Pumpkin Trifle

For my latest breakfast adventure I made these pumpkin scones.  I had it in my little blond head that the recipe used most of, if not all, of a can of pumpkin.  Instead it only used 1/4 of a cup.  The funny thing is, in reading the first paragraph of the the scone post, I say that I was using up some leftover pumpkin.  Oops. 

So, that can sat in my fridge for a week before I finally got around to figuring out what I was going to do with it.  After contemplating several much more time consuming and difficult recipes, I decided to try My Baking Addition's recent post for Pumpkin Cheesecake Trifles.  I had a little bit more than a cup of pumpkin left over, but figured it would be fine if I mixed it all in.  I also made my own pumpkin spice.  I had all the ingredients for it and do not need one more spice in my tiny space.  The last change I made was the cookie used for the crust.  I wanted to make it gluten free so my neighbor could enjoy them as well, I knew I had to be able to share.   Rereading the recipe now, I see I forgot to fold half the whip cream in the pumpkin mixture.  They turned out fine for all my changes and mistake. Everyone still enjoyed them.  They were also super easy so I will have to remember to make them (correctly) more often and make a few scones after.     


Ingredients
makes 4 to 6 servings

• 12 Gluten Free Vanilla Cookies, crushed into crumbs
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup pure pumpkin puree (again I had maybe a 1/4 cup more, but I am not sure)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 12 oz. whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed

1. In a medium bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter. Divide the crumbs into the bottoms of your trifle glasses (I used short Ikea ones and the one above). Gently press crumbs to form an even layer of crust.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin, vanilla, sugar and spices. Beat until well combined and creamy.
3. Spoon a layer of pumpkin mixture onto the cookie crust followed by a layer of whipped topping. Repeat layers until your trifle reaches the top of your glass. 
4. Store trifles in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 

Enjoy!

LEMON OFF!!

All the delicious Dishes

Yesterday was the big Lemon off and it was a huge success.  So many yummy things and a few amazing trophies!  In a tight race for number one the Lemon Lasagna by Hillary won Best of Show, The Lemon Pasta by Melissa was the Savory winner and the Lemon Icebox Pie by Stephanie took home the Sweet trophy by a landslide.  Truth be told they were all so good, I had trouble making my choices and honestly cannot remember which ones I picked.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melissa, Hillary, & Stephanie with their trophies

The table after the feast

Unfortunately for me my Lemon Ricotta Tart did not win the trophy this time, but it was delicious. I found it in my Martha Stewart Fresh Flavor Fast.  I had not tried it before and the crust baked faster than the it was timed too so when the tart took longer to bake, my crust was almost over done.  It was fine, but I was still not happy that my oven has no consistency and somewhat ruined my tart.  I didn't have tart pan with a removable bottom, but I don't think that made any difference.

Lemon Ricotta Tart

• 72 vanilla wafers (from a 12-ounce box)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven 375 degrees. In a food processor, pulse vanilla wafers until finely ground (to yield 2 cups). Add butter and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened. 
2. Transfer crumb mixture to a 9-inch tart pan. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides. Place pan on a baking sheet; bake crust until lightly browned and set, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven. 
3. In clean food processor, blend ricotta, cream cheese, eggs, granulated sugar, and lemon zest and juice until smooth. Pour into hot crust in pan; bake until filling is set and browned in spots, 30 to 35 minutes.  
4. Cool completely on a wire rack. Just before serving, dust top of tart with confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Enjoy! 

The rest of the recipes will be up soon!

Time for Key Lime

A few weeks ago The Pioneer Woman tweeted something about Key Lime Cupcakes in Salt Lake City and I thought the idea was brilliant.  The odd thing is that I don't think I have ever had true key lime pie.  I just really like the idea of it.  Over Christmas I made a quick version key lime pie I found in a magazine, but it was not very good and I decided it was too much of a failure to share.  It did not ruin my desire for key lime and I am glad for that.    

 

Immediately after reading this tweet, I jumped online and into my 500 Cupcakes cookbook for recipes.  I found many that were like the one I am going to share with you and others had actual key lime cream filling with meringue for frosting.  I thought about combining these recipes to some degree by mixing different cakes with the different frostings, but in the end I decided to stick with the recipe I found on Bon Appetit.  I was feeling lazy and didn't want to deal with a six step process to make cupcakes.  I will someday, just not now. 

 

These are delicious and I had enough batter to make 18 cupcakes instead of 12 like the recipe said.  They didn't rise very much, but maybe they were not suppose to, I'm not sure and I can't really tell from their picture if theirs did or not. It took me forever to actually bake these because I kept missing one thing or another and I kept missing the fact that the butter and cream cheese need to be at room temperature.  I also added coconut to the tops of half of them.  I think it was a good addition.

 

Cupcake Ingredients 

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
• 1/4 teaspoon neon-green food coloring
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Frosting

• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted utter, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lime peel
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• Coconut if desired 

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line standard muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Whisk both flours in medium bowl. Beat butter in large bowl until smooth. Add sugar; beat to blend. Beat in eggs 1 at a time, then next 3 ingredients (batter may look curdled). Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions. Spoon scant 1/3 cup batter into each liner.
2. Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan; cool.
3. FROSTING: Beat all ingredients except coconut in medium bowl until smooth. Spread over cupcakes. Spinkle coconut on top. 
   
    
   ENJOY!