Orange Sugared Mixed Nuts

I've been a bit neglectful of my blog lately, and for that I am sorry.  But I found it hard to tear myself away from friends and family that I hadn't seen in a year in order to take some time to share my thoughts and recipes with you.  I hope you can forgive me, my friends.  And I hope you all had that sort of Christmas as well.

It's not that I haven't been cooking or photographing any new recipes.  I have several stored up to share with you in the coming weeks.  In fact, I found cooking in the kitchen with my mother to be a creatively inspiring experience.  She has a way of suggesting things and confirming my ideas that helps me to be a better cook.  The recipe that I'm sharing today was a happy accident that happened in her kitchen.  I had some candied orange peel that I had made quite a while ago and thought I had stored well.  But the first bite almost broke her teeth!  They had dried beyond the point of being edible.  As I was about to throw the rest of the peels out with a heavy heart, she suggested we could grind them up and somehow find a way to use them.  And so the orange sugared nut mix was born.

So here is my New Year's gift to you.  If you need an idea at the last minute for a snack to bring to a party tonight, this is it.  It's quick and super tasty (just ask my Dad, he loved them).  Bring the nuts in a pretty bowl and your hostess will be thrilled. 

Here's to a New Year filled with peace, love, and many more meals around the family table.

Orange Sugared Mixed Nuts
Feel free to use any nuts you like for this recipe.  I used an equal mix of pecans, hazelnuts, and almonds because that's what the grocery store had left on Christmas Eve.  The pecans were my favorite in the end, but I found that everyone in my family had their own favorite.  My Dad loved them all.

4 cups mixed nuts
2 tbs butter
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 tbs orange zest (if you happen to have some candied orange peel that's been hanging around your pantry too long, grind it up and use it instead of the orange zest like I did)
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbs coarse sugar (such as raw or turbinado sugar)

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whip the egg whites to soft peaks.  In another bowl, mix together the 1/2 cup of sugar, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add the sugar mixture to the egg whites while whipping.  Beat until the egg whites are stiff and glossy.  Fold in the nuts and orange zest.

Put the butter onto a baking pan and place it in the oven for about 2 minutes to melt the butter.  Remove the pan from the oven and spread the nuts out evenly in the pan.  Sprinkle them with the coarse sugar and place the pan back in the oven.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, stirring every 7-8 minutes.  Watch the nuts carefully, you don't want them to burn.  They are ready when the coating is crisp and slightly browned.  Pour the hot nuts intoa bowl and let cool completely.

Mixed Berry Curd

I've spent the past several days making and eating huge meals with my and my husband's families.  Endless hours of preparation, cooking and baking end in way too much food and people exclaiming over old favorites and new treats.  My favorite part of the evening is when everyone is sitting around the table and all you can hear is the warm hum of laughter and conversation.  People who have spent the past year scattered from each other gathered together to enjoy each other's company around a table of food that holds memories of Christmases of the past.

It's part of the reason I started this blog- food brings people together.  And there is no better example of that than this time of the year.  We come together to the table to share a meal and stories of our lives.

This is one of the recipes that graced our Christmas table this year.  I started out excited to make Meyer lemon macarons and ended up falling in love with the filling I made for them.  I'm all too familiar with lemon curd- I've even shared my favorite recipe for it on this blog.  This was my first try at using anything other than lemon and it was a complete success.  So I thought I would gift it to you this holiday season.  Merry Christmas friends.  Thank you for joining my virtual table, sharing your stories with me and listening to me go on and on about the food I love. 

Mixed Berry Curd

I used frozen berries for this curd.  I wouldn't dream of trying to use fresh berries this time of year.  But by all means, make this in the summer when you can't stop going to the pick your own berry farms.  And in the winter, break of those bags of berries you froze when you just couldn't stand another berry dessert in July.  Making the berry curd will make your forget that it's gray and snowing outside for just a little while.  It's not too sweet and just a bit tangy.  Use the curd to top a simple cream scone or french toast, fill meringue cups, or dip cubes of pound cake into it. 

