Two Weeks of Christmas Treats, Day 3: Buried Cherry Cookies

I made (and posted about) these buried cherry cookies in the early days of my blog, and I’ve made them at least twice a year ever since – usually for Valentine’s Day and again at Christmas. Everyone absolutely loves these sweet little cookies.

Although I’m not a fan of chocolate-covered cherries (it’s the creamy white stuff in them that I don’t like), I adore these cookies too. First of all, they’re adorable. Secondly, it’s such a fun surprise to bite into a cookie and find a cherry hiding under the chocolate frosting. These come together really easily, and the recipe makes more than 40 cookies, so again, these are perfect for cookie exchanges and gift-giving.

The frosting does actually cook in the oven along with the cookies, which may sound a little strange. It hardens just slightly and adds an interesting texture to the cookies, and baking the frosting enables it to hide the cherry perfectly without sliding off. I think you’ll love these fun, cute little cookies!

Buried Cherry Cookies
from Better Homes and Gardens

1 10-ounce jar maraschino cherries (42 to 48)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain cherries, reserving juice. Halve any large cherries. In a medium mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in cocoa powder and as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.

2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press your thumb into the center of each ball. Place a cherry in each center.

3. For frosting, in a small saucepan combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons reserved cherry juice. (If necessary, frosting may be thinned with additional cherry juice.) Spoon 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover.

4. Bake about 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Makes 42 to 48 cookies.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream

Here’s an impossible question for you: If you had to choose, what would you say your favorite part of a cupcake or cake is – the cake itself, or the frosting? If I had to choose, I’d have to say my favorite part is the frosting. Especially when the frosting is as sweet and luscious as this coffee buttercream is.

I can’t even begin to describe how delicious these cupcakes are. I made them with my sister (who loves coffee and also works for a large coffee chain) in mind, and she absolutely loved them. Coffee and chocolate is one of those perfect flavor combinations (hello, mocha?!), and these cupcakes are the perfect thing to highlight the complementary flavors. The cupcakes are richly chocolate, and the frosting is sweet, with a slight bitterness from the coffee. Absolutely perfect.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream
cake adapted from The Cake Mix Doctor; frosting from Eat at Home

For the cake:

1 package triple chocolate fudge cake mix
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup miniature chocolate chips

For the frosting:

1 stick butter, softened
3 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 to 4 tablespoons strong brewed coffee, cooled

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.

2. Place the cake mix, cocoa powder, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed, until batter is well-blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

3. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes about 20 minutes, or until they spring back lightly with pressed with your finger, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the oven. Let cool in pan 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

4. While cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. With an electric mixer, beat the butter till smooth. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla and 2 tablespoons coffee. Mix again until well blended. Gradually add more coffee, by the teaspoon until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.

5. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes and garnish with mini chocolate chips.

Sprinkles Doughnuts

In all actuality, these should be called “cake batter doughnuts,” but when my older son saw them he called them “sprinkles doughnuts.” I thought that was pretty cute, so I’m going with it. :)

The doughnuts pictured are actually my second attempt at making these. My first try didn’t go so well. I only had chocolate sprinkles, the batter was way too salty, and I overfilled my doughnut pan. I assumed I just got a cake mix with a higher salt content and that’s why they tasted so salty, so I adjusted the salt in the recipe way down the second time I made them, and they were perfect. They’ve since become a family favorite, requested nearly every weekend. One box of cake mix will get you quite a few batches of doughnuts; this I know from experience!

These are delicious. I mean, doughnuts that taste like cake, and sprinkles, and a yummy vanilla glaze – what’s not to love? These would be a great birthday morning breakfast – or really, a great breakfast on any day! Thanks, Stephanie, for a wonderful recipe!

Sprinkles Doughnuts
adapted from Stephanie Cooks

For the doughnuts:

1 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cake mix
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Several tablespoons of sprinkles

For the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-3 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat over to 325 degrees. Spray a doughnut pan with nonstick spray.

2. In a large bowl combine the flour, cake mix, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir well.

3. Add in the milk, egg, and vanilla. Stir. Stir in a few tablespoons of sprinkles.

4. Pour batter into a piping bag. Pipe batter into pan until 2/3 full.

5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool in pan a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack.

