Gingerbread Skeletons

I made these the night before Halloween while I watched the Village, the Others, and Gremlins, and it was so much fun! Everyone at my best buddy's Halloween party loved them. The recipe makes a ridiculous amount, something like 6 or 7 dozen and it takes a long time to ice them (especially when you're distracted by creepy movies), but it's totally worth it. The boxful of them had completely disappeared before midnight.

So Zooey and I made them again last week while we watched Shaun of the Dead. She took half to her school and I took the rest to mine, and again, everyone loved them. Especially how cute they were.



They're adorable as they are tasty. When I asked some friends if I should make snickerdoodles, shortbread, or these gingerbread skeletons again, they all voted on the gingerbread. I love when my baking's this appreciated :)

Icing them was super easy, albeit a little time consuming. Just stuff some royal icing into Ziploc sandwich bags and cut off a tiny corner and away you go!

We're going to tackle these again as a group, but try to make them look like zombies for a movie marathon we're doing.

Gingerbread Skeletons (yields about 7 dozen)
via Better Homes and Gardens: Christmas Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. In a medium bowl stir together flours, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, nutmeg, salt, and cloves; set aside.

2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar; beat until fluffy. Beat in egg until mixture is light. Beat in molasses and lemon juice on low speed until combined. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour mixture.

3. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill at least 3 hours or until dough is easy to handle.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time to 1/8-inch thickness. Using cookie cutters, cut out dough. Place 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake in a 350 degrees oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute. Transfer to wire rack; cool.

Note: don't worry if some of the cookies turn out a little hard, within a few hours of icing them they'll be magically, deliciously chewy.

Royal Icing

2 large egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

In a bowl with your electric mixer (or hand mixer), beat the egg whites with the lemon juice. Add the sifted confectioners' sugar and beat on low speed until all combined and smooth. The icing needs to be used immediately or transferred to an airtight container, as royal icing hardens when exposed to air. Cover with plastic wrap when not in use.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

My best friend's birthday is tomorrow. She's taken an obsession to red velvet cupcakes ever since she saw a picture of one topped with a strawberry. She immediately posted the picture on her LJ and said "Someone has to make me this."

She's never had a red velvet cupcake. I've never had a red velvet cupcake. We've both always wanted to try one. So I figured, why not?

So after weeks of dreaming about them and how I would decorate them, her birthday has finally arrived! I made them and I'm proud of them :)



They taste great too, though the chocolate taste is minimal. My sister grabbed one that hadn't been iced yet as she ran out the door to work. She loved the taste, but mentioned that they were a little dry. The cream cheese icing fixed that. They're delicious. And they're ever so pretty :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes (yields 12)

via the Kitchen Sink Recipes

1-1/4 cups cake flour
1/4 cups cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder or 1/2 teaspoon cream of tarter
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 ounce red food coloring
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 350°F

2. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder (or cream of tarter), and salt into medium bowl

3. Whisk buttermilk, vinegar, vanilla, and food coloring in small bowl to blend

4. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well fluffy, 3 minutes

5. Add eggs, beating until well blended, about 30 seconds

6. Beat in dry ingredients in 4 additions alternately with buttermilk mixture in 3 additions

7. Scoop into cupcake tins

8. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes

9. Cool in pans 10 minutes

10. Cool completely on racks and frost with cream cheese icing

Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting (frosts 24 cupcakes)
via Milk + Honey Café

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
5 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
8 oz Philly's Cream Cheese, cold

1. In a mixing bowl, beat butter, confectioner's sugar, salt and vanilla until combined. At this point, the mix is going to look really dry and crumbly, but be patient and it will come together, about 4 minutes.
2. Add cream cheese and mix until well incorporated, about 2 minutes. DON'T OVERBEAT. Frost as desired!

Old-Fashion Pumpkin Pie

My mum owns a few cook books from the sixties, chock full of good old-fashioned recipes and complete with cute little illustrations of girls on swings, parties playing croquet, and grandmotherly women baking pies. Just like these:



Now, my pumpkin themed month wouldn't be complete without a good old-fashioned pumpkin pie, non? So for this I turned to those old cookbooks. The recipes in them are wonderful. So much more simple than most modern recipes and such simple, easy to find ingredients.

Thanks to the golden recipe from McCall's Cook Book the pie turned out a kajillion times better than any store bought one I've ever had. Which is a good thing too, since we're bringing it to my cousins for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow (with a can whipped cream of course!).

That's my mum's pretty little McCall's Cook Book right under my pretty little pie. Actually, the book's giant.



I had enough left over crust and pumpkin filling to make a little tart-type thing. With a lack of mini-pie plates I just used my tiniest springform pan. My sister and I split it and she, a person who generally likes the whipped cream more than the pie, loved it. She also noted that it looked a little like Ms Lovitt's meat pies.



