MSC: Coconut Cupcakes Revised

Good morning ladies and gents, I bring you Coconut Cupcakes for this months MSC cupcake! Out with the spice cakes and in with the fresh! I know, right? I've been so ready for this, and I sense you have too. Funny though how I got myself so excited for coconut? I seriously used to despisseeee, loooaatthhee, and deeteessstt anything coconut. The only thing that would ever pass was a good Hello Dolly (mmm). But this day in age, coconut and I are like whoa. It takes me somewhere. It takes me to sand in my swimsuit bottoms, to frozen tropical drinks, to the new spray on sunscreen, to big sunglasses, and right down to where I wanna be, Sunny Isles Beach, or any beach for that matter. So here's to coconut, I'm glad we could final set aside our differences and be friends :). And I can't forget to toast one to Jennifer of Cinema Cupcake's for making this yummy selection.

Now, I'm going to have to slow things down for second because there's something I have to tell you. I kinda sorta managed to dream up even better way to enjoy such coconutty flavor. Last night, after scavenging through the pantry for my apres-dinner dark chocolate peanut butter cup, I spotted it. The mecca of all tropical, beachy, sand-between my toes goodness, that is crushed pineapple. I had a small lonely can. What could be better than a coconut and pineapple cupcake? Or better yet, a Pina Colada Cupcake? Haha. I know. Nothing is better than a Pina Colada on a beach. It tickles me with refreshment.

So there you have it. I'm bringing the beach to you and your kitchen, wherever you are. It doesn't matter how cold it may be outside, because these are sure to warm up your belly ;)

I'm not supposed to post recipes for MSC, but I will let you know how I revised these to their Pina Colada flair. First off, I decided to halve the recipe, because 10 cupcakes (or 11) are likely to disappear quick in my kitchen, and thus leave less time for the remaining cupcakes to haunt me in my sleep. They are so naughty like that.

Sorry, getting of track. Now basically all I did was take a small can of crushed pineapple, drained it in a bowl, and set the juice aside for later. I incorporated 2-3 tablespoons of the pineapple juice just after adding the vanilla extract. And then, after mixing in the coconut milk and dry ingredients, I stirred about 1/2-2/3 cup of crushed pineapple to the batter, mixing just until combined. Lastly, for the icing I went with a coconut/pineapple variation on cream cheese icing. I added 2 tsp of pineapple juice to the icing, and nearly 1/2 packed of sweetened coconut. You could do more, it's really however you prefer the strength of pineapple vs. coconut flavor. Note that by adding the fruit and juice I was assured my cupcakes would be nothing short of uber moist and tender. And they were, OH how they were just magical. Eeeeee! There's two left. And I'm thinking about those two. Right. Noooww.

Bon Apetit!

Double Dark Chocolate Chewies

Two words: Chocolate Coma. These cookies are a chocolate lovers DREAM! Plus, they are super duper easy :D.

I found these bad boys from Joy the Baker's blog. I just love her blog. So funny. So witty. I just like her. A LOT.

Anyhow, I adapted the recipe a little bit to my liking as the original calls for walnuts and golden raisins. I went with pecans instead of walnuts, only because I have them all over my house from the holidays; and as for the raisins, I just couldn't bring myself to put raisins in them. Oatmeal raisin cookies are my ABSOLUTE favorite, but for these utterly chewy, chocolatey, and almost brownie-like cookies... mmm nope. No raisins for me.

Lastly, I wanted to mention how I actually didn't have a full cup of chocolate chips on hand. I know, I know. I sense you're panicking like I did at the thought that these wouldn't have enough chocolate? Have no fear. I used the 1/2 cup I had, and then chopped up some Hershey's nuggets in both dark and milk chocolate :) (hence where I added the "double" to their name). I will definitely use those nuggets as add-ins again because these chunks were the best chunks.

They were spectacular.

I had four :/

oops...

Oh, you might need some of this.

Wait no, scratch that. I'd go for this...trust me.

Double Dark Chocolate Chewies

adapted from Joy The Baker's (that were adapted from King Arthur) Dark Chocolate Walnut & Golden Raisin Cookies

8 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate , 60%-72% (I used Ghiradelli)

3 Tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) butter

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup chopped in chunks of milk/dark chocolate bar (such as Hershey's)

In the microwave (or double boiler), gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir until all the chocolate melts.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. You don’t need a mixer, just do it in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the melted chocolate mixture, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, nuts, and whatever else suits you.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) baking sheet.

Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonful (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface they're done.

Remove and let cool. It's hard, I know.

Happy 2010!

Good morning! I'm baaaacccck. I know, I know... I've been MIA, lost, busy, lazy, crazy, whatever you want to call it. I've made all of you worried sick but have no fear, I'm alive and well! What has taken so long you ask? Well, I have no good excuse really. The best I got is life got in the way? But it wasn't all fun and games with out blogging. At times I felt like a small puppy sitting in a cold forest. Of course none of that matters now because the small puppy has found her way back to to the moon ;)

No but really, it's a new year, the holidays are behind us, and this is so great because now I can think straight. I've forced myself to sit down, think long and extra hard about some worthy resolutions, and I must say I do have a few good ones. I'm thrilled to announce that one of my resolutions is to consistently allow myself this time to post, write, bake, reflect, and enjoy all the fun this blog brings me.

Phew! Feels great to be back on my blog! Eeek. ;)

Please stay tuned this week. Can't wait to bake up some new recipes.

busy busy bee

So the last few weeks have been a little crazy, and its about time I got on to share with you a few things I've been baking up. Most of what I've made recently has gone to my church, as they just had their annual bake sale. The bake sale included an array of Lebanese foods and baked goods. Every year it get bigger and better, and everyone is encouraged to bring some of their own home baked goods to sell. This year I made several pies, cookies, cupcakes, cakes, and even candy. So I hope those who bought them my treats enjoyed them, and I promise they were made with much love and devotion.

Here are the goods...and let me just say that it took EVERY OUNCE of my will power to not dive right in to these.

The Butterscotch Maple Pecan Pie...

and Chocolate Chip Pie that I didn't capture :(

Mississippi Mud Cake. To. Die. For.

Cinnamon Roll Cake, from The Repressed Pastry Chef.

For the cookies I made scrumptious Monster Cookies, courtesy of my dear friend Grace who got me HOOKED on these; and Vanilla Bean Iced Sugar...

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes from Martha Stewart, of course ;). Please understand that it's almost stupid how these smell and taste like everything you want in a snickerdoodle.

Lastly, the Cookies & Creme Mint Chocolate Bark. I actually bought some cookies & creme bark at Whole Foods weeks ago (it was amazing I might add). So after considering making classic peppermint bark, I thought why not put these mint oreos to good use!

I'll be back on later to post recipes so sit tight.

Flavor of the Month: Cookies & Pumpkin Cheesecake Cuppies

This month's flavor, Pumpkin of course. I love love love Flavor of the Month. It really gets those creative juices flowing :), and I love seeing the intuitive ideas of other bakers out their. You can really go about baking/cooking with pumpkin in so many ways. I incorporated pumpkin & spice to a recipe I've been meaning to bake since I bought the book. Again, this one comes from Martha's Cupcake book, and is originally a cookies and cream cupcake.

Bakers on blogs like 52 Cupcakes have made the original recipe, which I still want to tackle... :/ But in light of Halloween, and America's favorite cookie coming out with bright orange creme filling, I thought it would more fun to make these a pumpkin cheesecake cuppie to match that festive orange.

So there you have it.

Don't you love how there is no need to prepare a crust? All there is to do is place a cute little Oreo in the liner.

These were incredibly easy to make, obviously I altered the original recipe to fit a pumpkin flavored cheesecake, but also to make a smaller batch. The only hard part with these cuppies is the waiting requirement. Obviously, being that they are a cheesecake, they need time to set. So brace yourself guys. These must be refrigerated after they're baked/cooled atleast 4 hrs or up to overnight! Trust me though, they're worth the wait. Please Enjoy! And at the end of the month you can check bakeat350's blog to see everyone who posted their pumpkin treats!

