I messed up.

Anyway, after smacking my forehead with my palm, I decided to finish processing the two jars, since I figured even if they didn’t work out at all, it was only two jars, but maybe I could salvage it and use it as a syrup, not a jam. You know, an ice cream, pancake or pound cake topping as opposed to a scone or bread topping. And I believe it worked. They seemed very runny at first, almost watery… which made me a bit nervous. But after sitting & cooling in a dark place for a week or so, it seemed to thicken a little. Not quite a chocolate fudge or caramel consistency, but more a maple syrup consistency. The seals were fine, everything was good, so why not market it as a syrup?…

All dressed up, labeled, & lookin’ gooood… as if I totally meant to do that!

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Sure, I could have pretended this was all intentional when I wrote this blog post. But I’m going to be honest with you all because that’s how you learn- from mistakes, right? So anyway, they processed perfectly, were sealed, and they got a bit thicker each passing day (although not to jam thickness, obviously), not to mention it looked pretty awesome in the jars. I remembered the advice I gave in my marmalade post, about using it even if it doesn’t set, so I said screw it! I called them ‘caramel apple syrup’, I made some pretty labels, hyped them up a bit (“It’s fantastic on pancakes or waffles! Believe me!”) and I gave my dad one of the jars, using him as a guinea pig. Despite him balking at first (“I don’t know if I’ll ever eat this…” “Don’t waste it on me” “What am I going to have this with?”) he decided to crack it open not even two hours after getting it. And boy, did he rave about it. He had it with a hamsteak, but he agreed it’d be perfect on pancakes not to mention on ice cream or even biscuits. Like I said, he called it “Apple pie in a jar.” He never actually got the chance to have it in pancakes or waffles… because he started eating it right out of the jar! I swear. He then finished it & started harassing me about making more! MAKING MORE OF WHAT WAS A MISTAKE TO BEGIN WITH, MIND YOU.

And you want to know something? It thickened a lot more in his fridge, as these things are wont to do. So yet another serving option is to just throw it into some of those pre-made pie shells, et voilà. Little apple pies. Or… use Pillsbury croissants and fold ‘em up into little turnovers with this as the filling.

It does look pretty, too, I have to admit.

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I have learned from this, believe me. No need for lectures or lessons. I know, I know. But the basic concept is that sometimes mistakes aren’t really all that bad. Yes, you should pay attention. Yes you should be careful. And if you’re preserving fruits or veggies that are low acid & you accidentally skip the lemon juice or “acid” when making a jam or jelly, the entire batch should not be eaten and it should be remade, this I know. But just like way back in the day, when my cupcakery was in it’s infancy… I learned to pay more attention when I put a batch of cupcakes in the oven without adding the eggs, this incident will make me doubly careful from now on. I reassured myself by saying “Before you know it, I’ll be canning blindfolded just like I can bake & frost cupcakes or make risotto or macaroni & cheese blindfolded.” Which I pretty much can do right about now. This was just a stupid mistake. But as far as mistakes go, this one was a really good mistake to make. Of all the canning horror stories out there, this certainly is not one of them. Caramel apple syrup, a mistake? Hell no.

Anyway, since October is National Apple Month, get yourself some apples & start making some caramel apple jam. Alternately, as you’ve learned here, make some amazing caramel apple syrup by taking this recipe & omitting the pectin. This (or it’s originally intended ‘jam’ form) would be an amazing Thanksgiving hostess gift, as well. You could also wait a few days & see my next (and much easier) apple-related recipe…

Or you could just eat the damn apple.

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When the Romans conquered Britain they brought with them the apple tree. The apple was representative of the goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees. She was known for her great beauty and fertility. Romans, although conquerors, were accepting of other cultures and soon accepted Celtic beliefs and the Samhain festival. The two were blended together and the apple became part of the harvest celebration that would become Halloween.

Because Pomona was a fertility goddess and because the Celts believed that the pentagram was a fertility symbol and when an apple is sliced in half the seeds form a pentagram it is natural that they believed the apple could be used to determine marriages during this magical time of year. From this belief comes the game bobbing for apples. During the annual celebration young unmarried people try to bite into an apple floating in water or hanging from a string. The first person to bite into the apple would be the next one to marry.

While the apple may or may not have had any ability to predict the future it brought people together from distant farms and villages who may otherwise have never had contact with others outside their own families. This was very important as most people did not live through their childhoods. Marriage and fertility were extremely important. Without children there would be nobody to carry on your genes. If you didn’t have a large supply of children there wouldn’t be enough labor to survive. In this respect bobbing for apples wasn’t just a game but a matter of life or death.

