Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes

I made these last night for dinner with my grandparents. They loved them! I got the recipe off of Salt and Chocolate's blog and they are amazing. I don't think I will ever try another chocolate cup cake recipe again, they were that good. They are dense and moist and have a very chocolatey flavor that works great with the carmel frosting. I threw a couple chocolate chips into the batter and on top for decoration, which worked nicely.




Chocolate Cupcakes
3 cups of AP Flour
2/3 cup of cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of cold water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350.Line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl and set aside. In a separate bowl whisk together the water, oil, vanilla extract, and vinegar. In a large bowl add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and 1/2 of the wet and mix to combine. Then add 1/2 of the remaining dry ingredients and the rest of the wet, stir to combine. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix for 2 to 3 minutes until combined. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and bake for 17-20 minutes or until the tops of the cakes are set. (mine took about 30 -35 minuets, but my oven has issues) Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then finish cooling on a wire rack to cool completely.

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
12 oz of cream cheese, softened
4 oz of unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons of heavy cream (I didn't have any on hand, but it turned out fine with out it)
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/3 of a cup of caramel ice cream topping

Cream together the cream cheese and the butter until they are light and fluffy. Then add in the heavy cream and vanilla extract and stir to combine. Sift in the powdered sugar in 3 additions making sure to mix well after each addition. Add in the caramel sauce. Set this aside to chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. Frost each cupcake and if desired drizzle with extra caramel sauce.

Zucchini Bread

This is my Grandma Elaine's recipe and every one in my family loves it. Sometimes when I bake things, people don't eat them all. They have one or two and then let them sit on the counter till they are stale and hard. This is the one recipe that never last more then three days in my house, even when I double the recipe it still gets eaten. The last time I made this I had them sitting on the cooling rack on our kitchen and walked upstairs to talk to my mom about something. I hear something moving in the kitchen so I go back down to see what it is. I find my dog Daisy with her front paws on the counter devouring a loaf of my bread. Even though she got in trouble, she knew it was worth it.

The half eaten loaf of bread thanks to Daisy

Zucchini Bread
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all dry ingredients together with the grated zucchini. Mix in all wet ingredients and pour into 4 small greased loaf pans or 2 large loaf pans. Bake for 45 min. for small pans and an hour and 15 min for large. Let cool on wire rack and cut into slices.

Blueberry and Raspberry Crisp

hot out of the oven!

This is the same idea as the peach crisp I posted with out pictures a few weeks ago, just I put this in individual dishes and used what I had on hand - frozen berries! This was soo good hot out of the oven with a scoop of ice cream on top of it. I really like most anything with a crisp, especially this recipe for it. I really like this recipe because its very rough and you can make it for one or a bunch of people with out much problem and its very easy to adjust to your personal tastes.



Blueberry and Raspberry Crisp
Filling:
1 cup blueberries
1 cup raspberries
1/3 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar

Crisp:
2/3 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 tps cinnamon
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 tps salt
1/4 cup raw sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all filling ingredients together. Place filling in four individual oven-proof ramekins. Mix all crisp ingredients together and top the filling filled ramekins with it and bake for 25-35 minuets or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

so tasty....

oven baked chicken

This chicken is super simple and super tasty. I only roughly crushed the crackers with my hands because I was lazy and don't have a food processor, but I'm sure it would work out just as well or better if they were crushed finer. These are definitely best served right out of the oven. I had a few leftover that I put in the refrigerator because my dad and cousin weren't home for dinner that night and they were soggy the next morning.




Oven Baked Chicken
1/2 roll ritz crackers, finely crushed
2/3 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
3 chicken breasts
salt and pepper

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees F. Whisk the egg and milk together. Mix the salt and pepper into the flour. Cut the chicken breasts into 3-4 evenly sized strips. Roll in flour and the dip into egg mixture then coat in the crushed crackers. Lay the strips of chicken a few inches apart on a lightly oiled baking sheet and place in the oven for 35-45 minuets till fully cooked and crisp.

Brownie Cookies

My new alice in wonderland plate.

These cookies are fantastic. They really do taste like a brownie on the inside. I ended up giving half of the cookies away to my grandparents and aunt(along with some of the banana cake and other yummy things I have yet to post) and freezing the other half. I eat them right out of the freezer, since I'm too lazy to defrost them. There still really really good that way. Also, excuse the not so good pictures, it was a rainy day again.





Brownie Cookies
from Cafe Johnsonia
14 Tbsp. butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1-2 tsp. vanilla extract

Whisk together:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place butter and unsweetened chocolate in a large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for several minutes on 50% power until melted. Whisk to combine. Add the brown sugar and the cocoa powder. Whisk well until smooth. Let the mixture cool slightly. Add egg and egg yolk, whisking well again. Add the vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and whisk well between additions. (You may need to switch to a wooden spoon towards the end. Add the chocolate chips

Use a small ice cream scoop (1 Tbsp. size) or two spoons to drop tablespoon size balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake cookies for about 8-9 minutes. (Check a little before just to make sure...) The cookies will look dry on top, but will be soft in the middle.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet and then remove to a cooling rack to let the chocolate chips set before storing.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Banana Cake

excuse the not so good pictures, it was a rainy day.

