Happy Halloween! Unfortunately, work kept me too busy to do nearly as much Halloween baking as I had wanted to this year, but I wanted to make at least one more quick treat to celebrate my favorite season, so I made and decorated some spooky candy apples. These pack quite a visual punch yet are so simple to make that even people who don’t like or aren’t good at baking could easily make them up before donning their costumes on All Hallow’s Eve, so if you’re looking for a last-minute Halloween treat to whip up that doesn’t even require an oven, give these a try★
Margarita Skull Cakes
Long time no blog! What has it been? 5+ months?! I apologize for the long absence, but between my trip to Germany back in May, training a new team at work, moving to a new (and much larger!) apartment at the beginning of August, and multiple overseas business trips this autumn, I have hardly had any time at all to bake, let a lone blog about it. To be honest, things haven’t really calmed down all that much on the day job front, but October is already upon us and it would be a complete waste to let my beloved Halloween season go by without baking up some spooks. Luckily, one of my spooky-inclined friends has a mid-October birthday, giving me the perfect opportunity to break in my new mini skull cake pan and kick-off the Halloween baking season in style. The tequila and lime flavors I decided to go with for these margarita-inspired cakes may be a bit of a departure from the usual pumpkin-y, spicy fall flavors, but the bright flavor of lime with a tequila kick is a refreshing treat any time of year, so I definitely recommend these margarita skulls to anyone looking to make something a little different this Halloween★[Continue Reading/続きを読む]
Pumpkin Spice Rum Cupcakes
Tokyo has been sliding into Christmas mode since Halloween ended, but I personally can’t bring myself to get into the winter-y Christmas spirit until December. That said, come next week it will be December and I know I will start wanting to leave my beloved pumpkins and kabocha squashes aside for Christmas cookies and mulled wine, so as a fitting last autumn-themed baked goods recipe I figured I would post these pumpkin spice rum cupcakes I made back in October. [Continue Reading/続きを読む]
Curry Kabocha Croquettes
One of the things I start craving when it starts getting cold is of course kabocha, and it’s been getting plenty cold here lately, so it’s the perfect season to enjoy some toasty, spicy little curry kabocha croquettes. Naturally, sweeter curries like the mild variety of House’s Vermont Curry go really well with kabocha, but kabocha is already sweet so it also pairs well with spicier curries as well. Personally, I like both flavor combinations so today I’m uploading a recipe for both. [Continue Reading/続きを読む]
Maple Whiskey Bacon Pecan Pie
For Americans, November is all about Thanksgiving and even though I haven’t really celebrated the holiday properly since moving to Japan, I still start wanting to make traditional Thanksgiving desserts like pumpkin pie or pecan pie come November. Pumpkin pie is clearly the most popular of the Thanksgiving dessert fare, but personally I have always been more partial to pecan pie. Depending on the recipe, pecan pies can be borderline too sweet, but there are also plenty of variations out there, so to cut down on the cloying sweetness potential this time I went with adding some salty bacon to the top to balance the sweetness of the sugar and syrup and some whiskey to the filling to bring out all the flavors. [Continue Reading/続きを読む]