Holiday Cookies

When I was a child, my mother always baked for the holidays. She made many varieties of cookies, cakes, and pastries over the years. I look back on baking with my mother fondly. I think that is why I enjoy baking. There is something special about baking for me. It feels like warmth and love. For me the holidays don't seem like the holidays until I've baked something for someone.

I baked with my own children while they were growing up. I think it's good to get kids involved in

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Cupcake Inside A Cupcake

This cupcake recipe combines all the flavors of fall and the holidays into one scrumptious cake. A good friend sent me the link to this recipe, and I just had to try it. A cupcake baked inside a cupcake was just so novel! So, adapted from the Cupcake Projects recipe, we have apple cupcakes frosted with brown sugar icing, inside of pumpkin rum cupcakes frosted with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Is your mouth watering yet?

Apple Cupcake Recipe


I ended up with 36 mini cupcakes.

You can find the full recipe at http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/cupcakes/cupcake-inside-a-cupcake-cupcakes/

The 10 Best Gifts For The Home Cook

Personally, I think the best gifts for the home cook are the ones that help he/she to expand their abilities, learn new techniques, or make baking/cooking easier. As a cooking/baking enthusiast, I get excited about new recipes, trying new gadgets for the kitchen, and things that take the effort out of baking and cooking. Even better, I've found some great sales on these items just in time for the holidays!
1. The Polder Digital In-Oven Thermometer/Timer. The probe can stay directly in your roast or turkey while it's in the oven, and will sound an alarm when the preset temperature is achieved. On sale now for only $18.79, a savings of 25%. Takes the guesswork out of baking and roasting. Features a water-tight probe cable. Requires 1 AAA battery (included)
Customer review; "This is a good product for the price . Easy to use intuitive controls , display easy to read , temperature is accurate . There is no on/off button but this isn't a big deal as the battery will probably still last for years even with it always on."
2. Wilton 2104-2546, 53 Piece Supreme Cake Decorating Set A complete tool set for frosting and decorating cakes. If you have a budding cake decorator at home, they will be able to learn cake decorating easily. Set includes tips, icing bags, flower nails and couplers, everything you'll need to create beautiful cakes. Includes a 36-page instruction book illustrating decorating techniques. On sale now for $22.54, a 32% savings. Priced right for the beginner to get all he/she needs to get started making beautiful, professional looking cakes!
3. OXO Good Grips Cookie Scoop This is the small cookie scoop. Each scoop holds 2 teaspoons of dough and yields a 2-inch cookie. It also comes in medium and large. A real time-saver in the kitchen it helps to create cookies that are uniform in size which helps them to bake evenly. With a simple squeeze of the soft grip handle the cookie is released on to the baking sheet. No more

Find out more! Go to http://bestmixerreviews.com/the-10-best-gifts-for-the-home-cook/ and shop from the comfort of home!

Extreme Chocolate Banana Bread

I have another extremely large bunch of bananas to be thankful for today. So...I decided to make a double batch of banana bread. I started with a recipe for extra banana banana bread. I adapted it from a recipe I found on For the Love of Cooking. Then, to change it up I added cocoa powder, chocolate chips, and walnuts to the second half of the batch. It turned out very well! Rich and moist, with a nice balance to the chocolate and banana flavors. I've titled it Extreme Chocolate

Rich, moist bread with a nice balance of flavors, get the recipe here http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/quick-breads-extreme-chocolate-banana-bread/

Banana Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts

The harvest keeps on coming! Now the banana trees have decided to bless us with their bounty! I've been making lots of starfruit products for the last while, as well as using them to garnish drinks and dessert plates. Got through the starfruit crop in pretty good form. Now, I'm back to banana products.

Here is a picture of the bunch of bananas that has been getting ripe this week.

This is just a small portion of a bunch of bananas. I've already frozen the majority of this

To read the full recipe go to http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/cookies-and-brownies-raisin-oatmeal-drops/banana-cookies-with-chocolate-chips-and-walnuts/

Apple and Starfruit Crisp

When you live in the Caribbean there aren't many apple trees. Well, at least not what North Americans would call an apple. We do have a variety of fruits that are referred to as such, like sugar apples and mamie apples which do not taste or look anything like a Gala. What I do have, is a lot of Starfruit. The tree in my backyard is producing enough at this point to feed the whole neighborhood.



When I was in North America, Fall was always a good time to make Apple Crisp. We

To read the full recipe go to http://bestmixerreviews.com/category/recipes/crisp/

Halloween Recipe Ideas

Halloween is just around the corner. When my boys were small we used to bake treats for school Halloween parties, and parties we had at the restaurant. Halloween can lend itself to making treats you couldn't make for any other holiday. Spiders, severed fingers, and eyeballs come to mind! It's one of the few times a year that making something gross is a good thing! With kids, the grosser the better! But, cute owls, candy corn, and Jack O' Lanterns are fun too. You can have a lot of

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