GO HAWKS GO!

The hiatus has been lifted! While the baking has continued, the blogging has been lacking but I'll make it up to you with a few posts of "Here's what you missed."

What better way to start than with the Blackhawks?!

As the Hawks enter the Stanley Cup Finals yet again, I took advantage and created a cupcake to support my team.

I've made these cupcakes before, but the decoration is really what's key here. I'm bringing back the red velvet cupcake with KitKat frosting, which is always a hit.  But this time I jazzed them up with the help of Party City.

That's right, I found Stanley Cup confetti for decoration! The baby Stanley Cups fit perfectly with the red flag toothpicks I found. Write your favorite team's name and boom. Welcome to the Stanley Cup(cake) Finals. 

Leave Biscotti to the Italians

Now I love biscotti and always wanted to try making it but I thought it would take forever. Biscotto actually means "twice baked" and that's exactly what you do. Im a fan of butterscotch and that's where my issue was.

To make them, you mix your ingredients and separate the dough into two loaves and bake them for twenty minutes.  I added a bag of butterscotch chips to mine and it may have been too much. I know, crazy talk right?

So far looking good right? Well, as you see below the butterscotch decided to ooze out and stick to the pan. I didn't want it to burn so I pulled it out of the oven and let it rest. Which, you're supposed to do that anyway so it's cool enough to slice into those familiar shapes .

When I pulled it out of the oven I thought it was salvageable. Nothing was burnt and it looked like what I thought it should. Then came the slicing. Let's just say it's not as easy as it looks to make those diamond shapes. Well, making the shapes wasn't the issue, it was the cookie holding onto that shape.

 I was excited because they started to look normal at this point. After slicing I put them back into the oven for another 15-20 minutes or so. The recipe said 10 minutes but they definitely weren't done by then.















At the end of the day, they were very good. Only two made it out looking like actual biscotti but I would definitely try making them again.

Busy Busy Bee

I've gone full-throttle into baking for the holidays and the madness has just begun.

Eggnog is usually a Christmas staple, if you're into that thing. I however, am not a huge fan of it. I like to think I like it, but I can't drink an entire glass, it's too rich. After seeing a recipe for "Melt in Your Mouth Eggnog Cookies" I had to try it. Just a touch of eggnog couldn't hurt, right? 

The recipe calls for rum extract and the first time I made them I didn't have rum extract and didn't feel like trekking out in the snow to get it, so I uses almond. The almond extract worked pretty well, I was pleasantly surprised. Second time around however, I made it with rum extract and it was so much better! Eggnog has a similar flavor to the rum extract which brought it out even more without having to use too much, especially in the frosting. Putting too much liquid will otch your icing so the extract gave the eggnog a little help in standing out. 

It's perfect for the holidays whether you love eggnog or like to think you love it. 

After making these I had some eggnog left and wanted to incorporate into something else. I started making peanut butter cookies, adding some peanut butter chips to the batter and thought maybe some eggnog frosting/glaze would go well. I was nervous about the two flavors mixing but they worked out pretty well. 

The peanut butter and the eggnog complimented each other well. The eggnog balanced out all of the peanut butter and visa versa and they turned out even better than I thought!

Getting A Head Start on Christmas

Last year, I was quite the Scrooge, which is so unlike me. I didn't watch many Christmas movies, didn't listen to Christmas music and was just not feeling it. I even had a binge baking night to get it into my system. I was convinced it was because I was out of the retail world. I had started a new job and I getting Christmas music shoved down my throat for an entire month. Turns out it was a mix of that and well, let's just say a lot of stress at the new, now former job.

Anyway, I tried to get a head start on things this past Sunday with something super simple that's not really baking and well, they aren't square but who cares! I haven't made chocolate covered pretzels since I was a kid and forgot how super easy it is and remembered that almond bark works the best. I was taught to melt the white and dark together and it works out perfectly.

