Guest Post: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

My friend, Kristin from Meringue Bake Shop wanted to share a recipe with my readers. She thought it would be fun and easy since Halloween is coming up this weekend. It's something that you can do with your kiddos Saturday morning, or you can take these to a Halloween Party, Saturday night!

"Halloween is my second favorite holiday (Christmas holds the #1 spot). It jump-starts the holiday season, gives us our first feelings of fall and there is pumpkin everywhere! I love baking with squash, pumpkin, zucchini, and butternut. Mmmm... Those flavors always feel right this time of the year."

As you may, or may not know I bake cupcakes. Lots of cupcakes. So when I have a chance to bake for coworkers, friends, family, or myself, I like to try different things. So I search the web, check out some of my favorite foodie blogs, and collect ideas and recipes to try. I noticed some buzz around Whoopie Pies so I thought I’d give them a try again. According to Wikipedia, Whoopie Pies got their start in the Amish community and their name came about when the husbands would shout “Whoopie!” when they received one of these treats in their lunch boxes. I had made some Banana Whoopie Pies during the Spring this year but since it’s fall and I’m craving pumpkin and spices, I decided to bake some Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.

These are really fun to make, very easy and kid-friendly. And might I say, VERY tasty! Only a few ingredients are needed. And the bake time is short. Perfect for when you have only a little time available or have little helpers with short attention spans.

I tried a few recipes and this one is my favorite with a few modifications. I found this recipe on Bakespace. Bakespace is a recipe exchange and social network site for people who love food, cooking and baking.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
(Adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Pinch of black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/4 cup buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, molasses and vanilla in large bowl to blend.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add pumpkin puree. Mixture will look curdled but that’s ok. Mix in dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk, beating until just combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart, leaving enough room for dough to spread. I use a cookie scoop that holds 1 tbsp. It’s a lot less messy to use when having kitchen help from small hands.

Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until cake springs back when lightly pressed in the center. Cool completely on wire racks before filling.

Maple Syrup Cream Cheese Filling:
3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 TBSP maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2-1 tsp of maple extract (opt, to taste)

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth with no visible lumps. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined and fluffy.
Add the powdered sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and maple extract (if using) and beat until smooth.

To assemble:
Take a cooled cookie and using a butter knife, spread a thick amount of filling to the flat side. Grab another cookie and with flat side sandwich together. Press ever so slightly to get some of the filling to pop out the sides. You should be able to see the filling when looking down at the pie. If you want to get fancy, you can also put the filling into a plastic zipper bag, cut a 1/2” hole in one corner and pipe a big glob onto the flat side of the cookie.

Once all the pies are assembled, take a plate and pour out some Halloween sprinkles, sugars, non-pareils, quins, etc. Holding the pie vertically, roll the edges on the plate picking up the sprinkles along the way. Viola!

Yum!

If you don’t like pumpkin or are allergic, you can make the original version. I used this recipe. To make them more "Halloweenie", add some orange food coloring to the filling.

Have fun and Happy Halloween!

Orange County Fare: Pumpkin Muffins

I'm a member of the Junior League of Orange County, CA. We had a new cookbook come out last month, Orange County Fare. I was finally able to get my hands on a hardbound copy of it, a few weeks ago at a general meeting. This is the second recipe that I've made from the cookbook. I made the Raspberry Oatmeal Bars last year, when I received the recipe as a preview.

I made a complete mess in our kitchen as usual. I could not locate any of the proper tools. We do have some cooking utensils. I had to improvise, but they turned out AWESOME! I made Angry Husband try the first one. He's my test dummy...I mean victim...I mean taster. He said they were very good, but sweet.

Makes 18 to 24

Ingredients for muffins:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups canned pumpkin
3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Ingredients for Orange Glaze:
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Muffins
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Combine the pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and oil in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Bake for 20 to 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the muffins pans for 15 minutes and remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Glaze
Combine the confectioners' sugar, orange juice, and orange zest in a small bowl, stir to mix well. Place waxed paper under the muffins on the wire rack. Spoon the glaze over the cooled muffins, letting the excess run down the sides. Garnish with additional walnuts before the glaze becomes firm.

Disclosure: This recipe is from the Junior League of Orange County's Cookbook, Orange County Fare. I'm a member of the JLOCC. My opinions and rants have nothing to do with the JLOCC, but they have a pretty swell cookbook that I paid for, with my very own checkbook. Oh yea, that's right, I wrote a check.

