Libby's Original Pumpkin Pie

Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Visions of ghosts, goblins, and costumed covered children...and I make a pumpkin pie. I guess it was just one of those things. I looked in my cupboard, thought it was a good idea, and made it. However, we had guests last night from a media ministry called Campfel. My conclusion is, I needed to make it. How could we host someone and not offer them dessert? That's what I thought too :)

I was delighted when I realized I had everything to make my prized recipe (ok it's actually on the back of a Libby's can of pumpkin).

So, I mixed it all together and put it in the oven. It took me approximately 3 minutes to get it from the counter to the oven. I might have filled it a bit full. So, I moved as slowly as I possibly could without getting pumpkin juice all over the floor. It was a daunting task, my friends, but I managed. No pumpkin spillage here. This is a proud moment in my life considering my small obsession with making a mess (or so I'm told)

So, my cute little Old-Fashion pumpkin pie came out of the oven...and looked delightful. I saw his little sad gesture as he was eye-balling me. He wanted something else...something to make him creamy and delicious. But what?

Mmmmmm, there we go. A dollop of cool-whip and a shake of the cinnamon bottle. This looked perfect. One of the tastiest pies I ever did taste. Ask my dad how he liked it. He'll tell you, and I quote, "If you would have made a pie that was actually worth while I would have eaten some." Have I ever told you how much I love his complements?

Libby's Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Pie

Items Needed:

• 1 9-inch deep dish frozen pie crust
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce can) Libby's Pure Pumpkin
• 1 (12 ounce can) Evaporated Milk
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425*F.


2. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, giner, and cloves. Beat 2 eggs lightly in separate bowl. Add pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Slowly whisk in evaporated milk. Pour into pie shell.


3. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350*F. Bake for an additional 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for two hours. Serve immediately or store covered in the refrigerator. TOP WITH COOL WHIP!! (that's actually not optional)
   

Oh, go ahead and tell people that it's your "secret family pumpkin pie recipe." It's that good.

Mash, Spook, and Scare Cookies

It's that time of year. Mashing, spooking, and scaring seems to be the norm. So, why not incorporate fright into a cookie ... a really yummy, marshmallowy, chocolaty cookie? Sounds like a deliciously spooky idea to me ;)

I must confess, yet again, that I have a small obsession with this stuff. I mean, there is no part of this corny, sugary product that isn't wonderful. So, in conclusion, I feel it to be a very necessary ingredient in practically everything ... and use it I shall!

Here is where the "mash" comes into play. Yeah, maybe it was a poor excuse to let some previously housed anger out of me, but that's better than killing my cat ... right? So, mash that captain crunch. Mash it like you mean it.

Then, off to the spooking and scaring. Don't you just love peeps? This company is wonderful. What could be better than holiday shaped marshmallows doused in sugar? Nothing. Well, maybe if they were covered in captain crunch ;)

As I cut the spooky-licious peeps, they seemed to scream in terror. Terror that I purely enjoyed ... knowing these were soon going to be in my body.

hehehehe....what else can I say about this? Also nothing.

I knew this would be a favorable dessert for all to enjoy. The elements reminded me of something. Something old and familiar....

My friends, this cookie is the wonderful and necessary reinvention of the s'more. With captain crunch as the graham cracker, white chocolate chips as the milk chocolate, and peeps as the marshmallows...this is a winner. So much of a winner that it deserves to sit above the s'more, which in fact, is exactly what it's doing.

Mash, Spook, and Scare Cookies

Items Needed:

• Devil's Food Cake Mix
• 1 stick softened butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups crushed captain crunch (leave it uncrushed for a more crunch)
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 7 peep ghosts (chopped up into little pieces)

1. Preheat the oven to 350* F.
2. Prepare baking sheets with cooking spray covered parchment-lined cookie sheets.
3. Combined cake mix, softened butter, and egg in an electric mixer.
4. Stir in crumbs, chips, and peeps.
5. Roll into two-inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 12 minutes.

