Pecan Pie Cupcakes

This recipe found me, yes I said found me, on Pinterest. I pinned them a couple months ago and decided tonight was the night. I figured if they were good, I would bring some to Thanksgiving and to share with my co-workers. And if they weren't....well...how could they not be?! 

The recipe was simple, just 5 ingredients and if you're like me you have already have them in the pantry. You can start off by pre-heating the oven to 350 and preparing the muffin tins. I used Baker's Joy Cooking Spray, but you can also grease and flour them individually. I usually take the easy way out.

  1 Cup Chopped Pecans
1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar (I prefer baking with dark)
1/2 Cup Flour
2 Eggs
2/3 Cup Melted Butter

 

The next two ingredients I decided to add on my own.

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

 

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can dump all of the ingredients in a bowl and mix, no need to do it in stages and less mess.  After the mixture is blended you want to put about 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin tin. As a note the original recipe called for this to make 18-24 mini cupcakes, but I decided to go for 12 regular size. This way I eat 1 regular cupcake not 4 or 5 or 6 minis.

 

After filled I tapped them down on the counter to even the batter out before popping them in the oven for 16-18 minutes. Mine took 16, but when you see the edges get a dark golden brown they should be done. Pull them from the oven and let cool 10 minutes before turning over on a cooling rack. 

 

I was able to wait close to 20 minutes before I gave in and truthfully now I'm distracting myself  by posting this here. My suggestion? Double the batch and make 24 because if you share these with anyone else, you're going to need them. The edges get wonderfully crispy and the insides stay soft and gooey.

So simple, sooooo good.

A few items worth mentioning:

• Well like I said above, any bakers spray like Baker's Joy Cooking Spray is a helpful time/mess saver.
• I also recommend a good quality muffin tin. Anything too thin or lightweight has a tendency to burn faster and cook unevenly.  I have these two and they didn't cost me an arm and a leg: Mini and Standard.

Sweet & Salty Rolo Bites

It's been a while since I posted, not because I haven't had the time, but because I've been on a diet.  If you want to see how that has been going you can go read about it here. 21 Days 2 Lose

Anyways back to cooking! I recently saw a version of these that used Hershey Hugs, but I liked the idea of using Rolos with their chocolate and caramel goodness. To make these all I needed was one bag of Rolos and one bag of Waffle Pretzels. You start by laying out unbroken pretzels on a baking sheet. One tip I'll add in here would be to line the sheet with Parchment Paper, which I didn't do, but it would have made some things easier. Next preheat your oven to 300 and start unwrapping the Rolos and topping each pretzel with one. If you have a child to help you unwrap, this step will go a lot faster.

 Once the are topped pop them into the oven, but stay close because they only need 2 - 2 1/2 minutes. I did 2 1/2 and it was perfect, any more and they would have started to melt through the pretzels. When you take them out of the oven you they'll have lost some of their shine, but you'll be able to tell that they are warm and melty. You also want to let them sit for 1-2 minutes, don't try topping them with the other pretzel just yet or you'll end up with a mess.

After a few minutes take one unbroken pretzel, top a Rolo and carefully press down just enough that the chocolate comes through the little holes and continue until they're all topped. 

Now at this point you could be done, but for me I wanted to add a little something extra. I melted just about 1/8- 1/4 cup of butterscotch chips in a small bowl in the microwave at 20 second intervals. I ad it at the point where it would have been perfect to drizzle over the pretzels, BUT seeing as how Halloween is coming up I decided I wanted the butterscotch to have a more pronounced orange color - BAD IDEA. Once I added the 2 drops of food coloring it seized up and it was no longer able to be drizzled. Trying to save it I added a small amount of vegetable oil, which did  help, but not enough. In the end I just put a dollop of butterscotch on each treat and called it good! At this point you are going to want to transfer them from you're baking sheet so they can start to cool, if you put the parchment paper underneath, you should be able to slide them off easily and be left with a clean pan. I had my family try them, since they aren't part of my diet and they liked them. They said the combo of the salty and sweet was at the perfect ratio. I can't wait to try them myself!

A few items worth mentioning:

• Parchment Paper - I forgot to use it and ended having to wash chocolate off the baking pan.
• The other item would be a large cookie sheet if you don't already have one.  I have 2, one is the Pampered Chef Stoneware Pan seen in this recipe and the other is an inexpensive Baker's Secret Basic Non-Stick Cookie Pan.

My Moms Macaroni & Cheese

This is the stuff I grew up with.  Yeah I loved my blue box Kraft, but as I got older I realized that this was what was best.  Also for those that love your velveeta that's fine too, but I don't think I even knew what it was until I was a teenager.

Here's what you'll need:

10 ounces elbow macaroni. (I use anything that has ridges in the noodles; penne, elbow, etc.  I like to think it holds the sauce better)

1/4 cup of butter

1/4 cup of flour

3 - 4 cups of milk (this can vary depending on how think/thin you want your sauce)

* Up to 24 ounces of shredded cheese. I use a combo of medium and sharp or all sharp.

 Boil noodles until al dente, drain and set aside.

