Fall Funfetti Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Posted by: Annie

I am officially in a very fall festive mood! This past weekend, Scott and I went out for Halloween dressed as Spartan cheerleaders from the 1990s Saturday Night Live skits that featured Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri.  It was actually the first time Scott and I ever dressed up for Halloween together (and this was our FIFTH Halloween as a couple!) 

I stubbornly decided that I was not going to pay an absurd amount for a polyester costume that I could easily make, so not only did Scott and I have our first costumed Halloween, but I made our first Halloween costumes! (And by made I mean carefully ironing on pictures to black sweatshirts without setting the house on fire.) We were very successful cheerleaders and took our roles very seriously, as made apparent by the seventy-one pictures I found on my camera the next day. I will spare you all and only share this gem:

In addition to Halloween, the weather is amazing and fall seems to be officially here. To celebrate this awesome weather and fall season, I made homemade funfetti cupcakes using autumn colored sprinkles and topped them with even more sprinkles and a chocolate buttercream. I am so pumped to make these for every possible holiday that stores sell sprinkles for. (President's Day Funfetti cupcakes anyone?)

What you will need: 

For the cupcakes: 

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup sprinkles (any color you like) 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cupcake tins with 12 liners. 

In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, for approximately 3 minutes. Next, mix in eggs and vanilla until combined. 

In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add half of the dry mixture to your sugar mixture and beat to combine. Beat in milk. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients. Lastly, stir in sprinkles. 

Fill each cupcake tin 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake 18-20 minutes. Cool completely, and decorate. 

For the frosting:

8 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

6 cups confectioners sugar

2 sticks butter

6 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat chocolate in microwave at 30-second intervals until melted. Set aside and allow to cool completely. 

In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Using a mixer at low speed, beat well, frequently scraping the sides of the bowl. After one minute, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat an additional two minutes. Mix in the cooled chocolate and continue to beat at medium speed for an additional minute. If the frosting appears dry, add more milk, one teaspoon at a time. 

Makes 4 1/2 cups. 

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Source: How Sweet It Is (cupcakes) and Williams-Sonoma (frosting) 

Mini Halloween Oreo Cheesecakes, and The Awkward Tale of Halloween '96

Posted by: Maggie

I feel like a major buzz-kill by admitting this, but I don't really love Halloween. More accurately, I don't love dressing up for Halloween. I love haunted hayrides, corn mazes, pumpkin carving, and cute kids in costumes just fine. I don't love that 99% of costumes available in stores for grown ladies like myself are either trampy or matronly, with practically no middle ground.

The last time I really dressed up for Halloween was in 7th grade. Incidentally, it was also the last year I ever went trick-or-treating, but more on that in a minute. My mom had an old gypsy costume that I borrowed, and I piled on the makeup, crazy gold coin earrings, loads of dangly bracelets, and a headscarf. I was past the age of dressing up for school at that point, mainly due to my desire to invisibly walk the halls of Ocean Township Intermediate School without being taunted by the girls who had already figured out mascara, flat irons, and padded bras. Meanwhile, I still looked like the bastard love child of Art Garfunkel and Jan Brady. I'm ok now. May God bless Lancome Definicils, the Chi, and late teenage growth spurts.

Anyway, I got home from school that afternoon, and prepared to go trick-or-treating with one of my equally awkward friends. I have no recollection of what she dressed as for Halloween, but I do remember that she affected a British accent for the whole evening, not breaking character once, even though I'm fairly certain it had nothing to do with her costume. Birds of an awkward feather...

We traipsed through the neighborhood collecting candy, and finally arrived at one of the last houses on our route, which just so happened to be the home of my unrequited middle-school crush. He was blonde, all of his clothes came from Structure, and he was a bit of a troublemaker. Be still, my 12-year old heart. We walked up the pathway, rang the doorbell, and there stood my crush holding a bowl of candy and looking annoyed. I will always remember the eleven words he said to us next: "Aren't you girls a little old to be trick-or-treating?" His response didn't seem to faze my friend, but as I defeatedly walked home that evening, my heartbroken 12-year old self vowed never to trick-or-treat again.

When I went off to college, I tried to get in the Halloween spirit, once by dressing up in angel wings, a halo, and normal clothes, and once by wearing a helmet and carrying a sword. Although, in retrospect I think I may have stolen the sword from someone else's costume.

