The Tiny Tyrant's Kitchen

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-01-26T19:18:00.001-05:00

This month's What's Baking theme is "Favorite Snowday Treats." I consider January, February, and March the gray months. They are typically cold, dark, and filled with snow. This winter has been mild and we haven't gotten much snow at all. (I'm not complaining!) It's making me crave the warm, summer weather and all that comes along with it such as ice cream. One of my favorite ice cream flavors is mint chocolate chip and when I saw these mint chocolate chip cookies, they immediately made me think of ice cream. I chose these cookies as my "snowday treat" because on these snowy (well, snowless) days, all I want to think about is the summer weather! And these cookies delivered the mint chocolate chip ice cream flavor I had been craving.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: adapted from Sweet Beginnings

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
2 sticks butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2–1 teaspoon mint extract (depending on how minty you want them)
8-10 drops green food coloring
1 egg
2 and 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 bag (12 oz) mint chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Beat together butter and sugar on low speed of stand mixer until light and fluffy.
Add mint extract, food coloring, and egg and beat on medium speed until well combined.
Whisk together flour and baking powder in a bowl and slowly add to the butter mixture, beating on low speed until combined.
Stir in mint chocolate chips.
Roll into 1-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass.
Bake 10–14 minutes.
Cool completely on wire racks.

Mini Confetti Cupcakes

2011-12-30T07:16:00.000-05:00

Who doesn't love sprinkles? They add color and pizazz to any boring vanilla cake. I was asked to bake mini cupcakes for a benefit and was told the flavors were up to me. I love vanilla cupcakes, but I wanted to make them a little less boring, so I added some sprinkles. They were a hit with both kids and adults!

Mini Confetti Cupcakes
Source: adapted from Melissa Bakes

1 stick butter (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup colored sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a mini cupcake tin with 24 cupcake liners. (You may have some batter leftover.)
In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture and milk in three additions, ending with flour.
Stir in sprinkles.
Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 10 - 12 minutes.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Vanilla Buttercream
1 stick butter (room temperature)
2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 2 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and vanilla and water until desired consistency is reached and beat well.

Stained Glass Cookies

2011-12-24T12:03:00.001-05:00

I've wanted to make these cookies for a few years now, but I was always intimidated. This year when my cousins and I were deciding which cookies to bake at our 2011 Baking Extravaganza, one suggested something special. And what's more special than stained glass cookies? They are so pretty. My other cousin was determined that these would not turn out, since she made them once before and they were a disaster. I was so happy to prove her wrong. They were as tasty and they were pretty. I can actually say these weren't too bad to make. Mix up the dough, pop it in the fridge for a bit, roll, and cut. Fill the centers with your favorite crushed hard candy. I used Jolly Ranchers, but I think I'll branch out and use more Christmas inspired colors and flavors next year, as well as a Christmas cookie cutter.

Stained Glass Cookies
Source: Woman's Day, December 2011

2 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 and 1/2 sticks butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lime juice (I used water.)
1 egg
About 16 hard candies, crushed finely and separated by color (I used Jolly Ranchers.)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Beat together butter, sugar, and lime juice on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well.

With the mixer on low, add flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Divide dough in half, wrap each piece in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Once dough has been chilled, remove from fridge and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/4-inch thickness, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking.

Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out middles.

Transfer the cutouts to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spoon crushed candy into the centers of each cookie.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until edges are brown and candy has melted.

Cool on cookie sheets.

Sparkling Butter Toffee Cookies

2011-12-21T20:30:00.014-05:00

I tried these on a whim this year and they turned out to be a hit! We loved them so much, we made three batches. The cookies are soft and chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. My husband declared them his new favorite and the perfect coffee-dunking cookie!

Sparkling Butter Toffee Cookies
Source: Recipe Girl

1 cup sugar plus additional sugar for rolling
3/4 cup butter (room temperature)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup toffee bits (or more)

Optional: Sub sparkling white sugar for the rolling sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat mats.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and baking soda and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, egg, and vanilla and beat at medium speed until creamy. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed.

Stir in toffee bits by hand.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets and flatten each with the bottom of a glass. If glass sticks, dip in sugar.

Bake 9 - 11 minutes until edges are just lightly browned. Optional: Sprinkle with additional sugar while warm.

Chocolate Peppermint Torte

2011-12-21T20:08:00.002-05:00

Isn't this tart gorgeous? I brought this showstopper to my holiday potluck at work. It was as delicious as it was pretty. How can you go wrong with mint and chocolate. It's very rich and addictive, so beware!

Chocolate Peppermint Torte
Source: adapted from The Way to His Heart

Chocolate Crumb Crust
1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (I used chocolate graham crackers.)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 stick butter, melted

Chocolate Peppermint Filling
3/4 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons butter, cut into 5 pieces
16 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon peppermint extract.

Crushed candy canes for garnish. (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly spray a tart pan with baking spray.

To make the crust: Mix together cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Transfer crumbs to prepared tart pan and press crumbs smoothly and evenly onto bottom and sides of pan. Chill for 10 minutes and then bake for 8 minutes. Let cool before filling.

To prepare filling: In a medium saucepan, heat heavy cream and butter on low heat until mixture is near boiling. Turn off heat and add hot cream mixture to chocolate chips. Let stand for 1 to 2 minutes to melt chocolate chips, and then whisk until smooth. Whisk in peppermint extract.

Pour chocolate mixture into prepared crust and spread to edges. Refrigerate for about 2 hours or until set and firm. Store in refrigerator and serve chilled.

Pumpkin Pie

2011-12-14T07:09:00.000-05:00

Every year, I must make pumpkin cream pie (also known as "The Pie That Won't Die") for Thanksgiving dessert. I've made pumpkin cream pie for the past 10 years or so every single Thanksgiving, not because I wanted to, but because I was told I had to. My family goes crazy for that pie. This year, I finally retired the pie. Once I told my family that I was making mini apple cheesecakes, they forgot all about "The Pie That Won't Die." I was thrilled—that was until my uncle pouted that he wanted pumpkin pie. I was a little bummed since I wanted to break free from that pie, until he said he wanted PLAIN pumpkin pie. I happily obliged and made him a plain pumpkin pie. This pie recipe was your standard pumpkin pie. It had a custard-like consistency and a hint of spices. It was yummy, especially topped with fresh whipped cream.

Pumpkin Pie

Source: Libby's

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon plus 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice.)

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (I omitted.)
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (I omitted.)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 can (12 oz.) evaporated milk
1 pie crust (unbaked)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, and cloves.
Stir in eggs and pumpkin. Gradually stir in evaporated milk.
Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted one inch from center comes out clean.
Cool on wire rack for 2 hours.
Store in refrigerator.

Toasted Marshmallow Sweet Potato Pie

2011-12-11T18:24:00.000-05:00

Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite Thanksgiving side dishes. This year, I decided to turn them into a pie for our Thanksgiving dinner. No one missed the side dish, but they all raved over this sweet and sticky concoction. Be warned, while delicious, the marshmallow topping was very sticky, but worth the extra napkins. A quick note, don't leave your pie in the broiler too long or you'll over-brown the marshmallows like I did.

Toasted Marshmallow Sweet Potato Pie
Source: Everyday with Rachel Ray, November 2011

1 pie crust (I used pre-made refrigerated crust, don't judge!)
2 sweet potatoes (peeled, boiled, mashed, and cooled)
1 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bag large marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Unroll pie crust into a 9-inch pie pan.
Crimp edges and prick bottom of pie crust with a fork.
Cover crust with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Discard beans and foil and set pie crust aside to cool slightly.
Mix together mashed sweet potatoes, buttermilk, eggs, brown sugar, and salt with a mixer on medium speed until blended.
Pour mixture into pie crust and bake for 50 minutes until the middle is set and puffed.
(TIP: Cover pie crust edges with strips of foil or pie crust saver about half-way through baking.)
After pie is baked, top with marshmallows and place under broiler for 2 to 3 minutes, until marshmallows are browned. You can always omit this step and leave the pie naked:

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

2011-12-05T18:48:00.000-05:00

I saw this recipe and immediately had to make it. I love snickerdoodles and I love pumpkin, so this cookie recipe seemed like a match made in heaven. I really wanted to love these cookies, but sadly I did not. I didn't not like them, I just didn't love them. They were pumpkiny, spicy, and delicious, but they weren't mind-blowing like I thought they would be. Also they didn't spread as much as I would have liked.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
As seen on: Made in Melissa's Kitchen

2 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

For the rolling mixture:
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy.

Add pumpkin puree, egg, and vanilla and beat well, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

With the mixer on low, add flour mixture a little at a time and mix just until incorporated.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill at least an hour.

Mix ingredients for rolling mixture in a small bowl.

Roll dough into 1 and 1/2 inch balls and roll into rolling mixture until coated evenly

Place 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Use a glass or the palm of your hand to flatten the cookies.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 14 minutes, until slightly firm.

Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Soft Pretzels

2011-11-27T20:44:00.001-05:00

Soft pretzels have been on my to-do list for months. After this month's What's Baking theme was announced: Savory Treats, I knew right away it was time. I don't know why I waited so long since these were really easy to make and only required four ingredients. The worst part was kneading the dough. After the dough is shaped into pretzels, they are boiled and baked. These were yummy (especially with cheese), but best eaten the day they are made.

Soft Pretzels

Source: Pastry Arts Class

For Dough:

1/2 oz. fresh yeast

1 and 1/2 oz. brown sugar

12 oz. warm water (85 degrees)

1 pound and 7 oz. all-purpose flour

For Boiling Mixture:

2 pounds water

3/4 oz. baking soda

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

Bring water and baking soda (for boiling mixture) to a boil in a large pan.

Dissolve yeast and brown sugar in the water in the bowl of a stand mixer.

Add flour and mix on high until blended.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 - 10 minutes)

Divide the dough into 12 even pieces.

Roll into a rope and shape as desired.

Drop pretzels into boiling water and boil until they rise (about 1 minute).

Drain pretzels and place on a greased baking sheet.

Sprinkle with coarse salt.

Bake at 475 degrees for 8 minutes.

Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes

2011-11-15T07:23:00.000-05:00

Coconut is one of my favorite flavors. I know coconut gets a bad rap, and many people don't like it, but they don't know what they're missing. I was asked to make special birthday cupcakes for my coworker, so I decided to make my go-to vegan chocolate cupcakes topped with coconut buttercream since she also loves coconut. I can't even begin to describe how awesome these tasted. The bittersweet chocolate topped with the sweet and creamy coconut buttercream was divine. These were perfection.

Coconut Buttercream

2 sticks butter, room temperature

5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 4 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add coconut and vanilla extracts and beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.

Edible Images Part 2

2011-11-14T07:20:00.002-05:00

To go along with the Monster High cake, I made two dozen vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with edible rice paper images. These images were so much easier to work with because they didn't have a backing. All you have to do is cut them out and stick them on top of the cupcakes. Very easy and tasty! No complaints; just an observation: Since the paper quickly dissolves, I'd wait until right before you need the cupcakes to stick the images on top of them. If you look closely, you can see the sprinkles bleeding through the paper and some of the images beginning to smear. I decorated the cupcakes about three hours before I needed them, so next time I'd wait until about a half-hour or so beforehand to decorate them. All in all, the edible rice paper images were a success, the edible cake image with the backing, not so much.