1 1/2 cups mixed berries of your choosing, fresh or frozen ( I used a mix of strawberries, blueberries and blackberries)

1 tbs lemon juice

1 whole egg

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

4 tbs butter

In a small saucepan, gently cook the berries until they soften and begin to break down.  If using fresh berries this will take 3-4 minutes, frozen berries will take a few minutes longer.  Set aside to cool.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the egg, egg yolks, sugar and lemon juice.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture is thickened and bubbly.  Add the cooked berries and continue cooking and stirring until the mixture is very thick, about 5 minutes more.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Stir in the butter 1 tablespoon at a time.  Transfer the curd to a bowl and lay a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface.  Refrigerate until completely cool.

Meyer Lemon and Cranberry Scones

What do you make for a snack for yourself when you're trying to clean out a fridge of perishables before a long trip?  If you're like me you try to make something that can use up your milk, eggs and any fruit or veggies that may be hanging out in your crisper drawer.  I wanted to make something that would keep me happy over a very long day of traveling with my very non-travel-friendly two year old.  So I scrounged up a few ingredients, raided the Meyer lemon tree in the back yard (yay!  they're finally ripe!), and scoured the internet for some inspiration.  One of my favorite bloggers, Deb over at smitten kitchen, delivered the goods.  I'm a sucker for a good scone and combining the fragrant sweetness of a Meyer lemon and the tartness of cranberries sounded like pure genius.  Sold!

Armed with my beautiful scones, I spent yesterday on a C-17 cargo plane cruising across the country with my family.  We were headed east to visit grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins for Christmas.  "Why a cargo plane?", you might ask (and rightly so, it's not your everyday mode of transportation).  Here's the deal- living across the continent from our families makes it awfully expensive endeavor to visit them.  Four plane tickets from LAX to Philly aren't cheap, especially at Christmastime.  So we decided to make traveling an adventure this year and try to fly on a military flight.  It's worth it if you can make it work for you, free travel and possibly parts of the country you may never get to see otherwise.  Luckily, after a 4 1/2 hour wait we snagged seats with several other like-minded families on a cargo plane where we could stretch out, walk around and not be crammed like sardines into tiny seats for the six hour trip across the country.  Not a bad way to go after all.

And of course, I had my scones.  I froze some of the unbaked scones for a rainy day, but a few precious ones made it into my bag for the flight.  They were just the thing to make the day bearable.  The brightness of the flavors perked me right up while waiting in a stark Marine Corps air terminal for what felt like forever and halfway through the loooong flight when it seemed like I just could't wait any longer to get off the plane.  My only regret of the day- the one poor scone that got smashed to smithereens under the laptop in my carry on.  You know how the a Marine will never leave a man behind?  Well, I had to leave this one behind as the potential for leaving crumbs all over the cargo plane was just too high for comfort.  It was a sad moment.

Scone or no scone, as I sit in my parent's warm, comfortable house tonight, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be here and the Air Force pilots and crewman who safely carried us through the skies yesterday.  And I'm thankful that I had the foresight to bring along several more of those Meyer lemons.  My mom and I have already been dreaming up ways to use them.  I forsee several more posts in the near future using those beautiful lemons.  Possibly Meyer lemon macarons with blueberry curd...or a lemon pudding cake...a tangy lemon meringue pie maybe...  I'll fall asleep tonight dreaming of the possibilities just as if I were counting sheep.

Meyer Lemon and Cranberry Scones
From smitten kitchen, with the slight modification of the addition of the lemon glaze.  I couldn't stand to look at that poor, zested, unused Meyer lemon on the counter so I made a glaze to drizzle over the top of the scones.  I was so glad I did.

1 1/2 tbs freshly grated lemon zest (If you can find Meyer lemons, use them for heaven's sake.)
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 3 tbs granulated sugar
1 tbs baking powder
6 tbs butter, cut into pieces
1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped fresh cranberries (You heard me, fresh ones!  The dried ones don't even compare.)
1 large egg and 1 egg yolk
1 cup plus 2 tbs heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbs fresh lemon juice (to start, you may need more to get the glaze to the consistency that drizzles well for you)

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or a non-stick liner.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, lemon zest, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar and baking powder.  With a pastry blender, two forks or your fingertips, blend the butter into the flour mixture.  You want the butter to be in small, pea-sized pieces.  Toss the cranberries with the 3 tbs sugar.  Stir the cranberries into the dry ingredients.

