Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes

As soon as I saw these cupcakes, I really wanted to make them. I think I was mostly excited about the white chocolate buttercream frosting. I've never made a white chocolate frosting before! They were very worth it. I wanted to just eat the white chocolate frosting by myself.. but it tastes even better on the cupcake! The cupcake is almost like a moist brownie, but in cupcake form. I only made a few changes to the recipe, like adding more chocolate and sugar. Next time, I'll just add more butter to the frosting.



Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes
recipe adapted from Disney Family

Ingredients
6 oz semi sweet chocolate
4 tablespoons (half stick) Light butter, room temperature
1/3 cup Splenda brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
a large pinch of salt

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:
3 oz white chocolate
5 tablespoons light butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confections sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin cup with 8 paper liners. Set aside.

Melt the plain chocolate over a pan of hot water and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Cream butter and sugars in a bowl until fluffy then beat in the cooled plain chocolate, followed by an egg, vanilla, and sour cream. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder, plus a large pinch of salt, into the bowl and fold in.

Spoon into cupcake (around 2/3 full). Bake for 18-20 minutes, until risen and firm to the touch. Allow to cool thoroughly on wire rack.

To make the buttercream, melt the white chocolate in heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together with a pinch of salt then beat in the cooled chocolate. Spread the frosting on the cupcake when cooled, then store in airtight container.

Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!(: And that the baking ideas were useful. I have been dying to make truffles forever! Especially those cranberry ones. Unfortunately, my mom doesn't want to see another truffle for a while because my neighbor just brought a bunch over and I got her some from See's candy. So truffles will have to wait until Valentines day.

This cheesecake, was maybe one of the best I've made in a while(: Not really any cracks in the top either! I brought this to Christmas and everyone loved it! It's pretty easy too, but next time I'll try to find regular chocolate graham crackers instead of using teddy grahams.

Cranberry Swirl Cheesecake

recipe from Cooking Light

Ingredients

4 ounces chocolate graham crackers

3 tablespoon canola oil

cooking spray

1 1/2 cups cranberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup Chambord (raspberry liquor)

3 tablespoons water

1 cup sugar

2 (8-ounce) packages block style 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

4 ounces block style fat free cream cheese, softened

1 cup plain fat free Greek yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 large egg whites

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Wrap outside and bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan tightly with a double layer of heavy duty foil.

Place crackers in a food processor; process until finely ground. Drizzle with oil. Pulse until combined. Press mixture into bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of prepared pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool on a rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Place cranberries, sugar, liquor, and water in a saucepan. Boil. Cook 8 minutes or until cranberries start to pop and mixture is syrupy. Cool 20 minutes. Place mixture in a food processor. Process 1 minute or until smooth.

Combine 1 cup sugar and cheeses in large bowl; Beat with a mixer at medium speed until smooth. Beat in yogurt, vanilla, and salt. Add whole eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

Place 2 egg whites in a medium bowl; Beat with a mixer at high speed until soft peaks form using clean, dry beaters. Fold beaten egg whites into cream cheese mixture. Pour filling over crust. Spoon cranberry mixture over filling. Swirl together using the tip of a knife. Place spring form pan in a 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan. Add hot water to pan to a depth of 2 inches. Bake at 325 degrees for 50 minutes or until center of cheesecake barely moves when pan is touched.

Turn oven off. Cool cheesecake in closed oven 30 minutes. Remove cheesecake from oven. Run a knife around outside edge. Cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill 8 hours.

Christmas Baking Ideas

It's getting to that time of year again. The neighbors are making fudge and truffles, and I'm starting to bake dessert for Christmas Eve. If you have no idea what to make for Christmas, here's a few yummy ideas(:

Cranberry Orange Truffles
This recipe is on my to make list. Don't they look good? Different from your regular truffles, but probably still delicious.

Chocolate Cheesecake Candy Cane Bars

Yummmm. I'm not really a peppermint kind of person, but these look amazing.

Eggnog Cheesecake

I've tried the Soy Nog and that was really Delicious so I bet this would be even better!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I think Red Velvet is always a favorite.

Easy Sugar Cookies

These cookies don't look that hard to make. So if you're not good with decorating icing like I am, they're perfect!

Gingerbread Cake Pops
These are super cute. And cake pops are always a fun treat to make.

