Whoopie! Pie for Valentine's Day

Background pic from munchcast.com

Hi there! It's about one o'clock in the morning here, and after going through waaaay too many cans of Diet Sunkist and trying unsuccessfully to complete my continuous interactions assignment (well, it started to compete with a "Glee" rerun and this new pizza crust recipe I wanted to try), I'm finally calling in the towel for the night.

Weekends are kind of strange for me this year, I'm learning. While it's nice to sleep in and spend time with Josh, usually I knock out most of my homework on Saturday and Sunday (this is kind of a lame schedule during football season!). I actually look forward to taking my break during the week, you know, just by going to class. And I'm even more excited for Valentine's Day on Monday, even though I still haven't quite figured out Josh's gift yet! :-/

If you're still trying to figure out a good gift to give a loved one (or friend, child, coworker, etc.), this recipe I'm going to share with you is a fine choice. A lot of blogs are recommending these, and for good reason. I was curious and gave one of the recipes a try. What a pleasant surprise! The resulting whoopie pies don't taste the way I remembered (from my childhood), but they sure are good. They take only a few minutes to make and look very inviting (and a little nostalgic!) once prepared.

I used cake mix for my pies and enjoyed the taste considerably, especially with the cream cheese frosting (and especially when refrigerated). I used a recipe from www.grouprecipes.com. I will advise, however, that my pies took about half the time the recipe recommended to cook and spread out considerably on the pan. Also, the tops are sticky and will make your fingers red when you're eating them, so it's good to have napkins or wipes handy.

 

Red Velvet Whoopie! Pies

You need:

• 1 boxed cake mix (it can be any flavor, really. Mix and match! I just think red velvet will look great for Valentine's Day.)
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup oil

 Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In mixing bowl beat all ingredients on medium low speed until well combined.
 
3. Drop by 2 tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes, until puffed and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on rack until completely cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

While the website I used above offers up a good icing recipe, I chose a recipe from www.thegirlwhoateeverything.blogspot.com instead, because I just LOVE a good cream cheese frosting with red velvet cake. This tastes an awful lot like a cheese cake, so make sure to add more powdered sugar and milk if this is a concern.

You need:
 
4 oz cream cheese, softened
4 tbs (½ stick) butter, softened
2 cups (8 ounces) powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
splash of milk if needed 

Instructions:
1. Cream together the cream cheese and butter. Add vanilla.

2. Add powdered sugar gradually, until mixture meets your preferred consistency.

3, Spoon on one half of the whoopie pie. Be generous! :) Place the other half on top. You can also choose to roll the edges of the pie in crushed pecans, white chocolate shavings, or colored sprinkles.

I hope all of you have a great Valentine's day and that you really enjoy the company you keep. And I'm going to end this with one of my favorite love songs by the amazing Little River Band, "Reminiscing." It's so old-fashioned and romantic. Also, I had to include a quick scene from "The Other Guys," one of Josh's favorite movies, because every time I think Little River Band, I think about the Prius "LRB" scene!

 Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg: now THAT's an odd couple!

Last-Minute Super Bowl Ideas

So, today's the big day. Today, two historic teams will meet on a neutral site and battle it out to decide who will ultimately win the coveted Lombardi trophy! It's also a great time to get together with family and friends, to drink and be merry, and of course, to eat good food.

Perhaps you're lazy, like me, and are planning to go to the store today, and you know, throw something together last minute. Good ideas include nachos and dip, stromboli bites, bacon-wrapped hotdogs, chicken wings, chili, or ahem, Papa John's (you know what my choice will be!). Well, here is a colorful, fun, and tasty snack/dessert that can be made in about five minutes: chocolate-covered pretzels!

Last post, I was talking about that savory combination of sweet and salty that is so delectable, but I kind of advised against the chocolate-bacon thing (at least, not semi-sweet chocolate. Read and check it out!) Consider this a tamer version of that, where you still get a rich, complicated flavor, but it's much more balanced out.

What I also like is, if you're trying to watch your weight or caloric intake, this snack is a pretty safe choice, as Super Bowl snacks go. About 20 mini Snyders pretzels equals 110 calories, and I believe about 9 Hershey's kisses equals 125 calories. These are a guilt-free option that might be low in nutrition but, yay!, they're also low in calories. They're also kind of addicting. Josh and I polished off our batch in about an hour.

Chocolate-covered pretzels are classic, and this recipe is just one of many takes on it. This recipe requires only three ingredients (yes, those are Hershey's kisses and M&Ms!)

Chocolate-Covered Pretzels
You Need:

1 bag Hershey's kisses
1 bag M&Ms
a loooot of pretzels (okay, I'm exaggerating. You probably need a bag. I think the checkerboard ones work best, but you can pick and choose!)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. On a greased cooking sheet, spread out all of your pretzels.
3. Place a kiss on top of each pretzel. Bake for 1-3 minutes, until kiss is slightly melted.
4. Take out of oven and place an M&M on top of the kiss. Cool in the refrigerator.

