Growing up when I was not feeling well, no matter if I was faking it to avoid school (don’t read that mom) or if I was actually sick, two things could always make me feel better. One was cinnamon sugar toast with the edges cut off (which was normally severed with 7-Up) and the other was hot chocolate with marshmallows.

Though as a kid and even now as an adult, if they make a good one (like Stephens hot chocolate) I don’t mind a packaged cocoa mix. What I do/did mind however were the Lucky Charm type marshmallows that they tried to pass off in the cocoa mix with marshmallows as marshmallows. What crap. Those were no marshmallows. I’m not sure what they were, but they don’t melt and get gooey like real marshmallows do and that’s the best part about them. Melting down into and mixing with the cocoa. Plus if you don’t use real marshmallows you can’t reenact the scene from Wizard of Oz and shout out “I’m melting, I’m melting” as they slowly dissipate into the hot chocolate.

Homemade marshmallows are nothing new. I like to make batches this time a year as the weather turns cold. Coming up with new flavors is always fun. For a while there was a beverage trend to make ice cubes out of the same thing you were drinking, that way you wouldn’t water down your beverage. Which is a good idea and I decided that though marshmallows don’t water down the hot chocolate flavor, why not just add to it.

I made mine into the shape of leaves. This is my most favorite time of year, and not just because hockey is back on.  I love finding country roads on clear, windy days and watching the leaves swirl around me as I leisurely drive shouting out the lyrics to some 80’s song (ugh, did you know my 20 year high school reunion was a couple weeks ago…I. Am. Old….and no, I didn’t go). I thought the leaves were fun and festive. I used Stephen’s French Vanilla Cocoa in order to better display the leaves. But you can use whatever type you would like. Or if you are anti-powdered hot chocolate, make your own.

P.S. Notice that some of them are maple leaves.

Hot Chocolate Marshmallows

3 packages unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 ounces hot chocolate mix
¼ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Nonstick spray

Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.
In a small saucepan combine the remaining ½ cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to medium. Add powdered hot chocolate mix at this time, 1 TPSP at a time to avoid it spitting back at you (you know, like a llama). Bring speed up to high when all hot chocolate mix is in.Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.
Combine the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13-by-18-inch metal jelly roll pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.
When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, using a lightly oiled spatula for spreading evenly into the pan. Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight.

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into leaves or any shape for that matter, with a cookie cutter dusted with the powdered sugar mixture. Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Adapted from Alton Brown Food Network.com

I will admit that I have not been one to jump on the bacon in dessert bandwagon. Though must admit that when Liz sent me bacon toffee as a pick me up that started to sway me. I love me some bacon. I mean love. It is truly the only thing that holds me from being vegetarian is bacon. In fact my friends bought me a t-shirt that says Vegetarian*…and then at the bottom is *except for bacon. Which is about right sadly. I tried giving it up. But that stomach of that pig is like an evil siren I tell you.

From time to time the fine people of Andrew McMeel and Simon and Schuster like to send me a free cookbook in the mail to preview. Some I love. Some not so much. But the other day in the mail I got one called I Love Bacon. Um. Hello world’s most perfect book for me. Now this recipe doesn’t come from there. It has just mostly made me want bacon with every meal for the last few days. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Mostly I see maple and bacon together in sweet things. So when I ran across a recipe with pumpkin and no maple, but rather a boiled caramel cream cheese frosting, I was oh my yes! I will tell a secret. I fried up extra bacon. Then I took out a knife and would spread frosting on that bacon and eat it. Oh my. Oh my. Oh my. If you watch According to Jim, he hangs with Jim’s wife’s brother Andy a lot. Andy has a secret shame of rolling sticks of butter in sugar and eating them. Yeah, I’m pretty sure this is my stick of sugar coated butter. Oh my. I know I keep saying that but really, oh my.

If you don’t like bacon, then guess what? You aren’t going to like these. I will still like you but will feel slightly sorry that you miss out on the food that I feel needs it’s own spot on the food pyramid…down at the bottom.

