Category: Food

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

About this time of year, when I stroll into the grocery store for whatever it is—without fail–in the bakery section, or at the checkout stand and sometimes even on display right as I walk in the store will be the most lovely, the most Halloweenish, the most tasty looking Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies ever created. I believe it’s fair to say that I almost always resist the impulse to stack the silly things in my cart and grin my way home. Almost…always.

At any rate–this is a fabulous substitute for all the cookies I’ve bravely walked away from–but even better because it’s a cake instead, so way quicker to make and just as scrumptious to eat. You’ll love it to itty, bitty, bits. Seriously.

Make it…I dare you.

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Pumpkin  Chocolate Chip Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon; add to the creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin. Fold in chocolate chips.
Spoon batter into a well-greased 10-in. fluted tube pan,
Bake at 325° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan. Dust with powdered sugar or top with whipped cream.

Eat it–the heck–up.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake
 
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Ingredients
  • ¾ cup butter, softened
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar
  • ½ cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 can (15 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
  • 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
  2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
  3. Beat in vanilla.
  4. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon; add to the creamed mixture alternately with pumpkin.
  5. Fold in chocolate chips.
  6. Spoon batter into a well-greased 10-in. fluted tube pan,
  7. Bake at 325° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
  8. Cool for 15 minutes before removing from pan.
  9. Dust with powdered sugar or top with whipped cream.
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Bottled Cupcakes

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Temporarily bottled that is. Just long enough for someone to get a fork. I saw this cute thing on Joy’s Hope, and had to give it a try.

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Simple enough to make this treat for your friends, neighbors, coworkers or family. Start by whipping together  a regular cake mix…

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and scooping it into greased muffin tins. Skip the cupcake papers. I used a #30 ice cream scoop to fill each well with batter.  Bake as directed.

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Aren’t they just sweet and perfectly uniform?

Now for the frosting. You’ll need:

1 lb. powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp.. vanilla

Combine and beat until creamy. If you want to use a frosting tube–you can, of course. But we just filled a plastic bag and cut the corner off.

Note: If you are tempted to use store-bought tub frosting–don’t. You’ll be sorry. It was too runny and made a mess of everything. You must trust me on this.

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Now then, take a clean, empty (duh) wide-mouth canning jar and squirt a circle of frosting “glue” in the bottom

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Set one cupcake down at the bottom of the jar. Then, top with frosting. Add another cupcake and again, top with frosting.

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Screw on the lids and keep refrigerated until you are ready to hand them out.

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Top with a pretty ribbon or…

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a five inch square of fabric cut at the corners and held on by string or raffia. Oh, and do your pals a favor…

just give them a fork.

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Classy Halloween Treats

halloween

Ever dream of being so pulled together during the holiday season that you not only pass out Halloween treats to the neighborhood kids–but to the neighbors themselves? And to top that off, what if the the snack bags looked…well…stunning?  Sound impossible? Well, not now…

Here’s how to do it.

You’ll need:

Clear cello bags

3/4 inch black or orange ribbon

Printable address labels

Halloween treats (We made our famous popcorn ball recipe without shaping them into balls)

Fill the cello bags with whatever Halloween goodies you’d like. Seal them with tape or a twist tie. Wrap the ribbon around the middle of the bag and secure with a square knot.

Click on this Classy Halloween Labels link to print off some fabulous spooky labels of your own. Be sure to type your own name below the “Happy Halloween.” Load your printer with Standard 1″x 2-1/2″ address labels and push print. Stick them on and pass out your pretty stuff. Or you can run them off on heavy paper and use them as tags–either way—

be prepared for lots of clapping…

April halloween

and rightly so.

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Neighborhood Spooks

Let’s just say…

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that you made a fabulous treat…

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and you actually had enough to share…

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…with the sweet neighbor who fed your cat while you were in Yellowstone last month. Here, my friends–is a lovely way to do it and spread the joy all over the neighborhood.

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We showed this last year, but it bears repeating. It’s always fun to get spooked around Halloween time—especially when it’s with something sweet! The idea of this easy neighborhood game is to leave a treat on the porch of a friend–along with sign–like this– for their door. Try to be sneaky about it–don’t get caught. It used to be fun to keep your identity a secret, but these days you just can’t feed your family anything unless you know where it came from. So be sure to sign the ghost picture–tape it lightly to their door and run. Then, they  take a treat to another friend or neighbor–if they’d like to and so on. This can keep the fun going until Halloween night.

Note: I always send along 5 or 6 copies of the Ghost door sign– to save them the trouble of having to copy more for their neighbors. Be sure to click on the word “spooked” to print the ghost sign.

Happy Haunting!

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Dang Fine Salsa

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Not too hot, not too wussy–this salsa tastes lovely the day you make it and even better once the flavors have mellowed. So perfect for chips or soup or for topping your favorite spicy meals. Beats anything else I can think of to do will all those tomatoes from the garden.

Ingredients

5 lbs. tomatoes, peeled, skinned and processed until chunky (or chop by hand)
1 cup diced peppers– a combination of seeded jalapenos and peeled, seeded mild long green chilies.  Some chopped bell pepper may be added also.
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. sugar
bottled lemon juice

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Directions:

Sterilize about 6 pint jars and keep hot until ready to use.

Combine all ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes. In each pint jar put 1/4 -1/2 tsp. salt, depending on taste, and 1 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice. Ladle in salsa, using slotted spoon. Place lids on and rings. Process in boiling water bath for 35 minutes.

Refrigerate leftover salsa and use within a week or so.


Dang Fine Salsa
 
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Ingredients
  • 5 lbs. tomatoes, peeled, skinned and processed until chunky (or chop by hand)
  • 1 cup diced peppers-- a combination of seeded jalapenos and peeled, seeded mild long green chilies. Some chopped bell pepper may be added also.
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • bottled lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Sterilize about 6 pint jars and keep hot until ready to use.
  2. Combine all ingredients and simmer for about 20 minutes.
  3. In each pint jar put ¼ -1/2 tsp. salt, depending on taste, and 1 Tbsp. bottled lemon juice.
  4. Ladle in salsa, using slotted spoon.
  5. Place lids on and rings.
  6. Process in boiling water bath for 35 minutes.