Bloody Beet Cupcakes

I like to hide vegetables in things. Maybe it's my vegan nature. Maybe I physiologically feel better about eating a crapton of sugar if I know there's a bit of spinach hiding in there somewhere. Who knows.

I mentioned before that I'm sorta in a Halloween rut. Usually by now I've pulled a billion spooky recipes out of my butt and shared them all with you. But not this year. Nothing inspired me. Until I went to the farmers market and got a load of those Giant. Red. Beets.

 

Yay Pumpkins!

Hope you have a spooky Halloween!

The Dead Elvis Cupcake

Okay. Let's admit it. Halloween is totally just for kids. It's gives them a chance to dress up like their favourite superhero and/or princess and freak out after eating their body weight in sugar. Good for them. They need a holiday to cut up the long stretch to Christmas. Let's let them have it. I'm totally talking to you, Ms. Dress-up-as-a-slutty-nurse/police officer/ninja turtle. Just take your brewskies and walk away.

Halloween for us adults should be more refined. I know, it's hard to let go of your childhood. You can still dress up, if it makes you feel better. Just not as a sexy ninja turtle, please. Around here, we take our celebration inspiration from down south. Way down south.

Dias de los Muertos takes place shortly after Halloween. If you've never heard about it, you're totally missing a party, dude. It gives us a chance to honour those who have past on into the other realm - and to feast, drink, and make really wicked sugar skulls. What's not to love?

Halloween Cookies 2010 (and a Giveaway!)

The air is crisp. The leaves are changing. Large orange pumpkins are popping up in the farmer's field. Kids start trouncing around in batman or ninja turtle outfits. You've already sucked down that 150 pack of kit kats. And, one dark and stormy night, the Mistress of the Dark suddenly appears on your TV.

Oh yes. Halloween is back, baby. It's time to start sending out this year's Halloween Cookie Boxes. We've got lots of lovely treats for you, including:

Homemade Butterfinger Skulls
White Chocolate Nutella Skulls

Peusdoreos

Hag's fingers

Black and White Candy Cornies

Cobweb Pumpkin Spice Cookies

These treats will be sent out across the US and Canada starting next week. Here's your chance to get in on the sweet sweet action. To spread the spookiness, we'll be sending out a box to one winner. All you have to do is make sure you follow us and leave a comment telling us about your favourite Halloween costume. Batta-bing batta boom! We'll announce the winner on Friday so we can send the box o' goodies out to you before the big day. 

Good luck! And may Elvira be with you!

Halloween Cookies 2009

As I've mentioned before, Halloween is my favourite time of year. I was never really a Christmas girl - I'd much rather watch "The Blob" or "Night of the Living Dead" than "Frosty the Snowman" or "Miracle on 34st Street". Plus, Halloween gives us a chance to make cookies like these:

Pumpkin S'more Cupcakes

I love marshmallow. Too bad it's a real pain in the tuckus to make.



I really wanted to put in another entry into this month's Cupcake Hero and I also wanted an excuse to make a S'more cupcake. It was like it was destined to be.

I had a super recipe for Graham Cracker and Chocolate cake, but it was the Marshmallow that really got to me. At first, making it from scratch sounded like a wonderful idea. But I am an impatient person. Waiting over night for little marshmallows to set seemed like a waste of time - I wanted s'more cupcakes in my mouth as. soon. as. possible. So I tried my ol' stand by, 7 minute icing. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, my icing refused to form stiff peeks (I blame the corn syrup rather than my lack of patience). Frustrated and sticky, I went to plan C.



Even after all the tears and destroyed egg whites, I produced something that I'm proud of. The cake has a lovely texture and is full of chocolatey goodness. The marshmallow on top complements the cake well and leaves you in a happy, pumpkiny mood. If my other half was with me during this journey, maybe I would have gone with the fresh marshmallow (C&C's creations always seem to go better with the second C is around) - but these cuppies hit the spot just the way they are.

I even made little mini cousins, just so Colin could share them with the office.



The only thing better than a Pumpkin S'mores Cupcake is three dozen mini Pumpkin S'more cupcakes.


Pumpkin S'more Cupcakes
Graham Cracker and Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Marshmallow on top
Ingredients
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk + 1/4 cup yogurt
1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer dark)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, graham cracker, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk until evenly distributed.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Next alternatively pour in the flour mixture with the milk/yogurt, starting and ending with the flour. Fold in your chocolate chips.

