Category: Desserts

This recipe is adapted from an old Pillsbury recipe booklet (the kind that you see at the supermarket checkout). They turned out pretty yummy, even though I didn’t bake them quite long enough. I also made them too long the first time, so if you follow the recipe exactly, yours will look half as long as the ones in the photo. I’m probably going to bake another batch for Thanksgiving, so I’ll have another shot to get them PERFECT.

Iced Cinnamon Shortbread Sticks

3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. Mexican vanilla
1 egg
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon spice blend, divided (see recipe below)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 – 4 Tbsp. unfiltered apple juice

In a stand mixer, combine the brown sugar, butter, vanilla and egg; beat until light and fluffy. Add flour and 3/4 tsp of the cinnamon spice blend; mix well until dough forms a ball. Flatten the ball of dough slightly, until it forms a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out into a square about 12 X 12 inches. Cut dough into 1 X 3 inch strips with a pastry wheel or sharp knife, using a clean ruler as a guide. Place sticks 1/2 apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 – 15 minutes or until edges are browning slightly. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Set aside to cool completely.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, blend powdered sugar and remaining 1/2 tsp of spice blend, starting out with 2 Tbsp. apple juice, until smooth, adding more apple juice, if needed, for desired glaze consistency. Spread glaze on tops of cookies. Let stand until glaze is set before storing.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Cinnamon Spice Blend

6 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. ground allspice
1 Tbsp. dried orange peel
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Mix all ingredients together until blended. Store leftover spice in a tightly lidded glass jar or small airtight plastic container. We use this mixture in just about anything that calls for cinnamon. It’s great when mixed with sugar to use for cinnamon toast.

(Another great recipe that uses the Cinnamon Spice Blend can be found here.)

Don’t be put off by the multiple steps; these are actually surprisingly easy to make and are a unique and tasty alternative to pumpkin pie for this time of year. The only “special” equipment that you need: two pastry bags and two tips (#11 and #6).

For Eclair pastry:
3/4 cup water
6 Tbsp. butter
2 tsp. granulated sugar
3/4 all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon spice blend (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine water, butter, granulated sugar, cinnamon spice blend (1/8 tsp.) and salt. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Add flour all at once, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Cook and stir until mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the side of the pan. Remove from heat. Cool for 10 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

Load batter into a large pastry bag fitted with a #11 tip and pipe dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheet into “fingers” about 3/4-inch wide and 3 1/2 inches long – it should make about 2 dozen. They can be piped fairly close together, but a second baking sheet may be necessary. Smooth tops of dough, if necessary, with a clean finger dipped in water. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and thoroughly puffed up. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

After eclair shells have completed cooled, use a knife to gently cut open the bottoms (on one side) of the eclairs to prepare them for stuffing. It’s not necessary to cut all the way through or to cut them in half; you just want to make a “pocket” so that the filling can flow inside.

For Pumpkin Mousse (you can prepare this while the eclairs are baking) :
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon spice blend
1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

Combine the cream, sugar and cinnamon spice blend in an electric stand mixer. Beat mixture on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the pumpkin. Load cream mixture into a large pastry bag fitted with a #6 tip. When eclairs have completely cooled, carefully pipe the cream mixture into the bottom of each eclair (you may not need to use all of it). Eclairs may be refrigerated after they’ve been filled, while you prepare the glaze.

For Caramel Maple Glaze:
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/3 cup half-and-half
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp. real maple syrup
1 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla (preferably Mexican)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans, lightly toasted

In a heavy, small saucepan, stir together the brown sugar and cornstarch. Stir in the cream, water, syrup and butter. Cook and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened and bubbly (mixture may appear curdled before it bubbles). Cook and stir for 2 minutes more. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and pecans and set aside to cool for about 10 – 15 minutes and then gently spoon/spread glaze over cooled, filled eclairs.

For Cinnamon Spice Blend:
6 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp. ground allspice
1 Tbsp. dried orange peel
2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
Mix all ingredients together until blended. Store leftover spice in a tightly lidded glass jar or small airtight plastic container. We use this mixture in just about anything that calls for cinnamon. It’s great when mixed with sugar to use for cinnamon toast.

We got “Boo’d” last night. I’ve always heard of “Boo’ing”, but we’ve never been “Boo’d” before, and, I have to admit, I always felt a little left out. For those of you that don’t know, this is a Halloween tradition that is popular in the suburbs. It entails delivering a little bag of candy and treats to the house of a neighbor, after dark so that you won’t be seen and a poetic request that you “Boo” two other neighbors. There is a little ghost decoration attached that is meant to be hung in one of your front windows so that everyone knows that you’ve already been “Boo’d” and they shouldn’t target you again.

