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03

Feb

Birthday Cake Batter Balls!

Birthday Cake Batter Balls!

Yep. It’s like a cake batter dough in the middle (no eggs!) covered in an almondy-cake battery white chocolate! They are so delicious, and very rich and sweet so its easy not too eat too many… well not that easy. I also used my homemade sprinkles I just made to decorate and put in the middle of these little guys!

1 ½ cups flour

1 cup yellow cake mix

½ cup unsalted butter softened

½ cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/8 teaspoon salt

3-4 Tbsp milk

2 Tbsp sprinkles

 

Truffle Coating:

16 ounces (8 squares) almond bark (or white candy melts)

4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix

sprinkles

 

Beat together butter and sugar using an electric mixer until combined. Add cake mix, flour, salt, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Add 3 Tablespoons of milk or more if needed to make a dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand. Roll dough into one inch balls and place on a parchment or wax paper lined cookie sheet. Chill balls in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm up.

While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave in 30 second intervals until melted. Stir between intervals. Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until incorporated completely. Using a fork, dip truffles into almond bark and shake of excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of your bowl. Place truffle back on the cookie sheet and top with sprinkles. Repeat with remaining balls until finished.

 

Chill cake batter truffles in the refrigerator until serving. Makes around 24-30 truffles.

Thanks to The Girl Who Ate Everything for the recipe!

4 months ago Short URL

Homemade Sprinkles!

Homemade Sprinkles!

Well, I saw this while browsing on Pinterest and couldn’t resist! Although time consuming, it is relatively easy. You do need at least 24 hours to complete these colorful jimmies though!

8 ounces powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla, or other extract

assorted food colorings
as many piping bags as you have colors, fitted with a small multi-opening or plain tip.

Mix the first four ingredients until a semi-thick paste forms. (I had to add a lot more powdered sugar because my mix was way too thin! Make sure it’s a thick paste so that the sprinkles can be piped correctly)

Divide the paste into as many portions as you have colors, tinting each batch with the color of your choice.

Pipe thin long lines of each color but don’t let them touch.

Wait at LEAST 24 hours for them to fully dry (I waited 36 hours).

Then, take them and break them up either really small or long depending on what you want them to look like! I was using a knife to chop it all up.

And there you go! Homemade sprinkles. I believe there is also a vegan version as well.

Thank You BraveTart for the recipe!

4 months ago Short URL

06

Jan

Homemade Pasta!

So for Christmas my grandmother got me a pasta maker because I have been dying to try and make pasta myself! So I gave it a go tonight and it was a lot more difficult than I had imagined… but it ended up working out okay :)

My first attempt ended on the floor because the “walls” on the flour well broke and egg just started spilling everywhere… so beware if you try to make pasta and have not before. Make sure the flour well that you make has high walls!

Here’s the recipe I followed:

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
  • 5 large eggs

Directions

  1. Mound flour in center of a large work surface, and make a well in the middle. Crack eggs into the well.
  2. Using a fork, beat eggs; slowly incorporate flour, beginning with inner rim of well. When flour is incorporated, gather dough together to form a rounded mass. Begin kneading dough with the palms of your hands. Once dough comes together, scrape up any dried bits of dough; discard.
  3. Lightly flour work surface; knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before using.
  4. Divide dough into 4 pieces; keep 3 pieces covered with a slightly damp kitchen towel. Flatten dough to a shape somewhat narrower than pasta machine opening. Lightly dust dough with flour. Feed through machine’s widest setting. As pasta emerges, gently support it with your palm and guide it onto the work surface. Fold dough in thirds; roll out again. Repeat process until dough emerges in one solid piece, 3 to 5 more times. Pass pasta through the next finer setting, repeating the folding and rolling process 2 or 3 times. Dust pasta lightly with flour to prevent sticking, if necessary. Roll dough progressively through the thinner settings, without folding, 2 times per setting, until you have reached the sixth setting or your desired thickness. If pasta sheet becomes too long to work with easily, cut it into 2 pieces.
  5. To make fettuccine, cut each pasta sheet with a sharp knife into 10-inch lengths. To cut by hand, brush sheets lightly with flour, roll up sheet, and, using a sharp knife, cut into 1/4-inch-wide strips; unroll. Or, using the widest-cut attachment of the pasta machine, pass pasta sheets through machine to cut into 1/2-inch wide strips.
  6. Use fettuccine immediately, or dry on a floured work surface and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Thank you Martha for the recipe!

Then I used some garlic tomato sauce, sauteed onions and mushrooms, and chopped olives to finish off those fresh pasta noodles!

It was a lot of labor, and while I was kneading the dough I was pretty positive that it wasn’t going to work out…. but it somehow did. Next time I’ll make spaghetti instead of fettuccini!

My friend made me a drying rack for my pasta!! I hang out with smart people :)

4 months ago Short URL

18

Dec

Holiday Party!

Here’s some pictures from the Holiday Party that Kaytlen, Brooke, and I threw. We had lots of sweets!

Egg Nogg, Peppermint Cosmo, Cheese platter, Cake balls, Cupcakes, Cherry Cordials, Rosemary Chocolate Chip Cake….

The Roomies :)

5 months ago Short URL

04

Dec

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Brooke!

