Chocolate Cupcakes.

I don't have much to say about 2010, just lots to reflect on and think about.  It was an amazing and emotional year and if 2011 is as good as 2010 was, I think I'm going to explode.

I seem to talk about my love of cupcakes more than I actually make cupcakes or eat them.  I suppose this is mostly because I can't control myself when I'm around a little individual-sized cake with its own portion of frosting and adorable sprinkles.  But you know what?  Just hours from now is a new year and this actually does call for some indulgence, even from me, little miss self-control.  (I lost 90lbs. this year so I'm going to have my cupcake and eat it too.)

I hope everyone is able to indulge a little tonight and have an amazing start to 2011.  Next Saturday I'm flying back to North Carolina for 8 days and I can't wait.  If these cupcakes and a trip to see some of my favorite people aren't a great start to a new year, I truly don't know what is :)

Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Eating Well
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strong coffee, still warm (instant or otherwise, doesn't matter)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. F and line your cupcake tins with papers. (I got 36 mini cupcakes out of this batter, you should be able to get 12 regular sized cupcakes or 1 9-inch layer.)

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, white sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda and salt and whisk to make sure everything is well mixed.  In a smaller bowl, combine the buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla extract.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes.  (I did this by hand with a spatula, just make sure everything is very well combined.)  Stir in the coffee until you have a fairly liquid batter.  Divide the batter among the cupcake papers and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, checking after about 8 minutes.

Dust with powdered sugar or frost and decorate as desired.  Devour without guilt because you deserve cupcakes after this year :)

Christmas Tree Coffee Cake.

 I have never known a Christmas morning without this coffee cake.  In one way or another, made by my mother, myself, or a combination of the both of us, it's probably the only Christmas tradition we've stuck by year after year and I love it.  The tradition AND the coffee cake :)  They're sweet yeasted rolls in the shape of a Christmas tree with a delicious nutmeg-spiced cream cheese and pineapple filling, drizzled with a confectioner's sugar glaze and sprinkled with red and green sugar and finally topped with maraschino or candied cherries to look like ornaments.

This recipe makes enough for two tree-shaped coffee cakes, but we usually put the second batch in a 9-inch cake pan and freeze it, then pull it out in warmer months, let it defrost and rise when we want the comforting taste of Christmas.

Christmas Tree Coffee Cake
Adapted from Ladies' Home Journal, December 1982

Dough:
4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 packages (I just used 5 teaspoons, although 1 packet contains 2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 large egg

Filling:
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cans (8 ounces each) crushed pineapple, drained

Topping:
11 glace or maraschino cherries, halved
2 cups confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons milk
Red and green decorating sugar or sprinkles

To make the dough, combine 2 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, nutmeg, and yeast in a large mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat until the mixture registers about 110 to 120 degrees F.  Gradually add the warm milk mixture to the dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes at medium speed.  Add egg and another cup of flour, and beat for another 2 minutes.  Stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff but still sticky dough, about 1 more cup.  Transfer this dough to a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

When you're ready to shape the trees, combine the ingredients for the filling except the pineapple in a mixing bowl until everything is very well mixed.  Stir in the pineapple.

Grease 2 large baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.  Divide the dough in half and roll one half out to an 11x10-inch rectangle.  Spread with half of the filling and roll up, starting from the 11-inch side, pinching the seam to seal the roll.  Cut into 1-inch pieces and place each piece cut side down on the baking sheet - a picture of this helps - 1 roll is the tree stump, 1 is the top of the tree, then from the bottom make a row of 4, 3, and then 2.  Don't let the rolls touch each other or they'll be too squished after baking.

You can put this in the refrigerator overnight and then let it rise or just keep it out at room temperature and let rise until doubled, the rolls should be almost touching each other and fluffy.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes, then cover the edges with foil to prevent burning and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the center is nice and lightly browned.

For the topping, whisk together the sugar and milk until you have a drizzling consistency.  Drizzle over the coffee cakes and then sprinkle with the sugars.  Dot each roll with half of a cherry and dig in :)

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas filled with family and friends!

