Two Pretzels were walking down the street, one was assaulted

I thought I hit a jackpot with these babies but making the impossible possible, I struck even more gold with caramel pretzel cupcakes. Not only that, I got to use my favorite gadget in the world to make the frosting.

I give you, the Kitchen Aid Mixer.

Yes, I've fallen in love with an appliance. If you bake, you understand. Not only that, the frosting could not have been easier to make. All it is is butter, powdered sugar and chopped up pretzels. The pretzel frosting pretty much makes the cupcake. Not only that, but I put a Werther's caramel chew in the middle of each one. 

I didn't get the gooey-consistency center like I expected but it turned out even better. It created a caramel coating on the bottom of the cupcake that had just enough candy crunch but not enough to where you feel like your teeth are going to fall out. 

And for the grand finale...

They went over pretty well, to say the least and I will be making them again. Perfect combo of sweet and salty and I'm kind of proud of myself for whipping this up on just a hunch and a trip to Aldi. 

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Super Simple Cobbler

Okay, I found this on Facebook and I couldn't believe how easy it was until I tried it. And how good it is. You no longer need a fire pit and a grocery bag full of ingredients to enjoy a good chunk of cobbler.

No joke, all you need is frozen berries, cake mix and 7-up. Any berries you'd like or any frozen fruit even, lay them in a cake/brownie pan and sprinkle cake mix - your own or store bought - over them. Finally, pour a can - or two - of 7-up/sprite on top. Don't stir because the bubbles will give you that crisp topping but make sure all the flour and cake mix is covered and not dry. If you don't, you'll have small groups of unbaked cake on top. The second time I made it I used two cans or a can and a half of 7-up just to be safe.

I went with blueberries because they're my favorite. It looks weird, but trust me, it's amazing. 

After that, all you need to do is bake it for 45 minutes! 

(Side note - Weight-conscious or dieting? Try sugar-free cake mix and diet 7-up!)

Second time around I sprinkled some cinnamon and brown sugar on top about before baking and it made it even crispier and perfect on top. Scoop out and serve with whipped cream or ice cream and you're done! That simple. 

(Side note - Not dieting? Try Cinnamon Swirl cake mix!)

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Beach Bums

Well, it's been awhile since I've pulled out the oven mitts but now that life has settled down a little, I'm back in business. It also helps that I've basically turned my boyfriend's kitchen into a bakery. I may have taken over three or four cabinets but I don't think he and his roommate mind getting cupcakes for cabinet space.

I've had this idea for awhile, thanks to some help from Pillsbury and finally made it happen. It's super simple but super cute. Pick your favorite cupcake recipe and grab some Teddy Grahams.

Make the cupcakes like normal and your favorite frosting (I chose vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting) and smash up some graham crackers or some Teddy Grahams to use as 'sand'. This is where the fun stuff comes in. Find some drink umbrellas at the grocery store, plant a Teddy Graham belly-up and give him some shade. 

Be warned: I tried using some red icing to draw a beach towel underneath the Teddy Graham. Sounded like a cute idea until the icing ran off the cupcake and it looked like a Teddy Graham murder scene and less like a beach scene. 

Not only are they cute but the cinnamon Teddy Grahams added an extra kick to the vanilla cupcake, just enough cinnamon crunch to make it more than just a normal cupcake. 

Super simple, super cute and just in time to finally get some nice weather out here. 

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Feeling Green

They're back! Well, they have been for a little over a month but still, it's Shamrock Shake season and it won't last for long.

My typical mindset was in place and I thought, "Hey, I can turn that into a cupcake." So, I did.

I was nervous to attempt to imitate the flavor of the shamrock shake which is probably near impossible and I've got some learning to do.

With a little liquid inspiration - Anti-Hero in a can! - I experimented with Creme de Menthe and white chocolate.

