Creme Brulee Cupcakes

I can't believe how good these were! Even though I didn't have a torch to caramelize the brown sugar on the top, these cupcakes were fantastic and did taste like creme brulee. They look a little sloppy (my frosting method has not been perfected). I also didn't have cupcake liners - I bought them at Target because I knew I was going to bake cupcakes and they were in the bag that the cashier never gave me! :( Oh well. When I make them again, they will look better!

Adapted from: www.BeantownBaker.com

CUPCAKE INGREDIENTS
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus a pinch for the egg whites
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups sugar2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons caramel syrup - I used Smuckers ice cream topping
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in dry ingredients and milk. Add caramel syrup and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff but not dry. Gently fold whites into batter. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling cups about 2/3 full. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.

BROWN SUGAR SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS
1 cup light brown sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

Put sugar, egg whites and salt into the top of a double boiler over a pan of simmering water. Whisking constantly, cook until sugar has dissolved and mixture is warm (about 160 degrees). Pour heated egg whites into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat egg white mixture on high speed until it forms stiff (but not dry) peaks. Continue beating until fluffy and cooled, about 7 minutes total.Switch to the paddle attachment. With mixer on medium-low, add butter two tablespoons at a time, beating well after each addition. Increase speed to medium-high; continue beating until frosting appears thick, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and continue beating 1 minute to reduce air bubbles.To assemble cupcakes, remove center of cupcake using a knife. Fill cupcake with buttercream. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and caramelize with creme brulee torch - which I did not have, so my cupcake was not caramelized. :(

"The Chewy" Chocolate Chip Cookie

Snow day #2! Yes, we got 2 blizzards in one week, each about 2 feet of snow. So, again, I headed to the kitchen to bake. I have seen the recipe for "The Chewy" Chocolate Chip Cookie by Alton Brown on quite a few blogs and it is supposedly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe out there. I actually haven't baked chocolate chip cookies in a long time and these were awesome! I may want to try a couple of more recipes soon to compare....

Adapted from: "The Chewy" by Alton Brown (I found on www.FoodNetwork.com)

INGREDIENTS
2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour (I used all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside. Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. A dd the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Peanut Butter Crumble Cake

Onto the second baking project of the snow day... I figured I'd try a coffee cake.

I couldn't help but think that chocolate chips would taste better in this recipe than raisins (which I didn't have anyway). So, I made half of the recipe just omitting the raisins and the second half of the cake sprinkled with semisweet chocolate chips. I must say, I liked it with the chips better! But when can I ever resist peanut butter and chocolate??

Adapted from: www.BakingBites.com

INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1/2 cup raisins (I omitted and topped off half of the cake with semisweet chocolate chips)
1 cup crunchy peanut butter, room temperature

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking pan. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using a hand mixer (or with a spoon, if you’re so motivated), beat in the softened butter until mixture resembles wet sand. Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside. Add buttermilk and egg to the large bowl with the remaining flour mixture. Stir well, until no streaks of flour remain, then stir in raisins (if desired). Pour into prepared pan. Add peanut butter to medium bowl with remaining 3/4 cup flour mixture. Stir well and crumble (or drop in clumps, as the mixture will be thick) onto the cake batter in the pan. (Here is where I sprinkled some chocolate chips on top of the cake, just half to try it out!) Bake for about 30 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

Brownie Cookies

Snow day! Do you know what that means? I baked a few things! I tried to cut recipes in halves (or thirds...) so that I didn't have tons of baked good sitting out on my kitchen counter so that I would be tempted to eat all of them. These Brownie Cookies really did taste like brownies...except I think I did something wrong with the recipe! I'm not sure what, but the consistency of the batter was very watery. I added more flour but it didn't seem to be doing the trick. When I put the dough on the baking sheet, they spread out into large thin cookies before I even put them in the oven. They still tasted great but I'm sure that's not how they were supposed to be (maybe my calculations were wrong when cutting down the recipe?). After trying 6 cookies, I put the rest into my mini muffin pan. Now I had both Brownie Cookies and Brownie Bites!




