Our "red velvet" cupcake attempt

My friend Carissa and I decided we wanted to make red velvet cupcakes since they are so incredibly delicious. This is how it went down..

we went to Publix, bought all the ingredients, looked like fools in the grocery store. ( we are not the shyest people when we're together). Got home and got to work. Okay, were in good shape. Everything is moving along nicely until the dreaded food coloring fiasco... NO RED FOOD COLORING! wah wahhh. So us and our bright ideas decided.. hey blue and yellow make red don't they? We are now in agreement that blue and yellow will make beautiful red velvet cupcakes.
Perfect lets mix blue and yellow with some cocoa.. then of course there was not enough! wahh wahhh. Time for more bright ideas... lets put green! that's close to blue right? .. wrong? ... our "red" turned a wonderful shade a black. Unbelievable.

So using some more of our creative skills we oh so cleverly named these cupcakes.. black and white cupcakes and ended with a well deserved glass of RED wine.

Our disatrous food coloring

But delicious "black and white" cupcakes

Peanut Butter Brownies

I'm not sure if mailing peanut butter brownies across Florida is the best idea in the world. That is exactly what my mom and I did though. We shipped these puppies to my brother in orlando, by the tiime they got there they must have been melted and goopy... its the thought that counts right? Yeah, mom were awesome family members. At least we didn't eat them all! (:

Chicken Pesto Grilled Cheese

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

All I can say is thank you Closet Cooking for this amazing spinach pesto grilled cheese sandwich... you made my sandwich dreams come true.
..What a beautiful plate I used! hahaa


Ingredients:
Spinach Pesto:
1 cup baby spinach (packed)
1/4 cup of parsley, dill, and mint
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup feta
3 Tbs Olive Oil
Lemon juice to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

(place everything in food processor to blend)

For Sandwich:

1/4 Cup Gruyere Cheese (Grated)
Bread
1 Tbs Butter

Assemble as you like you could use a different cheese.. place on sandwich grill until cheese is melted.

I added Chicken (YUM)

Its Big Brothers Fault

It is midnight and once again I find myself watching Big Brother after dark. Ok, I'm obsessed with big brother, but really the after dark show is not all that entertaining. For some reason or another I always end up watching it, even when I know how boring it can be. They literally just sit in silence a lot of the time and I can not seem to change the channel. Well big brother may be helpful for late night posts. Hurray for late night posts, no time during the day.. this works out great.

For breakfast this week I made, these doughnut muffing which are originally from KAF but when I saw this glazes version on My Baking Addiction I absolutely could not resist.





Doughnut Muffins
from : My Baking Addiction

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 to 1 ¼ teaspoons ground nutmeg, to taste (I used ¾)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk

For the Glaze
3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons hot water

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin. Or line with 12 paper muffin cups, and grease the cups with non-stick vegetable oil spray; this will ensure that they peel off the muffins nicely.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars till smooth.
- Add the eggs, beating to combine.
- Stir in the baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla.
- Stir the flour into the butter mixture alternately with the milk, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined.
- Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.
- Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean.
- In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and water. Whisk until smooth.
- When muffins have cooled slightly, dip the muffin crown into the glaze and allow the glaze to harden. At this point, you can leave them as is or go for the double dip.


Ok, ok they don't look anywhere near as good but they sure did taste amazing!

Finals week

This week is finals in college, its both good and bad. Good because it is me realizing how close I am to being done with this stage and moving on to the next. With a small break in between of course (: . But it is bad because I am not stop, in and out of school, taking tests, presenting, studying. It is horrible. I did manage to take some time to go to Ikea with my friend, Carissa. My room is going to look amazing and I'm very excited, I decided to treat myself with a graduation present and that was it. Oh, and two new baking books.

I also made Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Delishhhh!

An ode to Bonnie

Bonnie, because of you I did not have to wake up at 7:00 a.m, I did not have to sit in school for four hours, I did not have to take a final exam, and best of all I got to make delicious Banana Muffins.. wait delicious, moist, peanut butter/cream cheese frosting whole wheat Banana Muffins. My little brother thanks you too Bonnie, since he was able to eat them all day.

I got these muffins from King Arthur Flour and the peanut butter frosting from Fake Ginger both together made for an amazing midday snack.

I also just want to point out my new linking skills (: impressive

Whole Wheat Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

from: King Arthur Flour:

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

4 medium mashed bananas

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsps baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

--Halved the recipe to make 12, also excluded Chocolate chips and walnuts, and included 2 tsps of Cinnamon.

--Splenda, and Benocol butter instead of white sugar, and regular butter

*My little brother needs to be healthy*

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar

Add eggs, banana, and milk
Mix dry ingredients together and add to butter mixture
Bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

from Fake Ginger:

Ingredients

6 ounces cream cheese, room temp.

1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup creamy PB

1/2 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions:

Beat Cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add salt and PB,beat to combine.

In another bowl, beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Fold cream into peanut-butter mixture, combine thoroughly.

Friday Night Cookie Madness

This rainy Friday night I found myself with no plans, hungry, and craving cookies. Instead of a usual car ride to buy some ice cream, I made cookies... WOOO! from scratch and may I say they were AMAZING, easy, and happiness fulfilling. Success Success Success. I am proud of my first attempt, I know.. could I have picked something easier.. but I'm just starting out so I took the easy way for now. Ill try and get more creative but for now I wallow in my cookie success.






















I found the recipe from The Pink Peppercorn (I haven;t figured out how to put links on this yet but as soon as I do I will link it.. Sorry)

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup golden yellow/light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Thoroughly combine the butter, and the sugars. Add the egg and vanilla until well combined.
3. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Thoroughly mix. Add the chocolate chips until combined.
4. Using an ice cream scoop, place 8 pieces of dough onto silicone lined baking sheets. Place the sheet into the oven for 4-6 minutes.
5. Remove the pan from the oven and slightly squish the cookies using a spatula. If the dough appears to be too gooey to squish, then place back into the oven for another minute or two.
6. Continue to bake for another 4-6 minutes until the cookies are just barely golden around the edges, and still have a slightly raw appearance in the middle. This will help to keep them soft.
7. Allow the cookies to firm up on the cookie sheets for another couple minutes before removing them to a cooling rack. Allow to cool only briefly before transferring to a sealed container, that is if there are any left of course! Enjoy! And do be kind enough to share.