Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

I went to a family picnic and wanted to bring a small dessert/snack.  When I asked my husband what kind of treat he wanted, he eagerly responded with "something with cheesecake!" Which brought me to one of my favorite lunchbox snacks, cheesecake stuffed strawberries.  When I toss them in my lunch, they're usually prepared without much ado.  But for this gathering, I wanted them to be a bit more presentable and special looking.

These turned out fantastic, and were eaten up almost immediately.  I made 4 dozen, but only 3 dozen made it out the door with me.  The strawberries were flavorful and juicy and were amazing with the creamy cheesecake middle which was so smooth, rich, and decadent.  The white chocolate stands added a nice sweetness and texture as did the graham cracker crumbs on top. 

These are super easy to make and seem really impressive when brought to a party.  They will continue to make an appearance in my lunchbox and at parties.

 yields 48 strawberries

Ingredients
48 strawberries, about 2 pounds
1/4 cup or so chocolate, I used white
1 block cream cheese, 8 ounces, room temp
6-8 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar - more or less, depending on desired sweetness
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 - 1 teaspoon almond extract, to taste
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped, optional
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs, maybe a little more

Directions
 1. Wash berries and let dry completely. Cut of stems, hull the berries, and slice off just the tip of the berry. Stand the berries on end on a paper towel to pull some moisture away from the cut surface.

 

2. Melt chocolate by microwaving for 20 seconds on 50% power, stirring, and repeating until smooth. Dip just the tips of the berries into the chocolate and place on a wax paper lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 10 minutes to help the chocolate set.

3. While chocolate is setting , make the cheesecake filling. In a small bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, extracts, and vanilla bean (if using).  Place into a pastry bag fitted with a narrow tip to fill the berries.


4. Put graham cracker crumbs into a small bowl.

5. Fill strawberries to the top, so that it overfills just a little bit. Dip the top into the graham cracker crumbs. Repeat.

Refrigerate until serving.

Toasted Marshmallow Buttercream

Difficulty: easy
Time consuming: no.

I tend to have a ton of extra chocolate cupcakes in my freezer at all times. This happens when a recipe says it will yield 2 dozen cupcakes but actually yields closer to 3. And then I don't neeeed the extra cupcakes but can't waste them either. So into the freezer they go. And out they come for a handy snack or dessert when friends come over.

I recently topped some chocolate cupcakes with toasted marshmallow butter that was incredible. It's reminiscent of nights around the campfire, complete with little bits of toasted marshmallows!!

Toasted Marshmallow Butter Cream

Depending on how generously you top your cupcakes, this should yield enough frosting to cover 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients
4 ounces (in weight) of marshmallows (about 16 large mallows)
1 cup of marshmallow fluff
1 cup powdered sugar (doesn't need to be sifted)
2 sticks of butter at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place marshmallows (not fluff) on sheet and toast under the broiler. This will happen quickly so pay attention. A little brown toastiness is okay. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer on high until creamed. Decrease the mixer speed, add powdered sugar and beat, increasing speed until the mixture becomes fluffy.

3. Add toasted marshmallows, fluff, and vanilla extract, and beat until the frosting becomes light and airy.

4. Top on your cupcakes and enjoy. Or eat it straight out of your piping bag or bowl, I won't judge you.

**Note: if your toasted mallows are too warm when you add them to your butter/powdered sugar mixture it will be almost impossible to whip up a proper buttercream. Don't worry! Just set the bowl in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to help firm up the butter, take out, and whip as planned.

From Baking Me

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Peanut Butter Caramel Filling

Difficult: No
Time Consuming: No

This is one of my favorite desserts to bring to events because... 1) They come together quickly.  2) The filling makes them incredible soft.  3) The caramel adds a sweetness that's tempered by the peanut butter, so it's not too sweet.  4) I can't stop eating them.

These bars are amazing.  Possibly one of my favorite things I've made this year, they're that good.  The cookie layers perfectly sandwich the peanut butter caramel middle.  To make it extra special, as I was cooking the caramel for the filling, I dropped in a vanilla bean and stirred until all the little flecks of vanilla caviar speckled the gooey filling (just make sure you take it out before you spread it over the cookie base).

This recipe makes a 13x9" pan of incredible bars.  When you're spreading the first layer of cookie into the pan, you will worry that there is no way that two-thirds of the dough will cover it.  But just keep squishing it around until you get the whole bottom covered - it will seem thin, but the layer will puff up when it bakes.  For the cookie topping, I dropped teaspoon sized dough balls all over the surface, they puff up and spread out, but still leave little windows for the silky, gooey peanut butter caramel to peak through.

The Recipe:

yields one 9x13 pan, cut into whatever size you'd like

Ingredients
 chocolate chip cookie dough
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
5 tablespoons shortening (if you have a tablespoon sized cookie scoop, it makes quick measuring from a tub of shortening)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips 

Peanut Butter Caramel Filling
1/2 cup (4 oz) evaporated milk
11 ounces caramels, unwrapped (you can buy Kraft Caramels, Kraft Caramel Bits, or Werther's Original Chewy Caramels - I used Werther's because someone bought out all the Kraft caramels)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
*optional: the caviar from 1 vanilla bean, or 1 whole split vanilla bean

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Optional: Coarse salt, like Kosher or Sea Salt.  You can be extra special by using vanilla sea salt if you have it.