I also decided to actually bake and they say imitation is the best form of flattery. In that case, Macy's should be flattered. I went to the Walnut Room with the boyfriend and fam and had what seemed like the outside of a large Oreo cookie dunked in white chocolate. Well, I had to try it. I panicked once I started because I didn't have eggs and well, wasn't in the mood for a drive. I found some "substitutes" as in oil, water and baking powder but that didn't really do anything. The cookies flat out sunk in the middle but I had already committed so I had to finish the job. Surprisingly, they are quite tasty. 

They're not the prettiest things on earth but I somehow managed to get the perfect crunch of the outside of an Oreo and just melted some more white almond bark and crushed up some candy canes and I got pretty darn close. Definitely worth another shot but next time I'll actually use an egg to save some trouble.  I have a lot of other ideas on my list as well including eggnog cookies. Happy Baking!

Special Treat for a Special Kiddo

So long story short, a friend of mine's daughter was pretty sick for awhile and I wanted to make her something for when she felt better. I've kinda go a knack for this baking thing so I asked what her favorite candy or flavor was and if she was a cupcake or a cookie gal. After given dark chocolate and cookies as clues, I whipped up a quick and easy but delicious treat.

I didn't want to bake a chocolate chunk cookie. While delicious, they can be boring and predictable especially since I've kind of created a reputation for myself. And, I found out anyway that she ended up making chocolate chip cookies herself the day before. So I went with one of my favorites, oatmeal. I must admit, I'm not a fan of dark chocolate. Gasp! I know I know. It is a preferred taste but the oatmeal muffled it a little to where I actually enjoyed it.

The whole process was really simple. I got a giant bar of dark chocolate and put it into the Ninja, just long enough to chop it up but not too much. I wanted chunks, not fine shreds.

I learned pretty quick that dark chocolate melts really fast while you're dealing with it so you don't want to keep it in the chopper too long anyway. Mixing it into the batter may have been an issue too so I just crumbled the chunks of chocolate on top of each cookie before putting them in the oven. 

I was kind of worried about that decision at first because it looked like a pool of chocolate on top but it worked out nicely and turned out pretty tasty. So don't be afraid of dark chocolate if you're not a fan, there are ways to make it work. Plus, it's supposed to be good for you!

The Way To a Man's Heart is Through ... Brownies.

Now I'm no relationship expert but I have learned that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Seriously, try it some time. I also mentioned before that my boyfriend has been asking for normal brownies. He pretty much gets everything I bake and I do a lot of baking for him so I complied because I do tend to go a little crazy sometimes. But I couldn't help but get a little gutsy with another batch.

 Can't really go wrong with a chocolate chunk brownie, which is what he constantly tells me. And he's' right and they turned out great as usual. I had some extra supplies though and a little something else I wanted to add. Can you tell what it is?








You know it's already a good day when I get to use the Ninja. Despite it sounding like I'm grinding up silverware it was great for chopping up some Reese's Pieces. I didn't want them to be too fine and just add them to the batter so I sprinkled the partially chopped chunks on top.

They turned out fabulous too. Peanut butter and chocolate just work. Super simple too and it'll work with any candy you'd like really. I thought about M&M's but it would be a little too much chocolate for me. (Gasp!) I know I know.

Not too shabby, eh? 

Experimenting gone right!

In my previous post I wrote about something I fiddled with, a new experiment with ingredients that didn't go so well. It happened before that instance too. (I'm still not over the mousse catastrophe).

Now I've made snicker doodles before.


I made a chai glaze that I was worried about but they ended up being fantastic so I knew I couldn't screw up a basic snicker doodle. (I highly recommend the recipe from yours truly) And since I can't just keep things simple I wanted something more than just cinnamon and sugar. It's still pumpkin season and without adding real pumpkin, partially so it would last longer, I made another glaze. I've gotten better at glazes/icing, where it actually looks like it should and I'm pretty proud of this one.

