Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice S'mores Cookies

Oh hai guys.  I'm just going to pretend that I have not been neglecting this blog for two months.

And what better way to break the ice than with Fall's It Flavor:  Pumpkin Spice.  

You know you love/hate it.  It's everywhere.  Ice cream, coffees, donuts, trail mix, pancakes, pop tarts, tea... It's out of control.  Sometimes its overly sugary and disgusting, sometimes it's pumpkin spice heaven.  I have had pumpkin pancakes that make it taste like fall exploded in my mouth.  And I have thrown away an entirely full container of TJ's pumpkin spice chai tea latte mix that made my teeth hurt after one sip.  It's a pumpkin spice gamble.  

No gamble here, however.  These Oatmeal Pumpkin Spice S'mores Cookies are not sugary and disgusting despite having so many components.  The pumpkin is subtle, the dark chocolate not too bitter and the oats help to balance out the sweetness of the marshmallow glaze.  Yes you heard right, these cookies will give you the taste of a sweet marshmallow glaze in every bite. 

Oatmeal Raisin S'mores Cookies

Makes 25, bake at 350* for about 12 minutes.

Cookies

1 c. flour

2 1/2 c. oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 c. light brown sugar

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c. pumpkin puree

1 c. dark chocolate chips 

Directions:

1. Sift flour, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and baking soda together in a bowl.

2. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, around 5 minutes.  Add in egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add pumpkin puree and beat until smooth. 

3. On low, slowly add flour mixture to wet mixture and continue mixing until fully incorporated.

4. Turn off stand mixture and fold in oats and chips by hand.

5. Scoop dough onto lined cookie sheets and bake until edges start to slightly brown.  Remove from oven and let cook on a wire rack.  

Marshmallow Glaze

1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp milk
3 tbsp butter
1 c. mini marshmallows

Directions: 
1. In a saucepan over low medium heat, melt butter completely.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until melted into butter.
3. Add milk and stir, remove from heat.
5. Slowly add powdered sugar and whisk mixture quickly until no lumps remain.
6. Pour over cooled cookies.  

I made these for no other reason than because I still owed people cookies from my AIDS Walk fundraising that I started back in April. Ha.  Hey, when it's hot it makes it really hard to bake.  Alas, it is now late October and the last heat wave from our California Indian Summers seems to have left us for good.  Chilly Fall mornings try to make me put on pants now. I'm resisting the pant wearing part of Fall, but the baking part?  I think it's time to embrace it wholeheartedly. I don't mine wearing aprons (or awesome baking gloves) one bit. 

xo,

Anna 

Cookie Butter Rice Krispy Treats with Butterscotch & Chocolate Chips

"Why can't your feelings taste like rice krispy treats?"

No subtly between friends, right?   So here you go, what my feelings taste like today:  Cookie Butter Rice Krispy Treats, with both butterscotch and chocolate chips.  Add a little extra chocolate on top for some flair, and add some shape for some class.

I'd actually never made rice krispy treats until this past February.  Maybe because it doesn't require an oven?  Maybe because I like to pretend I am super sophisticated and refined and usually rice krispy treats don't sound like they could be either.  I was in charge of treats for a group outing and was too exhausted from life to bake anything so I decided to take a stab at some.  I made the first batch at a friend's house.  I asked if he had peanut butter and he took out a jar of cookie butter instead.  I won't lie; I almost had a heart attack.  I wasn't thrilled at him spooning globs of it into MY treats.  But I allowed it.  And it was a little magical.  Because apparently it is not love (the so-called secret ingredient to all) but cookie butter which makes a good rice krispy treat.

Have you ever had cookie butter?  It is seriously made from COOKIES.  Speculoos cookies.   When I recetly re-made these for the blog, I had to go back 3 times to Trader Joe's because people buy it all up as soon as they restock the jars and then they sell/mail overseas.  I played hooky from work one day and went to TJ's at 10:00AM.  I got the last one on the shelf.  I beat the hoarders!  Hoorah. So I made them as soon as I got home.

As all rice krispy treats are, these are super easy to make but have tons of layers of flavors to them.

Cookie Butter Rice Krispy Treats with Butterscotch & Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:
6 cups Rice Krispy cereal
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cookie butter
10 oz. bag marshmallows
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chocolate chips (Optional:  1/4 cup more for drizzling)

Directions:
1. In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter completely but do not let boil.
2. Add in marshmallows, stirring frequently with a rubber spatula to prevent sticking.
3. Add cookie butter and stir until combined.
4. Remove from heat and immediately add in rice krispy cereal.
5. Fold in chocolate and butterscotch chips.
6. Scoop mixture into a 9 x 13 pan lined with wax paper. Pat down with a greased piece of waxed paper until smooth and even.
7. Let sit for a few minutes. Then use your choice of cookie cutter to cut out shapes.  (I used a flower.)
8. Drizzle melted chocolate over cut out treat, if desired.
9. The scraps are totally up for grabs.

