Two Personal Sized Caramel Apple Pies

There are some days where you just NEED dessert.  Some of those days though I either don't trust myself to make a whole pie without wanting to eat the whole thing myself (ugh, I'd be so regretful and sick!), or I lack the ingredients to make much.  On days like that, two personal sized caramel apple pies are perfect!  Clearly these are for Jeff and myself to enjoy after the kids go to bed.  Shh!

The only thing that could have made these better would have been if I'd remembered to get vanilla ice cream.  A scoop on top would not go amiss.


Two Personal Sized Caramel Apple Pies

Ingredients:

• 3 large apples (I used fuji), peeled and diced
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup Kraft caramel bits
• tiny pinch of salt
• 1 ready made pie crust (I like Pillsbury)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon decorating sugar

Directions:

1. Place the diced apples, lemon juice, cinnamon, caramel bits, and salt into a pot and stir on medium until the apples are soft and the caramel has fully melted.  It should smell amazing.
2. Take the pot off the heat and let cool.
3. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Take two oven safe pie tins, tart pans, whatever you have that are about 4 inches wide and lightly spray with PAM.
4. Unroll your ready made pie crust and cut out 4 evenly sized circles (I had a round cookie cutter about 5 inches across which worked perfectly).  If you don't have a large round cookie cutter use a glass or small bowl turned upside down.  Place a crust circle in the bottom of each pan, stretching them out a little if the sides are too short.
5. Scoop the apple pie filling evenly into the two pans.  Make a lattice crust with the two remaining crust circles and top the pies with them.  
6. Brush an egg wash over the lattice top and sprinkle the decorating sugar over the tops.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, then remove and let cool completely.  Enjoy!

baked sprinkle donuts

Wow.  I can't believe it's been two months since I last blogged!  Life tends to get pretty crazy in the spring (between Easter, Liam's birthday, and trying to figure out the upcoming school year) and this year was no exception.  I've either been busy or using recipes I've already posted.  I can't tell you how nice it was to have free time this weekend to experiment!  

I love this donut recipe and so do my boys.  Sure, it's a donut so its full of sugar.  BUT this donut is baked instead of fried, and has protein powder in it, so at least it has a few nutrients to go along with all the sugar.  If you want to be really bad you could add icing on top and some more sprinkles over that, but honestly these donuts don't need the extra sugar or mess.

This recipe is great for busy mornings because it takes less than 30 minutes (including bake time!) and you can easily eat them on the go.  No mess.  Plus they taste so good!  

Baked Sprinkle Donuts
makes 12

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 Cup AP flour
• 1/4 Cup vanilla whey protein powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 Cup rainbow sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Add all ingredients except sprinkles to a medium bowl and whisk just until batter is smooth.
2. Gently stir in sprinkles.
3. Scoop batter into a freezer bag and seal.  Snip a small corner out and fill the bowls of a greased donut pan 3/4 full.  Bake for 6-8 minutes.  
4. Remove from oven and immediately turn donuts out onto a cooling rack.  Enjoy warm and fresh.

Notes:  I only have one donut pan (makes 6) so I have to make my donuts in two batches.  Donuts are fully baked when a toothpick comes out clean or the edges are lightly golden and not overly shiny.  I like to eat these as is, but you could easily make icing to dip the donut tops in if you wanted.  Mix milk and powdered sugar until smooth and dip donut tops lightly, shaking off any excess. Immediately drop extra rainbow sprinkles on top before icing hardens.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Hand Pies for Pi Day!

Happy Pi day everyone!  March 14th is an awesome day because it gives me the perfect excuse to bake.  I've done classic pies and pizza (pies) before on Pi day, so this year I thought I'd shake it up a bit and make hand pies.

Hand pies are great because they are perfect for portion control, and if you forgo the icing (so sad!) they're a less messy dessert option for all those messy eaters out there.  Kids, I'm talking about you.

Another part of my decision to make hand pies was because I got a set of super cute molds for Christmas (here) and hadn't gotten a chance to break them in yet.  I just love fun kitchen gadgets.  Especially ones that I can easily chuck in the dishwasher.  Woohoo!

You can use my go-to pie crust recipe, your own favorite, or heck, even store bought.  Whatever floats your boat.

I put about a tablespoon of filling (essentially a quick jam, you could do any flavor filling you want, just nothing too liquidy) into he smallest sized mold.

This set is really easy to use.  I just lightly pressed down and gently flipped the hand pie out onto a lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, rotating halfway through, and remove when the hand pies are firm and just barely beginning to turn golden at the edges.

