Happy Stuff-Your-Face-With-Chocolate-Hearts Day!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Truffle Filling

For those of you who don't follow, that's Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm taking a short bit of time to share with you some of the different cookie sets I've made for Valentine's Day this year. I tried out a delicious new recipe for chocolate sugar cookies, found on Sweetopia's site. Easy to come and hold together, easy to roll out, holds it's shape nicely when baked, stays beautifully soft, and has a delicious and rich chocolate flavour. My new favourite.

Minis in a mason jar, cute! Only problem with these babies is that because they're bite-sized... you can gobble up the whole jar in... well let's just say a very short time. But great for little fingers!

Conversation heart cookies! These are so great, because they can really be personalized to say whatever you like! And they really take very little time to make. They make a great gift when you pair them with a cute little bucket and wrap it all up!

Lastly, how stinkin' cute are these?? For the doggy-lovers out there, these dog-themed Valentine's Day cookies are perfect. Love how they turned out.

Ok, just one more, because when all packaged up, these puppy cookies take the adorable-ness factor to a whole other level.

In the mood to check out some more Valentine's Day goodies? Take a look at some of these!

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Truffle Filling 
Soft Heart Sugar Cookies
Whoo do you love Sugar Cookies
Cherry Chip Rose Cupcakes
Strawberry Cupcakes
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies

Hope every one gets to spend Valentine's with someone/somebodies special. But just remember, you don't need a 'special' day once a year to tell/show someone you love them. Telling/showing them on a random day for no real reason makes it SO much more special and meaningful. In my opinion. :) Pin It

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

 

 

Less than 8 days to go until Christmas! Yippee, I can't wait! Although I must say, as excited I am for the holidays, and even moreso for some time off of work, this time of year sure is exhausting! I haven't been this busy all year, and while I'm doing things I love, like decorating, baking lots and lots of goodies, Christmas present shopping and wrapping, and visiting friends, it leaves me pretty spent by the end of each evening! I'm not complaining, just looking forward to a little break! How bout you all, do you find the Christmas season to be fun, relaxing, enjoyable, stressful, sad? I think for most people it's a combination of joy and stress; I just hope there's more joy than stress!

 

 

I've used this chocolate cupcake base from Annie's Eats multiple times, and it has consitently provided good results. If you're interested in baking these cupcakes and/or seeing what else I've made with this recipe, check out my Black Forest Cupcakes and Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Truffle Filling. I altered the recipe very slightly by adding 1 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract (and 1 less teaspoon of vanilla extract) and a good handful or two of peppermint chips (seen in photo on top of frosting), but if peppermint isn't your thing feel free to omit them.

I actually made these cupcakes a year ago and was a little skeptical at first about pairing chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese icing; however, the combination of the tangy sweet icing, dark chocolate glaze and chocolate pepperminty cupcake sent me over the moon. They turned out to shoot to the top of my cupcake list! I'm happy to be finally sharing these cupcakes now, and I hope that you find the opportunity to make them sometime in the near future, provided you're not too busy with Christmas decorating/shopping/baking/whatever else comes with this busy and glorious season!

Ingredients:

For Cupcakes:
Refer to my post on Black Forest Cupcakes for recipe and instructions.

For Ganache:
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream

For Frosting:
8 oz. (1 package) cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1-2 teaspoons peppermint (not mint!) extract
3-4 cups powdered sugar (depending on preferred stiffness)

Instructions:
To make ganache, put chocolate chips in a small glass bowl. Place heavy cream in a microwave safe glass and microwave until it begins to boil. Pour cream over chocolate chips, stirring quickly until chips have melted. Dip cupcakes into mixed chocolate and shake off excess. Allow to cool and harden, at least a half hour to an hour.

For the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together using the paddle attachment of a stand or hand mixer. Scrape down the bowl once or twice to ensure no chunks of cream cheese are left. While beating, add the peppermint extract. Add powdered sugar, starting with 3 cups initially, on low speed and increasing to medium-high for 2 minutes, until frosting is light and fluffy. If frosting is not stiff enough, add an additional 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time, until desired consistency is reached.

Fit piping bag with decorative tip, and pipe frosting over cupcake. Top with desired garnish, such as peppermint chips and/or festive sprinkles. Pin It

Chocolate Pumpkin Spider Cake

Earlier in the month I celebrated my 25th birthday. Gah! I feel old. I may have gone through a quarter century life crisis. For about a week. Then I decided to buy a brand new car (my first car ever!) and say screw the judgement of others and continue seeing a guy who is younger than me (and I'm not just talking a year here). Who cares? I certainly don't. Life is for living and enjoying, not worrying and stressing!

Back to where I was originally heading with this story. Rewind. Earlier in the month I celebrated my 25th birthday and made a dense, moist and truly decadent cake. However, the presentation was ermm... something left to be desired. Let's just say, it was not the most attractive thing I've ever made.... in fact, it was one of the least attractive things I've ever made. But, I found an amazing recipe in the process. So when the opportunity was presented to me a couple weeks ago to bake up some goodies for the United Way bake sale put on by my mother's work, I immediately had a vision of this cake, and new exactly which recipe I would use.

Because I couldn't cut into the cake to show you the inside, I snapped a few pictures during the process so you can get an idea of how it turned out! They're at the bottom, following the recipe instructions!

Yield: 1 3-layer 6-inch cake

Ingredients:
For the cake:
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
scant 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
scant 1 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the ganache:
4 ounces milk chocolate chips
2 ounces heavy cream

For the buttercream:
1 cup butter, room temperature
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-4 tablespoons heavy cream

Additional:
orange food dye
black food dye
size 3-4 piping tip
toy plastic spider

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees C. Grease 3 6-inch cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease on top of paper and coat lightly with flour, shaking out any excess.