6. To make the glaze, stir together all ingredients. Add milk to achieve desired consistency. Spoon lightly over doughnuts, apply sprinkles, and allow to sit to harden.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting

I’ve had these cupcakes in mind to make since the beginning of September. Unfortunately, I was missing one main component for the recipe – the pumpkin. By the time I finally got my hands on some pumpkin, my fall baking list was a mile long, and I completely forgot about them until just recently. My stepmom and sister usually come over every Sunday night to watch True Blood or Bridezillas or The Vampire Diaries highly educational, sophisticated television programs with me, and I always make us something sweet. When I texted my sister last week to see what she was in the mood for, she said “anything pumpkin,” which immediately reminded me of these cupcakes.

If you’re not familiar with Biscoff Spread, this is what it looks like:

It’s made from Biscoff cookies (I guess the kind they serve on Delta flights? I don’t know from experience, but that’s what I’ve heard), and it tastes spicy and sweet, sort of like a gingersnap but BETTER. I thought putting some of it in the frosting would be the perfect complement to the cupcakes. It turned out to be a really delicious combination!

The cupcakes themselves are dense and moist, more like a muffin in texture than a cupcake, and the browned butter gives them an intense, nutty flavor. They’re not too sweet on their own, so they need a really sweet frosting, and this one is perfect. These were a huge hit, and my sister even said these cupcakes were her favorite out of all the desserts I’ve made.

Browned Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Biscoff Cream Cheese Frosting
cupcakes adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes; frosting is my recipe

For the cupcakes:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs

For the frosting:

1 stick butter, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 to 1/2 cup Biscoff Spread
1 pound powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat and continue to cook, swirling occasionally, until butter turns golden brown. Skim foam from top, and remove from heat. Pour into a bowl to stop the cooking, leaving any burned sediment behind; let cool.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, both sugars, eggs, and browned butter mixture. Add the flour mixture, and whisk until just combined.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

4. To make the frosting, cream together the butter, cream cheese and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Add in Biscoff Spread and mix well. Add powdered sugar to desired consistency. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Butterfinger Blondies with Butterfinger Cream Cheese Frosting

Ah, Halloween. The one day each year when children dress up in adorable costumes and go beg for candy for their parents to eat. It’s a magical, magical day.

I’m hoping we get lots of the “good candy” so I can make these blondies again. You know the difference between “good candy” and “bad candy,” right? Good candy = Butterfingers, Snickers, Kit Kats, etc. Bad candy = individually wrapped hard candies, generic chocolates wrapped in foil. Good candy = a cupboard stocked with sweet treats for months. Bad candy = a careful inspection to make sure it’s still fully sealed, and most likely a trip to the trash can just in case.

These blondies are a perfect use for the good candy. I think you could replace the Butterfingers in the recipe with just about any type of candy bar you can think of – Snickers, Kit Kats, Twix, Nestle Crunch...they’d all taste amazing in this application. I’d much rather use the Halloween haul in recipes like this, just so I don’t have it all sitting around for the next few months, begging me to eat it. Recipes like this get rid of a lot of it at once, which is good.

Plus? These blondies are delicious. Truly, amazingly delicious. “I think I’ll eat three of them” delicious. And that’s just the blondies; don’t even get me started on the frosting.

(P.S. These candy bar cookies are another great use for Halloween candy.)

Butterfinger Blondies with Butterfinger Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Cookies and Cups

For the blondies:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups coarsely chopped Butterfinger bars (about 16 “fun size” bars)

For the frosting:

1 stick butter at room temperature
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped Butterfinger bars (about 4 “fun size” bars)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. For the blondies, cream butter and sugars in mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until incorporated.

3. On low add the dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking soda) until just combined. Stir in the chopped Butterfingers.

4. Spread in a 9 × 13 baking dish and bake for 25 minutes until center is just set. Remove from oven and cool completely.

5. For the frosting, mix together butter, cream cheese and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Add powdered sugar to desired consistency. Stir in Butterfingers and spread frosting over cooled blondies.

