Snickerdoodles

Let me just say... I LOVE THESE COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are just about the most perfect thing you could put in your mouth. I discovered this recipe a few years ago and have since been baking these yummy morsels for just about any occasion I see fit. Once again, I turned to Martha for the recipe. So again, go to her website for the recipe. http://www.marthastewart.com/

These are the most perfect buttery, cinnamony-delicious bite. They are complete

snickerdoodle-deliciousness. (yes, I like to make up words. My husband says it makes me interesting) Yum. Oh, and I have failed to mention my favorite part....THEY ARE SOFT. I was so surprised when I didn't end up with the typical briquettes. Lets just make this clear... I am a soft, chewy cookie gal. And did I mention that these cookies are perfect, soft and chewy. Yeah, I love them. The dough does keep well the freezer but why wouldn't you want to make the whole batch. I'm just saying. If you love cinnamon, these are for you.

So, my hubby and I recently visited an apple orchard. We just finished hiking and we were famished. We love all things fall so we decided to get some fresh apples and a tasty treat. We bought some apple cookies. Let me tell you, my new mission now involves trying to recreate these little marvels. The reason that I bring this up now is that the basis of the cookies...what made ithem good to the core was that same buttery cinnamon flavor that the Snickerdoodles have. Needless to say, stay tuned for an upcoming post on my attempt to recreate these little babies.

And in case you were wondering if these Snickerdoodles are any good...a coworker of ours, Anne, once took home a bag of the crumbles. See, the cookies are so soft that you can't just put them in a ziplock like you might your traditional chocolate chip cookies. They are so soft that they will literally crumble to pieces. So good, however, that people will want to take home your bag of crumbles.

Bake on!

-M

Look for my next post featuring Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Blondie Cupcakes with Maple Butter Frosting

For a long time Jess had been telling me how her and her husband, on occasion, will stop after dinner simply to get this Maple Butter Blondie dessert. Well this past August, I decided to try to recreate the irresistible dessert in cupcake form.

I used the Blondie Cupcake recipe from the Martha Stewart website. It can be found at the following link: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/blondie-cupcakes

Oooh, I should also mention that I was going through a craze where I thought that everything mini was extra fabulous. So, of course, these Blondies are in mini-form. The cupcakes tasted delish. The toffee pieces in them, in my opinion, was unexpected, but a nice little surprise. They added this great chewy factor to the little cakes. I should mention, though, if you are looking for the typical moist, cake-like texture in this little morsels...you aren't going to find it. This recipe could easily be slapped in an 8x8 pan and turned into bars. I took some creative liberties and also added about a cup of white chocolate baking chips to the recipes. My addition was well received and I can't actually imagine the recipe without them.

While the cakes could have stood alone, I really wanted to try to recreate the maple butter flavor that Jess had been raving about. So, I turned to the ever faithful Google and found a maple butter frosting recipe. The recipe can be found at the following website: http://www.allrecipes.com/ The frosting was delicious and certainly was the buttery maple flavor I was looking for. Here is a picture of the final product. I wish it would have turned out better, but... you get the idea.

I think doing them in "mini" ended up being the right decision. Like I said earlier, the cupcakes could stand on their own whether as cupcakes or as bars. With the maple butter frosting, they do get sweeter and could, perhaps be too sweet for some people. Great with a glass of milk or a cup of joe. While I don't think that they topped Jess' traditional go to Blondies, she thought they were a hit as well. I was worried my coworkers weren't going to eat them as some of them had toppled over during transport. Let me tell you they were gone before I knew it!!!

Bake on!

-M

Apple Cake!

A few weekends ago my family took a one night getaway to Stillwater. Our final stop before heading home was to Aamodt's Apple Orchard. Of course before we got there my mind was going crazy thinking of all the things I could bake with the apples. Apple crisp, cake, pie, muffins, cupcakes...you get the idea. Finally Zach said to me, "we are going to have buy out the orchard if you are planning on baking all of those things."

Before we get on to the delicious apple cake, just have to post a picture of my adorable little nephew taste testing an apple at the orchard!

Isn't he a cutie?!?!

Alright, the cake....

Got this recipe from a dear friend of mine! Every recipe I get from her is outstanding, so I knew this one was sure to be the same. And of course, it didn't disappoint!

After not being able to control myself with this cake at home (yes, I ate a whole row in about ten minutes) I decided it was necessary to bring it to work. I knew if I didn't get it out of the house I would eat the whole thing in a day.

Betty's Apple Cake

2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup oil
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
4-5 apples, peeled and coarsely chopped

Cream sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients. Dough will be THICK like cookie dough.
Add chopped walnuts and apples.
Spread in greased and floured 9x13 pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Add topping mix and bake an additional 10 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Topping:
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.

