Pumpkin is such a versatile ingredient, adaptable to both savory and sweet dishes, and is not only one of my favorite foods but also plentiful during my favorite season of the year--Fall.
Pumpkin fudge is a creamy, ambrosial concoction made with canned pumpkin. My version uses cinnamon chips and toasted pecans.
Pumpkin Pecan Fudge
2 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup salted butter
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup cinnamon chips
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme
1 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Spray 13 x 9-inch baking pan with baking spray.
Combine sugars, evaporated milk, pumpkin, and butter in medium, heavy-duty sauce pan. Bring to a full boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, until candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees F to 240 F (soft-ball stage).
Stir in chips, marshmallow creme, pecans, and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously, making sure chips are melted, until mixture thickens slightly. Pour into prepared pan. Place on wire rack until cool. Cover and refrigerate. Cut into pieces. Makes about 3 pounds.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Pumpkin Pecan Fudge
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Happy 34th Birthday, Little Girl!

At 6:00 a.m. on the morning of October 24, 1975, I was awakened by a clap of thunder and the unmistakable feel of my water breaking.
Since October 23 is our anniversary, my husband and I had celebrated the day before with pan-fried steaks, baked potatoes, salads, and hot fudge sundaes for dessert. Was that a smart thing to do? Probably not.
After realizing I was in labor, I promptly got up, took a shower, got dressed, and straightened up the house (I was manic!), only sitting down when contractions forced me to stop. At 9:00 a.m. we went to the hospital, and three hours later we had a beautiful 6 pound, 14 ounce baby girl who promptly became the apple of our eyes.

Our beautiful little hazel-eyed, button-nosed brunette is still the apple of our eyes, and we are so proud of her. She is strong, kind, incredibly smart, and funny. She is a wonderful daughter, her brother’s favorite little sister, her grandmother’s “Dollbaby”, her nephew and nieces’ loving Aunt Jenni, a delight to her friends, and the best kitty-mommy in the world. She has a big heart, a gentle soul, and is a joy to know and love. She is fashionable, has impeccable taste, is a decorating guru, a gifted artist, and a very creative cook.
My birthday wish for you is that you enjoy life to the fullest and find the joy that you so richly deserve.
Friday, September 04, 2009
EatSmart Kitchen Scales - Update!
After several uses, some things I love about my new FREE EatSmart Kitchen Scales are the tare feature, the accuracy, and the ease of cleaning.
When I make muffins for the coffeeshop, in order for them to be a consistent size, I need to weigh the batter. I can press "tare", and it subtracts out the minute weight of the muffin cup.
Even one cranberry can make a difference as I try to make each muffin 6.55 oz; the scales are very accurate.
I can spill blobs of batter on the scales and not worry, because clean up is easy. I just wipe it off and dry it to a nice shine!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
EatSmart Kitchen Scales

Sometimes it really pays to visit other people's blogs. This was the case a few days ago when I commented on a post made by Julia at Dozen Flours. It was the last day of her giveaway, but I wanted to comment anyway on her Upside Down Sweet Cherry Cake, because I am insanely attracted to cherry desserts. She was also giving away the cookbook that contains the recipe, Rustic Fruit Desserts, and kitchen scales from EatSmart Products. So I commented and promptly forgot about it. The next day she notified me that I had won the kitchen scales!
Later I was contacted by EatSmart's Vice President, William Geronimo, who congratulated me and asked me which color I wanted! So not only did I win, but I also got to choose the color--and naturally I chose red to go with my other kitchen appliances.
I bookmarked EatSmart's website, which features high quality digital kitchen and bathroom scales and a digital food and nutrient calculator with a database of the nutrional values of over 1000 foods! EatSmart is very high on customer service, and that always gets my attention.
In my business it is important to bake products that are consistent in size and weight. To accomplish this I weigh cupcakes and muffins prior to baking them. I had been weighing my jumbo muffins on our postal scale, and this involved lugging it out of the drawer, plugging it in, and having it take up space on my counter.
My new red kitchen scales arrived yesterday by priority mail, and batteries were included! YAY! I used them right away, since I was baking muffins. It was so convenient and so precise that adding or subtracting a blueberry made a difference! The scales were easy to clean of the dabs of batter I dropped, and even though I forgot to turn them off, the scales went off after 3 minutes.
These scales are the perfect size to leave on my countertop, are easy to use, featuring measurement modes of grams, kilograms, ounces, and pounds, and will weigh up to 11 pounds. And besides all that, they are pretty!
Thank you Julia and EatSmart!
Sunday, August 02, 2009
More Birthday Cupcakes!

When a friend asked me to make cupcakes for her beautiful step-daughter, Laurel, I was inspired by a forum friend, Emily, and by Annie of Annie's Eats to try butterfly cupcakes as part of the order. Annie has an excellent step-by-step, and although my efforts did not match either Emily's or Annie's, I was pleasantly surprised by the results.
The flavors requested were filled strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla. For the chocolate I made Chocolate Bliss cupcakes with Sour Cream Fudge Buttercream and vanilla mascarpone filling.
Some of the chocolate cupcakes were topped with a molded pink candy rose.


The Vanilla Bean Cream cupcakes were made using my favorite Magnolia Bakery recipe, filled with vanilla mascarpone filling, and topped with Vanilla Bean Buttercream.
Strawberry Bliss cupcakes (Candace Nelson's recipe) were filled with Strawberry Cream filling and topped with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream.
A few of the strawberry cupcakes were adorned with butterflies.
Happy Birthday, Laurel!