-source The Haunted Bay

 

Halloween is a big holiday for me. It’s not only my favorite, it’s just an all-around great holiday to decorate & bake for. I know I’ve mentioned that before. I’ve also mentioned before that I just love Martha Stewart’s specialty holiday magazines. Each year for Halloween & Christmas I’m like a crackhead feenin’ for her fix- I have to buy her Halloween magazine & Holiday magazine. Sure, her regular magazine is cool too but I’m all about the holidays. And of course the covers always pull me in when I’m on line at the supermarket anyway. “Ooh look, Martha’s dressed up as a moth-woman! It’s a must buy issue!” That and I’m pretty much a boring chick. Really. Yes, I have this “glamorous” blog that is world-renowned, this art-school slash fashion background, yes I’m the significant other of a police officer slash death metal bassist, yes I have a sidecut & nose ring & listen to some interesting music. But the highlight of my week last week was buying pumpkins on sale (that weren’t gross & motley because of Hurricane Irene) & getting spiffy new glasses. No, seriously. I got new glasses & I’m that psyched about it. As if I wasn’t already a nerd! You’d think my life would be a bit more exciting, but this is it. I get giggly over new spectacles & holiday craft magazines. So yes. I enjoy reading all of Queen Martha’s magazines & I’m that sucker who’ll buy one each freakin’ year season holiday..

This particular year, well since July anyway, has been a bit off for me; I’ve been dealing with a lot of shit & basically didn’t have a clue as to what I was going to do for any of the holidays. So I basically used Martha’s ideas. For Halloween, I should say, since that’s the only holiday that’s relevant so far. Yeah, it’s not the most imaginative, but really… is anything new? Everything has really been done before anyway. All we do is just recycle old ideas & implement them in slightly different ways, or “freshen” them up for the current social climate. At least that’s what I keep telling myself when I feel bad about not coming up with something amazing myself this year & I end up using an old idea or one of someone else’s.

But even though I felt guilty about not doing something ingenious & unique, had to do something holiday-appropriate. This is my favorite holiday, for goodness sakes! And let’s face it, being that I’m related (albeit by marriage) to the famous Van Tassel’s of Washington Irving’s The Legend of Sleepy Hollow fame, anything spooky & creepy & bizarre is an event I must participate in. Only if I were related to Mary Shelley or Bram Stoker or Washington Irving himself would it make me more of a Halloween-head. Seriously. Headless Horsemen, scarecrows, zombies, jack-o-lanterns, vampires, witches, black cats; bring it on. I’m not only ready for ‘em, I welcome ‘em!

So these cupcakes, regardless of how simple, are pretty awesome looking, I gotta say. Simple, but fun. Retro.

It sorta looks like they’re running away from the jack-o-lantern, doesn’t it?

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I just fell in love with the vintage cat clip-art/cupcake toppers she had in her magazine this year. It reminded me of some of the cardboard cut-outs my grandmother used to hang every Halloween, some of which were her mother’s. Aren’t they awesome? Both the cut-outs and the cupcake toppers. Oh- and that cake plate, which rocks my socks so hardcore because it came with a pink satin ribbon, but I can change the ribbon for every holiday and IT ALWAYS LOOKS AWESOME. Plus it gives me a really good reason to buy cute ribbon for every single holiday.

So yes, I made cupcakes & I had no idea what to do to decorate them. Turns out, the little cupcakes I made looked pretty close to exact to the ones Ms. Stewart had in her magazine; cupcakes in orange liners with these vintage-y cat faces. So that’s what I decided to do. On half of the cupcakes I put those cat face toppers, and on the other half, I went with marzipan pumpkins.

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Marzipan pumpkins that I made, myself. However I didn’t make the marzipan (I’m not insane)- I bought it. It was golden colored Dr. Oetker marzipan that I bought at an import market (where I buy my English chocolate & Irish tea). So no I didn’t totally make them. But I divided it, colored it, I rolled it up, sculpted it and painted it. Or one, anyway.

Yep, that little jack-o-lantern dude there. Here’s a better view, in natural light.

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You could obviously use fondant for the same effect, however I find that marzipan is tastier, so people don’t mind it as much. Sure, fondant looks pretty… but it tastes like an old diaper. Marzipan tastes like almonds & isn’t at all tough or rubbery, it has a really nice soft texture. It was also perfect because it was already a golden color, so I didn’t have to add much color to it to achieve a nice pumpkin color, and the green took to it really well too. It would be much easier to make faces if you get a black edible pen. I used black food coloring & a toothpick, which is why I stopped at one. I always have to make things harder on myself.

The cupcake recipe is a modified Martha recipe in & of itself, the frosting is a stabilized whipped cream one via Wilton that I felt was perfect with cupcakes that taste like pumpkin pie. Speaking of, the recipe supposedly makes 18 but I got closer to 24. The frosting recipe should frost that much, unless you pile it on super high.

PUMPKIN PIE CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

Those vintage black ruffle candle holders were my grandma’s too… she had some awesome stuff

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And this is not the last time you’ll be seeing Martha-inspired content this season. Trust me when I say my entire Halloween tableau & menu this year is almost entirely from her. I’m not even kidding when I say I didn’t have an original thought in my head this season. Well, in the aspect of treats, anyway. As far as other things, i.e. decorating, I held my own pretty well, as usual. Here’s my annual Halloween “tree” & hanging lanterns:

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I don’t know if I mentioned it lately, but it’s really awesome having a blog/website. I can look up previous years’ holiday cupcakes, etc. with the click of a mouse, & each recipe & post is archived for me chronologically. Its like a virtual online cookbook or ‘idea book’ that I can access anytime I want to. It’s pretty effin’ spectacular. I hope it’s just as spectacular for you, too, to access all of that. There may be many blogs out there: lots of them are great, some may be nothing more than clones of others, but I hope either way you all come here because mine gives you a little something different. Or because I’m crazy. Whatever. I’ll take what I can get. You’re all amazing too!

