Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Toffee Crunch

Happy Friday guys!

I'm so glad the weekend is upon us!  I've still got to work tomorrow, but I've got Sunday and Monday off, so it's not too bad.

Any plans for the weekend?  We're probably going to be lazy - I know I'm going to be catching up on some sleep! 

Anyway, I thought I would end the week with a sweet treat!  It won the last bi-weekly poll and was a winner in our house too!  The original recipe had some Caramel Frosting to go with it - but I wasn't in the mood to fool with frosting and just kept them simple with some chocolate ganache and toffee bits. 

And don't forget to vote in this week's bi-weekly poll - I'm obviously in the mood for something chocolately!




Ingredients:
Adapted from Bakers Royale's recipe

1 cup flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons hot coffee
1/2 cup Heath toffee bits


Chocolate Ganache:


2/3 cups dark chocolate
2 tablespoons whole milk



In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt.

Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for one minute.  Stir in hot coffee.

Beat for 20-30 seconds until the batter is smooth. The batter will be slightly on the thin side. 

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.  Divide the batter evenly among the liners. Bake 18-22 minutes just until a toothpick inserted into a few of the cupcakes comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack to cool completely.

To make the ganache, place the dark chocolate and milk in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds.  Stir until combined and smooth (you can heat again in 15 second intervals if chocolate isn't completely melted).

Once cupcakes are cooled, dip the tops into the ganache and sprinkle desired amound of toffee bits on top! 

These were delicious!  So simple and just enough of that toffee crunch to bring these to another level!  I think Andy had one of these for breakfast everyday for the past week - so we know he liked them!

Have a great weekend guys!

Andes Mint Cupcakes

Okay, so these weren't the winner of last Friday's poll... but seriously.  I just had to make them.  I mean, Andy.  Andes Mint.  They were meant to be.  Right?  So don't fret, the winner of the poll was something "bourbon-flavored" - and it will come soon enough.  But right now, we're talking about these cupcakes.

They were so good.  They flew like hot cakes.  Andy probably ate 6 in the matter of two days.  Which he probably shouldn't have since he has a tux-fitting coming up this Saturday... but I digress.

Anyway, it's late, so I won't jibber-jabber any longer.  Plus, I have to get up early, so I should be heading to bed!  So without further ado...

Ingredients:
Adapted from Your Cup of Cake's recipe

Cupcake:


1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
Devil's Food Cake mix


Chocolate FIlling:

1/3 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
5 Andes mints, chopped


Buttercream Frosting:


8 oz package cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
neon green food coloring

Andes mints, optional - about 5 chopped and 18 whole

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners.

For the cupcakes: In a medium bowl, mix sour cream, oil and vanilla extract together.  Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well in between each addition.  

3.    Alternate adding the cake mix and liquids (buttermilk and water), starting and ending with the cake mix.  

 

4.    Fill liners 2/3 full and bake for 16-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Place on a cooling rack to cool slightly.

5.    Chocolate Mint Filling:  Melt chocolate chips, 5 Andes mints, and heavy cream together in the microwave in 30 second intervals.  Mine melted quickly, no more than 1 minute.  

 

6.   Place filling in a squeeze bottle and insert into middle of cupcakes, filling with desired amount (about 1-2 teaspoons per cupcake).

     Green Buttercream:  Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar, heavy cream beat well.  Add a few drops of green food coloring (I think I did about 8-10) and stir well.

 

8.   Pipe buttercream onto cooled cupcakes and top with extra Chocolate Mint Filling and an Andes Mint.

So silly me couldn't find any peppermint extract anywhere this weekend.  So I kind of improvised on this one - I'm sure it would have been extra special with the added mint flavor, but we didn't seem to mind =)  I mean, seriously - look how happy Andy is!

Have a great (what's left of) Wednesday guys!  And don't forget that the CSA round up is tomorrow, so there's still time to send me your local produce pictures @ mtlabor85@yahoo.com!  I'll post it sometime tomorrow afternoon (maybe evening because I have a softball game at 6:30).  See you guys tomorrow!

 

Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes

Happy Monday guys!  How was everyone's weekend?  Ours was busy busy busy!

We drove up to Indianapolis on Saturday for a graduation party.  We got to see folks I haven't seen in forever, and it was really great to see them! 

