Maple-Walnut Cupcakes with Spiced Maple Frosting and Honey-Candied Walnuts

 Fall is in the air and I had an undeniable craving for maple this afternoon.  I could actually smell maple throughout my home and thought the scent was being carried in by the breeze through my windows! Summer is coming to an end and graciously handing the season over to Fall, like good friends.

I love the Honey-Candied Walnuts on top, they look like lovely little candied flowers.

The Recipe

2 3/4 c unbleached flour                                         1 c sugar plus 1/2 c pure maple syrup

1 T baking powder                                                  1 large egg plus 2 egg whites

1/4 t salt                                                               1/4 c unsweetened applesauce

1 1/2 t cinnamon                                                    1 t vanilla extract

1/4 t nutmeg                                                          1 c milk

1 c I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread                   1 1/2 c walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line standard muffin pan with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In a large bowl beat sugar with butter until creamy.  Add egg and egg whites, one at a time and mix.  Add applesauce and vanilla and mix until combined.  Add flour mixture alternating with milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture.  Stir in chopped walnuts.

Scoop batter into muffin cups until 3/4 full, bake until top bounces back when touched, about 18-20 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.  Frost with Spiced Maple Frosting and top with Honey-Candied Walnuts.

Spiced Maple Frosting

4 c powdered sugar

1/2 c pure maple syrup

1/4 c milk

1/4 I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

Mix all ingredients until combined, add more powdered sugar, as needed until thick and creamy.

 Honey-Candied Walnuts

1 c whole walnuts

1/4 c honey

Place walnuts in a pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray, drizzle with honey, bake in oven at 350 degrees F, until honey is bubbling and golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.  Let candied walnuts cool on parchment paper on a flat surface.

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

I love adding vegetable purees into recipes when I can, so my kids get extra nutrition without some of the fuss.  They happen to love sweet potatoes, so I like to add 1/2 c sweet potato puree into the batter, along with 1/4 t ginger.  So Yummy!!

I hope you enjoy these wonderful treats with a good friend 
while welcoming this lovely season!

Smart Little Cookie Tip-Hulling Strawberries

I love late summer; the sun is still out, the temperature is dropping a bit at a time and strawberries are everywhere! But oh, the daunting task of hulling the strawberries, what's a girl (or guy) to do?

I found this great tip on how to hull strawberries in a 

Real Simple magazine, one of my favorites! 

The Basics

All you need is a simple straw.  After washing the strawberries, insert the straw into the bottom center of the strawberry and push up to the stem.  So simple!

Coconut "Shortbread" Cookies

These scrumptious cookies were created by making a cookie that had the flavor of a shortbread cookie, made with honey in place of sugar, used oat flour in place of all-purpose flour and real dairy butter for my husband.  He loves cookies, but only when they're wholesome little goodies.  This is how they turned out, pretty good I'd say by the picture below...

He was very happy, and so is the little hand reaching up 

to grab her cookie at the bottom left of the picture.  

A happy family is baking at it's best.

Enjoy!

Makes 2 dozen

The Recipe

2 c unbleached all-purpose flour                              1/2 c butter

2 1/2 c oat flour                                                    1 egg plus 2 egg whites

1/2 t salt                                                               2 t vanilla extract

1 t baking soda                                                      1 t almond extract

1 t baking powder                                                  1/2 c chopped walnuts

1/2 c sugar                                                            1 c raisins

3/4 c honey                                                            1 c shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flours with salt, baking soda and baking powder, mix well.  In a separate medium bowl, combine sugar, honey and butter, mixing well until combined.  Mix flour mixture into butter mixture in two parts, adding walnuts and raisins with the second addition of flour mixture.  Pour shredded coconut into a small bowl.  Scoop cookie dough into balls and drop into shredded coconut.  Coat each cookie dough ball evenly with coconut and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake around 10 minutes, or until coconut and bottom edge of each cookie are golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack and watch them disappear!

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

You can easily make your own oat flour by pouring rolled oats into a blender and grinding it.  You can use this two ways: Substitute oat flour for all-purpose flour, or, use half all-purpose flour and half oat flour in any recipe.
Also, try different mixes of your favorite raisins! We love to use Trader Joe's Jumbo Raisin Medley.  It's a combination of seedless golden light raisins, flame raisins, and jumbo raisins.  Delicious!

Chocolate Bavarian Creme Cupcakes

These scrumptious little goodies are a take on two of my favorite childhood donuts, Chocolate Bavarian Creme and Chocolate Old Fashioned.  Mmm...I've lightened them up and put them in cupcake liners for the yummiest, creamiest, chocolate treat.  

