100% homemade Strawberry Shortcake. In cupcake form.

I recently partnered with The Bozzuto Group, a real estate company that develops and manages fabulous homes and apartment buildings in the Mid-Atlantic, to create the perfect cupcake recipe in celebration of their 25th anniversary. The recipe was inspired by their office favorite, strawberry shortcake, to go along with their 25 for 25! Sweepstakes (details below).

I haven’t had strawberry shortcake in years! My mom used to make it for us during the summertime for dessert. It was such a treat!  I always loaded up on the whipped cream.  My favorite part.

I was excited that my responsibility for the recent partnership with Bozzuto was to make a treat replicating my childhood favorite dessert.  

For the cupcakes, I used my go-to vanilla cupcake recipe. It’s a simple vanilla batter that does not require a mixer.  Everything may be mixed by hand and they only take about 25 minutes start to finish.  They are infused with vanilla extract and vanilla bean. Just pure tasting vanilla goodness.  You may leave out the fresh vanilla bean, but I strongly recommend you using it.

These cupcakes are vanilla to the extreme.  Soft, fluffy, and so much aromatic vanilla.

What’s strawberry shortcake without… well… strawberries?  I filled my vanilla cupcakes with homemade strawberry filling.  If you think the vanilla cupakes are easy, just wait until you experience the simplicity of this filling.  2 cups of diced strawberries cooked down with sugar and cornstarch.  You must have cornstarch on hand after making these, right?! The mixture will thicken and it will be comparable to a sweet homemade strawberry jam with a few glorious chunks of real strawberry.  Nothing fake or artificial here.  Pure strawberries.

Filling the cupcakes is a piece of (short) cake.

Simply carve out a tiny hole in the center of the cupcake with a sharp knife.  Thole hole will be about 3/4 inch deep.  I didn’t use a ruler or anything – just make sure you don’t hit the bottom of the cupcake and you’ll be all set.  Top the cupcake with the piece you cut out as seen in the background of the photo above. It doesn’t have to look pretty because you’ll be topping the cupcake with whipped cream.

Why didn’t I use a piping tip and bag to fill the cupcakes?  Good question.  The filling has strawberry chunks in it and it’s much simpler to spoon it inside rather than pipe it inside. Spooning the filling is also not as messy. Bonus!

The topping? Well, it’s homemade strawberry whipped cream of course! Between the cupcakes, the filling, and the whipped cream, I found that the whipped cream was the easiest. And quickest!  Nothing from the store can replicate this strawberry whipped cream.

Simply beat 1.5 cups of whipping cream with sugar, and vanilla extract.  Beat it all for about 5 minutes until stiff peaks form. Add the leftover strawberry filling you have and beat for another 30-60 seconds.  Boom. Luscious, thick, pink-tinted homemade strawberry whipped cream.

You will layer the strawberry whipped cream on top of the cupcakes with a knife.  Then decorate with a couple strawberry slices if desired. Nothing fancy.   Told ya these cupcakes are easy! I love the pretty chunks of strawberry hiding in the light pink whipped cream.

For 100% homemade, frosted, and filled cupcakes – the total time is about 1 hour.  I don’t think you can really beat that anywhere.  These cupcakes cheered us up last week during our 5 day stint of rain.  Rain – every single day!  Strawberry Shortcake brought some sunshine inside.

The fluffy, moist cupcakes are very-vanilla flavored, the strawberry filling is fresh and sweet, and the homemade strawberry whipped cream? Well nothing can top pink whipped cream in my mind.

 Win Free Cupcakes!

In celebration of their 25^th anniversary, Bozzuto is giving away 25 of one of their favorite things each month. This month’s prize is a delivery of 25 mini cupcakes from the amazing NYC bakery Baked By Melissa! There will be 25 winners total, but hurry – the winners will be selected May 25^th.

Enter here or use this link if you’re using a mobile device.

What are you up to this weekend? I’m happy to announce that Jude got half of his stitches out.  The vet found that the tumor we had removed on his hind leg was cancerous.  There is a chance it may come back, but we are hopeful that it won’t.  He is still recovering well!  Next week, he will get the remainder of his stitches out.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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 I am so excited about this bread!  For many reasons.

1) There’s no kneading involved at all. 2) It is so chewy, so soft, and so fluffy. 3) It has a cinnamon-sugar crusted crust on top.  4) And this bread makes one heck of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, tastes wonderful out of the toaster with melty butter, and creates the best slightly sweet grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever had.

I also love the fact that this bread is not overloaded with refined sugar – it’s slightly sweet from the honey in the dough and the light sprinkle of cinnamon/sugar on top.  The oats in the dough make each slice remarkably chewy.  I was actually surprised how chewy the bread turned out to be.  A pleasant surprise!

