I Tinkle Sprinkles

Chocolate Cheesecake

2012-01-15T19:06:00.000-08:00

As I have previously told you, my family celebrates a very specific holiday during the winter, Chocolate Day. For those of you who do not know, Chocolate Day is the 26^th of December. We sit in pajamas all day while watching movies, playing games, and eating more chocolate than one should ever eat. This year, at Christmas dinner my brother jokingly said that we should have chocolate cheesecake on Chocolate Day. Obviously I jumped at the opportunity to create something delicious while utilizing our nicely redone kitchen! I found this recipe for chocolate cheesecake in Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It was a huge hit!!!!!

Ingredients

For the crust:

2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs

2 TBS sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

3 TBS unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

1 ½ lbs (3 – 8oz packages) cream cheese, room temperature

½ cup sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

4 oz dark chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 inch springform pan and place it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Mix the crust ingredients together until all of the dry ingredients are evenly moist. Press the crust ingredients into the pan evenly. Place the pan in the freezer for 10 minutes, then bake for 10 minutes or until it is set and tinged with color.

Cut the cream cheese into quarters and place in a food processor along with the sugar. Mix for about 2 minutes, scrap the bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla, and salt, pulse 4-6 times, scrap the bowl. Pour the chocolate into the bowl. Pulse until well blended. Remove the bowl from the processor and rap it on the counter 4 times to de-bubble the batter. Pour the batter into the crust.

Bake for 35 – 40 minutes on the center rack. When complete the top should be puffed and set, but if you tap the pan the center will be slightly shaky. Place the pan on a cooling rack, and allow it to cool completely. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.

Triple Chocolate Truffles

2011-11-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since the baking brigade took to the kitchen. Please blame the rowing season and last minute college papers. Back in full force for the Thanksgiving feasts I wanted to attempt something new, creative, difficult…truffles seemed the perfect solution! Better Home and Garden’s special issue of 100 Best Cookies led me to this phenomenal recipe!

Triple Chocolate Truffles

What you need…

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

½ of an 8-ounce package cream cheese, cut up and softened

4 teaspoons instant coffee crystals (*we substituted for cinnamon and cayenne pepper; decrease amount to about 2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne pepper)

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon milk chocolate pieces or semisweet chocolate pieces

2 tablespoons shortening

2 ounces dark chocolate and/or white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

How you make them…

(Makes about 36 truffles)

· In a medium heavy saucepan heat and stir the 12 ounces semisweet chocolate over very low heat until melted and smooth

· Remove from heat; stir in cream cheese until mixture is combined.

· In a small bowl stir together coffee crystals and the water; add to the chocolate mixture stirring until smooth

· Cover and chill for 1-2 hours or until form

· Line a baking sheet with waxed paper

· Using two spoons drop the truffle mixture into 1-inch mounds on prepared baking sheet

· Cover and chill for 1-2 hours or until firm

· Roll mounds into smooth balls

*We skipped #6 and immediately rolled the mounds into balls and then cooled them again.

· Meanwhile, in a heavy medium saucepan heat and stir the 1 ½ cups milk chocolate pieces and the shortening over low heat until mixture is smooth

· Remove from heat, cool to room temperature

· Using a fork, dip balls into chocolate mixture, allowing excess chocolate to drip off

· Return truffles to baking sheet; chill for about 30minutes or until firm

· In a small saucepan heat and stir the 2 ounces dark chocolate and/or white chocolate over low heat until smooth

· Drizzle melted chocolate over tops of truffles

· Chill for a few minutes or until set

P.S. I apologize some of the pictures are sideways...#nottechsavy

Fresh-Peach Drop Cookies

2011-07-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Looking for a unique way to use your summer fruits? Pick some of your freshest peaches and start dicing...these peach drop cookies are perfect for a summer sweet tooth!

Martha Stewart's Fresh Peach Drop Cookies

What You Need:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 3/4 cups)
1/3 cup peach jam or preserves
2 tablespoons fine sanding sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

What To Do:

Preheat oven to 375.
Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.
Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
Reduce speed to low. Beat in egg and vanilla.
Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined.
Add peaches and jam, and beat until just combined. (*We didnt have peach jam but had apricot jam, tastes just as delicious!)
Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 2 inches apart. (*If not baking all of the cookies at once, refrigerate dough between batches; dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)
Combine sanding sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes.
Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely

Thoughts On Cookies: These cookies are best the day they're baked. They will soften at the edges after a couple of days, but they'll still taste delicious. Comments from the food critics...

Connor: "They taste like a peach scone but fluffier!"

Mom: "Put more of the sugar/cinnamon mixture on top...load it on, make it a little sweeter. But they're great!"

Dad: "mmmmmm".

Lavender Shortbread

2011-07-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

Hello summer bakers!

Basking in the sun? Wafting the sweet smell of summer flowers? Well, get off your butts and bake into the kitchen I dont care how hot it is! And bring some of those flowers with you...we'll use them!

This lavender shortbread is a delicious summertime recipe, great with an ice cold glass of lemonade! Minimal ingredients, extraordinary taste!

What You Need:
1 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon
2 cups corn starch
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 pinch salt
1 lb butter, at room temperature
3-4 teaspoons lavender hand crushed or ground

What To Do:

Add corn starch, floud, salt, and sugar to a large mixing bowl.
Cut butter into tablespoon sized pieces and add to the bowl.
Using a spoon or your hands, mix the butter into the dry ingredients. (I found a pastry blender worked best)

When the butter is fully integrated, the mix will be sand-like in texture. It will NOT form a "dough".
Pour the mixture into a half-sheet pan (18" x 12" x 1"), spreading evenly in the pan.
Use your hands to firmly press down on the dough, pushing the fine mixture into an even mass. (Make sure you press down the edges firmly as well so as not to lose any shortbread!)

Using a small form or toothpick, prick the cookies about 1" apart across the entire top (this lets the moisture out during the baking process).
Bake for 40 minutes at 325 degrees, then reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue baking for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden brown around edges and across the center.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.
Cool for 10 minutes before cutting with a sharp knife.

Let cookies continue to cool before removing.