It’s Brooke’s Birthday so I decided to make something inspired by one of her favorite treats, cinnamon rolls. So, I looked up cinnamon sugar cupcakes, and came up with these! They’re pretty simple ingredients, but the frosting is a meringue so it was a bit challenging. I managed to almost ruin a pan in the process of boiling the sugar for the meringue, but everything ended up turning out okay.

The recipe calls for light corn oil, but I didn’t have any (I tried asking my neighbors for light corn oil, but… I came up empty handed). So I omitted the oil and it ended up turning out okay anyway!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon, plus 1/2 teaspoon for dusting
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 3/4 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons for dusting
  • 4 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups milk

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon.
  2. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each.
  3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.
  4. To finish, combine remaining 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (Ateco No. 809 or Wilton No. 1A), pipe frosting on each cupcake: Hold bag over cupcake with tip just above top, and squeeze to create a dome of frosting, then release pressure and pull up to form a peak. Using a small, fine sieve, dust peaks with cinnamon-sugar. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are frosted; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Icing Recipe:

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2/3 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
  • 6 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions

  1. Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees.
  2. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beating to combine.
  3. As soon as sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use immediately.

6 months ago Short URL

Peanut Butter Dough Ball Cookies

Peanut Butter Dough Ball Cookies. They’re chocolatey and peanutbuttery and moist on the inside! Great spin on the classic pb cookie!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cake flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer until fully incorporated. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, salt and flours. Slowly add the flour mixture to the mixer bowl and mix until a dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop dough with a mini ice cream scoop, roll into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. They’ll still be soft and look much like they did going in, but don’t overbake. The bottoms will be very lightly browned. Let the dough balls rest on the pan for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Thank you stumbleupon for the recipe, and What Megan’s Making’s blog!

6 months ago Short URL

24

Nov

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m lucky enough to be brought in by my beautiful friend Krissy for Thanksgiving because I’m an orphan this year, so I decided to try these cookies to bring for dessert. It is a vegan thanksgiving gathering… and these are definitely not vegan… but hopefully they’ll let these slide. I spiked them with pudding as well so they’re super moist!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (spiked with pudding!)

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
  • 1 cup coarsely chopped white chocolate
  • vanilla pudding (1 small box)
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, pudding mix, and white sugar, until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
  3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

6 months ago Short URL

30

Sep

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few steps closer on my quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie :)

I came across this recipe, and it intrigued me because it has one special ingredient: vanilla pudding. So I figured I would give it a go, seeing as its a weird rainy yet hot day in NoHo. They turned out really good, nice and soft in the middle with a great vanilla flavor.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup  dark brown sugar
1/4 cup  granulated sugar
1 small (3.4oz) pkg vanilla instant pudding mix (or other flavor)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips (i used milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate)

1) Preheat your oven to 350. Line yourbaking sheet with parchment.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.

2) In a large mixing  bowl, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
Add the pudding mix and mix until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bowl after each addition eggs. Add vanilla.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the batter and mix just to combine.
Fold in the chocolate chips.

3) Drop rounded spoonfulls of cookie dough onto prepared pan.
Bake cookies 10-12 minutes, until slightly golden and set.
Let  cool on sheet for 3 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool fully.

Found the recipe on Bakingblonde’s Blog!


8 months ago Short URL

26

Aug

Bake-Off Day 4

The final day of the bake-off, I brought Cake Pops. This was the first time I had ever made them as a pop! I made it pretty simple: funfetti cake with milk chocolate icing, dipped in white chocolate. I had big plans to make “touch my glittery” cake balls and “geoff peterson” cake balls… (Craig Ferguson references…) but they didn’t turn out as planned. So I just covered the rest in colorful sprinkles and they still turned out okay :) 

The recipe is pretty simple, you can find it on Bakerella’s Website.

The competition was heated, but these crowd-pleasing cake-pops helped me win the bake-off this week! It was a fun and exhausting week, but I’m glad to have a little break. However, I have already been challenged to a Christmas Cookie Bake-Off… so I have a few months to re-group and get ready for that!

I made all different colors, and wrapped them up with cute little bows!

9 months ago Short URL

24

Aug

Bake-Off Day 3

Wednesday’s Challenge: Cake

For the third day of the Bake-Off, I made Red Velvet Cupcakes, completely from scratch. I also made them mini so there would be more, and they would be cute. The cake was a little too light and airy for my taste, I like it thicker, but it was definitely moist, and the cream cheese frosting was really good with it.


Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake papers.

2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.  In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about three minutes.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.  Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda.  Yes, it will fizz!  Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Using an ice cream scoop, fill cupcake cups with cake batter (they should be 2/3 – 3/4 full).  You may not fill all the cups, I ended up with 20 cupcakes.  Place muffin tins on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven.  Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check early and don’t overbake!

5. Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting.  Frost cupcakes with cream cheese icing (recipe below) and decorate with red sprinkles if desired.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt

With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.  If refrigerated, the frosting will need to be brought to room temperature before using (after frosting softens up, beat with mixer until smooth).

Recipe Notes: If you prefer a sweeter and/or stiffer frosting, more powdered sugar can be added (up to four cups). But remember, the more sugar you add, the less you’ll be able to taste the tangy cream cheese!

Special thanks to: http://pinchmysalt.com/2009/02/04/red-velvet-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/ for the recipe!

9 months ago Short URL