Now that it's cooler outside, my ice cream maker is working so much better. It has finally decided to cooperate. During the hot summer months, I could churn and churn without results because the frozen canister would defrost so quickly in the 80 degree weather. Now, it works like a charm – I can get ice cream in 20 minutes. Luckily, I appreciate ice cream year 'round, so eating massive amounts of ice cream now makes me just as happy as eating it during the summer.

So now I've started churning out batch after batch of ice cream. The most current flavor is pumpkin pie ice cream with molasses cookie crumbles.

As you can see, this ice cream makes for great ginger molasses and pumpkin pie ice cream sandwiches. For the cookies, follow this recipe.

Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup milk

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

4 egg yolks

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 splash bourbon

A handful of gingersnap crumbs or ginger molasses cookie crumbs.

Directions:

1. Heat the cream, milk, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a sauce pan until it almost boils, about 5 minutes.

2. Reduce the heat to low.

3. Add one tablespoon of the cream mixture to the egg to temper it.

4. Add the egg to the sauce pan.

5. Cook at low heat without boiling, until it is slightly thickened and coats the back of a spoon.

6. Strain mixture with a sieve to remove clumps.

7. Add pumpkin puree and stir.

8. Chill the mixture in the fridge.

9. Freeze according to the instructions for your ice cream machine. (Add crumbs when the ice cream begins to become the texture of soft serve.)

There's nothing that says "celebration" like a few dozen cupcakes. Cupcakes are cute, festive, whimsical, and bite-size (well, that depends on the size of your mouth I guess). And they don't require plates and utensils.

So to celebrate my friend landing a new job in Atlanta, we made her a cupcake buffet. For my cupcake contribution, I decided to go with a crowd-pleasing flavor combo of peanut butter and chocolate. It's win-win. These rich, thick chocolate cupcakes are filled with a Reese's-esque peanut butter filling and topped with a creamy peanut butter frosting made of cream cheese, whipped cream, and peanut butter.

So how good are the treats? These cupcake cuties are profanity-proclaiming good. Explicatives spewed from friends' mouths as soon as their teeth sunk into the filling. Just check out this photo:

To make them, just plop some of the thicky thick sour cream chocolate batter on the bottom of the cupcake liner, then place a peanut butter filling ball on top, and then cover with more batter. The cupcake batter is very dense – bakes up really well and holds also up the heavy peanut butter filling balls.

For the frosting, I used a size 1M Wilton frosting tip to get the big swirls on top of the cupcakes. No professional pastry bag is needed here – use a large Zip-Lock bag and snip off one end to accommodate a large coupler and the 1M tip, then fill with the marshmallowy frosting. (Be sure to lick the frosting bowl.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the filling:

1 cup confectioners' sugar

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

3 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ tsp. vanilla extract

For the cake:

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 cup sour cream

2 tbsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1½ cups sugar

2 large eggs

For the frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

½ cup creamy peanut butter

3¼ cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners.

To make the filling, combine the confectioners' sugar, peanut butter, butter and vanilla extract in a bowl.  Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined.  Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls (at least 24) and set aside on a baking sheet.

To make the cake batter, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk together and set aside.  In a liquid measuring cup, stir together the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed.  With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix just until incorporated.

Spoon a tablespoon or two of batter into the bottom of each cupcake liner.  Place a ball of the peanut butter filling in each cupcake well and top with the remaining batter so that all the cups are filled.  Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese, butter and peanut butter until smooth. Slowly mix in the confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth and well blended.  Mix in the whipped topping until smooth and fluffy.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.