Tra Vigne's Biscotti

2011-06-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hello summer bakers! Has the boredom of summer started to catch up with anyone? It sure has with me. Which is probably the reason I found myself pulling out the flour and mixer at 10:45pm last night to make this famous italian cookie, i biscotti!

Yours in summer baking, Kate

Ingredients (makes about 40 cookies)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon gray salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup crystal sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs
6 tablespoons aniseeds (or 1 teaspoon anise flavoring)
1 cup unblanched whole almonds, toasted
*I recommend chopping the almonds in half or quarter sizes
*Optional: 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

To Do

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
In bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the butter, crystal sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, flour mixture, and aniseeds and beat on low until the dough begins to come together.

Add almonds (and/or chocolate chips) and mix just until distributed. DO NOT OVERWORK!

On a floured board shape the dough into a ball, flatten, put in a bowl for 2hrs to allow the dough to relax.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees; line a backing sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions on a lightly floured work surface.
Using your hands, roll each portion into a log about 3 inches in diameter.
Roll the logs in crystal sugar to coat well.

Place the logs on the prepared baking sheet and press down gently to flatten slightly. Logs should be several inches apart.
Bake until firm and light brown, about an hour. When poked with a finger, the dough should feel firm to the touch and not collapse or cave in. Remove from oven then lower oven temperature to 300 degrees.
Let the logs cool completely. Carefully move them, still on parchment paper, to a cutting board, then peel off the parchment paper.
Cut the logs with a sharp serated knife into 1/2 inch thick slices.
Lay the slices down on a baking sheet and return to the oven.
Bake until toasted to a golden brown on both sides, about 5-6 minutes (about 3 minutes on each side).
Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container.

Notes on the Recipe: This is not an "aw we can skip that chilling the dough thing", with biscotti it is very important that the dough gets cold. So if you dont have a good amount of time or arent a leisurely baker, maybe try a different cookie. Also, we like more 2-bite sized biscotti, so we tend to cut smaller pieces. When we ignore the cooling process and cut pretty soon after the biscotti come out of the oven. This aids in the cutting of the dough; use the serated knife semi-slowly as not to tear the dough.

Thoughts on Edibility: As this is a family recipe, my thoughts are its delicious! We send these biscotti to my Papa every year for Father's Day and he says they taste just like from home...northern Italy! Also, the brilliance of biscotti is they are a customizable cookie! Add the almonds, chocolate chips, no almonds, dried fruit, whatever you desire to create your own biscotti!

Hummingbird Cake

2011-06-06T20:52:00.000-07:00

It’s a beautiful summer day and my mom and I wanted to bake. To carry the sweet sun into our kitchen, we wanted a cake that involved a little fruit. We found the Hummingbird Cake in Art Smith’s “Back to the Table” cookbook. Makes 12 servings and is perfect for some summer satisfaction!

Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped ripe bananas

1 cup drained crushed pineapple

1 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs, beaten

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (4 ounces) finely chopped pecans

Icing

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

1 pound confectioners’ sugar (about 4 ½ cups) sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Lightly butter two 9-inch round cake pans, sprinkle evenly with flour, and tap our the excess.

3. Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a bowl. *The recipe mentioned to add the sugar as well, however we thought that may be too heavy to add atop the light, sifted mixture so we added it later.

4. In another bowl, stir or whisk the bananas, pineapple, oil, eggs, and vanilla until combined. *Do NOT use and electric mixer.

5. Add the sugar and dry mixture and fold together with a large spatula just until smooth. *Do NOT beat.

6. Fold in the pecans.

7. Spread evenly in the pans.

8. Bake until the cakes spring back when pressed in the center, 30-35 minutes.

9. Transfer the cakes to wire racks and cool for 10 minutes.

10. Invert the cakes onto the racks, turn right side up and cool completely.

Icing

1. Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the cream cheese and butter in a large bowl until combined.

2. On low speed, gradually beat in the sugar, then the vanilla, to make a smooth icing.

Finish it off!

1. Place 1 cake layer, upside down, on a serving platter. Spread with about 2/3 cup of icing.

2. Spread with about 2/3 cup of the icing.

3. Top the second layer, right side up.

4. Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake.

5. Let stand 1 hour before serving.

*I didn’t really follow all the upside-down right-side up flip and flopping of the cake. I recommend putting each layer right-side up for ease of icing.

Notes on the recipe: The cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead and stored, uncovered, in the refrigerator. We used frozen pineapple chunks and chopped them up. I think they retained a little more water than we anticipated, so we had to bake the cake about 40 minutes. If you choose to use frozen fruits, try to defrost them and blot them dry as much as possible!

Thoughts on edibility: Wow! After an extended sabbatical from eating after dinner my family and I were so excited to dive into this cake. Moments after the first slice the kitchen table was silent as everyone’s taste buds sank into the bliss of the Hummingbird Cake! My mom commented that the actual cake is very similar to that of carrot cake. Dad didn’t really say much till his plate was empty. And I personally think that this cream cheese frosting will be the only recipe I use for cream cheese frostings ever again! Delicious!

Sincerely yours in baking,
Kate

Grammy's Chocolate Cookies

2011-06-06T17:56:00.000-07:00

Dealing with equally as much separation anxiety after I left Ann Arbor, I needed to follow suit and bake with Olivia (in spirit). Ironically enough as soon as I started to break out the flour and Silpat cookie sheets Olivia texted me to say she was baking as well! So excuse the overload of posts in the next few days!

These cookies are for the chocolaholic and can be attributed to the one and only Martha Stewart. The recipe makes about 3 dozen and is to die for!

Sincerely yours in baking,
Kate

P.S. Blogspot's picture uploader is undergoing maintenance. Pictures to come soon!

The Goods:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1 ¼ cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. First, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

3. In an electric mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter on medium speed until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

4. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat to combine.

5. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture; beat to combine.

6. Form dough into flattened disk and chill until firm, for about an hour.

7. Shape dough into 1 ¼ inch balls; roll each ball in sanding sugar.

8. Place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 1 ½ inches apart. Bake until set, 10-12 minutes, rotating halfway through.

9. Transfer to rack to cool for 5 minutes.

Notes on this recipe:

We did not chill the cookies (we were too eager to eat them!!!) and they turned out just fine! So if in a rush you can skip the chilling directions.

