Pumpkin Spice Latte

My good friend Emily and I have Wednesday morning coffee dates. We ship our older kids off to school then get together, pre-showers and makeup, to let the younger kids play while we sip on coffee.

The last few weeks Emily has gone to Starbucks and grabbed us my beloved Pumpkin Spice Latte for our dates. But I'm sure that is getting a bit pricey for her.

This week Emily had a doctor's appointment today so I took it upon myself (since I desperately missed my Wednesday latte) to find a cheaper alternative that was just as tasty as the expensive original. 

I began with this recipe, but found it entirely too milky. I love the strong coffee taste that I get in that paper cup I cherish. As a comparison, I turned to one of my favorite blogs of all time because I knew Monica had a pumpkin spice latte recipe as well. 

When I read Monica's recipe I was immediately thrilled with the use of turbinado sugar instead of granulated. I considered switching the sugars in the first recipe I made but left it as stated. I also loved the use of a full cup of coffee with a splash of milk. However, Monica calls for half and half in her latte but I enjoy fat free milk in mine so I made the change and whipped up the latte. It was amazing! 

I loved the strong espresso flavor in this latte. I did feel as though a more pronounced pumpkin flavor wouldn't hurt so I made yet another cuppa with more pumpkin. That, to me, was perfection! When making yours, start with the lesser amount of pumpkin, taste, and add more if needed. You can always add but you can never take away. 

This recipe was so incredibly simple that I didn't take any pictures of the process. You pour your milk, coffee, sugar, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice into a small saucepan and heat it until almost boiling over medium high heat. Remove it from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the mixture into a blender (or use a whisk) and beat until frothy. 

A word of warning! Apparently when you pour a steaming hot mixture into a blender, the pressure from the steam forces the lid off the blender. Maybe leave the mixture in the blender to cool a bit before capping and turning it on?? Oops.

Pour into a mug, serve, and enjoy!! 

PS. If you are enjoying this tasty beverage with a friend, make sure you double the recipe below, it only makes on mug full. 

Pumpkin Spice Latte

Adapted from Lick the Bowl Good

Makes 1 serving 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup double strength brewed coffee
• 1/3 cup milk or half and half (I used fat free milk)
• 2-3 Tablespoons pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 2 Tablespoons turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice plus more for garnish
• 1/4 teaspooon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Heat coffee, milk, pumpkin, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in a small saucepan over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until simmering, almost to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
3. Place mixture into a blender and blend until frothy (or whisk until frothy).
4. Pour into a mug, top with extra pumpkin pie spice if desired.
5. Serve and enjoy!

Pumpkin Walnut Cake with Caramel Mascarpone Whipped Cream

"Everything has to come to an end, sometime." ~ L. Frank Baum

Lately I have been feeling the pressure of so many endings approaching. Time feels so short.

This deployment is rapidly coming to a close. Which is awesome! However, that also means that my time here in Central Texas as also coming to a close.

My family doesn't really want to talk about it. I can definitely understand that. But it's what I think about, almost constantly. Soon I won't be just around the corner from them. There won't be any Walking Dead Sundays. No tee ball games and practices with my nephew. No tennis lessons with my sister. No coffee hangouts with my niece. No nail painting with my Baby Sis. No Friday lunches with my mom. No pedicures with the girls.

Not only will my time with my family be ending, but also my time with my friends. No more book group with Kristen and Linda. No more baking with Monica. No more coffee Wednesdays with Emily.

Also ending, is our time baking from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle. This is our last month baking out of this book. It's so hard to believe that a year has gone by already. How does the time fly by so quickly??

As always with The Cake Slice Bakers, we are able to choose our last cake out of whatever book we are baking from that year. I had hopes to make the Apple Cheesecake Brulee for my final cake. However, time, finances, and laziness won over and I went for a simpler option. After all, I already had everything for the Pumpkin Walnut Cake in my toolbox. And I do love pumpkin. ;-)

This cake was a spicy pumpkin cake studded with rich walnuts. I thought the cake was exceptional. It had great flavor. It was moist without being heavy. The cake flour gave it that added lift.

For a touch of decadence on this unassuming snack cake, Tish paired it with a Caramel Cream. Homemade caramel whipped into a soft mascarpone cream. Sounds great right? Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of the topping. I'm not sure if it was the mascarpone that gave it an odd flavor? Or maybe it's the fact that I don't like whipped cream, or caramel really. Or it could be that the caramel and pumpkin don't settle well on my taste buds. I prefer maple with my pumpkin.

