Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes Featured On Craftaholics Anonymous® Today!

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Amber Foster Smith

I LOVE Fall! Here in the South football season is in full swing and although it may still be in the 90’s most days, I can hardly wait for cooler evenings. Fall also means bringing back out the warm and hearty recipes that warm our bellies up on the cool nights. And did I mention PUMPKINS?? I LOOOVEE anything with pumpkin in it so after making these Pumpkin Pie cupcakes last year they became a big hit with the entire family. I mean how can you say no to a cupcake with a graham cracker crust bottom and a “frosting” that is actually a pumpkin pie? Umm, you can’t say no! I featured these yummy cupcakes with you last year here and I am sharing them again today on Craftaholics Anonymous®. So stop by and check them out again and make sure to take some time to browse around all the other fun Fall posts from my fellow Creative Team gals!

I’m part of the 2013 Craftaholics Anonymous® Creative Team! Stop by and meet all the fabulous ladies that will be bringing you all sorts of inspiration all year-long here!

Happy 1st Blog Anniversary to jRoxDesigns!

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Amber Foster Smith

Can you believe it? My little blog is a year old already! Well technically it was last week but life has been a little bit crazy over here. Thanks to all of your love and support I have been swamped with orders from my Etsy shop and branching out with my photography! I just finished editing a photo session with two sweet kids who have a very special surprise to share with their Daddy and a couple more sessions that I am just dying to share with you guys soon! By all the time I’ve been spending in the workshop too lately it looks like you guys are loving the new selection of chalkboard speech bubbles and wooden letters in the Etsy shop too! Not to mention the half a dozen special infinity tattoo designs I am working on right now. How cool is that? You guys are absolutely the best! So, I’m sorry I haven’t been around as much lately but I promise I have so many new fun things that I hope to get up here to share with you soon! To celebrate today I thought I would let you take a stroll on back to all of my favorite posts over the last year.

One of my most popular posts is Emma Grace’s Photo Project which is one project I am so proud of. For all the hours and time that I’ve spent editing photos and preparing each shoot it is by far my most rewarding project!

Emma Grace’s Nursery has been one of my favorite projects I have done in years. I poured my heart and soul into creating that room from scratch and I can’t help but smile so big every time I walk in there. You guys seemed to love the reveal too because I heard back from so many of you that you too were in love with her French Provencal Dresser makeover! Guess what..if you sit tight I hopefully will have a couple new photos to share of some new custom-made furniture we created for her as well as some toddler friendly updates!

I still can’t believe how many views my post where I shared with you my journey to get my first tattoo has gotten! You know what is crazy is when you are scrolling through your feed on Pintrest and there is your tattoo staring back at you that was pinned from people you have never met! Or even crazier when your big sister calls to tell you your tattoo also showed up on her feed today pinned by one of her friends who had no idea it was mine! Crazy!!! Then when I actually decided to offer custom designs in my Etsy shop I never could image how big of a response I would get! You guys are amazing!!

Who doesn’t love baking? Because I sure do! That’s why I loved being able to share with you some of my favorite pumpkin pie and irish cream cupcake recipes along with an amazing recipe to make your very own vanilla extract! Don’t worry we will have plenty more where those came from!

Do you know where big wooden letters and bubbles come from? I let you guys take a quick behind the scenes tour with me to see what goes into making some of my favorite products!

Speaking of sneak peeks…remember when I gave you a little glimpse into what I’m hiding in my camera bag, diaper bag, studio and workshop? That was so much fun!

I love holiday crafts and this Valentine’s Day garland was so much fun! I’m thinking of making garland that I can personalize to use for photo shoots! Pregnancy announcements, save the date cards anyone?

After being sick of my old worn out kitchen rug I gave it a fun facelift with a bit of creativity with the help of some paint!

I celebrated Hyperemesis Gravidarum Awareness Day by sharing my own personal journey with HG. It was by far my most difficult post to write but since I wrote about my story I have had several women who are suffering or have survived HG reach out to me. Their stories of strength and encouragement made it worth finally telling my story.

I’ve been able to take my photography journey to a new level by booking several sessions this past month! I absolutely love being behind the camera and being able to capture that one special moment in life that you can hold on to for forever. I loved being able to share with you some amazing pictures that I took at a friend’s wedding. That post along with the photos I shared from the very first wedding have also got a lot of love from you guys. I can’t wait to show you some new photos soon!

Do you know what happens though when you end up with maybe a couple hundred…or more photos that you have taken over the last year? Yepp, you get an awesome family yearbook printed! I always share our book with friends and family who come over to the house and everyone is just amazed by how great it looks. I’m still just amazed at how easy it was! I can’t wait to make more!

