Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

Nothing quite says fall to me like Pumpkin Spice Lattes.  I'm a huge fan of pumpkin spiced anything so you can imagine how excited I get when coffee shops start serving my favourite fall treat. It's like fall in a cup, and the second that first taste touches your lips, you know the season is upon us.  This recipe incorporates everything I love about pumpkin lattes.  The rich flavour of pumpkin, paired with a creamy whipped icing and finished off with a sprinkle of the spice that brings it all together.   These are the perfect cupcake to make for the pumpkin/coffee lover in your life.  My husband, who's not a huge fan of icing (I know, right?!) loves taking a few un-iced cupcakes (so muffins, really) in his lunch kit for work.  I on the other hand like have mine fully iced with a steaming hot cup of coffee and indulge in it's sugary, pure pumpkin goodness.  Ingredients - 2 2/3 cup flour - 2 tsp baking soda - 2 tsp baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice - 1/4 tsp salt - 1 pkg (2 tsp) Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Via (or your favourite instant coffee) - 2 tbsp boiling water - 1 (15oz) can pumpkin puree - 1 cup granulated sugar - 1 cup brown sugar - 1 cup light olive oil - 4 large eggs - 1 batch of whipped buttercream icing Directions Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt.  In a small mug, dissolve instant coffee in boiling water. In a separate bowl add coffee, pumpkin puree, sugars, and olive oil, stirring to combine.  Beat in eggs one at a time until well incorporated.  Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients being careful not to over mix.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes (this helps relax the gluten in the dough).  Spoon mixture into 2 muffin tins lined with baking cups (I add about 2 heaping tablespoons to each cup).   Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back quickly when lightly pressed or a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool, then pipe icing onto them and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. Recipe makes 24 cupcakes. 
Enjoy!

Homemade Fruit Snacks

This recipe appeared in the Hinton Voice's February 7th Edition. 

[A common favourite for kids and adults alike, fruit snacks are one of those foods that you’ll likely find in most households at one time or another.  Making homemade fruit snacks is so unbelievably easy; as soon as you finish reading this recipe you’re going to wonder why you haven’t tried making them sooner.  When I first made these fruit snacks I was half expecting something sticky and slightly firmer than jello – instead I was pleasantly surprised that what I ended up with closely resembled store bought fruit snacks.  They are even better in fact because not only can you use healthier ingredients, the possible flavour combinations far surpass the usual five possibilities.  

I remember as a kid I almost always had fruit snacks in my lunch. I would tear into the package hoping the contents were mostly made up of the orange or grape varieties.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the yellow or green kinds, mostly due to their intense artificial flavours.  This worked out well for whichever friend I sat with for lunch that day, since most of my friends weren’t quite as picky as I was.  Needless to say with five or six fruit snacks in a package, my chances of having to share a couple were pretty high. 

Fast forward to present day and I’ve gotten a lot better at sharing (and less picky depending on who you ask).  I’m still not a huge fan of yellow or green fruit snacks because I still think they bear no resemblance to real fruit.   No problem though as now I can make all my favourite fruit snack flavours at home.  Since I already have the heart shaped cutter and all, I might even make some more wild raspberry ones next week as a Valentine’s Day treat for my special someone.]

Tip:  For homemade jello, use 1 package gelatin and 2 cups of your favorite fruit juice.  For sweeter jello, add up to 1/3 cup sugar.

Ingredients

- 1 (3 oz) package gelatin, any flavour

- 2 (.25 oz) envelopes of unflavoured gelatin

- 1/3 cup water or fruit juice

or

- 2-3 (.25 oz) envelopes of unflavoured gelatin (2 for soft, 3 for firm)

- 1/3 cup of your favourite fruit juice

  

Directions

Place water or juice in a small saucepan and sprinkle gelatin overtop – let sit for 2-3 minutes to soften gelatin.   Heat over medium heat and stir until gelatin is completely dissolve (about 3-5 minutes).  Pour into molds and allow to set for about a half hour.   You can speed up the setting process by placing your mold in the fridge. 

If you don’t have a mold, pour into a small (preferably ceramic or glass) pan and let set.  Once set, remove from pan and cut into shapes using a cookie cutter or sharp knife.

- Nutritional Info (1/2 recipe using fruit juice) -

Calories - 36   Fat - 0    Carbs – 7     Protein - 3   Fibre – 1

Enjoy!