Thoughts on edibility:

This is one of the best raw cookie dough for the ultra chocolate lover, so consuming the raw dough is an option. Naturally, you can consume these cookies in their natural baked, disc form. Or our thought was to freeze a few and use them as the perfect ends for a homemade ice cream sandwich!

Perfect Party Cake

2011-06-03T13:05:00.000-07:00

I got home from Ann Arbor last night and naturally I am feeling separation anxiety from Ariel, Kate, and all of our other baking friends. So the only way to remedy this sad situation is to bake!!! There is a bakery in a neighborhood of Pittsburgh that makes my mom’s most favorite cake. It is called the Rose in the Snow. It is a white cake with a coconut frosting and a singular red rose in the middle. Because I was away at the NCAA Rowing Championships during her birthday I decided to make her a belated birthday cake upon my arrival home. We have a recipe book called Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I decided to use her recipe for “The Perfect Party Cake” as my frame with a few minor adjustments. This is a very simple cake with lemon flavoring and a lightly flavored lemon buttercream frosting which is coated in shredded coconut. It is DELICIOUS!!!!!

Ingredients

For the Cake

2 ¼ cups cake flour

1 TBS baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 ¼ cups buttermilk

4 large egg whites

1 ½ cups sugar

2 tsp grated lemon zest

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

½ tsp pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream

1 cup sugar

4 large egg whites

3 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 cups coconut (topping)

Directions

There are many steps to this cake so pay close attention!!

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter 2 9-inch circular pans, line with parchment paper and butter again. Place the 2 pans on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and mix with hands until evenly coated and fragrant. Add the butter and mix with a paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Beat in the lemon extract. With the mixer on medium speed, beginning with the dry ingredients add the dry and wet ingredients, alternating. Continuing mixing until smooth and well blended.

Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth off the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until springy and a knife comes out clean. Place on a cooling rack for 5 minutes, remove cake from the pans, and remove paper liners. Allow to fully cool on the cooling rack.

Combine the sugar and egg whites in a heat proof mixer bowl. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk continuously for about 3 minutes or until it is a melted marshmallow like consistency. Attach the whisk attachment to your mixer and beat the egg and sugar mixture on a medium speed until it is completely cooled, approximately 10 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the sticks of butter one and a time. Be sure it is completely blended between sticks. Next add the lemon juice and then the vanilla. Continue to blend until it is completely blended, about 10 minutes.

To assemble the cake use a serrated knife and slice the cakes horizontally into halves. Place one slice cut-side up on a cake plate and frost. Do the same with the next two slices. With the last slice place it on top cut-side down. Thoroughly frost the entire cake. Use the shredded coconut to coat the cake, pressing the coconut into the frosting.

ENJOY!!!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Brownie Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting and a Caramel Hershey Kiss

2011-05-05T17:58:00.000-07:00

RECOVERY SNACKS RETURN!

Hello! My name is Nellie Ruedig and I am a guest blogger for the day. I am a member of the Michigan rowing team and the I Tinkle Sprinkles creators are two of my best friends. I have a lot of quality attributes but I would say that my best one is my ability to consume food. That is why I am sitting in a kitchen anxiously waiting for the baked goods to cool as the smells torture me because I cannot eat yet.

Without further ado, here is the entry.

Camp Wolverine is a magical time. School is out and there is plenty of time for the four most important aspects of life... rowing, sleeping, eating and most importantly BAKING! With all of the rowing, we need to make sure we are taking care of our bodies and recovering well. Over the years, we have found the best way to recover from a hard workout is homemade baked goods.

Today on an afternoon off, the task was to bake brownies. The inspiration for these brownies is the one and only Kate Strum, the coach of our boat. The first priority was that the brownies be gluten free so she needn't suffer any consequences from eating this recovery snack. Second, they had to be loaded with frosting to satisfy her sweet tooth. Finally they had to have caramel hershey kisses because, well, they are delicious.

Introducing... the Struminator Brownie!

Ingredients...

Brownies
1-Package Namaste Gluten-Free Brownie Mix
3 Large Eggs
3/4 cup Canola Oil
1/2 cup Water

Frosting
8oz Cream Cheese (1 package normally)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla

1 package of Caramel-Filled Hershey Kisses or any other type of chocolatey treat :)

Review

Whoever said gluten free is not the way to be is completely mistaken. To say they nailed it would be an understatement. Here is how I felt after a couple of bites...

The Struminator Brownie put this smile on my face (Nicole Dressler looking fresh in the background). I have written a Haiku to describe how I feel:

All day ev'ry day
The Struminator Brownie
I want to nom on

(Copyright Nellie Ruedig May 2011. If you want to republish please site source)

Overall this was a lovely afternoon. Nothing says Cinco de Mayo like a good ol' gluten free brownie!

Omnomnom.

Banana Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting

2011-02-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

Cupcake Connesaurs! My name is Kate and as a guest blogger it is my job to thoroughly delight and entertain you. So entertain I shall, I have decided it would therefore be best to write this blog in rhyme.

I figured it was about time.

I’m glad to introduce,

A cupcake that will produce

Such an exquisite taste

It probably isn’t chaste.

I apologize for the illusion

But upon eating, you may see delusion

Of resting in the Havana

As this is a cupcake full of banana!

Topped with peanut butter frosting

This recipe will not be costing.

Friends will circle you

Begging you to be true

And bestow upon them a cupcake

Of which your oven is most proud to bake!

Banana Cupcakes (yields about 12 cupcakes)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired.

Thoughts: This cupcake recipe Olivia has used previously with a Honey Cinnamon frosting. Because those cupcakes had turned out so well we decided to re-recipe! I will also add that this cupcake batter is fantastic both pre-oven and post-oven encounter. Whether it was improper measuring, we filled exactly 12 cupcake tins and just had a little too much batter left over (but we were out of cupcake tins). So I will say that this batter also makes for fantastic dollar size banana pancakes!

Peanut Butter Frosting (yields about 2 cups)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer.

2. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable.

3. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

Thoughts: We were slightly worried about peanut butter frosting becoming overwhelmingly peanut buttery, however it was decided this frosting was perfect! There was a great balance between fluffiness/taste of a frosting and the peanut butter flavor!

