Crème Brûlée Cupcakes

Crack through a layer of caramelized sugar to reveal a layer of sweet cream below, but you're not done.  Below the cream is your favorite fluffy cupcake!  Welcome to the world of crème brûlée cupcakes!

Pumpkin Crème Brûlée with Maple Sugar

Pumpkin crème brûlée is dangerously easy to make.  Pumpkin crème brûlée is a one-bowl recipe that takes five minutes - tops -  to put together and requires only four main ingredients plus some spice.  The only time-consuming element in preparing pumpkin crème brûlée is waiting for the brûlée to bake and then waiting for it to chill.

Pumpkin Mudslide Cupcakes on Paula Deen

Regular readers know that I periodically develop recipes for Paula Deen's website. This month, I created these pumpkin mudslide cupcakes inspired by my must-try frozen pumpkin mudslide cocktails.  I'll just share two quick facts about these cupcakes and then I'll send you over to the queen of all things butter to see my recipe.

First, when my friend Adam tried these cupcakes, he said they were so amazing that they actually gave him goosebumps.  That's the kind of review that I like to hear!

Second, some boozy cupcakes just hint at the alcohol content.  Although you won't get drunk from these pumpkin mudslide cupcakes, these cupcakes are designed for an adult palate and you will definitely taste the Baileys Irish Cream and Kahlua (try making homemade Baileys Irish Cream and homemade Kahlua for an extra-special treat).

Now, I bid you bon voyage on your recipe reading journey.  Click the image below (currently found on Paula Deen's homepage) to set sail.

Frozen Pumpkin Mudslides - The Halloween Drink

Halloween doesn't have a drink.  On Christmas, we know that we should be drinking eggnog and on New Year's Eve, we've got to toast using champagne.  But, on Halloween, our party drink is left to chance.  Many Halloween parties resort to punch with varying levels of quality and varying levels of alcohol.  These punches are frightening because you never know what is going to be in them (I always expect the worst) - and who really wants to drink something with eyeballs floating in it?

This Halloween, I suggest frozen pumpkin mudslides as the drinks to sip on while little witches, princesses, and ninjas run around your block knocking on doors.  Frozen pumpkin mudslides transform the frozen mudslide (a cocktail containing Baileys Irish Cream, Kahlua, vodka, and vanilla ice cream that I refer to as an adult milkshake) into a fall drink that will be the star of your Halloween party - only upstaged by the woman who shows up in lingerie calling it a "costume."

Pumpkin, I discovered, goes so well in frozen mudslides that I may make frozen mudslides this way from now on - Halloween or not. 

Frozen Pumpkin Mudslide Recipe

Macaron Cupcakes

After taking a macaron-making class with Amrita of The Sweet Art, I knew that macaron cupcakes were in my future.  Amrita and I talked about it and we decided that we would both make macaron cupcakes, post them on the same day, and see what we each came up with (check out her post at The Sweet Art)!  I've done this type of thing twice before, once with Rachel from Coconut and Lime (we each made cupcakes with olive oil) and once with Daniel from Waffleizer (we both made waffled cupcakes).  As a blogger, my only co-worker is my husband (who takes all of the photos for this blog and acts as my editor), so it's a joy when I get a chance to work on joint projects with other bloggers and let our creativity run wild.

Angel Food Cupcakes

My favorite part of baking angel food cupcakes was having an excuse to use angel wing cookie cutters.  I fell in love with the cookie cutters the moment that I saw them.

Photo from V.I.P. (Very Important Pastry)

The angel wing cookies are designed to rest on a teacup (as shown above), but they work so well on the angel food cupcakes!

I'm glad that I had a reason to make angel food cupcakes, though, because they were, well, angelic.  The angel food cupcakes were fantastically light and airy (the 12 egg whites in the recipe might have something to do with that).  In addition to the angel wing cookies, I topped the angel food cupcakes with vanilla whipped cream.  I opted for whipped cream over buttercream to keep with the delicate, ethereal feel of the cupcakes.

Angel Food Cupcake Recipe

Bereavement Cookies - A Sad Name for the Best Sugar Cookies I've Ever Eaten

In Jewish tradition, after someone dies, the mourning family has a stream of visitors for meals and prayers for a full week - it's called sitting shiva.  I didn't fully comprehend the value of the tradition until six years ago when my husband lost his father.  Although hosting guests every day can get old and you just want some quiet time to think, being surrounded by people helps you to see that you aren't dealing with your loss alone and it gets you through a very difficult period.  There's always plenty of time to be alone and reflect when the week is over.

Guests at a shiva home are expected to arrive with food - which brings me to the bereavement cookies.

The Everything Fall Cupcake - Pumpkin, Apple, Maple, Spiced Rum, Brown Sugar, Cinnamon, and Cranberry

Fall brings reds, oranges, yellows, and purples; there's no one color to represent Autumn.  Likewise, this year I thought that a single (or even two or three) Fall flavor(s) in a cupcake would not do.  I decided to combine some past single-flavor Fall cupcake favorites into one Everything Fall Cupcake recipe.  What you see above are (take a deep breath) pumpkin, spiced rum, and maple cupcakes topped with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and dried cranberries - with brown sugar frosting-topped apple cobbler cupcakes baked inside. 

I created the Everything Fall Cupcake for a very special event that you are all attending whether you knew it or not...

Great Day St. Louis, Dueling Desserts, and Fun Fall Cupcakes

This afternoon, I sat next to my husband on the couch with our two year old snuggled next to us.  Our son enthusiastically pointed his tiny finger towards our television and exclaimed, "Mom!"  He wasn't simply trying to get my attention; he was pointing out that Mom was on TV.  We were watching my appearance on KMOV's Great Day St. Louis. 




I had a blast being a guest on Great Day St. Louis!  The show's staff and personalities were extremely friendly and helped to ease my pre-show jitters.  It was also fun to meet fellow guests, Naan Pruitt, Thai cookbook author, and Scott Diebold from Squeak Stoppers (everyone on the set seemed to have a squeak in their house that they wanted him to fix!).

For the show, I prepared mini apple cobbler cupcakes with brown sugar frosting topped with homemade apple chips.  I'd made all of these items before and shared recipes on the blog, but I had never combined them.  The combination was an irresistible bite of Fall. 

I'll be talking more about these cupcakes (and I'll have samples with me) at Dueling Desserts in Highland, IL at 1 PM this Sunday.  If you live in the greater St. Louis area, I hope that you can make it!

Macaron Recipe - Pumpkin Pie Spice Macarons with Caramel, Dark Chocolate Ganache, and Smoked Sea Salt

I'd seen plenty of macaron recipes online, but like many in the Cupcake Project Facebook community, I found macaron recipes intimidating.  I'd heard macaron recipe horror stories like, "It was raining outside so the macaron recipe didn't work at all," or "I over or under-mixed so the macaron recipe failed."  I had decided that macaron recipes weren't for me and that I should stick to cupcake recipes.

Amrita teaching St. Louis food bloggers how to make macarons.

Last week, however, things changed.  I was invited to learn the art of macaron making from fellow St. Louis food blogger and self-taught macaron expert Amrita of The Sweet Art.  Amrita made macaron recipes seem so easy - because they are.  Sure, there are a lot of steps and you've got to read the tips and tricks carefully, but if you can follow a cupcake recipe and make cupcakes, you can make macarons.  In fact, I'm going to go one step further and say that it is actually easier to make adorable macarons than cupcakes because you don't need to be an expert at making pretty swirls of frosting to make your macarons look like they were made by a professional pastry chef.