Little Pumpkin Baby Shower

Pumpkin cake push pops!

I used this cupcake recipe from Food Network. I made a few changes. 

-I didn't have ginger or allspice so I used pumpkin pie spice instead. 

-I added a little more pumpkin (heaping 1/2 cup)

-Frosting changes: I used 4 Tbsp butter, 1/2 Tablespoon maple syrup and some maple flavoring (1/4-1/2 tsp), and a little more powdered sugar so it was a better piping consistency.  

-I doubled this recipe and baked the cake in a jelly roll pan which made assembling the cake pops really easy. I pushed the plunger to the top of the container and used it to cut a piece of cake out. I piped on some frosting and moved the plunger down a little bit and repeated the steps three more times. 

Pumpkin Cupcakes: 

1 cup all-purpose flour

       1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Kosher salt

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup canned pure pumpkin puree

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting:

One 8-ounce block cream cheese

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

2 cups powdered sugar

We had the shower at Courtney's favorite restaurant, Andeles! So yummy!

Congrats, Courtney! Can you see those cute pumpkin Oreo pops on the table that they made for take homes? So cute!

 

Good luck, friend!

I made this for a going away party for our dear friend Jackie.

Too Much Chocolate Cake from Allrecipes.com:

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
• 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips 
• Bake in a jelly roll pan. 350 for 20ish minutes. Once cooled cut cake in half, pipe a damn around the edge of one half of the cake, add raspberry filling to the center and top with other half of cake, and pipe rosettes. Double the frosting recipe.

Raspberry filling
16 oz. frozen raspberries thawed
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixtures boils and thickens. Cool completely. Stir thawed raspberries into cool mixture.

Patti's Chocolate Frosting:

1/3 cup cocoa

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup softened butter

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 1/2 cup powdered sugar

We really are going to miss you sweetie!

Back to School Fun

It was Wyatt's turn for snack today. What better way to start the year off than with some chocolate pretzel crayons. My kids love them, their friends love them! I mean who wouldn't think it's cool to eat crayons, especially the one labeled "Crayoneatr"

Start by cutting or breaking pretzel rods in half. Dip each end in colored chocolate and place on wax paper. Once dry wrap a crayon labels around each pretzel and secure with tape. You can get the label here. Her website also gives better instructions. I just used colored construction paper to print the labels on. The color melts have endless colors so you can get really creative.

I found these cute crayon boxes a few months ago on pickyourplum.com. We were excited to use them for a class snack and these chocolate crayons were the perfect thing to go inside. 

We also added a cheese stick and a Slim Jim.

Happy Back to School snacking friends!

Lucy wanted to take something to her preschool teachers and we decided on something simple. I found this idea online.

How is this happening?

My baby girl is no longer a baby!

First day of Middle School. I am more scared than he is.