Chocolate + Caramel

Most of the time, my idea for a dessert or treat that I want to make starts out as something and ends up as something pretty different--probably having the same basic idea but not using what I intended to use or not the form I was thinking of...for example, these cho

colate sandwich cookies filled with homemade dulce de leche. I wanted to make something chocolately made with caramel bits. I got my something chocolately, but missed the boat on using these. Oh well, that just means more baking later :)

Chocolate Drops

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

Melt the unsweetened chocolate, either over a double boiler or in the microwave in 30 second increments. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Stir in the flour, making sure not to over mix.

Fold in the melted and cooled chocolate until just combined. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Place cookies on cooling racks and allow to cool completely

Dulce de Leche

(recipe created/adapted from multiple recipes/tips I read online)

1 quart whole milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

In a large, heavy pot mix the milk and sugar. Place on medium high heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture reaches a slight boil.

Remove from heat and add baking soda mixture. Beware that it will bubble up, just keep stirring. Once it goes back to the original volume, place back on burner on low to low/medium heat until it reaches a brisk simmer. Let it be for an hour-ish (aka no stirring needed), until it becomes golden brown.

Cook about 20-30 minutes until it is close to a spreadable consistency. (It will thicken up after it cools though, keep that in mind!) Once it is done cooking, place in a small bowl and refrigerate to speed the cooling.

Once the cookies and dulce de leche are ready, it's assembly time! Put about a teaspoon of dulce de leche on the bottom side of one cookie and top with another cookie.

Smush (yes, that's a technical term!) together until a little oozes out the side. Adjust the amount of dulce de leche you put in the middle if needed.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

Love: cupcakes and weddings

chocolate raspberry, vanilla, and pumpkin cupcakes

Alright, so I'm a little behind (like about a month) and I can't believe I completely forgot to post about a wedding I was honored to be a part of! It was my friends Samantha and Shane's wedding, and it was absolutely beautiful! It was a fall themed wedding, so a fall-flavored cupcake was a must! We finally decided on vanilla cupcakes, chocolate raspberry cupcakes, and pumpkin cupcakes with maple buttercream. Also, I made an 8inch red velvet cake as their cutting cake. Soooo after 5 batches of vanilla cupcakes, 5 batches of chocolate cupcakes, 1 batch of raspberry filling, 4 batches of pumpkin cupcakes, 15-ish (I lost count...) batches of swiss meringue buttercream, one red velvet cake, a few many hours, plus all the bridesmaid duties I successfully made and frosted over 350 cupcakes! Luckily, I had a pretty great assistant for some of the filling and frosting! Thanks Tracy :) I secretly think she just didn't want to help decorate the reception...haha...oh well, I'll take it!

The beautiful bride and me!

my wonderful assistant (and the maid of honor) Tracy and me

I'm sharing the pumpkin cupcake recipe, which would be a great treat during these crisp fall days, or as a nice change in pace for a Thanksgiving dessert. It is moist like a pumpkin cupcake should be, with a little extra spice, and finished perfectly with the smooth, creamy, and sweet maple buttercream. It was a bit of a challenge to make these cupcakes, as I realized a month before the wedding that there was a national pumpkin shortage. Hmmm...luckily I have a pretty awesome grandma, who scoured her town to find me some....and bought me about twice as many cans as asked for...so needless to say, I'm stocked for awhile! But no worries, I've heard that the shelves are once again stocked with pumpkin!

vanilla cupcakes decorated with sunflowers

red velvet cutting cake

cake table

Pumpkin Cupcakes (adapted from this recipe by David Leite)
Make 2 dozen


4 oz (1 stick) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg (I use fresh ground)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup pumpkin


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line pans with cupcake liners.
Beat the butter, brown sugar, and sugar on medium speed for 3-5 minutes until fluffy. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, salt and black pepper. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the mixer. Add the vanilla to the buttermilk and alternately add the flour mixture and milk mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Add the pumpkin and mix until just incorporated. Fill the cupcake liners about 3/4 full, they will not rise very much. Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.


Maple Swiss Meringue Buttercream
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
3 sticks plus 2 Tbsp butter, softened
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (quality is key!)


See this post for instructions, adding the maple syrup instead of the vanilla.


