Collision of Pumpkin Pie & Cupcakes!

PUMPKIN PIE CUPCAKES!!

What?? Yeah.. you heard me. 

Pumpkin Pie and Cupcakes crashed into each other and we suddenly had two delicious treats all in one! Yummmm.

I made some pumpkin pie filling, as you would for a regular old fashioned pumpkin pie. The filling is baked like normal as well, but minus the pie crust.

While the filling was baking, I crushed up some cinnamon graham crackers. I ended up throwing them into my handy dandy Magic Bullet to crush them up, much faster!

Once the graham crackers looked like sand,  I melted some butter and mixed the two together. (Graham Crackers and Melted Butter is one of my favorite smells!!)

A little bit of the graham cracker crust mixture is then scooped into each cupcake liner and patted into the bottom in a thin layer.

I baked the graham cracker crust for about 8 minutes. In the meantime, I mixed together the batter for the vanilla cake part. Each cup gets filled about halfway with the cake batter and then baked.

 

When the pumpkin pie filling was done and cooled down a little bit, I scooped it into another container and stirred it up with a fork. I let the filling refrigerate overnight to make sure it was completely cooled and thickened.

 

Here's a shot of the yummy graham cracker bottom!

When the pumpkin pie "frosting" was cool, I piped it onto each cupcake. Usually I go easy on the frosting when I make cupcakes, however with these little suckers... I wasn't going to hold back!

I think these would be extra good with a little whipped cream and maybe a sprinkle of cinnamon! I think I'll be making these again soon! =]

For the Love of Peanut Butter

Confession: I've got an unfathomable love for peanut butter. 

 

A friend of mine (who thinks he will be able to create a better pie than me in a pie bake off) asked me if I had ever made Peanut Butter Blossoms... I didn't know what he was talking about but once he described them, I knew exactly what he was talking about! Since I am a huge fan of peanut butter, I decided to try em out. 

Now for the Peanut Buttery Goodness!

The only ingredient that I didn't have on hand in my pantry was the Hershey's Kisses, but that wasn't going to stop me so I made a quick trip to the store to get some.

 Mixed the ingredients in my Pretty in Pink KitchenAid Mixer

- which I've decided needs to be magically turned into an industrial size mixer! -

The dough gets scooped into 1 inch balls [mine were a bit bigger than that] and then rolled in some sugar.

After baking for about 12 minutes, you immediately press a Hershey's Kiss into the center of the cookie (don't be afraid of the cracking - it gives them character!)

 

If you are nearby my kitchen when something is getting pulled out of the oven, lucky you! You just might turn into my taste tester! Don't think you could complain and turn down a cookie that was just pulled out of the oven, along with the cookies friend... a cold glass of milk!

 

 Heck you may even get lucky either way and receive some via special delivery!

 

Hmmm I smell an idea baking - - - perhaps I should start a little game of "one lucky person a week could receive a box of goodies in the mail"! That could be fun (or tasty!). I'll have to ponder that idea... what do you think??

"After tasting this cookie I have decided that if you don't open a bakery I will then be forced to file a law suit against you.....for withholding deliciousness from the masses......"

Guess my first time making these was pretty successful :)