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 9x13" pan with foil - leave enough overhang so you can lift the bars out of the pan when they're done.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, lightly whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and shortening together until combined.  Add both sugars and beat for about 2 minutes - until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, beat until combined.  Mix in chocolate chips.

3.  Add half of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  Then add the remaining flour mixture and mix again until just combined.

4.  Take about two-thirds of the dough and press it into the bottom of the pan.  It will seem like it won't cover, but just keep smooshing it until it covers - it will be fairly thin.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until it's just set and hardly brown.

5.  While the base layer is baking, begin making the filling.  Unwrap caramels and place in a medium saucepan.  Add peanut butter, evaporated milk (and the vanilla bean if you are using it).  Whisk over medium heat until smooth.

6.  When the cookie base is finished (which probably happened while you were making the filling), pour the peanut butter caramel over top, and spread evenly (if you put in a whole split vanilla bean, make sure to remove it.)  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chocolate chips (or more, I'm not judging) over the peanut butter caramel.

7.  Drop teaspoon sized dough balls over the surface of the caramel layer.  Sprinkle lightly with salt (optional) and bake for 18-20 minutes (until the cookie dough on top is lightly browned)

8.  Cool completely in pan then cut into 24 squares (or however many you want).  I chilled mine in the fridge to make cutting a little easier.


From Everyday Reading

Watermelon Cupcakes with Watermelon Cream Cheese Buttercream

 Difficulty: easy
Time consuming: about an hour start to finish for the cakes and 30ish minutes to make the frosting and top the cupcakes

Sweet Your Heart Out is officially 1 year old. I can't believe I've been posting recipes for a whole year. Although I didn't post as much as I wanted to, a lot has happened in the past year: another school year has passed, we went to Florida and planned our next vacation, we bought a new car, I started weight training at this awesome new gym (I can dead lift my body weight!), I replaced the bicycle I got in 2nd grade, I assisted coaching cheerleading, I coached a Girls on the Run team for my school, and  now we're in the process of buying a house!

So the best way to celebrate a year of sweet recipes and as a perfect way to kick off summer, I made watermelon cupcakes with watermelon icing. I brought 2 1/2 dozen of these to a party on Memorial Day weekend and they were gobbled up. The pink cake is moist and speckled with black jimmies to look just like watermelon seeds. The icing has cream cheese in it which I think helps temper the overall sweetness of the cupcake and keeps from having an overwhlming watermelon flavor. The watermelon flavor of these cupcakes reminded many of starbursts, jolly ranchers, or bubblegum.

I bought the black jimmies, large black nonpareils, chunky white icing sugar, and watermelon oil from Cincinnati Cake and Candy located in Reading , Ohio. For the cupcake liners, although I bought bright green liners, they turned brownish with the pink batter inside (flashback to basic art skills - complimentary colors make brown). To remedy that problem, I printed this cupcake liner template, traced it onto green scrapbook paper, and wrapped it around my cupcakes.

These cupcakes tasted phenomenal! But if you wanted to vary up the flavors a bit, I would try the watermelon cake with a vanilla basil buttercream, these watermelon cupcakes with white chocolate and lime, or just make a plain vanilla cake and tint it pink and use your favorite buttercream recipe - you could even add chocolate chips to the batter instead of jimmies to look like seeds since the chocolate would be paired with vanilla (yum) instead of watermelon (watermelon and chocolate, nothankyou).

Watermelon Cupcakes
Makes 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

Watermelon cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 dram (1 teaspoon) watermelon flavoring oil (like Lorann) - link to ccc
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 – 16 ounce container (2 cups) sour cream
Food coloring (optional) (I used Wilton rose colored gel food coloring)
3-4 tablespoons black jimmies (optional)

Directions
Watermelon cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. line to muffin pans with cupcake liners and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.

2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, mix well between each additions.  Add watermelon flavoring and mix to incorporate.

3.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  Then add 1/2 the sour cream, beat until just mixed.  Then the second 1/3 of flour.  Then the last 1/2 of sour cream.  And finally add the last 1/3 of the flour mixture.  You should have mixed until combined between each addition.

4.  Add food coloring as desired.

5.  Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way full, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs sticking to it.

Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Watermelon Frosting
makes enough to lightly (not huge swirls) frost 24 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 dram (about 1 teaspoon)  teaspoon watermelon flavoring (like LorAnn's)
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
8oz cream cheese, room temperature
*food coloring (optional)

1.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together.

2.  Add sugar (1/2 cup at a time so it doesn't *poof* all over the kitchen) and mix until blended.

3.  Add food coloring (if using) and watermelon extract, beat on high until light and fluffy.

*If you want a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar.  If you want a thinner frosting, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

To make the cupcakes really look like watermelon, I rolled the edge of the frosting in white icing sugar (the big crystals) and dotted the top with large, black nonpareils.

