sugar cookies with chocolate royal icing!

vanilla bean sugar cookies for the kids dessert table on Thanksgiving.  

pumpkin cranberry bread

My favorite week of the year! I've been looking forward to baking pumpkin bread, apple pie and my famous pecan squares! Today I started with my favorite pumpkin cranberry bread. I baked 6 small loaves to bring to my family on Thanksgiving Day. A plus side to baking these a couple days early is that they freeze really well. Just wrap them up tight and put them in the freezer. Take them out before you leave and they will defrost during your road trip. 

Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

yields 6 mini loaves

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 1/2 cups sugar
15 oz. pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1/2 cup veg oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup fresh cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
Combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce and orange juice in a large mixer bowl. Beat well until combined.
Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix just until moistened.  Fold in the cranberries.
Bake 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Enjoy and share some with your family & friends!


slightly adapted from: www.verybestbaking.com

tis the season!

sweet vanilla bean sugar cookie cupcakes! cupcakes that taste like a sugar cookie.. yes, it's true. These were so much fun to bake, especially using pretty blue and pink fondant snowflakes. I'm ready for the holidays. Christmas is just 6 weeks away and I want to enjoy every second of it! So, to kick off the holiday season I recommend baking up a batch of these adorable cupcakes!

sugar cookie cupcakes

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c buttermilk
6 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tbsp vanilla bena paste

preheat oven to 350 degrees. line a 12 cup cupcake tin with paper liners.

whisk together, flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.

beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
add eggs one at a time until smooth
stir in vanilla and vanilla bean paste
add flour and buttermilk alternately until combined.

fill about 3/4 full and bake for about 20 minutes.

recipe slightly adapted from Martha Stewart.