Baking Pure Delicious Love
Hello friends! Thank you all so much for participating in the giveaway! And thank you for reading my blog, it means the world to me. Now it’s time to reveal the winner of the giveaway….
The winner is Kylie from A Hungry Spoon! Please email me with your full name and address Kylie!
My email is gingerbreadbagels@gmail.com
I hope you enjoy Ina’s cookbook! 
Finally my favorite holiday, Halloween is almost here! And you know what is also almost here!? The day I announce the Ina Garten Cookbook Giveaway winner! If you haven’t entered yet, please do so! You’ll have a chance to win Ina Garten’s new cookbook, How Easy is That? Enter Here!
Now let’s move onto some delicious Halloween love. I must admit that this Halloween post makes me a bit sad because this will be my last Halloween treat for the year. But I promise you I have TONS of more holiday treats coming up, so watch out for my new holiday recipes! When deciding on my last Halloween recipe, I chose one of my favorite and simple Halloween treats, Halloween Oreo Brownies. Rich fudge brownies filled with a whole package of chopped up Halloween Oreos. Mmmm Halloween Oreos + Brownies = love, bliss and drool. Enough talk, let’s get bakin’ some pure love Halloween style…
First sift together 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt into a bowl. Set aside. Doesn’t that picture of dry ingredients just looking so excited?!
In a large bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine), mix together 1 cup of melted unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 cups of packed light brown sugar, and 2 Tablespoons of vanilla extract.
Once it’s combined, add in 4 large eggs, one at a time. You want to incorporate each one before adding the next egg. By the way, don’t add the eggs if the butter is warm. If you do, you’ll end up with Scrambled Egg Halloween Oreo Brownies! I’ve already added in the eggs, use your imagination and pretend you watched me add them in.
Slowly and I mean SLOWLY add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Please don’t turn it on high speed, you’ll look like you’ve been through a cocoa powder tornado. Mix until almost combined. The batter should look somewhat like this picture. (By the way, don’t you just love my bright blue mixing spoon from Sur La Table?)
Take a spatula and fold the ingredients together to combine them.
Now take a WHOLE package of Halloween Oreos. Yes you heard me right, a entire package of deliciousness. This picture isn’t of a whole package of Oreos in case you’re wondering.
Chop them up into large pieces. I cut each Oreo in half. You want to taste the Oreos in the brownies, you don’t want them disappearing!
Throw them in and fold the chopped Halloween Oreos into the batter. Oh I just want to dunk my hand into that rich brownie batter. YUM!
Plop the batter into a 9 by 13 lightly greased baking pan.
Spread the batter out evenly with a spatula or whatever floats your boat.
Bake the Halloween Oreo Brownies at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through the baking time.
Once they’re done, cool them completely on a cooling rack. When the brownies are finished cooling, cut into squares and enjoy! Happy Halloween my dear friends!
Halloween Oreo Brownies
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 package Halloween Oreos, each Oreo chopped in half
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 by 13 baking pan.
Sift together the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and kosher salt. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine) mix together the butter, sugar, light brown sugar and vanilla extract.
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix until almost combined.
Take a spatula and fold the ingredients together.
Chop up a whole package of Halloween Oreos. Cut each Oreo in half.
Throw the Oreos into the brownie batter and fold the Oreos into the batter.
Spread the batter into the baking pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through the baking time.
Once the brownies are finished baking, cool completely on a cooling rack.
When the brownies are done cooling, cut into squares and enjoy!
Thanks to my lovely, talented and beautiful friend, Lora of Cake Duchess, I finally decided to join French Fridays with Dorie. She encouraged me to join and being able to bake and cook the same recipes along with my sweet friend, made the idea of joining even more appealing and exciting. Although I wish we lived closer so I could taste her delicious recipes! Her Southern Caramel Cake calls my name every single day. 
I had thought about joining for a while but was hesitant because my blog is a baking blog. Dorie’s new AMAZING cookbook is a collection of French recipes that aren’t just baking recipes. I first started off cooking and that was my true love for a long time. I spent hours making zucchini gratin, balsamic roasted chicken, garlic mashed potatoes and the list goes on.
But I slowly begin to fall in love with baking and it pretty much stole my heart. So I thought, should I join? Shouldn’t I? Maybe? Eh? Then it was Lora would encouraged me to join.
To me, the apple cake was more reminiscent of a bread pudding rather than what I would consider a cake. I have to admit, my favorite parts were the dark rum and the soft sweet apples. I picked them out of the cake! Yes I know it’s very surprising that I went for the apples. For the apples, I used some from my apple tree and some organic apples from my local store.
I made the cake twice because my dad is now obsessed with this cake. He asked if I could make him another cake (I gave him the first one too!) but with spices. I added ground cinnamon and nutmeg, more vanilla extract and well….more rum!
To go with the Apple Cake, I made Rum Whipped Cream! The Rum Whipped Cream isn’t a part of Dorie’s recipe but I couldn’t help myself and not make it! I love adding rum to desserts and the fluffy (spiked!) whip cream complimented the moist cake so well.
If you’re not a member of French Fridays with Dorie, I encourage you to join! It’s a great way to connect with other food bloggers and challenge yourself.
