speculoosity

i don’t really do sweet breakfast.

i eat my pancakes and french toast with butter and salt. i like bagels and matzo and the sweetest cereal i’ll eat is life.

but when i found this at trader joes…

WHAT IS IT???

“a deliciously unusual spread reminiscent of gingerbread and made with crushed biscuits” says the label. but really, what more do you need to read beyond cookie butter?

and take my word for it—it’s just as yummy as you would imagine. like if gingerbread cookies and peanut butter had a baby, this is what it would be. a yummy, yummy baby. dip a pretzel in—delightful. apple slices? divine.

but the evil wheels in my brain started turning…and when they stopped we were left with this:

the french toast cooked just right.

 
the speculoos mixed with butter and then smeared on top.

sliced bananas over the whole thing.

looks like i might be a sweet breakfast kinda gal after all.

tastes like chicken

approximately 1.4 million years ago my mother bought a little cookbook in the checkout line of the grocery store.

i think it was $3.50.

this little thing was so full of incredible recipes that we had it for years—stained, ripped up and falling apart. they were easy and tasty, and some of them—just plain fun.

like this little guy:

what’s not to love about a little chocolate mouse?

i made these a bunch of times years ago. pretty much any time i would stumble across the triangle shaped shortbread cookies—which are kind of key to the design—i’d whip up a batch. but would you believe that i haven’t made them once for my own children? shameful.

so we fixed that situation last week.

and while it started out as a Mommy-Directed Project, it wasn’t but a few minutes before i (quite happily) found myself pushed out of the way…watching my three bigger girls have at it while i was relegated to the role of photographer.

and i’m totally okay with that. maybe they didn’t come out as “picture perfect” as if i had taken charge of artfully placing each drop of chocolate…but, well…you know. ;)

the flock murder herd infestation group of little chocolaty mice sat on our counter for all of about 10 minutes before the “aww how cute” had changed to “chompchompchomp”.

now we just have to make sure the little ones don’t try eating any real mice they happen to come across.

HOW TO MAKE CHOCOLATE MOUSES

first do all your prep work:

assembly:

once you get them all done to this point, stick the whole tray in the fridge for a few minutes to set the chocolate.

enjoy!

apple pie

did you see the parade magazine back in november? specifically the one with the apple pie on the cover? the one covered in piecrust leaves?

Source: dashrecipes.com via Shannon on Pinterest

so, so pretty.

and if you follow their link, it will tell you that if you’d like to make your own version of this pie, well TOO BAD.
okay, it doesn’t really say that. but it does say they used “custom stencils” and that “all lines in the leaves were hand detailed with a knife.”

boo.

they do offer links to places you can get some similar cookie cutters, but i made my own version of the pie.



okay, so maybe it’s not cover-worthy. but it was a fun little project ava and i did together.

for an HOUR.

not making the pie, or the crust. just making leaves. for an HOUR.



it’s a pretty dramatic looking pie, too. so that helps take the focus off what it actually tastes like (you know...in case you're at all nervous about your pie-making abilities. not that i am. cough, cough)



if you want to try your hand at a leaf-covered apple pie, we used this:


wilton rose leaf fondant cut & press set. it was $6.99 at jo-ann’s, and i used a 40% coupon.

and this:

the pampered chef creative cutters set—specifically the maple leaf cutter. this was a gift from my sister-in-law, but it retails for $11.00 on their website.




the combo of a maple leaf and rose leaves worked surprisingly well.

of course, my pie can’t hold a candle to the pies ava and gigi did on their own with the leftovers:

 

i’ll be honest here—i’m not a huge apple pie fan. i prefer berry pies. and mixed fruit pies.
and chocolate. i always prefer chocolate.

so what do you think? what’s your favorite type of pie? and would you spend an hour cutting crust leaves to top a pie?

or would you scrap it all for a nice bowl of chocolate ice cream? :) let me know in the comments.

(oh, and in case you're wondering--my pie was quite yummy.)

pssst--hey, what do you think of my new header? i know, i know...i've been changing things up. a bit often. (cough, cough) but this one might stick. for a bit. hey--i even committed to new buttons. and in the bloggy world, that's practically like we're married.

pumpkin cinnamon rolls with ginger cream cheese glaze

really, does this post need any other words beyond the title?
i mean, honestly—it says all you need to know. (but that doesn’t mean i’m not going to add lots.more.words)

i had this recipe pinned forever on my “food i must eat one day” pinterest board. (alternate title: this is why you’re fat)
it’s a lovely recipe with spectacular photography.

Source: kblog.lunchboxbunch.com via Shannon on Pinterest

it just has one, errr…how shall i put this? not problem per se. more of an issue:

it’s vegan. meaning: no real butter, no real cream cheese, no real milk. and while i am a vegetarian i am the ovo-lacto variety because—well, put simply--the googiemomma can’t live without butter, yo. (and cheese. the googiemomma can’t live without cheese either. but that’s another blog post)

(oh, and ice cream.)

(and probably i really couldn’t live without milk. not that i drink it, cause i don’t. but: milkshakes, icing, alfredo sauce…well, you see where i’m going with this, right?)

annnnyway…so a nasty, rainy day a few weeks back provided the perfect time to work my de-veganing cinnamon roll magic in the kitchen. the recipe from healthy happy life provided a jumping off point. inspiration. sadly, i’m no stranger to this concept. i do the same with “light” recipes too.

what’s that? 4 egg whites? mmmhmm. two whole eggs. 4 tablespoons margarine? five tablespoons butterrrrr. 1/2 cup skim milk? well, to my eyes that clearly says “1/2 cup heavy cream”. isn’t that what you see?

behold:


it all starts with the dough.



i used all white flour, instead of the half whole wheat pastry flour in the original recipe. and i used half butter and half shortening in place of the vegan shortening.



for the filling i omitted the pecans. not all the kids are fans. they probably get it from me: i prefer my soft squishy foods completely soft and squishy. no crunchy bits.



don’t you love my blood pressure cuff there in the background? like i a) couldn’t be bothered to move it before taking the picture, and b) had to check my bp before indulging in these things.
again, i used regular dairy butter in place of the vegan butter called for in the original.





were i to make these again i’d probably double the filling amount. it seemed like it needed more. and face it, you’re not making these things if you’re watching the old ell bees.






they do look purdy.



then i tripped, and dropped more butter all over the tops.



oops.

and we bake…



when it came to the glaze i pretty much did my own thing. she uses vegan cream cheese and vegan butter and soy creamer and maple syrup.

i had half a block of regular cream cheese and store brand butter flavored pancake syrup, which doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.

so i improvised with some pumpkin cream cheese spread and some regular cream cheese, along with melted butter:






ginger powder



powdered sugar (to taste), and a splash of milk (until it was the right consistency)




rolls, still warm from the oven, before:



and after:







and we ate until our eyes were floating in our heads, awash in pumpkin gingery goodness. then we heaved ourselves onto the couch and died.

if you’re interested in my version, here’s my basic outline of ingredients. i followed the instructions found on the original recipe to make it. and one final warning: these are time consuming. about 3 1/2 hours start to finish because of rising time for the dough. but it’s totally worth it.

pumpkin cinnamon dough
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
5 cups white flour
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 packet yeast
1/4 cup melted butter and 1/4 cup melted shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
*extra white flour as needed to handle, knead and roll out dough

cinnamon sugar filling
(these are the measurements i used. i would do at least 1 and 1/2 next time)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted butter

ginger cream cheese glaze 2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 cup pumpkin cream cheese
4 oz. cream cheese (1/2 block)
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup milk
2-4 Tbsp powdered sugar to thicken as desired