Mocha and Toasted Almond Biscotti.

My only excuse for making these is that I had no chocolate cookies to put on cookie plates for Christmas this year ;) Not that anyone really needs an excuse to make chocolate anything.  This wasn't my favorite chocolate biscotti recipe ever, the dough crumbled when I tried to slice it thinly (I prefer thinner over thicker biscotti), but the taste is great so I suppose that makes up for it.

Mocha and Toasted Almond Biscotti
Adapted from Nestle
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line one large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon) until well combined.  Cream the butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 2 minutes on medium speed.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla extract and mix for another minute.  Add the dry ingredients and almonds, making sure everything is well incorporated.

Divide the dough in half and form each half into a 12-inch roll.  Place the logs onto the baking sheet and flatten slightly.  Bake until firm, about 20-25 minutes.  Take out of the oven, reduce the heat to 325, and let the cookie logs cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing the logs into 1/2-inch strips and placing the slices back on the sheet.  Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

I drizzled these with some white chocolate and sprinkled with Christmas nonpareils, feel free to do the same or not, however I do think the sweetness of the white chocolate works very well against the espresso powder and toasted almonds :)

Happy holidays!

Peanut Butter Delights.

Or PBD's, as my boyfriend likes to refer to them.  I've been hearing about these for years now, a candy my boyfriend's mother makes especially around the holidays.  I knew about the general idea of them and a few of the ingredients, but I wasn't able to come up with a recipe that looked accurate at all on the internet.  So luckily we got her to write it down for me :)  And sure enough, it's nothing like the ones I've seen floating around the web.  Apparently these are a very localized thing down there, they even sell them at gas stations!

These are a great little peanut butter and chocolate flavored candy, flecked with oatmeal for a lovely and addictive texture.  I highly suggest making a batch to add to your gift-giving this holiday season, or any time of year.  I plan on putting a bunch on my cookie plates as well! 

Peanut Butter Delights
Adapted from James' Mom
1 stick of butter (she wrote down margarine, I always have butter in the house, but feel free to use either one)
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk (I used skim, works great!)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add the sugar and bring to a boil, and let it bubble away for 1 minute.  Add the other ingredients and stir until everything is well combined.  Drop teaspoonfuls onto wax paper and let cool.

Sidenote:  as you can see, I attempted to put sprinkles on these because you can't get enough sprinkles, especially around Christmas, (although no one ever puts sprinkles on PBD, according to James, he called this a "very Beth touch.")  This proved a bit difficult, maybe because it's so cold here, but I did have to sprinkle as soon as I dropped the spoonful onto the wax paper, otherwise the sprinkles didn't stick. 

Spiced Orange Sugar Cookies.

I'm not sure what it is, but I've always loved piping.  Holding a pastry bag gives me instant comfort (even when I was working at bakeries and nothing was going right that day.)  Maybe it's because I know what I'm doing, I feel comfortable with it - yet every year I debate whether or not to do decorated sugar cookies for Christmas.

Food should first and most importantly taste good.  I stick with that in everything I bake and cook.  The problem with sugar cookies is that they often look oh so lovely, but taste pretty bad - too sweet, no flavor, dry, the icing is plasticky or flakes off like chalk.  (Believe me, I tasted enough scraps when I worked in bakeries to know...)  So when I do decide to make decorated sugar cookies, the cookie base itself MUST be delicious and flavorful because I prefer royal icing for decorating which doesn't allow for much creativity when it comes to flavors (unless you add extracts, of course.)  You can also feel free to use a simple powdered sugar glaze to decorate (powdered sugar with milk or water and food coloring, if you wish - my problem with this method is that it's always too liquidy to pipe into enough detail), or just sprinkle the cookies with sanding sugar or sprinkles before baking as well.

I love this recipe for cutouts because you can re-roll the scraps 3 or 4 times and the baked cookies taste just as tender as the ones rolled out the first 2 times.  I do have to say for my snowflake shapes it helped to freeze the sheets of dough that had been stamped with the cutter and then carefully remove the shape when frozen, but it shouldn't be necessary with shapes that aren't as fragile or intricate.