Watermelon Cake recipe from Bakingom
Frosting from Group Recipes

Banana Split Cupcakes

Difficult: No
Time consuming: this was a 2 day cupcake for me, but no individual part took too long

Whenever given the option at an ice cream shop, I almost always opt for something predominantly chocolate.  Or covered in fudge.  Or blended with chocolate milk and more chocolate fudge.  I rarely ever go for a fruity flavor.  Unless is Graeter's Black Raspberry Chip, but that's about the only exception.

But when I saw these Banana Split Cupcakes on Annie's Eats, I knew I had to make them (and then donate them to the Lent fish fry as a courtesy to my waistline).  The banana cake is so moist and is the perfect vehicle for the strawberry and pineapple filling.  Topped with a whipped cream frosting, ganache, sprinkles, and a cherry, and that's as close to an ice cream banana split as you're gonna get.

The recipe yielded 33 cupcakes for me, but I only wanted to bring 24 cupcakes to church, since my husband really like the cake and wanted to take it plain as "muffins" to work for breakfast.

The Recipe:

yields 33 cupcakes

Ingredients

Banana cupcake
2½ cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon. salt
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk (If you don't have buttermilk on hand, use: 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in a glass measuring cup, then filled to the 1 cup line with milk, +2 tablespoons milk)
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana (for me, this was from 3½ bananas)

 Strawberry Pineapple Filling
10 ounces of diced, hulled strawberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw first)
1½ tablespoons powdered sugar
8 ounces canned, crushed pineapple (fresh would be better if you have it, but canned is fine)

Whipped Cream Frosting
12 ounces heavy cream
1½ teaspoons gelatin, + 6 teaspoons cold water
3/8 cup powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ganache Topping**
 6 ounces chocolate (I used milk chocolate chips, but bittersweet chips or chopped bar chocolate is fine too)
2 ounces heavy cream
1 teaspoon corn syrup

*Note: the ganache I used had equal parts cream to chocolate (6 ounces cream, 6 ounces chocolate), but I found that it never really "set up" - even after cooling to room temperature, then an hour in the freezer, which made a kind of runny mess on my cupcakes.  So the ingredients above reflect ganache for a "hard glaze."  Also, the ganache I had made way too much, so hopefully I've adjusted the ingredients enough so that you can top the cupcakes (if not, let me know in the comments and I can try to fix it)

Garnish
marashino cherries
rainbow jimmies

Directions

Make the cupcakes
1.   Line cupake pan with liners, set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl between every egg or 2.  Mix in the mashed bananas.

3.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the stand mixer, and mix until just incorporated.  Then add half of the buttermilk.  Mix.  Then another 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix.  Then the rest of the buttermilk, mix.  Finally, add the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

4.  Fill cupcake liners 2/3 of the way full, pop into the oven, reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for 20 minutes.  The cupcakes should spring back lightly when touched, and a toothpick inserted should come out with only a few moist crumbs.  Let cool a few minute in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling
5. Macerate the chopped strawberries with the powdered sugar for at least a half hour.  Strain berries from liquid.  Strain pineapple from juices.  Set both aside.

Make the frosting
6.  Combine the gelatin and water in a small, microwave safe bowl.  Set aside for 3 minutes...

7.  In the meantime, in the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the cream and powedered sugar to soft peaks (do not over beat, you will end up with butter!)

8.  Back to the gelatin - microwave for 30 seconds so that it's completely liquidy and all the gelatin dissolved.  Let cool (but don't let it become solid).  With the mixer running on low, add the liquid gelatin to the cream, increase mixer speed, and beat until stiff peaks form.  Mix in vanilla.

Make the ganache
9.  Put the chocolate in a small bowl, set aside.

10.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it simmers, then pour over chocolate.  Let sit for a few minutes, then whisk to combine.  Add corn syrup, whisk to combine, and let sit so that it's cool but not too thick.

Assemble the cupcakes
9. Core out the middle of the cupcakes (using a cupcake plunge or the cone method), save the cake scraps.  Fill the cupcakes with scant a teaspoon of each strawberry and pineapple, then top with a portion of the cake from the core.


10.  Pipe the whipped topping on the cake (I used a large Wilton round tip).  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.  Top with a spoonful of ganache.  Before the ganache sets, sprinkle with jimmies and garnish with a marashino cherry.




Cupcake recipe adapted from Annie's Eats
Ganache info from The Kitchn

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Difficult: Not really
Time consuming: A bit, there are 3 components to these tasty treats

Let's get one thing straight: cookie dough is amazing.  I could eat it straight from the bowl; all day, every day.  But then my pants wouldn't fit, and that'd be bad.  Also the whole don't-eat-raw-eggs thing.  For real, don't eat raw eggs.  I used to reside in the camp of "I never get sick from eating batter/dough/etc," until I got sick (not from this recipe).  It's totally not worth it so don't eat raw eggs.

Luckily for you, and for me, these cookie dough cupcakes are completely safe to eat and taste exactly like cookie dough.

I slightly adjusted the cake recipe to include browned butter which brings out a slight nuttiness.  You don't have to brown the butter, but I really liked the nuance of flavor it added.  However, after I browned the butter (and maybe turned my back from it for only a second), I noticed some browned bits and I didn't want them speckling the cupcake, so I strained it through a coffee filter.  I also adjusted the bake time and temperature - starting the oven at 350 degrees and then reducing it to 325 as soon as the cupcakes went in.  Then I baked them for 20 minutes.

