easy peasy

With more pressing issues to take care of (e.g. cleaning the bathroom), I baked something quick and simple.

Brownies w/ Mini Pretzels

Step 1- Make packaged brownie mix.

Step 2- Mix in crumbled chocolate covered mini pretzels.

Step 3- Bake.
Step 4- Eat!


I feel like a cheater... but who cares. Its yummy AND I have a clean bathroom!

But there's going to be more to look forward to in weeks to come... behold! My cake/sweets making stash! (well, more stuff anyways. Shame on me. Tsk tsk.)

Pumpkin Carving Day!

My fab friend threw a pumpkin carving party today... and it was great fun... and of course, there was yummy food!


Mini Breadbowls w/ Chili


Veggie Pizza Squares w/ Cream Cheese Spread and Garden Veggies

I contributed a Pumpkin Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese filling and Icing.
I used the Pumpkin Bar recipe was from Paula Deen that I've kept since first making it 3 years ago.

I made the frosting according to the recipe as well, but also stirred in a half bag of melted white chocolate chips (and food coloring, duh.) Not the most ideal pumpkin shape... but you get the idea. Sculpting and icing cakes at midnight really doesn't make me be much of a perfectionist.
For the "stem" I spread chocolate on plastic wrap- for that rough ribbed look. Then, I simply broke off chunks and stuck them in the top for a more "abstract" pumpkin stem.

>> As I'm browsing the 'net right now, I stumbled across this "Great Pumpkin Cake" on KraftFoods.com! Well! I could have watched this for pointers.

And after being inspired to make some really cute cake pops from Bakerella, I wanted to use the scraps left from shaping the pumpkin cake to make them. However, that didn't go quite as planned.

The crumbled cake was way too moist, and forming a ball out of it created this gross raw dough thing. So, I bagged that idea. I'll try again with boxed cake mix and see how that goes.

Anyways, happy carving! (and happy early Halloween!) Brush your teeth.

Wheelies

I have always been a fan of shaped pastas; It probably stems from those childhood Macaroni and Cheese (in the blue box!) of cartoon character shapes. They just taste different! So good!

I did have an unfortunate run in with "super" macaroni and cheese, seems it was fortified with vitamins and minerals (or whatever) for kids nowadays - needless to say, it tasted like CARDBOARD. I'm glad I grew up before all these "healthy" alternatives started popping up everywhere in kids' foods.

So, since I rarely have non-spoilt milk in the fridge to make macaroni and cheese with, I think I have found a nice alternative.

Rotelle with a little bit of butter and salt.

big o' breakfast

On days that I am fortunate enough to get breakfast at work... I LOAD UP! Well, today my co-worker set aside a plate for me. So sweet. And plated up better than I would EVER do for myself.


Sliced Grilled Honey Ham w/ Scrambled Eggs and Peppered Hashbrowns
Fresh Fruit and Homemade Breakfast Danishes


And... of course, I drop my only strawberry into the ketchup. Boooo.

Then for dinner, the boy and I tofu'd. (We're on a "health kick"- except it still includes soda and dessert).

I "made" my tofu w/ ponzu sauce, as I've already raved madly about before.

The boy had "marinated" his tofu in balsamic vinegar, sesame oil, dried basil, pepper, and olive oil. Then he blackened it. Not too bad, except I might be more of a tofu purist. Rarely is my tofu so "seasoned". Soy sauce and Thousand Year Old Eggs? HELL YEAH. Ponzu? FOR SURE. Blackened?... maybe.


All in all, relatively healthy eating day. (Minus the 40oz. Coke I got at the local AM/PM, and the several cups of Diet Pepsi I drank at work.)

Cupcake Success!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes
adapted from JustJenn & 500 Cupcakes



1 Stick (1/2C) unsalted butter, softened
1C granulated sugar
2tsp Vanilla extract
2-1/4C Flour
1 Tbsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1C Heavy (Whipping) Cream*
1C Crushed Oreos

I made a half batch: (yields approx. 8 regular sized and 6 small sized)
1/2 stick (4tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
1/2C granulated sugar
1tsp Vanilla extract
1C + 2 Tbsp AP Flour
1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2C Heavy (Whipping) Cream*

350 for 20 min - toothpick test

*I used heavy whipping cream since I had it in the fridge. I don't know if it makes a big difference if I just used whole milk as the other recipe calls for. But this time, the cake cakes came out better. Can't say why though since there are so many changes I made.
*Also, I added in a bit more heavy cream than the recipe states- just added a bit more for a nice smooth batter.

Cream butter and sugar until pale pale yellow.
Add vanilla.
Mix in flour, baking powder, and salt.
Add eggs. Beat well. (Batter will be thick.)
Add heavy cream. Use more if want to thin out batter even more.
Add crushed Oreos. I used the electric mixer and beat them in... this made the batter darker colored since I destroyed most of the chocolate cookies. You can fold them into batter if you prefer. I did a combo of mixer and hand. I didn't measure out how many Oreos I added either. I like Oreos, so I added a lot.
Pour 3/4 cup full and bake.



Cookies and Cream Buttercream Frosting
adapted from 500 Cupcakes
3C powdered sugar
2 sticks (1C) unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of Salt
Crushed Oreos

I made a quarter-recipe: (Could have made half-recipe)
3/4C powdered sugar
1/2Stick (4tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Oreos (not crumbled yet)

Cream sugar and butter VERY well, until white. Add vanilla extract. Add pinch of salt.
Scrape off Oreo centers from cookies and mix into the frosting. Then crush/crumble cookies and fold in. I liked to keep the frosting white.



Notes: I REALLY liked this frosting. Usually, my buttercreams come out WAY to sweet. But this one was good, and went well with the cupcakes, since those weren't very sweet either. Good balance. Hooray! Today was a good baking session. I didn't make an overabundance of stuff (i.e. frosting) that would end up going to waste since I wouldn't use it all and/or no one would eat it. I could have used a little more frosting though. I planned to make another quarter-recipe of a chocolate frosting, but changed my mind. So I ended up a little bit short. But not by much- only 2 mini cupcakes were left unfrosted. Anyways, I'm very excited to take this half batch of frosted cupcakes to work to share!
And, I even made up this recipe myself! (Well, I combined 2 difference recipes... but I still had to come up with mixing and matching the ingredients.)


Since I ran out of regular cupcake liners, I started in on my hoarded baking stuffs I bought on my most recent trip to Daiso. Damn I love that place.

Beignets

Ever since beignets from Jazz Kitchen at Downtown Disney, the boy and I have been making beignets. I'm not sure if this is the easiest/tastiest/bestest recipe out there... the boy found it; we made it; it worked. While not quite the same as Jazz Kitchen, its pretty good!

French Market Doughnut Recipe - Beignet

I just HATE deep frying. It makes everything (EVERYTHING!) smell like oil. And that's actually kind of sickening to me.

Cupcake Week! Oct 20-26

From Zen Cupcake, I learned that it is Cupcake Week next week! Its actually the 5th annual Cupcakes for a Cause for supporting Cancer Care for Kids.

Visit here to create an e-cupcake to send to friends and family! $1.00 is donated for every cupcake sent! Its easy and fun! Get creative and do something good!

Hopefully, I will have some time (fat chance) to visit Five Sweets in Costa Mesa that's participating in this!

Five Sweets
130 East 17th Street, Suite D
Costa Mesa CA 92627
http://www.thefivesweets.com