Pumpkin Pie Custard

Here’s a special pumpkin custard recipe that i’m making for the holiday! Hope you all enjoy! 🙂

Prep Time 10 Minutes Cook Time 1 Hour

Servings 3

Difficulty Easy

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup
• 1 whole Egg
• 1-½ whole Egg Whites
• 2-½ Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
• ½ cups Pureed Canned Pumpkin
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• ⅛ teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Ginger
• ½ cups Skim Milk

Directions: Preheat oven to 325ºF. Pour 1 tablespoon of maple syrup into each ramekin, swirl to cover the bottom. Whisk together egg, egg whites, and sugar. Add pumpkin, vanilla, salt and spices. Gently whisk in milk. Pour equally into ramekins. Place ramekins into a baking dish and fill with boiling hot water until 1/4 of the side of the ramekins is covered. Bake for 60-70 minutes. They are done when the middle of the custard is set and does not wiggle when lightly tapped. Let cool completely, cover and store in the refrigerator.

These are delicious little treats, perfect for serving cold or heated slightly in the microwave!

Bon Appètit!

Photo & Recipe Credit

It’s no longer summer, but there’s still some sun! ~Sunshine Blog Award ~

Hi everyone!

Yes, yes i know it’s been a while since i’ve had a chance to post a recipe (so sorry!) but i have some coming out soon for the Holidays, so keep a look-out! 😉

Today i’ve got exciting news, and it’s that Matea from FightForTheBite has nominated Sweet 16’s Country Kitchen for the Sunshine Award! (how sweet of her is that right!?) 🙂 A Big THANK YOU Matea! 🙂

The rules for the Award are as follow:
1. Include the Sunshine Award icon in your post.
2. Link to the blogger who nominated you.
3. Answer 10 questions posted by your nominator.
4. Nominate 10 other bloggers to receive the award.
5. Link to your nominees and let them know you nominated them.
6. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.

Questions  from Matea:

1. Chocolate or Caramel? – Oh please, don’t make me answer that! i love them both so much!!! lol

2. What tip would you give to a new blogger? – keep a regular blogging schedule, don’t overwhelm yourself trying to do it right – we’re are still learning here, who are we kidding?!-  &  just have fun!

3. What’s the last book you read (or are reading)? – The Witness by Josh McDowell & Argo by Antonio Mendez , & Matt Baglio

4. Dogs or cats? – Well, i do have a cat & he’s really the cutest thing- so i’ll say cats, but in general i’m not a huge animal person so i guess it really just depends on the particular animal! 

5. If you could travel to any place in the world, where would you go?  – I’ve always wanted to visit Alaska, USA  , But Prince Edward Island, Canada is on my list too, so maybe one of those places!

6. How long have you been blogging? – Since May 2012

7. What’s one of your favorite things to blog about? – Food & just random stuff that goes on.

8. What’s one of your favorite things about Thanksgiving? – Spending the morning in the kitchen making the turkey dinner with my mom! 

9. Do you prefer winter or summer? – I like different things about both seasons, In winter you have snow – but then you have the cold to deal with & that sucks! Summer on the other hand – lets you where cute clothes, & go swimming & go running (with-out falling flat on your face!) but then if it’s too hot out, you really start wishing for some of that arctic winter air!  So it’s really a toss up of both!  lol

10. What’s the last thing you ate? –  A&W Chubby Chicken

My Nominee’s :

1. A House On The Rock
2. Your Favorite Girlfriend
3. cooking from the heart
4. Pepperminting
5. the sunny kitchen
6. Over Thinking
7. Heritage of Grace
8. Running shoes & Chocolate Mousse
9. Tea, A Drink With Jam & Bread
10. Living My Adventures

Questions:

1. What’s your favorite holiday?
2. What is your ‘go-to’ recipe?
3. Your favorite song right now?
4. What do you love most about cooking/baking?
5. Which do you prefer – Sweet or Salty?
6. Do you own a camera?
7. What rules do you follow when it comes to blogging?
8. What’s your favorite fashion trend? Do you follow it?
9. If you had the day completely off from work, what would you do for fun?
10. What do you blog about most?

Congratulations to all the nominees! 🙂

Award, Award, Awards, I love the blog Awards…

Hey Everybody!

Guess what i found in my comments section this week?! That’s right! – An Award nomination from Mimi! She’s the lovely blog author from Les Saveurs De Mimi And it was so sweet of her to include me in her nominations!  (big Thank You Mimi!) 🙂

So,  i am super excited to announce that this time I have been awarded the “I am Part of the WordPress Family” award!

The rules are as follows:

1.   Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.
2.  Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and a link back.
3. Nominate up to  10  bloggers for I’m a part of the WordPress Family Award, provide a link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs.
4. Copy and paste the award somewhere on your blog.