Cookies & Pumpkin Cheesecake Cuppies:

(Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes)

Ingredients:
24 whole cream-filled sandwich cookies, and 12 coarsely chopped

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, room temperature (I used the 1/3 less fat and it worked fine)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pure pumpkin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon, and ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg, and ground cloves

pinch of salt

2 large eggs, room temperature

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Place 1 whole cookie in the bottom of each lined cup.
2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, beat cream cheese until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Gradually add sugar, and beat until combined. Beat in vanilla.
3. Add pumpkin, spices, and then finally the eggs one at a time, beating to combine and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in chopped cookies by hand.
4. Divide batter evenly among cookie-lined cups, filling each almost to the top. Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set, about 22 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Refrigerate at least 4 hours (or up to overnight). Remove from tins just before serving.

S'mores

This past weekend I visited several friends down in dallas for a little red river rivalry. Unfortunately the Sooners didn't quite bring it home this year, but I did get to spend some quality time with old friends Thursday and Friday evening. This trip to Dallas was one of the many that I got to stay at the Wilshusen's residence. They really know how to keep my belly smiling by offering the best treats like JD's Chippery cookies or cupcakes from Society Bakery (these were voted one of Ellen DeGeneres top ten cupcakes!). My friends and I also managed to fix up our very own sweet treats. After Thursday night's indulgence of a S'mores Sundae at The Porch, we got to cook up our own s'mores fireside at my girl friends country BBQ shower. I was uber eager to blog about these s'mores because not only do I now know that I'm a PRO mallow roaster, but these s'mores were perfectly classic.

As far as the recipe, you probably could guess that these call for now more than graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey's chocolate.

Fix your self a nice fire (preferably outdoors)

Break a graham cracker sheet in half and place a good piece of chocolate on one end (I like to put chocolate on both ends. hehe)

Slide two marshmallows on the end of a long toothpick or wire.

Roast the mallows according to your liking. (I prefer them to be nicely golden brown, crisp on the edges but not tooooo overly done)

Once roasted, place mallows on the side of the graham cracker with chocolate, then sandwich the other cracker and pull away your stick/wire.

there you have it. a s'more. so simple. now eat. mmm.

Martha's Cupcake Club: Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

Hooray for PUMPKIN! The cupcake choice for the month of October comes from Kim of What the Whisk. She made the wise and festive decision that we bake up Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes. I've eaten so much pumpkin lately that I'm beginning to think that I might turn in to one. As for these pumpkin cupcakes, they were good. Really good. My little brother would say they were fantastic after he ate maybe 6? They made the entire house smell like thanksgiving. I was thinking to my self..."ya got some turkey to go with that cupcake?" haha.

With these I made mini cupcakes, just to switch it up a bit. I halved the recipe and came out with about 48 :/ (that's still a lot). I also decided to change up the frosting on these little cakes. Martha suggests you use cream cheese frosting. Well, I mean duh. Her cream cheese frosting is out of this world, and there is no doubt that it would make these cupcakes outstanding. But, (there is a but) I've indulged in many spice-like cakes recently and all have involved cream cheese icing. I needed something else. After browsing through the book, I found a very simple and SUPER fast icing: sweetened condensed milk glaze. Check page. It's a pretty basic, but what I like is that it gives the show to the pumpkin. All this glaze does is add a little extra creamy sweetness in your mouth. It's not overpowering and could certainly outfit many different flavors.

Finally, as you can see, I didn't get to making the marzipan pumpkins :(. I just didn't have enough time, so I dressed them with little candy corns, candy pumpkins, and pieces of pumpkin bark (so so so good, and still pretty cute?). The thing I like most about these pumpkin cupcakes is that they were not too rich and didn't leave you feeling guilty. Maybe that's because they were mini? Anyway, I'm excited to hear what others thought about these fall treats! Check out the Martha's Cupcake Club blog to see other bakers and what they came up with!

snickerdeliciousness

Fall is hitting Oklahoma and you can't understand how happy this makes me. It is so much more than a wonderful feeling. In order to harp on this feel good time, I decided to disregard all the crazy things going on this month and instead dig in to to the many recipes I'm wanting to bake. The other night, I thought I'd start out with a good timeless favorite: SNICKERDOODLES! Of course these aren't just any snickerdoodles, they are Martha Stewart's. Therefore, these cookies absolutely perfect in every single way :)

No, but really. They are. They smell sensational. And as far as taste, put yourself back to when you were five. Back to when you ran in to the kitchen from playing outside, grabbed two cookies and a glass of milk (just enough to spoil dinner right?). Then, just as you bite down you heard that slight, itty-bitty, eency weency crisp from the edge. Now it doesn't stop there my friends. After hearing that slight crisp is when the cookie tells you how perfect it is. How? Well, just after the edges you will find their flawless texture of a slightly dense, cake-like, moist goodness on the inside. You can NOT eat this slowly. You also are not allowed to have just one. Your body will not have it. It will have two. Atleast.

