Baking Junkie

November, 2010

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Pudding Shots

It’s Christmas time, which inevitably means Christmas parties right? I am telling you right now, if you are hosting (or attending) a Christmas party this year you MUST serve (or bring) these pudding shots! I don’t often demand things of you (just my husband), so you know these have to be fabulous!

Everyone is familiar with jello shots, but I don’t really care for jello so they aren’t my favorite. THESE, however, are my favorite! I got the recipe from a friend, who got the recipe from her neighbor. These are not only easy to make, but the pudding and alcohol flavors can be easily substituted. We most commonly make these with chocolate, and I recommend using plain chocolate pudding instead of devil’s food. Recently we also used cheesecake pudding with cherry vodka (in place of the Baileys), and the highlight of our recent party was butterscotch pudding with butterscotch schnapps (pictured above). There are so many possibilities! If you make these with different flavor combinations I’d love to hear about them. Enjoy!

Pudding Shots
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1 box instant pudding (3.4 oz)
¾ cup milk
¼ cup vodka
½ cup Baileys Irish Cream
8 oz cool whip, room temperature

Mix together pudding and milk, then add remaining ingredients. Pour into dixie cups or disposable shot glasses, filling ⅔ to ¾ full. Refrigerate at least one hour to set.

Tags: Alcohol, No Bake, Pudding

Posted in Misc. | 11 Comments »

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Caramel Corn

Recipe from Old Dutch

Did you all have a great Thanksgiving? Are you completely stuffed, or ready to start eating holiday baked goods??

I feel the need to warn you.

I am a bit of a Christmas freak. I love it. LOVE!

I look forward to this season all year long.

I have two Christmas trees, which are both lit and decorated, and have presents wrapped underneath. I am already done shopping. We’ve been listening to Christmas music for a few weeks already.

And my holiday baking is in full swing!

Normally I spend one weekend every December doing all of my baking. This year that didn’t seem as feasible with the blog, so I will be baking up a storm every weekend for three weeks! I look forward to holiday baking every year and have had my list planned out for months. I have so many recipes that I can’t wait to share with you guys!

This caramel corn was actually given to us as a gift a few years ago, and Derek and I found ourselves fighting over it! It’s one of those completely addicting snacks that is hard to stop eating once you start (consider this your warning). I was so excited when I found out that the recipe is listed on the back of the bag of Puffcorn! I have been making this for the past two years and I usually make at least three batches every season. I realize that Old Dutch products are located mainly in the Midwest, but any puffcorn product would work fine. I have never tried this with popcorn, but I’m sure the same recipe would work. This picture was of my initial batch a few weeks ago, but I just made more tonight and added cinnamon (YUM)! Enjoy!

Caramel Corn
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1 bag Old Dutch Puffcorn
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (not margarine)
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
⅔ cup light corn syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a 2 quart saucepan combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup over medium heat until melted, then add baking soda. If desired add cinnamon at this point.

Pour puffcorn into large roaster. Pour caramel mixture over puffcorn and stir until well mixed. Place in oven. Remove every 10 minutes to stir. Total baking time will be 45-50 minutes. When finished immediately pour caramel corn onto wax paper to cool.

Tags: Caramel

Posted in Appetizers | 5 Comments »

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

In case you need some last minute Thanksgiving desserts…

Here is a recap of my pumpkin recipes from this season. I have never baked with pumpkin so much in my life, but I still have a stack of recipes that will have to wait until next year. If you are a last minute person and still need some dessert ideas I highly recommend the pumpkin cheesecake (my dessert last year), pumpkin cookies (my dessert this year) and the pumpkin blondies.

The pumpkin dip makes a perfect appetizer, while the pumpkin bread and pumpkin apple streusel muffins would be great for breakfast on Friday (you’ll need to grab something quick on the way out shopping, right?)!

I truly wish you all safe travels and a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with great company and great FOOD!

Tags: Fall recipes, Pumpkin

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

Caramel Apple Trifle

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Trifles just may be my new favorite dessert. There’s always some form of cake which is a plus in my book. There’s also always some sort of pudding or cool whip mixture, which also ranks really high with me. Throw in some other related ingredients and you’ve got one heck of a dessert. I have been dying to make this recipe since last Fall but just never got around to it. We all know how much I love any kind of caramel and apple combination so needless to say I loved this! The original recipe called for a pound cake, and if you really like it or are pressed for time it would work well, but I made my own yellow cake. I think a spice cake would also be delicious. The apples have an amazing aroma, and the cream cheese caramel layer is surprisingly very tasty. I am posting the recipe as I made it, but next time I might make more of that layer. Or maybe I just need to get a smaller trifle bowl! This was one of those desserts where I really had a hard time stopping myself once I started eating. Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Trifle
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1 box yellow cake mix
Ingredients on box + 1 additional egg
3 Tbsp butter
4 cups peeled, chopped apples (3-4 large apples)
½ cup brown sugar
1 tsp apple pie spice, divided
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 jar (12 ¼ oz) caramel ice cream topping, divided
12 oz cool whip, room temperature, divided
Cinnamon

Make cake according to directions on box. Set aside and let cool, then cut into cubes. In a large skillet melt butter over medium heat. Stir in apples, brown sugar, and ½ tsp of apple pie spice. Cook 8-10 minutes, stirring frequently, until apples are tender. In a medium sized bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth. Mix in ½ cup of the caramel topping and remaining ½ tsp of apple pie spice. Fold in 2 cups of the cool whip.

In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish layer half of the cake cubes. Spread cream cheese mixture over the cake, then top that with the apples. Repeat once more with layers of cake, cream cheese, and apples. Top with remaining cool whip. Sprinkle with cinnamon and drizzle with caramel if desired.

Here’s a recap of my other caramel apple recipes, in case you love them as much as I do!

Dutch Apple Cheesecake

Graham Cracker Caramel Apple Cookies

Caramel Apple Bars

Tags: Apple, Cake, Caramel, Cinnamon, Fall recipes

Posted in Trifles | 4 Comments »

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

Pumpkin Cheesecake

With Thanksgiving just a few days a way I thought I would give you a few last minute dessert ideas this week. This was actually my dessert contribution last year. I first made this for an annual get together that we have with friends just before Thanksgiving every year and it was a huge hit! I was combing the internet and my cookbooks for the perfect pumpkin cheesecake recipe last year, and I ended up just combing a few into this one. It uses my basic cheesecake recipe, plus just a few extra ingredients. This is easily one of the best cheesecakes I make! I usually use about 3/4 of a can of pumpkin because I don’t want it to be too overpowering, and personally I think it is just right. If you want a really strong pumpkin flavor go ahead and use the entire can. I hope this makes it to a few dinner tables on Thursday. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cheesecake
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Crust:
1 3/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter (melted)
1/2 cup sugar

Filling:
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 large eggs
¾ of a 15 oz can of pumpkin (more or less to taste)
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine graham cracker crumbs and sugar, then add melted butter, mixing with a fork. Press into bottom and slightly up sides of a 9 inch springform pan and place in oven for 5 minutes. In a medium sized bowl beat together cream cheese and sugars. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add pumpkin, then cinnamon, ground nutmeg and cloves. Be sure to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally to make sure all of the ingredients get fully incorporated. Pour mixture into graham cracker crust. Place springform pan on rimmed baking sheet and place in the middle rack of the oven. Bake for approximately 60 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes at room temperature, then place in refrigerator for several hours to cool fully before serving.

Tags: Cheesecake, Cinnamon, Fall recipes

Posted in Cheesecake | 4 Comments »