Choco-Peanut Butter Swirl Muffin Tops

I continued on with my muffin quest today and decided to try out some chocolate muffin tops. The original recipe is for choco-choco-chip muffins, but I decided to change it up and add peanut butter. I think the result was pretty good; maybe a little more on the chocolate cake side than muffin side, but still not bad. I loved how they rose up all nice and high and pretty, but didn't like that the edges were crusty. Next time I'll have to be more careful where I spray the pan, I guess. I think that when I make them again in the future, I'll try adding some melted chocolate to the batter, and peanut butter chips throughout instead of just on top.

Choco-Peanut Butter Swirl Muffin Tops
10 oz. flour
1 1/2 oz. cocoa powder
11 oz. white sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c. milk, plus an additional 2 oz. (I measured out the first, and weighed out the second for the pb mixture...sorry!)
1 egg
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 oz. creamy peanut butter (I'm sure you could use crunchy, but I like creamy)
peanut butter chips

In a medium-large bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl (I used a large measuring cup) stir together 1 1/4 c. milk, egg, oil, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients into the dry (I know this backwards, but I was taught to do this at the last place I worked...it overmixes the batter a little, but you end up with higher tops) and mix well.

Measure out about 7 oz. of the chocolate batter, and add peanut butter and 2 oz. milk. Mix together until smooth.

Spray your muffin top pans with cooking spray. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each cup to almost the top. Spoon the peanut butter batter equally into each cup and swirl around. Top with some peanut butter chips.

Bake in a 350 degree oven until the tops spring back when touched.

I would really also recommend adding the peanut butter chips to the chocolate batter, as the muffin was a little "blah" without.

Am I really a cake moron?

I guess one can say I definitely learned from my cake making mistakes this week. I am the type of cake maker that loves to be put up to a challenge; there is nothing that I won't try. And I will also be the very first to admit that I am a complete know-it-all, and thought that I absolutely knew to a "T" how to do this cake...it's pretty simple after all, right? Ha!

So my neighbor, Jill, is one of my best friends. I mean, she is like the "borrow a cup of sugar" type of neighbor (although she would actually borrow the sugar from me...the only sugar she usually has is the little packets that you put in your coffee...but you get the idea.) There have been many of times in the past few years that I have run to her house, annoyed with life and needing someone to talk to, and vice versa. She's the only person that I don't mind a "drop by unannounced" visit from. She knows all of my secrets, and I am pretty sure I know most, if not all of hers. She is a one in a million friend and person. So this week was her birthday, and I wanted to make her a cake. They are having a bbq today, so I thought that would be a perfect excuse to make a "for real" cake and not just a round, generic "Happy Birthday!" cake. She collects fairies, so there was my theme. I looked through pages upon pages of pictures at Cake Central, Flickr, Google to get some ideas, and finally decided on a tree stump with a giant mushroom on top, and fairies sitting underneath the mushroom. Easy-peasy, right? I started with the fairies, making them out of fondant (the last time I made figures I used only gumpaste, and because I'm a bit inexperienced at making figures, the gumpaste was hardening too fast for me.) So everything was going great till I got to the face. I tried sculpting the face. I tried painting the face. Yeah...let's just say I'm not a talented painter. I remembered seeing face molds in the clay section at Michael's, and I found a 50% off coupon (which made the molds something like $3.50.) Once the fairies were done, I was pretty happy with them. So on to the mushroom. I decided to use rice krispy treat, another medium that I have not worked with much. Looking back, I should of mixed some white chocolate into the marshmallow mixture, because the mushroom would NOT harden up enough. It started to crack...I patched it up and went with it anyway. Biggggggg mistake. Let me say that again. Biggggggggggg mistake. I covered the mushroom in fondant, painted it, and it looked pretty cool, but was way heavy. So next the cake. I used 12in, 10in, and 2 8in rounds. The 10in and one of the 8in I torted. I sculpted it some, crumb coated it, and the next day covered it in fondant...I had my tree stump, and man it looked great. However, my mushroom was not looking so hot. I patched it up again, and decided to go with it. Ok, one more time....bigggggg mistake. I put it on the tree, in the back part (uhhhh, DUH?! That mushroom was so heavy, and there was NOT enough support) so of course, that part of the cake started to squish. And then.....the base of the mushroom started to split. I decided to cut my losses with the mushroom, tossed it in the trash...but then was left with a crater in the top of the cake from where the heavy mushroom sank. Quick thinking came up with a puddle made out of blue tinted piping gel.