In a small bowl lightly beat the egg and egg yolk.  Mix in the heavy cream.  Pour the egg/cream mixture into the larger bowl with the dry ingredients.  With a wooden spoon or your hands, stir all of the ingredients together until you have a soft, wet dough. 

Place the dough onto a well floured work surface.  Gently pat it together into a ball and then carefully flatten it into a disk roughly 1 inch thick.  Using a 2 inch round cutter, cut as many scones from the dough as you can.  Place the scones 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.  You can gently re-roll the scraps of dough to make more scones.

Bake the scones for 12-15 minutes until they are very lightly golden at the edges.  Cool for 5 minutes on the pan and then transfer them to a baking rack.  Cool completely on the rack.  In the meantime mix together the powdered sugar and lemon juice for the glaze.  When the scones are cool, drizzle the glaze over them.  Let the glaze set (it takes just a few minutes) and then enjoy!

Orange Sour Cherry Panettone Made in the No-knead Style

I am grateful for my wonderful neighbors.  They are the kind of people who will wander around your house the night before Thanksgiving checking to make sure no one's broken in while you are on vacation.  They are the kind of people who you can call up and ask if your kids can play at their house while you make a run to Target for those few things you "forgot".  You can shoot them a text asking for a few eggs because you're in the middle of making a cake and didn't check your fridge before you started.  They bring you beautiful gourmet olive oil and vinegar because they know you enjoy that sort of thing.  They are the kind of neighbors who I wish everyone could have because they make living in our neighborhood a joy.

My wonderful neighbors deserve a wonderful Christmas gift.  Homemade, of course.  This year I wanted to do something a bit different.  I was completely cookied-out after the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and wanted to come up with an enjoyable gift that wouldn't keep me in the kitchen for days making it.  So I dug way back in my food memories to the red box that sat on my grandparents' buffet every Christmas next to the giant bottle of sambuca (which came complete with it's own stand and tap).  Even though there was a panettone in that red box, I never remember anyone actually eating it.  It was just there, like another Christmas decoration.  A hold-out from the old country where panettone is a traditional bread eaten at Christmas-time.  Surely, it couldn't be so bad that no one wanted to eat it, could it?

I confess, I never actually ate a piece until this week, and that was of the panettone that I made myself.  But I have seen others eat it and it always looked dry and had weird bits of candied fruit in it.  I knew I could do better- and I did.  My panettone is soft (almost-brioche-like on the first day), wonderfully fragrant, and so much easier to make than any of the traditional recipes that I found.  I will definitely make this again, maybe for my grandmother to remind her of the old days.  I know it will bring a smile to her face.  And judging by the looks of gratitude my neighbors gave me when I showed up at their houses with beautifully wrapped and ribboned panettone, I'm pretty sure my work was worth it.

Orange Sour Cherry Panettone

Adapted from the fine folks at Artisan Bread in Five.

This recipe makes three loaves of panettone.  I used molds purchased from Sur la Table that were 5 inches in diameter and 4 inches tall.  You can also purchase them online from Amazon or King Arthur Flour.  If you don't want to go through the trouble of buying the special paper molds, a great alternative would be to use a well-washed 28 oz tomato can with the labeled removed.

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 1/2 tbs yeast

1 1/2 tbs kosher salt

1/2 cup honey

8 eggs, lightly beaten

zest of 1 medium orange

1 tbs fresh orange juice

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted and slightly cooled

7 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups dried cherries (I used dried sour montmorency cherries that I found at Trader Joe's)

In a large mixing bowl or container (at least 5 quart capacity), stir together the water, yeast, salt and honey to dissolve the yeast and honey.   Stir in the orange zest and juice, eggs, vanilla and butter.  Carefully add and mix in the flour, stirring until all the flour is incorporated.  Mix in the dried cherries.  Cover the bowl or container with a lid (leaving it just a tiny bit open) or plastic wrap.  Leave the dough on the counter for at least two hours, or until the dough has doubled in volume.

The dough can be used at this point, but the flavor develops even better when given some rest time in the refrigerator.  I put my container in the fridge for another 24 hours, finishing it the next afternoon.  If you choose to chill your dough, let it sit at room temperature for an hour for it to come to room temperature before shaping the loaves.