Happy Baking Everyone! And Merry Christmas(: I'll be posting new recipes after Christmas.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

These cupcakes, were probably the best cupcakes I've ever had/made. As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew that I had to make it. They were worth all the hard work! You have to make the cookie dough, freeze it for about 3 hours, make the yellow cupcakes from scratch or use a mix, put them in the oven, and then make the frosting. I was skeptical at first because I thought the whole thing would be pretty doughy, but it was perfect the day after they were made. I'll for sure be making these again, I ate one everyday for breakfast until they were gone(:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

recipe from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

1 box yellow cake mix plus ingredients to prepare mix or yellow cupcakes from scratch

Directions

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside. Beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Add 1 egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Mix in the flour mixture until just Incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips; Mixing just enough to evenly combine. Form the dough into tablespoon sized balls; Place on baking sheet and freeze until solid, about 2 1/2-3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl with electric mixer to break up. Add the cake mix, water, and canola oil; Continue beating for 2 minutes on medium speed. Spoon into the prepare cupcake liners, filling each 2/3 full. Place a frozen cookie dough ball on top of the center of each cupcake, and smooth down to the bottom, covering the dough ball with batter.

Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the dough ball) comes clean, about 15-18 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on wire rack.

Makes 11 cupcakes

Creamy Chocolate Frosting

recipe from All Recipes

Ingredients

2 3/4 cup powdered sugar

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

6 tablespoons butter

5 tablespoons evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a medium bowl, sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder, and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter until smooth, then gradually beat in sugar mixture alternately with evaporated milk. Blend in vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. If necessary, adjust consistency with more milk and sugar.

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

I've never made these cookies before. I was really excited to make them because I love making cookies, and they looked pretty easy to make. And they were! I mainly made these because my neighbors bring over fudge every year, and we never know what to give them in return (besides shoveling their driveway) so I made these! My parents were pretty sad that I gave most of them away because they loved them, so I'll definitely make these again. I only adapted the recipe a little bit, but next time I might use chocolate nutella instead of peanut butter. Either way would probably be really good(:

Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies

recipe adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients

1/2 cup light butter, room temperature

3/4 cup Jiff omega 3 peanut butter

1/3 cup Splenda brown sugar

1/3 cup organic sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons soy milk

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Coating:

1/3 cup organic sugar

Garnish:

48 milk chocolate Kisses, unwrapped

Directions

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Set aside.

In medium bowl with electric mixer, beat the butter. Add peanut butter and sugars and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Beat in the milk. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. And to the peanut butter mixture and beat until Incorporated. Cover and chill the batter for about an hour, or until firm enough to roll into balls.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.

Roll the batter into 1 tablespoon round balls. Place the organic sugar in a shallow bowl and roll each ball in the sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cooking for about 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned. Immediately upon removing the cookies from the oven, place a chocolate Kiss in the center of each cookie, pressing down until the cookie just starts to crack. Cool completely on wire rack, then put in a sealed container.

Makes about 2 dozen big cookies, or 4 dozen small cookies

Brownie Bottom Pudding Pie

I've been wanting to make this for a long time. It just looked so good! And it is. I think it's one of the best things I've ever made. My mom brought this to Thanksgiving at my uncles house and she said it was a hit! She said it was gone pretty quickly, but she brought me back a piece.

I'm so glad I got to try it, it tastes amazing! I've never made a pie that had a brownie bottom. Next time, I think I might try making a Blondie bottom with a different type of pudding filling. The best part is, it takes almost no effort to make! I'll for sure be making this again.


Brownie Bottom Pudding Pie
recipe from Kraft Foods

Ingredients
4 squares Bakers Semi-Sweet Chocolate
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped Planters Pecans
2 1/2 cups cold milk
2 packages (4-serving size each) Jell-o Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding
1 tub (8 oz) Cool Whip Whipped topping, thawed
Grated Bakers Semi-Sweet Chocolate (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on High 2 minutes or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Add sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix until well blended. Stir in flour and nuts. Spread into greased 9-inch pie plate.

Bake 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. DO NOT OVER BAKE. Cool Completely on rack.

Pour milk into large bowl. Add dry pudding mixes. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes. Let stand 2 minutes. Spread over pie. Top with whipped topping; Sprinkle with grated chocolate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars

I've wanted to make these for the longest time. The recipe pictures made them look so good! And really easy too.

