Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies

30/10/2013

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Starbucks have been promoting their pumpkin spice lattes incredibly hard this year in the UK. Despite the fact they contain no actual pumpkin I have to admit they are delicious! I always like to make a little something with pumpkin when the clocks go back and the nights draw in, plus I love all the spices of the season (see pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin fudge and salted caramel cookies). 
I can never seem to get the texture to my liking when I make cookies with pumpkin (they always seem to end up as little cakes) so I've decided I should probably call these 'cakelets'. They taste OK on their own but topped with coffee and cream 'latte' icing are absolutely delicious, and I'd probably choose them over the drink. Come on, who wouldn't choose the cakelet?!

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Parsnip and Maple Syrup Cake

4/11/2012

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Continuing with an Autumn theme, I made this cake for a housewarming party and asked people to guess what it was made of. No-one could, and they were pretty surprised to find out it was parsnip!

Adapted from BBC Good Food (Nov 2009)
Cooking time: 45 mins
Ingredients:
175g butter, plus extra for greasing
250g demerara sugar
100ml maple syrup
3 large eggs
250g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons mixed spice
250g parsnips, peeled and grated
1 medium eating apple, peeled, cored and grated
50g pecans, roughly chopped
zest and juice 1 small orange
icing sugar, to serve

For the filling:
250g tub mascarpone
3-4 tbsp maple syrup

Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 180C (355 F). Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins or line with baking paper. Melt the butter, sugar and maple syrup in a pan over gentle heat, then cool slightly.

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Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon icing

30/10/2012

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More pumpkin! I have to admit I don't really have any interest in Hallowe'en myself but I went to Alton Towers scarefest last week with my flatmate who absolutely loves Hallowe'en. So for her I made these pumpkin cupcakes with a 'broken glass' topping (you definitely need a sugar thermometer for this decoration but it's sooo worth it!)

As I wanted to decorate these cakes with sugar shards that actually stick into the cakes themselves I didn't want a buttercream icing/frosting. This icing is very sloppy but does set slightly!
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Adapted from Allrecipes.co.uk and Martha Stewarts broken glass (Oct 2011)
Makes 24-28 cupcakes
Cooking time: 25 mins
Ingredients:
280g plain flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
110g butter, softened
200g caster sugar
5 tablespoons brown soft sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
180ml milk
250g pumpkin puree

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Spiced Pumpkin Fudge Cookies with Salted Caramel Glaze

22/10/2012

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It's really starting to feel like Autumn around here so when I saw cans of pumpkin puree on a website for £1.29 each I just had to stock up and use it for some baking. Plus Starbucks have launched their Autumn flavours in the UK... spiced pumpkin latte for the first time, and salted caramel mocha/hot chocolate. 
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I'm absolutely in love with any seasonal syrupy concoctions from coffee shops so when I saw this recipe I knew it had to be the first thing I made with my new pumpkin tins! 


In the UK you can buy pumpkin puree from Waitrose/Ocado if you prefer that over online shopping.


These cookies turned out pretty cakey for me, I think if I made them again I'd melt the butter first as this usually turns out really chewy cookies.


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