Tag: Christmas

Pumpkin Pie Bars

It’s that time of year! Pumpkin Pie Time 🙂 Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I have the perfect recipe for you! Pumpkin Pie bars taste like pumpkin pie, but better. They are very moist, just like pie, but the crust on these is sooo good! Could you imagine the holidays without a pumpkin dessert?!

If you like pumpkin, these are a must! I have made these for years and they are always a crowd pleaser.

I got this recipe off the tasty kitchen back in 2011. I have made it every year since! Hats off to the person who came up with this delicious dessert.

This recipe can be soy free, dairy free and gluten free! It’s all in the cake mix! Choose a soy free mix or get the gluten free yellow cake mix! You can also substitute the milk and butter for non dairy options!

Ingredients

  • FOR THE CRUST:
  • 1 box Yellow Cake Mix, 18 Ounce Box, Reserve 1 Cup
  • ½ cups Melted Butter
  • 1 whole Egg, Beaten
  • FOR THE MIDDLE LAYER:
  • 2 whole Eggs
  • ⅔ cups Evaporated Milk
  • ¼ cups White Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 15 ounces, weight Canned Pumpkin
  • ½ cups Brown Sugar
  • 1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • FOR THE TOPPING:
  • 1 cup Reserved Cake Mix
  • ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
  • ½ cups White Sugar
  • ½ cups Melted Butter

Instructions

  • Mix together the first 3 ingredients (make sure to reserve 1 cup of the cake mix and set that aside) and press into a 9×13 ungreased pan.
  • Combine the eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, cinnamon, pumpkin, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla and pour over the crust.
  • Lastly, mix together the topping ingredients: reserved cake mix, cinnamon, white sugar, and melted butter. Spoon over pumpkin filling.
  • Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes (it will be a bit soft still).
  • Serve with whipped topping, warm. OR even better, serve it the next day, cold!
I definitely prefer these cold! They are so delicious and make me so happy!

I hope you enjoy these Pumpkin Pie Bars as much as I do! Follow me on Pinterest or right here on my blog for more recipe ideas!

Easy Cherry Pie Bars

Do you ever find yourself needing a quick and easy last minute dessert for a party? These Cherry Pie Bars are the answer. They are easy to make, easy to eat and are so yummy. They are great for ANY occasion. Once I start eating these I honestly have a hard time stopping!!

This is one of those desserts, that if you have these leftover in your refrigerator you keep going in for just one more bite…

Honestly I cannot tell you enough how EASY these are to make. I like a quick and easy dessert, and when I am in a pinch I don’t want to have to give it much thought. This recipe would be fantastic swapping out the Cherry filling with strawberry, blueberry, peach or even lemon filling! I am going to try that next time I go to make this.

I served these Easy Cherry Pie Bars up at our Christmas Party with my friends. They were very festive and were perfect for the holidays! They even went well with my Grapefruit Paloma aka Margarita…

This recipe is a great go-to for anyone who has food allergies to peanuts, tree-nuts and soy. I happen to have all three. This recipe can be found in many variations, but mostly people use almond extract, which is an absolute no for me! I just supplemented with more vanilla!!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1-2 cans cherry pie filling 21 oz. Depending on how much cherry you like!

Glaze Ingredients

  • 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
  • 3-4 tbsp milk
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • In your stand mixer cream together butter and sugar
  • Add in eggs and vanilla
  • In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients
  • Add the dry ingredients into the mixture
  • Press the majority of the dough into a greased 9×13 baking dish. You will need about 1 cup of reserve for the top. You can use spray or use this recipe for Cake Pan Release. It’s amazing and soy free! Nothing sticks with this!
  • Spread on the cherry pie filling
  • Take the rest of the dough and drop spoonfuls on the top
  • Bake for 30 minutes. Should be a golden brown on top
  • Cool completely
  • Mix together the glaze ingredients and drizzle on top
  • Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve
  • Warm them up and serve with ice cream, or just eat them by themselves!

Like I said before, you can try different pie fillings to change up this recipe!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and come back for more!!

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Gingerbread Bars

I have made these Gingerbread Bars for the past two Christmas’. They have been circulating around Pinterest from various blogs. I am not entirely sure where they originated from, but my guess is Six Sister’s Stuff. They always have great recipes and this one is no exception!