Pumpkin Crunch Coffee Cake

I have about a zillion cookbooks. That may be a slight exaggeration, but still: It’s sort of an addiction for me. I love sitting down and browsing through a cookbook, folding down the corners of the pages to mark the recipes I want to try. But I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes the internet is just...better. Blogs and recipe sites will probably never completely replace cookbooks for me – but having tons and tons of recipes at my fingertips is such a wonderful convenience.

Last weekend, I knew I wanted to bake some sort of pumpkin cake, but I didn’t have a recipe in mind. I turned to my cookbooks first, but after looking through seven or eight of them and finding nothing (every recipe called for ingredients I didn’t have, or it just didn’t sound good), I turned to the internet. I typed a quick search into Google, and the first recipe that popped up sounded amazing. I had everything on hand, so I decided to go with it. And you guys, it was perfect.

I can’t say enough good things about this coffee cake. It’s not too sweet, and the texture is perfect: really light and fluffy, and a wonderful contrast to the crackly, crunchy topping. The topping was actually my favorite part. There was plenty to cover both cakes with a pretty thick layer of brown-sugar-pecan-cinnamon goodness, and my older son loved helping me sprinkle it on.

I think my stepmom said it best when she told me that this coffee cake tasted “just like fall.” She’s so right. I’ll be making this every year from now on, without question.

Pumpkin Crunch Coffee Cake
adapted from Allrecipes

For the topping:

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
1/2 cup chopped pecans

For the cake:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
1 inch of vanilla bean (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; I just ran out)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In a small bowl, combine sugars and cinnamon for topping. Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in pecans; set aside.

2. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine the sour cream, pumpkin and vanilla; mix well.

3. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream mixture. Beat on low just until blended.

4. Spread the batter into two greased and floured 8-inch round cake pans. Sprinkle with topping. Bake at 325 degrees for 40-50 minutes (mine took 45) or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Slow Cooker Peanut Butter Fudge Cake

I typically try to bake something every weekend. I usually never know what I’m going to bake until I wake up on Saturday morning, though; it just depends on what I’m in the mood for. One weekend when I was looking through all of my bookmarked recipes, I realized I was missing at least one ingredient for every single thing that sounded good. So I moved on to my cookbooks, and that’s where I ultimately found this gem of a recipe. I had everything on hand, so it seemed like the perfect treat to make for my family.

I’ve seen (and bookmarked) lots of recipes for slow-cooker desserts, but I’d never tried one myself. I was happy with both the ease of this recipe, and with the result. I’ve since made it again, with a couple of modifications, and it’s been really well-received by everyone who’s tried it.

This is a lot like a pudding cake, so the chocolate is poured in on top of the cake mixture, but the cake mixture “floats” to the top while the chocolate becomes the sauce. The cake itself is moist, and the chocolate sauce is rich and decadent. The peanut butter flavor is subtle, but not overwhelmed by the chocolate. This cake is definitely best served warm right out of the slow cooker with a dollop of whipped cream, and it is a divine dessert.

Slow Cooker Peanut Butter Fudge Cake
adapted from Taste of Home

1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup peanut butter (do not use reduced fat)
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons baking cocoa
1 cup boiling water
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream for serving

1. In a large bowl, combine the milk, peanut butter, oil and vanilla; beat until well blended. In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup sugar, flour, baking powder and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture until blended. Spread evenly into a 1 1/2-quart slow cooker coated with cooking spray.

2. In a small bowl, combine the cocoa and remaining sugar; stir in boiling water. Pour into slow cooker. Do not stir.

3. Cover and cook on high for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until a toothpick inserted near the center of comes out clean. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Apple Whoopie Pies with Cinnamon Caramel Cream Cheese Filling

It seems like when fall weather first hits, my mind automatically goes to all pumpkin, all the time. My pumpkin love runs deep and true. But with all my pumpkin adoration, I tend to forget about that other delightful seasonal fall ingredient: the apple. I couldn’t let autumn pass without baking with apples at least once, and right about the time I vowed to make something apple-icious, Stephanie serendipitously posted these whoopie pies. Done, and done.