Ok, so to pass this thing along – here are my nominations of some very well deserving blogs!

1. Sugar and Spice Baking
2. Married In Marrickville
3. Cannot Contain
4. Simply Made Kitchen and Crafts
5. FightForTheBite
6. Hey, Taste This
7. CornbreadAndHeels

Congratulations Everyone!  🙂

It’s FallTime ~ warm drinks & sweet treats ~

Good Morning Lovely’s!  I’ve been freezing here as of late…the temperatures have finally decided that there shall be no Indian summer for me, and so i have taken to making (& drinking!)  a lot of creatively invented hot drinks! 😉

One of my favorite concoctions has  been:

Boiling Hot Coffee mixed with Hot Chocolate Mix!  (Mmmmm, it’s the best “goodmorning drink”!)

Another of my favorites is:

warm Milk with Cinnamon either on top or mixed in*sometimes i add Honey too* – (this is my favorite to drink at night!)

Also, as you all must know, Halloween was last night & since then i’ve had a chance to sneak a few treats from the children’s stock-pile! lol

I’ve got to say that i’ve found a candy bar that rivals my first favorite! (Twix)

This new favorite of mine is called 100 Grand -(can you tell i really don’t eat that much of this candy stuff! lol)

Anyways, i loved making the discovery of this new chocolate bar….it makes me happy! 😉

But i am also very much so still in love with a good Twix now & again. On a random note – 😉

I keep seeing recipes for homemade Twix bars, & so i think i might give it a shot & try making some of my own….worst that could probably happen is just me disgracing the great name of Twix if they come out bad!  (hummm, maybe i should rethink this!)

Have a great day & expect a randomly posted Twix bars related recipe to come in the near future! 😉

Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream

Hey everybody! Now i know it’s not exactly the right season for ice cream, but who really needs to define which season ice cream is best enjoyed, right?!

This recipe is really easy to whip together, and the taste is so creamy & divine! 🙂

Makes 1 quart

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 vanilla bean, scraped

Directions:

Combine cream, milk, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and stir in to the cream mixture just before removing from the heat.

Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator or in an ice bath until completely cool.

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (If you don’t have an ice cream maker, check out this post from TheKitchn on how to make ice cream without one.)

Store in an air tight container and freeze for an additional 2 hours.

Bon Appetit!

Recipe Source & Credit

Photo’s via google image

Cinnamon Bun Smoothie

I make this Smoothie all the time! It’s a super easy morning treat for those of us that aren’t really big breakfast eaters or else don’t have much time in the mornings to prepare a grand feast! lol ~  The banana and almond milk make this smoothie have a very light & creamy texture that is just as delicious (and evil!) as that smoothie you love from the cafe – Just minus all those extra calories!  (So of course you love me now, right!?) lol 😉

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana, cut into pieces
1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure maple syrup
Cinnamon stick, for garnish

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth, and add more almond milk if necessary.
2. Pour into a tall glass, add the cinnamon stick for garnish and attractiveness 😉 & drink up!

Bon Appètit!

Makes one serving

Baked Fall Apples

Here’s a yummy little fall treat for you to try! Perfect by themselves as a breakfast dish, try serving these at your next brunch!  You can also serve with vanilla ice cream for dessert. 😉

Ingredients:

• 6 baking Apples (such as Cortland, Empire, Gala, Braeburn, or Pippin)

• 1 & 1/2 cup Oats
• 1/2 tsp, Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1/2 cup chopped candied or plain Nuts (i used walnuts & almonds)
• 1/3 cup light or dark brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup dried Cranberry’s, cherry’s, or blueberry’s
• 2 tablespoons Butter, cut into small pieces

1. Heat oven to 400° F. Remove and discard the cores from the apples. Place the apples in a 9- by-13-inch baking dish.
2. In a small bowl, combine the oats, spices, nuts, dried fruit, sugar and butter. Divide the mixture among the apples. (You can cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.) Bake covered until tender, about 25 minutes.

Tip from the test kitchen:  I’ve made these Apples using other settings as well and i really like how they turned out!*

*All I did was set my oven to 350° F  and then baked the apples, covered, for around 50 minuets instead. My thinking here is that it gives the apples more time to slowly release that juiciness and flavor into the mixture, and I’ve found that the apples i’ve made this way are extra soft and tender.

            ♥Leave me a comment below to let me know which way you decided to try these & how you liked it! ♥

Happy Baking & Bon Appètit!

Blueberry Buckle

Hey everybody!  Sorry for the crazy posting schedule this summer & i know this post is a little late! Life has been pretty insane so I’m afraid my blogging has suffered a bit! – During this time away though, I did have a chance to go blueberry picking, and once i got home i was super excited to try this recipe that my friend gave me! It turned out pretty amazing; so i hope you all like it as much as i do! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1Tsp. Vanilla
• 3/4 cup Sugar (i mixed half brown sugar with the regular)
• 1 Egg
• 1/2 cup Butter (room temp.)

