Ever So Sweet

New Blog

2016-04-10T13:20:00.000-07:00

Welcome one, welcome all! I have some exciting news that I have created an updated and more "my style" blog on Wix.

The link is http://kelseyseversosweet.wix.com/kelsey-ever-so-sweet and I hope you come check it out!

Happy Baking!

White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Mug Cake

2016-04-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hello loves! It's me Kelsey, I'm still alive! I truly, madly, deeply want to get back into the whole blogging thing because it's such a great creative outlet for me and allows me to cook and bake as much as I want.... Jake you don't mind right?

I was having my time of the month cravings last night and really just wanted something yummy and I wanted it fast. I found a recipe from Five Heart Home for a Snickerdoodle mug cake that inspired me to create my own, so thanks for that!

Unfortunately my photos may not do this justice since they were taken on my iPhone but you just have to trust me on this one- I would eat it every night if I was allowed to. Even though it's made in the microwave I was shocked at how moist and cakey it came out! One important note is to make sure to use a big enough mug with straight edges for best cooking, though mine honestly did not rise very much.

I hope that I can continue making deliciousness but I am starting adult real person work life soon so we shall see. At least now I will have coworkers to bring yummy gifts to! I just moved to Denver about a month ago and Jake and I are loving it. The restaurants are delicious and all over the place, there's friendly people everywhere, and the mountains and outdoor activities are awesome! I don't think we will be leaving anytime soon.

Thanks to everyone who is reading- you're all wonderful! Alright to the recipe!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (at least)
1/4 cup almond milk (you can use any kind)
2 tbsp. salted butter (melted in microwave first)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/8-1/4 cup white chocolate chips

For garnish:

1/2 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon in a medium bowl.
2. Combine almond milk, butter, and vanilla in a separate medium bowl. Combine dry ingredients into wet until you reach a smooth consistency.
3. Fold in white chocolate chips.
4. Pour 1/3 of batter into mug, sprinkle some cinnamon sugar and repeat layering process making sure to finish the top off with some cinnamon sugar.
5. Place in the microwave for 1 min 30 seconds-2 minutes.*

*For me it finished around 1 minute and 45 seconds but it depends on the strength of your appliance!

Happy Baking!

Pumpkin "Ice Cream" (Dairy Free)

2015-10-10T22:11:00.003-07:00

Hey y'all! As promised I'm back as soon as I could be! This recipe is one I came across a few months ago and wanted to wait until pumpkin season to carry out.

In the last year or two I've become a lot more sensitive to dairy hence the presence of dairy free recipes. I sure do miss full fat creamy ice cream and sometimes it's worth it for the stomach ache but not always.

This recipe is pretty simple and all your really need are the ingredients and a food processor, which makes things easy. As you will see the recipe is done after you combine all the ingredients in a food processor and it is up to you if you want to eat it as soft serve right away or freeze it and bring it back out at a later date.

I also have to give credit to The Gracious Pantry blog for inspiring me for this recipe! I only made half of what the recipe called for but I will provide the full amounts so your batch will be twice as big as the pictures I provide!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful October fall thus far and is looking forward to the holiday season. My pumpkin frenzy has been off the charts lately. Here is the photo of the lunch I made the other day of pumpkin french toast. The bread soak was made up of just an egg, about 1/4 cup of pumpkin, a splash or vanilla, a splash of almond milk, and a few sprinkles of pumpkin spice! It was way too good.

Enough about my obsessions... here's the recipe!

Ingredients:

4 bananas

1 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 maple syrup

1.5 tsp pumpkin spice

Photo: my favorite maple syrup!

Directions:

1. Chop up 4 bananas into slices and freeze in tupperware overnight.
2. The next day combine bananas, pumpkin, maple syrup (to taste), and pumpkin spice in a food processor until uniform. This will create a frozen yogurt consistency that is delicious!

3. If you would like a more icy consistency (as in the first photo on the post) place in a tupperware container and place in the freezer and enjoy at a later time!

Photo: pre-freezer ice cream.

Hope you try it out and happy baking!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies (Dairy Free)

2015-10-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

So another year has gone by and I have not posted anything on my blog. It's probably the wrong time to attempt to start things up again but here it goes! Amongst mid terms and my last semester of college I may be jumping the gun but don't blame me for trying. I'm entering the time of my life where I must start attempting to figure out what the heck I'm doing with my life and wow is it overwhelming. I've got my head on straight and am taking things one day at a time with no rush to have a concrete plan.

And one of my favorite times of year is upon us. The leaving are changing colors and making there way to the pavement. The rain should be coming soon and it's no longer ghastly hot outside. With fall comes pumpkin everything which I never complain about. Trader Joes is my favorite place to shop this time of year because they have everything from pumpkin ravioli, to pumpkin cream cheese, to candied pumpkin seeds. I just can't get enough of it! And as I read my last blog post it is not so different from this one... raving about fall, what can I say!

So of course with the pumpkin frenzy I had to make something of my own. Pumpkin cookies with chocolate chips, couldn't leave that second part out could I?? I didn't take pictures during the process of making these cookies but they are so easy that I'm sure you won't have any problems!

First off I want to acknowledge a new blog I've found called Two Twenty One where I found this amazing recipe that I will be using year round now that I've discovered it.

There's really not many tips I can give for this recipe because it was just so straight forward and easy. One thing that I did tweak was that the recipe only calls for cinnamon and I used pumpkin pie spice instead which gave it that extra oomph but totally up to you.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 18-24 cookies.

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk (I used almond)
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or cinnamon)
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups flour
1.5-2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl, combine oil, pumpkin, sugar, egg, and vanilla and whisk until combined.
3. In small bowl combine baking soda and milk and stir into pumpkin mixture.
4. In another medium bowl, combine spices, flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Combine pumpkin mixture and dry ingredients until uniform.
6. Fold in chocolate chips to desired amount.
7. Place dollops of cookie dough onto pre-greased cookie sheet (no need to space out a lot, I didn't find they expanded outwards much).
8. Bake for 12-13 minutes, allow to cool, and enjoy!

Happy baking y'all!!

Homemade Granola

2014-10-02T10:24:00.000-07:00

Hello all! Super long time no see. I am really hoping to get back into baking and blogging starting now because I miss it oh so much.

I can't believe it has been almost a year since my last post- so embarrassing! Over the past year I have moved schools, joined a sorority, and trained several puppies to become service dogs. After this semester I will only have two more until the real world swallows me up which is terrifying yet exciting.

The recipe I am walking you through today is pretty simple- homemade granola. I honestly forget where I got inspired by the recipe from so sorry about that. It's basically just oats, dried fruits, and nuts and of course you can eliminate anything if it's not to your liking.