This homemade bread is not hard to make.  It is just involved, which shouldn’t scare you!  It’s timely and has a few steps, but as long as you read through the whole recipe before starting and follow each step, you’re guaranteed it will be a simple success. Plus, the smell and taste of homemade bread is unparalleled to anything you could ever buy at a store.

Unlike my Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, there are two rises required to make this loaf of bread – so plan accordingly.  I allowed for the first rise to occur overnight; it’s just easier that way. Also, make sure you use a dependable yeast like Red Star Platinum. It’s the one and only yeast I swear by – the results are wonderful. So fluffy, so tall, so perfect.  While I have been compensated for this post, you must know that I have been using and loving Red Star Platinum even before they knew my blog existed!  Red Star Platinum takes the work out of it for you.  Its careful formula strengthens your dough and makes making working with yeast simple.  Anything that makes working with yeast simple is a winner to me.

*If you plan to make this bread at home, I strongly suggest you read the text to learn the whys and why nots of this recipe. 

In the first step, you will combine your dry ingredients together: bread flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and yeast. Doing some bread-making research, I learned that cinnamon contains a yeast-inhibiting chemical.  I wanted my homemade bread to have that light spicy/sweet cinnamon taste to it, so I didn’t want to leave the cinnamon out.  I simply made sure there was enough yeast in the bread to counteract with the cinnamon. Luckily, we had no rising issues.  The bread will rise tall and beautifully.

The wet ingredients for this homemade hearty bread are honey, oil, and cold water.   The cold water slows down the yeast’s fermentation process and allows more flavor to develop in your bread. Slow-infused flavor is a good thing. Mix the dry and wet ingredients together with a wooden spoon.  While the oats will soak up a lot of the moisture, the dough will look slightly wet and you’ll be tempted to keep adding flour. Don’t do that, a slightly “wet” looking dough is just fine.  Cover the dough and allow it to rise overnight (or for 12 hours during the day) in a slightly cool place. 70F degree room temperature is fine.

The dough will have grown quite a lot overnight.  At this point, you can slowly begin to add a bit more bread flour to the dough to reach a hard-to-stir consistency.  For me, that was about 1/3- 1/2 cup more flour.  I used a greased spatula (I sprayed it with non-stick spray) to stir it around as I added more flour.

The dough is ready for its second rise.  Shape into a generously greased 9×5-inch loaf pan.  Brush or spray the top with nonstick spray and cut a slash lengthwise down the loaf. The cut I made was about 1/2 inch deep.  This will create that gorgeous cracked crust on top.  To allow the dough to rise, I heated my oven to 200F degrees.  Once it reached 200F, I turned the oven off and placed the dough inside.  This creates a warm atmosphere for it to rise.  It will take your dough anywhere from 1- 3 hours using this trick.  You want the dough to extend slightly above the pan’s rim.

Once it has risen to the correct height, sprinkle with a little cinnamon sugar and it will be ready to bake.  I was inspired to sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top after seeing Averie’s beautiful cinnamon-sugar crusted bread. What a beauty that bread is!

Bake this bread on the lower-third rack in your oven, not the middle. Make sure you bake the bread on the correct rack. You don’t want the bread to bake unevenly.  The bread takes about 75-85 minutes in the oven.  I covered the bread after 35 minutes to avoid the top and edges from getting too brown. Just wait until you smell it baking!  Your kitchen has just turned into a bakery.

Allow the bread to cool in the pan placed on a wire rack for about 15 minutes after you take it out of the oven.  Remove the loaf and allow it to cool directly on the rack after that.  The bread will not slice well until completely cooled.

Enjoy the bread however you’d like!  Kevin ate pulled chicken sandwiches on it, I toasted mine with raspberry jam and even ate a piece with some honey drizzled on top. Oh, and made a grilled chese sandwich. Now THAT was good.

This is truly an easy bread to make, especially if you fear yeast breads.  There is no hand-shaping, no kneading, no mixer, and the preparation is a cinch.  Minimum, cheap ingredients and straight-forward instructions.  Trust me, you have to try this.  The results are incredible for the minimum effort made. The texture? Fluffy as can be.  The crust? Hearty and crunchy on the edges (perfection in my mind!).  The interior is soft and sweet, but not overly so. I love that the dough is only sweetened with honey.

First time bread maker? This is the homemade bread to start with. Enjoy!

My Easy Cinnamon Rolls are also made from scratch.  There is only 1 rise for these.  Readers have told me they are the best cinnamon rolls they’ve ever had.  I agree!

Some related recipes to today’s bread:

Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Sky-High Apple Pie Muffins

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread

Homemade Monkey Bread with Caramel Sauce

Caramel Swirl Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

*This is a sponsored post for Red Star Yeast.  I have been compensated for making this recipe.  However, I was not paid to write a review and all opinions are 100% my own. Visit Red Star Yeast on Facebook for more recipe ideas. 