To use this dough as a basic sugar cookie cut-out recipe, just omit the orange zest and spices.

Spiced Orange Sugar Cookies
Adapted from Big Fat Cookies by Elinor Klivans
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
Zest of 1 orange
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through spices) until well combined.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the orange zest, butter, shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well.  Add the dry ingredients slowly, mixing until everything is incorporated.

Divide the dough into 2 discs, wrap well with plastic, and refrigerate for an hour or until it becomes much less sticky to roll.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4-1/2'' thick and cut shapes out, placing them on parchment-lined baking sheets.  Re-roll as much as you need (or want) to, and when you're ready to bake, pop them in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, depending on how thin or thick you cut the cookies.  They should be a nice golden around the edges and on the bottom of the cookie.  Let them cool completely on the sheets, then keep them in airtight containers either at room temperature until you're ready to decorate, or in the freezer for longer storage.

Gluten Free Italian Herb Cheese Bread.

Among all the sweets I've been making this holiday season, there came a need for something savory to go with the pot roast we were having for Sunday dinner.  "Salad?" my mom asked.  I said "Nah, how about biscuits, bread?"  It was too late in the day to be pulling out the yeast, but I knew a quick bread would be perfect.  This is along the same lines as a beer bread, the savory version of zucchini or banana bread and it is gooood.  I rarely make savory quick breads, but it might be time to start making more.

Gluten Free Italian Herb Cheese Bread
Adapted from The Gluten-Free Vegetarian Kitchen by Donna Klein

2 cups tapioca flour
1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup gluten free shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese
1/3 cup skim milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. F and lightly spray a 9x5'' loaf pan with cooking spray or oil.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and soda, herbs, salt and cheese until everything is well-combined.  In a smaller bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, water and olive oil together.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring very well.  (No need to worry about overmixing here!) 

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and the top and edges are golden brown.  Let cool slightly, then slice and serve.  Any leftover bread can be wrapped well and frozen.

Gingerbread Cookies.

I came across this recipe while looking through my many cookie books a few weeks ago and decided to use it against other recipes I'd found for a few reasons:  It only called for 1 stick of butter and the dough could be rolled out immediately after being made.  That's not to say you can't refrigerate or freeze it - I did this with the half I didn't roll out straight after making it and everything turned out great.  But I think one of the reasons people hesitate to make cut-out cookies in general is because even though refrigerating the dough takes no effort from you whatsoever, it means waiting or preparing ahead of time - and time is something people don't have a lot of, especially around the holidays.

I found this recipe in Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes Cookie book, but the link to the recipe I used is listed here.  I increased the spices as usual in my adaptation but kept everything else the same and they taste wonderful.  You can bake them for a shorter amount of time if you want a softer cookie, or until they get slightly brown around the edges for a crispy cookie.

Gingerbread Cutouts
Adapted from Good Housekeeping
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light molasses
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 large egg
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar, molasses, spices and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Remove the pan from the heat when it boils and stir in the baking soda - it will bubble up and lighten in color, then stir in the butter and the egg.  Add the flour and mix until a dough forms.

At this point you can go ahead and roll out your cookies right away and bake in a 325 degree oven or you can wrap the dough in plastic or wax paper and refrigerate or freeze it.  I do suggest taking the dough out at least an hour before you want to cut out cookies if you chill the dough, it is quite crumbly when cold.

You can sprinkle these with sugar or nonpareils before baking or use royal icing or a glaze afterward.  Have fun! :)

Ohhh the holidays...

This isn't so much a recipe post as it is a question - (related to this post by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen, I never get invited to Christmas parties either!) during the holidays, do people really "drop by unexpectedly" ?  I have always wondered this because it's not something that happens to me or my family at all, even around this time of the year.  It's so nice to read cookbooks and recipes and blogs for cookies, candies and treats and think about "friends and family dropping by" and having lots of goodies to offer them, with fresh pots of aromatic coffee, but how often does this actually happen to people?  In my experience it's difficult enough to find time to get my immediate family all together this time of year just for a few hours.