Some pretzel decorating ideas:

To really make your pretzels unique and interesting, you can sub the kisses for Hershey's Hugs (it looks like zebra-print a little), for another mini chocolate bar (I think a Reese's or 3 Musketeers would be fabulous!), white chocolate, or a caramel candy (it would taste something like a turtle then).

You can also use, for example, sprinkles or peanuts, instead of M&Ms on top. Or (I love this idea!) you can choose to customize the M&M colors to your team (I think WalMart now carries those custom colored M&Ms. It's a little easier to do Green Bay if you're not super picky about the shade of green; you can just pick the colors from a regular MM bag and eat all of the other colors. I'm kind of weird, and make it a personal mission to eat all of the orange M&Ms first. I know it sounds crazy; maybe it's the Tiger coming out in me (shameless Clemson plug! Go Tigers!)

You can also use these tasty bites to surround another dessert, like a cake or pie (just set them on the serving dish around it) for a pop of color. There are so many different things you can do, which is why I'm recommending this as a dessert/snack not just for the Super Bowl, but for every day as well (I bet they'd be great to pack in lunch boxes!)

I absolutely love chocolate-covered... everything (except, apparently, bacon). I think this runs in the family, because my cousin is an extremely talented chocolate-covering artist (sorry Bridget, I don't know what to call it!). The things she makes are really pretty and creative, and I hope, hope, hope I can get her to come on here and show it off in the future! But anyway, here's another chocolate-covering idea for the Super Bowl (I got this idea from my Senior Prom, where we had a chocolate fountain.)

You can purchase dipping chocolate (or white chocolate or caramel) at the grocery store (you'll probably have to get a few packages), as well as an assortment of dippers. The dippers can be anything from the sweet (cheesecake cubes, brownie bits, rice krispy treats, marshmallows) to the salty (potato chips, pretzels) to healthier options (strawberries, pineapples, apples, graham crackers). Just set them all out (put the chocolate in the slow cooker, if you want, to keep it at an appropriate temperature the whole game) for a unique and interactive dessert! I really like this idea a lot. Go crazy! And may the best team win!

Maybe not this crazy. But seriously, you can purchase a chocolate fountain for around $30 dollars or rent one! Image from sakida.com.

Julie's Weird Experiments #1: Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bacon

It's time for the first edition of:

I just want to start by saying: I'm so sorry for being MIA for the past few days! I was overloaded with classwork, so the baking and blogging was put on hold for a little while. Ah, what a week. I have a few ideas for future posts that will both increase post variety and enable me to post more often. I'm pretty excited about them!

Anyway, even though I was up to my ears in data diagnostics tools and technology acceptance models, I still found time to make (and devour!) some tasty treats. The recipes I'll unveil over the next few days are a) easy to make, b) good for transporting, c) can be eaten sans fork and plate, and most importantly, d) are dangerously good! As I mentioned before, I'm going to share a few recipes for the Super Bowl, and this next recipe (and also, Weird Experiment) is definitely something that will satisfy your favorite sports fans.

So this here is a chocolate chocolate chip cookie with bacon in it. To those of you who might be recoiling from this blog in horror, I'll try to explain...

For the past year or so, I've been noticing more and more blog entries dedicated to the unlikely duo that is chocolate and bacon. Chocolate-covered bacon is becoming more and more popular, with its own legion of devotees to the unusual flavor, and from food festivals to gourmet restaurants, the pairing is gaining in intrigue and trendiness. The idea is that you mix the sweet, rich smoothness of chocolate with the savory, salty crispness of bacon, and the result is a complex and unusual dessert. In theory, anyway. Despite being tempted to try out a few recipes here and there (hello, bacon brownies!), I finally decided to give it a shot myself. The results? Here's my honest opinion:

First off, the cookie is very aesthetically pleasing and like it came from a bakery or a package. It looks super chewy and just... yum. Josh was initially quite excited to try one until I hinted that there was a "surprise" inside (yeah, I'm a little jerk and I didn't tell him what I was making!). After cautiously taking a couple of bites, our consensus was that the cookie tasted pretty good, amazing in fact, but the bacon parts were a little too chewy. And then there was the matter of the meaty aftertaste. You just don't expect that with innocent-looking chocolate chip cookies. Of course, part of this reaction could stem from the fact that we're conditioned to eating our cookies with, you know, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, oatmeal, fruit bits, (begrudgingly) walnuts... My point is, perhaps the texture wasn't great, but perhaps the IDEA of the whole thing wasn't great (to us, anyway). To try to get more of a handle on it, I ate a few more cookies (I promise, it was just for that... for science!), but more than anything, I just really felt disappointed.