So the fall is upon us and we all know what that means: apple pie, pumpkin spice, hot tea, and changing leaves. The other day in class we had to go around the room and say what our favorite thing was about fall and my response was "pumpkin everything." I swear I could eat pumpkin muffins every day and not get sick of it. So most likely a recipe involving pumpkin is coming your way!

I did overcook mine slightly which wasn't a huge deal but I would just advise that you monitor it fairly closely while its in the oven and make sure you take it out before it becomes super dark brown in color.

I won't bore you anymore with my life story so here you go!

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 5-6 servings.

2 cups old fashioned oats
1.5 cups of chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc)
1/4-1/2 cup chopped dried fruit
1/3 cup oil (I used olive oil)
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of ginger
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare a large cookie sheet by covering it with parchment paper.
2. Chop up any desired nuts and/or dried fruit. For my fruit I used mango, cranberry, and golden raisins.

3. In a large bowl combine oats and nuts. Add in oil and honey and stir thoroughly to combine. Add in cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and vanilla.
4. Spread out mixture onto the parchment paper.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes and stir occasionally adding in the dried fruit for the last 10 or so minutes of it baking in the oven.

6. Allow to cool and enjoy straight up or with yogurt!

Happy baking! I'm happy to be back :)

Peach Nectarine Cobbler

2013-11-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

It's been quite awhile, hello all! I have been through a lot of major transitions lately with moving to a new city and whatnot so my apologies for being absent. I have a few old recipes to post in the near future.

This is a peach cobbler with a butter cookie dough frosting. It is super duper easy, doesn't take long at all, is very sweet, and is great paired with some vanilla ice cream.

I made this in the summer when the weather was still incredibly nice and the fruit was amazing. I used both orange nectarines and white peaches I believe. I'm not going to lie, I made this ages ago so I don't remember the exact measurement of the fruit part (I do have exact numbers for the topping which is the most important).

I'll leave it up to you but I would recommend using 2-3 nectarines and 2-3 peaches and cutting them up. You probably want to coat them with about 3/4 cup of sugar and some lemon juice. You can play with the amounts (if you like it sweet add more, less sweet don't put as much). I apologize for not making it straight forward but its pretty easy and variable.

Below I will put the recipe for the topping!

I love each season for different reasons but the fall in Oregon is beautiful. We have been blessed with great weather (which is just now seeming to leave us) and the leaves are falling from the trees in an array of great color. In California I never really noticed the beauty of the Fall and the foliage here is in a much greater density so I am able to appreciate it.

Also, the fall means fall foods like pumpkin! Anything pumpkin flavored is going to be something I like, so this time of year is amazing yet dangerous for me.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 8-inch square pan of cobbler.

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 stick unsalted, softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Fruit:

4-6 nectarines/peaches

1/2-1 cup sugar

2-3 tbsp. lemon juice

Directions:

1. Prepare your fruit filling and place into a pre-greased 8-inch square pan.

2. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

3. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Then, beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.

4. Mix in dry flour mixture.

5. Dollop dough over the fruit (try your best to spread over evenly).

6. Bake at 375 for about 40-50 minutes or when the crust is a golden brown color.

Enjoy this immensely! And make sure you use good, ripe fruit.

Happy baking!

Deconstructed S'mores

2013-08-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

So not going to lie but I did not have a lot of faith in this recipe until it was complete. Meaning along the way I was not sure if I was doing it right but then in the end it was delicious.

My cousin Kate sent me this recipe months ago and before I went back to school (which is where I am now) I decided to make it! My friend Chelsea helped me make it and eat it too! Love you Chels!

I am stealing my cousins title for it which is "Deconstructed S'mores." Basically there are 4 layers, all essential, and together equal perfection. The bottom layer is made of Biscoff cookies (among other things), the second layer is a butterscotch layer, the third is a marshmallow layer, and the final fourth layer is dark chocolate.

Just make these. Take my word for it. Specific warning on the butterscotch layer though. I used Nestle butterscotch chips which melt in a very peculiar way. I tried melting them in a pan and continued trying to melt them in the microwave. It turns into this kind of chunky consistency but don't worry. Just try to spread it out as much as you can and it will somehow all come together in the end. It just doesn't look very appetizing in the moment of melting.

I'm not even the biggest S'mores fan but these I could eat these all day long. Thank you Kate so much for this recipe! I will definitely be doing it again- maybe an entire pan just for Jake. Side story: I saved my boyfriend a hefty chunk of this dessert and brought it to him on the airplane and everything and he devoured it very quickly- which is a good sign.

Ingredients:

Cookie Layer:
- 1 package Biscoff cookies
- 2 tbsp. brown sugar
- 1 stick butter

Butterscotch Layer:
- 3/4 package butterscotch chips
- 2 tbsp. heavy cream
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Marshmallow Layer:
- 1.5 cups marshmallow fluff (a little more than one container)
- 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tbsp. butter

Chocolate Layer:
- 3 cups chocolate chips (semi sweet)
- 1 tbsp. shortening
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt

*Flake salt to sprinkle on top.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Place the whole package of Biscoff cookies in a food processor and grind thoroughly. Add in the brown sugar and melted butter. Press crust ingredients into a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Bake for 17 minutes and cool completely.

2. Melt the butterscotch chips with heavy cream in a saucepan. Stir constantly. Mix in cinnamon and salt. Spread as evenly as possible over cooled cookie layer. Chill in the fridge for 15-30 minutes.

3. For the marshmallow layer, microwave marshmallow fluff with cinnamon and butter for about 30 seconds or until liquified. Mix with a spoon to incorporate all the ingredients together. Pour over chilled butterscotch for 15-30 minutes.

4. Melt the chocolate chips and butter either in a double boiler or in the microwave. Spread the chocolate over the chilled marshmallow. Sprinkle flaked sea salt over the chocolate. Chill for 45 minutes to an hour. If you don't have much time you can place in the freezer as well.

5. Cut up and enjoy, but always keep in the fridge when not serving or consuming! Enjoy!

Nectarine Blueberry Almond Galette

2013-08-10T10:47:00.001-07:00

For those of you that don't know what a galette is it is kind of like a pie but it's open faced and you eat it like a pizza! Not a very accurate description but its how I think of it.

This particular galette has a sugar almond mixture layer, ripe nectarines, and blueberries.

Sorry that I have been a bad baker lately- I've been so busy with work and traveling to beautiful places! This is not a complaint! My summer has been awesome, just much crazier than normal.

Anyways, enough about me... I don't think I'd ever seen or tasted a galette before making it myself but I saw a recipe that inspired me on the blog A Cozy Kitchen and wanted to take a stab at it!

The best time to make this galette would be now when the summer fruit is fresh, juicy, and amazing. And the best time to eat this galette is right when it has cooled off a bit but is still warm. Slap a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of it and you will be golden.

