Pumpkin Spice Cake

A family friend who is on WeightWatchers told us about this idea that she learned while attending one of her WeightWatchers meetings; it's mixing pumpkin puree and boxed spice cake mix together, achieving a low-fat cake because you’re not using eggs, milk or oil.  It’s only 4 WeightWathcers points for a 2x2 inch square.

Now the method for making this cake may sound weird, (since all that's used is a 15 oz. can of pumpkin puree and 1 boxed spice cake mix) and you may be a bit skeptic as we
were when we first heard about this cake, but let us tell you, the end result is absolutely delicious and super moist. It was a total shock to us.   We knew for sure that we had to try this out to see for ourselves as to how this cake tastes.

1 box Spice Cake Mix

1 15 oz. canned pumpkin puree

Look to the directions on the box for the oven temperature.

Mix together in a medium sized bowl, the cake mix and pumpkin puree using an electric mixer on medium speed just until combined. Spray your desired baking dish with non-stick cooking spray, and then pour the batter into the dish (we used a 13x9 baking dish). Follow the guidelines on the box for length of time to bake.

Voila!

The result is a wonderful fast, easy and delicious cake. Perfect for when you need to make a last minute dessert  If you want, you could dust the top of the cake with powdered sugar, or if you're in WeightWatchers, you could put a dollop of cool whip (which has zero points!) or you can do what we did and make a Cinnamon Mascarpone Icing and spread it on the cake.  

~ Enjoy ~

Grandma's Rice Pudding

It finally feels like fall weather here in southern California, there's definitely a cooler breeze at night, and even the sunshine looks different.

The fall season happens to be one of our favorite seasons for cooking/baking and I'm sure this goes for a lot of people. It's so inspires us go make good, comforting, soothing, warm, home-y dishes. Dishes that take you back to when you were a child.  One comforting dish that we liked as young girls was bowl of warm and creamy rice pudding.  Even now, when I eat it, it just hits the spot and you know that everything (no matter what it is) is going to be alright.  

The recipe we want to share with you is for our Grandma's warm and creamy Rice Pudding.  It's very basic but comforting.

 

We hope you enjoy the recipe!!!

J and J

~ Grandma's Rice Pudding ~ 2 cups water

3 cinnamon sticks

¾ cup white rice

1 can evaporated milk

 sugar, grandma didn't give the measurement for sugar, just add however much you desire.

½  cup raisins

½  cup cubed or crushed pineapple - optional

1 tsp. vanilla extract

In a 2 quart saucepan, bring to boil the water and cinnamon. Add the rice, bring to a second boil, and cook uncovered for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Remove the cinnamon sticks and add the evaporated milk, sugar, raisins and pineapple. Bring to a simmer and cook until the pudding is creamy and if neccessary until the rice is completely cooked. If the pudding is too thick, you can always add extra milk. Stir in the vanilla extract. 

~ Enjoy! ~

We'd like to wish everyone a safe and Happy Labor Day!

We also would like to share a recipe with you, a recipe that we think is a perfect fit for the holiday/end of summer.

We hope you try it out!

~ Enjoy! ~


J and J

White Chocolate Mousse Tartlets with Raspberries

~ White Chocolate Mousse  ~

4 Servings, Mousse adapted from foodnetwork.com

7 oz. Premium Quality White Chocolate, chopped

2 egg yolks

2 Tblsp. sugar

¼ cup plus 1 cup heavy cream, separated

1 pint raspberries or blueberries or both

In a large bowl, place the chopped chocolate and set aside.

Add the sugar and egg yolks in a small bowl and whisk until pale yellow.

In a saucepan, over low heat, bring 1/4 cup of the cream to a simmer, and slowly add the cream into the yolk and sugar mixture to temper. Pour the cream mixture back into pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it coats the back of it.

Pour hot mix into a fine mesh sieve placed directly over bowl with the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is melted and completely smooth.

In another bowl, whip remaining 1 cup of the cream to almost stiff peaks. Fold half the whipped cream into the white chocolate mix to lighten and then gently fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Spoon the white chocolate mousse into 4 individual serving cups or you can do what we did, spoon the mousse into mini tartlet shells made of puff pastry.

Refrigerate mousse for about 1-1 ½  hours. Garnish each serving with raspberries.

~ Enjoy! ~

A Good Morning

There's nothing like getting up on a Saturday morning, sitting on your favorite chair, with the morning sun shining through the window, listening to music from the Swinging Years (88.1 FM So. Cal), sippin' on some hot coffee and munching on Blueberry Breakfast Cake....aaahhh, how wonderful can this be.

Good Morning Everyone! Have a great weekend!

J and J

~ Blueberry Breakfast Cake ~

Adapted from Parade Magazine

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch each salt and cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 pint fresh blueberries


1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Butter a 7x11” baking pan. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.


2. Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugars until smooth. Add eggs one by one and beat for 1 minute. On low speed, mix in half of the flour mixture, the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour mixture. Gently stir in berries. Pour into baking pan.


3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool before cutting. Serves 12.

~ Enjoy ! ~

 

This week's cupcake is a Chocolate Cupcake dipped in Chocolate Ganache and topped with a  Swiss Buttercream.

The recipe we used for the cakes is Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes. It's a very good recipe, very easy and fast.  The recipe make 24 cupcakes, but we simply divided the recipe in half to only make 12. Though, you could make the full recipe and share the cupcakes with your co-workers or family etc. They would love you for that, I'm sure!

We hope you enjoy the recipe!


J and J



~ One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes ~
Adapted from MarthaStewart.com


3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons safflower oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla, and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

- Divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20 minutes, rotating pan once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.


~ Swiss Buttercream ~
8oz egg whites
1 lb. sugar, granulated
pinch salt, kosher
1 lb. butter, unsalted, softened and cubed

- Combine egg whites, sugar and salt in a bowl. Heat over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water, until the sugar dissolves, approximately until 110° F.
- Once dissolved, place into a bowl of a mixer, and whip until cool (it will resemble a meringue). This will take some time, approximately 15 minutes.
- Add room temperature, uniform chunks of butter to meringue and whip to a glossy and firm consistency.

- Just in case, you may notice that when after you added the butter, if the meringue looks "watery" or "thin", you may need to place a bowl of ice underneath the bowl of the meringue. It may be that the meringue is still a tad bit too warm and when adding the butter, it sort of melted. The coldness of the ice, helps to cool off the meringue and allow the butter to firm up a bit, producing more of a buttercream consistency.



~ Chocolate Ganache ~
8 oz. premium quality chocolate, chopped
4 oz. heavy cream.


- Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Bring the cream to a scald over medium heat. Once the cream has come to a scald, pour it over the chocolate and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Stir together to incorporate the cream into the chocolate until it is smooth. Gently dip the tops of the cooled cupcakes into the ganache and set aside to firm up a bit.

When the ganache is set, pipe/swirl the buttercream on top. Sprinkle with your favorite topping:  jimmies, chopped nuts, assorted candies, etc.

~ Enjoy! ~