Here’s how to make the delicious Rum Whipped Cream:
In a large mixing bowl with the whisk attachment (a handheld mixer is fine) pour in 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. Mix it on high speed.
While the heavy whipping cream is mixing, add in 3 Tablespoons of sugar.
Then add in 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Now comes the good part! Add in 1 Tablespoon of dark rum. YUM!
Keep whipping it until it firms up, it won’t be super stiff like regular whipped cream.
Place the Rum Whipped Cream in a piping bag fitted with a decorating tip and pipe the Rum Whipped Cream onto the slices of Marie-Helene’s Apple Cake. Enjoy!
For the Marie-Helene’s Apple Cake, we are not allow to post the recipe. Sorry! But you can buy Dorie’s wonderful new cookbook, Around My French Table, to find the recipe.
Rum Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon dark rum
Pour 1 cup of heavy whipping cream in large bowl with the whisk attachment (a handheld mixer works fine). Beat on high speed. Slowly add in 3 Tablespoons of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and 1 Tablepoon of dark rum. Mix until the whipping cream firms up. It won’t be as stiff as regular whipped cream.
A WINNER HAS BEEN CHOSEN!
Hi everyone! My absolute favorite person in the world, (besides Eros Ramazzotti) Ina Garten has just come out with a new cookbook called How Easy Is That? And since Halloween is my favorite holiday and Ina Garten is one of my favorites next to Eros (we’ll get into that later), I’m giving away a copy of Ina Garten’s new cookbook to one winner.
I will pick the winner on Halloween at 9am (pacific time). To enter the giveaway, answer this simple question: What’s your favorite food?
Now onto some tag, three times now! I was tagged first by the lovely Raven of RavieNomNoms. Raven was given 8 questions to answer and then she tagged me and now I have 8 questions to answer! After I answer mine, I have to tag 7 others and give them 8 questions to answer. Sounds like fun eh?!
1) What is your favorite time of year? and why?
Fall! As you may know I’m obsessed with Halloween and go crazy with Halloween treats. I love everything about fall, the food, the food and the food. haha! I just LOVE all of the fall recipes that everyone is going up with!
2) What was the most recent concert you went to?
Wow it’s been a LONG time since I’ve been to a concert! The last concert I went to was to see Juanes. It was an amazing concert!! I highly recommend seeing Juanes in concert if you get the chance.
3) What was your best cooking experience in the past few months?
I don’t cook very much. My best baking experience was making a cake for French Fridays with Dorie. It was fun to know that my lovely friend Lora was all the way in Florida making the same cake!
4) If you could meet anyone in the entire world, who would it be?
Eros Ramazzotti. I am in LOVE with him. He’s an Italian singer and his voice makes me weak in the knees.
5) What is your dream job?
Full time blogger, cookbook author, writer for food magazine. (a big dream!) So if anyone in Foodland is reading this, I’d love to have my dreams come true
6) What is your favorite joke of all time?
They’re all inside jokes so they wouldn’t make sense!
7) Are you someone who can eat food cold?
Not at all! My food has to be extra hot!
8 ) Who do you enjoy cooking with the most?
I prefer to bake by myself. I know I sound like a loner but I enjoy being in the kitchen by myself.
I was tagged again by the beautiful Alicia from AliGirlCooks! I loved reading her answers to the questions she was given and loved how she mentioned wanting to meet me! That made my day!
Here’s her questions!
1. If you could cook dinner for one person, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you make?
Eros Ramazzotti my boyfriend I mean favorite singer! haha. I’d make him roast chicken, mashed potatoes and balsamic roasted vegetables. Then for dessert, I’d make him a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream.
2. If I was going to come visit your city, where should I go to eat? What is the best dish to get?
St Honore, it’s a French Bakery and it’s so charming. I love the chocolate eclairs and the coffee eclairs. YUM!
3. If you had to eat something once a week for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Cake! I LOVE cake.
#4 was missing but that’s ok!
5. What is your biggest cooking/baking disaster?
I added too much butter to the chocolate crust while making my chocolate pumpkin mousse tart. (I’ve made tart MANY times!) I wasn’t paying attention when adding the butter. I put it in the oven and the oven caught on fire!
6. What is your biggest cooking/baking victory?
Making a 4 layer pink champagne cake with cheesecake mousse and vanilla buttercream. It was covered in fondant and I made a fondant bow that was attached with white chocolate. OH MY WORD it took forever but it came out beautiful. It was for my dad’s birthday.
7. What’s one kitchen tool you can’t live without?
My kitchenaid mixer! If my house was burning down, I’d grab that first!
8. What’s your least favorite food?
I have a couple. Mushrooms, eggs, blue cheese and oranges.
Then I was just tagged by the gorgeous Cristina from Teenie Cakes! She’s a girl after my own heart. I loved her answers of eating pastries for the rest of her life (without health repercussions)!!! I’m a pastry lover too. Now let’s answer her 8 questions!
1. What are the five things that are absolutely a staple in your pantry/refrigerator?
King Arthur all purpose flour, unsalted butter(of course), heavy whipping cream, Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder
2.What are some of your favorite food movie scenes? When all of the rats in Ratatouille are helping cook in the kitchen and the health inspector comes in.
