New Recipe Tuesday: Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Are you SERIOUS?!!? I'm really back? With a new recipe? NO WAY!

Yes. Apparently, my vacation is boring enough that I'm playing with dolls and getting back into baking. I'd like to be able to say that I was off doing something cool in my time away from this blog, but the sad thing is I just haven't had the extra $$ to spend on baking supplies so it's going to be a once in awhile thing now, I think.

Maybe.

Anyway, on to the recipe!

Sweet Potato Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup of canned sweet potato pie filling

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 cups flour

4 tsps baking power

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup of milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with papers.

2.) In a large bowl, cream the shortening.

3.) Slowly add sugar, eggs and sweet potatoes.

4.) Sift flour, spices, power and soda.

5.) Add dry ingredients to sweet potato mixture slowly, alternating with milk.

6.) Mix until well blended.

7.) Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

Frosting a cream cheese frosting I made with butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla! Also, the cupcakes turn out more like muffins if you only use the recommended amount of milk. I added a little bit more until it was the consistency I desire and the second batch turned out really yummy.

New Recipe Tuesday...For Real?

Hi :) Who missed me? C'mon, admit it! You know you did! This isn't really a new "recipe" because I used the Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix, but I baked it, so that should count, yes?

Peanut Butter Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Ingredients:

1 Package Betty Crocker Peanut Butter mix

1 tablespoon of water

3 tablespoons of oil

1 egg

1 package of milk chocolate toffee

Directions:

1.) Mix peanut premade mix, water, oil and the egg together. Add 1 cup of the chocolate toffee.

2.) Stir until well blended.

3.) Drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

4.) Sprinkle with remaining toffee.

5.) Bake for 9-15 minutes or until golden brown.

New Recipe Tuesday... Er, kind of.

Hello! First of all, let me make this very clear: I am well aware that it is not actually Tuesday (yet). I am also well aware of the fact that I missed the last couple New Recipe Tuesdays, but I'm going to blame that on the fact that there wasn't really a new episode of NCIS, so does it really matter?

Well, according to my guinea pigs officers it does but poo on them for right now :)

However, because I've been such a slacker, I've actually got two recipes I'm going to post tonight. I was going to just wait until tomorrow to do it because tomorrow is, after all, Tuesday, but I didn't know if I'd have time before work, so I decided it's close enough to Tuesday now!

Phew. Can we say run-on sentence?

Gibbs' Get Up and Go Cookies Vol. 2

Ingredients:

1 cup of packed brown sugar

1/2 cup of shortening

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 egg

1/2 cup of applesauce

2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 cups of granola

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

2.) Beat brown sugar, shortening, vanilla and egg in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed.

3.) Stir in the applesauce.

4.) Stir in the remaining ingredients.

5.) Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

6.) Bake for 11-13 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when touched in the center.

Notes: These cookies were a little dry. I only baked them for 11 minutes, so next time, I might shave off a minute or two. I might also try adding a little more applesauce. The recipe indicates you can get either original or unsweetened applesauce, but the original, of course, will produce a sweeter cookie.

 

  

  

  

  

McTony's Cream Cheese Brownies

Ingredients:

Batter

4 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate

1 cup of butter or margarine

2 cups of sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Cream Cheese Filling

2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

1 egg

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2.) Grease a 9x13 pan.

3.) Melt chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until smooth; remove from heat and cool about 5 minutes.

4.) While chocolate is cooling, mix cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of vanilla and 1 egg in a bowl with a spoon until smooth; set aside.

5.) Beat chocolate mixture, sugar, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl.

6.) Add in flour and salt; beat until well mixed.

7.) Spread the batter and the cream cheese in the prepared pan, dragging knife through to create a marbled effect.

8.) Bake for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely and refrigerate brownies until ready to serve.

Notes: The recipe for the cream cheese filling indicates to mix by hand, but I couldn't get it quite smooth enough so I used my mixer. It still turned out fine. Also, while my baked goods usually taste pretty yummy, I need to work my presentation because I had a hard time "marbling" my damn brownies.

 

  

  

  

  

 

Hopefully, things for me will calm down after this week and I'll be able to get back on track with my New Recipe Tuesdays... I'm sure my guinea pigs officers will appreciate it!

