Pretty Doughnuts

I'm going to start this post off by saying that I love my friends.  You guys are amazing and continue to support me in so many ways.  I can't thank you enough.  So since I'm back in baking mode, there was one recipe I had to master - the doughnuts.  Now, last time they were not the prettiest things - thanks mainly to me not having any cookie cutters.

look at the ones on the bottom!!
so wrong

So my amazing friend at Arubula's Kitchen had sent me some cookie cutters - love you!!  :)  Yes - this is the same woman that I post about and rave about.  The doughnut recipe is from her - so go to her blog website as well people!!  It's informative and entertaining :)  Running Amuck with Arubula.  She is always my go to person when I have questions and we pretty much talk everyday, be it through text, facebook or phone (I do love when we do the trifecta). 

Now armed with my pretty cookie cutters (and I must say I love that they come in their own tin - that way I wont lose any, because lets face it, its me and I would lose some)

look at all those cookie cutters!!

(I think she got tired of me using shot glasses or whatever I had around to use as a cookie cutter - and here I was being inventive!) :)  Away I go cutting all the doughnuts up....let me tell you, so much easier when using the proper tools.  Common sense, right?!  I decided to go with all doughnut holes and went to town cutting away.  Then once chilled, it was time to fry.  And there was not one ugly doughnut in the batch. 

look at all those pretty babies!

Once I've got them all fried off, time to glaze them. 

glazed goodness

So - I snacked on them all day long.  These are truly addicting.  I made my sisters bring some in to work with them so I could get them out of my house.   My next attempt will be to make filled ones - and then I'm truly in trouble.  You will probably find me in the corner hiding with doughnut and filling all over my face and my sisters will have to pry the doughnut out of my hands.  If I make something twice, it means I'm a huge fan of it - and you should make it too. 

Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

The same day I found the S'mores Cookie, I found this gem - Rolo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies (really, check out My Baking Addiction - Jamie is amazing!)  Cookies with a Rolo inside of them!?  Printed it out and couldn't wait to make this!  I also called my dad to tell him about the new cookie I found.  His first words out of his mouth when I told him I found something new to bake was "Oh God.  What is it now?"  I replied "You are going to love me for this one - its a chocolate chip cookie with a Rolo stuffed inside of it".  And then my dad got all quiet and did his excited "OOOOOHHHH" remark that makes me laugh.  He was excited for it - I get my love of Rolos from him so I knew this was a no brainer to make. 

I froze the Rolos overnight and finally got going on my dough.  Then comes the fun part - scooping out the dough and rolling the Rolos into the middle of the dough.

a doughy pillow
of goodness

Then once, all rolled into large balls, I stuck the in the freezer to firm up before baking.

guess what?!  theres
a rolo in there! :)

Then bake away - 11 minutes later you get this

hello deliciousness

Once all cooled, of course I had to eat one - had to try it out.

gooey caramel
in the middle

SOO good.  My dad was a fan (shocking I know).  These are great to make ahead of time and just leave in the freezer until you're ready to bake them off.

S'mores Cookies

Believe it or not, I'm not a huge cookie person.  Yes I do like them, but if you gave me the choice of a candy bar or cake over a cookie, I would choose whatever was up against the cookie...unless the option was something I hate - then it would be a cookie all the way.  Specialty cookies are usually interesting, so when I saw this recipe I had to make them. I was searching around on My Baking Addiction for some recipes I haven't made yet when I saw this one.....Giant S'mores Cookies . I immediately printed it out.  Who doesn't like S'mores?!  It always brings me back to my childhood and summers - I still get excited for when summer rolls around and the idea of roasting marshmallows over a fire on the beach.  And I have to say - making these was so much fun!

This is an excellent kid friendly cookie to have them help you with.  They will have so much fun smooshing the marshmallows, chocolate bars and graham crackers into the cookies.  Let me suggest a short cut for you guys - the recipe calls for large marshmallows and for you to cut them up.  I suggest just buying mini marshmallows - such a time saver. I decided not to make them jumbo, just the size of my cookie scoop....excellent decision - so many cookies! :)

Now, the perfectionist in me was trying to make them all perfect and pretty before they went into the oven

hello :)

And then once I took them out of the oven, I saw that the more stuff there was on it and the better it was all smooshed together, the better they came out.





food porn shot :)



Once cooled, I couldn't wait to eat one!  Let me tell you - AMAZING!  They taste like a S'more! And my sisters and I can't stop eating them!  This is one that I will make again and again.  Run to the store - go get your supplies and bake these!!  You will not be dissapointed.  I acutally ended up making them again over the weekend because we went through them so quickly! 

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I've gotten a couple of requests to do a gluten free recipe.  I did some research and found some really good websites, and then put the information aside and kept telling myself I would get to it.  Then Ween called me and asked if I could make a cake for her coworkers birthday - and it had to be gluten free.  Perfect! Finally the motivation I needed to finally do that gluten free post!  And I had the perfect thing in mind.  I checked out a fantastic blog that is dedicated to all gluten free foods - its fantastic, everyone could get something out of it.  And of course, this is where I got my recipe from the Gluten Free Goddess.  (Another great website is Gluten-Free Desserts)  And when I saw the chocolate cake, it was perfect....who doesn't like chocolate cake?!  The recipe seemed to be easy, and I all needed was dark chocolate.  This was going to be so easy.

Not so much.  Let's just say I will never forget this day.  I had the chocolate broken into pieces already, but it needed to be chopped up, so I followed the recipe and did it in the food processor.  Now, we have an old, tiny one, and it works great! So I took that little guy out and started working in batches.  I was only on my second batch, and then all of the sudden, I smell it.  Something gross, and a something is burning smell.  I can feel the little guy is super hot, and then that's when I see it - smoke.  Smoke coming out of the food processor!! I quickly unplug it and empty the chocolate into the mixing bowl.  By now, the food processor is smoking - A LOT.  I flipped it over to see if I could get at the inside of it and saw that it was pointless to even try - I just put it on the kitchen floor and let it smoke itself silly. 

the culprit

It sat there on the floor, smoking for at least 30 minutes.  The smell, unfortunately, lasted much longer.  :(
So now that I've almost burned my house down, I turn my attention back to baking.  I throw the rest of the unchopped chocolate into a bowl - my green, warped one from the brown butter icing incident - and stick it in the microwave to melt it.  HUGE MISTAKE! Apparently the bowl didn't want to go into the microwave and when I took it out, the part that had previously melted was plyable.  :(  Time to throw away my favorite bowl. (Don't worry, it didn't do anything to the chocolate)  Luckily I have 2 more as back ups, but this one was the perfect size.



the melted part



inside the bowl

So now I'm down 2 kitchen items, and all I can do is hope that this thing doesn't explode inside my oven.  I fill up the springform pan with the batter.....



the batter was very tasty

and bake it off.  I am very happy to report that no cake exploded or anything burning happened! A perfect cake emerged and I was happy that I had gotten through this. 

looks fantastic!

I could of definatley used a drink after this experience.  I rank it right up there with the yeast incident.  But learn from my boo boo people - just melt the chocolate in the microwave in a non-warped bowl - it will be so much easier. And on the bright side of things, I get to go shopping for a new food processor! :)  Here's the link for the recipe :)

Flourless Chocolate Cake


I sent Ween off to work with the cake, praying that everyone, especially the birthday girl, would like it.  It's kind of nerve wracking when you send someone off with something you've never made or tasted before for a bunch of people to eat.  But they were excited when I said I would bake something - I hope I didn't let them down.  I hear from Ween later in the day and the cake was a hit!  So excited and happy that it went over so well. 

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

I found this on Savory Sweet Life and I highly recommend it! I made it the other day and my whole family loved it.  Easy and delicous cupcake with Andes Mints in them - who wouldn't like that?  Sign me up.  The batter was really easy to make - and the hardest part (and most tedious) was unwrapping all of those damn mints.  So I fill each cupcake up in the tins and then place a mint in the center

chocolate in chocolate
oh yeah

Then I press gently down on each mint to make sure that the mint is covered by the batter and off they go into the oven to bake.  Take them out and cool them off and then I get going on the frosting. 

Now, I love frosting.  A good frosting is a weakness of mine.  When one of my best friends got married over 6 years ago they had a great cake - with amazing frosting.  We still talk about that frosting to this day.  I'm a fan of the frosting that goes with this cupcake.  Chocolate Mint frosting.  Creamy and fluffy and not too strong in the mint department - personally sometimes I think that can kill a good cake or brownie or whatever it is if the mint is overpowering.  And it made A LOT of frosting, I had some left over.  Of course I had to eat some on it's own :)  I scoop it into a large ziplock bag and cut the corner and pipe away.  Then I had a bowl of chopped up mints waiting for me to top the cupcakes and sprinkled away.

delicious

Now, the only poo poo moment in this was when we went to eat them - the mint had fallen to the bottom and kinda stuck the paper liners of each cupcake :(  But they are delicious and no one seemed to mind.  I'm going to work on a way to have that not happen next time I make these - and there will be a next time :)

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

I was with my dad for our last full day together, and since he is recovering so nicely I brought over a cookbook (100 Best Delicious Chocolate) and let him pick out a treat for me to make.  After careful consideration, he chose a good one.  We didn't have everything for it - it was just the frosting part that we didn't have, but I said I could improvise and make a better one.  And I totally did. 

It only makes 12 cupcakes, so I thought perfect, nothing too big incase it's not that great.  I got going on baking - and I before you know it they are baking away in the oven. 



before baking

Once all baked off - time to cool. 



naked cupcakes

So the frosting calls for white chocolate - I had used all that we had inside the cupcakes - and I wasn't going to go out and get more for this.  My mom had plenty of regular chocolate in the house so I just whipped up my own frosting.  I put 2 different kinds of chocolate and some butter in a bowl and metled it away.  Then I spooned it over the tops of each cupcake and then sprinkled some mini chocolate chips ontop to make them look cute.



dont these look good?!

Once the chocolate was set, my dad and I split one.  I'm not really a fan of cinnamon in my chocolate, but these were pretty tasty.  Heays is a huge fan of these - she said the more you eat them, the better they are.  So if you are looking for something different, give these a try.   Quick and easy. 

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

makes 12

scant 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, plus extra for dusting

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup superfine sugar

6 1/2 oz white chocolate, broken into pieces or chips

2 large eggs

1/3 cup sunflower or peanut oil (i used vegetable oil and it worked just fine)

1 cup milk

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners.  Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.  Stir in the sugar and 4 1/2 oz of the white chocolate.
2. Place the eggs and oil in a separate bowl and whisk until frothy, then gradually whisk in the milk.  Stir into the dry ingredients until just blended.  Divide the batter evenly among the paper liners, filling each three-quaters full.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until well risen and springy to the touch.  Remove from the oven, let cool in the pan for 2 minutes, then remove and place them on a cooling rack to cool completely. 
3. Place the remaining white chocolate in a heatproof bowl, set the bowl over a saucepan of barely simmering water, and heat until melted.  Spread over the top of the cupcakes.  Let set, then dust the tops with a little cocoa powder and serve.

Brown Sugar Pound Cakes

I have been having some personal issues that needed legal action - and one of my friends was so helpful. I couldn't of done what I did without him.  So to thank him, I decided to make some treats for him and his wife.  He said it wasn't necessary, he was just glad to help out a friend.  But he had helped me so much I felt like I had to repay him the best way I knew how.  I emailed his wife to see if she would be at work so I could drop off the treats (unknown to him), and when I heard back that she would be working, I got to baking.

Now, I didn't know what to make - chocolate? Peanut butter? Coconut?  Some people are really picky with treats - so I figured go simple and with something that everyone likes - pound cake.  Pound cake in the shape of cupcakes :)  I pull out my Martha Stewart's Cupcakes Cookbook and get to baking.

Super simple batter - really can't go wrong with a pound cake recipe.  All ready to go



look at all the batter!

I scoop it out into the cupcake tins



ready to go into
the oven

And I bake them off.  Once all cooled and ready to get frosted - I get excited.  I LOVE this frosting.  It's so good.  My dad is a HUGE fan of it.  It's a brown butter frosting.  Basically you burn some butter - and it's fun doing it.  I get the butter to a nice brown color and then pour it into a bowl.




that bowl will never
be the same


Clearly, I wasn't thinking because I poured it into a plastic bowl I use all the time.  The butter was super hot - and warped my bowl a little bit :(  So now it looks fat and pregnant, but still good to be used.  I add everything to the butter and the frosting is ready! Spoon a little over each cupcake and then let the frosting set a little.



Sinfully good

  
Here you go my Yeasties! Bake away :)

Brown Sugar Pound Cakes

makes 28

3 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temp

2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs, room temp

3/4 cup buttermilk

Brown-Butter Icing

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.  Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and brown sugar until pale and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorportated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.  Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk, and beating until combined after each.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quaters full.  Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 25 minutes.  Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely.  Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
4. To finish, place cupcakes on a wire rack set over a baking sheet; spoon icing over cupcakes and let set.  Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Brown-Butter Icing

makes 1 cup

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

2 cups sifted confectioners sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp milk, plus more if needed

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, swirling pan occasionally, until nut-brown in color, about 10 minutes.  Remove from heat, and pour butter into a bowl, leaving any burned sediment behind.
2. Add confectioners sugar, vanilla and 2 tbsp milk to brown butter; stir until smooth.  If necessary, add more milk (up to 2 tbsp) a little at a time, just until icing is spreadable.  Use immediately.