HIATUS!

Guh, I meant to make this post on Thursday.
But I forgot! Because I'm moving, and I've been ridiculously busy/stressed/et cetera so I didn't have the time (or patience!) to bake anything this week.

But tune in next week, for the first treats that will be made in my neeeew kitchen!

(And the kitchen is so small that it's going to be..interesting. It only fuels my desire to one day own a gigantic kitchen-- complete with island.)

Nutella Cupcakes

Here's recipe number two for the day: Nutella cupcakes! And trust me, they are full of chocolate-hazelnutty goodness.

These could be REALLY good, but with the way we made them they were very bland. The recipe says to make the cake mix, then drop a teaspoon of Nutella in and swirl them. This was an epic fail! The Nutella was waaay too thick to swirl.


A better thing to do, in my opinion, is add Nutella to the batter after it's mixed up but before pouring. It comes out to be half a cup of Nutella. (1 tsp x 24 cupcakes = 24 tsp. 48 tsp = 1 cup. So 24 tsp = 1/2 cup. Math!) But since I didn't actually make them this way myself, you should judge for yourself if they're bland, or if they need more.

So! We tested out three different kinds: Cupcake with frosting. Cupcake with a thin Nutella layer, and frosting. Cupcake with thin Nutella layer and no frosting. We wound up deciding that the Nutella layer really made the cupcake better, with or without frosting.


For the frosting, mom whipped up a yummy Nutella buttercream. (I TOLD you it was chocolate-hazelnutty!)

Nutella Cupcake Recipe

• One package yellow cake mix
• 1 1/4 c water
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c Nutella

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Blend together cake mix, water, oil, and eggs as per box instructions.
• Beat in Nutella.
• Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Nutella Buttercream Recipe

• One bag (2 pounds) of powdered sugar
• 11 tbsp (one stick + 3 tsp) butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 cup Nutella, to start

Preparation

• Combine powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, and half of milk.
• Add in Nutella and beat together, adding more milk until you get the consistency you like. Add more Nutella as neccessary.
• Frost/pipe onto cupcakes.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Two-for-one experiment today! Mom's been wanting to learn how to pipe frosting, so we figured we'd try a couple of different cupcake recipes.

The first one we tried: Cookie dough cupcakes!
They sound deliiicious. But they and the Nutella cupcakes were both "eh" for me. But I'm posting them anyway!

These involve making chocolate chip cookie dough, rolling it into balls, and freezing them. One of the two of us (hint, not me. ;) decided that they wanted to buy a roll of pre-made cookie dough instead of making it from scratch. It was alright, but personally I think the brown sugar was waaay too understated.
After you mix the batter and put it in the cupcake papers, you drop in one of the frozen cookie balls. Trust me when I say to drop it in and LEAVE IT. I pressed the ball down into the batter (it still sticks out even when it touches the bottom), and as it baked it melted down. All of the cookie was on the bottom, which split the cupcake into this half-cookie, half-cupcake weird thing.

For the frosting, we made a chocolate buttercream.
It was extra thick so mom could test her piping skillz, which really overwhelmed the cupcake itself (which was a little bland anyway). But in general I'd say thinner would be great-- using it as a glaze would be amazing.
Cookie Dough Cupcake Recipe:

Cookie Recipe

• One tube of pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough
• OR
• Cookie recipe here: http://adventureswithmarzipan.blogspot.com/2010/05/cookies-au-creme.html

Preparation

• After getting your dough, roll into balls about the size of a teaspoon. Put in the freezer for one to two hours.

Cupcake Recipe

• One package of yellow cake mix
• 1 1/4 c water
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 3 eggs

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine the mix, water, oil, and eggs as per box instructions. (Lazy, right?)
• Line a cupcake tin with 24 cupcake papers.
• Drop a frozen dough ball into each cup, in the center. Do NOT push down.
• Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Recipe (doubled for piping)

• One bag (two pounds) of powdered sugar
• 11 tbsp (one stick + 3 tbsp) butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 1/4 c cocoa

Preparation

• Using a spoon, mix together powdered sugar and cocoa.
• Add in butter, vanilla, salt, and half of milk. Blend together.
• Slowly add milk until getting the consistency you like.
• Frost/pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Apple Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream

I've wanted to make ice cream cone cupcakes for so long, but I never knew how!
Surprisingly, it was really, really, really easy.

So I made an apple ice cream cone cupcake, with cinnamon buttercream frosting. This frosting will make people bow down to you, because it's SO GOOD. It's SO GOOD in fact, that capital letters are warranted for it!

BUT. I wasn't paying attention (I was watching King Of The Hill with my little bro) so I wound up adding, instead of 1 1/2 cups of grated apple (which the recipe called for), two grated apples. I'm reaaally not sure how much extra apple I added.. but they were delicioso! Actually, I suggest it!