Once the hand pies have cooled, drizzle with a basic icing.  Then eat them all.  :)

I used frozen strawberries in this recipe because I like the jammy consistency I know I can get every time with them.  Plus, even with the sugar they retain a bit of tartness, which I enjoy.

Strawberry Hand Pies
makes about 12-14

Ingredients:
Filling:

• 16 oz. bag frozen strawberries
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 Cup powdered sugar

Crust:

• 2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
• 7 tablespoons ice water

Icing:

• 1/2 Cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• dash red food coloring

Directions:

1. Make the crust.  In a food processor add the flour, salt, sugar, and butter.  Pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.  Slowly add the water as needed until the mixture is a solid, bt not sticky.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. Make the filling.  In a pot on medium high heat add the frozen strawberries.  Stir occasionally until they have fully thawed and have begun to break down.  Then stir in the cornstarch, lemon juice, and powdered sugar.  Use a potato masher to break up any large pieces of berry, otherwise just continue to stir occasionally until the filling begins to tighten up.  Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  After the crust has been refrigerated at least 2 hours roll it out thinly on a flour covered counter.  Use a dough press or a large round cookie cutter to cover the dough with circles.  Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle and fold the circles in half, pressing the edges down.  Place the hand pies on a lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, rotating halfway through.  Remove the hand pies from the oven when the edges are firm and only beginning to turn golden.
4. Allow the hand pies to cool and make the icing.  Combine the powdered sugar, milk, and food coloring and mix well.  Gently drizzle the icing over the cooled hand pies and waiting for the icing to dry.  Enjoy.

Blueberry coffee cake

This is one of the easiest baking recipes ever.  Okay, I totally cheat here and use Bisquick.  Normally I am a "completely from scratch" type of baker, but I like to keep a bit of Bisquick on hand in case I want something baked very quickly, or run out of too many essential ingredients.

Liam was my baking assistant today.  He was so excited to get stirring and egg cracking duty (his favorite), but he was mostly excited to eat them... :)

The picture above was Liam instructing me to take a picture that looked like he was trying to eat the uncooked coffee cakes.   Silly boy.

As you noticed, I used mini fluted pans for this recipe.  Totally unnecessary, but SO pretty!  Plus portion controlled.  Always a plus!  If you don't have a mini fluted cake pan, just use a 9" cake pan.

I love this recipe because it's so simple, and sometimes in the mornings I completely forget about breakfast... but it's okay because this recipe only takes about half an hour to make!

Blueberry Coffee Cake
serves 6

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 Cups Bisquick
• 3/4 Cup skim milk
• 1/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats, uncooked
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 Cup blueberries
• 1/4 Cup brown sugar, unpacked

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a mini fluted cake pan (or one 9" cake pan) with baking spray and set aside.
2. Stir all ingredients except the blueberries until there are no lumps.  Gently stir in the blueberries.  Pour the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle brown sugar over the tops.  Bake until inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven to cool for 5 minutes before eating.

Bake times:

mini fluted pan: 16-18 minutes

9" cake pan: 18-23 minutes

Caramel Apple Pie

Who doesn't love pie?  Crazy people I guess.  This pie is delicious (and totally gone.  It really didn't last long!) and smells amazing.  Plus, it was super easy to make, and didn't require very many ingredients.

I know what you're probably thinking.  Geez, that crazy girl is posting ANOTHER dessert?  Does she ever make real food?  Okay, maybe you weren't thinking that.  ...But you probably are now I guess.  I do really love baking.  The smell alone is wonderful, but also because sometimes I get busy or really want something familiar.  I have posted many real food recipes, and I have more favorites that I won't post because they aren't mine, and I tend to not try as many new dinners as I do desserts.  I will try to post more savory dishes soon though.

Plus, look at these pictures.  Who wouldn't want to have this in their house?  It's a good thing I have three boys with sweet tooths here to eat most of my desserts or I'd be in real trouble.

I totally cheated and used a store bought pie crust.  I'll make pie crust if I have to, but in general if I'm going to cheat in my desserts it's going to be using store bough pie crust or puff pastry.  I'm pretty sure I'm NEVER going to make puff pastry.  EVER.

This pie is flat because I have a 10" pie pan and an 8" or 9" is really preferable.  Pies are so much prettier with a bit of a domed center.

Pies are even better a la mode.  Seriously, a scoop of vanilla ice cream on this pie is heavenly.