Like most cupcakes I make, this was a two day process. I made the cupcakes and cookie dough first. On the second day I made the frosting, assembled the cupcakes, and garnished so they were pretty.

These cupcakes went with my husband to the church fish fry where he volunteers on Friday's during Lent.  I work out with my trainer on Friday afternoons but am happy to spend my afternoons/evenings on Thursdays whipping up tasty treats for the bake sale there.

Ha ha ha :)

The recipe

Yields 24 standard sized cupcakes and 10 mini cupcakes.

Ingredients
cupcakes
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (semi- or bittersweet) - optional - I might leave these out next time I make them since they sank to the bottom of the cake anyways.

Cookie dough filling
4 tablespoons (half of a stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk (half of a can)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish (optional, but pretty)
Tiny chocolate chip cookies
Mini chocolate chips

Directions

cupcakes
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 24 standard size muffin cups with liners and set aside.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

2.  Optional: brown 1 stick of butter in a saucepan - put butter in saucepan set to medium, stir frequently until the butter takes on a dark browned color.  If you accidentally end up with some browned bits,  strain through a coffee filter.  Set into the fridge to cool a little while you continue to work.

3.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter (2 sticks unless you've chosen not to brown a stick, then it's all 3) with the brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and eggs 1 at a time, mixing thoroughly between each addition.

4.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix until combined.  Then add half of the milk, mix.  Then add the second 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix.  Then the second half of the milk, mix.  Then the remaining 1/3 flour mixture, mix.  At this point, all the milk and flour should be mixed in.  If using chocolate chips, fold them in now.

5.  Fill cupcake tins about 2/3 of the way full.  After I filled 24, I still had enough batter for 10 mini cupcakes.  Put cupcake in the oven, reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops spring back slightly when pressed.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Make the cookie dough filling
6.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine brown sugar and butter.  Add flour, milk, and vanilla, and mix until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.

Make the frosting
7.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until mixed.  Add salt and powdered sugar and mix on low.  Add flour (1/2-2/3 cup, this really makes it taste like cookie dough - I was hesitant to include this but it was awesome).  Then milk and vanilla.  Whip on high speed for a few minutes until the mixture becomes fluffier.

Assemble
8.  Cut a hole into the cupcakes using a cupcake plunger or the cone method.  Set holes/tops aside.

9.  Roll cookie dough into 24 equal sized balls.  Split the dough in half, then split each half in half.  Split each piece into 6 equal parts and roll into balls.  Ta-da, you know have 24 even sized dough balls.  Put one dough ball into each cupcake.  Cut the bottom of the cone/cupcake hole off, and place the top back into the cupcake.  Check out Baking Bites for a better description on how to do this, complete with pictures.

10.  Put the frosting in a piping bag fit with whatever tip you'd like to use.  Top the cupcakes, then garnish with mini chocolate chips and a mini chocolate chip cookie.


Basically, there are two camps for cookie dough filled cupcakes.  The first is what I've done: make a cake, core and fill with dough, then frost.  The second has you make the cookie dough a day ahead of time and freeze cookie dough balls overnight, then add the frozen dough balls to the cupcake batter and bake until the cakes are done.  The problem with this is that you run the risk of baking the cookie dough in the cupcake.  Also it requires more time since you have do make the dough ahead of time.  If anyone has had success with the latter method, let me know how you did it and how it worked out for you! :)

Slightly adapted from Annie's Eats.

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcake with Dreamy Peanut Butter Frosting

Difficulty: Easy
Time Consuming: The cake doesn't take very long to whip up, then I baked four 6-cupcake trays at once for 24 minutes.

I don't know why, but I don't have a great go-to chocolate cupcake recipe.  I have a great chocolate cake recipe, but converting the cooking time to cupcakes wasn't something I felt like doing.  I stumbled across Martha Stewart's one bowl chocolate cupcake recipe and it seemed legit.  And I'm not gonna snub my nose at any recipe that dirties less dishes than required for actually eating it.

I was so happy when I took these out of the oven and saw they all puffed up beautifully.  Well, except one, and I can't even begin to explain that.

Waiting for them to cool was killer, but I dove in as soon as it was safe for my mouth.  I've recently been trying to curl my hair with a styling wand and have more burns on my left hand than I can count.  I did not need to add a burned tongue or palate to that list.  But I digress.  These cupcakes were dense in a perfect way.  I know dense usually means bad, but I wouldn't describe these as "light and cakey", but rather "rich, moist, dense, heaven-in-my-mouth." I had to show some serious will power and only go half-sies on one cupcake with my husband.  And all this emotion before we even get to the frosting.

If you love peanut butter, then this is the butter cream for you, baby.  It has a distinct peanut butter flavor that becomes so silky and smooth against the foundation of cream cheese and butter.  And on top of these chocolate cupcakes......oh man.  The chocolate-peanut butter combination hits you and everything around you falls away while you savor the party in your mouth.  When you fall back to reality, I hope you have the strength to save a cupcake or two, you know, for your kids, husband, best friend, neighbor.  I know I definitely went back for more ;)

I altered the ingredients in the cupcakes ever so slightly by adding instant espresso powder, since coffee just deepens and enhances chocolate flavor.  You could also use equal amounts brewed coffee.  I also changed the baking time and temperature based on a picture I saw on Pinterest about baking cupcakes....I know, a legit and credible source, but what can I say, it worked for me.