The topping may not have suited my fancy, but the cake was worthy of concluding  my year with The Cake Book. Although, I pull it out more often than once a month. It's a wonderful book and would be an asset to any cookbook collection.

Make sure to jump over and peruse the final cakes for the other Cake Slice Bakers!

Let's bake!

Start with the caramel. Put some sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook and stir constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Kick the heat up to high and let it cook, without stirring, until it turns a golden amber color. Though the recipes states about 4 minutes it took mine about 7.

Remove the mixture from the heat and carefully add some cream. This bubbles and splatters all over the place so seriously...be careful! Stir it up until it's nice and smooth.

Pour the caramel into a heatproof glass bowl. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 2 hours.

Now we can get the cake going. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and some warm spices. Set this aside.

Now in your mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and both sugars until pale, about 2 minutes.

Add in the milk, oil, pumpkin, and vanilla. Whisk until fully combined.

In three additions, add the flour mixture to the batter, mixing until just blended.

Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the walnuts.

Scrape the batter into your prepared pan and evenly smooth out the top. Bake it for 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let it cool for about 15 minutes then invert it onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once the cake is nice and cool and you are almost ready to serve it, go ahead and make your whipped cream. Pull out your mixer bowl, clean now right??, and pour in some heavy cream, vanilla, and mascarpone cheese. Whisk it until it's well combined.

Now pour in your chilled caramel and whisk the whole mixture until soft peaks form.

To serve this cake, you can spread the whipped cream over the top then slice into squares and serve. OR you can slice the cake into squares and dollop the whipped cream on each square and serve.

Either way you get that cream on there is good with me.

Enjoy!!


Pumpkin Walnut Cake
Adapted from The Cake Book

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup safflower oil (or other neutral vegetable oil)
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 recipe caramel mascarpone whipped cream**

Directions:

1. Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square baking pan with baking spray. 
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, on medium speed, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until pale, about 2 minutes.
4. Add the oil, pumpkin, milk, and vanilla. Beat until well blended.
5. At low speed, add the flour to the batter in 3 additions. Mix until just blended.
6. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the walnuts.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula until even.
8. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
9. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 15 minutes then invert onto the wire rack to cool completely.
10. Either spread the whipped cream onto the top of the cake or cut the cake into squares and serve with a dollop of whipped cream atop the cake.
11. Serve and enjoy!!

**Caramel Mascarpone Whipped Cream

Adapted from The Cake Book

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 Tablespoons water
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, divided
• 3/4 cup mascarpone cheese
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a small heavy saucepan, over medium heat, cook the sugar, water, and lemon juice, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves.
2. Increase the heat to high and cook without stirring until the mixture caramelizes and becomes a golden amber color, about 4 minutes.
3. Remove pan from heat and carefully add 1/2 cup of the heavy cream (be careful, mixture will bubble and possibly splatter). Stir until smooth.
4. Pour the hot caramel into a heatproof glass bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
5. Refrigerate until chilled, about 2 hours.
6. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, on medium speed, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup cream with the mascarpone cheese and vanilla until well blended.
7. Add the chilled caramel and increase mixer to high speed and beat until soft peaks form.
8. Use immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 8 hours.
9. Serve and enjoy!!

Flashback Friday ~ Candy Corn Bark

Candy Corn Bark

Recently I've been working on putting "pin it" buttons on all of my old posts. As I've gone through and looked at all these old recipes, I have found myself remembering how amazing these archived goodies were. I figured also, that if I'm exclaiming "Oh yeah! That was good!" then maybe you haven't seen them recently either. So...I'm going to start re-sharing some favorites of mine. 

For this first Flashback Friday, I'm sharing this recipe for Candy Corn Bark. Seeing as how it's almost (one of) the biggest candy days of the year, I figured I would share this delicious recipe for a salty sweet treat that only has 3 ingredients! Click on the link directly under the picture above and that will take you to the original post and the actual recipe. Enjoy!!

PS. If anyone is interested in playing along with me, let me know and I'll start including a link up. :-)

Pumpkin Pie Bars with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Hi there! Welcome to my new digs! Isn't it pretty???

I've been playing around with the idea of getting my blog designed for me for quite some time. As a birthday/anniversary present to myself, I decided to go ahead and finally take the plunge! And I finally found someone I was really excited about to design it for me!

Sharon over at Redbud Designs was amazing to work with! And I can't say that I'm the best customer...at all. I really had no idea what I wanted. I knew a color scheme and I wanted this space to have a 1950's malt shop type of feel. Other than that, I gave her pretty much nothing! And this is what she came up with! I definitely think she hit the mark!