You won't be able to eat just one!
Makes 2 dozen

The Recipe

                                                  

Cake:                                                                   Filling:

2 c unbleached flour                                              1 pckg french vanilla

3/4 c cocoa                                                             instant pudding mix

1 t baking powder                                                 1 1/4 c skim milk

1 t baking soda                                                    

1/2 t salt                                                             Frosting:

1 c I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread                 basic chocolate frosting

1 3/4 c sugar                                                        chocolate sprinkles

2 t vanilla
4 large egg whites                                

1 1/3 c skim milk

Prepare french vanilla instant pudding according to package directions and chill in refrigerator.  When set, scoop into a pastry bag fitted with a small circle tip, refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg whites two at a time and mix until combined.  Alternately add flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with the flour mixture, while mixing.  Scoop into prepared cupcake liners and bake about 20 minutes, or until tops are firm.

As soon as cupcakes come out of the oven, insert tip of decorating bag into the center of each cupcake and fill pudding to the top of hole in each cupcake.  Scoop away any pudding above the surface, if needed.  Refrigerate cupcakes.

When cupcakes are chilled, frost with basic chocolate frosting and dip in chocolate sprinkles until completely covered.

Smart Little Cookie Tip:
You might like to add chocolate chips into the cake batter for an extra chocolatey treat!

Sit back, Relax, and Enjoy your Bavarian Creme.

Happy Fourth of July!

I love this vintage picture of a Lady Liberty.  There is something very comforting to me when I see her waving the American Flag, beside the fact she's not messing around with that sword! 

A BBQ, s'mores, ice cream, fireworks and family.  What could be better on Independence Day?
Thank you to our brave forefathers and soldiers, my love and gratitude always.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake

I'm back! I've been very busy unpacking and setting up our new beautiful home.  In the midst of it all, my darling daughter Cecelia had her 3rd birthday! So, of course, I loved the opportunity of taking a break to bake her a Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday Cake for the Celebration!

My daughters LOVE chocolate peanut butter, in fact, I made this same cake for my oldest daughter Sophia, in January for her 6th birthday.  My youngest, Cecelia, has been talking about it ever since-for 6 months! Both of my daughter's helped me make the cake, which was a lot of fun! While our birthday girl was taking her nap, I decorated it.  

Needless to say, she was really excited to see our creation when she woke up!

 

The Recipe

2 round layers chocolate cake                                peanut butter

powdered sugar                                                    vanilla

cocoa                                                                   milk                   

butter                                                                  chocolate chips

I baked a homemade chocolate cake in two round layers, however, any cake will do for this super easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake. Before baking the cakes, mix 1/2 cup peanut butter with 1/8 cup sugar and 1/2 t. vanilla.  With a small teaspoon, drop little spoonfuls around the cake batter before putting them in the oven to bake.  This will give the cake a fun peanut butter polka dot look when the cake is sliced.

When the cakes are cooled, wrap them individually in saran wrap and place in the freezer.  This will make it easier to frost without breaking the cake. 

To frost, I made a basic chocolate frosting and added peanut butter to the mix.  I don't follow a recipe when making a basic frosting.  I eye it until it is the right consistency and flavor-the best way to make basic frosting, in my opinion.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting:  

Mix together powdered sugar, butter, cocoa, peanut butter, vanilla and milk. 

Add less milk than usual to make the frosting a little thicker, this will be used as a Smart Little Cookie-Quick Crumb Coat.

Take the cake layers out of the freezer and place one layer on a cake stand or plate.  Frost the top of this layer with frosting.  Place the second cake on top and frost both top and sides of the entire cake with frosting, reserving about 1/3 of frosting for later.  When the entire cake is frosted, mix milk into the remaining 1/3 frosting until it is a medium consistency and spreadable.  Spread this on the top and sides of the cake making the cake look smooth and yummy.

In a small bowl, melt 1/2 cup peanut butter in the microwave until smooth and silky.  Using a fork, drizzle on top of cake.  Next, in a separate bowl, melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips.  With a clean fork, drizzle over the peanut butter drizzles.  

Next, decorate however you'd like!

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

It's always fun to decorate a cake! On this Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake, you could sprinkle chopped peanuts, chocolate chips, malt balls (I used chocolate peanut butter malt balls on top), or caramel...mmm!

Oh! le chocolat!

Please hang in there, Smart Cookies! I'm about to move into my first home-Yay!! The above picture shows what I'll be thinking of while I'm away.:)

My favorite thing to do when we move into a new home is to bake a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies, then it feels like home.  I'll post more yummy recipes as soon as we're moved in.  
So I'll be back in a flash!

In the meantime, bake a batch of your favorite treats and enjoy!