In a small bowl combine buttermilk and pumpkin. Mix together until incorporated. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, brown and white sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, until fully incorporated. Alternating, add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to the butter, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix on low for 1 minute until fully combined.

Divide evenly between the 3 cake pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into cake. Let rest in pans for 10 minutes, then remove and let cool completely on wire racks.

While the cakes are cooling, make your ganache. Place chocolate chips in a small bowl. Place the heavy cream in a small glass and heat in microwave until boiling (keep an eye on it so it doesn't boil over). Pour hot cream over chocolate chips, whisking until chips are completely melted. Set aside to cool.

Once cakes are completely cool (you may have to level them out, although mine were pretty flat and this wasn't needed), spoon half of ganache over the top of 1 cake, reserving the second half for the second cake. Spread the ganache over the cake, leaving a small amount of space around the edge to ensure the ganache does not drip off (see picture below for clarification if needed). Set cakes aside so that the ganache can set. This takes a couple hours. You can put it in the fridge to speed up the process, and frost once the ganache is firm. I waited until it was firm enough to wrap in plastic, then refrigerated the cake rounds until the following day to assemble the cake (layered cakes are always easier to assemble when cold).

To make the frosting, beat the butter in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and smooth. Add the powdered sugar to the butter and mix on low initially (to avoid a poof of sugar in your face), and gradually increase speed. Beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of cream into the whipped butter. If the frosting is too stiff, gradually add 1 tablespoon cream into frosting until it reaches your desired consistency. Tint a small amount of the frosting black (if making a spider web) and the remaining a nice bright orange (or your desired colour).

To assemble the cake, frost the first layer of cake, ganache side up, with the buttercream. Repeat with second layer.

 

Place the final layer on top.

 

Cover top and sides with a thin layer of frosting (this is called a crumb coat, to catch any crumbs before doing the final frosting). Refrigerate cake for 20 minutes, or until crumb coat has formed a crust and is hard.

Frost the top and sides with a thicker layer, and return to fridge again for a crust to form. Once the frosting is firm (this will help to ensure that black frosting of web does not leach colour into the orange) fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip, size 3-4, with reserved black frosting. Pipe on spider web and find creepy plastic spiders from the dollar store to adorn your cake with!

Source: Cake and ganache from I am Baker, Buttercream by Sweet Treats n' Healthy Eats. Pin It

Cookies n' Cream Chocolate Cake

It's been a very long time since I last wrote a post, and before that my posts were few and far between. Most of you who follow my posts are likely aware that my lack of attention towards blogging was due to being in school and being rather busy. Well, I am happy to announce that I officially finished my Masters of Social Work degree at the end of June. Yippeee!!!! No more school for a bit [and yes I say a bit because I may pursue further studies down the road, who knows!]. As for the last month, I've started a new job as a Researcher Assistant [which really means a glorified student that gets paid -insert sigh and eye roll], although it allows me to work from home, hours are completely flexible and it's not full-time, which is absolutely wonderful for the summer. Come the fall I will likely look for an additional part-time job, but for now I'm enjoying the downtime. I've also gone through some significant personal changes in the last month that have thrown things a little topsy-turvy for me, so I'm just trying to get back into my groove now. Hopefully that means more blogging!

But enough about me, let's talk about this Cookies n' Cream Chocolate Cake, now there's an alliteration for ya. I've made the chocolate cake base that I used here several times now, and would say that it's tried and true. I made a small adjustment this past time because I didn't have espresso powder, and everything turned out just as delicious as always. The dark, rich and moist chocolate cake paired perfectly with the sweetness of the frosting, which by the way, deserves a platter on it's own. Now I love all frostings (although some are a bit too sweet for me), but this one tasted exactly like cookies n' cream ice cream, which I haven't had in years and years and now I'm craving... hmm that gives me an idea! Topped with a satiny chocolate glaze, swirls of frosting and oreos and you've got yourself one decadent cake.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
1 1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
heaping 1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened to room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temp
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon sour cream, at room temp
1 oz melted bittersweet chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoon milk

For the buttercream frosting:
10 oreos
1 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temp
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons whipping cream (1/2 & 1/2 or milk works too) depending on how stiff frosting is

For the chocolate glaze:
5 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup butter

Additional oreos for decoration

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 6-inch round cake pans with butter or shortening. Line the bottoms with parchment paper, grease the paper, dust the pans with flour, and knock out any excess flour.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. In a separate small bowl, combine the buttermilk, sour cream and melted chocolate. On low speed, add the flour mixture and the buttermilk mixture into the creamed butter in thirds, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix the batter only until blended.

Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (my oven seems to bake things slower so my cakes often take a little longer). Cool for 10 minutes on a rack, remove from the pans, and allow to finish cooling.

To make the frosting, beat the butter in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and smooth. Add the powdered sugar to the butter and mix on low initially (to avoid a poof of sugar in your face), and gradually increase speed. Beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

In a food processor, gently pulse oreos until they are broken down into fine pieces (not crumbs). Alternatively, you can chop by hand. Combine the chopped oreos, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of cream into the whipped butter. If the frosting is too stiff, gradually add 1 tablespoon cream into frosting until it reaches your desired consistency.

To assemble the cake, level the tops of both cakes, and then cut each layer in half, resulting in 4 layers. (At this point it helps to freeze the cake layers for 20-30 minutes to make it easier to frost). Frost the top of the first layer with the buttercream. Place the next three layers on top, repeating the first step. Once all 4 layers are assembled, frost the sides and smooth over. Reserve 1/2 cup of frosting for decorating.

I like to use a rotating cake table to decorate, found here, as well as an angled spatula for the tops, such as this one, and a flat spatula for the sides, like this.

