Maple-Walnut Pie

If you love pecan pie then you will love this variation. It's the same as your regular pecan pie recipe except you replace the corn syrup with real maple syrup and you replace the pecans with toasted walnuts. The maple syrup gives it almost more of a vanilla flavor. This was actually my first attempt at making my pie crust from scratch, and it turned out pretty well. It's actually pretty easy when using a food processor to do it. I took this pie to our office Thanksgiving party and there was none left over for me to take home to let the other half try. (Poor thing just had to smell the heaven coming out of the oven and didn't get to try it) As far as the pie crust goes though, this is how I feel, unless you think your recipe for pie crust is way better than store bought, or you just really prefer making your desserts from scratch, feel free to use store bought. It's easier and consistent. Then again perfecting your recipe is part of the fun of baking, right? :) 

Maple-Walnut Pie

• 1 disk dough of basic crust (recipe below) or one 9-inch store bought crust 
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted 
• 3 large eggs 
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 
• 3/4 cup real maple syrup 
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice 
• 1 tsp lemon zest 
• 1 tbsp flour 
• 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1/2 tsp maple extract 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 2 1/4 cups chopped walnuts, toasted 

1. Place a baking sheet on the lowest oven rack and preheat to 425 for 30 minutes. 
2. Meanwhile, make the filling; Whisk all of the remaining ingredients except the walnuts in a bowl. 
3. Spread the walnuts in the crust and pour in the filling. 
4. Place the pie on the hot baking sheet and lower the temperature to 325.
5. Bake until the crust is golden and the filling is set, 45 to 55 minutes. (Cover the edges with foil if they brown too quickly.) Cool on rack. 

Basic Crust (Makes 2 disks dough)

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus extra for dusting) 
• 1/4 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp sugar 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• 4 tbsp cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces 
• 10 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces 

1. Pulse the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a food processor. 
2. Add the shortening and 1/3 of the butter; pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal. 
3. Add the remaining butter and pulse until it is the size of peas. 
4. Add 1/4 cup ice water and pulse a few more times. If the dough doesn't hold together when squeezed, add more ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, pulsing. 
5. Divide between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Pat into disks; wrap and chill at least 1 hour. 
6. Roll out the dough into a 12 in round on a lightly floured surface. 
7. Ease into a 9-inch pie plate; fold the overhang under itself and crimp. 
8. Chill for 30 minutes

I was given a little insert from a food network magazine that had 50 pies in it. Different variations of the classics. This is where I found the recipe with many delicious sounding others. 

A Weekend Getaway

Last weekend the other half and I decided to take a little trip to Denver.  Neither of us had gone before and thought it would be a great city to explore. It was absolutely beautiful, and after the extremely hot Texas summer it was great to be in the cold all bundled up. For those of you that don't know, we dabble in home brew. We definitely enjoy our beer and love creating our own. Denver and other areas in Colorado are chalk full of micro-breweries, it's like the Napa valley for beer, "beer country." =) So we flew in Friday night and checked into our hotel downtown and walked a couple of blocks to a unique little gastopub for dinner, where they served things like lamb burgers, truffle fries, and duck posole. 

Saturday was the day the other half termed "beer day," we walked around downtown all day, visiting 16th street full of shopping and restaurants, LODO (lower downtown,) and lots of pubs and breweries. My favorite was The Great Divide, where they had a nice little tour and lots of different beers to try in the tasting room. This was such a fun relaxing day. 

This is where the magic happens

Fermenting tanks in the back and some oak aging going on in those barrels :)

Sunday was our site-seeing day, so we drove on to Golden, Red Rock Amphitheater, and Boulder. Golden was a small little town where there wasn't much to see, we ended up not stopping. They're known for their big brewery, which is Coors Brewing Company. Then we moved on to Red Rock, talk about beautiful! It's an old amphitheater that is built in between these gorgeous red rocks that are situated just right for great acoustics. 

The amphitheater

We then moved on to Boulder, where stumbled upon another micro-brewery, there our server gave us directions to a little waterfall up in the mountains. After finishing our pint we excitedly got our things together to go explore the mountains. We found more snow and amazing views. The waterfall was just a little hike off the road, definitely worth it. 

What a beautiful site

We kept going further into the mountains where we stumbled upon a lake and a little ski town. We ended up driving back to Denver the scenic route down the mountain. Our flight wasn't due out until 8:50 so we still had time to check some things out in the city. We had a great trip, and it was actually our first one by ourselves without any friends or family traveling with us.  It was wonderful and I can't wait to do it again.  It was like meeting up with an old friend.  We all get caught up in the daily grind and sometimes forget to connect and really spend quality time with our loved ones.  It's great to slow down and really enjoy life and those around you.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yumminess, stuffed inside of yumminess, how can you go wrong?  This chocolate chip cookie recipe is probably one of the best I've come across.  You stick an Oreo inside that and you've got a winner.  I took a few of these to work the next day (the rest I hoarded at home for myself), and they were a huge hit.  I plan on baking a lot more cookies after Thanksgiving, so this is just something to wet the appetite.  The next two weeks I'm going to dedicate to pies!  To be honest I have never tried making my own pie crust and I've decided it's time to change that.  If you guys have any tips for me, they would be much appreciated.

