Mini Triple-Treat Cupcakes: Happy Halloween!

Aren't these fun? I thought you might like to try them if you're having a Halloween party. Cathy at Noble Pig posted them and I believe the recipe is from Everyday Food. I used half Reese's and half Hershey's dark chocolate Bliss bars. (as I prefer dark chocolate with a pb cookie.) But as you can see, Reese's works better 'cause you can push it deeper into the batter. (But the Bliss was sheer bliss!)

Mini Triple-Treat Cupcakes
From Everyday Food and Noble Pig

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/2 cup peanut butter

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

48 miniature chocolate peanut butter cups, such as Reese's (or anything else you'd like to try)

48 pieces of candy corn or M & M's, for decorating

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F, with racks in upper and lower thirds.  Line two 24-cup mini muffin pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together peanut butter, butter and brown sugar on high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in egg and egg yolk, scraping down bowl as needed.  With mixer on low, beat in flour mixture, buttermilk and vanilla until combined.

With the large end of a melon baller or a spoon, place 2 teaspoons batter into each muffin cup, then press a peanut-butter candy into each center until batter aligns with top edge of candy.  Bake until puffed and set, about 10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.

Immediately place a piece of candy corn on top of each cupcake; let cool completely in pans on wire racks.  

And here's my Garden Club Halloween Table. I've already posted Monique's Little Acorns and will post the other three recipes soon. (I think the witch must have gotten into some hard cider. :) )

Chilled Wild Blueberry Soup

When I was younger, we used to pick wild huckleberries while anchored in the Georgian Bay area of Canada. We'd all return with purple mouths, hands and tongues, but with enough berries left in our containers so my mother could make the world's most heavenly huckleberry pie.

I've heard many an argument about wild blueberries versus wild huckleberries. Do you know the difference?

They come from the same family but are a very different berry. Wild Huckleberries only grow in the wild but wild blueberries often are harvested commercially on farms. (You can even buy them frozen in your market.) The wild blueberry is smaller than a regular blueberry and has many soft, tiny almost unnoticeable seeds, while the huckleberry has larger seeds so they are slightly grittier when eaten. Blueberries are also more blue, while huckleberries are blackish blue or reddish black. Huckleberries have a much more vibrant and robust flavor than blueberries. They're sweeter too. Also, wild blueberries are have a slightly more earthy taste than you might expect.

Now that I live in Florida, my days of fresh-picked huckleberries are just a memory. But because of those memories, I should have guessed how much I'd like this nearly savory soup made from wild blueberries. It's a thicker fruit soup than I'm used to, but you could add more cream to thin it out if you prefer. A beautiful summery first course, you could also pass it around in little glass mugs.

Chilled Wild Blueberry Soup
By Rowan Jacobsen from Fine Cooking Magazine

Ingredients:
8 cups frozen wild blueberries (from one 3-lb. bag), or fresh if available 
1/2 cup dry white wine 
1/2 cup heavy cream 
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh mint leaves; more for garnish 
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest (from 1/2 medium lemon)  
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom 
Kosher salt 
Sour cream or crème fraîche

Method:
Heat the blueberries and wine in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the blueberries are thawed, about 5 minutes (if using fresh blueberries, bring the mixture to a simmer). Stir in the heavy cream, mint, lemon zest, cardamom, and 3/4 tsp. salt.
Working in batches, purée the blueberry mixture in a blender or food processor until smooth. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve into a storage container. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, about 4 hours.

To serve, whisk vigorously to loosen the soup (chilling thickens it and you can add more cream at this point if you wish.). Season to taste with more salt. Ladle the soup into serving bowls and garnish with a dollop of sour cream or crème fraîche and a single mint leaf.  Makes about 5 cups.

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After glancing through my drafts folder, I noticed lots of odds and ends I've never gotten around to posting. Rather than deleting them I thought I'd start a little side blog and get them posted as there are several good ideas and recipes among the discarded drafts. You'll notice some wooden cooking utensils on the sidebar. That's the new blog, if you have time to take a look.

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Have a wonderful 4th of July!
Happy Birthday, America!

Happy Father's Day

I remember everything......

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Easter!

I'd also like to wish a Happy Passover to all my Jewish friends and readers!  

PLEASE  CHECK  OUT  MY  MOTHER'S  DAY  GIVEAWAY HERE! (Winners announced Monday, April 25.)

Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting and the Giveaway Winner

Well, it's not green, it's not corned beef and cabbage, it's not Irish soda bread but when I saw this in Donna Hay a while back the only thought I had was: gotta make this for St. Patrick's Day! You chocolate/peanut butter lovers are going to love this cake! Kind of tastes like Reese's in cake form WITH stout, do you believe? And the texture is heavenly. I love the idea that it's in loaf form too. Now I'm doing this just for you for St. Paddy's Day because I am NOT a chocolate with peanut butter lover. Of course, I'll not have any problem passing this cake around to friends!  