The Recipe
yields 18 or so cupcakes (Martha says you can get 18-24, I got 19)

Ingredients:
Chocolate Cupcake
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder dissolved in 3/4 cup warm water; or 3/4 cup brewed coffee; or 3/4 cup water
3/4 cup buttermilk; or 2 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar mixed with scant 3/4 cup milk (let sit for a few minutes so that the mixture curdles - this is a cheater buttermilk that I use all the time)
3 tablespoons canola oil (or vegetable or safflower)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract. 

Peanut Butter Frosting
2 sticks butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese (I prefer Neufchatel), room temperature
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup all creamy peanut butter
2-3 tablespoons milk or heavy cream (optional)

Directions
Chocolate Cupcake

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a standard muffin tin with paper liners, set aside.

2.  In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, sift/whisk together the cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

3.  Add eggs, water/coffee/espresso, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla.  Mix with a hand mixer low-medium low or stand mixer (Kitchen Aid speed 2-4) for about 3 minutes, until the batter is well mixed.  You made need to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl during mixing.

4.  Divide the batter evenly into the baking cups, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way full.  Put pans in the oven, decrease the oven temperature to 325 degrees, and bake for 23-25 minutes.  The cupcakes are done when the tops spring back when touched.  If you need to rotate your pans during baking, I would not do so until16-18 minutes - if you rotate too early, you may end up with caved in cupcakes.

5.  Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1.  In a large bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter until white and fluffy.  Add the cream cheese, vanilla, and salt, beating until well incorporated.

2.  With the mixer on low speed, add 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat until well incorporated.  Repeat with the remaining 3 cups of powdered sugar.  If the mixtures appears to be too thick, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time and mixing until you reach the desired consistency.  After all the sugar has been add, beat on high for 2 minutes.

3.  Add the peanut butter and mix until fully incorporated.  Spread on top of cupcakes.

And if by all odds you have extra frosting, it's great sandwiched between chocolate icebox cookies.


Cupcake from Life in a Peanut Shell

The recipe from Martha herself.

Soft Lemon Sugar cookies with Raspberry Icing

Difficulty. Easy
Time consuming: about 10-15 minutes to make the dough, then an overnight chill in the fridge, then rolling out the dough and baking batches for 8 minutes at a time.

I made some sweet treats for the sweet teachers at my school this Valentine's Day. With the overload of chocolate around every corner on this holiday, I opted for a fruitier treat that was very well received.  

The cookies are soft and bursting with bright lemon flavor.  The citrus note in the cookie complimented the raspberry frosting which resulted in the perfect sweet and tart flavor combination that was out of this world!

Happy (belated) Valentines Day, everyone! What kind of sweet treats did you get to enjoy?

 The Recipe:

 yields: 18 medium heart-shaped cookies and 28 small heart-shaped cookies

Ingredients
Cookies
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (or 2 teaspoons if you want an even fluffier cookie)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter (10 and 2/3 tablespoons), room temperature
2/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
zest from 1 lemon
juice from one lemon (about 1/4 cup of lemon juice)

Frosting
1/3 cup butter (5 1/3 tablespoons)
 3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Raspberry Melba Sauce (more to taste, I probably used closer to 1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons milk (optional - if you need to thin the frosting, but the raspberry sauce will do this, too)

Directions

Cookies 
1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

2. Cream butter in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add sugar and beat until well combined.  Add eggs and lemon zest and mix until well combined.

3.  Add half of the flour mixture and mix until combined.  Add lemon juice, mix.  Add the remaining of the flour mixture and mix until well incorporated.

4.  Turn dough out onto plastic wrap, smush into a disk shape, and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

5.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Take half of the dough out and let sit at room temperature for a few minutes - just enough so that it can be rolled out without breaking or cracking too much.  Roll dough out to 1/4" thick on a well floured surface (I used a combination of flour and powdered sugar), cut into desired shapes, transfer to a baking sheet.

6.  Bake for 8 minutes.  The cookies will not spread a lot in baking, so maybe leave a 1/2" between cookies.  Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  The tops of the cookies will be lightly colored and the bottoms just barley mottled with a light brown.

7.  Repeat step 6 with the remaining dough.

Frosting
1.  Cream the butter in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time.  It will seem impossibly thick and clumpy - if this happens, either add a tablespoon of milk or a few squirts of Raspberry Melba sauce until it starts to just barely come together.  Once all the sugar has been added, add raspberry sauce and beat on high until fluffy.  If the mixture seems too thick after all the raspberry has been added, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency has been reached.

2.  Using an offset spatula or knife, spread onto cookies.  Let cookies sit for a few hours until the frosting is set.  If you are going to add sprinkles, do it sooner than later, because when the frosting starts to dry, the sprinkles won't stick as well.

Of course, if after you've frosted all of your cookies and find that you have some frosting left, sandwich with vanilla wafers or some homemade chocolate wafer cookies.

