Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

I have Pinterest to thank for this one. Pinterest can definitely be time-waster, but when I find a great recipe like this one, it makes it all seem worth it, right? (That way I can justify to myself continuing to spend time on Pinterest.)  :)

I have a recipe for Pumpkin Bars with cream cheese frosting which I always make at least once each fall, which I love. However, when I saw a recipe adding cinnamon to the cream cheese frosting, I decided I had to try these. I'm glad I did; they were delicious!

This recipe comes from Taste of Home. I used their original recipe this time, but would also like to try what looks like a slightly healthier version here, from Dulce Delicious. She also has some great pictures of the cupcakes, so check out her blog.

Here's the recipe:

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Cupcakes:
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin
2 1/3 cups flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 cup buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk, just put 1 TBSP lemon juice in a measuring cup, and add enough milk to make one cup; let sit for a few minutes.)

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and ginger; add to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.

Fill paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes* or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Frosting:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened (I reduced this to about 5 tablespoons, and it still turned out great)
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon; beat until smooth. Frost cupcakes. Refrigerate leftovers. Yield: 2 dozen

*I made mini cupcakes, and baking them 14-15 minutes in my oven was just right.

Tortellini Spinach Bake in Creamy Lemon Sauce

This one comes from Our Best Bites. Here is a link to the original recipe. I'll list it below as well, along with a few of my own comments/adjustments.

12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortellini (find them in the dry pasta aisle) (I have not been able to find the dry tortellini. I have always used tortellini from the refrigerated section; there are usually a few different varieties available.)
4 oz bacon or pancetta, (about 4 strips bacon)*
3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced
2 Tbs flour
2 C milk
¾ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil (I prefer fresh if I have it, either to replace all of the basil, or just add fresh basil on top after everything is done baking.)
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy) (I don't do well with spicy food, and 1/4 tsp added some flavor without making it seem spicy at all.)
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
(Next time, I think it would taste great to add some chopped artichoke hearts as well.)
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil.  Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.

Place bacon in a medium sized skillet on the stove-top at medium-high heat.  Cook until crisp.  Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon and set on paper towels to drain.  Reserve two tablespoons bacon drippings in pan and discard the rest.  Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute.  Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth.  Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a microplane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon.  (Last time I didn't have a fresh lemon, so I just used bottled lemon juice, and omitted the lemon zest. It had less lemon flavor, but that was OK with us.) Then cut lemon in half and remove juice.  Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce.  (This one is a note from the original recipe, not me: Note:  I really love lemon so I added this to my tastes.  If you don’t want as strong of a lemon flavor, I suggest cutting it down to 1 teaspoon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice) .  Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot.  Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture.  Add spinach, (artichoke hearts, if adding), 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.  Add sauce and gently stir to combine.  Place pasta mixture in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout.  Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

* For a vegetarian meal, omit bacon.

Serves 4-6

Mexican Beef Pile-ups

My sister Heather was recently asking for some quick dinner ideas. This recipe is a favorite of my sister Kathy's family. It comes from the Ivory "Favorites" cookbook. It's similar to a taco salad, and you can of course vary the ingredients to suit your personal taste.

You can speed up the dinner-time prep for this recipe by making the meat portion a day in advance. Or, just heat ingredients until warm. The flavors intensify if it simmers for awhile, but can be served as soon as it's warm in a pinch. I'm sure you could also put the first group of ingredients in a crock pot on low for several hours as well.

This recipe also serves a pretty big crowd. You can reduce the amounts, or freeze some for later meals. 

Mexican Beef Pile-ups

Meat mixture:
3 pounds ground beef
3 cups water
1 (16-ounce) can refried beans
1 package enchilada seasoning mix
1 (14-ounce) can enchilada sauce
2 (6-ounce) cans tomato paste

Cook ground beef and drain fat. Add rest of ingredients and simmer for 2 to 3 hours on top of stove or in oven at 300 degrees.

Pile-up your meal in this order:
white rice
corn chips
meat mixture
Cheddar cheese, grated
green onions, chopped
olives, sliced
tomatoes, diced
avocados, chopped
lettuce, shredded
sour cream
salsa

Pumpkin Cake with Eggnog Cream

I realize it's not the season for all these holiday themed treats, but I figured I'd keep going as long as I started in on Christmas treats.