Refrigerate cake. In the meantime, roughly chop the bittersweet chocolate and place in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave chocolate in bursts of 20 seconds, stirring after each time, until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into small cubes and add into melted chocolate, stirring until all of the butter is melted. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Remove cake from fridge and spoon chocolate glaze over top, allowing it to drip over the edges. Once glaze is on, return to fridge for 5-10 minutes. In the meantime, fit a piping bag with a decorative tip of your choice, and fill with remaining frosting. Once the glaze has set on the cake, top with decorative swirls and an oreo on each swirl.

Sources: Cake slightly adapted from Annie's Eats, who adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten and Martha Stewart. Chocolate glaze taken from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. Buttercream by Sweet Treats n' Healthy Eats.
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Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes with Truffle filling

Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum! I can't even begin to describe how deliciously decadent these cupcakes were. And what's really exciting about these cupcakes is that I imagined and created these cupcakes myself, without any outside influences. That is, I didn't see them on Pinterest or another baker's blog, the idea came from within me. Now that might not seem like a big deal to you, but I think it's a really special step forward to start moving away from already created recipes into unknown territory. I didn't create the cupcake recipe from scratch- I'm no scientist here; but I did adapt and create the rest of the components. Yay for me! I'm going to go do a little happy dance.

 

 

Honestly, you should go make these. They're very simple, despite the multitude of components. And they are sooo good. I brought them to a work potluck and everybody went ga-ga over them. A perfectly rich but light chocolate cupcake, delicious truffle on the inside (and trust me, I'm not a huge fan of truffles but because they're raspberry truffles, they were amazing), topped with light, fluffy raspberry flavoured whipped cream icing and a drizzle of that sweet and tangy raspberry sauce on top. Just fabulous.

 

I made these Black Forest Cupcakes not too long ago, and you can find the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes here.

 

Ingredients:

For the Raspberry Sauce:

2 pints raspberries, fresh or frozen

1/2 cup water

1/2-3/4 cup sugar, or to taste

2 tablespoons cornstarch

 

For the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1/4- 1/3 cup raspberry sauce

 

For the Whipped Cream:

3 cups heavy cream, chilled

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

Dr. Oetker's Whip It (Whipped Cream stabilizer that can be found in the bakery section)

1/4 cup raspberry sauce

 

Directions:

To make the Raspberry Sauce:

Crush the raspberries with water in a saucepan; a potato masher works well.Whisk in sugar and cornstarch until completely combined. Heat over medium-high heat until mixture is brought to a boil; make sure to stir constantly to avoid burning. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. The sauce will have thickened from the cornstarch and will happen quickly, so be sure to remove from heat once it reaches the thickness you desire. Push the sauce through a strainer to remove all clumps and seeds. Refrigerate and save until later. This can be made several days in advance, and is great for other things, such as pancakes, cakes, or these mini cheesecakes.

 

To make the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle filling:

Place finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan until simmering, then pour it over the chocolate. Let sit for one minute and then whisk until smooth. If the chocolate is not completely melted, place the bowl over a double boiler or give it a very short burst in the microwave (15-20 seconds). Add the butter and stir until combined. Set aside and allow to cool for 20-30 minutes before stirring in the raspberry sauce. Add raspberry sauce to taste (I can't remember exactly how much I put in, but I know I kept adding more and more). Refrigerate truffle filling and save until later.

 

At this time, make the cupcakes. Recipe can be found here. Once cupcakes have cooled, use the cone method to cut out a hole in the cupcake. Spoon raspberry truffle filling into a piping bag (should be relatively soft, unlike an actual truffle). Pipe truffle filling into the centre of each cupcake hole, and then replace top of cupcake.

 

To make the Raspberry Whipped Cream:

Start by cooling your stand mixer, either by placing it in your fridge or freezer for a few minutes; this helps to whip the cream faster. Add the heavy cream, powdered sugar and Whip It to the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-low speed for 30 seconds before increasing the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form, being careful not to overbeat. Spoon in 2 tablespoons of raspberry sauce and whip on medium speed until incorporated. Add in additional 1 tablespoons at a time until you've reached your desired taste.

 

Transfer whipped cream into a piping bag fitted with a tip of your desire. Pipe whipped cream on top of cupcakes. If wanting to drizzle with raspberry sauce, transfer sauce into a squeeze bottle for easy application. *Note: if you are not serving the cupcakes for awhile, do not drizzle with sauce until half an hour or so before serving; I made my cupcakes a day prior to serving and by the next day the drizzle had stained the whipped cream, making them appear as if they'd been sitting for a lot longer than they had.

 

Source: cupcakes from Annie's Eats, Truffle adapted from this post. Raspberry sauce and Whipped cream a Sweet Treats & Healthy Eats original.

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Black Forest Cupcakes

I haven't had Black Forest Cake in a reallly long time, and the perfect opportunity presented itself just this past weekend. Last week was my father's 60th birthday (Holy moley, 60!!), and I like to quickly add that my dad does not look like he's 60. Sure he's got a head full of more white and grey hairs than black, but that's been going on since I was born, so no big difference there. He could whip my butt both mentally and physically- he completed his Doctorate degree in 2009 while working full-time, and attending a school that required a trip to Chicago nearly every other weekend. He's sharp as can be, and definitely someone that I frequently consult in relation to school, work and life issues. Not to mention he's in way better shape than me! I wouldn't stand a chance against him in pretty much all physically-related competitions.

So this weekend, we planned a surprise party for him on Sunday. The whole family (his side) showed up at the same time, and the afternoon was filled with games, good eats and fun times. Something that you may not know about me is that I'm 100% German, besides the fact that I was born in Canada. Both sides of my family are German, and my father and his family moved to Canada when he was about 6 years old I believe. So Black Forest Cake was really the best choice, as it's a traditional German cake and one that the family loves!

This cake was easy peasy, despite the multiple components, and it came out perfectly. The cake was nice and light, filled with a not too sweet cherry filling, and topped with beautifully fluffy whipped cream, shaved chocolate and a fresh cherry. One thing that I'm not a fan of is really heavy cakes, that you can only have a small piece of without feeling sick to your stomach afterwards, and this cupcake is the complete opposite of that. You really can't go wrong.