The were actually pretty easy, but I just made a few changes to the recipe. The crust is the hardest part, it kept sticking to my fingers! But I just floured a spatula and pressed the crust into the pan no problem. These would be great to make for Thanksgiving because you can make them in advance. And the recipe can easily be modified and changed.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars

recipe adapted from Splenda

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup Splenda brown sugar blend

1/2 Splenda sugar blend

1 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup light margarine

8 oz fat free cream cheese

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 CUP canned pumpkin

1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup Splenda sugar blend

1 cup chocolate chips or mini chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9 pan with foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Combine flour, Splenda brown sugar blend, the Splenda sugar blend, and oats. Cut in the margarine with a fork until mixture is crumbly.

Press the crust mixture into the bottom of prepared pan.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool.

Beat cream cheese and pumpkin together. Add eggs, one at a time and beat until combined. Add the vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, and the 1/2 cup Splenda sugar blend and beat until blended.

Pour the cream cheese mixture over the pre-baked crust and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until set. Lift from pan to cool. Cut into 24 bars.

Chocolate Yogurt Pops

Okay, this isn't exactly a Thanksgiving recipe, but trust me it's really good!

Me and my mom lovee Skinny cow Truffle bars. We buy them every week and run out of them within 3 days. So I wanted to see if I could create something similar and that I can make whenever. These aren't like the skinny cow truffle bars, but they're pretty good! And the best part is, you can make them in a variety of flavors. Next time I'll probably make a french vanilla flavor or a chocolate vanilla swirl one. Either way it would be delicious!

Chocolate Yogurt Pops

recipe from Splenda

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) container plain nonfat yogurt

1/4 cup sugar free cocoa mix

1/4 cup Splenda no calorie sweetener, granulated

4 Popsicle sticks

Directions

Mix all indigents together in small mixing bowl. Spoon mixture into four, 3 ounce paper cups. Set cups in a muffin pan or on a flat plate. Place Popsicle sticks in the center. Freeze about four hours, or until solid.

Peel paper cups away and thaw 3-4 minutes before serving.

MM Blondies

Blondie's have always been a favorite of mine. I've always liked them better than regular brownies because they're not too chocolaty and there's not too much vanilla flavor either. You can add however much chocolate or nuts you want to the recipe and it tastes great either way.

This recipe was fairly easy. Very simple and easy to make. I would definitely make this again- everyone loved them! It was so hard to take a picture of them because they kept wanting more. There's only 5 left now(: The only thing I would do differently next time is double the recipe. The bars were only a little bit thin and I think doubling the recipe would make them more thick and chewier.

M&M Blondie's
adapted from Kayte's Kitchen

Ingredients
2 cups packed brown sugar
2/3 cup (10 tbsp) butter
2 eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup M&M's (use the orange, yellow, and red ones)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Grease and Line a 13x9 baking pan. Set aside.

In medium sauce pan heat brown sugar and butter over medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth, stirring constantly.

Cool for 4 minutes. Stir in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle with M&M's. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean when inserted in center. Cool slightly on wire rack. Cut into bars while warm.

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake

Ok, i know this probably seems like a weird cake, but it's good! It really is. And it's super easy to make too. I decided to make this cake because i had a ton of avocados that i bought that were going to spoil if i didn't use them soon. And you can really change up the recipe any way you want! Just don't change it up too much or else you'll wind up with a gross cake.

I used canola oil instead of vegetable oil and whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour. I also used less avocado because i didn't want the avocado to be the main part of the cake. But if you are going to make this, make sure you use fresh avocados! The cake didn't taste the way i thought it was but that's probably because the avocado's were a bit old. If you're a daring baker and like to try new things, then you should try this. Because it really is good.

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Cake

from joythebaker

3 cups all purpose flour

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup avocado, mashed, about 1 medium avocado

2 cups water

2 tablespoons white vinegar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans. Set aside

Sift together all dry ingredients except sugar. Set aside.

Mix all the wet ingredients together in medium bowl, including the mashed avocado. Add sugar to wet ingredients and stir.

Mix the wet ingredients with the dry all at once and beat with a whisk until smooth. Pour batter into greased cake pans. Bake for 30- 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Let cakes cool in pans about 15 minutes then turn out onto cooling racks to cool completely before frosting with avocado butter cream.