This one doesn't have to be used for Christmas, but is more of a fall/winter dessert. After all, you have to be able to buy eggnog for it! I found this recipe a couple of years ago, but just got around to making it this year. My in-laws all seemed to enjoy it, and it also looked really pretty. :)

Here is the recipe:

Cake:
1 16-oz. can pumpkin (not pie filling), (the recipe recommends using name brand)
3 c. sugar
1 c. oil
3 eggs
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger

Icing:
2 c. powdered sugar
milk (a few teaspoons)
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Garnish (optional):
nutmeg
1/4 c. toasted walnuts or pecans, chopped (I used chopped almonds)

Cream:
2 c. heavy cream (I used regular whipping cream and it worked fine)
1/2 c. eggnog (Light didn't work well when I tried it. Sorry, you've got to use the full-strength stuff here.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease and flour a bundt pan. (Or spray thoroughly with Pam with flour.) Mix pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs together thoroughly in a large mixing bowl. Stir flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger together in a separate bowl. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until smooth. pour batter into prepared pan.Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (Don't over bake or it will become dry.) Gently shake cake in pan or tap on counter to loosen. Turn out onto cake plate to cool.

Place powdered sugar into bowl. Add milk 1 tsp. at a time until you reach a thick "gravy" consistency. Add a pinch of salt and 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Drizzle over top of cooled cake and garnish by sprinkling lightly with nutmeg and nuts before glaze sets, if desired.

Beat heavy cream until quite stiff. Fold in eggnog to make soft peaks. Serve slices of cake with a generous dollop of the eggnog cream.

You can also use the cake recipe to make pumpkin muffins. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

Caramels

This one also comes from my friend Barb. This is one of my favorites, but it's a little more tricky than some of the other candy recipes I've posted. Don't worry, it will taste good no matter what. The only hard part is if you don't cook it long enough, it will stick to the waxed paper, and if you cook it too long it can become harder than you want. These are meant to be soft caramels, and when they're cooked just right, I love them. My husband's not a caramel person, so he never eats them, but his sister can't get enough! I make extras for her whenever she's in town for Christmas. She also helps me wrap them, which is great, because that's my least favorite (and the most time consuming) part about making caramels.

Caramels

2 c. sugar
1 1/3 c. light corn syrup
2 c. cream
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. pecans (optional)

Mix cream with milk in a bowl. Pour 1/3 of the mixture into a heavy large saucepan on med/high heat. Add corn syrup, sugar, and salt. Stir until sugar dissolve and mixture comes to a full rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium and continue to slow boil for about one minute. Increase heat and add another third of the cream/milk mixture. Bring to boil, reduce heat to slow boil for one minute. Repeat the process adding remaining cream/milk mixture. Cook and stir over medium/high heat until it reaches firm ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and nuts. Pour into greased 9-inch square pan. Cool. Cut into one inch (or smaller) squares and wrap in waxed paper.

By the way, I once read about a trick to line the pan with waxed paper before pouring in the hot caramel. Then, you could lift the paper out, peel it off, and make it easier to cut the caramels. This did NOT work for me. The waxed paper completely stuck to the hot caramel, and took forever to get off. I don't know if it was the brand of waxed paper or what, but from now on, I'll just stick to a greased pan.

*I recently purchased a silicone mold on Amazon that I now use instead of a 9-inch square pan for caramels. Once they set, they're pretty easy to pop out, and I find it quicker and easier than cutting. I have to be careful when I pour the hot caramel into the molds, and it requires moving quickly from square to square while pouring, but I overall prefer this method. The mold I bought has 80 cavities, and each cavity is 1.18" square. I bought two, and I seem to get 90-100 caramels per batch, depending on whether I fill each cavity completely to the top. I also now buy 5" cellophane wraps from either Amazon or Orson Gygi. It saves me the time it usually takes to cut the wax paper into squares, and looks a bit more polished.

