At some point over the past year, I developed a new found love of pretzels. It's not that I didn't like them before. I just wasn't giving them the credit they deserved. Now I'm making up for lost time by finding ways to use pretzels for as many snacks and desserts as possible. It's a wonderful thing. 

 

I'll keep this post short and sweet because the recipe in itself is short and sweet.
If you love churros (who doesn't?) and pretzels (""), this combines the two in salty, cinnamon-sugary bliss. This is a great snack to pack in a bag to get you through the workday, to set out at a party, to simultaneously satisfy your salty and sweet late night cravings (assuming I'm not the only one who gets those), to package up as a hostess gift, etc. It's just a great recipe overall, and it's easy enough for anyone to tackle successfully. The only change I made was to use 8 cups instead of 9 because I tend to like things like this with a heavier coating. Enjoy!

Recipe from Oh Sweet Basil

Ingredients

• 9 cups pretzels (about 1 bag of the minis)
• 1 1/2 cups cinnamon chips (found by the chocolate chips)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• Parchment or wax paper

Instructions

1. Place the pretzels in a very large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, sugar and cinnamon and stir until even. Set aside.
3. Over medium low heat, add the cinnamon chips and butter to a sauce pan and stir continually. Remove from heat and quickly dump over the pretzels. Using a large wooden spoon or rubber spatula, fold the cinnamon mixture over the pretzels until evenly coated.
4. Quickly add the powdered sugar mixture and fold again. Spread out on parchment or wax paper to cool.

Being from North Carolina, hurricanes are an inevitable occurrence. I used to have an irrational fear of them when I was little. That was added to the list of multiple other irrational fears of my childhood: bombs, alien invasions, tidal waves, monsters, twisters/Kansas..the list goes on. This is what happens when you watch too many movies as a child. What's unusual is that I'm now on hurricane watch in DC. DC! I didn't see this one coming.

My parents were in town this weekend and we braved the grocery store yesterday. I think most people were stocking up on bread and water, but I had other things in mind, all of which could be found on the baking aisle. The power lines in my neighborhood are above ground, so I am almost certain my power will be out within the next 24 hours. Good thing I'm thinking ahead and decided to go on a baking spree. This way, come tomorrow when I need to crash at a friend's place because my power is out, I'll come bearing gifts. 

I LOVE pumpkin flavored baked goods. I don't love pumpkin pie, but everything else is right up my alley. I bought one can of pumpkin and managed to make two recipes out of it using everything else that I already had on hand. These cupcakes are perfect. They are super easy and the cream cheese mixed with simple pumpkin base is delicious. And, as my roommate Brooke said, "I know you hate this word, but these are so moist!" Indeed they are. This recipe is going into my staple pumpkin recipe box. 

Work was cancelled today, so I had plenty of time to take pictures outside of my front door (which thankfully is covered by the stairs to the upstairs apartments so I stayed out of the rain). The wind was picking up towards the end of my pictures, but all-in-all everything is fine outside as of now. We just have lots of heavy rain. As an added bonus, since the neighbors aren't letting their kids outside in the weather, I didn't even have to deal with the usual obnoxious screaming while I tried to take my photographs. 

That being said, for everyone else on the east coast battling out this storm, stay safe, dry and inside! I'm wishing everyone safety as we ride out this storm, and my thoughts especially go out to everyone who has already been hit by the weather.

If your power is still on and you have pumpkin, why not give these a try? Perfect storm food if you ask me.

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Recipe from The Cupcake Suite

Makes 1 Dozen

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 eggs

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together in medium bowl.  In a larger bowl mix remaining ingredients until completely smooth.  Slowly add flour mixture and stir until combined.  Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes enough for 12 cupcakes

6 ounces cream cheese

6 tbs butter, softened

1/4 plus 2 tbs brown sugar

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until smooth and fluffy.  Add brown sugar and beat until incorporated.  Add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating well each time.  Add remaining ingredients and beat for addition 2-5 minutes.

I always think of myself as a cake person. Some people order the pie for dessert. I don't give it a second glance. Why chose pie when you can have rich, fluffy, delicious cake and icing? It's taken awhile for me to realize that not only do I like pie, I can't get enough of it. Here's the catch: I don't like warm fruit. 

I had this discussion with some people I worked with this summer. We started off on how disappointing it is to find a "hot raisin" has snuck its way into your bread pudding or cinnamon roll. We all found the term "hot raisin" and our distaste for them hilarious, but really, keep the hot raisins out of my cinnamon bread/buns/carrot cake/etc. However, somehow when you cool a fruit down everything changes for me. I eat Honey Bunches of Oats with Raisins almost daily. One of my all time favorite recipes is for cold blueberry pie. Strawberry shortcake makes me swoon, and suddenly, after 21 years of thinking otherwise (counting since birth for simplicity sake), I now absolutely love apple pie...more specifically this apple pie.

