Summer is coming up. And if you've been reading this for a while, you know I love the smores combo. We've got smore's cookie bars, smores brownies, smore's pie, smore's marshmallows, smore's ice cream bars and smore's for kids. And the list continues to grow. Or you could add some nuts and do a rocky road version if that's your thing. These are a little different than the typical smores due to the addition of peanut butter and like most chocolate desserts, I found these very hard to resist.
Ingredients: For Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
For Peanut Butter Chocolate Marshmallow Filling:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (lite is all right)
1 cup chocolate chips
250 grams mini marshmallows
Directions:
Line a 8 x 8″ square baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and salt together.
Add the melted butter and stir until the graham cracker crumbs are thoroughly moistened. Press evenly into the prepared baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely.
In a medium-sized pot, melt the margarine and peanut butter together.
Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate chips. Stir until they’ve completely melted into the peanut butter mixture. Allow the mixture to cool to the point where you can comfortably place your hand on the bottom of the pot .
Add marshmallows and stir to coat.
Spread evenly over the graham cracker crust and put the whole thing in the fridge until fully set. Lift out of the dish using the parchment paper, cut into squares. It’s best to keep these refrigerated.
Did everyone have a good Mother's day?? Did you get a special breakfast? I hope so. Matt asked me what I wanted for breakfast and normally I would choose french toast, that's my favorite so naturally what I normally pick. Buuut we have SO many eggs and I don't want them to go bad. Enter the quiche. I helped Matt make it since I doubt he's ever made a quiche before and I don't mind helping. It comes together relatively quickly and all the steps are super simple. A great thing about a quiche is you can customize it to whatever vegetables/cheese/meet you have on hand or prefer. This is what I decided on and I don't think I would have changed a thing.
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1 cup cooked, chopped bacon pieces
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pie crust
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pie crust in round pie plate and partially bake for 10 minutes then remove from oven.
2. Place eggs, milk, salt and pepper into stand mixer with the whisk attachment in place. Whisk until well combined, about 20 seconds. Set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions for about 5 minutes then add tomatoes, stirring and cooking for about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Pour egg mixture into crust and top evenly with onion and tomatoes, bacon and cheese. Bake until eggs are cooked through (I think mine took about 45 min. I forgot to time it to be exact though). Serve warm.
When it comes to birthday cake, yellow cake with chocolate frosting is classic. The birthday girl I made the cake for is a chocolate fan, as am I, obviously. So I decided to change it up a little and did 1 layer of yellow cake and 1 layer of chocolate cake with buttercream frosting in between the layers and chocolate frosting on the outside covered in sprinkles. By the time I was done my kitchen was COVERED in frosting and sprinkles. I loved how the cake turned out. I wasn't a huge fan of the chocolate frosting recipe, (not that it was bad, but not my favorite), therefore, I won't post that recipe, but another option instead. I also halved the buttercream recipe, next time i'll make the full amount because it was a little on the light side. It sounds like a lot of steps/recipes, but it's really not that bad!
Birthday Cake
1/2 recipe yellow cake (1- 9 inch cake)
1/2 recipe chocolate cake (1- 9 inch cake)
1 batch buttercream frosting
1 batch chocolate frosting
sprinkles, if desired
Directions:
Mix yellow cake and set aside (don't bake yet). Make chocolate cake according to directions. Place both cakes in oven at same time. Once done baking and cooling, invert chocolate cake and frost top with buttercream frosting. Stack yellow cake on top and frost the whole thing with chocolate frosting. Decorate with sprinkles. Store in refrigerator.
Yellow Cake seen on Annie's Eats Ingredients:
For the cake: 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing pans 1½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pans 1½ cups cake flour 1 tbsp. baking powder ½ tsp. salt 1¾ cups sugar 4 large eggs 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1¼ cups milk
Directions: To make the cakes, preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the bottoms of two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Butter and flour the edges of the pans, tapping out the excess; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt; whisk together to blend well and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in the vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the milk. Beat each addition just until incorporated.
Divide the batter between the prepared baking pans. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until the cakes are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool 20 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pans to help remove the cakes. Invert the cakes onto the rack and peel off the parchment. Let the cakes cool completely before frosting. Level the cakes if necessary.
To make the frosting, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate has melted. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature, about 25-30 minutes.
Hershey's 'Perfectly Chocolate' Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
2 cupssugar
1-3/4 cupsall-purpose flour
3/4 cupHERSHEY'S Cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoonsbaking powder
1-1/2 teaspoonsbaking soda
1 teaspoonsalt
2 eggs
1 cupmilk
1/2 cupvegetable oil
2 teaspoonsvanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
Directions:
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.
Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).
Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely.
Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
up to 4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream
Instructions:
Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. Add more sugar to make stiffer, or more milk 1 TBLS at a time to thin out until desired consistency is reached.
Hershey's 'Perfectly Chocolate' Chocolate Frosting Ingredients: 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine 2/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa 3 cups powdered sugar 1/3 cup milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Directions:Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to spreading consistency. Add small amount additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups frosting.
I'm still here. First I was just really busy. We went out of town for a few days, then my mom came to visit for a week. Then I found out i'm pregnant. And although I can't stop eating, thinking too much about food isn't exactley something I want to be doing while 8 weeks pregnant. So it's been slow around here. You may have noticed these kinds of cakes before. Usually the top is covered with m&ms, making it look somewhat like a bowl of m&ms. I made a chocolate cake from scratch and it was a little tall. Notice how it's taller than the kit kats? But that isn't why I chose not to "fill" it with m&ms. I figured with chocolate cake and kit kats, adding m&ms might be a little over kill. Since it was for my SIL's baby shower, I thought duckies would be fitting. My mom arrived at our house that morning so right away I put her to work to make the frosting. We've always called it "the white sticky frosting" in our house, but it's like a swiss meringe , made of egg whites, sugar, corn syrup (and whatever else might be in it) and cooked over the stove. It ends up tasting like marshmallows and it's really good. However i'm not sharing that recipe today. Today is just the cake idea, so you can go make your own creation!
Kit Kat Cake Ingredients: 1 2-layer cake (homemade or box mix is fine) frosting kit kats ribbon
Directions: Make your cake layers and let cool. Once cool, frost both layers and stack. Press kit kats into side all the way around and decorate/garnish as desired. Tie a ribbon around the whole thing and you're done!
I've been meaning to post this one for about 2 months, and with St. Patrick's Day coming up, I thought it was about time. Lately we've just been super busy. We took a trip down to Universal Studios for a long weekend, then my mom came to visit for a week, among other things. 2012 is starting out pretty well, i'd say. This would be really good with any ice cream, but the birthday girl I made them for requested mint chocolate chip, and it was a great choice.
Brownie Ice Cream Cupcakes
Ingredients:
1 box of brownie mix, made according to directions on package
1/2 gallon of ice cream
ganache (Heat 1/4 c. heavy cream until hot then pour over 3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips. Let it sit for a minute then stir until smooth. Let it sit for a few minutes to thicken)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 24 cup muffin tin with foil liners. Spoon about a tablespoon or two of brownie batter into the bottom of each cup. Bake 6-8 minutes until cooked through. Cool brownies then place in the freezer for about 25 minutes. Take ice cream out and let it soften during this time. When the ice cream has softened, run the ice cream scooper under hot water and place a small scoop on each brownie, using a spoon rinsed under hot water to smooth the top over. When they're all done, refreeze the cupcakes for about an hour. After they've frozen, remove and top each one with a teaspoon of ganache. Store in freezer. Remove 5 minutes before serving and enjoy!
I have a love/hate relationship with pinterest. I love all the ideas. I mean i've found some great stuff there, like these carmelitas and the stand they're on (yeah, I made that). But I hate that nothing is original now days, atleast that's how it seems. Everyone's making and doing the same stuff and even if you think you thought of it first, you just find out everyone else has already done it. Obviously I fall into that as well seeing as how I copied ideas and do so all the time. But it just doesn't feel as special when you can actually see something you want to do or make pinned all over other boards. And then there's that whole awkward thing about making something a friend has pinned, not that they have any claim to it anyway, but not wanting them to think you copied their stuff. Anyone else feeling like this? Maybe it's just me. But either way I still love browsing pinterest and finding new ways to waste my time. Here's one of my finds and boy was it a good one! They remind me of these smores cookie bars that I absolutely love, but with caramel instead of the marshmallow. This is one i'll definitely be looking forward to making again soon! Carmelitas
seen on Lulu the Baker
Ingredients:
32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel.
Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting
I had mentioned in an earlier post that I made red velvet cake something. Here's that something. Red velvet cake balls with cream cheese frosting. The thing I love about cake balls (or pops) other than they're delicious, is that you can easily customize them for any occassion. Almost a year ago I posted baby shower cake pops (which happens to be the number 1 viewed recipe here), but I never posted the recipe. Or the "how to" actually, since it isn't really a recipe. So here it is! It's pretty simple..after you've done it once you'll have it down. Cake Balls Ingredients: 1 box of cake mix, any flavor, baked 1 can frosting, any flavor chocolate, candy melts, or almond bark for coating garnishes optional (such as sprinkles)
Directions: Bake cake in 13x9 in. pan according to directions. Let it cool then crumble into a big bowl. Add the frosting to the bowl of cake, I start with 1/2 can and gradually add more. I usually end up using about 3/4 can. If you add too little or too much your cake balls might fall apart. Use your hands to combine the frosting and cake until moist then roll into quarter size balls. It will be very messy. Place them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and continue until you're finished rolling all the balls, then place them in the freezer until they've firmed up a bit. This will help keep them from falling apart when it's time to dip. Melt your chocolate and dip balls in. Using 2 spoons, coat the balls and place back on wax paper afterwards. If you're going to sprinkle anything on top, do it now before your coating hardens. Let set until firm, I like to place them in the freezer to speed things up. Once the outside has hardened you can drizzle any extra over the top if you want.