When you are ready to shape and bake your dough, generously spray the inside of three molds with non-stick spray or butter them.  Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.  Separate the dough into three pieces.  Shape each into a ball by stretching the top of the dough down around to the bottom.  Place the dough into the mold, seam side down.  Cover the loaves loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let the dough rise on the counter for another half hour.

Just before baking, brush the tops of the panettone with beaten egg and sprinkle with a bit of sugar (I used raw sugar because I thought those big crystals would be prettier than regular sugar).  Bake the panettone loaves for 45-50 minutes.  I placed my paper molds on a baking pan rather than right onto the rack in my oven.  I found it easier to get them in and out of the oven that way, and I used the pan to rotate the loaves back to front halfway through the baking time.  The loaves are finished when they are a deep golden brown on top and sound hollow when tapped from the bottom.  Let the loaves cool completely on a baking rack.

You can store the loaves in a plastic bread bag.  They will dry out a bit as they age, but that just adds to their charm.  

Serving suggestions:

~slice and serve with tea or coffee for dipping and sipping

~toast slices and serve with orange marmalade or butter flavored with honey and orange zest to up the orange factor

~slice and use to make french toast

~any leftover, slightly stale panettone would make a lovely bread pudding

~gift them to your friends and neighbors with a beautiful ribbon tied around the middle

Chai Spiced Chocolate Crackle Cookies {For the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap}

How do you choose a cookie to make and send to three people you don't know?  Three people who have food blogs themselves and therefore probably have pretty high standards and will be difficult to impress.  It was a challenge that I happily took on as part of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap of 2011. I was just one of over 625 other food bloggers taking part in an international cookie swap of epic proportions.  There was no way I was going to pass up an opportunity like that.  Can you imagine the possibilities?  The dozens of drool-inducing cookies flying all over the nation (and the world as well!) and arriving on your doorstep just for you to taste and become inspired by.

So, really, how do you choose a cookie?  Because if you have a better method than mine, I'd like to try it for next year.  I started out knowing exactly what I wanted to make- an Italian cookie called a dardeed that my grandmother, and now my mother, makes every year.  Then I remembered just how time consuming they are to make and that their thick coating of honey would make them difficult to ship.  Oh well, scratch that idea.

So I began the process of pouring through my cookbooks (several of which are dedicated solely to Christmas cookies) and the food magazines I've been collecting over the years.  I also hit the internet to try to find some inspiration.  Finally I asked my husband who's answer was quick and simple- "how about chocolate crinkle cookies?".  Well, why not?  They're simple to make, everyone loves chocolate, and they would stand up to the rigors of cross-country shipping.  I should have just asked him to start with and saved myself the hours of agonizing over hundreds of recipes.  Then again, all that work reminded me of how many cookies I've been meaning to get to over the years and have now forgotten about.  I'll get to them next year for sure...

But a basic cookie just wouldn't do for this cookie swap.  So I decided to spice the classic chocolate crinkle cookie up with a chai spice blend.  Not too much, just enough to make the chocolate taste more chocolate-y and make you take notice of the exotic spices.  My method to get the spice just right- taste the cookie dough.  I have no problem admitting it.  I took a smidge of dough from the bowl and tasted it, adding small increments of the spice mix into the dough until I had it just right.  I will definitely be making this cookie again.  I just loved the flavors, but then again, chai is one of my favorites.

Thanks to the recipients of my cookies, Cara (The Boys Made Me Do It) and Marnely (Cooking With Books) for the feedback and I'm so glad you liked them!  I'm hoping my third box made it to Heather (Bake it.  Create it.  Love it.).  As a fellow military wife who's hubby recently returned from deployment, she deserves a good cookie.

Chai Spiced Chocolate Crackle Cookies
Adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe.

1 chai tea bag
1/3 cup warm milk
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips (I used Ghiradelli 70% cacao chips), melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp ground cardomom
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (8 tbs) butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

For topping:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup powdered sugar

Steep the chai tea bag in the warm milk for 10-15 minutes.  Remove the tea bag and squeeze any remaining liquid from it back into the milk.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, spices and salt.  Set this mixture aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar by mixing on medium until they are light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix.  Then pour in the melted chocolate and mix to combine.  Add the flour mixture in three batched alternating with the milk.  Stir until all the ingredients are just combined.  Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.  You can also freeze the dough at this point to use at a later time.