The holidays are so busy with gatherings and everyone always expects me to bring dessert! (which I enjoy!) I try to make a variety of desserts and different flavors to mix things up a bit. I can tell you my husband appreciates that! These Gingerbread Bars are an unpredictable dessert, and everyone loves them, including myself. These are one of my favorites…Yum!! I will be taking these to work tomorrow, for a holiday party. I guarantee they won’t last long 🙂

These Gingerbread Bars incorporate all of those spices associated with Christmas smells, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and molasses! This dessert is just the right amount of sweet!

This is definitely a recipe to hold onto!!

Ingredients for the Gingerbread Bars

  • 1/2 Cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 Cup sugar
  • 1/4 Cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 Cup molasses
  • 1 Egg
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 2 Cups flour
  • 1 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp Nutmeg

Gingerbread Bar Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  • Grease a 13×9 baking dish. You can get my cake release recipe here. It’s easy to make and Soy Free!
  • In your stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugars, vanilla, and molasses.
  • Add in the egg, and mix until fully incorporated
  • In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients
  • Slowly add them into the stand mixer, and mix thoroughly
  • Pour mix into baking dish and pat down to get it evenly distributed
  • Bake for 15-18 Minutes
  • Let cool before frosting!

Ingredients for the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1/4 unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Frosting Instructions

  • In your stand mixer, cream butter and cream cheese together. Make sure they are both softened and at room temp. Otherwise your frosting will be chunky
  • Add in the vanilla and mix
  • Add in the powdered sugar slowly until all incorporated
  • Pour on the sprinkles, or cinnamon and serve!

Make sure to store them in the refrigerator!

I hope you enjoy these Gingerbread Bars. If you want more Fun and Frosted recipes, make sure to follow my blog, and my Pinterest page!

I really appreciate all of my subscribers! Thank you

Perfect Sugar Cookie Recipe from the 1940’s

This sugar cookie recipe is very special to me, because it was my grandmother’s recipe. She clipped it out of a newspaper sometime in the 1940’s. It was re-written on a piece of paper, which I still have, stains and all!

Everyone needs a basic sugar cookie recipe! Growing up it was always a tradition to make these sugar cookies for Christmas with my mom. I have carried this tradition on with my kids now too! I can remember as a kid always eating these while frosting them. I couldn’t resist. My kids do the very same thing! Frost one, eat one, frost one, eat one! Lol! These sugar cookies are the best! Let’s be honest, we need to continue to pass along recipes from the past when we can. These cookies are made with love!

This recipe makes a lot of cookies! You could cut it in half, thirds or make the whole thing and freeze some fully baked cookies for later. Bake these right, and they are soft and oh so delicious! Depending on the size of the cookie they will need to bake at different times. The bite size cookies can really bake in 4-5 minutes and the larger cookies are done in about six minutes. I like them a little brown on the bottom, but not on the top. Underdone is better than overdone!

You are definitely going to need a stand mixer for this recipe. There is a lot of flour and you have to add it slowly while the dough is mixing.

Sugar Cookie Recipe

  • 1 1/2 cups Shortening (I use Spectrum because it is soy free!)
  • 3 Cups sugar
  • 3 Eggs
  • 1 Cup milk
  • 3 tsp vanilla
  • 8 1/4 cup flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp cream of tarter
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 400 degrees F
  • Blend shortening, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla
  • In a separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients
  • Slowly add in the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until well incorporated
  • Once it’s mixed, put in the refrigerator for 15+ minutes until chilled
  • On a well floured counter roll out dough 1/8th of an inch thick
  • Bake 5-7 minutes
  • Let fully cool before frosting

These cookies are so good! I hope you enjoy them 🙂

Lemon Buttercream

Lemon Buttercream is so delicious! My dad is a true lemon lover and he just celebrated his 66th birthday. So what better to make then lemon cupcakes with lemon buttercream! I will say he probably loves chocolate more than lemon, but my mom does not and I aim to please everyone!