Toffee

This is my husband's favorite among my Christmas candy. He can pass up all the others, but does like to take a piece of toffee here and there. This recipe isn't hard, but can be a little tricky if you've never used a candy thermometer or done a water test on candy. (Google the water test if needed.) I usually just use the water test, but if you've never made candy before, I recommend also using a thermometer. Just be aware the temperatures can vary at different altitudes, so Google that as well. :)

Also, every once in awhile, toffee will separate for some reason when it's almost done cooking. The butter separates from the rest of the ingredients, and if you pour it into the pan, it will be like an oil slick on top. Some people say it's due to weather, some due to not stirring enough, or heating it too quickly. I learned a few years ago and if this happens, you can add about a 1/2 cup of water to the toffee (which will steam A LOT), stir like crazy to combine it back together, and cook back up to hard crack stage. It takes some extra time, but will save the batch of toffee.

Hopefully that last bit didn't scare you away...it really works great most of the time, and is delicious! I owe my friend Barb for this one.

Toffee

1 lb. butter (Yeah, no shortage of butter in this one.)
2 c. sugar
1 c. water
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
Chopped pecans (optional - I don't use them)
7 oz. Symphony milk chocolate bar
Crushed almonds (optional - I do use these)

Melt butter in a large, heavy pan over medium heat. Mix in sugar, water, and corn syrup, and increase heat to medium/high. Cook, stirring constantly, until candy reached 303 degrees F (hard crack stage). Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan* with pecans on the bottom of the pan. Let stand. After 5-10 minutes (toffee should still be warm but should be slightly firm on top), break up chocolate bar and place on top of toffee. Cover with a cookie sheet and let stand until chocolate is soft. Spread chocolate evenly over toffee. Sprinkle with almonds if desired. Once set, break into pieces.

*When you make the toffee in a 9 x 13 pan, it's thick enough that you can't break it easily with your hands. I usually use a butter knife and hit the top to break it, but it's a bit of a pain, and isn't very safe. (My friend Barb once had to have surgery after cutting her finger on a butter knife doing something very similar, and I've worried about it ever since.) Last year, I decided to try pouring it into a jellyroll pan instead. It didn't quite spread all the way to the edges, but since you break it into pieces, that didn't matter. It took more chocolate and almonds to cover the top, but it was soooo much easier to break apart. From now on, I think I'll do it that way every time.

Peppermint Candy (or Bark)

Of all the treats I make at Christmas time, this one is probably the most requested. The good part about that is, it's also BY FAR the easiest. It's basically a form of peppermint bark, but my mom always just called it peppermint candy. She just developed this version on her own, after trying peppermint bark somewhere once. This recipe isn't very exact; you can vary it to suit your personal taste. I also usually buy 5 lb. bags of the melting candy, and do batches of about 2 1/2 lbs. at a time. Here's the basic recipe:

Peppermint Candy

1 lb. white molding/melting candy (My favorites are from Guittard, and are called Vanilla A'ppeals. You can get them from Orson Gygi in Salt Lake. Otherwise, I'm sure they're available on the internet. Wilton brand candy melts are available at most craft stores, but I don't like them quite as well.)
1 tsp. peppermint extract (You can adjust this to your own taste.)
3-4 drops red food coloring
3-4 red and white peppermint candy canes (You can add more if you like lost of peppermint bits.)
Melted chocolate, optional

Crush candy canes in the blender. Melt molding candy in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir in peppermint extract to taste. Stir in the red food coloring, then mix in the candy cane bits. Spread on waxed paper, about 1/8 inch thick. (My mom makes hers closer to 1/4 inch thick.) If desired, drizzle melted chocolate on the top, and swirl into the peppermint layer. Once set, break into pieces.

Here are a few tips:

• My least favorite part of making this candy is peeling the candy canes. I know that sounds silly, but I do several batches at a time, which means peeling up to 2 boxes of candy canes. The plastic creates static and the wrappers stick to everything. One year, the store was out of the regular size candy canes, but had the mini ones. They came with 2 attached together, and I could cut the tops of both off at once, and they slide right out. It was much quicker. If you can find the mini ones, go with those. (Obviously, you'll need to use more than 3 or 4...)
• If you decide to swirl chocolate in, you need to have it melted and ready to go before spreading out the peppermint layer. It sets very quickly, so you want to drizzle the chocolate on right after spreading out the candy out on the waxed paper.