Happy Fall!

Happy Fall!

The leaves are changing, the weather is cooling down, and the wind smells of a new season. I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate Fall than by whipping up a batch of pumpkin muffins. With a sugar-pie pumpkin from the local farmers market as the star, these muffins guarantee a smile and make a great breakfast or mid-day snack. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins:

Recipe yields about 30 muffins, or 24 muffins and 12 minis

Ingredients

3 cups organic, whole wheat pastry flour

2 and 1/2 cups cane sugar

2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

2 cup pureed pumpkin

1 cup soy milk (feel free to substitute almond milk if you want a more nutty flavor)

1 cup vegetable oil

4 tablespoons maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take your sugar-pie pumpkin and  rub it with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet. Roast in the oven for about 60 minutes, until skin is easy to cut through with a knife. Cut open the pumpkin and puree the pumpkin, making sure to leave the seeds and skin out. The seeds are a great treat!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees for the muffins. Either grease or line muffin pans and set aside. Sift together the dry ingredients and place in a bowl. Whisk together the wet ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Blend until creamy mixture appears and all ingredients are combined. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 of the way full and bake for about 22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for about 5 minutes before placing onto a cooling rack.

Quick and easy sweet roasted pumpkin seeds:

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Lay the pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet and pour oil evenly over seeds. Sprinkle sugar and spice mixture onto seeds and cook for about 8 minutes while the remaining muffins are baking. Serve as a party appetizer or along with the muffins.

Instant Smile

These cupcakes are nothing too special or extravagant. What they are is a general crowd pleaser. The childish flavors will promise to bring a smile to your face and all of your guests, and their baking ease will motivate you to make them time after time. If you want to pipe the icing, make sure you make your cookie crumbs very small, or you’ll have to use a knife to ice the frosting. Besides that, that are easy, fun, and of course, delicious!

Recipe:

Cookies and Cream Cake Batter:

1 box Arrowhead Mills vanilla cake mix

1 cup water

3 organic eggs (or Ener-G Egg Replacer)

1/2 cup organic vegetable oil

30 Newman O’s Orignal Flavor (or mix it up–go for a mint cookie batter!)

Cookies and Cream Buttercream:

1 cup Earth Balance Butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted and set aside

3-5 tablespoons soy milk

1 teaspoon organic, fair-trade vanilla extract

Preheat your oven 350F. Line 24 cupcake tins with paper lines, set the pans aside. Using 12 of the cookies, place one side of the cookies on the bottom of the cupcake liner, making sure icing is on each of the half and placing the icing side facing up. Break up the remaining cookies into crumbs using a rolling pin and a ziploc bag. Set aside.

Place the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs into a bowl with a mixer. Blend for about 2 minutes until mixed throughly. Measure out about 1 and 1/2 of the crumbs and place into the batter. Spoon into the cupcake tins, each should be about 3/4 full.

Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly browned and come out clean using a cake tester, about 18 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Place each individual cupcake onto a wire rack and let cool for a least a half hour.

While waiting for them to cool, prepare your cookies and cream buttercream frosting. Blend the butter with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds until it reaches a fluffy consistency. Add the sugar, 3 tablespoons of the milk, and the vanilla. Blend on low speed until all combined. Add more milk if the texture of the frosting is too thick and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the remaining cookie crumbs and frost onto your cupcakes. Make sure to keep these cupcakes in a cool room or the refrigerator until serving due to the buttercream frosting.

Play On,

Tracy

Members of the Tribe

Tonight begins the celebration of the Jewish New Year. This means Facebook statuses proclaiming “L’Shana Tova” and text messages wishing friends and family a happy new year. This is my first Jewish New Year not spent in the state of Florida. I have a good feeling with the beginning of year 5771, as I spent the last hours of year 5770 baking my favorite Jewish cookies.

This year represents the year  that I took everything I had and began to chase my dreams. I wish everyone a year of filled with joy, health, family, and of course, love. And if you can’t celebrate with those you love the most, take five minutes and remind them why they are so important to you. Best wishes to all that celebrate, L’Shana Tova.

Recipe for Rugelach:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature**
• 1 cup Earth Balance butter, at room tempature
• 1/4 cup organic, unbleached cane sugar plus a few teaspoons extra on the side
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon organic, fair trade vanilla extract
• 2 cups organic, unbleached white flour
• a few teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves*
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves*
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (miniature sized, preferably)*
• 1/4 cup canola oil

**Feel free to substitute a dairy-free cream cheese of your liking

*You can use any preserves or filling of your choice, including raisins, walnuts, poppy seeds etc. These are just my family favorites.

Using a stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and the butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, and vanilla. Slowly add in the the 2 cups flour until just combined. Pour the dough onto a well-floured board and roll into a ball. Cut the ball into four even pieces, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.

Place one of the four balls onto the well floured board. Roll the ball into about a nine inch circle and place the preserves on the flattened disc, about an inch away from the end. Cut the disc in half, then into quarters, and then into thirds (making 12 even triangles). Roll the triangles up, starting from the widest edge, until the top is under. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (recommended to be greased as well, these can be very sticky) and let chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F. Brush each cookie with canola oil. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon (ratio should be about 2:1, but that is a personal preference) and sprinkle on top of each cookie. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until lightly browned. Let sit for about 5 minutes before placing on racks to cool.

Play On,

Tracy Michele ❤

Back in Action

Sorry, fellow bloggers. I’m sure you’ve been lonely and depressed wondering where the rants of Marla &Tracy have been. Graduation tore the best friends and roommates into two different states (thankfully still on the time zone) — and our lives have taken us in two very different, yet exciting directions.

While Marla is off teaching the next generation, I have abandoned everything I know to follow my lifelong dream. I, Tracy Michele, the ultimate foodie, am beginning culinary school in only a few days. Words cannot express my excitement to begin to sauté and julienne my way through New York City.

Of course, living in one of the most crowded cities in the world can happen to be quite lonely. Although my iPhone maps app can take me anywhere I want to go, I’ve be spending my days getting adjusted to my new kitchen. Which is what brings us to my latest recipe.

I decided to come up with a copy-cat-recipe of one of my childhood favorite treats. I used to eat these with my best friend while waiting for our parents to pick us up from the mall. They promise to bring a smile to the most solemn face with their endearing colorful toppers and whimsical frosting.

Recipe:

2 and 1/4 cups organic, unbleached white flour (no one ever said these were good for you)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup organic earth balance butter, softened
3/4 cup organic, unbleached cane sugar
3/4 cup organic brown sugar
2 tsp organic, fair trade vanilla extract
2 large eggs*
2 cups Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
*feel free to sub Ener-g Egg Replacer in order to make the recipe cruelty free

Preheat oven to 375F, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl, set aside. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs*, one at a time. Mix until fully incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a pre-greased, mini cupcake pan, place about 2 teaspoons of cookie dough mixture into pan, roughly 3/4 full. Bake for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then pop out of cupcake pan. Wait until fully cooled before frosting and placing your favorite candy on top!

Play On,

Tracy Michele