And I need to thank my friend Katie from grad school who shared the base of this recipe with me :)
Katie is awesome, she was doing her clinical rotation at a nursing home and wanted to share a treat with the residents that they would not have trouble eating - a lot of the people there were on restricted diets (like mechanical soft foods only) and she wanted to share something soft that the majority of folks could eat.  Of course, I helped her eat the leftovers, because that's what good friends do.

Chocolate, Coffee, and Toffee Birthday Cake

Difficult: Parts of it
Time consuming: yea, it's a layer cake with lots of homemade components

My birthday was last week and we had a few friends over to drink, watch college basketball, play cards, and of course eat cake.

I spent weeks putting together the perfect birthday cake.  I looked over dozens of different recipes to pull this all together.  From different chocolate cake recipes, to coffee buttercreams, crunchy fillings, caramels.......My mind probably went at least 4 different routes before deciding to make a cake inspired by one of my favorite ice creams: Ben and Jerry's Toffee Heath Bar Crunch.

The chocolate cake I made was from the book Baked (there are 3 of them, all of which I highly recommend, but I don't remember which one this came from, but it was the Sweet & Salty Cake from their cookbook).  It turned out a little dry which was due to overbaking on my part - I have a very temperamental oven.  The batter is split between 3 cake pans and I had to put 2 on one rack and 1 on the other.  After the recommended baking time, all 3 of my cakes were still very wet in the middle.  After about 5 more minutes, they were still a bit "batter-y," so I did another few minutes.  Then they were pushing dry.  Boo.  In the future, I think I will stick to Bakerella's chocolate cake recipe since I made it once and didn't botch it.

I made a coffee flavored Italian meringue buttercream.  I highly recommend Italian buttercream, even though it's a little more work than traditional American style - you have to cook sugar but don't let that scare you away.  The texture is so smooth - my husband always complains that American buttercream tastes "flour-y."  But not this.  And because you use cooked sugar instead of a bag of powdered sugar, the resulting flavor isn't cloyingly sweet.

In this cake, I wanted to include a crunchy aspect, since Ben & Jerry's Coffee Heath Bar Crunch is full of crunchy bits of toffee.  And I don't know if it was because I was already thinking about ice cream and cake, or if something I saw on Pinterest lodged itself to the back of my mind, but I decided to make the crunchies from Dairy Queen cakes to put in between the layers.  And toffee, too, of course.  Then because I was thinking about ice cream cake, I threw in a layer of fudge ice cream topping, too.

This is probably a multi-day project.  It was for me at least.  I made the chocolate wafer cookies used for crunchies a few days ahead of time, made the chocolate cake the day before I planned to serve the cake, and made the frosting and assembled the cake the morning I planned to serve it.  It can most certainly be done in 1 day, but I got antsy and started making the parts early.

It's a birthday cake.  By no means low calorie.  Definitely an indulgence.  Totally worth all the work. 

The Recipe:

Ingredients:
Cake
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup sour cream
1 and 1/4 cup hot water (hottest from the tap is fine)
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (1 and 1/2 sticks)
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (like Crisco)
1 and 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 and 2/3 cup all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting the pans
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Italian meringue buttercream, coffee flavored
5 large egg whites
10 ounces (1 and 1/4 cup) white granulated sugar, separated
1/4 cup cold water
4 sticks (1 pound) unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoons instant espresso powder, mixed with equal parts warm water 'til dissolved

filling
1 jar of fudge ice cream topping
half of a bag (more or less, I didn't measure) of crushed toffee bits (either Heath or Skor; can be found in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips)
1/4 of a baked recipe (9 ounces) of chocolate wafer cookies or 2 rows of Oreo cookies from a standard Oreo package
1 7.25 ounce bottle of magic shell ice cream topping (found by other ice cream condiments)

Directions:
Cake
1. Cut 3 rounds of parchment to fit the bottom of an 8 inch round cake pan.  Spray the pan with nonstick cooking spray, put in a round of parchment, spray again, then dust with flour to evenly coat.  Repeat with the other 2 pans and set aside.  Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2.  In a small bowl, combine the sour cream, hot water, and cocoa powder.  Whisk to combine and set aside.

3. Combine the butter, shortening, and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the paddle attachment until fluffy and ribbon-like.  While that's going,in a separate bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt; set aside.  Going back to the butter and sugar - add eggs 1 at a time, mix until combined, add vanilla, and mix until combined.

4.  Add flour mixture to the sugar in 3 additions, alternating with the sour cream mixture, beginning and ending with the flour.

5.  Spread evenly between the 3 cake pans.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Rotate during baking.  When the cakes are done, let cool in the pans on a baking rack for 20-30 minutes.  Run a knife around the edges, flip out of pans, and let cool on baking racks completely.

*The cake can (and probably should) be made at least a day ahead of time.  Once cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.  "Cold" cakes are easier to slice, which you'll need to do to even the tops before stacking.

Icing
6. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites on high speed until you get stiff peaks.  Don't over beat, you don't want them to be dry.  Once you get to stiff peaks, slowly add 1/4 cup of sugar in a steady stream to the running mixer.  This is a meringue.