Once cupcakes are cooled, frost with the buttercream and garnish with a sprinkle of cinnamon.


Enjoy, and take a bite!

Monster Cookie Bars

A while ago when I was talking to my grandma on the phone, she mentioned that she had made these Monster Cookie bars and that they were super easy and really good. I always trust my grandmas judgement :) So 0f course I was intrigued and told her I wanted the recipe. So along came the recipe and a giant jar of Skippy peanut butter--I guess she thought I would want to make a lot :) Well I finally got around to making them and packaged some up to send to a friend and took the rest to Kansas City last weekend for tailgating at the ISU game! I got them packaged up so quick that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product...oops! They were quite delicious though, I knew my grandma wouldn't lead me astray! Just like monster cookies--moist, chocolately, and chewy--but with a little less work!

Monster Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup M&M's

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12x17 inch jelly roll pan. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter and mix until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the oats and mix well. Stir in the M&M's and chocolate chips by hand. Place dough in prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

Snickerdoodle....Cupcakes!

Nothing is better than a warm, spicy snickerdoodle cookies....except maybe that in Cupcake form! I had to make treats for a winner of a fun contest at work and make treats for a sorority alumnae function. I found this recipe from Martha Stewart's website and tweaked it a little. I think adding the almond extract made the flavor a little more nutty. And, it was just the right amount of cinnamon to add a little something, and everybody seemed to love them!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

makes 24(ish) cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

1 1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare your muffin tins by using liners or spraying with cooking spray.

Sift first five ingredients together in a medium bowl. In your mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add 4 eggs, one at a time scraping down the bowl often. Add the extracts and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and milk alternately, beating well after each addition.

Fill liners 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown.

After cooled, frost with desired frosting. I used SMBC with a hint of cinnamon added in.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

These cupcakes are the only pictures I got of this recipe--decorated for my sorority's alumnae function with our symbols--a kite and a pansy!

Rustic Peach Cake

While visiting a friend in Nashville over the 4th of July holiday weekend, we had the opportunity to serve some of his friends down there by helping out a mom and her young children while their father was gone for a few weeks. My friend had called me before I left and asked if I would bring a few recipes to bake while we were there and him and the others were doing outside work. Of course I said yes, and brought a few trusted recipes and this new one to try. I figured while we were in the south, we had to make something with peaches! I had this cake on my "to-make" list for a while, and now it is going in my book as a recipe I love! Light and moist, fruity and buttery. Beautiful and delicious, easy and nutritious...hey, it has some fruit in it :)

Rustic Peach Cake

from Cook's Country, June/July 2008 issue

peaches

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 medium peaches, pealed, pitted and cut into wedges

cake

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup dried peaches or apricots, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9-inch springform pan. (I had to use a 10-inch, as that's all there was and it worked fine.) Combine sugar and cinnamon in bowl, reserve 2 tbsp mixture. Add peaches to bowl and toss to coat.

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. On medium high speed, beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, sour cream, and vanilla until incorporated. Reduce speed to medium low. Slowly add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pan. Scatted dried peaches or apricots over batter.

Arrange sugared peaches in circular pattern over the top, reserved 3 slices for the center. Sprinkle reserved sugar mixture over peaches.

Bake until cake is golden brown, and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-45 minutes. Cool for one hour. Serve...enjoy, and take a bite!

Strawberry Season!

I made this Pink Lady cake with Strawberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream a few weeks ago for a potluck at work, probably a little ahead of prime strawberry season...but I just couldn't wait!! Now (at least in Minnesota and Iowa) strawberries are at their peak! This recipe was adapted from Sky High, and I changed it mainly because it called for 8 egg whites, but I didn't have enough eggs and didn't want to run to the store. I thought it might turn out a little too dense, but it didn't! It was not light and airy like it maybe was intended to be...but it had a nice crumb, was moist and had a delicious strawberry flavor! The color was also really nice (with the help of some red food coloring!) I will definitely try and find another occasion to make this cake for!

the cake

4 1/2 cups cake flour

3 cups sugar

5 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups pureed fresh strawberries (frozen can also be used if desired)

4 whole eggs

2/3 cup milk

red food coloring (to enhance the color)

Preheat the oven to 350 deg. F. Grease three 9-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper and grease the paper. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and strawberry puree and mix with electric mixer. Beat on medium until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs, milk and vanilla together and add in three increments to dry ingredients, blending well after each addition. Divide among prepared pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes and remove from pans onto wire racks to cool completely.

the frosting

Use the recipe for swiss meringue buttercream found in this post, and add 1/3 cup pureed strawberries at the end.