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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 Have you ever had a banana whip before?

What’s a banana whip, you ask?  There’s a little spot on the boardwalk that sells pure frozen banana whips.  Frozen banana chunks blended into ice cream consistency… and it tastes EXACTLY like vanilla soft serve.

I make it at home all the time.  Peel your rotten bananas, chop them up, freeze the chunks, and blend them. Boom!  Healthy 1 ingredient vegan vanilla soft serve. ↓

This frozen banana whip is the base for my strawberry banana milkshakes. I make these fruity milkshakes all the time.  They’re one of my favorite afternoon snacks, especially when all I want is something sweet and refreshing. Sometimes I add different fruits to the banana base, but it’s usually strawberry.  I like pink drinks.

Thick strawberry milkshakes are a weakness of mine.  But let’s face it, I’d rather eat my calories in chocolate chunk cookies than drink them.  You can have a strawberry milkshake that tastes exactly like the kind from your favorite drive-thru – and it’s made from pure fruit! Pretty hard to believe, right?!

The milkshakes are super thick (practically too thick for my pink chevron straws!).

The straws?  Courtesy of Sweets & Treats Boutique. Love ‘em.

The milkshakes are made from frozen banana chunks, a few fresh strawberries, and a splash of milk.  You may keep them vegan by using soy or almond milk.  Make sure the bananas you freeze are extra ripe.  I usually buy a few bunches of bananas simply for the purpose of letting them rot and freezing the chunks to make milkshakes.

The riper the bananas, the sweeter they are, and the better your strawberry milkshakes will taste.

Sort of like how banana bread works, too. The more ripe your bananas, the better the bread will be.  Looking for banana bread?  You can’t miss my favorite banana bread recipe.

These milkshakes are a non-recipe recipe.  All you’re doing is blending three ingredients together!  But it’s incredible how amazing they taste considering how easy they are to make.  Simple, fresh, healthy ingredients make the best milkshakes and smoothies.

I always feel good drinking these. 3 ingredients, 5 minutes, done!!

Another one of my favorite snacks?  Chocolate Covered Cherry Protein Smoothie.

I drink it after my workouts. 14g protein, refreshing, and SO refreshing!

Speaking of healthy snacks, I can never get enough of my Tropical Granola.

I made this all the time last summer and again last weekend. It’s vegan and quite addicting!

Pre-run brownies made with healthier ingredients.

Skinny Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies - one of the most popular recipes on my website.

Gluten Free Fudge No-Bake Cookies – taste like fudgy candy bars!

Speaking of cookies, you have to try my Healthy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.

I can eat pumpkin all year long. And I do!

Best breakfast: Skinny Banana Blueberry Muffins.

Made with whole wheat flour, honey, bananas, and greek yogurt.

What are your favorite healthy snacks like?

See all of my healthier recipes.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Please note that this post has a lot of text.  The reason is because I need to explain to you exactly what makes these cookies so chewy, soft, and thick in order for your cookies to be a success.  If you do not like reading the text, you may simply skip down to the recipe. 

Wednesday is National Chocolate Chip Day, so I made you a new chocolate chip cookie recipe to celebrate! And I’ve made them 5 times in the past two weeks. No lie.

I had to test them over and over and over again to make sure they were as good as the first time before sharing with you.  You only get the best of the best.  I made 2 batches with chocolate chunks and the rest with other goodies inside (stay tuned!). And yes, each batch was perfection.

There are hundreds of chocolate chip cookie recipes out there.  Everyone has their favorite! But today’s recipe stands out in my mind. They are the chewiest of chewy.  The softest of soft.  Thick, underbaked, buttery dough, and exploding with chocolate. Warning: this chocolate chip cookie requires a tall glass of milk.

Don’t get me wrong.  I still have a huge space in my heart (and tastebuds) for my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.  It’s one of the most popular recipes on my website. You all love them!

Today’s recipe is similar, but I increased the chewy factor. 

The cookie dough is made from standard cookie dough ingredients.  Flour, leavener, salt, sugar, butter, egg, & vanilla.  It’s the ratios of those ingredients that make this recipe stand out against the rest.  2.25 cups of flour is mixed with 1 teaspoon of baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and my favorite: cornstarch!  I used 1.5 teaspoons of cornstarch in this recipe.  It gives the cookies that ultra soft-baked consistency we all know and love.  Plus, it makes the cookies super thick.

You’ll use melted butter in this cookie recipe. Most of the cookies on my website call for creaming softened butter with the sugars.  My new chocolate chip cookie recipe requires melted butter.  It increases the chewy factor in the baked cookie. Melted butter can make your baked cookie greasy, so I made sure there was enough flour to avoid that from happening.  Since you are using melted butter, you don’t need a mixer for this cookie recipe!   Ironically, I’m giving away a free KitchenAid Stand Mixer right now.