• 2 cups Flour
• 2 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Salt

• 1/2 cup Milk (use part buttermilk or cream if you have it!)
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream

• 2 Cups Blueberry’s (you can also use strawberry’s , raspberry’s etc…)

Crumb Topping:

• 1/3 cup Flour
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 stick melted Butter

Directions: Cream together the vanilla, sugar, egg, and butter in a big bowl until smooth. Add the dry ingredients, then finally pour in the sour cream and milk. Now before you go adding the berries in, your going to want to toss them with just enough flour to lightly coat them. This will help to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan. Next pour into your pan, this is the part where you’ll add the topping crumb mix, and then slip it into a pre-heated oven. The  approx. bake time for this recipe is 45-60 minuets. So just keep an eye on the oven once it has been in for 45 mins, then poke a knife into the pan and see if it comes out clean – when i does, the blueberry buckle is ready for you to take out and enjoy!  🙂

Tip: the Crumb Topping recipe is just what i used this time, but you could defiantly change it up however if you have a better idea then mine! lol  – Please leave me a comment below if you do! 🙂

Happy Baking & Bon Appètit!

~Versatile Blogger Award~

  I’m super excited to announce that Sweet 16’s Country Kitchen has been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award!

        I want to especially thank Prateeksha from over at cooknutritious ~ she has a really cool blog & so it was such a lovely surprise to open my WordPress this morning and find her nomination!

♥ Thank You So Much!!! ♥

The Versatile Blogger Award is maintained by bloggers who want to support each other. Below are the set of RULES that we have to follow for this award : 

1.  Thank the blogger who gave the award and link to their blog.
2. Share seven things about yourself that people may not know.
3. Give this award to as many as 15 bloggers (and link to them)
4. Comment on their blogs to tell them of the award.

Seven Random Things:

• Thing 1: I recently discovered that i love the color purple! (idk why i never knew this until now. hum….)
• Thing 2: I’m not as friendly as i may appear in the morning ~ if i haven’t had my coffee yet! (watch out world! lol)
• Thing 3: I love shopping! (just ask my anybody who knows me well! lol)
• Thing 4: I adore Running!  (on the beach, in the early morning!)
• Thing 5: Music makes-up my heart beat.
• Thing 6: I have a thing for Sunglasses…the pretty & stylish ones!
• Thing 7: I have a cute little (or not so much so, but that’s another story! lol) kitty…his name is Charlie.  And i shall tell more about him if ya’ll ask me to *leave me a comment about it if you do…he was a rescue cat…. 😉

Ok, so that ^ was way more fun than i anticipated it would be! 😉    On to the nominations!

My Nominees:

1.  And She Had Too Much Caffeine, and Possibly ADD 
2.  Nickel City Pretty
3.  Tea With Erika
4. Pocketful Of Sugar
5. My GoodMorning
6. luminosityblog
7. Running Shoes & Chocolate Mousse
8. fRustUratinNg
9.  Unfading Elegance
10. Miss Chris Creations
11. My Favourite Pastime

Congrats guys! 🙂

Mango Pina Colada Smoothie

~Afternoon Everybody~  My mother and i decided to change things up a bit this morning & make a smoothie more on the tropical side of things! It is so fresh tasting and decadently delicious! I hope you all enjoy! 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 Mango, peeled, sliced & cubed

• 1 1/4 cup Ice Cubes

• 2 teaspoons Sugar (or agave nectar)

• 1 1/4 cup Pineapple Juice

• 1/2 cup heavy Cream

• 1 (14 ounce) can Coconut Milk

Directions: Place the mango cubes, ice, sugar, pineapple juice, cream, and coconut milk into a blender. Puree until smooth, pour into glasses and serve.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

This is a really fun recipe to make if you want to change things up a bit at your summer grill-out or you can also serve these with your favorite soup, stew or chili during the winter!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup warm Water
• 1/3 cup Oil
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1& 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 2 tbls. minced Onion ( or 1/2 an envelope of Onion Soup mix)
• 2 Eggs ( room temp.)
• 4 cups Flour (you may need up to a 1/2 cup extra just depending on the day)

Directions: Mix everything except the flour in a big bowl, then add 2 cups of the flour, beat for 2 minuets with beater, then gradually add the rest of the flour – knead – let rise until it has doubled in size –  knead into roll shapes – then let rise again (at least 10 minuets – bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 minuets.

Happy Baking & Bon Appètit!

“Deathly Dark” Chocolate Pudding

Good Morning Everybody!