7.  While the egg whites are whisking, gently stir1 cup of sugar with 1/4 cup of water in a 1-quart, heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Heat until the sugar syrup reaches 245 degrees on a candy thermometer.  Don't stir while this is happening.

8.  Once the sugar has reached 245 degrees remove from heat briefly and let the bubbles subside. The meringue should be ready (egg whites whipped, sugar added, stiff but not dry peaks) by now, if not, finish up.  With the mixer on medium to high speed, slowly stream the sugar syrup into the meringue (try to get between the whisk and the bowl - if you hit the whisk you'll end up with hard, spun sugar all around you bowl and not mixed into your meringue).  Whisk on high for 6-10 minutes, until the bowl is cool to the touch (if the mixture is too hot when you add the butter, the butter will melt - not the end of the world but a pain in the butt for sure).

9.  Once the meringue has cooled, continue to whisk on medium to high and add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time.  The mixture may separate and look like scrambled eggs, but just keep going, keep mixing, it will come back together.

10.  Once all the butter has been added, decrease the mixer speed and add the 2-3 tablespoons of instant espresso liquid (more or less to taste).  Increase mixer speed until everything is completely incorporated and the frosting is smooth.

Filling
11.  Take 9 ounces of prepared wafer cookies and crush (either in a bag with a rolling pin or in a food processor).  The cookies should be in small chunks, not fine like sand.  Mix with the bottle of magic shell and set aside.

Set aside both the ice cream fudge filling and bag of toffee bits.

Assemble and decorate
12.  Pull the cakes out of the fridge and level the tops.  Put a dollop of buttercream on a cake stand and center the bottom layer of cake on it.  Make sure it's where you want it to be, you won't be able to move it once you get started.  (*Note: I put my cake stand on a lazy susan so that I can spin the cake while frosting and decorating)

13.  Melt the jar of fudge ice cream topping per directions on the label.  Spoon out about 1/3 of the fudge on the cake and spread evenly to the edges.

14.  Put half of the wafer concoction on the fudge and spread evenly.  Add about 1/4 of toffee bits (more or less to taste, I didn't really measure).  Gently press into the fudge.

15.  Spread a thick (but not too thick) layer of coffee buttercream over the cookies and toffee.  Spread to the edges.

16.  Add the next cake, repeat steps 13-15.  Then top with the last cake.

17.  Crumb coat the entire cake by putting a thin layer of frosting over the tops and sides of the cake.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

18.  Frost the cake however you'd like.  I gave the top a nice layer of frosting, then put the rest in a bag fitted with a large round tip.  I dotted 6 large dots up the side of the cake, then used an offset spatula to pull the dot sideways.  Then added 6 more dots vertically over the frosting I pulled from the first set of dots, then pulled them sideways.  And repeat, repeat, repeat, until the side of the cake is frosted. I kinda got stuck at the very end when the last row of dots met the first, so I just stuck that in the back.  The My Cake School blog has a good tutorial with pictures on how to do this technique.

19.  Refrigerate the cake.  Pull out of the fridge at least 2 hours before you serve.  Eat and relish in how amazing this cake is.

 Sweet and Salty Cake recipe from the Cooking Channel (actually from the Baked cookbook)
Italian Meringue Buttercream from Cookstr

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

Difficult: Nope
Time consuming: About 10 minutes to whip up the dough, about an hour chillin' in the fridge, then 12 minutes per round of baking.

These chocolate wafer cookies are the cookies you can use to make a variety of yummy things with.  For starters, whip these up if you want a great icebox cake (the Nabisco box of chocolate wafers can be hard to find and is kinda pricey).  Or fill them with an Oreo cream frosting for copy-cat Oreo's.  The rich chocolate taste pairs well with almost anything (like home made marshmallow fluff or peanut butter buttercream, just to name a few...I did have to try the cookies, just to make sure they weren't accidently poisoned or anything.  At least that was always the excuse growing up).

Or you can make them for the same reason I did: ice cream crunchies.  Ya know, that amazing crunchy layer in Dairy Queen or Carvel ice cream cakes.  Yea, those.  Except I'm making my crunchies to put in between the layers of my birthday cake, which is gonna be a doozy :P

Note: this recipe yields about 20 ounces of finished cookies. A typical nabisco box is 9 ounces, so halve the recipe if you are following an ice box cake recipe that calls for a box of wafers. If you are making them to put in between layers of birthday cake (like I did), you can quarter the recipe and have just enough. But extra cookies never hurt anyone :)  Also, this dough is egg free, so if you happen to eat some, well, accidents happen :P

The Recipe:

Ingredients
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (1 1/2 cups)
2.4 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder (3/4 cup) (I used Kroger brand because it was what I had on hand and I thought they tasted super, but better quality cocoa powder like Valrhona will produce better chocolate tasting cookies since chocolate is the star flavor)
1 1/8 c sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
14 T (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 T milk
1 t pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. In the bowl of a food processor or stand mixer, pulse or stir together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

2. Cut the butter into tablespoon sized chunks and add them to the bowl. Pulse or stir (with the paddle attachment) until the butter is in pea sized chunks (this will take a little longer in the stand mixer, and you shouldn't mix faster than the lowest speed or you will poof flour everywhere).