There are a couple things to note from this recipe: 1) I found that the original made wayyy too much of the filling, which was OK because I had made mini cheesecakes and it could be used as a topping (to come in a later post), but not OK otherwise. I've reflected my changes below. 2) These instructions ask you to melt the butter and sugar together before beating, which is a method I'm not overly familiar with. Because I liked the recipe so much I used it again today for a different cupcake (again, to come in a later post), and I found that using the melting method vs. the traditional beating room temperature butter and sugar together made no difference. The cupcakes came out the same; the only real difference was that the melted batter was much more viscous than the non-melted batter. Is viscous the right word there? I think so. 3) The original recipe wouldn't have made nearly enough whipped cream for my taste, so if you're like me and like a good amount on top, double the amounts.

Yield: 22 cupcakes
Ingredients:

For the cupcakes:

½ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I finally found this ingredient at Costco!)
½ cup hot water
2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon coarse salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (either at room temperature or not, depending on the method you use)
1½ cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature

For the cherry filling:

8oz. frozen cherries, thawed and chopped*
2-3tablespoons sugar
1½ tablespoons cornstarch
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)

For the frosting (double if you're a big fan of frosting): **

1½ cups heavy cream, chilled
6 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For garnish:

Fresh (or maraschino) cherries

Chocolate shavings

*Note: You can use either tart or sweet cherries for this filling depending on your personal tastes and what is available to you. Feel free to adjust the sugar as needed to achieve your desired level of sweetness or tartness in the filling. 

**Note: I have found that whipped cream can break down over time, as it doesn't have a stabilizer naturally. The confectioners' sugar helps, but if I know the whipped cream will be sitting for awhile, I add in an additional stabilizer from Dr. Oetker called Whip It, which really helps. If you haven't heard of it, you can check it out here.

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350˚ F and line standard cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder and hot water until smooth. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine the butter and the sugar over medium heat. Heat, stirring occasionally to combine, until the butter is melted. Remove the mixture from the heat and transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-low speed, 4-5 minutes, until the mixture is cooled. Alternatively, you can beat together room temperature butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Both methods yield the same result. Mix in the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed and beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and then the cocoa mixture and beat until incorporated. With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, beating just until combined.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling them about ¾ of the way full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow the cupcakes to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling, drain the thawed and chopped berries, reserving the juice in a liquid measuring cup. Add enough water so that the total liquid equals ¾ cup. Add the liquid to a medium saucepan with the sugar and cornstarch. Heat over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken. Continue whisking so no lumps form. Once it reaches a certain temperature, it will thicken very quickly. Once thickened, remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice and krisch, if using. Fold in the drained cherries with a spatula. Cover and chill until ready to use. To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone out of the centre of each cupcake. Remove the bottom half of the cone that you cut out, reserving the top to put back onto the cupcake once it is filled (and eat the pieces that you won't use!). Fill each with a spoonful of the cherry filling and place the top back on.

To make the whipped cream frosting, start by cooling your stand mixer bowl, either by placing it in your fridge, freezer, or outside in these winter temperatures for a few minutes. This helps to whip the cream faster. Add the heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. If using Dr. Oetker's Whip It, add it in as well. Beat on medium-low speed for 30 seconds before increasing the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until stiff peaks form, but be careful not to overbeat.

Frost the filled cupcakes with the whipped cream.  Garnish as desired with cherries and chocolate shavings. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

 

Source: slightly adapted from Annie's Eats

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Orange Coconut Cremes

Yeah! The final post in my week-long blog challenge! I was able to write a blog post every day this week, and this is the last one!

Here's another quick and easy treat to put out on your Christmas platters or give to friends and family. Personally, I find the combination of orange and coconut absolutely irresistable. Add in chocolate, and you're golden.

Are these sweet? Yes. Are they incredibly sugary? Yes. Are they addictive? So much so that you will eat one or two too many and make yourself feel sick. I don't often feel inclined to try more than one item of whatever I've made, but I definitely caught myself sneaking into the fridge to snag a couple before having to give them all away. Oops!

Yield: 108 servings (I halved the recipe, no way I need over 100 of these babies!)
Ingredients:
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butter, cubed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (1 kg) powdered sugar
1 cup flaked unsweetened coconut
2 teaspoons orange extract
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons shortening

Directions:
In a small saucepan, combine milk, butter and salt. Warm over low heat until the butter is melted.

Place powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Add condensed milk and butter mixture, and beat until smooth. Add coconut and orange extract, and mix well. Roll into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheets lined with waxed paper. Refridgerate until firm, about 1 hour. If the mixture is too soft to hold it's shape, add more powdered sugar or refridgerate for awhile, as the mixture will be warm from the condensed milk mixture.

In a microwave, heat chocolate for 30 seconds, remove and stir. Continue to heat chocolate on 20 second bursts, stirring in between until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in shortening and mix until fully incorporated. Dip balls into chocolate; remove by placing a fork underneath and lifting, allowing excess chocolate to drip off. Place on waxed paper and either let stand until set or refridgerate to set more quickly.

Source: slightly adapted from Taste of Home Pin It

Nordic Christmas Sugar Cookies

Welcome to part II you could say, of my sugar cookie extravaganza. I apparently don't think that one beautiful set for Christmas is enough, and have to do an entirely different set. Actually, that's not the reason at all; it's just that I had so many ideas and was able to narrow it down to 2, but unfortunately not any further. I just couldn't decide which I liked better: the Winter Wonderland theme or the I'm not sure what to call this but let's go with Nordic Christmas theme. Which one do YOU like better? Cast your votes now! My Winter Wonderland cookies can be seen here.