When the dough is ready to use, pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Pour the granulated sugar and powdered sugar into separate flat containers, such as pie plates or a large flat dinner plate.  Scoop the dough into 1 inch balls and drop them first into the granulated sugar.  Roll the cookie balls in the granulated sugar to coat and then roll them in the powdered sugar also to coat.  Place the cookies 2 inches apart on parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheets.  Bake for 14 minutes.  The cookies will have puffed and the sugar coating will have "crackled".  The cookies will feel firm to the touch.

Cool the cookies for a minute or two on the cookie sheet then transfer them to a baking rack to cool completely.


A big thank you to  the following ladies for their fabulous cookies, check them out!
Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean
Melissa from I was Born to Cook
Jessie from Body and Soul Food

Soft Pretzel Sticks

I love, love, love soft pretzels.  Philly soft pretzels to be exact.  When you grow up in South Jersey, you come to expect the soft pretzels from street vendors to be in brown paper bags, slightly stale and with the salt beginning to "melt" into the crust of the pretzel.  That's just how we do it.  Sports events, window shopping in the city, heck even at the airport, the pretzel is a staple of the Philly/South Jersey diet. 

And with yellow mustard.  Always.  No fancy stuff for us, please. 

Now, I like wings and the other "usual" football game snacks.  I really do.  But, to me, the pretzel is an absolute must at the stadium.  So why shouldn't it be a staple on your Saturday or Sunday afternoon table right along with the 7-layer dip? 

At my house, there really is only one game that counts.  Only one for which I would even consider putting out snacks and making it an event.  The annual Army/Navy game.  My husband went to the Naval Academy and I have watched every Army/Navy game for the past 16 years- 5 of them in person.  The rivalry is huge and fun and I love the traditions of the game.  From the cadets and midshipmen marching on to the field to start the game, to the push-ups for touchdowns and the singing of the school songs at the end, you can tell how seriously each school takes the game and their responsibility to play it with honor.  It's truly special.  One of my favorite memories of the game (second only to marching onto the field with the midshipmen in 1998) is of taking my then 5 year old son to his first Army/Navy game a couple of years back.

At field level to watch the Brigade of Midshipmen march onto the field at the 2009 game.  There's Bill the Goat!

This year we're watching the game with a huge group of folks from my husband's squadron, many of whom are also Naval Academy graduates.  I have a feeling that it may get a bit out of hand (in a good way).  But all those people need to be fed and I'll be bringing these soft pretzels.  And I'll feel just a little bit happier knowing that the new traditions we make this year will be made doubly special by combining them with traditions from my own childhood.

GO NAVY-BEAT ARMY!!

Soft Pretzel Sticks
From Alton Brown

Makes about 2 dozen 4-inch pretzel sticks

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 package active dry yeast (about 2 1/2 tsp)
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tbs butter, melted

10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
melted butter for brushing the pretzel sticks
kosher or sea salt for sprinkling over the pretzels (I tried both and found no discernable difference)

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the water, yeast, salt and sugar.  Let it sit for about 10 minutes or until the mixture is bubbly.

Using the dough hook, slowly mix in the flour and butter.  When the flour is fully incorporated, raise the speed of the mixer to medium and knead the dough for 3-4 minutes.  You will have a soft, but not sticky, dough.  Place the dough in a well oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let the bowl sit in a warm spot for about an hour until the dough has doubled in volume.

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees.  Mix the water and baking soda in a large pot and set the pot over medium high heat.  Bring the water/baking soda mix to a full, rolling boil.  Have two parchment lined baking sheets ready.  Lightly brush the parchment with oil or spray with non-stick spray.

When the dough is ready, remove it from the bowl and lay it on your work surface.  There is no need to flour the surface, the dough will not stick.  Cut the dough into eight equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a rope about 12 inches long.  Cut each rope into thirds and set the pretzel sticks aside.  Continue rolling and cutting until you have cut all of the dough into sticks.