And don't forget to eat it like a pizza! Yummm!

Ingredients:

This recipe makes one galette (8-9').

Crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. sugar

pinch of salt

4 tbsp cold water

3/4 stick of butter (cold and cubed)

Filling:

1/4 cup finely ground almonds

1/4 cup sugar

2 big ripe nectarines (or 3-4 smaller sized)

1/4 cup blueberries

1 tbsp melted butter

1 tbsp extra butter (set aside)

Directions:

Crust:

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Add the butter and using your hands mix until it is starting to incorporate and form dough. Add the water one tablespoon at a time and keep mending the ingredients until dough forms. Flatten, cover with plastic wrap, and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out on a floured surface until it is only about 1/8 of an inch thick. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet and transfer the rolled out dough to the baking sheet.

Filling:

1. Grind a handful of almonds in a food processor until fine. In a small bowl combine sugar and ground almonds. Sprinkle 3/4's of this mixture into the center of the dough.

2. Cut up your nectarines into thin slices and make sure they are extra ripe! Place them and the blueberries in a pattern of your choice on top of almond/sugar mixture. Sprinkle remaining almond/sugar mixture over the fruit.

3. Fold in the border of the dough at an angle and pinch the dough together so that it is sealed and doesn't fall apart.

4. Brush the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle on some sugar on top of that. This will give the dough a nice crunch.

5. Bake in a lower (not the lowest) section of the oven for about 45 minutes, or until the crust looks very well browned and the fruit is bubbling!

6. Remove from the oven and cool for about 10-15 minutes, slice up, and serve.

Happy Baking everybody!

Raspberry White Chocolate Cupcakes

2013-06-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

So this recipe is actually technically just for the frosting because the cake I used is just a standard box vanilla or yellow cake mix (I did not have a lot of time). But the frosting was AMAZING! It has fresh raspberry puree and melted white chocolate, so how could it not be!? If I made this again I would make the cake myself and add some white chocolate or raspberry to the cake mix as well.

Currently I am sitting at home on a rainy day with a very sore throat drinking lemon tea and eating lentil soup. Not the ideal summer day but it forces me to get some things done including posting this recipe!

These cupcakes were not planned at all. I was hired to make 12 cupcakes for a birthday party and mini cupcakes for a family friends party. The mini cupcakes are shown below and have the same frosting and chocolate shavings on top.

I also used these adorable cupcake liners for the minis! I thought the liners for the big ones were pretty sassy as well.

The birthday party I was supposed to make sunflower cupcakes for got cancelled, but I had already make the cake part so I used my leftover raspberry white chocolate frosting and it worked out just fine! I also topped the big cupcakes with white chocolate chips and pearl sprinkles.

I was inspired for this frosting recipe from the blog Love Stitched, but I did change it up a bit.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes frosting for 24 cupcakes.

1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4-1/2 cup chilled cream cheese (depending on how thick you want it)
3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
4-5 Tbsp. raspberry puree (made from 1/2 cup frozen raspberries)

*Optional garnish: white chocolate chips, sprinkles, etc.

Directions:

1. First you should start with the raspberry puree by placing roughly 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries in a strainer over a bowl and let them thaw for at least 30 minutes.
Once they have softened, mash with a spoon inside the strainer until all you have left is the seeds. Set aside for use later.

2. In a small saucepan bring heavy cream to a gentle boil. Immediately pour over white chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl and mix with a fork.
3. In an electric mixer, cream together butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar until smooth (may take several minutes).
4. Turn mixer speed down and pour in the cream/white chocolate mixture. Increase speed until well incorporated. Add in salt and vanilla.
5. While mixing on low, add in desired amount of raspberry puree, and combine.
6. Place in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes to stiffen, if needed, or if not using immediately.
7. Pipe onto cupcakes or cake with desired tip and add garnish if you wish! Refrigerate right after piping if you are not serving them immediately.

Enjoy! Happy Baking!

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

2013-06-17T19:13:00.000-07:00

There is an interesting story of how these shortbread cookies came about. Sorry Willie, (my 16 year old brother) but I am going to bash on you for just a second. So, I had just finished a long day of work and was looking forward to putting my feet up for the rest of the night when my brother calls me and asks if I can make him cookies for a bake sale the following day. I can never say no to baking no matter how tired I am so of course I agreed.

I thought for about 30 minutes about what was easy to make and what he could sell easily and I decided upon shortbread. My mom makes it every year at Christmas time and it is delicious but I had never actually taking a whack at it myself, so I thought why not?

They worked out quite splendidly and though my brothers bake sale was not very successful overall I happen to think that the cookies were... and my friends who got the left overs agreed as well.

The bake sale that my brother did was to prevent sex trafficking and to help people to escape to freedom so in the end I was happy to help out for a good cause.

I figured that I would do heart shaped cookies because everyone can use a little love. Especially at the end of the school year!

Also want to mention that I got this recipe from the Joy of Baking blog!

Ingredients:

This recipe makes about 25 heart shaped cookies.

2 cups flour
1/4 cup salt
2 sticks softened unsalted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup melted chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Whisk the flour and salt together and set aside.
2. Beat butter in an electric mixer until creamy. Add in sugar and mix until smooth for several minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract.
3. Gently stir in the flour mixture (you will probably have to use your hands to knead it until it has a doughy consistency).
4. Flatten into about a 1/2 inch round shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the refrigerator for about an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 350.
6. Roll out the dough on a flat surface while making sure there is plenty of flour to keep it from sticking to the surface and the rolling pin.
7. Line baking sheets with parchment paper before placing cookies onto them.
8. Continue to roll it out until it is about a quarter inch thick and using cookie cutters cut out whatever shape you want.

9. Place the baking sheets containing unbaked cookies in the refrigerator directly before baking for about 15 minutes.
10. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are just turning a very light brown color.
11. If you want to make these twice as delicious melt some chocolate chips in a glass bowl and using a knife, spatula, or dipping, paint some melted chocolate onto each cookie and set aside to allow them to cool and harden.

Feel free to add different sprinkles or decor onto the chocolate as displayed below.
Once they have set (or even before) dig in!

Happy Baking as always!

Double Chocolate Heath Bar Cookies with Salted Caramel

2013-06-12T15:31:00.002-07:00

This cookie is very multifaceted because not only does it have chocolate chips and cocoa powder but it has toffee/heath bars bits as well, not to mention the salted caramel drizzled on top!

Baking is sort of an addiction of mine. When I get hooked on the fact that I want to bake something it will most likely happen. I had several little bumps in the road while making these cookies like randomly having no baking soda and scootering down to my neighbors who graciously gave me some. Of course I returned the favor by giving her a plate of cookies! Another was that I barely had any caramel so only about half of the cookies had it which is fine because it isn't totally necessary but gives it some extra oomph.