Most of my favorites are from Ratatouille!
3.What would you consider are three of your cooking and/or baking specialities? Baking cakes/cupcakes, cooking Roast Chicken, cake decorating
4. Name a couple of your personal cringe-inducing ingredients or dishes. Oh I feel bad answering this question because I know there are so people who all lovers of the things I hate! But I’ll answer anyway. Mushrooms, Lamb, Tofu, Tempeh, Quinoa, Sushi, Blue Cheese, Oatmeal (oatmeal brings back bad memories from being in the hospital)
(ok so I named more than a couple, I got caught up in the question! haha)
5. Favorite movies (doesn’t have to be about food) Ratatouille! Julie and Julia! I’m not much of a movie person, I never go to the movie theater and don’t know what the current movies are. I don’t watch movies really because I don’t really watch tv.
6. With the holidays around the corner, what dish/dessert are you sure to contribute? Everything, haha. I haven’t given much thought of what to make, my mind has been on holidays recipes for my blog.
7. Share a kitchen disaster or funny moment when your cooking or baking just didn’t measure up. Besides the oven catching on fire. haha. When I was making doughnuts, I wanted to make a gingerbread man doughnut. It ended up looking like a part gingerbread man/part mutant with a swollen leg. haha!
8. How did you come up with the name of your blog? I love Panera Bread’s gingerbread bagels that come out during the holidays. I’m madly in love with them. I wanted a quirky and different name so Gingerbread Bagels it was.
Now here are my 8 questions and the bloggers I’m tagging
1. What’s your biggest regret in life?
2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
3. How many languages can you speak and what are they?
4. What’s the best thing about having a food blog?
5. What chef do you admire the most?
6. What’s your favorite recipe from another blog?
7. Do you have any bad habits?
8. What food blogger would you like to meet? And why? (had to steal that question, love it!)
Sprinkled with Flour
A Spicy Perspective
Cake Duchess
The Enchanted Cook
Anecdotes and Apple Cores
Susi’s Kochen Und Backen Adventures
Sweetebakes
The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.
On a side note:I wanted to let you all know that I’ve created an OpenSky shop with my absolute favorite products that I use in my kitchen. Some of the products I used for this recipe are in my shop. The lovely people at OpenSky have given me a coupon code to share with you all,. It’s good for the first 5 customers and for products under $100. The code is: ginger30pct It’ll give you 30% off! If the code isn’t available anymore, feel free to still shop away!
Now let’s move onto deliciousness…
Just the thought of making doughtnuts makes me weak in the knees and gets my heart racing. Then I found out that my very first Daring Bakers challenge, hosted by the lovely Lori from Butter Me Up was doughnuts! OH MY goodness, do you know how badly I started to drool? My mind went crazy with doughnuts ideas and I swear I dreamt about doughnuts for days.
What better excuse to scarf down piping hot homemade doughnuts than a Daring Bakers challenge? If it’s my homework to make doughnuts, well I guess I have no excuse not to complete the challenge and taste test a couple (a dozen)
My creation is a doughnut that’s filled with a peanut butter cream and raspberry jelly and then it’s sprinkled with powdered sugar. When you take a bite out of the hot doughnut, warm peanut butter cream and raspberry jelly will come oozing out. Oh my word!
Let’s get bakin’ some doughnut love…
First we’ll start by making the dough for the doughnuts! The dough is a yeast dough but please don’t be afraid of working with yeast. It’s not going to bite you, I promise! In a large mixing bowl, pour in 1/4 cup of warm water (at 105-110 degrees). To measure the temperature of the water I use a digital thermometer.
Sprinkle 2 packets of yeast over the water and stir it around with your hands. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.
The water and yeast mixture should look like this after 5 minutes.
Add 2 cups of all purpose flour, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of softened shortening, and 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm whole milk. (please use whole milk and not fat free or low fat! You’re making doughnuts!)
Mix it up with a paddle attachment. You can also use a mixing spoon if you don’t have a kitchenaid mixer. Add in 3 cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time.
Switch to the dough hook and knead the dough on low speed for 5 minutes. If the dough is sticky and continues to remain sticky, add more flour to the dough. When I mix the dough, I always end up needing to add about 1/2 cup – 1 cup more of flour. If you don’t have a kitchenaid mixer, you can knead the dough by hand for about 7 minutes.
Take the dough out and place it on the counter that’s been sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough for about 2 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover it with a damp towl or plastic wrap. Keep the dough in a warm, draft free area. This is what I do: I turn the oven on 200 degrees when I start making the dough. Then once the oven reaches 200 degrees, I turn it off. When it’s time to put the dough in a warm, draft free area, I put the dough in the oven. The oven isn’t hot but warm enough for the dough to gently rise.
The dough will be ready once it’s doubled in size. The good thing about this doughnut dough is you don’t have to wait an hour. Instead it takes about 30 minutes to double in size!
While the dough is rising, let’s get makin’ the peanut butter cream. First sift 1 cup of powdered sugar. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, mix 7 Tablespoons of unsalted butter until it’s smooth, about 3 minutes.