Many things are the same, but I now have a "browse by topic" drop down box, a fun new blog button, a pretty "print this recipe" button, and I'm loving having my Instagram feed on the sidebar. I'm a bit obsessed with Instagram. LOL! The only thing I feel is missing is maybe some place to share what books I'm reading now. I may have to email Sharon about that.

AND! A friend of mine gifted me my own domain name for my birthday! Now you can type in www.joltsandjollies.com and you will be brought directly here! It makes things a bit easier I think, don't you??

For a while now I've been trying to decide what direction I wanted to take this blog. A while back I decided to create an every day kind of blog. But I don't seem to have time to dedicate to both blogs. So I may just incorporate the two together here. After all, this is where my heart lies. I love sharing recipes with you all. But maybe you will start seeing more about every day things.

I'm definitely interested in opinions and thoughts though. Would you be terribly annoyed if I talked to you about books every now and again? Or had some random post about military living? Or the kids?

I'm always looking to learn, grow, and develop. So any tips or ideas you all can give me would be great!

So. I think that's enough of that...for now. ;-)

Let's talk about pumpkin pie bars!

I have a little baking group on Facebook. I actually started that group before I was a member of The Cake Slice Bakers. At one point, a member of the group would choose a recipe and we would all make it as the "challenge" recipe. However, life gets in the way and we couldn't all keep up. Now it's turned into a place where we can share recipes and idea with one another.

Last month, however, someone shared a recipe for pumpkin bars and we all jumped on it. Most everyone made the recipe as it was written. But all the pictures and reviews of the bars seemed very fluffy and cake like. That wasn't what I wanted.

As I read through the reviews, I decided to make a more gooey bar. Mine didn't come out like cake, it came out more as pumpkin pie. It was definitely gooey...and moist.

The bar themselves were pretty good. But I paired mine with a maple cream cheese frosting that was to die for!! Truly, the frosting was definitely the star of the show. I couldn't get enough of it! I put little dollops on each of my bars but I think spreading it would be amazing too! However you choose to add the frosting, just make sure you have enough on each bar to have frosting on each bite. You won't regret it. Shoot...you may even just end up grabbing a spoon and forgetting about the bars all together. But hopefully not.

Let's get baking!

Whisk together your flour, leaveners, and some choice spices. Set aside.

Now beat together the pumpkin, sugar, eggs, and oil until thoroughly combined.

Add in the dry ingredients 1/3 at a time. Mix until well combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Scrape the batter into your prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake it up then let it cool completely.

Now make your frosting...this is the best part! Cream together the butter and cream cheese, then beat in some vanilla, maple, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and a bit of salt.

Mix in a couple cups of powdered sugar, then taste it. If you want it thicker, add more. Mine worked with 2 cups.

When your bars are cool, slice them up, dollop the frosting on top (unless you want to spread it, that works too), serve, and enjoy!!



Pumpkin Pie Bars
Adapted From allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 (15 ounce) cans pumpkin puree
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with baking spray.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, on medium speed, mix together the pumpkin puree, sugar, eggs, and oil until combined.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time and mix until thoroughly combined.
5. Scrape batter into baking dish and spread into an even layer using a rubber spatula.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the middle no longer jiggles and a tester inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
7. Allow to cool completely before frosting**.
8. Slice, serve, and enjoy!!

**Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from The Cake Book

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon maple extract
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch nutmeg
• Pinch salt
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, on medium high speed, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Beat in the vanilla, maple, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt until well combined.
3. With the mixer on low, beat in 2 cups of the powdered sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, until well combined.
4. Check for desired consistency and taste, add more powdered sugar as desired.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

As you all already know, I'm a bit obsessed with pumpkin.

If it were up to me I would talk about nothing but pumpkin all year long. But it's not always up to me.

Sometimes I have to put aside my one track mind and think of others. Especially when it's for a group thing. LOL!

This chocolate peanut butter mousse cake was the top voted cake for September for the Cake Slice Bakers.

Yes, I said September. I'm just slightly late.

See...my older sister's most favoritest flavor combo is peanut butter and chocolate. If you ask her, she will say she has a lot of flavor combinations that she loves but this is one I truly associate with her.

On October 4th was the second anniversary of her 35th birthday and I knew this was just the cake for her celebration. And I wasn't wrong! This cake was perfect for her! I mean...I think she liked it...she looks happy with it right??

When I first read through the recipe, I was genuinely shocked that this isn't your typical "cake." Especially for a group called the Cake Slice Bakers. You don't actually bake this cake.