Caramel Apple Pie

Ingredients:

• 8 apples, peeled and thinly sliced (I used braeburn and fuji)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 3/4 Cup Kraft caramel bits
• a pinch of salt (forgo if using salted butter)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 3/4 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 package 2 rolled pie crusts

Directions:

1. In a large pot on medium heat stir together the apple slices, lemon juice, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, caramel, and salt.  Stir occasionally to mix and prevent sticking.  Remove from heat when the apples have softened, and the caramels have melted.The mixture should not be overly runny.  Stir in the vanilla.
2.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Spray your pie pan with cooking spray and lay out the bottom crust.  Pour in the pie filling.  Apply the top crust.  I like using a lattice, but a full top is fine too.  Just be sure to cut a few slits in the top.
3. Beat the egg and gently brush it over the crust.  Sprinkle the sugar over the wash.
4. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the crust is golden.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the counter before storing in the refrigerator.  Do not be concerned if the pie looks runny when hot.  Once the caramel cools the pie will firm up nicely.  Enjoy by itself or a la mode!

cinnamon roll cookies

I have about a million cookies at my house already.  Between my love of baking, cookies the kids made, cookies exchanges, you name it...

So of course I decided to make some more cookies yesterday.  By the way, if you remember that I'm (trying to) keep track of how much I've baked just this December the numbers are as follows:

• about 25 dozen cookies
• 10 pounds of caramels
• 4 batches of marshmallows

and I'm seriously just getting warmed up!  I'm curious what the final count will be now.  

Anyway, I felt like experimenting yesterday and I think I found a winner.  In fact, I can't stop eating these, and I'm usually pretty good at only eating one or two.  I really like this recipe.  It makes soft chewy cookies that taste EXACTLY like a cinnamon roll.  

Start out by making a standard sugar cookie dough.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Take 2/3 of the dough out of the bowl and onto a lightly floured counter.  Leave it and return to the bowl.  Add the cinnamon, brown sugar, and dash of vanilla to the remaining 1/3 dough in the bowl.  Mix well and upturn onto the lightly floured counter next to the other dough.  

Roll both sets of dough out into rectangles of the same size.  I'm TERRIBLE at this.  You can see that from the photos.  I'm just telling you this so you know that it really doesn't matter if your rectangles are perfect.  The cookies will still look good once they're rolled out even if you rectangles are ugly.  I promise.

Gently pick up the cinnamon dough and lay it on top of the original dough.  The dough should both be pretty pliable if you need to shape them a little into matching sizes.

Roll the dough into a log.  If you didn't use enough flour on the counter and the dough sticks a little, you can use a scraper to help un-stick the dough and move it along.

Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.  If you make this dough up to a few days ahead of time (I love options!) just set the dough on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften.  If you try to cut the dough straight from the fridge it will be too stiff and the two dough sections might separate.

Slice the cookies and place them on parchment covered cookies sheets.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.

Once the cookies come out of the oven you can start making the icing.  When the cookies have cooled drizzle the icing over top, then allow about an hour to dry fully.

The icing takes a while to dry, but once it has you can stack the cookies without smudging the icing.  Yay!

I don't usually frost or ice cookies, they generally don't need it, but please don't forgo the icing here.  First of all, cinnamon roll cookies just aren't the same without it, and I tried a cookie before I iced them (always a must with new recipes) and the crazy amount of cinnamon without the added sweetness of the icing made for a very spicy cookie!  The icing just helps balance the flavors so much.  A necessity.

I like the random icing drizzle, but if you want to get fancy you could drizzle the icing in a spiral or go crazy and cover the entire cookie lightly.

I'm going to have to give these away, because otherwise I'm going to eat them all.  I LOVE cinnamon rolls, and having smaller (and less guilty) versions available anytime I want is very dangerous.

AND, some gratuitous cookie shots...

Cinnamon Roll Cookies
make about 18

Ingredients:

Cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract plus 1/2 tsp
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3 cups AP flour
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp cinnamon

Icing

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 5 tbsp milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Cream the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Beat in 1 tsp vanilla and the egg.
2. Slowly mix in the baking powder and flour.
3. Remove 2/3 of the dough and place on a lightly floured counter.
4. Add the 1/2 tsp vanilla, brown sugar, and cinnamon to the remaining dough in the bowl.  Mix well.  Remove the remaining dough onto a lightly floured counter near the first dough.
5. Roll both doughs out into rectangles of matching sizes.  Gently pick up the cinnamon dough and set it on top of the other dough.  Roll up dough and wrap in cellophane.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
6. Slice dough into medallions and place on parchment lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 7-8 minutes.  
7. Make the icing and drizzle over the cookies once they've cooled.

cooking with kids

Anything whose met Liam should know how hard it is to get a picture of him standing still and smiling.  This is literally as good as I could get.

I love cooking with Liam.  I love being able to teach him something useful and yummy, while spending time with him.  I know he loves it because I let him pick what we make... we make lots of cookies  :)

Honestly, it only takes a little bit more time to cook with you kids than it does to cook by yourself, unless you kid is in a crazy distructo mode (like flinging flour ALL OVER THE COUNTER).

