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Snickers Bites

Welcome to anyone who is new to my wine blog… especially to those who have found your way here through @coffee_and_crayons_blog. I wanted to get this recipe posted somewhere so I had a way to share it with others. While it doesn’t incorporate wine, it’s one that I make often and is one of my favorite whole food snacks. This is my smaller “snack-size” spin on one that is posted on Brittany’s @EatingBirdFood . Note: my ingredients list is vague for a reason. If you want to use 3 dates and make 12 bites, you’ll need less ingredients than if you use 7 dates and make 28 bites. I don’t typically measure this recipe and like to “use the force”, as my husband so says. My Snickers Bites don’t look incredibly swoon-worthy, but they’re delicious! See Photo #1 below.

Ingredients:
Medjool dates
Whole dry-roasted almonds (or pecans)
Peanut butter (the drippy kind where peanuts are the only ingredient)
Chocolate Chips (I either use semi-sweet or dark chocolate)
Coconut oil

Directions:
1. Line a cookie tray with a piece of parchment paper. Slice your dates into fourths and lay on the prepared tray, leaving enough room in case things get “messy”.
2. Press a single nut on each quarter piece of date. See Photo #2
3. Spoon a small amount of peanut butter on each date. Pop in the freezer to allow the peanut butter to harden. Try not to get excess peanut butter on the parchment, since it will be discarded if it’s not *on* the bite. Once hardened, I flip the bites over before adding the chocolate. This is completely unnecessary, but I think it’s pretty. See Photo #3
4. Warm up the chips with a small amount of coconut oil until smooth. I use a silicone measuring cup and microwave in 30 second increments until the chips and oil have melted together.
5. Spoon (or drizzle) a small amount of the chocolate mixture on top of each date… this is where it can get really messy and where you’ll be glad of a little space between each bite. Once all the bites are covered to your liking in chocolate, pop the tray back into the freezer to harden. See Photo #4
6. Once your snickers bites are hard enough, you can remove them from the tray and store them in a ziplock bag in your freezer. See Photo #5 below.

Photo #1 – completed Snickers Bite

Photo # 2 – dates are quartered and a single almond is pressed into each

Photo #3 – Photo of bites, first with peanut butter and then with the bites flipped over, ready for the chocolate layer

Photo #4 – chocolate layer with a bit of drizzle – now they head back to the freezer

Photo #5 – completed Snickers Bites, nicely hardened and ready to eat.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It’s one that I make every week or so and one that doesn’t seem to require a lot of thought or planning, provided I keep all the main ingredients on hand. You can certainly adjust this recipe to fit your own preferences – I’ve used dry-roasted pecans instead of almonds (just as delicious) but highly recommend using the larger Medjool dates rather than the smaller “pitted dates” you might find in large bags at a store like BJ’s.

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White Butterscotch Wine Bars

I was reading a blog this morning and saw a recipe I wanted to try. It’s one from Mix and Match Mama that she called Butterscotch Beer Bars. I didn’t have any beer open in the house, but I *did* have some Boordy Vineyards Rockfish, a lovely dry white wine that’s made with a blend of Pinot Gris, Albariño, and Seyval Blanc… would that work in this recipe? I decided it was worth trying and began pulling things together.
NOTE: These directions are originally written by Mix and Match Mama but I included my own adjustments and/or changes along the way. I’m sure I’ll be trying her original recipe with Samuel Adams’ Boston Lager soon!

My mise en place, ready to experiment with a recipe using wine

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup butterscotch chips
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups flour
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup + 1 T dry white wine (save 1T for frosting)
  • 1 8oz package of softened cream cheese
  • 2 cups powdered sugar (I used 2 1/4 cups)

INSTRUCTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 350*
  • Grease a 9×13 baking dish – I lined a 9×13 pan with nonstick foil instead, so I’d be able to more easily transfer the bars out of the pan for frosting later.
  • In a microwaveable bowl, melt butter and butterscotch chips together, stopping to stir every 30 seconds. Once melted, set aside to cool slightly.
  • In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with sugar. Once these are well-incorporated, beat in your melted butter/butterscotch mixture and beat well.
  • Add salt to the flour and slowly add into your batter, beating well.
  • Mix in your 1/2 cup wine (I put my mixer on low speed and drizzled it into the batter) just until it’s incorporated.
  • Pour mixture into your prepared baking dish and bake 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Note: Mine took closer to 35 minutes but the original recipe called for 25-30 min.
  • Remove pan from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.
  • To make frosting, beat soften cream cheese with powdered sugar and 1T wine with an electric mixer. I needed to add the extra 1/4 cup of powdered sugar so it wasn’t too thin. Mix and Match Mama says you can substitute milk for the alcohol if you prefer.
  • Frost your bars, cut and serve. NOTE: I cut mine into smaller squares and was able to get 32 individual servings (or 16 double-piece servings).
  • Store these in the fridge or freezer.
Adding some Boordy Vineyards Rockfish to the frosting
A lovely little treat… with wine.

My thoughts? I really liked the taste of this bar. It’s dense enough to be called a bar, but lends itself closer to a cake than a cookie. I will need to try this recipe as it’s intended (with beer) but I thought this version was a fun way to use up some of the wine that I find in my fridge from time to time. The recipe didn’t take long to make and came together easily.

I would highly recommend using non-stick foil. It was very easy to remove from the pan, frost, and then place the entire recipe on a baking sheet to pop in the freezer. Once frozen, I will be able to transfer these treats into baggies for gifting later.

Enjoy!

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Shrimp in Lemon Butter

Shrimp in Lemon Butter

This recipe is a favorite of my husband and one that I love to make during the week. It’s a simple meal to pull together and doesn’t take a lot of complicated ingredients.

Ingredients:
Raw Shrimp (I use Jumbo Shrimp)
3-4T Butter
2T Garlic Confit (or 3T crushed garlic cloves + 1T olive oil)
Juice of 1/2 lemon (reserve zest)
2T Parmesan
1/4 C White Wine (Use something you love to drink)
Splash of Half & Half
Pinch of sugar (if desired)
Salt, pepper, and parsley to taste
Brown Rice (or pasta)

Sauvignon Blanc by Boordy Vineyards

COOK YOUR SHRIMP:
Cook your shrimp, however you’d like. I shell my shrimp first, then bake shrimp on a piece of parchment on a baking sheet in a 400* oven until done.
NOTE: My husband likes his shrimp cooked longer than me, so I start cooking his shrimp in a 400* oven for about 15 minutes before adding mine to the baking sheet.

My husband’s shrimp on the bottom of the pic, mine on the top.

COOK YOUR SAUCE:
In a sauté pan, melt butter with garlic confit and lemon juice. Sprinkle with Parmesan and stir to combine. Add in the wine and half & half, then simmer until sauce thickens slightly, stirring frequently. Taste and add seasonings as desired.
NOTE: If sauce gets thick, add a little liquid (wine, water, stock, or pasta water) to thin.

Stirring to incorporate the butter into the sauce is key.

MAKE RICE (OR PASTA):
I use microwaveable brown rice. If you prefer to serve this meal on pasta, make your pasta so it’s ready to be plated when your shrimp are done.

ASSEMBLE DINNER:
You can either fold shrimp into the sauce (I do this with my husband’s shrimp) or place shrimp on rice and spoon sauce over top.

My husband’s shrimp, tossed with the sauce.
My shrimp, with sauce spooned over top.

ENJOY!

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Easy Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

My favorite thing to make, when friends come to visit, is anything that will make my house smell amazing while it’s cooking. This recipe fits the bill perfectly!
NOTE: While I roasted this pork in the oven, you could easily make this into a crock pot recipe.

  • Boneless Pork Shoulder – Mine was just under 5 pounds
  • Dry onion soup mix
  • Red wine – I used Boordy Vineyards Cabernet
This is the pork I used for this recipe

Directions:

  • Remove netting from pork shoulder and toss in a gallon ziploc bag with dry onion soup mix and 1/2 cup red wine.
  • Marinate pork overnight.
Pork in marinade of onion soup mix and red wine
  • Remove pork from bag and sear on stovetop in cast iron pot.
  • Once all sides are browned, add another splash of red wine and cover.
  • Place pot in 300* oven to roast.
Pork, after 2 hours of roasting. This is my mother’s cast iron pot.
  • Roast, low and slow, until pork shreds easily.
  • Serve on homemade rolls for a delicious and easy dinner
Easy Pulled Pork, ready to eat!