The 4 at the bottom, starting with the branch, then the pine cone, birch trees, and the pearly ornament were my absolute favourite of the whole batch.

As promised, here is the chocolate roll-out cookie dough that I promised to provide the other day when I posted the Winter Wonderland cookies. Let me just say, when I was handling this dough, I actually said out-loud "ooh this dough is just dreamy." Sean asked me "dreamy?" and I explained that it held together and rolled out like a dream. This was in comparison to the only other chocolate sugar cookie dough I've used before, which you can check out in my post on Valentine's Day Sugar Cookies. While that dough was crumbly and a bit of a pain to roll out, it really did taste fantastic in the end. This new recipe tasted good too, but I think perhaps I may have added a bit too much flour as they were harder than what I'm used to, and Sweet Sugar Belle described them as on the softer side. So I'm a bit disappointed they didn't turn out as I hoped, but I'll definitely be trying the recipe again in the future.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup cocoa
3 OR 3 1/2 cups flour

Directions:
Cream butter, shortening and sugar together in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Add eggs and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add baking powder and salt, and mix again. Combine the cocoa powder until well blended. Add flour 1 cup at a time. If you are going to bake cookies right away, add 3 1/2 cups flour. If you are going to chill the dough, or wait for another few hours or even a couple days, stop at 3 cups.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, and cut out desired shapes. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 6 1/2- 7 1/2 minutes.

Source: Lila Loa


Because I'm on day 5 of my week long challenge (whooo!) I'm going to provide a quick re-cap of what I've done so far:

Day 1: Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

 

 

Day 2: Peppermint Patties 

 

 

Day 3: Winter Wonderland Cookies

 

 

Day 4: Christmas Caramel Popcorn

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Peppermint Patties

Wow! These 'holidays' are flying by! Seems like it's not much of a holiday, every day is jam-packed! This morning my little man was brought to the vet to have his manhood removed- poor little guy. Tucker did just fine through the surgery. Post-operation instructions were to try and keep him as inactive as possible, but guess what happened when he got home? He went crazy! And I mean bouncing off the walls with energy crazy! However, I think after his energy burst the after-effects of the anesthesia started kicking in because he began acting pretty odd, not to mention falling asleep while he was sitting up, poor boy :p.

Back to these peppermint patties, if you thought making caramel sauce from yesterday was easy, ok maybe you didn't because it can be sneaky and totally screw you over when you think you're doing everything right, these peppermint patties are significantly easier! No baking, no cooking, just some mixing, cooling, and dipping in chocolate! The most time-consuming part is the coating in chocolate, and depending on how large you decide to make your patties, even that can go fast!

These are definitely a no-fuss and yummy treat. If you like the whole mint and chocolate combination, give these a try! The sweetness of the peppermint filling is nicely balanced by the bittersweet chocolate, and if you make the patties into bite-sized pieces, it's perfect!

Yield: depends on your size preference, anywhere from 20 to 40
Ingredients:
3 1/2- 4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoon waters
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
2 tablespoon vegetable shortening, divided
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup peppermint candies or candy canes, crushed

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat 3 1/2 cups of powdered sugar together with corn syrup, water, peppermint extract and 1 tablespoon vegetable shortening until just combined. The mixture should not be wet, and stiff enough that you will be able to form it without it losing it's shape. If the mixture is not firm enough, add powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time until it becomes nearly crumbly (not quite that dry).

Dust a work surface with a small amount of powdered sugar. Empty the mixture onto work surface and knead and form into a ball. Shape dough into a log; how small or large you want the patties to be will determine the size of the log. I made mine about an inch in diameter and over a foot long. Wrap the log in parchment paper and refrigerate until firm, about 20-30 minutes.

Remove dough and slice into rounds using a sharp knife. If the dough begins to soften, refrigerate again or simply reshape the patties into a circle. Place rounds onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze until firm, around 10-15 minutes.

While dough is chilling, melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second intervals. Stir thoroughly after each time in the microwave; mine took 3 bursts in the microwave. Combine 1 tablespoon shortening into the chocolate until melted completely. Cool the chocolate slightly.

Cover another baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove patties 3-5 at a time from freezer and submerge into melted chocolate. Coat quickly and allow excess chocolate to drip off. I used a fork to lift the patties out, but this did not prevent chocolate from ending up all over my left hand. Place patties on parchment paper and sprinkle with crushed candies.

Let patties stand until chocolate is set, about 1 hour at room temperature or 5 minutes in the fridge. Store in fridge, between wax paper in an airtight container.

Source: adapted from Blue Eyed Bakers


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Halloween Chocolate Covered Marshmallows

Chocolate covered marshmallows have to be one of my most favourite treats. I'm not talking about covering store-bought marshmallows with chocolate, I'm talking about the kind that comes individually wrapped for special holidays like Halloween, Christmas, Easter and Valentine's Day. You can't go wrong with a thin layer of bittersweet chocolate balanced out with a soft and fluffy sweet marshmallow filling.

If you're like me, these treats are for you! The recipe is very simple, but putting it all together is a bit of a challenge due to how quickly marshmallow starts to set. Ideally, you should have a helper who can smooth out the marshmallow in the molds as you go along and fill them. If not, you just have to work verrry quickly!

I only bought 2 chocolate molds, like the ones here and here, and still had enough marshmallow left over to fill an 8x8 pan. I didn't want to spend the money on more molds, but it would have been nice so I could have made more chocolate marshmallow lollies! For this kind of treat, you want to look for molds that are relatively deep, so that you can get a good amount of marshmallow in there!

