Cupcake Liners Galore!!

So today I went a little crazy buying cupcake liners. Normally I only buy one or two different ones at a time and they are normally holiday themed, but today I couldn't help myself! They were all so cute and each one gave my a new flavor idea.

I have used many different liners ranging from the cheap dollar spot ones to the grease resistant to foil lined ones.
~ Foil Lined: I don't particularly care from the foil lined ones. I have had grease puddles at the bottom and I have had them stick to the cupcake. If using them, use a spray on them before filling and use them for cupcakes with lower fat contents. These do hold their color design the best, so if you are looking for visual impact and don't care as much if the cupcakes come out perfect these are the liners for the job.
~Grease Resistant: These are more expensive but you pay to ensure that the design on your liner is clearly visible after baking. I have had no problems with these sticking. If you are baking for your family, testing recipes or if the liner is not an important focal piece of the cupcake I wouldn't spend the extra money on them. However, if the liner design is a focal point of the cupcake, then these are going to guarantee that visual effect.
~Brand Name Liners: These I consider your Martha Stewart, Wilton, Nordic Ware... ect. These are priced reasonably and are readily available at craft stores and well stocked super markets. These are what I use for sharing. I use these for one's I have at party's I host, bring to work or gatherings with friends. For the most part these keep their color, lighter colors and mostly white liners fade into the background of chocolate cupcakes. When making chocolate cupcakes, I always try to use darker colored or more solidly covered liners to stand out against the dark brown cupcake. These are my top pick since they keep their color well, are reasonably priced and widely available.
~Dollar Spot/Discount Liner: These are what I use for testing new recipes and for when the little one's want to make cupcakes. These rarely keep their color, although on a few occasions I have had some they stay as bright as when they went in. If I have one's that are just perfect for what I need. I will either bake them in a plain white or other coordinating color and then put in the liner after they come out or bake them double lined. These will work fine and perform as well as higher grade liners as far as sticking. Main points, perfect for testing recipes, if you see some you have to have: double line them and if the kiddos are baking, they will enjoy them just fine.

I buy most of my liners at Michael's Craft Store or at Target in their seasonal department. If you are buying in bulk, such as basic solid colors or for large orders, I would suggest looking online. Online sites tend to offer bulk pricing or even wholesale pricing on large quantities. I will warn you, check the quantity before you buy, I have had many friends wind up with 1,000 liners per pack! While they might be a fantastic price, do you have room to store them and will you use them? I have also done cupcake liner trades with people before, kind of like a cookie swap but with cupcake liners. This is a great way to grab a specific design with out having to buy a whole pack and getting rid of liners you are bored of or aren't going to use anymore.  This is very easy since most liner packs are split into 25 count sections, I don't suggest swapping smaller quantities since batch sizes vary from 12-24 cupcakes. While going through my collection I realized I also have a ridiculous amount of sprinkles and toppings, so look for that post coming soon!

These are the holiday liners I had

Valentine's Day/Sweetheart Liners 

St. Patty's Day

Different Floral Prints

These are a pearly pink wrap with lace hearts along the top. 

These I got for a tea party theme.
 I also thought  of Neapolitan cupcakes in the the tea party ones. 

These I got for to make cupcakes for my best friend,
Sweetie is our nickname for each other.

Mini's in purple damask, royal purple and spring plaid

Girly Pinks and Purples

How cute are these back to school liners. A perfect treat for that first lunchbox or
a special treat for the teacher as a thank you or
Teacher Appreciation Day

* I am sorry if some of them looked flipped, I could not get them flipped ride side up again after they uploaded. Please leave a comment if you know how to do this, they are saved right side up in my folder and  flip when they upload? I even went as far as flipping them wrong in the folder first and they still uploaded sideways!

Chocolate Truffles

This was my first go at making truffles! I will admit, I was scared to make these silky smooth chocolate drops of heaven. I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to roll the same size truffles, get the chocolate to melt right, get them to taste right, stay together...the list went on. I was so surprised at how easy they are to make. I feel like I have missed out on years of truffles and how many flavor combinations could I have tried by now?! I can say that I am now hooked and I will be testing many more flavor combinations in the future.