I love to use my mom’s heavy cast iron pot. This is my favorite pot to use for low/slow cooking (pulled pork, pulled chicken, roasts of any sort) but I also love using it for soups and stews. While there are many options for a large pot, this specific one always reminds me of cooking with my mom.

This recipe is a great one to keep on hand for feeding a crowd. I’ll make it again in a few weeks when my son and his friends come for the weekend, but I’ll add a large pork butt roast so there’s enough food to go around. I like to make homemade kaiser rolls to complete the meal.

I hope you enjoy this recipe – let me know if you ever try it!

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Chicken Divan Casserole

I have very fond memories of my mom making Chicken Divan casserole throughout my childhood. The recipe she used was based on one from Aunt Treva, my grandfather’s sister, and had lots of “cream of” soups included to make the sauce. It was always yummy, but I decided that I wanted to create a healthier version.

When searching for a similar recipe as the one from my childhood, I found a fabulous one created by Natasha Bull of http://www.saltandlavendar.com. Her original recipe can be found here: https://www.saltandlavender.com/chicken-divan/ but I needed to adjust the flavors to match what I was trying to recreate. If you’re looking for a cheesy, creamy chicken and broccoli casserole, look no further… this one is terrific.

For me, simply adding curry powder to the recipe above wasn’t quite what I wanted, so I played around with it until I created something that made sense for me. I also trimmed everything down to make an easy meal for two + 1 leftover serving. This recipe will make 3 servings in a 9×9 baking dish.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Broccoli florets – I used a small bag from the local store
  • Chicken Breast – I shredded two breasts from a rotisserie chicken but you can also use leftover chicken or even turkey
  • 2 T butter
  • 2 T flour
  • 3/4 c almond milk – you can use a mixture of almond milk and half & half if you prefer
  • 2 T whipped cream cheese
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp white wine – use what you have available/open but I also use this wine to thin the sauce before adding the cheese
  • 1 tsp curry powder
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 cup grated cheddar cheese – separate in half
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
  • 10 Ritz crackers (approximate)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 375*F.

Prepare your broccoli for the casserole. After trimming down the broccoli into bite-size pieces, put all the florets in the bottom of the 9×9 baking dish. Lay a piece of paper towel over the broccoli and lightly dampen it with some white wine. Microwave the broccoli on HIGH for 2-3 minutes or until the broccoli is lightly cooked and still crisp. NOTE: if you’re using a metal dish, you can microwave the broccoli in the original bag and layer the cooked broccoli onto the bottom of the baking dish.

Layer your shredded chicken on top of the broccoli.

Make your sauce. Start by melting the butter in a sauce pan. Add the flour and whisk until combined and the mixture starts to bubble. Let the butter/flour mixture cook until it begins to get slightly toasty. Slowly add your milk and whisk to combine, then cook this mixture until it begins to thicken. Add the cream cheese (I like the whipped version b/c it’s light and combines fairly easily – if you use a block of cream cheese, I would decrease to 1T), whisking to combine. Add in your spices (mustard, Worcestershire, wine, curry powder, onion powder, garlic powder) and taste the sauce, adjusting as needed. Add salt and pepper if desired. NOTE: if sauce is too thick, add a splash of wine or almond milk. I have been known to add 1/4c-1/2 cup of wine to thin the sauce. Be aware that the sauce will thicken when you add the cheese. Remove the sauce from stove top and stir in 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.

Pour sauce over the chicken/broccoli mixture in your baking dish. Top with remaining cheddar cheese and Parmesan cheese then crush Ritz crackers over the entire casserole.

Bake casserole, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes. Cheese should be melted, crackers should be browned, and the sauce should be bubbling. Let casserole sit for 5 minutes before portioning out and serving.