To the melted butter, add 3/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of white sugar.  Extra brown sugar increases the moist-factor, softness, and chewiness in the final cookie.  The white sugar induces slight spreading so your cookies don’t remain balls of dough in the oven.  A little bit of spread is a good thing.  Too much spreading? No thank you. Thankfully, these cookies remain nice and thick in the oven because of the cornstarch, flour, and baking soda.

Another way to ensure these cookies are extra chewy is to add an extra egg yolk.  The extra egg yolk adds richness, soft tenderness, and binds the dough. So you will need 1 egg and 1 egg yolk.  You can freeze the extra egg white in a ziplock baggie for up to 1 month or use it to make my Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes.

Finally, add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract and your chocolate chunks.  I used a combination of Nestle Chocolate Chunks and Mini Chocolate Chips. You can use standard size semi-sweet chocolate chips if you prefer.

The dough will be soft and the chocolate chunks may not stick because of the melted butter.  Just keep stirring it.  Next step is to chill the dough.  I can’t stress this step enough.  Chilling the dough is mandatory for most of my cookie recipes. It allows the ingredients to settle together after the mixing stage.  But most importantly: cold dough results in thicker cookies.  This cookie dough will spread in the oven if you bake it at room temperature.  Cover the cookie dough and chill the dough for at least 2 hours, and even up to 3 days.  I chilled this dough for 1 day.  After chilling, let your cookie dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling into balls.

After chilling, sometimes I roll the cookie dough into balls and freeze them in a large zipped-top bag.  Then I bake them in their frozen state – keeping them in the oven for an extra minute.  This way you can have just one of two cookies whenever you want! 

These cookies are huge.  About 3 Tablespoons of dough is rolled to make one cookie.  The batch only makes about 16 cookies since you will be rolling them so large.  It was the perfect amount to share with Kevin’s family for Mother’s Day and have extras for our cookie jar. Feel free to make the cookies smaller (about 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie) instead. If you do that, be sure to reduce the baking time to 8 minutes. FOr me? Well, sometimes you just gotta have a monster size chocolate cookie.

When you remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator after chilling, the dough will be slightly crumbly.  The warmth of your hands rolling it will make it stay intact. Roll the cookie dough balls taller, rather than wide as I discussed and showed here.  This little tried-and-true trick will result in thicker cookies. I do it for every single cookie I bake.

The large cookies take 11-12 minutes in the oven.  Do not overbake them.  The cookies will appear very soft and undone.  However, they will continue to bake for about 10 minutes as you allow them to cool on the cookie sheet.  The cookies you see here were baked for 11 minutes.

Secrets to Thick, Soft, & Chewy Cookies: 

Underbaked cookies are the secret to softness.  Using cornstarch in the dough is another secret to softness, as well as the secret to thickness.  Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie.  Adding an extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be taller than wider increases thickness.  Using melted butter (and slightly more flour) increases chewiness. Chilling the dough results in a thicker cookie.

This is an easy, straightforward cookie recipe with no mixer required to make them.

I love these super chewy cookies as much as my original chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Give them a try, you won’t be disappointed!

My other favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe bakes up cookies that are just as soft & thick as today’s! They are not as chewy, but still a winning recipe in my heart and with my tastebuds.

Here is a post I created with 25 of my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes.  This is a must see!

Super-thick Inside-Out Chocolate Chip Cookies are a traditional cookie in reverse form.

These Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies are the thickest cookies EVER.

Add a little salted caramel to your chocolate chip cookies next time!

These Salted Caramel Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies are a personal favorite.

Fan of (safe-to-eat) cookie dough?  You have to try these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.

See more cookie recipes.

See more chocolate recipes.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Today, my friends and I are mixing up a special giveaway.

My #1 tool in the kitchen.  :)

Today I’ve teamed up with the who’s who in the baking blog world to host one STAND OUT giveaway!  Makes Monday a little more exciting, don’t you think?!

How could I make my favorite Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies without my stand mixer?

You could win a KitchenAid 5-Quart Stand Mixer – in a light blue/mint green color called ICE. I wish I had this color.

*US Residents Only (not my choice!)

*Giveaway ends May 20th 2013 at 12am EST

*Winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or else a new winner will be selected.

Use the rafflecopter below to enter. Not sure how to use rafflecopter? Read below.

The Rafflecopter box can be a little slow to load sometimes – you may have to wait a few seconds for it to appear.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How to use Rafflecopter? The first step is to log-in. You can do this with Facebook or with an email address.