I learned a lesson while making these. I knew the filling was going to be amazing (cinnamon cream cheese frosting, I mean, come ON), but I decided I wanted to make it even better and add some caramel. Sounds delicious, right? I had half a bag of caramels in the cupboard from when I made these snickerdoodles, so I thought that would be the perfect thing to use. But, um, do you know what happens to caramel after you melt it? It starts to harden up IMMEDIATELY. When I tried to add it to the frosting, it got all clumpy – not to mention the mess I made of my stand mixer. There were bits of caramel everywhere. In hindsight, I should have tempered the caramel with the frosting. Or I should have just made my own caramel.

My second attempt at the frosting was much better (good thing I always keep myself supplied with cream cheese and powdered sugar!). I used caramel ice cream topping instead. I don’t know what they add to it to keep it soft (nor do I really want to know), but it worked perfectly. The filling was AMAZING – nutty and sweet from the caramel, and spicy from the cinnamon. It was such a perfect flavor combination.

The apple whoopie pies themselves were pretty delicious, too. They had a nice amount of spice, and I loved the texture that the bits of apple added to them. Joe and my boys loved them. Andrew kept calling them “apple pie whoopie cookies,” which was pretty cute. :)

Apple Whoopie Pies with Cinnamon Caramel Cream Cheese Filling
adapted from Macaroni and Cheesecake

For the whoopie pies:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon apple pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated

For the frosting:

1/2 cup butter
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
3/4 cup caramel ice cream topping
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
5 cups confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add butter and beat on medium speed until creamy (about 30 seconds). Add in brown sugar, baking soda, apple pie spice and salt. Beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Add egg and beat until combined. Add in applesauce and milk and mix on low speed until fully incorporated. Add in flour a little at a time and mix until combined. Add apple and fold into mixture with spatula.

3. Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets approximately 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until tops are lightly browned. Let stand a couple minutes on cookie sheets to set and then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

4. For the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add caramel and mix until combined. Add in confectioner’s sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Beat until light and fluffy and a spreadable consistency.

5. Add frosting to the flat side of one cookie, and top with another cookie. Chill before serving. Makes 18 whoopie pies.

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Spiced Maple Glaze

When I (finally) got my stock of pumpkin puree this fall, I knew that one of the things I had to make was pumpkin doughnuts. My doughnut pan was practically begging to be filled with pumpkiny deliciousness. So when Deborah posted her recipe for baked pumpkin doughnuts, I of course made them that very weekend.

My family absolutely loved these doughnuts – shocking, I know. We are pumpkin people. The earthy flavor of pumpkin is such a perfect pairing with the sweetness of maple syrup. In fact, I loved the glaze so much that I may have eaten dozens a few fingertips full of it. This recipe makes a dozen doughnuts but I only have a six-doughnut doughnut pan, so I used my mini muffin pan to make doughnut holes out of the rest of the batter. They were delicious and adorable, and also disappeared too quickly for me to photograph them.

You can probably see that my glaze isn’t very thick. This is because I’m incredibly impatient when it comes to dunking doughnuts. I just can’t seem to wait until they’re cool. I’ve come to accept this about myself.

Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts with Spiced Maple Glaze
adapted from Taste and Tell

For the doughnuts:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the glaze:

1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 tablespoons milk

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a doughnut pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

3. In another bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter and pumpkin. Add in the eggs, mix well, then mix in the vanilla and milk. Stir in the reserved dry ingredients.

4. Place the mix in a large zip-top bag. Cut off the corner and pipe into the doughnut pan.

5. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven, let rest for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

6. Meanwhile, make the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, pumpkin pie spice and milk. When the doughnuts are cool, dip them in the glaze. Return to the wire rack to allow the glaze to set.

Oatmeal Crème Pies

When I was pregnant with my second son, I think I single-handedly kept Little Debbie in business with my oatmeal crème pie purchases. I couldn’t get enough of them, and next to BBQ, they were my biggest pregnancy craving. I’m trying to figure out if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I didn’t have this recipe when I was pregnant. If I had had it, I wouldn’t have needed to spend so much money on the Little Debbie version. But also, if I’d had this recipe, I would have been eating oatmeal crème pies a lot more frequently, because these are just so incredibly good.