Pumpkin Caramel Bars with Bacon

For the bars:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. table salt

1 ½ cups pumpkin puree

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar, packed

4 TBSP unsalted butter, melted

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 9-13-inch baking pan with non-stick baking spray.

Whisk together pumpkins puree sugars, egg, melted butter, and vanilla in a large bowl and blend well.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl.

Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture until well incorporated.

Spread pumpkin batter evenly into prepared ban. Bake for about 20 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

2 cups brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup water

Pinch of salt

½ cup heavy cream

4 ounces unsalted butter, cubed

4ounces cream cheese, cut into 1-inch cubes

8 ounces of bacon, diced and then pan fried, oil drained

Boil sugar, water, and pinch of salt in a large saucepan over high heat, for 5 minutes. Gently swirling occasionally to prevent scorching.

Whisk in cream and butter and boil another 2 minutes.

Transfer caramel to the bowl of a stand mixer, whip on high speed until sides of bowl are cool to the touch and caramel is thick, 8-120 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Add cream cheese, 1 cube at a time, until frosting is smooth.

Frost cool bars. Top with bacon pieces.

Adapted from Cuisine at Home magazine October 2010 issue

I know that fall is just around the corner when Starbucks rolls out their Pumpkin Spice Lattes. Nothing makes me giddier than getting my first one. The aroma of the coffee with the hint of pumpkin and the warming spices just puts you in a happy mood. Top that with a little whipped cream and you are good to go.
I was doing a little different sampling of pumpkin this weekend, attending the Great Pumpkin Beer Fest(at Elysian Brewery here in the Seattle area) where they featured 30 different pumpkin beers, including one that they do a second fermentation in an actual giant pumpkin (even if you don’t like beer, you have to admit that is cool). Though I learned that when one starts drinking at 1pm and just keeps going, no matter how small the glass, you will end up sleeping on your friends couch so you don’t drive home. And you will end up with their cat sleeping on your face. Which I did not realize cats do. So that was an interesting way to start the day.

(See glass is very tiny)

Too make things even more festive I drove through one of the millions of Starbucks to get me a pumpkin spice latte this morning, got to keep the pumpkin theme rolling. There are a lot of Pumpkin Spice desserts out there floating around but there aren’t that many that throw coffee into the mix as well. Which I don’t know why since so many people do love themselves a pumpkin spice latte.  So I am helping those people out. I’m just nice that way.

These are very tasty, and very rich. If you are wondering where one buys coffee extract, I get mine at Sur La Table, but I know they sell it on Amazon.com as well. I would not suggest using powdered coffee or anything like that. Be sure to top off with whipped cream and a little sprinkle of cinnamon to give it a more authentic look and taste.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Mascarpone Cheesecake Pots

3/4 cup heavy cream
6 ounces canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
8 ounces mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. coffee extract
1 TBSP flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
3 large eggs

Position rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325F.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the mascarpone cheese and sugar until smooth using the paddle attachment.

Add the pumpkin and beat until incorporated.

Add cream slowly into the cheese mixture until fully incorporated.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition ( I like to scrape down the bowl after each addition as well) until smooth.

Add vanilla, coffee extract, flour, and salt and beat to combine.

Put eight 4-ounce custard cups, ramekins, or small oven proof coffee cups in and empty 9 by 13-inch baking pan. Divide the cheesecake mixture among the cups.