Now add in 1 cup of creamy peanut butter (don’t use the natural stuff!) and mix it up! Mmm butter + peanut butter = love
Throw in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and mix!
Slowly and I mean SLOWLY add in 1 cup of powdered sugar, a bit at a time. Increase the speed to combine the ingredients a bit more. (I have no idea why the color of the peanut butter mixture looks different here)
Pour in 3 1/2 ounces of heavy whipping cream on low speed. Trust me, you don’t want heavy whipping cream in your hair! Then increase the speed and whip it up for a minute.
Now take a piping bag and fit it with a small decorating tip. Put the peanut butter cream inside of the piping bag and set aside. Take another piping bag fitted with a small decorating tip. Put raspberry jam inside of the piping bag and set aside.
Now take the dough out of the bowl and throw that beast onto the counter that’s been sprinkled with flour.
Roll it out so that it’s 1/2 inch thick. Take a pastry circle cutter and dip it in flour. Then start cutting away! You should have about 18-21 doughnuts.
Place the doughnuts on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover them with a damp towel. Put the doughnuts in a warm, draftfree area and let them rise a bit more. For about 20 minutes or so. (I put them back in the oven that’s turned off)
Pour canola oil in a dutch oven or a deep pot. I use a Le Creuset dutch oven because I’m obsessed with Le Creuset. It’s very important that have the temperature of the oil at 350 degrees. I use a candy thermometer so I can watch the temperature of the oil and not burn down my kitchen.
Before you begin frying the doughnuts, place a cooling rack on the counter with a baking sheet underneath. Now drop a couple of doughnuts into the hot oil at a time. Cook on each side until they’re golden brown. Use your imagination and pretend I’m flipping them over. I’m trying to concentrate and not burn myself with hot oil!
Remove from the hot oil and place on the cooling rack to cool down and drain any excess oil.
Continue frying the remaining doughnuts in the hot oil. Be sure to monitor the temperature of the oil while frying!
Now comes the most delicious part of our doughnut making project, filling the doughnuts!! YUM!
To fill the doughnuts, poke a hole in the size of the doughnut with your finger and hollow out a large area to fill up the doughnut.
Starting with the piping jam filled with jam, squeeze the jam into the hole and fill it up halfway. It’s better to start with the jam so that all of it doesn’t ooze out. (the peanut butter cream helps keep the jam in the doughnut)
Now take the piping bag with the peanut butter cream, squeeze the peanut butter cream into the hole and fill it up!
Oh my word! Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!
Peanut Butter and Jelly Filled Doughnuts
(dough recipe adapted from allrecipes)
2 packages active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
5 1/2 – 6 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup shortening, softened
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cup lukewarm whole milk
canola oil (about 1 quart)
Peanut Butter Cream
1 cup powdered sugar
7 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 ounces heavy whipping cream
Raspberry Jam
Powdered Sugar
In a large bowl pour in 1/4 cup of warm water. Sprinkle 2 packets of active dry yeast on top of the water and mix with your hands. Let the water/yeast sit for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the yeast mixture should appear foamy.
Add 2 cups all purpose flour, softened shortening, kosher salt, sugar, eggs and milk. Mix the ingredients to combine. Add in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Reserve 1/2 – 1 cup of the flour. The reserved flour will be used if your dough is still sticky.
Switch to a dough hook and knead the dough for 5 minutes. If the dough is sticky, add the 1/2 – 1 cup of flour.
Once you’re done kneading the dough, place the dough on the counter that’s been sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough by hand for about 2 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap. Put the dough in a warm, draft free area and allow to rise until doubled in size. This usually takes about 30 minutes.
While the dough is rising, make the peanut butter cream.
Sift the powdered sugar and set aside.
In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the butter for about 3 minutes on medium high speed. Then add in the peanut butter and mix for a couple of minutes.
Add in the vanilla extract and mix.
Slowly add in the powdered sugar on low speed. Once the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed.
Pour in the heavy whipping cream and mix to combine. Then increase the speed and mix for a couple of minutes.
Put the peanut butter cream in a piping bag that’s been fitted with a small round decorating tip. Take another piping bag that’s been fitted with a small round decorating tip and fill it with the raspberry jam.
Now go back to working on the doughnut dough.
Take the dough out of the bowl and place it on the counter that’s been sprinkled with flour. Roll the dough out until it’s 1/2 inch thick.
Using a circle pastry cutter, cut the dough into about 18-21 circles.
Place the doughnuts on a lightly greased baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Place in a draft free, warm area for about 20 minutes.
In a dutch oven or deep pot, pour in about 1 quart of canola oil or enough to fill up the pot 2/3 of the way. Place a candy thermometer in the pot to monitor the temperature of the oil. Heat the oil to 350 degrees F.
When the oil has reached 350 degrees F, slowly drop in a couple of the doughnuts at a time. Flip the doughnuts onto the other side when they’re golden brown. Once the doughnuts are golden brown, place them on the cooling rack.
Continue frying the remaining doughnuts and make sure to monitor the temperature of the oil.
Now fill the doughnuts:
Poke a hole in the side of the doughnut with your finger and hollow out a large hole in the doughnut. First start with the jelly and fill up the hole halfway. Then take the peanut butter cream and fill up the rest of the hole.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and enjoy!