I spent hours looking for different truffle recipes, flavor combinations as well as tips and techniques. Here is a list of ones I saw over and over again ant that helped me:

1. A truffle is chocolate! With that being said, the chocolate you use makes the truffle. The chocolate has to be chocolate that you would enjoy eating. You do not have to buy the most expensive chocolate you can find, but the cheapest won't give you that rich chocolate flavor you are looking for. I used Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips.

2. Keep your hands COOL! Especially if you are rolling your truffles by hand. For my first batch, I had a bowl of  ice water and a towel next to me. I would chill my hands every 2-3 truffles. For my second batch I had a pound of frozen hamburger to hold onto for a few seconds between truffles.

3. Be Quick! Roll and top as you go unless you are topping with a chocolate coating. The quicker you move, the better your truffles will hold their shape.

4. Make what you like. There are endless topping and flavor combinations. Use what you have on hand, what your craving or whatever intriguing find you can snag at your local shops. If you like milk chocolate, use milk chocolate or dark or any combination. There are no rules, keep tweaking your recipe until you have a taste and consistency you like.

I did not use a recipe! I looked at a countless amount of basic truffle recipes. I realized that finding a ratio that I liked was probably going to take a few tries of adjusting ratios of chocolate and cream/fat. I noticed some recipes called for butter and some did not and the ratio of cream to chocolate ranged from 1:4-3:4. I decided I would start right in the middle with a 1:2 ratio of ounces of cream to weight ounces of chocolate. I also decided I would add some butter to my batch. I think it added a wonderful silky texture to my truffle, with out it I don't think there would have been enough fat to create that texture. I was so pleased with this batch I'm not sure how I could top my base gnash.

I split my gnash into two batches of 1/3 and 2/3. I added about 1 tablespoon of coconut milk to the 1/3 portion. I had this left over from my Banana Coconut Tres Leches Cake. I also coated this batch in two different chocolate topping. The first coating was a little thinned gnash. The second, was some hard chocolate shell. I then rolled some immediately after dipping in sweetened coconut shavings. The others I just sprinkled a few shavings on top after dipping them.

The second batch I left as just plain gnash and rolled them in various toppings. A few I dipped in the thinned gnash (those are the larger ones). I had three toppings: Ghirardelli Sweetened Cocoa Powder, sprinkles and Toffee Crunch Ice Cream Topping from Wilton.

A possible Valentine's Day  treat box.

My Recipe:

1 12oz bag of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

6 oz heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp unsalted butter

Thinned gnash for dipping

Melted Hard Chocolate Shell for dipping

Sprinkles for topping

Toffee Crunch Ice Cream Topping for topping

Ghirardelli Sweetened Cocoa Powder for topping

Bring cream just to a boil in small sauce pan. Add chocolate chips to a bowl along with the butter chopped into small pieces. Pour the heated cream over chocolate. Let sit for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth (I had to microwave my mixture for two 10 second intervals to fully melt all of the chips). I then poured the mixture into two pie tins and placed in the fridge for 2 hours. 

After the gnash was chilled I used a melon baller to scrape up the chocolate. I rolled it smooth and the rolled in toppings or dipped into chocolate using forks to retrieve them. I placed them back on pie tins lined with wax paper and placed them back in the fridge to finish setting up. 

A few thoughts on the chocolate coatings:

I could not get my chocolate coating smooth, I let the water in the double boiler come to a boil and scorched my chocolate. It tasted good so I added some more cream to thin it out and decided to use it anyways. If these were not a test I would have melted a new batch, but for this test batch it worked just fine. I did love the extra crunch the chocolate shell coating added to the truffle. I will be experimenting with creating a hard shell on future truffles. Also next time I will place the dipped but not coated truffles on a wire rack to stop pooling around the bottom. 