 

In a pan melt butter with the flour over med/med high and cook for about 2-3 minutes - this is your roux. Next slowly add the milk, while stirring with a whisk. If you have a immersion/hand blender you can also use that. This is the hardest part of the recipe because it can seize up if you aren't stirring enough. Just go slow, add about a 1/2 cup or less at a time and continue adding as it smooths out.

Once its reached the point where it's a bit thinner than you want for your sauce start adding the cheese, the more the better! (* I will admit that I no longer shred my own cheese. It may be better, but it's time consuming.  Now I just buy a good brand of the shredded stuff.)  We usually use 24 ounces with 16 going into the sauce and 8 going on top.  Salt and pepper to taste at this point. 

At this point remove about 3-4 cups of the sauce from the pan and mix the noodles in. Stir until completely mixed and then pour into a baking dish. 

For our house one half is covered with shredded cheese and more sauce. Then the other half is covered with torn bits of bread (usually the heels) topped with additional sauce and shredded these. That's how Mom made it and it's the best way, but I'm the only one in my house that likes it. I can still remember that it was my sisters and I job to tear the bread. :) Then I bake it at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until brown. 

Serve and ENJOY! Also I know this may sound time consuming but the sauce should take less than 15 minutes to make. The prep takes about the same and it's well worth the effort.

A few items worth mentioning:

• Cuisinart Immersion Hand Blender - I use mine all the time; really a worthwhile appliance to have.
• I have to admit I love my new salt & pepper grinders. I don't think I'll ever have to buy a set again.

Nutella Krispie Treats

How do you make rice krispie treats better? Add Nutella! I didn't come up with this recipe, but I was more than happy to make them.

 

Ingredients Used:

10 Ounces of Marshmellows

3/4-1 Cup of Nutella

1/2 Stick of Butter

6 Cups of Rice Krispies

I started by buttering the inside of a 9x13 pan. I did this ahead of time because I knew when the treats were done they'd need to go right into it.  I then melted the butter in a large sauce pan and added in the marshmellows. I stirred until almost all of the marshmellows were melted and then I added in a HUGE spoonful of Nutella.  By eyeing it I could tell that it was around 3/4 - 1 cups worth - add more if you like.

I stirred it in until just melted and then added all of the rice krispies. Once they were evenly coated I scraped the krispies into the pan. To flatten them I like to use a ziploc bag as a glove.  Slightly butter it and it won't stick to the treats, plus no mess afterward.

I waited about 10 minutes (while they cooled in the fridge) before cutting into them and then treated myself to one....or two...I think.  All I can say is that they were delicious and not your ordinary rice krispie treat!

 

A few items worth mentioning:

• My Cuisinart 9x13 Non-Stick Cake Pan has many uses. Cakes, brownies, lasagne, the list goes on.
• Want perfect clean cuts on your brownies and treats? Turn them out onto a cutting board or wax paper and run the pizza cutter through it.

Fresh Peach Butter

Last week while in Eastern, Wa. I bought a 24 pound box of Sno-King White Peaches. Why? Because it was only $8.50 and they're yummy! Once home of course I had to figure out what to do with them and after a little (okay a lot) of searching sites I settled on my first recipe: Peach Butter. Apple Butter is delicious, so I expected this to be too.

I started with just over 4 pounds of ripe peaches. I washed them, halved them, removed the pit and then quartered them. What I was left with was 4 pounds and they looked like this.

At this point I added a cup of water and simmered them for 25 minutes until they were soft. Next came the part I decided not to take pictures of - the blender. Now nothing bad happened, I let them cool down slightly, split it into 3 batches and ran them through the smoothie cycle on our Blendtec. What I ended up with was a light pick peach soup, that I then poured back into the pan. At this point I also added the juice of one lemon, a heaping teaspoon of cinnamon and 3/4 cup brown sugar.

Now came the hard part - stirring. Not just a little, but a lot...like 45 CONSTANT minutes of stirring while it cooked on medium-low heat. My fingers and arm went numb several times, but if I stopped stirring it would stick and burn and ruin all my hard work up to this point.


Now after all that stirring and cooking, I was left with just a little more than half the peach butter I started with and I knew it was done by the ribbons that stayed on top after drizzling them from the spatula. (If you look above you can see them) At this point I removed it from the heat and let it start to cool down before ladling into jars.

And TA-DA! This is what 4 pounds of peaches will get you - 3 pints (plus a little extra) of yummy, delicious, eat with a spoon Peach Butter. One is going straight to the fridge and the other two into the freezer, although I don't expect they'll be there long. Now what do I do with the other 20 pounds.....

*Forgive the not so great pictures, I do have a real camera, but the iPhone is just so dang handy.

A few items used worth mentioning:

• My Ozeri Pro Digital Kitchen Food Scale worked great at weighing all the peaches out.
• When we invested in our Blendtec Blender I knew it would come in handy and this time it allowed me to skip the process of removing the peach skins.
• I ran across these Ball Plastic Jar Lids by accident in the grocery store and now I love them! They're great for those times when you aren't going to can, but want to store a sauce, salsa, etc. in the fridge or freezer for a short time.