The Nifty Foodie

This time of the year is just crazy. Sunday’s weather was well into the 80s and then Monday evening, the low was in the 30s. We had a party to go to on Saturday that I bought a sweater dress for, and of course, it was 70s/80s outside. I still wore the dress, but it was a little odd wearing a sweater dress with tights and boots, considering mosquitoes were biting like crazy outside. Thankfully, we’re in for a freeze warning, so that should get rid of the darn bugs.

Since it finally feels like December again, it definitely feels more natural to bake up a storm. This past weekend was the big holiday bake-palooza, and after baking up dozens of cookies, I just feel like I should be baking something every day. This cake is one of those things…I love baking bundt cake. They’re so pretty right out of the pan, which makes decorating them super easy. You can easily decorate bundt cakes with a thinned icing type of glaze or sifted powdered sugar. I’m loving the powdered sugar topping lately, since it looks like a layer of snow. So festive, right?

This cake is a recipe that I had bookmarked for a while (story of my life), and I thought it sounded interesting…pumpkin with oatmeal in a cake. I decided to add mini chocolate chips to give it a little boost, and it came out amazing. I had some doubts since this batter was SUPER thick, but the cake came out beautifully.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake
Source: adapted from Erin’s Food Files, originally on Dine and Dish

Ingredients:

• 2 cups granulated sugar

• 1 cup quick cooking oatmeal

• 1/4 cup boiling water

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 4 large eggs

• 1 cup canned pumpkin

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

• 3 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 tsp. cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg

• pinch of cloves

• 2 tsp. baking soda

• 1 tsp. salt

• 2 cups mini chocolate chips

• powdered sugar

 Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. To prep the bundt pan, either spray it with non-stick baking spray (they usually include flour in them) or just butter/flour the pan.
2. Place the oatmeal in a small bowl, pour in the boiling water over the oatmeal and stir the mixture together. Allow the oatmeal/water mixture to stand for 10 minutes.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and sugar and beat the mixture for about 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs in one at a time, and mix until everything is well incorporated.
4. Add the pumpkin, oatmeal/water mixture and vanilla to the wet mixture, mixing on low until everything is well mixed.
5. With the mixer still on low, add the flour one cup at a time, and then add the spices, baking soda and salt to the mixture. Mix everything until it’s well incorporated.
6. Pour the cake batter into the bundt cake pan, and bake the cake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tested inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Cool the cake in the bundt pan for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Mrs. Smith’s for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I feel like I’ve been baking pie like crazy lately. Between the office potlucks and family get-togethers, it just seems like the butter will run out. Seriously y’all….I purchased 12 boxes of butter last month and I’m down to 5! Crazy, no?

As much as I love to bake, sometimes there’s a party where I just don’t have the time to make something for us to bring. There may be some people who will judge me for this, but hey, I’ve been known to purchase a frozen pie or two, and bake them up. I usually tend to grab for Mrs. Smith’s, because I’ve never had a bad pie from them. In fact, my husband insists that his all-time favorite pie is Mrs. Smith’s Cinnabon Apple Crumb Pie, so when Mrs. Smith’s (via SocialSpark) offered me the opportunity to try their new line of Mrs. Smith’s Signature Deep Dish pies, I just couldn’t say no.

In case you’re a stranger to Mrs. Smith’s products, here’s a little background on the company (from the company’s website):

When Amanda Smith baked her first pies in the kitchen of her Pottstown, Pennsylvania home, she used the finest ingredients and amazing attention to detail to create the finest pies available. Amanda Smith started by baking pies for family, friends and charity events, but when her son, Robert Smith, convinced her to sell her pies, a business was born. Today, the makers of MRS. SMITH’S® desserts continue the tradition started by Amanda Smith, delivering pies and cobblers with made-from-scratch goodness you can see and taste. MRS. SMITH’S® pies and cobblers … a timeless tradition. Their new Signature Deep Dish pies come in four flavors:

• Signature Deep Dish Dutch Apple Pie with Caramel Sauce
• Signature Deep Dish Cherry Pie with Butter Fudge Sauce
• Signature Deep Dish Peach Pie with Cream Cheese Icing
• Signature Deep Dish Pumpkin Pie with Cream Cheese Icing

The great thing about these pies is that it comes with a fun topping packet to help you create a unique, customized pie, and of course, with any Mrs. Smith’s pie, it couldn’t be simpler to bake. Simply take it out of the freezer, place it on a baking sheet (in case it leaks) and let it bake in the oven. Then, once the pie has cooled, add the topping.