Sincerely yours in all baking endeavors,

Kate

Pizza Puffs

2011-02-08T16:25:00.000-08:00

So last Sunday as everyone know was the Super Bowl, and since I am a native Pittsburgher having the Steelers in the game was absolutely thrilling. I had been looking forward to this game for weeks and could not have been happier when I “Stumbled Upon” this recipe for Pizza Puffs. They were a huge hit and it is definitely necessary to double and possibly triple this recipe (depending on the rest of the snacks you are serving). We had a lot of food at the beginning of the game so I mixed my batter and saved it in the refrigerator until half time. Since the game did not end as I would have liked it was nice to have an excellent snack to warm my stomach and soul.

If you are not a fan of pepperoni I believe these would be excellent with all kinds of pizza toppings. I plan to try them with mushrooms, tomato chunks, pepper, onions, or sausage.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs

3/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup whole milk
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)
4 ounces pepperoni, cut into small cubes (about 1 cup) – I just bought the Hormel mini pepperoni circles
1/2 cup pizza sauce
finely chopped fresh basil

Preheat oven to 375^o. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes (or refrigerate until needed).
Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

In a sauce pan heat the pizza sauce and sprinkling of basil until heated all the way through, be careful not to let it stick and burn. Serve the puffs with the pizza sauce for dipping.

Oreo Cupcakes

2010-12-26T18:13:00.000-08:00

Our third cupcake for Chocolate Day is an Oreo Cupcake. These are both appealing to look at and also to eat!! Please enjoy them.

Oreo Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour, plus 2 Tbsp for the Oreo chunks
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 pkg Oreos

Preheat over to 350F. Insert liners into a medium cupcake pan.
Twist apart 24 Oreos. Place the wafer with filling on it, filling side up, in the bottom of each paper liner. Cut other wafers in half. Save 24 halves to place in the frosting. Crush the other wafer halves, also for garnishing.
Cut the remaining Oreo cookies into quarters with a sharp knife. Toss with 2 Tbsp flour and set aside.
In a large bowl cream the butter until fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add the milk and vanilla and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until integrated. Stir in sugar. With an electric mixer on low speed, beat for 30 seconds. Turn the mixer up to medium speed and beat for 2 minutes. Add the egg whites. Beat for 2 more minutes. Stir in the quartered cookies.
Fill the cupcake lines three-quarters full. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Ingredients:
8 oz cream cheese at room temp
1 stick butter at room temp
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar

Cream butter and cream cheese until fluffy.
Add vanilla extract. Slowly add powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached.
Once cupcakes have cooled completely, frost with cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle with crushed Oreos and place 1/2 of an Oreo on the frosting of each cupcake.

Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling

2010-12-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

The second type of cupcake made for Chocolate Day is Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling. They are delicious!!

Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Filling

Ingredients

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (not Dutch process)

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup buttermilk

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1 cup heavy cream

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350° and position 2 racks in the lower and middle third of the oven. Line 24 muffin cups with paper or foil liners.

Put the cocoa powder in a medium heatproof bowl. Add the boiling water and whisk until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in the buttermilk until combined. In a medium bowl, sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat 1 1/2 sticks of the butter with the granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, then beat in the dry ingredients in 2 batches, alternating with the cocoa mixture. Carefully spoon the cupcake batter into the lined muffin cups, filling them about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the cupcakes are springy. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

In a medium bowl, beat the peanut butter with the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter until creamy. Sift the confectioners' sugar into the bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Spoon all but 3 tablespoons of the peanut butter filling into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch star tip. Holding a cupcake in your hand, plunge the tip into the top of the cake, pushing it about 3/4 inch deep. Gently squeeze the pastry bag to fill the cupcake, withdrawing it slowly as you squeeze; you will feel the cupcake expand slightly as you fill it. Scrape any filling from the top of the cupcake and repeat until all of the cupcakes are filled.

In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a simmer. Off the heat, add the semisweet chocolate to the cream and let stand for 5 minutes, then whisk the melted chocolate into the cream until smooth. Let the chocolate icing stand until slightly cooled and thickened, about 15 minutes. Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the icing, letting the excess drip back into the pan.

Transfer the cupcakes to racks and let stand for 5 minutes. Dip the tops of the cupcakes again and transfer them to racks. Spoon the remaining 3 tablespoons of peanut butter filling into the pastry bag and pipe tiny rosettes on the tops of the cupcakes.

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

2010-12-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

Another great tradition that we have in my family is a holiday that we are surprised hasn’t been made a national holiday yet. It is called Chocolate Day. This holiday originated several years ago in my family. The holiday is centered on pajamas, movies, and lots and lots of chocolate. We all sit in our pajamas on the 26^th of December and eat chocolate all day. It’s the best! For this holiday I made three different types of cupcakes.

Peppermint Mocha Cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 tsp. espresso powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 cup whole milk
1 cup strong brewed coffee
1 tsp. peppermint extract
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir together. Combine the milk, coffee and peppermint extract in a liquid measuring cup.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugars. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Blend in the eggs one at a time. Alternately mix in the dry and liquid ingredients, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing just until incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter at room temperature

about 3 peppermint sticks, finely crushed

3 cupas of confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Mix butter until soft then add in the milk and confectioners’ sugar. Once thoroughly mixed add in the crushed candy cane.

I felt that the peppermint flavoring in the cupcake was too strong so I think that if the peppermint flavor was saved for the frosting and kept out of the cupcake then it would be a little less strong.

Swedish Coffee Cake

2010-12-26T16:38:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!! The holidays are a time for families and traditions. In my family we have a tradition that has been around since my mom was young. My great Aunt Marge would make a Swedish coffee cake every Christmas Even to have on Christmas morning while opening gifts. I have since taken over the job of coffee cake maker and it is delicious!!

Swedish Coffee Cake

Cake Batter:

½ cup of margarine (I use butter)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sugar

1 cup sour cream

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

Topping:

½ cup of chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup sugar

Preheat you oven to 350 degree and grease a Bundt pan. Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Then mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until they are well mixed. Pour half of the batter into the Bundt pan and coat with half of the topping mixture. Then pour the rest of the batter into the pan and finish with the topping.