It’s probably obvious by now that I have a serious love affair with pumpkin during the fall. With the amount of pumpkin I’ve bought to make my sweet treats, I’m surprised there isn’t a pumpkin shortage or that I’m not orange. Seriously you don’t even want to know the number of cans of pumpkin I’ve bought, how many chocolate pumpkin tarts I’ve made and how many pumpkin desserts I’ve devoured. I LOVE everything pumpkin…pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cookies and pumpkin frozen yogurt. Oh my, just writing that pumpkin filled sentence makes me incredibly weak in the knees. So after making my Mini Halloween Cheesecakes, you know my mind went crazy with mini cheesecake ideas involving pumpkin, pumpkin, and more pumpkin!! With ideas in mind and pumpkin in hand, I tackled my pumpkin project/art project (while seriously destroying my kitchen) and finally came up with Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes. YUM!
Let’s get bakin’ some pumpkin love…
First put 7 sheets of graham crackers in a food processor. Grind them up into fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, don’t fret! Just place the graham crackers in a plastic bag and crush crush crush away.
Put the graham cracker crumbs in a bowl. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Melt 4 Tablespoons of unsalted butter and add it to the graham cracker crumbs. Stir until it’s completely combined and all of the graham crackers are moistened with butter!
Line a muffin/cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Place a Tablespoon of the graham cracker crumb mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner.
Press the crumbs down firmly with your hand like I’m doing this this picture.
Now let’s move onto making the cheesecake mixture! YUM!
In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine too) mix 1 pound of cream cheese (that’s two 8 ounce blocks of cream cheese) on medium high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Now don’t get all healthy on me and use reduced fat cream cheese or fat free cream cheese! Use the full fat stuff!!
Throw in 2/3 cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Mix it up until just combined.
In a seperate small bowl, crack 2 large eggs and lightly beat them. Slowly add them into the cheesecake mixture. Scrap down the sides of the bowl in order to combine the ingredients. Let’s pretend I’m adding the eggs here, you know what eggs look like!
Now add in the sour cream and mix until the cheesecake mixture is smooth. Mmm I swear I could just eat that plain. (and well I do!)
Here’s comes the tasty part! In a bowl, combine 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree, 2 Tablespoons +1/4 teaspoon of flour, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger and 1/8 teaspoon allspice. Stir with a spatula/mixing spoon until completely combined and no lumps are visable.
Add 2/3 of the cheesecake mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Stir to combine.
Now it’s time to fill up the cupcake liners. I like to use a cookie dough scooper because I want the cheesecakes to bake evenly and I’m a messy baker! Fill each liner with 1 1/2 scoopfuls of the cheesecake batter.
For the drops of pumpkin cheesecake batter, I use a 1/4 teaspoon and put 3 drops of pumpkin cheesecake batter in each one.
Then use a toothpick, knife, or whatever floats your boat and swirl the two batters. I’m incredibly fancy and used a chopstick.
Bake the Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes at 300 degrees for about 27-30 minutes. It may take less time for your oven.
Now comes the hardest part! Once the cheesecakes are done baking, cool them in the refrigerator in the cupcake baking pan overnight.
When they’re done cooling, enjoy!
Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes
Crust
7 graham cracker sheets
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Cheesecake Mixture
1 pound cream cheese, softened (that’s two 8 ounce blocks)
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs, at room temperature and lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
Pumpkin Mixture
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
2 Tablespoons + 1/4 teaspoon all purpose flour
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Set aside
In a food processor, grind up the graham cracker sheets into fine crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, place the graham crackers in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
Place the graham cracker crumbs in a bowl. Add in the ground cinnamon and sugar.
Melt the butter and add it to the graham cracker crumbs.
Put 1 Tablespoon of the graham cracker crumb mixture in the bottom of each cupcake liner. Press down the crumbs with your hand. Set aside.
In a bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine) mix the softened cream cheese on medium high speed for about 3 minutes. The cream cheese should be smooth without lumps.
Add in the sugar and vanilla extract. Mix until just combined.
In a separate bowl, crack the eggs and lightly beat them. Slowly add in the eggs and mix in order to combine the ingredients. Use a spatula to scrap down the sides and fully incorporate the ingredients.
Now add in the sour cream and mix until the cheesecake mixture is smooth.
To make the pumpkin mixture, combine the pumpkin puree, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground ginger, allspice and flour.
Add 2/3 cup of the cheesecake mixture to the pumpkin mixture. Stir with a spatula until the two batters are completely combined and there are no lumps.
In order to fill up the cupcake liners, I use a cookie dough scooper which helps in filling up the cupcake liners evenly. Fill each cupcake liner with 1 1/2 scoop fulls of the cheesecake batter. Each cupcake liner should be filled almost to the top.
Now place 3 dots of pumpkin batter onto of the cheesecake batter. I use a 1/4 teaspoon to scoop the pumpkin batter. Use a toothpick, knife to swirl the two batters.
Bake the Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes for about 27-30 minutes at 300 degrees F. Rotate the pan half way through the baking time.