On our way up, we stopped at the outlet malls in Edinburgh and LOADED UP on spring/summer clothes.  We're definitely set for the season now!  And on our way back, we stopped to have dinner at Fogo de Chao. 

Now, if you haven't heard of Fogo de Chao, it's a chain of Brazilian steak houses - you're given a two-sided card (one side is green, and one side is red).  There are several different servers carrying around different cuts of meat on swords and if your card is flipped over to the green side, they keep giving you meat.  If it's on the red side, they bypass you.

All of my friends suggested we eat there, and heck, it sounded like a good idea.  Well... I must be the only person on Earth that didn't see what all the fuss was about (I know this, because a friend of mine that frequents there often said I was crazy for not liking it).  I mean, yeah, you get to gorge on a bunch of meat, but to me... most of that meat was flavorless and dry.  I don't know, maybe I'm a snob, but I just didn't fall victim to the gimmick.  I'd rather eat my meal for enjoyment, rather than sport.  I seriously just felt disgusting after all of it and more like the Man vs. Food guy.  And for the $114 price tag (that's not even including the tip!)... it was honestly just not worth it - to me, anyway.

But anywho, Sunday was spent relaxing (well Andy relaxed, I worked) and taking it easy.  I did manage to make these cupcakes (which won Friday's poll!) to take with me to the grad party.  I liked them because they were different - all of the cinnamon roll flavor, without all the cinnamon roll waiting!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Heat Oven to 350's recipe

Filling:

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 egg

Cake:

3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup water
1 & 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 teaspoons milk
1 & 1/2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  Grease the parchment paper with shortening/butter.

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese, 1/2 cup sugar, and cinnamon until smooth.  Beat in 1 egg until incorporated.  Spread mixture over parchment paper in an even layer (it won't cover the entire surface, but make as even of a rectangle as possible - I probably has 1 inch margins from the edge of the pan).  Set baking sheet in fridge until needed.

In a medium bowl, beat the remaining 3 eggs until they are fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the 3/4 cup sugar and beat for another 2 minutes.

In a separate medium bowl, combing flour and baking soda.  Slowly add in flour mixture to eggs until just combined.  Mix in water and 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract.

Pour batter over the refrigerated cream cheese filling and spread evenly.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until cake is set.  Let cool only slightly.

On a clean surface lined with parchment paper, carefully invert the cake onto the paper.  Carefully peel away the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake. 

Using a pizza cutter, slice the cake into as many thin strips as possible (about 1/2 inch wide) - I think I got about 18 strips.  Heat Oven to 350 does a good job depicting this here (they made a cake though, so that's why their strips are wider and mine are thinner for the cupcake version).

Roll the strips jelly-roll style and place in cupcake liners. 

To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar, milk, and clear vanilla extract in a small bowl.  Mix until at your desired consistency.  Drizzle glaze over top of cupcakes. 

See how easy that is?  Compared to actual cinnamon rolls that take hours to complete - because of all of the dough rising time of course! - this is a quick and easy version that's ready in less than 45 minutes!  You can't go wrong with that!

Have a great Monday guys!  I'll be back tomorrow with a garden update!

Samoa Cupcakes

Happy Monday guys!  Today was my first day back to work after vacation, and I'll have to say it wasn't too bad.  But I could use another week of vacation - just sayin'.

How was everyone's weekend?  I volunteered for the MS Walk downtown on Saturday and then came home to take a nap - which led to practically sleeping Saturday away (we didn't wake up until 6!).  Then Sunday we went to a Bats game - the minor league baseball team in town - which was pretty fun too.  I mean, you can't beat hot dogs and baseball, right? 

Samoa Cupcakes won the poll on Friday, so I figured I'd get started (and not make you guys wait a week or two) and post that recipe since I had time this weekend!

I'd have to say that these are pretty awesome.  I used my new favorite chocolate cake recipe (seriously, I'm never making chocolate cake any other way) and made a couple adjustments to a caramel frosting recipe - and the end result is something truly amazing.

Ingredients:

Cupcake:
Adapted from Foodess's recipe

2 cups sugar
1 & 3/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 & 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon clear vanilla
1 cup hot coffee

Coconut-Caramel Frosting:
Adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen's Recipe


2 sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons clear vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350F.  Line 2 muffin tins with paper liners. 

