Biscochitos - Sort of...

I live on the border of Mexico so there is no shortage of biscochitos here, but I thought I'd make my own. I found this very high rated recipe and thought it sounded perfect! I pulled an Emeril and spiced it up a bit:

Biscochitos
adapted from allrecipes.com
1 c. butter softened
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cayenne

Preheat to 350. Grease a cookie sheet.

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla then dry ingredients until mixed. Form the dough into small balls and roll them in the remaining powdered sugar, cinnamon and cayenne.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. I baked for 16 and they were perfect! Once they are cool, I put them back in the spiced powdered sugar mix for another coating.

Enjoy!! They are so delicious!!

Pear Spice Cupcakes

I like to surf baking blogs in my downtime and came across this fabulous looking recipe for Pear Ginger Cupcakes on What's Cookin, Chicago? I don't like a ton of ginger so I omitted the freshly grated ginger from the cupcakes. Once I had the frosting whipped up, I thought it was delicious with the addition of the spices from the cupcake and didn't want to go overboard with the caramel sauce so I left them as is. Talk about delicious! The pear is barely detectable and makes the cupcake really moist and light. The whole thing was awesome!!! Thanks for all the baking bloggers out there sharing recipes like this one!