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Tuscan-style sauce

Oh, my goodness…. this sauce is so delicious! A friend recently mentioned a crock pot dinner that she’d made that sounded good, but I didn’t want to use my crock pot. I got the basics of the recipe from her, looked at a few other recipes, and went to “work”.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 TBSP butter
  • 1/3 cup half & half (fat-free is fine)
  • 2-3 forks of julienned sun dried tomatoes *I like to add a spoonful of the oil to this sauce as well
  • 2 handfuls of spinach
  • 1 TBSP Parmesan
  • 1 wedge Laughing Cow light cheese
  • 1-2 T white wine (I used Boordy Vineyards Vidal Blanc)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Pasta water, as needed/if available, to thin or extend sauce

DIRECTIONS:

  • In a heavy sauce pan, simmer butter with half & half until butter melts.
  • Add sun dried tomato and fresh spinach, stir and allow spinach time to wilt.
  • Add Parmesan and Laughing Cow, stir to combine and allow the flavors to meld.
  • Add wine, salt & pepper, then taste sauce, adjusting flavors as needed. Add pasta water, if needed.

I typically spoon this sauce over baked chicken, pasta, and broccoli, as seen in the photo. I’ve also served this sauce over shrimp. It’s a delicious addition to enhance that plain chicken and vegetable dinner. It doesn’t take long to make this sauce and makes for a beautiful dinner plate!

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Blueberry Lemon Scones

I got to play in the kitchen today…. and chose to experiment with a scone recipe that uses my favorite @JiffyMixes baking mix. Jiffy mix has been made by the Chelsea Milling Company, a family-owned business started in 1901. Since we lived in Chelsea, MI for a number of years, I love to use this product for biscuits, scones, pancakes, or even fried chicken… it’s so versatile. Here’s a photo of the box – look for it in the baking aisle of your local grocery store.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 cups Jiffy Mix
  • 3 TBSP sugar
  • 1 1/4 tsp lemon zest (I use the zest of one lemon)
  • 1/2 heaping cup blueberries, if using frozen, don’t thaw (I use 1 handful of blueberries)
  • 1 egg
  • 3 TBSP liquid (I used a mixture of half almond milk, half @BoordyVineyards white wine)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat oven to 375* F
  • In a large bowl, blend Jiffy Mix, sugar, egg, liquids, and vanilla. Add zest and berries and mix thoroughly, but gently.
  • Lay a piece of parchment on cookie sheet and scoop out dough into small scones. I use a medium size cookie scoop and lightly press the dough down to flatten slightly. I like to lightly dust dough with sugar before baking
  • Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes until edges begin to brown.
  • Let cool for at least 5 minutes before drizzling with glaze.

If you choose, you can drizzle the scones with a simple glaze made with the juice of one lemon and confectioner’s sugar. In this case, I also added a dash of salt and a splash of fat-free half and half. This is all personal preference, but I think it makes the scones look delicious!

I’ve made this recipe using a lot of different blends of add-ins such as dehydrated raspberries with cocoa nibs and orange zest with mini chocolate chips. The basic recipe isn’t difficult and doesn’t take a huge time commitment, which makes it a winner in my book.

I hope you’ll try this recipe and let me know what different combinations you’ve found to be delicious as well.

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Ali’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you come to my house, on any given day, you will find a large tub of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough in my refrigerator. I know that my boys are now “grown and flown”, but this is one piece of their childhood that I know will carry over for years to come. I will *always* have cookie dough in my fridge – the ability to quickly have homemade cookies available, whether to share immediately or to gift to someone stopping by, is something that truly brings me joy.

This is a freshly made double batch of my chocolate chip cookie dough

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 1/2 cups flour
  • 2 t baking soda
  • 2 t salt
  • 1 1/2 t cinnamon
  • 1/2 t chili powder
  • 1/2 t ground ginger
  • 2 cups Butter Crisco
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 4 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 t vanilla
  • 1 t almond extract
  • 2 T water
  • 1 T red wine (preferably dry)
  • 1 T balsamic vinegar
  • 3 – 3 1/2 cups of chocolate morsels (I use a mixture of dark/bittersweet, mini chips, regular chips, and a small amount of espresso chips)

DIRECTIONS:

  • In large mixer bowl, with a paddle attachment, blend the butter crisco, white sugar, and brown sugar together until well combined and very light in color. I let the mixer run while I put together the dry and wet ingredients.
  • In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, chili powder, and ginger. These are your “dry ingredients”. Set aside.
  • In a separate bowl (I use a 2-cup silicone measuring cup), break the eggs and whisk together. Once the eggs are well combined, add the vanilla, almond extract, water, red wine, and balsamic vinegar. Gently stir to combine. These are your “wet ingredients”. Set aside.
  • Once the sugar mixture looks “light and fluffy”, begin to slowly add your wet and your dry ingredients, alternating between wet and dry and mix well between each, NOTE: don’t use all the dry ingredients – leave a small amount in the bowl to toss with the chocolate chips.
  • As your mixer finishes blending your cookie dough, measure out your chocolate chips into the same bowl used to gather the dry ingredients and toss the chips with the small amount of the flour mixture that you saved.
  • Add in the entire contents of the bowl containing the chocolate chips/flour mixture. You can do this in stages or all at once, just make sure to add it all. Take time to mix everything well.
  • Transfer your completed chocolate chip cookie dough into a container and store in your fridge, baking cookies as needed… Mine rarely lasts more than a month.
  • To bake: preheat your oven to 375*F. Using a small cookie scoop, place balls of cookie dough on a tray covered with a sheet of parchment paper. Bake cookies at 375* for 11 minutes. If you’re making this recipe for the first time, bake cookies for 10 minutes and adjust cooking time for your oven.

The butter crisco/sugar mixture is ready for the next step.
Wet and dry ingredients are combining into cookie dough,
Chips have been added and the mixer is getting everything together.
Lots of chips make for cookies with different size chips in each cookie

There are many, many ways to make this recipe your own. I originally started with the traditional Toll House cookie recipe but got bored making the same… thing… every… time… especially when if felt like I was making cookies ALL THE TIME. Here’s the back story:

When we were originally stationed at the US Naval Academy in 1991, I had a 1 year old son and my husband was teaching in Seamanship & Navigation, attached to the Sailing Department. He filled out an application to be an Officer Rep for a sports team and was pleasantly surprised when he was selected to be the O-Rep for the Varsity Men’s Soccer team! I became involved when he came up with the idea of giving each player a bag of cookies for his birthday. I would make enough chocolate chip cookies to fill a gallon-sized ziplock bag, write “Happy Birthday to ___ from Mrs LT”, and drop it off at Main Office in time for each player’s birthday. This was a really fun idea… in theory. I think we had one birthday in the first month, but the next month we had four birthdays in two weeks! I quickly learned to make cookie dough in double batches and started experimenting with the recipe to come up with something unique and delicious.

Over the years, I’ve added and adjusted the recipe until I came up with the one I’ve posted here. I work for @BoordyVineyard, so I love to incorporate their wine into any recipe I create – and pairing their red wine with chocolate makes it such a happy experience! I hope you enjoy trying this recipe… and feel free to tag me (@AliSportShots) !

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Landscaper Muffins AKA “Thank You Muffins”

I call these “Thank You Muffins” because I make them to thank anyone who comes to my house – our landscapers, the mulch guys, the electrician, the plumber, the septic guys, and sometimes even our UPS guy! It’s my personal way of letting them all know how much I appreciate the work these people do to make my life easier… and doesn’t everyone like to know they are appreciated?

I’ve been sharing this recipe for years… and I don’t think I’ll be stopping anytime soon. I love having a recipe in my arsenal that uses a short list of ingredients, comes together quickly, and is (in my opinion) fool-proof… this recipe hits every one of those criteria!

Chocolate Thank You Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 box cake mix – I used chocolate cake, but you can use any flavor or brand you like best. Sale brands are great to keep on hand for this recipe.
  • 1 can solid pack pumpkin – I typically buy 10 cans at a time, simply so I am always able to whip up a batch of muffins whenever needed
  • A small handful of Mini chocolate chips – off-brands are fine to use – they play a supporting role in this recipe.
  • A small amount of wine – I use red wine with chocolate, carrot cake, or spice cake muffins…. white wine with yellow cake, or anywhere I don’t want that pink hue to show. This is a great way to use up any “leftover wine”.

