Monday, December 1, 2008

Hodgepodge

Okay, here goes nothing.  I'm going to try and get everything posted.

First up is Joy the Baker's Candy Bar Blondies.  This was a no bblog 337rainer!  If  you've read my blog just a few times you know how I feel about Blondies!  I followed her recipe and added Milk Duds, Twix, and Heath Bars as my 2 cups of candy. 

 

 

I don't have a recipe for you for the cake.   blog 350No worries, you're not missing anything there as it is just a combination of a Jiffy cake mix (I know you're cringing) that I found in the pantry, about a half a can of leftover pumpkin and some pumpkin pie spice.  With regards to the  spice, I kept adding until the batter was tasty, it took quite a bit.  The cake actually turned out pretty good and was very moist but it was the Orange Double   Cream Frosting I found on the blog, Hey, That Tastes Good that was outstanding!  I loved the orange flavor of the frosting, it wasn't oveblog 356r powering and it tasted wonderful with the pumpkin.  Check out the gorgeous specks of orange zest, YUM!  Question for ya while I have ya here, what's up with the big holes?  I didn't drop my pans on the counter should I have? Clue me in!  THX!

 

Peanut Butter Buckeye Bars from Cooking by the Seat of My Pants wasDSC00680 another keeper recipe that I made recently.  Easy and good, I made these for Devon's end of the season football party.  I cut them up pretty small and got about 32 out of the pan.  Most of them were eaten except for a few and that was mostly because I made Simple S' mores Bars and everyone went for those first!

 

DSC00681 Out of all the desserts that I've made for the kids over the past month this one was hands down the kids' favorite.  The funny thing is I've seen this recipe around the web a lot but it was the picture at Kat's Kitchen of the Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffin that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  I've come to realize that for my three cinnamon isDSC00683 the key ingredient.  If it has a cinnamony (Grace is that correct spelling?) taste then they love it.  I did make one slight change in the recipe which was to use demerara sugar for the cinnamon sugar topping on half of the muffins.  I loved the added crunch.

 

DSC00699 This next recipe comes from Rice and Beans and Other Fine Things.  Like a dummy I only made half the recipe for Tortilla Toffee thinking that would be enough for my three and my nephew.  I  figured Joe and I would pass on it.  Duh, that  toffee was so addictive!  I think Joe and I might have eatenDSC00701 more than our fair share.  Joe added his stolen pieces to a bowl of Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla ice cream. Can you say genius? 

Besides halving the recipe I added some of pecans I received from Oh,Nuts instead of peanuts.   I know that I mentioned in another post about the free nuts I received but if you didn't read it, here's a quick summary.....save your money and order your nuts from them.  They are much better than anything you'll find at the grocery store.

 

IDSC00708 found the following recipe, Pumpkin Coffee Cake on the blog Life Lightly Salted.  While it came out very good, pumpkin pie mixed with tender moist cake and capped with yummy crumb topping I did not like the vagueness of the directions.  Here's an example.......The second to the last of the instructions was "pour the remaining cake layer mixture over  the pumpkin layer."  Well, when I did that it just blobbed to the bottom DSC00719as the cake layer mixture was more dense than the pumpkin layer.  I swirled it in as best as I could and added the crumb topping during the last 15 minutes of baking since it too was a bit more dense that the pumpkin filling and I didn't want it to end up at the bottom.  Because I didn't have enough walnuts  I threw in some of Oh,Nuts' pecans to make my one cup.  While it may not sound like it I would make this again. 

The following three recipes I didn't get photos of as they were made the night before Thanksgiving and eaten the day of, with all of the hecticness I neglected to take any photos.  Guess what?  I talked to Santa and he said I was indeed very good and can expect to find  a special light that will allow me to take decent photos at night!  What I wonder will be my excuse for crappy photos after I start using it? 

Baked French Toast from the blog Mommy?  I'm Hungry!  Joe actually made this and used a teaspoon instead of a tablespoon so the filling was not as sweet as it should have been.  I also thought the "sandwiches" needed to be flipped midway as the bottoms were still soggy after their 40 minute bake but the recipe didn't mention it.  I'd like to give this one more try on the kids.  While they are pancake lovers I think this would be a nice change for them once I get it right.  I especially love that it is put together the night before!

Up next another pumpkin recipe (it is the season), this one, Pumpkin Bundt Cake comes from Dinner with Kirsten.  I followed the directions for the cake but used Grace's (A Southern Grace) recipe for the frosting.  It comes from the Sweet Spud Cake with Pray-leeen Pa-cahns recipe.  The pumpkin cake was so moist and because I poured the praline pecan frosting still warm over the cake it made it even more so.  The cake would have been terrific on it's own but the frosting made it so rich and decadent, just right for Thanksgiving!

Last and certainly not least was a mistake that I salvaged.  I intended to make the Chewy Butterscotch Brownies that Bakerella featured with her recipe for Butterscotch Ganache but instead of baking them in a regular pan I decided to use my mini muffin pan.  Here's where I hit a snag, though I sprayed the pan well, it was not well enough as the brownies wouldn't come out of the pan.  After getting Babygirl to scoop them out with a spoon and into a Tupperware I went ahead with the ganache and made a trifle out of all the broken bits.  Except for two tablespoons I layered the broken butterscotch brownies on the bottom of my bowl, poured 2/3 of the vanilla pudding that I made out of a box on top of that, mixed the last third of the pudding mixture with coolwhip, threw it in as my top layer, sprinkled the last bit of butterscotch brownie crumbs on top, and drizzled some of the butterscotch ganache over it all. This was good the first day, no complaints but was even better the next after the butterscotch brownies which by the way are really blondies soaked up all the yumminess of the other layers!  I'm really impressed with myself that I didn't just pitch the brownies when I thought they didn't turn out!