Oh. PS. Have I told you that these are delicious. (Jared's seal of approval has also been placed on these delightful cookies)

Tower of Bark

I will start by recommending that you NOT make this recipe. Why, must you ask? Well, you won't be able to stop. You'll eat it all, or a very large portion of it because it's SO GOOD. Then, when you look at the clock and realize that it's 1:00am and you have to go to bed, your stomach won't like you either. I guess you could call it a lose lose situation. More calories than you want to know, and a bad case of eating to much. However, I liked every moment of it. With that, I will proceed.


This is actually one of those fun "no recipe" recipes. It's where you can be inventive by throwing a lot of crap together and coating it with chocolate. Using this method, there is little possibility for failure.


These were my personal ingredients of choice. All of my favorite things: Captain Crunch (which I sporadically picked up because it said that the red ghosts turn green when exposed to milk), pretzels, candy corn, and double stuffed holiday oreos (they are the best).

I have a confession to make. I have this fantasy of eating an entire package of double stuffed oreos and a bag of Cheetos curly cheese puffs. They might be my two favorite foods of all time. I mean look at those cookies. The filling to cookie ratio is perfect, spot on. It's not like those detestable non-double stuffed oreos. I mean, what were they thinking.

I'm going to tell you how I did this...and then at the end, I'm going to tell you how to do it right. Unfortunately, most of my bark fell apart, leaving a whole bowl of lost and lonely pieces of random cereal, oreos, and pretzels. This is where my "eating large quantities event" came into play. So listen, but don't repeat what I did.

I placed oreos on a wax paper lined jelly roll pan.

Next, I lined pretzels around the oreos.

Next I filled the entire pan with captain crunch. (Do you see those orange "ghosts"? They change to green in milk! What a clever cereal advertising tactic. Like I said before, it won me over)

It was very important to me to lined the WHOLE pan with captain crunch.

Next, I placed a HEFTY amount of candy corn and Indian corn on top of all of the other "crap," as I said before.

Next, I melted a hefty batch of white and milk chocolate wafers and drizzled it over the entire pan, hoping that it would seep down through the cracks and form everything together. Yeah... not so much.

But, I was still hopeful at this point. So I got out my really big sharp knife (hehehe) and cut the bark, which kind of exploded everywhere. Actually, I would probably do it the same way again just so I could have a bowl of leftover crap to munch on at 1am. Sounds like a success to me.

Here's the ACTUAL way that you should go about making this concoction.

Captain Corn Oreo Pretzel Bark

(aka "put a lot of crap in a jelly-roll pan and top it with massive amounts of chocolate" bark)

Items Needed:

Various Amounts of the following:

• Double Stuffed Halloween Oreos
• Mini Wafer-style pretzels
• Candy Corn and Indian Corn
• Captain Crunch
• Milk and White Chocolate Melting Wafers

Directions:

1. Cute each oreo into four pieces. I used about 16 oreos. Place them on a wax-paper lined jelly roll pan.
2. Toss a few pretzel wafers over the Oreos.
3. Lay on the captain crunch and candy corn.
4. MAKE SURE that you only have one layer. That is, that you can see everything that you have put in the pan. If not, the chocolate will not "seep" to the bottom (as I had wished). You will end up with lots of oreos, pretzels, and captain crunch without a marriage to the chocolate. You don't want to deprive them of their God-given right to be bonded to chocolate? I didn't think so.)
5. Melt white chocolate wafers in the microwave on 20 second intervals. Pour over all the goodies in the pan.
6. Repeat with the milk chocolate wafers. Cover with festive sprinkles.
7. Let it stand for about 1hour or until completely firm.
8. Using big sharp knife, cut into bark squares.
9. Share with friends and family. Or give it away in little bags as a Halloween treat! Yummy!
   

That might be the most wonderful tower I've ever seen. Delicious. The combination of all the flavors is magical!

These Might Just Be The Best Cookies You'll Ever Eat

mmmmhmmm. My friends, this is it. Do you recall the best cookie that you have ever sunk your teeth into? Well, I do, like it was just yesterday...practically it was. The perfect cookie has perfect elements: chewy, soft, packed full of goodness and delight, and there is always a secret ingredient. This, this cookie-wonderful-package-of-amazing, has it all.

