Stuffed Gingerbread Cupcakes with Pumpkin Pudding and Cream Cheese Frosting

Life has been crazy lately and I haven't had the opportunity to post as usual.  Hopefully this week I'll be able to get more than one post in - at least that's my goal.

For those of you that have been following me for a while you might remember when I posted my Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle.  Well this year for Thanksgiving I decided to use portions of that recipe only this time I made cupcakes.  

Since I wasn't serving an army of people this year I felt cupcakes would hold out better if all weren't eaten.  The trifle on the other hand doesn't look so appealing to go back to for leftovers when only a portion is eaten, so cupcakes were the perfect solution.

I made the recipe as described here for the Gingerbread Cake except, I poured the batter into a large 6 cup muffin tin, unlined, but sprayed with non-stick spray.

Then I made the recipe for the Pumpkin Pudding only dividing the recipe in 1/2 as follows:

Pumpkin Pudding:

1 box vanilla instant pudding (3 1/8 oz size)
1/2 (15 oz) can pumpkin pie filling
1/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp pure vanilla

Prepare vanilla pudding according to package instructions.

Combine pudding with the pumpkin pie filling. Fold in brown sugar and spices. Cover and chill.  

After cupcakes have come out of the oven and cooled, poke a large hole in the center of each cupcake using the stick of a round wooden spoon or similar (only poke hole 3/4 of the way into the cupcake).

Place pudding into a pastry bag or zip lock baggy and snip bottom or corner and squeeze pudding into cupcake hole until fills to the top.  Level off, then spread with cream cheese frosting.  (See recipe)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened 

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar 

3/4 cup powdered sugar
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

Beat cream cheese, 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla. 

In another bowl whisk cream and 3/4 cup powdered sugar to firm peaks. Fold in cream cheese mixture. Chill 1 hour or until firm but spreadable. Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.  If desired top with crush gingersnaps, candied ginger, ginger sugar or simply leave with the luscious flavor of the cream cheese icing.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle

This Thanksgiving I decided to make something different for dessert that I thought most everyone would enjoy, and they did! It was a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle. I will say that the next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I will layer them in Individual Trifle Bowls
I think that the presentation is beautiful in one large bowl however, unless you have an army of people that you're serving you won't make a dent in the trifle. Thus, leaving a half eaten bowl of a luscious dessert that's difficult to store.

I think arranging the ingredients in individual trifle bowls or deep small glasses with or without a stem would suffice and quite frankly wouldn't take much more time to prep for. If you're not looking for the WOW factor of presenting this dish you could even layer it in a 9x13 glass bowl.

This dessert turned out so delicious! The colors layered together look like fall and although brown isn't the most appetizing color of food, this dish was scrumptuous.

I combined several recipes that I've used before plus a recipe for the Guinness Gingerbread Cake in Nigella Lawsons new book, Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home A great book with lots of wonderful recipes.

This Gingerbread Cake is so good and moist. Although finding Lyle's Golden Syrup wasn't easy, I did find it at Global Foods here in St Louis, and it can be ordered online as well. You could substitute it with a light molasses but after tasting Lyle's Golden Syrup I would definitely try to locate it in your area or order it. It had a smooth rich buttery taste, nothing that I had ever tasted before. It's well worth it to find it.

In addition, I had planned to make a homemade pumpkin pudding and was certain I had all the ingredients on hand. However, when I went to put them together I noticed I didn't have enough of one ingredient. So I used 2 packages of instant vanilla pudding that I had on hand, then added the pumpkin pie filling and doctored it up a bit as you can see below in my recipe. It turned out as good as homemade.

The whipped cream filling and topping I make this way, so that it holds up and doesn't collapse. It's perfect for fillings and quite tasty.

I hope that if you try this recipe, you will love it just as much as my family and friends did. In fact, it improves with flavor as the days go by without the gingerbread getting soggy.