Put the baking dish in the oven and then carefully pour boiling water into the pan. Add just enough water to reach halfway up the sides of the custard cups. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake until the tops of the cheesecakes appear solid but jiggle slightly when shaken, 30-40 minutes. These will firm up as they cool to room temperature. Cover each pot with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. These can be made up to 2 days in advance.
Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Conner

Thanksgiving is upon us. No October didn’t pass you by. As you may recall, we Canadians like to copycat the states and so we gave ourselves a Thanksgiving as well. I’m not having a very exciting one. I’ll be spending it trying to find someone to massage my back (it’s out of whack again). I’m not cooking dinner for it at all (I usually do) and I have work later on that night (though it is score keeping hockey).
Bucking all tradition I have chosen to list things I am NOT thankful for this Thanksgiving.
1. The hoops I had to jump through and am still jumping through to get a teaching certificate in the state of Washington.
2. The sample people at Costco and Sam’s. My bill is already high enough I don’t need to become addicted to something else. Which brings us to number 3…
3. Trader Joe’s. Now before you freak out, I love TJ’s and am thankful for them. However, I am not thankful that they get me addicted to a product only to take it away months later. Sigh.
4. The “Did you know Bob Smith (insert any politicians name) set children on fire while peeing on them and molesting them? Is this the kind of man you want running for congress?”  advertising they are running from now until election day.
5. Oprah. She has pissed me off with her campaign to promote charter schools and basically say that public education is crap. Maybe give some of your money to making public schools better Oprah. Ever think about that? Maybe do that instead of having Mr. Saturday Night Fever  fly people to Australia if you are so concerned about education in today’s society.
6. Count Chocula cereal. Still mad they made it whole grain. Chocolate cereal with chocolate marshmallows should under no circumstance be made with whole grains. Goes against nature.
7. Scary movies. I hate the entire month of October seems to be dedicated to them. The worst of them being on Sci-Fi channel. Frankenfish…need I say more.
8. Cookbooks. Again you are probably shaking your head at this one. But seriously, they are coming out with WAY too many cookbooks that I want. I’m swimming in them as it is. I have 5 currently on the way.  Five.
9. Baseball. Be over already.
10. Possums. You just can’t trust them.
I guess one thing I can be thankful for is buttercream frosting. This idea is based off of the candy corn ice cream. I love to infuse milk with different flavors. I would have made this with homemade caramel corn but that doesn’t last long enough around these parts. So I bought some (oh the horror, I know).  The taste really doesn’t come through in the devil’s food cake as the chocolate overpowers it, but it adds a flavor layer that is nice. You can however notice it in the frosting. Just a slight hint of popcorn, almost like the buttered popcorn jelly beans, except not gross like the jelly beans are.
Hope those who are celebrating Thanksgiving today have a lovely time with family and friends. Everyone else enjoy your Monday.

Caramel Corn Infused Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Caramel-Caramel Corn Buttercream Frosting

Caramel Corn Milk (you will need this in both recipes)
3 cups whole milk
3 cups crushed caramel corn (homemade or store bought)
Bring 1 ½ cups milk and caramel corn to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once milk starts to bubble take off of heat and let sit for 30 minutes.
Add remaining milk and place in fridge for 24 hours.
Remove from fridge and run milk through a strainer. Discard caramel corn.

Caramel Corn Infused Devil’s Food Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
12 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
9 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (use a double boiler)
*2 cups caramel corn milk
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and lightly flour two muffin pans (hold 12 cupcakes each)
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
In a separate small bowl, beat the egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored, about 2 minutes. Add the beaten yolks to the butter mixture and beat well. Add the chocolate, mixing until well incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three parts, alternating with the caramel corn milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated, but do not overbeat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended and the batter is smooth.
In a separate small bowl, beat the egg whites on the high speed of an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gently fold into the batter. Divide the batter among the prepared pans.

Bake for 20-22 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when you touch them. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Frost and top with extra caramel corn if desired.

Caramel-Caramel Corn Buttercream Frosting

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup prepared caramel sauce (can be store bought)
6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup caramel corn milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Place the butter and caramel sauce in a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until thoroughly combined.
Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the caramel corn milk and vanilla.
On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.
Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Both recipes adapted from More From Magnolia: Recipes from the World Famous Bakery and Allysa Torey’s Home Kitchen by Allysa Torey