Don't believe me?  Here are a few pros to teaching your kids to cook:

• kids are more likely to eat food they helped make
• teaches them confidence
• helps math skills
• inspire creativity with new flavor combinations
• learn kitchen safety young
• more exposure to new foods
• don't allow your kid to go off to college only knowing how to make toast
• fun bonding time

I love Wednesdays.  That's the day that my Mom takes Jack for a while and I get some one on one time with Liam.  We can do whatever, but he likes to cook with me.  Mostly because he wants cookies, and he thrives on routine.

This week was chicken for lunch, plus funfetti sugar cookies.

Liam loves chicken, especially breaded baked nugget style.  If he's really hungry though he'll make a seasoned baked breast.  It's faster to make, and if I let him season it himself he eats more of it.  Liam LOVES seasoning his own food.  It means he gets to open all the spice jars and sniff them before picking out which ones he wants.  His favorites are always basil and lavender (luckily not together).  He's really good at picking combos.  Yesterday's chicken was salt, pepper, seasoned salt, garlic, oregano, basil, paprika, and olive oil.  Just a pinch of each, then baked at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes.  Served with a side of baked potato pieces and garbanzo beans.  Liam's favorite.

decorated by Liam

After lunch it was time for cookies!  I have a HUGE bag full of super fun shaped cookie cutters, which I let Liam go through to pick out a few for the cookies.  He picked a circle.  Seriously.  He did cave and decide to use the fluted circle edge instead of the smooth edge though.  Sometimes I can't decide if Liam is horribly unimaginative with desserts, or just enjoys the fancy classic styles.  Once the cookies baked and cooled Liam decided the frosting should be "the color of Fluttershy's skin".  Okay, light yellow is it.  Yeah, you know you're a parent when you know the colors of all the My Little Ponies.  We jazzed them up with rainbow sprinkles, and Liam's cookie even got sugar eyeballs. 

 

Cooking with kids can be a bit messy, but so rewarding, and I can't recommend it enough.  Even if you are only making peanut butter sandwiches together, try cooking with your kids today.  :)

caramel apple tart

Doesn't this tart look yummy?  Is it.  So simple, yet amazing good.  Want to know a secret?  It was made entirely by a 4 year old.  MY four year old, Liam.  Not bad, huh?

I've gotta say, it made me get all warm and fuzzy inside yesterday when he told me he wanted a tart pan for Christmas for himself so we could make more tarts together.

Confused by the round caramel balls as opposed to a pretty drizzle?  I saw the bag of Kraft caramel balls at the store and just HAD to try them, I would have melted them down and drizzled the caramel over the tart, but since Liam made this himself I thought it would be simpler (and not quite so hot) for him to just dump them over top of the apple slices.

I still have lots of caramel left in the bag, and I can't wait to use them, so sorry in advance if I have a plethora of caramel related recipes soon!

I love baking with Liam.  We don't get to do it all the time, mostly because Jack wants to help too and 2 isn't quite old enough to be of much help.  When Jack is out of the house I take full advantage of my cute kiddo baking time!  As soon as I asked Liam if he wanted to bake a tart he ran over and immediately grabbed his apron, which made me so happy, because he hadn't used it in a while and he could have legitimately forgotten about it.

I'm trying something new starting with this post.  I have a you tube channel that I'm going to put the occasional post on.  I figure some people might prefer video over reading or whatever, and when I do post a video I'll make sure to link it up with the corresponding recipe.  I'm still very new at making cooking videos, and the video for this recipe is just awful, but cute.  It's my first cooking video, starring a 4 year old, with me helping a bit plus filming, with bad lighting, a messy kitchen, etc.  If you do watch the video make sure your sound is up because Liam is much quieter than me, but he says some cute funny things.

Okay, I really don't have much else to say other than list the recipe, but this photos look so pretty, I just had to post them.  :)

This tart really makes 6 servings, I just started cutting too big and ended up with 5 huge slices instead.  Aim for 6 slices.

As you can see, we left the apple peels on.  I wanted Liam to make as much of the tart as possible by himself, and I thought peeling might be a bit above him.  Also, I like the added color and look of a tart with the peels.  You can peel the apples first if you like.

Slicing the apples and helping Liam spread the dough into the tart pan are really the only things I helped with.  Liam seriously did the rest by himself.  Liam wasn't quite up to cutting the apples.  He either tried to hack them into weird huge chunks, of he keep trying to put his fingers too close to the blade.  Don't worry, I paid VERY close attention when he handled a knife.  I even tried to have him use a curved mincing knife for a while because I thought it might be easier for him to hold that handle, but no.

watch Liam bakes a caramel apple tart on my new you tube channel.