I hope this inspires you to try making truffles and calms any fears you too have about making your own truffles.

Banana-Nut Bread

This is the first recipe I have tried from my newest cook book: The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book: The essential recipe collection for today's home baker. I was so excited to add this monster of a baking cook book as well as excellent baking reference book to my collection. I had a few bananas left over from my Banana Coconut Tres Leches Cake and I decided to try a new banana bread recipe.

Crunchy Crusty Outside, Moist Fluffy Inside

I was a little nervous to try this recipe because it called for buttermilk. I am not a fan of buttermilk and i tend not to favor food made with it. As a result of my dislike of buttermilk, I did not have any on hand and could not justify buying some for 1/2 cups worth, so I used the book's substitute. Through making the buttermilk substitute I learned that next time I will use yogurt instead as the "buttermilk" mixture did not seem to turn out right and I think effected the taste of the bread. The bread had a subtle tangy taste to it, but more noticeable than from buttermilk. I was not 100% pleased with the bread, as you would guess since I do not like buttermilk, but my family who does like products made with buttermilk said it was an excellent banana bread. The texture turned out wonderful, it was moist and fluffy with a wonderfully crunchy outside. I will give this recipe another go the next time I have left over bananas using yogurt in place of the buttermilk and I will post the differences if any I find!

Banana-Nut Bread:
(Makes one 9x5in loaf)
6 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 c sugar
3 large eggs
2-3 mashed bananas
1/2 cup buttermilk (or substitute*)
2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c  chopped nuts of your choice (walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour 9x5in loaf pan.
2. Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add bananas and eggs, beat until smooth. Add buttermilk and beat until just combined.
3. Stir together dry ingredients excluding the chopped nuts. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture just until combined. The batter will be slightly lumpy.
4. Pour the batter into prepared pan, not filling more than 2/3 full. Bake 55-50 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool bread 5 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack to finish cooling.

*Buttermilk substitute (for 1 cup or 8oz):
1 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or 1 cup plain yogurt

1. Stir the milk and lemon juice. The milk will start to curdle leaving small granular lumps along the side of the bowl.

Banana-Coconut Tres Leches Cake

I have only ever had Tres Leches cake once in my life, and I hated it! It was horribly granular and had a fake overly powerful vanilla flavor to it. With that in mind, I came across the most decadent looking Tres Leches cake. This version is a banana cake drenched in a coconut milk tres leches mixture topped with a coconut whipped topping. The cake recipe is from a Betty Crocker magazine and I used my coconut whipped cream recipe.

Here you can see the delicious Coconut Tres Leches mixture around the
cake  and the puffy cloud of coconut whipped cream!

Cake Recipe:
1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake mix
1 1/4 c water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 c mashed banana (3 medium)
1 can (14oz) sweetened and condensed milk
1/2 c canned coconut milk
1/2 c whipping cream
1-2 sliced bananas for garnish
1/2 c toasted or sweetened coconut shavings for garnish

Coconut Whipped Cream:
12 oz whipping cream
1/4 c sugar
1-2 tsp coconut milk

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease only the bottom of the pan (13x9)
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, eggs and bananas for 2-2 1/2 minutes. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 33-38 minutes. Cool completely  (in pan) for about 1 hour.
4. Mix together sweetened and condensed milk, coconut milk and whipping cream. Poke cake with long0tined fork every 1/2 inch, cleaning fork occasionally to reduce sticking. Pour mixture over top of cake.
5. Cover, refrigerate at least two hours or overnight.
6. In large bowl add whipped cream ingredients. Beat until right before stiff peaks form (*Add the coconut milk to your taste, I love coconut so I added even a little bit more. Taste your mixture before you whip it.)
7. Frost cake with whipped topping. Add sliced bananas and shredded coconut for garnish

*This cake was the best on the second and third day I believe. The cake had time to soak up all of the tres leches mixture and the coconut flavor from the whipped cream was slowly starting to seem into the cake. It was like eating a tropical fru-fru drink on the beach!

