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.

my favorite chocolate cupcakes!

In my opinion... nothing beats simple chocolate cupcakes with creamy vanilla frosting! This recipe comes from the back of the Hershey's cocoa container. I've tried it with different brands of cocoa powder but in the end I still prefer the Hershey's. You can't go wrong with these cupcakes! 

chocolate cupcakes
makes 24

1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup veg oil
2 tsp vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin trays with paper liners.

combine the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl; add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla extract and mix on medium speed until combined and smooth about 2 minutes. Slowly add the boiling water and mix on low until thoroughly combined.

bake 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

simple yellow cupcakes

I finally picked up a copy of Baking Illustrated at Crate and Barrel last week. The first recipe I wanted to try was the yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting. I've been searching for a long time for that perfect classic yellow cake. I was really hoping my search would end with this recipe. Honestly, my youngest daughter LOVED it, my son loved the chocolate frosting only and my oldest daughter liked it but wished it wasn't so crumbly and I thought the crumb was a little too course. I suspect the all purpose flour had something to do with it! The flavor was great though.. I love the richness that the sour cream adds to the cake. I will make these again but next time I might try sifting the flour a couple times first or try it with cake flour.

simple yellow cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 egg plus 2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat to combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. 

Add the butter, egg, egg yolks, vanilla, and sour cream. Beat the wet and dry ingredients together at medium speed until the batter is smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

Evenly fill the muffin cups with the batter and bake for about 20 minutes or until pale gold and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. 

recipe from: Baking Illustrated

happy fall!

hay rides, pumpkin & apple picking and cranberries are just a few of the things I love about Fall! not to mention all the yummy treats you can bake with apples and pumpkin! to start off the season my daughter and I made these adorable fondant pumpkins sitting on top of a light pumpkin scented buttercream frosting. we added just a tiny touch of pumpkin spice to the frosting.. didn't want to scare the kids away from the vanilla cupcakes.   

birthday cake!

I had so much fun making this cake for my nephew's 4th birthday party.  Vanilla and chocolate cake decorated with his current favorite movie Planes character Dusty!