Anyway like I mentioned before, with each post this year I’ll be posting a brief story on a Halloween tradition that has it’s origins in Celtic myths/legends. Here’s another for you…

There is an old Irish legend about an Irishman named Jack who liked to drink a little too much.

Long ago on a cold, lonely Halloween night, as Jack staggered home from another night of over indulging, the devil appeared to take his soul. But Jack was a cunning Irishman. He tricked the devil into climbing a nearby tree to pick him a lovely apple for his final meal. While the devil was picking his fruit Jack carved a Celtic cross on the tree trunk. The devil couldn’t cross such a sacred symbol and was trapped in the tree. Jack only let the Devil pass when he promised never again try to claim his soul. Well eventually Jack finally died from the drink. But poor Jack was denied entrance into heaven because of his drunken ways on earth. So Jack then tried to enter the gates of hell, but the devil, remembered his promise and denied Jack entry into hell. But the Devil was so impressed with his shrewdness he threw him a glowing hot coal to light his eternal wanderings. So Jack placed the red hot coal in a hollowed out turnip to form a make-shift “Lantern”.

You see there were no pumpkins in Ireland. Some legends say you can still see the fire of “Jack’s Lantern” as his spirit wanders the earth with nowhere to go. Years later all across Ireland people began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” or simply “Jack O’ Lantern.” So the next time you look down the dark road and see that glowing light in the distance, be careful. Because it just might be Jack, Jack of the Lantern!

- source The Irish Jewelry Company

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Part of the charm & intrigue of Halloween is the fright factor. That things-that-go-bump-in-the-night-”what-was-that-sound” factor that gives you the chills- but you love it. The reason why people go on scary roller coasters or watch horror movies. That same feeling, that’s the best part of Halloween. I try to make that a part of everything I make around this time of year, not to mention I try to include the fall flavors that everyone loves. Of course, I’m biased. Like I said, this is my favorite holiday. I think some of my favorite things about it, in addition to the “scary” aspect, are all the traditions & symbols. It has such strong Celtic roots, I find the origins of the things we do today to be really interesting. Some of which I’ll be sharing with you over the next few weeks in detail… for now:

Development of artifacts and symbols associated with Halloween formed over time. For instance, the carving of jack-o’-lanterns springs from the souling custom of carving turnips into lanterns as a way of remembering the souls held in purgatory.^[5] The turnip has traditionally been used in Ireland and Scotland at Halloween,^[6][7] but immigrants to North America used the native pumpkin, which are both readily available and much larger – making them easier to carve than turnips.^[6] The American tradition of carving pumpkins is recorded in 1837^[8] and was originally associated with harvest time in general, not becoming specifically associated with Halloween until the mid-to-late 19th century.^[9]

The imagery of Halloween is derived from many sources, including national customs, works of Gothic and horror literature (such as the novels Frankenstein and Dracula), and classic horror films (such as Frankenstein and The Mummy).^[10] Among the earliest works on the subject of Halloween is from Scottish poet John Mayne in 1780, who made note of pranks at Halloween; “What fearfu’ pranks ensue!”, as well as the supernatural associated with the night, “Bogies” (ghosts), influencing Robert Burns‘ Halloween 1785.^[11] Elements of the autumn season, such as pumpkins, corn husks, and scarecrows, are also prevalent. Homes are often decorated with these types of symbols around Halloween.

Halloween imagery includes themes of death, evil, the occult, or mythical monsters.^[12] Black and orange are the holiday’s traditional colors.

I’m aware not everyone enjoys this day as much as I do, and I guess my personal opinion that they’re a bunch of boring, humorless stick-in-the-mud’s is irrelevant, but either way I think it’s fun & harmless. What could be more fun than dressing up as something you aren’t & getting free candy? I don’t know. It sounds pretty friggin’ amazing to me. So being it’s my favorite holiday, I have lots of treats for you to choose from for your spooky fall baking needs. I’ve done compilation posts before, as a matter of fact this past year, 2010-2011, I did one for every holiday, Halloween being the first. But being I did it early on each season, I excluded all the new ideas I had & implemented afterward. So this year it’s a truer compilation: all (or most) of my muffins, cupcakes & other treats; all with a Halloween or fall theme. Some are slightly more complex than others, but all of them are pretty simple when you get down to it & they really don’t take a lot of time or effort (or money, or experience really) to execute.

If you have any questions about where I bought supplies, etc, or just about the cupcakes/treats in general, feel free to comment or e-mail me.