I got to try the pumpkin pie, and it was VERY good! It was spiced well (some pumpkin pies don’t have enough spice, in my opinion), and the custard was super smooth! The pie dough was very flaky and not at all soggy, too. I especially loved being able to decorate our pie with the included icing packet, which gave it a fun, festive touch. If you’re under a time crunch this holiday season, this pumpkin pie would definitely do the trick! To find where these pies are sold, here’s a link to the retailers near you. Mrs. Smith’s is generously offering one reader of The Nifty Foodie a coupon for a free Signature Deep Dish pie, as well as a $50 gift card to Williams-Sonoma!!
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I think this is my favorite part of giving food for gifts: the packaging. There’s so many fun options out there, and I really enjoy choosing every aspect of how the food will be presented.

I like to package each recipe in their own bag, so my cellophane bag collection over the years has gotten a bit crazy. I decided this year is going to be a de-clutter year for sure, which is SO hard…so many cute designs out there! My favorite places to buy these printed cellophane bags are at the Dollar Tree, World Market and Michaels (Wilton brand).

After that, I just simply choose some sort of box or tin to put everything in. When it comes to tins, I really love to purchase them at Hobby Lobby, especially when they’re 50% off that week (since they can be a bit spendy), because they come in many different sizes and so many different varieties of prints. I prefer to purchase smaller boxes/tins for coworkers and large boxes/tins for neighbors/families to share.

The ones on the left are treat bags (box material in a bag shape) from Wal-Mart, which were VERY affordable…3 for $1! The ones on the right, believe it or not, were from TJMaxx.

I also went to World Market a while ago, and found these. I love the box material bags (obviously)…they look perfect for stacking cookies, and I think the parchment paper would work well to separate flavors or just act as a sort of food safe tissue paper in boxes/tins.

I’m also a big fan of wax paper with baker’s twine. I’ve used that in the past as well, and I think it works well (especially for stickier foods).

Another pointer…if you want to get a little bit ahead and purchase your packaging for next year, check out the post-Christmas clearance! Some places, like Target, go down to 90% off on decor.

So, to show what I’ve done in the past for gifts, here’s a couple of pictures of gifts from previous years…

Two years ago, I wrapped oreo truffles in foil wrappers (usually found in the candy-making aisle of a craft store), and wrapped cookies in clear cellophane bags. The marshmallows on the right were wrapped in wax paper.

Last year, I purchased these adorable boxes at Target (in the dollar bin area), and stuffed them with fudge, elf’s mix & decorated cookies. Below, I made a large tray for my husband’s office, which contained elf’s mix, eggnog cranberry bread, decorated cookies, fudge and candy cane biscotti (which I realize I never posted last year…oops). To cover it all, I just wrapped each gift in cellophane wrap (found at Dollar Tree).

In case you missed it, here’s the other posts in my mini-series:

Homemade Holiday Gifts: Part 1 (the prep)
Homemade Holiday Gifts: Part 2 (the recipes)

Thanks so much for following this mini-series, and I hope you consider making some food gifts this year. Not only is it a great excuse to bake (and get rid of the food), family/friends will definitely enjoy the personal touch on homemade gifts!

Do you have your mixer and bowl ready?

A fridge full of butter?

Are you snacking on chocolate chips?…..No? That’s just me?!!

Since I make gifts every year, I’ve come to learn that you don’t have to use super fancy recipes to impress. Based on feedback, those sugar cookies I’d spend hours decorating, while pretty, weren’t a favorite. Hilariously, the easiest thing to make (like dipped pretzels) usually won out. So, I wanted to share with y’all some tasty, yet not too time-consuming favorites for gifting.

First, here’s the favorites for cookies. These are the recipes you can make in advance, freeze, & bake when you’re ready.

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies – These are just wonderful classic sugar cookies. Beats anything you can buy in the store!

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies – Again, just a classic cookie, but for the holidays, I like to buy the chocolate chips with red/green white chocolate chips mixed in the bag. Makes these more festive. Hint: You can also omit the chocolate chips and substitute in Christmas colored M&Ms!

Peanut Butter Cookies – These aren’t very Christmas-y, but if you wanted, you could sprinkle the tops with Christmas colored sugars.

(I’ll also be posting another recipe for the chocolate cookies you saw in part one’s pictures next week, if you’re interested!)

Here’s some other past favorites that I’ve gifted:

Oreo Truffles – The condensed milk version of these doesn’t require refrigeration, and these are super easy to make/dip. Sprinkles hide imperfections, too!

Elf’s Mix – This was a FAVORITE last year. It’s a great salty/sweet combination, and so festive too! Super simple recipe too…gotta love how the easy ones are the favorites.

Mom’s Peanut Butter Fudge – The picture just doesn’t do this fudge justice. It’s insanely good. I cut them into tiny 1×1 inch squares. They are just so rich, but delish!

