Brownie Bites #2

Quick post for today:

I made candy filled brownies, again; snickers and reese filled candy to be exact (yes, the extra candy from the cupcakes). They were SOOO GOOOD! I ate four, no lie. I brought them to school today and they were still warm, so that helped. I used a mix of 2 recipes and doubled them. It was a combination of fudgy brownies and one bowl brownies. For once, I am posting the recipe because they were such a hit and VERY easy to make.

Makes TWO 9x13 pans worth - I would split the recipe into one batch, however people ALWAYS love brownies and I mixed 2 recipes that called for 3 and 4 eggs, so I used 7

Ingredients::

• - 8 oz unsweetened chocolate
• -1.5 sticks butter (you can use two if you want really fudgy oozy)
• -4 cups sugar
• -7 eggs
• -1 tsp vanilla
• - 2 cups flour
• candy - or not if you want plain

1. preheat the oven to 350 degress
2. grease pan
3. melt the butter in a bowl
4. place the chocolate in the bowl and stir until it melts
5. add the sugar
6. add the eggs and vanilla
7. add the flour and mix slowly (the flour will make a mess if not)
8. pour half the batter into the pans, add the candy in rows or randomly, put the rest of the batter on top and spread out with  a spatula to almost completely cover the candy (its okay if not completely done)
9. bake for 30 minutes (could be a little less or a little more depending on how much candy is place in, so watch them!)

ENJOY

P.S. As a request from my friend Jamie...and the Jewish people who keep passover...I am going to make some gluten free desserts soon! It MAY be after passover, but regardless they will be yummy.

-J

Candy Cupcakes

All of my friends were talking about how they LOVE candy...so I decided to make candy cupcakes. I made Reese's and Snickers cupcakes and I was told they were great. While I ate some of the mini Reese's cupcakes, I didn't try the snickers. Nevertheless, my friend Cassie (who enjoys most of my cupcakes) said, "These are my favorite cupcakes you made so far!"

On Friday I brought the cupcakes to my moms office and they were a hit there, too! Krista, an employee there who I have known for awhile, said she loved them as well. She used to work with Wharton Event planning and now does other event stuff part time. She said she would even try to have me cater some of the parties with my treats. I was ecstatic!

The cupcakes were pretty simple to make. The challenging part was making the filling for the snickers cupcakes. I chopped up snickers and put them into a homemade carmel mix.


Snickers Filling

In the past I have felt that some of my cupcakes were too sweet from the addition of sauces, frostings, etc. Because of this, I made the carmel a little more bitter and the cupcakes less sweet. People seemed to enjoy this because there was a larger contrast in flavors. This let each flavor be distinguished more instead of the whole cupcake tasting like sugar (something that upsets me with store bought cupcakes).

 snickers frosting

 carmel sauce for the top!

 mini reese cupcake

 Final Products!!!

This week I will probably make my candy filled brownies (again!) and either a peanut butter torte or mousse cake...stay tuned
-J

Strawberry Delight!

Last week I had my friends Devon and Maya over for dinner with me and Karen Barbarese (a family friend who stays with me sometimes). Since it was a nice dinner, I decided I was definitely going to bake for dessert. After asking what they preferred, I came to the conclusion that I would make Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Filling, and Strawberry Whipped Cream.

These cupcakes turned out to be delicious. The filling especially turned out great. I used frozen berries and defrosted them, separated the "juice" (sugar, water, strawberry flavor) from the chunks of strawberry, placed it in a pan with cornstarch and some other ingredients, and then stirred the mixture until it thickened. As a result it was a thick fruity filling with chunks of strawberry. I think it made the cupcake because the flavor was spot-on (delicious and refreshing, despite the frozen fruit).



The cupcake was a simple, moist vanilla cupcake from scratch.




I was excited about the whipped cream because I absolutely love eating strawberries with whipped cream. I began making the whipped cream with my typical recipe, and then added a puree of fresh strawberries. This gave the cream a fresh strawberry taste, along with a pretty pink coloring.

The cupcakes overall were sweet and refreshing instead of being decadent and sugary. My goal was for them to have a potent strawberry taste without tasting too sweet. I love having desserts that are simple and light, instead of to heavy (especially in the spring/summer). My friends loved them and took extras "to-go".



The one struggle throughout this was my whipped cream dispenser. I was excited to use it, but the whipped cream did not come out as smoothly and beautifully as expected. It would slowly come out, but then randomly explode and get whipped cream everywhere. This being said, the frosting wasn't "beautifully" placed on topped, but it was still yummy. I finished them off with a few pieces of strawberry and they were good to go! I am hoping that during my next whipped cream attempt (maybe without strawberries) it will come out smoother so I can handle it better....

-J

Reese and Snickers cupcakes up next!

Bite-Sized Bliss: Blackberry Vanilla Bean Cupcakes

First, I'd like to apologize for this post being a little late. I went to London for my spring break and had not been baking at all. Regardless, right before my break I made my favorite cupcakes thus far. I know I often say certain things are my favorite, but these actually were by far the winners. I think they were my favorite because they were very light and not too rick. Over the years I have lost my taste for rich and decant dessert - weird right? I can always have a bite of things but my sweet tooth just isn't what it used to be. This being said, I could not stop eating these.

At my school, the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) was having a lunch event and I was asked to bake for it. Since the color representing the club is purple, I decided to make Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting. I had seen multiple recipes on a few different websites and thought they looked amazing every time. I tweaked the frosting recipe a bit, but most of the components were the same. The cupcakes were a delicious vanilla bean flavor. Instead of extract, the cupcakes called for vanilla bean paste. This paste is not quite as strong as actual vanilla beans, but it is easier to use and tastes unreal. I didn't think the difference in flavor would be noticeable, but it was! In addition, I added White Chocolate filling into the cupcakes for an extra surprise. I am personally not the biggest white chocolate fan, but I love adding it as a filling to fruit-flavored cupcakes because I think it always complements the flavors nicely. (see my raspberry buttercream cupcakes).

For a change of pace, I decided to make mini cupcakes. This was a great decision for MANY reasons. First, they are adorable!! Anything mini looks cuter than the larger size (probably why cupcakes are a new fad instead of large cakes). Plus, they were perfect size for people who don't want to eat a large dessert.

For the frosting instead of pureeing and straining blackberries, I used seedless blackberry preserves (not this is different than jam). I think the flavor was delicious, and probably a better decision since blackberries can sometimes have a bitter aftertaste. After piping the frosting, I decided to garnish them with an edible pearl. I think it made them look fun and pretty, and it was a garnish I hadn't used before. Everyone seemed to love them, so I will definitely be eating making them again!

-J

With extra batter I made a few normal-sized cupcakes with a blackberry garnish