Peanut Butter Bridal Shower Cake

Halloween is a week away and I don't have a costume. Over the last few years I've waited until the last moment to decide what to be. Unfortunately, by that point, the stores are closed and I'm stuck digging through my closet trying to pull something together. It isn't until say....November...that I come up with a great costume idea. But of course, I never write it down.

It wasn't until today, while I was ringing up groceries at Hannaford, that I realized why I'm always so anti-Halloween. 

I'm bitter. Not only am I not allowed to go door to door for free chocolate and candy, I no longer get to host super-cool Halloween parties like I did when I was little. My parents were awesome. My dad built a haunted house and we made a life-sized Frankenstein for it. My dad also made a life-sized (super scary!) witch out of wood and fabric that's even scared him when he wasn't prepared. My mom would make green milk and a tombstone cake with a bloody hand coming out of it. We'd wrap each other up with toilet paper to make mummies, and would bob for apples. And I could never forget the goodie bags. My mom would buy so many treats and toys from Oriental Trading Company that I'm pretty sure you can still find the pumpkin erasers and spider rings hiding around our house. They're such great memories that it's hard for me to think of Halloween differently. It's that whole growing-up thing...

Anyway...that's my story, and now I just have to suck it up and have some grown up fun.

Speaking of grown up, I was asked to make a cake for a bachelorette party last weekend. This cake was a peanut butter cake with chocolate frosting. I used Paula Dean's PB cake recipe, following some of the commenter's directions and adding more peanut butter, 1/4 cup butter, and no shortening (blah! shortening....). For the frosting I tried a new chocolate frosting recipe, and used Ghiradelli cocoa. I'm still amazed at how cocoa brands have such an impact on the taste of the final product. Finally, for the decorative icing, I used Wilton's chocolate buttercream recipe, again, using butter instead of shortening.

I added peanut butter as a surprise to the middle layer, followed by the new chocolate frosting. The flowers were made out of fondant. If you're looking for a rich cake and a quick sugar high then this is definitely the right cake. 

Laser Tag, Great People, and Cake

I'm not 30, but my friend is. A few weekends ago we celebrated his birthday in great fashion: an afternoon at Pizza Putt.

I practically grew up at Pizza Putt. We'd go there on Saturdays, had birthday parties there, and heck, I even got kicked out during my senior year (don't ask)! Back then there was was an 18-hole mini putting course, a batting cage, and a tiny arcade. Boy, has it changed!

Although all of us were between 24 and 30 years old, that didn't keep us away from all of the arcade games (and the prizes that came along with them), laser tag, and the bumper cars. 

We celebrated as teenagers at Pizza Putt, and went back to Matt's house to enjoy a pot-luck dinner and to  celebrate in a more "adult" fashion. Of course, no birthday party would be complete without a cake. 

This cake captures Matt in many ways: the guns, the Boston cap for the Red Sox, his awesome beard, and an NYC shirt in celebration of the NYC marathon he's running in November. The cake was a carrot cake with a cream cheese frosting. 

It was a great night, with great people, great food, and a lot of fun!

A Taste of Fall: Pumpkin Spiced Cookies

Why do I love fall? To start, I love the trail running. Nothing better than the smell of running through a forest, flying down a hill, and hearing the crinkle of leaves underneath my footsteps.

Oh yes, and leaves. They turn quite beautiful around this time of the year. 

And when all of those leaves are put together, we get this:

Or better yet, this:

After the apple picking and cider donut eating, we get the pumpkins.

And with pumpkins, we get.....

Pumpkin Spiced Cookies

Last year I fell in love with my pumpkin cookies, but I wanted something new this year. Something with chocolate. My search led me to a blog with fantastic looking pumpkin cookies. I warn you, mine didn't come anywhere close to as cute as these.

Cookies
Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 teaspoon paprika

2 all purpose flour

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Cream the butter with an electric mixer. Add the sugar and mix until creamy and fluffy, then add the pumpkin, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt, turmeric, and paprika. Mix the ingredients until smooth. Finally, slowly add the cups of flour to the batter until the batter is firm.
3. Flour a smooth working surface, as well as your rolling pin. Roll the dough about 1/4 thick, and then cut with cookie cutters. If you don't have any (like me), the top of a wine glass works excellent!
4. Place onto parchment-covered baking sheet and bake 9-12 minutes. The edges should be lightly brown, but be careful not to burn the cookies. Cool on a wire cooking rack before frosting

Chocolate Filling

1 cup Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 tablespoons milk

1. While the cookies are baking, add ingredients to a microwave bowl and cook them in the microwave for one minute on medium power. 
2. Remove the bowl from the microwave, stir, and then place back in the microwave for 30 seconds on medium power. Repeat this process until the mixture is smooth. Be careful not to burn the chocolate.

Frosting the Cookies

1. After the cookies and chocolate filling have cooled completely, place a large amount of filling on one cookie, then cover with a second. 

My recipe made about 20 cookies, but they were small. If you make larger cookies, be sure to bake them for slightly longer. 

Taste bud feedback: I loved them. As with most desserts, they were absolutely amazing fresh out of the oven with melted chocolate and warm cookie. They're definitely a cookie you'll want to heat up in the microwave a few seconds before eating the next day. The chocolate is very noticeable when they're warm, but the next day the spices took over. My co-workers loved them, and so did Tom.