Luckily, I had imprisoned a few innocent citizens and told them that they had to stay until they had tried one of these. The recipe said it was the best ever, but if I didn't have people agree with me...then were they really the best ever?

And, after about an hour, my oven let out a little ring and my kidnapp-ees had fresh, warm, and gooey chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven. Success. Actually, so much success that they wanted more...and more....and more! I think they liked them ;)


So I commissioned Jared Smith to help bake these cookies. (I really think he was only in it for the credit ;) But, he did everything to perfection, except scoop the cookies into perfect round shapes on the cookie sheet. After an angry look, I kindly took the scoop out of his hand and finished it myself.

I've never heard of a recipe with this much goodness it it. Do you see the amount of chocolate housed in one of these? After one of these cookies, your diet will fail. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

The dough, oh the dough...after those chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes...I really felt like it was my duty to eat this dough.

Roll them into nice little cookie balls on cookie sheets and bake.

Chewy Chocolate Chip & M&M Cookies

from Sugar Cooking

(Oh...she thinks that they are the best too...and that guy that took four after the potluck at church on Sunday...he said they were "for the road." Yeah, sure.)

Items Needed:

• 2 cups Bread Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 3/4 cup Melted Salted Butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 TBS. vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 TBS. milk
• 1 1/2 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup M&M's

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
3. In medium bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. Beat in vanilla, egg, egg yolk, and milk until light and creamy. Mix in sifted ingredients just until combined.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and M&Ms with a wooden spoon. Drop dough 1/4 cup at a time onto cookie sheets. Make cookies three inches apart.
5. Bake for 15-17 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

There are a few ways to go about eating these lovely morsels of heaven.

1. Piping hot out of the oven. A few volunteers (thats what I will call them, muuahaha) tried this and highly recommended it.
   

2. With a giant glass of milk (A favored way of eating cookies among some people) 3. Or, perfect if you feel like stacking them one on top of the other and seeing how many you can consume...then the glass of milk ;)

However you decide to devour these tasty huge wonderful lovely incredible packed-full of loving cookies, please eat responsibly.

Pumpkin-Kissed Cheesecake Brownies

This picture is a sweet sweet smell of a challenge. I was given an half-eaten bag of pumpkin spice Hershey kisses the other day by a sweet sweet friend of mine. She seemed to be in a panic. "I don't know what to do with these Lauren!" "I haven't been able to sleep at night because I know these would be so good in something, but I can't come up with anything. I need you!!!" Ok, so it really wasn't that epic, but it sure was exciting. Either way, I still had a daunting task before me. I needed to make something slightly heavenly out of these amazing little pumpkin flavored delights. Time to get to work.

First of all, I figured that nothing goes better with pumpkin...then pumpkin pie itself! Luckily my pantry was well-equipped for this little experimental shindig. My mind is still a'rollin.

Brownies! Of course! So, I whipped up a batch of homemade brownies. (Ok, I lie...I used a box) Then I found some cream cheese, made a little topping, and into the oven. I felt as if I was awaiting my death sentence or coronation. Not sure which yet.

And then, I decided that I should probably melt some of these pumpkin kisses and drizzle it on top of the brownies, if they actually decided to bake properly...still anxious at this point.

(Giggling inside) I can't say that I've ever experienced something quite like this in my entire life. It's the perfect combination of three desserts: pumpkin pie, brownies, and cheesecake. If I had words to describe how these make me feel inside, I would share them. But, I don't, so I can't help you. You might just have to try them out yourself ;)

Pumpkin-Kissed Cheesecake Brownies

Items Needed:

• One box Fudge brownies
• Oil, water, and eggs called for on the box
• 1 (8 ounce) package softened cream cheese
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup Libby's Pumpkin Pie Mix
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• About 30 Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Hershey Kisses

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F. Grease a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray.
2. Prepare brownies as directed on the package, spread evenly into prepared pan.
3. Combine softened cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy, about one minutes.
4. Add pumpkin pie mix, egg, and vanilla.
5. Pour cream cheese mixture over brownie batter and cut with knife to incorporate the two batters together, it may be a little difficult because they are two different thicknesses...stick with it...you can do it!)
6. Plop about 16 Hershey Kisses into the batter, pushing down slightly.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center is firm to the touch, do not over bake.
8. Let cool for one hour before cutting. Cut with a sharp knife, cleaning knife after every cut to obtain nice clean cut brownies.)
9. Next, melt about 15 Kisses for about 20 seconds intervals in the microwave. Drizzle over cooled and cut brownies.
10. Serve and be served compliments, that's usually how it works ;)
    
    

These went over like a giant hit. Look below, do you see that Hershey Kiss popping out. Oh-la-la.

