Pumpkin Carrot Bars with Orange Icing

I can't wait for every October for two reasons: 1) Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, 2) I can't wait to make these sweet treats!

2 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely shredded carrots (about 1-2 large carrots)
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 -2 Tbsp orange juice
walnut or pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, orange peel, baking soda, and salt. Set the flour mixture aside.

In a medium bowl combine eggs and brown sugar. Stir in pumpkin, oil, milk, and vanilla. Then stir in carrots and chopped nuts. Add egg mixture to flour mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until combined. Spread batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

For Orange Icing:
In a mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and enough orange juice to make an icing that is easy to drizzle.

Spread with icing; cut into triangles or bars. Top each piece with a walnut or pecan half.

Rice Krispies Jack-o-lanterns (Rice Krispies Pumpkins)

I’m a mentor for an 11 year old girl through the Big Brothers Big Sisters organization and last Saturday she came over for a pumpkin extravaganza! We painted real pumpkins, and then made these tasty Rice Krispies Jack-o-lanterns. This was a fun thing to do together, messy, but fun. Afterwards, she decorated each little pumpkin with a different face.

 

These would be fun  to bring to any Halloween party.

Makes about 12

6 Tbsp butter (1/2 stick)
½ tsp vanilla extract
10.5 oz mini marshmallows
Orange or red and yellow food coloring
6 cups of Rice Krispies cereal
 
Tootsie rolls for pumpkin stems
Icing for decorating

In a large microwave safe bowl, add butter, vanilla and marshmallows. Cook on med-high for 1 minute. Stir and add food coloring to make orange. Cook for another 1 minute. Quickly mix in cereal until coated in marshmallow mixture.

Let mixture cool a little so they are easier to handle. Using slightly wet hands, roll into little balls. Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Allow to cool completely before decorating. 

For stems, roll tootsie rolls between your fingers and stick into top of each pumpkin.

Chocolate Stout Cake with Carmel Filling and Irish Cream Frosting

A while back, I made chocolate stout cupcakes using a similar recipe and they were a hit, so I thought I'd try it as a cake for a BBQ tonight.

Cake
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
½ Tbsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cups vanilla Greek yogurt

Caramel Filling:
1 stick butter

Click to see savings1 cup sugar
Click to see savings1 Tbsp corn syrup
1/3 cup whipping cream

Irish Cream Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar, or more as needed
3 Tbsp Irish cream liqueur (such as Baileys®), or more to taste

For Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 8-inch cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper. Butter paper. Over med-high heat in a saucepan, bring stout and butter to simmer. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt to blend. In another large bowl, using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter equally between prepared pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Transfer cakes to rack; cool 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto rack and cool completely.

For Filling:

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add sugar and corn syrup, stirring constantly for 6 to 8 minutes or until mixture turns a deep caramel color. Gradually add cream, stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth. Remove from heat, and let cool. Chill 2 hours or until thickened and spreading consistency.

For Frosting:
In a bowl with an electric mixer, whip butter until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.

Set mixer to low speed and slowly beat in confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time, until frosting is smooth and spreadable. Beat in the Irish cream liqueur; adjust thickness of frosting with more confectioners' sugar if needed.

To Assemble:

Once cake has cooled and filling and frosting have chilled, assemble cake. Place one cake on a plate as bottom layer, spread with caramel filling and top with second cake. Trim sides of cake and remove any extra edges to make both top and bottom cakes line up. (Save trimmed cake bits for decorating.) Gently frost cake with Irish cream frosting. Crumble trimmed cake bits and decorate edges of the finished cake.

 

Chill cake until ready to serve.
 

Helpful Tips:
· Make everything the night before and assemble the next day. This way you don’t have to wait for things to cool down before assembling.
· It’s tricky to frost the cake once the cake edges are trimmed since the crumbs stick to the spatula. Use a thick layer of frosting to help prevent this. This is the reason why I decorated using the crumbs.

 

 

 

 

Palačinky - Czech Crepes

My mom used to make Palačinky, Czech crepes, for us when we were little. We would help by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl and my mom would fry the crepes, impressing us with her flipping skills. Then we would take turns spreading the jam and rolling the Palačinky. We enjoyed these both warm and cold the next day.

 

2 eggs

3 Tbsp sugar
2 cups milk
2 cups flour
Pinch of salt
Oil (for frying)

Your favorite jam

Powder sugar

In a medium bowl, combine eggs, sugar, milk, flour and salt. Over medium high heat, add 1 tsp oil and spread over frying pan. Pour a thin layer of batter and spread over pan by tilting and rotating pan. Crepes should be very thin, almost transparent. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Spread with jam, roll up and keep warm until served. Dust with powder sugar before eating.

Ice Cream Cake

 

1 pound cake, cut into thirds

8 oz chocolate ice cream, soften

8 oz strawberry ice cream, soften

Cool Whip, or whipped topping, defrosted

Strawberries, sliced

 

Place bottom layer of cake on a long plate. Spread layer of chocolate ice cream. Top with middle layer of cake. Spread with strawberry ice cream. Frost cake with whipped topping. Decorate edges and top with strawberry slices. Place cake back in freezer until it hardens. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

Key Lime Bars

When life gives you limes....make key lime bars!

 

Crust:
1 1/4 cups of cinnamon graham crackers crumbs (pulse in food processor)
3 Tbsp packed brown sugar
pinch salt
4 Tbsp melted butter (allow to cool slightly)

½ cup pecan pieces (add to crust after baked)

Filling:
2 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 Tbsp grated lime zest
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup juice

Garnish:
3/4 cup shredded coconut, toasted until golden brown

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8” square baking pan with aluminum foil. Spray foil with non-stick cooking spray.

To make crust, in a food processor, pulse cinnamon graham crackers into crumbs. Add brown sugar and salt; pulse to combine. Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened with butter. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Evenly sprinkle crust with pecan pieces. Do not turn off oven while making filling.

To make filling, in a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, zest and salt until thoroughly combined. Whisk in condensed milk until no lumps of cream cheese remain; whisk in egg yolk. Add lime juice and whisk gently until incorporated.

Pour filling into crust, over pecans; spread to corners and smooth surface with spatula. Bake until set and edges begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack, about 1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled at least 2 hours.

Cut bars into squares and sprinkle with toasted coconut. Refrigerate leftovers.