Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo Cookie Style

Happy Belated Cinco De Mayo!!! I actually attended a Quatro de Mayo party and wanted to make something festive so I made my Margarita Cupcakes with Lime Cream Cheese frosting; the party was on Friday nite but I brought them into work via the metro and kept them in our fridge during the day until my friend's husband came to pick them up during the day. My friend who was throwing the party was doing it to celebrate her husband's half Mexican heritage and her love for margaritas. I asked her if her husband felt Chocolate Mexican Wedding Cookies would be sacrarelig and thankuflly she said no because these came out so good and are so easy to make. The directions say to wrap the dough and let it harden for an hour but in true fashion I didn't buy enough pecans so made it in the night before and then came home for work took the dough out to let it soften for awhile and added the pecans mixed it and just went from there. They are sooooooo good and will be definitely be made again.

O if you buy one German Chocolate Bar then you will be fine! I used the blender to grate it but just remember that the blades can melt it so either do sections or just do it quickly (you can also freeze the bar if you want to).

Happy Cinco De Mayo! Now go pour yourself a Margarita!

Yet again I am a bad blogger and forgot to take a picture until I was at work so it was taken while they were in the box with my iPhone.

CHOCOLATE MEXICAN WEDDING COOKIES
(Source: Allrecipes)

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup ground pecans (I just threw them into the blender)
1/2 cup German sweet chocolate, grated (I just threw it into the blender)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 pinch salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup German sweet chocolate, grated


DIRECTIONS:

- In a large bowl, cream the butter and 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, ground pecans, 1/2 cup ground chocolate, cinnamon and salt; mix well.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 1 to 2 hours, or until firm.
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (180 degrees C).
- Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 15 to 18 minutes, or until the cookies are firm to the touch. Cool 1 minute on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack.
- For the coating, sift 1/2 cup of the confectioner's sugar and 1/4 cup of the ground cocoa into a shallow bowl. While cookies are still warm, roll them in the coating.

Giganticness Part II

Here is another Gigantic Red Velvet cupcake! This was for my other neighbor, I really do have the best neighbors. The only problem with this one was that I got stuck talking to these awesome neighbors in the hallway and forgot that the cake was in the oven! I could have kicked myself because I was trying to be a perfectionist watching it bake but I still think it came out great.

Also, I could not remember how much frosting I needed for this cake; I usually squirt some into the bottom part and then use it to seal the two halves together. I started making double the frosting recipe and ran out of ingredients so I got up early the next morning to run to the store only to learn that I really needed 1 - 1 1/2 of the cream cheese frosting recipe. For the amount I bake I definitely should know these things! Now I do for the future :)

Devilishly Filled Peanut Butter Cupcakes

For my co-worker's birthday my devils food cupcakes with peanut butter frosting was a no brainer because that is his favorite but I wanted to do something different this time. After my recent success with filled cupcakes I decided to insert some forsting into the bottom of the cupcake. I know that there are now those fancy cupcake core removers out there but I just took a tube of the frosting a #tip and just stuck it right into the cupcake and filled it until a little came out of the top; I then scraped off all the extra. These came out amazing. My coworkers have had this recipe many times before but the reviews I got on this particular cupcake was astonishing. I actually never eat the cupcakes (I am a batter and frosting girl) but I had to go get one after lunch just to see if they were better and WOW that is some peanut butter heaven.

I originally just made 1 1/2 of the frosting recipe but needed some more for the last few cupcakes so I would say double it (which actually Is what the original recipe called for). These also came out so much cuter than the first time I made them, I am finally trying to get the look to match the taste!


Though previously listed on this site, I figured I would list the recipe again with the correct amount of frosting for filled cupcakes.

PS Sorry for the iPhone cupcakes at my desk, I always forget to take pictures until the last minute!

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
(Modified from: The Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook)

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 C. (2 1/2 Sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened
1/4 C. Smooth Peanut Butter (I use the same amount for half the recipe so you can use a little more)
5 C. Confectioners' Sugar
1/2 tspn. Salt
1/4 C. plus 1 T. Milk


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 but use a whole batch for filled cupcakes.
- I added extra peanut butter, especially when halved, it is not an overly peanut buttery flavored frosting but it is definitely creamy.

Birthday Giganticness!

Last Saturday was a busy baking day! At the same time that I was making my KU Cake I was also making another giagantic cupcake. This time I made a gigantic red velvet cupcake and injected some cream cheese frosting into the middle of it and used cream cheese as glue to put the top and the bottom together. I split purple cream cheese frosting into 2 batches and added pink to the second batch. I put the purple frosting into the bag first and then added the pinkish frosting so they would swirl together; unfortunately, my apartment was super hot and it was not sitting right on the cupcake (I was going top down) so I took it all off and started again but this time bottom up and then went back and went around the gap from the top to the bottom. I was also usper excited to use my new purple sprinkles.

This cupcake looks so cute and my neighbor loved her birthday cupcake! She actually brought it to a friend's house where they were watching the basketball games and she said that the little 2 year old's eyes grew so big when he saw the cupcake and also asked where the rest of it was going when she left with it (after leaving him some for the next day).

One tip I recommend with using this pan is to fill the bottom and cook it for 10 minutes; I also, haven't used this pan in a really long time so I kept checking it and adding 6 minutes over and over again so just make sure you keep your eyes on this one.

Chocolate Surprise!!

I have learned from previous cupcakes that people tend to love cupcakes with a little surprise in them and this cupcake is no different. This cupcake got rave reviews and I was told that even nonchocolate lovers loved them. The directions said to fill it with batter and then put in the filling but some reviewers suggested filling them a 1/3 of the way and then put the filling it and then another 1/3. I did that and used my trusty ice cream scoop and filled them 2/3 (about 1 scoop) and then filling and then another scoop. They do rise a little bit and my sunk in a little bit but once you glaze it nobody can tell the difference. Put this in the winner category.

CHOCOLATE SURPRISE CUPCAKES
(Source: Allrecipes)

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips




1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
2.In a large bowl, mix together flour, 2 cups sugar, cocoa, 1 teaspoon salt and baking soda. Stir in oil, water, vinegar and vanilla until blended. Pour mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.
3.To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, egg, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt until light and fluffy. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop a heaping teaspoonful of the cream cheese mixture into each cupcake. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Allow to cool.



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.

March Madness!!!

One of my very good friends is an alumnae and big fan of KU basektball! So when we all got together to watch them play (and win!) their semifinal game on Saturday I made a red velvet double layer round cake. It has been awhile since I have made a good ol' fashined round cake and let me tell you it showed! it got stuck in the pan and then I tried to put it back together with some glue (aka cream cheese frosting). While it was slanted it still tasted good! I really need to work on the basic cake! Good Luck to KU on Monday!

To do the KU and the design I changed a recipe recipe and it worked out well! I halved the recipe below:

DECORATIVE FROSTING
(Me modified from: allrecipes)


INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract


DIRECTIONS:

- Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Beat on low speed of electric mixer until well blended and very smooth.

Happy St. Patty's Day!!!!

My guinea pigs, er co-workers, are used to getting regular cookies or cupcakes at work but after being inspired by so many talented blogs I decided to work on decorative sugar cookies. Who knew my biggest hurdle would be finding a St. Patty's day cookie cutter!?!?! Seriously Michaels! Thankfully my cousin had one that I was able to use. I also decided that there was no reason that I had to make a full batch, which is like 60 cookies, for work so I scaled my recipe back to 1/4 and it ended up making about 20 shamrocks, perfect! (recipe is in next post!) Still learning about decorating, people make it look so easy but it isn't!