Working in batches of three, carefully place the pretzel sticks into the pot of boiling water.  Remove them after 30 seconds with a flat spatula or large slotted spoon.  Place the boiled pretzel sticks on the baking sheets about 1 inch apart.  Brush the boiled pretzel sticks with melted butter and sprinkle salt over them to your taste.  Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes.  The pretzels will be nicely browned and puffed.  Let cool completely.

Serve the pretzel sticks with yellow mustard for dipping.

The World's Easiest {And Best} Chocolate Cake

My oldest son turns 7 this week and we had his birthday party on Saturday.  Just like every other mama out there, I can remember his birth like it was yesterday and wonder at how 7 years has passed so quickly.  He was such a wonderful baby, quiet and thoughtful, quick to smile, and the world's best sleeper.  My mother took one look at him and pronounced him an "old soul".  He was one of those babies that makes you wonder why all those other mothers are stressed out and exhausted (don't feel too jealous, our younger son is more than a handful).  I was definitely lucky.  And I still consider myself lucky as we celebrate another year gone by.  My sweet little one has grown into a kind, intelligent, thoughtful, mature and all-around-wonderful young man.  I am so thankful that he came to join our family 7 short years ago.

The cupcakes that I made for my son's party are an old family recipe.  My grandparents used to have a small Italian bakery and one of their specialties was a frozen chocolate mousse cake.  I can remember slabs of frozen chocolate cake in my grandmother's freezer that would find their way onto the dessert table at all sorts of family gatherings.  I looooved that cake.  It was super moist and had the best chocolate flavor.  So when I started baking, it was one of the first recipes I asked for from my grandmother.  It wasn't until recently that I found out that the recipe I had been using for years and thought was my grandmother's was actually my Mom's!  Sorry Mom!  But regardless of the source, I still use it, love it, and even carry on the tradition of having some stashed away in my freezer for a rainy day (or any day I just want a piece of chocolate cake).

 The World's Easiest {And Best} Chocolate Cake

Seriously, this really is an easy cake.  You can't screw it up.  And it's extremely versatile as well.  It works equally well for cupcakes or layered cakes.  Try it as a cake with a thick layer of chocolate ganache poured over it or with a light chocolate mouse or caramel frosting in between 2 layers.  I made a quick cream cheese frosting for the cupcakes I served at the birthday party and they complemented the cake perfectly.  Or keep the cake plain and put a scoop of your favorite ice cream over top.  Can you tell that the possibilities are endless?

Makes 2 dozen cupcakes, 2 8-inch round cakes or 1 10-inch square cake

1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup milk
1/2 cup light flavored oil such as canola or vegetable
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup boiling water

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda.  Add the milk, oil, vanilla and eggs and stir to combine.  Carefully pour in the hot water and just as carefully stir it into the batter.  That's it!  See, I told you it was easy!

If you are going to make cupcakes, line the cups of two standard cupcake/muffin trays with liners and fill each liner to about 3/4 full.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean.  If you bake both trays at once, it's a good idea to rotate your pans top to bottom and back to front halfway through for even baking.  Once the cupcakes are baked, let them cool on a baking rack in the pan for a few minutes and then remove them to cool on the rack completely.  The cupcakes can be kept in an airtight container for a few days if necessary or individually wrapped and frozen for several months. 

To make a cake, butter or spray your cake pan with non-stick spray, then cut a piece of parchment to fit the bottom of the pan and lay it in.  Butter or spray the top of the parchment and then you can either coat the inside of the pan with flour or, as I like to do so that I avoid the edges of the cake looking gray from the flour, coat the pan with a dusting of cocoa.  Pour the cake batter into the pan to fill it about 3/4 of the way.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  The cake will have puffed in the center and feel firm to the touch (be gentle).  A toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean.

Cool the cake completely on a baking rack before removing it from the pan.  To remove from the pan, run a butter knife or thin offset spatula around the edge of the pan.  Place a plate over the cake and, one hand firmly on the bottom of the cake pan and the other firmly on the bottom of the plate, flip the pan over so that the cake rests on the plate.  Peel off the parchment paper and the cake it ready to use.  Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap if you don't intend to use it right away.  Like the cupcakes, you can wrap and freeze the cake for several months if you wish.

Happy Birthday Pumpkin!!!!