Ingredients:
Baker's semi-sweet chocolate, chips or wafers (I wouldn't recommend white chocolate after trying it) anywhere from 1/2 cup- 1 cup depending on how many molds you have
1-2 teaspoons vegetable shortening
candy/chocolate molds and lollipop sticks

4 1/2 teaspoons unflavoured gelatin powder
1/2 cup cold water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup, divided
1/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
orange gel food dye (or preferred colour)
classic coating (3/4 powdered sugar, 1/4 cornstarch)

Directions:
Place 1/2 cup of chocolate (cut into even small chunks if using baker's chocolate) in a heatproof bowl with 1 teaspoon vegetable shortening. Heat for short bursts in the microwave, starting with 30 seconds on 50% power. Stir after heating, and continue to heat on 50% power for 15 second bursts, stirring after each burst, until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

Spoon a small amount of chocolate into each mold and cover all of the surfaces. I found that using a silicone brush worked the best for this task. If using a clear mold, lift the mold tray above your head towards the light, and any spots that have too thin of a chocolate layer will show through. You don't want the layer to be thick, but you do want it to be thick enough to hold the marshmallow without breaking. Once finished, set aside in the refrigerator to firm up.

For the marshmallow, lightly coat an 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray (if using between 2 and 5 molds).

Whisk together the gelatin and cold water in a small bowl and let soften for 5 minutes. In a medium saucepan over high heat, stir together the sugar, 1/4 cup of the corn syrup, water and salt. Boil, stirring occasionally until the temperature reaches 240 degrees F. Meanwhile, pour remaining 1/4 cup corn syrup into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Microwave the gelatin on high until completely melted, about 30 seconds. Pour it into the mixer bowl and set on low speed.

When the syrup reaches 240 degrees F, slowly pour it into the mixer bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes. Increase to medium-high and beat for 5 more minutes. Beat on the highest setting for 1 to 2 minutes more and beat in the vanilla; the finished marshmallow will be opaque white, fluffy and tripled in volume. If colouring the marshmallow, add in dye at this point and beat until thoroughly mixed through. Scoop some of the marshmallow into a large piping bag fitted with either a plain round tip or left empty. Remove the mold trays from the refrigerator, and pipe a small amount into each mold. This is where it's handy to have a second hand if you're filling a lot of molds. Insert lollipop sticks and quickly smooth the tops of the marshmallows with an offset spatula to create a nice even surface. *You want to leave a little room at the top to cover with chocolate. Set aside for 1 hour.

With the remaining marshmallow, pour into the prepared pan and smooth with an offset spatula again. Sift classic coating evenly and generously over top (about 1/4 cup). Let set for at least 6 hours, uncovered in a dry, cool place. Use a knife to loosen the marshmallow from the edges of the pan and invert the pan onto a coating-dusted work surface. Cut into whatever sizes or shapes you prefer, and dip the sticky edges of the marshmallows in more coating, patting off the excess.

To finish the molds, repeat the melting of the chocolate process described earlier. Spoon a small amount of the melted chocolate over top the marshmallow, smooth over while ensuring to cover every part of the marshmallow. Return to the fridge for at least a half hour to set. To remove the chocolate marshmallow lollipops, push on the underside of the mold to pop them out, like you would with ice cubes in an ice cube tray.

Source: marshmallows from Marshmallow Madness by Shauna Sever

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Ombre Bridal Shower Cake

Part III and the final edition to my Bridal Shower series! The main focus of the food spread: the cake!! You may have remembered me mentioning multiple times in previous posts the difficulties I was having with trying to narrow down what to make for a cake. I went through thinking about fondant, to a 3-tier cake, to using different icing techniques for every tier, and to using different icing bases for the different cakes.

What I decided on was a classic Vanilla cake with strawberry filling and Strawberry Italian Meringue Buttercream icing for the bottom tier, and a Chocolate Devil's food cake with Caramel/Butterscotch IMButtercream icing for the top tier. I was torn between using previous recipes I had tried out, or trying something new. I went for completely new recipes, mainly so that I could share the results with you!

Unfortunately, in my opinion, only half of that paid off the way I envisioned. The vanilla cake was dense, making it ideal for a heavy layered cake, but it was also too dry (although that might in part be my fault as I remember vaguely seeing that you should make a simple syrup to help add moisture to the cake after it was done baking, which I omitted due to time constraints... and, well being lazy). I still have yet to find a good flavourful and moist yellow cake recipe, so if anybody knows or has a recipe that they really like, I would love to hear from you! The chocolate cake turned out quite well, although it was a bit crumbly, which made icing a bit more of a challenge. It called for butter rather than oil, which is fine although my favourite chocolate cake recipe involves oil. It wasn't as moist as the recipe that calls for oil, but it had a lovely deep chocolate flavour that was perfect for the chocolate-lovers in the crowd.

The flowers were made with a gumpaste and fondant mixture, and some petal dust to coat, as the pink faded quite dramatically as it dried. A simple dollop of icing held them in place.

Because I was not overly satisfied with the results of the vanilla cake, I'm not going to write the ingredients and directions, but I will post the link. The lovely Heather Baird from Sprinkle Bakes (if you don't know of it, check it out here: Sprinkle Bakes) made a guest post on Etsy.com here. As I didn't want the bottom tier to be overly high, I thought it perfect that the recipe was set in quantities for a 8 inch pan, when I was using a 9 inch pan. However, much to my dismay (and possibly misunderstanding the instructions) the quantities given were enough for 2 layers of cake. Like 2 thin layers. Not layers that are high enough that you can tort them, like the instructions indicated. I pulled the pans out of the often and realized that they had barely risen at all, and with a great sigh I determined that I would be making a second batch of the recipe to yield the 4 layers I had originally been hoping for. For instructions on how to make the strawberry filling and IMButtercream, you can check out my post on Strawberry Cupcakes, although I would use some cornstarch in the strawberry reduction to thicken it up further. Also, I multiplied the icing quantities by 1.5 (x2 wasn't needed as the filling was used between the layers).