These are definitely better than the store-bought version, and while they’re not “healthy,” exactly, at least they don’t have a lot of artificial ingredients in them. They definitely taste like the store-bought ones, but they’re even more delicious because they’re so fresh-tasting. The cookies are chewy and soft and the filling is absolutely incredible, with the perfect texture and the right amount of sweetness. It was hard for me to share these with anyone, but I forced myself to, and everyone who tried them couldn’t stop raving about them. This recipe is a keeper for sure.

Oatmeal Crème Pies
from Macaroni and Cheesecake

For the cookies:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon honey
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

For the marshmallow frosting:

2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, honey and vanilla and beat until incorporated.

3. In a separate medium sized bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix just until incorporated. Stir in oats until evenly distributed. Transfer dough to a large mixing bowl (this is so you can use stand mixer bowl for the frosting) and chill in refrigerator for 15 minutes.

4. Remove dough from refrigerator and drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet (or even a bit smaller for smaller cookies). Bake for 8 to 10 minutes just until the edges start to brown. Cookies will seem moist in the middle but they will set up. Cool on baking sheet until set and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

5. To make the frosting, in a double boiler, add egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar and heat over simmering water. Whisking frequently, heat until egg whites become very frothy and sugar is dissolved (approximately 160 degrees). Carefully add egg mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk on high speed for several minutes until egg mixture will hold stiff peaks and is light in texture. Carefully fold in vanilla until incorporated.

6. Add frosting to a cooled cookie and then top with another cookie. Store in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

It’s high time I joined the ranks of food bloggers extolling the virtues of these muffins. I made them for the first time this year, and I really, really wish I hadn’t waited so long. They’re so delicious, and I won’t even tell you how quickly two dozen of them disappeared from my kitchen.

There are two things that make these better than your average pumpkin muffin: 1. the streusel topping, which makes a crackly, spicy-sugary crust on top of the muffins; and 2. the cream cheese filling, which is actually more like cream cheese frosting. I added a little bit of vanilla to the filling to make it taste even more like frosting. I am powerless to resist the pumpkin-cream cheese combo. Powerless, I tell you.

While I was making these, I was wondering why the freeze-the-cream-cheese-mixture step was necessary. I thought maybe the cream cheese mixture was too heavy for the batter, so I froze it as indicated. But my friend Amanda just went ahead and dolloped the mixture into each muffin without freezing it first, and she said it worked out just fine. So I won't bother messing with the freezing step next time.

There was too much clove flavor for my tastes, so I’ve adjusted that in the recipe below. But other than that and the freezing step, I won’t change a thing when I make these again. And I will be making them many, many times – this fall and every fall to come.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins
adapted from Annie’s Eats

For the filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the muffins:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

For the topping:

1/2 cup sugar
5 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. To prepare the filling, combine the cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and mix well until blended and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Smooth the plastic wrap tightly around the log, and reinforce with a piece of foil. Transfer to the freezer and chill until at least slightly firm, at least 2 hours.

2. To make the muffins, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two muffin pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda; whisk to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, sugar, pumpkin puree and oil. Mix on medium-low speed until blended. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until incorporated.

3. To make the topping, combine the sugar, flour and cinnamon in a small bowl; whisk to blend. Add in the butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or two forks until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Transfer to the refrigerator until ready to use.

4. To assemble the muffins, fill each muffin well with a small amount of batter, just enough to cover the bottom of the liner (1-2 tablespoons). Slice the log of cream cheese filling into 24 equal pieces. Place a slice of the cream cheese mixture into each muffin well. Divide the remaining batter among the muffin cups, placing on top of the cream cheese to cover completely. Sprinkle a small amount of the topping mixture over each of the muffin wells.

5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before serving.

Chocolate Peanutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

Really, these are chocolate peanut butter Nutella chocolate chip cookies, but I like the sound of “peanutella.” A fun and delicious new word!

And were these cookies ever delicious. I made them on a day when I was craving cookies but had very limited ingredients in the house. Most significantly, I wanted Nutella chocolate chip cookies but I only had one egg, so my usual recipe wouldn’t fly. I quickly found another recipe that called for only one egg, so I was good to go. When I was grabbing the Nutella from the cupboard, I saw the peanut butter, and I thought, Why not?