Once the cheesecake are done baking, cool them completely in the refrigerator overnight. (keep them in the cupcake baking pan)
When the Mini Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecakes are done cooling, enjoy!
As you may already know, I’m the one who attacks the center of pumpkin pies during Thanksgiving so that it looks like it was ravaged by raccoons. Then I kindly leave the crust for my dad. Aren’t I just the sweetest daughter in the world? I’m a pumpkin pie filling girl all the way and would prefer if the crust was nonexistent or even better, if the crust was CHOCOLATE!
So instead of attacking the pumpkin pie from the middle and having my dad salvage the leftover crust, I decided to mix it up a bit and put my spin on the traditional pumpkin pie. I did what I do best and added tons of heavy cream, more sugar and more butter to my new creation, the Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart. Now that’s what I call pure deliciousness.
Let’s get bakin’ some Chocolate Pumpkin love…
First we’ll make the delicious chocolate crust. Just writing the words “chocolate crust” makes me weak in the knees.
Place the Oreo cookies in a food processor and grind into fine crumbs. I use almost the whole package of Oreos for the crust. (There’s about 6 or so cookies leftover) If you don’t have a food processor, put them in a large plastic bag and crush away!
Place 3 cups of the Oreo crumbs in a large bowl. Add 1/2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon. Yes, cinnamon! Trust me on this, it brings out the flavor of the chocolate. Words of wisdom from the all knowing Ina Garten. Use your imagination and pretend I’m putting Oreo crumbs and cinnamon in a bowl.
Melt 1/2 cup of unsalted butter. Mmmmm butter. Add the melted butter to the Oreo cookies crumbs and still to combine. I think Paula Deen would be proud.
Put the cookie crumb mixture in a 11 inch tart pan. Spread the mixture out with your hands. To form the edges of the crust, use your hands and press the cookie crumbs into the sides of the tart pan like I’m doing in this picture.
Bake the crust at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.
When the crust is done baking, cool it completely on a cooling rack. When the crust comes out of the oven, I always fix the crust so that it looks somewhat perfect. (I’m fancy and just use a spoon to press the crust into the edge of the tart pan.)
To make the pumpkin mousse mixture, in a large glass bowl, combine 3/4 cup of packed light brown sugar, 15 ounces of canned pumpkin, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger, 1/8 teaspoon of allspice, 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 cup of half & half.
In another bowl, crack 3 large eggs and lightly beat them. Set aside. Lucky you. I have a picture of “eggs in a bowl.”
Place the pumpkin mixture over a small saucepan of simmering water in order to gently cook the pumpkin mixture. Continue stirring the mixture over the simmering water for 5 minutes. I know it seems like forever and you may be tempted to clean the whole house but please pay attention to the pumpkin mixture! Keep yourself entertained and eat some leftover Oreo cookies while stirring the pumpkin.
By the way, for some odd reason my pumpkin mixture looks insanely orange?!
Take a small amount of the heated pumpkin mixture and add it to the lightly beaten eggs. Stir the eggs and pumpkin mixture together in order to heat up the eggs. By doing this, we’ll end up with tasty pumpkin mousse and not pumpkin scrambled eggs. Now I don’t know about you but I’d much rather have pumpkin mousse.
Add the egg/pumpkin mixture to the bowl of pumpkin over the simmering water.
Continue stirring for 5 minutes. Take the pumpkin mixture off the heat.
In a small bowl, combine 1 packet of gelatin with 1/4 cup of cold water. Once the gelatin sets up, add it to the warm pumpkin mixture. Stir to combine.
Let the pumpkin mixture completely cool before adding the next ingredient! We want pumpkin mousse not a pumpkin mess!
In a large mixing bowl with the whisk attachment (a handheld mixer is fine), add 1/2 cup of cold heavy whipping cream and mix on high speed.
Slowly add in 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar. Continue whipping until stiff peaks are formed.
When the pumpkin mixture has cooled down completely, add the whipped cream and slowly fold it in like I’m doing here.
The final pumpkin mousse mixture should look like this. It will look runny but don’t worry. Once you refrigerate it overnight, it will firm up a lot. Mmmmm don’t you just want to dunk your head into that bowl of pure pumpkin deliciousness?!
Pour the pumpkin mousse into the Oreo crust and spread in out evenly.
Now comes the most difficult part, place the tart in the refrigerator and let it sit overnight. Sometimes I just hate waiting for my tasty treats. 
Once the Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart is ready, decorate with whipped cream and chocolate shavings. Enjoy!
Chocolate Pumpkin Mousse Tart
(Mousse recipe adapted from Ina Garten)
Chocolate Crust
3 cups Oreo cookies, finely crust (That’s almost the whole package of Oreos, about 6 cookies are leftover)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Pumpkin Mousse Filling
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 (15 ounce) can of pumpkin puree
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large egg yolks
1 packet unflavored gelatin (7.2 grams)
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
In a food processor, grind up the Oreo cookies. Measure out 3 cups and place in a large bowl. Add the ground cinnamon. In another bowl, melt the butter. Add the melted butter to the Oreo crumbs and stir to combine.
Press the Oreo crumb mixture in a 11 inch tart pan. Bake the crust at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes.