Edible Images Part 1

2011-11-07T19:18:00.003-05:00

This cake almost broke my spirit. A girl I went to school with contacted me for a cake and cupcakes. She asked if I ever worked with edible images and provided me with 24 edible images for cupcakes and one for a 9 X 13 cake. I never worked with edible images, but I figured it couldn't be that hard. The directions seemed easy enough: "Peel image from plastic backing and apply to cake."

Three hours later, I ended up with a headache, and a torn image. I did everything I could to free the image from the plastic backing. I Googled for help. I even watched YouTube videos. It looked so easy, yet my image was not coming off the backing. I again placed it in the freezer and it finally came free. Well most it! (The logo tore, of course!) All I had to do was apply it to the cake. Easy, right? Nope! I dampened the icing (that had since dried while I was fighting the image) and placed it on top. I smoothed the sides and guess what, it wouldn't stick! I peeled it back off and applied a bit more water and still nothing—well it did start to bleed.

At this point, I was ready to throw the cake in the garbage and start again. It was near midnight, though, and I was exhausted. Plus I still had to decorate two dozen cupcakes with more edible images. (I'll recant this story in another post later this week.) So I placed the image down as best I could and decorated around it. I hated this cake and it still makes me sick to look at it. The moral of the story: Never again will I use an edible cake image. (The customer loved it and was not mad at all, but it still broke my spirit a little bit.)

Pumpkin Cupcakes

2011-11-03T19:42:00.000-04:00

I love the flavors that fall brings. Like many others, pumpkin is one of the fall flavors that I adore. I have been meaning to make pumpkin cupcakes for some time now, but I never got the chance. I was looking through recipes and was stuck between two. I visited The Way the Cookie Crumbles and low and behold, there was a pumpkin cupcake comparison. I decided to go with the recommended recipe from David Leite. I baked these for a friend of ours who recently celebrated her birthday. She is going through a rough time right now and she was in need of a pick-me up. She was surprised and loved them! These cupcakes had a light, moist crumb and a mild pumpkin spice flavor that was perfectly complemented by the tangy cream cheese icing.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
Source: Adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles

1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 1/4 cups canned pure pumpkin

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 18 cupcake liners.

In a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy for about 5 minutes.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and pepper into a medium bowl and set aside. Add the vanilla to the milk and set aside.

Add the eggs one at a time to the butter and sugar mixture and mix on medium speed, scraping down the sides after each addition.

Turn the mixer on low and alternatively add the flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Beat in the pumpkin until smooth.

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and rap the filled pans to release air bubbles.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool cupcakes completely on wire racks.

What's Baking: October's Fall Flavors Round-Up

2011-10-30T19:12:00.001-04:00

This month I challenged my What's Baking group to bake with fall flavors. I took the challenge a step further by asking everyone to get creative and try to choose a flavor other than pumpkin or apple—even though they're my favorite flavors! Whatever flavor was chosen, I was drooling over this month's submissions! Next month, Jey of The Jey of Cooking is hosting and the theme is savory treats. She asks us to challenge ourselves and bake something savory!

I made Butternut Cake with Buttered Rum Icing

Jaida of Sweet Beginnings made Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Icing

Heather Lynne of Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks made Pumpkin and Sausage Pasta Bake

Jade of The Mess Pot made Sweet Potato Cupcakes
with Toasted Marshmallow Frosting

Jill of JBean Cuisine made Applesauce Cake

Lindsey of Our Share of the Harvest made Pecan Pie Bars

Dani of Cloud 8½ made Pumpkin Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Melissa of I Was Born to Cook made Sour Cream Pumpkin Streusel Cake

Lindsay of Peace, Love and French Fries made Pumpkin Coffee Cake

Jey of The Jey of Cooking made Caramel Appledoodles

Carrie of Carrie's Sweet Life made Sweet Potato Banana Muffins

Catherine of Pursuing Domestic Goddess-ness made Apple Coffee Cake Ring

Cara of The Boys Made Me Do It made Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze

Yudith from Blissfully Delicious made Olive Oil Pumpkin Bread

Stephanie from Brownies and Blondies made Mulled Wine Cupcakes

Ammie of Adventures in My Kitchen made Sweet Potato Bread

Halloween Cupcakes

2011-10-26T07:09:00.000-04:00

While Halloween is not my favorite holiday, I love Halloween-themed stuff. I've had my eye on a few Halloween baked goods to make and finally decided on cupcakes (although this ghost cake is still on my mind). I narrowed down my decorating ideas to Frankenstein, Jack Skellington, and jack-o-lanterns. Had I more time or patience, I would have also done mummies, spiderwebs, and possibly tackled that ghost cake. There's always this weekend, right? The cupcake flavors were apple topped with cinnamon buttercream and butternut with buttered rum icing. I got the idea for the Frankenstein cupcakes here.

Cinnamon Buttercream
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 - 4 tablespoons water (as needed)

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and beat well. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat in cinnamon and beat until smooth and creamy.

Butternut Cake with Buttered Rum Icing

2011-10-24T07:28:00.000-04:00

I love the fall. I love when the leaves change and swirl from the branches of the trees to the ground. I love fall flavors of apple and pumpkin. Some of my favorites are pumpkin-flavored coffee, ice cream, and beer. For this month's What's Baking theme, I chose Fall Flavors. I also asked everyone to get creative and try to bake with something other than pumpkins and apples. I chose butternut squash as my fall ingredient and made an anniversary cake for me and my husband since we're celebrating our fourth anniversary. I decorated the cake to look similar to our wedding cupcake cake. I loved the way this cake came out. It tasted as great as it looked. The cake was moist, buttery, and nutty and the sweet rum-spiked icing was a perfect topping.

Butternut Squash Cake
adapted from Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes

2 and 1/3 cups flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup butternut squash (cooked, mashed, and cooled)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I used chopped walnuts.)
1/2 cup craisins (I omitted.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 24 liners. (I made two six-inch cakes plus 9 cupcakes.)

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and pumpkin pie spice and set aside. Add vanilla to milk and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter on high speed until smooth. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat butter and sugar an additional two minutes and then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in squash. With the mixer on low speed, alternatively add the flour mixture and milk, ending with the flour. Beat until combined. Stir in pecans and craisins (or walnuts).

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 20 - 25 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool.

Buttered Rum Icing
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rum
2 - 4 tablespoons water (as needed)

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and rum and beat well. With the mixer on low, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat until smooth and creamy.

Here's our cake from the big day:

Puppy Cake

2011-10-11T07:23:00.001-04:00

I was asked to make a last minute cake for Manny's first mommy. I was told she likes sprinkles and dogs. I didn't have much to go on, but I was pleased at how well this cake came together. I didn't really have a plan, but as I decorated I found my stride. The cake is a confetti cake (white cake with tons of sprinkles) and it's topped with vanilla and chocolate buttercream. To pull the cake together, I piped tan dog bones and pink paws on the sides. Manny's first mommy was a huge fan and wouldn't even let anyone cut it for two days because it was so cute.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

2011-09-25T14:12:00.003-04:00

This month's What's Baking theme is "A Family Favorite." Besides pound cake, my family's favorite dessert is pumpkin cream pie. I've made it too many times to count and it's always requested at fall family gatherings. When my mom requested the pie for her birthday, I decided to come up with a new idea that takes the components of the pie instead. I came up with mini pumpkin cheesecakes. These little desserts were delicious and perfect for fall. The pumpkin and spices were perfect additions to the sweet cheesecake filling. They were delightful and made my mom's birthday a little sweeter.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes
Source: Adapted from Sweetnicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.

For Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.

For Cheesecakes:
2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs

Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy.
Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.)
Cool and top with fresh whipped cream.
Store in refrigerator.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes

2011-09-15T19:38:00.000-04:00

I have never been a huge fan of cheesecake. I was asked to make mini cherry cheesecakes recently and I was going to use a recipe in Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, but I read the recipe incorrectly and didn't have enough cream cheese. I searched the Internet and after reading a few recipes, I found one that didn't look too complicated. The only complaint with this recipe is that the centers sank after coming out of the oven. This wasn't a problem since I was filling them with cherry, so it worked out perfectly. I have to say these cuties were pretty addictive. The sour cherry pie filling was a great contrast to the sweet cheesecake and buttery crust. I enjoyed them so much that I'm already dreaming up variations.

Mini Cherry Cheesecakes
Source: Sweetnicks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 foil liners.

For Crust:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix all ingredients together and press mixture into the bottoms of 12 cupcake liners.

For Cheesecakes:
2 (8 oz.) packs cream cheese (room temperature)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
Cherry pie filling

Beat cream cheese for 1 minute on medium speed until fluffy.
Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs and mix on medium speed until well blended.
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full.
Bake 15 - 20 minutes until set. (NOTE: The centers will be a little jiggly.)
Cool and top with pie filling.
Store in refrigerator.

Banana Colada Cupcakes

2011-08-22T07:16:00.000-04:00

This month's What's Baking theme is Celebrate Summer. We celebrate summer by cooking on the grill, swimming in the pool, and enjoying frosty beverages. One of those beverages that just screams summer is a pina colada. For this recipe, I decided to adapt my grandma's carrot cake recipe, which uses baby food. I subbed banana-pineapple baby food for the carrots and omitted the spices. I topped the cupcakes with coconut buttercream, a sprinkle of coconut, and white chocolate chips. I have to say the combination was pretty amazing, even though the pineaepple flavor was very light.

Banana Colada Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
dash of salt
2 (3.5 oz.) containers banana-pineapple baby food
1 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
Beat together sugar and oil until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, baby food, and vanilla and beat well.
Add dry ingredients and mix well.
Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 17 - 20 minutes.

Coconut Buttercream
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 4 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add coconut and vanilla extracts and beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.

Snickerdoodles with Rolo Centers

2011-08-18T07:20:00.000-04:00

I love cinnamon and I adore snickerdoodles. I usually make snickerdoodles for Christmas and they are always a staple when I need a quick item for a bake sale. I love them, especially the crispy outside and the soft inside. I was in the mood to bake the other day, so I ran to the store to pick up a few items and while in the check-out line, I spotted Rolos. You remember those soft and chewy chocolate-caramel candies? They gave me an idea, so into the cart they went. I decided to stuff a Rolo into the center of each cookie. These baked up perfectly. They took a little extra time, but it was worth it when I bit into a soft cookie with a gooey chocolate-caramel center.

Snickerdoodles with Rolo Centers
Source: Adapted from Hershey's

Ingredients
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar,divided
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
40 Rolos candies

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and unwrap 40 Rolos.
Stir together 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
Whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
Beat butter and 1 cup sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy on medium-high speed.
Add eggs and vanilla and beat thoroughly.
Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture beating on low speed until well blended.
Shape dough into 1-inch disk and place a Rolo in the center.
Shape dough around Rolo and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 9 -11 minutes.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Princess Castle Cake

2011-07-25T07:19:00.000-04:00

I was asked to make a cake for my niece's third birthday. I was told she had her eye on a castle cake from a local grocery store. I went to check out the cake and knew I could do better. Then there was a heat wave. I'm talking five days of over 90-degree temperatures, with one day coming very close to 100. So I decided to forgo the huge castle cake and make the birthday girl her own personal castle cake. This cake was very easy to make and came out better than expected, despite the weather. My niece loved it and was so surprised!

Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

2011-07-22T07:25:00.000-04:00

My cousin is an artist in his spare time. His latest art show featured sea creatures done in ink and mixed media. He asked me to make mini cupcakes for it. Right away, I knew I would make red velvet with brown sugar cream cheese frosting, but I blanked on a second flavor. I wanted something summery and refreshing. The first thing to come to mind was lemonade, so I decided to make lemon cupcakes and top them with raspberry buttercream. They were the perfect summery flavor I was looking for. They were also a hit at the art show, as was my cousin's art.

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

2011-07-21T07:08:00.000-04:00

As soon as I saw the recipe for these brown sugar oatmeal muffins, I thought of the cranberry white chocolate chip cookies I make at Christmas time. I decided to use white chocolate chips and craisins as my mix-ins. I love that these muffins were a base for any ingredients you want to add. These looked and smelled amazing, but the texture was off. They were very moist and greasy. I double-checked the recipe and thought that it called for buttermilk. That must have been the problem, or the 90-degree weather we've been having. Next time I make these, I'll use the correct milk.

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Muffins

Source: Ommy Noms

Ingredients:

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup mix-in of your choice
(I used 1/2 cup white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup craisins)
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Mix together oats, milk, and brown sugar and let stand for 15 minutes. Stir in egg, oil, and mix-ins (white chocolate chips and craisins).

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir flour mixture into oat mixture until just moistened.

Fill paper liners 3/4 full and bake 16 - 18 minutes. Transfer muffins to wire rack to cool.

Wedding Cupakes (The Big Day)

2011-07-11T07:21:00.003-04:00

I recently was asked to take part in a couple's special day. I was so honored to be asked to make a wedding cupcake cake. After a few weeks of planning and numerous test cupcakes, I was ready for the big day. I spent the week before the wedding making drop flowers for the tops of the cupcakes and side of the cake. Two days before the wedding, I baked a carrot cake and 120 carrot and vanilla cupcakes. On the night before the wedding, I decorated the cake and cupcakes to look like roses. On the day of the wedding, I set up the cake and cupcakes on my new Cupcake Tower, which I love and highly recommend. It was a lot of work, but I was thrilled with the way everything came out and the buzz the cake generated at the wedding. It was a hit! Congrats to Carol and Paul!

Here's a close ups of the cake and the cupcakes:

The white ones were carrot with cream cheese icing and the purple ones were vanilla with vanilla buttercream. I decorated them with white edible pearls and purple and white flowers.

The cake was carrot with cream cheese icing.

Happy Birthday Carrot Cake

2011-07-06T07:11:00.002-04:00

I was recently chatting with my hair stylist about the upcoming wedding cake and cupcakes I was making. I told her the flavors and she told me her husband loves carrot cake. She asked me to squeeze in a cake order for her. (What girl in her right mind would say "no" to her stylist?) I added walnut and raisins to my grandmother's carrot cake recipe and decorated it with orange roses as requested. I usually love decorating round cakes, but had problems smoothing the icing on this one. Plus I had shaky hands and was worried about my roses, which were not my best. My stylist and her husband loved the cake, which is all that matters in the end.

Wedding Cupcakes (Round 3)

2011-06-27T07:11:00.002-04:00

And we have a winner! After a few different cake recipes, we finally found a cupcake clear winner. The bride originally wanted yellow cupcakes and gave me two recipes that she wanted to try. I made them and wasn't pleased, so I asked her to let me make her my go-to vanilla cupcakes. These vanilla cupcakes never disappoint. They quickly won over the bride and were chosen as the clear winner. These cuties will be decorated with purple and white icing and adorned with white edible pearls and white and purple flowers like this:

Vanilla Cupcakes
Source: adapted from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
2 cups sugar
5 eggs (room temperature)
1 and 1/4 cups buttermilk (room temperature)
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Beat butter on medium-high speed for 3 minutes (with either a hand mixer or stand mixer), until light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for an additional minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the eggs one, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Combine buttermilk and vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup. Beating on low, add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, and ending with the flour mixture.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full (I had enough batter for a half-dozen more cupcakes) Bake 18 - 22 minutes. Allow to cool in the pans a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

My Favorite Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 - 2 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and water. Beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.

Wedding Cupcakes (Round 2)

2011-06-25T11:50:00.000-04:00

After I made the Martha Stewart cupcakes, I whipped together a yellow cake recipe I had used as a base for these root beer float cupcakes. Instead of root beer, I substituted buttermilk. The batter was delicious, unlike the batter for these MS cupcakes. I popped them into the oven and waited. When I opened the oven, I found small mishapen cupcakes. They didn't rise very much and looked like little lumpy muffins. I tasted them and while the flavor was much better than the MS cupcakes, they were very dense and kinda dry. I don't know what happened since they came out great with the root beer, so I blame the buttermilk. I sent them along to the bride with the MS cupcakes and being the nice person she is, she said they were delicious. Again I went back to the drawing board and asked her if I could make her my go-to vanilla cupcakes, even though she wanted yellow cupcakes.

Yellow Cupcakes
Source: Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 and 1/3 cups flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In another large bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds on medium speed. Gradually add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat for two minutes and scrape down the sides of bowl as needed.

Add eggs one at a time and vanilla and beat well.

Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk in three additions, ending with flour and mixing until just blended.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Wedding Cupcakes (Round 1)

2011-06-17T07:14:00.000-04:00

These cupcakes are brought to you by Martha Stewart. While I love my Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book, I really haven't had much success with her recipes. I've been working on a wedding cupcake cake and and the bride chose these buttermilk cupcakes to sample. I was a little hesitant. I followed the recipe perfectly and only substituted table salt for the coarse salt (less of it, of course). I popped them in the oven and before the timer buzzed, I smelled burning. I quickly popped them out of the oven and transferred them to a cooling rack and was thrilled that only two cupcakes burned. These cupcakes were beautiful. They were perfectly round with slight domes and a gorgeous yellow color. After they cooled and I decorated them, I tasted one. It was a little dry (possibly because it was over baked a tad) and flavorless. The flavor was very light and really didn't taste like anything. I decorated them in her colors and I gave them to the bride. While she loved the way they looked, she admitted they weren't what she wanted and we were back to square one again.

Yellow Buttermilk Cupcakes
Source: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used 3/4 teaspoon regular salt.)
2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons butter (room temperature)
2 and 1/4 cups sugar
5 whole eggs (room temperature)
3 egg yolks (room temperature)
2 cups buttermilk (room temperature)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line three cupcake tins with 36 cupcake liners. Add vanilla to buttermilk and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium and add whole eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, rotating tins halfway through baking.Cool completely on wire racks.

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

2011-06-16T07:12:00.000-04:00

I've made these chocolate vegan cupcakes before (which by the way have become my go-to chocolate cupcakes, even beating Hershey's perfectly chocolate cake recipe). I have also made this raspberry buttercream, but I never put them together. What a great flavor combination! I also tried one of my new decorating tips and some pink sugar pearls to make these pretty little cupcakes look like crowns.

Rose Wedding Cake

2011-06-14T07:23:00.000-04:00

I've been asked to make a very special cake: a tiered wedding cake! I've never made a tiered cake before, so I was nervous. Just as I gathered everything I would need to make a sample tiered cake, the bride threw a surprise my way. She asked me to change the tiered wedding cake into a wedding cupcake cake with a tiny cake on top. I was thrilled as I love cupcakes and was full of ideas!

I whipped up this cake as a sample for the bride and groom: carrot cake with cream cheese icing. I decorated it to look like a rose with leaves around the edges and she loved it! We're going to go with a rose theme for the cake and cupcakes and adorn them with accents of purple and white. With a few tweaks, the cake and cupcakes will be perfect, just as I hope her day is and her life with her new husband.

Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Muffins

2011-06-10T06:55:00.001-04:00

I never make muffins, but recently a ton of muffin recipes have been coming my way. One in particular caught my eye: Chocolate Chip Muffins. I usually stay away from muffins because of my addiction to cupcakes with mile-high frosting on top. A muffin just seems naked to me. But there was something about this recipe that kept me coming back to it. I think it was the addition of buttermilk. I love buttermilk in recipes because it adds an irresistible tang. These muffins tasted like chocolate chip cookies with that familiar tang of buttermilk. I had to give some of them away so I didn't devour them all.

Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Muffins
Source: Melissa Bakes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups chocolate chips (I used a mix of semi-sweet and white chocolate chips.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a cupcake or muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Melt butter in microwave for one minute and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, 1/3 cup sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In another bowl, stir together the melted butter, eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract until well blended. Next, make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the liquid mixture into the well. Gently stir until combined and then stir in chocolate chips.

Fill liners about 3/4 full and sprinkle the remaining sugar on top of each muffin. Bake for 17 - 20 minutes and cool muffins completely on a wire rack.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

2011-06-06T07:16:00.002-04:00

My wonderful husband bought me a new cupcake book recently and quickly requested one of the recipes for his own birthday: Root Beer Float Cupcakes. He loves root beer, so these were perfect. I loved the flavor of these cupcakes, although the root beer flavor was not very strong. I think they tasted more like a strong vanilla. Next time, I'll use root beer extract to pump up the flavor. I topped them with cherries, a straw, and sprinkles to make them a little cuter.

Root Beer Cupcakes
Source: Betty Crocker Big Book of Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 and 1/3 cups flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup root beer
24 cherries, 8 straws, and sprinkles (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In another large bowl, beat butter for 30 seconds on medium speed. Gradually add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat for two minutes and scrape down the sides of bowl as needed.

Add eggs one at a time and vanilla and beat well.

Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour mixture and root beer in three additions, ending with flour and mixing until just blended.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Top cooled cupcakes with root beer icing, cherries, and sprinkles. Snip the straws into three equal pieces and push a straw into each cupcake (if desired).

Root Beer Icing
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 4 tablespoons root beer

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and root beer until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.

Old-School Birthday Cake

2011-06-03T07:26:00.000-04:00

My husband's coworker is one of my best clients. She has ordered a few cakes from me in the past few months. I love how busy she keeps me. It helps that she's nice, pleasant, and easy to work with! She asked me to make a double-chocolate layer cake (Hershey's recipe) topped with buttercream icing for her two dads' (father and father-in-law's) birthdays. She also asked me to top it with roses, which really aren't one of my specialities. I used some old-school styles that I learned in cake class: shell border, rope border, roses, and leaves. I don't think it came out too bad. The roses looked pretty decent and I loved the color scheme. Maybe old school birthday cakes will make a comeback after all.

Cake Class Round-Up

2011-05-30T08:55:00.000-04:00

I finally finished basic cakes at culinary school. I learned some new things, but mostly brushed up on the basics. We worked with buttercream and learned different baking techniques in this class. Next January, I will learn how to work with fondant in advanced cakes. It was a lot of fun. Here are a few cakes for your viewing pleasure:

Black Forest Cake

Boston Cream Pie

Basketweave Cake

Carrot Cake

Banana Spring Cake

Pumpkin Birthday Cake

Chocolate Layer Cake

Fernando the Lamb Cake

Dynomite Character Cake

German Chocolate Cake

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Final Cake - I got an A.