The chocolate cake recipe was also taken from Sprinkle Bakes, although Heather souped up that cake to something of incredible imagination. I simplified it quite a bit, and also cut the recipe down to 3/4 as it was filling 6 inch pans. I've put the quantities for a 6 inch cake in brackets.

Ingredients:
1 oz. (3/4) fine quality unsweetened baker's chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoon (3/4 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (3/4) hot coffee (decaf is fine)
2 eggs
2 (1) egg yolks
1/4 (1/5) cup sour cream
1 (3/4) tablespoon vanilla extract
2 1/4  cups(shy 1 3/4) flour
1 1/2 cups (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) light brown sugar, packed tight
1 teaspoon (3/4) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (1/4+1/8) salt
16 tablespoons or 2 sticks (12 tbsp or 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch (or 6-inch) cake pans with shortening and line with a circle of parchment paper. Grease paper and flour the pan; tap out excess flour and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk the chocolate, cocoa and hot coffee until smooth. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks, sour cream, half the chocolate mixture and vanilla until just combined.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the flour, brown sugar, baking soda and salt on low for 30 seconds. Add the softened butter and the remaining chocolate mixture. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Raise the speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With the mixture off between additions, add the egg mixture in two parts, starting on medium-low speed and gradually increasing to medium. Beat on medium speed for 45 seconds after each addition to incorporate the ingredients. The batter should be fluffy. Divide the batter evenly between the cake pans and smooth with a spatula. Tap the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.

Bake for 30-40 minutes. Cake is done when a toothpick comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed in the middle. Let the cakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wired rack. Let cool completely.

For instructions on the Caramel IMButtercream icing, check out my post on Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes. For the cake, I added in 1 additional egg white.

 I apologize for the poor quality of these photos; I had literally seconds to get a snapshot and it wasn't until after everybody had been served.

As you can see, my cake skills aren't perfect. The layers weren't evenly torted, but that's not the end of the world.

Also, I was unhappy with myself for this cake as there wasn't as much filling/icing as I was hoping there would be, which was especially needed with a drier cake. But, you live and learn, right?!

Also, I forgot to mention that when making a tiered-cake, it is important that you use some sort of supports to help keep the structure of the cake intact. I cut 5 wooden BBQ skewers to the height of the bottom cake, and inserted them where the top tier would be sitting. You also need to have a cardboard layer in between the cake tiers, so that there is something firm sitting on top of the skewers.

And, while she might not appreciate this, a picture of the happy bride-to-be!

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Chocolate & Toasted Coconut Covered Coconut Marshmallows

Wow, I apologize for the enormity of the name, but I really don't know what else to call these babies! Chocolate and Toasted Covered Coconut *home-made* Marshmallows says it all. I've been wanting to make this creation for several weeks now, ever since I saw this post on Bakerella on making various different flavours of marshmallows. The peanut butter and jelly ones definitely caught my eye, but I wanted to try out the coconut chocolate combination first.

I had made marshmallows once a few years ago, but I forgot how easy and fast it is! All it is, literally, is softening some gelatin, boiling some sugar, corn syrup and water to a certain temperature, and then beating it all together until it reaches the right consistency! The most difficult part of the whole process is spreading the very sticky warm marshmallow goo into a pan without getting it everywhere, including your face *ahem*.

I chose to use a bittersweet chocolate to coat them, because the marshmallows are pretty sugary on their own. The bitterness of the chocolate evens them out a bit, and the toasted coconut gives some wonderful texture.

Somehow though, dipping into chocolate has never become easy for me. I always find whatever is on the stick is trying to slip it's way off, and the coating is uneven. It was probably even more difficult with these marshmallows, because they are SO light and fluffy, they are basically a cloud that melts in your mouth! What I ended up doing was keeping the toasted coconut on the pan that it came in, so that I could place the chocolate coated mallow to rest on the coconut. I took a small steel spatula (you know the kind that you use to smooth cake icing) to coat all of the sides except for the back, which I was holding with my fingers for extra support. I finished the back off after I placed the mallow on the coconut. By doing it this way, you can smooth the chocolate out and really decide how much chocolate you want on the mallow.

Yield: Approximately 20 large rectangular mallows (more or less depending on how big you cut them)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 tablespoons unflavoured gelatin (about 1 1/2 packets)
1/2 cup cold water, divided
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon coconut extract
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
nonstick spray
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon shortening

Directions:
Place 1/4 cup of the cold water into the bowl of a stand mixer, an sprinkle the gelatin over top for it to soften. In the meantime, combine the other half of the water, sugar, corn syrup and salt into a small saucepan, making sure to have a candy thermometer close by. Cook over medium heat until the mixture reaches a temperature of 240 degrees F (5-10 minutes). Once the temperature is reached, immediately remove from the heat.

With the whisk attachment on the mixer moving at low speed, add the hot liquid in a slow and steady stream down the side of the mixer bowl. Doing this helps a) to cool it down slightly, and b) to avoid it getting hit by the whisk and whipped around. Once all the syrup has been added, crank up the mixing speed to high and whip until the mixture is very think and has cooled, but still is warm. This should take about 12-15 minutes of mixing. *You can do this with a strong hand mixer; I made marshmallows the first time with a hand mixer. However, be prepared to have a tired arm afterwards.

While the mixture is whipping, combine the powdered sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk together. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 8 x 8 pan (with shortening or spray) and thoroughly coat the pan with the sugar-cornstarch mixture, reserving what is left. Once the marshmallow mixture is finished whipping, spray a spatula with nonstick spray and spread the mixture in an even layer into the prepared pan. Sprinkle a layer of the sugar-cornstarch mixture over top to coat lightly. Let the pan sit, uncovered or at least 4 hours or up to overnight before cutting.

Remove the marshmallow slab onto a cutting board. Use a pizza cutter or cookie cutters to cut the desired shape. At this point, if you want plain marshmallows, dip the pieces in the remaining sugar-cornstarch mixture to prevent sticking.