I'm not a huge fan of mint but I do like Shamrock Shakes and didn't want to get too crazy with the Creme de Menthe, so I used white chocolate to balance it out. It worked, but because of my fear of too much mint the cupcakes could have used a little more.

I made your normal buttercream frosting, had some green sprinkles left over from Christmas and topped them with red candies to look the part.

I was on a cookie kick earlier that week so I tried to make cookies out of them as well. The green color is a little weird and of course this time I put a little too much Creme de Menthe in the batter, so eventually I'll find a happy medium. It all depends on your tastebuds.

One tip, ease up on the liquids with the sugar cookie recipe if you're adding Creme de Menthe, otherwise it gets really soupy and hard to deal with.

Green food can be kind of weird but it's fun to make and perfect for St. Patty's Day!

Sláinte!

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Talk about Throw Back Thursday

I was sifting through some old Facebook photos from college and found a gem.

I went to an art school for a reason. I'm not one for math and science but I still had to take those classes. In order to get out of getting frustrated and going in to detail on science projects, I turned them into cake.

I give you the "Hurricake." Complete with headless gingerbread men.

If there's one thing that my "Natural Disasters" class taught me is that when in doubt, make food for a final project. It always goes over well. People (by people I mean professors) tend to forget that you don't know what you're talking about and are blinded by your baked goods.

We had to show the five stages of a hurricane so I went out and found gingerbread man cookies, sprinkles, tree sprinkles and I think at one point I even threw a Matchbox car in there for some drama.

I couldn't tell you now the in depth descriptions in each category of a hurricane, but maybe you can from the cake carnage I created?

Category 1:

Category 2: I'm assuming the roof of the gingerbread house came off while the gingerbread man was sleeping.

Category 3: Now his arm fell off.

Category 4: You've lost your head and now the house is flooding. 

Category 5: Let's jus stay I don't want to be in that house. 

I must give myself some credit for creativity, making the hurricane out of funfetti representing whatever a hurricane destroys and scoops up in it's path.  

And all the gingerbread man sprinkles to show death. Kind of sick once you look back on it. But hey, had to pass a class and I like cake! 

Mixing up Evil, circa 2007. Complete with Starbucks apron and espresso wall art, still in existence. Special thanks to my roommates for putting up with this. 

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Happy Valentine's Day!

Hallmark Holidays are good excuses to bake and Valentine's Day is no exception when it comes to themed sweets. I admit, I fall victim to the cliches but what can I say, they're tasty.

First what every cupcake tends to be in the month of February: Red Velvet.

I added chocolate chips to the batter for a surprise but the frosting is what I'm most proud of... I took the leftover red chocolate chips and chopped them up with some white chocolate chips to mix into the frosting.

And it's pretty epic... The white chocolate balances out the dark and the dark chocolate balances out the sweetness of the cream cheese in the frosting. And that combo balances out the richness of the cake. 

I'm not finished yet! I'm on a constant quest to jazz up sugar cookies and the Valentine's theme was easy to go with. Found some red food coloring, made some white icing with heart sprinkles and voila!

Whether you're a fan of Valentine's Day or not, it's always a good excuse for a cookie or a cupcake ;). I should also apologize to my neighbors if I freaked them out by leaving cupcakes and cookies outside their doors.. I had too many! 

And now I leave you with this.. 

Happy Valentine's Day!


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I bet I can turn that into a cookie...

I've been falling behind on the blogging lately, but definitely not on the baking. I've been in experimental mode and tried a new cookie last week.

It was just another day, I was sitting on the couch eating my oatmeal squares when my boyfriend and I started talking about Golden Grahams and that thought came into my head, "I bet I can turn that into a cookie..." And I did. Who doesn't love cereal and who doesn't love cookies? Boom.

It was pretty simple really. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go full-out graham cracker so I added some peanut butter. However, they could probably use a tune up. Peanut butter can be overpowering and it did overpower the cereal so next time I'll have to ease up or ditch the peanut butter completely. Gives me an excuse to make another batch ;).

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