Adapted from: http://www.annie-eats.com/



Yields: about 24-35 cookies

INGREDIENTS
466 g. dark chocolate, chopped (about 2 2/3 cups)
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 eggs
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking powder
1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a heatproof bowl set over simmering water, heat the chocolate and butter until completely melted and smooth, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract; whisk until well combined. In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Stir together and set aside. Add the melted chocolate mixture to the sugar mixture and whisk until well combined. Mix in the dry ingredients, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Drop scoops of about 1½ tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, evenly spaced. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm on the outside and the dough has lost its sheen. Leave to cool completely on the baking sheets. Transfer to a wire rack when firmly set, and repeat with any remaining dough, if necessary.

Baker's Edge Signature Cookie Bars

A pan with only edges?! Yes, it exists! My brother got me this for Christmas - it's called the Baker's Edge pan and only makes bars/brownies that have edges so every piece is cooked evenly. I had to try one of their recipes (if I try one of my own I will have to experiment with cooking times...). Since I didn't have all of the ingredients for their brownies, I tried their cookie bars. They were very crispy (maybe I baked them too long despite the instructions?). I noticed the batter was very thick as well. Still very good - my husband said he liked dipping them in a glass of milk ....after they were gone of course, so I didn't get to try this!

Adapted from: www.BakersEdge.com

INGREDIENTS
½ cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
1 ¼ cup Brown Sugar
1 ea Egg
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
½ tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Baking Powder
½ tsp Salt
1 ¾ cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Instant Coffee
1 cup Chocolate Chips / Candy Pieces

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Beat the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract until just combined.
Add the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips or other candy pieces.
3. Divide the dough into 4 balls and roll each into a log. Place each log into a section of the pan and spread evenly (logs should join at pan bends).
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Banana Caramel Cupcakes

So I had an extra banana laying around and if I didn't use it, it would go bad. So what do I do? Look up a banana cupcake recipe and bake with it! (I could've just eaten the banana and saved myself a ton of calories...). These were really good, but didn't exactly taste like cupcakes. They were more dense. I also didn't have cupcake liners, so that's another reason they look weird. Next time I'll pick them up and spend a little more time on the decorative portion - they look a bit sloppy! But I was not bringing them anywhere so that was fine with me. :)

Adapted from: http://www.annie-eats.com/

Yields 24+ cupcakes

INGREDIENTS
For the cupcakes:
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2½ cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. buttermilk
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana

For the caramel:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ cup heavy cream
1 cup packed light brown sugar

For the frosting:
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
Pinch of salt
16 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbsp. pieces, at room temperature

DIRECTIONS
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt; whisk together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. (I do not have a stand mixer, so I used a hand mixer.) Reduce the mixer speed to medium low and add in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix in 1 the mashed banana until well combined. With the mixer on low speed alternately add the dry ingredients and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients and mixing only until just incorporated.
Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each about 2/3 to ¾ full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the caramel sauce, combine the butter, heavy cream and brown sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Once it reaches a boil, lower the heat to medium and continue to boil until the mixture is thickened, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

To make the frosting, combine the egg whites and sugar in a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Heat the mixture, whisking very frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved and reaches 160° F on an instant read thermometer. Transfer the mixture to the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Reduce the speed to medium low, add in the salt and begin adding the butter one piece at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in ½ cup of the cooled caramel sauce until well blended.

Frost the cooled cupcakes with the caramel buttercream, and drizzle with the remaining caramel sauce. (If the caramel has cooled too much to be easily drizzled, heat for 10 seconds in the microwave and stir well to thin it a bit.)

Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies

I stumbled upon a new blog and found some really great recipes! http://www.annie-eats.com/ is not just a baking blog, so maybe I'll try some of her non-baking concoctions. (I said maybe.) I have been looking for a brownie recipe that rivals box brownies and this one takes the cake! I feel like a terrible baker since I always loved box brownies as opposed to my homemade ones (with the exception of the mint cookies n' cream brownies I make, they're fabulous but a little too holiday-esque for any other time of year.) These are dense and chewy and very chocolatey! I'm so excited I finally found another brownie recipe I can repeat. Maybe next time with some peanut butter chips??? :)

Adapted from: http://www.annie-eats.com/

INGREDIENTS

5 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into quarters

3 tbsp. cocoa powder

3 large eggs

1¼ cups sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS

Place an oven rack in lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 350° F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. (I just melted together on the stove in a pot.) Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt; whisk until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture until incorporated. Then stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until just combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula to make an even layer. Bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35-40 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.
Remove the brownies from the pan using the foil and transfer to a cutting board. Cut into squares as desired. Store in an air-tight container.