Springtime Baptism Cake

2011-05-19T07:22:00.001-04:00

My husband's family keeps expanding and we have another baby girl on his side. This makes three girls under three years of age. So again, I was commissioned to bake another baptism cake. This was a marbled chocolate-vanilla double-layer
9 X 13 cake topped with vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Vegan Cupcakes

2011-04-24T19:37:00.003-04:00

This month's What's Baking theme is "Spring." Around here, we're dying to see the sun and ready for the warm weather. It's been raining nonstop since it stopped snowing and we're tired of the gloomy days. I decided to make this vegan vanilla cupcake recipe from this wife bakes and top them with my favorite vanilla buttercream decorated like spring flowers. I love trying new things, but for some reason vegan cupcakes never appealed to me. I always skipped over vegan cake and cupcake recipes until recently. I made chocolate vegan cupcakes and they were delicious, so I decided to try a recipe I had bookmarked for vanilla vegan cupcakes. The batter was beautiful and thick and it had a strong vanilla flavor. The cupcakes were good, but they were definitely not my favorite. I would make them again, but bake them a few minutes longer because I think I underbaked them a bit. The texture was a bit off and they were crumby and broke apart very easily. Also, the color was strange. They were not white. They were more of a shade of light brown. These didn't rise much during baking, but I like cupcakes with flat tops because they're easier to decorate, so that wasn't a problem.

I've been busy because...

2011-04-14T19:57:00.000-04:00

We got a new puppy! Meet Manuel, or Manny for short. He is a Jack Russell/Chihuahua and isn't he just adorable? Between work, school, and the new addition to our family, I've have little time to bake, let alone blog. I promise to return to blogging when things calm down in the next few weeks.

SpongeBob SquarePants Cake

2011-03-21T07:19:00.000-04:00

This was a last-minute cake and it started with a few hiccups. The first cake slipped out of the pan and crumbled all over the table. It ended up in the garbage and I started again. The second cake came out wonderful. It wasn't as high as I hoped it would be, but it was much better than the first cake. The client requested a SpongeBob SquarePants cake with beads around the sides. I really loved the way this cake came out. The cake was vanilla and I iced and decorated the whole thing in vanilla buttercream, even the sides.

Butterfly and Flowers Cake

2011-03-10T07:20:00.001-05:00

My little cousin Julia just turned five. And she is the girliest little girl you'll ever meet. Her favorite colors are pink and purple and she loves to dress up in ballerina and princess costumes—gloves, rings, shoes, and all. She's adorable. She called me on the phone and asked me to make her a white cake filled with strawberries. She stressed that the strawberries must be "fruit" and I assured her they would be. She also told me she likes pink, purple, and butterflies. I made her a white cake and dyed one layer pink and the other layer purple. I sandwiched a ton of strawberries (the fruit) inside and got ready to top the cake with fresh whipped cream. I wasn't sure how well it would hold up if I piped it, so I decided to forgo the whipped cream and use a smooth swiss meringue buttercream instead. This frosting takes a little longer to prepare than traditional buttercream, but it's worth it. The consistency is more like whipped cream, so it's not as easy to pipe as buttercream. It's whippy, creamy, and buttery—and don't forget heavenly. I used merignue powder in place of the egg whites and the results were nothing less but perfect.

Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

6 teaspoons meringue powder

6 tablespoons warm water
3/4 cup sugar
2 sticks butter, cut into 16 pieces (room temperature)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

In a large heatproof bowl (or stand mixer bowl) combine meringue powder, water, and sugar. Place bowl over saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and transfer to stand mixer.

Using the whisk attachment, whip mixture on high until it holds stiff peaks (about 6 - 7 minutes). Continue beating and add the butter a few pieces at a time. Add coffee. Continue beating until buttercream is thick, smooth, and glossy (about 3 - 5 minutes).

*If mixture starts to look curdled, keep beating.

Baked with Love

2011-02-27T11:50:00.001-05:00

This month's theme for What's Baking is Baked with Love. I saw an awesome idea for cupcakes with flaming strawberries on Sprinkle Bakes and I knew immediately I had to make these for my love: my wonderful husband. We had just tried whipped cream vodka, so I wanted to base a cupcake on its flavor. I used a strawberry cupcake recipe from Martha Stewart and topped it with a buttercream spiked with whipped cream vodka. I hulled out some strawberries and placed them atop the cupcakes and carefully filled them with whipped cream vodka. Next, we lit—well at least tried to light the booze—and nothing. We were disappointed, but as we all know things don't always go as planned—espcially with matters of the heart. We laughed and discovered the vodka wasn't the correct proof. It must be 80 proof or higher. Oh well. We put the idea on the back burner to try again. We tasted the cupcakes and were again disappointed. While the icing was delicious, the cupcake was a little bland. It didn't have enough strawberry flavor. Next time, I'll puree the strawberries and use more. So I guess you can say these cupcakes were a double fail. In the grand scheme of things, failed cupcakes is better than failed love.

Strawberry Cupcakes
Source: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes
*makes about 32 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
2 and 1/4 cups sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 whole eggs
1 egg white
1 cup milk
2 cups finely chopped fresh strawberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line three cupcake tins with 32 cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, and salt and set aside. Add vanilla to milk and set aside.

In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric mixer on medium-high speed. Add eggs one at a time and beat well, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Reduce speed to low and alternately add flour mixture and milk in two additions, ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix well. Fold in strawberries by hand.

Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Whipped Cream Buttercream
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
4 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whipped cream vodka
2 - 3 tablespoons milk (I used Italian whipped cream flavored creamer.)

Beat butter until smooth with a mixer on medium speed. With mixer on low speed, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and whipped cream vodka and milk (or flavored creamer) one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Beat until smooth and fluffy.

Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes topped with Peanut Butter Icing

2011-02-21T08:21:00.002-05:00

Move over Hershey, I think I found my new go-to chocolate cake recipe. I was flipping through my Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book looking for a recipe for chocolate cupcakes when I came across a recipe for vegan chocolate cupcakes. It intrigued me because it looked so easy and called for simple ingredients that I already had in my pantry. No eggs, no milk, no butter—so this was an inexpensive recipe as well. I was a little weary about how this recipe would taste, but I'm glad I gave it a try. It produced beautiful chocolate cupcakes with a flat top that is perfect for decorating. The flavor was delicious and the cupcakes were moist and had a great texture that I can only explain as bouncy. I topped these with peanut butter icing and they were divine.

Vegan Chocolate Cupakes
Source: Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups water

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 paper cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
In another bowl, beat together oil, vinegar, vanilla, and water with a hand mixer on medium-high speed.
Add flour mixture and beat until smooth on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. (Batter will be very thin.)
Fill cupcake liners about 3/4 full and bake about 20 - 25 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking.

Peanut Butter Icing
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 stick butter (room temperature)
2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 - 3 tablespoons milk (or water)

Beat together peanut butter, butter, and vanilla until smooth with a mixer on medium speed. With mixer on low speed, add powdered sugar one cup at a time and milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat until smooth and fluffy.

Handy Manny Cake and Cupcakes

2011-02-14T07:14:00.001-05:00

I had never heard of Handy Manny until I was asked to do a Handy Manny cake and cupcake order for a special little boy's second birthday. (Happy Birthday Anthony! We'll be praying for you next month little buddy.) As I researched, I found that Handy Manny is a Disney cartoon with Wilmer Valderrama (aka Fes from That ’70s Show) voicing the carpenter boy. I fell in love Handy Manny's adorable little tools: Pat the clumsy hammer; Turner the grouchy flathead screwdriver; Felipe the ambitious Phillips screwdriver; Dusty the motherly saw; Stretch the perfectionist tape measure; Rusty the fearful wrench; and Squeeze the curious pair of pliers. As I piped their little faces (all freehand by the way!), I loved each one more than the other, but I think my favorite was Rusty the wrench (the orange one). These were so much fun to decorate and I loved the way they came out and so did the client, which is what matters most! The cake was vanilla and the cupcakes were a mix of vanilla and chocolate, all topped with vanilla buttercream. Here's a closer look at some of the cupcakes and cake:

Superbowl Cupcakes

2011-02-08T07:23:00.001-05:00

Sometimes you have to improvise. I wanted to make a special Superbowl cake for our friend's party, but then was told someone else was making a cake. I was dismayed, but came up with plan B. I was going to make chocolate cupcakes topped with the Steelers' logo. I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items and spotted a bag of football shaped Oreo cookies. I picked up the cookies and went with plan C. I made my go-to chocolate cupcakes from Hershey as planned and swirled some chopped up Oreo cookies into the batter. After they cooled, I piped buttercream tinted green onto the cupcakes to look like grass and topped them with a football cookie. They came out really cute and I was happy with the way they turned out, even if the design wasn't what I had originally planned.

Vanilla Cupcakes

2011-01-25T07:19:00.003-05:00

I recently won a Spice Islands spice set courtesy of I Heart Cuppycakes! that included pure vanilla extract. Since I've been on the hunt for that perfect vanilla cupcake, I thought it was perfect timing to test my new spices and a new recipe. I wish I could say I've found my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe, but I'm sad to say, I'm still on the hunt. (Anyone want to suggest a recipe?) While the flavor was good, these cupcakes were a tad too dry.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Source: Melissa Bakes

Ingredients:
1 stick butter (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract.
Turn mixer to low and alternately add flour mixture and milk in three additions, ending with flour.
Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 18 - 20 minutes.
Cool completely on a wire rack and top with your favorite icing.

Vanilla Buttercream
1 stick butter (room temperature)
2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 2 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and water. Beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached and beat well.

Pistachio Cake

2011-01-23T18:14:00.000-05:00

This month's What's Baking theme is try something new for the new year using an ingredient, recipe, or technique that's new to you. After I received a cake order for a pistachio cake, I knew it fit the bill. I never baked with pistachios before. I've eaten pounds of them, but never had them in a cake. I imagined a sweet and salty cake with perfect amount of crunch. I set out to find the perfect recipe. My aunt told me to use the tried and true pistachio cake recipe using pistachio pudding, but I had my eye on a recipe from my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. I converted the recipe from cupcakes to a cake and hoped for the best. What I got was a flat, dense, sickly sweet cake. I'm not sure what happened. Maybe the recipe is best left as cupcakes.

I scrapped that recipe and went back to my aunt for help. This time I got two beautiful light and fluffy pistachio cakes that rose beautifully. I topped them with vanilla buttercream and stuffed more chopped pistachios between the layers per the client's request. Then I iced the whole cake with more vanilla buttercream and topped it with some drop flowers in the requested colors. The client said it was "the best cake (he and his wife) ever had." I was thrilled. The worst part of making this cake was shelling all the pistachios.

Center of cake

Pistachio Cake
Source: Cooks.com

Ingredients:
1 box white cake (or you can use your favorite white cake recipe)
1 box pistachio pudding
3 eggs
1 cup water
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup pistachios, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cake pan.
Blend together all ingredients, except pistachios, on medium speed for two minutes.
Fold in chopped pistachios.
Pour into cake pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes.
Let cool and top with your favorite icing.

Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
4 - 5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 2 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and water. Beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached and beat well.

Last Pastry Class

2011-01-13T07:22:00.000-05:00

This is the very last treat we made in pastry class: petit fours. After all the complaints I had heard about making these, I wasn't really looking forward to making a fussy little cake. I'm proud to say I had a lot of fun making these, plus it was the first time I got to work with fondant. Now I've made tons of cakes, but I always topped them with buttercream. I've heard people say how much they didn't like the taste of fondant, but I have to say this wasn't too bad. A little sweet, but not bad. It wasn't too bad to work with, either, and I'm looking forward to making my first fondant covered cake soon.