Layer a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Evenly spread 1 cup of shredded sweetened coconut. Toast for 5-10 minutes, or until a nice golden brown is achieved. Remove and let cool.

Add 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips and 1 tablespoon shortening into a heat proof bowl. Heat in the microwave at reduced heat for 1 minute. Stir the chocolate and shortening, and return to microwave at 30 second increments until a smooth melted chocolate is achieved. Be careful not to overheat! Once you have scorched the chocolate there is no going back and it must be thrown out.

Use popsicle sticks, candy sticks, or whatever you have on hand to insert into the marshmallow. Dip, or spread the chocolate onto the marshmallow and lay the chocolate coated marshmallow onto the bed of toasted coconut.

Let harden, at least 1 hour or 1/2 an hour in the fridge. Serve and enjoy!

Source: adapted from Food Network via Annie's Eats

P.S. These are seriously delicious. You should make them. Pin It

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This is the story behind the zucchini loaf: A couple days ago, I was lying around watching 'Bake with Anna Olsen' and she was doing an episode on 'vegetables', which included a zucchini loaf. Anna Olsen often inspires me to try and make something, and as I was watching this episode I realized that I had some leftover zucchini from earlier in the week (I made Angel Hair Pasta with Bread Crumbs and Zucchini and a Tortilla Soup).

Anna Olsen's zucchini loaf wasn't chocolate, so I set out in search of a double chocolate zucchini loaf that would be moist, not too rich, and not sugary enough that you couldn't eat it for breakfast. I found this recipe; however, there turned out to be a kink in my plans. When I went to start making the loaf, I realized that I did not, in fact, have lots of leftover zucchini. I only had half a small one. My plans were foiled! Luckily, we were going grocery shopping later that day and I decided that leftover zucchini or not, I would be making the loaf!

Quick breads are really quite simple, and they're given that name for a reason. No need for a stand or hand-mixer, and everything can be put together and in the oven in a matter of minutes. And while I absolutely adore our stand-mixer, I relish in the times that I don't have to lug the heavy beast out.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini, packed
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8" pan.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder in a medium sized bowl. Add the zucchini in and toss to coat. *Apparently coating the zucchini in the flour mixture helps to keep the moisture in the zucchini.* Set aside.

Combine the oil, white sugar, brown sugar and eggs in a small bowl. Whisk together quickly for 2 minutes, until the mixture is slightly fluffy (work those muscles!). Add vanilla and sour cream and whisk until combined.

Combine the liquid mixture with the flour mixture and slowly stir until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips until distributed evenly.

Pour into the greased loaf pan and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until when a cake tester pick is inserted it comes out clean. Let the loaf rest in the pan for 5 minutes, and then remove and have the loaf sit on a cooling rack until completely cool.

*To help keep quick bread loaves fresh, first wrap in a layer of waxed paper, and then in aluminum foil.

Source: slightly adapted from Our Best Bites

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Classic Whoopie Pies

Whoopie pies have been on my to-do list for months now, they just never made it to the top of my priorities. Finally though, I had a full weekend to myself- no volunteer commitments, no school work to do, nothing to do but relax and do what I wanted! The weather was beautiful and hot, and I was able to make it out to the beach with some friends of mine, and out for food and drinks afterwards! And the second day was full of laundry, shoe-shopping, and Ribest with the boys. Funny thing is, I went out to Ribfest 2 days in a row now, and I don't even eat meat! It was a lovely weekend, and now unfortunately I'm back to the grind and heading into work today. Saturdays (my Mondays) suck.

These whoopie pies turned out pretty great, with only a few flaws. For one, mine do not look picture perfect. I don't have a cookie scoop, just a regular spoon, so what resulted was more oval-shaped cookies rather than round cookies. For two, I only had 2 left to photograph because I gave the rest away before I could. For three, it is unbelievably hot in my apartment. If I haven't said so before, I live in a small apartment where all the windows are facing the sun, all day long. I'm up on the 8th floor and only have 1 window that actually opens. Which means, when it's 45 degrees outside with humidity, it's 55 degrees in here. I have an small old AC, but running it on high all day long only takes the edge off and it ramps up my hydro bills big time. So all of that is to say that the icing was so soft due to the heat, that when I tried sandwiching them together, they kept sliding off. I had to strategically position them in various locations so that they would stay. Originally I thought it was a complete failure, but after a few hours the icing had firmed up a bit and managed to stay together.

These cookie sandwiches are yummm-y! Lots of chocolate flavour, light and fluffy as clouds, with a deliciously sweet filling. The cookies are like soft cake.... cake cookies! The recipe I took from Annie's Eats was enough to make 24 sandwich cookies, which I definitely didn't need. So I cut the recipe in half, but still ended up with 16 cookies that were huge!! I would have actually preferred the cookies to be a bit smaller, so if I were to do it next time, I could half the recipe and still likely get 18-20 sandwich cookies out of it. Keep that in mind!

Yield: about 16 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the filling:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Half of a 7½ oz. marshmallow fluff container
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Combine the flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Beat in the egg until fully incorporated. Blend in the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix in the dry ingredients, blending just until combined.

Using a 1-oz dough scoop (or a spoon if you don't have one), drop the batter onto pans lined with parchment paper, about 12 cookies per pan. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Allow to cool on the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.

To make the filling, place the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Blend in the confectioners’ sugar until incorporated. Beat in the marshmallow fluff and vanilla until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.

Once the cookies are completely cooled, match them up in pairs by size. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip (or if you don't have a plain tip, just leave it tip-less and it will work just as well) with the marshmallow filling. Pipe a dollop of marshmallow filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair, and sandwich the cookies together, pushing the filling to the edges. Store in an airtight container.

Source: Cookies and Filling from Martha Stewart (via Annie's Eats)

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