Fall, Fall, Fall!

Fall is without a doubt my absolute favorite time of year. The food, the colors, the weather- I love it all. SO, in honor of fall (and my love for cooking) here are some of the best fall recipes in the whole wide world-

The most amazing pumpkin cupcakes ever made (Seriously, these bad boys do some work. Word of caution, they don't tend to rise very much due to the crazy amount of pumpkin in them, so don't leave any room for rising because it just won't happen!) (I found this lovely gem on the blog "Sweet Twist of Blogging")-

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 can (7.5 ounces) pure pumpkin puree

Cream Cheese Icing

• 8 oz light cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• confectioners sugar

INSTRUCTIONS: 1) Preheat oven to 350F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a medium bowl and set aside.
2) In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Fold in pumpkin puree. 3) Using a 1/4 cup scoop, add batter to liners, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool before icing.
4) Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla and sugar until completely combined and smooth. Place in a piping bag and swirl onto cupcakes.

Apple Nachos!- Okay, so there isn't REALLY a recipe for this. You just sort of go at it with your favorite things and it always turns out fantastic! These are the basics/things I love to put on them-

-Cut up your favorite apples (tart apples work great like granny smith or honey crisp)

-Lightly top the apples with some lemon juice to prevent browning

-Lay the apples out on a plate and add some goodies!

-It tends to work really well if you start with either peanut butter, caramel, or chocolate drizzled on top, followed by the toppings of your choice. Some personal favorite toppings include (but would never be limited to)- chopped nuts (peanuts, almonds, etc), chocolate chips, coconut shavings, little bits of brown sugar, or whatever goodies you have laying around!

The great thing about this recipe is that it always looks so pretty and fun, and it's SO super simple to make.

Pumpkin Pie (duh)-

Okay so there are about a million great pumpkin pie recipes out there, and to be honest I'm way to lazy to try to scour my recipe box to find my grandma's fantastical recipe, but the most important thing in the whole wide world is to NEVER use pre-made pumpkin pie filling. Why? Because when you cheat on the test, you never really win. Making your own filling makes pumpkin pie 1 kajillion times better. The same really goes for pie crust. When you finally find that great recipe (thankfully for me, I was born with a saint-like grandma with an amazing recipe for pie crust) it so worth it, because the pre-made stuff just doesn't cut it.

Okay let's be honest- I'm no cooking genius, and there are only about 3 people who read this blog anyway, but after foodgawking for as many hours as I do, I feel the need to blog about some good food!

Side note and PS- We finally put something on our living room wall!!! Please disregard the empty frames, Rome wasn't built in a day.