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Okay, so Valentine's Day isn't for another month, but why wait! I love pink and I couldn't resist opening my new Valentine's sprinkles. Plus, my friend is moving away and these are her favorite. I made a new take on my Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes. For this batch I did not use champagne; I did not have any on hand and I wasn't going to buy and open a new bottle for just over a cup. Instead, I used 1 1/4 cups of a Jamaican Breeze wine cooler. This added more flavor than the champagne and still added the light fluffiness with the carbonation in it.


The batter becomes this beautiful light, silky, fluffy, pink, strawberry scented mixture.



I only ever bake one pan at a time on the center rack. I have a small oven, but this is best practice if you do not have a convection oven. If you must bake more than one batch, leave at least one inch of room around each pan and switch position in oven and rotate half way through. Please ignore my messy oven, it would have been cleaned if it knew it was getting a close up.




Once they come out, they are a light hue of pink. If they are golden brown you have cooked them too long.

These are the finished product. I added some strawberry puree to a can of vanilla frosting to make a thin icing. Then, I dipped them in it just enough to coat the tops. Finally, I added various Valentine's Sprinkles. I also left some without icing and just topped them with a dusting of powdered sugar and I think they were my favorite of the whole bunch. They looked like a perfect little tea cake and they weren't over powered by the sweetness of the icing. 



My First Pie Ever!

This is the first pie I ever made. I mad it two years ago, I just found the picture! It was an apple pie with a crumble topping. I will say this was the easiest and least homemade pie. I used store bough crust and apple pie filling ( I had some left over from campfire pies). The topping was a bag of oatmeal cookie mix, 3 tsp of melted butter, a little brown sugar and 1-2 tsp of brown sugar ( nothing fancy, just your typical crumble topping). It turned out amazing and I was so proud of the little heart I added. I will say that I have made pie since, real homemade pies, and I still have trouble with the crust. I cannot seem to get a border I like or a crust recipe that works for me. As a result, I use store bought and I still get compliments on how wonderful and flaky it is. No one has to know you bought the crust, as long as it stays flaky people only really care about the filling I have noticed. Pies are still not my favorite, to eat or make, but I can say that I am not afraid of them anymore!

Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes twice they were so good! I first made them as a trial for a new recipe, they were so good, I made them two days later for a jewelry party I was hosting. This picture was the first batch, I didn't have time to capture the second batch. The cupcake is a pink champagne cupcake that I added strawberries to. The frosting is a strawberry champagne buttercream. This frosting was alright, The champagne was a little overwhelming and thinned the frosting out a little. For the second batch I used a strawberry whipped topping with out the champagne. This second topping was easier pipe and safe for the kiddies. These cupcakes (the second batch) are defiantly in my top 5 recipes now and are constantly asked for. The recipe I adapted from All-Time Best Recipes: Better Crocker magazine.

Cupcakes:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist white cake mix

1 1/4 c champagne

1/3 c vegetable oil

3 egg whites

4-5 drops of red food coloring

*1 1/4 c strawberries

(*my addition)

1. Heat oven to 350, line muffin pan or line/spray mini muffin pan

2. Combine cake mix and champagne. Add oil, egg whites and food coloring to desired hue. Beat for two minutes. *Fold in strawberries Fill cups 3/4 full.

3. Bake 17-22 minutes until cupcake bounces back from touch. Cool and remove from pan.

Champagne Buttercream:

1/2 cup soften butter

4 c powdered sugar

1/4 c champagne

1 tsp vanilla

4-5 drops red food coloring

*3/4 c finely chopped strawberries

1. Beat all ingredients until smooth and fluffy. Fold in strawberries

*Strawberry Whipped Topping:

8 oz heavy whipping cream

1 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

4-5 drops red food coloring

3/4 c finely chopped strawberries

1. Whip cream, food coloring and vanilla until stiff peaks for. Slowly add powdered sugar (I sifted mine into the cream). Beat until fluffy and creamy but before the mixture collapses!! Fold in strawberries.

