Pinterest Recipe Tuesday: Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

I love pumpkin and this past Fall there must have been hundreds if not thousands of pins with pumpkin in them showing up in my daily feed on Pinterest.

I pinned a few and this is the first one that I tried and not only was it easy, it was beyond delicious. In fact between my littles and hubby the first half dozen were gone as fast as I could ice them.



I got the recipe from here.

Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (if you have one, if not a mixing bowl and a hand mixer will do just fine), combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Beat on medium until well combined. Slowly start to add the dry ingredients, and mix on low until smooth. Fold in pumpkin puree.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.



And while she does provide a recipe for homemade caramel I chose to go with the alternative of using a favourite caramel sauce as I already had it on hand. Next time, I will try and make the Caramel Sauce from scratch.

Salted Caramel Buttercream

Ingredients:

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 stick salted butter

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

In a saucepan, stir together granulated sugar and water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cook without stirring until mixture turns a deep amber color, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and slowly add in cream and vanilla, stirring until very smooth. Let caramel cool for about 20 minutes, until it is just barely warm and still pourable. Alternatively, you could use just under 1/2 cup of your favorite caramel sauce.

In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and salt together until lightened and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add powdered sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.

Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the caramel. Beat on medium high speed until light and airy, and completely mixed (about 2 minutes). Mixture should be ready to use without refrigeration. If your caramel was too hot when added, it will cause your icing to be runny. If this happens refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

Needless to say they were a tasty treat and I plan making them again.

Pinterest Recipe Tuesday: Slow Cooker Beef Stew

While I am sure  most of you have a recipe for a go to Beef Stew (I know I do) I am always on the hunt for something new or just a little different from the tried, tested and true fail safe recipe when I stumbled on to this one. It is similar and just different enough that I thought I would try it out.

The recipe is from Movita Beaucoup. I aspire to be able to take food pictures the way they did one day. For now, I guess I only took one picture!

Ingredients:

2 lbs of stewing beef, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium sized onions, chopped into large pieces

2 ribs celery, chopped

4 carrots, peeled and chopped

about 20 mini-potatoes, cut large ones in half, leave smallest ones as is (I like to
use a mix of yellow, red and blue, no need to peel)

1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes (I use plum tomatoes)

1 1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

3 cups sodium-reduced beef broth, divided

2 bay leaves

1 cup frozen peas

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and then lightly brown the
meat in batches. Transfer browned beef to a plate and set aside.

Dump the tomatoes into the slow cooker (juice and all). Crush them with a potato
masher or the back of a spoon.

Add the onions, celery, carrots and potatoes. Sprinkle the Italian seasoning over the vegetables and then add the beef and any accumulated drippings.

Pour 2 1/2 cups of the beef broth over the beef and vegetables.

Give the mixture a quick stir. Add the bay leaves. Cover and cook on low for 8 – 10 hours.

About 20 minutes before serving, add the peas (no need to defrost first), salt and
pepper.

 In a small bowl whisk together the flour and remaining 1/2 cup of beef broth,
creating a smooth paste. Stir into the stew.

Replace the slow cooker cover and cook until thickened (about 15-20 minutes).

Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Pinterest Recipe Tuesday: Honey Beer Bread

Pinterest is a great tool on so many levels. I am able to procrastinate hours and hours away happily while pining away. I am sure you all know exactly what I am talking about!

So in attempt to make those idle hours useful I have started making some of the recipes taunting me from my boards and I plan on sharing those at least once a week...whether they turn out to be a culinary master piece or the scene from Aliens!

First up is this recipe for Honey Beer Bread that I found at luluathome.com (unfortunately the link seems to bring up an error 404 code).

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons honey

1 can beer (I used a bottle)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat over to 350F. Grease a 9″x5″x3″ loaf pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. 

Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed.  (Microwave the honey for 5 to 10 seconds beforehand to make it easier to stir in)

Pour half the melted butter into the loaf pan. Then spoon the batter into the pan, and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter. Use a pastry brush to spread it around.

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until top is golden brown and a toothpick/knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Everyone loved it! My husband thought it was more of a cake then a bread, I told him it was a heavy bread and not cake...regardless when paired with a thick and hearty stew fresh from the oven with some butter it was great.

Next week, the recipe for the Beef Stew pictured above.

A little Christmas in April

I have a few posts from December that I need to catch up on. Being sick starting right before Thanksgiving up until the start of the holidays made for a crazy time, on top of a trip back to Canada then back home just in time to start school again left me no time to update the blog.

So without further ado here is the Christmas Tree Cake that I made for Keegan's Grade One Class.