This isn't to say that all chocolate and bacon concoctions aren't good, or to even dissuade any of you to try it out! I think part of our problem is that a) I like my bacon slightly undercooked, so there's less crisp to it. I think, for this to work, and in retrospect, a really crunchy bacon will be more ideal, and b) I love extra dark cocoa powder, which is what I used. I think a sweeter cocoa powder and a milk chocolate will be more ideal to better counteract the bacon flavor.

So, you're probably wondering why I'm recommending a cookie that I openly admitted to not enjoying myself? Well, without the bacon, this cookie recipe is amazing. These chocolate chocolate chip cookies are some of the best cookies I've ever had, hands down. They look good, they're really moist and pack a lot of flavor. They're also great with milk (or, as our picture depicts, Coke Zero).

Basically, if you want to bake a real crowd-pleaser, these cookies may just be it (but I'll have a few more recipes later this week too!) Just, leave out the bacon, or if you're brave, make it really crispy.

Note: I retrieved this recipe from allrecipes.com. The website is amazing!

The Recipe:

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies with Bacon

You need:

6 slices maple-cured bacon, chopped

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup softened butter

2 eggs

2 tsps vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks

 Instructions:

1.	Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate. Crumble.
3.	Beat the sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer in a large bowl until fluffy and smooth. Stir in flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix in the chocolate chips and bacon. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4.	Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Let stand 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Good luck with your cookies, and may your Super Bowl experience be a good one! Also, if you have any weird experiment ideas, let me know. I had waaaay too much fun with this!

 

The Play-offs Lament (and Great Blondies!)

Normally, I love the NFL playoffs, and here's why (take note, BCS oversight committee!): in the NFL, every game is important, but losing a single game or even having a losing season (I'm looking at you, Seattle) doesn't automatically eliminate a legitimate team from contending for the whole shebang down the line. In other words, if your team loses the first game of the season, there's still reason to keep watching, because, lo and behold, said team may still hoist the Lombardi trophy in the air come February.

Also, the NFL playoffs provide me with 3 consecutive weekends of great t.v. (and that's not even counting the Super Bowl!), ample reasons to order Papa John's (ohhh, yeah!), and temptation away from a highly addicting video game known as "Kinectimals". Oh, and studying. The play-offs offer a respite from studying. I forgot about that. ;-)

The NFL play-offs are also an excellent reason (read: excuse) to experiment with all things sugary! Once the big games start, it's time to start thinking about delicious treats that also work well for entertaining purposes. The sweets should be scrumptious, of course, but they also should be easy to eat (i.e., no need for a fork and all that jazz) and relatively mess-free. The possibilities are endless. But...

After what happened on Saturday, I feel pretty bummed about the play-offs in general. If you haven't guessed it, or don't follow pro football, my team, the Atlanta Falcons, kind of got creamed by the Green Bay Packers. Of course, I'd argue that the score is deceptive, especially since the Dirty Birds turned it over in the end zone a few times. But nonetheless, total bummer. I was planning a Super Bowl menu that revolved around red, black, and white. And I have a lot of experience with this:

I baked this cake for my father-in-law, Chip's, birthday. Yum!

This one is actually the groom's cake for Josh and my wedding. He's a lifelong fan!

But after Saturday, I must (sadly) revise my baking plans. Perhaps this is part of the reason why, when we talk play-offs, I kind of feel like this:

 

Despite my heavy heart, I have a tried-and-true recipe here from Allrecipes.com that will be perfect for entertaining and also for consoling if your team doesn't go all the way either. This recipe had about a bazillion five-star ratings, so I gave it a chance. It was worth it!!! The recipe asks for semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I used Ghiradelli white chocolate chips to make them taste more like authentic blondies:

 

The Recipe:

Peanut Butter Blondies

You need:

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla extract

6 tbs peanut butter

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 13'' baking dish. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and yolk, one at a time. Then stir in the vanilla and peanut butter. Blend in the sifted ingredients and stir in the chocolate chips. Press the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely before frosting.

Peanut Butter Frosting

The brownies taste super good without the frosting as well, but my motto is usually: the sweeter, the better! With that being said, this recipe makes a ton of icing! I halved it and there was more than enough to create a thin layer on top. It's a personal preference thing; if you like really thick frosting, go for it! 

You need:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1/3 cup milk

Instructions:

1. Mix the butter and 1 cup peanut butter together in a medium bowl until creamy. 

2. Mix in the confectioners' sugar until smooth.

3. Gradually stir in the milk until you get a spreadable consistency. You might not need all of the milk.

The resulting blondies are moist and cake-like. I really enjoyed them with the white chocolate, but I'm sure the semisweet chocolate tastes good (I mean, you really can't go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate! I love it!) I should have some more play-off recipes coming in the next few weeks, so check this blog out. Also, if you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know!