Here's my recipe:

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle
serves 15-20


Guiness Gingerbread Cake

Ingredients:

•1 1/4 sticks 10 (tablespoons) butter, plus some for greasing
•1 cup golden syrup (such as Lyle's)
•1 cup (packed) plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
•1 cup stout (such as Guinness), which I used
•2 teaspoons ground ginger
•2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
•2 cups all-purpose flour
•2 teaspoons baking soda
•1 1/4 cups sour cream
•2 eggs
•1 rectangular aluminium foil pan or cake pan, approximately 13 by 9 by 2-inches

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Line your cake pan with aluminium foil and grease it, or grease your foil tray.

Put the butter, syrup, dark brown sugar, stout, ginger, cinnamon and ground cloves into a pan and melt gently over a low heat.

Take off the heat and whisk in the flour and baking soda. You will need to be patient and whisk thoroughly to get rid of any lumps.

Whisk the sour cream and eggs together in a measuring jug and then beat into the gingerbread mixture, whisking again to get a smooth batter.

Pour this into your cake/foil pan, and bake for about 45 minutes; when it's ready it will be gleamingly risen at the centre, and coming away from the pan at the sides.

Let the gingerbread cool before cutting into slices or squares.

Pumpkin Pudding:

2 boxes vanilla instant pudding (3 1/8 oz size)
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp pure vanilla

Prepare vanilla pudding according to package instructions.

Combine pudding with the pumpkin pie filling. Fold in brown sugar and spices. Cover and chill.

Whipped Cream Filling and Topping:

4 cups chilled heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla

Beat cream with sugar and vanilla using mixer until it holds soft peaks.


Assemble trifle:

Put half of gingerbread cubes in 2 quart trifle bowl. Top with half of pumpkin pudding, then half of the whipped cream. Repeat layering once more with all of remaining gingerbread, pudding, and cream. Chill at least 2 hours before serving. Best if assembled the same day.


Note:

Gingerbread (uncut) can be made up to week ahead. Wrap in parchment paper followed by a layer of plastic wrap and stored in an airtight container in a cool place. Gingerbread will keep for a total of two weeks.

Trifle, can be made a day ahead but will look best if prepped the day you serve it.

Garnish:

With Crumbled Gingersnap cookies, Crystallized ginger or candied pecans

Trifle can be made in a large trifle dish, Individual Trifle Bowls or deep glasses.

Enjoy!

Halloween Treats!

I had some things that I needed to do this morning but had planned that after lunch I was going to make some fun treats to give to the handful of children on our street this evening. There are 8 small kids on the street and they and their parents all know me well. Otherwise, I would never consider baking something for them.

Last year I made them witch cupcakes. This year I had something else that I thought would be fun to give to them when they came trick-or-treating with their parents.

But, to my dismay none of them came. Over the past few years so many of the homes that had kids either moved, grew up or have senior citizens in them that don't open the doors when the kids ring the bell on Halloween. As a result, those families with young children go into subdivisions that have HUGE numbers of children.

So I made these really cute treats that I'd love to share with you. Sadly, the only kids that came to my door were strangers to me, so I couldn't offer them a homemade treat that was unwrapped.

BOO HOO! That's how I felt. Although my halloween snack wasn't difficult to make I was so looking forward to sharing them with my little friends. I guess I'll have to give them to family and friends tomorrow, otherwise my husband and I will end up eating all of them.

Anyway, these little cakes that I made are Halloween Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes. You can see in the photo at the top one of the cakes is sliced in half. Inside is an orange halloween oreo that's then covered with a pumpkin cheesecake filling and baked. YUM!

You could do something similar for the holidays with the red icing filled oreos and maybe a peppermint cheesecake or regular cheese cake decorated with a snowman on top, Christmas Tree or other holiday decoration. For today though I did a spider web in celebration of Halloween.

Here's the recipe. They're really quite good.

Halloween Oreo Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Serves 12

Ingredients:

•12 whole Halloween Oreos
•8 ounce pkg. Cream Cheese, softened
•½ cup Granulated Sugar
•½ teaspoon Pure Vanilla
•½ cup Pureed Pumpkin
•1 whole Egg
•¼ teaspoon Cinnamon
•⅛ teaspoon Nutmeg
•2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
•1 pinch Salt
•½ cups Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F). Spray a 12 muffin tin with non-stick spray. I used the butter variety. Place 1 Oreo in the bottom of each muffin tin. Set aside.