DIRECTIONS:

  • Preheat your oven to 375*F
  • Cover two large cookie trays with parchment paper.
  • Put your ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir until thoroughly combined. If using a carrot cake recipe, feel free to let the mixture rest a little to allow the dehydrated carrots to plump a bit… it’s not necessary, but can help as you’re doling the mixture onto trays.
  • Scoop mixture onto cookie trays using a small cookie scoop. NOTE: I use the smallest cookie scoop from Pampered Chef, but will occasionally use the medium sized cookie scoop. The only difference will be in your cooking time and the number of muffin balls you can make. If I use the smallest scoop, I can make approximately 25 muffin balls/tray. Using the medium scoop only allows me to make approximately 18 muffin balls/tray.
  • Bake muffins in preheated 375* oven for 15-18 minutes (18-22 min for medium muffins).
  • Remove and allow to cool – I pull the muffins/parchment off the tray so the bottoms of the muffins don’t continue to cook.

Here are some photos of the process:

A “large” example of a “handful” of chips.
The dry red wine I used for these muffins: @BoordyVineyards South Mountain Red
Scooping the muffin mixture onto a prepared tray, using the small scoop
Two trays of Thank You muffins go into the oven

Another alternative is to make this recipe into full-sized muffins, using a muffin tin, or even baking it in a 9×13 baking pan and cutting into pieces. The recipe itself is incredibly adaptable, but your baking times will need to be adjusted. I love having bites of cake to share with people, so this is my personal preference.

I hope you find this recipe helpful. I have written it down a few different times and have made many different versions, all of which have been delicious. Feel free to message me here, or on my FromTheBottomOfAWineBottle Facebook page, if you have any questions!

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Thank You Muffins

It’s been ages since I last posted a recipe or a food pic here. I’ve been sharing things on my Instagram account (@AliSportShots), but sitting down to formally type out something has taken a back seat. I’ve posted *sooo* many recipes here (over 175, by last count) and I like to be able to share something totally new, if possible…. however, I realized that I’ve been mentioning “Thank You Muffins” on multiple platforms and have never written this recipe for others to use, so I’m fixing that now.

Here’s my very favorite recipe… the one that I make at least once a week… the one I use anytime I need to express my appreciation for someone… the one that I’ve made SO many times throughout the past year that it’s become a “thing” in our house. This is my recipe for Thank You Muffins.

The ingredients list is fairly simple and incredibly flexible:

  • 1 box cake mix (any flavor)
  • 1 can solid pack pumpkin
  • Add-ins (chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, seeds, etc. – a palm-full)
  • Wine (just a few splashes, to thin out the batter a touch)

Directions:

  • Preheat your oven to 375*. Place a large piece of parchment paper (or use a silpat) on two large baking sheets
  • In a large bowl, empty the cake mix, add the pumpkin, include whatever add-ins you’d like, then splash in some wine. Mix thoroughly.
  • Using a small cookie scoop (I have all three sizes from Pampered Chef and prefer using the smallest for these muffins), place small scoops of batter on the prepared baking sheets. I’ve been able to get as many as 42 mini-muffins from a batch but it varies.
  • Bake at 375* for 12-14 minutes, until the muffins spring back if touched on the top. Remove and allow to cool on the paper (I lift the paper off the baking sheet so the bottoms of the muffins don’t continue to cook). NOTE: if you’re making these as full-size muffins, in a muffin tin, you’ll want to cook them at 400* for 15-17 minutes.
  • Once muffins are cool, you can freeze them for later use. I typically get two plates of muffins (or two weeks of muffins for my landscapers) from each batch.

I have used every flavor of cake mix for this recipe and tend to try and pair the flavor of the wine with the flavor of the cake mix. I’ve used chocolate cake mix with red wines, spice cake with red (or white) wines, yellow cake with white wine, carrot cake with rose’ (or most anything)… I’ve even used a sweet red (or a little sparkling wine) with a strawberry cake mix. Each one has come out well and has conveyed the right message…. “thank you”.

I must confess that the origin of this recipe is from about ten years ago, at a Weight Watchers meeting. It started as a two-ingredient sweet… cake mix and a can of pumpkin… no eggs, no oil, no complications… but I couldn’t leave it alone. I liked the idea of making full-size muffins from this recipe, which you can do easily, but I am a big fan of “bite-size” treats. After monkeying around with the recipe, I came up with the one you see above. My boys loved when I would make this recipe for their friends… especially since the main ingredient was solid-pack pumpkin… and I was happy to make it because I felt good about serving something relatively healthy to people.

Try this and see what you and your family think… I hope you enjoy it as much as me!