Another thing I would like your input on is something I've been struggling with.  That is the struggle between baking and eating these beautiful yummy things, and staying healthy and watching the waistline.  I can't seem to find a good balance.  When I'm counting calories and trying to shed a few pounds it's really hard to spare 200 to 500 calories on a little dessert.  Everything I've found to bake that is low calorie is usually whole wheat, with splenda, and no butter.  This makes the baked goods healthier but not so yummy.  What's a girl to do?  Any ideas?  I absolutely love baking, so a few extra pounds is not going to stop me, but finding a nice balance would be great.

Now on to that yummy recipe. Reprinted from another great blog that I love to read, Picky Palate.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies 

• 2 sticks softened butter 
• 3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar 
• 1 Cup granulated sugar 
• 2 large eggs 
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla 
• 3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 1 teaspoon baking soda 
• 10 oz bag chocolate chips 
• 1 bag Oreo Cookies, I used the double stuff 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Serve with a tall glass of milk, enjoy!

Makes about 2 dozen VERY LARGE Cookies

October and Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Happy Halloween and Happy Monday! 

I do have to apologize for not having a totally awesome, gross, Halloween post for you. It has been a very busy month, full of activities and fun. Been going to a lot of sporting events and get-togethers. Unfortunately, I haven't been home to bake as often as I'd like, and honestly between everything I've been too tired to sit down and write anything for the blog. I did manage to crank a few things out of the kitchen though, some great, some experiments that were not so great. :) Oh well, learn from your mistakes. Some recipes I need to tweak and perfect a little more before sharing them with you. 

The news I'm most excited to share with you all is that I finally jumped on the Swiss Meringue Buttercream bandwagon. I do have to say it is amazing! It is smooth and fluffy and not too sweet. Way better than regular buttercream! Once you go Swiss you can't resist! (Geez :p) I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to regular buttercream after trying this. I just made the regular vanilla version, although the flavor possibilities are endless. I learned the technique and got the recipe off of one of my favorite blogs, Sweetapolita. She has a post that totally breaks down the different types of meringue buttercreams and their techniques. I found it to be very informative and helpful. 

Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

Ingredients: 

5 large egg whites (30g each–total 150g) 

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons superfine granulated sugar 

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into cubes 

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 

Pinch of salt 

Directions: 

Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer with paper towel and vinegar, to remove any trace of grease. Add egg whites and sugar, and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F, or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot. 

With whisk attachment of mixer, begin to whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, and cool. Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on medium speed continuously, add softened butter in chunks until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth). Add vanilla and salt, mix well. You can also add a wide variety of flavorings, extracts, and more. 

Keep in airtight container in refrigerator for up to one week, leaving out at room temperature when needed, rewhipping in mixer for 5 minutes. 

Can freeze for up to 6-8 weeks. 

Makes approximately 5 cups of buttercream.

Here are a few things coming out of my kitchen this month...... 

Root beer Cupcakes

Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes (Still working this one out.)

Chocolate cake with Swiss meringue buttercream filling and chocolate frosting

So how was your Halloween?  Did you get to take the kiddos trick or treating?  No kids here so I don't get to do that yet, but my mom (lover of all things scary) and a friend of hers dragged me to a haunted house this year.  I swear I clung on to them like it was a life or death situation, then when they start chasing you with a chain saw, oh no, why do we like to scare ourselves?

Oreo Cheesecakes

Who doesn’t love cookies and cream? A few weirdos out there I’m sure, right along side the kooks that don’t like chocolate. (I mean that in the nicest way possible :D) I can understand the peeps that don’t really care for cheesecake because it’s so easy to obtain a bad one, sour, clumpy, that’s no good. You just have to make sure that when you are making cheesecake you’re using room temperature items and creaming the cream cheese real well before you proceed. I really like this recipe because it's relatively easy and you don’t have to use a water bath. (Which can get tricky to take out of the oven) Plus you don’t even have to make a crust, how easy is that!? This is also another one of those recipes that you could play around with and try out different flavors. A good fall variation would be golden Oreo’s with a little pumpkin puree and pumpkin spice added to the batter, it would be yummy! 

Oreo Cheesecakes 

Makes 15 

Ingredients: 

21 Oreo, cream-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, 15 left whole and 6 chopped 

1 pounds cream cheese (two 8oz packages), room temperature 

1/2 cup sugar 

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

2 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten 

1/2 cup sour cream 

Pinch of salt 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 275° F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole Oreo cookie in the bottom of each lined muffin cup. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese on medium-high speed until smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Gradually add the sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in the vanilla. 

