Baking to De-stress

All About the Desserts.....I mean Babies!

2012-01-20T22:17:00.001-05:00

Wow I really might be the worst blogger ever! Some of it is laziness and some of it is using new recipes and then losing them! I promise to be better. In October I helped throw a baby shower for a very dear friend from college. It was wonderful because her mom, sister in law, mother in law and another college friend helped out but let me do all the desserts. I was a little nuts, what's new, and over baked way too much but everything came out great. People asked if it was a job or a hobby, I wish it was a job but not even sure if they were that amazing. I am proud to say that not only did everything looked good but everything tasted amazing!!!!

First was Red Velvet Cupcakes with bright blue cream cheese (it's a boy!).

I also made them in mini size! Which were a big hit, less guilt and just as delicious!

I also made cheesecake pops that came out great except I did keep them in the freezer before hand so they defrosted at the party. I made them once before with Daring Bakers but I used a different recipe this time. They were super impressive at the party and a great hit. I stored them in large plastic cups in the freezer so this way they could stand up as they were drying.The recipe I used this time is below.

These are 3D solid chocolate baby bottles that I made out of a chocolate mold. They werent perfect but everyone loved them and I did too!

CHEESECAKE POPS
(Source: Allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
24 lollipop sticks
10 ounces white confectioners' coating
miniature semisweet chocolate chips toasted

DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

- Beat cream cheese and sugar in a large bowl until smooth. Mix in the sour cream and blend thoroughly, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add the flour, vanilla and salt and mix well. Add the eggs one at a time, blending thoroughly before adding the next egg, but do not overbeat. Pour batter into a 9-inch springform pan.

- Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes or until the edges of the cake just begin to turn golden. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour, then refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.

- Use a small cookie scoop to scoop out round balls of cheesecake. Roll them into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Push a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Place the tray in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.

- Melt the white confectioners' coating (or semi-sweet chocolate). Dip each cheesecake pop into the melted coating. Then dip into one of the toppings. Place on waxed paper until coating is set. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Store in refrigerator. (I store mine in the freezer)

Lemon Bottles and Onesies

2011-08-30T00:01:00.000-04:00

I am so far behind on blogging, I just don't know why. I have decided to try and update the blog because this is the easiest way to keep all my recipes at my fingertips. This post is extremly beneficial because I am in the process of planning another friend's baby shower.

For a friend's baby shower in February I decided to make onesie cookies again. I am excellent at underestimating the amount of time and the amount of work that I have to do and this was a perfect example because I was up until 4 am and back up 2 1/2 hours later trying to finish the over 100 cupcakes and an absurd amount of cookies (I think I blocked out the extra number for my own mental health). I was in pretty good shape making the cookies (both onesies and baby bottles)and then I tried the first batch of unfrosted ones and GROSS!!! They had to get thrown out and I started scouring my favorite Allrecipes for a new recipe (and now it was almost 3:30pm). I was pretty happy with this recipe except they blew up when they were baking them so I had to recut them once they came out of the oven (this could be because I used just butter) and some of the icing seemed to smudge in the bags but yet again I think my few hours of drying was just not enough.

Even though some of them were a little ugly they did get rave reviews because of the taste, the frosting and the cookies both had some lemon in them. Genious! (Thank you to whoever came up with that idea). I definitely would make these again but next time I would try and follow the recipe to a T and give myself more time for all of the frosting to dry!

SHIELA'S SUGAR COOKIES
(Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/shielas-sugar-cookies/detail.aspx)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup margarine
1 cup shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt

ICING:

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2.In a large bowl, cream together the 1 cup margarine, shortening, white sugar and 1 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch in thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 1/2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets.
3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
4.To make frosting, combine the 3 cups confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup margarine and 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice in a medium bowl. Mix until smooth, adding milk 1 tablespoon at a time until frosting has reached its desired consistency.

The Perfect Cake Version 2.0

2011-08-28T15:22:00.000-04:00

I live in DC where there is a pleothra of cupcake shops and honestly I can bake better than a lot of them, this has been told me by a lot of people. However, I cannot make mine as pretty and professional looking as they can. A few weeks ago two of my college friends and I had a sugar adventure and started with Frozen Hot Chocolates at Serendipity 3 and then walked over to Georgetown Cupcake (from the tv show DC cupcake) but after looking at the ridiculously long line (and my friend somehow getting a free cupcake) we walked over to the new Sprinkles cupcake. I had one of the most delicious cupcakes there and thought wow this tastes extremely similiar to my favorite chocolate chip cake but with peanut butter. So last nite I experimented and made the original recipe adding a little bit more than half a jar of peanut butter and have had nothing but rave reviews today, I was told it was the nice hint of peanut butter. So this is definitely a keeper! I made a chocolate glaze but spread it on slightly thicker then your typical glaze, absolutely perfect!

I made it as cupcakes but the recipe was originally for a bundt cake.

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE/CUPCAKES

DIRECTIONS:

1 pkg. Deluxe Yellow Cake Mix
4 large eggs
1 C. vegetable oil
1 C. milk
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1/2 to 3/4 of a jar of peanut butter (reduced fat worked well)
1 - 4oz bar German's Sweet Chocolate grated (grate it by throwing it in the blender)
Handful of Chocolate Chips (I use usually 2 handfuls)

DIRECTIONS:

- Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips.
- Fold in chocolate chips
- Pour into a greased Bundt pan or cupcakes
- Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.....(50 minutes is usually enough)For cupcakes about 23-25 minutes.

SATINY CHOCOLATE GLAZE
INGREDIENTS:

3/4 C. semisweet chocolate chips
3 T. butter
1 T. light corn syrup
1/4 tspn. vanilla extract

There are two different ways to do the glaze - the official directions are first then my short cut ones are second

OFFICIAL DIRECTIONS:

- In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.
- Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.

MY DIRECTIONS:

- In a microwave safe bowl melt chocolate chips and butter, occasionally stirring.
- After melted add corn syrup and vanilla.
- Spread warm glaze over top of cake, depending on the thickness either drizzle it or just spread it over the top and down the sides.

A Bit of Spring!

2011-05-18T08:50:00.000-04:00

Not only do I have one office mate that doesn't like chocolate but I have two! Seriously, people what is going on! I wanted find something that was delicious and outside of the norm (aka not vanilla cupcake with white frosting), also a great spring cupcake would also be perfect since the weather has definitely not been springy in DC! Well this is the perfect cupcake! People thought that these were professionally made, huge compliment in a city that has cupcake shops everywhere and even on wheels! People are also easily impressed with the fact that these are made with real strawberries (the recipe calls to strain them my strainer didn't work the greatest so the second time I didn't strain.) I used my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe, this cupcake recipe only makes 15 cupcakes so you only need half the frosting recipe(the halved recipes is in parenthesis.)

Real Strawberry Cupcakes(Source: All Recipes)

INGREDIENTS:

8 large fresh strawberries, or as needed
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding mix (optional)(I use this)
1 drop red food coloring, or as needed (optional)(they come out light pink without it)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Spray cupcake cups with cooking spray, or line with cupcake liners.

- Place 8 strawberries into a blender, and blend until smooth. Pour the puree through a strainer to remove seeds (I strained the first time not the second). Puree should equal about 3/4 cup. Set the puree aside.

- In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, white sugar, vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, lemon zest, and strawberry puree until well combined. Stir in the flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla pudding mix (for a moister cupcake), and red food coloring to reach a desired shade of pink. Spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake cups, filling each about 2/3 full.

- Bake in the preheated oven until the cupcakes have risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 23 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool at least 10 minutes before frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
INGREDIENTS:

1/2c. of unsalted butter (softened) (1/4 c)
2- 8oz. packs of cream cheese (softened) (1 - 8oz)
3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (1 3/4 C)
1 tbsp of vanilla extract (1/2 Tbsp)

DIRECTIONS:

- Cream the butter and cream cheese together and then add the powedered sugar and vanilla.

Chocolatey Caramel Love!

2011-05-05T23:37:00.000-04:00

I do not know how I never blogged about these brownies, they are amazing! They are delicious and one of the biggest crowd pleasers o and easy (easy is the key for me!!). I know they take a lot of steps but so worth it. Love these so much. I unwrap the caramels when they are in the oven for the first time. Enjoy these!

CHOCOLATE CARAMEL BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 cup chopped nuts (I've never included the nuts...it's your preference)
1 cup Carnation evaporated milk, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or magarine, melted
35 (10-oz pkg) caramels, unwrapped (I would recommend 40-50 (around 12oz)
2 cups (12-oz pkg) semi-sweet chocolate morsels

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat: oven to 350° F.
Combine: cake mix and nuts in large bowl. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter (batter will be thick). Spread half of batter into ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Bake: 15 minutes. ( I normally do for 13-14 minutes)
Heat : caramels and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Sprinkle morsels over brownie; drizzle with caramel mixture.
Drop: remaining batter by heaping teaspoon over caramel mixture.
Bake: 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack.

BACK............AGAIN!!!

2011-05-03T21:09:00.000-04:00

WOW!!! It has been forever since I have blogged and instead of throwing my hands up and saying I am done I have decided to come back to blogging. Since I have been back from Japan I have moved and redone my kitchen, I love all my new space and it is such a huge difference from my little galley kitchen!

So here it is what I have been doing:

THE KITCHEN:

Old Kitchen

New Kitchen

A FRIEND'S BABY SHOWER:
She didn't know what she was having so I made her favorite Red Velvet Cupcakes and made the frosting both pink and blue. I also made regular size and mini cupcakes. They were a big hit! I had sugar booties, duckies, and flowers to put on each one.

We did candy jars as favors:

BIRTHDAY CUPCAKES:
My officemate is not a chocolate fan so I made my lemon cupcakes and lemon frosting for his birthday. This time I let them cook longer and they came out delicious. In the earlier recipe I said to halve the cream cheese frosting so below is the halved recipe (enough for one batch of cupcakes). Sorry for the bad picture, they were the last cupcakes left!

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

- 1/2 of an 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- 1/8 cup butter
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar in 2 additions. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading.

COOKIE DOUGH + CUPCAKE = WOW

2010-10-14T16:03:00.003-04:00

My officemate loves cookie dough not cookies but cookie dough. For my birthday she made me one huge cookie and undercooked it since she loves the cookie dough taste. So for her birthday I decided I had to do something involving cookies and my usual cupcakes. I just got back from 5 months in Japan so my officemates were salivating/demanding my chocolate peanut butter cupcakes but I told them it was time to expand our horizons and boy were they happy to! These were a huge hit and were excellent! I made the cookie dough the nite before and left them in the freezer until the next nite. I don't usually like using box cake but I figured there was enough "homemade" stuff that it was okay. I used tried and true chocolate frosting!

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH CUPCAKE

(Source: allrecipes.com)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix
1 1/3 cups water
1/3 cup canola oil
3 eggs

DIRECTIONS:

- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt; set aside. Beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls; place onto a baking sheet, and freeze until solid, about 2 hours.

- Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

- Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with an electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepared cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

CREAMY CHOCOLATE FROSTING

(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons evaporated milk (I used regular milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

- In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar. ( I used more milk)

An Excuse and Travel Food!

2010-10-13T09:37:00.003-04:00

Okay so I have been an AWFUL baking blogger lately, okay for awhile. It is a two part excuse, one part I have no idea maybe I haevn't been baking as much maybe I am lazy?!?!! The other part of the excuse is real......I was in Japan for almost 5 months and while I was there I baked a little (mostly old favorites) and I promise I will blog about the new recipes soon. But I was also doing a blog for my family and friends about my travel and that just took a longggggggggggg time. Now that blog is done, so is my trip, so maybe I can concentrate on this blog again!

Here is a food post from my travel blog.

Seriously why has it taken me so long to do this post. Unfortunately, not all the food I love is featured here but needed to show a few things. I will be honest and say that I have packed on a few pounds since I have been here; actually, every time I have lived abroad I have gained weight and I think that is because of being a vegetarian and compensating with carbs. Being a vegetarian can be hard, think about it if you aren’t eating meat what are you eating when you travel? In the states I have the lovely Whole Foods (or Whole Paycheck as my dad calls it) but I always have difficulty outside of my comfort zone. Now this is where I could get extremely frustrated because my pants just don’t fit but I recently read something in a magazine that put it all in perspective (parphrased) “Instead of worrying about those last 5 pounds think about all the fun you had and the great food you ate to gain those 5 pounds.”

In Kyoto - I had some fantastic pees that were in this crunchy dough and some fantabolous dried fruit, seriously dried kiwi and strawberries!

OMG the fruit in Japan is HUGE! This asian pear was the size of my head, their peaches are the same way. The really cool thing is that they are sold with a foam protector.

On my last day of work in Sasebo Kaori bought me this awesome mini cake (even had its own ice pack with it!)

When I was in Korea Ryan and Holly introduced me to Tom n Toms Coffee, it is a Korean chain and o.......m...........g.............. this might be better than Starbucks! I know blasphemy but they have these pretzels that are made to order and the one below was sweet potatoe and cheese - I am salivating just thinking about it!

One nite when we were going back to the hotel Ryan, Holly, and I decided to stop and get a snack. Well I saw this ice cream that was "Sweet Corn" and I just couldn't say no because I was so intrigued. It tasted just like frozen sweet corn but honestly, I could not decided if I loved it or hated it and Holly was the same way. We both kept taking a bite and going hmmmmmmmmmmm not sure let me try it again!

When life gives you lemons.........

2010-08-28T02:25:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy in Japan but when I first got here I was invited to my coworker's house for dinner. I have limited baking stuff here (no mixer!) but still seem to be doing just fine. It is super hot here in Japan but I will take it because that means it is not currently raining!!!! I decided to try something different and went with Lemon Bars. They were really good my one thing would be to decrease the cooking time. I did 15 minutes for the crust and they were still pale but it was good enough!

LEMON PIE BARS
(Source: allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice (I used the lemon juice in the bottle)
1 tablespoon lemon zest

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Mix 2 cups of flour and confectioner's sugar together. Cut in the butter or margarine. Mix well until the dough resembles pie dough consistency.
- Press the dough into a 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. (I baked for 15 minutes and it was still pale)
- Beat together eggs, sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, lemon juice and lemon rind for at least 1 minute. Pour the mixture over the baked crust.
- Bake the bars another 20 minutes, or until the lemon topping has set.
- Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar when cooled.

A little bit out of the comfort zone...........

2010-07-14T20:00:00.002-04:00

Wow let's talk about being MIA.........the past few months have been absolutely crazy. I am actually living in Japan right now, I moved here in the beginning of May and will be here until the end of September. I am living and working on a military base and so we had a potluck at work for the 4th of July. They decided to center the meal around KFC chicken and as we all know I don't cook! I am always the dessert lady; however, those options were already taken so what was a girl to do! I decided to make a salad and biscuits. They both came out excellent and I even put the leftover biscuits in the freezer. Delicious!

The biscuit recipe says it makes 8; I doubled the recipe and definitely got more then 16 but I also don't think I made them as big as the recipe calls for. Don't forget you can always freeze them and defrost them later because they are absolutely amazing warm!

The nite before the potluck, I got all of the ingredients for the salad ready but then prepared it right before the potluck at my desk. Therefore, I was stuck with my bowl and so I probably didn't make it to all of the measurements listed but it is a salad so you don't really need to follow a recipe - I just liked having one to have some guidelines.

CHEDDAR BISCUITS:

(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups biscuit baking mix
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2/3 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons margarine, melted
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic salt

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet, or line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine baking mix, Cheddar cheese, and garlic powder. Stir in milk. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Brush biscuits with melted margarine, and sprinkle with parsley and garlic salt. Bake for 5 more minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom. (I am getting used to a new oven so I subtracted about 1 minute from each of the times).

BEAUTIFUL SALAD:
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

8 cups baby spinach leaves(I used 1 bag of spinach and 1 bag of 50/50 leaf mix)
1/2 medium red onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained (I think I might have used a can and half)
1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries (I used craisins)
1 cup honey-roasted sliced almonds
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, or to taste (I put it on the side)

DIRECTIONS:

- Put the leaves in a bowl and sprinkle a little bit of all the ingredients, while carefully tossing, and just keep mixing everything in. Beware, the almonds and cranberries will go straight to the bottom of the bowl!

Baking with Kids!

2010-03-14T20:31:00.004-04:00

This past Wednesday I baked with my 4th grade CCD students. Thankfully 2 of the moms helped me, otherwise I would not have survived baking with 10 - 10 year olds! The reason for this madness was Operation Baking Gals. This is my second time doing this and I think this is a wonderful organization since I love to bake and now I can do it for a good cause. I hope the solider Tim and his friends enjoy the boxes of cookies and the cards that they made!

All the cookies packed and ready to go. Also, the cards that they made.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (recipe below)

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES
(Soure: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup shortening (I used butter)
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( I left the walnuts out)
1/2 cup golden raisins (I used regular raisins)

DIRECTIONS:

- In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the oats, flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in walnuts and raisins.
- Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Black and Whites AKA NY Cookies!

2010-03-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

I am from New York and haven't lived there for over 11 years but I still miss the great food! A fantastic cookie from NY are the Black and Whites, I love these even though they are dryer then your normal cookie. When looking at recipes I learned that people actually called these NY Deli Cookies, who knew! For the office Cookie Swap I decided to go out of my comfort zone and to try a new cookie. Hey with a room full of guinea pigs I couldn't resist.

My first batch came out better then my second batch, when I tried to make them thicker and a little less dry they just came out huge and flat; sort of like a pancake. I got the recipe from All Recipes and part of the reason why I love that website are the comments from other bakers. Based on numerous recommendations I changed the original recipe and I think it came out pretty well. Next time I might change the chocolate a little bit but everyone loved them.

BLACK AND WHITE (AKA NY COOKIES)
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt

Frosting: * You will halve the recipe for white and black frosting

6 Cups confectioners sugar
4 Tbsp light corn syrup (for consistency)
2 TBSP butter (for shine)
3 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract
1/4 to 1/3 C. cocoa powder (recipe called for Dutch processed I used Hersheys)
Water for consistency

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk, vanilla, and lemon extract. Combine cake flour and all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually blend into the creamed mixture.
-Take 1/4-1/3 of a cup of batter and drop them on the sheet. Take back of a spoon to swirl it into a nicely formed circle about 1" thick. Bake for about 11-14 minutes. Cool completely.
- Brush off all excess crumbs from bottom of each cookie. (over sink)

- Make frosting in 2 batches, white being first: 3 Cups confectioners sugar, 2 Tbsp light corn syrup, 1 TBSP butter, 1 1/2 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract, and enough hot water to achieve desired consistency. Mix with a wire whisk until smooth. Ice slightly over 1/2 of each cookie; you can spoon the icing and then use an offset spatula to ice) and let set until firm (approx. 20 mins.).

What to do with all of those cookies??

2010-03-02T20:45:00.004-05:00

It's that time of year again! The time of year when you get suckered by cute little girls and buy more cookies then you ever need..........yup it is Girl Scout Cookie time!!!! I have a soft spot in my heart for Girl Scout cookies, I used to be a Girl Scout (I actually have my Gold Award). I was an extremely successfull cookie seller because when people told me that they couldn't buy them because they were on a diet I would tell them that they froze very well and they could have them after diet was over! OOOO how sweet I was!!

So now I am the one who is being suckered and I decided instead of sitting down with a box of Thin Mints and polishing them off in one sitting I would bake with them. So after doing a google search I found some great recipes, especially from the Girl Scouts of Kentuckania.

I am in love with this recipe, Mint Delight! It is fantastic and delicious - I actually froze it inorder to bring it into work and when it was frozen and defrosting it was good but once it defrosted it was AMAZING!! I was not a fan at first but after it was completely defrosted I totally was.

I am not a purist, to my mother's chagrin, and when I can I use low fat or reduced fat ingredients and it worked really well in this recipe. I forgot the recipe when I went into the store (not the first time and not the last time) and I had to guess the package sizes. I knew I needed the large box of chocolate pudding; however, the large size at the store was 5.9 oz and not 8 oz, it worked out well. Also, I wasn't sure how much cool whip I needed so I bought a large 12 oz and a smaller container. It was still frozen when I needed the first cup and I ended up using the large and a little bit of the second smaller container; however, I think if it was actually defrosted I could have gotten away with one.

This recipe is fantastic, it doesn't seem like it is going to work out when you are making it but as they say the proof is in the pudding!!

This is what it looked like frozen

MINT DELIGHT
(Source: the Girl Scouts of Kentuckania)

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg. of Thin Mint cookies (crushed)
3 tbsp. butter or margarine (melted)
1 pkg. (8 oz.) softened cream cheese
2 pkgs. (5.9 oz. size) instant chocolate pudding
3 cups milk
4 cups whipped topping

DIRECTIONS:

- Combine cookies with melted butter or margarine, (save ¼ cup of cookies for topping). Press cookie mixture on bottom of 13” x 9” pan. Chill.
- Combine cream cheese with 1 cup whipped topping. Spread over cookie mixture. Chill for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Prepare pudding with 3 cups of milk and pour over cream cheese mixture. Chill for 1 hour or until ready to serve.
- Top with remaining whipped topping and Thin Mint cookie crumbs. (I put this on top and let it sit in the freezer over nite)

Getting Back On Track With Soup!

2010-02-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

A fact about me is that I don't cook and I don't like to cook, baking is where it is at for me. However, I was just away for a week for work and every morning the lovely Hilton would leave newspapers for us. So as I drank my Starbucks and waited in the lobby a recipe caught my attention and I thought hmmmmmmm I could make soup and it could help me get back on track. I liked the soup a lot and it was super easy! I didn't add the optional sour cream or the garnish but sprinkled a little cheese on top instead.

BLACK BEAN SOUP
(Source: USA TODAY)

INGREDIENTS:
1 Tbsp. canola oil (I used olive oil)
1 small onion, chopped (I used half of a medium/large onion)
1 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed
3 cups water
1/2 cup prepared salsa
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. lime juice
4 Tbsp. reduced-fat sour cream (optional)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, until beginning to soften, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add chili powder and cumin and cook, stirring, 1 minute more.
- Add beans, water, salsa and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in lime juice.
- Transfer half the soup to a blender and puree (use caution with when pureeing hot liquids).
- Stir the puree back into the saucepan.
- Serve soup garnished with sour cream and cilantro, if desired.

Baking for a Good Cause!

2010-02-16T23:07:00.004-05:00

Awhile ago I came across this wonderful group called Baking GALS. This group is run by Lyndsay and she gets group leaders to host soldiers who are deployed abroad. Each host recruits up to 20 bakers and in a week to two week period everyone ships out their goodies and then bombards the soldier with baked goods. So many goods he or she has to share with their fellow troops.

I wanted to do this for awhile and thought that this would be a great thing to do with my 4th grade religion students; however, 2 weeks of snow in DC changed that plan! So I baked these on my own and will sign up for a future round to bake again.

This was my first time baking for soldiers so there are some things I will do differently next time. For now I hope the Lt in Afghanistan, who is responsible for Logistics and Transportation, and the soldier from Indianapolis, whose second was born while he was away, enjoy the cookies.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

Molasses Cookies (nonvegan version)

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Cabin Fever Deliciousness!!

2010-02-12T11:40:00.003-05:00

After being snowed in all week I was actually excited to go to work today, sad I know! But I was also excited because it was one of my good work friend's birthday and my friends get to request what type of birthday cupcake they want. My friend requested Red Velvet Cupcakes and I made them last year for Valentine's Day and for another friend's birthday but I didn't love that recipe, even after tinkering with it. But after all the reviews today I think this is the recipe!!! So easy and delicious a definite home run! I used my trustworthy cream cheese recipe! These are perfect for Valentine's Day so enjoy and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

RED VELVET CUPCAKES
(Source: Allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/2 C flour
1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn salt
1 C butter, softened
2 C sugar
4 eggs
1 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
1 (1 ounce) bottle red food color
2 tspns pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
- Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla.
- Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until just blended. Do not overbeat.
-Spoon (or an ice cream scoop) batter into 30 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full. (Don't worry batter is thick)
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. 19 to 20 minutes was perfect for me.
- Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:

1/2c. of unsalted butter (softened)
2- 8oz. packs of cream cheese (softened)
3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla extract.

Directions:

- Cream the butter and cream cheese together and then add the powedered sugar and vanilla.

Better Late then Never.......

2010-02-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

For Thanksgiving I made Katie's Fall Harvest Bread as part of our appetizers. It was delicious!!!! It was also perfect because I hae some little cousins and this was a hit with the 2 year old!

FALL HARVEST BREAD
(Good Things Catered)

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/2 can (or 7.5 oz) pumpkin puree
2 large eggs
1/4 c. oil
1/4 c. applesauce
1/4 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 medium apple (I like granny smith) peeled, cored, and diced
1 c. fresh cranberries (I used the packaged craisins)
1 c. chopped pecans (I think walnuts would also work well)

DIRECTIONS:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Prepare 9x5 loaf pan or 5 mini loaf pans(or can sub muffin pan or double recipe for cake/bundt pan).
-In large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, salt and whisk to combine.
-In another large bowl, combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, milk, vanilla and stir to combine well.
-Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just barely blended..
-Fold in apples, cranberries and pecans.
-Spoon batter into prepared pan (it will be all lumpy - don't worry).
-Bake for 60-70 minutes (35-40 minutes for mini loaves) or until wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10 minutes.
-Remove from pan and let cool on wire rack completely (makes the slices much more clean.

Gigantic Deliciousness

2010-02-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

For a long time I lusted after the giant cupcake pan and I finally got it! It was fantastic! I made my Devils Food Cake and my begged for Peanut Butter Frosting recipe. Before I put the top on I injected some frosting into the middle of the bottom part and it was delicious!

One of the hints from the manual is to cook the bottom at first for a little bit longer then add the top so they cook evenly. THe only other problem I had was transporting it, with all the frosting on top I couldn't get my cake carrier to close.

I'm back and with a fantastic cookie!

2010-01-30T09:15:00.005-05:00

WOW!!! I haven't blogged in almost a year - 2009 was CRAZY!! I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog but in the past year I realized this blog is really helpful to me to get some of my favorite recipes when I am on the road. I might not be blogging as much as in my heyday but here we go again....................

One of the tasks that kept me busy in 2009 was a Holiday Cookie Swap at work that I was in charge of. My favorite recipe from the swap was my boss' cookies who are named after her aunt. I love these and made them for some Christmas Cookie gifts. They are supposed to be a little logs but my batch came out flat on the bottom. Enjoy!!!!!

Right out of the oven:

Coated and looking pretty:

Packed up with some truffles

AUNT NETTIE’S CHOCOLATE COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups of sifted flour
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) margarine, softened (I used butter)
3/4 cups sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tspn vanilla
1 (6 oz)pack semisweet chocolate chips (mini chocolate chips work really well but you can use others)
2 cups chopped walnuts (you can also use almonds)

CHOCOLATE COATING INGREDIENTS:
1 large (12 oz) package of chocolate chips
1/4 cup margarine (I used butter)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix flour and salt
- Beat margarine, sugar, egg, vanilla in large bowl until well mixed
- Blend in flour, then stir in chocolate chips
- Shape dough into 2 by 1/2 inch logs (use a little flour on hands if dough is sticky)
- Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes
- Cool on wire rack

- Once cookies are cooled then melt 1 large package of chocolate chips (12 oz) and 1/4 cup margarine
- Dip ends in chocolate coating and roll ends in nuts.
- Place on wax paper until set.

Daring Bakers Flourless Chocolate Cake!!

2009-02-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm back!!!! It's been awhile since I have done a challenge and this was a great challenge to come back to. It was a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan and we were supposed to accompany it with a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy; however, I instead made a raspberry sauce.

Thanks to our hostess Wendy from WMPESBLOG and Dharm at Dad - Baker and Chef for this delicious recipe. I made them into little bundt cakes and everyone just ate them up.

Enjoy all of the Daring Bakers creative cakes and ice cream!

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Dharm's Ice Cream Recipe
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients
1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)
{you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted - cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. 3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.
5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

Wendy's Ice Cream Recipe
Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!

2009-02-14T09:07:00.004-05:00

Happy Valentines Day! I am a lucky girl and get to spend Valentine's Day with my little cousins and goddaughter but the other day I made some Valentines treats for work.

I made Red Velvet Cupcakes except this time I cut the chocolate to 1/4 c. They came out a little dryer then I would have liked BUT the cream cheese frosting came out delicious!!!! I actually had some leftover and trust me it is taking all of my will power to not dive into some pink cream cheese frosting!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

Simply Devine Truffles!

2009-01-14T00:01:00.001-05:00

My admin at work made these fantastic truffles so ofcourse I had to get the recipe and add them to my Christmas Cookie box! These were sooooooooo simple and absolutely delicious. I made two batches one regular batch with white chocolate melted and sprinkled on top. With the second batch I couldn't resist adding some peppermint extract, I love anything with peppermint and chocolate and these came out sensational.

When I did the second part and coated them in the chocolate I melted the chocolate in batches and one time I didn't need all the squares and another time I used all. So I recommend just doing them in 4 to 6 squares at a time.

SIMPLY SENSATIONAL TRUFFLES
(Source: http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/simply-sensational-truffles-107529.aspx)

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/2 pkg. (20 squares) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, divided
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 tsp. peppermint extract (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

- MELT 8 chocolate squares. Beat cream cheese with mixer until creamy. Blend in melted chocolate. Refrigerate until firm.
- SHAPE into 36 balls. Place on waxed paper-covered baking sheet.
- MELT remaining chocolate. Use fork to dip truffles; return to baking sheet. Decorate, then refrigerate 1 hour.

Thumbprint Goodness!

2009-01-13T00:01:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite blogs is Katie's and when I was looking for recipes for my Christmas Cookie Boxes I knew she would have a great one. And I was right her Raspberry Almond Thumbprint Cookies were delicious! I made one batch with Raspberry Preserves and another with Blueberry Preserves and they were both great, except mine didn't come out as cute as Katie's. Thanks Katie!

RASPBERRY ALMOND THUMBPRINT COOKIES
(Source: Good Things Catered)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. almonds, ground coarsely
1 c. raspberry preserves

DIRECTIONS:

-In bowl of stand mixer, combine butter and sugar and beat on high until light and fluffy in color, about 3 minutes.
-Add eggs and beat to combine well.
-Add vanilla and combine.
-Scrape down sides of bowl, slow mixer to low and add flour and almonds.
-Beat to combine (mixture will be coarse), remove bowl from mixer and scrape down sides, making sure all mixture is thoroughly combined.
-Scoop dough out into tsp sized rounds, rolling into balls. Place on cookie sheet at least 1 inch apart.
-Place cookie sheet in fridge for 15 to 20 minutes.
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets.
-Make an indentation into top of cookie with finger.
-Using a spoon, place a small amount of jam into indentation of each cookie.
-Place into oven and bake until starting to turn golden brown, about 8-10 minutes.
-Remove from oven and let cool before serving.

Back with fun chips!

2009-01-10T20:06:00.007-05:00

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!! Between the holidays, family, work, and no computer I am finally back - not sure if anyone missed me but I missed blogging! When I was home I made containers of cookies for some family friends and for our priest and pastor at Church. I got these beautiful boxes at the dollar store, what a nice find! And they were filled with about 6 different types of cookies. Included were the Andes Mint Brownies that are always a huge hit.

I also made two types of cookies using my normal cookie recipe . I made one batch of cookies but split the batter in half and used Mini Chocolate Chips for one half and Cinnamon Chips for the other. The Cinnamom Chips came out great and definetly gave a little holiday twist to normal cookies.

Gingerbread and Orange Cream Cheese Heaven!

2008-12-23T00:01:00.000-05:00

There have been a lot of birthdays at work recently! My friend does not like sweets which posed a challenge for me so I decided to make a Gingerbread Cake (in the spirit of the holidays) with Orange Cream Cheese Frosting (WOW!!!). I followed the exact time the recipe said to do it for, which I never do I always go a little less the first time, and it came out a little dry in my opinion. However, the birthday girl loved it and even non gingerbread fans really liked it so I call this a succesful recipe!! The recipe calls for a 9 in square pan but I used my rectangular pan and it was great!

I had some left over cream cheese frosting so I added that to this recipe and changed around the recipe a little bit. This is the Original recipe but here is what I did: I used 2 packages of Cream Cheese (plus my other left over cream cheese), roughly 2-3 tablespoons of butter, roughly 2 teaspoons of orange zest (I didn't measure it but zested roughly 1/2 an orange), 6 tablespoons of orange juice, and 2 1/2 C. of confectioners'sugar. This has to be one of the best frostings I have ever made! It was delicious and I don;'t think you can screw it up!

GINGERBREAD CAKE
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup hot water

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Greased and flour one 9 inch square pan. I used a regular rectangular pan.
- Cream together the sugar and butter or margarine. Add egg, and beat well. Mix in the molasses.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and clove. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture; add the hot water, and mix well.
- Pour batter into pan and bake for one hour. Allow to cool in pan and serve.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting!

2008-12-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

For my friend's birthday I decided to make my first attempt at Red Velvet Cupcakes. They were good, a little too chocolatey I think, but the Cream Cheese Frosting was amazing! I didn't realize that you needed 1 oz. of red food coloring and the food coloring variety pack is only 1/4 oz; however, after 5 stores I finally found a 1 oz container! I made both minis and regular cupcakes and everone loved them!

Next time I would use a little less butter in the frosting and it has been a busy week so I can't remember if I used a little bit of milk or not but I think I might have used just a touch!

RED VELVET CUCPAKES
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 fluid ounce red food coloring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 12 cup muffin pans or line with 20 paper baking cups.
- In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, red food coloring and vanilla. Stir in the baking soda and vinegar. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt; stir into the batter just until blended.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool in the pan set over a wire rack. When cool, arrange the cupcakes on a serving platter and frost with desired frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
(Source: on the comments page of the Red Velvet Cupcake recipe)

INGREDIENTS:

1/2c. of unsalted butter (softened)
2- 8oz. packs of cream cheese (softened)
3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1 tbsp of vanilla extract.

Directions:

Cream the butter and cream cheese together and then add the powedered sugar and vanilla.

Minty Delicious Bars!

2008-12-18T14:15:00.000-05:00

I love Andes Mints and a few months ago I made Brownies with them but when I found this recipe it seemed like a perfect December recipe to me, I always associate mints and chocolate with the Holidays. These came out soooooooooooo much better then I could have expected, it somehow got around the office that I had them and people were randomly stopping by the office for them. These were excellent!!

The only caveat I would say is that the recipe says to bake the first part for 12 to 15 minutes; however, I think mine were in for almost 30 minutes...just keep checking on them and make sure they don't get hard and are still soft! I used just a regular rectangluar pan.

ANDES MINT BARS
(Source: cooks.com)

BASE:

1 c. butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and chocolate; set aside to cool. Beat sugar, eggs, peppermint and flour, add chocolate mixture. Pour into a greased 10 x 15 inch pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes; do not over bake. Allow to cool.

FILLING:

6 tbsp. butter
3 c. powdered sugar
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring
3-4 tbsp. milk

Mix butter, sugar, peppermint and food coloring. Add enough milk to make desirable spreading consistency. Spread over cooled base. Chill for 15 minutes.

GLAZE:

4 oz. chocolate chips
4 tbsp. butter

Melt chips and butter. Allow to cool. Carefully spread over filling. Chill. Cut into squares. Makes 30.

Peppermint Patty Cupcakes!

2008-12-11T21:34:00.004-05:00

I love chocolate and mint together!!! For my officemate's birthday this week I decided I wanted to try and make a Mint Cream Cheese Frosting; unfortunately, I couldn't find a recipe for it so I combined different ones and made one up. I hate cooking because a lot of times it is just a pinch of this and a pinch of that but baking is very precise and so I was a little nervous on making this recipe up. However, everyone loved it - even the non cupcake lovers. They were Devils Food Cupcake and with the Mint Cream Cheese Frosting they tasted like a Peppermint patty and they were perfect for a December birthday!!

I have to apologize the recipe below is not exact measurements on sugar or milk. But you can play with it and see. I remembered the next day that I did have a regular mint frosting recipe that I could have used but o well it turned out okay!

Mint Cream Cheese Frosting

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
- 3 cups confectioners' sugar - totally play this by ear because I didn't measure it
- 4-6 tablespoons of Milk

DIRECTIONS:

Beat cream cheese, butter, and peppermint together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar and milk. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or milk as needed for easy spreading.

Thankful for Desserts!

2008-12-10T21:21:00.001-05:00

Thanks to traveling for work and visiting my family in NY I am a little behind. Also, I apologize for all the nice comments that were left for me that I didn't respond to yet....the past few weeks have been super hectic but nothing like baking to help me relax!

I made the desserts for Thanksgiving dinner and I made Cheesecake, correctly this time and it came out delicious!!! I also made an Apple Oatmeal Crisp, which I didn't try but it looked delicious and it wsa interesting because there is a crisp layer on the bottom and on the top! (Read the note below). I topped it off with some homemade whipped cream, which came out fantastic this year. I think it is because I made a huge batch, five times the amount!

It might not look pretty but it tasted fantastic!

APPLE OATMEAL CRISP
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.
- In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, flour and butter. Mix until crumbly.
- Place half of crumb mixture in pan. Spread the apples evenly over crumb mixture.
- Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and top with remaining crumb mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

NOTES

- I didn't think an 8 inch square pan would have been enough for Thanksgiving so I put it in a rectangle pan and used 6 apples and did all the ingredients at 1 1/2 times EXCEPT for the Sugar

WHIPPED CREAM
(Source: allrecipe.com)
I did the recipe times 5

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

Daring Bakers: The World of Caramels!

2008-11-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

It's crazy caramel time! This months Daring Bakers Challenge is all about Caramels! I was very excited about making the caramels but a little nervous if the cupcakes with the caramel frosting would be too sweet but my guinea pigs loved them, they said the cupcakes were dense but good and the frosting made it! The guys at work were taking two at a time and we ran out super quick!

I was sooo excited to make the caramels but in my excitement I added way too much sea salt! But I fixed it by covering them in melted chocolate (some melted chocolate chips and butter) - they were like ghetto Riesens - they were delicious!!!!

Thank you to Shauna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater for her signature caramel cake. Also, thank you four our wonderful Daring Bakers hostess Dolores and her helpers Alex and Jenny

I couldn't find any Golden Syrup but Jane came to our rescue and found a recipe from Recipe Zaar. The recipe makes 3/4 C so I had to double it.

I can't wait to see all of the delicious recipes!

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.

Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.

Sift flour and baking powder.

Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}

Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.

Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it.

Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.

CARAMEL SYRUP

INGREDIENTS

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cup water (for "stopping" the caramelization process)

DIRECTIONS

In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.

When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.

Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}

Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.

CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.

Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.

In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner's sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner's sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.

Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.
To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light

GOLDEN VANILLA BEAN CARAMELS- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels -

INGREDIENTS

1 cup golden syrup
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened

EQUIPMENT

A 9-inch square baking pan - I used an 8 inch
Candy thermometer

PROCEDURE

Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot.

When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm.

Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane.

GOLDEN SYRUP

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vinegar
1 teaspoon water
1/3 cup light corn syrup

Directions

1. Put sugar in a small heavy pan and shake pan so the sugar is in an even layer.
2. Sprinkle it with vinegar and water.
3. Cook over low heat, without stirring, for 5 minutes.
4. Increase heat to medium and cook until syrup has taken on a light caramel color, 5 to 6 minutes.
5. Immediately remove from heat and pour in the corn syrup. DO NOT STIR, but let it bubble for 2 to 3 minutes. When the bubbling stops, stir well.
6. Pour into sealed container. It can be stored at room temperature for several months.

Tis the Season.........

2008-11-23T13:36:00.000-05:00

Pumpkin season that is! I had an extra can of pumpkin in my cupboards and I know my officemate loves pumpkin so I found a delicious recipe for Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars. I am not a huge pumpkin fan nor am I a big pecan fan and that is basically all this recipe is. I did not like these when they first came out of the oven BUT the next day when I was work they were taunting me all day and when I had one I was pleasantly surprised - they were pretty good. I found that pumpkin and non pumpkin fans both liked these - so that makes them a hit in my book!

I didn't have any allspice at home, it is one of those ingredients that I always think I have but never do, so instead I just used a little less then 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg and it tasted great. Also, when they came out of the oven the first time the edges were not lightly brown and I didn't let it cool off before I added the cheesecake filling but it still worked out well. It also took me longer then 35 minutes to bake these, I kept waiting for them to brown and set firmer but they didn't I think I might have actually had them in for an extra 20 minutes but after a nite in the refrigerator they came out perfect. Enjoy!!

PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE BARS
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
1 cup finely chopped pecans (I used pecan chips)
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup cooked or canned pumpkin
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice

DIRECTIONS

- In a bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in pecans; set aside 3/4 cup for topping. Press remaining crumb mixture into a greased 8-in. square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack.

- In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar. Beat in the pumpkin, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon and allspice. Pour over crust. Sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

GUEST POST!! Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies with Almond Butter!

2008-11-21T08:49:00.005-05:00

My cousin made these delicious cookies for her husband and daughter's class (my adorable goddaughter!)

I have been wanting to make cookies different from what I usually make and then I got the December edition of Cooking Light. I decided to try Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies, with some adaptations, of course. I used Barney Butter (see picture), an Almond Butter that I have been reading about on some other blogs. I also used ¼ SmartBalance blend rather than canola oil.

These were surprisingly delicious. My husband really liked them, which was surprising because I don’t think he likes peanut butter cookies, but the almond butter is very subtle. My daughter’s kindergarten class gobbled up the ones I sent in. The recipe says it makes 3 dozen, but I made 4 dozen. They were nicely chewy and not as flat as in the picture, although now I think that is maybe because I didn’t add the water.

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES WITH ALMOND BUTTER
(Source: Cooking Light)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup creamy peanut butter (or almond butter)
¼ c water (whoops, I never added that, didn’t even notice it until now)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
12 ounces all-purpose flour (2 2/3 cups)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate minichips (I used more like ¾ cup)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine first 8 ingredients in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Add flour mixture to peanut butter mixture, stirring just until combined. Stir in minichips. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart on 2 baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Simple and Perfect Chowder

2008-11-17T16:13:00.000-05:00

I am not a cook and I don't like to cook, it is all about baking for me! But the other day I wasn't feeling well and I was on a soup kick for a few days. I found this great recipe but ofcourse forgot to bring it with me to the food store so when it came to making the stew I revised it a little bit.

Instead of using water I used vegetable broth, instead of peeled potatoes I used 3 small to medium sized Red potatoes and left the skin on (not the cute mini ones), I forgot celery but added a bag of frozen corn the last 8 to 10 minutes, and threw in some basil at the end. I didn't measure 1 pound of mushrooms but instead bought a container of the precut mushrooms and a container of baby bellos, which I chopped up a little bit. I also used a little less then 1/4 C. of butter. Also, next time I wouldn't throw the parmesan cheese into the soup but throw ontop as a granish.

The original recipe is below but have fun with it, if I didn't screw it up I don't think it is possible!!

MUSHROOM AND POTATO CHOWDER
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups water
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup diced peeled potatoes
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 cup light cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

In a large kettle, saute onion in butter until tender. Add flour, salt and pepper; stir to make a smooth paste. Gradually add water, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms, celery, potatoes and carrots. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add cream and Parmesan cheese; heat through.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies!!

2008-11-07T08:56:00.003-05:00

I am off to Philly to visit one of my best friends and I figured since she always listens to what I am baking it is only fair that I bring her something - plus a great excuse to try a new recipe. After my original recipe idea went down in flames (I didn't have a key ingredient)I looked for a recipe where I could still use the miniature Reeses Peanut Butter Cups I bought (and started eating). This recipe was so simple and came out great!

Some key things I found for this recipe was that my mini offset saptula was awesome in getting the cookies out of the mini muffin tin. Also after I took them out of the tin I let them sit on a plate in the fridge for a little bit so it would be easier to pack them and then they sat patiently in my fridge over nite but they are delicious when they are first done all melty and gooey! When they came out of the oven they don't look cooked but they are and the bottoms are defiently more cooked then the top so don't fret! The recipe said that it made 40 - I got about 33-35. I unwrapped the peanut butter cups while the cookies were in the oven.

Before they went into the oven

All ready to go!

YUMMY!!!

PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIES
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
- Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.
- Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Birthday Cheesecake!

2008-11-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

My dad loves cheesecake and so when he came down I made it per special request for his birthday! I used a new recipe and it was delicious but of course in my haste I misread the directions and added a 1 1/4 C. sugar to the crust instead of 1/4 C., the word divided is very important! But it still came out great!!! I also used packages of Fat Free and Low Fat cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese and it tasted delicious! If possible I always use the light, low fat, or no fat ingredients.

CHEESECAKE
(Source: Kraftfoods.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cups HONEY MAID Graham Cracker Crumbs (I used 2 coups)
1/3 cup margarine or butter, melted
1-1/4 cups sugar, divided
3 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Sour Cream
2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 can (21 oz.) cherry pie filling

DIRECTIONS:

PREHEAT oven to 350°F if using a silver 8- or 9-inch springform pan (or to 325°F if using a dark nonstick 8- or 9-inch springform pan). Mix graham cracker crumbs, margarine and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Press firmly onto bottom and 2-1/2 inches up side of pan; set aside.

BEAT cream cheese and the remaining 1 cup sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add sour cream and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until blended. Pour into crust.

BAKE 1 hour to 1 hour 10 min. or until center is almost set. Turn oven off. Open oven door slightly. Let cheesecake set in oven 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven; cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Loosen cheesecake from rim of pan; remove rim. Top cheesecake with pie filling just before serving. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

2008-10-31T00:01:00.000-04:00

I am not a creative person but these came out so cute and were so easy!!! Somebody told me they looked professional!!! I got the idea from allrecipes.com and it was so easy! All you need is cookies split in half, Hershey Kisses, and red gel (and cupcakes of course!) I made peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate frosting and they came out delicious!

After the cupcakes have cooled frost them and keep the extra frosting. I first placed the hershey kiss down and then used a little extra frosting on the edge of each cookie (like glue)to stick them into the cupcake and had the kiss slightly touching the cookies. I left some space between the back of the cookie and the rest of the cupcake. I put them in the fridge over nite and they succesfully made the metro trip this morning!

PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES
(Source: Peanut Butter& Co. Cookbook)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 C. flour
1 1/2 tspn. baking powder
1/2 tspn. salt
1 C. light brown sugar
6 Tbs. ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 tspn. vanilla extract
1/2 C. peanut butter
2 large eggs
1/2 C. milk ( it says whole I used 2%)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 12-15 muffin cups with paper bakin cups.
- In a large bow, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
- In a seperate large bowl, cream together the brown sugar, butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add the peanu butter and beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, and then add milk. Slowly add the flour mixture and combine until batter in uniform - do not over mic.
- Fill muffin cups with batter until amost full (I did mine a little less and got 15 instead of 12). Bake for 20 minutes or until the cucakes sprin back when lightly touched.

CREAMY CHOCOLATE FROSTING
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons evaporated milk (I used regular milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

- In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar. ( I used more milk)

Daring Bakers: Pizza Time!!

2008-10-29T08:43:00.000-04:00

I LOVE pizza, I am from NY it's in my blood, and I could honestly eat it every day! So that is why I was so excited when the October Daring Bakers Challenge was announced! I do not like to cook but this was an exception! The recipe made 6 balls and I have only used 3 so far: 1 regular cheese pizza, 1 carmalized onions, mushroom and goat cheese pizza, and 1 calzone type pizza filled with onions, mushrooms, spinach, and cheese.

My pizza did not come out round and were a little thin but were still good, for the rest of the dough I might actually take the 3 balls and make 2 pizzas instead of 1. But were still yummy!! Check out the rest of the Daring Bakers!

If anyone would like the pizza recipe - let me know! It is very long!!!!

Just plain cheese pizza - the sauce was actually really good (I am not a sauce fan!)

Carmelized Onions with mushrooms and Goat Cheese!

My attempted "Calzone"

The ingredients were cooked when I put them into the dough and were too hot so it fell apart right away and I had to flip it over but it was still delicious!

EASY PIZZA SAUCE
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 tablespoon ground oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground paprika

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium bowl, Mix together tomato sauce and tomato paste until smooth. Stir in oregano, garlic and paprika.

Perfect Fall Muffins!

2008-10-26T17:42:00.001-04:00

The other day I was randomly looking at recipes online and printed out a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins, well when my officemate picked the recipe off the printer to give it to me she said that I could make them anytime that she was in the office. I am not a huge fan of pumpkin pie and am kind of ambivalent about pumpkin in general but I decided for the good of the office I would give these a try. These were a HUGE hit, with one person saying "I think it was the best thing you baked. And that's saying something." Other people disagreed with that statement but said they were still excellent. And even though I am not a huge fan pumpkin fan I am a huge fan of these.

I made 2 batches - regular size and minis - and they were excellent; very moist and delicious. I also used mini chocolate chips, I only put in 1/2 C but next time might throw in some extras if using the mini chips again.

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
- Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.
- Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cherry Love!

2008-10-23T00:01:00.000-04:00

I love Comstock Cherries and have made them with Devils Food Cake before but one of my officemates kept suggesting that I make a cherry pie for work and after weeks of these friendly reminders I finally did make one, except work didn't get it!

I didn't really have a recipe to work off of so I took bits and pieces and winged it. The crust I liked but didn't love, it was a little rubbery and I can't figure out if it is something I did or the recipe itself. I also have way too much strudel topping left over - need to come up with some ideas on how to use it.

I followed the recipe for the crust then added 2 cans of Comstack Cherries and then topped it off with the streusel topping. I baked it at 425 for about 30 - 40 minutes, I waited until it was bubbling all around before I turned off the oven and let it sit in the oven for a little bit.

It was yummy piping hot with some vanilla ice cream!

HEALTHIER GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons brown sugar

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- In a medium bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, yogurt, and brown sugar.
- Press mixture firmly into a 9 inch pie pan.
- Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes.

STREUSEL TOPPING
(Source: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook)

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender until large, moist clumps form. Unused streusel can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Update and Cute Boxes!

2008-10-20T00:01:00.001-04:00

I made the Lemon Cupcakes again but this time I left them in for 18 minutes and they didn't deflate!! They weren't super high but at least they weren't concave!

October is a very busy month for birthdays for me and since cupcake stores are all the rage in DC I decided to make my own, package them, and give them as gifts. Look at the cute boxes I got at Target!! I filled each box with regular size and mini Devils Food Cupcakes with Mint Frosting and the regular size Lemon Up Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese frosting. Though they weren't as pretty as the cupcake stores I think they tasted better and were big hits!! Happy Birthday to all October Birthdays!!

Better Late Then Never...........

2008-10-17T00:01:00.001-04:00

I am a little behind and just got to September's Daring Bakers Challenge, I was also inspired by all the great Daring Bakers!

Some of the crackers came out too thick and honestly, they were just okay - not great.....I will probably throw them in some soup and see how they work. After a few days they tasted better because they were a little harder. Since everyone else has posted the directions I am not going to but if you would like the recipe just let me know and I will forward it on. I made whole wheat crackers with sesame seeds.

I made a Black Bean and Hummus Dip which was great! I first didn't add the garlic (shopping mishap) but once I added the garlic it was great!

Black Bean and Chickpea Hummus
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup canned black beans, drained
1 cup canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt
2 tablespoons water
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Place black beans, garbanzo beans, olive oil, lemon juice, yogurt, water, and garlic into the bowl of a blender. Season with curry powder, salt, and pepper. Cover and puree until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Mint Love and Cupcake Obsession

2008-10-14T12:20:00.001-04:00

Washington D.C. has a slight obession with cupcakes and stores keep popping up everywhere...I actually don't think some of them are that good but I recently had a devils food cupcake with mint frosting and it got me thinking are mine better then these $3 a piece cupcakes? I already love my Devils Food Recipe and I just needed to find a good Mint Frosting recipe and I think I did....it is very minty!!!

Note the recipe below NEEDS to be doubled to make enough icing for all of the cupcakes!

MINT FROSTING
(Source: Cooks.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 c. confectioners sugar
2 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. shortening
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. pure mint or peppermint extract
2 to 3 drops green food coloring (optional)

Combine all ingredients in the order listed in small mixing bowl. Beat until spreading consistency. Additional sugar may be needed if frosting is too thin.

When Life Gives You Lemons.....

2008-10-11T11:39:00.001-04:00

Make Lemon Cupcakes and Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting!!

Awhile ago I was browsing the internet and came across a Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting recipe and I knew I just had to make it; however, I didn't know what the cupcake itself should be!! So I turned to my fellow Daring Bakers who came to my rescue, thank you to everyone for their help and I am definitely going to make all of the suggestions!! I especially have to thank Fran from Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie for the delicious and super easy Lemon-Up Cupcakes!

I learned a very important lesson when making these cupcakes: if you take them out of the oven too soon they deflate!!! When I walked out of the kitchen they were nice and puffy but when I came back in they were all deflated but with enough frosting you couldn't tell! They were still delicious and all of the guys in my office loved them. P.S. Happy Birthday to my officemate!

The recipe calls for 18-23 minutes; however, I took them out at 15 minutes (the box said to!!) so I recommend leaving them in closer to 18 so they don't deflate! Also, the frosting recipe can be halved for these cupcakes - I have the rest in a container in my fridge! O I also cheated and used the bottled lemon juice, I just don't have time to squeeze the lemons, and it worked out great, and I used Fat Free Cream Cheese too!

A little deflated!!

Icing makes them look all better!!!

LEMON UP CUPCAKES
(Source: Apple Peaches Pumpkin Pie )

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 box Butter Recipe Golden Cake Mix
- 1 stick of Butter
- 3 eggs
- 1 box lemon instant pudding
- 1/4 c fresh lemon juice
- zest from 1 lemon

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cake mix according to directions on box, adding the pudding and substituting the lemon juice for 1/4 c of the water. Beat according to the instructions on the box. Batter will be thick. Scoop into 24 cupcakes. (I use an ice cream scoop.)
Bake 18-23 minutes until light golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup butter
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest (About 1 lemon)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 5 cups confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS:

Beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon rind, and vanilla together until smooth and fluffy. Add confectioners' sugar in 2 additions. Beat until creamy. Add more icing sugar or juice as needed for easy spreading. Makes about 3 2/3 cups.

European Culinary Delights!

2008-09-30T15:19:00.000-04:00

Last week I was on a much needed vacation to Germany and Austria! I had a fantastic time at Oktoberfest and then one of my closest friends and I went to Salzburg, Austria, then back to Germany to go to Berschegarten and Fussen. We ate, drank, and of course did some touristy things (Sound of Music tour was especially great!)

At Oktoberfest they love their food on a stick - corn with garlic butter, chocolate covered apples, and chocolate covered strawberries were some of our favorites! Radishes are huge over there! (WHO KNEW?!?!?)

Here are some of our culinary delights!

The authentic Salzburg Sacher Torte

Another view point

Apple Strudel from Hotel Sacher

Apple Strudel with a hot vanilla sauce (kind of like a thin vanilla custard)

Cheese Strudel with hot vanilla sauce - a break during our Sound of Music Tour

White Chocolate Fondue - not what we ordered but delicious!

So many types of pretzels!!! These were donut like pretzels!

Chunks of Love

2008-09-16T15:50:00.000-04:00

Last week I was craving something simple so I made Chocolate Chunk Cookies. I had never used chocolate chunks before but they were delicious and these cookies came out so soft and perfect!!! I have the empty bowl to prove it!

I used my normal cookie recipe but instead used Chocolate Chunks!

Berrydelicious Antiques!

2008-09-03T17:15:00.000-04:00

This recipe was a hit!!! My mom is an antique dealer and was in town last weekend doing a show. This show is particularly tough because it is 2 days of set up and 4 LONG days of the show itself. So I figured this would be a perfect time to try out a new recipe, captivated audience, and let me tell you this was a HUGE HUGE hit with the other dealers!! I really couldn't have hoped for anything better, it tasted like little mini pies!! I even added too much cornstarch (didn't read the recipe and put it in the crust at first) and it still came out perfect! My mom is not a sweets person and thought this was divine!

The originally recipe called just for raspberries but I added blackberries and used a little bit more then 4 cups of berries and a little bit more sugar in the crust. Have fun with this one!

Finished Project! YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!

Berry Layer!!

Right Before the Oven!

Right out of the oven!!!

BERRY CRUMB BARS

(Source: Allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup shortening ( I used butter)
1 egg
1 pinch salt
1 pinch ground cinnamon
4 cups raspberries
1/2 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons cornstarch

DIRECTIONS

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease one 13x9 inch pan.
- Combine 1 cup of the sugar, the flour, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, shortening, and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the prepared pan.
- Combine the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, the cornstarch and berries.
- Place mixture over dough in pan. Crumble the remaining dough over the tops of the berries.
- Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until the top is slightly brown.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Bite Sized Eclairs!

2008-08-31T00:01:00.004-04:00

I'm back!!! After skipping out on the last challenge I was very excited that this challenge was eclairs! My dad loves eclairs so I was upset I didn't see what the challenge was when I was home! Oh well, my officemates gladly ate them!! The recipe says it makes 24; however, I only got 14 small ones! I loved the way the dough and the chocolate came out but I didn't love the vanilla filling....I even added a little extra vanilla at the end but still didn't love it. So overall I liked these but didn't love them! However, there were no complaints from my officemates.

For the challenge you had to use at least one chocolate element, so I made a Vanilla Bean filling; however, I have included both the Chocolate and the Vanilla filling Recipes below.

After reading the helpful information from fellow Daring Bakers I realized I didn't have to go buy a new tip to pipe these; instead, I used a coupler without a tip and it worked out well. I also have a lot of chocolate sauce left and a lot of chocolate topping.....I might just have to make another batch! Check out the lovely and prettier eclairs other Daring Bakers made!

Finished Product!

Before the oven!

Right out of the oven!

With the Vanilla Bean Cream!

Ready to go to work!

Some mini round ones!

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.

You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

[bNotes:[/b]
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Vanilla Pastry Cream:

• 2 c. whole milk
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. cornstarch
• 1 1/2 pieces of vanilla bean (or 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract)
• 3 1/2 Tb unsalted butter, but into pieces and at room temp.

1) Boil the milk and the vanilla (if using beans, scrape the seeds into the milk and include the pods)in a small saucepan. As this is heating, in a medium saucepan whisk the yolks with the sugar and cornstarch, until thick and well blended.

2) Still whisking, drizzle in about 3/4 cup of the hot milk in order to warm the yolks.

3) Continue whisking as you slowly add the rest of the milk. Put the pan over medium heat and whisk constantly, bringing it to a boil.

4) Keep mixture at a boil, continuing to whisk, for about 1-2 minutes, and remove from heat.

5) Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the butter until they are fully incorporated.

The pastry cream will be smooth and silky, not clumpy. Scrape cream into a bowl and let it cool off. You can place a piece of plastic wrap right on the surface of the cream so you don't get a skin. Refrigerate until it is cold and ready to use. You can keep it for up to 3 days.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly  in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Vegan Molasses Cookies

2008-08-25T14:32:00.006-04:00

Earlier this summer one of our interns made these delicious cookies that impressed everyone, especially when people found out they were vegan. So when I needed a good vegan recipe to make for my officemate (his daughter is vegan) to thank him for the awesome Redskin tickets he gave me a few weeks ago I thought these would be perfect (so were the seats 47 yard line and 10 rows back definitely the best seats for my first NFL game even if it was preseason)!! As I mentioned before I am a cookie snob but these are delicious and extremely soft, my mom thought they weren't baked all the way but they were!

I of course didn't have all the ingredients, seems to be a common theme lately, and didn't have any ground ginger so I just added some extra cinnamon and they still came out delicious! The vegan and nonvegan ingredients are listed below, I have only eaten the vegan recipe!

MOLASSES COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3/4 cup butter (for vegan version use equal parts vegan earth balance and coconut oil - I used just 3/4 C. of Vegan Earth Balance)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg (or a rounded 1/4 cup pumpkin - I used canned pumpkin)

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Mix together dry ingredients and set aside.
- Cream together butter and sugar.
- Beat in the molasses and egg/pumpkin.
- Stir in dry ingredients, cover dough and chill several hours (this is totally a crucial step, otherwise the cookies melt all over the baking sheet and don't look cute)
- Take dough by heaping tablespoons and roll into small balls, place on lightly greased baking sheets (I just used my trusty ice cream scoop and didn't grease the baking sheets)
- Bake 7-8 minutes, let cool on sheet 5 min before transferring to cooling rack.

Cupcake Envy!

2008-08-23T00:01:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite blogs is Good Things Catered. I am always thoroughly impressed just not what she can pull off but how beautiful everything looks. As we all know I am the first admit my stuff tastes excellent but is not pretty!

She had these beautiful cupcakes that I caught myself just going to stare at how pretty they were so I finally bit the bullet and made them!! Now mine were not pretty like Katie's but they were delicious! I made one change to the cupcake recipe and left out the rum; I didn't have any at home and just kept forgetting to buy it and they were still delicious!

Now I had some issues with the frosting and ended up making 2 batches! The first one I followed to the T and used light brown sugar and it just came out hard and gross! :( The second batch was delicious!! I used dark brown sugar, a tiny bit extra butter and some buttermilk (it is all I had in the house!). I didn't use it all but it worked out well and added just the right amount of sweetness. The cupcakes tasted like a yummy apple muffin with tiny bites of apple! These will definitely be made again, thanks Katie!

This is my traveling cupcake container and you should see the looks I get out on the metro with it!!

AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE CUPCAKES
(Source: Good Things Catered)

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. plus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp spiced rum
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 c. apple, finely diced (about 1 large apple)

1/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 c. powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin with cupcake liners.
-In large bowl combine flour, brown sugar, soda, powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
-Whisk to combine thoroughly and break up all pieces of the brown sugar.
-Add milk, oil, rum, and vanilla and stir until just incorporated.
-Fold in apple until just incorporated.
-Spoon into fill cupcakes liners about 3/4 way full, dividing evenly among all liners.
-Bake in oven until cooked through, about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcakes comes out clean.
-Meanwhile, make caramel glaze: In small saucepan combine brown sugar and butter over medium low heat.
-Bring to a boil, remove from heat, stir in powdered sugar and glaze cupcakes before mixture cools.

Makes 12

NOTE: You can certainly make these "lighter" by using a mixture of all purpose and wheat flours, subbing splenda brown sugar mix at half capacity and subbing applesauce for oil. We have noticed no compromise in taste with this.

O What A Day!

2008-08-20T20:24:00.001-04:00

The other day was just one of those days! I was in the supermarket picking up a few things and the only thing I wanted was something chocolatey, minty, and ice cream! But because it was one of those days I could not find something I truly wanted so I decided to take matters into my own hands!

A few years ago the supermarkets briefly had chips that were made out of Andes Mints, now this was my idea of nirvana! However, I have not been able to find them in years so instead I took a box of Andes Mints chopped them up and threw them into some brownie mix! I also found these mini containers of ice cream, now this was heaven!! I bought one box and used most of it, minus a few that I ate along the way!

I thought that these brownies could possibly be too minty but none of my taste testers (aka coworkers) said anything about that! Though my officemate's 8 year old daughter said they smelled a little funny, that my dear is the delicious smell of mint!

Delicious Oatmeal Cake with Caramel Pecan Frosting!!!

2008-08-15T11:48:00.001-04:00

I love this cake!!!! When I tell most people what it is I get weird faces looking at me like I am nuts but once they have their first bite they are true believers! This was made recently for a birthday at work but in the past I have made it for Thanksgiving and with some vanilla ice cream on the side it is delicious!!

The caramel frosting is delicious and this time I added a little extra (2 1/2 tablespoons) of evaporated milk to make it a little thinner but this icing is definetly not good for a piping bag...it is too thin! Also, I think my biggest excitiement when making this cake was I discovered small cans of evaporated milk at Whole Foods, one was almost perfect for this cake and instead of throwing away a whole can I only had a little bit left over!

OATMEAL LAYER CAKE
Source: Cooking Light)

INGREDIENTS

Cooking spray
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups boiling water
1 cup quick-cooking oats
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening (I use butter)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat bottoms of 2 (9-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pan), and line bottoms of pans with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray, and dust with 1 tablespoon flour.

Combine water and oats in a medium bowl; let stand 20 minutes. Beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, shortening, and vanilla at medium speed of a mixer for 5 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add oatmeal, beating until blended.

Lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Sharply tap pans once on counter to remove

CARAMEL PECAN FROSTING
(Source: Cooking Light)

Ingredients
1/4 cup butter or stick margarine
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons evaporated fat-free milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preparation
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar. Cook 3 minutes; stir constantly with a whisk. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time; cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Cool. Stir in vanilla. Combine butter mixture and powdered sugar in a bowl; beat at high speed of a mixer until smooth. Frost cake as directed; sprinkle with pecans.
Note: If it's too thick, add 1 tablespoon evaporated fat-free milk.

Yield
2 cups

Sinfully Snickers!

2008-08-12T22:08:00.000-04:00

Whenever I go home in the summer my parents' friends always ask/expect cookies at the beach. Thanks to the rain there were no beach days when I was home two weeks ago but I still made the cookies and dropped them off at their houses. These cookies are delicious, even for a non-snickers fan! Unfortunately, my dad got a hold of the bag of the mini snickers and ate some so with the extra dough I threw in some chocolate chips and made chocolate chip cookiea, which came out delicious!

The recipe said that it makes 2 dozen but I definetly made more then that, I don't put alot of dough around each snickers. Also, the recipe states 10-20 minutes but the problem with these cookies is that they harden up after they cool down so the key is to take them out when they are just lightly brown, I always take them out at the 10 minute mark. If need be you can put them in for a minute or two.

Snickers are ready to go!

Preparing to be covered!

Balls of dough and snickers, pre-oven!

Cookies right out of the oven!

Inside the cookie!!!

Yummy Melted Snickers!

Extra chocolate chips cookies

SNICKERS SURPRISE COOKIES
(Source: A TO Z Teacher Forums)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

24 Snickers miniature candy bars

24 servings 2 dozen

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degree Fahrenheit.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, mix together butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs and vanilla and combine thoroughly.
5. Then mix in flour mixture.
6. Cover and chill dough 2-3 hours.
7. To form cookie, scoop a tablespoon of chilled dough and flatten.
8. Place a miniature Snickers in the center and form the dough into a ball around the Snickers.
9. Place on a greased cookie sheet.
10. Bake for 10-20 minutes.
11. Cool cookies on a rack.
12. Optional: Decorate cookies with powdered sugar or drizzled melted chocolate or both.

Easiest and Most Delicious Chocolate Chip Cake!

2008-08-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

This week we had a small pizza party for our interns and it was assumed that I was going to make a dessert for the party, I of course happily obliged and brought in my favorite Chocolate Chip Cake. Now this cake is actually one of my #1 requested items and I LOVE it because its so moist, not too overpowering with chocolate but just the perfect amount, and it is so simple to make. My mom always says that best desserts are the simple and not overly complicated and she is definitely right! This cake is always a huge hit and I also used it when I made my onesie cake; however, that cake seemed to sink a little bit!

So next time you need a delicious and easy cake this is definitely a winner!

CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE

DIRECTIONS:

1 pkg. Deluxe Yellow Cake Mix
4 large eggs
1 C. vegetable oil
1 C. milk
1 box instant vanilla pudding
1 - 4oz bar German's Sweet Chocolate grated (grate it by throwing it in the blender)
Handful of Chocolate Chips (I use usually 2 handfuls)

DIRECTIONS:

- Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips.
- Fold in chocolate chips
- Pour into a greased Bundt pan
- Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.....(50 minutes is usually enough)

SATINY CHOCOLATE GLAZE
INGREDIENTS:

3/4 C. semisweet chocolate chips
3 T. butter
1 T. light corn syrup
1/4 tspn. vanilla extract

There are two different ways to do the glaze - the official directions are first then my short cut ones are second

OFFICIAL DIRECTIONS:

- In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.
- Spread warm glaze over top of cake, letting it drizzle down the sides.

MY DIRECTIONS:

- In a microwave safe bowl melt chocolate chips and butter, occasionally stirring.
- After melted add corn syrup and vanilla.
- Spread warm glaze over top of cake, depending on the thickness either drizzle it or just spread it over the top and down the sides.

Surprise Surprise......Cookies with Mojo!

2008-08-06T13:35:00.000-04:00

I have a confession: I am a cookie snob!!! I didn't realize this until recently but I really am picky when it comes to other people's cookies, I think it happened when I started to bake all the time. Therefore, when my officemate brought in some cookies that his girlfriend made for us,I had one expecting to like it but not love it and BOY WAS I WRONG!!!!! I couldn't stop eating them and that is when I then recruited other people at work to come and eat them to help save me from myself! So when I was home this weekend I decided it was the perfect time to try them out and boy were they delicious! My dad said they were just as delicious cooled as warm. Also, I think it helped break me out of my non-baking funk......lots of baking to come now!

They are called Michael's cookies named after my co-workers girlfriend's (Lauren's) brother......

MICHAEL'S COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 box fudge marble cake mix (I like Duncan Hines brand)

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 tbsp water (+ 1 tbsp water used later)

1 cup chocolate chips (half of a 12 oz bag).

Optional: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees

2. In a large bowl, combine white part of cake mix with all ingredients above (set aside the chocolate part of the cake mix and the extra 1 tbsp water). Mix with a wooden spoon until blended. (you can use a food processor, just leave the chips and nuts out and add by hand later). Batter should feel like cookie dough - if it is too wet, add a little flour and refrigerate until it hardens. If it is too dry, add a little more water.

3. Transfer 1/4 of the white dough to a small bowl. Add the chocolate part of the mix, plus 1 TBSP water, to the white dough and blend well, until you create a chocolate dough.

4. Swirl the chocolate dough into the remaining white dough until it looks marble-like.

5. Place generous spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and cook for 10 minutes (the recipe says 12 to 13 minutes for small cookies and 13- 14 minutes if you made big cookies but I like to check them at 10 and make sure they are just a little firm). If it is too sticky to work with, put the bowl in the refrigerator or freezer for a little while and it will harden.

6. When they are done, take out of oven and let rest on the cookie sheet for a minute, to set, then transfer to a rack to cool.

That's it. It makes 3 dozen small or 2 dozen large cookies. This recipe doubles (two boxes) easily. If you want to make more than two batches, it is better to split it up and only have two boxes of mix in a bowl at one time. More than that, and the dough gets worked too much and gets tough.

Next time......

2008-07-31T11:57:00.003-04:00

This month's Daring Bakers Challenge was Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream. The recipe looked delicious unfortunately, I just didn't have anyone or anything to bake it for this month!! That is the downside of living on our own and I just thought it was too much for the office! I hope to make it in the future but make sure you check out the rest of the Daring Bakers . They do look delicious and now I am sorry I didn't make it!

Peanut Butter Heaven!

2008-07-16T14:47:00.004-04:00

I LOVE to bake but I try not to make things that I crave; however, I have failed when it comes to these cookies!!! I LOVE and CRAVE these! I try to convince myself that its okay because they are made with reduced fat peanut butter (hey I need that protein!) and I try to forget that there are 2 sticks of butter in them! I know that they were a big hit today because I had random people come knocking on my cubicle because they heard I had cookies! Part of the reason I wanted to make these were because I was reading about Clumbsy Cookie's peanut butter cookies, that also look delicious!

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

2 Sticks of butter, softened
3/4 jar of peanut butter
3/4 C. Sugar
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
12 oz chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar together. Then add the eggs and vanilla and mix. Next add the flour and baking soda. Finally add the chips.

I use an ice cream scoop so they are moundy but you can use a big spoonfull of dough. Bake them for 8 minutes then check them, possibly need an extra 2 minutes. Let them cool and enjoy! Take them out when they are lightly brown and look somewhat firm, not gooey but not hard! enjoy!!

Not Cute but Devilishly Delicious Cupcakes!

2008-07-14T19:11:00.003-04:00

For the most part my baked goods come out delicious but are not overly pretty....there are no complaints on the eater's end but it is something I definitely need to work on. I for some reason have a hard time with filling cupcakes and these Devils Food and Peanut Butter Frosted Cupcakes were no exception to the rule...they are delicious but just not super pretty! Thank god for frosting!!! These cupcakes are a HUGE hit at work and have been requested a few times, today they were for a work birthday! These have been listed in my friend's top 5 baked goods I make.

The cupcakes are the same devils food recipe I used in Chocolate and Cherries and my Delicious Ice Cream Cake, I am a big fan of recipes that are versatile. The Peanut Butter frosting recipe makes 4 cups but for a normal batch of cupcakes 2 cups is enough. I included the original recipe but at the end (in parenthesis)is the halved recipe - I added just a tad more peanut butter this time!

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE RECIPE
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in sugar and butter until butter is melted.
- Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture and mix thoroughly.

Pour into cupcake pan and bake for 13-15 minutes, it makes 15-20 cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Frosting
(Source: The Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 C. (2 1/2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened (.625C or 1 1/4 Sticks)
1/4 C. Smooth Peanut Butter (1/8 C. I actually used almost 1/4 C. see notes)
5 C. Confectioners' Sugar ( 2 1/2 C.)
1/2 tspn. Salt (1/4 tspn.)
1/4 C. plus 1 T. Milk (1/8 C.)

DIRECTIONS:

- In a large mixing bowl, use an electric mixer to whip the butter and peanut butter together.
- Add the confectioners' sugar, salt, and then milk.
- Add additional tablespoons of milk or sugar to loosen or tighten the icing, respectively.
- For best results, use immediately.

NOTES:
- If the Devils Food batter looks thin - don't worry it is!!!
- The icing makes 4 cups, the halved recipes makes enough for one batch of cupcakes.
- I added extra peanut butter, especially when halved, it is not an overly peanut buttery flavored frosting but it is definitely creamy.

Meme Time!

2008-07-10T10:57:00.000-04:00

I just finished my first Daring Bakers Challenge and I have to say thank you to all the wonderful DBers out there who left comments! It really is a great group of people. Amelia from Diary from the Last Frontier sent me and other new DBers a meme today. I decided that I was going to follow in her footsteps and do it and tag some other Daring Baker newbies! Also, if you get a chance make sure you check out their blogs because they are all wonderful, including Amelia's!

The rules:

#Link to the person who tagged you.
# Post the rules on the blog.
# Write six random things about yourself.
# Tag six people at the end of your post.
# Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
# Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Now six random things about me:
1. I love baking but hate cooking!!! I don't cook at all!
2. I started baking as a challenge because I used to consider baking as cutting up the cookie rolls!
3. I DESPERATELY want a pug, I can't have one right now but that doesn't stop me from looking at petfinder all the time!
4. I LOVE reality tv!!
5. I have a slight obessession with Starbucks
6. The joy I get from baking is making other people happy! That's why I bake!

My six victims were chosen because they are Daring Bakers (well except 1) and I love their blogs!

Pineapple Princessa - Jess

The Hungry Housewife - Leslie

52 Recipes - Paula

Do Better - Karen

The Clumbsy Cookie - Rita

Modern Beet - Jen

Daring Bakers Challenge #1 Not So Scary Danish Bread!

2008-06-29T01:20:00.000-04:00

My First Official Daring Bakers Challenge!!! I have to admit that when I found out what this challenge was I immediately thought wow I am in over my head!! I freaked about it for awhile, read about other Daring Bakers problems, continued to freak, but then I watched this video about folding and then this video.

Once I figured out how to fold the butter in, I then used thisfor my visual on how to do the braids (it is in Italian so it is all about the visual!).

What had me freaking out was how to do the butter block and folding and I immediately screwed up because I couldn't unfold it the way the directions said to; however, it seemed to work out okay by just rolling into a ball and flattening it out every time. I didn't have problems with the butter coming out or with it being overly sticky. However, I did have a problem with juice escaping and smoke everywhere but despite that they were pretty yummy!!! I brought one to work and the other is in my freeezer for later.

Mind did not come out as beautiful as the other Daring Bakers did but I am excited I could acutally do it!

The spreading of the butter

Not super Pretty but Delicious!

Slighlty Burnt but still delicious

DANISH DOUGH

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING
Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Wine, Jazz, and Baby Loafs!

2008-06-27T08:45:00.001-04:00

Tonite I am joining some friends for some wine and Jazz music at the Sculpture Garden and I wanted to bring something for us to nibble on. I haven't made this bread in a few years and the recipe originally calls for it to be 3 loaves but I remembered that last time they came out kind of thin and this time I wanted fatter loaves so I divided the batter into 2 pans instead of 3 and it was still delicious! I brought one loaf into work and so far everyone loves it!

Orange Baby-Loaf Cakes with Dried Cherries and Walnuts
(Original Source: Fitness Magazine December 2002)

CAKES INGREDIENTS

Butter Flavored Cooking Spray
2 1/4 C. All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
8 Tbs. (1 stick) Butter, Softened
1 1/2 C. granulated Sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 Tbs.Grated Orange Zest
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 C. Nonfat Buttermilk (I used 2% this time)
1/2 C. Dried Cherries (I used a combo of Cherries and Cranberries)
1/3 C plus 1 1/2 teaspoons Finely Chopped Walnuts (mine weren't too finely chopped and it still tasted great!)

GLAZE INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 C. Sifted Confectioners' Sugar
1 1/2 to 2 Tablespoons Water

DIRECTIONS

- Heat oven to 350 degrees and coat three 5 3/4 x 3 1/4 x 2 inch metal loaf pans with cooking spray.
- Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda onto a large piece of waxed paper (I used another bowl).
- In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, effs, grated orange zest, and vanilla extract until smooth.
-Alternately beat in buttermilk and flour mixture until well blended.
- Fold in cherries and 1/3 C. Walnuts and pour into prepared pans.
- Bake 45 mins or until a tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Cool in pans on wire rack 10 minutes and remove cakes from pans and cook completely

- Prepare glaze in a large bowl by beating confectioners' sugar and water until smooth. Drizzle over tops and sprinkle with 1/3 tsp. walnuts

Craveable Quiche!

2008-06-19T16:41:00.007-04:00

I love to bake but cooking is not my thing; however, I was recently craving my mom's famous quiche - her friends used to pay her to make them for events. It was so easy that even I could do it! The important lesson I learned from making it is that it tastes better when it sits for a few minutes - a hard lesson for me to learn because I usually can't wait to eat it! Also, warning self control can go out the window with this recipe!

Spinach Layer

Spinach and Cheese

Rt before going into the oven

Right after it came out

A Messy but Delicious Piece!

QUICHE

INGREDIENTS:
- 9' Deep Dish Pie Shell
- 6 oz. cheese - Swiss or combination of cheese (tastes best with 3 different types incl. Swiss)
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 C. Light Cream of 1 C. Heavy Cream & 1/2 C. Milk
- Salt, Nutmeg, Pepper
- Filling: Chopped Spinach and Onion (make sure dry), Shrimp, Mushroom, Broccoli, Bacon

DIRECTIONS:
- Heat oven to 375
- Put filling then cheese on the bottom of the shell
- Beat eggs, cream & spices until frothy
- Pour into pie shell
- Bake 35 to 40 minutes

NOTES:
- I only had skim milk so I used that, my mom is not a fan of the skim substitute and is a purist, but I just added a lot of extra cheese and it tasted just as good!
- My mom likes using 3 different types of white cheese - I don't care

Butterscotch Brownies!

2008-06-17T18:17:00.005-04:00

In the past few weeks it seems like everyone has been making brownies so when my office was having an ice cream party I thought it was a great opportunity to make a delicious batch. I know that everyone loves these because people kept coming up to ask which ones were mine and they disappeared the quickest!! One of the great things about this recipe is that I substitute different types of chips and they always come out great!

This recipe is originally from the family I used to nanny for and they are delicious.

BROWNIES

Ingredients:
- 4 oz unsweetned chocolate
- 1 stick butter
- 4 eggs
- salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 C. Flour
- 6 oz Chips (butterscotch, chocolate, and peanut butter)

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350
- Melt the chocolate and butter together
- Beat the eggs and salt
- Slowly add sugar and vanilla and mix
- Stir in the melted chocolate and butter
- Mix in the flout
- Add your favorite chips

Pour into a 9 x 13 in. pan and bake for 25 minutes. Watch out they go fast!!

Guest Post: Fresh Berry Cake

2008-06-16T22:34:00.007-04:00

This is another guest post from my cousin. Father's Day was a beautiful day here so it looks like the perfect dessert for a nice summer BBQ, I'm sorry I didn't get to try it.

For Father’s day, I wanted to make a berry cake for my husband because he prefers lighter desserts in the summer and really enjoys berries. I made the cake in a bundt pan. Rather than frosting it, I sprinkled powedered sugar on top and filled in berries in the middle and then served it with berries and whipped cream.

I got the original recipe from Good Things Catered but adapted it a bit.

Fresh Berry Cake

Ingredients:
2 c. plus 4 Tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
2 eggs, at room temperature
¾ c. egg beaters
2/3 c. Fage 0% fat greek yogurt
3/4 c. blueberries
3/4 c. raspberries

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a bundt pan.
-In medium bowl sift together 2 c. plus 2 Tbsp flour, baking soda and salt.
-In bowl of large stand mixer with flat beater attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes, scraping as needed.
-Add the vanilla and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute.
-Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
-Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the yogurt and beginning and ending with the flour.
-Beat each addition just until incorporated, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
-In the bowl the flour mixture was in, add berries and 2 Tbsp reserved flour and toss to combine.
-Using a rubber spatula, gently fold berries into batter.
-Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes.
-Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes.
-Invert cake to release from pan and let cool completely on wire rack before frosting and serving.

I made the cake in a bundt pan and then sprinkled powdered sugar on top and filed the middle with strawberries and blueberries. I served it with some whipped cream.

Chocolate and Cherries!!

2008-06-12T09:19:00.004-04:00

Last weekend my friends and I went to go visit my officemate who just had a beautiful baby girl 3 weeks ago. I asked the new mom what she wanted me to bake and she requested my Devils Food with Comstack Cherries and Chocolate Frosting Cake, I made this cake for work and it was a big hit!

This one was very good too except I didn't have time to let it set in the refrigerator after I frosted it. Since it was almost 100 degrees on Sunday and it sat in the car for awhile it did not look pretty by the time it reached its destination, it split in 1/3 and the chocolate frosting was very melted, but other then not looking pretty it still tasted delicious!!

The Devils Food Cake recipe is the same recipe as my Delicious Ice Cream Cake ; however, this time I baked it in 2 round pans for 25 minutes.

DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE RECIPE
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in sugar and butter until butter is melted.
- Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture and mix thoroughly.

Pour into 2 round pans for 25 minutes.

CREAMY CHOCOLATE FROSTING
(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons evaporated milk (I used 2%)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
- In a medium bowl, sift together the confectioners' sugar and cocoa, and set aside.
-In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk.
- Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk or sugar.

ASSEMBLY

A cool trick I learned is to take some of your frosting and make an edge or a dam on the perimeter of your inside layer to keep the Cherries or any filling from oozing out. Then take a can of cherries, Comstack and Lucky Leaf are popular brands, and spread it around on the inside layer. Then after you assemble the second layer on top frost with the Creamy Chocolate Frosting, for this recipe I ended up making 1 1/2 batches of frosting and I had a little left over.

Delicious Ice Cream Cake!

2008-06-10T08:19:00.005-04:00

I have never seen any of the Indiana Jones movies and in order to stop the relentless mocking at work I went over to my friend's house for dinner, dessert, and Indiana Jones. This was a great opportunity to use my awesome Betty Crocker Bake n'Fill pan, my dad got it for me a few years ago and I absolutely love it!

This time I made a Devil's Food Cake with light mint chocolate chip ice cream and a satiny chocolate glaze and absolutely delicious on a hot day! One of the good things about this cake is that if you leave it in the freezer for awhile you can let it sit out for a little bit and it stays cold enough until you cut it. It was delicious and everybody loved it!

Devil's Food Cake Recipe
(Soruce: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups water
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter or margarine
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

- In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Remove from the heat.
- Stir in sugar and butter until butter is melted.
- Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture and mix thoroughly.

The recipe calls for a greased and floured 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan for 30-35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Satiny Chocolate Glaze

(Source: allrecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

The original directions:

- In a double boiler over hot, but not boiling water, combine chocolate chips, butter and corn syrup. Stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth, then add vanilla.

My directions:

- Melt the chocolate chips and butter in the microwave 45 seconds to a minute and then stirring and then another 20 seconds until melted.

- Add corn syrup and vanilla and stir until smooth.

Notes:

- The Satiny Chocolate Glaze recipe is originally for a bundt cake but it is delicious and easy so for this recipe I did the chocolate in stages to see how much I actually needed and I used a bag of chocolate chips and basiclaly did the recipe by 1.5. I then covered the whole cake in it and put it back in the frezzer to harden.

Yummy Workshop!

2008-06-08T21:22:00.005-04:00

This weekend my cousin and I took a Cupcake Workshop at Sur La Table. Over the winter we took a cake decorating class there and enjoyed it so we thought we would give this a shot. An added benefit for me was spending time with my cousin because I really enjoy taking classes with her and sharing our baking interest.

At the class there were 6 cupcake/frosting recipes and they divided you into 3 groups with each group making 2 different types. Some of the recipes were good, some I would change a little bit, and some were a lot of work that I am not sure I would spend the time making. They all look cute though!

Blueberry, Peanut Butter with Milk Chocolate Glaze, Strawberry Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes, Black and Whites, Blossom Topped with a Cream Cheese Frosting, Lemon Raspberry (with jam inside)

Strawberry Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Topping (Great for a kid's birthday!!)

Blueberry Cupcakes with a Maple Sugar frosting

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars - Vegan Style

2008-06-05T12:32:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago I made these delicious Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bars from Amber's Delectable Delights and they were a HUGE hit at work. I also agreed with Amber that they are pretty sinful if you are a Resse's lover. This is a great recipe to make in the summer when it is too hot to turn on the oven!

Because these were such a big hit at work I was trepidatious to change the recipe at all but one of our interns is a Vegan and I wanted to make something she could eat at our training session today. I have to say I am pretty impressed with the results and if you need a good vegan recipe this is an easy one to do. Below is the original recipe and listed next to the ingredients are the vegan substitutes.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Bars
(Amber's Original Source was: RecipeZaar.com)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (Vegan Margarine)
2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 1 cellophane package and 3 extra grahams)(I buy the boxed Graham Cracker Crumbs; however, see below for the Vegan note)
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup smooth peanut butter
2 cups chocolate chips (Vegan Chocolate Chips - I bought them at Whole Foods)

Directions:

- Mix butter, graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and peanut butter. (An easy way to measure the peanut butter is to put 1 cup of water into a measuring cup, and then add enough peanut butter to it that the water reaches 2 cups).
- Press mixture into a 9x13" pan.
- Melt chocolate chips in microwave and stir until smooth (try a minute first, and then check).
- Spread chocolate carefully over peanut butter layer with a spatula. (Having one person to pour the chocolate and one to spread works well!).
- Let the chocolate cool for a while, and then cut into bars before the chocolate is completely hardened (or else the chocolate layer will just crack).

Notes:

- I was very worried about making sure I made this recipe vegan; I have to note that the intern does eat honey which I realize does not follow the vegan lifestyle. I checked to make sure all the ingredients were vegan, which included the graham crackers. When I normally make this recipe I buy the box of Graham Cracker Crumbs; however, those seemed to have milk in them. I jumped to the conclusion that all graham crackers did so I went and bought Mi-Del Graham Crackers, which are Whole Wheat All Natural; however, the ones I bought had honey in them. When I went to the regular supermarket and looked at the Honey Maid Graham Crackers I realized that I stressed for no reason and could have bought those.

- I personally did not find the Mi-Del Graham Crackers to be tasty on their own; however, they tasted just fine in the recipe.

Guest Post: White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookies

2008-06-03T22:24:00.004-04:00

My cousin Allison is part of the reason why I started this blog and is an excellent baker and cook. She recently made these cookies for a PTA meeting at her son's school. They were all gobbled up!

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled until warm
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
11 oz bag white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts

Directions:-pre- heat oven to 325. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
-Mix dry ingredients together; set aside.
-With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined.
-Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined.
-Add dry ingredients & beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips.
- Drop in tablespoon size drops on cooking sheets
- Bake about 12-13 minutes
-Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.

Yummy Bran Muffins!

2008-06-01T14:04:00.004-04:00

I love these bran muffins: they are very moist and healthy! I usually can't wait for them to cool down and I eat one right away but I also freeze them. To defrost them sometimes I'll throw them in the microwave for a few seconds or I'll just take them out and let them defrost on their own, which seems to give the best result!

Recipe

1 1/2 C. Wheat Bran
1 C. Butter Milk (I used Organic Fat Free Butter Milk)
1/3 C. Vegetable oil (I used Unsweetned Apple Sauce instead)
1 Egg
2/3 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 tspn. Vanilla
1 Cup Flour (I used Whole Wheat Flour)
1 tspn. Baking Soda
1 tspn. Baking Powder
1/2 tspn. Salt
1/2 C. of Raisins or Shredded Carrots (I used carrots this time)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pour the wheat bran and buttermilk into a bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes add the rest of the ingredients (except carrots/raisins) and mix well, the batter will be very moist. Then mix in your carrots/raisins. Pour into muffin tins and bake at 375 degrees for 13-17 minutes.

Enjoy!

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-05-29T21:51:00.006-04:00

I wanted to bake the other day but only had 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips and 1/2 a bag of butterscotch chips so I decided to combine them and make some delicious cookies. I wasn't sure if they were going to be too sweet - my officemates said they were a little sweet but it didn't stop them from devouring them! It's always a good sign when the container shows up on your desk empty with a post it note that says "Please refill!"

Recipe

2 Sticks of butter
3/4 C. Sugar
3/4 C. Brown Sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 C. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
12 oz chips (in this recipe 6 oz of Butterscotch chip and 6 oz. Chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together. Then add the eggs and vanilla and mix. Next add the flour and baking soda. Finally add the chips.

I use an ice cream scoop so they are moundy but you can use a big spoonfull of dough. Bake them for 8 minutes then check them, possibly need an extra 2 minutes. Let them cool and enjoy!

These cookies come out very soft unfortunately they stuck together because I stacked them when they were still a little warm but they were still delicious!!

Onesie Cookies - Baby Shower Favors

2008-05-27T19:38:00.009-04:00

For the baby shower that I made the Onesie cake for I also made Onesie Sugar Cookies that were the favors and we packaged them with M&Ms on the bottom so they would stand up in the basket. They were a big hit!

One of the things that my friend and I loved about the cookies was how well they came out. We used this great decorating method and here are the step by step instructions.

Roll out your cookie dough. Then using a cookie cutter cut out the shapes.
Remove the cookie impression from the dough.
Bake your cookies according to your recipes directions and let cool completely on a rack before decorating.
Make a batch of royal icing, thick enough to hold it’s shape when piped. Fill a decorating bag about a 1/3 full with Royal Icing. Tint with desired color or leave white. Fit with tip # 2 or 3.
Squeeze, while outlining the edge of the cookie. After outlining the entire edge, stop at the edge of the beginning line, touch and lift This is called the dam or seam.
Take the icing that you will use to fill in the center of your outline, add a little water to it. It needs to have a streaming not runny consistency.
Fill the outline in with the thinned icing, using a spoon or squeeze bottle. Be generous With a spoon gently push the icing into the corners and at the points.
Allow the icing to dry for at least 2 hours. After your cookie has had time to dry, you can add additional decorations or writing on your creation.

I had some extra sugar extra cookies so we dipped them in chocolate and served them at the shower!

Cheesecake Pops - Daring Bakers Challenge

2008-05-22T18:53:00.009-04:00

Part of the reason why I decided to do a blog was because of the Daring Bakers Challenge. Their challenge last month was Cheesecake Pops and this recipe intrigued me and although I wasn't officially part of the challenge I still made them and my office mates loved them......After the recipe are some of my thoughts about them! Enjoy!!

The Recipe

Makes 30 – 40 Pops
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionery coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Some Thoughts:

I used a combination of reduced fat and 1/3 less fat cream cheese and it still came out delicious

I could not find a 10 inch pan so I ended up using a 9 in. pan which meant I had left over batter - I poured the batter into a mini muffin pan and made a few mini cheesecakes - that were also delicious!

I brought them to work and as they defrosted the sticks came out - I need to work on a way for the sticks to stay in better; however, the chocolate stayed hard so next time I might just do a bon bon form - which my office mates/guinea pigs said would be delicious as well!

I made my chocolate in batches in the microwave - pretty easy just make sure that the chocolate doesn't burn!

First Post First Baby Shower Cake!

2008-05-15T21:19:00.008-04:00

For my first post I thought it was fitting that I wrote about the first cake I decorated for real. I am not one of the most creative people but I can bake well so I figured I would give it a chance and make a delicious cake that hopefully looked well for my officemate's shower. I made a Onesie Cake that was a Chocolate Chip Cake with a Buttercream Frosting.

To make the Onesie Cake - make your favorite cake in a 9x13 in. pan. After it cools cut the bottom into triangles and then add them onto the top so that the triangular cutouts from the bottom make the sleeves. I also made a slight indent on the top to get the collar look.

I have to work on my decorating skills but everyone loved it and it was definitely a different type of cake!