The only remotely difficult part of this recipe is peeling the apples. I'm sure some people know the trick to this, but the only trick I could think of was to purchase one of those apple peelers (a.k.a I have no shortcuts). The apples in the pie are not like spiced apples, they're more comparable to cinnamon sugar apples. The topping is also wonderful. I used a store bought crust, but I'm sure if you have some extra time and want to go the homemade route that would make this even better. This would be a perfect Thanksgiving recipe. Enjoy!

Apple Crisp Pie
Recipe from Beantown Baker

Printable Recipe
1 9-inch Pie Crust

For the Filling:
6 cups apple chunks (I used 3 cortland and 3 granny smith apples here)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp lemon juice

For the Topping:
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside. Core, peel, and slice apples. Transfer into large bowl with dry ingredients. Top off with vanilla and lemon juice. Toss to coat apples well. Set aside for 10-15 minutes while you prep the dough.

Fit your pie crust into a pie plate. You can even use store bought pie crust if you prefer. Fill pie crust with prepared apple chunks.

In a medium bowl, combine the dry topping ingredients. Pour cooled melted butter into bowl. Toss and cut until small to medium sized chunks form. Break up large chunks as needed. Using a spoon, sprinkle crumb topping over entire pie.

Cover pie loosely with foil. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 and continue baking for an additional 35 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

I was shocked how quickly this dessert came together. Being a southerner there's really no take on pecan pie that I don't like, these bars included. I made them for my family on our beach trip this year (hence the melted ice cream in the picture two seconds after I scooped it!), and everyone loved them. Ice cream is always an essential part of dessert for my family, and while I'm not a huge ice cream and cake fan, these pecan pie pars almost demand it.

Thinking about what else to say about these to convince you they're delicious makes me want to go make them right now, so I'm going to have to cut it off here seeing that I have class in an hour. Really the only thing you might not have in your cabinet out of these ingredients is a package of pecans. So write those down on your list now and make these asap!

Chunky Pecan Pie Bars
Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

For the Crust:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
¼ cup packed brown sugar

Filling:
3 large eggs
¾ cup corn syrup
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1¾ cups coarsely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (or chocolate chunks in a bag!)
1½ cups chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.

2. For the crust, mix together the flour, butter and brown sugar until crumbly. Press into the baking pan and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown.

3. For the filling, beat the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter and vanilla extract with a wire whisk. Stir in the chunks and pecans. Pour evenly over the baked crust and bake for 25-30 minutes or until set.

4. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cool completely and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container at room temperature (or in the refrigerator if you live in a warm/humid area with no air conditioning).

Yep, I was the impatient person who cut one right out of the center before taking pictures.

Contrary to what my long hiatus from blogging might suggest, I am, in fact, still alive, baking and well! I've been in DC since May 16th interning in the area, but when I made the trek up here I didn't bring any of my baking supplies (what was I thinking?). Thankfully, I have now sufficiently frightened my roommate by lugging up far more chocolate chips, pans and types of cocoa powder than anyone should ever need. I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into when I asked if I could bring up some bakeware.

Anywho, this post isn't like my other posts. This post is announcing/showcasing my entry into my first baking contest ever!

These little sandwiches of deliciousness are my entry for North Carolina into the Better Homes and Gardens State Cookie Contest. The second I was asked to participate in this contest I came up with about a million different ideas of what I would make. Then I hit the problem: just because something is one of my favorite ingredients, or even a southern ingredient, does not mean it has any relation to North Carolina. We have some darn good food in North Carolina, but thinking of a dessert that was in cookie form was quite a challenge. It's probably just because I love both North Carolina and desserts so much that I'd hate to do either of them injustice.

Well, I finally arrived at the decision that I would have to make a pie in cookie form. After a bit of googling I found the Neely's recipe for sweet potato pie cookies. Apparently (according to my brother-in-law who, unlike me, actually has culinary training), North Carolina produces about 90 percent of US sweet potatoes. Who knew?! So with a few changes of my own I made sweet potato pie sandwich cookies with a maple cinnamon marshmallow filling and a cinnamon glaze on top. That's a mouthful. 

Any southerner knows that the key to the perfect sweet potato casserole is a marshmallow topping, hence why I had to add that on my pie-cookies. The frosting on top has shortening in it, and something about shortening screams "southern"...maybe because we're the only ones still using it. I ended up a little pressed for time with these (read: ran to the Watergate Safeway at 5:45am to buy JetPuffed to sandwich the cookies before work), but they turned out delicious. Unfortunately it was raining for the pictures, but I like to think it was sunny in NC on the day I made them.