CHOCOLATE STOUT CUPCAKES WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE BONES TRUE BLOOD ORANGE CUPCAKES WITH CANDIED BLOOD ORANGES

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DEVIL’S FOOD CUPCAKES WITH CINNAMON RED-HOTS FROSTING DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PUMPKIN CUPCAKES

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CHOCOLATE MALT CUPCAKES WITH FUDGE FILLING EERIE MONSTER CUPCAKES WITH SWEETMELT EYES

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TRUE BLOOD VELVET CUPCAKES & CREAM CHEESE FROSTING BLACK LICORICE CUPCAKES & ORANGE MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

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JACK-O-LANTERN PUMPKIN MUFFINS PUMPKIN STREUSEL MUFFINS WITH CREAM CHEESE ICING

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MARSHMALLOW BONES APPLE MUFFINS

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CINNAMON VANILLA CUPCAKES & MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE FROSTING TRES LECHES COCONUT CUPCAKES

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S’MORES CUPCAKES WITH MARSHMALLOW BUTTERCREAM SPICE CUPCAKES WITH BROWN SUGAR FROSTING

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And of course, if you’re looking for something in particular, you can always go through the archives, specifically the seasonal ones, like the pumpkin or apple categories. Another particular favorite of mine not pictured are the infamous apple cider donuts, they’re perfect for Halloween shenanigans. You could go bobbing for apple cider donuts! And if you’re into pumpkin seeds, I have two recipes, both plain & brown sugar/spice versions. And the two recipes second to last on the list, the cinnamon/vanilla & tres leches coconut, would both be perfect for Dia de los Muertos as well (which is what I used the latter for myself).

Almost any cupcake recipe or cookie recipe can be altered or decorated to fit in with Halloween. Use your imagination… you never know what you may come up with. If worse comes to worse, and you’re stuck for ideas, ask a kid! Kids have the best imaginations and come up with the best stuff, especially for Halloween. A kid’s brain works on a totally different level, they’re practically un-offended by everything, which is perfect.

And stay tuned this month for many more creepy (& not so creepy) fall-appropriate recipes & ideas.

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That photo is from Eleanor & Frank’s wedding in the late 1940′s. As you can see, my grandfather & Mike’s grandmother were siblings, and my grandmother & Mike’s grandfather were also siblings. So Eleanor & Frank are the grandparents of my aforementioned cousin Mike, and in turn are the parents of my mother’s cousin Tom. Agnes & Butch are my grandparents, a.k.a. the parents of my mother. Make sense now? I hope so, because I really don’t want to break out the pie charts & graphs. Either way, our family tree only has one branch on this particular side, haha.

Anyway, Mike & Heather sent a care package to me & my mom a few weeks back from a (seemingly) awesome store down there called Roux Royale. We each got a mug, a pair of adorable salt & pepper shakers and this awesome cake plate!

Can you tell I’m a bit in love with the photography apps on my iPhone?

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Because I’m inspired by everything, this beautiful cake plate gave me the urge to bake something fantastic to put on it. Although I kept looking at it and rethinking what I was going to do. I’ve made King’s Cake cupcakes before, so I didn’t want to do that. Even though that’s where the natural progression of thoughts went, it’s taboo to bake it before Jan. 6th or after Mardi Gras. I’ve also made beignets, and as good as they are, I recently had a gigantic serving of them from the Grand Lux Cafe which satisfied my craving, plus I wasn’t sure they were really appropriate for display on this cake plate.

Mmm… Grand Lux beignets… *sigh* …. anyway back to reality…

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And I could’ve done a Cherries Jubilee-type cupcake, especially since the plate mentions cherries, but I’ve done enough cherry stuff lately. So I kept on thinkin’…

Then I remembered that famous New Orleans dessert, Bananas Foster. Ahh, the lovely Bananas Foster. It originated down there in NOLA at a famous place called Brennan’s, so what better dessert to display on that New Orleans cake plate!?

Bananas Foster is a dessert made from bananas and vanilla ice cream, with the sauce made from butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, dark rum, and banana liqueur. The butter, sugar and bananas are cooked, and then the alcohol is added and ignited. The bananas and sauce are then served over the ice cream. Preparation of the dish is often made into a tableside performance as a flambé.

The dish was created in 1951 by Paul Blangé at Brennan’s Restaurant in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[2] It was named for Richard Foster, a friend of Owen Brennan‘s who was then New Orleans Crime Commission chairman. It is still served at a number of fine restaurants in New Orleans as well as in many restaurants around the world.

-Wikipedia

Brennan’s is really, really famous. It’s in the French Quarter. The head chef, Lazone Randolph, has been featured on more TV shows than Rachael Ray. Well not quite, but almost. Along with Cafe Du Monde, it’s seemingly one of those tourist places that screams New Orleans.

So yeah, I figured Bananas Foster was a perfect idea. Besides, my family is a bit bananas, so it’s even more appropriate! I love them, don’t get me wrong. I love them & they’re pretty much wonderful, but they’re mostly insane. Which helps to make them wonderful. If everyone was sane, wouldn’t the world be a boring place? I’m sure this concept has been done to death, but this is my version of Bananas Foster cupcakes. Easy, not a lot of drama, and no tableside fire action… but the end result does look & taste far more complicated. And it doesn’t melt, unlike the ice cream in the traditional, original version. I even had some cupcake liners left over from last year that were very similar to the cake plate’s design. How do you like them apples bananas?