Frosting/Piping Tips:

~For the first batch I did not attach a tip to the coupler ring. I piped straight from the bag/coupler ring.

~For the second batch I chopped the strawberries much smaller so I could use a large star tip fr piping.

~If using a tip or piping at all, chop strawberries (or any fruit) as small as possible to avoid blocking the piping tip. 

Birthday Cakes

Here are two cakes I made this past summer for birthdays. My sister turned 21 and my uncle turned 60!

I made this quick in a hurry. It was very simple. I made a chocolate cake with chocolate fudge frosting. I made a Vikings themed jersey out off fondant using his name and the number 60 for how old he was turning. I wish I would've had more time to spend on the piping, but I think it turned out all right. This cake taught e to double check my decorating tips; I was having a hard time piping and finally gave up on doing a bottom border. When I took the bag apart I realized there was a smaller tip inside the tip I was using!! You better bet that I always double check before I put them on now.

The second cake I made was for my sister's 21st birthday. She wanted a small cake and mini cupcakes. I made a batch of devil's food chocolate cake. I filled the cake with a layer of smooth and silky chocolate gnash. The frosting is a lightly whipped milk chocolate gnash topped with sprinkles. I made one batch of gnash, used 1/4-1/3 for the filling and then whipped the rest of the batch for about 7 minutes. It wasn't stiff and fluffy like buttercream, but it wasn't thin like gnash...it was the perfect in between texture. The martini glass is made from blue piping gel and green sugar crystals for the drink. And yes, I picked through the sprinkles to find only green ones and arranged them in a "21" for her as I was not making a batch of frosting for that little bit!

Almond Shortbread Cupcakes

These cupcakes were a piece of heaven I came upon by accident. I was trying a new recipe and I had to substitute a few things and added almond instead of vanilla. What a perfect mistake/goof! I am from a Scottish family, so I have grown up on shortbread. This was a cupcake version of shortbread. It had the denseness and flavor of shortbread, but is was moist and airy at the same time. I topped them with store bought fudge frosting ( I know, but I had some left over from baking with my 4 year old niece) and various fall sprinkles. These were a huge hit both at home and at work, even people who don't like shortbread loved these cupcakes. This is defiantly a recipe I will continue to use and monkey around with. I will say that because they are a little more dense than a normal cupcake, the minis worked the best and they need to be ate within 2-3 days to keep their moisture.

Mixer Review



Kitchen Aide Artisan Ice Blue Standing Mixer
Photo from www.thesecondlunch.com/tag/kitchen-aid-mixer/

 I have used many different mixers over the years from my hand a spoon to hand mixers to standing mixers. My all time favorite is the Kitchen Aide standing mixer. I own the Artisan Ice Blue mixer. It has a locking head with adjustable speeds. It came with a stainless steel bowl, wire whisk, batter beater and bough hook attachments. It is also able to fit all of Kitchen Aide's wonderful attachments. ( I am hoping to get the ice cream bowl shortly!) The coloring is an enamel finish that wipes clean with a cloth. While these mixers are heavy and expensive, they are worth the money. I have never had lumps, clumps or any other inconsistencies and all components clean easily. My score for the Kitchen Aide standing mixer is 5/5 cupcakes!

I also own a Sunbeam Mixer that performs as either a standing or hand mixer. This mixer works well and comes with beaters and dough hooks. It also has 5 speeds. The bowl on mine is glass. All attachments are dishwasher safe. This mixer works well and gives you an even mixture. However, the mixers is in a fixed position and you have to move the bowl. This can create some inconvenience when mixes require longer mixing time. The mixer head is easy to separate from the base by a push of a button (well two, one on each side). I normally use this for whipping up quick small things and normally as the hand held version. Overall the mixer works well and is easily clean. It is in the mid price range and being primarily plastic, it is much lighter than the steel Kitchen Aide. I would recommend this for new cooks/bakers, as a second mixer or for those who have to store their mixer as it is MUCH lighter than the Kitchen Aide. I give this mixer 4/5 cupcakes!