Those pictures were taken in 2004 and 2005, respectively, and I haven't dressed up since - not even in a half-assed construction worker with a sword kind of way. 

Things are changing this Halloween. Who remembers Salute Your Shorts? If you were born in the early to mid-80s like Jeff and myself, and live in the United States, there is a strong chance it was one of your favorite childhood shows. Jeff is going as camp counselor Kevin "Ug" Lee, and I will be going as camper Z.Z. Ziff. My costume consists of a Camp Anawanna tee shirt, a whistle, peace sign/earth earrings (Z.Z. was a hippie, remember?) and a syrup bottle for administering awful waffles (link NSFW thanks to some perverted and inaccurate descriptions of an awful waffle, but it's the only site I can find with a definition. Sorry.) Fun, nostalgic, not trampy, and inexpensive? That is the kind of Halloween costume I can get on board with.

I may be wary of the dressing up side of Halloween, but I can easily get on board with the desserts. I found the recipe for these Halloween cheesecakes over on Gingerbread Bagels. Lindsey's Halloween spirit is infectious, and it's enough to even warm up a Halloween Grinch like myself to the holiday! These are super good, and since they're miniature and portion-controlled it means you'll have more room for Halloween candy!

Here's what you'll need:

15 Halloween Oreos, whole
6 Halloween Oreos, pulverized in the food processor
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Orange gel food coloring

Preheat oven to 275 degrees, and line 2 muffin tins with 15 foil liners. Place one whole Oreo in each liner.

Place cream cheese in a large bowl, and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add in the sugar and beat throughly to combine. Add in vanilla extract and eggs, and beat until combined. Finally, gently mix in the sour cream.

Add in orange gel food coloring until the batter is your desired shade. Stir in Oreo crumbs.

Divide batter evenly among the muffin tins. You can fill these almost to the top since they don't really rise. Bake for 22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Chill overnight if you can wait that long!

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Source: Gingerbread Bagels

Tiramisu Trifles

Posted by: Maggie

Almost everything you see posted here is something I've made within the past week, or two weeks at the most. Neither Annie or I have a huge backlog of recipes waiting to be posted like a lot of food bloggers seem to (P.S. super-jeal of you bloggers who do since I'd looove to post daily!), so it's easiest just to share recipes with you as we make them. 

However...on occasion, a really awesome recipe slips through the cracks, and doesn't get posted in a timely manner. I made these trifles about 5 weeks ago on a night that I cooked for Jeff. I made us roasted garlic crostini and homemade spaghetti and meatballs, and I wanted a dessert to go along with the Italian theme.  I even hinted about the recipe over on Twitter and never delivered!

Now, weeks later, you finally get to know that the mystery desserts I mentioned on twitter were tiramisu trifles. I'm sure you've all been waiting with bated breath. Right? 

This isn't your traditional tiramisu by any means, and I'm pretty sure that real Italians would scoff at my use of Oreo cookies over ladyfingers, and ricotta over mascarpone, but they were extremely delicious and simple to make. I also liked that I wasn't left with a ton of leftover dessert - I used large stemless wineglasses to serve these, and it perfectly filled three glasses. 

Here's what you'll need:

For the base:

1 cup heavy whipping cream 

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or 1 tablespoon Kahlua if you have it)

1 teaspoon instant espresso granules

For layering:

1 cup heavy cream, whipped with 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup chocolate cookie crumbs (Grind Oreos in a food processor without the cream centers. The centers are easily scraped out of divided cookies with a butter knife.)

For the garnish:

Fresh Strawberries

Chocolate shavings

Prepare the whipped cream and cookie crumbs (indicated under the "for layering" portion of the ingredients) and set aside. 

Combine whipping cream and granulated sugar (from the "for the base" section of the ingredients) in a medium bowl. Beat until cream is stiff, and set aside. 

Combine ricotta cheese, cocoa powder, vanilla, and instant espresso granules in a medium bowl. Beat until blended. 

Add ricotta mixture to the whipped cream, and gently fold in with a rubber spatula until no white streaks remain. 

To assemble, start with a layer of the ricotta mixture. Next, add a layer of the whipped cream, and then a layer of cookie crumbs. Repeat until all ingredients are used, and garnish with chocolate shavings and fresh strawberries. 

These can be refrigerated for up to a day before serving. I made these about 4 hours before serving, and the cookie crumbs stayed crisp, however on day 2 they had absorbed a lot of moisture (but were still delicious!) 

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Source: My Baking Addiction