This was the best banana cake I have ever had. EVER. It was so light and soft. I was not so sure about the coffee icing but it complimented it so very well. I would have never imagined the combination to taste as good as it did. I could seriously eat this everyday and never get sick of it. I have plans to make this again and again.


Banana Cake
from Cathie Cooks Food
3 - 5 over ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

(I also added a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg)

Whip the banana's for about 5 minutes. Then add eggs and vanilla

Combine next five dry ingredients in a bowl, then add to the banana mixture.

Pour the batter in a greased and floured pan. Any size will do. This mixture will also fit nicely into 2 loaf pans.

(I dont have any load pans, so I used 6 mini bundt pans and baked then for 25-30 minuets)

Bake at 350 F for 40 minutes, and then check with a clean dry knife. If it comes out clean it's done. If not give it another 10 minutes and check again.

The lovely dripping frosting.

Icing:

I use a coffee flavoured icing for this cake. It might sound wierd, but it's really delicious.

(I didn't have any coffee already made so I just added a few instant coffee granules and it worked just fine)

1 cup of confectioners sugar
Drizzel in some coffee a little at a time and mix until you have the consistency you want, and then ice the cake!

Pasta and Peaches

I am soo sorry to have taken so long with this post and also not having any pictures for this one. I was too tired to be bothered with trying to take pictures in the dark and my dad just ate the last of the leftovers. The pasta is one of those things I put together by how it looks, not by measurements. Its very good, very simple and quick. This would be perfect for severing a lot of people.

Baked Pasta With Ricotta and Pesto
1 bag/box ritoni, cooked
smallish container ricotta cheese
1/4-1/2 cup pesto, depending your taste preference
1 jar tomato sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 9 by 13 pan

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix the pasta, pesto and ricotta cheese together in a bowl and then spread the mixture in to the pan. Cover with tomato sauce and top with cheese. Bake for 15 minuets and then turn the oven on broil and continue until top is golden brown and bubbly. Cool for a few minuets and serve.


This was absolutely amazing with vanilla ice cream and it was so easy. It turned out prefectly and seems almost fool proof. You could throw in anything, deppending on what you had and it would turn out great. My mom sugested throwing in a handfull of blueberrys next time, which would add a wonderful flavor to it. I'm sure you could use a lot of different fruits in this.

Peach Crisp
inspired by Smitten Kitchen
fruit base:
2 pounds peaches
1/4 cup sugar (use more or less depending on how ripe your fruit is)
1/4 cup flour

crisp topping:
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
2/3 cup oats
2/3 cup flour
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup slivered almonds
pinch or two of salt

Cut the peaches into slices and place in a oven proof pan (I used a curcular 10 inch pyrex pan/bowl for this.) Mix all the ingredients for the fruit base together and smooth so the top is somewhat even. Next, mix all of the ingredients for the crisp topping together and sprinkle on top. Bake for 30-40 minuets at 400 degrees. Serve hot with vanilla ice cream or by its self.

*Cough*

So I haven't got much baking done since I had a full weekend of shows and I started to get sick tuesday. Hopefully I'll be better soon. I only have this weekend and next weekend left of my show, so once that is over I will have a lot more free time.

To make up for lack of cooking I leave you with a terribly adorable picture of my dog Violet.

Cream Scones

I love scones, but I'm very pick about them. I really don't like those dry, hard things some places try to pass off as scones. These were soft and had a very nice texture to them. After I had made these I decided to make some butter as well, which was delicious on a nice warm scone. This recipe was very easy. I've already made it twice this week, once with currants and once with cherries. They were both very tasty and I plan on playing around with different flavor combinations and whatnot.




My mother took these and some muffins I made with her to Nebraska this week and my Grandma and aunts loved them, which is always nice to hear. I am going to have one for breakfast tomorrow, that is if there is any left.

I have no idea why the actual recipe's font size is so tiny, nothing I do seems to fix it. sorry about that!

Cream Scones
from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours
1 large egg
2/3 cup cold heavy cream
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons butter, but into small pieces and cilled
3/4 cup moist currants

Center a rack in the oven and pre hear the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon mat.

Stir the egg and cream together.

Wish the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly working with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between - and thats just right.

Pour the egg, cream and currants over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, come together. Don't overdo it. Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place it on the baking sheet. (At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking- just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake the scones for 20 to 22 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firmish. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for them to cool to room temperature.

How were those cupcakes?

I think its safe to assume they liked them...

My aunt licking the remains of cupcake off her plate.