Once cake layers are completely cool, level off the tops with a serrated knife. Place one layer, cut side down on a cake circle or plate. Add enough frosting to make a decent sized layer and spread. Continue with the next two layers. On the top layer, add the rest of the frosting and spread it on the top and down the sides of the cake. If desired, you can make swirls or designs in the frosting with your metal spatula. Also fresh cut strawberries can be used for decoration.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

a little blogging hiatus...but definitely not a baking one!

It's been a little over a month since my last post...I guess I could blame the BEAUTIFUL Minnesota weather we've been having. I have not stopped baking (when could I ever...) but with the nice weather I have spent more time outside, have been a lot busier at work and have seemed to have something going on every night for a while...apparently I'm reverting to my college days a little quicker than I expected! But, I have made quite a few delicious things for some parties, barbeques and family events that I'll be sharing very soon! I'm travelling for work this week, so I actually have some down time at night and hopefully can get some good recipes shared :)



Way back at the beginning of May I co-planned a bachelorette party for my awesome friend Jenn, who actually got married last Saturday...so needless to say it was another eventful weekend! Anyway, I of course went a wee bit overboard on the treats I brought--cupcakes and cookies and bars and muffins. Uff-da. I guess I just have all these ideas of what I want to bring and can't narrow it down! The cupcakes were cream filled chocolate cupcakes with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream. The cupcakes were moist and had a great chocolate flavor with a suprise of sweet marshmallow-y cream in the middle. The frosting definitely is another winner! I can't seem to make anything else...and just keep finding ways to modify it to fit what I want to make. Definitely great for a girl's night...all we really need is chocolate...and cream :)

Marshmallow Cream Filling

(modified from this recipe)

2 tsp hot water

1/4 tsp salt

1 (7 oz) container marshmallow cream

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla

(I used butter instead of shortening even though it wasn't as bright of white and a little more vanilla)

Dissolve the salt in the water in a medium sized bowl. Add the marshmallow cream, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla and mix on low speed with a hand mixer until combined. Beat on high until light and fluffy.

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Use the swiss meringue buttercream recipe found here, and add 4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate that has cooled a little to the frosting at the end.

Assembly: While cupcakes are baking, prepare the filling and frosting. After the cupcakes have cooled, place the filling in a pastry bag with a wide circle tip. Poke it into eac cupcake and squeeze until filled. Swirl the buttercream on top, enjoy and take a bite :)

ps...will update later with some pictures...

Grandma's Apple Strudel

Grandma's AMAZING Apple Strudel

Oh, what can even be said for the comforts of familiar food, especially baked goods?? Like I've mentioned before, some of my favorite recipes are ones found in the family recipe book. This is no exception. No one can make Apple Strudel quite alike Grandma could, although many of us try! My aunt makes a pretty good equivalent, and I'd like to think I also make a close replica of Grandma's but there must have been an extra cup of love she put into hers! No matter what, having this brings back so many good memories, so it's one of my favorite things to make!

This isn't a strudel like most people think of a strudel. It doesn't have a crispy, light, flaky crust (like puff pastry), but is more like a pie crust.

Apple Strudel

(when Grandma got a bumper crop of apples)

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup margarine (I use butter), softened

1 egg yolk, beaten with milk added to equal 2/3 cup liquid (save egg white for top crust)

10 apples

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp. milk

Combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening and butter or margarine with a pastry blender. Add egg yolk/milk mixture and stir until combined. Roll half of dough into a 17x12 inch rectangle which will fit into and up the sides of an 11x15 inch pan. (I divide the dough in fourths to make it in 2 9x9 inch pans to freeze one pan.) Pare and slice the apples, filling the crust.

combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the apples. Roll out remaining dough and place on top. Seal edges and cut slits in top of dough.

Beat egg white until frothy and brush on top of crust. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 50 minutes, placing a piece of foil over pan for the last 20 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Let cool for 20-30 minutes, then combine powdered sugar and milk to a drizzling consistency and drizzle over top of pastry.

