More Cake Pops

Just making a batch for the Spooktacular Party tomorrow...these new were wolves are my new favorites! I've made 50 Pops...that should be enough.... Two Parties, one batch each. Happy Halloween!

My Taste Tester

Nothing goes on this blog without being tested my my worst critic. She has such a delicate pallete.

Baked Churro Bites with a Spicy Honey Drizzle

I have been craving churros since I had them for dessert last saturday with Ruthanna + Laura, and wanted to try and make baked churros so I wouldn't feel so guilty eating them. Although..... with the amount of butter I used, it doesn't really make a difference. And I wanted to do something different than just a chocolate dipping sauce, so I thought honey would go deliciously with the churros.

Bring 1 cup water, 1 stick of butter, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar to a boil.

Turn heat to low and add 1 cup of flour, stir with a spoon until combined.

Remove from pot and place in bowl.

Add 5 eggs, one at a time and mix thouroughly before adding each one.

This will tire your arm out, but hang in there because it's worth it in the end! Let stand for about five minutes. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop dough, leaving two inches apart.

Bake for 30 minutes, until golden.

Reduce oven to 200 degrees. Melt one stick of butter. Mix 1 cup of sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Now the fun part. Once the puffs are cool enough to touch, dunk one at a time into the butter.

Now roll it around in the cinnamon sugar mix and get a good heavy coating on there.

Poke a hole on the bottom with a knife.

Return the coated bites onto the cookie sheet, and place in oven until crisp. Roughly 2 hours.

While the Churro Bites are baking and smelling delish, mix 1 cup of honey with 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper. I placed in a microwave for about 30 seconds on high to thin the honey.

Once the bites come out of the oven, drizzle honey mixture ontop of the Churro Bites.

swoon.

Spicy Slow Roasted Tomatoes

oh, drool....The smell of slow roasted tomatoes will draw the attention of your cute neighbors...well...they're not magic so, not really. But anyone with a good nose will at least be pleased with the aromatic effects of these tomatoes, not to mention the taste when they bite into one! You can use these with almost anything: a pannini, sandwiches, use as a side dish, an appetizer with sliced mozzarella, toast + slice a baguette and serve the tomatoes on top, use a blender and cut the tomatoes with a bit of red wine for a tomato sauce...the list is endless. I was so enamored with them that I ate most of them right off the pan, but hopefully others will show more reserve.

preheat your oven to 275 degrees. slice 12-15 tomatoes (plum tomatoes or the Campari tomatoes) in half lengthwise and de-seed them. place in large bowl.

Add 3 tablespoons GOOD virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon GOOD balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar to help draw out the sweetness of the tomatoes, 1 tablespoon kosher salt and pepper to taste. I added about a teaspoon of dried thyme and red pepper flakes too to give the tomatoes a nice spicy flavor.

Roast them for 3 hours on a baking sheet....

drool...

slice some fresh basil and drizzle on top, add salt + pepper to your taste.

Carrot Cake, Take One!

I am in love with carrot cake. Especially carrot cake cupcakes. Which is what I should have made, instead of this carrot cake loaf. I was very excited to hear from Chuck that he used coconut milk instead of butter in his own carrot cake, and I wanted to see if it would work for the carrot cake recipe that I have. Needless to say, I think Chuck's is better (even though I've never had a bite) as I am not as happy with this carrot cake as I should be. Maybe I have too much going on in it, maybe I don't have my head in the game today, I don't know. But this will be my trial carrot cake, and I plan on redoing the recipe when I can bring myself to shred carrots again. (thanks Lauren!) I want to give Chuck a run for his money, but I can see it's going to take alot of trial and error. Once I perfect it, we can have a carrot cake off!

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a bowl, combine 2 cups flour.

add 2 teaspoons of baking powder + 1 teaspoon baking soda.

add 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

add one teaspoon of cinnamon.

and 1/2 teaspoon of all spice.

then add 1//4 teaspoon ground ginger. set aside.

Next in a separate bowl, I added 3 cups shredded carrots, 1 cup raisins, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1 cup coconut, and one 20 oz can of crushed pineapple (drained).

In a third bowl, crack 4 eggs.

add two teaspoons vanilla extract.

Add 1 1/4 cup of brown sugar to the eggs. Mix together. Add 1 1/4 cups of coconut milk (in lieu of the 1 1/4 cup of butter that I normally would).

add flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir to combine.

add in carrot mixture. (carrots, raisins, coconut, pineapple + walnuts)

place inside a greased cake pan and place in a 350 degree preheated oven for an hour and ten minutes. (Mine went this long since I used a "loaf pan."

I made an easy frosting, with 1/2 package of cream cheese, two tablespoons of butter, 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar, 2 tablespoons of sour cream to give it a tangy taste, and about 2-3 tablespoons of milk.

It came out smelling great and tasting good, but I think it needs to taste even better.

The frosting is A M A Z I N G. But I need to do something to the recipe of the carrot cake...to make it more, cake-like. Stay tuned!

Mini Pie Pops

Pie Pops...Pie Pops...

Take your pie dough and cut little circles for the pie pops, you need two circles per pop. I didn't have a cookie cutter so I just used a glass from the cupboard. sprinkle the rounds with a little extra flour.

Make an egg wash, using one egg. (remove the yolk and place egg whites in small bowl, add a tiny spray of water and mix with a fork for the egg whites).

gently spread the egg wash on the lollipop stick, and gently push the stick into pie dough, about halfway through the circle. This way it will be strong enough to hold upright.

Once the lolipop is placed, place a small amount of your pie filling in the center of the mini pie.

Take another pie circle and brush on the egg white to the outer circle and place ontop of the pie.

use another lollipop stick and press down to make the "edges" look like a pie crust. Brush the egg whites on top of the pies and place in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 11-14 minutes.

I made a frosting to coat them, 2 cups confectioners sugar, 2 tablespoons of butter, about half a package of cream cheese (yum!) and enough milk to keep it thin like a cinammin bun topping. Brush on the pops when they are fresh out of the oven to let it harden up and solidify.

Allow to cool and Enjoy!

YUM!