Once you are logged in, the first and mandatory entry option is to leave a comment.  Now go leave a comment on this post telling me what you will make first with your new mixer.   Congrats! You are now entered in the giveaway. At this point, you can quit, or you can carry on and enter more times via the other ways listed.  Just go down the list within the rafflecopter box.  You don’t have to even leave my website for these additional entries. The additional entries include: Follow Sally’s Baking Addiction on Pinterest; Follow SallysBakeBlog on Twitter; Follow SallysBakeBlog on Pinterest.  You can also like and follow the other sponsors on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.For these additional entries, make sure you follow the prompts.  

Pick and choose the you ways you want to enter. The only one you absolutely have to click on to get into the draw is the “Leave a blog post comment.”

If you have any questions, please let me know.  Good luck!

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Here are 25 hand-picked recipes to consider for Mother’s Day weekend.  Several of my favorites and several mama-approved favorites as well.

This Sunday, there is no better time to tell her how very much she means to you. Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mothers out there!

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

How are all of you celebrating?  What’s on your menu?

Here are some ideas.

Easy Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls (from scratch – only 1 rise) 

Mint Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Brownies - for all the mint-lovin’ moms

Snickers Cheesecake Bars - my mom loves Snickers Bars. I get it from her.

 Super-Crumb Coffee Cake - soooo much crumb topping!

Triple Chocolate Layer Cake - for the chocoholic mom

Snickerdoodle White Chocolate Chip Blondies - unbelievably tasty for how easy they are!

Super Moist Carrot Cake - my mom LOVED this carrot cake. 

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Banana Bread - chocolate + raspberries are so lush.

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake - best poundcake EVER.

Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies - take less tan 30 minutes!

Easy Lemon Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream - fresh lemon flavor is perfect for spring!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Peanut Butter Brownies - peanut butter + chocolate, sweet + salty.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Streusel Muffins - they feel fancy to eat, but are so easy.

Soft Gingersnap Cookies - my mom has always loved gingersnaps! These are ultra soft.

Skinny Double Chocolate Chip Muffins - a smart choice for chocolate lovers.

Chocolate Chip Cherry Sweet Rolls - treat your mom with these soft + fluffy homemade sweet rolls.

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars - one of the best desserts I’ve ever made. Seriously.

Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread - there are no words! This is my favorite banana bread.

Very Vanilla Cupcakes - easy + simple. perfection.

Cake Batter Mini Cinnamon Buns - perfect for moms and kids. These require no yeast!

Fudge Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting - because your mom deserves the best frosting ever, right?!

Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Muffins - my most popular muffin recipe!

Soft-Baked White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies - cornstarch makes these cookies extra soft. It’s a wonderful go-to recipe for any type of cookie you want to bake for/with mom.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels - one of my mom’s favorites!

Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins - the ultimate dessert for breakfast treat!

Want some more?

25 Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

45 Healthy Recipes

Chocolate Cupcakes

15 Sweet & Salty Desserts with Pretzels

10 Easy No-Bake Recipes

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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This is a recipe for classic, home-style cinnamon rolls.  Fluffy, soft, doughy, and bursting with buttery cinnamon swirls. It’s taken me some time to make the perfect dough from scratch and today, I have the winner for you.  I baked two batches just to be sure.

Brunch just wouldn’t be the same without these cinnamon rolls!

My cinnamon rolls are easier than any sweet roll I’ve ever made before.  And they are quicker too.  Perfect for the baker who wants to learn how to bake with yeast for the first time. You’ll find that the typical sweet roll or homemade bread recipe requires two rises.  The incredible Raspberry Swirl Sweet Rolls (which many of you LOVE!) require a first rise of about 1-2 hours.  Then a second rise for another two hours.  Making them is completely worth the wait time, but I wanted something a little quicker.  Today’s rolls only require 1 rise.

I used Red Star Platinum Yeast to bake my quick cinnamon rolls last weekend and I highly suggest you do too. While I have been compensated for this post, you must know that I have been using and loving Red Star Platinum even before they knew my blog existed.  Yep, I am an avid Red Star yeast fan and have been ever since I faced my fears of yeast 6 months ago.  Red Star Platinum takes the work out of it for you.  Its careful formula strengthens your dough and makes making working with yeast simple.  And simple is always good, right?

The dough for today’s roll is very easy to throw together.  It’s a perfect starting point for any sort of sweet roll you want to make.  And it makes a conveniently sized small batch.  Only about 11 rolls and they are baked in a small 9-inch round pan.  The recipe can easily be doubled and baked in two 9-inch pans.

The dough ingredients are pretty standard: flour, sugar, salt, yeast, water, milk, butter, and 1 egg.  Heat the butter, milk, and water all together in a bowl until the butter is melted and mixture is hot to touch (mine was 125F degrees). Accurate temperatures are crucial to successful baking.  Next you’re going to stir the butter mixture into the dry ingredients, then add the egg.  Add about 1/3 cup more flour to get the dough nice and soft. Your dough is ready to knead when it begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Next? Kneading time!  Lightly flour your countertop and get ready to get your hands dirty. It’s ok, baking is supposed to be messy. Knead the dough for about 5-6 full minutes. Want to learn more about the process of kneading?  I study this helpful guide often.