Pastry Class Round-Up

2011-01-12T07:17:00.000-05:00

This cannoli was as cute as it was delicious. It was filled with a sweet ricotta
filling spiked with amaretto, chocolate chips, and pistachios.
The ends were then dipped in chocolate and pistachios.

Pastry Class Round-Up

2011-01-11T07:21:00.003-05:00

Here is an assortment of pastries we made with puff pastry dough, which is similar
to blitz pastry dough. Puff pastry dough has more butter rolled in and folded into it than
blitz pastry dough, creating a more tender and higher-rising dough.

I'm particularly proud of this pastry called a psalm. It's filled with sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts.
My professor called it "very professional looking."

Pastry Class Round-Up

2011-01-10T07:20:00.000-05:00

Here's a cherry and blueberry pinwheel I made with blitz puff pastry dough. Blitz pastry dough has tons of butter folded and rolled into it that creates multiple layers that puff up when baked.

Pastry Class Round-Up

2011-01-09T13:16:00.004-05:00

Since I've finally finished my first pastry class at culinary school, I've decided to share a few of the items I've made over the course of the semester for the next few days on my blog. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. I'm looking forward to starting cake class in the next two weeks. Stay tuned.

Here is the blueberry lattice pie I made in my first class. Look at how awful it is.
I've since gotten much better at making beautiful pies.

M&M Cookies and (another) New Year's Resolution

2011-01-06T19:28:00.002-05:00

Yes, these were made for Christmas. Yes, Christmas has come and gone. I know I've been ignoring my blog lately (shame on me!) and I have no excuses now that the holidays are over and I'm on break from school. Can I use work as an excuse? I usually make the same resolutions every New Year: Eat healthier and exercise more. This year is no different, but I'm also adding another one: Stop being such a procrastinator. I'm great at wasting time when I should be doing other things. So I am vowing to get off my butt and stop being lazy.

Back to the cookies. I never eat candy. I'd rather a piece of cake, a cupcake, or a cookie any day over a piece of candy. Although when I go to the movies (which is rare), I always eat M&Ms. I like that they are crunchy. That's why I like these cookies. They are soft with crunchy chocolate candies baked inside. What's not to love?

M&M Cookies
Source: Delish

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 and 1/3 cup M&Ms

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

In another bowl, beat together butter, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture in installments and beat until well blended. Stir in M&Ms.

Roll into one-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from cookie sheet and cool completely on wire rack.

Reindeer Cookies

2010-12-26T19:47:00.001-05:00

I had all the Christmas cookies I was making this year all set. That was until I saw these cuties. I couldn't resist, so I made a last-minute trip to the store to pick up the supplies to make these. They were equally as delicious as they were cute. How could you go wrong with peanut butter cookies accented by chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate chips, and M&Ms? They weren't too difficult to make, but you had to work fast once they came out of the oven. I recommend baking in small batches.

Reindeer Cookies
Source: adapted from Jif as seen on Bakergirl

Ingredients:
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 and 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening (I used 1 stick salted butter.)
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
1 and 3/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt (I used 1/2 teaspoon.)
Mini chocolate-covered pretzels
Mini brown M&Ms (I used chocolate chips.)
Regular red M&Ms

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease cookie sheets with baking spray.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In another bowl, combine brown sugar, peanut butter, and shortening (or butter) and beat at medium speed until well blended. Add milk, vanilla, and egg and beat until blended.

Add flour to peanut butter mixture and beat at low speed until blended.

Form dough into one-inch balls, slightly pinch the bottom of the ball to form a point, and then gently flatten. Space cookies about two inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 7 – 8 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.

Remove from the oven and immediately press two mini chocolate-covered pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer's antlers. Don't press too hard. Next, press two mini brown M&Ms (or chocolate chips) for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose.

Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana Cream Pie

2010-12-19T19:23:00.004-05:00

I know I've been MIA lately. I've been super busy with school, work, and the holidays. I know it's no excuse. I apologize, but I can't say it won't happen again. I want to share one of my favorite recipes from my pastry class that has kept me so busy for the past few months: Vanilla Pastry Cream. We made this in class to fill numerous pastries such as eclairs, cream puffs, fruit tarts, pies, and Napoleons. It would also be a great filling for doughnuts, cakes, and cupcakes. I used it in this banana cream pie I made for my uncle's birthday. It got rave reviews from everyone, including the birthday boy. I chalk it up to the awesome vanilla pastry cream and fresh whipped cream.

Banana Cream Pie
Crust:
Your Favorite Pie Crust
Follow your favorite pie crust recipe (or open store-bought crust and follow directions) and blind bake recipe. Let cool.

Filling:
Vanilla Pastry Cream
Source: Pastry Arts Class 102
2 cups milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 whole egg
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 bananas, sliced

1. In a saucepan, dissolve 1/4 cup sugar in milk and bring to a boil.
2. While milk is heating, whisk together egg yolks and whole egg in a metal bowl. Whisk in cornstarch and 1/4 cup sugar until smooth.
3. When milk comes to a boil, temper egg mixture by adding a cup of the milk to the egg mixture.
4. Add egg mixture to milk in saucepan and stir until thick.
5. When thick, remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.
6. Once blended, pour into a metal bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Make sure plastic wrap touches the surface of the cream.
7. Put in refrigerator until completely cool.

Topping:
Whipped Cream
1 pint whipping cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Place bowl of electric mixer and whisk attachment in fridge for 30 minutes. Combine cream and powdered sugar. Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whisk until stiff peaks form.

Assembly:
Once pie crust has been cooled and pastry cream has been chilled, slice bananas. Layer bananas and then pastry cream. Alternate ending with bananas. Spread whipped cream on top of pie and place in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Drum Cake

2010-11-30T07:19:00.000-05:00

I was asked to make a cake to celebrate my cousin Noah's second birthday. I was told any flavor and design. After burning a batch of red velvet cupcakes, I decided to forgo my original idea of monster cupcakes and make my old standby chocolate cake instead. With little time to spare, I needed an easy idea. Noah's parents bought him a drum set as a gift, so my wonderful husband suggested I decorate the cake to look like a drum. It was a great idea! It was quick and easy to decorate and I was very pleased with the way it came out. I topped it and filled it with marshmallow buttercream. As always, it was devoured by all. Happy Birthday Noah!

Baptism Cake

2010-11-28T17:05:00.000-05:00

Our niece Rylee was recently baptised and I offered to make her a cake to mark the occasion. I made a half chocolate and half vanilla cake and topped it with my vanilla buttercream. I wanted to make the cross out of roses and cover the cake with tons of flowers, but I haven't made flowers in a long time. I'm really rusty and the roses did not turn out the way I wanted, so I scrapped my original idea and drew a cross and filled it in with the start tip instead. I then scattered some pink drop flowers on top. I kept it simple. I'm really glad I'm taking a cake decorating class next semester at school, so I can relearn how to make flowers.

"The Pie That Won't Die"

2010-11-26T19:55:00.006-05:00

When the theme was chosen for this month's What's Baking Challenge, I knew right away what I would be making. Who doesn't love pumpkin cream pie? Honestly, I love this pie, but I hate making it. It's not that this pie is hard to make. I've been making this pie for many years now. I just want to retire it and try something new. Every year I swear I will never make this pie again. And then I do! It's just that every year I HAVE to make this pie. My family always requests it, so I make it. I like to call it "The Pie That Won't Die." This pumpkin pie is very easy to make and quite delicious. One warning, though: Everyone who tries it, loves it.

Pumpkin Cream Pie aka "The Pie That Won't Die"
Source: adapted from Kraft Recipes

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker pie crust
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon sugar
4 oz. whipped topping (plus more for topping)
1 can (15 oz.) solid pumpkin (not pie filling)
1 cup milk
2 packages vanilla instant pudding
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Directions:
Beat together cream cheese, 1 tablespoon milk, and sugar in large bowl until blended.
Fold in 4 oz. whipped topping and spread into bottom of crust.
In another bowl, whisk together 1 cup milk, pumpkin, pudding mixes, and pumpkin pie spice.
Spread mixture over cream cheese layer.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Serve topped with additional whipped topping if desired.

Guitar Cake

2010-11-21T16:35:00.002-05:00

I was commissioned by my husband's coworker to make a guitar cake for her son's birthday. I was told his favorite color was teal and went from there. I made a two-layer chocolate cake using my go-to chocolate cake recipe, filled it with chocolate pudding, and iced it with vanilla buttercream. Now I make a lot of cakes. I make them and send them off and that's that. Well ever since I made this cake, I've been dreaming about it. It smelled and looked delicious. I think it was the pudding filling. The birthday boy and his family loved this cake, which made me very happy.

My Favorite Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks butter, room temperature
5 - 6 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 - 3 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.

Pastie

2010-11-14T14:17:00.004-05:00

If you're from an old mining community like me, you most likely know what a pastie is. If not, I'll give you a brief history. This savory pastry is said to have originated from Cornwall, United Kingdom.
It was a popular lunch item among miners because the filling of meat and potatoes was enclosed in a pastry that enabled miners to eat it with one hand and discard the part they held with their dirty hand. Although I live no where near the United Kingdom, pasties are popular in my community. Here in Pennsylvania, we are known for mining anthracite coal. While the coal industry isn't what it used to be, you can still get a pastie at any of the area churches' annual pastie sales.

Growing up, I disliked pasties. Most of the ones I had were dry and full of large, crunchy onions. I was reminded of pasties a few weeks ago in pastry class. We made up the dough and made a batch of the savory pastries. They were easy to make and after one bite, I was hooked. It was not the dry pastie I remembered from childhood. It was flavorful and delicious. It was so good that I whipped up a bunch at home. If you're looking for a portable (and satisfying) meal, try a pastie.

Pastie
Source: adapted from pastry class

Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (homemade or store bought)
1 and 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 - 3 potatoes
1/2 white onion (I omitted since I hate onions.)
1 - 2 teaspoons minced garlic
salt, pepper, and garlic powder
1 egg
2 - 3 tablespoons water

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Make pie crust and roll out to 1/4-inch thick. (Or open pie crust if using store bought.) Cut crusts into 4 half-circles.

Boil potatoes about 8 - 10 minutes, until slightly soft, but still firm. Drain, peel, and chop potatoes. Add potatoes to a bowl with ground beef, onion (if using), garlic, salt, and pepper.

Mix carefully with hands and form into 4 balls. Place each ball on one half of each of the half-circles of crust. Fold over sides to cover meat and crimp edges. Poke a few holes in the top to release steam.

Beat together egg and water. Brush top of pasties with egg wash. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

Baked Chicken Scampi

2010-11-08T07:21:00.001-05:00

Garlic and butter how I love thee! I love chicken scampi. When I make this dish, I usually saute the chicken on the stove top in a butter-garlic chicken broth. This time I decided to throw all the ingredients over the chicken, top it with some panko breadcrumbs for crunch, and pop it in the oven instead. Out came a buttery garlic dream. The best part of this dish is it's so easy to make. Plus it was so delicious that my husband forbade me from making scampi any other way.

