Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

This month's What's Baking theme is "A Family Favorite." Besides pound cake, my family's favorite dessert is pumpkin cream pie. I've made it too many times to count and it's always requested at fall family gatherings. When my mom requested the pie for her birthday, I decided to come up with a new idea that takes the components of the pie instead. I came up with mini pumpkin cheesecakes. These little desserts were delicious and perfect for fall. The pumpkin and spices were perfect additions to the sweet cheesecake filling. They were delightful and made my mom's birthday a little sweeter.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Source: Adapted from Sweetnicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.

For Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.


For Cheesecakes:
2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy.
Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.)
Cool and top with fresh whipped cream.
Store in refrigerator.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

I have never been a huge fan of cheesecake. I was asked to make mini cherry cheesecakes recently and I was going to use a recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, but I read the recipe incorrectly and didn't have enough cream cheese. I searched the Internet and after reading a few recipes, I found one that didn't look too complicated. The only complaint with this recipe is that the centers sank after coming out of the oven. This wasn't a problem since I was filling them with cherry, so it worked out perfectly. I have to say these cuties were pretty addictive. The sour cherry pie filling was a great contrast to the sweet cheesecake and buttery crust. I enjoyed them so much that I'm already dreaming up variations.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes
Source: Sweetnicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.

For Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.

For Cheesecakes:
2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy.
Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.)
Cool and top with pie filling.
Store in refrigerator.

Banana Colada Cupcakes

This month's What's Baking theme is Celebrate Summer. We celebrate summer by cooking on the grill, swimming in the pool, and enjoying frosty beverages. One of those beverages that just screams summer is a pina colada. For this recipe, I decided to adapt my grandma's carrot cake recipe, which uses baby food. I subbed banana-pineapple baby food for the carrots and omitted the spices. I topped the cupcakes with coconut buttercream, a sprinkle of coconut, and white chocolate chips. I have to say the combination was pretty amazing, even though the pineaepple flavor was very light.

Banana Colada Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
dash of salt
2 (3.5 oz.) containers banana-pineapple baby food
1 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
Beat together sugar and oil until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, baby food, and vanilla and beat well.
Add dry ingredients and mix well. 
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 17 - 20 minutes.

Coconut Buttercream
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 4 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add coconut and vanilla extracts and beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.

Snickerdoodles with Rolo Centers

I love cinnamon and I adore snickerdoodles. I usually make snickerdoodles for Christmas and they are always a staple when I need a quick item for a bake sale. I love them, especially the crispy outside and the soft inside. I was in the mood to bake the other day, so I ran to the store to pick up a few items and while in the check-out line, I spotted Rolos. You remember those soft and chewy chocolate-caramel candies? They gave me an idea, so into the cart they went. I decided to stuff a Rolo into the center of each cookie. These baked up perfectly. They took a little extra time, but it was worth it when I bit into a soft cookie with a gooey chocolate-caramel center. 

Snickerdoodles with Rolo Centers
Source: Adapted from Hershey's

Ingredients
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar,divided
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
40 Rolos candies 


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and unwrap 40 Rolos.
Stir together 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
Whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Beat butter and 1 cup sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy on medium-high speed.
Add eggs and vanilla and beat thoroughly.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture beating on low speed until well blended.
Shape dough into 1-inch disk and place a Rolo in the center.
Shape dough around Rolo and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 9 -11 minutes.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Princess Castle Cake

I was asked to make a cake for my niece's third birthday. I was told she had her eye on a castle cake from  a local grocery store. I went to check out the cake and knew I could do better. Then there was a heat wave. I'm talking five days of over 90-degree temperatures, with one day coming very close to 100. So I decided to forgo the huge castle cake and make the birthday girl her own personal castle cake. This cake was very easy to make and came out better than expected, despite the weather. My niece loved it and was so surprised!

Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

My cousin is an artist in his spare time. His latest art show featured sea creatures done in ink and mixed media. He asked me to make mini cupcakes for it. Right away, I knew I would make red velvet with brown sugar cream cheese frosting, but I blanked on a second flavor. I wanted something summery and refreshing. The first thing to come to mind was lemonade, so I decided to make lemon cupcakes and top them with raspberry buttercream. They were the perfect summery flavor I was looking for. They were also a hit at the art show, as was my cousin's art.

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

As soon as I saw the recipe for these brown sugar oatmeal muffins, I thought of the cranberry white chocolate chip cookies I make at Christmas time. I decided to use white chocolate chips and craisins as my mix-ins. I love that these muffins were a base for any ingredients you want to add. These looked and smelled amazing, but the texture was off. They were very moist and greasy. I double-checked the recipe and thought that it called for buttermilk. That must have been the problem, or the 90-degree weather we've been having. Next time I make these, I'll use the correct milk.

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Source: Ommy Noms

Ingredients:

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup mix-in of your choice
(I used 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup craisins)
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Mix together oats, milk, and brown sugar and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in egg, oil, and mix-ins (white chocolate chips and craisins).

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir flour mixture into oat mixture until just moistened.

Fill paper liners 3/4 full and bake 16 - 18 minutes. Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool.