Archives for 2013

Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice

I am wishing for Fall weather here in Florida and to hopefully speed it along, I created my own Pumpkin Pie Spice. With Fall baking, that little spice container in the grocery store never seems to be enough and always runs out right when I need it. Pumpkin Pie Spice is quick and easy to make and you probably have all the spice ingredients already in your pantry or spice drawer.

The internet has been blowing up with Pumpkin Spice this and Pumpkin Spice that since early September. I love all those delicious creations that I see on Pinterest and FoodGawker. Hopefully I will not be too busy with Baby prep in the next few weeks to add to all the gloriousness (yes, that’s my made-up word) of Pumpkin Spice baking.



Pumpkin Pie Spice
a Love & Confections original recipe

Pumpkin Pie Spice Ingredients:
 – 1/4 cup ground Cinnamon
 – 1 tablespoon ground Nutmeg, freshly grated if you have it
 – 1 tablespoon ground Ginger
 – 2 teaspoons ground Allspice
 – 1 teaspoon ground Clove*
*some people like Clove in their spice mix, but I personally do not care for it, so it it up to you if you wish to add it in.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Directions:
 – Add all spices in a jar, with a tight-fitting lid, and shake to combine. Any type of mason or canning jar would be perfect.

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

For Grace – September 16, 2013

Every year this day seems to get harder and harder, but this year is different. For the first time in 12 years, even though its hard, I have something special to celebrate today…

My grandmother, Grace, was one of the most important and influential people in my life. She was like a second mother to me. She instilled the true meaning of Family in our lives and loved us unconditionally. My love of baking stemmed from being in the kitchen with her, and even though she was gone, she inspired me to become a chef.

Like I said, we have something to celebrate on this painful day – Mr. Love & Confections and I are expecting our first child, a little Girl! We are so excited to become parents. Years ago, while talking with my Grandmother, I happened to discuss baby names with her if she had been fortunate enough to have had another girl. She told me the name she liked and I thought it was a pretty name that would be good if I ever had a daughter.

It came time for Mr.L&C and I to think about baby names. The name my Grandmother liked was one of my top choices, but it just didn’t feel right. We looked through baby name books and went back and forth on options, but didn’t find anything we truly liked. Nothing seemed to fit, but then I suggested we name her after my Grandmother. Mr. L&C and I agreed, and so we had a name for our baby girl… Grace which means “God’s favor; blessing”!

It’s unbelievable how much I love little Grace already, and haven’t even met her yet. I’m sure my Grandmother would love her just as much if she were here to meet her namesake. I know she is watching over us and keeping an eye on our baby girl.

Grace’s Sugar Cookies
a Family Recipe adapted from Pillsbury

Ingredients:
 – 3 cups All Purpose Flour
 – 1 & 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
 – 1/2 teaspoon Salt
 – 1 cup granulated Sugar
 – 1 cup unsalted Butter, room temperature
 – 1 Egg
 – 3 tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
 – 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Directions:
 – Sift Flour, Baking Powder, Salt and Sugar into a large mixing bowl. Cut in Butter using a pastry blender.
 – In a small bowl or measuring cup, put Egg, Cream and Vanilla and beat slightly to break up the egg.
 – Pour egg mixture into the flour/butter mixture and combine with a spoon, or by hand, until it forms a cohesive ball of dough.
 – Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. If not using the same day, the dough can stay in the refrigerator overnight, or you can securely wrap it and place in a ziploc bag and store in the freezer for up to 2 weeks. Thaw overnight in refrigerator or a few hours on the counter.
 – When ready to make cookies, heat oven to 400F, roll out to 1/2 inch thick, cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
 – Bake for 5-8 minutes or until just golden brown around the edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooking rack and cool completely before icing.

Royal Icing & Flooded Icing
adapted from Bake at 350

Bridget shares her recipe and step-by-step pictures. Head on over to her Blog for the recipe and to learn how to make royal and flooded icing.

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Ham and Swiss Puff Pastry Bites

A few weeks ago, I traveled home to North Carolina to visit my family and help my Mom host a Bridal Shower Brunch for my cousin – and you all know how much I LOVE Brunch. Her favorite color is purple so everything was decorated with that in mind.

All the local mothers helped by bringing food. We had a great spread including a French Toast Casserole, Mini Frittatas, Deviled Eggs, Hash Brown Casserole, Tomato-Pesto Tarts, a build-your-own Yogurt Parfait and a Mimosa Bar.

I helped Mom with all the decorations as well as the Puff Pastry Bites and French Macarons. We also had a dessert table with Cupcakes, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, Mints and Peach Cake.

I think she enjoyed herself and had a great Bridal Shower. Congratulations and I cannot wait for the wedding in October!



Ham and Swiss Puff Pastry Bites
inspired by Pinterest

Ham and Swiss Puff Pastry Bites Ingredients:
 – 1 package Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed overnight in refigerator
 – 1 pound shaved deli Ham
 – 1/4 pound sliced deli Swiss Cheese, cut in half
 – 1-2 eggs beaten with 1-2 tablespoons water for Egg Wash

Ham and Swiss Puff Pastry Bites Directions:
 – Heat oven to 425F and lightly spray some baking sheets.
 – Lightly flour a surface to roll out one Puff Pastry Sheet at a time. You don’t want to stretch or make them too thin, just maybe an extra 1/2 to 1 inch on each side, and to flatten the fold. Cut into 9 equal squares.
 – Set squares on a diagonal in front of you and place a 1/2 slice of Swiss Cheese, followed by some shaved Ham.
 – Using the Egg Wash, fold one side over, brush the corner and fold the other side on top – to create a sealed puff pastry bite. Brush the entire piece of Puff Pastry with the Egg Wash, including the tops, sides, and little corners still visible under the Ham and Swiss.
 – Repeat process with second Puff Pastry Sheet, remembering to work fast, so the fat does not melt out of the sheets before baking – that’s what makes it flaky and delicious!
 – Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. Can be served warm or at room temperature.

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Raspberry Crumb Bars

It’s almost September and Halloween stores are opening and pumpkin recipes are up on the internet. Summer is still in full effect here in Florida. These past few days have been hot and humid and I cannot wait for cooler weather and Fall baking. Until then, I decided to go with a bright and summery dessert bar for you.

I am not the biggest raspberry fan. I love the flavor, but I just can’t get past all the seeds. It tastes great, but if I had a choice between raspberries, blueberries or strawberries, I’d choose the last two.

I decided to use the raspberries I had to make some more room in freezer. This is the perfect way to use frozen raspberries, because they don’t always hold their shape once thawed.



Raspberry Crumb Bars
adapted from allrecipes.com

Raspberry Crumb Bar Ingredients:
200 grams Granulated Sugar (1 cup)
3 grams Baking Powder (1 tsp)
375 grams All Purpose Flour (3 cups)
2 grams Salt (1/4 tsp)
Zest from one medium Lemon (1 tbsp)
226 grams cold unsalted Butter (2 sticks)
100 grams Eggs (2)

400 grams frozen Raspberries, thawed and strained of any extra juice (2 cups)
100 grams Granulated Sugar (1/2 cup)
18 grams Corn Starch (2 tbsp)

Raspberry Crumb Bar Directions:
 – Heat oven to 350F. Grease and flour, or use baking spray, on a 9 x 13 non-stick pan.
 – In a medium bowl, combine the first measure of Granulated Sugar, Baking Powder, All Purpose Flour, Salt and Lemon Zest. Using a pastry blender or fork and knives, cut the cold Butter into the dry ingredients, until pea-sized shapes are formed. Add in the 2 Eggs and continue to cut to combine.
 – Using 1/2 to 2/3 of the mixture, press it into the bottom of the pan.
 – In a separate bowl, combine the thawed Raspberries, second measure of Granulated Sugar and Corn Starch. Scoop the Raspberry mixture evenly over the bottom crust. Sprinkle the remaining dry mixture evenly over the top.
 – Bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting.

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Hash House A Go Go – restaurant review

A restaurant review of Hash House A Go Go in Orlando, Florida.


I love Brunch! You can probably tell from when I hosted BrunchWeek this past May. I don’t think Brunch needs a special occasion – just good food and good company. Hash House A Go Go took care of the good food. As far as the good company, Mr. Love & Confections, our friend Susan, Marilyn from Forkful and a few of her friends joined us for a fabulous brunch.

We went on a busy Saturday morning, and I would highly recommend making a reservation, especially with a group as big as ours. We got seated pretty fast and the only drawback was that they didn’t actually have a table big enough for our group. We had to add a small table to the end of one of their large booths to have everyone fit.

Kiwi Watermelon Lemonade – most popular drink – try it!

A few people at the table got some of their fun drinks and coffee. After Baby L&C comes, I am definitely going there for happy hour! The drinks looked fun and delicious and the coffee hit the spot.

Caramel All Over Mocha & S’Mores Mocha

Hash House A Go Go’s tagline boasts its “twisted farm food”. Their take on traditional dishes was awesome and the portions were huge! Susan’s BLT came out to the table first and then we knew what we were getting in to.

BBBLT  – you can’t have too much bacon! & One Pound Stuffed Burger

Sage Fried Chicken & Waffles
The Chicken & Waffles was delicious! Two sage fried chicken breasts with a hardwood smoked bacon waffle tower – yes bacon was inside the waffles, hot maple syrup reduction and fried leeks.

Everyone was wide-eyed as their order was set down in front of them, salivating as each plate came. The food kept coming and kept getting bigger by the plate.

Hash with crispy potatoes, 2 eggs, fresh fruit and a biscuit.

The biscuits were so good and the pictures don’t do them justice. They were so tall, flaky and moist. I had the Griddled French Toast dipped in a Banana Cinnamon Cream with Pecan Maple Syrup.

Mr. Love & Confections had the Tractor Driver Combo with the Brown Sugar Banana Flapjack – He used his had as a reference to how big the flapjack actually was! It was DELICIOUS and next time I go, I am getting that!

Everyone at the table ordered something different, which I love, because we were all able to sample something from each other’s plates – I love sharing a meal with Foodies! The food was delicious and some of us had to take leftovers home. I would definitely recommend this restaurant. It was a fun atmosphere and had great food.

for more information on the restaurant including locations, hours and menu, visit the Hash House A Go Go Website!

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for or asked to write about this restaurant. All opinions are my own.

Baby Love & Confections’ Gender Reveal Party

 So this has been a long time coming… Mr. Love & Confections and I decided to host a Gender Reveal party for our Family and closest Friends. We scheduled an ultrasound and hoped that Baby L&C would cooperate so we could find out the gender.

I even baked cookies to help bribe the u/s techs into helping us find out – we had people driving in from out of town for the party. Luckily for us, Baby L&C cooperated for the gender part or the u/s, but I had to go back two weeks later to get some more pictures because of the way Baby was laying.

We were so excited to share the news with everyone and worried how to keep it a secret for 36 hours! My parents live out of state, so we had a surprise gender reveal cake for them that night (thanks Aunt B for helping) and they had to keep the secret for 24 hours before we told anyone else.

We decided to use a cake to reveal the gender – the filling would be either blue or pink. As soon as everyone arrived to the party, they asked us to cut the cake immediately. We waited a bit, had some snacks, then big reveal was upon us…

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Patriotic Rice Krispies Treats for the 4th of July

 Happy 4th of July everyone! This is a classic and super easy, no-bake recipe – in case you need to bring a last minute dessert to a barbecue today. We are having friends over, grilling and hoping the weather gets clear enough to do fireworks tonight.

When I was a kid, my parents always had a 4th of July party. We barbecued, ate and swam in the pool all day long. Once the sky got dark enough, everyone settled on lawn chairs in our driveway. All the neighborhood dads gathered their stash of fireworks and headed to our house. My Dad always went big with the firework display. We had to have anywhere from a 4-8 foot table set up to hold it all.

My Mom grew an Aloe plant in our front yard specifically for July 4th. The dads would all take turns lighting the bottle rockets, fountains or roman candles, and run away yelling “fire in the hole”. Then came my Dad, with the massive amount of rockets and mortars. We always had a great show.

Hope you have a fun and safe 4th of July!!!

Patriotic Rice Krispies Treats
adapted from Kellogg

Patriotic Rice Krispies Treats Ingredients:
 – 1 stick unsalted Butter
 – 10.5 ounces mini Marshmallows (1 bag)
 – 6 cups Rice Krispies
 – 4 Tablespoons Sprinkles, divided

Patriotic Rice Krispies Treats Directions:
 –  Use vegetable oil cooking spray to lightly grease a 9 x 13 cake pan.
 – Melt Butter in a large pot. Add whole bag of mini Marshmallows. With a wooden spoon, stir continuously until all the marshmallows have melted. Add in the Rice Krispies and 2 tablespoons of Sprinkles.
 – Stir until completely combined and all the Rice Krispies are covered with marshmallows
 – Pour into the 9 x 13 pan and spread evenly with an offset spatula.
 – Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of Sprinkles on the top. Cool and cut into squares. Best eaten within 24 hours.

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Love & Confections has a “Bun in the Oven”

So things have been pretty quiet around the blog, and there is a reason for that – Mr. LoveandConfections and I are expecting our first baby!

We are over-the-moon excited that our little family of two is expanding. Baby is set to arrive December 11th and I will definitely keep you posted on our progress. This is also the first Grand-baby for both sides, so the whole family is SO excited.

My first trimester was rough. I was pretty sick, lost weight from not eating and couldn’t even think about cooking or baking – all while working full-time and prepping for and hosting my Mother’s Day Food Blogger BrunchWeek. Now things are starting to get back to normal – aside from a bad cold and double ear infection last week.

I’m currently at 17 weeks! I have an appetite now – thank goodness! – and I have been cooking and baking a little more regularly now – it’s a miracle!

So I will hopefully get back to a regular blogging schedule now. We are very excited to find out the gender in a little over 2 weeks!!!

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

FBF 2013

Hey everyone! This coming weekend I will be going to the Food Blog Forum here in Orlando, Florida, hosted by Walt Disney World. I cannot wait to see my blogging friends and meet new ones. If you would like to know all about this amazing event you can find information here and also check out the posts below from my past 2 times attending FBF.

Food Blog Forum Orlando 2011
Food Blog Forum Orlando 2012 part 1
Food Blog Forum Orlando 2012 part 2

Have a great weekend and I can’t wait to share this wonderful experience with you.

Until next time,
LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Carrot Cake Pancakes for #BrunchWeek

BrunchWeek has come to a close. All the recipes looked absolutely delicious. This week I have posted a great Blood Orange Mimosa recipe, a recipe for Tomato and Mozzarella Quiche, Almond Croissants, Crumb-Top Blueberry Muffins, Berry Parfaits and a Coffee Chiffon Cake.

The last BrunchWeek event is today – our PinChat Live happening from 2-3 pm EST. We’ll be announcing all our prize winners and there will be more prizes from Lodge Cast Iron drawn from participants in the chat. http://pinterest.com/lovenconfection/brunchweek-2013/

I am so grateful for all the participation during #BrunchWeek. It would not have been made possible without the hard work and participation of a group of awesome Bloggers.

A HUGE thank you goes to the #BrunchWeek Sponsors: 
Califorina Walnuts, Lodge Cast Iron, Flavors of Summer, Black Gold Farms, The Food and Wine Conference and #SundaySupper, Bob’s Red Mill, Whole Foods Orlando and Stonyfield Organic. I appreciate all that you have provided for the giveaway, any promotional material or samples, and hope to work with you in future blog endeavors.

Until next time,

LOVE & CONFECTIONS!

Disclosure: I have not been given any monetary compensation for this post or any #BrunchWeek post involving the above sponsors and/or prizes. Samples and bits of promotional material have been given to me, not exceeding a value of $100 total.