When you’re finished kneading, cover the dough and let it rest for about 10 minutes.  It won’t really rise in this step, it just needs a chance to let the gluten settle.  During this time, I got my filling ingredients ready: softened butter, cinnamon, and sugar.  My three favorite ingredients these days.

After 10 minutes, roll the dough out into a 14×8 inch rectangle.  Use a ruler to be accurate; I always keep one handy in a kitchen drawer.  Spread the sotened butter all over the dough.  Sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar.  Tightly roll up the dough and cut into 11 even pieces.  Place in a greased round pan and get ready to rise.

The rolls take about 60-90 minutes to rise.  Remember, this is the only rise time for the rolls.  Loosely cover the rolls with aluminum foil and place in a draft-free warm spot in your kitchen.  Here’s what I do: I heat the oven to 200F.  I turn off the oven.  I place the rolls inside for 90 minutes. There, that’s it!

Ater about 60-90 minutes, the rolls will have doubled in size and are ready to bake.

Bake at 375F for 25-30 minutes. I covered the rolls with aluminum foil after 15 minutes of bake time to avoid the tops from getting too brown.  Look how fabulous they are straight from the oven.

They look like fluffy little spiraled pillows.  All nice & toasty. ↓

They are ready for some glaze!  I made an easy coffee glaze for my rolls. I simply mixed 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 Tablespoons of strong coffee.  If coffee glaze isn’t your thing, replace the coffee with milk or cream.

And completely drench the rolls with the glaze right before serving.

I truly thought I had self control until I made these. I tested this recipe twice last weekend after I made breakfast.  I was saving them for later in the day, but I just had to dig in.  Trust me, your self-control will disappear after you make these. They are completely irresistible. Just wait until you smell them baking!  I want to bottle that scent and wear it forever.

The dough is buttery and sweet, which I loved. Look how doughy this one is!

If you’re looking for that perfect cinnamon roll recipe, you are in luck.  Not only are these the fluffiest, softest roll I’ve ever made, but they are the easiest as well. I love it when that happens!

Fill the rolls with nuts, chocolate chips, fruit, or even coconut. Besides the classic cinnamon filling, I personally love cherries or caramel + apples. The sky is the limit with this recipe.

I wish I was spending Mother’s Day with my mom this year (don’t worry, I’ll see her in a couple weeks for my birthday!) because I would make these for her.  She loves cinnamon rolls. Hi Mom!

If you follow Red Star Yeast on Pinterest, your yeast world will open to a slew of new recipes!

Here are some of my favorite sweet breakfast treats.  So many wonderful options for a holiday brunch or special breakfast.

Raspberry Swirl Sweet Rolls

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

Homemade Orange Sweet Rolls (Pillsbury copycat)

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Coffee Cake

For anyone fearful of yeast, today’s recipe is the perfect starting point. However, you can always make my 20 minute Mini Cinnamon Buns (no yeast) instead.

*This is a sponsored post for Red Star Yeast.  I have been compensated for making this recipe.  However, I was not paid to write a review and all opinions are 100% my own.

*Winner of the Cupcake Liner Giveaway is Gwen who said “Holy cannoli these look gooood! I would make healthy cupcakes like applesauce & carrot. I know, boring. ” Congrats Gwen, check your email!

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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It’s high time I baked a pie.  But this isn’t your regular pie. Step aside apples, blueberries, pumpkin, and lemon meringue… pie has a new filling in town. And it sure is fit for a king (or queen).

Fudgy homemade brownies with gooey toasted marshmallows piled high inside a thick graham cracker crust (yep, that’s homemade too). Totally diet-friendly, right?!  And trust me, it’s actually pretty easy to make. And even easier to eat.

…and fun to eat.

Love the marshmallow goo!

I made this pie over the weekend for no reason at all.  Perhaps it was me craving some summer sunshine, campfires, and chocolate all at once.  Or perhaps it was because s’mores are simply the best dessert on earth. And I say that with an archive of over 250 dessert recipes. Yep, s’mores will always win. Well, sometimes.

While this pie may not be as easy as a traditional s’more, it’s quite honestly not that difficult to prepare.  I made everything from scratch, except for the marshmallows.  Homemade goodies just taste better than those chemical-laden storebought ingredients.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the convenience of premixed ingredients, but with a recipe this easy – there’s simply no need for it.

The recipe starts with a simple from-scratch graham cracker crust.  Want to know why this crust is better than storebought? It’s thicker!  It has much more body. It’s nutty, buttery, and is not overly sweet like what you find at the store.  Three ingredients: 12 full-size crushed graham crackers (approx 1.5 cups), 6 Tablespoons melted butter, and 1/3 cup of sugar.  I love making graham cracker crusts because they are fool-proof and no-fuss compared to a traditional pie crust.