This cake will bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, be careful not to overcook it.

I hope you have had as wonderful a holiday season with your families as I have had with mine!!

Apple Pie :)

2010-12-24T12:37:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

I don’t know about you, but my favorite dessert for the holidays (or any other time of the year) is apple pie. Whether it’s traditional, caramel, crumble - you name it - it’s the first dessert on my plate! This year for Christmas Eve we are going to my aunt and uncles for dinner and our family is bringing dessert so I searched for a new apple pie recipe. This break I’ve been particularly obsessed with my sister’s book, “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking,” and so far have enjoyed everything I’ve tried. The recipe included is the Classic Apple Pie. Although it is nothing crazy, I’ve found with apple pies sometimes less is more, the simplest of recipes turn out to be the best. The recipe is as follows:

Classic Apple Pie from Baked

2 balls of Classic Pie Dough (recipe to follow)
½ teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
7 medium Granny Smith apples
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon whiskey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon raw sugar

Dust a work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Unwrap one of the balls of chilled dough and put it directly on the work surface. Roll out into a 12-inch round. Transfer the dough to a pie dish and carefully work it into the pie dish, folding any overhang under and crimping the edge as you go. Wrap and freeze the crust until firm, about 2 hours, or up to 3 months.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and the light brown sugar. Peel and core the Granny Smith apples, then cut them into 1/8-inch wedges.

Heat the butter over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Swirl the saucepan occasionally until the butter begins to brown. As soon as the butter is evenly browned, add half the apple wedges and cook over low heat for 10 minutes, or until the apples are softened.

Add the remaining apples and the cornstarch/sugar mixture. Mix until the sugar has melted, then add the vanilla, whiskey, and cinnamon to the saucepan and cook for 5 minutes, or until the filling is bubbly and thick. Do not overcool.

Dust a work surface with a sprinkling of flour. Unwrap the remaining ball of chilled dough and roll out into a 12-inch round.

Pour the pie filling into the frozen pie crust, and top the second dough round. Trim the dough, leaving a ½-inch overhang. Crimp the edges together, brush with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with the raw sugar. Cut 3 steam vents into the pie crust.

Bake the pie until the filling bubbles and crust is golden brown, about 1 hour. Cool the pie on a rack for 1 hour. Serve warm or at room temperature. The pie can be stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for up to 2 days

Classic Pie Dough

yields: two balls of dough, enough for 2 (9-inch) single-crusted pies or 1 (9-inch) double-crusted pie

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon fine salt

1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter

3/4 cup ice cold water

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together

Cut the cold butter into cubes and toss the cubes in the flour mixture to coat. Put the mixture in the bowl of a food processor and pulse in short bursts until the pieces of butter are the size of hazelnuts.

While pulsing in quick, 4-second bursts, drizzle the ice water into the food processor through the feed tube.

As soon as the dough comes together in a ball, remove it from the food processor and divide it into two equal balls. Flatten to a disk and wrap each disk first in parchment paper and then in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the disks until firm, about 1 hour. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before proceeding with the recipe.)

For the dough, as requested by my Dad, I used a little over 1/4 cup of ice cold vodka and the rest water. What difference it makes, I’m not sure, but I find it better when I just listen to what my Dad says in the kitchen. Also, I used light brown sugar to sprinkle on top of the crust at the end instead of raw sugar because I could not find any in our house. Other than that I stuck the recipe pretty closely, although I found I had to use more apples than they called for. I ended up using 11 granny smith apples because they were slightly smaller needed. The aroma and taste from sautéing the apples in the sugar mixture, whiskey, vanilla and cinnamon was absolutely amazing. The apples tasted great and I can’t wait to try some tonight.

This break has been quite an adventure with cooking and baking as we are in our temporary house while my Dad builds our new house. Below is a picture of the kitchen (note: there is no dishwasher ahhh) and please excuse the mess as I took the picture immediately after putting the pie in the oven. There’s maybe 5 square feet of space between all the counters and about 1.5 feet of counter space. While the kitchen is a mess to deal with, I could easily deal with waking up to the view from the living room every morning (pictured below)

Once again, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I believe Liv will be posting sometime soon about the fabulous cupcakes she made the other day so look forward to that! And here's a picture o the finished pie! :)

Brewer's Blondies

2010-12-22T16:07:00.000-08:00

It's easy to say (and I think Olivia will agree with me here) that I spend more time in the kitchen during holiday breaks than anywhere else. I'm not sure if that is considered a good or bad thing. Although I have not blogged about all the creations, so far this break I have made gingerbread cookie with my friend, Ellie, chocolate chocolate chip cookies (adapted from a vegan recipe because I didn't have any eggs.. who knew ground flax seeds mixed with water = 1 egg), helped my sister a little with her fabulous banana pudding and am currently waiting to devour what Baked NYC likes to call 'Brewer's Blondies.'
It's an adaption from the classic blondies we all love, but instead includes malted milk powder and ground whoppers... what could be better? The recipe is as follows:

Brewer's Blondies
Adapted from Baked

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons malted milk powder
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 3/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup malted milk balls (like Whoppers or Maltesers), coarsely chopped in a food processor
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
Vanilla ice cream, to serve

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and malted milk powder together.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium speed until completely combined. Scrape down the bowl, add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until combined.

Add the flour mixture in two batches until just combined. Add the malted milk balls, chocolate chips and walnuts and beat until just combined, about 10 seconds. The mixture will be thick. Turn the mixture out into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly.

Bake in the center of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the blondie comes out clean.

Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 20 minutes. These blondies taste delicious warm. Cut them into squares and serve with ice cream. They also taste great at room temperature. Once thoroughly cooled, cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.

I had to slightly adapt and use chocolate malted milk powder instead of original because it was out of stock at the store.. how that is possible, I don't know. Either way, a little more chocolate can never hurt :) Also, a bad tendency of mine is too move to quick without reading the fine print, so I forgot to actually toast the walnuts, but I'm sure it won't affect the finished product that much.
Baked recommends, since most people won't eat all of the blondies right after cooling, keeping them covered in an airtight container and when serving to microwave them for 20-30 seconds and serving with ice cream. Unfortunately, I haven't had dinner yet so I'm trying to withhold myself from indulging, but I will comment later on the finished outcome and any suggestions for those who try the recipe!

