A Very Happy Turkey Day

Tis the season to be jolly!
and stuff ourselves til we're purple with cherpumple and turducken
Oh America...

Everybody loves Thanksgiving! And the fact that it only comes once a year makes people go a little coo-coo in the head.
A trip to the grocery store turns into a push-and-shove obstacle course of snarling people trying to get their hands on the best butterball turkey.
Don't underestimate the old ladies, they are small but mighty.

Thanksgiving makes you do things you wouldn't normally do.
Like waking up at the crack of dawn to start cooking dinner.
And making obscene amounts of food that you know no human being could ever finish, but we do it anyway.
And letting 25 family members come stay at your house and snore and use your bathroom.

Thanksgiving really is an American holiday, and although it seems a little silly when you think about it, it's still just an awesome feast of awesome food with awesome family...so don't think about it too hard okay

And it's not like its only one day and then it's over, because you get to have leftovers for the next week!
Unless you're like my family and make a ginormous pot of seafood gumbo the day after Thanksgiving. Yeah.
More leftovers!

We had a pretty big turnout for Thanksgiving this year, and I really wanted to make a big dessert presentation. So I ended up making 5 different desserts!
I had a lot of fun preparing everything and baking into the wee hours of the night. I turned my house into a pie factory, and it was glorious.

 Mom's beautiful table about to be set. Simple and homey, just like us

 

 Pecan Pie

 A Southern classic. Much loved by Grandpa!

Chocolate Caramel Walnut Tart

Very rich and smooth

Gotta have that Pumpkin Pie!

 (Partially burnt crust due to a good amount spilling over into the oven on its way in. oops.)

A mountainous beast of an Apple Pie

Pear Cranberry and Gingersnap Crumble

 It was a great Thanksgiving and I am so thankful for my family and friends. I would not be who I am without them!

I hope everyone is as stuffed as a turkey! Make those leftovers last because we got a long year ahead of us. Happy Thanksgiving :)

Everybody like Parfait!

 

"Have you ever met a person, you say, 'Let's get some parfait,' they say, 'Hell no, I don't like no parfait'? Parfaits are delicious!"

Classic. Shrek will never get old.

I've actually never had a parfait before. Crazy I know!
But this was my first and definitely not my last parfait-making endeavor.

These are basically everything you love about pumpkin pie...
 Except in layers! And in pretty dessert cups! 
And a lot more rum-y

I know, I know... pumpkin pie is a classic and shouldn't be messed with. But this takes it to a whole new, fancy, whipped-up level of awesome. It'll change your mind about the traditional pie and it could even be a new dessert for your Thanksgiving table!

 Fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin-rum mixture until super fluffy and wonderful

  

Layered with whipped cream and crunchy gingersnaps.

I put extra gingersnaps in the middle too just ya know, for extra deliciousness

Pumpkin Parfait Party! Woot

 

 Pumpkin Mousse Parfait

 From: Annie's Eats

Yield: 8-10 servings

 

Ingredients 

 

¼ cup dark rum

2 tsp. unflavored gelatin powder

1 (15 oz.) can pumpkin puree

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

2 large egg yolks

Pinch of orange zest

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

½ tsp. salt

1½ cups heavy cream, chilled

1½ tsp. vanilla extract

1¼ cups heavy cream, chilled

3-4 tbsp. confectioners' sugar

chopped gingersnap cookies

 

Directions:

 

Place the rum in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin powder over the top. Let soften for 10 minutes.

 Meanwhile, combine the pumpkin, sugars, egg yolks, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to blend. Place the bowl with the gelatin over a pan of simmering water and heat just until the gelatin has dissolved. Immediately stir into the pumpkin mixture.

 In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Blend in the vanilla. Fold the whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture until no streaks remain. Set aside.

To make the whipped cream, add the heavy cream and confectioners’ sugar to the now empty bowl of the mixer with the whisk attachment. Whip on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.

Layer the pumpkin mousse in serving dishes with the whipped cream and chopped gingersnaps. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween folks!

Unfortunately I've never been a big fan of Halloween.
I scare very easily and I'm not big on people covered in fake blood and scary men in masks jumping out of nowhere. Mmm, no thank you, I try to stay away from things that terrify me.
I'm more into the happy, joyful, Christmas and Thanksgiving, everybody-loves-each-other-and-there's-no-zombies holidays.

And I hate scary movies! The Shining pretty much scarred me for life... I'll never be the same. (just kidding Mom). I'm such a baby when it comes to scary movies though, I can't even watch the commercials for them. I just hate being scared, I'd rather be around nice, pretty things like sunshine, cake, and puppies.

But, this Halloween I was stuck inside studying anyways so I didn't have the choice to dress up. Hours of PreCalc homework was the scariest thing I saw all night.

Most Halloween confections really creep me out. The witches fingers especially. Not okay with feeling like I'm eating fingers okay.
Or cupcakes decorated like eyeballs or spiders. Ick.
I don't want to think about eating eyeballs, no thank you! 

Nevertheless, I did manage to squeeze in time to bake up some Halloween cupcakes a few nights before hand. I've made this same recipe as a chocolate cake and everybody raved about it, so I thought I'd try it in cupcake-form for some dark, deadly cupcakes! They are rich and moist, and incredibly chocolatey. Needless to say they were a big hit among my roommates!

Eek! Ghost in the batter! Spooky...

 Let the little monsters chill out in the pan for a few minutes

 Decorated in the least-scary way possible. No spider cupcakes for this girl

 Sprinkles. Get into it

Chocolate Cupcakes

from: MyBakingAddiction

Ingredients:

1¾ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar 

¾ cups good cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken

½ cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee

 Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl and mix until just combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. While mixing, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

3. Spoon batter into 24 muffin tins, filling each  2/3 full. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, switching positions halfway through, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

Vanilla Buttercream

 from: Cook's Illustrated

**NOTE: This recipe makes about 1½ cups, enough to frost 12 cupcakes, I made one and a half recipes worth because I don't like to put a lot of frosting on cupcakes, but you'll probably want to double it.

Also, if you don't want to use a vanilla bean, omit it and increase the vanilla extract to 1½ teaspoons.

If you are using a handheld mixer, increase mixing times by at least 50 percent.

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

½ vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

1¼ cups confectioners' sugar 

Pinch of table salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon heavy cream

Directions:

1. In standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Using paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds.

2. Add confectioners' sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla extract and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light ans fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down side of bowl once or twice.