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To avoid the dense, heavy cupcakes that using real bananas cause, I used banana extract. I don’t care if Florian Bellanger would disapprove. They came out amazing, so he can suck an egg. I mean that in the most respectful way, of course. They’re moist, fluffy, but not dense & thick. I’m including a recipe for a gorgeous, thick, creamy caramel made from condensed milk as well. If you’d like to use that (I didn’t) you could spoon it over the frosting, over the caramelized bananas or even on the cupcakes before you frost them. I thought the flavor of the bananas themselves was enough… but if you want a really decadent over the top cupcake… go for it.

BANANAS FOSTER CUPCAKES

Ingredients:

• Caramelized bananas (recipe below), cooled
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk caramel (optional, see here for recipe)
• 1 cup cake flour, sifted
• 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons milk
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon pure banana extract
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 egg, room temperature
• few drops yellow food coloring (if desired)

Directions:

1. Set oven to 375° F to preheat. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
2. Sift together, into a deep mixing bowl, the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add butter, ¼ cup of the milk and flavorings. Beat on low until blended, then beat on high for another minute or two.
3. Scrape the sides of the bowl, add the remaining ¼ cup milk, egg, and food coloring (if using) and beat ½ minute longer on high. Scoop into muffin tins to fill them about ¼ or ½ way because they rise a lot. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until toothpick/cake tester comes out almost totally clean. Cool completely.
4. Frost with evaporated milk buttercream frosting (recipe below), then drizzle condensed milk caramel on top with the tines of a fork or a small teaspoon. Top each cupcake with one or two caramelized bananas, and if desired, a bit more caramel.

Confession time. Okay, my confession here is this: as you can see below, I did not use pure banana extract like I recommended. I used Watkins‘ imitation banana extract. However, unless you use Watkins, I’d go with pure. The Watkins flavor is really good & not overly fake or sweet, I know sometimes supermarket extracts can be a bit strong at times, in a bad way.

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EVAPORATED MILK FROSTING

Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter, softened
• 4 ¼ cups powdered sugar
• 2 ½ ounces evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter, vanilla and 2 cups of the powdered sugar.
2. Once well incorporated, add evaporated milk alternating with a cup of sugar at a time until all ingredients have been added. Beat on high for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Spread or pipe on completely cooled cupcakes.

Gotta have some cafe au lait with them, of course…

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CARAMELIZED BANANAS

Ingredients:

• 2 bananas, sliced
• 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. Spray a non-stick frying pan and a ceramic plate with cooking spray (or waxed paper or parchment on the plate instead), and heat the pan up over medium heat.
2. Mix sugar & cinnamon together in a shallow dish. Dip each banana slice in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Make sure they’re completely coated.
3. Using a fork or small tongs, place bananas in pan as they’re ready. Cook until golden-brown, then flip. The first side will take a few minutes, the second side a bit less. Do not let them burn! If you see them getting too dark, sticking to the pan or smell a burning smell- flip them immediately! Keep an eye on them.
4. When finished, place on coated plate (bananas will be sticky). Let cool before topping cupcakes.

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If you choose to use it, you may need to soften the condensed milk caramel a bit before drizzling it, depending how warm your kitchen is, etc. In that case, place the can, open side up (obviously) in a small saucepan of simmering water (only about one inch- don’t get the caramel wet!) for a few minutes, stirring fairly constantly, until it softens enough.  I didn’t feel as if I needed it, but it would make a lovely addition. You could even fill them with it- that would be divine.

Proper “Nu Awlins” cupcakes for a proper “Nu Awlins” cake platter. Thanks again, Mike & Heather, for my newest additions! They’ll be well used around here, as there’s always some kind of baked goods out for display.

Look at her, all ready to beat someone with her whisk! Or make cupcakes, whatever!

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If you want cuteness like that, and by cuteness I mean the bib not the baby- I don’t think John is willing to share her… then you can go to my Cupcake Rehab webstore and buy stuff. I have an assload of things for sale from hoodies to bibs (duh) to coffee mugs to dog bowls! Seriously. Buy some stuff, take pictures, and send me the pics. I’ll add ‘em to the C.R.my page & you’ll be (quasi-) famous. But I can’t promise it’ll make you as cute as Angelina.

Back to the eats. What’s fair is fair, and while it’s Easter time for Christians, it’s Passover for the Jewish people. Each holiday & religion hold to their own traditional foods & desserts, as do the specific ethnicities and races within each religion, just as they hold to the traditions of the religions themselves. I myself am neither Christian nor Jew, but I certainly don’t discriminate against delicious food items. I embrace them all!

Hamentashen is more traditional around this time of year, but honestly, since when have I been traditional? Actually that’s not true, I’m very old-fashioned. At any rate, I don’t happen to like hamentashen at all, so rugelach it is!

Rugelach is one of my absolute favorite “cookies.” I like the chocolate ones, and I like the filling to have a touch of cinnamon. I also like the cinnamon sugar. I’m not into the fruit filled version. I used to love the ones from the 2nd Avenue Deli… Jay used to work right near it, but that was before the two of us got together (unfortunately). And back when my dad was still working, he’d randomly pick up a bunch in a 2nd Avenue Deli tin and I’d eat all the chocolate. Once he got them as a gift for someone, and I finagled it open, ate two chocolate ones and resealed it. Shh, don’t tell.