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add in eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla.  Beat with a hand mixer for about 2-3 minutes, or until combined.  On low speed, slowly beat in hot coffee until just combined. (The mixture will be VERY aqueous, but don't fret).  Divide batter among paper liners, filling them halfway full (I ended up with roughly 34-36 cupcakes).

Bake cupcakes on the middle rack of oven for about 20-22 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.  Transfer cupcakes to wire cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, melt the butter in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat.  Stir in salt and brown sugar.  Allow mixture to boil, stirring constantly.  Cook over low heat for about 2-3 minutes until the brown sugar is completely dissolved.  Stir in milk and return mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. 

Remove pan from heat and stir in vanilla.  Cool mixture to lukewarm, about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Once mixture is cooled, stir in about 3/4 cup of the toasted coconut.  Add in powdered sugar and beat on medium speed until at desired consistency.  My frosting never got to a very thick state (maybe it was the 2% milk I used, instead of whole milk??), but I actually liked it this way - it was more of a glaze.

Spread glaze on cooled cupcakes.

Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl in 30 second intervals.  Place chocolate in a piping bag with a fine tip (or you can put it in a plastic sandwich bag with the corner cut off - I like this method because there's no clean up!) and drizzle chocolate atop glaze.  Then garnish cupcakes with remaining toasted coconut.

And then try to resist eating all 36 cupcakes.  I had to take several to work this morning, but I think I've still got about 10-15 cupcakes around here.  I've got to hide them from myself - in the fridge.  Which, considering I open my fridge every hour or two, it doesn't seem to be the best of hiding spots.

Hehe, but seriously.  These. Are. Delicious.  Have a great Monday guys!

Meyer Lemon Poundcake Cupcakes

Well, this post would have come sooner if a certain somebody didn't mistakenly take the USB cable for my camera with him to work instead of his own camera's cable.  But... I'm not complaining.  I've let go of that grudge. Hehe.  But trust me, I wasn't a happy camper earlier.

Anyway, it's been a pretty cruddy day.  It hasn't stopped raining since this morning and the sky is a depressing shade of gray.  Days like these I just want to stay home and bake.  Bake things that brighten up my day and my mood.  Like these cupcakes.  Guaranteed to turn any depressing, gray day into something bright and beautiful!

I brought these into work earlier this week and they practically vanished in no time!  And funny conversation, I told them I used Meyer Lemons and kind of educated them on the difference between it and a regular old lemon, and the whole time I was saying Meyer lemons, my coworkers were thinking I was talking about the grocery store we have around here, Meijer (pronounced the same way), and so they were a bit puzzled why those lemons were so special.  Silly, silly coworkers.  I really have to give them some more citrus education soon. 

Anyway, without further ado (I mean, you've waited long enough), one of the best cupcakes I've ever had...

Ingredients:
Adapted from Cooking on the Side's recipe

They're just waiting to be eaten.

For cupcakes:

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
2 & 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
juice from 1 Meyer lemon
zest from 1 Meyer lemon

For glaze:


1 cup powdered sugar
juice from 1 Meyer lemon

I'm tellin' ya, they go quick!

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine flour and corn starch.

In a large bowl, beat sugar and butter until fluffy and creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Alternate adding the flour and heavy whipping cream to sugar and eggs.  Stir in vanilla, lemon juice and zest.


Fill each paper liner about 3/4 full with batter.  I had enough batter to make 18 cupcakes and a whole loaf in a bread pan.

Bake cupcakes for about 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake come out clean.  If you decide to make a loaf as well, bake for about 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean.


Remove cupcakes from muffin tin and cool on a cooling rack until at room temperature.

To make the glaze, in a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar and lemon juice.  Using a whisk attachment, beat until glaze is smooth and free of lumps from sugar.  Add more lemon juice, if desired.  Top cupcakes with glaze.


Seriously, these were amazing.  The pound cake was perfectly dense and had just the slightest lemon tinge, which was perfect for me - and apparently Andy also, who ate like 5 in one sitting.  Whether you make a loaf or a cupcake, you'll have a hard time keeping these around because I've noticed they have a tendency to just disappear!  Enjoy guys!

Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Nutella Buttercream Frosting

TGIF!  I've got the weekend off of work and I'm ready for it!  I'm not so ready to wake up super early tomorrow morning and fun 3.1 miles at 8am.  In the cold.  But, it's my own doing.  I freely signed up for the race knowing what I was getting myself into.  And so if I'm to be punished, so be it.