Once the crust is done baking, place it on a cooling rack to cool completely.
In a medium glass bowl, combine light brown sugar, canned pumpkin, ground nutmeg, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, allspice, half and half and kosher salt. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Continue stirring the pumpkin mixture for about 5 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the 3 egg yolks. Add some of the warm pumpkin mixture to the egg yolks and combine them together. Then add pumpkin/egg yolk mixture to the rest of the pumpkin mixture in the glass bowl.
This will prevent the eggs from scrambling when they’re added to the rest of the warm pumpkin mixture.
Then remove the bowl from over the simmering water.
Combine the packet of gelatin with 1/4 cup of water. Once the gelatin sets up, add it to the warm pumpkin mixture and mix.
Let the pumpkin mixture cool completely. DO NOT add the whipped cream until it’s cooled!
In a large bowl with the whisk attachment (a handheld mixer is fine) mix 1/2 cup of cold heavy whipping cream on high speed. Add in the 1 1/2 Tablespoons of sugar and continue mixing until the heavy whipping cream forms stiff peaks. Be careful not to over mix or you’ll end up with butter.
When the pumpkin mixture is cooled completely, fold in the whipped cream.
Pour the pumpkin filling into the chocolate crust and place in the refrigerator. Allow the tart to refrigerate overnight. This will allow the filling to firm up.
Decorate with whipped cream and chocolate shavings! Enjoy!
Recently I went on a candy shopping spree at Target since there was a sale on tasty Halloween candy. Roaming the Halloween candy aisles at Target is a sweet lover’s paradise and a dangerous place for a baker who throws candy in every dessert. I was on a mission to purchase a huge variety of candy for trick or treaters – Snickers, Halloween Kit Kats, Twix, and Peanut Butter Cups.
But then all of a sudden my mind switched from “The kids will love Peanut Butter Cups!” to “Mmmm Snickers for Blondies, Peanut Butter M&Ms for Candy Bark, Candy Corn for Lindsey.” Sadly (ok I’m not really sad) all of the candy that was for the trick treaters is nowhere to be found except in my recipes and in my mouth. YUM!
So what recipe stole almost all of the candy? That would be my crack, I mean Halloween Candy Bark. Mmm
Let’s get makin’ some Halloween Bark love…
First take a large piece of parchment paper and set it aside. The parchment paper is what you’ll be making the Halloween Candy Bark on.
You’ll need to measure out the different candies that you’ll place on top of the melted chocolate. Mmmm melted chocolate. In this delicious picture below, I’m using 1/4 cup of Candy Corn and 1/4 cup of Peanut Butter M&Ms. Then I took some Halloween Kit Kats (the white chocolate ones that are orange!) and chopped them up into small pieces and measured out a 1/3 cup. Next I took some Halloween Oreos, chopped them up into large pieces and measured out 1/2 cup.
Set aside. Oh and set some extra candy aside because most likely you’ll want to eat some or at least I do.
In a large micowaveable bowl, measure out 8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips and 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave but be careful not to burn the chocolate!
Measure out 8 ounces of white chocolate chips and set aside. You’ll melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave after you’ve spread the regular chocolate on parchment paper.
Pour the melted semi sweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips onto the parchment paper. Oh my goodness don’t you just want to stick your mouth under that melted chocoalte! Well don’t, it’s hot and you’ll burn yourself.
Spread the melted chocolate into a 9 by 11 rectangle. Don’t worry if it’s not exact. We’re not professional candy makers here.
It should look somewhat like this tasty picture. Mmmm. Now at this point, melt the white chocolate chips in the microwave. Be VERY careful not to overheat the white chocolate.
Put large drops of the melted chocolate all over the melted regualr chocolate.
Now comes the exciting part, take a knife and swirl the white chocolate with the regular chocolate like I’m doing here. I get way too much joy of out swirling chocolate.
Your melted chocolate creation should look somewhat like this picture. Now don’t fret if yours doesn’t look perfect, you’re not trying to be Picasso.
Start placing the candy on the melted chocolate. I usually start with the Peanut Butter M&Ms because if I don’t, they won’t make it to the Halloween Candy Bark. (I eat them all)
Put the rest of the candy and cookies all over the melted chocolate. Press the candy and chocolate down a bit so they don’t fall off. Now comes the hardest part, wait for it to dry which takes over 3 hours! It’s complete torture I know. But once it’s once, cut into large pieces and enjoy!
Halloween Candy Bark
8 ounces milk chocolate chips
8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
8 ounces white chocolate chips
1/2 cup Halloween Oreos, chopped
1/4 cup Peanut Butter M&Ms
1/4 cup Candy Corn
1/3 cup Halloween Kit Kats, chopped
Measure out 1/4 cup of Candy Corn and 1/4 Cup of Peanut Butter M&Ms. Chop up Halloween Oreos into large pieces and measure out 1/2 cup.
Cut the Halloween Kit Kats into small pieces and measure out about 1/3 of a cup. Set all of the candy aside.
Place a large piece of parchment paper on the counter.
In a large microwavable bowl, melt 8 ounces of milk chocolate chips and 8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips.