Chocolate Stout Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

Donna Hay magazine, 50th Birthday issue

Ingredients:
1 cup stout beer
225 grams butter, chopped
3/4 cup cocoa, sifted
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream
2 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups superfine sugar


Frosting:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
80 grams butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup coffee cream

Method:
Preheat oven to 325 F. Place stout and butter in a saucepan over medium heat and stir to dissolve butter. Remove from heat, whisk in the cocoa and set aside.

Mix together the flour, baking soda and sugar.
Whisk together the eggs and sour cream and add to the stout along with the flour mixture. Whisk to combine. Pour into a lightly greased loaf pan 21 by 10 by 7 cm lined with parchment paper. Bake for one hour and 20 minutes or until a cake skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out on a rack to cool completely.
For the frosting:
Place all the ingredients except the cream into an electric mixer and beat for 6  minutes or until light and fluffy. (It didn't take 6 minutes) 

Beat in the cream until smooth. Frost the cake. Serves 6-8

May your blessings outnumber
The shamrocks that grow,
And may trouble avoid you
Wherever you go.

Sláinte!

I am joining the Third Annual St. Patrick's Day Blog Crawl March 15th at Kathleen's. Check in with her on Tuesday to link up!

And now for the giveaway winner:  Congratulations, Velva from Tomatoes on the Vine! 

You've won Gabrielle Hamilton's book. Please email me at bsmithw@gmail.com with your mailing address so I can get your book in the mail ASAP!   

A Valentine's Day Mini Meme

Happy Valentine's Day!



Have fun with this mini meme!


Do you remember your first kiss?
1. Who gave it to you?
2. How old were you?
3. Where did it happen?

Happy New Year, Everyone!

Merry Christmas, Dear Friends!

We have so much to be thankful for...I wish each and every one of you a most....

Just Awesome: A Random Act of Culture

A few weeks ago, shoppers at the Macy's in Philadelphia (the old Wanamaker building) were surprised when over 600 choristers who were there mingling with regular shoppers suddenly burst into Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. It was truly amazing.

The Opera Company of Philadelphia was instrumental in bringing it together to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "1000 Random Acts of Culture" which they'll be doing over the next three years across the country. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the singers burst into song at exactly noon.


Please take the time to watch.....

A Giveaway!

There's a lot to celebrate in October!

First  I want to wish all of you a fun and scary Halloween!

Second, I have been blogging two years this month. It went by in flash, didn't it?  So fast, I even forgot to celebrate my first year blogging last year! So to celebrate this blogoversay, I'm going to have a giveaway. Four fabulous cookbooks for four fabulous readers!

Drum roll, please....

How about that? Isn't this a super giveaway? Maida Heatter....Rose Levy Beranbaum.....Nigella.....and Dorie!

To win one of these lovely cookbooks, just leave a comment letting me know which cookbook is one you've always wanted and if you become a follower, you'll get two entries! (Please leave a separate comment for each.) And make certain I have your email address.
Have a lovely holiday week. I'll announce the winners on November 5th.

Happy Easter! 

Christmas Collections

It's Christmas week so I thought it would be fun to show you some of our ornaments, collections and decorations. My camera is old... excuse the poor photos. 
Santa Baby, can I please have a new camera? Been an awful good girl....

We live in Florida, love all things pertaining to the ocean, so our tree has a lot of sea-related ornaments. Such fun. We try to add to it each year.
I have collected Santas of all kinds since I was a child and several of the red ones pictured here belonged to my mother. Mixed in with both the red and blue Santas are Schaller's gift givers, now distributed by Radko. Each one opens up and there is room inside to place a very small gift. For those of you who would like to know more about gift givers, HERE is their fascinating history.

I made the Santa on the right many years ago. Looks like he's had too much punch! That's a Radko on the left; he's actually a pull toy, if anyone dared!

The blue Santas are all Schaller/Radko Gift Givers. The red ones are a mixture of Gift Givers, antiques, a nutcracker and even a little Santa Limoges.

The bowl on the left contains my mother's old ornaments; you can still see the flocking on them. The tree on the right was made by an elderly woman for my mother...back in the 50's and she got her ornaments from HER mother, who was a miniature collector. I have a pair. I treasure them and continue to be impressed with her patience to work with such tiny ornaments. They stand about 12 inches high.

My daughter brought me the adorable snowlady a couple years ago. I love her. And I made four of the needlepoint stockings. Can you tell which ones?

My sister made the Santa on the left. Isn't she talented? The tree on the right is a Radko tree. Many years ago, the Radko people offered a new ornament every month and if you bought all twelve, you got the tree and the topper. If you look carefully you can see each month; back to school is on the lower left.....you can see books hanging from an old schoolhouse. It depicts September of course. Difficult to see in a photo, but it is fun to look at.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!
"Tis the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial fire of charity in the heart"

Washington Irving

Happy Hanukkah!
… and May This Festival of Lights bring Blessings upon you and All Your Loved Ones for Happiness, for Health, and for Spiritual and Material Wealth, and May the Lights of Chanukah Usher in the Light of Moshiach and a Better World for All of Humankind.
Hanukkah blessing

To all my dear readers, I wish you a most....