This summer has been great so far, I have a perfect balance between baking, blogging, working, free time, time with friends and family, etc. I am excited to hopefully start volunteering at an animal shelter sometime soon as well.

If you have a history with me you know that I like Heath Bar, especially because my boyfriend gave me pounds of it 2 years ago... which is now almost gone, this is the last bag:

I guess this is going to be good for me though because I will need to expand beyond the world of Heath bar deliciousness! Anyways hope you enjoy this recipe which was inspired by Center Cut Cook.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies.

2 sticks of unsalted softened butter

1.5 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2/3 cups cocoa powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup heath bar bits

*Optional: salted caramel for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. With an electric mixer combine softened butter and sugar until it appears creamy. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix again until combined.

3. In a large separate bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet with a spatula.

4. Fold in the chocolate chips and toffee.

5. Roll the cookie dough into balls and space evenly apart on a baking sheet. It is recommended to leave about 1.5-2 inches of space between each dough.

6. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, remove from the oven, allow to cool a little on the sheet, and finally transfer onto a cooling rack.

7. While they are cooling drizzle the salted caramel onto each cookie.

Serve and enjoy!

Happy baking everyone!

Nanaimo Bars

2013-06-03T17:35:00.000-07:00

Most of you have probably never heard of these so called, Nanaimo bars, but now that you know what they are there is no turning back! They are rich, creamy, and decadent... enough said!

Basically these consist of three different layers. The bottom layer is mostly made up of coconut, graham cracker, pecans or almonds, and cocoa powder. The middle layer is creamy made with heavy whipping cream, butter, pudding mix, and powdered sugar. The top layer is the most simple but brings it to completion: chocolate and butter.

When I was at school last semester my friends mom made some of these for him one day and I tried them. I had never had them before and I really enjoyed them so I figured that once I got home I would try to make them myself. With having no clue what they were made out of I referred to one of my favorite blogs, Cooking Classy, to begin my adventure.

My mom called on my baking "expertise" to make something to bring to my brothers lacrosse banquet and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to give it a shot. I had to hope that it would all work out because I did not have the time for it not to. Luckily it did, and now I get to share it with you all! Another awesome thing about this recipe is that you don't have to bake anything all you do is prepare it and its pretty much ready to eat!

Update: I am loving summer and can't get enough of this beautiful weather. I am working 2 hostess jobs to make some money but I am trying to have a fare amount of relaxing as well.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes about a 9"x14" pan of bars.

Base layer:
1 cup diced salted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp. cocoa powder
2 eggs, beaten
3 tsp. vanilla
3.5 cups graham cracker crumbs
1.5 cups shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup finely chopped almonds (or pecans)

Middle layer:
2/3 cup softened salted butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
4 tbsp. vanilla pudding mix
4 cups powdered sugar

Top Layer:
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
4 tbsp salted butter

Directions:

Base layer:
Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Once melted, remove from heat and add in brown sugar and cocoa powder until fully combined.
Continue whisking and while doing so, add in the 2 beaten eggs and combine.
Return to heat for several minutes until it has thickened. Stir in vanilla once removed from heat.
Using a food processor, make the designated amount of finely chopped graham cracker, shredded coconut, and almonds. I made all of these ingredients pretty fine but it is technically up to you if you want it to be more crunchy! The picture below is the almonds.

Once you have combined the graham cracker, coconut, and almonds in a large glass bowl, pour in the chocolate mixture and using a spatula mix until fully coated.

Press this into a even layer in a pre-greased pan, cover, and place in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

For the middle layer:

Using an electric mixer combine butter, heavy whipping cream, and pudding mix for several minutes until smooth and creamy.

Add in powdered sugar and beat slowly until fully incorporated.

Spread mixture in an even layer over the base layer, cover, and freeze for 10-15 minutes.

For the top layer:

Melt chocolate chips and butter in a heatproof bowl either in 30 second intervals in the microwave (with stirring in between) or over a pot of boiling water.

Spread this evenly over the preceding two layers of the bars, cover, and refrigerate until ready to eat!

These should definitely be cold right up until the time they are served or else they start to melt pretty quick! Not the type of dessert that should be left out for awhile!

These are a new, hip, modern dessert that will not disappoint. Even my mom who hates shredded coconut liked them! I hope you try these out and that you are having a great start to the new month of June!

Happy baking!

Baked Churros

2013-05-20T18:24:00.002-07:00

Hola señores y señoras! Buenas tardes!

These are authentic spanish churros, made by your one and only Kelsey. Although traditionally in Spain they are baked plain and dipped in chocolate, I decided to go the American route and coat them with cinnamon and sugar instead.

I have many fond memories of going to San Francisco Giants game when I was little and always making sure I got a nice warm churro before I left. I never realized how easy they were to make! It is true that most places probably are deep frying their churros but I wanted to make them healthier and easier for myself to make.

I made these a few weeks ago for my spanish class at school for some end of the semester extra credit. Because of this I made about 20 churros that were much smaller than normal (maybe 3 inches long) because I needed more, instead of your typical foot long churro.

These do tend to cool off pretty quick though so you are going to want to try and serve them right away or keep them on a low warm setting in the oven. I had to make these the night before I served them so I broiled them for a few minutes in the oven the next morning, but they were definitely not as good as they were right after they had finished baking. Make sure you store them in a dry air tight container if you are not serving right away.

I am officially on summer and can't wait to share a wide range of recipes with you all. Up next are butterscotch caramel Smores bars!

Also want to make sure I give a shout out to Sprinkle Bakes, one of my favorite blogs, for the inspiration for this recipe!

Ingredients:

This recipe makes about 10, 7 inch churros.

2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup Earth Balance (or butter)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Optional: olive oil

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and pre-grease baking sheets.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine the water, brown sugar, and salt and stir until dissolved (on no heat).
3. Add in margarine or butter over medium heat until melted and it starts to boil. Remove from heat and add flour. Mix thoroughly.
4. In a small bowl combine the eggs and vanilla. Add this mixture to the dough and combine until completely incorporated using a fork or a wooden spoon.
5. Let the dough cool, refrigerate if needed. This is necessary to pipe the churros and have a ridges pattern.

6. Once the dough has cooled, pipe the churros using a very wide star tip onto a baking pan that is greased or lined with parchment. For each churro that is piped. you will probably need to use scissors to cut the end of the dough as it will not stop coming out without doing this.

My churros were very small you can make yours as big or as small as you would like.

7. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the sides are a very light brown color and have slightly puffed up. Then turn on the broiler and watch for a minute or 2 while they turn more crispy.