Some of Martha's recipe can be a little more complex than most, but not these cookies. They are so easy to make, and you probably won't even need to make a trip to the store because you should have the ingredients in your cupboard. Also note that though the recipe states they make 1 1/2 dozen, I came out with about 30? These rock. Trust me, my family once called me the cookie monster ;)

Snickerdoodles:

recipe from Martha Stewart's Cookies

2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 Tablespoons sugar for topping

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon for topping

Use these directions from the Martha Stewart Website, except the book is slightly different so bake at 350.

Flavor of the Month: Kevin's not-so microwavable Macaroni and Cheese

It's that time again! Bakeat350's fabulous Flavor of the Month and this month's flavor was a tribute to John Hughes. For those who don't know, the very famous writer/producer/director/etc. recently passed away. Hughes made movies like Sixteen Candles, Christmas Vacation, and The Breakfast Club to name a few. These movies are absolute classics, making this tribute a lot of fun.

With so many great movies, the decision making process was not so easy. At first I wanted to do something with Sixteen Candles. My younger brother turned 16 this month so the setup was pretty perfect. Unfortunately he already had a cake lined out, so that idea was out.

Next up, my boyfriend Oliver. He lovessss movies. And special thanks to him for bringing the 'ah hah' moment on this one. Think of the first Home Alone (written by Hughes) toward the end of the movie, when Kevin is still alone at home and has the house ready and booby trapped for the wet bandits to come. Before all the madness with the bandits Kevin seats himself for dinner and says the memorable line, "Bless this highly nutritious microwavable macaroni and cheese dinner and the people who sold it on sale. Amen." Haha... And what better to bake up than some homeade Macaroni and Cheese? I love Macaroni and Cheese and thank you again Oliver, your idea was PERFECT. This was my first attempt at baked mac & cheese and will NOT be my last. It was so so so so yummy, and stupidly easy. I really can not wait to make it again, and I also can't wait to see what everyone else at Flavor of the Month came up with!

Classic Baked Macaroni and Cheese

recipe from Southern Living October 2009

Makes 6-8 Servings

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 (10-oz.) block extra sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded*

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)

1/2 (16-oz.) package elbow macaroni, cooked

1. WHISK FLOUR INTO BUTTER

Preheat oven to 400°. Microwave milk at HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes. Melt butter in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-low heat; whisk in flour until smooth. Cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute.

2. WHISK IN WARM MILK

Gradually whisk in warm milk, and cook, whisking constantly, 5 minutes or until thickened.

3. WHISK IN CHEESE

Whisk in salt, black pepper, 1 cup shredded cheese, and, if desired, red pepper until smooth; stir in pasta. Spoon pasta mixture into a lightly greased 2-qt. baking dish; top with remaining cheese. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

*Whisk warm milk into the flour mixture to ensure a lump-free sauce.

*We also recommend shredding your own cheese for a creamier texture

Oliver's Birthday Cookie Cake

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday too you, happy birthday to....It's Ollie's Birthday! And I made him his favorite, cookie cake. He may have turned 23, but he's still young at heart. Without question his favorites have always been cookie cake or white on white. Plain. And. Simple. But hell, we all love a little cookie cake right?

This cookie cake was simply a blondie recipe spread on a pizza pan. This has become a "go-to" recipe for me, because not only is it so so good but it can be whipped up in a flash. It really is the best and as smitten kitchen puts it, they're infinitely adaptable. Whatever you want inside, you get. For Oliver's cookie cake I used chocolate chunks, butterscotch morsels, and just a little bit of toffee bits. This recipe keeps your blondie ooey gooey, and your cookie cake moist! The only thing it needs is a big scoop of vanilla ice cream :D

Hope Ollie enjoyed it and has the best birthday ever! Can't wait for our next celebration... MY BIRTHDAY! I'm thinking a sugar cookie cake with some killer icing?