I usually use a mix of spices to get that pumpkin flavor. You know, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. And in a glaze or an icing you need is powdered sugar and some sort of liquid. If you want more of a clear glaze you can use water but I wanted it to be more like icing and a different consistency so it didn't look slimey. In that case you'd use milk or half and half but I found the best of both; my favorite coffee creamer this time of year. Pumpkin Pie Coffee Mate. I just mixed that with powdered sugar and even just a touch of shortening to thicken it up and it ended up being a lot better than I thought. If you are just trying to whip it up quick like I did without breaking out the mixer, make sure you get your arm muscles ready to go so you can continually whisk to get the air it needs. A good 3-4 minutes if you can manage.

I have found this to be the easiest method for frosting cookies. Just dunk them upside down and quickly flip them over and place on a cooling rack or a plate. I fell in love with my new three tier cooling rack from Wilton and it works perfectly if you just put some paper towels, wax paper, parchment paper or even tin foil below so you don't get icing all over your workspace. 

After a dip into the pool I sprinkle some pumpkin pie spice, or you can use the extra cinnamon sugar, just cinnamon, cloves, etc. etc. Let them rest and you're ready to go. 

Once again I have amazed myself. Not to toot my own horn but, toot toot! That's twice now within a month, remember these??

This is again something I will make again, or at least a variation. I haven't given up on experimenting despite some disasters I've made, from cookies and brownies as hard as rocks and mousse that turned into soup. I'm not giving up and hope you learned as much as I have!

No Such Thing as Too Much…. Peanut Butter

So I'm not a huge fan of just regular old peanut butter cookies. I'll eat them but I'd rather make something a little more. I am a big fan of Reese's Pieces and I bought them with intensions of using them in Puppy Chow but changed my mind. I had a craving for cookies and I know my boyfriend loves peanut butter cookies. I like candy in cookies so I made peanut butter Reese's Pieces cookies. Genius. I impressed myself on this one.

I had a few worries. One being that it may be too much peanut butter. The candy coating evened it out nicely and the consistent and even taste of peanut butter in Reese's Pieces is different than that in a cookie. It was rather harmonious, if you will.

Another worry was that I got a little happy with the Reese Pieces. I put the entire bag in one batch and at one point it looked like more candy than cookie. Again, I was wrong. You really can't put too much in I guess. The more the merrier.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised and amaze myself sometimes. These will be made again.

Square Spice Cookies

Looking back onto the cupcakes I made, I already planned on cookies but decided to reuse the frosting.

I still wanted to make pumpkin without pumpkin so I made pumpkin spice cookies and added the brown sugar frosting.

Not the prettiest things in the world but they're super delish. Perfect fall spices for a perfect fall dessert. :) And I didn't waste any frosting. I was worried about it being too much on the cookie but it was perfect. 

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Baking into Halloween

I always say holidays are a perfect excuse to bake. Not just to bake but bake with themes and decorations. The pumpkin craze continues and I still wanted to make something with pumpkin but without actual pumpkin in it. Long story short, one of the people I'm baking for cannot have actual pumpkin. To the spice cabinet!

All I needed was cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger to give it that fall/pumpkin flavor. You can even by Pumpkin Pie Spice at the grocery store.

For once, I didn't want to go too crazy with the cupcakes so I made a simple yellow cake and a simple-ish frosting. I used shortening in the frosting to help it hold a little longer too and you can't even tell the difference. There's vegetable shortening but and vegetable shortening with butter flavor. I suggest the butter so it's not too greasy and actually tastes like what it's supposed to.

One reason I didn't want to go too crazy is because I had fun Halloween stuff to add. 

Found these at HomeGoods. Make sure you don't rip the entire seal off, otherwise you may end up with way too many sprinkles on a cupcake. 

Anyway, I added some of the pumpkin spice mixture to the cake batter but mainly saved it for the frosting. A last-minute thought was also adding some brown sugar with did add a lot without overpowering anything. 

The frosting also had a chance to stand out by using a simple yellow cake recipe. All that's left is to frost, decorate and enjoy!

Wait until you see the cookies I made with the leftover frosting. Happy Halloween!

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It's Zucchini, So It HAS To Be Good For You, Right?