I know that I've been longwinded and probably should have broken this up into a bunch of individual posts but  I just knew it wouldn't happen if I didn't sit down and do it all NOW.  Even if you don't try the recipes that I've mentioned please visit all the various blogs.  Besides the recipes I've linked here they have many others featured that are equally if not more delicious!

21 comments:

Nicole said...

Wow that's a lot of food! It all looks so good!!

Hope you had a GREAT Thanksgiving!

Anonymous said...

You can actually get those "worm-hole" bubbles from overmixing. I seem to recall that it has something to do with gluten development... Usually it's more of a muffin related problem, as cakes usually use the creaming method, which is less likely to result in overmixing. However, cake-mix cakes essentially use the muffin method, so it can sometimes happen with them.
That said, a orange and pumpkin-spice cake sounds yum-tastic!

The Blonde Duck said...

I would have gained so much weight at your house..it all sounds wonderful!

Reeni said...

I'm a sucker for anything with cinnamon in it, too! Lots of delicious treats, I don't even know where to start. I love the flavor of orange and pumpkin together and those candy bar blondies, YUMMMMMMMMM!

Rosie said...

Thank you for calling by my blog it really is lovely to *seet* you and what a lovely blog you have here!

WOW everything looks really amazing!!

Rosie

Mike of Mike's Table said...

That's a whole lot of mouth-watering stuff. I'll take one of each, please!

Anonymous said...

Wow, what an amazing range of cakes and sweets! You must have been baking for weeks :o I think the donut muffins are a brilliant idea too :)

Leslie said...

OH MY WORD..that was a lot of food! And it all looks sooo very wonderful!

Irene said...

Oh my goodness!!! You have been a busy baker! I would love to come to your house during the holidays, with all those goodies. Out of all, I think I like the look of the cake the best (just imagining the flavors of the pumpkin and orange....). It all looks absolutely fantastic.

Anonymous said...

That's a whole lot of baking you did! Everything looks delicious!

grace said...

i don't believe i've ever seen so many goodies in one post. i like it. i'm especially enjoying the cinnamony (yes, i do believe that's the proper spelling) goodness and the fact that you tried the praline topping i used! :)

Ingrid_3Bs said...

miss.cupcake.face~
Thx, I did have a nice turkey day!
~ingrid

pumpkin~
Thanks for all the great info & for never making me feel like a dummy for asking!
~ingrid

the blonde duck~
I wish someone else in my house would gain weight besides me!
~ingrid

reeni~
Thx, pumpkin and orange are an outstanding flavor combo! Who knew? I sure didn't until I gave it a try!
~ingrid

rosie~
Thank YOU for visiting! You have a wonderful blog. So many tasty cakes! I love cake!
~ingrid

mike of mike's table~
Thx & thx for stopping by at my table....pull up a chair! :-)
~ingrid

lorraine e~
You must give them a try! Talk about easy and sooooo good.

Thanks for visiting!
~ingrid

leslie~
Thx!
~ingrid

irene~
Come on over! The more the merrier!

Thanks for taking a moment to visit my blog and commenting!
~ingrid

linda~
Hi, thanks & thank you for stopping by and leaving me a comment!
~ingrid

grace~
You are the Queen of all things cinnamon so I knew you would know!

You don't need cake to go under that praline topping...it's delish all on it's own!
~ingrid

angie said...

I think I agree with the kids. The Cinnamon Sugar Donut Muffin looks so good. I need to try those one Saturday morning. Great photos!

Unknown said...

oh wow that's a lot of great baked goods! thanks for visiting my blog, i just spend half an hour looking through yours. i love it! keep up the good work! :)

Anonymous said...

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Take a peek.

Anonymous said...

wow, so many sweet treats! those peanut butter buckeye bars look amazing-i would devour a hot plate of them and a cold glass of milk-YUM!!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Angie~
They were soooo good especially warm! If you do give 'em a try let me know what you think!
~ingrid

Kim~
Hi, thanks for visiting! You have a wonderful blog as well.
~ingrid

DD2~
Thanks for stopping by and I'll be sure to "swing" over.
~ingrid

Megan~
They were so yummy and gooey! AND easy to whip together! Let me know if you give 'em a try and YES you definitely need milk with 'em! A big glass!

Thank you for visiting and taking a moment to comment!
~ingrid

Tina said...

So many wonderful treats!!! :)

Honeyed Hashette said...

Hey Ingrid~
I know, I have been a total blogging slacker. First there was Thanksgiving and then we sadly had to go out of town for a funeral and I am SO BEHIND on Christmas preparations. I have been playing catch up every night. Whew!

Thank you for checking in on me. I am alive and well and promise to blog again soon. :)

How are you?

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Tina~
Thanks and thanks for visiting my blog and taking a moment to comment!
~ingrid

Janna~
Hey, no, I wasn't thinking that. I was checking to make certain you were okay. Your last post said your honey was sick and wanted to make certain all was well with you guys.

I hope things settle down soon for ya!

Take it easy!
~ingrid

Print Brochures said...

Oh, I'm so glad to have found this post! I love your ideas: Tortilla Toffee and a muffin donut? Wow!
The Smores brownie is my favorite though. :)