In large bowl, whip cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Stir in vanilla, pumpkin, egg, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour and salt until combined. Scrape sides of bowl and whip mixture until completely smooth. Spoon mixture evenly over Oreos.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until cheesecakes have set. Remove from oven to cool.

Once cheesecakes are cool enough to handle, remove from muffin tin. Microwave chocolate chips approximately 1 1/2 minutes stirring after 1 minute, then for another 30 seconds until smooth and completely melted. Spoon chocolate into a piping bag with a small round tip.

Pipe melted chocolate in concentric circles on top of cheesecakes. Drag the end of a toothpick through the chocolate to create the look of a spider web, starting in the center and dragging outward. Repeat with remaining cheesecakes. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Simple to make and fun to eat!

Halloween Breakfast Pancakes

This year Halloween falls on a Sunday. Yippee! The perfect day to whip up some dressed up pumpkin pancakes for breakfast or of course you could just go to IHOP.

However if you'd rather spend a quiet morning at home, IHOP has decided to share these tips for making the perfect pumpkin pancakes.

•The batter - Start with your favorite pancake batter recipe and simply add canned pumpkin pie mix.

•Water temperature - When preparing dry pancake mix, it is essential that the water is chilled to less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Use ice to bring the temperature of the water down.

•Lumps are good - Do not over mix the pancake batter. Small lumps of flour are what make pancakes tall and fluffy.

•Grill temperature - Use a 350-degree grill and make sure there are no hot or cold spots that can affect cooking time.

•Cook time - The appearance is how you judge when a pancake is ready. When dropping the pancake batter, watch for bubbles to form and for the batter to have a dull appearance. This takes approximately 2.5 minutes. After flipping, cook approximately 2 minutes.

•Pancake topping - Top pumpkin pancakes with whipped cream.

IHOP will be serving Pumpkin pancakes through out the month of October.










However, if you're looking for a specific recipe for creating your own spectacular Halloween pancakes here's a recipe you can follow:

Pumpkin Pancakes with Hot Cider Syrup or Spooky Black Cinnamon Syrup
Makes 12 pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar

Directions:

1.In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt, stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.

2.Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until bubbles appear on the surface and the edges look dry. Turn over and cook until golden brown. Serve immediately with syrup of your choice.

Hot Cider Syrup

1 1/2 c. apple cider
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. corn syrup
2 oz. butter
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
Grated rind from 1 lemon
2 apples, peeled, cored & thinly sliced

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine apple cider, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon rind. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Add apples. Heat for several minutes more. Serve over pancakes.



Black Cinnamon Syrup

1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 brown sugar
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup water
Black food coloring

In a saucepan combine white sugar, brown sugar, all-purpose flour and cinnamon. Stir dry ingredients together. Add vanilla extract and water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally until thickened. Add food coloring until you get to the desired shade. Remove from heat until you are ready to use and place in a squirt bottle to decorate.

Decorating ideas with Black Syrup: spider web, spider, witch, bat, cat, pumpkin face, etc.

Note: If you'd like to decorate your pancakes for Halloween with something other than the syrup try IHOPs design. Using some whipped cream decorate a smile for the mouth and add candy corn on top for the teeth.

Use a strawberry for the nose and whipped cream circles for the eyes with a mini oreo set onto each whipped circle. Now who wouldn't love that?

Looking for more fun? Check out these Halloween Pancake Molds.



Have fun!

How To Carve A Pumpkin?

With just 5 days left to Halloween many of you will begin carving your pumpkins to place out on the doorstep. There are so many fun designs but none that you ever felt you could recreate. Well guess again! Now you can make one look just like the ones you see in the magazines?

I happened across this video and just knew I had to share it with you. This video demonstrates great tips on carving a fun, creative pumpkin that everyone will be talking about.

Best of all, make pumpkin carving a family affair and years from now the kids will be talking about what great memories they had of that day. Memories are priceless and can never be lost.

Just be careful for the carving though. Don't let the kids do it without parental supervision or you might find yourself in the ER.

I hope you enjoy this video:



How to carve a pumpkin