seasonal Posts

03Sep
0

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since I’ve started this blog! It’s been so much fun baking and updating every week. I hope I can do this for many more years! In honor of the beginning of September, this week I made pumpkin cupcakes (which, loyal readers, I hope you remember was the first recipe I ever posted on the blog). Hopefully these turned out a lot better.

I don’t know about where you are, but here in Upstate New York this week has been a scorcher, which is why I wasn’t sure if the world was ready for pumpkin quite yet. Yes, it’s September. Yes, pumpkin beer and pumpkin lattes have already been rolled out at most retail locations. It just seems a little weird eating pumpkin-and-cinnamon-flavored treats when it’s a hot and hazy 93 degrees outside. Nevertheless, pumpkin is just too good to put off any longer, so here they are!

I’ve posted the original pumpkin cupcake recipe again after the jump. You’ll also find my improved frosting recipe – this time, a cinnamon buttercream instead of that brown sugar monstrosity from last year. If it wasn’t my first post, I’d delete it. Why did you guys eat those things?!

These are much more adorable:

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , , , ,
11Aug
1

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

…so I lied in my last post. Meant to post these right after Independence Day but summer got in the way. Nevertheless, here they are: my patriotic Magnolia vanilla cupcakes with complementary vanilla buttercream!

Apologies for the distant photograph; was enjoying the Fourth of July party far too much to take pictures. Sparklers are from a local party store, and sugar lime cookies courtesy of my wonderful friend Ashley, who accompanied me on my baking and Fourth of July journeys this year. It was wonderful having her back in town, if only for a few days! No one (other than my mom) appreciates baking in the kitchen watching good movies more than her.

Embarrassingly enough, on my first attempt making these cupcakes that night, I dropped an entire egg into the batter, and my beloved KitchenAid mixer dutifully chopped the eggshell into bits within seconds. I tried picking out the bits of shell, but soon admitted defeat and started over again. Such is life.

I’ve posted the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe previously (when I made my Super Bowl cupcakes earlier this year), but I’m posting the recipe after the jump for convenience. Hopefully Ashley will do a guest post and provide the recipe for her awesome sugar lime cookies!

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,
21Mar
2

Magnolia’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

I’ve mentioned these before on the blog, and these are without a doubt the most fabulous, delicious, simple cookies. Ever. They combine the best ingredients (chocolate and peanut butter chips AND toasted pecans), and have a fantastic base that can be used with any number of other ingredients. They’re easy, they’re decadent, and they’re perfect.

When I first bought my Magnolia cookbook, this was the recipe I tried out right away and have been perfecting ever since. While they were always amazing, I recently discovered the key to making this cookie outrageous: heavy cream instead of milk. Never mind that the reason I had to use cream was because I didn’t have any milk in the house; this is the kind of serendipitous feat that doesn’t need an enlightening back story.

While the milk makes these cookies insanely smooth, the heavy cream makes them even more unbelievable.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with , , , ,
22Dec
4

Christmas Cookies Galore!

Finally, the Christmas cookie post! And let me tell you, this literally took me ALL day. Not that I’m complaining, it was well worth it.

I baked cookies with my mom every Christmas when I was younger, and it’s something that I try to continue today. Even though I miss spending afternoons in the kitchen with her, elbow-deep in dough and covered in flour, keeping the tradition alive makes me feel like a kid again. It’s when I really start feeling like it’s Christmas!

While traditionally, my mom and I would make classic cookie press cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and oatmeal cookies, I decided to venture a little outside of my comfort zone. Having a pretty strong German heritage, I’d always wanted to try making Linzer tarts. I’d never really had them as a kid, but they are a quintessential Christmas cookie. Since they are pretty Old World-y, I didn’t think I’d get too many takers, but they actually turned out to be the most popular cookie!

Along with the Linzers, I’d decided pretty early on that I wanted to make peanut blossoms (from a recipe I’ve been using for years), sugar cookies, and gingerbread people (they’re not gingerbread MEN, for god’s sake).

Christmas Cookies

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with , , , , , ,
13Dec
3

Snickerdoodles

Ok, I know I usually only bake on Fridays, but today is snowy, I’m wrapping Christmas presents, and the mood just struck. Since it’s so close to the holidays, I decided on Snickerdoodles, a perennial Christmas favorite.

No, they have nothing to do with Snickers or doodles or even Snick for that matter. Though I’m sure you could watch Snick while eating them. Snickerdoodles remind me of Old World German women baking in the dead of winter (you can read alllllll about the history of Snickerdoodles here).

This is another Magnolia recipe…surprise! No but really, while Snickerdoodles are hard to mess up, anything from Magnolia is guaranteed to be perfect. This is my second favorite cookie recipe from Magnolia (I will post my very favorite at some point…they are OMGZ so good).

Snickerdoodles

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with , , ,
03Dec
3

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Sugar Icing

It’s the beginning of December and I’ve already gone through 3 super-sized cans of pumpkin puree this season…shocker. And there are still 3 weeks of acceptable pumpkin baking left! While the pumpkin cupcakes are pretty damn awesome in their own right, there are times when you don’t want to fuss of a cupcake. The wrapper, the frosting, the maneuvering into your mouth…it can be cumbersome. Sometimes all you want is a cookie. And since these cookies are pretty much little punkin cakes anyway, it all works out in the end.

Next week’s mission: bake something that makes me feel more like Betty Draper. Maybe a pie? Something with booze?

Spoiler alert: I’m making red velvet cupcakes. Recipe and pics on the way.

If only I had my Jessie Steele apron…

Pumpkin Cookies

Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with , ,
11Nov
10

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Brown Sugar Frosting

My very first entry!  I was really nervous about which recipe I wanted to post first, but since this is the month of pumpkins, I thought I would incorporate that into my baking.

First, let me tell you something about pumpkins: my family really loves pumpkins.

No, you don’t understand.  We really love pumpkins.

My mother claims my brother got his red hair from all the pumpkin ice cream she ate while pregnant with him.  From September to November, our home is surrounded by pumpkins like a little gourd army.  Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, even pumpkin puree straight out of the can…nothing was too pumpkiny for us.

If there were a Church of The Great Pumpkin, we’d all be devout followers.

Anyway. Since I love the smell of spiced pumpkin in the fall (if you don’t, you’re a Communist), I wanted to bake something pumpkin that wasn’t pie.  I bring all my baked goods into work so I need something portable.  Hence…the pumpkin cupcake.  Nay, a cupcake cookie with freaking brown sugar frosting.  A sweet, cakey, pumpkin-and-spicy bit of perfection.


Keep reading and get the recipe…

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,