TWD - Chocolate-chocolate cupcakes

Today's recipe is a chocolate cupcake with a ganache
icing. All hail the new favorite Dorie recipe! She describes them as being more for adult than child palates and I would have to agree - the cake utilizes cocoa and just a smidge of melted chocolate and the ganache is a deep dark, bittersweet glaze. They come off as not very sweet, and there is certainly no cloying buttercream here.

Many bakers commented they had dry cake and pulled their cakes out earlier than recommended, but I had no problems with either. They were great, and the smooth ganache made them easy to decorate.


"pumpkin-themed jimmies and orange sanding sugar"

These were also really easy to make, and an even dozen made it easy to get rid of them. They are on page 215-217 of the book, and were chosen by Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought.

Tuesdays with Dorie-Pumpkin Muffins

This week's recipe is perhaps my favorite recipe so far - Pumpkin Muffins! I just love pumpkin in baked goods and savory things.

The recipe was picked by Kelly from Sounding My Barbaric Gulp and can be found on page 13.

They were incredibly moist and flavorful and were devoured quickly. I left out the nuts because some people are opposed to nuts (I know, crazy, right?!?) and added chocolate chips to half the batch (YUM).

The only thing about them was the cooking temp and time - 400 degrees for 25 minutes. I've never baked muffins at that high a temp and certainly for that long. I went ahead and cooked at 400, but only went for about 19 minutes. They were perfect!

Thanks Kelly for picking this perfect seasonal recipe.



Tasty split and toasted!

TWD - Lenox Almond Biscotti

Today's recipe is brought to you by Gretchen from Canela & Comino, and can be found on pages 141-143 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.


These were not at ALL like biscotti I have made in the past; the dough was very wet and they spread quite a bit on the baking sheet. Other bakers reported the same thing so surely I didn't do it by accident?? ;)



My Big Fat Lenox Biscotti

The biscotti are studded with sliced almonds and have a very strong almond/sweet flavor due to 1 1/2 teaspoons of almond extract. They also have an addition of cornmeal, which is very unusual.

I didn't care for either of those additions, finding the extract too cloying, even after baking, and the cornmeal was left in my mouth long after eating the biscotti. It just felt gritty. I really expected it to bake into the dough more.

I'll stick with my tried-and-true recipe that I always give out at Christmas time from Martha, Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti.

TWD - Caramel Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

This week's recipe was a brownie cake, covered in a caramel with salted peanuts, chosen by Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy on pages 264 and 265.



I had really high hopes for this cake, but I started having a bad feeling about it when I went to several stores and couldn't find the 8" springform pan it called for. I baked it in a 9 1/2" pan so it was thinner than it should have been. Then, the caramel took forever to even approach an amber color, then shot to burned tasting in no time. I was very upset with myself.

I ended up taking the cake to a neighborhood party. The caramel had set for a while, but even then, when I cut the first slice, the caramel came oozing off the top into the empty space. I was just disgusted with the cake at that point. I had one bite and didn't even like the brownie part of it.

So - I won't be making this again. I thought it didn't have enough peanuts, and my hubby said he didn't like the peanuts with it at all, that it overpowered the cake. My feelings are just bad about this cake!

Pumpkin Butter

Next to my love of peanut butter and chocolate, pumpkin is my next favorite. I love everything made with pumpkin EXCEPT pumpkin pie. Yuck. It's not sweet enough or something and the texture grosses me out.

I had been searching for a pumpkin butter recipe I used last year, but I decided to just make up my own with the stuff *I* like. It turned out great. I even gifted some to the neighbors. The kiddo loves it on his toast in the mornings. I like it mixed with cream cheese on bagels.

1 15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons water

Combine all ingredients and bring to boil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Reduce to simmer and boil 3 minutes. Let cool and package in tupperware and keep in the fridge.

You can experiment with the sweeteners - combine brown sugar, sugar, honey, maple syrup, it's up to you. Play with the spices, add orange zest or make a half and half pumpkin butter and applesauce mix. Enjoy!

(the Puffin plate from Iceland is my son's)