I hate it that I get ahead of myself a lot of the time with cakes, and don't completely think things through. I had no support in the cake, no support under that darn mushroom. What was I thinking?! I kind of wish to do another of these cakes soon, to redeem myself!!!

Snickerdoodle-Chip Muffins

Yum. Yum. Yum. That is what comes to mind with these muffins. They should have a halo over their shiny sugary little heads, they are so perfect and angelic. Moist, melt in your mouth.....*sigh*...yum.
I will be the first to admit that I have had muffin troubles in the past, so I have put my brownie quest aside for now, and have ventured out on a new journey to find some really perfect muffin recipes. This recipe was originally for French Breakfast Muffins (and I sincerely apologize that I do not know which blog I found it on;) I'm sure it was great as it was, but I really wanted to change it up so that...well, uhhh...so that I could call them Snickerdoodle-Chip Muffins. Silly, I know, but still...yum.

Snickerdoodle-Chip Muffins
1 stick butter, divided
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
1 healthy glug of vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
6 oz. chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet because that was what I had, but next time I will make them with milk chocolate)

Melt 1/3 c. butter in a microwave safe bowl. Whisk in milk, egg, and vanilla. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. Stir in wet ingredients until just combined. Add in chocolate chips.

In a greased muffin tin, scoop batter equally into 9 portions. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.

For the topping, mix 1/3c. sugar, a heaping 1/4 tsp. cinnamon together in one bowl. In another bowl, melt remaining butter. Take warm muffins and dip them first in the butter, and then in the sugar.

Cookie Tray Cookies

I've been neglecting the blog a little lately; I have been trying to avoid the boredom baking that has been leading to my weight gain! If my baking doesn't have a purpose, I can't do it. These cookies, however, had a purpose in their short little lives. I decided to send a tray of cookies into work with Ad a few weeks ago for his birthday (it's like sending treats into school with your kid to share with their friends! Haha!) While I was planning out my game plan for what I was going to make, someone Ad works with asked me to donate some items for a fundraiser bake sale that was also that weekend. Here are a few items that I made...

These oatmeal cookies were a last minute idea; I needed something else to add that were quick, easy, and used ingredients that I had. This recipe started from Beth's Spicy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies on Allrecipes, but I was low on oatmeal, so I changed it up a little. You can mess with the spices some too; I absolutely love cloves, so I added extra. I think these are one of my new favorites.

Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup shortening

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

2 c. oats

1 pkg. white chocolate chips

Cream butter, shortening and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Add in remaining ingredients except for white chocolate chips and mix well. Stir in chips.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

These No Bake Cookies are so old school, yet so many people don't know what they are. I love them. They are so easy to throw together, and are really more of a candy than a cookie. These are another great cookie to add to cookie trays because they are something a little different, and they require no baking (I actually made these because I was almost out of propane, but wanted to get one more cookie in!)

No Bake Cookies

2 c. white sugar

1/4 c. cocoa

1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. peanut butter

3 c. quick cooking oats

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat and stir in vanilla, salt, peanut butter, and oats.

Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. Cookies will firm up when completely cool.

I love how decorated sugar cookies look, and really wanted to add some to Ad's tray. I am in search of a new sugar cookie recipe, as well, so this was a good chance for me to try out the No Fail Sugar Cookies on Cake Central. The recipe itself was easy to put together, the dough rolled nicely, and the cookies didn't spread at all. However, if I even just slightly overbaked them (meaning, if the bottoms got just a tiny bit golden) the cookies were hard as rocks! The ones that were still light on the bottom were great, though, and had really nice flavor. I followed the recipe exactly, other than cutting it in half. You can find the recipe here.
For the icing, I just made a simple royal icing...no measurements, just egg white and confectioner's sugar until it got to the right consistency. The only bad thing about making these cookies is that I had them laying out on the kitchen table to dry, and Cam kept poking them to see if they were ready! I ended up with maybe only a dozen good ones that didn't have round finger holes in the icing! Ugh! Kids!