Peppermint Marshmallows — These are perfect to add to a basket with hot cocoa mix!

Eggnog Cranberry Bread – This is a favorite for the holidays. I can’t tell you how many compliments I’ve gotten from this bread! The streusel puts it over the top!

White Chocolate, Cranberry & Pistachio Biscotti – This recipe is such an easy biscotti to make. It actually was my very first post on this blog. I love the red/green/white ingredient combination and the flavors just work so well together!

Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Truffles — While these need to stay in the fridge (due to the cream cheese), I find that these truffles would be the perfect gift for neighbors. The mint taste isn’t too overpowering, and it’s just a cute twist on the classic peppermint bark.

I’d love to hear from y’all…what are your favorite recipes for gifting?

Stay tuned for a the last post in this series: food gift packaging.

Check out other posts from this mini-series:
Part 1: The Prep
Part 3: The Packaging (coming soon)

I absolutely love baking during the holiday season. I’m always looking for excuses to bake, and during the holidays, I tend to find a ton of excuses.

One of our biggest traditions around the holidays is what I like to call the annual bake-palooza, which is the weekend before Christmas. Basically, we live in the kitchen for the majority of the weekend and bake, bake, bake for friends, coworkers, neighbors…you name it! It doesn’t sound fun to most, but to me, it’s a blast! Over the years, I’ve learned which recipes are great for gifting, and which recipes, while impressive, are just too much work to make for 15-20 gifts.

This year, I’m doing something different. While I’m still baking up a storm, I figured I could lighten the load a little by spreading out the majority of the work—the cookies.

Since we’re making a ton of goodies (husband likes to help), I had to do the math to see how many batches of each recipe I’d need to make for gifts. Most cookie recipes make 24 cookies (check your recipes first), so after doing the math, I decided 11 batches of cookies was a good number (2 of those being cookie dough gifts, which is a whole ’nother gift idea). Of course, I doubt we’ll need all of those cookies, but I wanted to make sure I had extra dough, just in case…you can never have too much cookie dough, right?

One of the first things I always do for a big bake-palooza, is to stalk the grocery ads. I refuse to buy butter that’s over $2/pound box. I live in a fairly low to middle cost of living area, and from experience, I know $2 is rock bottom for the price of butter. It’s probably different in, say, New York or Los Angeles, but the idea is to buy butter when it’s the cheapest. Oh, and buy a LOT of it. I bought 12 boxes. Did you know that you can freeze butter? Just in case you don’t use it all..

Butter isn’t the only thing I shop for…I usually go through 3 bags of flour and sugar, multiple bags of chocolate chips, as well as 2-3 cartons of eggs. All of these go on sale this time of the year, and I know I sound like a cheap person for saying BUY EVERYTHING CHEAP, but seriously, when you’re baking multiple gifts, it all adds up! (and hey, saving money on ingredients means more money to buy pretty packaging, right?)

Once you have your ingredients, now of course you can make your dough. Since I’m usually doubling (or tripling) some recipes, I do that math in advance. Write those numbers on a post-it or something and stick it next to your recipe OR retype out your recipe with the correct amounts. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve doubled a recipe, only to realize I forgot to double one thing…like sugar. Yup. Not good. Just do the math in advance.

Side note: Just keep in mind your mixer size when you’re doubling or tripling recipes. My standard 5 qt. mixer can usually handle a double batch of cookie dough, but tripling really pushes the limits on the capacity of my bowl. I was able to triple recipes just fine in the 7 qt. mixer I have, though. 

Once your dough is mixed, use a medium sized cookie scoop (or large, if recipe calls for it), and scoop dough balls out. My freezer is a side by side, and a 9×13 cake pan fits just fine in there. So, I scooped them out into a cake pan, making sure to leave a tiny bit of space between dough balls, to make sure they don’t freeze together.

If you have more than one layer of cookie dough, just layer balls of dough between sheets of wax paper.

Once you have your cookie dough scooped out, place the pan into a freezer and allow the dough balls to freeze for 1-2 hours, until they are fairly set. Then, take them out of the pan and throw them into a freezer bag. Allow all of the excess air out of the bags, and seal until you’re ready to bake them.

To bake the cookies, all you need to do is place the balls on a cookie sheet, allowing a couple of inches in between for spreading, and bake at the temperature specified for the recipe for just 1-2 minutes longer than called for.

You can see that I burnt the cookie in the back, but that was because it was meant to be baked 25 degrees cooler than the others. Whoops! Glad I learned that lesson before the big baking weekend!

Stay tuned for the next posts in this mini-series: one about favorite recipes for gifting and another about packaging.