BHG sent me a pan for the baking (another plus for a broke college student), and let me tell you, I don't think I've ever baked with something that was so nonstick. Literally, right out of the oven these cookies could've slid from one side to the other. Goodbye parchment paper. So there we go, that is my honest to goodness endorsement, and trust me, I wouldn't give that if I didn't like it.

To close this LONG post I will ask that if you have a second, please vote for North Carolina in the cookie contest---even if you're not from NC, don't have any connection to the state, or just don't particularly like us, it would mean a lot to me to get any votes you're willing to dish out!

www.facebook.com/bhglivebetter and then go to State Cookie Contest and North Carolina.

Thanks and enjoy!

Sweet Potato Pie Cookies

Recipe adapted from Down Home with the Neelys

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup mashed sweet potatoes *
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 tablespoon butter melted
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

*To make mashed sweet potatoes, wrap sweet potatoes in foil and place them in an oven heated to 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven, peel off skin (it should slip right off), and put in food processor with the 1 tablespoon maple syrup. You'll only need 2 or 3 sweet potatoes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and adjust racks to the middle position. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. in the meantime mix the pecans with the melted butter and brown sugar and toast until glaze begins to set on pecans.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt.

Using a hand held mixer (I used my stand) cream together the butter, granulated sugar and the brown sugar until light and fluffy and the volume has increased. Add the egg and the vanilla and mix until incorporated. Stir in the sweet potato puree and blend until smooth. Beat in the dry ingredients in increments and combine well. Stir in the pecans.

Drop in small mounds onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake until the cookies are lightly golden around the edges and they spring back from the touch, about 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the cookie sheets

Maple Cinnamon Marshmallow Frosting

Recipe adapted from Sprinkle Bakes

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 7-ounce jar marshmallow fluff

1 1/2 teaspoons maple extract

2 teaspoons cinnamon

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add marshmallow fluff, cinnamon and maple extract; beat until blended and smooth. 

Cinnamon Frosting

Recipe adapted from Group Recipes 

1/4 cup butter shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract  
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2-1/2 cups confectioners sugar 
3 tablespoons milk 

In a small mixing bowl, cream shortening, vanilla and cinnamon. Gradually beat in confectioners sugar. Add milk; beat until light and fluffy.

To assemble: 

Wait for cookies to cool. When cool, either pipe on a tablespoon or so of frosting or spread on with a spoon or spatula. As a side note, I don't have my piping bags with me so I used a ziplock back with the tip cut off and it worked perfectly (tried and true trick). Drizzle the icing over the top of the assembled cookies with either a piping bag or spoon. The frosting may have to be slightly heated if using a spoon.

Of course it was a rainy day when I had to take the pictures!

To say I've tried a lot of coffee cakes is an understatement. In my opinion everyone is pretty keen on their mom or grandma's coffee cake recipes. But that's not to say those recipes can't be topped or at the very least tied. It's just what we're used to.

This is the quintessential coffee cake. It's loaded with butter, and the first time I made it I was sure that I had measured incorrectly because of the enormous amount of cinnamon sugar crumble on top (I hadn't). I've made it twice now, and it's been delicious both times. I vaguely remember the last one turning out a bit prettier, but you can't win 'em all.

Ree titled this recipe "The Best Coffee Cake. Ever." It's hard for me to pick a favorite coffee cake because I have so many that I love that at a certain point all of the best ones start blending together in my mind. I probably have 10 favorites that I transition between. I'd rather not have added a coffee cake to that list that has 3 sticks of butter, but once I tried it I knew it was a keeper, butter and all.

So, here's one more coffee cake to add to the "bests" list. You can never have too many. Ree titled it "The Best Coffee Cake. Ever." - it's definitely up there with the best I've made, but the jury is still out on whether it's actually the best ever. Regardless, it's absolutely one you will want to make as soon as possible.

"The Best Coffee Cake. Ever."
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• 2 cups Scant Sugar
• 3 cups Flour, Sifted
• 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1-¼ cup Whole Milk
• 3 whole Egg Whites, Beaten Until Stiff

FOR THE TOPPING:

• 1-½ stick Butter, Softened
• ¾ cups Flour
• 1-½ cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 1-½ cup Pecans, Chopped

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat egg whites and set aside.
Cream butter and sugar. Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined. Don’t overbeat. Fold in beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula. Spread in a well-greased 9 x 13 (or LARGER!) baking pan. A cake pan with higher sides would be best.
In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle all over the top.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. Serve warm—delicious!