The only thing that's left? A Miss Cupcake sticker! Now, they are ready!

Happy Birthday Miss Cupcake (Yes, There's Cake)

Ok, so I'm a minute or two late....but I don't care. Today is the one year anniversary of Miss Cupcake's beginning. I remember watching Julie & Julia just like it was yesterday. I'm amazed at how far this lovely little blog has come in a year. It is where I can share all of my feelings, excitements, and tidbits of knowledge...without anyone telling me to shut up. It's kind of ideal.

I never knew that this blog could do so much for me. I dream about new concoctions, think about seasonal flavors, and am captivated by photography...all in a year. Never would I thought that I would be having conversations about html coding, $900 cameras, and website design. This is my life now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, I figure that first I should give you an opportunity to read the first Miss Cupcake post, way back on October 2, 2009. The link is http://themisscupcake.blogspot.com/2009/10/miss-cupcake-project.html

Next, I figured that today be a day of celebration, invloving nothing other than what I do best, baking! (Which I will share eventually...that is all of the treats I made today) But I figured that I would first give you one of the most simple and most delicious things that I ever did make. Behold: Lauren's Ice Cream Cake. Desired among many, enjoyed by a few. (Actually, these are individual ice cream cakes fufilling a baking coupon of long ago. I should really put an expiration date on those ;)

And I'll start by stating this, everything is better with Oreos. Everything.

The first thing that one must do when striving to make this lovely cake(s) is mash up some oreos combined with melted butter and mash it into the bottom of 5 small plastic storage containers.

Next take some cookies and cream ice cream and smear it over the top of the oreo crust.

Pour some magic shell over top of the first layer of ice cream. (It really is magic)

Next, second layer of ice cream!

Top with cool whip (pronounced cool-hip in my family) and top with sprinkles of every kind.

Mmmmmhmmm. Layers of fat, calories, and a whollllle lot of Miss cupcake lovin. (Those are the best kind of layers by the way.)

Now of course, they are all labeled according to sprinkle. Brandon and Caleb get football, Kearstin gets cotton candy sprinkles, Danae gets fall sprinkles, and Steve got whatever I had left. (hehe, I hope he feels the lovin)

Lauren's Fabu-lash Ice Cream Cake

Items Needed:

• 25 Oreos (crushed like you mean it, with an iron mallet)
• 4 TBS melted butter
• 2 quarts softened ice cream of any kind (I used cookies and cream)
• 1 jar of chocolate fudge magic shell
• 1 small container of cool whip
• sprinkles of every kind
• 5 small containers (Or one big one for that matter)

Directions:

1. Combine crushed oreos and melted butter. Divide evenly among the containers, pressing down hard to ensure a nice even crust.
2. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes to harden up. (Meanwhile, begin to thaw ice cream so that is is spreadable)
3. Spread one quart of the ice cream over top of the crust. (Dividing evenly between all)
4. Next, drizzle the whole bottle of magic shell over the ice cream in each container.
5. Let freeze for 50-10 minutes.
6. Finish with remaining layer of ice cream, cool whip, and sprinkles.
7. Freeze 1 hour, serve, and smile.

The great thing about this little recipe? You can keep a few in your freezer at all time. Then, when you have an unexpected guest or two...ICE CREAM CAKE PARTY!

Oh, did I mention I made one for me too! Hey, it's my birthday celebration! I even made myself a little birthday card. I'm so good to me ;)

So, thank you for everything you have done for Miss Cupcake. Thank you for all of your orders, your love, your support, and the joy you give me for reading and commenting. I love you all!! I can't wait what year two will bring!