In any case, this year I've scaled back on the amount of Christmas cookies and desserts I'm making.  It always seems like cookies are the big thing for Christmas but every year I make them and I feel like I have to shove them on people in order for them to be out of my house by New Year's.  Maybe it's because my family is so used to having goodies around since the ones I sent to my boyfriend in North Carolina were promptly consumed within 4 days (a tin with 6 varieties no less!)

As Christmas approaches though, I'd like to be taking pictures and jotting down notes and recipes of the things I do end up making this year, what worked and what didn't.  I've already been perfecting a sugar cookie recipe that works best for me, and I'm looking forward to making notes of them here.

To conclude this post, happy holidays to everyone out there who comes across this blog, I hope you're finding time to enjoy it a little bit every day :)

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Biscotti.

Finally getting off my lazy blogging butt and posting the recipe for these since I have no excuse not to - the pictures have been uploaded for 3 weeks. 

These cranberry chocolate chip biscotti are a lovely cookie to have hanging around the house, especially around the holidays as anything cranberry is festive in my opinion.  Feel free to add or subtract additions to this recipe - add some walnuts, almonds, pecans, take out the chocolate chips, add other extracts or spices (I had to resist the strong urge to add cinnamon), you get the idea.  This is a great basic biscotti recipe!

  
Cranberry Chocolate Chip Biscotti
Adapted from Cooking Light
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl, combine the vegetable oil, vanilla extract and eggs.  Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips. 

Divide the dough in half and form each half into a log 8 inches long and an inch high on the parchment-lined baking sheets.  Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the logs are firm and slightly golden and cracked on top.  Let the logs cool almost completely, or at least 45 minutes.  Transfer to a cutting board and slice the logs into 1/4-1/2-inch slices.  Lay the slices back on the baking sheets and bake for another 10-15 minutes, flipping halfway through until the cookies are a shade darker.

Let cool completely and store airtight. 

Is it really November 26th?

I hope everyone who reads this blog had a great Thanksgiving!  I definitely did - lots of amazing food ate with my immediate family, sister-in-law and adorable nephew.  (All gluten free, too.  We've been doing that gluten free holiday thing for a few years now, not to brag or anything :D) 

I've been a lazy daisy as far as photographing baked goods go.  The dessert recipes for Thanksgiving are going to be linked to here, and the pictures I took were just snapshots taken throughout the day, during the meal preparations.  They're certainly nothing compared to a lot of food bloggers, but they're something and the recording of recipes is what matters here anyway, even though the food setups for pictures frustrate me enough to stop posting for almost 3 weeks.  What do you do when you live somewhere the sun only makes an appearance 2 days out of 7?  It's not ideal for food photography.

Anyway, firstly I made Ellie Krieger's Pumpkin Flan and it tasted absolutely wonderful, pumpkin pie without the crust, which was what I wanted.  Perhaps I'm just jaded and lazy but I'm done with gluten free pie crusts unless someone can find me a fool-proof recipe.  They're just not worth the time and effort.  (I can't find one that's easy to roll out, I always end up piecing together the crust in the pan, so what's the point of taking the time to roll it out at all?  Plus the metallic tapioca starch taste always puts me off...)  I didn't take any pictures of this because when I inverted it onto the platter, the caramel didn't really drip down any sides since the sides were so thin (I made it in one 8-inch cake pan rather than 8 small ramekins), it just pooled in the middle and didn't look so great.  But it did taste amazing and that's what matters.  The only changes I made to this recipe were to increase the amount of spices and bake it in a large cake pan.  Served with cinnamon whipped cream on the side.