Drizzle in eggs, a little at a time, beating to combine and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add in sour cream and salt, beat to combine. Using a large spatula, fold in the chopped Oreo cookies. 

Divide batter evenly among the cookie-filled muffin cups, fill each cup almost to the top. Bake, rotating muffin tins halfway through, until the filling is set, about 22 to 28 minutes. 

Transfer the muffins tins to a wire rack to cool completely. Refrigerate (in the muffin tins) at least 4 hours (or overnight). Remove from tins just before serving. 

I found this beautiful recipe on La Mia Vita Dolce which she got from one of Martha Stewart’s cookbooks. I halved the recipe.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Oh the Irish Car Bomb, if you've never had one, they are quite yummy. It’s a shot that consists of about a half a pint of Guinness, and a shot glass of half Jameson’s Irish whiskey and half Bailey’s Irish cream, you drop the shot into the pint glass and chug. The other half requested these for his birthday, and I thought they were perfect for a guy. Chocolate with three different types of alcohol, how can you go wrong? He was lucky to be home while I was baking because he got to have an actual Irish car bomb with the left over liquor. And I'll admit I did have a Guinness too while I was baking, even though I started at 11:30am. (Hey! I must check the quality of the ingredients I'm using!) Most of the similar recipes I've seen call for an Irish cream buttercream, but the other half hates frosting so I opted for an Irish cream whipped cream frosting instead. The end result was perfect! If you are looking for a well balanced cupcake, this is the one for you. I think that if you had topped this with a sugary buttercream it would have been too sweet. The whipped cream complimented the rich ganache center very well. I also would like to add that I could bake everything with beer because it gives it such a rich flavor and moist texture. (Which I may try) So you guys have got to try this one, they’re awesome!

The other half says it's the best cupcake he's ever had. (And I didn't make him say that)

Cupcakes 

Ingredients: 

1 (11.2 fl oz) bottle Guinness 

1 stick unsalted butter

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt 

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2 eggs

1 (8oz) container sour cream 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with cupcake liners. 

In a medium saucepan, combine Guinness and butter and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Then whisk in cocoa powder until smooth and let cool. 

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

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sour cream, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add cooled chocolate mixture to the sour cream and eggs and beat until just combined. 

Slowly add dry ingredients and beat briefly on a slow speed, scraping down sides as needed. 

Fill each cupcake paper 3/4 of the way full. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 17-18 minutes (Mine baked for 18 minutes and came out perfect) 

Remove cupcakes from oven and let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan and placing on wire rack. Cool completely before filling. 

Ganache 

Ingredients:

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, broken into pieces

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

4 teaspoons Jameson whiskey 

Directions: 

Place chocolate in a medium heat-resistant bowl. In a small saucepan, heat heavy cream until bubbling.

Carefully pour it over chocolate and let sit untouched for 20 seconds. After that, stir until smooth and combined. 

Add in butter and whiskey. Let cool until it’s a pipe-able consistency, using the fridge if needed. If you use the fridge, make sure to stir every 10 minutes.

Irish Cream Whipped Cream Frosting 

Ingredients: 

2 C heavy whipping cream 

2/3 C sugar 

2 T Baileys Irish Cream (I added a little extra) 

Directions: 

Whip heavy whipping cream until it looks like whipped cream. 

Mix in sugar and Baileys Irish Cream until just combined

Cupcakes and ganache adapted from Cake and Allie

Irish cream whipped cream from Cupcake Project

Scotcheroos

It’s that time of year again, the air is a little crisper, the days a little shorter. People are more open to sugary treats now that summer is over and don’t have to worry about fitting into that skimpy swimsuit. That’s right guys it’s the first day of fall! Yay! I LOVE all the holiday treats! Not only is it a great time for treats, but I can’t wait to start wearing all the cute cooler weather clothes again. (Oh no! I need to start Christmas shopping! Crap)

Chocolate, peanut butter, and butterscotch, OH MY! It’s a hybrid of a rice krispies treat without the marshmallow. I think I like these better than the plain old rice krispies treat. This recipe reminds me of those yummy treats my grandmother usually made around the holidays, like puppy chow, chinese chews, and divinity. Mmmm, can't wait to try my hand at those. These will give you the same feel good sensation too. Of course this is the original recipe, but there are many ways you can modernize it and dress it up. Use different cereals, add coconut or nuts, whatever you like. 

Happy Fall everyone!

Scotcheroos 

Ingredients

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup peanut butter

6 cup crispy rice cereal

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

cooking spray 

Directions 

Measure corn syrup and sugar into a large saucepan, cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to boil. 

Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter. Mix well. 

Add crispy rice cereal. Stir until well coated. Press into 9x13x2" pan coated with cooking spray. Set aside.

Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips together in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. 

Spread evenly over cereal mixture. Let stand until firm. Cut into 1×2" bars to serve. 

This is an heirloom recipe I found while browsing the CNN site. I had never heard of these before, but they sure sounded good.