Baked Chicken Scampi

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts
1/2 lemon
2 - 3 cloves fresh garlic (minced)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, parsley

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cut chicken breast in half and place in lightly greased baking dish.
Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper.
Melt butter in a small saucepan.
Add olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and parsley.
Cook until garlic is soft and fragrant.
Pour butter mixture over chicken and top with panko bread crumbs.
Bake for 30 minutes.

Buffalo Chicken Stromboli

2010-10-31T17:16:00.001-04:00

My husband's coworker recently gave me a bread machine. I'm not a huge bread eater, but I do love that I can make pizza dough with it. After finding this tutorial on how to make pizza dough, I popped all my ingredients into the machine and let it do its thing. I was left was some beautiful pizza dough. I decided to skip the pizza and make stromboli instead. After working it to the thickness I wanted, I filled it with a mixture of buffalo chicken and cheese. I popped it in the oven and out came a gorgeous stromboli. It was spicy, cheesy, and delicious. Next time, I have to use the bread machine to actually make bread.

Buffalo Chicken Stromboli
Source: pizza dough from YouTube

Ingredients:
1 pizza dough recipe
3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/2 cup buffalo sauce
1/2 cup bleu cheese crumbles
1 - 1 and 1/2 cups shredded cheese
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll out dough and shape into a rectangle.
Mix together chicken, buffalo sauce, and bleu cheese crumbles.
Spread mixture on dough, leaving a 1-inch perimeter.
Cover with shredded cheese.
Roll lengthwise into a log.
Brush with beaten egg.
Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

Pastry School Update

2010-10-27T07:33:00.002-04:00

I'm about half-way through my first pastry school class. I've learned a lot so far. I got to use a commercial mixer and oven. I learned how to clean a dish machine (not fun). I've played with a doughnut filler (and made a huge mess)! I made a friend. We've made an array of tasty items such as fruit, cream, and chiffon pies, pasties, apple dumplings, cookies, bars, eclairs, cream puffs, and tarts. The most fun and tastiest pastry I've made so far is cream puffs and eclairs. I loved how the recipe called for us to cook the dough before baking it. The tiny mounds of dough blew up into beautiful pastries. It was very interesting. Plus those little devils were delicious.

And then we made tarts. I'm so proud of the tart you see above. It's so beautiful. I've never made a tart before, nor have I ever eaten one. I really wasn't looking forward to class, either. I had fun making these and loved my final product. I don't know if I'll ever make another tart in my life, but at least I have this one. All in all, I'm having fun and looking forward to the rest of my class and moving on to a cake class next semester.

Here's a fuzzy picture of my teammate, Ericka, and I at pastry class. (I'm on the right.)

Apple Cupcakes with Caramel Buttercream

2010-10-25T18:10:00.002-04:00

I love everything about the fall: apples, pumpkins, cool weather, changing leaves, etc. But I've seriously been slacking this year. Pastry school has been keeping me super busy and I haven't had any time to make any fall treats. When I heard about the What's Baking cooking group from my favorite cooking board, I knew I wanted to participate, especially since this month's theme is fall cupcakes, two of my favorite things. We went to the local orchard over the weekend and picked up a barrel of Macintosh apples that were just begging to be used in a recipe. I had been eying a recipe for caramel apple cupcakes in the October issue of Every Day with Rachel Ray.

I liked the method for this cupcake recipe. Just shred the apples and stir all the ingredients together. No mixer involved. Plus, it yielded only 12 cupcakes, which is a perfect amount since I'm bringing home hoards of treats from school. (This week is tarts!) Instead of topping these with caramel, I opted for a caramel buttercream. While the buttercream was delicious, I don't think these cupcakes needed any frosting at all. It overwhelmed the fresh apple flavor, but they were delicious nonetheless.

Apple Cupcakes
Source: Every Day with Rachel Ray, October 2010

Ingredients:
2 apples, peeled and shredded (sprinkle w/ lemon juice to prevent browning)
1 and 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed tightly)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Whisk in oil and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Gently stir in the apples.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 22 - 28 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before topping with frosting.

Caramel Buttercream
1 stick butter
2 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 2 tablespoons water
15 caramel candies

Melt caramels in microwave for about 1 minute. Stir well and cool. Cream the butter. Add vanilla and beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time and water until desired consistency is reached. Add the caramel and beat well.

*TIP: Since I didn't wait for the caramel to cool completely, I used slightly cold butter so it didn't melt during mixing.

Garlic Cheddar Chicken

2010-10-17T11:00:00.002-04:00

I've been looking for some different ways to make chicken and I came across this recipe. All I can say about this chicken is wow! This simple recipe yielded a perfectly moist and flavorful chicken breast. It may not be one of the healthiest recipes, but it's certainly delicious. I made a few changes to cut down on the amount of butter and cheese used in the recipe.

Garlic Cheddar Chicken
Source: adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:
6 boneless chicken breasts, cut in half
1 stick butter (I used 2/3 stick.)
4 cloves fresh garlic, minced
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 and 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (I used 1/2 cup jack/cheddar blend.)
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking dish.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat and cook the garlic until tender.
On a plate, mix the bread crumbs, cheeses, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper.
Dip each chicken breast in the garlic butter, then press into the bread crumb mixture.
Drizzle any remaining butter on top of the chicken breasts.
Bake for 30 minutes.

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes

2010-10-13T07:12:00.000-04:00

I originally made these red velvet cupcakes for my good friend's birthday and again for my husband's Dirty Stashe Bash. They were a hit, especially with my self-proclaimed cake-hating cousin. He loved them so much and requested these for his birthday instead of his annual ice cream cake.That's how powerful these cuties are: They beat ice cream cake! I made these mini, so he'd have leftovers to share with his class. As always, red velvet never disappoints, especially when they're topped with brown sugar cream cheese. If you've never tried red velvet, make these now!

Alice Springs Chicken

2010-10-11T21:39:00.013-04:00

I know it's been a while since I updated, but this gal is busy! I'm loving culinary school, but it's kicking my butt to be a student again. It got me thinking back to when I attended college the first time around. I graduated from Penn State eight years ago, yep, it's really been that long.

To pay for my books and rent, I used to wait tables at Outback Steakhouse. I really can't say I loved waiting tables, but it did pay the bills. I did, however, love the 50% discount I received. It helped a poor college student like me subsist on steak and potatoes. One of my favorite dishes on the menu is Alice Springs Chicken. It's a seasoned chicken breast covered in honey mustard sauce and topped with mushrooms, bacon, and melted cheese. It's so yummy! I was craving Alice Springs Chicken, so I decided instead of heading to the Outback here, I would make the dish at home. It came out delicious, but not as good as Outback. It must be their secret seasonings. I believe it's a blend of 17 different spices. At least that's what I remember from my days as a waitress.

Alice Springs Chicken
Inspired by Outback Steakhouse

Ingredients:
3 chicken breasts, pounded thin and sliced in half
6 slices bacon
3/4 cup sliced white mushrooms
1/4 cup honey mustard
1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic
salt, pepper, and garlic powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a baking dish with nonstick spray.
Cook bacon, reserving 2 - 3 tablespoons of bacon grease.
Saute mushrooms in bacon grease and minced garlic.
Season chicken with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and brush both sides with honey mustard.
Top with mushrooms, bacon, and cheese and bake for 30 minutes.

Buffalo Blue Potato Slabs
2 - 3 potatoes
1/4 cup buffalo sauce
1/4 cup bleu cheese crumbles
salt & pepper

Thinly slice potatoes and place in a single layer on a greased cookie sheet.
Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with buffalo sauce.
Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.
During the last 3 minutes of baking, top with bleu cheese and return to oven to melt cheese.

Slower Cooker Carnitas

2010-09-26T14:58:00.002-04:00

We love tacos, and I'm the first the admit we eat way too many of them. I get sick of the same old beef and chicken tacos, so I decided to make carnitas or pork tacos. I bought a family-sized pack of pork chops and threw them in a slow cooker with a few ingredients I had on hand. The result was perfectly tender pork with a Mexican flair. Perfect for tacos.

Carnitas Tacos

6 - 8 thin boneless pork chops
2 cups salsa verde
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon chipotle rub
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Cook on high for 2 - 4 hours or on low for 6 - 8 hours. Shred pork and drain any excess liquid. Serve with flour tortillas and your favorite taco fixings.

Vanilla Cupcakes

2010-09-19T19:33:00.001-04:00

I love vanilla cupcakes almost as much as I love Penn State football. I can't wait to return to Happy Valley next weekend to see the Nittany Lions take down Temple. While these vanilla cupcakes were delicious, they were a tad dry. This is the same problem I've been having lately with vanilla cupcakes from scratch: They come out dry. I've tried a bunch of different recipes, such as this one, this one, this one, and this one. I use the best of ingredients and follow the directions perfectly. I even checked my oven with a thermometer to make sure it's at the correct temperature. What am I doing wrong? If anyone could help me, I'd really appreciate it. Or, if you have that go-to perfect vanilla cupcake, I beg of you to send it my way.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Source: Annie's Eats

Ingredients:
1 stick butter (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon (I omitted.)
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted because I used salted butter.)
1/4 cup milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners and set aside.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest (if using).

Turn the mixer down to low speed and alternately add the flour mixture and milk in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 18 - 20 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Top with your favorite vanilla buttercream.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2010-09-14T07:22:00.000-04:00

Every year my mom throws herself a birthday party on Labor Day weekend. It's just the way it is. Of course we do all the cooking, setting up, and clean up. She requested carrot cake again this year. Since I am transitioning to all cupcakes, I turned it into carrot cake cupcakes. I was determined to make it from scratch this year. I really loathe the idea of shredding carrots, but I wanted to make something special for my mom. Luckily my aunt found a recipe in grandma's old cookbook that calls for carrot baby food. I happily jotted down the recipe and went to work. The original recipe called for a 1/2 cup of each of raisins, nuts, and maraschino cherries, but I omitted all three. They were delicious without and no one missed the fruit or nuts. They had a strong spice flavor with a hint of carrot. They were also super moist. I even converted a few family members with these that swore they didn't like carrot cake. I paired these with plain cream cheese icing, but I think cinnamon cream cheese would be awesome.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Source: adapted from my Grandma

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I added.)
dash of salt
2 (3.5 oz.) containers carrot baby food
1 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (I added.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.

Beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in carrots.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 17 - 20 minutes.

Watermelon Cupcakes

2010-09-13T19:44:00.003-04:00

I have a confession: I don't like watermelon. There I said it. When I tell people this they usually look at me like I have two heads. I've even been called un-American. I've really tried to like this fruit, but I just don't. I think it's the texture and definitely the flavor. Too sweet. So now I just avoid it. I saw a recipe for these cuties about a year ago and I knew I had to make them for a summer party. I finally got around to making these for Labor Day—the end of summer. The best thing about these watermelon cupcakes: They don't taste like watermelon. They're vanilla cupcakes dyed red and spiked with chocolate chips to look like seeds. I topped them with vanilla buttercream tinted green to look like the rind and some green sanding sugar for crunch. Now this is a watermelon I like. The cake was a tad dry, but very tasty, and filled with chocolate chips. What more could you want?

Watermelon Cupcakes
Source: adapted from Beantown Baker

Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt (I only used 1/4 since I use salted butter.)
2 sticks butter
4 large eggs
1 cup whole milk (I used skim.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Few drops pink and red food coloring

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners.