The cake pan that I used is made by Wilton and it is one of many that my Mom gave me when I moved away from home and they are old. In fact they are at least 30 plus years old. My Mom used to not only teach cake decorating classes but she and my Aunt Gail used to have a little cake business. They told me that they used to do Birthdays and Weddings...how cool! Mind you, I do remember having awesome cakes for my birthdays growing up and she gave me my first lesson in piping. Needless to say that one is still a work in progress, but I get by.

So I decided rather then just baking a plain tree cake I was going to add a bit of colour, which my 7 year old thought was the coolest thing. So I mixed up so green and brown and we decorated the cake together. He decided that M&M's were a good idea.

Items used:
Wilton Christmas Tree Cake pan
Wilton Gel Colours
White Cake
Buttercream Icing
Mini M&M's
Tube of Glitter Icing




It was a big hit!

Peeps! They aren't just for eating!

 Whether you "love" or "detest" these sugar coated marshmallow's treats, you have to admit that Peeps are cute!

Source: via Kelly on Pinterest

Over the years Peeps have changed and they seem to appear at more holidays then they did in previous years.

For me, the arrival of the little yellow Chick Peeps meant that Easter was coming soon. In the last few years Bunnies now seem to accompany the Chicks and they come in an array of colors rather then just the standard yellow.

Source: via Kelly on Pinterest

Source: via Kelly on Pinterest

Here is the newest addiction...I mean addition to the Peep craze.

Plush Peeps!

Photo By: Kelly @ ChasingKeegan

I will resist, I will resist...I...will...

Internet issues, the Commercial Bowl and Chili

Well today while the chili was simmering all day for the Commercial Bowl I was trying to get my Internet up and running. With this post I have succeeded, we just won't mention or show the LAN cables running through the house...sigh.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies...Ever!

The boys were asking for Chocolate Chip cookies over the Holidays and while I am happy to make them. I wanted to try something different. I decided that I was going to try the Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Cuisine at home Holiday Cookies edition.





All I can say is another great cookie recipe has been made out of this magazine.

Teacher Christmas Gifts 2011

In previous years I have made Cookies in a Jar, last year I made homemade Hot Chocolate & Marshmallowsand the plan was to make those again this year as they were well received last year. Well my time ran out! Ugh! However, never fear, this year I had managed to do a massive Cookie baking exchange with a friend. The teachers were going to be getting homemade Cookies and Chocolates.

3 Tens and 4 Ones

Well it's Friday the 13th and there appears to be no blizzard outside! My Mother likes to remind me each and every year how made my debut durning a blizzard and on Friday the 13th no less.

So as for superstition, it doesn't bother me, it's my lucky day. Although considering I have to clean, make my own cake (gasp), and hundreds of other little things before everyone gets home. I am not so sure the luck is with me today, sigh the joys of being a Mom.

Keegan asked yesterday to go to the party store to buy my balloons and how could I refuse. I gave him a limit and here is what he put together.

In total there is one big balloon along with 2 orange, 2 teal, and a blue one. I thought it turned out well and how glad am I that my 6 year old has a firm grasp on the fact that I am not a "pink" Mom. No offense to those that are, hehe just not my color.

That being said what till you see my cake. Most people who know me, know that I am not a girly girl and rarely does pink ever make itself known in form of presence around me. With that in mind I thought it would be fun to include not only pink, but an animal print in my birthday cake.

This is my first attempt at making a zebra cake and only my second time playing with fondant.

Well so far so good...

Since Keegan is currently learning to break down numbers by Tens and Ones I thought I would use it on my cake.

Zebra cake with a bright pink buttercream filling. Hehe

Keegan took us all to Chuck E Cheese for pizza and video games and he even used his gift card to pay that he got in his stocking for Christmas.

Here's to being 34. Let's see how the year treats me!

Teacher's Gifts 2010

So last year I made and gave away cookies in a jar. I labeled them "ChasingKeegan Cookies."

This year, I saw an idea on a blog that I read on how to make Homemade Hot Chocolate. I got the recipe from Citrus's Blog. There is also a recipe for Homemade Marshmellows there as well, however I used this recipe.

The Hot Chocolate made and waiting to go into it's bags...

The test run for the marshmellows...

And since this is my test run for the marshmellows, I decided to try out some other flavours, rather then just the crushed candy canes onto top to see what worked better using sprinkles from Pamperd Chef.

So depending on how the taste test goes, finished gift pictures to follow.

On another note, completely unrelated, I came upstairs late to bed the other night, only to find this...

Isn't it great to have a King sized bed and there be absolutely no room for you to sleep between the hubby and 3 dogs. I guess the one good thing was that the gnomelit was fast asleep in his own bed and only after 10 mins I was finally able to get the lab to move to her pillow on the floor.

Brown Sugar Blend Banana Cake

I found this recipe while flipping through a magazine and thought not only did it look good, but it looked easy and quick.

Well it was easy and quick and and it tasted great. The only differences I made were, I forgot the yougurt so I used light sour cream as that is what I had on hand and used dark chocolate chip rather then semi sweet.