If you don’t know already I absolutely LOVE graphic design. So creating free printables to share with you all like the Holiday and Fall Bucket Lists was so much fun. Looks like it’s time to create a new one for Summer soon!

What were your favorite posts? What would you like to see more of? I would love to hear from you guys! Thank you for all the love and support over the past year you guys are amazing!!!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes :: Fall Bucket List Check Off!

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Amber Foster Smith

I absolutely LOVE this recipe! I made it for the first time last year and it became an instant favorite with our family. I probably made them a half a dozen time since then and already twice this Fall.

My Mom even asked me to bake them for her birthday instead of a cake last year (which I don’t think we have ever had a birthday in our house without a cake!)

I found the recipe from the talented Michelle at Une-Duexsesnes and I’m telling you her recipes are amazing and I am crazy jealous of her unbelievable food photography skills! I always like to try a recipe and tweak it a little bit to my family’s tastes but I keep coming back to her original cupcake recipe. It is a little bit heavier then most of the recipes that I use but I think it works well for this type of cupcake. I also backed off a bit on the butter in the graham cracker crust because I like crust a little lighter. The biggest change I made was I swapped out the original pumpkin pie recipe for my Mom’s recipe which I’ve grown up on. We have had it every year for Thanksgiving and Christmas and I just didn’t seem right to me to have it any other way. So without further adieu the most amazing cupcakes you will ever have….

1 3/4 cups cake flour

1 cups sugar

1/2 tbsn. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature

1/2 cup milk, divided

2 large eggs

1 large egg white

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsn. light brown sugar

2 1/2 tbsn. unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 large eggs

1 can (15 oz.) Libby’s 100% Pure Pumpkin

1 can (12 fl. oz.) Carnation Evaporated Milk

Start off baking your pumpkin pie first because it will take over an hour to bake and it needs to cool completely before you can use it to pipe your cupcakes. Mix sugar, salt cinnamon, ginger and cloves* in a small bowl. Beat eggs in a large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. Pour into pie pan. Bake in preheated 425 F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 F and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife is inserted near the center and comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.

* You can substitute 1 3/4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon, ginger and cloves which is what I usually do since I don’t usually have ginger or cloves!

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake pan with liners, set aside. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the butter and 1/4 cup of milk. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. In another bowl, blend the eggs, egg white, remaining 1/4 cup milk and vanilla. Add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing for 2 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl in between additions. Set aside.To make the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter in a medium bowl and mix well. Add 1 tbsn. of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner and bake for 5 minutes until the graham crackers are golden. Remove from the oven then fill about 1/2 full with the cake batter. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely. To frost, scoop the pumpkin pie “frosting” into a piping bag and pipe onto the cupcakes.

**I don’t usually have cake flour so I wanted to share with you a substitution that I have found works well. Since this recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups of cake flour I make 2 cups of cake flour in a bowl and make sure to mix the cornstarch in well with the flour. Once I’m sure the two are mixed I simply remove a 1/4 cup of the mixture and use the remaining portion for my recipe!

Cake Flour Substitution

Place two tablespoons of cornstarch in a one-cup measuring cup and simply fill the rest of the cup with all-purpose flour. One cup of the substitute is equal to one cup of cake flour in any recipe.

Don’t forget these tasty treats wrapped up in a cute box make a perfect thank you gift or even a hostess gift for your holiday parties! Jake and I wrapped up this big box as a Christmas present for his teacher. I’m pretty sure he is going to love them!

Pssst….want to see more behind the scenes pictures from this post and other fun projects we are working on? Follow us on Instagram!

Fall Bucket List

Posted on August 31, 2012 by Amber Foster Smith

Can you believe that we nearing the end of summer already? It is hard to believe that Fall is anywhere in our near future in the south right now. It was 95 degrees outside when I got in my car this afternoon! Crazy right? I am ready for the leaves to start turning beautiful shades of red and orange. I’m ready for pumpkins and mums and hot apple cider. I love Fall! You know what is also great about Fall?! Being able to pull out your favorite pair of jeans, those worn in boots and cozy sweaters! There is also so many fun things to do during the Fall that I was inspired by several other awesome bloggers out there to create my very own Fall Bucket List. It is a great way to make sure you make the most of the season, spend time with the family and make lots of great memories!

Print your own copy of my Fall Bucket List!

5×7 8×10 16×20

So don’t worry I will keep you up to date as we cross off each thing on the list. I’m so excited! What activities would you put on your Fall Bucket List? Do you have fun family traditions? I would love to hear about them!

Happy Soon To Be Fall Y’all!