8. Immediately after they have been removed from the oven you are going to need to roll each churro in a cinnamon sugar mixture. If you find that it is not sticking well enough, you can brush each churro with a small amount of olive oil and then roll it in the cinnamon sugar.

Serve and eat as soon as possible!

Definitely a very short prep time and cooking time as well which make these much easier than I ever imagined!

Thanks for tuning in! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did! Happy Baking everyone!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches

2013-04-24T20:54:00.000-07:00

Hello again, friends of the baking community! It's been awhile, I know, and I wanted to give you an extra special gift for being patient! These are oatmeal peanut butter cookies, that happen to be gluten free, made into a sandwich that has pureed frozen banana in the center.

I was not looking for a gluten free recipe but I came across this one which is lower in fat content and has no flour so I decided to try it out! Be careful not to overcook these as they will get a weird consistency after cooling down but still yummy nonetheless.

To update you on my life I have about one more week of classes, finals, and then I am finally headed home for a nice long summer which I am so excited about! It has also been gorgeous weather in Portland, which is hard to believe, but it is so hard to sit inside and study when it is 75 degrees out!

My friends and I are huge Pinterest people and love to freeze pieces of frozen banana, throw them into the food processor or blender, and make it into a creamy ice cream that has just one ingredient: the bananas themselves!

Beware: if cookies are just out of the oven they will be impossible to resist and sandwiches will be very messy. So bring plenty of napkins.

I used the peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies recipe from Ambitious Kitchen, which you guys should check out if you are interested.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 15-20 cookies.

1 cup creamy peanut butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1.5 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 oats
1 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup chocolate chips
2 sliced frozen bananas

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a small bowl combine oats and baking soda.
3. In a separate larger bowl mix together peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla with an electric mixer. Then, add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips and mix until combined.

4. Roll into 1.5 inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet. Press down lightly to flatten slightly before placing in the oven for 9-11 minutes. Remove when the edges start to turn golden brown.

5. While your cookies are baking, make the banana puree. You should already have 2 frozen sliced bananas that have been in the freezer for at least 4 hours. Place in a food processor and blend until creamy!

6. Place between 2 cookies and INDULGE!

These are not difficult at all so I hope you try it out and make again! Happy baking!

Pumpkin Spiced Ginger Cheesecake Bars

2013-03-29T10:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, another cheesecake item! I'm not really even sure what to call them because they were baked in a 9 inch round pan and could easily be called a normal cheesecake, but on the other hand I kind of cut them into square shapes so I decided to call them bars but be what they will (aka delicious).

Let me just say that there was a lot of tampering and changing of things within this original recipe that I started with but they turned out great!

I have been a bad blogger lately and I can totally put all of the blame on college! I've never been so busy in my life and I couldn't even tell you what I've been up to. Just constant class, homework, labs, meetings, meals, and the very minimal amount of relaxing time is spent catching up on my TV shows or sleeping. So I know I apologize all the time, but I really am sorry and hope that this summer I can bring you all some smashing new recipes!

I have discovered that in the past year or so heavy dairy makes my digestive system hate me so I usually will buy 1/3 less fat cream cheese and avoid heavy cream but I decided to just go for it with this baby because it is just so much better when its legit cream cheese!

This recipe I found on A Kitchen Addiction but definitely changed it up. I did not add cardamom or pepper and instead of using gingersnaps (which I don't doubt would be yummy) I used Newman's Ginger-O's, which I have never had before and was quite pleased!

Ingredients:

This recipe will make a 9" round pan.

2 cups crushed Ginger-O's
1/4 cup melted butter
16 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or mixture of nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon)
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree
3 eggs
2 tbsp milk

Directions:

Buy a box/package of Newman's Ginger-O's and using a food processor or man power crush them into small pieces but they should not be too fine.

Combine with melted butter and place this mixture into the base of a 9" round pan or a 9" square pan and bake for 8-10 minutes until it is turning brown.

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, both sugars, and flour until smooth. Beat in pumpkin spice and cinnamon until well combined. Remove half of this mixture and place it aside in a spare bowl.

Add in pumpkin puree and eggs to the other half of the mixture in the mixing bowl.

Stir in milk into the other half of the cream cheese mixture that was set aside.

Pour pumpkin mixture on top of Ginger-O's crust and dollop the cream cheese/milk mixture over it. Using a knife swirl them together to make a cool design.

Bake for 30-45 minutes (depending on your oven but you want the center to be set).

Cool in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before consuming.

Enjoy! Happy Baking and Happy Spring!

Football Cupcakes!

2013-02-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

This post is extremely late but what's new, I have a million things to do in this hectic college life of mine! It was so exciting to see the San Francisco 49er's in the Super-Bowl this year and devastating to see them lose, but they did not go down without a fight. Proud to be a native Bay Area sports fan these days!

I made these a few weeks ago for the Super-Bowl and anyone who was watching in my lounge a few weeks ago. I'll take any excuse I can to bake, let's be honest.

Just so you all know before I proceed this is going to be a decorating post, not a recipe post! I totally cheated because of my time constraints and used boxed chocolate cake mix and bought frosting. I rarely do this but I had to so sorry about that.

These cupcakes look adorable and are quite simple to execute. All you need is a few ingredients and a little bit of patience. They are not only perfect for professional sporting events but also for kids birthdays or just for fun!

I have not been on my baking game lately and I really miss it so I am hoping that maybe this weekend I will be able to carve out a few hours to relax and "whip" out (see what I did there) my oven mitt and electric mixer.

If any one has any suggestions just let me know, I'm always interested in all of your opinions and could always use some fresh ideas.

What you will need:

- Cupcakes and liners

- Frosting (both of these can be found in my recipe index)

- 24 unwrapped Tootsie Rolls

- Small star piping tip and bag

Directions:

Step 1: Start off with 24 ready made chocolate or vanilla cupcakes and your choice of frosting, which must be thick enough to pipe. Dye 90% of it green for the grass and leave the other 10% white for the lacing on the footballs.

Step 2: Microwave the Tootsie Rolls for 15-20 seconds, so that they are still in tact but just soft enough to mold into shape. Shape each Tootsie Roll so that it is an oval to represent a football. Using the smallest round piping tip you have, pipe one line in the center vertically and 3 lines across horizontally to displaying the lacing.

Step 3: Pipe the green frosting onto each cupcake using a star tip to try and represent green grass.

Step 4: Place one football on the top of each cupcake and you are done! Hand them out, bring to a party, make for a birthday, and enjoy!

As always, I hope you try it out and have a good rest of February- spring is going to be here before we know it!

Happy baking everyone!

Rocky Road Brownies

2013-02-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

First of all I am SO sorry that I have not posted in about 3 weeks, I have just gotten back into the rhythm of school and readjusting to college life- my apologies. But this is worth the wait! They are Rocky Road brownies. A light cakey brownie with marshmallows, chopped pecans or walnuts, and chocolate chips.