When you add the chips in, they get a little melty.  It's not too bad with the butterscotch, but a bit messy with the chocolate.  So you may just want to drizzle more chocolate on top.

Now I have half a jar of cookie butter left. I can either make something else with it, or eat it by the spoonful. I haven't decided which of those options I'm going for just yet.

xoxo,
Anna

Carrot Cupcakes with Marshmallow Bunny Toppers

I went to Target earlier this month and bought a bag of bunny shaped marshmallows.  I also bought a bag of Haribo gummi bunnies (who knew they existed?).  Yup, my love of  bunnies has been going strong.  I have only found use for the marshamallows thus far.  This means that I will be eating a whole bag of gummi bunnies soon.  And I guess I HAVE to eat the leftover adorable bunny marshmallows too, right?  I don't believe in wasting time.  Or candy.   Welcome to eat like an easter rabbit month here at My Feelings Taste Like Cupcakes Headquarters.  :)  All bunny, all the time.  I'm totally wearing rabbit ears as I type this*.

You saw my post from earlier this week, my cupcakes in a jar?  Well I made more cupcakes than I had jars.  Cupcakes sans jars are easier to distribute anyways.  But I wasn't sure how to top them. I had some easter bunny sprinkles... but the frosting on these is so delicious that I didn't want to throw the flavors off balance with too much sugar.

And then I found the marshmallows in my baking cupboard.   Just add toothpicks and it's so easy it's really frankly cheating. =x

But they look so adorable I don't care.  I love the little guys hopping over mounds of cream cheese frosting, skipping over the walnuts with such ease.  They're living the life!

They're the same recipe as before, obviously.  Can't stress it enough, make these.  The cupcakes are amazing.

Wouldn't you love to get him in your Easter basket?

No I lie, you want him and all of his bunny friends with you.  What do you call that?  A family?  Not a herd, not a school...  I'm googling now because I bet you're dying to know.  You're welcome.  

A COLONY.  YOU WANT A WHOLE COLONY OF EASTER BUNNY MARSHMALLOW CARROT CUPCAKES.  Wow, my blog is educational now too.  You are DOUBLE welcome.

Do you know who doesn't care about these cupcakes though? Poodles.  Poodles do not care about cupcakes.  They just care about getting in the way of my shots.

Happy Easter everyone! From me and my spoiled poodles.  May you stay away from peep shows. And may I stay away from that ENTIRE bag of gummy bunnies.

xoxo,
Anna

*No I'm not.  Or am I?

S'mores Cupcakes

Oh my. The S'mores cupcakes made a reappearance this year. Better than ever I would say, in fact. (Old post.)

Three yummy ingredients; Ghirardelli chocolate, marshmallow (cream) and cinnamon graham crackers. One result; delicioussssss.

I ate like 7 of these over the course of three days. Don't judge me. It was vacation. Calories don't count, ha.

Get ready for a super picture heavy post! I had help taking pictures this time by the birthday girl herself. Her pictures are the ones that aren't crappy.) You can find her blog on fashion, art and photography here. She requested these specifically. And because she made the banner for this site, she gets what she wants. (Plus snickerdoodle cupcakes and cookies.) Last year she got the Catch A Husband Strawberry Cupcakes in b&w zebra liners. So this year, i decided to run with the theme.

I had pink zebra liners i had yet to use, as well as these awesome zebra candles i picked up in a shop in Philly last year. Then i added in some plain pink candles too. (DON'T COUNT HOW MANY THERE ARE. SHE WILL GET MAD.) All together on the cupcakes stand, they looked pretty gosh darn awesome. But more on that later.

The recipe for this is basically in three parts. And it varies a little from what i did last year. This year I did something different with the graham crackers, and the batter was from scratch.

Graham Cracker Crust/Topping

1.5 packages of Cinnamon Graham Crackers

3/4 sticks of butter

1. Place all crackers into a ziplock bag and crush them into pieces with a rolling pin.

2. Separate out 1/4 cups of broken graham crackers, put the rest in a bowl.

3. Melt 3/4 of a stick of butter in the microwave and pour over the graham crackers pieces in bowl.

4. Mush them together with your clean hands.

Now comes the fun part.

1. Scoop 1 tablespoon of the mixture into lined cupcake pans. (Or scoop 1 teaspoon into mini cupcakes pans.)

2. Flatten out with your hands.

3. Put in preheated, 350* oven for 5 minutes and remove, set aside to cool.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

(Makes 24 standard cupcakes, but if using this for smores it will make 24 standard plus 24 mini cupcakes)

Go here for my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. Use Ghirardelli coco powder though b/c thats the only thing i'll use now. :)

Add 1 cup chocolate chips. Yum.