Nutella and peanut butter were absolutely made for each other, and they work so well together in these cookies. They have a flavor that is out of this world and a perfect texture, too. Joe declared them the best cookies I’d ever made, and they held that title until they were overtaken by the red velvet chocolate chip cookie sandwiches I made recently (recipe coming soon).

These cookies are sinfully delicious and decadent, and you should rush to the kitchen and make them as soon as you can. If your pantry looks anything like mine, you probably already have all of these ingredients on hand. :)

Chocolate Peanutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Lovin’ From the Oven

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup Nutella
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

2. Cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in Nutella and peanut butter and vanilla extract. Mix in egg.

3. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chips.

4. Chill for at least 1 hour.

5. Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then carefully remove to cooling racks.

One year ago: Classic fried rice

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes

These cupcakes have been on my radar for a while now, and when I found myself with half a jar of Nutella in the pantry and no immediate use for it (aside from eating it by the spoonful), I decided it was time to make them. I’m only sorry I waited so long, because these cupcakes are delicious – every bit as good as you’d expect a yellow cupcake swirled with Nutella to be.

The idea is that the Nutella is swirled into the batter before baking, creating a “frosting” for the cupcakes. But I gotta admit that a cupcake without frosting on top of it is a muffin to me, so I spread some additional Nutella on top of mine. It made it taste that much more delicious.

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes
from Baking Bites

10 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
Approximately 1/3 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

3. Fill each muffin liner with batter about 3/4 full. Top each cake with 1 1/2 teaspoons Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

One year ago: Fruit and yogurt muffins, still an oft-requested recipe in our house.

Peanut Butter Cookies

It happens to all of us: an undeniable, overwhelming craving for a certain food. It happens to me quite often, actually. If it’s a savory dish I’m craving, I put it on the coming week’s menu. But if it’s a sweet craving – well, it’s harder for me to wait.

One of the cravings that hit me recently was for a peanut butter cookie. Just a simple, classic, chewy, peanut buttery cookie, fork marks and all. Believe it or not, I had never made these cookies myself (yes, really! Do I lose my food blogger's license?), so I didn’t have a tried-and-true recipe to use. My mom made them all the time, but I couldn’t find her recipe in her collection. So I chose this recipe on a whim, and thankfully, it was a winner.

I don’t know what else I can really say about these cookies. They’re delicious, and take me back to when I was a kid and my mom would serve these to my brother and me, hot from the oven, drizzled with melted chocolate in the fork marks. I did the same thing with my cookies and my children, and it was such a happy memory, and such a yummy cookie.

Peanut Butter Cookies
slightly adapted from Allrecipes

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup finely chopped unsalted peanuts
Semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs.

2. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Fold in peanuts. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.

3. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake. Remove to a wire rack.

4. Add chocolate chips to a plastic bag with a touch of vegetable oil to make it smooth. Melt in 30-second increments until completely melted. Snip a corner in the bag and trace chocolate into the fork marks on the cookies.

One year ago: Zucchini banana chocolate chip muffins

Saturdays with Rachael Ray: Monkey Bread Muffins

I'm so glad I'm posting this recipe on a Saturday, because that gives you the perfect opportunity to make these for breakfast tomorrow morning. And believe me, you absolutely should make them. They're so delicious, and perfect with a cup of coffee.

I thought these monkey bread muffins were such a clever idea. They have all the same flavors as traditional monkey bread, but they seem much more accessible than the traditional version since they're baked in muffin cups. The one problem I had with these was a pretty obvious one: They stuck to the pan. So if you make them, just be sure you're really generous with the cooking spray.

Spicy, sweet, toasty and warm -- these are the perfect breakfast treat.

Don't forget to check out Taste and Tell's Saturdays with Rachael Ray for more delicious recipes!

Monkey Bread Muffins

from Every Day with Rachael Ray

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled 

3 tablespoons maple syrup 

1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 

1/3 cup brown sugar 

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon 

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3/4 cup buttermilk, chilled

1. Position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. In a small bowl, microwave 4 tablespoons butter and the maple syrup at high power until melted, 30 seconds; stir. In a small bowl, stir together 1/3 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar and the cinnamon. 