Happy Holidays, hope everyone enjoys some great holiday treats this break! :)

Gingerbread Snowflakes

2010-11-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

A few days after Thanksgiving I woke up to see the first snowflakes of the season. I am obsessed with snow and all things Christmas so this was extremely exciting for me. Further what is better than sitting in front of a fire watching the snow outside while enjoying a cup of hot tea and a gingerbread cookie? Well to answer my own question, nothing!!! I had seen a really pretty gingerbread cookie on marthastewart.com that I had been eager to try so I promptly found it and set to work.

Ingredients

Makes 16 cookies

6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 large eggs
1 cup unsulfured molasses
Fine sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to a 1/4-inch thick. Cut into snowflakes with a 7- inch snowflake-shape cookie cutter. Space 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.
Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.
Put icing in a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip. Pipe designs on snowflakes; immediately sprinkle with sanding sugar. Let stand 5 minutes; tap off excess sugar. Let icing set completely at room temperature, about 1 hour. Store cookies between layers of parchment in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days.

Royal Icing

Ingredients

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

2 large egg whites, or more to thin icing
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, or more to thicken icing
1 lemon, juiced

Directions

Beat the whites until stiff but not dry. Add sugar and lemon juice; beat for 1 minute more. If icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it is too thin, add more sugar. The icing may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

I could not locate a 7 inch cookie cutter so I settled for the largest one I could find which I believe was about 4 inches in diameter. It was actually the perfect size because I do not think that most people would want to eat a cookie much larger than that in one sitting. With the smaller cutter I got approximately 40 cookies out of the dough. I also found that putting the dough in the refrigerator made it too cold and difficult the roll out right after removing it. If you refrigerate the dough and then let it sit on the counter for a few minutes before rolling it out the dough will be less apt to crack. Be sure to adequately flour your workspace and utensils (rolling pin, cookie cutter, spatula, and hands). I baked for exactly 12 minutes and then let them sit for 3 minutes on the pan. Once the cookies were completely cool to the touch I began to decorate them. If you make your royal icing and find that it does not have the usual sweet and delicious flavor of frosting fret not, it doesn’t taste like anything on the cookie!! Make your icing and put it into the decorating bag, I recommend using a disposable one because it makes cleaning up much easier. When piping onto the cookie the frosting is slightly difficult to squeeze out of the bag and takes some force. Once you have your desired pattern it is time to coat in the decorating sugars. I found that it was difficult to make the sugar stick to the icing by simply dumping them onto the cookie so I poured a substantial amount onto a plate and then placed the cookie face down into the sugar. Voila you have a yummy snow day snack!!!

Cranberry Orange Scones

2010-11-23T21:38:00.000-08:00

Happy Almost Thanksgiving Sprinklers!!! In order to get warmed up for the largest day of cooking of the year I decided to make a Thanksgiving morning breakfast snack this evening in preparation for the festivities. In my house it is common to eat an extremely small breakfast, essentially nothing throughout the day, and then stuff yourself when dinner rolls around at about 4 in the afternoon. For the really small breakfast I made what turned out to be (unintentionally) really small scones. My mom suggested using the unnecessarily large bag of Craisins she had purchased (I guess that’s what happens at Costco). So with the object of using Craisins and making a breakfast treat I set out to find a good recipe. I settled on one I found on the foodnetwork.com.

Cranberry Orange Scones

Ingredients

4 cups plus 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
4 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water or milk, for egg wash
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
4 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 4 cups of flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 1/4 cup of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick. Flour a 3-inch round plain or fluted cutter and cut circles of dough. Place the scones on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Collect the scraps neatly, roll them out, and cut more circles.

Brush the tops of the scones with egg wash, sprinkle with sugar, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch. Allow the scones to cool for 15 minutes and then whisk together the confectioners' sugar and orange juice, and drizzle over the scones.

I found that the scones did not rise at all and therefore I needed to start with a thicker piece of dough to cut the circle from. The flavor was great but the texture was a bit dry. Nothing that a great cup of coffee can’t fix!! I’ll be back many times this week to report on the outrageous on goings of Thanksgiving!! Since Ariel went to the most magical place on earth for the weekend I will be doing all the Thanksgiving updates from my family’s kitchen in Pittsburgh!!

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes

2010-11-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

This past weekend it was the nineteenth birthday of my dear friend and sorority sister, Emily! Seeing as she is an avid reader of I Tinkle Sprinkles I thought it absolutely necessary to bake for her! She is an enormous fan of chocolate, as most of us are, and so my friend Sarah suggested a recipe she has made many times for her housemates! (Ariel was unable to participate this weekend, I missed her dearly!!!) Sarah found this recipe in the Martha Stewart’s Cupcake cookbook.

Chocolate Malted Cupcakes:

Makes roughly 28

2 1/4C All purpose flour
3/4 C Dutch process cocoa powdered
1/2 C Granulated sugar
3/4 C light brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C milk
1 1/4 C Malted milk powder ( such as Carnations)
1 C vegetable oil
3 large eggs at room temp
1 C sour cream at room temp
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Method:
With oven preheated @ 350 Degrees F.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, sugars, baking soda & salt. in another bowl, whisk together milk and malted milk powder until dissolve.
With mixer on Med- High, beat flour mixture, milk mixture and oil until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well incorporated. Add sour cream and vanilla. Beat until just combined.
Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filled half way. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cake tester comes out clean or baked about 20 minutes.

Fluffy Vanilla Frosting

Makes about 4 cups

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

With an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium. Add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed; after every two additions, raise speed to high and beat 10 seconds to aerate frosting, then return to medium-high. This process should take about 5 minutes. Frosting will be very pale and fluffy.
Add vanilla, and beat until frosting is smooth. If not using immediately, frosting can be refrigerated up to 10 days in an airtight container. Before using, bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth again, about 5 minutes.

With the frosting completed, we decided that while the white was crisp and clean cut, Emily was more exciting than that and needed some color. We used 2 drops of blue food coloring and 3 drops of pink food coloring to make a lovely shade of purple. After having our desired color we attached a medium sized star-shape to a pastry bag and carefully piped the frosting onto the cupcakes.