Ingredients:

Cake
¾ cup (175 mL) SPLENDA® Brand Brown Sugar Blend
½ cup (125 mL) Crisco® Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 (2) eggs
½ cup (125 mL) plain yogurt
3 (3) ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 ½ cups/ 375 mL)
2 tsp (10 mL) vanilla
2 cups (500 mL) Robin Hood® Nutri™ Flour Blend
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
¾ tsp (4 mL) baking soda
¼ cup (5 mL) Chipits®* Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Filling
1 (1) banana, sliced
icing sugar for garnish (optional)
Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease two 8” or 9” (22 cm or 23 cm) cake pans.
2. Cake: Beat brown sugar blend and oil with an electric mixer. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add next 6 ingredients. Beat to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool on a wire rack.
4. Assembly: Place 1 layer of cake on serving platter. Place sliced bananas on top. Place remaining cake on top. Sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.

This was dinner tonight...

Slow-Cooker Pulled-Pork Tacos

Ingredients

• 2 cups store-bought salsa, plus more for serving
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• kosher salt
• 1 2 1/2-pound boneless pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat
• 18 corn tortillas
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

• In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the salsa, chili powder, oregano, cocoa, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the pork and turn to coat.
• Cook, covered, until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily, on high for 4 to 5 hours or on low for 7 to 8 hours.
• Twenty minutes before serving, heat oven to 350° F.
• Stack the tortillas, wrap them in foil, and bake until warm, about 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, using 2 forks, shred the pork and stir into the cooking liquid. Serve with the tortillas, cilantro, sour cream, lime, and extra salsa.

This one was great! Will make this again for sure!

Made this for dinner last night...

 I really like Real Simple Magazine and buy it every once and awhile. It has some great tips and the recipes that I have tried have been "simple" and good.

I tried this one last night, it wasn't bad. Mind you, I omitted the apricots and hehe oops forgot the spinach at the last minute...I blame that on my 3 year old.

Spiced Braised Beef with Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck, cut into chunks
• 2 sweet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into 1/2-inch-thick half-moons
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 large red onion, cut into wedges
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• kosher salt
• 1 10-ounce box couscous (1 1/2 cups)
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
• 2 cups baby spinach (1 1/2 ounces)
• 1/4 cup roasted almonds, chopped

Directions

• In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the beef, potatoes, tomatoes (and their juices), onion, apricots, cumin, ginger, cinnamon, cayenne, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup water.
• Cook, covered, until the meat is tender, on high for 4 to 5 hours, or on low for 7 to 8 hours.
• Ten minutes before serving, prepare the couscous according to the package directions.
• Add the chickpeas to the slow cooker and cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the spinach. Serve with the couscous and sprinkle with the almonds.

the results...so yummy

macaroons...

Ok, so I didn't get to them on the weekend like I planned, an unexpected sick gnomelit put a damper on all baking plans. However, as of this minute I am about to place my attempt at macaroons into the oven...results to follow shortly.

I am going to try making these this weekend...yum

Macaroons

Ingredients

Makes 20

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups (about 3 ounces) unsweetened shredded coconut
• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (I personally used Dark Chocolate Chips, plan on trying mini chips as well)
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine sugar, coconut, egg whites, chocolate chunks, vanilla, and salt. Use your hands to mix well, completely combining ingredients.
2. Dampen hands with cold water. Form 1 1/2 tablespoons of mixture into a loose haystack shape, and place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining mixture, placing macaroons about 1 inch apart.
3. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove baking sheet from oven to a wire rack, and let macaroons cool slightly on baking sheet. These are best served warm from the oven, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days; leave in a warm place for 1 hour before serving to allow chocolate to soften.

These sound yummy...

Found this recipe and it sure sounds yummy and simple. Mind you the simple part might become complicated in my search for chickpea flour. Hmm, my search begins...

clipped from sweetfernhandmade.blogspot.com Chickpea Crepes 2 cups warm water 2 tbsp olive oil 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup chickpea flour (check the international section of the supermarket) 1 tsp salt 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional) Put everything in the blender. Turn it on. Scrape down the sides once or twice, and let the batter rest about twenty minutes. Pick the smallest non-stick frying pan you've got, and put it on medium heat. Tip a dab of olive oil onto a paper towel, and wipe inside the pan. Once the pan's hot, measure out a quarter cup of batter. Take the frying pan in your right hand, and take the cup of batter in your left. Pour the batter onto the pan, turning it as you do so the batter covers as much of the pan as possible. It's all kinds of fun to make those first silly-looking lopsided crepes. They'll taste just as good as the perfect ones, I promise. Cook until golden-brown on the bottom, then flip, and cook another minute or so. Repeat with the rest of the batter; this recipe makes about 12-15 crepes.