Bold statements are usually made in our house.  Usually those involving death threats (in a loving manner, of course.  like I tell everyone who looks seemingly shocked after I threaten to kill Andy - this is how we talk, hehe) or, heaven forbid, threats to take away chocolate cupcakes to one's co-workers instead of leaving them at home.  Yes.  Andy looked at me with disgust as I loaded these up last week to take to work.  Hey.  I left him 3.  And he had already eaten 3 the night before too.  So seriously.  He had his fill, it was time to give them to a more deserving crowd. 

I know it took me a while to post these, but hey, I wanted to save the best for the end of the week.  And there's a new poll at the end of this post, so don't forget to vote for my next little treat (I promise it won't take me as long to post this time!).

Obviously, they were still a tad warm when I frosted them - but it's hard to resist =)

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:


1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons espresso powder
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon white/clear vanilla extract
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Nutella Buttercream:

Adapted from My Baking Addiction's recipe

1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 13-ounce jar of Nutella
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon white/clear vanilla extract
2-3 cups powdered sugar (original recipe called for a full lb., and by all means, go ahead with that if you'd like, but I just couldn't see using that much sugar)
6-8 tablespoons heavy cream

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line muffin pans with paper liners.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix well and set aside.

In a separate, medium-sized bowl, combine the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, and apple cider vinegar, and mix well.

Slowly add wet mixture to dry ingredients and stir until just incorporated.

Fill muffin liners about halfway to 3/4 full.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove cupcakes from oven and let cool in tin for about 10 minutes.  Remove cupcakes from tin and transfer to a wire rack to let cool to room temperature before frosting.

For the frosting:

This makes a TON of frosting, so you could definitely save some for later or half the recipe if you're not doing too many cupcakes. (I made about 18 cupcakes, and still had a bunch leftover)

In a large bowl, beat butter and Nutella until well combined. 

Slowly add in powdered sugar and continue beating until incorporated.

Add salt, vanilla, and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Beat on low speed until moistened.  Add heavy cream, one tablespoon at a time, until you reach your preferred consistency. 

Beat frosting on high until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Fill a piping bag with a little bit of frosting and pierce the cooled cupcakes in the center to fill and then decoratively frost the tops.  Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts, if desired.

Remember those bold statements I was talking about earlier?  Well, Andy mocked me when I told him I was buying Nutella.  He's somewhat sheltered in the Nutella area, and jokingly made faces at me as I put it in our cart at the grocery.  

So to his surprise, he actually loved these cupcakes.  So much so, that he made the boldest statement ever, saying that these were the best cupcakes I'd ever made.  Ever.  So seriously, if Andy can make such a statement, I think these are definitely worth a go.  And as for my coworkers, they loved them too.  So they're definitely a crowd pleaser. =)

And to the poll!  I'm in a vague and random sort of mood, so I'll leave it somewhat open.  I'll definitely need something to replenish me after I'm done with my race tomorrow morning!  Enjoy your weekend guys!

Links!

This has been a pretty crazy week. Pharmacy school application is in the mail, now it's just a waiting game. I'll pretty much be stressed out to the core until I hear something. Cooking is the only thing to keep me sane right now, I suppose. Here's the links for this week....

Conversion Tables - I printed this out this week because I think it's a handy reference tool. There's a lot of recipes online that use the metric system as opposed to our customary U.S. system and I always end up having to Google the conversions because for some reason they don't stick in my head. So this table comes in pretty handy!

Stir Fry Sauces - The title says it all. This shows 6 different stir fry sauce styles, that are pretty versatile for any bunch of ingredients. Especially since stir fry is one of those quick and easy meals, it's good to spice it up a bit... I definitely recommend the Lobster sauce!!!

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Maple Cream Cheese Frosting - It's October and pumpkin is pretty much a main stay! So why not make these delicious looking cupcakes! I'm sure the frosting is something you'd want to eat all by itself but remember to but it on the cupcakes!!

Cook's Illustrated - Definitely a great resource for anything in the kitchen. Keep the food publications alive! Subscribe to your favorite magazine today, regardless of what it may be!

Cheesecake With Whiskey Butter Sauce - cheesecake? whiskey? Who ever thought of putting the two together? Two great indulgences wrapped into one package!

Alright well that wraps it up... enjoy the weekend and hopefully you're somewhere sunny because here in the midwest it's pretty crappy and rainy!