The cupcakes were delicious and the malt powder made them extremely aerated. They were fluffy and light, and made it possible to enjoy these rich and sweet flavors without feeling overwhelmed.

I would recommend, and I think Emily would agree, that these are the perfect birthday cupcakes!!

Pumpkin of Cupcakes

2010-11-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin of Cupcakes

Trick or Treat Sprinkles Fans!!! Out of respect for the best holiday ever Ariel found an exciting task for us. A pumpkin of cupcakes, yes you heard right, we actually made a giant pumpkin out of cupcakes. This recipe was from Cup Cake Central which is sponsored by Reynolds Baking Cups.

What you need:

For Cake:
48-52 cupcakes baked in Reynolds Orange Foil Baking Cups
2 packages (18.25 oz. each) yellow cake mix
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Water, oil and eggs (follow package directions)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract for cake

For Frosting:
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract for frosting
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 to 2 packages (16 oz.each ) powdered sugar
Neon orange food coloring
Green food coloring
Optional: orange sugar crystals

For Creating Centerpiece:
1 large platter or tray (at least 12 inches wide)
1 8” Styrofoam ball (purchase at your local craft store)
1 4×4x2″ Styrofoam block (purchase at your local craft)
4 6″ wooden skewers
1 glue gun and glue sticks
48-52 wooden craft sticks
1 small paring knife

Instructions:

PREHEAT oven to 350°F.
PLACE Reynolds Baking Cups in muffin pans; set aside.
BEAT cake mixes, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice, water, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer on lw speed until moistened, about 30 seconds. Then beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Spoon batter into baking cups. If desired, each cake mix can be beaten separately just use half of pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and vanilla in each.
BAKE 20 to 23 minutes. Cool.
MIX cream cheese, maple syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Add powdered sugar gradually until well blended.
DIVIDE frosting, use food coloring to dye 1/2 cup green and the remaining frosting orange.
SET aside two cupcakes for stem. PIPE or frost remaining cupcakes with orange frosting. Sprinkle with orange sugar crystals, if desired. Very Important: Let frosting stand and harden at least 1 hour.

PREPARE CENTERPIECE:

Place Styrofoam block on a platter. Use hot glue to glue block to platter. Insert 4 wooden skewers in a square center of block.
Place Styrofoam ball on top of block, sliding ball onto skewers. Use hot glue to secure in place, if necessary.
Starting at the bottom of the styrofoam ball, insert one wooden craft stick angled 45 degrees up. Push stick deep into ball so that about 1/2 of it remains sticking out to hold cupcake.
Use a paring knife to make a thin slit into the bottom of the decorated cupcake.
Slide decorated cupcake onto wooden craft stick.
Repeat these steps, one row at a time. Work your way all the way around the bottom of the ball to the top, placing the cupcakes as close together as you can get them.
Leave a 3-inch circle of open space at the top for the stem. Remove baking cups from the 2 cupcakes that were set aside for stem. Cut a thin slice from the top of each cupcake to create flat surfaces.
Frost cut side of one cupcake with green frosting and press bottom of second cupcake on top of it. Prepare stem by spreading a thin coating of green frosting over all sides of both cupcakes.
Spread a dollop of green frosting in open space at top of ball to serve as “glue” for the stem. Place frosted green cupcakes upside down on frosting so flat bottom of one of the cupcakes makes the top of the stem. Spread frosting over stem until completely covered. Use a fork to make circular lines in the top of the stem and vertical lines on the sides, if desired.
Optional: place additional cupcakes on platter around bottom of Pumpkin.

We took the easy route on this one (because it was going to be difficult to assemble the giant pumpkin) and used boxed cake mix. We made two boxes of mix, one yellow and one chocolate. We did not include pumpkin in our recipe because there were no cans of pumpkin to be found in Ann Arbor. Apparently everyone had a similar idea to us. We did make the frosting as it was stated in the recipe but we did not have food coloring so we used a food dye spray. It was shimmery and perfect for our pumpkin.

When assembling the pumpkin we found it difficult to attach the cupcakes without having them fall off. Because we used paper cupcake liners instead of the tin ones recommended we noticed that the weight of thee hanging cupcake pulled away from the liner. Luckily once they were packed onto the Styrofoam ball they held each other together. Our finished product was not as tidy as the one on the Cup Cake Central website but it was still really cute and festive!!

Truffle Tarts with Raspberry

2010-10-14T12:29:00.000-07:00

Hello Sprinkle Lovers!! We have quite a treat for you. It seems that we have a birthday to celebrate every week, but I guess that’s what happens on a team of 40 girls. Anyhow, happy 21^st Felice, we love you. For this very special event we ventured to make our most intricate dessert yet. Truffle Tarts with Raspberry, let me just tell you, these are DELICIOUS! This beauty is a bit time consuming so leave yourself a while, or do what we did and make them the night before you need them. Ariel found this recipe on www.foodnetwork.com and I quickly approved it as the treat of the night. Make the truffle mixture first, seeing as it must sit for an hour before you can add them to the Oreo crust.

Dark Chocolate Truffles:

Ingredients

· 1/2 cup heavy cream

· 8 ounces good-quality (70 percent) bittersweet chocolate, chopped

· 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

· 1 cup cocoa powder, for dusting

Directions

In a saucepan, bring the cream just to a simmer over low heat. Pour the cream over the chocolate in a bowl and let stand about 10 minutes to melt the chocolate. Add the vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool for 1 hour at room temperature. Make the Oreo crust at this time.

Oreo Crust

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups fine chocolate wafer crumbs (from Oreo cookies or chocolate wafers)
6 tablespoons melted butter
6 fresh raspberries, plus extra for serving

Directions

Use a fork to mix together the chocolate wafer crumbs and butter. Spray the cups of a 6-muffin tin with a vegetable spray. Line the cups with strips of parchment or waxed paper, cut so that they are as wide as the diameter of each cup and long enough to overhang the sides (you'll need this overhang to remove the tarts). Use the bottom of a small glass to press the crumbs over the bottom and sides of the muffin cups, building the sides up to only about 1 1/2 inches. Place a raspberry in the center of each crust.