Then the chocolate cream pie - if I didn't make this, I'm fairly certain my sister would have a fit.  I enjoy it as well but I was dreading the crust.  I remembered I had some leftover gluten free vanilla cookie crumbs in the freezer and added just a couple tablespoons of melted butter and pressed those into a 9-inch pie plate and baked at 350 until the edges were golden.  This could not have worked more perfectly and I plan on doing this every time I need to make a gluten free pie, quite honestly.  Normally I use a very high-fat recipe in Lisa Yockelson's book Chocolate Chocolate, but this year I was looking for something lighter, something that wouldn't leave my stomach feeling like a brick after eating it, so of course I went to Cooking Light.  This recipe came out so nicely, so creamy, so chocolaty.  And no one knew it was "light." Success?  Success.  Only difference was that I used real whipped cream instead of the meringue.  I figured just a light slather of real cream would be just as caloric as an 8-egg white and 1 cup-sugar meringue topping.  Yes it might be poor reasoning, but it is Thanksgiving after all :)

Pumpkin Coffee Cake.

I have to admit, I went a bit pumpkin crazy last week.  I saw a 3-pack of pumpkin at the warehouse store and I grabbed it.  I now have 4 30-ounce cans and 2 15-ounce cans sitting in my cupboard - even after making this coffee cake.  I'm not admitting that I won't be able to use it all yet :)

This is a great, spicy, warming coffee cake during these colder months and it just so happens to be light as well.  I was pretty appalled by the calorie counts in most pumpkin coffee cake recipes out there on the 'net (pumpkin recipes in general - 1 cup of oil in a 9x5'' quick bread, seriously?!), so of course I checked to see what Cooking Light had to offer and they didn't let me down.  I didn't make any changes to this recipe except increase the spices and I never keep buttermilk in the house so I used skim milk plus a teaspoon or so of lemon juice to substitute for it.

Pumpkin Coffee Cake
Adapted from Cooking Light
1 teaspoon butter
1/4 cup quick-cooking or rolled oats
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons chopped pecans
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and melt the 1 teaspoon butter in the bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan.  Combine the oats, brown sugar and pecans in a small bowl and sprinkle on the bottom of the cake pan.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices together.  In a larger bowl, cream the 3 tablespoons butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.  Add the egg and beat well.  Add the flour, pumpkin and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Scrape the batter over the toppings in the cake pan and smooth the top.  Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 to 40 minutes.  The cake will be done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top is domed and just slightly golden around the edges.

Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate and serve with coffee or tea :)

Peanut Butter Cookies.

 

One of the things I (everyone, I'm sure) love about food is its comforting qualities.  The other day my sister Laura came home from a terrible day at work.  I asked her what I could make her to cheer her up and her reply was "peanut butter cookies :)" - one of her absolute favorites and it was the least I could do to see her smile.

This is my go-to recipe for peanut butter cookies and I debated posting the recipe, ("Peanut butter cookies?  Everyone already has a recipe for those, how boring...") but then I remember even if I'm the only one reading my own blog, I want to nail down my favorites.  Because what's the point of trying so many different recipes if we never find one we can always rely on?  This is the peanut butter cookie I can always rely on, no matter what!  I halve the recipe and always end up with plenty (over 3 1/2 dozen), but I'll post the original here.

Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from Good Housekeeping
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup (the original recipe calls for dark, I always have light on hand)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and have a few baking sheets ready.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside.  In a larger bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar and peanut butter together until light and fluffy.  Add the corn syrup, vanilla and eggs until well-blended.  Add in the dry ingredients, mixing just until everything is well incorporated.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place on the baking sheets.  With a floured fork, make criss-crosses on top of each ball of dough to flatten.  Bake in the preheated oven for about 8 to 12 minutes, depending on how crisp you want them to set up.  (I like mine on the chewier side, just barely golden on the edges - 8 minutes.)  Let cool slightly and enjoy with a glass of cold milk :)

Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Cake.