I spontaneously made these two nights before I left home, I knew I needed one last hoorah before my baking days would soon be limited. They take basically no time at all if you have the ingredients handy.

Another note: The brownies will probably take longer or shorter than indicated depending on your oven and they will still seem a little of gooey when you take them out. Keep in mind that this is due to the marshmallows that you have added. Once it is removed from the oven let it cool and it should solidify nicely.

I am happy to see that I am continuing to gain more and more views and interest via Pinterest, Google, and Facebook so thank you so much to all of my supporters who have helped me along the way and continue to check in with "Ever So Sweet" on a regular basis. You guys are so awesome!

I never actually was much of a fan of Rocky Road ice cream... shoot me now, I know. I was more of a cookie dough or mint chocolate chip kind of gal but nevertheless I will not argue with these brownies. Especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side they are quite marvelous.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes one 9x9 square of brownies.

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
35-50 mini marshmallows
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:

Start off my preheating the oven to 350 and lining your 9x9 square pan with aluminum foil.
Melt 4 oz. of chocolate and butter in the microwave in 30 seconds intervals, stirring in between.
Whisk the flour and baking powder together in a separate bowl small bowl.
In an electric mixer combine eggs, sugar, and salt. Beat on high speed until it turns thick, pale yellow, and has increased a decent amount in volume (about 2-3 minutes).
Pour in the butter/chocolate mixture and fold in with a spatula.
Sift the flour mixture in, while folding again with the spatula and being careful not to overmix.
Pour the batter into the foil lined pan.

Distribute the chopped walnuts (or pecans), chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows over the surface.

Poke the mini marshmallows into the batter with a fork or finger so that just the top is visible.
Bake 25-35 minutes (make sure to keep an eye on this before you reach the time limit, a toothpick inserted should come out cooked but not necessarily clean).
Once it is done cooking, allow to cool completely before cutting and consuming!

This recipe was developed from a cookies, bars, and brownies cookbook that my Aunt gave me for the holidays- very sweet of her!

Enjoy your weekend and Happy almost Valentines Day!
P.S. Happy Baking!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Heath Bar Cookies

2013-01-18T13:06:00.000-08:00

It was a late night. I could feel the need for baking rushing through my blood. I spotted the Heath Bar bits in my freezer, the Quaker Oats staring me in the eye from the pantry, and the smooth peanut butter not far off. The combination was meant to be!

I quickly looked up some sort of recipe that I could go off of to get me started but exchanged the Heath Bar for the chocolate chips that were required in this recipe: Simply Scratch.

Right now I am sitting in my living room drowning in Kleenex and wishing that I could be going for a run in this beautiful California weather. But I can't because I have one clogged ear, two runny nostrils, and a burning throat. To top it off I was blessed with this state while on vacation in Cabo San Lucas with my mom! I have to return to school in 2 or 3 days and really hope I am better because flying with this monster was no fun the first time around!

Anyways... I would love to bake right now but everyone is afraid of me so sadly I guess that won't happen until I am healthy (it's probably for the best).

So yes, these cookies were delicious and easy and fabulous and you must try them and I am sorry for my lack of imagination today as I am not feeling very zippy.

Here we go:

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of Quaker oats

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 cup smooth peanut butter

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

3/4 tsp. vanilla

1 cup Heath Bar bits (or more if you want)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl: oats, flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt.

Combine butter, peanut butter, and sugars in an electric mixer and mix until fully incorporated (a few minutes).

Add eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla.

While mixing on low speed, slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Stir in Heath Bar bits.

Form round spoonfuls of cookie dough onto a lined cookie sheet and place evenly apart, allowing room for expansion.

Press lightly down on each ball of cookie dough to flatten slightly.

Bake for 10-13 minutes and remove from the oven to allow them to cool on a rack.

Enjoy with milk while warm and gooey! Happy Baking and next time you hear from me it will most likely be from Portlandia!

Cupcake Decorating Party and Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

2013-01-09T12:09:00.002-08:00

My sisters birthday is on the 21st of December and so close to Christmas so we usually try to have her birthday party after the holiday craze is over.

She came up, all on her own, with the idea of having a cupcake decorating party! We got adorable take away boxes, which fit 4 cupcakes perfectly so each of her friends could take their creations home.

I spent the night before making 48 cupcakes, half of which were vanilla and half of which were chocolate.

I also made chocolate and vanilla cream cheese frosting and filled four separate pastry bags with the frosting so all the girls could be decorating at the same time!

We had a wide array of candies, sprinkles, and chocolate chips to decorate the cupcakes!

Here are just a few of the extra cupcakes that I decided to decorate with the left over heath bar, chocolate chips, and frosting!

Have any of you had the peppermint Oreo's from Trader Joes? They are SO good! For ten of the vanilla cupcakes I placed an Oreo in the bottom of the cupcake liner before filling it with the batter. I put chocolate cream cheese frosting on the top of these and they were delish. Here is a photo of one of them:

I used store bought cake mixtures for the cupcakes but made the frosting from scratch.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter (at room temp, but still cool)
8 oz. cream cheese (chilled)
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Cream butter in an electric mixer slightly for about a minute and then add in the cream cheese and mix together until combined.

Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar until it gets fluffy (don't worry it will be a bit clumpy for a few minutes but just continue to mix on medium speed).

Start by adding one tablespoon of heavy whipping cream and beating for 1 minute (add more if it is not the consistency you are looking for).

Make sure to keep it refrigerated once you're done!

For chocolate cream cheese frosting add 1/4-1/2 cup of good quality cocoa powder before adding the vanilla and powdered sugar and incorporate fully!

This party was really fun and all the girls loved it! Happy Baking!

Kahlua Chocolate Cake

2013-01-05T12:20:00.000-08:00

So... funny story. My mom makes this supreme bundt Kahlua chocolate cake every time the holidays come around. She makes it for my siblings' teachers, friends, and our family! About a year and a half ago we adopted a second Guide Dog breeder, whose name, believe it or not, is "Kahlua." She is such a sweetie pie and now this cake that is made every year has an even deeper correlation with our family.

I have always just eaten this cake... this year I actually learned how to make it! It's super easy and probably only takes about 15 minutes because it is the glorifying of cake mix.

Make sure you have a good bundt cake pan and once you remove the cake from the oven you must wait for it to cool before dumping the cake out because it can turn very messy very quickly.

Also: don't forget to spray it with nonstick cooking spray to ensure your creation gets out safely!

I know that many people have heard of or have had this cake, but now you can make it on your own.