Fill your (preferably Halloween-oriented) cupcake liners and bake for about 20 minutes (or until your tester comes out clean.

Pumpkin Marshmallow Frosting
Now, if you want to go the extra mile, I'd use this recipe for homemade pumpkin marshmallow. If you are in a time crunch (Like I was), you can use this super easy subsitute.
2 cups big marshmallows
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice

Put the marshmallows in a large glass bowl and add a TBSP of water. Make sure most of the marshmallows have soaked up some moisture and place them in the microwave. Nuke those bad boys 20 seconds at a time, stirring each time you take the bowl out to check, until the marshmallows are mostly melted (there still will be some lumps, but don't worry about that yet).

Mix all the spices together in a small cup. Put the pumpkin in the marshmallow bowl and about half of the spice mixture. Using a hand mixer, mix everything together until all the marshmallowy lumps are gone. Taste and adjust the spice if need be.

(Your marshmallow will seem watery at this point - don't panic. It will re-congeal when it cools.)

Using a knife, cut out a small hole in the middle of your cooled cupcakes (going just about a third of the way down). Spoon in the pumpkin marshmallow until it covers most of the top. Let the marshmallow cool.

Chocolate Ganache Topping
4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
Graham Cracker crumbs

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat (preferably in a double boiler). Take off heat and dip each of the cupcakes in the ganache, making sure the pumpkin marshmallow is completely covered. Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs over top.

Add candy/chocolate tombstone and/or zombie limbs as you see fit.

Dias de los Muertos Cupcakes

The colours. The smells. The sights. The skulls.

Dias de los Muertos is a holiday I can really get into.




The idea for these cupcakes came from a cute little skull mold I found digging around the local craft store. As soon as I picked it up, I new it was destined for greatness. I have always been in love with Calaveras art and thought perhaps I can incorporate it into cupcake form. The cake would, of course, have to be pumpkin - but with a little kick. This is how Dias de los Muertos Cupcakes were born.




The cake is not your average pumpkin cake. It's light and moist (an effect which always shows up in any one of my yogurt-cake recipes) with a real kick at the end. The kick is the cayenne - something I'm really getting into. There's nothing I love better than a sweet cupcake with a spicy surprise at the end.

I thought this cupcake was special enough to enter in October's Cupcake Hero - I hope it does well and, above all, I hope you enjoy it!




Dias de los Muertos Cupcakes
Cayenne-Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese buttercream

Ingredients
1 stick of unsalted butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup yogurt with 1 tsp vanilla mixed in
1 1/3 cup pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift or wisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cayenne, ginger, nutmeg, all spice, and salt black pepper. Set aside.

Cream together butter and both sugars with a mixer until nice and fluffy (around 5 minutes). Add eggs and mix. Then mix in yogurt and dry ingredients, alternating between the two. Add in the pumpkin.

Spoon into cupcake papers and cook in oven for about 20 minutes (or when your cake tester comes out clean). Leave out to cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:
16 ounces cream cheese
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups of icing sugar (plus more - just in case you want your icing thicker)
1/4 cup real maple syrup
4 tsp cinnamon (plus more, if you add more icing sugar)

Put all ingredients (room temperature) in a mixer and mix until thick and yummy. Tint to any colour you like (or just leave it the natural cinnamon colour) and add to the cupcakes. Decorate accordingly (I'd suggest marigolds, sugar skulls, and lots of lovely bright colour!)

Enjoy! I know we did!

Spider Web Pumpkin Spice Cookies

It's only September and I've already got Halloween on the brain.



It is my favourite holiday (if you can could call it as a holiday). I love the spooky and the weird and the gross - if I can combine that with baked goods, then all the better right? I've been imagining up Halloween treats for a while now - most of which were pretty elaborate. After pondering for a while, I decided that maybe I should start off slowly -- like I said, it's only September.

These are simple pumpkin spice cookies - nice and thick. Super chewy in the middle. I thought I'd toss some lemony royal icing, with some extra web on top. Next time, I think I'll pipe the icing out instead of spreading so I can get a cleaner look.



Now where's the itsy bitsy spider?