I was in a very creative mood about two weeks ago (sorry it’s taken me so long to blog about it! lol)….but anyways! – I wanted to try making something super easy, so i went looking for a recipe that fit my mood…i guess that was pudding!? (random huh? lol) Anyways! I compared around 8 different recipes and finally decided to take an element from each recipe and combined/mix ingredients till i got the right constancy and taste. So i’ve made this pudding literally like 5 times with-in the past  2 weeks! 😉 …..every time i make a new batch i find out the next morning that it’s all gone! The kids just devourer it! So here is the resulting recipe of my crazy experiment! Hope ya’ll like it!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Milk
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 1/3 cup Hershey’s Cocoa Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 2-3 Tbs. Cornstarch (the amount sometimes varies depending on the day idk why! lol)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla

Directions: In a medium size sauce pan, whisk in the Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Salt, & 1 cup Milk; Heat over a medium flame & stir mixture often so as not to burn it. Once the temperature is just under boiling, sift in the cornstarch and then add the other 1 cup of milk then the Vanilla. Stir to get rid of any lumps. Let the mixture almost reach boiling point – this is when it really starts to thicken, so make sure you stir it consistently. Once the mixture reaches your preferred thickness, pour into a glass dish and place into the fridge to cool. (unless you like to serve it right away! 😉 ) Then just serve when your ready!

(Hint #1: Vanilla Ice Cream is awesome scooped on top for when served warm…but you didn’t hear me say that! lol)

(Hint #2: For an extra chocolate kick i like melting about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips into the mixture by pouring them in after the cornstarch has been fully dissolved!)

~ I’m sure you’ll all hate me now because you want to make this 😉 … so i’m going to sign off now (Mawhahahahaha! lol) ~

Bon Appétit!

White Chocolate Raspberry Scones

Serve these scones warm with a good cup of coffee (or tea!) for a delightful morning or early afternoon treat!  Bon Appètit! 

Ingredients:

Makes about 8 triangular pieces

• 2 cups all-purpose Flour
• 2 tablespoons white granulated Sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1 tablespoon Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 6 tablespoons Butter, cut into small pieces
• 3/4 cup Raspberries (fresh or frozen – I used frozen)
• 1/2 cup White Chocolate chips
• 1 large Egg
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup Heavy Cream

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
– In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
– Add in the butter and mix with your hands until mixture resembles coarse sand.
– Gently fold in raspberries and white chocolate chips. Set aside.

– In a small bowl, beat together egg, vanilla, and heavy cream.
– Pour over the scone batter and lightly mix until the dough comes together. The dough will be sticky.

– Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface, form a circle, and flatten it until it is about 1-inch thick.
– Using a sharp knife dipped in flour, cut 8 equal pie wedges (the dough will be slightly unmanageable, but not adding additional flour results in tender scones).
– Transfer scones to a baking sheet using a flat spatula dipped in flour and sprinkle the tops of the scones with a little granulated sugar.
– Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Enjoy!

Recipe from The Pastry Affair  –  Photo credit 

Italian Pignoli Cookies

Of all the cookies that are around in the world for the tasting, these Pignoli cookies rank the highest on my list of true favorites! I have a friend of Italian heritage who will (every once-in-a-blue-moon) make these cookies for a party or something, and she always makes just a few extra for me! A true delight these little cookies!

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces, weight Pignoli (pine Nuts)
• ½ cups Granulated Sugar
• ½ cups Confectioners Sugar
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• 1 dash Salt
• 8 ounces, weight Almond Paste
• 2 whole Egg Whites
• ½ teaspoons Almond Or Vanilla Extract

Directions: Preheat the oven to 300ºF. Line 2 cookie sheets with Silpat liners or parchment. Place pine nuts or pignoli in a shallow dish.

Combine granulated sugar, confectioners sugar, flour and salt in a medium bowl and lightly toss.

Place almond paste in a mixing bowl of an electric mixer and mix to break up. Add beaten egg whites and mix on low speed until smooth. Add almond extract and flour mixture and beat until flour is blended in, about 30 seconds. Do not over-beat.

Using a teaspoon or a scooper, scoop up a rounded spoon of dough and push the dough side into the pine nuts so that they stick to the dough.

Ease dough out of scoop so that pine nuts are facing up on baking sheet. Place 2″ apart and re-apply any loose nuts.

Bake cookies for about 25 minutes. Use a shorter baking time if you like soft cookies and a longer baking time if you like them chewy. Cool 1 minute and remove to a rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners sugar.

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Happy Baking & Bon Appétit!

Recipe Credit

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July everybody! 

~ We hope you all have a lovely day!  ~

“Freedom is never given, it is won.” – Unknown

“Liberty is the right to choose. Freedom is the result of the right choice.”   – Unknown

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts, will be written the history of this generation.”
Robert F. Kennedy

Photo Credit-Google Images