The batter wasn't runny like regular cake batter. It was oddly dry to begin with. Before I added the apple, it looked like fine bread crumbs. After I added the apple and mixed it in it got more liquidy, but with the apple it was more like a heavy muffin mix.
But it smelled so good! And tasted so good! There's no egg in it, so don't feel nervous about sneaking a spoonful of the batter while you're putting it in the pan.

The batter can be used in regular cupcake tins or in the ice cream cones (obviously.) My suggestion, though, is to make 20 instead of 24. Because they don't rise exponentially, this'll let you fill the cups more fully.

As for the cinnamon buttercream, depending on whether you frost it on with a knife or use a piping bag, you'll either need one batch or two (two batches being a full bag of powdered sugar.)
Really, I cannot recommend this frosting enough. It would be good thinned out as a glaze for muffins, or added to waffles, or even as an accent on ice cream. Om nom nom!
Have an enemy? Give them one of these cupcakes. They will never say another bad thing about you.

Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Buttercream (in an ice cream cone!) Recipe

• 20 ice cream cones, or 20 cupcake papers
• 1/4 c butter, softened
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Beat butter until fluffy.
• Add sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla and cream together. (Texture will be weird)
• Combine flour and baking soda, then add slowly to mixture and beat. (Texture will resemble bread crumbs.)
• Add apples, and beat together on a low speed so the apple juice gets into the mixture, but so the grated apples are still visible.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes. (See below for what a finished cupcake will look like inside.)
• Let cool completely.

Cinnamon Buttercream Recipe

• 1 lb (1/2 bag) powdered sugar
• 1/3 c butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 c milk

Preparation

• Use a mixing spoon to combine cinnamon and powdered sugar. This will ensure that the cinnamon is fully infused later.
• Add in butter, vanilla, and about half of the milk.
• Blend together until thoroughly mixed, adding more milk if neccessary.
• Note: Don't overdo the milk. You want THICK frosting.
• Note: If you plan to pipe, definitely make the double batch.
• Pipe onto the tops of the cooled cupcakes.
• Then, sit back and enjoy as eeeverybody who sees them fawns over them!

Tip for piping the ice cream cone design:
Start in the middle of the cupcake, and pipe slowly in a spiral until all of the cupcake is covered.
Pipe a second spiral in the center, on top of that.
In the very center, squeeze out one more bit of frosting, then push down and pull up to get the tip!

Center of the cooked cupcake

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting

Wow, that title is a mouthful. Almost as much as a mouthful as the treat itself!
My original plan was to make a Coca Cola cupcake, with cherry icing. However, I made a batch of Coca Cola cupcakes last night and they just turned out funky. The taste was bland, and the recipe called for marshmallows, which gave it a really spongy texture.

So I went to the store today, and just bought a box of chocolate cake mix (because I'm lazy, okay??)
I do have to say that, after making cakes from scratch, the boxed stuff doesn't taste as good anymore!
I had a hard time deciding between buttercream frosting, and cream cheese frosting. And I figured that since I cheated with the cupcakes, I'd go for the cream cheese frosting instead of the buttercream (which I make so often that I could whip it up in my sleep.) The recipe I have made a tooooon of icing, though. As in, I used half of it, MAYBE. So the recipe I'm giving you is halved for your convenience.

The frosting was still a liiittle on the runny side, which disappointed me because it piped out so beautifully, then sort of..sank together. But hey, there's sprinkles!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe:

Cupcakes

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix (I used chocolate fudge)
• 1 1/3c water
• 1/2 c vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• Cupcake liners

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
• Beat with electic mixer on low for 30 seconds, then medium/high for one minute, until fully blended.
• Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Pour batter into the cups until 1/2-3/4 of the way full.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Leave to cool.

Frosting

• 1/2 package (4 oz) of cream cheese, softened
• 6 tbsp butter, softened
• 1/4c cherry juice
• 1/2 bag powdered sugar (plus a little more, to get the right consistency)
• Red food coloring (2-3 drops)
• Red sprinkles for accenting

Preparation

• In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy.
• Slowly beat in cherry juice, until mixture is smooth and creamy.
• Gradually beat in powdered sugar until you get the consistency you want. (Very thick if you plan to pipe it!)
• Beat in the food coloring to get a pretty pink color-- Beat well.
• Frost onto cooled cupcakes, using a knife or piping bag.
• Sprinkle with red sprinkles if desired.

Fourth of July Cookies

Wow, I am totally dense!

I've been so scatterbrained this last week that I forgot to update my blog.

Well, this is going to be a short post anyway. This was my last weekend working at my job (because my new job starts soon!) and I thought it'd be nice to give my co-workers one last taste of the treats that started it all: The sugar cookies mom and I have been making for so many years!
So that means that they're beautiful and delicious, but that there won't be a recipe this week.

But there are still pictures! I even cut them into stars for the holiday.

My concern now is that, if I keep baking every Friday, who am I going to feed them to??

(For the co-workers that are reading this, I think road trips are in order for you guys to come get some goodies. ;)