Experimenting gone right!

In my previous post I wrote about something I fiddled with, a new experiment with ingredients that didn't go so well. It happened before that instance too. (I'm still not over the mousse catastrophe).

Now I've made snicker doodles before.


I made a chai glaze that I was worried about but they ended up being fantastic so I knew I couldn't screw up a basic snicker doodle. (I highly recommend the recipe from yours truly) And since I can't just keep things simple I wanted something more than just cinnamon and sugar. It's still pumpkin season and without adding real pumpkin, partially so it would last longer, I made another glaze. I've gotten better at glazes/icing, where it actually looks like it should and I'm pretty proud of this one.

I usually use a mix of spices to get that pumpkin flavor. You know, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. And in a glaze or an icing you need is powdered sugar and some sort of liquid. If you want more of a clear glaze you can use water but I wanted it to be more like icing and a different consistency so it didn't look slimey. In that case you'd use milk or half and half but I found the best of both; my favorite coffee creamer this time of year. Pumpkin Pie Coffee Mate. I just mixed that with powdered sugar and even just a touch of shortening to thicken it up and it ended up being a lot better than I thought. If you are just trying to whip it up quick like I did without breaking out the mixer, make sure you get your arm muscles ready to go so you can continually whisk to get the air it needs. A good 3-4 minutes if you can manage.

I have found this to be the easiest method for frosting cookies. Just dunk them upside down and quickly flip them over and place on a cooling rack or a plate. I fell in love with my new three tier cooling rack from Wilton and it works perfectly if you just put some paper towels, wax paper, parchment paper or even tin foil below so you don't get icing all over your workspace. 

After a dip into the pool I sprinkle some pumpkin pie spice, or you can use the extra cinnamon sugar, just cinnamon, cloves, etc. etc. Let them rest and you're ready to go. 

Once again I have amazed myself. Not to toot my own horn but, toot toot! That's twice now within a month, remember these??

This is again something I will make again, or at least a variation. I haven't given up on experimenting despite some disasters I've made, from cookies and brownies as hard as rocks and mousse that turned into soup. I'm not giving up and hope you learned as much as I have!

Belated Thanksgiving; What's next?

I can't believe it's been a week already since Thanksgiving, and that I didn't post about the baby pies! That's right, I was on dessert duty (yea, pull my arm) and of course pumpkin pie is always the dessert for Thanksgiving. I didn't want to make just any pumpkin pie though, especially with such high expectations from my nephews. So I took to my favorite baking pan and made baby pumpkin pies!

The process may seem real tedious and time consuming but it is so worth it. Not only are they adorable, but they're super easy to eat and it actually baked a lot quicker than just one normal pie. Divvying up a round pie crust into squares was probably the most challenging part of the entire process. The baking was simple, crank the heat to 425 for 15 minutes, back down to 350 for another 15 or until a fork comes out of the middle clean. Don't worry about the holes, just cover it in cool whip. :) 

They're just too darn cute and super easy to eat! No silverware necessary, just how I like it.

Now that all that has passed, It's time to think about Christmas baking and I'm really trying to get into the Christmas spirit but I think I need a little more oomph. To help I bounced around Target for a bit and found these beauties courtesy of Wilton..

I've already begun to experiment and have already learned that less batter is more, as the gingerbread men tend to come out looking like overweight middle-aged men with beer bellies because muffins tend to rise... Still delish though, especially if you can avoid freeze-dried blueberries.

Going to enter the cookie realm next I think, I have my decorating supplies handy to slap the Christmas spirit into me if I have to, and plenty of gingerbread cupcake recipes to follow. 

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