The cake is light, fluffy, and melt in your mouth good. It is a rich cake for sure.

The recipe looks a little intimidating. Yes, there are several parts to this cake. But each part is pretty straight forward and fairly easy. And what's better than a cake that can be thrown together without ever having to turn on the oven.

I made this cake in an afternoon and let it set overnight. My sister was very happy with it. :-)

And speaking of the Cake Slice Bakers, we are currently open for new members! Since I am so late with this, there are only a few more days to get into the group. If you are interested, please email Paloma at love.for.coffee@gmail.com and title the email NEW CAKE SLICE MEMBER. I hope to see some of you there! And don't forget to check out the other Cake Slice Members for this cake as well.

Until then, let's bake refrigerate!!

Mix together the cookie crumbs and melted butter until well coated.

Press the mixture into the bottom of a springform pan. Place in the refrigerator while you make the peanut butter mousse.

Cream together the cream cheese and butter then mix in the powdered sugar.

Add in the peanut butter and salt and mix until well combined.

In a separate clean mixer bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form.

Fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until almost blended.

The gently fold another 1 1/2 cup whipped cream into the mixture until well blended. Place the remaining whipped cream in the fridge.

Spread the peanut butter mousse evenly over the crust. Place back in the fridge while you make the chocolate mousse.

Place both types of chocolate into the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Leave the chocolate in the processor.

In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and half and half.

While the processor is running, pour the hot mixture into the feed tube and process until the chocolate is completely melted.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl then add the vanilla. Process until combined.

Scrape chocolate mixture into a large bowl. Gently fold 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream into the chocolate.

Then add the remaining whipped cream and fold until well combined.

Evenly spread the chocolate mousse in a layer over the peanut butter mousse layer. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about an hour.

Make your glaze. Place finely chopped chocolate into a bowl. Bring your cream to a boil, pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let it stand 30 to 60 seconds. Whisk until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Place plastic wrap on the top of the glaze and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Pour the glaze into the center of the cake and spread almost to the edges. Place in the fridge overnight.

Garnish the top of the cake with peanuts.

Slice, serve, and enjoy!!


Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake
Adapted from The Cake Book

Ingredients:

For the Crust

• 1 1/2 cups Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer cookie crumbs (I used about 22 Oreos, processed to crumbs)
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the Peanut Butter Mousse

• 5 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup natural creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream

For the Chocolate Mousse

• 5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 3 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup half and half
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Glaze

• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

For the Crust

1. Lightly grease or spray a 9 inch springform pan.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs and melted butter until well combined and crumbs are completely coated.
3. Press the crumb mixture in an even layer into the bottom of the prepared springform pan.
4. Place the crust in the refrigerator while you make the peanut butter mousse.

For the Peanut Butter Mousse

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, on medium low speed, cream together the cream cheese and butter, about 1 minute.
2. Add the powdered sugar and beat until well combined.
3. Add the peanut butter and salt, beat until well mixed, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. 
4. Remove bowl from mixer and set aside.
5. In a separate, clean, metal mixing bowl, using the whisk attachment, on high speed, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form.
6. Gently fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until almost combined.
7. Fold in another 1 1/2 cups of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until well blended (cover and refrigerate remaining whipped cream).
8. Scrape the mousse into the prepared pan, over the crust, in an even layer.
9. Place in the refrigerator while you make the chocolate mousse.

For the Chocolate Mousse

1. Place both chocolates in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Leave the chocolate in the processor.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the half and half and sugar. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves.
3. With the food processor running, put the hot milk through the feed tube and process until chocolate is completely melted.
4. Scrape down sides of bowl and add the vanilla. Process until blended then scrape mixture into a large mixing bowl.
5. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of the remaining whipped cream into the chocolate mixture. 
6. Fold the remaining whipped cream into the mousse until well blended.
7. Scrape mousse into an even layer over the peanut butter mousse layer. 
8. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about an hour, until firm.

For the Chocolate Glaze

1. Place chocolate into a heat proof bowl.
2. In a small saucepan, over medium heat, bring the cream to a boil.
3. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate in the bowl and let sit about 30 to 60 seconds.
4. Whisk until smooth.
5. Stir in vanilla.
6. Cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap and let stand for about 10 minutes.
7. Pour glaze over the chocolate mousse layer and spread almost to the edges of the cake. 
8. Allow cake to sit in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. 
9. Run a paring knife along the edges of the cake to release from the pan. Remove the sides of the springform pan.
10. Garnish with peanuts. Slice, serve, and enjoy!!