Here’s the thing, though: I’ve always wanted to be “Boo’d” and knew almost instantly what was happening when someone rang our doorbell last night and no one was there when we went to the door. Hubby, on the other hand, was his usual curmudgeonly, cynical former police officer self and was convinced that we were about to be the targets of some horrible vandalism. He went around the house, turning on all of our exterior security lights and looking for teenagers with eggs or shaving cream. It was really hard for me not to laugh. I might have actually laughed, just a little bit, really really quietly. In his defense, in the three years that we’ve lived here, our cars have been shot up with paintballs and broken into three separate times. Sigh. I digress.

Anyway, this recipe is adapted from a really old Halloween party book – so old that the cereal that it called for isn’t even made anymore, so I had to make a substitution. I thought it would be great to put in the “Boo” treat bags, along with some candy.

Here’s my version:

Peanutty Candy Corn Brownie Bars

1 (1 lb. 4 oz.) package fudge brownie mix
(I used Ghirardelli triple chocolate – it comes in a 6-batch multipack from Costco)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup water
3 large eggs
2 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups Frosted Cheerios cereal
1 1/2 cups salted peanuts
1 cup candy corn

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a 13 X 9 inch baking pan. In a medium bowl, combine the brownie mix, eggs, oil and water; stir until well blended. Spread in bottom of greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 28 minutes, or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from the side of the pan comes out almost clean.

Remove pan from oven. Immediately sprinkle marshmallows evenly over warm brownies. Return to oven and bake an additional 1 or 2 minutes or until marshmallows just begin to puff up. Remove from oven and set aside to cool while preparing peanut butter topping.

In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar and corn syrup; blend well. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. Add cereal, peanuts and candy corn; mix well. Immediately spoon warm topping over marshmallows and spread to cover (work FAST because this stuff hardens quickly). Cool for at least 1 1/2 hours or until completely cool. Cut into squares. Makes 36 bars.

Addendum: I tasted one of these as I was packing them up into the boxes and they were definitely festive and interesting and will definitely be kid-friendly (we’re not sure which house we’re “Boo’ing” yet – we had plans last night and weren’t home to pick a “victim”, so we’ll do it tonight), but they were a tad salty. All in all, I think there’s nothing wrong with just plain-old brownies. I hope that the neighbors will think these are fun, though.

I made this once before, MANY years ago and kind of forgot about it, but I had a bunch of leftover Chex cereal in the house from making the “Texas Trash” and decided to give this another go. The last time I made it, the recipe on the back of the Chex box called it “Puppy Chow” (I think that they could get away with this because I think Ralston Purina owned Chex?), but now they are calling it “Muddy Buddies” (recipe here). I think Puppy Chow sounds cuter (and it does LOOK like Puppy Chow), but I know, I know….copyright this, trademark that, registered name, blah, blah…..

This was a SUPER huge hit with Boy (who helped make it) and Hubby, but Girl (who detests peanut butter) would only give it a tiny little taste before gagging and spitting it out (oh, well….more for us).

I’ve been looking for some recipes for healthy, after-school treats now that the kids are back in school. I found this recipe on epicurious and thought it might fit the bill.

These turned out really well. I liked the extra-rich sweetness that the dark brown sugar added. I didn’t add the nuts, because Girl doesn’t care for them. I made some without raisins, too, because Hubby says that raisins taste like dirt. I wanted to put some butterscotch chips in, but met resistance from Hubby. Maybe next time.

Another little project here in “Over-the-Top-ville”. The 4th grade boys at Boy’s school are having a back-to-school pool party. This “T” design is the logo for Boy’s school, so I thought it would be the perfect thing to get the boys back in the “school” mood. I can’t claim the credit for coming up with this idea, originally. Last year, a bunch of us mom-types got together and made HUGE batches of these for a big event at school. They were so fun and the kids loved them so much that I decided to make them again. I didn’t have benefit of the handy-dandy triangle cookie-cutters that we had last year, so I devised a ruler-and-pastry cutter system that worked just fine:

First, I baked them, using this recipe:

And then I made them blue, with this icing, before adding the white “T”s and sprinkling them with a bit of white sanding sugar:

We bought a cookie bouquet from this company for our new neighbors that just moved in across the street. While the kids and I were there to pick it up, we saw the cute “gadget-themed” Father’s Day basket above. We couldn’t pass it up for the sweet-toothed techno-gadget hound paternal unit that lives at our house. Although he loved it, the kids ended up (of course) eating most of the cookies. Hubby didn’t recognize the CD at first and wondered if it was an “all-seeing eye” – it is a little odd-looking. I normally like to make my own cookies, but, I have to admit, these are pretty yummy (almond extract?) and they do a great job of decorating them. It would have taken me HOURS and HOURS to create something even half as cute as what they are able to turn out.

If you have decided that your idea of a good dessert is one that will make you gain 10 pounds and lose 10 teeth, this is definitely the recipe for you….

All I can say is that this sounded like a good idea, in theory, but God Almighty, this thing is rich.