Truffles and Tortes

A few days ago some co-workers and I had lunch at the cutest little dessert cafe called Truffles and Tortes. It is nestled in between all of the other fun and unique shops on Main Street in Anoka.

While the the sandwich and salad I had for lunch was delicious, the dessert was far better than words can describe. All four of us stood at the dessert counter completely indecisive and drooling over everything behind the glass. And of course we all had to get something different so we could have a little taste of several.

Jess: red velvet cake with a cheesecake filling. Topped with cream cheese frosting and sliced almonds! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Michele: Raspberry Fudge Tart! Just the right amount of sweetness!

Anne: White cake with strawberry filling! This cake was beyond moist! (yes, I hate that word)

Elise: "Bad Hair Day." Torched meringue covering thin layers of sponge cake, lemon curd, and caramel sauce! So fricken cute!

First Cupcakes with a Filling!

These turtle cupcakes definitely gave me a hard time today, but as soon as I tasted them I couldn't even be mad about the two batches of caramel and one batch of frosting that I ended up putting down the garbage disposal. Who wouldn't love something that is a combination of chocolate, caramel, and nuts! In fact they might have just claimed the title for favorite cupcake! Which is weird considering I don't usually even like chocolate cake.

So I have never made homemade caramel before and actually still have not made a successful batch! I think the next kitchen gadget I will be purchasing is going to be a candy thermometer. That might explain part of the problem I had today. The first batch of caramel turned into a solid brick of sugar crystals. The second batch I attempted was way too runny and would have turned the cupcakes to mush if I had used it as a filling. The third batch didn't turn out perfect, but at least it was usable. It actually tasted really good, but was a little gritty. Gotta work on perfecting the creamy consistency!

For the swiss meringue buttercream, I used brown sugar instead of white sugar. This was an idea I got from Oh, just put a cupcake in it. And it actually complimented the caramel filling very nicely!! I jazzed up the top of the cupcake with a little drizzle of caramel and a few chopped walnuts!

Swiss Meringue Buttercream
1 cup brown sugar
4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3 sticks unsalted butter, softened, cubed into Tbsp chunks
1 tsp vanilla

Over pan of simmering water mix sugar, eggs, and cream of tartar. Whisk until mixture hits 160 degrees (or until you cannot feel sugar crystals any longer).

Transfer mixture to stand mixer bowl and beat on high with whisk attachment 8 - 10 minutes or until the bottom of bowl is cool.

Attach paddle and on medium start adding the butter 1 Tbsp at a time, letting the butter incorporate after each addition. After all of the butter is added, beat until it is smooth and then add vanilla.

Caramel Filling
from Southern Living
1 cup butter
2 cups suggar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 cup whipping cream

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add sugar and corn syrup, and cook, stirring constantly, 6 to 8 minutes or until mixture turns a deep caramel color. Gradually add cream, and cook, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes or until smooth. Remove from heat, and let cool. Chill 2 hours or until thickened and spreading consistency.

Woah! We are famous!!

Cupcakes Take the Cake, a well known cupcake blog from New York just posted our butterfly and flower cupcakes that we did for a first birthday party!

Whoopie Pies

It is nightly routine for me to sit in bed with my laptop and browse the internet for an hour or two before going to bed. Usually this consists of checking my email, facebook, and then my favorite baking blogs. A few nights ago I stumbled upon a new blog, A Baked Creation! I love when this happens! Ultimately it means new recipes to try!! The hardest part is deciding which recipe I want to try first!

One of the most recent posts on this blog was for classic chocolate whoopie pies. Zach happened to look over at the computer when I was reading this post and his first words were "those look pretty darn good." I decided to be a nice and sweet wife and make them for him the following day. Plus we were going to Stillwater that weekend with my family and I only like making sweets when I know I have someone I can dump them on! Lord knows I can't keep any sweets around this house because I have no self-control and end up eating all of them!

Michele came over and we had a fun afternoon of baking and girl talk! Nothing could be better!

It worked pretty slick to use my cookie scoop! This way all of the cookies would be similar in size and make it easy to sandwich!

And at this point the house smelt utterly amazing! Nothing is better than the smell of chocolate! The cookies turned out wonderfully but I thought they would be a little more fluffy and cake-like. Don't get me wrong though, they tasted very good!

Now for the fun part, putting the filling between the cookies! Being that I was making these as a special treat for Zach I decided to use my cream cheese frosting as the filling. Zach thinks that my cream cheese frosting should be put on every single cupcake that I make.

Michele was a master sandwicher!

Half way through we decided to switch up the filling a little bit. We melted some semi-sweet baker's chocolate and added it to the cream cheese frosting! Personally I liked this filling the best!!

Well I think it is time to buy the whoopie pie cookbook!!