Zucchini bread may or may not be good for you but it sure is good, especially when I get to use my favorite kitchen appliance. Again, the Ninja.

Again, I LOVE it. Those are huge chunks of zucchini and it chops it up as small as possible to mix into the batter perfectly. 

You don't want it too chunky or too soupy to the point where your bread doesn't rise but use your discretion on how fine you want to chop it. It takes about two seconds to get it to that consistency then you just fold it into your batter. 

For the batter, I found a recipe that was super easy to follow, on my phone! I loved the feature it had to check off ingredients as you add them, I just had to show you. 

Now the recipe calls for walnuts, but I actually found it quite tasty to add a can of mixed nuts. Just dump a can in the ninja and chop them as fine as you want and fold that into your batter as well. Or, make it without nuts, whichever you prefer. 

Most zucchini bread recipes may call for an hour baking time, but if you making them this small it won't be that long, maybe 30-40 minutes. However, I'm going to warn you about using a pan like this. I assume they'd come out all cute and in one piece, kind of like this. 

Boy was I wrong. I never use non stick spray in my pan because it's already nonstick. I ruined part of it from excess spray and I have had luck with it so far. However, this bread stuck like glue. It may be safe just to use a porcelain dish and cut them up. They were difficult in the end, but totally worth it. 

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Good morning, pumpkin!

Fall is my favorite time of year. The cool weather, the colors of the leaves changing and of course, pumpkin. Pumpkin is huge now. Everything comes in pumpkin and pumpkin scones from Starbucks were always my favorite. I've never ventured into the scone world but I had been on a baking hiatus and was itching to try something new. It surprisingly wasn't as difficult as I thought. The only difficult part is some of the ingredients you may not have on hand. Which isn't necessarily difficult but annoying. I got over it though. 

Most scone recipes call for molasses which you can easily find next to the pancake syrup at the grocery store. You'll also need pumpkin spice. I actually found a bottle of pumpkin spice in the baking section of the store and it smells wonderful. If you can't find it, an easy mix of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger will do the trick. You'll still need pumpkin of course, which if you're like me you've stocked up while it's in season. Make sure it's canned pumpkin and not pumpkin pie. You'll also need your basic flour, brown sugar and butter. Make sure your butter is cold! 

Not working with softened butter kind of freaked me out but just chop it up into small pieces and mix it into your flour and sugar mix, you want it to be crumbly but still completely mixed together. Mix in your pumpkin and other liquids separately and you'll form a dough. You'll want to knead it on a floured surface like you would any other bread and then you can take a pizza cutter to cut it into the normal triangle shape or however you'd like. Can't lie, I had some issues making triangles so I just scooped them up like cookies. 

While they're baking you can make the glaze which is super easy. All you need for the initial glaze is to whisk powdered sugar and milk together until it's thick. For the pumpkin, you'll still use powdered sugar but you'll add your canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix), pumpkin spice and milk to drizzle on top. I found it easier to make the white glaze in a wide enough dish so you can just dunk the scones in upside down when they're cool. Then take a spoon and drizzle the top with the pumpkin glaze. (Apologies for the lack of photos, I lost most of them when my phone had a heart attack)

They don't look like Starbucks scones but they definitely taste good! Enjoy for breakfast, after dinner or whenever you feel like a pumpkin treat. 

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Where the Buffalo Roam

Now, I'm not a fan of buffalo, hot sauce, any of that stuff so I didn't try this recipe but it got some pretty good reviews. My boyfriend loves anything buffalo and I wanted to make a savory "cupcake" that he would like and while it's not really a cupcake, it's close enough and he devoured it. Point, me.

I'm still kind of nervous about making a savory cupcake like this with actual cake batter so I decided to go with biscuit dough. Not really a cupcake but I still made 'em square and easy to eat. It was trickier than I thought.

I didn't make the biscuits from scratch, just bought the dough in a tube and thought if I pulled them apart in a bowl, I could make a big ball of dough to form into squares. Not so easy because at that point the biscuits have already decided they want to be round. Needless to say, I made it work.