Rugelach aren’t difficult to make. It’s similar to rolling a croissant, or a chocolate croissant. This particular dough is made with cream cheese, although there are many different varieties.

Rugelach (Yiddish: רוגעלך) (other spellings: rugelakh, rugulach, rugalach, ruggalach, rogelach (all plural), rugalah, rugala (singular)) is a Jewish pastry of Ashkenazic origin.

Traditional rugelach are made in the form of a crescent by rolling a triangle of dough around a filling.^[1][2] Some sources state that the rugelach and the French croissant share a common Viennese ancestor, crescent-shaped pastries commemorating the lifting of the Turkish siege in 1793^[3] (this could be a reference to the Battle of Vienna in 1683). This appears to be an urban legend however, as both the rugelach and its supposed ancestor (the Kipfel or Kipferl) pre-date the Early Modern era, and the croissant in its modern form did not originate earlier than the 19th century (see viennoiserie).

An alternative form is constructed much like a strudel or nut roll, but unlike those, the rolled dough and filling is cut into slices before baking.^[4]

The name is Yiddish, the Jewish language of eastern Europe. The ach ending (ך) indicates plural, while the el (ל) can be a diminutive, as, for example, shtetlekh (שטעטלעך, villages) is the plural of shtetl (שטעטל, village), the diminutive of shtot (שטאָט, town). In this case, the root means something like “twist” so the translation would be “little twists,” a reference to the shape of this cookie.^[3] In this context, note that rog (ראָג) means corner in Yiddish,^[5] so it is possible that a more accurate translation would be “little corners.”

Alternatively, some assert that the root is rugel, meaning royal, possibly a reference to the taste.^[6] This explanation is in conflict with Yiddish usage, where the word keniglich (קעניגליךּ) is the dominant word meaning royal.^[7]

Finally, in modern Hebrew, they are known as roglìt (רוֹגְלִית), a postbiblical Hebrew word meaning “trailing vines”.^[8] The Yiddish word ruglach probably came first. The modern Hebrew is probably a neologism, chosen for its similarity to the Yiddish and its descriptive meaning.

Rugelach can be made with sour cream or cream cheese^[1][2][3] doughs, but there are also pareve variants with no dairy ingredients,^[9] so that it can be eaten with or after a meat meal and still be kosher. Cream cheese doughs are the most recent, probably American innovations, while yeast leavened^[9][10] and sour cream doughs^[11][12] are much older.

The different fillings can include raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, chocolate, marzipan, poppy seed, or fruit preserves which are rolled up inside.

I’ve been wanting to make rugelach for a long time. I sort of combined 4 or 5 recipes I found to make one of my own. I think it turned out fantastic! Except one word of advice: if you don’t have a stand mixer, this dough is not going to happen for you. It’s so thick that it slowed Lola down and she made all kinds of “Rrrrrr” noises. But she can handle it. And there’s no way you can mix it by hand, you need to cream the butter and cream cheese together and even using a hand mixer isn’t gonna work out well for that. You know how cream cheese is… many a mixer has broken under it’s wrath.

Chocolate rugelach

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CHOCOLATE RUGELACH

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 sticks (½ pound) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ½ vanilla extract
• ¼ cup and 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• ½ cup melted bittersweet chocolate, cooled but still “liquidy”
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Beat softened butter and cream cheese in large bowl on medium speed of mixer until blended and smooth. Gradually add flour and ¼ cup sugar and vanilla, beating on low speed until well blended. Divide dough into 3 equal parts; wrap individually in plastic wrap. Refrigerate anywhere from 1 to 4 hours or until firm enough to roll.
2. Heat oven to 375°F. On lightly floured surface, roll one piece of dough into 9-inch circle (keep remaining dough in refrigerator). Cut circle into 12 wedges. Place about 1 teaspoon melted chocolate at wide end of each wedge; spread about three-fourths of the way up wedge. Stir together 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon and cocoa powder; sprinkle over melted chocolate, sprinkle over melted chocolate. Starting at wide end, roll toward the point. Place cookies, point sides down, about 1 inch apart on a sheet of parchment paper covering an ungreased cookie sheet. Brush with beaten egg.
3. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining dough and filling.

Cinnamon sugar rugelach

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The dough I made is a sweet dough, if you’d like a not-sweet version just remove the sugar and vanilla. If you’d like to add a little something extra, sprinkle with some sugar after brushing the dough with the beaten egg. Other options for fillings are apricot (1 cup apricot preserves plus ¾ cup chopped walnuts), cinnamon sugar (4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, ½ cup sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon) or raspberry-raisin (1 cup of raspberry jam and ½ cup raisins).  Or you can be totally rebellious and come up with your own filling!

(Psst… wanna know a sweet shortcut to the chocolate filling? Bosco chocolate syrup plus a sprinkling of cinnamon. Trust me, it works and it’s delicious. Just don’t use too much syrup, you’ll end up with a gooey mess.)

To me, they’re perfectly sweet, not too sweet, plus the cream cheese adds a little something special. I devoured way more  in one sitting than I should’ve. A little basket of these is a perfect hostess gift.