Homemade Kahlua

Last year I made homemade Bailey's on Christmas Eve, and it was nothing short of awesome.  This weekend I set out to make a batch in preparation of the upcoming holidays, and ended up making a batch of Kahlua as well.  Here are the results:  Ingredients - 6 cups of your favourite coffee, brewed - 1 lb light brown sugar - 2 cups vodka - 4 tbsp vanilla extract Directions Combine freshly brewed coffee with brown sugar and stir until completely dissolved.  Transfer to a medium saucepan set to medium heat.  Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes.  Cool the mixture completely, then add vanilla extract and vodka. 
Enjoy!   Recipe makes 6 cups (1.5 L).

Homemade Oreos

You all remember my best friend Heather (she shared with us her famous recipe for honey bran muffins earlier in the year).  Well back when we were teenagers and our girl's nights were in the form of sleepovers at each other's houses, you could always count on two things: lots and LOTS of girl talk, and way too much junk food.  Oreos were always Heather's favourite - it got to the point where my Mom would always have a family sized package tucked away specifically for her visits!  Nowadays, I try to steer clear of store bought junk food, but I still have a soft spot for Oreos.  Needless to say, this recipe has been in the back of my mind for awhile now.
It was only natural that at a girl's night at Heather's place, she and I would try making these together.  It was a bit of a frankenstein recipe since we ran out of cocoa powder, but with Heather's quick thinking we subbed some bakers squares for cocoa powder.  We were really happy with how it turned out and I know I'll be making these more in the future. 
These cookies keep for up to a week if stored in an airtight container.  They also freeze real well and taste awesome while still frozen!   Ingredients - 1 cup sugar - 2/3 cup butter - 1 egg - 2 squares semi sweet bakers chocolate - 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour - 1/4 cup cocoa powder - 1 tsp baking soda

Cream filling: - 1/4 cup butter - 1/4 cup vegetable shortening - 2 cups icing sugar - 1/2 tsp vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp cream
Directions
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar, and then add egg. Melt chocolate and add to wet ingredients - stir until smooth. 
  In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients, and then add to bowl and mix until well incorporated.  Roll cookies into a ball  (I used 1 tbsp for the bigger cookies, and 1 tsp for the smaller cookies - the smaller cookies are closer to the size of an actual Oreo cookie).  
Place the ball of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten the cookies with your hand. Cold hands really help, but if the dough starts sticking - dust your hands slightly with flour.   Bake in pre-heated oven for 9 minutes.  At the 4 1/2 minute mark, I like to spin the cookie sheet around so that all of the cookies bake evenly.
For cream filling: 
Combine all ingredients and whip until smooth.  Add approx 1 tbsp cream filling for a large cookie, and 1 tsp for a small cookie (the same size as you made the balls of dough).  Roll the cream filling into a ball, and carefully squish it between two cookies.  
Enjoy!

Homemade Strawberry Pop-Tarts

I have had homemade Pop-Tarts in the back of my mind for awhile now.  They ended up happening randomly when I found myself with leftover pie crust and strawberry filling.  I sold these at the farmer's market this week and they were a huge hit!  I will be making them again for the next market for sure.


I wasn't planning on posting them so soon, but since so many people were asking me for the recipe, I couldn't make you guys wait!  :)  I'll be sure to post more photo's of the process when I make them again later in the week.

Ingredients
- 1 pie crust (I use 1/2 the dough from this recipe)
- 1/2 cup strawberry filling or strawberry jam (or your favourite flavour)
- 1 tbsp sprinkles

For Icing
- 1 cup icing sugar
- 1-2 tsp milk

Directions

Roll pie crust dough on a flat surface.  Cut out a rectangle from the dough (for regular Pop-Tart size you need to cut it to about 5"x 3").  I used the base of a medium sized Lock & Lock container (think Tupperware) as my cutter.

Place 1-2 tbsp of filling on the bottom crust, leaving approx a cm around the edges for easy sealing. 

Place top crust on bottom crust and crimp edges with a fork. 

Bake in 375 degree oven for approx 20 minutes, or until golden brown. 

While cooling, mix ingredients for icing together.  You want the icing to be fluid, but not runny. 

Once Pop-Tart's have cooled, add icing to taste and sprinkles right away (icing will harden upon standing so if not done right away sprinkles won't stick). 

Enjoy! 

Dragon's Den Inspired: Holy Crap & Skinny B Breakfast Cereal Recipe

I've been watching Dragon Den ever since it first started airing on CBC.    I'm always intrigued by the different pitchers on the show, and find it extremely entertaining.  I think it's safe to say that the pitch for "Holy Crap" cereal was one of the most successful, if not the most successful Dragon's Den stories to date.  

Always a fan of trying new things (especially healthy new things) I eagerly bought the cereal as soon as I saw it in my local grocery store. The first time  I tried the cereal I was hooked.  It's full of powerful and healthy ingredients and incredibly great for your digestive health.  I have heard numerous testimonials from people who claim it has worked miracles for them, and proclamations of how much energy they have after eating it.  Even still, $9.99 for a small 225g bag didn't really feel like I was getting my money's worth.   