Chocolate Birthday Cupcakes

I made both of these cupcakes for birthdays this past summer. The top cupcake is a chocolate cupcake with pink buttercream. I topped them with pastel non perils and pastel sprinkles.

The bottom cupcake is a devils food cupcake with a whipped gnash frosting. I made a batch of gnash using 1/2 semi-sweet and 1/2 milk chocolate. I then let is set and whipped it into a buttercream like consistency. It was a big hit!
*I used 1/2 milk chocolate to sweeten the frosting against the rich devils food cupcake.

Penguin Cake

I recently made this small penguin cake. Penguins are my favorite animal and slight obsession. I made a french vanilla cake with a chocolate gnash filling and whipped vanilla frosting. I created the snow mounds my piling miniature marshmallows and covering them with frosting rosettes. The penguins are all hand piped. The eyes are actually small white sprinkles, I could not get a small enough dot of frosting. I also sprinkled white sugar crystals over the snow for added effect.

Whole cake from above



Penguin sliding down hill (sorry it's blurry)



Penguins playing in the water.



Penguins on snow mound



Double Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cupcakes

These are a very rich cupcake and very chocolaty!! I made them using a box cake mix and added to it. I topped them off with a chocolate buttercream and non perils.

Double Chocolate Chip with Oatmeal Cupcake:
1 chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup oats (instant works best, but I used the regular kind and they were delicious and had added texture)
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350, prep pan with liners
2. Mix all ingredients until combined (batter will be shiny and very thick)
3. Fill liners 2/3 full
4. Bake 15-18 minutes

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting:
1 stick of butter (8 tbsp)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbsp milk or cream

1. Beat butter until fluffy
2. Turn off mixer and add cocoa, sugar, vanilla and 3tsp milk.
3. Mix until combined and fluffy
4. Add the rest of milk if frosting is too thick or dry

Double Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

These are the best cookies I have ever made!! I had gone through many recipes for these cookies and I was having a hard time finding one that stuck together well with out drying out. These are an absolute must try at least once, but I know they will become a favorite!

Ingredients:
12 oz chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
3/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
8-10 oz white chocolate chips/chunks
1/2 cups coarsely chopped macadamia nuts (I used roasted macadamia nuts for added flavor)

Directions:

1. In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water (but make sure it doesn't touch the bottom of pan), stir bittersweet chocolate and butter until smooth, 5 minutes. Remove bowl from over water; whisk in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

2. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to chocolate mixture and stir until well blended. Stir in white chocolate chunks and nuts. Cover and chill dough until firm, at least 1 hour.

3. Shape dough into 2-inch balls and place about 3 inches apart on a buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets.

4. Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven until the edges cooked but still soft in the center, 12 to 15 minutes. If baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking.

5. Let cool for 5 minutes on sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely.
Makes about 30 cookies

Cornflake Christmas Wreaths

I love these Christmas "cookies." They are sweet with that little spice from the red hots. They never last very long in my house.

Ingredients:
1 package large marshmallows
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp green food coloring
4 1/2 cups cornflakes
red hot cinnamon candies







Directions:
1. Melt marshmallows, butter, vanilla and green food coloring over low heat.
2. Mix in cereal
3. drop by spoonful (or by hand) on wax paper, decorate with red hots
4. Allow to cool completely

*I found it was easier to store them between layers of saran-wrap after they were allowed to set completely
**I generally have to add about 1/4-1/2 cups more cereal depending on how the consistency is looking. they should not be as dry as rice crispies.

