In keeping with the festive spirit I thought I’d bake some Halloween Cupcakes!..more specifically Devil’s Food Cupcakes. I thought it was fitting with the occasion of goblins, and witches and devils. Oh my! These little cakes were quite delicious.. some didn’t live to see another day.  Such a shame. MmMm. Thanks Jordan for the great photo’s once again =)

It’s funny I searched and searched for these cupcake cups, or snack cups, because I thought they looked so cute and would be great for cupcakes. Now that i’ve used them I think i’ll stick to regular cupcake liners. These were too small, even thought I bought the large. And the batter just doesn’t rise enough for me. I like the tops to be a little more round. But either way, they were fun to decorate.

Ingredients:

1 box Devils Food Cake mix ( Ok, i was a little lazy and I was at school all day. PLuS! I’m going to see Madonna Tonight!! So the mix had to do )

Wilton Icing:

• 1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine softened
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 4 cups confectioner’s sugar (approximately 1 lb.) sifted
• 2 Tablespoons milk

Instructions
(Medium Consistency)

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer.Add vanilla.  Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry.

Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use.
Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Re whip before using

Decorate as desired!

Happy Halloween!

So I was pondering a new look for the website..a little bit more baker chic. With the help of Jordan (OK a lot!) and his excellent graphic skills, my new look came to life! With some inspiration from my room.. and my love for Tiffany’s! Also a new name! After my LOVE for Sophie Kinsella’s Confessions of a Shopaholic! I cannot wait for the movie! Though I think the book will be better than the actual movie! They are just so good! If you haven’t read them, and have a shopping habit, like myself, i would definetly start reading the books! Thanks Jordan for all your help! =) xo

With Halloween just around the corner I thought I’d make some Halloween sugar cookies! Last weekend I made the trip to my favorite baking supply store – Scoop&Save. I only go there once in a while because its pretty far away, about 40 mins to drive there. So i stocked on some decorations and cookie cutters, royal icing mix & piping tips etc. I wish I lived closer so I could go all the time.. although it’s probably best that I don’t! I found this recipe in Baking: From My House to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I made my pumpkin tarts from it as well. I really like the recipes in there, and my favorite thing is all the pictures! I really hate cookbooks that don’t have pictures.. as many people know. haha. I always make sure when I get a cookbook that it has a good amount of pictures accompanying the recipes. I’m glad I got this book for my birthday! I thought about joining Tuesdays With Dorie but being a student/working it’s a little hard to commit to baking every other Tuesday. So I’ll just got through the book on my own and experiment! Ps. I went to see Celine Dion Tuesday night..soo good! Now all I have stuck in my head are her songs..Which means Im definitely listening to her while I bake. . .ohh Celine!

So here’s the recipe:

*Just to let you know, these take at least 2 hours to chill prior to baking..which I only found out once I had my oven pre-heating and got to the end of my mixing & finished reading the bottom of the page..Oh well! I just had to wait a little longer before eating baking and decorating!

Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

From Baking: From My House to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth.

Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla.

Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated — because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is
thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.

Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage (the diameter is up to you — I usually like cookies that are about 2 inches in diameter) and wrap in plastic. Whether you’re going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)

Getting Ready To Bake:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

If you are making roll-out cookies, working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly.

In case your wondering..that’s Jordan’s hairy arm..not mine! haha

Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies — I like a 2-inch round cookie cutter for these. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the rounds onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies. (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) After you’ve rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps intoa disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.

The First Few!

If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches of space between the cookies. 6. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and dust the cookies with sugar or cinnamon sugar, if you’d like. Let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

One of these things is not like the other…

Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Enjoy!

I know, only my second post and it’s more tarts? Well here’s why. My moms friend was going to Costco one day, and asked if she needed anything for thanksgiving. My mom then called me and asked what I thought we should get from Costco. I told her I planned on making pumpkin tarts and that they were cheaper at Costco than at Thrifty Foods or Safeway. So she told her to get some for us.
…Well, she came back with more than just some tarts, she had a box of 180! Seeing as how I had never made any kind of tarts before, 180 was more than enough! So my mom and I joked that I guess we would be eating a lot of tarts/quiches in the next little while! So it’s a rainy Friday, and we needed something to take to a party tomorrow night so I decided what the heck, why not tart it up again.