I scanned the ingredients on the package and realized that most of them could actually already be found in my cupboard.  I stopped at the health food store in Jasper yesterday and picked up the few remaining ingredients... the entire recipe cost me around $20 locally (slash that price in half if purchased from bulk stores) and yields 5 cups (which is over 4 times the amount you get in a package of Holy Crap). 

I suspect the recipe isn't exact as mine comes out 30 calories less than the original - but I think they look/taste the exact same, and lower calories is a good thing, right? 

I'm really looking forward to trying different flavours - I've already made a pina colada inspired one (recipe below) to sprinkle on my yogurt this morning.  :) 

Ingredients

Base Formula ("Skinny B")
- 1.75 cup chia seeds
- 1.25 cup buckwheat
- 1.5 cup hemp hearts

Cran-Apple Cinnamon ("Holy Crap")
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup dried apples
- 1 tsp cinnamon

Pina Colada (my version)
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes (I prefer unsweetened)
- 1/3 cup banana chips, crushed
- 1/4 cup dehydrated pineapples

Directions

Combine ingredients and store in an airtight container (such as a mason jar).

For cereal:  combine 2 tbsp cereal with 4 tbsp milk of choice (I like almond milk).  Stir gently and let sit for 5 minutes.

Both are also quite delicious sprinkled in yogurt.

Enjoy!

Can you tell the difference? ;)

- Nutritional Info Base Formula (2 tbsp - 28 g) - 

Calories - 92   Fat - 5    Carbs - 8     Protein - 4    Fibre - 4

- Nutritional Info Cran-Apple Cinnamon (2 tbsp - 28 g) - 

Calories - 101   Fat - 5    Carbs - 10     Protein - 4    Fibre - 5

Homemade Cheese "Goldfish" Crackers

This recipe marks my second newspaper feature with The Hinton Voice.  You can view past newspaper features here.

A big thanks to my friend Ashlee for letting me use her Canon to take these photo's (I may or may not have bribed her with a fresh batch of goldfish crackers). I am currently in the research phase of purchasing a new camera, and it's great being able to test drive a few models before making my decision.  Thanks again Ashlee!  :)

[You're in luck!  You get a two-for the price of one deal today!  Not only will you be able to make delicious cheese crackers, you will also be able to make simple homemade cookie cutters.

The cutters are incredibly easy and inexpensive - simply cut a clean pop can into strips and bend into the shape of your choosing (be wary of sharp edges).  I used a small piece of clear tape to seal the edges and hold the cutter in place. 

I've always wanted to make homemade crackers, but I've always been a little intimidated by the thought.  It seemed like a tedious, daunting task that only Martha Stewart would have time for.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  These cheese crackers are so simple - the dough only takes a few minutes to prepare.  This is the perfect rainy day activity to embark on with the children in your life.  I'll be babysitting my friend's daughter this weekend and I know that this recipe is going to be on our agenda.

This recipe makes quite a few crackers  - I managed to make more than 350 with my most recent batch.  I wouldn't recommend halving the recipe - just because they get eaten very quickly!  I've made these crackers several times now and not a single batch has made it to see a second day.]

Ingredients
- 8 oz (weighed) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 cup flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 tsp salt (optional
- 4 tbsp cold butter, in small pieces
- 2 tbsp ice cold water

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Place cheese, flour, and salt in food processor and pulse until combined.  Add butter and pusle until blended.  Add ice-cold water and pusle for a few seconds until a ball forms.  Chill dough in fridge for 15 minutes.

Place chilled dough on a lightly floured surface and roll to 1/8 inch thick. The dough must be thin, but don't worry, it will puff out nicely just like the store-bought variety.

Cut dough with a homemade goldfish cutter, or your favourite cookie cutter.  Icing tips also work quite well.

Place shapes on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes.  They are ready when the bottoms are light golden brown.

Enjoy! 

- Nutritional Info (per 10 crackers) -

Calories - 49   Fat - 4    Carbs - 2     Protein - 2    Fibre - 0

Homemade "Bailey's" Irish Cream Liqueur

Being as how this Sunday's post happens to fall on Christmas,  I would like to take a minute to say Merry Christmas to everyone!  Due to the holiday I wanted to make today's post extra special, and what better way than with everybody's favourite holiday liqueur? 


Always a fan of Bailey's in my coffee, I decided to experiment with different ingredients trying to come up with the unique flavour that Bailey's offers.  This is a rich, creamy drink that will likely not last very long in your house!  I made a few batches of this last night (Christmas Eve), and bottled some up to share with friends and family today.  My husband and I enjoyed our "Bailey's" on the rocks last night, and plan on trying it this morning with our coffee!  This recipe is so easy and economical, I doubt we will ever buy store bought Bailey's again!

Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1-14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 2/3 cups Irish Whiskey (I used Jameson).
- 2 tsp Starbucks Via Caramel (or 1 tsp of your favourite instant coffee, but via works really great)
- 2 tbsp chocolate syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract (seems weird, but it works!)

Note - If you like flavoured Bailey's, simple add some homemade caramel, or a drop or two of mint oil.

Directions

Combine all ingredients (except for cream) in a blender and blend on low for 30 seconds.  Add cream and blend on low for an additional 30 seconds.  I have a hole in the top of my blender, so I was able to add the cream slowly while blending.  If you are able to do this great, if not, add the cream in three small batches.  While you want to make sure that the ingredients are well blended, be sure not to over whip.

Bottle in a tightly sealed glass container (a 1 L mason jar fits the batch perfectly!) and store in the fridge.  Shake well before using.  Will keep for up to 2 months.

Enjoy!

- Nutritional Info (per oz) -

Calories - 100   Fat - 4    Carbs - 10     Protein - 1    Fibre - 0

Milk Bones

With the Christmas season fast approaching, my friend Holly I have been busy making homemade gifts for our friends and family (see prior posts Strawberry Jam & Oreo Pops).  We didn't want to leave out our furry friends, so we decided to try making homemade Milk Bones. We thought they turned out looking pretty authentic (thank-you dog bone shaped cookie cutters!), but the true test was in what our dogs would think of them.  They ate them right up and pleaded for more afterwards. Success!

Ingredients

- 1 cup broth (beef, chicken, or veggie)
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1/2 cup powdered milk
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 cups whole wheat flour

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Heat broth in the microwave (about 40 seconds, or until hot enough to melt butter).  Pour broth over butter and stir until melted.

Stir in powdered milk, and beaten egg.

Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time.

Roll on floured surface to 1/2 inch thickness (if the dough is too thin, the Milk Bones will burn).

Cut into bone shapes using a cookie cutter, and place on lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 50 minutes.  

Cool for about 20 minutes.  Milk Bones will harden upon cooling.

Makes just over a pound.

Enjoy!  ;)

Our "official" taste testers Raya & Milton.

 Milton is a rock star when it comes to balancing treats on his nose! 

This picture came from our Twitter invitation to Holly & Milton to come make dog treats:

Homemade Big Mac with Special Sauce

While not a huge fan of McDonald's, I do like their Big Macs.  I thought I would try to make a homemade version of the popular hamburger and was pleased with the results.  It tasted exactly like the real thing. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs lean hamburger
• 6 sesame seed buns + 6 extra bottoms
• 6 slices cheddar cheese
• 1/4 head of iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 white onion
• 2-3 dill pickles

Special Sauce

• 1/2 cup real mayo
• 1/2 cup Miracle Whip
• 1/3 cup sweet relish
• 1/4 cup french dressing
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp diced onions

Directions

You are going to want to make your sauce first and allow it to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.   Simply combine all of the sauce ingredients together.

Next, prepare your toppings as these hamburgers patty's are so small, they cool very quickly so quick assembly is key.

Dice the onion into very small cubes.

Next, chop your lettuce very fine

Slice your pickles & cheddar cheese and set aside.

As you know, the Big Mac has an extra bun in the middle.  To achieve this at home, thinly slice the bottom layer of a bottom portion of bun.

To achieve the fast food hamburger patty, weigh the meat into 2 oz balls.  Form into a very thin patty.  The patty's will shrink quite a bit, so the thinner, the better (I stack my patty's on a plate using wax paper to seperate them so they don't stick).

Cook the hamburgers in a frying pan over medium heat for 1 minute per side, or until juices bubble to the top like the picture below:

Now doesn't that look just like a fast food patty?  :)

Next, assemble your Big Mac.

 The Assembly of a Big Mac:

- bottom bun

- 1-2 tbsp special sauce

- 1 tbsp onions

- sprinkle of lettuce

- slice of cheddar cheese

- one burger patty

- middle bun

- 1-2 tbsp special sauce

- 1 tbsp onions

- 2-3 slices of pickles

- sprinkle of lettuce

- one burger patty

- top bun

Enjoy! 

Nutritional Info

Big Mac (no sauce)

Calories - 500   Fat - 19    Carbs - 44     Protein - 34     Iron - 29    Fibre - 2

Sauce only (per tbsp)

Calories - 49   Fat - 5    Carbs - 2    Protein - 0     Iron - 0    Fibre - 0