Spritz Cookies

I was so pleased with these spritz cookies. Normally I have a lot of trouble getting the dough the right consistency, but these were perfect first and second time through.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter (3 sticks)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder





Directions:
1.Cream butter and sugar until smooth and slightly fluffy
2. Add egg, milk, vanilla and almond extract. Beat well
3. Gradually add flour and baking soda until smooth
4. Place dough in press and press on ungreased cookie sheet
5. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes

Cookie Spritzer Review

 I received the Wilton Cookie Pro Ultra spritzer for a shower gift and this is the first spritzer I haven't had problems with. It worked perfectly from the start. It is Wilton brand and I got mine from Bed Bath and Beyond but I have seen them at Micheal's as well. This is a MUST HAVE for cookie bakers. There are no batteries or cords, it is all some sort of fantastic pump system. ( I am not an expert in mechanics of things, only in their success or failure!) It fits all spritzer molds that I ahve tried and comes apart for easy cleaning. Overall, this produuct is very easy to use and works amazing. I give it 5/5 cupcakes!

Brownie Cupcakes

So I was trying a new chocolate cupcake recipe. When I took them out of the oven they were more like brownies. They were a delicious surprise!!

I used a recipe from the Primrose Bakery for both the cupcake and the buttercream, however I did add more butter and less powdered sugar.

Cupcakes:
4 oz bittersweet chocolate
6 tbsp butter
3/4 c packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs separated
1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 c 2% milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375
Melt chocolate in microwave or in double boiler
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy
Beat egg yolks in separate bowl for several minutes
Slowly add egg yolks
Add melted chocolate
Sift dry ingredients together
Add vanilla to milk
Alternate adding dry ingredients and milk to the butter batter, starting and ending with dry ingredients
Beat egg white in a separate bowl until soft peaks form
Fold egg whites into batter
Bake for 18-22 minutes
Let cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack

Buttercream Frosting:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 c (2 sticks) butter
1 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c powdered sugar

Melt chocolate in microwave o in double boiler
Beat butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla
Add chocolate and beat until thick fluffy consistency, this can take up to 10 minutes

**I used 3 sticks of butter and only 2 cups of powdered sugar

Banana Fluffer-Nutter Cupcakes

The cupcakes were the lightest fluffiest cupcakes I have ever had. I was worried they were going to turn out too dense and more like a muffin or banana bread but I was so excited that they turned out phenomenal!! The frosting was amazing, this could be put on anything. I instantly thought of putting it on ice cream! The cupcake was a bit to light and fluffy to carry the frosting so I might try adding a bit of whipped cream to lighten up the frosting next time, but for a birthday cupcake they are spectacular!

Banana Cupcake:
2 eggs (separated)
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp milk
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
3 mashed bananas

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. Mix baking soda into milk
3. Cream butter and sugar
4. Add egg yolks and vanilla
5. Alternate adding flour and bananas (I sifted my flour into the mixer)
6. Stir in milk
7. Beat egg whites until stiff, fold into batter

Fill 2/3 full and bake 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely.


Fluffernutter Frosting:
1/2 creamy peanut butter
1 8oz. jar Marshmallow Fluff
1/3 c. softened butter
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c. powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

1. Beat peanut butter, fluff and butter until smooth and creamy
2. Alternate adding powdered sugar and milk (Again I sifted the PS into the mixer)
3. Add vanilla

*I should note that after I frosted the cupcakes I put them in the refrigerator to set the frosting since my apartment was about 80 after having the oven on

First Post

First things first, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Samantha but I go by Sam. I am newly married, as as of January 2010. I have been baking with my grandmother since I can remember. I started decorating birthday cakes for the kids I nannied in 2003. In 2009 my cupcake obsession started. I was baking new recipes every week or two. I have recently started dabbling with other baked treats including puff pastries and pies. In the past few months I have become more serious about making my dream come true of opening my own bakery. While I know this is still years away, I have started making cakes for friends and family for their events, along with my regular baking.

I created this blog because I wanted a place where I could share my recipes, photos and stories without people having to read about the rest of my not so exciting and completely ordinary life or trying to navigate through overloaded social networking sites. I will also try to review products; as I have found success and failure among the wide variety available in today's kitchen. I hope you enjoy reading about my experiences and that they may bring some inspiration into your kitchen. Please feel free to use my blog as inspiration for your own baking, I only ask that you do not repost any photos or recipes without permission.