3. Add the milk and vanilla in a steady stream to the running processor or mixer. Continue to mix until the dough clumps around the blade or paddle.

4. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead a few times so that all the flour is evenly mixed in and the dough ball is cohesive. Roll the dough into a log no smaller (bigger?) than 14 inches long and about 1 3/4 inch wide. I wanted smaller cookies so I rolled mine to about 24 inches long. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and have the racks positioned in the upper and lower thirds. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut the log of dough into slices no thicker than 1/4 inch, but thinner if you'd like. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the pans front to back, top to bottom, halfway through baking.

6. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 4-5 minutes, then transfer to baking racks. If the cookies aren't crisp when cooled, put them back into the oven for a few minutes. They should not be soft when cooled.

Store in an airtight container for 2 weeks or freeze.

To make the ice cream crunchies, crush 9 ounces of cookies (about half of the above recipe) and mix with one 7.25 ounce bottle of magic shell.  Don't make this ahead of time, because once the magic shell hardens on the cookie, that's it, that's the shape you're stuck with.  Although I haven't tried it, I suppose you could just microwave it 'til the magic shell softens then you can reshape it.

And if you wanna be even more extra special, you can home make your magic shell.

Also, I had leftover crunchies after I put them in my cake, so I pressed them into muffin tins to make "cookies."  I popped them in the fridge to harden, then stored in a bag in the freezer.  They are great to eat out of hand or served with a dish of ice cream!













Chocolate wafer cookie recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Homemade Twix Bars

Difficulty: medium to hard (you gotta be comfortable making caramel
Time consuming? Moderate

First and foremost, happy New Year! I know I've been a little MIA recently, so sorry everyone :/  I hope everyone had a good holiday season and lots of successful baking.  I'm still eating Christmas cookies, ha!  I've been a little baked out recently - I did make some cupcakes for New Year's and some cookies for a meeting at work.  I think I'm resting up until I bake my birthday cake for a party this weekend! It's gonna be a chocolate heart attack - everything a birthday cake should be.  But that'll be for a later post ;)

But anyways, onto the good stuff...onto the Twix bars!

A friend of my husbands got his US citizenship not too long ago and had a party to celebrate. I wasn't thinking about bringing anything because we lent his family folding tables, chairs, and cornhole bags. But of course, day of, I changed my mind and wanted to bring a dessert. I mean, I'm always looking for a crowd to bake for. I had to forgo showering and getting ready for the party, writing progress reports for my job, and writing an IEP to get this done. But ooooooh my they are totally worth it.

The homemade shortbread has ground rice (not rice flour) to make it extra crispy. The homemade caramel is freaking amazing and will probably be my go-to caramel recipe from now on. The chocolate on top is only enhanced by a sprinkling of sea salt. I love when everything in a recipe is homemade.

This recipe is easier done one component at a time, but if push comes to shove, you can easily make the caramel and shortbread simultaneously, but I wouldn't recommend it because it's pretty easy to lose track of checking the candy thermometer on the caramel.

The recipe:

yields a 13x9 inch pan

Ingredients:

Shortbread
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground rice (process in a spice grinder or coffee grinder, sift threw a fine mesh sieve to remove chunks)

Caramel
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup corn syrup
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sweetened condensed milk

Chocolate topping
12 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
4 tablespoons butter

+ sea salt to garnish.

Directions:

1. Make the caramel first, it'll need to cool some anyways. Before you start, check your candy thermometer: boil water and make sure that the candy thermometer reads 212 degrees when the water boils. If it starts boiling at 202 degrees, then you'll know to subtract 10 degrees from all the temperatures mentioned. And vice versa.

2. Combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and lemon juice in a saucepan. Turn on the heat, and don't stir again. It will start to bubble. When it starts to turn golden brown, stick in your candy thermometer and continue to boil until it hits 300 degrees. Remove from heat and wait for the boiling to stop (less than a minute). Add cream and whisk to combine - be careful because it will bubble up and steam a lot. Add sweetened condensed milk (you'll have 6 extra ounces of the S/C milk, I'll explain later how this didn't go to waste) and salt and mix until combined. Put back on heat and whisk continuously until it reaches 240 degrees. Remove from heat, set aside, and start making the shortbread crust.

3. Line a 13x9 inch pan with parchment or foil and spray with cooking spray. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add flour, rice powder, and salt. Mix until combined. The mixture may be crumbly but should hold together when pressed. Press into the prepared baking pan. It will be thin. Bake for 22-27 minutes, rotating once during baking. It should be golden brown on top.

5. Pour prepared caramel over shortbread and sprinkle with sea salt. Pop into the fridge or freezer to help it set - this can take as long as 2 hours.

6. Once the shortbread and caramel have cooled, make the chocolate top. Combine the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Stir. Repeat until chocolate is melted. Pour over caramel layer, sprinkle with more sea salt and pop it back into the fridge/freezer until set.

Don't cut into the bars until everything is cooled or you will have a runny mess. Cut into desired sizes and enjoy!
 

*I used the extra sweetened condensed milk in 2 ingredient ice cream, adjusting the ratio of heavy cream to account for the extra S/C milk.

From Not Without Salt.