One of the reasons it is so yummy is that it has 3/4 cup of Kahlua. My little 10 year old sister saw the cake sitting in the kitchen and said, "Darn! I can't have any!" and I replied with a "Why not?" and she said "Because it has alcohol in it!" But do not fret because anyone can have this at any age as the alcohol cooks out but leaves the flavor for your enjoyment.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes one Kahlua chocolate bundt cake.

Devils food cake mix

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup Kahlua

1 cup of chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In an electric mixer combine cake mix, sour cream, 4 eggs, vegetable oil, and Kahlua. Mix on low until well combined and then on medium-high for several minutes until it becomes a lighter color and has a fluffy texture (2-3 minutes).
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Bake for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

I know I forgot to do this for my pictures but remember to sprinkle with powdered sugar!

Make this cake. Just trust me on this one, you will not regret it.

Happy Baking everyone!

Christmas Cookies Galore!

2013-01-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the fact that I am posting a Christmas cookie recipe after the holidays but I actually made these cookies on December 26th and handed them out after that so I was a little late but who cares right? They still tasted delicious!

This is pretty much just a basic sugar cookie recipe with royal icing frosting. I had a package of royal icing that you just add water too until you reach the desired consistency. Unfortunately it did not make very much so I also just made a lot of plain milk and powdered sugar frosting (continue to add sugar until it is thick enough).

My mom, my sister and I spent the whole night making these and it was quite fun and quite the project! We had a variety of cookie cutters such as snowflakes, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, birds, bells, hearts, candy canes, gingerbread men, and more!

I used Ziploc bags for piping and had a different bag designated for each color.

Tip: If you are going to do multiple layers of color (which most cookies do have), first outline the cookie, fill it in several minutes later, and allow this base color to dry most if not all the way before moving on to secondary colors.

Feel free to search the internet to get inspired, use sprinkles, create unique colors, and use your imagination!

I am just going to provide a sugar cookie recipe and provide you with this great royal icing recipe from the blog Bake at 350: Royal Icing. My mom has been making these cookies since I was a little girl so it is definitely a family recipe that will be passed down.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1.5 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl: flour, baking powder, and salt.

Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer and once it is thoroughly combined add eggs and vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients until blended.

Divide the dough in half and roll out each one between 2 sheets of parchment paper to form a 15' x 11' rectangle about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate until firm.

Remove dough from parchment paper and cut out desired shapes.

Bake on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Baking time varies based on cookie thickness and size so try to bake cookies of apprx. the same size together. Remove from the oven when the edges begin to turn golden brown.

Let them cool completely and then go ahead with your decorating!

These cookies can be used for any occasion, it does not have to be for Christmas... I hope you try them regardless!

Happy New Year and Happy Baking!

Peanut Butter Hershey's Kiss Cookies

2012-12-29T13:43:00.003-08:00

These peanut butter chocolate cookies are decadent and so ridiculously easy. Only 4 ingredients are needed: peanut butter, sugar, eggs, and Hershey's chocolate kisses. No flour, no baking powder, no hassle.

I could not believe it when I saw the recipe but my boyfriends mom insisted she had made them plenty of times and that they come out delicious. This could not be more true!

You have to try these. They take 10 minutes at the most to create and only 10 more to bake! And they taste amazing right out of the oven with the melted warm chocolate. They disappeared so fast and I am already craving more already.

I hope everyone is getting ready for the new year, 2013 here we come!

Again, I want to acknowledge that I got this recipe from my boyfriends mom, Sharon, so she receives worthy credit.

Ingredients:

This makes 35-40 peanut butter chocolate cookies.

2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups creamy peanut butter
35-40 chocolate Hershey's kisses

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together using a wooden spoon or spatula the sugar, eggs, and peanut butter until full combined.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place spread apart onto 2 ungreased nonstick cookie sheets.

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a light golden brown color.

Remove from the oven and immediately place the Hershey's kiss into the center of the cookie. (Make sure to insert it far enough in so that it is secure but not so that it goes all the way through)

Enjoy and consume while warm, mmm mmm good!

I told you it was easy! A must try holiday treat to bring forth the New Year! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Happy baking!

Rachael Ray Oven Lovin Nonstick Crispy Cookie Sheet (Google Affiliate Ad)

Puppy Dog Cupcakes!

2012-12-26T12:06:00.001-08:00

My little sister turned 10! Becca, along with my entire family, are huge dog fans! We love all dogs of all ages, shapes, and sizes. So I was inspired by my Hello Cupcake book to make an army of Westie dog cupcakes. Here is one of the adorable little buggers:

This recipe made 12 big cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes but you can make more big ones and less little if you like. It's all up to you! The cupcakes definitely have some personality and looked so hilarious all lined up on the platter.

As you can see I used the extra frosting and mini cupcakes to make decorations around the edge of the platter including paw prints and dog bones.

This recipe is going to be for vanilla cupcakes and a cream cheese frosting that you can pipe quite easily. I also cheated and bought one can of chocolate frosting in order to save time and used it on some of the cupcakes (both alone and tie dyed with the cream cheese frosting).

I am finally home from college for a long month so be expecting lots of posts in the next few weeks! I am so happy to finally have a break from the craziness and be able to spend valuable time with my family and friends.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that Santa Claus was good to you.

Once again, I would like to acknowledge "Hello Cupcake" and Glorious Treats blog for this recipe!

Ingredients:

This recipe makes 12 normal cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes.

For the vanilla cupcakes:

2½ cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tps. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ cup milk

½ cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

For cream cheese frosting:

1 stick of butter (at room temp, but still cool)

8 oz. cream cheese (chilled)

1 tsp. vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Other items needed:

A bag of mini marshmallows

Mini chocolate chips

Red jelly beans

Small pink sprinkles

Food coloring

Ziploc bags, tape, and scissors for piping bags

Directions:

For the vanilla cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350. Line one normal sized cupcake pan and two mini cupcake pans with cupcake liners.

Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Also in a separate bowl combine wet ingredients: milk, oil, and vanilla.

In an electric mixer beat butter and sugar for a few minutes until smooth and creamy.

Add eggs one at a time on medium speed.

Turn down to low speed and alternate additions of dry and wet mixtures (beginning and ending with the dry ingredients).

Beat well until fully combined.

Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full with batter.

The mini cupcakes will take 8-10 minutes to cook while the normal sized cupcakes will take about 15-18 minutes (or until toothpick inserted comes out clean).

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before proceeding.

For the cream cheese frosting:

Cream butter in an electric mixer slightly for about a minute and then add in the cream cheese and mix together until combined.

Add in the vanilla and powdered sugar until it gets fluffy (don't worry it will be a bit clumpy for a few minutes but just continue to mix on medium speed).

Start by adding one tablespoon of heavy whipping cream and beating for 1 minute (add more if it is not the consistency you are looking for).

