Pumpkin Pie Cookies

I've been itching to try a new rendition of the pie cookie.  After hearing that we would be having a small Halloween celebration at work, I caught myself wanting to bring in some delicious pumpkin pie, and decided this would be an excellent opportunity to try pumpkin pie cookies.

Chocolate Mousse Mille-Feuille (Daring Bakers' Challenge)

It's October 27th!  That means it's time for another Daring Bakers' Challenge.  This month's challenge was to create something called mille-feuille, which means "thousand sheets" in French.  The reason this is called "thousand sheets" is because the buttery pastry part of this dessert is folded and rolled out a gazillion times (I may be exaggerating...a bit).  Typically, mille-feuille is filled with a vanilla pastry cream.  I felt like I'd just used pastry cream in the pâte à choux swans challenge, so I decided to use chocolate mousse instead.

Our October 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Suz of Serenely Full. Suz challenged us to not only tackle buttery and flaky puff pastry, but then take it step further and create a sinfully delicious Mille Feuille dessert with it!

Chai Tea Roll Cake

I seem to base a lot of my baking projects off of beverages don't I?  From margarita cupcakes to cinnamon latte cupcakes to pumpkin spice latte cupcakes, I tend to find a lot of inspiration in delicious drinks.  In fact, whenever I have a drink that I like, I usually ponder its possibilities as a macaron or cupcake.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes

Starbucks is serving Pumpkin Spice Lattes (ermahgerd!).  I guess that means it's officially fall.  In the spirit of the season, and because I had a serious craving for latte cupcakes, I decided to create a cupcake version of this tasty autumn beverage.  The cupcakes are filled with a delicious from-scratch pumpkin spice butter, which is also featured in the buttercream alongside dark brown sugar.

Red Bean Mooncakes

This Sunday is the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is celebrated in many countries including China and Vietnam.  Mooncakes are a tasty pastry traditionally enjoyed during the Mid-Autumn Festival.  They consist of a thin pastry crust, and are usually filled with red bean paste (yum), lotus seed paste (yum yum), or some other dense, tasty filling.

Chocolate & Hazelnut Birthday Cake

Does anyone else have something that you constantly think you're out of, but in reality you have vast quantities sitting in the back of your pantry?  My husband and I are like this with Nutella.  We often return home from the grocery store with a new jar of the sweet chocolate spread, only to be surprised to find many more jars in the pantry.  We currently have four mostly-full jars cluttering our shelves and serving as vivid reminders of just how disorganized we are.

Champagne & Strawberries Ombre Cake

It's my husband's and my first anniversary this week.  Our wedding cake was completely eaten, so we did not do the save-the-cake tradition (which honestly we probably wouldn't have done anyway, since year-old cake sounds a little unappetizing).  I thought that instead, a new cake featuring pink champagne and strawberries would be appropriate for the occasion.