Next, make your brownie batter.  I used a recipe that I’ve made before with quite success. You all have told me how fudgy, rich, and incredible these brownies are!  It is the perect recipe for this pie because it must be made in an 8-inch or 9-inch square or round pan.

Boxed mixes require a much larger pan and will not work for this recipe unless you want to have two pies.

The brownie batter is quite thick, so don’t be alarmed when you are mixing it.  It had been a few months since I last made them and I forgot how thick the batter is – it is almost like fudge consistancy.  And that’s exactly how it bakes up – fudgy and unbelievably rich. The best brownie I’ve ever had.  The brownie batter requires no mixer and took me less than 5 minutes to make.

It’s easier (and tastier) than a box anyway.

{yes, I have monogrammed spatulas.  William’s Sonoma.}

Bake the brownie pie for about 28 minutes.  Test it with a toothpick inserted in the center. You want it to come out with a few moist crumbs.  You’re going to top it with marshmallows and stick it back into the oven for about 3 minutes.  My marshmallows weren’t browning quick enough, so I turned on the broiler for an additional 1 minute. That got them nice and toasty much quicker.

Toasted marshmallow is one of the best flavors – ever. Who’s with me?

Allow it to cool to room temperature before slicing. Which will feel like a lifetime, trust me.

Any leftovers can be reheated for about 30 seconds in the microwave.  And no, you probably won’t have any leftovers like we did.  Only 2 people in this house!  But I loved the leftover slices so much – a quick rotation in the microwave made the marshmallows puffy and even more gooey. So tasty.

When I posted a teaser photo of this pie on Instagram this weekend, you all got so excited! I’m glad to share it with you today, I know it’s going to be a hit at summer parties and get togethers.  How can you resist?

Avoid sticky fingers and eat an upgraded version of s’mores.  Trust me, you’ll have yourself a new favorite dessert.

My Ultimate Fudge Brownies are made from the same batter as today’s pie.

The best basic brownies I’ve ever had.

Want s’more?

Peanut Butter S’more 7 Layer Bars

S’mores Puppy Chow

S’mores Rice Krispie Treats

S’more Chocolate Chip Cookies

S’more Peanut Butter Cookies

How was your Monday? Jude is feeling better from his surgery last week, but still needs 24/7 attention. A gray, gloomy day forced me into the kitchen to bake cookies this afternoon.  Maybe I should make Jude dog biscuits to help him feel better.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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One of the best things about running my blog is that there are no rules.

I love peanut butter, I love cookies, I love salted caramel, and I definitely love sprinkles. And my recipe archive reflects that!  They are the flavors and desserts I personally love to make. My baking addiction demonstrates that.

Being in the blogworld for a little over a year, I’ve learned that reposting old recipes may be taboo or against the rules. However, I recently made my Nutella-Stuffed Cinnamon Sugar Muffins again and they were too pretty to NOT photograph with my new camera. And too pretty to NOT share with my newer readers.

This muffin recipe is a goldmine and I want to make sure no one misses it!

The muffins taste like donuts.  Like those cinnamon sugar cake donuts from Entenmanns.  A breakfast including those donuts was always one of my favorites growing up.  Last summer I went on a mission to recreate something very similar, but give it a little upgrade.

Enter Nutella.

The muffins have been so popular with my readers for a good reason: they are out of this world!  A real treat first thing in the morning. They freeze well, so you may enjoy them anytime you want without making them fresh.

Just heat them up for about 45 seconds straight from the freezer.  Such a comforting treat with a warm cup of coffee or tea. For breakfast, for snacking, as dessert, or at midnight.  These are perfect any time of day when that chocolate/donut/cinnamon-sugar craving hits.

And did I mention? They are whole wheat, too.  Simply use a mixture of whole wheat flour + all-purpose flour OR all white-whole wheat flour (that’s what I do).  The recipe makes 8-9 very soft, moist muffins and can easily be doubled.

Making these muffins is quite easy. It takes about 30 minutes start to finish, and the ingredients are all mixed in 1 bowl.  Any recipes where I can avoid doing extra dishes are favored in this house.  I loathe dishes, so this is one of my favorite recipes to make.

The muffins bake up to be quite tall.  Tall domed muffins with a gorgeous crackled top. I used the tricks I shared in this post to ensure a high-topped muffin. Be sure to read that post if you’re curious to learn how to bake tall, bakery-style mufins.

Once they come out of the oven, give them a generous dunk into melted butter and then another dunk into a shallow bowl of cinnamon/sugar.  I coat them heavily with the good stuff.

Dunk right into the butter and then the cinnamon sugar mixture.

