Dessert Soiree

My mom has been visiting for a few days, and it's been great. It's the first time she's visited since she and Dad helped me move, so we were both excited for her to meet some of my new pals. We decided to have a little dessert and coffee soiree at my place, and it was a hit.

There were 8 of us at the soiree, and it turns out that is the perfect number of people for my little apartment. The conversation was lively and I think everyone had a good time. My mom and I have always been close, so it was really special for her to finally get to put faces with names. I highly recommend dessert and coffee as a vehicle for entertaining. It's easy and much of the preparation can be done ahead of time, it's not quite as stressful as a full-on dinner party, and it's an excuse for everyone to indulge a little.

On the menu: mom's famous brownies and my new recipe for pumpkin cupcakes. Both were delicious. Here are the recipes:

Mom's Brownies

2/3 cup margarine
4 oz baking chocolate
2 c sugar
1 Tb vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c chopped nuts (optional)

Melt margarine and chocolate together in a sauce pan over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in sugar. Add remaining ingredients and stir until batter is smooth.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 min. (At altitude, it usually takes closer to 40-45 min.)

Pumpkin Cupcakes
makes about 24 cupcakes

1 package yellow cake mix
1 can pumpkin puree
3 lg eggs
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/3 c water

Blend all ingredients for 2 min. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-23 min.

I also added some spices to the batter, though the recipe doesn't specifically call for them, and I definitely recommend that. They are a little bland without any spice. This time around, I added about 1/4 tsp cinnamon, a shake or two of ground cloves, and a little freshly grated nutmeg. In the future, I think I'll be a little more aggressive with the spices, but I don't know exact measurements to tell you. I'll revise when I make them again.

I recommend cream cheese frosting - you can get it in a can, but I found a delicious recipe that's not very hard:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 c butter at room temperature
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
4 c powdered sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Cream butter and cream cheese. Gradually add sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy.

This makes a ton of frosting, so you'll have some left over. But it also goes well on top of brownies, I've discovered. And probably anything else you want to put it on. Yum yum!