And, no matter what happens with them, I'll always cheer for Matt Ryan & co. Go Falcons!!!

 

Devil's Food Cupcakes

This blog is starting out with a devil's food cupcake recipe because I loooove cupcakes! They are so fun and versatile (and they make for an easy clean-up)!

Some times, Josh's friends come over to play video games, especially "Call of Duty: Black Ops." The game is kind of interesting and I like to watch, particularly when they play the "Zombies" mode. In one game, zombies overtake the White House, and it is up to JFK, McNamara, Nixon, and Castro to save the day.

And here are the fab four in action! www.thecodguide.com

The rowdy politicians spout off quote-worthy gems such as, "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names!" and "This gun doesn't suit my disposition," while simultaneously blasting some serious zombie cronies. I like to cheer Josh on, but usually, I just scream a lot. :)

But anyway, I'll serve these when Josh and friends want to indulge their inner zombie hunters. I tried to include any helpful tips I could think of. Let me know if you have any questions!

The Recipe:
 I got the recipe from the December 2002 issue of Martha Stewart magazine. The recipe is actually for making a devil's food CAKE, but I adapted parts of it to better suit cupcakes.

It's really important to read through the whole recipe prior to starting with the baking (I learned this the hard way). Usually, I like to just use box mixes (I especially love the Betty Crocker fudge varieties) and then just sub butter for oil and add chocolate pudding mix for extra moisture. Needless to say, it's much more time-consuming to make from scratch, but then, who doesn't love a homemade cupcake?

The resulting cupcakes are dense and chewy. I subbed regular cocoa powder for a darker cocoa powder (it really works  well against the sweetness of the frosting I chose). Here's how you do it:

Devil's Food Cupcakes


You need:
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature*
3 cups sifted cake flour (not self-rising, all-purpose is fine)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tbs pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
frosting (below)

Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners on muffin pan.

2. Place cocoa in a bowl; stir in the boiling water until a smooth paste forms (I had to use more water than the recipe recommended, so you might want to eyeball it!). Let cool. When paste has cooled down, gradually whisk milk into reserved cocoa paste.

3. In the bowl with an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes, scraping down the sides twice. Beat in the vanilla. Slowly drizzle in eggs (beat after each addition until batter is no longer slick and scrape down sides of bowl often). Meanwhile, in another large bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. With mixer on low, gradually add small batches of flour and cocoa mixtures, starting and ending with flour and beating until incorporated after each addition. Fill cupcake liners about 1/2 to 2/3 to the top.

5. Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until your toothpick or wooden skewer comes out clean.

Note: If you want to make this a cake instead, butter three 8-by-2 inch cake pans, lining the bottom with buttered parchment paper. Also, dust the sides with flour and tap out excess flour. Evenly divide the cake into the pans. Bake 35 to 45 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.

* To get butter to room temperature, you can just take butter from the refrigerator and leave it out for about an hour. If you're feeling time-constrained, put the butter in microwave and heat for 15 seconds. The butter is at room temperature if you can press your finger into it, and it leaves an indention. If your butter isn't there yet, keep heating for about 5 additional seconds.

Easy Buttery Frosting

It's pretty tricky explaining how I make this, because I usually soften my butter first, and then just add powdered sugar until it creates the consistency I want. I really don't think you can add too much powdered sugar; if the icing feels too thick, you can usually keep mixing until it thins out (and if it's too thin, add more sugar or put it in the refrigerator for about 5-10 minutes).

You need:
2 sticks of butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-4 cups powdered sugar

Instructions:
1. Soften butter in the microwave, and then cream it with vanilla.
2. Mix in powdered sugar until icing is thick but still pliable.

Decorating Tips:
Spoon your frosting into a large freezer bag and snip off a corner of the bag. Pipe the frosting over cooled cupcakes. Then, sprinkle some pretty colored sugars or sprinkles on top. You can try out different color combinations with the sprinkles (I think chocolate sprinkles or even chocolate chips would be pretty!). Also, you can add a drop of food coloring to the frosting for another fun look.

I also like the idea of using unusual cupcake liners (mine are plain, but decorative ones can really add to the look). I like the liners on etsy.com (it's kind of like an eBay for homemade arts and crafts!) and on kitchenkrafts.com.

Hi there!

This is my first time writing a blog, and I'm a little nervous (and a little excited) about it!

To me, baking is a fun and delicious hobby that I also happen to be very passionate about. I'm hoping that I can use this blog to give tips for baking and decorating amazing desserts. I'm going to post my own recipes (and experiments, good or bad!) with pics and tips, as well as recipes and tips I love from other sites/blogs/magazines,etc.

And, if you have any neat recipes or ideas for recipes, please post 'em! Let me know if you have any suggestions for topics I should post on. I can't wait to hear what you have to say! And now, onward to the sugary goodness!