Canned Pumpkin Shortage

In my attempt to be a better wife, yea right, I want to bake some things this weekend. I have several recipes that are "Fall" themed. Many of them require canned pumpkin. Well it's buzzing around that there's a huge canned pumpkin shortage. Yikes! Of course, things like this always happen when I'm involved. I try and attempt to bake, and my ingredients are being held captive.
So wish me luck! I'm going to try and scout out some canned pumpkin today, another other random things on my to-do list.

Oh, here's more articles about the canned pumpkin shortage:
Washington Times
LA Times
Saveur

And Libby's has some awesome recipes on their site, if you can get yourself a can of the Holy Grail, canned Pumpkin.

*UPDATE: I found some canned pumpkin this weekend at a local grocery store. It's starting to show up here in Orange County. But there was only a small amount.

Angry Taco Salad

The salad is not Angry, but it's our variation of it. So hence, the Angry Taco Salad. This is one of our go-to meals in the Angry Household. Even Angry Toddler likes it. It is a bit random and there are several different variations of it that you can make, so feel free to adapt it to your taste.

If you've read my blog for awhile, and know me in real life...you know that I don't cook. Angry Husband made this and I um, bought the ingredients and took pictures. I'm a good wife like that.

So let's start...

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef (you can use more than one pound, if you want)
1 package of taco seasoning mix
1 can of pinto beans
lettuce shreds (you can shred yourself, but we are lazy and buy pre-shredded)
2 cups of shredded cheese (we use the pre-shredded Mexican style)
Catalina Salad Dressing
Tortilla Chips, Corn Chips, or Doritos-style chips

Optional Ingredients for Your Own Preference:

Chopped Tomatoes
Chopped Green Onions
Salsa
Ranch Dressing instead of Catalina
Thousand Island instead of Catalina

Directions:

1. Place ground beef in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring to crumble until well done; drain. Stir in taco seasoning mix.

2. Add pinto beans to beef (which has already been seasoned with the mix). Put on lid to skillet and let beef and bean mix simmer for 10-15 minutes, depending on how soupy the mixture is.

3. Set beef and bean mixture aside to cool.

4. Get large bowl and crush tortilla chips (we use Dorito's) into bite sized pieces. Add meat/bean mixture(after it has cooled for a few minutes), lettuce shreds, and cheese. Toss it all together. Depending on your preference, you add more/less chips, cheese, lettuce.

5. Add in Catalina Dressing and toss the salad all together.

6. Scoop in bowls and eat.

*I would say that this mixture feeds about four adults with hearty helpings.

**We don't buy particular brands for this recipe. We go with the whatever-is-on-sale or generic theory of grocery shopping.

4th of July-Some Ideas

The 4th of July is on Saturday. What a fabulous day for the 4th. I'm off work on Saturday, along with Angry Husband and the rest of the family. On Saturday morning, I'm doing the Surf City Run in Huntington Beach.

Everywhere I go online, I see that people are posting about things to do on the 4th, food to make, or desserts to take. I've found some great items online and wanted to share with my readers.

Cupcake Kabobs
Kristin from the Meringue Bake Shop has done it again. She posted a tutorial on how to make these awesome cupcake kabobs on the OC Register's Mom Blog today.


Star*Spangled Fun

Disney's Family Fun Magazine has a list of 4th of July crafts on their website.

Celebrate Independence Day with clever party invitations, easy-to-make crafts, and star-spangled decorations.

Look at their site to find out how to make this Musical Stars and Stripes Patriotic Wind Chime.


Spinach Salad with Strawberries

Are you serving the usual hamburgers and hot dogs for the 4th. Do you want some unique and different ideas to go along with all that protein? What about a spinach salad with strawberries and raspberry vinaigrette?

This salad was featured in the Kansas City Examiner. It looks delicious and simple to make. All of the ingredients are listed on their site.


Rosemary Peach Lemonade

Would you like a non-alcoholic drink that you could serve to anyone? Something different than the usual lemonade? I found this Rosemary Peach Lemonade on the Food Network's site.


I hope everyone has a great 4th this weekend. I have a big post coming up...500, yes 500 posts!!! My next post will be my 500th!!!!

The first photo picture is from Flickr.

Yummy Food for Your Superbowl Party

I get weekly e-mails from Pillsbury. Angry Husband and I are always looking for new things to make for dinner. Ok, well, Angry Husband does the cooking, but I can give suggestions, right? Anyway, you can sign up for these e-mails @ Pillsbury's website.

I got this great newsletter with all kinds of yummy looking recipes. I'm highlighting some of the recipe ideas that they sent. Everything is made with simple ingredients.

Chicken Caesar Sandwich Ring



Mini Crescent Dogs



Crescent Layer Bars



Choco Peanut Butter Cups