At this time you should beat the chocolate at medium speed until it gets thick and light colored. With a pastry bag or small plastic bag with the corner snipped off, fill the tarts with the truffle mixture. Smooth the tops and refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

Instead of using parchment paper, we used the paper cupcake liners. When you remove the liners it leaves a bumpy print on the crust which looks really cute. Also, instead of making all of the tarts in a regular sized cupcake pan, we made several in the mini pan and cup the raspberries for the middle in half. The tarts are very delicious, but extremely rich, so we would recommend making all of them in the mini sized pan. We also chose not to smooth the top of the truffle before refrigerating it because we liked the way the swirled top looked. Seriously though, you have to make these because I really cannot stress enough how good they are!!!

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting

2010-10-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

Banana Cupcakes with Honey Cinnamon Frosting

Yesterday morning our teammate Shannon asked if we were interested in baking with bananas this weekend because she had several that were getting quite brown. Of course we jumped at the opportunity and decided to attempt a recipe we had seen on marthastewart.com. We were eager to do this healthier alternative to traditional cupcakes keeping our strength coach, Lew, in mind. We love to bring our baked creations to the varsity weight room on campus and pass them out to the guys who work there. Lew is losing weight for a competition so he is not eating many sweet things, so when we told him that we were using bananas today he was very excited! The only problem with baking this morning was class; we were on a time crunch so everything needed to run smoothly and efficiently.

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients

Makes 12

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 ripe bananas), plus 1 whole banana, for garnish (optional)
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla. Stir to incorporate flour mixture (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Spread tops with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting. Just before serving, peel and slice banana into rounds, and place one on each cupcake, if desired.

Honey Cinnamon Frosting

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat confectioners' sugar, unsalted butter, honey, and ground cinnamon until smooth, 4 to 5 minutes

We decided to double the recipe. When mixing our cupcake batter, I thought that it would be a good idea to throw a few handfuls of walnuts into the mix, because everyone loves walnuts in banana bread!

After we filled our regular sized cupcake tins, we realized we still had a substantial amount of batter left over. Because our teammates have been so supportive of our blogging endeavors we buttered and floured a pan of mini cupcakes to pass out after our practice tonight.

The bananas and butter smelled wonderful and 25 minutes later they came out of the oven a beautiful golden brown. When beginning to craft our frosting, we realized that we had used all of our butter, an embarrassing novice mistake. In a desperate attempt to find 2 sticks of butter we contacted all of our friends in Ariel’s apartment building. Unfortunately everyone was at class or sleeping, so our only option was to run a few blocks to a small convenience store. We ran down the streets of Ann Arbor in sweat pants and flip flops carrying butter and looking completely ridiculous. Luckily by the time we made it back to the apartment, the cupcakes had cooled and were ready to be lathered in frosting!

The Honey Cinnamon Frosting held the sweetest most magnificent flavors I have ever tasted. The butter and honey complimented one another and the cinnamon added a subtle touch. When combined with the banana walnut of the cupcake it was blissful.

Rocky Road Brownies

2010-10-05T19:35:00.000-07:00

Brownie batter from scratch, marshmallows, Trader Joe's chocolate chips, and nuts - honestly, what could be better? I came home today to find brownies and cupcakes scattered around the kitchen, compliments of my lovely roommate Jen. Needless to say I did not get one bite of her tasty delights as she took them away shortly after my return. Withdrawals setting in, I was craving some type of homemade treat so I searched the internet for something I could whip up with what was in the kitchen. My first thought was "Trader Joe" chocolate chips, my sister introduced me to them on her last visit and I have forever fallen in love and deemed them my personal favorite chips to use. That's when I came across 'Rocky Road Brownies,' on Hershey's website (ingredients below). Rummaging through the kitchen I found everything I needed and got set to work.

1-1/4 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Trader Joe's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips in my version)
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

This was not a very tricky recipe to make as I was finished preparing the batter in ohh about 5 minutes. Due to the lack of baking pans in our kitchen (shocking I know), I had to improvise and use a bread pan for the brownies which tacks on at least an extra ten minutes to the already grueling 22 minutes the brownies have to be in the 350 degree oven. I sit here in anticipation, waiting for the brownies to cook so I can drizzle the chocolate chips, marshmallows, and nuts on top and put them back in the oven to watch the marshmallows slowly warm and puff up.
Once the brownies were a little less jiggly, I pulled them out and covered them with the chocolate chip mix - 5 more minutes in the oven and then just the time it takes to semi-cool and I can feed my craving of sweets. This blog may be trouble for me - I feel pressured to bake more in order to post more blogs... yikes, we're going to have to put a little restriction on our baking per week.

The marshmallows seemed to take over the topping, but I don't mind one bit. I must say between this recipe of brownies from scratch and one of our previous cupcake creations from scratch (post to come soon!), I am forever sold on baking from scratch and going to try extremely hard to not buy packages for baking. (Unless absolutely necessary for certain creations). Below if a picture of a sliver of the brownies which turned out spectacular to me. The rich moisture from the scratch brownie batter, melted chocolate chips, and slightly toasted marshmallow put together a tremendous combination of flavors and textures. Can't wait to share them :)

Wish you were here Liv :)

Family Apple Sauce

2010-10-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

As promised we used our abundance of apples. I called my Grandpap and he gave us the recipe that he and my grandma used to use all the time to make the world’s best apple sauce. We began with 15 medium sized red apples, but you can use as many and whatever variety your little heart desires. We cored, peeled, and chopped the apples into approximately thumb sized pieces. Just make sure they are all the same size so they cook evenly. Put the chopped apples into a larger sauce pan and fill with a few cups of water, until the apples are about ¾ covered. Place the sauce pan on the stove top and turn it to medium heat.

You want the water to begin to boil and break the apples down; if you feel that the mixture is getting too thick add a little more water. As my Grandpap says, this is a feeling process not a measuring process. Once the apples have broken down and softened a bit add some sugar and cinnamon, once again this is done to your liking. I would recommend that you do not use less than a half cup of sugar. Once the apple sauce is thick and relatively smooth it is done. Remove it from the heat and cool before serving. Enjoy our family tradition!!