New Recipe Tuesday: Palmer's Welcome Back Cake

For the three of you who read this blog, you know I'm Pro-Jimmy Palmer. So much, in fact, that I'm debating starting an online petition to the writers of NCIS to have him added to the opening credits because yes, Jimmy Palmer is that good. I was so excited to see him in tonight's episode, that I decided to name tonight's dessert after him.

I don't know anyone who doesn't like yellow cake and for nearly a month now, I've been looking for a good recipe. The one I used is one that I stole borrowed from a magazine in a doctor's office and I'm not sure if I really like it. I'm taking it into work tonight as one of the guinea pigs officers has a birthday tomorrow, so I guess we'll see.

Palmer's Welcome Back Cake

Ingredients:

Batter

3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder

3/4 teaspoons of salt

1 cup of butter, softened

1 3/4 cups of sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 cup of milk

Frosting

3/4 cups of milk chocolate morsels

1 box (1 lb) of confectioner's sugar

6 tablespoons of milk

1/4 cups of softened butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoons of salt

Directions:

Batter

1.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.) Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl.

3.) Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs one at a time, then add vanilla.

4.) On a low speed, alternate between adding flour and milk, beginning and ending with the flour.

5.) Bake at 325 degrees for 40-43 minutes.

Frosting

1.) Melt chocolate in a medium saucepan on medium heat; allow to cool slightly.

2.) Mix milk, sugar, butter and vanilla until blended.

3.) Add in chocolate and beat until it becomes spreading consistency.

Notes: I don't know what it was about this recipe, but the batter just did not taste right. I don't know if it was because there was too much baking powder, or what. Also, I put the batter in my "Big Top Cupcake" mold, so I had to bake closer to an hour to get it done all the way through.

 

  

  

  

  

Like I said, I don't know exactly how this is going to taste, but regardless, just remember:

Palmer for President

New Recipe Tuesday: Tiva's Chocolate Kisses

First of all, I need to make something very clear: I am not on board with the whole "Tiva" thing. I'm not. And not because I don't think Tony and Ziva would be great together, because they would, but I like the whole UST thing they have going on and a relationship is going to ruin that, so Writers of NCIS hear me out: JUST SAY NO TO TIVA!

Now that that's out of the way...

In celebration of tonight's episode (which, by the way, has been pimped to the max as a "Tiva" episode), I thought a 'Tiva' themed recipe was just what this blog needed.

Tiva's Chocolate Kisses

Ingredients:

1 cup of margarine

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 1/2 cups of flour

3/4 cups of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

48 Hershey Kisses, unwrapped

Directions:

1.) In a large mixing bowl, add sugars, margarine, eggs and vanilla, mixing well.

2.) Add flour, cocoa and baking soda, mixing well.

3.) Refrigerate dough and the kisses for 30 minutes.

4.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5.) After removing the dough from the fridge, roll into 1 inch balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

6.) Bake for 7-10 minutes.

7.) Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, press a kiss into the center of the cookie.

Notes: Originally, this recipe was to be used with the Rolo candies. If you choose to use those candies, instead of pressing them on top, they are supposed to be used inside of the cookie. However, due to the fact that my stupid grocery store didn't have any, I went with the meltaway chocolate Hershey Kisses. At first, I wasn't sure that I would recommend using these kisses because true to their name, they did melt pretty easily, but putting them in the refrigerator really helped with that. This recipe makes about 48 cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They're so pretty. I wish that I would be able to enjoy one during the episode, but unfortunately, my work apparently does not care that it's Tuesday so I'm going to miss tonight's episode. Luckily, I invested in a Tivo back when I started telling cops were to go, so I can watch at 0100, but it's so not the same. *sigh*

New Recipe Tuesday: Gibbs' Get Up and Go cookies

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Although sadly it's not a new NCIS episode this week, I decided to go along with New Recipe Tuesday anyway because according to my CBS lineup for tonight, "The Inside Man" is playing and who doesn't love a good Tony/McGee mugshot?

Exactly.

Gibbs' Get Up and Go Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1/2 cup of shortening, softened

3/4 cups of granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of rolled oats

1 cup of diced apple without the peel

1 cup of chopped walnuts

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.) In a medium mixing bowl, sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.