Avocado Butter cream Frosting

8 ounces avocado meat, about 2 small to medium avocados

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 pound powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Peel and pit the avocados. If the avocados have brown spots in the meat, avoid those spots when you scoop them into the bowl.

Place the avocados meat into a medium bowl with a mixer attached. Add lemon juice and whisk the avocado on medium speed, until slightly lightened in color and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Add powdered sugar a little at a time and beat. Add vanilla extract until combined. If not using right away, store in the refrigerator. Don't worry, it won't turn brown!

Whole wheat chocolate chip cookies

These are maybe the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. No seriously. And that's saying a lot because I've had a lot of good cookies. But for some reason, I usually prefer the store bought kind. Why? Because the one's that are homemade are always flat, dry, hard, and tasteless. Which is another reason why I buy store bought cookie dough and eat it without baking it. And it sure is good.

On my hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookies, I literally looked everywhere until I found the perfect recipe. Chocolate chip cookies are a pretty delicate thing that is meant to be perfect. When i found this one, I knew it was right. It's a very unique recipe that uses yeast in the recipe! And when I made the cookies, they were a hit too. My parents loved them and begged me to make them again and I liked them too! My mom even brought them to her work to share with everyone and they were a hit there too. If you want perfect chocolate chip cookies, you should make these.

Whole wheat chocolate chip cookies

adapted from Sugar Plum

Ingredients

1/2 cup salted sweet cream butter

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1/4 cup salted sweet cream butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 oz semisweet chocolate

Directions

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, whisking frequently, until it starts to brown and foam, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

In medium bowl, mix flour and baking soda. Stir in yeast and salt until combined.

In large bowl, using a mixer at medium speed, beat softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until well combined and grainy. Beat in browned butter for 1 minute. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate. Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Generously butter a cookie sheet. Drop 1/4 cup measures of dough onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Cool 2 min before transferring to wire racks. Cool 10 minutes before putting into sealed container.

Cheesecake Brownies

Ever since i tried a cheesecake brownie ice cream, I've been wanting to make actual cheesecake brownies. These brownies, are really the best. They're super moist and they're best right out of the oven. Or you could always warm them up in the microwave too. These brownies are actually healthier, but you can't even taste it at all! I opted out of the instant espresso powder, but next time I would definitely use it because it would make the brownies thicker. And i would cut the cheesecake part in half. I was going for a cheesecake swirl, but it ended up being almost a 2 layer brownie. But that's okay, it almost made them more delicious.

Cheesecake brownies

from Health.com

Ingredients:

For brownie layer:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 teaspoon instant espresso granules, dissolved in 1 table spoon water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Cheesecake swirl:

1 (8 ounce) package fat free cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

For brownie layer, combine butter and chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl. Microwave until nearly melted. Stir.

Combine next 4 ingredients (through salt) in a bowl. In separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, espresso mixture, and vanilla. Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add to dry ingredients, stir and pour into prepared pan, and smooth into even layer.

For cheesecake swirl, beat cream cheese, sugar, and egg white with an electric mixer at medium-high speed. Drop by spoonfuls into brownie layer. Draw tip of knife into brownie layer to swirl.

Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out slightly damp. Cool in pan. Cut into squares.

Review:Oreo Brownie Earthquake Blizzard

There's only a few things i hate in life. Cats, mean people, cookies and cream anything, and mint. You're probably wondering why i'm reviewing the oreo brownie earthquake then. You're probably thinking, it's not cooking and cream! Well.. i thought that too and we're both wrong.
The only reason i went to Dairy Queen today was because if you buy a blizzard there today, a dollar of every blizzard purchased goes to the Children's Miracle Network Hospital. As soon as i found this out i knew i had to go there because i do anything for charity.. and sometimes food.
This blizzard was described as Oreo cookie pieces, fudge brownie pieces, hot fudge and marshmallow blended with creamy vanilla soft serve. And here's what it actually tasted like: a bunch of oreo cookies pieces with about five fudge brownie chunks, vanilla ice cream, and no hot fudge. Or marshmallow. It pretty much tasted like the brownie batter blizzard with less brownies and more Oreo's.
Next time i think i'll stick to the fruity blizzards.
Rating: 2/5