Getting Ready For Yule

I've started to get ready for Dec 10th, when I will be setting up a vending table to sell goodies at a local Christmas event. I'm very excited, but also quite nervous because I'm afraid I won't get everything done.

As you can see, I've bought a few things to get started, but I still have loads of stuff to go.

Fudge is going to be my main selling point, as always. I'm also planning to sell jar mixes, hot cocoa cones, dipped pretzels, peanut butter cups, s'more cups, brittle, toffee, caramel, divinity, truffles, ganache, and an interesting chocolate dipped cookie called a Brandy Snap. I have a few other things planned as well, see why I'm nervous! Also, if I have the time and resources left, I would like to sell some whole baked goods like bread loaves and pies for people to take home.

I'm trying to stay away from individual baked items. I really would like to focus more on the candy aspect of this sale, and also, the group that is hosting the event will be selling individual baked items to help fund their cold weather care packages for the homeless in the area. I would hate to infringe on that, it really is a great group of people hosting the event and I wish them the best of luck.

In the next two weeks, I plan to update a good bit with my progress. I would love to do a step-by-step for the Ganache and Brandy Snaps as well.

I hope all goes as planned!

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Pumpkin Cheesecake for Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is here again. This has to be my hubby's favorite holiday, he gorges himself so much, he falls asleep for at least 12 hours, no joke. There is one thing he always looks forward to above all else, well, except for the turkey. That is the Pumpkin cheesecake that I've made for him every year.

I have two versions, one is no bake, the other is a traditional cheesecake, pumpkin style. I alternate which I make, and this year in the no bake. Which suits me just fine, less work! I am doing 95% of the cooking, so doing the no bake this year was actually a tiny blessing. Anyway, on to the food!

All you need to make this super easy, super yummy treat is a graham cracker crust, 1 package of cream cheese (room temperature), 1 cup of pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix), half a small tub of whipped topping, 1/2 cup of sugar, and 1/2 a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice. I also add a little bit of extra cinnamon and clove.

You combine your pumpkin, cream cheese, and sugar/spice mixture in a mixing bowl.

Then you beat it with a mixer on medium to high speed, until all of the lumps are gone, and it has a creamy texture. I usually do this for about 5 minutes with my hand mixer, it may take less depending on the mixer and how thawed the cream cheese is.

After you have blended the mixture to it's desired creaminess, you add in about half the tub of whipped topping, which is around 2 cups...but you can most certainly just eyeball it. You can even reduce it if you want, or even add more. The more whipped topping you add, the more the pumpkin flavor is diluted. I've found that around half is a good balance. It makes it creamy and fluffy, and the pumpkin flavor is still strong, but not over powering.

When the whipped topping is blended in to it's desired consistency, it's ready to be spooned into the crust!

And that's all there is to it!

You can top with whatever you like, or go topless! See what I did there....

I top mine with a mixture of graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Just a little sprinkle to give it something extra and to garnish it a bit.

And there you have it, a very simple, 5 minute dessert that is worthy of kings! Ok maybe not kings, but at least for a hubby with a very particular palette. I even had time to make a second to drop off at his work for his coworkers that didn't have the day off!

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First Entry!

This is my second attempt at blogging. I've wanted to start blogging for a while about my baking, but I either never had the time, or didn't have the motivation, it seems to always be something. But not anymore, I'm really going to try to do at least one or two entries per week, and see how that goes. My original blog went pretty well for a while, but it turned into more of a personal, in general blog...I want to keep this one strictly food related.

Baking, and cooking in general, has always been a huge passion. It makes me smile and makes others smile, it's something I've always done for the people I care about. I've also done it to make money, usually during the fall and winter when shipping baked goods and candy is easier because of not having to worry about the heat. My big selling point has always been fudge. I can make so many different varieties of fudge I can't even list them all. Last year around Christmas, I think I sold over 30 batches, which was quite a load for my little kitchen. Surprisingly, the regular chocolate fudge was the number one seller, I guess sometimes the most simple thing is best. 

I still have a couple pictures from my fudge sales last year. One is the regular chocolate, the other is cookies and cream.

Hopefully I will be making another post very soon. And to anyone who stumbles across my humble blog, thank you for taking the time to read and check it out, I will try not to let you down! :)

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