After searching and searching for a recipe for pecan tarts (harder than it sounds!) I found one and made it my own with a few changes.

I didn’t put any measurements for the pecans and chocolate ..because you can never have too many of either. So use as many as your heart desires!…as long as there’s still room for the filling.

Chocolate Chunk Mini Pecan Tarts
Ingredients:
20-24 Tart Shells – If frozen, take out of the freezer before you begin for about 5-10 mins
chopped pecans
pecan halves – one for each tart
Semi Sweet Chocolate – broken up into small chunks (Bakers secret or any other rich chocolate)
3 eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup dark corn syrup

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325º F.
2. Place tart shells on baking sheet – about 20-24 on a large baking sheet
3. In the bottom of each tart, add 1 tablespoon (or more) chocolate chunks and 1 tablespoon + chopped pecans, then place a pecan half on top of each.
4. In a mixing bowl:
   -whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla. Pour the filling over the pecans, just until it almost reaches the top of the sides of the tarts.
5. Bake for about 40-45 minutes, until the crust is golden, and the middle is set. Remove from the oven and transfer with a lifter to wire racks to cool

I always love pecan pie/tarts served with ice cream, or whip cream. I like them when they’ve been out of the oven for about 30 mins, while they’re still soft and puddingish, but I also love them when their hard and candy like.
Pecan Tarts are always good for a rainy afternoon..especially when you live in Vancouver! Betcha can’t eat just one.. I know I couldn’t!

Enjoy!

So here in Canada it was thanksgiving this weekend! Of course I was in charge of two things, decorating the table and baking. Last year I made this pecan pie, which I saw on Martha Stewart one day. I have actually never made a pumpkin pie and decided I wanted to this year! Well, I guess technically I still haven’t. I made a large pumpkin tart, and little pumpkin tartlets.

My aunt gave me a large tart pan for Christmas and I still haven’t christened it! So I decided it was time to tart it up!..or at least bake one. For my birthday my boss bought me a new cookbook, this book, Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. So I decided to look through it for a potential thanksgiving recipe! I came across the recipe for a pumpkin pie/tart and gave it a try. It was sooo good. I made it a week or two ago for a dinner with my cousins, so I could test it out! It was de-lish. So I decided it would be a great thanksgiving dessert. You can make this as a pie, but if you use it for a large tart, you have enough filling left over for little tarts! which is what I did.

If you love pumpkin pie {like me!}, I would definitely try it as a tart!

Here’s the recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Sour Cream Pumpkin Pie (or Tart)
(If you make this as a tart, you’ll have filling left over, which you can use to make mini-tartlets; bake the minis at 400 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes.)

- makes 6 to 8 servings -
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

Ingredients:

1 9-inch single crust Pie Dough , partially baked and cooled, or one 9-inch tart shell , partially baked and cooled
2 cups (canned) unsweetened pumpkin puree
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons dark rum <— I left this one out!**
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Lightly sweetened lightly whipped cream, for topping

Directions:

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat and put the pie plate (or tart pan) on it.

Put all of the filling ingredients in a food processor and process for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Alternatively, you can whisk the ingredients together vigorously in a mixing bowl. Rap either the work bowl or mixing bowl against the counter to burst any surface bubbles, and pour the filling into the crust.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 300°F and continue to bake for 35 to 45 minutes longer (20 to 25 minutes for a tart), or until a knife inserted close to the center comes out clean. (If you don’t want to create a slash in your masterpiece, tap the pan gently—if the custard doesn’t jiggle, or only jiggles a teensy bit in the very center, it’s done.) Transfer the pie (or tart) to a rack and cool to room temperature.

Serving: Pumpkin pie and whipped cream are naturals and, if you’ve tested the pie’s doneness with a knife, you might want to serve the whipped cream as a cover-up. I like this pie chilled, but others are fans of it at room temperature – decide for yourself.

Storing: Like most pies, this one is best served the day it is made. However, you can make the pie early in the day and keep it refrigerated until needed.