**If you want to freeze on of the strudels, after baked and completely cooled, cover tightly with foil and place in a plastic zip freezer bag.

ENJOY, and take a bite!!

Oatmeal _________ Cookies

Who doesn't love cookies? I made these cookies with some inspiration from my sister, Rachel, who mentioned how much she loves oatmeal-butterscotch cookies when she was visiting me a few weeks ago. (I guess the nice thing to do would have been to make them for her then...oops!)

Anyway, I was in search of a cookie that was chewy and crisp, buttery and oatmeal-y, and just all around delicious!

I divided the dough and put butterscotch chips in half and cinnamon chips in the other half. I had those in my cupboard and thought they both would be a nice complement to the brown-sugar oatmeal flavor already present in the dough. And although I would love to make more variations, there is only so many cookies I can make in a week (although I wish I could make more)!

Adapted from this recipe from Hershey's.

Oatmeal _________ Cookies

(they can be made with any kind of chips, dried fruit, etc.)

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups __________ (cinnamon chips, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries, etc. etc. etc.)

Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix flour and baking soda together and add to butter mixture. Stir until combined.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F until lightly browned.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

Cupcakes!

cupcakes.

They may be one of the most wonderful things in the world! Little cupcake shops with literally gazillions of flavors are a huge trend right now...and I know many people are hoping this isn't just a trend.

Personally, I love making cupcakes because they are so easy to experiment with. I can try new ideas and flavor combinations without having to go through the whole process of making a layer cake. They are also great to have at a party or get-together as they're pretty easy to eat and not that messy. So naturally, a cupcake recipe is the first recipe I will share. It is my "latest and greatest". I have made these cupcakes for a friends birthday, as Valentine's Day party at work, as "valentine's" for my friends when I visited in Ames, and I will be making them for a wedding in April. Sometimes I make the batter from scratch; other times I use a cake mix, especially if I'm short on time.

White Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes

Batter using Cake Mix:

1 white cake mix

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake pans with liners. Combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and buttermilk until completely mixed. Gently stir in white chocolate chips. Fill liners about 2/3 full (using an ice cream scoop works well for me!) Bake for 17-19 minutes, until golden brown

Homemade Batter:

White Chocolate Chip Vanilla Buttermilk Cake, adapted from Sky High

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 cup sugar

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line cupcake pans with liners. Combine the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Blend on low for 30 seconds. Add butter and buttermilk. Whisk eggs and vanilla together and then add in 2-3 additions to batter. Gently stir in white chocolate chips. Fill each cup approximately 2/3 full. Bake for 17-19 minutes, until golden brown.

Allow to cool completely, you can also make these in advance and freeze them until ready to fill and frost.

Raspberry Filling:

This makes about 4 cups. You won't need that much to fill all the cupcakes (will probably need about half). BUT, this is yummy over ice cream, mixed with fruit, and some other desserts (hopefully one of which I will post about soon), so it's okay to make the full batch :)

16 oz frozen raspberries

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup water

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. lemon juice

2 Tbsp. Raspberry liquor (optional)

Place frozen raspberries in a bowl and allow to thaw. Mash until no big pieces are left. In a saucepan, whisk together sugar, water, and cornstarch. Add raspberries. Heat to boiling over medium high heat, stirring as necessary. Boil and stir for an additional 1-2 minutes. Turn heat to low and add lemon juice and raspberry liquor. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes. Strain through a mesh strainer if you don't want seeds in your sauce. Allow to cool until ready to use.

This process kind of gets messy...but is fun! Once filling is cooled, place in pastry bag with a tip (I use a wilton number 10 or 12 tip...just a round one with a medium sized opening). Stick the tip into a cupcake and squeeze filling in as you lift it out. Continue until all the cupcakes are filled. If some filling gets on top of cupcake, take off with a spoon.

Frost with buttercream (recipe follows).

Buttercream:

this is my buttercream recipe, feel free to use your favorite...

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups sifted powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

**sometimes I will add raspberry liquor instead of the vanilla

4 Tbsp. milk

Cream butter and slowly add powdered sugar. Add flavoring. Add milk a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached.

enjoy, and take a bite!