While I love the cinnamon sugar coating on top, the absolute best part is the melty Nutella hiding inside.  A surprise burst of chocolate in every single bite.

No one can resist these muffins. I brought them to work before and they were gone within minutes.  A cinnamon/nutmeg spiced whole wheat batter, stuffed with a generous portion of Nutella, and then dunked into butter and more cinnamon.  Readers have told me that this is my best recipe!

And I would happen to agree. Easy, quick, buttery, and irresistible. That’s what I’m talkin’ about!

Have you tried them yet? Let me know what you think about them!

Nutella fanatic? You’ll love these too!

Nutella Swirl Pound Cake

Chocolate Cupcakes with Creamy Nutella Frosting

Nutella Swirled Pumpkin Pie

My Mini Powdered Sugar Donut Muffins are made from the same batter as today’s muffins. They are so fun to make AND eat.

If you like cinnamon-sugar, you can’t miss my Super Crumb Coffee Cake. So much streusel!

Have a wonderful Sunday! What are your plans for the day?

I started the day with a 5 mile run and now I am baking up a storm and taking care of Jude.  He had a small tumor removed on his hind leg last week.  He looks so pathetic and sad! Breaks my heart.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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 What’s black and white and milk chocolate all over?

Vanilla cookies & cream cupcakes with fluffy milk chocolate frosting, that’s what. Topped with more cookies & cream crumbles, of course.

I recently made Very Vanilla Cupcakes.  A strikingly white cupcake full of delicate vanilla flavor. The cupcake batter is spiked with real vanilla bean. They truly are wonderful:

Today’s cookies & cream version does not use vanilla bean in the batter.  I simply spruce up the cupcake batter with vanilla extract and a whole lotta crushed Oreos.

I love how the black Oreo chunks look inside the cupcakes. Like dalmatian spots.

I considered topping the cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  However, a chocolate craving hit and I just had to go with it.  The milk chocolate frosting used should be  familiar to you.  I used it to frost my Triple Chocolate Layer Cake not too long ago.

The milk chocolate frosting is the fluffiest, smoothest frosting I’ve ever had. My one friend said it almost tastes silky.  It is, hands down, one of my favorite frosting recipes. And luckily – it’s so easy to make!  Would you expect anything less on my website? I favor effortless recipes.  Especially recipes tasting like you slaved in the kitchen all day.

The cupcakes come from a simple batter, with easily available ingredients.  They are ready in about 30 minutes and the frosting takes about 6 minutes total.  You can have a freshly baked cupcake in no time!

I have a lot of readers ask me – how do your cupcake liners stay grease-free?  Well, this particular cupcake recipe makes about 15 cupcakes and the batter calls for only 1 stick of butter for the entire batch.  There’s not too much grease in the to start with.

But I have another secret.  I often use greaseproof liners! My friends over at Sweets & Treats Boutique make a line of over 40 different patterned liners, all using their unique Colorblock greaseproof material. They also sell party bags, fun paper straws (I just bought several!), and other treat supplies.

Look at all of the patterns and pretty colors of their greaseproof cupcake liners:

Sweets & Treats Boutique has offered to give one lucky winner a variety pack of over 200 cupcake liners! That means you can make 13 batches of my Cookies & Cream Cupcakes and still have a couple leftover.

To enter the giveaway, be sure to leave me comment at the bottom of my post telling me what kind of cupcake you would make first with your new liners.

For additional entries (leave a separate comment for each):

Like Sally’s Baking Addiction on Facebook
Follow SallysBakeBlog on Twitter
Pinterest follow SallysBakeBlog and pin one of my recipes
Facebook Like Sweets & Treats Boutique
Share this giveaway on facebook, twitter, or your own blog.

Giveaway ends Wednesday, May 8th at 11:59pm EST.  Only open to US residents.

I love the pretty back & white chevron pattern of my liners – it matches the Oreo cookie crumbles on top.

This is a new favorite cupcake. The creamy chocolate frosting, the crushed cookies, the moist and soft vanilla Oreo cupcake hiding underneath, and the designer cupcake liner – these cupcakes truly feel like a real treat when you’re eating one.  Fancy little mini cakes, all to yourself.  That’s one of the reasons I love cupcakes so much. It’s your own individual cake.

If you love cookies & cream flavored anything, these cupcakes are for you!  You can frost them with today’s milk chocolate frosting or my easy vanilla buttercream.  The crushed Oreo decoration on top is completely necessary though.

Remember to enter the giveaway, I noted the instructions above in the post. Good luck!

If you like Oreos, you will love my Cookies & Cream Peanut Butter Bark.

Or my Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

With your new cupcake liners, you could make any of my favorite cupcakes:

Very Vanilla Cupcakes

Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cupcakes

Salted Triple Caramel Cupcakes

Homemade Lemon Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting

See more of my cupcake recipes.

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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