2. In a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, the remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and the salt; pulse to combine. Cut the remaining 1 stick chilled butter into small pieces and pulse with the flour mixture until coarse crumbs form. Pulse in the buttermilk until the dough just comes together. Transfer to a lightly floured work surface; pat into a 10-inch square (the dough will be sticky). Quarter the dough, then cut each quarter into 16 equal pieces; roll into balls.

3. Dip each ball in the maple butter, then coat with the sugar mixture. Place 5 to 6 coated balls into each muffin cup and press to compact.

4. Bake until cooked through and golden, 15 to 17 minutes (tent with foil if the tops darken too quickly). Transfer the muffin pan to a rack and cool for 10 minutes. Using a knife, loosen the sides of the monkey bread; invert onto a platter, then turn right side up. Serve warm.

Peanut Butter Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze

In my humble opinion, the doughnut pan is one of the greatest inventions in the realm of baking equipment. Ever. I mean, what a genius idea, right? A pan you can use to bake doughnuts instead of frying them. Why, it almost makes doughnuts healthy! (…Okay, I know. That’s a stretch. But at least it’s healthier than deep-frying.)

I bought myself a doughnut pan for Easter, and then promptly…didn’t use it. I just never got around to it for some reason. But then one morning this post showed up in my Reader. And I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. These doughnuts were calling to me, and it was a call I was going to answer.

These doughnuts were delicious. The doughnuts themselves are cakey, rich, and peanut-buttery, but the glaze is what really did me in. I could have eaten it with a spoon. It tastes exactly like the chocolate glaze that comes on doughnut-shop doughnuts. I made these for us as a special weekend treat, and we all just loved them!

(By the way, if you’re in the market for a doughnut pan, this is the one I bought, and I love it. Although while I was searching for it to share the link, I saw this…and now I want it, too. One can never have too many doughnut-making-implements, right?)

Baked Peanut Butter Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
from Fake Ginger

1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a doughnut pan.

2. Using a mixer, combine peanut butter and sugar until fluffy. Add in milk, oil, vanilla, and egg; mix.

3. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt over top of peanut butter mixture. Use mixer to blend until just combined. Transfer to a pastry bag with a large, round tip (or a zip top bag) and pipe into doughnut pan.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until doughnuts are golden brown and spring back when touched. Flip onto a wire rack and allow to cool for a few minutes before glazing.

5. To make the glaze, whisk together melted butter and cocoa powder. Once the cocoa powder has melted into the butter, add milk, corn syrup, vanilla, and powdered sugar; whisk. If the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar. If too thick, add more milk.

6. Dip the doughnuts into the glaze and allow the glaze to set about 30 minutes before serving. Makes 6 doughnuts.

Cashew Caramel Brownies

I’ve been sitting on these brownies for a while now, and I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to share them. Well, I haven’t been sitting on the brownies themselves – just the recipe. But now that I think about it, maybe I have been sitting on the brownies, in a sense, since I ate so many of them when I made these. :)

I’m a sucker for the cashew/caramel combination, and also the caramel/chocolate combination, so when I saw this recipe there was no chance I wouldn’t be making these. We all loved them. They’re fudgy and sweet and rich and decadent. I love the textural balance of the fudgy brownie, the crunchy cashews and the gooey caramel. I never met a brownie I didn’t like, but I really, really liked this one.

Cashew Caramel Brownies
from 5 Dollar Dinners

4 ounces bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped
1 cup butter
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 caramels, cut into quarters
1 cup cashews, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease and flour a 9 × 13-inch baking dish.

2. Melt the chopped baking chocolate with the butter and 1 cup of the chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Stir together. Let cool while you start on the next part.

3. In a stand mixer or mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla. After the chocolate mixture has cooled, beat it into the eggs mixture. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt.

4. Gently fold in the rest of the chocolate chips, the caramels and the chopped cashews. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean in the center.

6. Let cool slightly before cutting and serving. Serve warm or, to serve after cooled, warm the brownies in the microwave for 8 to 10 seconds, or long enough to make the caramel soft again.

Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

Every year, our neighbor shares his strawberry crop with us, and I have so many strawberry recipes saved for just this reason. That knock on the door, that smiling neighbor, and those juicy, ripe strawberries are something I look forward to every single year, and I waste no time in getting into the kitchen and making something delicious with my bounty. As soon as I saw this pie, I knew it would be the perfect use for some of the strawberries (because, let's be honest, most of them we just pop into our mouths like candy).