3.) In a mixing bowl,  cream butter and sugar until fluffy.

4.) Beat in the eggs until well blended.

5.) Combine the dry mixture to the butter mixture and mix until well blended.

6.) Fold in walnuts, oats and apples.

7.) Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet, bake for 12-15 minutes.

Notes: First of all, I don't really like shortening, so I substituted butter instead. I used the same amount of butter. Also, I admitted the walnuts because a lot of my guinea pigs officers don't care for nuts. The recipe didn't specify what type of apples to use, so for these, I used the Gala though I think next time, I may go for Granny Smith. The batter appears to be very wet when fully mixed, but it's okay, they still bake well. I found that 12 minutes works best for me! Original recipe found here.

Have I mentioned how much I love my new mixer? Look at that baby go!

 

 

 

 

 

 These cookies have a pretty good taste to them, and I think they'd go well with a nice cup of coffee (hence the name. Who's our resident coffee addict?) Next time I bake them though, I think I'm going to try a mixture of cinnamon-sugar sprinkled on top to give it a sweeter flavor!

New Recipe Tuesday: Cheesy Daddy DiNozzos

Everyone loves cheesecake. A lot of people like cheesecake. I'm not really sure why, seeing as I personally cannot stand the stuff, but it doesn't really matter. I just make the stuff, I don't eat it. I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to make for this Tuesday night, but in the end, the choice was clear.

A lot of people like cheesecake and everyone likes cookies. Put those together and what do you get? The Mother Father of All Cookies. What better way to celebrate the night in NCIS history that we've been waiting 150 episodes for?

Cheesy Daddy DiNozzos

Ingredients: 

5 tablespoons of butter, softened

1/3 cups of brown sugar

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of granulated sugar

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese

1 egg

2 tablespoons of milk

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Directions:

1.) Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2.) Blend the butter, brown sugar and flour with a fork until it makes coarse crumbs.

3.) Remove about a cup of brown sugar mixture and press into a lightly greased 8x8 inch pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

4.) In another bowl, combine the cream cheese and sugar, mixing it until smooth.

5.) Beat in the egg, milk, lemon juice and vanilla; mix until well combined.

6.) Spread cream cheese mixture over the baked crust, sprinkling with the remaining brown sugar mixture.

7.) Bake for 25 minutes.

8.) Let cool completely before chilling for one hour.

Notes: This recipe was taken from here. The serving size is about 16 cookie bars, but I don't think I'm going to get quite that many.

 

 

 

FYI, the pan is not dirty. It's from being lightly greased.

 

I'm so excited to chill these bad boys so I can cut into them and get them to my guinea pigs officers for the official taste test. I'm positive that my Cheesy Daddy DiNozzos are going to pass with flying colors.

New Recipe Tuesday: M&M McGoos

I told y'all I hadn't abandoned this blog! For the last three days, I have been craving these cookies like you would not believe, however, one of my New Years Resolutions was that I was going to stick with New Recipe Tuesday to coincide with the new episodes of NCIS, so I held off on making them! And now that Tuesday has finally arrived, my life is complete.

At least until next week. 

Also, please take note of the silly name that I've bestowed upon these delicious M&M cookies. Since this is a baking/NCIS/Michael Weatherly blog, I decided that from now on, I'm going to name my baked goods accordingly. Since tonight, McGee is apparently in the spotlight, I thought it was appropriate that he goes first! And now, without further ado...

M&M McGoos

Ingredients:

1 1/8 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1 stick of butter, softened

1/4 cups of light brown sugar

1/4 cups of granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of M&Ms

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line the baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.) In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda.

3.) In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and the sugars.

4.) Add in the vanilla and egg and beat well.

5.) Add the flour to the creamed mixture, mixing well.

6.) Stir in the M&Ms.

7.) Bake for 9-12 minutes or until cookies are a golden brown.

Notes: With the left over M&Ms, I also pressed one or two into the top of the cookie. This is an extremely simple recipe to make with a delicious outcome. The recipe indicates that this will make about 24-30 cookies. I managed to make 25.

Please take note of the awesome mixer my momma got me for Christmas

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy NCIS Day, y'all!