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.

Not Really Tuesday: Cookies 'N McCreams

Hello, hello! I know, you guys are all surprised I'm back so soon, right? Don't lie, you know you are. Anyway, onto the recipe. A huge huge thank you to @Britmum2070 on Twitter for the name of this week's baked good. The runner up for a name?

"Abby's All-American Cookies 'N Cream cupcakes-- So Easy A Goth Can Do It!" courtesy of @jetgibbs. You ladies are the best. It was difficult to choose a name, but being that it's @CatherineYetive's birthday and she's a huge McGee fan, I went with the McGee name.

Happy birthday Catherine!

Cookies 'N McCreams

Ingredients:

1 package white cake mix

1 1/4 cups of water

1/4 cups of canola oil

3 egg whites

1 cup (approximately 9 cookies) coarsely crushed Oreo cookies

1 can of vanilla frosting

Additional crushed cookies for topping

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.) Line cupcake tin with paper liners.

3.) In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, water, oil and egg whites until blended.

4.) Fold in crushed oreos.

5.) Fill muffin tins a little over halfway full, bake for approximately 18-22 minutes.

6.) Allow cupcakes to cool, frost with vanilla frosting and sprinkle with cookie crumbs.

Notes: This recipe was super easy to make and according to my mom, they're yummy cupcakes. Still haven't tested it on my boys yet, but that's coming soon :)

These cupcakes, as previously stated, were probably some of the easiest I've ever made. I'll definitely make them again.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Holy HELL! I'm back, people :) Kind of, anyway. During my hiatus from the baking world, I realized just how much I freakin' missed it so I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things. What better way than starting off with a new recipe?

And look at that, it's not even Tuesday :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 package chocolate cake mix

1 1/4 cups of water

1/2 cup of peanut butter

1/3 cups of canola oil

3 eggs

24 mini peanut butter cups

Frosting:

6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

2/3 cups of heavy wipping cream

1/3 cup of peanut butter

Additional mini peanut butter cups, chopped

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with papers.

2.) In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, water, peanut butter, oil and eggs.

3.) Beat on a low speed for 30 seconds, then beat on medium for 2 minutes or until smooth.

4.) Fill the paper-lined cups half full.

5.) Place a peanut butter cup in the center of each cupcake.

6.) Cover each with 1 tablespoon of batter.

7.) Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Frosting

1.) Place chocolate in a small bowl.

2.) In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil.

3.) Pour cream over chocolate and whisk until smooth.

4.) Stir in the peanut butter.

5.) Cool, stirring occasionally, to room temperature or until ganache reaches a spreading consistency.

6.) Spread over cupcakes and immediately sprinkle with additional peanut butter cups.

Notes: This makes a very yummy cupcake (so I'm told), however, it does make a bit of a mess when being eaten. Apparently, thanks to the peanut butter cup in the center, it makes the cupcake heavy so it falls apart! But a good recipe nonetheless.

Also, for anyone who misses my amazingly funny (har har) blog posts, you can find me over at See Britt Run. That's what I now consider my "main blog" and I post there pretty frequently! Hope to see you guys there :)

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!

Not Really Tuesday: Tony's Slacker Almond Bars

I was super excited today because I got a new recipe book, however I quickly learned that it's not a good idea to try and bake when you're suffering from a lack of sleep. In the past two days, I'm thinking I've averaged a total of 9 hours of sleep and I'm one of those people that needs a billion hours per night just to function like a normal human being, so is it really any wonder that I burnt my bars?

No, I didn't think so.

For awhile, I was super snobby about my baking, deciding that I wouldn't bake anything unless I could make the whole thing from scratch, but that just got old after awhile and now I'm completely okay with using recipes that call for the use of boxed cake mix. Of course, the first one I attempt, it didn't turn out so pretty.

Tony's Slacker Almond Bars

Ingredients

Base: 

1 package of Betty Crocker SuperMoist white cake mix

1/2 cup of butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs

Almond Topping:

2/3 cups of sliced almonds

2/3 cups of butter or margarine

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon of all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon of milk

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.) Beat cake mix (dry), butter and eggs with electric mixer on low until dough forms or mix with a spoon. 

3.) Press into the bottom of an ungreased jelly roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2).

4.) Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and crust begins to pull away from the sides.

5.) In a 2-quart sauce pan, add almonds, butter, sugar, flour and milk.

6.) Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture thickens slightly.

7.) Once the base is finished, pour almond topping over it immediately and set oven control to "Broil".

8.) Broil for 2-3 minutes or until topping is golden brown and bubbly.

Notes: The book indicates that you have to watch the almond topping carefully as it burns easily, but apparently I wasn't paying attention. Also, I had trouble with my hands sticking to the batter when I was pressing it into the pan, so I sprayed my hands with cooking spray. After I had the batter basically spread, I used wax paper on top of the crust to roll it with a rolling pin and make it even.

 

  

  

  

  

 

As I said, I burnt them :( Not the actual base, but the topping. Luckily, they still taste yummy despite how ugly they are.

Not Really Tuesday: Ziva's 'Pocahontas' Cookies

Yes, I'm well aware that I missed New Recipe Tuesday again. I can't even blame it on the weather this time (although, reports are saying we're supposed to get hammered with snow again next week. I'm not surprised--I'll be on midnight shift and it seems we always get slammed when I'm stuck at work!) but I am going to blame it on the fact that I worked an extra day both this shift and last shift.

Needless to say, I've been tired. Too tired to bake, actually, but that's okay because it wasn't like there was a new episode this week and "Good Cop, Bad Cop" isn't exactly my favorite episode ever.

Am I rambling? I'm rambling.

Ziva's 'Pocahontas' Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of oil

3/4 cups of brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

3/4 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 cups of rolled oats

3/4 cups of sunflower seeds

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.) Cream together the oil, brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Mix until smooth.

3.) Add in the flour, soda and salt (unless the seeds are already salted, then you can omit this ingredient).

4.) Mix until well blended.

5.) Fold in oats and sunflower seeds.

6.) Bake for 10-15 minutes.

Notes: This recipe was found here. Though the recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of rolled oats, I found that it was a little excessive. I probably could have used 1 cup and been just fine. Also, the recipe says that this makes 10 cookies, but I managed to get 14 out of my batch.

 

  

  

  

  

  

These are probably the tastiest cookies I've made in awhile. They have a very strong brown sugar flavor, but overall, they taste amazing. I bet they'd go great with a nice, hot cup of coffee :)