Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes

Ok, so I tried Billy's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes. I made a quick partial batch today and they turned out pretty good! The icing is really rich and creamy...but it was a little softer than I would have liked when I iced the cuppiecakes so it smooshed down a little and didn't have a nice crisp edge on the swirls...am I being too critical? I should have chilled it a little first! But still super delicious!

I've got a cookie recipe I might try soon. I've got a busy week coming up and some company, so we'll see what all I get done!

Cupcakes Everywhere!!!

Today was a fun baking day! My daughter and I were in the kitchen all afternoon, fighting over the oven time! She picked out a cookie recipe to try on her own, and I pulled out a stack of cupcake recipes I've been wanting to try....and, since I was able to make a run to the commissary this afternoon, I finally had all the ingredients to make them!

I started with CHOCOLATE CHERRY DR. PEPPER cupcakes. I got them off a discussion forum. And, since my husband LOVES Dr. Pepper, I thought I'd give them a try. (Even though he won't be home for a few more weeks!)

CHOCOLATE CHERRY DR. PEPPER CUPCAKES

I even made little minis! Aren't they cute!? My daughter put on the little maraschino cherries for me! Oh, and my son put one on as well! My big helpers! These were really yummy! My favorite part was the meringue-like icing and the cherry on top!

Here is the recipe:

2 ¼ cups of Dr. Pepper
2 cups of sugar
2 ½ cups of cake flour
2 eggs
4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
½ cup of maraschino cherry syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks)
pinch of salt
1 ½ teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
¼ cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325º. In a medium size sauce pan bring Dr. Pepper & cherry syrup to a boil. Place chocolate and butter into a bowl and pour hot Dr. Pepper over, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Whisk mixture till smooth. Stir in sugar, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and sour cream. Add flour in 2 parts alternating with the eggs and whisk till smooth. The mixture will be runny… but tasty. Fill cupcakes cups and bake approximately 15-20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean

7 Minute Cherry Frosting:

4 egg whites

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

2/3 cup of maraschino cherry syrup (you may need more)

2lbs confectioners sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

Throw everything into a Pyrex bowl ….. except don’t use all of the cherry syrup here. Start with ½ and beat with a hand held electric mixer for 1 minute . Place bowl over a pot of boiling water (be sure not to let the water touch the bowl… just the steam) and beat on high for 7 minutes adding more cherry syrup as needed to obtain desired consistency. Be sure as you are beating that you are also scraping down the sides of the bowl. DO NOT let the mixture set over the bowl as your frosting will soon turn into a large meringue cookie. See this couldn’t be easier! Oh yeah, don’t forget to top your cupcakes with a cherry!

**I halfed the recipe and it made 12 regular cupcakes & 24 minis!

I also frosted up a leftover KING SIZE Cupcake to resemble an ice cream cone...

Oh but that's not all, oh no, that's not all....

I continued on with my cupcake madness and tried out Billy's Chocolate Cupcakes that I saw on a blog around here somewhere....

These were pretty good. REALLY chocolate-y!

I still want to try out BillyReece's Vanilla Vanilla Cupcakes, but not sure if I'll make it to those yet tonight, or if they'll have to wait until another day...

But I'll have to say I think today was a pretty successful baking day...I think I'll be popping in at some friends houses tomorrow to get rid of them all now.....otherwise my baby fat won't be coming off as quickly as I'd like!

Girlie Cuppiecakes

I made some cuppiecakes for a friend of mine. Her two daughters have close birthdays, so she is having a double party and asked me to make these. I also got to try out my King Size Cupcake pan and I love them! They are huge, so I made each birthday girl a special "King Size" treat!

Below are the King sized cupcakes. I made pink & purple fondant number picks to put in them...

This picture of the final product turned up a bit blurry, but I'll try to snag a pic of them at the party!

Cinnamon Chocolate Scones (minus the chocolate)

I found a recipe in one of my recipe books for these yummy cinnamon chocolate scones....only I forgot to add the chocolate chips in at the end. I KNOW! How could I have possibly forgotten to add the most important ingredient? I'm blaming my mommy brain. I'm sure I must have gotten distracted during the mixing process. Anyways, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

My 3 year old son even helped out! He loves to use my cookies cutters, so he was my scone maker. He did an excellent job!

They turned out very puffy and biscuit looking, but they taste amazing! I might even drizzle some chocolate over them, or do a half dip, since I didn't get that in before the baking process!

Here is the recipe:

3 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
1 1/4 cup milk
honey
jam

Mix all ingredients minus chocolate chips. Cut in butter. Blend until course and grainy. Add milk. Mix until almost combined. Fold in chocolate chips (don't forget now). Do not overmix.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the Dough 10 times to bring it together and smooth it out. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to a one-inch thickness. Cut into desired shape, and place on ungreased sheet pan. Knead the scraps together just until combined, then roll out again.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Serve with honey and jam.

German Chocolate Oat Chip Cookies

I had this cookie recipe saved on my desktop for a while and wanted to try it out. I found it online and people were just RAVING about it. So I gave it a try.

It's a quick dump and stir recipe that would be perfect for a last minute cookie fix, but I didn't think it was all that great! Don't get me wrong....the cookies were good, but I guess I just had higher expectations from the reviews:

1 box german chocolate cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup oats

Mix together and bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

I have some scratch cupcake recipes I'm dying to try out but that will require a quick trip to the commissary, so those will have to wait for another day...

I'll Dip Anything in chocolate...well, almost anything!

So last night and this morning, I was playing around in the kitchen with a few fun ideas. I was melting chocolate left and right! I dug out some wooden skewers I had laying around and impailed some marshmallows on them, and then, of course, brought on the chocolate!!!

While I was waiting for the chocolate to melt down, however, i whipped up a batch of rice krispie treats so that I could continue my chocolate dipping experiment in a part two session in the morning, after they had set overnight.

So, when the kids were settled and playing together after breakfast, I created some fun stuff with the rice krispie treats! I even brought out the Marine Corps mold and was elated when I saw it would lay perfectly on a RK treat cut out with one of my round cookie cutters! I had way to much fun with this!

Thankfully, a friend of mine up the street called me and invited me over for lunch. Although the lunch date didn't work out, I told her I'd stop by in the afternoon with some goodies! I brought a plateful of marshmallows & rice krispie treats for her and the family! She mentioned I could bring over goodies ANYTIME!

Boy, is she going to regret telling me that! Hmmmm, what can I make tonight???????

Chocolate Dipped Oreos

So I made some of the chocolate dipped oreos this morning with my new mold! I did the baby feet mold. So cute! I can't wait to do these for a baby shower! They are really big...and a lot of chocolate, but oh so good!

I have another mold with hearts on the top instead of feet. I think those will be fun for Valentine's Day!