Whisk together flours, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In a separate bowl, coat chocolate chips with flour (so they don't sink during baking) and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

Beating on low, add 1/3 the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and food coloring.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 17 - 22 minutes.

Green Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
4 - 5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 2 tablespoons water
2 - 3 drops green food coloring

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and water. Beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add food coloring and beat well.

Lobster

2010-09-09T07:31:00.000-04:00

I know I've been MIA for a week or so. I'm a student again and I've been busy learning about pastries and pies. I'm so excited to be in the first class at the new culinary school in my area. I really hope this makes all my dreams come true!

Now onto the post. I'm here to talk about lobster. Super sweet lobster drizzled with melted butter. It took me and my husband almost 9 years to make lobster at home by ourselves. His mom makes lobster for every Christmas Eve dinner. It's never consistent. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's undercooked, sometimes it's overcooked. I figured it was one of those difficult dishes to make, so I never tried to make it by myself. Boy am I sorry. These guys came out perfectly. Plus they were so easy! Warning: These are live creatures. I screamed like crazy trying to put them in the pot, so my husband had to do it. Also, you will get messy, but that's the fun in it.

Boiled Lobster

Ingredients:

2 (1 pound) lobsters

1 cup white wine

2 - 3 cups water

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 stick butter

dash of hot sauce

Directions:

Bring water, wine, and garlic to a boil.

Remove rubber bands from the lobsters' claws.

Drop into boiling hot water and cover with a lid.

Boil for 13 - 15 minutes until lobsters are bright red.

Melt butter and add a dash of hot sauce to butter.

Eat like Kings!

Lazy Day Piggies

2010-08-31T07:07:00.000-04:00

This recipe came from my mom. I'm not going to lie, cooking is not one of my mom's strong suits. Let's just say I'm for the most part a self-taught cook. Mom makes a handful of dishes that I can honestly say I love and this is one of them. I never liked piggies growing up. I recently discovered that I am very fond of cabbage. For those of you not from northeastern PA, a piggie, which is sometimes called a pig in a blanket or a cabbage roll, is ground beef and rice wrapped in cabbage and baked in tomato sauce. This recipe throws all the components together in a casserole dish and is baked. It's an easy recipe that is warm and comforting on a cool, fall day. It's also a crowd-pleaser and disappears at family functions.

Lazy Day Piggies

Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage
1 and 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 cup cooked white rice
2 jars sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Brown ground beef with minced garlic and Italian seasoning. Drain most of the grease, leaving about 2 tablespoons and transfer to a large bowl.

Roughly chop cabbage and add to ground beef. Add rice and sauce. Stir until combined. Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Pour into a lightly greased casserole dish.

Bake 1 and 1/2 - 2 hours. Serve with a salad and bread.

S'mores Brownies

2010-08-30T15:40:00.001-04:00

One of our good friends just celebrated his birthday. I always try to make all my friends cupcakes on their birthdays. This particular friend loves brownies, so I broke down and made some even through brownies aren't one of my favorites. (I know, who doesn't like brownies?) This friend loves brownies with nuts in them, but since he just discovered he has a nut allergy, I had to come up with something different. I wanted to make something that appeals to everyone and came up with s'mores brownies. Who doesn't love s'mores? These brownies got rave reviews, even from someone who's not fond of brownies. (I know; hangs head in shame.) This was an easy recipe that came together quickly.

S'mores Brownies
Source: adapted from Joelen's Culinary Adventures

Ingredients:
1 batch homemade brownies or 1 (21.5 oz) package brownie mix
4 full graham crackers
1 and 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
2 regular-sized milk chocolate bars (I used Hershey's.)

Directions:
Preheat oven according to brownies recipe or package directions.

Prepare brownie mix according to recipe or package directions. Spread batter into a 9x13 pan and bake brownies for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, break graham crackers into 1-inch pieces, chop chocolate bars, and toss with miniature marshmallows. Remove brownies from oven and sprinkle the s'mores mixture on top.

Return pan to oven and bake for an additional 15 - 20 minutes.

Stuffed Eggplant Boats

2010-08-22T13:59:00.000-04:00

I mentioned that I like eggplant and now all these beautiful eggplants keep showing up on my doorstep. Have I mentioned I love money, too? Maybe some of that will start showing up as well. I was looking for some different eggplant recipes other than eggplant parm, and my coworker suggested stuffing it with sausage. I liked her idea and came up with my own recipe. You can stuff an eggplant with any meats or veggies you'd like. I kept it simple so my husband would eat it: meat and cheese with peppers and eggplant. This recipe was more time consuming than I anticipated and the skin of the eggplant was kinda bitter, so we ate around it. I'd make this again and experiment with different veggies or meats.

Ingredients:
2 eggplants
1 pound ground sausage
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon canola oil
salt & pepper, to taste
1/3 cup shredded cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice eggplants in half. Sprinkle liberally with salt and set in a colander or on a baking rack in the sink to "sweat."

Meanwhile, brown the sausage with half the garlic and the red pepper. Drain and transfer to a bowl.

After about 20 minutes, wipe the eggplant halves with paper towels. Scoop the flesh out of the eggplant, leaving about 1/4 of it in the skin. Chop the flesh of the eggplant.

Heat a skillet on medium-high heat and add the remaining garlic and eggplant. Saute until golden brown and add to the sausage. Mix well. Stuff the eggplant "boats" and top with shredded cheese.

Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until the eggplant is tender. Top with your favorite tomato sauce.

Raspberry Buttercream

2010-08-17T19:00:00.002-04:00

Remember those Duff cupcakes? I topped them with a raspberry buttercream to die for! I was in the mood for something other than vanilla buttercream, but I didn't want to run to the store. I had a jar of raspberry preserves in the fridge and decided to use it in the buttercream. The buttercream was awesome. It tasted like sweet raspberries and perfectly complemented the light white cupcakes. I went up a step further and prettied them up with a few edible pink pearls.

Raspberry Buttercream

2 sticks butter (room temperature) (I always use salted.)
3 - 4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry preserves
1 - 2 tablespoons water or milk (or any other liquid)

Beat the butter on high speed for about 3 - 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Turn mixer to low-medium speed and add powdered sugar one cup at a time. Add raspberry preserves and water, until desired consistency is reached. Beat well for about 3 more minutes.

Review: Duff's White Cake Mix

2010-08-16T19:45:00.004-04:00

I was at Michael's the other day picking up some baking supplies when I saw a new line of baking supplies from Duff, owner of Charm City Cakes and star of the Food Network's Ace of Cakes. I'm not a huge fan of his show, but some of his cakes are pretty awesome. I was intrigued, so I picked up a white cake mix to give it a try. As you know I'm always on the hunt for a great white cake recipe. (Anyone have a great one they want to share?)

It was easy to make as you only add oil and water and mix for two minutes before popping it in the oven. The mix makes a 9 X 13 cake, but I chose to make cupcakes instead. (I know Duff would be irritated, since he hates cupcakes. Maybe that's why I don't like him!) The mix seemed kinda coarse and smelled strongly of flour. After I whipped up the batter, I gave it a taste and it tasted like flour and chemicals. I hoped for the best and tossed the cupcakes in the oven. Minutes later, I had 16 perfectly domed beautiful cupcakes. They looked great, but how would they taste?

One bite and boy was I surprised. Don't judge a cupcake by it's batter! They were great. The texture was light, but not too light and it had a nice soft crumb. The flavor was light and delicious. After I ate one, I dreamed about another all day and finally caved. I don't love boxed cake mixes, but you honestly have to try this one.

Dirt "Cake"

2010-08-15T20:50:00.002-04:00

I never understood the appeal of Dirt cake. First, it's not cake. It's cookies and pudding. Second, it looks messy and unappealing. Third, it's always sitting out in the sun at someone's BBQ and is warm. I was asked to make this concoction for my cousin's husband's 40th birthday party. I assumed I'd be asked to make cake or cupcakes, but she threw me for a loop and asked me to make Dirt.

I never made Dirt before (and frankly didn't really like it ). I looked up some recipes and decided to just layer pudding, chopped cookies, and whipped topping into a sand bucket and top with a few gummy worms. It looked really cool, but would it taste good? Apparently so. I heard one of the kids at the party tell the hostess it was the best Dirt he ever had. It made me smile, so I had to give it a try. Not too bad. It was creamy, crunchy, and sweet. I'm not a convert, yet. I think I'll stick to regular cake, but Dirt cake seems to be a hit at parties—especially with the kids.

Dirt Cake
Source: Unsure of original source, adapted from Kraft

Ingredients:
3 boxes instant pudding (I used 2 vanilla and 1 chocolate.)
6 cups milk
1 and 1/2 containers (12 oz.) whipped topping, such as Cool Whip
1 and 1/2 packages chocolate cream cookies, such as Oreos
15 gummy worms (optional)

Directions:
Add 2 cups of milk to each package of pudding and whisk for two minutes. Place in fridge for a few minutes to set. Meanwhile, crush cookies in a plastic baggie with a rolling pin or meat cleaver. Layer crushed cookies on bottom of sand bucket. Remove pudding from fridge and fold in 4 oz. of cool whip to each bowl of pudding. Layer over crushed cookies and repeat. Top with crushed cookies and top with a few gummy worms. Serve with a shovel.

Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

2010-08-08T15:40:00.002-04:00

I was wandering around one of my favorite grocery stores when I stumbled upon a can of dulce de leche. I immediately slipped it into my cart with my wheel of brie, tomatillo salsa, and other goodies I can only get at this particular store. I had read a few tutorials about making my own, but I really didn't want to do all that work for one can of the sweet concoction. Plus it's summer and it's been really hot here, so I'm trying not to have the oven on all that much. These cupcakes were yummy when they were assembled. The cinnamon cupcake was a little dense and lacking a strong cinnamon flavor. They were also pale. The dulce de leche perked these right up. If you've never had it, go find it now or make your own. So delicious. I kept eating it right out of the can.

Cinnamon Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
Source: Kitchen Koala

Ingredients:
3 and 1/2 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 sticks butter (diced, room temperature)
1 cup milk, divided
4 eggs
2 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 can dulce de leche (Tutorial to make your own here.)
1 batch vanilla buttercream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners.

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon into a bowl. Add butter and 1/2 cup milk. Mix on medium speed for about about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, egg whites, remaining 1/2 cup milk, and vanilla until combined. Add to the batter in three separate additions, mixing for 2 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Scrape the sides of the bowl between additions.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for 16 - 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Jalapeno Popper Chicken

2010-08-03T07:18:00.002-04:00

I love the summer and I love people who have gardens—especially those who are willing to share with me. My husband's coworker gave us a bunch of jalapenos recently. I was going to make salsa, then I was going to make grilled jalapeno poppers, then I saw a recipe for jalapeno popper dip. I finally decided to make a jalapeno popper stuffed chicken. There are a ton of jalapeno popper chicken recipes floating around. Some have cheese inside, some have cream cheese. Some are breaded and others are wrapped in bacon. I decided to pick out what I love about jalapeno poppers and go with it. I used cream cheese, shredded cheese, and breaded the chicken. It turned out wonderfully—creamy, flavorful, and not too spicy. Next time I think I will leave a few seeds and ribs in the jalapenos to kick up the heat.