This lemon buttercream has just enough sweet and tart to make the perfect frosting. It is so simple to make and I used real lemons. My kids liked watching me make this because they could not resist taking the left over lemons and licking them……soooo sour! My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Anyway you only need 4 ingredients! Butter, lemon, powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream (or milk will do).

This buttercream tastes so good on lemon cupcakes, and it’s not too much lemon, I swear! Both kids and adults were raving about these cupcakes! And if I am being completely honest, I made the cake from a box mix – Betty Crocker Super Moist Lemon! So good, and soy free!

As you can see below the buttercream has the perfect consistency for piping!

Ingredients

1 Stick of unsalted butter

Juice from 1 lemon

5 cups of powdered sugar

4-5 Tbsp of heavy whipping cream

Instructions

You need to start with your butter at room temperature. You can put it in the microwave for 15 seconds to speed up the process.

Then in your stand mixer, cream the butter.

Add in the juice from 1/2 of a lemon

Then add in the powdered sugar 1/2 a cup at a time while continually mixing. while alternating with 1 tbsp of cream until all used

Gradually add in the rest of the lemon juice.

If you want your buttercream to be creamier – add in more cream!

Store in the refrigerator if you are not going to use right away. You can store for about a week (depending on the expiration date of your butter and cream).

Put in a piping bag and decorate your dessert or spread on with a knife!!!

Cream Cheese Frosting

Cream Cheese Frosting! Yum!!! I made this frosting recipe to go with the delicious homemade cinnamon rolls I made for Thanksgiving brunch. I have to admit that I do use canned cream cheese frosting from time to time, but there is nothing like homemade frosting!

This Cream Cheese Frosting recipe is really simple, and in all honestly takes less than 10 minutes to make. However, cream cheese can be frustrating to work with. If it’s not at room temperature, it will get CHUNKY. No one wants chunky frosting…

You are going to have to let the cream cheese sit out for at least 30 minutes. You may even need to put it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. You do not want it to melt though so be careful! Also make sure that the butter is room temperature as well.

Cream together the butter and the cream cheese and then add in the vanilla and salt. After that add in the sugar one cup at a time and alternate with one tablespoon of the heavy whipping cream. Easy as that!!!

Tip – If you are putting this on Cinnamon rolls, you probably only need half of this recipe. You can also add in more cream if you want this to be more of a “drizzle”.

Store the frosting in the refrigerator until needed. You can store up to 1 week. I hope you love it as much as I do!

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Cinnamon Rolls
Easy Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Simple Cinnamon Cupcakes

I needed a simple dessert to take to a holiday party with adults and children. Cupcakes are simple, especially for a party. You can just grab one, they are already portion controlled and there is no cutting involved. They are kid friendly and adults love them too!

These cupcakes needed simple and different than your “ordinary” cupcake. I wanted them to be festive for the holidays and delicious of course! I came across a lot of different cinnamon cupcakes, but I really wanted a recipe that was easy. So I decided to just start with a box of cake mix and add some cinnamon, and that’s what I did! I can’t thank myself enough, because these simple cinnamon cupcakes were amazing!!

I used a box of yellow cake mix, and followed the instructions on the box. Additionally, I added two teaspoons of cinnamon and one tablespoon of pure vanilla extract. That was it! So simple and yet so very tasty. Not only did I make cinnamon cupcakes, I topped them with cinnamon buttercream. Now I know you might be thinking, “that’s too much cinnamon”…but it wasn’t, I swear they were sooooooo good! I do have to say these cupcakes would be great with regular buttercream or cream cheese frosting, but please try with the cinnamon buttercream first!!

If you really want to “wow” your guests, pipe on the frosting with a little swirl and put in a pastry box. You can buy the boxes at Joann fabrics, Walmart and Party City. I swear people are more impressed with the box I bring them in than the cupcakes themselves! Everyone at the party thought I bought them!

Side note – These cupcakes can be eaten for breakfast…….just sayin’

Here is the recipe for Simple Cinnamon Cupcakes

You can’t forget the cinnamon buttercream!

I hope you enjoy these cupcakes as much as I do! Be sure to follow Fun and Frosted for more easy and fun recipes!

Here are some other recipes from Fun and Frosted!

Cinnamon Buttercream
Easy Banana Bread