I then used my favorite kitchen tool ever next to the Kitchen Aid Mixer; The Ninja. I had some chicken tenders that I wanted to add to the dough but I didn't want just giant chunks so I chopped them up and doused them in buffalo sauce to add to the stubborn biscuit dough.

I highly suggest you invest in the Ninja. It comes with a smaller attachment but mine is still in a box somewhere from when I moved so the pitcher works for now, also great for margaritas. I'll show you later how awesome it was to make zucchini bread with.

Anyway, mixing the chicken and buffalo sauce was kinda difficult with the biscuit dough and it ended up a little crumbly. Surprisingly ended up working out giving a nice crunch to it. At least it was okay according to my boyfriend but he wouldn't say anything bad about my baking anyway :).

I crumbled the pieces and squished them to form to the size of my pan and dabbed a little hot sauce on top of each one before I put the into the oven.

Follow the dough instructions, it's usually 350-375 for 10-15 minutes. You be the judge on how soft or hard you want them.

For a "frosting," not really, I got an idea from my boyfriend's aunt to mix sour cream and ranch dressing. Done! Just whisk it together and spoon it on top or have it on the side for dipping. I had the idea to chop up some celery and fold it in or garnish with it but the audience I was working with isn't a fan of celery. You can always crumble blue cheese on top as well.

While it's not a cupcake, it's still pretty cute and ends up working perfectly for Sunday afternoon or Monday night football.

From this part of town, Go Bears and enjoy!

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Super Cupcakes for a Super Birthday

I was asked a very big favor a month ago and was very excited. I was asked to make cupcakes for a five-year-old's birthday and not just any kind of cupcakes (why be boring?), super hero cupcakes.

I found out he likes chocolate so I obviously had to make a chocolate cake but I didn't stop there. I added cream cheese and Nutella in the center. It definitely broke up the chocolate without losing too much of the chocolate flavor. Different textures usually help. 

My original intention was to put a hot chocolate mousse in the middle, but that didn't go so well.

Now onto the decorating. I made a normal buttercream frosting and divvied it up to make different colors per super hero. Spiderman obviously got red, Superman was red, blue and yellow (I bought the appropriate cupcake paper too) and Batman was blue. I found some toothpicks with the characters and decided to add M&M's on top, for another different texture. 

Needless it say it was a success and I'm really excited for more themed cupcakes. Shoot me an email if you're looking for something sweet for your next event! In the meantime, I can't wait for October...

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Tea and Crumpets? Kinda...

Crumpets are a griddle cake that pretty much look like an English Muffin and are mainly eaten in the United Kingdom with tea. Well around these parts, I bake cookies with my tea.

Let's start with the tea. Chai tea has always been my favorite, especially the chai tea lattes at Starbucks. Chai is a black spiced tea from india and the word Chai simply means 'tea' in Hindu. There are strong notes of cinnamon and cloves that stand out but also cardamom and ginger.

I wanted to play off the cloves and cinnamon aspect of the chai. I've made chai frosting before with pumpkin bars but that's a whole new ballgame that we'll get to come fall. I've ironically not been much of a fan of cinnamon but I do enjoy cinnamon sugar so I wanted to incorporate that into the cookie but not too much to where it would take away from the spiced chai flavor.

So I turned to the snickerdoodle. I haven't experimented with the snickerdoodle much but I'm glad I did. The dough is stickier and more doughy than normal cookie dough which gives it a little flakiness. I rolled the dough into balls, rolled it into some cinnamon sugar and baked about 10-12 minutes at 350.

While they were baking I made a chai glaze. It's easier than it sounds. All I used was powdered sugar, water, ground cinnamon and ground cloves. I combined everything with a whisk until I reached a taste and consistency that I wanted and dunked the cookies in. The advantage to the square shape is that it sinks a little in the middle and holds onto more of the glaze that hardens in the fridge after awhile.

I dont mean to toot my own horn but I continue to impress myself and definitely see myself making these in the future. Tea party or not.

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