It’s that time, ladies & gents. That time of year when parents try to kill themselves in toy stores to get the “IT” toy of the year and kids are running around overloaded on sugar from Christmas parties, and there’s piles of snow on the ground and your back aches from shoveling it all. Ahh, Christmas. That being said, I really do enjoy this time of year. Specifically the delicious food and baked goods, the gifts and the shopping. Me not being a religious person, that’s how I roll. See? When you aren’t religious, you can be all about the gifts and no one says you’re going to hell or “missed the meaning of Christmas.” Oh no, wait. People tell me I’m going to hell anyway. Shit.

Rockefeller Center tree, photo by me, Dec. 2009

So pretty much everyone knows the Christian version of Christmas, but not a lot of people realize that it pre-dates Christianity, and that Christianity actually stole most of the elements of Christmas from pagan celebrations of the Winter Solstice, and it has been said that it was also inspired by the Roman holiday of Saturnalia. In actuality, according to actual time-lines, Jesus was probably born closer to March which was tax time in Israel, which is why Mary & Joseph were traveling during his birth. So if you believe in that sort of thing, Jesus’ birthday isn’t even in December. Basically Christians stole the pagan timeline so that they could celebrate without being persecuted, which means that there really isn’t any Christ in Christmas as it is celebrated in December.

The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianisation of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship.^[32] The English language phrase “Christmas tree” is first recorded in 1835^[33] and represents an importation from the German language. The modern Christmas tree tradition is believed to have begun in Germany in the 18th century^[32] though many argue that Martin Luther began the tradition in the 16th century.^[34][35] From Germany the custom was introduced to Britain, first via Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and then more successfully by Prince Albert during the reign of Queen Victoria. By 1841 the Christmas tree had become even more widespread throughout Britain.^[36] By the 1870s, people in the United States had adopted the custom of putting up a Christmas tree.^[37] Christmas trees may be decorated with lights and ornaments.

Since the 19th century, the poinsettia, a native plant from Mexico, has been associated with Christmas. Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus. Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of a home may be decorated with these plants, along with garlands and evergreen foliage.

Anyway I’ll stop there to avoid getting bombarded with hate mail. I just wanted to clear that up, since I’ve been asked a lot “If you aren’t religious, why do you celebrate  Christmas?” And contrary to popular belief, I am not a Grinch. I love Christmas. I love Christmas music. I love decorating. I love the baking and cooking. I love Starbucks peppermint hot cocoa in the red cups. I love the shopping. I don’t even mind the crowds, really. I love everything about it. Except the snow. I extremely dislike snow… sucks to be me, I guess, seeing as how I live in New York. But I’d rather live in NY and have snow on Christmas then go swimming in a bikini & sunscreen on Christmas, so I’ll deal with it. Speaking of snow, did you notice it’s snowing on the blog? And there’s a new seasonal header, too. Spiffy.

I did one of these posts for Halloween and another for Thanksgiving, so I figured hey, why not do it for Christmas!? So here we are: my top 5 Favorite Christmas Cupcakes. Of course, these are ones I made, not my top 5 favorite all over the web. I did a post like that a few years back for Cupcakes Take The Cake, if you’re interested you can still see it here. So grab some hot cocoa, hot mulled cider or some Old Fezziwig’s Ale and let’s get crackin’!

Nigella, oh Nigella. I made these cupcakes spur of the moment, mainly because I liked how Nigella called the pan a “bun muffin pan” in the recipe… and I decided to do little poinsettias on them at the last second, and they turned out so amazing. Beautiful, really. Everyone loved these, and the flowers aren’t that hard to make. Find the recipe & more here: Poinsettia (& Nigella) cupcakes.

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These are so adorable. I just love the way they look, and the little snowman toppers with matching liners. These are just plain vanilla with vanilla buttercream, but the decorating makes them really special. A perfect example of the fact that a cupcake doesn’t have to be fancy flavored to make an impact. The great thing about these is they’re not just for Christmas, but the entire winter season. The candy coated sunflower seeds were a gift from Lyns, and you can find them here in blue, but they also have pink and yellow. The recipe can be found by clicking this link: Jack Frost cupcakes.

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These babies are some of my favorites not only because they look gorgeous, but because they tasted fantastic as well. A wonderful chocolatey cake with a rich chocolate buttercream, and a light, peppermint-y meringue “ornament” (or cookie) on top all combined to make an awesome Christmas cupcake. You can get all the info and recipes here: Even cupcakes deserve ornaments at Christmas.

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Another recipe/decorating combo that’s perfect not just for Christmas, but all winter long. Great for a winter birthday or a Winter Solstice celebration as well. These coconut cupcakes are Ina Garten’s recipe, but I left out her cream cheese frosting and made a coconut-flavored buttercream, and topped it with dyed coconut. This is one amazing cupcake recipe, trust me, despite the fact (and probably because of the fact) that the cake + the frosting combined calls for over a pound of butter. The recipes for both the frosting and cakes are at this link: “Let it Snow” coconut cupcakes.

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And last, but certainly not least, one of the most requested, most complimented and most loved cupcake recipes I’ve ever made: the french toast cupcake. Topped with a cream cheese frosting sprinkled with cinnamon sugar it’s a definite crowd pleaser. Get your mitts on the recipe here: Are french toast cupcakes technically a breakfast food?