Now, take your batter and pour it OVER the baked graham cracker crust. I did the usual amount b/c i wanted mine to be big monster cupcakes.

Oh what is this though?

That's right, i sprinkled about 1 teaspoon of the remaining graham cracker crumbs over the top of the unbaked batter. And THEN you put it in the oven.

When they come out they look like this. You can just eat it on its own, huh?

But just wait my dears. Cuz i did. I had to wait until the next day, in fact. They were transported to another place (beach house, holla') and were frosting'ed up there.

photo credit: pandippo

Marshmallow Frosting

1 jar Jiff Marshmallow Frosting (7 oz)

1 stick unsalted butter at room temp

2 cups powdered sugar

1. Yes the whole can of the stuff. And you will like it. Put it into a big bowl and add the butter. Beat together.

photo credit: pandippo

2. Add sugar, beat until light and fluffy.

photo credit: pandippo

photo credit: pandippo

photo credit: pandippo

Use a 1M tip to frost the cupcakes until they look like this:

photo credit: pandippo

Awesome huh.

I also used the 1M tip to frost the little mini cupcakes with just a dollop of frosting. The 1M tip is also called a star tip and with good reason. A dollop looks like a star :)

photo credit: pandippo

photo credit: pandippo

And then you eat them. All. No I'm kidding. Then you make them even prettier. Add the snickerdoodle cupcakes and a stand.

Then add the candles. Now the hard part.

Lighting them REALLY fast.

photo credit: pandippo

It becomes a group effort!

photo credit: pandippo

Looks awesome lit though! :)

I hope to God she didn't wish for more cupcakes.

Melty zebra-ness.

Pretty Birthday girl about to eat her cuppycake.

photo credit: pandippo

Okay, NOW you can eat them. All.

photo credit: pandippo

xoxo,

Anna

Scooby Snacks S'mores Cupcakes

My friends throw theme parties. A lot. My friends do awesome things. A lot. So every now and then when i post awesome stories, don't be surprised. Like today's post. A few weeks ago, one of those friends threw a party whose main attraction was a 35 x 15 foot long Scooby Doo Mystery Van shaped inflatable water bounce house. Yes you read that right. There was also a fire pit, the kind you can make s'mores on. So i figured the only appropriate thing to do would be to make S'mores Cupcakes... with some Scooby Doo in 'em!

I got the basic recipe from here, but made some changes. The first being was that i added a graham cracker crust to the bottom. To do that, i mashed up cinnamon graham crackers in a ziplock. Yeah pretty much the whole box, haha.

Mixed them with melted butter, mashed it up my hands....

And put it at the bottom of each of the cupcake liners. I think i might have overdone it a little, you only need a little! Mine was almost 1/3, but it should be less than 1/4.

Then on top of the graham cracked bottoms, i poured in chocolate cake batter. I also mixed in some more graham cracker bits as well as chocolate chips into the batter.

After those were baked and cooled, i started making the marshmallow frosting. I did NOT add any milk to it, like the recipe called for. I did not want runny icing. I hate runny icing/frosting. Especially if i want to pipe it on pretty!I also added a stick of butter.

Ziplock bags rock. I will tell you why. Because you can use them instead of real piping bags. They're uber cheap, and you can throw them away. That's convenient because it sucks to wash out piping bags especially if you're making marshmallow frosting. After i made the frosting, it didn't look hard enough, and i was afraid it'd spread too easily so i shoved it in the freezer for about a minute. Then I used an 1M tip and frosted the tops of the cupcakes.

I stuck them in the fridge because it was super hot outside. For maybe 4-5 hours and the frosting actually set perfectly since i had to transport them an hour away in the heat anyways. Then i added the "scooby snacks".

No they are NOT dog cookies. lol. Keebler makes these delicious little cinnamon graham cracker cookies. (I found these at Safeway, but FoodMaxx sells them too.)


I also added more chocolate chips to the tops too. They didn't taste too bad either. haha. I mean i am pretty sure it gave a few people diabetes but whatever right?

I would like to note though, that if youre filling part of the cupcake liners with graham crackers an adding chips and graham crackers into the mix, you end up with a LOT of left over batter. In fact, i made 24 cupcakes (2 standard muffin pans) and then made 24 MINI cupcakes (1 mini cupcake pan) and still threw a little bit away. I had enough graham crackers to line them too. I just broke the cookies in half and called them Mini Scooby Snacks! I think i might have actually liked those more -- people were just popping the whole things in their mouths!


I also had enough frosting for them all. So really, the recipe will yield a CRAPLOAD of cupcakes lol.

Hopefully, the next post will be me raving about how my first try at baking from scratch went really well. :)

xoxo,
Anna