Spread the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper into a 9 by 11 triangle (it doesn’t have to be exact!).
Melt the 8 ounces of white chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl.
With a spoon, place drops of the melted white chocolate over the melted chocolate.
Use a knife to make a swirl patter with the white chocolate and chocoalte.
Scatter the candy and cookies over the melted chocolate. Press down slightly to ensure that the candy and cookies stick to the chocolate.
Allow the chocolate to dry which typically takes over 3 hours. Once it’s dry, cut into pieces and enjoy!
You may all realize by now that I have a (wonderful) habit of throwing candy into desserts, slathering everything with thick layers of creamy frosting and adding a pound of butter to all my desserts. I feel it’s my mission in life to sabotage every Cooking Light dessert and put people into a sugar coma. In my humble opinion, desserts are meant to be full of butter and sugar and packed with pure delicious love (hence the subtitle of my blog). So if I have perfect opportunity to throw a ton of Halloween candy into my dessert, you know I’m going for it without any hesitation whatsoever.
Now when I came across a delicious recipe for Blondies with chocolate chips, I have to admit that my mind automatically went to peanut butter, Snickers, frosting, Nutella (which I’m allergic to!!!), peanut butter cups, fudge, and any ingredient that will put you into a blissful sugar coma. Plain Blondies with chocolate chips just aren’t going to do it for this sugar lover and my readers deserve more sugar and butter love than that. So I present to you Snickers Blondies. OH MY WORD!!
Let’s get bakin’ some Blondie love…
First you’ll need some Fun Size Snickers Bars (not the mini ones). Don’t even ask how many of those I already ate.
Take 6 Snickers Bars and cut them into 4 pieces. You should end up with 24 pieces. Set those aside. You’ll be using them to fold into the batter.
Take 3 more Snickers Bars. Cut each bar into 8 pieces. You’ll end up with 24 small pieces. Set them aside. These little pieces will be used to press into the batter during the last 5 minutes of baking.
Sift together 1 cup of flour, 1/8 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. Set aside. Seriously, you don’t want to see my sifted ingredients, it’s not very exciting.
In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works just fine) combine 1 cup of packed light brown sugar, 1/3 cup of unsalted melted butter and 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract.
Once those ingredients are combined, add 1 large egg and mix it up. Use your imagination and pretend I’m adding in an egg. You know what an egg looks like!
Now SLOWLY and I mean slowly add in the dry ingredients. Mix it on low until almost combined. The batter should look like this lovely picture.
Fold the ingredients together in order to combine the ingredients together.
Throw in the 24 larger chopped Snickers bars and fold them in with a mixing spoon/spatula. Mmmm that looks so tasty. Don’t you just want to eat the batter?
Spread the batter out into a lightly greased 8 by 8 pan. It will seem like there’s barely any batter and that there are tons of Snickers bars. Don’t worry, it’ll work out just fine! Trust me.
Bake for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees. During the last 5 minutes of baking, press in 3 chopped up Snickers Bars (the 24 small pieces) that you had set aside earlier. Please be careful and don’t go burning yourself!
Once the Snickers Blondies are done baking, allow them to cool completely on a cooling rack. Cut into squares and enjoy!
Snickers Blondies
(adapted from allrecipes)
1 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
9 Fun Size Snickers Bars (6 bars chopped into 4 pieces each) (3 bars chopped into 8 pieces each)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8 by 8 inch baking pan.
Take 6 Snickers Bars and chop each one into 4 pieces. You will end up with 24 pieces. Take another 3 Snickers Bars and chop each one into 8 pieces. You will end up with another 24 pieces. Keep the two groups of Snickers Bars divided.
Sift together 1 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl with the paddle attachment (a handheld mixer works fine), combine 1/3 cup melted unsalted butter, 1 cup packed light brown sugar, and 1 Tablespoon of vanilla extract.
Once those ingredients are combined, add 1 large egg and mix until the egg is incorporated.
Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until barely combined.
Take a spatula/mixing spoon and fold the ingredients together.
Add in the 24 larger Snicker Bar pieces and fold them into the batter. Spread the batter into a 8 by 8 lightly greased baking pan.
Bake the Snickers Blondies for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. During the last 5 minutes of baking, press the 24 small pieces of Snicker Bars into the Blondies.
Once the Snickers Blondies are done baking, cool them completely on a cooling rack. Cut into squares and enjoy!
Hi friends! I’m sorry I haven’t posted any recipes lately. But I promise you, I have been super busy making tasty treats in my kitchen.
I just registered for the Foodbuzz Festival and am SOO excited but quite nervous. If you’re going to the Festival, I would absolutely LOVE to meet you! I’m going to be bringing along some of my treats.
I’ve always wanted to go to San Francisco because that’s where my family is from and I’ve always wanted to attend the Foodbuzz Festival because I’m a food fanatic. But more than anything, I really want to meet my fellow Foodbuzz friends.
I definitely need someone to eat meals with, hang out with and just talk with. So if you’re interested in meeting up, please tweet me @gingerbagelbake or email me at gingerbreadbagels@gmail.com
I’m looking forward to meeting you all and having a wonderful time!
Love,
Lindsey
