Black Bottom Cupcakes

Happy Birthday!

My how time flies! My baby is 21 years old!!

I made these cupcakes almost two months ago to celebrate my son’s birthday. His birthday fell on one of the last two bike race nights of the season. I wanted to make something that would be easy to transport and not too messy to eat since they would be eaten by people standing outside at the track. Mother nature had a lot to say about those plans and it turns out the races were canceled due to rain.

I had a Black Bottom cupcake recipe that I made for years but Anna at Cookie Madness had put a lot of effort into trying and perfecting different recipes so I wanted to make this one to compare. This recipe has a nice white cream cheese filling that stays that way even when baked. I like flavor of my old recipe better but this one is definitely comparable and wins in the looks department. Everyone who ate them seemed to love them.

I didn’t get pictures of the cupcakes by themselves, but they look pretty good on my son’s lap! You can find the recipe at Cookie Madness.

Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Spice Muffins

The cheesecake brownies in the previous post left me with part of a can of pumpkin. This recipe used most of the rest of the can. It turns out I’m going to be on the go a lot this week. One of these muffins stashed in my purse will be a great breakfast or snack when I don’t have time for a sit down meal.

This recipe is easy to stir up and yields 12 nicely crowned, perfectly moist muffins. For me the spices were right on, and they made the house smell wonderful while they were baking.  My changes to the recipe were minimal. I used dark raisins instead of golden raisins, and 1/4 c. chopped walnuts instead of the pumpkin seeds.

Here is the link to the recipe.

Pumpkin Spice Muffin

Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies

Yesterday I visited some friends who always enjoy the homemade things I bring them. I wanted to make something with the taste of autumn. I was tempted to make our favorite pumpkin bars since I’ve never posted them on the blog, but when Anna at Cookie Madness blogged about her Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies I couldn’t get them out of my head and had to make them.

Have you ever had a time in the kitchen when you thought you should just give up!? Friday evening was one of those times. I failed to look at the recipe before I went to the store on Friday afternoon and tried to shop for the recipe from memory. I didn’t do so well, but fortunately my husband remembered a half package of cream cheese in the refrigerator that I had forgotten about so the fact that I didn’t buy enough cream cheese didn’t end up being an issue. I started out thinking I had also blown it by not buying more chocolate and after fussing over how to make do with what I had Anna graciously pointed out via email that the recipe actually calls for chocolate chips not regular chocolate so I was fine there too. So, mies en place (or so I thought) I whipped these brownies together. The recipe isn’t difficult unless you make it that way as I did late Friday evening. Once the brownies were in the oven I realized that I put in the entire package of chocolate chips instead of the 9 ounces it calls for. I banged my head against the wall and decided, ‘whatever!’.  If they were a disaster I’d keep it to myself and move on.

The good news is that they weren’t a disaster! I can’t compare them to the original recipe, but I can say that the extra 3 ounces of chocolate didn’t seem to hurt them a bit. The  brownie and pumpkin cheesecake are a nice combo. The cheesecake is smooth, creamy and lightly spiced. The brownie part is rich and chocolaty with a slightly flaky top.

My friends and husband all seem to love these. I was tempted to put in some cayenne or chipotle powder to ramp them up a bit but the way things were going it’s good I didn’t.

You’ll find the recipe at Cookie Madness.