Reeni wrote an adorable post to go with this recipe, in which she shared that she has hang-ups about cooked, mushy strawberries, and thus was less than impressed with this dessert. I have no such hang-ups, so I knew I'd love this, and I did. The strawberries really weren't the star for me, though; what I loved most was the fluffy, lemony cheesecake that surrounded them. If you don't like the texture of cooked strawberries, just bake the cheesecake pie without them, and top each individual serving with sliced strawberries that have been macerated in some sugar. For me, you really can't go wrong either way.

Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

adapted from Cinnamon Spice and Everything Nice

1 graham cracker pie crust

1 pint strawberries, ends trimmed

2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
2 teaspoon lemon zest, finely grated
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Place the strawberries cut side down evenly over the crust. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a food processor, process eggs and sugar until smooth, about 1 minute. Add cream cheese, pulse to break up and then process until smooth. Add sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, flour and vanilla. Process just until smooth, about 20 seconds. Pour the filling carefully over the strawberries.

3. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the top looks firm and is set when you gently shake the pan. Cool on wire rack, then cover and chill completely before serving. Slice with a warm knife, wiping clean after each cut.

Butterbeer Cake

As a self-proclaimed Harry Potter fanatic, it's a little shocking even to me that I haven't seen the final Harry Potter movie yet. But when you have young children, the reality is that date nights are few and far between. I'm happy to report that Joe and I have plans to see it during our vacation, and I can't wait!

I made this cake for a coworker's birthday celebration recently (which was Harry Potter-themed since she, like me and so many others at our office, is a huge fan of the boy wizard). Everyone raved about it, and honestly, I think it's one of the best cakes I've ever made. It's a butterscotch cake, topped with butterscotch buttercream and butterscotch ganache. It's so incredibly moist, rich, and decadent, and it tastes exactly like I imagine Harry Potter's favorite drink to taste. I think the secrets to the incredible texture are the cream soda and buttermilk in the cake. The cream soda gives the cake a wonderful fluffy lightness, while the buttermilk makes it so moist.

The original recipe is for cupcakes, which I modified into a two-layer cake. If you want the cupcake recipe, just click the link. If you love butterscotch or Harry Potter or both of those things, you're going to love this cake. The recipe may look complicated, but it's actually very simple, and so incredibly worth the time.

Butterbeer Cake

adapted from The Curvy Carrot

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon butter flavoring

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup cream soda, room temperature

For the butterscotch ganache:

1 11-ounce bag of butterscotch chips

1 cup heavy whipping cream 

For the buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/3 cup butterscotch ganache

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon butter flavoring

Pinch salt

1 16-ounce package (about 3 cups) powdered sugar

1 teaspoon cream soda (and more as needed)

1. For the cake:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Spray two 8- or 9-inch cake pans with cooking spray and dust with flour. 

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

4. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light, about 2 minutes. 

5. Add the granulated and dark brown sugars to the butter and continue to mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. 

6. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

7. Add the vanilla and butter flavorings until combined. 

8. Add about one-third of the buttermilk, followed by one-third of the cream soda, and then one-third of the flour mixture. 

9. Alternate adding the remaining buttermilk, cream soda, and flour in thirds until well-combined. 

10. Evenly distribute the cake batter between the two pans and bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time.  Cool the cakes completely before frosting. 

11. For the butterscotch ganache: In a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, mix the butterscotch chips and heavy cream, stirring until smooth.  Let cool. 

12. For the butterscotch frosting: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until light, about 2 minutes. 

13.  Add the cooled butterscotch ganache to the butter, mixing well. 

14.  Add the vanilla, butter flavoring, cream soda, and salt to the frosting and mix well to combine. 

15. Decrease the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the powdered sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. 

16.  For the assembly: Place one cake on a cake platter. Gently poke holes in the top of the cake and pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup of butterscotch ganache across the surface. Top with a layer of frosting, then add the other cake. Gently poke holes in the top cake and smooth another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of ganache across the surface. Frost top and sides of cake with frosting, then drizzle with more butterscotch ganache. Decorate with butterscotch chips, if desired.