I'm usually fairly good at multi-tasking but my attempts to bake and help create costumes simultaneously on Saturday turned into an epic fail. Okay, it wasn't quite that bad. But the next morning, as I was considering what I could do with the leftover canned pumpkin from the cupcakes I had made the night before, I suddenly realized I had no recollection of opening a can of pumpkin. Meaning, there was NO pumpkin in the PUMPKIN cupcakes I had made last night. Minor detail.
The fact that the batter was a bit thick didn't trigger a thought about the lack of pumpkin; I was simply going to add more buttermilk. Nor the comment from a taste-taster who said they were rather 'thick' and perhaps a tad dry. Or how about the fact that they weren't ORANGE. Yeah, I'm apparently a bit dense at times. These facts all came rushing to the forefront of my brain, however, when I realized the absence of pumpkin in my memory. (In an attempt to save face -- I was running back and forth between batches sewing patches into my brother's scarecrow costume. You'll forgive me my fault, won't you?)
The irony: first, I can't find pumpkin at ANY store; now, I can't manage to get it into the batter. I suppose I have learned to live without it for so long, I have gotten used to the notion its not going to be a part of my treats. ;-)
At any rate, I made these tasty 'pumpkin' cupcakes from Smitten's Kitchen. They were rather delicious even without the pumpkin. Spice cupcakes with a cream cheese frosting. Besides the lack of pumpkin, the only other deviation from the recipe was I left out the maple syrup and 1/4 c. of butter from the frosting. And, of course, I added a little candy corn on top for flair.
The true hit of the evening, however, were my pumpkin rice krispie treats. I simply added a bit of red and yellow food coloring to the marshmallows and butter after melting them to give it a nice orange tint. I also added a sour apple bite to the top as a stem. They were every bit delicious and every bit accurate.
N.B. When shaping your rice krispie treats, let the mixture cool a bit before you get started molding. If it is too hot, it simply sticks to your hands. Although, too long and it will never come out of the pan...about 5-10 minutes does the trick.
A costume sampler:
Sally, 'Breaking News', and Swinging Dancer
Caped Masquerade
Scarecrow
Napping Indiana Jones
The Freeway
Julia Child and her culinary creationHope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! :-)
3 comments:
Was there actually pumpkin in the rice krispie treats? Was there any pumpkin at all??? Have you tried buying the pumpkins whole and cooking them to get pumpkin puree? Have you seen smitten kitchen's new rice krispie recipe with BROWNED BUTTER?
No, it was a complete failure on the addition of real pumpkin. Although, my pumpkin rice krispies looked like pumpkins.... ;-p
I have cooked pumpkins whole in the past. I've been to busy/lazy this year to do it. Hence, I resort to the method for lazy bakers...opening cans - less effort.
And, I did see smitten kitchen's browned butter rice krispie treats...may have to try those out sometime soon. :-)
Haha, I see. I'm thinking of doing the rice krispie treats as well. I have not had those in a while and I always enjoy them, bad as they are with the marshmallows. How did the pizookie turn out?? :-)
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