Cupcakes are my favorite!

I threw a baby shower at work for two coworkers. It went great! I made cupcakes and thought I would share.
The actual cake part was just out of the box butter recipe or chocolate fudge. I had to save time as I made 4 batches!
However, the icing is my mom's buttercream icing which I love.
For one batch ingredients:
1 and 1/2 boxes of 10X sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup vegetable shortening (I'm guessing, I eye bawl it. It is like a heaping spoon glob really.)
1/2 cup butter or margarine (Again this is a guess, I use 2 "globs" of tub margarine.)
1-2 tablespoons of milk (eye bawl for the consistency that you want.)

If it is too sweet add a little shortening, if it is too think, add butter or milk. Play with it and keep taking it until it is the sweetness you want. If you get it too runny, then add a little sugar or shortening. It usually tastes good no matter what!

Add color or not.

I use one of the Wilton's cupcake tips to ice them. It makes them pretty and so easy!

Here are the cupcakes I made for the shower!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cookies

Ingredients:

2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted, butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semi-sweet choc. chips

Directions:

Preheat to 325 degrees and prepare cookie sheets. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. In a larger bowl, combine butter, sugars, and vanilla. Beat in egg and egg  yolk until creamy. Add dry ingredients until blended and stir in chocolate chips by hand. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto prepped cookie sheets. Use only about 3/4 of the prepared dough. They should be dropped at least 3 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes and remove. Add remaining dough to the center of each half baked cookie and put back in oven. Bake for another 5-6 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheet and transfer to wire rack.

Source: All recipes.com (but modified to my taste)

Tasty Blessings!
Heaven & Honey

Black Bottom Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes that caught my husband. Shortly after we started dating, he took me to hear the National Symphony Orchestra play in the amphitheater in Rock Creek Park. I made these to take with us and that was all she wrote. My husband shared the leftover cupcakes with his sister and brother-in-law, and they told him not to let me get away.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Batter:
1 2/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 t. soda
1 t. salt
1 c. water
1 T. vinegar
1/2 c. oil
1 t. vanilla

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 c. plus 2 T. sugar
1/8 t. salt
6 oz. chocolate chips

In a medium sized bowl, combine all the ingredients for the batter and mix until combined.


In a smaller bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling, except the chocolate chips. Beat until smooth. Fold in chips.
For regular sized cupcakes, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter to each cup. Then add a heaping tablespoon of the filling to each cup. Do not overfill, or you will never get them out of the muffin tin. You can also make minis with a tablespoon of batter and a teaspoon of filling.


Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Milky Way Cake

How can you hate a recipe that starts off like this? This is one of my mother's recipes. I have no idea where she got it, but my aunt and uncle specifically requested the recipe a couple of weeks ago after my Mom's memorial service, so here it is!

Milky Way Cake

6 Milky Way bars
1/4 lb. butter
1 c. chopped pecans
1 c. shortening
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine candy, butter and nuts in a saucepan. Place over low heat until melted. Set aside.
Cream sugar and shortening well. Add eggs, one at a time. Combine milk and vanilla and add alternately with dry ingredients. Fold in the candy mixture. Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan and bake for an hour and a half. (Note, this pan is too full. It either makes too much batter or my pan is too small.)

Allow the cake to cool before removing from the pan. This is what happens when you are impatient and try to unmold the cake when it's still hot. It looks terrible, but it still tastes fantastic.

Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies

Wow.  Someone sent me this recipe and how could I resist?!  Oreo?  Chocolate chip cookies?  Together?  Sign me up!  They were SO easy to make.  I made them while Lily napped and only had about 45 min to prep, mix, bake and taste test one.  They are quite rich, as it's 3 cookies in 1 (1 Oreo, and 2 choc chip cookies), but they're delicious anyway.  Grab a glass of milk, a cold Diet Coke, or whatever your beverage of choice is.  You'll need something to wash these down with.


- Pastry Princess

Original recipe from Bon Appetit.


Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 package Double Stuff Oreo cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda.  Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined.
4. Using a cookie scoop take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie.  Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo cookie.  Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough.  Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Easy Mole Sauce!

What is mole sauce? Well, according to the website I originally got this recipe from (MomsWhoThink), it's a, " Mexican mole sauce; a type of gravy with chiles, chocolate and seasonings."  Oh, but it is so much more then that.  It is an amazing concoction of flavors that ends up pairing perfectly with just about anything; steak, chicken, and of course my family's favorite, enchiladas.  For Christmas, DH's family did a mexican food theme for dinner, and that is exactly what I made; enchiladas con mole.  Mmmmm.   It's super easy to make.  I've adapted and doubled the original mole recipe as follows:

Ingredients

• 4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 2 cups water
• 6 tbs chipotle sauce
• 2 onions, diced
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2oz (2 squares) unsweetened baking chocolate

Directions

1. Combine salt, pepper, water, chipotle sauce and onions in a saucepan.  Simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. 
2. Add garlic, tomato sauce, sugar, cinnamon and chocolate.  Stir until heated through and chocolate is melted.  
3. Serve over your choice of main entree...although I highly recommend a nice flank steak or enchiladas.   

It took me three attempts at making this to get it just right (at last for my family).  If you are unsure of how spicy you might want this, start out with only 3 tbs of the chipotle sauce.  Once you've completed step 2, add more of the chipotle sauce to your liking.  


Enjoy!

-Chef Val

Baking Beauty: Holiday Baking!

I've spent the last few hours baking up a storm!
Here is a platter of cookies I'm putting out for my girl's night tonight! I think chocolate seems to be this year's theme! :)

From left to right: Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies, Chocolate Chip cookies, Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, and Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kisses.

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies
from the Pioneer Woman
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/12/chocolate-candy-cane-cookies/

Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter softened (2 sticks)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Semi Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. combine, in small bowl, flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Beat butter and sugars in large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Gradually add flour mixture and stir in morsels. Drop rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 9-11 minutes until lightly browned. coll 1 minute on baking sheet before moving them to cooling racks to cool completely.
(makes about 5 dozen)

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/wayne-harley-brachman/chocolate-sandwich-cookies-with-vanilla-cream-filling-recipe2/index.html

Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kisses:
Pilsbury Peanut Butter refrigerated dough (I know, I cheated!). Prepare as directed on package. While they are baking unwrap the Kisses. HINT: use a small bowl to put the trash in so you don't have wrappers all over the floor! Man, do those things fly! Remove from oven and immediately add a Kiss to each cookie. Let cool a minute or 2 on baking sheet, then transfer to cooling racks.

Enjoy!
~Baking Beauty