Make sure to keep it refrigerated once you're done!

I also died about half of it a light orange color by using orange and brown food coloring.

Assembly of the dogs:

To create the "fur" effect with the frosting you will need to use Ziploc bags and reinforce one of the corners on each bag with a few layers of scotch tape. Then you will need to cut a small M-shape into that corner. Fill various bags with your frostings. In my case I had some plain white, orange, chocolate/brown, and mixtures of the three. To create a 2-tone frosting place the 2 different colors of your choosing side by side in the piping bag and it will give you this effect.

For the ears you will need to cut 12 mini marshmallows diagonally. The inside of them will be sticky so you will dip the sticky part into a bowl of small pink sprinkles and set them aside.

Beginning with the face of the dog, secure the 2 ears on the rim of the cupcake with frosting. Using another mini marshmallow (that has 1/3 of it removed) for the snout/nose of the dog secure it somewhere around the middle of the mini cupcake. Using the piping bag cover the entire mini cupcake with frosting. Start on the surface of the cake while applying pressure and pull away quickly while releasing pressure. For the eyes and nose, use mini chocolate chips, and for the tongue cut a red jelly bean in half and place directly below the snout.

For the body of the dog, use a large cupcake and create fur like lines using the piping bags. Start in the center of the cupcake and move towards the edges with the frosting. You may need to experiment a bit in trying to figure out if you want long or short fur and how to make the frosting look how you want.

Place the mini cupcake on its side on top of the bigger cupcake.

These cupcakes definitely take some patience but they are fun and adorable!

I really hope you all decide to try these out! What is cuter than a little doggie cupcake! Let me know if you have an questions, concerns, or comments, as always.

Merry Christmas and Happy Baking!

Cookies and Cream Cake

2012-12-05T12:09:00.001-08:00

Most people love Oreo's don't they? "Cookies and cream" brings me back to when I was a little kid because I used to love the ice cream flavor more than anything.

It was two of my friends at school, Rachelle and Jordan's, birthdays over Thanksgiving break so I figured that when we came back to school I could make them something scrumptious!

Believe it or not, this is a Cookies and Cream birthday cake and it was quite delicious if I may say so myself.

The recipe entails the following: dark chocolate cake, Oreo cream cheese frosting filling, a buttercream coating, as well as chocolate whipped cream and Oreo's for decor.

I have been so busy lately with school work and finals are coming up in about a week and a half so even having time to make this cake was a miracle. I'm so happy I did though! It's amazing how just sitting in the common room for an hour with a cake can make it vanish so quickly.

My amazing boyfriends mom, Sharon, gave me a cute apron a few months ago with a cupcake pattern on it...

Isn't it adorable? Thanks Sharon!

The decoration of this cake can be done in any way you like but I will explain what I did. After the buttercream frosting had set I chopped up a bunch of Oreos into fine crumbs and coated just the top of the cake with them. Then with the remaining Oreos I had a cut them eat into half circles and placed them around the base of the cake. Lastly, I piped the chocolate whipped cream both around the perimeter of the face of the cake and between the Oreos around the base. I also added a heart on the top with my left over buttercream. There are many ways that you could go about decorating this so be creative and have fun with it!

Ok now that your mouth is watering I can give you the recipe... and I would like to acknowledge The Dainty Chef and Cooking Classy for inspiring me to make this wonderful creation.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes a regular sized 2-layer cake.

For the chocolate cake:
1¾ cup all-purpose flour
⅔ cup cocoa powder
1½ tsps. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup butter (this is one and a half sticks)
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs at room temperature
1¼ cups buttermilk

For the Oreo cream cheese filling:
4 ounces soft whipped cream
1/2 cup soft unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
5-7 chopped Oreos

For the buttercream:
3 sticks salted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp. heavy whipping cream
1½ tsp. vanilla

For the chocolate whipped cream (This recipe makes a lot):
Approximately 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
Chocolate chips

*Note: Also need Oreo's for decoration (1 package is enough for the whole recipe)

Directions:

For the chocolate cake:

Preheat the oven to 350. Pre-grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans. Make sure that you put a good amount of flour because I had a hard time getting my cake out.
In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In a larger bowl, using an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs (1 at a time).
On low speed, mix in the flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk (start and end with flour mixture).
Divide batter amongst the 2 pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before attempting to remove from the pans.

For the Oreo cream cheese filling:
Beat, with an electric mixer, the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until very well combined.
Stir in chopped Oreo's (not finely chopped).
Once cake layers have cooled, spread the filling on top of one of the layers, and place the second layer over.

For the buttercream frosting:

Beat butter with an electric mixer until it turns a white color (at least 5 minutes).
Slowly add in powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla until well combined and retains a thick consistency.
I decided to use salted butter because it makes the sweetness not as intense and creates a perfect balance.
Spread over the sides and top of the cake.

For the chocolate whipped cream (optional):

Take a generous amount of heavy whipping cream and whip with an electric mixer.

Slowly add in about a half cup of melted chocolate chips (this will be up to you on how much you want to add). Keep whipping until it is thick enough to pipe.

This recipe makes a lot of whipped cream so you can use it to put in hot chocolate or anything you want!

Putting it all together:

As described above, I put crumbled Oreo's on the top, half-Oreo's around the base, and piped the whipped cream all around. Get inspired by these pictures or come up with ideas of your own!

Here is a picture of one of the pieces of cake... mmmm I miss it already.

Happy Birthday Jordy and Shelly! Love you guys!

This cake does have a lot of moving parts but they all come together very nicely and it is well worth all the work!

Happy Christmas season and Happy Baking!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2012-11-27T14:13:00.002-08:00

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I stayed in Half Moon Bay with 20 of my family members at a very nice hotel so I had a buffet Thanksgiving dinner, which oddly enough did not include pumpkin pie... So as soon as I got home 3 days later I busted out the giant can of pumpkin puree and got to it.

This post is not going to include a recipe because I just boring and used the recipe on the can with one exception: I didn't use the full 2 cans of evaporated milk, I just used 1 and a half, which I find often works better.

I used Libby's pumpkin puree and the recipe can be found here: Libby's Pumpkin Pie Recipe.

It didn't totally feel like Thanksgiving to me because most years I am used to slaving away in the kitchen all day and when it is finally time to eat it feels very rewarding. But my family usually has the same meal on Christmas Eve so I will have that to look forward to!

I have many things to be thankful for this year: my great new school and education I am receiving (Lewis & Clark College), my friends, my supportive family, good health, the Giants winning the World Series, and much more! I hope you all have many things to be thankful for as well.

The pie disappeared pretty quickly to no surprise!

In a few days I will be making a cake for two of my friends at school who recently had birthdays so keep your eyes peeled!

Have a great Tuesday afternoon and Happy Baking!