Jalapeno Popper Chicken
Source: adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts
1/2 block cream cheese
1/3 cup shredded cheese (any flavor)
4 - 5 jalapenos, chopped (ribs and seeds removed)
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup bread crumbs
2 teaspoons taco seasoning
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix together cream cheese, shredded cheese, and jalapeno peppers. Use a knife to make a slit in each chicken breast. Stuff mixture into slit. Use a toothpick to secure if necessary. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Mix together bread crumbs and taco seasoning on a plate. Whisk egg in a bowl. Dip chicken into bread crumb mixture then egg and again into bread crumbs.

Place in baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

2010-08-01T11:36:00.001-04:00

I recently had a cupcake order and decided to stray from my tried and true chocolate cupcake recipe to try this Martha Stewart recipe. This recipe had so much promise. It promised rich, tender, chocolate cupcakes and it promised to only dirty one bowl. Martha has never failed me in the past...until now.

The promise of dirtying one bowl was the only promise Martha kept. Now don't get me wrong, these weren't terrible. The chocolate flavor was good, but the texture was very dry. When I unwrapped the cupcake, the bottom was so dry that it separated from the rest of the cupcake and stuck to the wrapper. I followed the recipe, and the only change I made was substituting canola oil for safflower oil. I also didn't overbake these, so I don't know what happened. Reviews said the batter would be thin, but mine was not. I was disappointed with this recipe. I know that I should have never tried to use a new recipe for a cupcake order. It resulted in me having to make a whole new batch of my go-to chocolate cupcakes.

I iced these "rejects" with the leftover vanilla buttercream from the cupcake order and put some fun sayings on them for some friends who were coming over for a cookout. My friends really enjoyed them, but I still stand by my review: too dry.

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes
Source: Martha Stewart as seen on Cate's World Kitchen
yields about 16 cupcakes

Ingredients:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 and 1/2 cups sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons safflower oil (I used canola.)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans with 16 cupcake liners.

Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Add eggs, water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Mix with a fork just until combined.

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 18 - 22 minutes.

Cool cupcakes in the pans for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cucumber Salad

2010-07-31T13:08:00.000-04:00

Do you have a bunch of cucumbers growing in your garden this year and don't know what to do with all of them? I wish I had a green thumb. My gardens die. I do have a baking thumb, though. Anyways, you should make this cucumber salad. It's the perfect summer side dish. It's light and refreshing. The vinegar gives it a tart flavor that's balanced by the sweetness of the sugar. This is a simple recipe that was passed on to me by my cousin that I've tweaked to my tastes. Quick tip: After making this salad, let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors meld. The longer it sits, the better it will be.

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:
2 large cucumbers
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 - 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 and 1/2 - 2 tablespoons sugar
salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Slice cucumbers into thin slices and set aside. Whisk together sour cream, vinegar, sugar, and salt & pepper. Pour over cucumbers and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Vanilla Princess Cupcakes

2010-07-26T20:31:00.002-04:00

One of my coworkers recently asked me to make cupcakes for her daughter and I was thrilled! She liked the simple crown cupcakes I made a few weeks ago for my neighbor and asked me to make something similar. Her daughter picked out a princess theme, so I set out to make the cutest, girliest cupcakes that I could. And, I think I succeeded. I was really happy with the way these turned out. I made vanilla and chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla buttercream. I toped them with pink and purple crowns and rimmed the sides of the cupcakes with pink and purple sprinkles and sanding sugars. I finished them with pink edible pearls. The only thing I worried about was the weather. It's been in the 90s here with humidity so thick you can cut it with a knife. As soon as these cupcakes were frosted, I had to pop them in the fridge so they didn't melt. I worried all night about the sanding sugar and sprinkles melting and bleeding. Thankfully they all stayed perfect.

I used a new vanilla recipe for these cupcakes and was not disappointed like I have been recently with vanilla cupcake recipes. This one was moist and not too dense. It didn't rise as much as I would have liked, but I would definitely make this recipe again. I altered the recipe a bit since I didn't have any vanilla beans. I omitted the bean and doubled the vanilla extract. The verdict: very yummy with a distinct vanilla flavor. I topped them with my favorite vanilla buttercream.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Source: adapted from Annie's Eats
(makes about 30 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
3 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (I omitted since I used salted butter.)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise (I omitted.)
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
2 cups sugar
5 eggs (room temperature)
1 and 1/4 cups buttermilk (room temperature)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract (I used 2 tablespoons.)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

If using, scrape the vanilla bean seeds into another bowl with the butter and discard the pod (or reserve for another use.) Beat butter on medium-high speed for 3 minutes (with either a hand mixer or stand mixer), until light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for an additional minute.

Add the sugar to the butter mixture, 1/4 cup at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the eggs one, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Combine buttermilk and vanilla extract in a liquid measuring cup. Beating on low, add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk, and ending with the flour mixture.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full (I had enough batter for a half-dozen more cupcakes) Bake 18 - 22 minutes. Allow to cool in the pans a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

My Favorite Vanilla Buttercream
2 sticks butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 - 2 tablespoons water

Cream the butter. Add vanilla and water. Beat well. Add powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. Beat well.

Bacon-Bleu Potato Salad

2010-07-21T07:20:00.001-04:00

There is no shortage of salads during the summer: pasta, potato, and macaroni. It's always the same. Every cookout has them. By mid-summer, I am sick of the same old thing. I was looking for something a little different when I found this recipe. I'm not a huge fan of potato salad, but this one may have changed my mind. I loved the sharpness the bleu cheese gave this dish, plus the saltiness of the bacon. If you're looking for a dish to bring to a cookout, then you need to try this recipe.

Source: adapted from First for Woman, May 24, 2010
Bacon-Bleu Potato Salad

Ingredients:
2 pounds potatoes
1/2 cup mayo (I used one made with olive oil.)
1/4 cup salad dressing (such as Miracle Whip)
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 - 3/4 cup bleu cheese crumbles
4 - 6 slices bacon
salt & pepper, to taste

Cube potatoes, leaving skins on and boil until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.

Fry bacon. Drain grease and set aside. When cooled, crumble into small pieces.

After potatoes and bacon have cooled, mix together mayo, salad dressing, sour cream, dijon mustard, vinegar. Fold in bacon and bleu cheese. Pour over potatoes and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

2010-07-19T19:27:00.002-04:00

Happy Blogiversary to me!

So I'm a little late. I'm always late so it's fitting for me. My little blog turned one year old last week. So much has changed for me in the past year. After I started my blog, my love of food and baking continued strong. I started to debate if I could turn a hobby into something more. So I took a leap and I start pastry arts classes next month. A year ago I was just an editor with a hobby. Now I'm an editor with a dream of opening her own cupcakery. I guess only time will tell.

Since it's been so hot, I've been neglecting my blog lately. Who wants to turn on the oven in 90-degree weather? I was searching for something to take on a bus trip to a wine festival that wasn't too messy and would fill up our stomachs before hours of drinking. Randy suggested brownies. OK, I'm going to say it: I'm not a huge fan of brownies. It's the texture—too thick. Then I saw a recipe for snickerdoodle blondies and decided to give it a try. I've made blondies before and it wasn't love, but I decided to try them again. These were right up my alley. I love cinnamon and I love snickerdoodles. I figured these would be perfect for our trip. While they were tasty, it's the thick texture I can't get over. If you love cinnamon and blondies, then these are for you. I did love the crunch the cinnamon/sugar mixture on top added.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

Source: adapted from My Baking Addiction as seen on Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:
2 and 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt (I only used 1/2 teaspoon.)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 sticks butter, room temperature (I used salted.)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl and set aside.

Beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and vanilla and beat until thoroughly combined. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. (Batter will be thick like dough.)

Spread the batter evenly into the pan. Combine granulated sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Sprinkle mixture over the top of batter.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

2010 Fizzball Cake

2010-07-11T19:01:00.004-04:00

Each year, my cousin has a huge Fourth of July party. It's the kind of party he begins planning for the next year the day after it's over. Everyone in the entire family must attend. It's huge with well over 100 people. There is tons of food, loads of drinks, camping out, music, a pool with a slide and diving board, and games—Fizzball being the main event, of course. Fizzball is basically a drunken game of baseball. A can of (awful, skunky, nasty) beer (such as Milwaukee's Best) is shaken and pitched to the batter. The batter uses a bat, paddle, etc. to hit the can of beer. Points are given by a panel of judges and are based on style, flair, and bribery. If the batter strikes out, he must drink the gross can of beer.

That leads me to the cake. I made a Fizzball cake for the first time last year. I placed a can of beer on top and it was saved and thrown out as the first pitch this year. So, this year I continued the trend and placed a can of beer on top. I kept this cake simple—marbled chocolate and vanilla cake topped with vanilla buttercream. I also kept it decorated simply, too. I think it came out great since I had to battle 90-degree weather and was terrified it was going to melt all over. All in all I think it looked really awesome and I look forward to making next year's Fizzball cake!

It's a Girl!

2010-07-02T07:42:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not pregnant, but I am going to be an aunt again! Our niece, Rylee Renee, is set to arrive at the end of August. I made these cupcakes for the baby shower. I made these once before for my co-worker (Baby J is set to arrive in October) and they were so adorable that I had to make them again. This time I topped them with a basic vanilla buttercream since it was too hot and humid for a swiss meringue buttercream. I also used fruit flavored Lifesavers instead of mint. I also gave this vanilla cupcake recipe a second chance, but again it turned out too dry. I'm still on the hunt for that perfect vanilla cupcake. I used my old standby for the chocolate cupcakes: Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake.

Easy Alfredo Sauce

2010-06-29T19:51:00.000-04:00

I had my heart set on chicken scampi for dinner. A nice light lemony sauce with a zip of garlic. I opened the fridge and realized I forgot to buy lemons at the store. I did, however, have a half of block of cream cheese waiting to be used up. I was planning on making icing for cupcakes, but the weather has been too hot. I had bookmarked this recipe for an easy alfredo sauce and decided to give it a try. It was very easy to make and very tasty. It had a nice creamy texture, but it was a little thick. Adding a little more milk would have easily solved that problem.

Easy Alfredo Sauce
Source: Adapted from Cooks.com

4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
2 - 4 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk
1 clove fresh garlic, minced

In a pan, melt cream cheese and butter over low-medium heat. Whisk in milk. Add flour one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. Turn to low and add cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes over low heat.

Banana Cupcakes

2010-06-23T07:40:00.002-04:00

I was recently asked to make banana cupcakes for a birthday. I have never made banana cupcakes before, so I was at a loss. I needed a recipe and fast. I googled a few recipes and looked through a few blogs, before I went to my fellow nesties for help. A fellow blogger and nestie came through with this Martha Stewart recipe. And like most of her recipes, this only did not disappoint either. I have to try more of Martha's cupcake recipes in the near future. I didn't have time to do a test run with these, but luckily they came out perfectly. They had great banana favor, and the texture wasn't as dense as a muffin. I topped these with a vanilla buttercream per request, but I think a cream cheese frosting would be divine on these.

Banana Cupcakes
Source: Martha Stewart as seen on Loves to Eat

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted since I used salted butter.)
1 stick butter, melted
1 and 1/2 cups mashed bananas (I used 2 large ripe bananas.)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tin with 12 cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Make a well in center of flour mixture. Using hands, mix together melted butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla in well. Incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Divide batter among cupcake liners. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes (Mine baked in 20 minutes, so watch them!). Remove cupcakes from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.