I haven't done a lot of gluten free baking lately since Rachel just had a lovely baby boy a few weeks ago, my nephew Oliver:

 

 

But luckily this past weekend we got to see him in his adorable dragon costume for Halloween:

For this special occasion, I made a gluten free pumpkin spice cake.  I made it last year and it's a wonderful keeping cake since pumpkin baked goods seem to stay fresh and moist for days.  I added chopped and toasted pecans this time but last year I added dried cranberries as well as an orange glaze.  Feel free to add anything you'd like: chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, etc.  I didn't fancy this one up with a glaze, but perhaps a nice dusting of powdered sugar would also do if you're looking for a way to make it not so plain.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Cake
Adapted from 125 Best Gluten Free Recipes by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt
1 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup whole bean flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice (or apple juice, apple cider, milk)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup chopped and toasted pecans

Grease a 9x13'' glass baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices.  In another bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the juice, eggs, vanilla and pumpkin and mix well.  Stir in the dry ingredients and the pecans until everything is well combined.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest for 15 to 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. in the mean time.

After the batter has rested, bake the cake for 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  Let cool completely before cutting or glazing.

Sour Cream Cocoa Swirl Coffee Cake.

 One of my favorite things to do is browse the internet for recipes so I have a large binder full of printed-out cakes, cookies, pies, anything you can imagine.  I finally got around to trying this recipe last week and I recommend it for anyone looking to make a simple, easy and not necessarily fall-centric coffee cake.  You could add cinnamon or toasted and chopped nuts to the cocoa swirl but I decided to follow the recipe as-is (seriously!) 

This recipe is known as Aunt Patty's Coffee Cake on the Martha Stewart website.  I do have an Aunt Patty  but this isn't her coffee cake as far as I know, so I've changed the name and I think it fits much better :)

Sour Cream Cocoa Swirl Coffee Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Filling:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
4 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Cake batter:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and grease a Bundt pan.

In a small bowl, combine the filling ingredients and set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one.  Add the flour and sour cream alternately, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Finally, stir in the vanilla extract.

Scrape about 1/3 of the cake batter in the bottom of the Bundt pan.  Sprinkle half of the cocoa filling on top and layer again with another 1/3 of the batter, the rest of the cocoa filling and finally end with the last 1/3 of the cake batter.  With a butter knife or spatula, swirl the batter and filling together to create a marbelized effect.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Dust with powdered sugar and serve with coffee or tea.

Cinnamon-Ginger Cookies (Biscotti dello Canella-Zenzero).

The first night we had a fire in the fire place, the first time we babysat my new baby nephew, I made these little spice cookies - and they were perfect.   With cups of tea, coffee, milk, or just plain, they're the cutest treat for the colder months.

Cinnamon-Ginger Cookies (Biscotti dello Canella-Zenzero)
Adapted from Cooking Light
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
3 tablespoons skim milk
3 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the flour, spices, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.  In a mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the milk, molasses and vanilla extract and beat well.  Stir in the dry ingredients until incorporated.

Form the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Refrigerate for at least a half an hour, or until firm enough to form into balls.  When cold, unwrap the dough and using a teaspoon, form little balls and drop them into the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar and roll them around to coat.  Place the cookies on parchment-lined baking sheets, then flatten the tops slightly with the bottom of a drinking glass.  Bake the cookies until very light golden brown, about 8 to 12 minutes, depending on how small or large your cookies are.

When cool, store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.

Pumpkin Cranberry Cake with Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting.

We like to buy in bulk at my house.  So I don't just buy the 15oz. cans of pumpkin, we buy the 32oz. cans of pumpkin.  So generally I have leftover pumpkin after making recipes.  I just store the leftover in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a month.  I had just under a cup left and didn't want to open another can so this is what I decided on.

I don't think it's any wonder why I'm obsessed with Southern food and baking since my beloved lives in North Carolina.  This recipe comes from Nancie McDermott's book Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistable Recipes For Everyday Celebrations, a book I go to whenever I need an easy and simple yet delicious cake.  This recipe was no exception, the only difference I made was to increase the spices and add a few additional ones as well as use dried cranberries in place of raisins.  I also halved the recipe in order to use the pumpkin I had left, but I'll post the original quantities with my changes here since I realize most people will probably want to make a whole recipe, not a mini cake and a mini loaf as I did.

