Winc Wine Club Review
If you know us at all, you know here at LDB we love our wine. Thats not to say we are wine snobs by any means, nor do we fully understand all the nuances and complexities each wine offers, but we love drinking wine. And …
Two friends, miles apart, who love to bake!
If you know us at all, you know here at LDB we love our wine. Thats not to say we are wine snobs by any means, nor do we fully understand all the nuances and complexities each wine offers, but we love drinking wine. And …
Happy Mardi Gras! It’s that time of year again, when the streets of New Orleans are covered in green, purple and gold beads. Well…actually they’re always like that. But after this weekend there are even more than usual!
The traditional dessert of Mardi Gras in general is a King Cake, a ring shaped doughy cake filled with cream cheese and cinnamon, covered in icing and doused in colorful sprinkles or sugar. And let me tell you…once you’ve had one? You’ll never survive another Carnival season without one. Unfortunately I’ve never seen a King Cake in Idaho, so unless I want to order one online (…I thought about it…) I have to make one for myself.
I made a traditional King Cake last year, and you can read more about the history of Mardi Gras on that post, but this year I wanted something a little bit easier. Cupcakes! The recipes I saw online though weren’t really King Cakes though, they were just vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and purple sprinkles. A King Cake has a texture more like a cinnamon roll, not a cake, so I knew these wouldn’t solve my cravings.
Instead, I simply made a smaller batch of a traditional cake recipe and divided it into muffin tins. It took a few tries to get the ratio right, but I finally created 12 cute little King Cake cupcakes! This is a much more reasonable amount of cake, too. Then again…they don’t call it Fat Tuesday for nothing!
The recipe is still a little long and I know yeast can be daunting to some, but your life really isn’t complete until you try a King Cake! So turn on some jazz, watch some videos for inspiration, and spend the afternoon pretending you’re in a second line marching down St Charles Avenue. And then make this Gumbo Poutine by Joy the Baker, because it looks like the best twist on a classic NOLA recipe that has ever been made.
Laissez les bon temps rouler! (Let the good times roll)
~Stephanie
Mardi Gras King Cake Cupcakes (adapted from Mardi Gras King Cake)
*note: you will see some ingredients listed multiple times (such as sugar). I tried to separate them out by amounts needed at a certain time to prevent confusion. Make sure you read through the entire recipe before starting
For sugar topping
For cake
For filling
For Icing
For sugar:
For cake:
For filling:
Assembly:
For filling:
About a month after the wedding, we spent a week in the Bahamas for our honeymoon. Which means yes, I’m almost two years behind writing this. I was just going to forget about it completely until I started looking back at the pictures and had …
As part of my bridal shower, we had guests give me recipes with their cards. I’m embarrassed to say it’s been two years, and this is the first of those recipes I’ve made! Sorry everyone. We call this one “Poor Man’s Pecan Pie”. Because while …
Harry Potter and pumpkins…could there be any two things I love more?! Well besides dogs. And Christmas. And the ocean. And wine. Ok so maybe I love a lot of things. But I really love Harry Potter (as evidenced by my bachelorette party). I also really love pumpkins, which is why I signed up to be a part of the third annual Virtual Pumpkin Party!
I never knew how many ways you can use pumpkin until I started reading through these Pumpkin Party recipes. Our previous creations were Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake, Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream and Pumpkin Pancakes. If you head over to the Virtual Pumpkin Party page, you can see ALL the submissions and get some great ideas. I’m still dying to try Pumpkin Butter Pop Tarts from last year’s event…I can only imagine what the other bloggers will come up with this year!
If you’re not familiar with Harry Potter, while riding the Hogwarts Express a trolley goes around the train selling food like these pumpkin pasties! They are essentially a hand pie, a pastry dough filled with a creamy pumpkin filling. The internet seems at odds of whether the filling should be sweet, like an American pumpkin pie, or savory, like an English Cornish pasty, so I decided to make both!
While homemade pie dough is super easy and would probable make these even more delicious, I cheated and took the short cut of pre-made pie dough. No judgment here, do whatever you need to do! The sweet version is filled with pumpkin and warm fall spices, like a mini pumpkin pie, while the savory is paired with a sharp cheddar cheese, garlic and sage. I was most excited to try the savory and it did not disappoint. The sweet is great too, but I am just really into the savory pumpkin flavors this year!
Whether you are having a Harry Potter themed party (because let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want one of those?) or need a festive fall dish for a potluck or Thanksgiving, these pumpkin pasties will be a hit with wizards and muggles alike!
~Stephanie
Sweet & Savory Harry Potter Pumpkin Pasties (recipe adapted from Bijoux & Bits)
Sweet Version (makes about 10)
Savory Version (makes about 10)
To say I’m a milkshake fan would be an understatement. A HUGE understatement. Growing up, some of my favorite memories of my grandparents include grabbing milkshakes and burgers at Smokey’s. They had the best chocolate milkshakes- you know the kind that come with the metal …
This post is sponsored by Imperial Sugar. I have received sample products for writing this post. All content and opinions are mine. While I love to garden and have a small container garden on my patio, I think I love coworkers with gardens even more. The best …
Hello! Do you know what today is? It is the official start of #Choctoberfest! This is the third annual food blogger celebration of all things chocolate, made possible thanks to our gold sponsor Imperial Sugar and the other sponsors listed below. There are over 70 …