Our Thanksgiving meal...plus the good stuff (all items with sugar)

So lets just dive right in to the good stuff first. Because I love desert most we are going to start this Thanksgiving meal off with yummiest!

I started with Cherry pie mini-hearts. Believe it or not
 I found this red heart pie cutout mold online at
Avon!! I have the most awesome Avon Representative Alicia Densel (who also happens
to be my boyfriend's big sissy and mother of two of the most adorable
little boys you have ever seen). Did you know Avon sold baking
goodies? I didn't until I found this and snatched it right up!

Step 1: cut out the heart shapes with the back of the heart pie mold
Step 2: lay one cutout inside the mold and fill with desired pie filling:
I choose cherry because I love cherry pie bunches.
Step 3: lay the second heart cutout on top of the pie filled one and close
the pie mold to crimp the sides and seal the pie.
Step 4: place all mini-pies on cookie sheet or glass baking tray and
                    cook following directions of pie filling you are using. I cooked
these at 375 deg F for 15 minutes and they came
out perfect.

Now for the hearty pie. Since it is just me, Jordan and Ryan this year for
Thanksgiving I decided five different kinds of pies would be to much. Being
from the South I have to have Pumpkin Pie and Sweet Potato Pie. I still though two
pies would be too much for just us three so I made one pie with both! This is
a Sweet Potato Pumpkin Pie and came out super yummy.
I will make a recipe card soon and post it for y'all with the ingredients I used.

Love/Hate:
So I have a totally love hate relationship with Turkey. I have dropped them, burnt them, undercooked them and every thing in between. It really is a dang picky bird. However though years of trial error I have finally beat this bird! I am going to share my hard learned tips in case you are currently in the Turkey War Trenches like I have been for a decade.










Hello my old foe! I whooped your butt this year!

Step1: After the bird is thawed I clean it and the let it sit on the counter
for an hour before I glaze it and stick it in the oven. While it is sitting there I
place a bag of ice on the breast of the turkey and let the legs come up
to room temp. This way when the turkey is cooking they cook at the same speed.
Step 2: Glaze Cupcakes. Got to have it. It will just be a dry ole bird without.
I melted a stick of butter, added 1/2 cup of brown sugar to the melted butter
and turkey rub spices. I then slathered the bird in the glaze, poured inside the bird, and
dumped the rest on top for good measure.
Step 3: Turkey bags. Use them. Two reasons: 1: they really do help the bird
keep the juices and flavor better. 2: If you drop the damn thing it has some kind
of protection so it is not a total loss.
Step 4: Bake it upside down. That way all the juices run to the breast and it
doesn't get so dried out. I know there is a lot of debate in the
cooking universe about this but it works for me so I am going to keep doing it.

Do have a Veggie hater in your life? Well stuffing is the perfect way
to trick them into eating some good food. Ryan is Irish and if it is not a
meat or potato he could really care less about it. So I try and sneak
veggies into every meal I can. The great thing about stuffing is the flavor of the herbs is
so strong it hides the veggies most excellently.
Step1: Melt the butter and herbs (what ever herbs tickle your fancy). I used sage, rosemary and some
other Italian seasons.
Step 2: Fry up some turkey bacon. You can use regular bacon
but any chance I get to sneak some turkey bacon past Ryan I take it. The bacon
won't be the star of the stuffing so it won't be as noticeable it is turkey.
Step 3: Add your veggie. I added spinach and green peas.
Step 4: Add the stuffing or bread mix of your choice and broth.
Step 5: Sprinkle on some cheese of you choice and bake that yummy in the oven
until nice and crispy on top.



If you are just starting your Christmas shopping and are looking for some cute baking/kitchen and other fabulous items go over Avon Awesome Alicia's store and grab up the goodies before they are gone.

Be safe shopping out there Cupcakes. It is a mad world full of mad shoppers :)





Bring on the pumpkin..pie pops that is.

I love pumpkin pie. I know everyone says that but it is my all time favorite. That is saying a lot because I really really love me some pie. Apple pie, sweet potato pie, cherry pie and pretty much every other pie ever made. If you pie it, I want to eat it. So that being said I love pumpkin the most. That is why when I saw pie pops on Bakerella's site I had to make some pumpkin pie pops. Now on Bakerella's site she uses cherry pie mix but you go right ahead and fit your own pie needs. My pie needs are pumpkin so that is what we are doing today. We are also going to be making Bakerella's pumpkin pie bites with our left overs.

First we need to make pumpkin pie mix. Now there is nothing wrong at all Ladies and Gents with buying an already thrown together pumpkin pie mix and skipping this first part. However as I mentioned before I love me some pumpkin pie and only homemade my way will do the trick.

We are going to need:
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature (Bakerella's calls for 8 ounces but I use four to cut down on the fat
                                                             and it works just a great.)
1/2 cup sugar (I use brown sugar only when making pumpkin anything)
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
3 eggs (only two go in mix, one is for washing the pie crust with egg white)
1 teaspoon vanilla (If you love vanilla like me don't be afraid. Go ahead and add a dash more)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (Ok I use my own spice mix of cloves, honey and cinnamon but you do your pie however your Momma raised ya.)
Cookie cutter: heart shaped, round shaped, pumpkin shaped. What ever fits your moods Cupcakes.

Now if you have a mixer this will be even easier for you. I am not The Princess of anything (except
laundry. I totally rock out laundry) so I can't ever seem to justify spending a car payment on a mixer. :(

Get ready to get your beat on!



Place some parchment paper on the surface you are going to be working,
grab your pie mix, store bought pie crust (unless your Martha Stewart and then you are
awesome and should only ever eat your own homemade pie crust because
everything else would be lame)  some flour and lolly-pop sticks.



My little Matryoshka Measuring cups I got from
Bakeitpretty have a duel purpose today. They are going to be
my prefect size round cookie cutters to cut out the pie shells.



Just press down and twist with your cookie cutter until you have an equal amount
of circles. Remember you will need two circles for each pie pop. One for the back and one
for the front.



Once I have the circles I like to line them up factory style and place the lolly-pop
sticks in the bottoms circles. Just half way should be prefect.



Add the pie mix to the center of the pie circle with the lolly-pop stick already in it.
Then cover with a second circles and crimp the sides down with one of the extra
lolly-pop sticks or a fork so it is nice a sealed. Don't worry if a little leaks out. Just
run a lolly-pop stick along the edge and it will clean that right up.




My premade pie crust I bought came with two pie crust so after I finished the
pie pops I decided to make mini pies with the left over pumpkin filling and crust.
Same principle as the pie pop. Cut out the circles and then press one pie
circles down into a mini muffin pan. Fill in with extra pie mix.  




After I baked them at 375 degrees F for 12 minutes. They came out perfect.
Don't worry about them being a little bubbly when you take them out they will
deflate a little while cooling.

Now we have the pie pops and mini pies all baked and cooled we need to decorate Cupcakes!



I used a brown chocolate candy writer to decorate these. Bakerella
drew pumpkin face on her mini pumpkin pies and those were cute too but I
wanted something a little more traditional for this Thanksgiving and little less
cutie.




Do you have a coffee pot Cupcake? Well if you do then I am going to tell
you melting these will be super easy. Just fill the coffee pot with hot water (not boiling) from the tap.
Place the tube in the water until it is soft and chocolate melted. Then open it up and paint away!




Isn't pumpkin just the best invention ever.



Yummy.

I hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving filled with lots of love, family, kindness, thankfulness and some really good eatins! Take pictures of you Thanksgiving meals and share them with me at my Community: Mommy Baking love into it.. I would love to see them Cupcakes!