• 
  
• Caramel Apple Tart

makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
8 tbsp (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cold water

2 fuji apples, sliced thinly (peels optional)
2 tbsp caramel balls


Directions:

1. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and butter in a food processor until the butter is in tiny crumbles.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix until absorbed.  Slowly pour in the water through the processor lid while mixing.  The dough should be soft but not sticky.  Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly spray the tart pan with cooking spray.  Gently push the dough into place in the pan.  Spread it out evenly.  Cover the dough evenly and thoroughly with the apple slices.  You will probably not need all the slices.  
3. Either dump the caramel balls over top the apples and bake for 45 minutes, let cool, and eat.  OR  bake the tart without the caramel.  While the baked tart cools heat the caramel balls evenly in a microwave, then drizzle the caramel sauce over the tart.  Enjoy!

Note: Makes enough dough for one 9 1/2-inch tart, six 4-inch tartlets, twelve 2-inch miniature tartlets or one 13 3/4-by-4 1/4-inch rectangular tart.

pumpkin black bottomed muffins

These muffins make me so happy.   Fudgy chocolate muffins topped with pumpkin goodness just can't be beat.

One of my favorite fall recipes is a cream cheese based dip (perfect for ginger snaps or apple slices).  I love it sooo much, and I wanted to find other uses for it to spread the joy when I remembered how awesome classic black bottomed muffins are.  I switched out the plain cream cheese for my dip and I really love the result.  The orange color is such a cheerful addition to the muffins, but the real treat is the pumpkin and orange flavors added.  Seriously, I want to eat the whole batch.  Luckily I've got three built in taste testers at home to eat them all for me.

I even have a clean up crew for the kitchen (in the fall at least).  It's amazing how quickly you can get a kid to help you sweep the kitchen when they realize they have a perfect witch broom to ride on already in their hands.  I kid you not.  My kitchen floors have never been cleaned than they are today.

I could have eaten this entire batch of muffin batter raw.  It looked and tasted just like fudge.  *Insert drool here*.  If you already have a well-loved chocolate muffin recipe, feel free to use it.  Just swirl a spoonful of pumpkin dip on top and bake according to your regular directions.

Seriously though, doesn't this just look like truffle filling or fudge?

I used a small spoonful over each muffin because I didn't want the entire top covered in orange, but how much you use is really up to you, as long as you don't overfill your cups.

Note: the chocolate will bake quicker than the pumpkin dip, so if the pumpkin topping still looks a bit undercooked when the muffins have finished baking, don't fret.  They firm up nicely once they've set.

 I like they messy, natural style of the orange tops, but after I made these Jeff had a great idea if you crave more structure and theme.  Pipe a large circle of pumpkin topping onto the center of the muffins and bake.  Once they've baked and set, use black frosting with a small piping tip to draw a Jack o' lantern face into the center of the orange.  Cute!

Okay, these are just gratuitous muffin shots.  I just couldn't decide which ones to post, so I posted most of them...  :)

I've had this pumpkin dip recipe for ages, and I can't for the life of me remember where I found it.  Let me know if you know who created it so I can give credit.  I love it, but it's not mine.

Pumpkin Dip

Ingredients:

• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 14 oz. marshmallow creme
• 15 oz. pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp orange zest

Directions:

1. Whip the cream cheese using a stand or hand mixer for about 3 minutes, or until fluffy.
2. Add in the pumpkin puree and blend thoroughly.
3. Add in the marshmallow creme and blend thoroughly.
4. Add in the cinnamon and orange zest and mix until just combined.
5. Serve immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to serve.  

uses: 

• dip for ginger snaps or apples
• top chocolate muffins just before baking
• spread between cake layers
• etc.

note: I LOVE orange, so sometimes I like to add an extra teaspoon of orange zest.

Chocolate Muffins

makes about 12

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 3/4 cup melted butter
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups AP flour
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and line a muffin tin with wrappers.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa and baking powder.
3. Whisk in the boiling water.  Once smooth whisk in butter and vanilla.
4. Whisk in sugar, then whisk in the eggs one at a time
5. Whisk in the salt and flour and stir until smooth.  The batter should look like thin fudge.
6. Use a scoop to evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups.
7. Spoon a small spoon of pumpkin dip over the tops of the muffins.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and let sit on the counter for 10 minutes.  Enjoy!

Note: make sure the toothpick is inserted into the chocolate and not the pumpkin, as the chocolate part cooks faster and is more accurate.