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These are by no means the only Christmas recipes for cupcakes I have posted- no, no. They’re just my favorites. I have tons of others including super cute gingerbread cupcakes, delicious eggnog cupcakes, beautiful red velvet cupcakes, alcohol-laced hot buttered rum cupcakes, etc. Take a peek at the Christmas category to find that and more, including 7-layer magic cookie bars and biscotti di natale al cioccolato.

If you’re the kind of person who prefers to leave cookies for Santa instead of cupcakes, try looking in my “cookies” category- I have everything from chocolate cookies to oatmeal chocolate chip, including an amazing shortbread cookie recipe, and for the more adventurous, exotic spice cookies with cardamom, ginger and rose water. Typically I try and bake one Christmas-y cupcake a week the entire month of December, but this will have to do for the first week. Sorry guys. Take a trip down memory lane by clicking some of those links to get some inspiration and I’ll be back soon with something tasty and pretty for you to look at.

One more little thing… I’d like to think of myself as a not materialistic person. Sure, I love nice things- pretty clothes, expensive makeup, nice housewares, etc. Yes, I can be a bit selfish at times, all us humans can be/are by nature. But I also give to any and every charity I can, donate food to food banks, donate toys to toy drives, give to the Salvation Army every time I see the bell-ringers, donate my old clothing to the Lupus foundation, etc. I do my best to make this world a slightly better place, day by day, person by person. I am never mean or cruel to people unless warranted. Sarcastic, yes, all the time. But mean? Not usually. I consider myself to be a happy person. Someone who can find the bright side of many situations. Someone who no matter what is going wrong, can find either a positive angle or at least a drop of good in it. I can make myself happy with very little, and sometimes little things are what truly make me happiest anyway. But this is a season when it’s really easy to go crazy with “wants.” Yeah, I have a lot of wants. Everyone does. But whether or not I get them, I know I’ll be happy with myself for being a good person, and that I’ll be happy what I do have; family, friends, pets, and all the material objects I love and adore (my laptop, my Kitchen Aid mixer “Lola”… etc). If I never got another “thing” in my life, I could be happy because I’m aware that’s not what’s important. But let’s be honest: it sure as shit makes life (and Christmas) fun to have things, or be able to give things, or to have the comfort of knowing someone is looking out for you.

So this Christmas, amidst all your hustling and bustling and shopping, please make a donation to at least ONE charity. Any charity that speaks to you- cancer research, diabetes research, programs that feed the hungry, AIDS research, programs that help the homeless, religious programs, neglected or abused animal organizations- whatever. Pick  at least one, and donate even just $5.00 or $10.00 to them. Consider it a Christmas or Hanukkah gift. There are SO many out there less fortunate than you or I, let’s remember them and use this giving season to lend them a hand. And if you choose not to… when you’re sitting in front of your fire, drinking hot cocoa and opening lavish presents this year while listening to Bing Crosby on your iPod, remember those who are hungry, lonely, sick, and without all the comforts you have… and be grateful that life dealt you a better hand. Whatever religion or non-religion you are, that’s an important thing to keep in mind. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Here are the pretty cupcakes (french toast with maple buttercream and crumbled bacon topping, in case you’re wondering; and if you want the recipes, they’re down at the bottom).

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And here are the donuts!

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GLAZED SPICE CAKE DONUTS

First get:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoons shortening

Glaze

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons HOT water

Then do:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly grease the donut pan.
2. In a large  bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir in milk, eggs, vanilla and shortening. Beat together until well blended.
3. Fill each donut cup approximately ¾ full. bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until donuts spring back when touched. Allow to cool slightly before removing from pan.
4. To make glaze, blend confectioners sugar and hot water in a small bowl. Dip donuts in the glaze when slightly cooled.

Again, like I said with the chocolate donuts, the best way of filling the donut pan is with a disposable pastry bag, or plastic sandwich bag. Just fill with batter and snip off the tip, then fill the pan. I recommend Crisco shortening, it tastes way better than other brands.

If you’re looking for a few last minute turkey day baking ideas, take a look at my “Best of” Thanksgiving post. Otherwise, here are the recipes for the cupcakes & buttercream.

FRENCH TOAST CUPCAKES

Get together:

• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted and then cooled
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp maple extract
• ½ cup milk

Then you:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking pan with paper liners.
2. Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Make sure the butter is cool or you’ll have scrambled eggs.
4. Whisk in maple extract and then alternate between whisking in flour mixture and milk. Make three additions of flour mix and two of milk. Beat until smooth.
5. Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.
6. Cool the cupcakes on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.

The maple buttercream is just a basic confectioner’s sugar frosting flavored maple. I used maple extract, but you could probably just use maple syrup or maple syrup plus extract, that works too. For the topping, I fried up some bacon and then let it cool. Then I crumbled it/cut it into small pieces (getting rid of the fat) and just placed it on top of the frosting. It’s pretty much amazing; it tastes like breakfast in a cupcake. Don’t use bacon bits for this, please. That’s gross. If you’re gonna do it- go for it. No short cuts. I recommend an Applewood or maple bacon.

Happy White-People-Take-Advantage-of-American-Indians Day.