Kit Kat and M&M Birthday Cake

Today is Ad's birthday. I'm not even going to pretend I'm going to lie and say that I didn't try to take the easy way out with his cake...I totally did. I really like to make the big, over the top cakes for him and the girls, but it gets to a point where it's such a waste. It's nothing but a picture to put in my portfolio. And a ton of cake that gets tossed in the garbage. I first came across candy cakes back in February when I was lurking around on Cake Central, and loved the idea. Not only are they a cool idea, they are way easy to make. No smoothing out of the icing, no piping bags....Ad loves Kit Kats, and Cam could live on M&M's, so I decided this cake would be perfect for today. I even made it, start to finish, in just a few hours...including cooling time. What cake decorator wouldn't love a cake like this?!

I used my mom's Snowy White Cake, which I've changed up some...ok, I've changed up a lot. Don't get me wrong, I love her version, but always found it "crummy" and a little difficult to ice. Here is my version...

2 1/3 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. Sunny D (I've never tried actual orange juice)
2/3 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. sour cream
2 eggs (or 1 egg and 2 whites...sometimes it depends on how short I am on eggs. It works a little nicer to use the egg whites, but let's face it...I'm way cheap.)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add remaining ingredients except eggs and mix well. Add eggs and beat for two minutes. Bake at 350 degrees until top springs back.

The amounts of this recipe work great for 2 8" rounds. Another hint, too...when using this recipe to make cupcakes, fill the tins and then let them sit out for at least 15 minutes. They will get a nicer (higher) top on them.

For the frosting, I used my normal sugar-high buttercream...
2lbs confectioners sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter (or if you want it to crust, use 1 stick of butter, 1/4 c. shortening)
some vanilla
pinch or so of salt
milk

I place everything in the mixer except for the milk, and then add the milk until I get the right consistency, and then whip it till it's fluffy. If you add too much milk, add some more confectioners sugar.

Cool and trim the cake so that it is level, then fill and ice the outside and top. Next take your Kit Kats (I needed 4 of the large packages,) break them into two bar sections, and start placing them around your cake. When you are done, spread M&M's on the top, making sure that you cover all of your icing. And then finally, tie a bow around the cake! Voila!

Chocolate Mousse

While I was Googling around today, I stumbled upon this profession-ally taken photo of a chocolate mousse that I made while working at the cafe. I have always been disappointed that I never got any photos of the desserts that I made while working there, so you can imagine my extreme surprise and excitement when I found this! The photo was taken by Jaime Reed Photography . Thanks, Jaime, for letting me use this great photo!

Daring Bakers-April

Yikes! Has it really been a month since I've last posted? A week away, the flu, and a daughter's tonsillec-tomy will do that to a blogger, I guess. Anyway, when I saw this month's Daring Baker's challenge I was excited. A cheesecake, and we could "change it up!" Right up my alley. Not to mention this month was Ad and my 10 year anniversary of our first date (awwwwww!) so it was good timing for a special dessert. After making Ad try something with spinach last month, I decided to make an orange-chocolate cheesecake, which is a combination that we both really love. The recipe was great and tasted awesome, but I second guessed myself and ended up underbaking it (even though I left it in 15 minutes longer than the recipe called for.) I would definitely make this again, to see how it turns out after it bakes for the right amount of time.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake
crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.
2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.
3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.
5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

For my version, I chose to combine crushed Oreos and and butter to make the crust (sorry, I forget to get any measurements.) I pureed a small, drained can of mandarin oranges and 6 oz. of orange marmalade, and added it to about 2/3 (maybe a little more) of the cheesecake batter. In the other portion of the batter I added 6 oz. of melted milk chocolate (leftover Easter candy!) I put the orange batter on top of my crust first, then swirled in my chocolate batter. For the topping, I had originally planned on making ganache, but my neighbor borrowed my heavy cream and wasn't home when I was ready to make it so I decided just to drizzle melted milk chocolate over each slice and then top it with large crystal sugar. Not the exciting decoration that I had planned in my head, but it really was a yummy cheesecake. I think next time I'm looking to make a cheesecake I will refer back to the original recipe and try it out again.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.