The last time I made a pie I used shortening instead of lard, because the apple-pear pie was for a friend's birthday, and she's Muslim, and so couldn't eat lard. I've never noticed until I used lard again, but it's SO much easier to work with! I got my wonderfully flaky crust thanks to the recipe on the Tenderflake box :)

Pumpkin Pie
via McCall's Cook Book, 1963

Filling:
2 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 can (1lb) pumpkin
3 tbsp molasses
2 cans (6-oz size) evaporated milk, undiluted

9-inch unbaked pie shell
1 egg white, unbeaten

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Make filling: In large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, spices, salt, pumpkin, molasses, and evaporated milk. Stir, with wooden spoon, until mixture is smooth.
3. Lightly brush pie shell with egg white. Fill with pumpkin mixture.
4. Bake 55-60 minutes, or until tip of sharp knife inserted in centre comes out clean.
5. Let cool on wire rack. Serve garnished with whipped cream, if desired.

Pumpkin Loaf

I love October. Fall and pumpkins and Halloween. How great are those three things? Plus, by best friend's birthday is at the end of it, giving me an excuse to make the red velvet cupcakes she's been dying to try and I've been dying to make. :)

One of my friends suggested I go pumpkin crazy for October and told me I should start with a pumpkin loaf. So I checked it out, found a recipe I really liked, and made an amazing dense, moist loaf packed with pumpkin flavour.

The recipe makes two loaves, but our second loaf pan mysteriously went missing, so I made the rest into muffins. Like the snickerdoodle cupcakes, my friends at school loved them. One friend who had bought a book for me said instead of money for it, she wanted two more muffins.

Pumpkin Loaf
via. Recipezaar

2 cups pumpkin puree
2 cups white sugar
1 cup oil
4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ginger
2 cups raisins (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 2 loaf pans.

Mix together well the pumpkin, sugar, oil, and eggs.

Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and raisins, and mix well.

Pour into loaf pans and bake for 60-65 minutes or until inserted knife comes out clean.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I've never had actual snickerdoodles, so I wasn't too sure about making these cupcakes at first. But they sounded interesting, so I threw my doubts out the window and produced these amazing little cinnamon cupcakes. And aren't they adorable?



I actually made these a few weeks ago, but I've been too busy to post about it. I brought them to school the next day and gave them out to every friend I ran into. And they were a huge hit. Light and sweet and topped with a fluffy vanilla buttercream icing. Mmm.

The following week I had a ton of requests to make them again. Last time I hung out with my bestie she brought them up. "When are you going to make those amazing cupcakes again?!"

They're the perfect girlie cupcakes too, full of sugar, spice, and everything nice. Plus, they're pink. What more do you need?

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
via Karen's Cookies, Cakes, and More

1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temp.
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 almond extract
3/4 c. whole milk

Preheat oven at 350. Whisk first four dry ingredients, make sure there are no clumps. Combine remaining wet ingredients in a separate bowl before mixing in with dry ingredients. Pour batter into liners and bake for 20-25 min.

Cinnamon Vanilla Buttercream frosting
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tbs. milk

With an electric mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat, on low speed to combine.

Easy Bread of the Gods

Whenever something tastes amazing I have a tendency to call it "___ of the Gods". Little habit. But this bread really is amazing.



First time I've baked bread, so I decided to cheat a little and go the no-yeast route. So I made Irish soda bread. Which is ridiculously easy to make, so quick, and turns out so good! Plus, it'll go perfect with the pasta my sister is making tonight. I will definitely be making this as often as I can.

Irish Soda Bread
adapted from the Big Book of Baking; makes one loaf

vegetable oil, for brushing
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C. Brush a cookie sheet with oil

Sift the flour, salt, and baking soda together into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in most of the buttermilk. Mix well, first with a wooden spoon and then with your hands. The dough should be very soft, but not too wet. If necessary, add the remaining buttermilk.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured counter and knead lightly and briefly. Shape into an 8-inch/20-cm round. Put the loaf onto the prepared cookie sheet and cut a cross in the top with a sharp knife.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom with your knuckles. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly and serve warm.

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt

Finally got to bake something today! It was unbearably hot today, then a massive storm hit us, along with tornado warnings for the city and surrounding area. So what do I do? Bake a Bundt cake of course!



I was planning on making this for a beach picnic my friends and I were supposed to do, but that doesn't seem to be happening. So it was lemon-blueberry Bundt cake or Turkish delights. I'll definitely be making some Turkish delights soon.





I love blueberries, hence the Blueberry Fiend, but they're going out of season soon, so I figured, let's do this! Not to mention my inherited love of lemons, courtesy of my mother and grandmama.



So let's do this!

Lemon-Blueberry Bundt
Adapted from the Kitchen Sink

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
grated zest & juice of one lemon, divided
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (16-ounce) container reduced-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons buttermilk (I had to substitute plain yogurt)
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional) (I didn't have any, but wish I did)

Preheat oven to 350°.

To prepare cake, grease a 12-cup Bundt pan and dust it with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Set aside.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, butter, and rind in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition (about 4 minutes total). Beat in vanilla, lemon juice, sour cream and buttermilk. Add all but 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture; beat at medium speed just until combined. Toss blueberries in reserved dry ingredients; gently fold into the batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional).