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Homemade Twix - version 2.0

Back in March I made the first version of homemade Twix.  It was a good start, but I felt like there were things that I could improve on.  I had to make it better.  When I started making my own caramel, I knew that this would be the time to improve upon the Twix.  My thought was to take bits and pieces from things and then combine it into one.  I took my favorite shortbread recipe for the base, my caramel recipe, and then a chocolate ganache to top it off.  It sounded perfect - and it almost was. 

I was going to a dinner party at a friends house and I said I would bring dessert (shocking I know) - and this was the perfect reason to try out my idea for new and improved Twix.  I made the shortbread and it turned out awesome.  Once cooled, I made the caramel and let that set.  Then time to finish it.  I made the ganache and poured it over the top and let it set. I go back and check on it an hour later and the chocolate isn't set.  Fail.  I knew right then and there that a ganache on top of the caramel wouldn't set like it should.  I stuck it in the fridge until I had to leave.  So the top was soft, but it was still going to taste good. 

After a great dinner and amazing conversation, it was time for dessert.  The Twix got cut up and handed out and sure enough, chocolate slid off everyone's piece.  But it tasted amazing.  So I'm 2/3 of the way there getting this one right.  Once I make it perfect, recipe will be posted.  So for now, here's a picture of what it looked like.  Notice the chocolate is starting to slide off. 

yay - a food porn shot :)

Butterscotch Cupcakes

A couple of weeks ago it was one of my taste testers birthdays.  And I found out that she had a love of Butterscotch when I brought in some Butterscotch cookies for her.  So I searched and searched for a cake recipe for her.  And I finally found one - there were a lot of doctored cake box recipes, which is great, but that's not what I was looking for....I wanted it all from scratch.  Sometimes when I use a box mix I feel like I've cheated and think I could always do better if I did it all from scratch.  I got the recipe off another blog, and for technical errors I'm going to keep the blog unnamed.  Usually I happily promote other people, but this site was just bad - constant pictures for every step which I found extremely annoying and as something not to do to my own site (I mean who really wants to see a picture of me adding in eggs or pouring in sugar?! This site had pictures like that for everything!)  I printed out the recipe and made some notes along the way with what I wanted to change. 

The cake part turned out awesome!  The frosting however - awful.  Well, not true, it tasted amazing!!  It just didn't hold it's shape.  I iced the 2 layer cake and the frosting just slid off.......I had to keep it in the fridge.  I was almost embarrassed to give it to her because it looked like a hot mess.  She didn't care - and instantly tried some.  I told her to keep it in the fridge and that I will fix that frosting the next time I make it. 

Halloween is next week, so why not some fun festive cupcakes?!  I have fun paper liners and the remaining Butterscotch frosting I had left over was sitting in my freezer, taunting me.  I was going to make cupcakes and fix the frosting.  That was my mission yesterday.  I kept the cake recipe the same since I was happy with it.  Then the frosting.......I had a good idea of how to help it be better, hopefully it would work.  I added some confectioners sugar and some milk and whipped it up.  It held it's shape! I happily frosted each cupcake and put a fun pumpkin candy corn on top of each one. 

as decorative as I got

I couldn't find the supplies for what I really wanted to do, so I went with this.  But I'm still not happy with the frosting.  Still tastes great, I just need to tinker with it a little more.  Once it's ready - I will share :)

Mocha Sandwiches

If the last Mocha cookie I made was too strong for you, then this one is a nice alternative.  Not as strong in the coffee department and a lot easier to make than the other ones.  A mocha cookie with a coffee icing in between layers.  Yum. 

I think I might of put too much frosting in this one :)

The batter is simple.  And before you know it you're rolling it into a log and wrapping it in plastic wrap to chill for a couple of hours.  Once it's firm, time to slice them and bake them off.  And who doesn't love a cookie like that?  Once all baked off and cooled, time to frost and sandwich.  I have to admit, these aren't the prettiest looking cookies, but they are tasty.  It's kind of all one color and the frosting isn't appealing looking at all, but it is yummy.  But aside from aesthetics, these will please anyone who loves Mocha.  :) 

Mocha Sandwiches

makes about 20 sandwich cookies

1 tbsp coffee liqueur or milk

2 tsps instant espresso coffee powder or instant coffee crystals

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 egg

1 oz semisweet chocolate melted and cooled

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Coffee Icing

1. In a small bowl stir together coffee liqueur and espresso powder; set aside for a few minutes until powder dissolves.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar and baking powder.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in liqueur mixture, egg, and melted and cooled chocolate until combined.  Beat in flour and mix until combined.  Lay out plastic wrap and place dough on plastic wrap.  Shape dough into a log.  Wrap tightly and chill for 4-24 hours or until firm enough to slice. 
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.  Cut log into 1/4" slices.  Place slices 2" apart on cookie sheet.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are firm.  Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute.  Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
4. Make icing and spread the bottom half of the cookies with 1 tsp of icing.  Top with remaining cookies.  Let icing set. 

Coffee Liqueur Icing:  In a small bowl stir together 1/4 tsp instant coffee crystals and 2 tbsp whipping cream until crystals dissolve.  In a medium bowl stir together coffee mixture, 2 cups confectioners sugar and 1 tbsp coffee liqueur.  Add enough whipping cream (1-2 tbsp), 1 tbsp at a time, to make spreading consistency.

Homemade Oreos

I was talking with one of my friends a couple months ago about these, and I'm finally getting around to them.  These are simple to make - but I'm going to warn you - they are huge!  Much bigger than an Oreo and if you try to make them smaller they just don't come out right (yes I tried all different types of sizes and baking times on this).  So stick with the original size and you will get a nice giant soft cookie with delicious filling in between. I might of pressed down too hard to flatten them, I will try again next time to make them not so flat and maybe they wont turn out so huge.  I'm a dunker with my Oreos so this was heaven for me.  They were soft and I needed no milk to dunk them in.  I seriously couldn't wait to hand these out to people. 

I couldn't wait to try one!

Since I was convinced I pressed down too hard, I made them again over the weekend.  And my Dad was extremely happy about this. I made the dough and scooped them all out and instead of pressing down with a glass I used my hand and lightly pressed the tops down to flatten them.  Into the oven they went........



not ginormous this time

.....and I was so happy to pull them out of the oven and see them the right size!! Time to fill once all cooled. 



still a good size cookie :)

Everyone was excited to eat them, especially my Dad.  He asked if I was going to take any home with me, I said no.....he got very excited.  I learned my lesson with the cupcakes I made for him to not take things home when it's something he loves - if I do then I just have to make him more :)   
These are easy to make, so don't be scared off by them.  I promise you, when I say something is easy - it's easy.  If it's hard or there are a ton of steps to it, I tend not to post the recipe for it since I know most of you wont try it out.  I suggest making these - and you will want to make them again and again.  It will become a staple in your cookie recipes. 

Homemade Oreos

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for flattening cookies

10 tbsp (1 1/4 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 large egg, room temperature

Vanilla Cream Filling

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.  In a bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream sugar butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add egg; beat to combine.  With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; continue beating until dough is well combined.
3. Using a 1 1/4" cookie scoop, drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2" apart.  Dip bottom of a glass in sugar; press to flatten cookies to about 1/8" thick.  (You may need to carefully remove dough from glass with a thin metal spatula). 
4. Bake cookies until edges are firm, 10-12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.  Transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. 
5. Place cream filling in a pastry bag and pipe 1 tbsp of filling onto the flat side of half the cookies.  Place remaining cookies on top, and gently press on each to squeeze filling to edges. 

Vanilla Cream Filling:

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

With an electric mixer, cream butter and shortening until well combined.  On low speed, gradually add confectioners sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add vanilla and beat to combine.  

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

I didn't know there was such a thing as this until my sisters friend had asked me to make it for her.  She said the color is the hardest thing to get right - and after making this I totally see why.  It's very similar to Red Velvet, but the color is different and there's not as much cocoa powder in the recipe and the frosting has marshmallow in it along with the cream cheese.  The thing I was most worried about was the color.  It took all of the blue food coloring I had (and I had to make more blue out of my remaining colors) - it was such a pretty blue. I was happy.  And then I added the cocoa mixture - and happiness went away.  My beautiful blue batter turned into a bright green! 

of course I was freaking out!

After they were all scooped out and I put them in the oven, I reminded myself that they will change color while they bake - hopefully they would come out more blue than green.  But look at the color of those things - who was I kidding?! 20 minutes later, time to take them out.......

not blue like they should be

.....ok, so they turned out a weird shade of green with some blue in it.  My only worry was that J would be unhappy with the color.  Once they were all cooled, time to make the frosting.  Easy frosting, put it in a ziplock bag and piped away.

pretty cupcake

Time for her birthday party....Heays and I go and bring in her cupcakes.  J was so happy.....we laughed a little about the color and I told her my story and showed her pics, it was a good laugh.  She handed some out to everyone, but most importantly J was happy with how they tasted.  That made me happy :) If I make these again, I will be using more than 2 oz of blue food coloring.

Blue Velvet Cupcakes

Makes 24 cupcakes or two 9" cakes

Cake:

2 cups sugar

2 sticks butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 oz blue food coloring

2 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp vinegar

Frosting:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, room temperature

1 cup Fluff

1 (1 pound) box confectioners sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake tins with paper liners or if making a cake, grease and flour cake pans.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter, mix until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs 1 at a time and mix well after each addition.  Mix cocoa and food coloring together and then add to sugar mixture; mix well.  Sift together flour and salt.  Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk.  Blend in vanilla.  In a small bowl, combine baking soda and vinegar and add to mixture.
3. Pour batter into pans.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Remove from heat and cool completely before frosting.
4. Frosting: Blend cream cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl.  Add marshmallows and sugar and blend.  Frost your cake or cupcakes. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had leftover pumpkin just sitting in my fridge, waiting to be used.  And then I saw this recipe and thought I'd try it out.  This is an amazing cookie.  Easy, quick, and something everyone will love.  The frosting that goes on top of these makes the cookie so much better.  You can omit the frosting if you like, but I would suggest sticking with it - it pulls the cookie together nicely.  If you don't want to make this a chocolate chip cookie you can easily switch the chips out for nuts or whatever you would like to put in it. 

delicious

The cookie is super quick to make, and before you know it they are all baked off and cooling. 

yum

If you don't want to frost them, then you can eat them as is.  But I really suggest going with the frosting.  It's quick and easy and you just have to dunk the tops of each cookie in the frosting and then you are good to go.  Let them set for a little bit and then it's time to eat.  You will be a fan of these.  And even better is that they are super easy.  Who doesn't love a cookie like that?!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes about 40 cookies

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or whatever you want to use)

Brown Sugar-Butter Frosting

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.  In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar.  Beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally.  Beat in egg until combined.  Stir in pumpkin and flour.  Mix in chocolate chips.
3. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2" apart onto prepared cookie sheets.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer cookies to wire rack and let cool.  Frost each cookie with frosting, let set.

Brown Sugar-Butter Frosting:  In a microwave safe bowl heat 6 tbsp butter and 1/3 cup packed brown sugar until butter melts.  Stir until combined and then add 2 cups confectioners sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract.  Stir in enough hot water (2-3 teaspoons) to make a smooth, spreadable frosting.  Immediately frost cookies.  (If frosting becomes grainy, add a few drops of hot water and stir until smooth).