This recipe calls for self-rising flour.  I'm lucky enough to have my lovely friends in North Carolina provide me with White Lily Flour, but if you don't have that available just add 1 1/2 teaspoons of of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of salt per cup of all purpose flour.

Pumpkin Cranberry Cake with Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes For Every Day Celebrations
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin puree
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. and grease a 9x13'' baking pan or 2 8 or 9'' round layer cake pans.

In a large bowl, combine the flour and spices until well mixed.  In a smaller bowl, stir together the oil, sugar, eggs and pumpkin.  Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until almost mixed, then add the cranberries and nuts.  Scrape the batter into the cake pan(s) and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the cake is set on top and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool the cakes completely before frosting.

Cinnamon-Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups confectioner's sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat the cream cheese and butter together in a large bowl until well-mixed and fluffy.  Add the sugars a little at a time until it's all added, then beat for about 2 minutes on medium speed.  Add in the pinch of salt and cinnamon and beat until everthing is incorporated.

As you can see I went for the easy method this time of just putting some frosting in the middle and on top of the cake but feel free to slather this cake well as there will be plenty of frosting :)

Chocolate Biscotti.

Ahh, it's Friday.  Normally this means nothing to me as I don't work a regular 9 to 5, Monday through Friday job.  But I had a big cupcake order today for a wedding and it's done.  Over with.  Not only did these cupcakes have to be vegan, the bride also wanted some gluten free and she turned out to be a complete nightmare to work with.  More on this story another time.  For now, I'm done.

And I have my favorite chocolate biscotti recipe to share.  It might seem like all I eat are biscotti but they keep forever and they always make a ton of cookies, so they are the baked good I probably make the most.  These are actually very low calorie which is why I tried out the recipe in the first place back in the summertime.  Sometimes I'm all about additions - dried fruit, toasted nuts, extracts.  But this recipe is just straightforward chocolate biscotti.  I add in the mini chocolate chips as called for in the original recipe but feel free to leave them out if you want or if you just don't have them on hand.  And it goes without saying you can ADD anything you wish as well, have fun :)

Chocolate Biscotti
Adapted from Cooking Light
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  In a smaller bowl combine the vanilla, eggs, and egg white.  Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just mixed together, then add in the chocolate chips.

Divide the dough in half.  This is a very sticky dough so I like to wet my hands to make it easier to shape.  Make the halves into 12-inch long logs by 1/2-inch tall.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the logs are firm.  Let cool for at least an hour before slicing into 1/2-inch slices.  Arrange the slices back on the baking sheets and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.  The cookies will crisp up as they cool.  Store in an airtight container and enjoy with coffee, tea, milk or chocolate milk :)

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake.

I'm starting to notice fall recipes include many of the same ingredients: apples, pumpkin, spices, oatmeal, etc.  I don't really get sick of the repeat ingredients as long as the final products are different from one another.  This isn't a typical apple cake with tons of oil or butter or nuts - it's very light yet still extremely comforting. 

This is an extremely quick and tasty coffee cake - I think it literally took 5 minutes to put together.  As with most recipes including cinnamon, I increased the amounts of it from the original recipe.  I cut the sugar down to 3/4 cup , used skim milk in place of the 1% called for, and the cake was still incredibly moist and delicious.  I think you can use whatever apple you have lying around, I used a Gala and it was perfect.  If you're looking for a simple and easy cake to throw an apple or two into, I highly recommend this one.

Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake
Adapted from Cooking Light
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 large apple, peeled and coarsely chopped

Streusel:
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and grease an 8x8 baking dish.

Start by making the streusel: in a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon.  Add in the pieces of butter and create coarse crumbs. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  In a smaller bowl, combine the milk, butter, vanilla extract and the beaten egg until well combined.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring until there are a few lumps left.  Add the chopped apple and stir until just mixed to combine.  Pour the batter into the greased pan and then sprinkle the streusel on top.

Bake the coffee cake for 30 minutes, checking for doneness after about 20 minutes.  A toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean when the cake is done.

Serve warm or let cool completely, cover, and store for up to 3 days.