Rodriguez 2012

If I ever become President, I think I would host a Macaron Summit. I would invite the leaders of all the countries that we're having issues with (and hey, maybe I'll even invite our allies) for an afternoon of hot tea and macarons.

Oh, right. Didn't I say that I wouldn't talk about politics on my blog? Alright then, I'll just talk about my pumpkin macarons.

The city of Los Angeles has been going through a strange weather pattern recently. We've been experiencing a week of 90°+ weather, followed by a 20-30° drop in temperature and rain...lather, rinse, repeat. November hasn't been an exception to this see-saw pattern. Thanksgiving is a few short weeks away, but with the strange weather it's been difficult to get into the spirit of the holidays. Despite the fact that Costco has had Christmas trees on display since July, the 96° weather and my Southern California upbringing says it's really time to go to the beach and have a bonfire.

But this morning was a little different. Maybe it was the fact that it rained again, or maybe it was the ending of daylight savings. Even though it's still a bit warm, the strong winds and the crisp air outside just makes it FEEL like the holidays are around the corner. And indeed they are.

Anyway, Mactweets has just posted another theme for this month, and this is my second entry for the Mactweets "Falling for Macarons" round-up. What does fall mean to me? PUMPKINS!!! I'm sure you've noticed that it's been the flavor of the month for me. I had some leftover pumpkin in the fridge...so what's a girl to do? Make macarons, of course!

Macarons with Pumpkin Custard

BEST MACARONS TO DATE. Instead of making a buttercream or cream cheese filling, I decided to go with a pumpkin custard. My mom makes amazing cream puffs (seriously, they're better than Beard Papa's), and so I stole her custard recipe and added pumpkin and spices to it. It could be that I love these macarons because they're reminiscent of my mom's glorious cream puffs - or maybe it's the addition of the pumpkin. Whatever it is, these macarons could bring world peace.

Rodriguez 2012. You heard it here first.

Happy baking, everyone :)

My first homemade pie

In case you haven't noticed, I've been on a pumpkin kick lately. But it's Halloween and I'm going to take advantage of the seasonal flavors while I can, gosh darn it!

Anyway, I hope you all had a lovely (and safe) Halloween this year. I certainly did :) No, there were no costumes, and I didn't get any candy...but I did spend quality time with great friends, watch scary movies, and make/devour pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin pie (made from scratch).

Oh, the pie...I have no words.

So I'll be quiet now :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since last night, I've been in the mood for chocolate chip cookies. So despite the almost 80 degree weather this afternoon, I thought I'd be a little festive and make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies :)

There's something about this time of year that makes me start craving pumpkin...Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin smoothies...

Well, these cookies didn't exactly come out tasting exactly like I wanted them to, but they satisfied my craving. :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy holidays!!!

48 cupcakes, 4 batches of frosting, and 7 hours later, I decided that I don't have the energy (or proper tools) to be a professional cupcake baker. *SIGH*. Oh well, there's always teaching music! :p

I decided to go with the idea that I should bake cupcakes for presents this year. Do I regret that decision? Absolutely not. Was I tired? ABSOLUTELY. Will I be participating in another baking marathon? Weeeeell, maybe. But not for awhile :)

I was really thinking about Christmas and the different flavors that you see around the holidays, and I did some searching to see which of those flavors could be incorporated into cupcakes. I finally settled on 4 winter-themed cupcakes...and here's the first one up!

Cinnamon Cupcakes

I used this recipe to create the Cinnamon cake base, but I decided to add to the cinnamon flavor by making a butter-cream cheese cinnamon frosting! Unfortunately, I can't really help you with the frosting recipe; I ended up improvising most of it. I CAN tell you that I forgot to add the buttermilk to the cake...oops. So for those of you who ate these, I'm sorry if they tasted kind of bland! I would definitely make these again, but next time I won't forget the buttermilk, and I would probably throw in some apples into the batter. These would be DELICIOUS for breakfast :)


Next in the line-up is another cupcake that is suitable for breakfast, especially with the Maple syrup cream cheese frosting that I ended up using on top.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Cupcake

I had A LOT of batter; so much, in fact, that I ended up making a dozen of these cupcakes, and 20 mini cupcakes (which were served for breakfast the next day). I don't have a recipe for the frosting, but I can tell you that I used about a half a block of cream cheese, and added maple syrup and powdered sugar to taste. You may want to add more cream cheese, but if you're not a fan of tooth-decaying gobs of frosting on your cupcakes, half a block will be enough.

The next dozen is a recipe that I experimented with earlier in the month, and I took these cupcakes (in mini form) to the Annual Fund potluck (whoo, shout out to the AF team!)
One of the things that I love the most about the chilly weather is that I get to bundle up and enjoy a nice steaming cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. I tried to capture this flavor in cupcake form, and here's the result:

Hot Cocoa Cupcakes

I revisited the chocolate cupcake recipe that I used for Jonathan's birthday which were suitable for even those who aren't real chocolate fans. For the frosting, I used this light and fluffy Martha Stewart recipe for marshmallow cream frosting, and I added mini chocolate chip morsels for decoration :)

Last but not least, I made...

EGGNOG CUPCAKES!!!

To be completely honest, I'm not a fan of eggnog. It's too thick, too sweet...just too much. I was skeptical about making these cupcakes, but who doesn't think about eggnog when Christmas is mentioned? These turned out to be AMAZING, which only proves that things are always better in cupcake form. The cake was light and fluffy, and paired very nicely with the just-sweet-enough frosting.

Oh yes, the frosting. The recipe calls for powdered sugar. 2 cups of it. I'm sure everyone knows by now that I don't like sugar overpowering my cupcakes, and as mentioned above, I already think eggnog is too sweet. While I understand that the sugar is meant to make the butter cream nice and thick, I also think that there are other ways to make your frosting nice and thick without sacrificing a couple of good, healthy teeth. I opted to put in cream cheese instead (yes, cream cheese saved the day once again!) and ended up with a very delicious frosting. I highly recommend that you steer clear of the sugar option and just add cream cheese until you get the right consistency :)

Okay, so there you have it! Those were the cupcakes that I decided to make for the holidays. School starts next week, so I think it's safe to say that I won't be baking again for awhile. Maybe I'll be inspired by something during the quarter, though...and maybe I'll end up coming back. In the mean time, I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Best wishes for 2010, and happy baking! :D