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Cute Cupcakes. All The Time.

Cute Cupcakes. All The Time.

How to Avoid a Spreading Cookies < Cooking Tips and Cooking Questions Answered Result: Sad gingerbread men. Baking holiday cookies can go from a labor of love to an exercise in frustration when your gingerbread men come out more bloated than a Macy's parade float. The problem is too much heat—but not at the baking stage, at the mixing stage: Your butter is too warm. The solution: Keep your butter cool, right until baking. Butter starts to melt at 68°, and once that happens, its water-fat emulsion breaks and there's no getting it back. If the butter is still cold to the touch but spreadable, you can start creaming.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake Chocolate cake and I have had a very interesting romance. I started off with quite an intense dislike of chocolate cake. I KNOW. But try not to judge me too harshly, I had many bad experiences with store-bought dry, dense mudcakes covered in grainy baking chocolate icing. So every year when I asked Regex Man what cake he would like for his birthday and every year he replied me with "Chocolate So this year for Regex Man's birthday I offered to do a chocolate cake even though he said it didn't have to be chocolate this year. I used David Lebovitz's devil's food cake recipe again, my new favourite chocolate cake since making it for my raspberry cupcakes when I launched the new site. Originally I was going to arrange the scoops of icing around the edge of the cake, but I realised I didn't have quite enough icing to do that so I ended up just doing a few of them in the middle. Mint Chocolate Chip Cake Mix together the coffee and milk. Happy Birthday Regex Man!

Chocolate bars by Chocomize – Create your own personalized chocolate from over 100 ingredients Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting I couldn't believe my eyes this week when I saw the ad for Pumpkin Spice Lattes in my local Starbucks. Pumpkin Spice already? But there's still a little more summer to be had, isn't there? Of course, it was impossible to stay upset for too long; after all, this is lovely pumpkin -- one of my favorite flavors of all time -- that we're talking about! So, I ransacked my pumpkin-flavored recipes to find this one for Pumpkin Cupcakes. You'll recognize that it's a classic, but the cinnamon in the Cream Cheese Frosting gives it a little something extra. Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting from AllRecipes Ingredients For cupcakes 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg1/2 teaspoon ground ginger1/2 teaspoon ground cloves1/2 teaspoon ground allspice1/2 teaspoon salt1 tablespoon baking powder1/2 teaspoon baking soda1/2 cup butter, softened1 cup white sugar1/3 cup brown sugar2 eggs3/4 cup milk1 cup pumpkin puree For frosting Instructions 1. 2. 3.

Banana Caramel Cupcakes Banana Caramel Cupcakes Banana Caramel Cupcakes ~ If you love bananas, banana bread and caramel sauce, you will go crazy for this cupcake that masquerades as a cake. Banana Caramel Cupcakes I made this just a few weeks ago and did not have any luck keeping them around. We ended up eating them all before they could be photographed. This time around I gorged on three of these little babies straight out of the oven and set aside a few for the family, then hid the rest to photograph. Subtly sweet and flavorful on its own, my family enjoys these Banana Caramel Cupcakes undressed and plain, as much as they liked them filled and frosted. In fact, we love this recipe so much I no longer make banana bread. A few notes: Make two batches as this recipe does not do well doubled up.The tops will flatten out slightly as they cool.For a variation, I sometimes throw in bittersweet chocolate bits.For the caramel sauce try my homemade version. {Printer Version} Yields 12 cupcakes Bake at 350 F. Ingredients: 1.

GET OFF YOUR BUTT AND BAKE!: PASTRY Last night, I decided to make one of my favorite cookies. These little pastry swirls are so delish! I usually use my favorite pie crust recipe, which I have previously posted, but I decided to try a pastry recipe by the Barefoot Contessa. This recipe calls for lots of butter! Pastry: 2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 cup granulated or superfine sugar 1/2 tsp. kosher salt 1/2 pound (2 sticks) COLD unsalted butter, diced Directions: Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Divide your dough into two equal parts. Keep one half covered in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator. About 1/8" thick I still have some rolling to do! You can use any jam or preserves that you like. I used Strawberry Huckleberry jam. Don't use too much, or it will be difficult to roll, but don't be stingy either! Roll up jelly roll style. Don't roll too tightly, or all the jelly will roll right on out! Be generous!

Pumpkin Chocolate Pudding By Lauren Zembron, on October 4th, 2011 I love every recipe I post on HFFL, (they’re my little food babies), but every once in a while I come up with something that is really special; something that I know I will make over and over again. One such recipe was my Chocolate Ganache Pudding that I posted back in July. Rich & chocolatey, lusciously smooth & thick, fudgey pudding. SO. I’ve made that pudding several times over the past three months, but decided to put an autumnal spin on the base recipe in celebration of my favorite seasonal ingredient: yep, pumpkin. Half of the avocado called for in the original recipe is swapped out for pumpkin puree, a generous amount of pumpkin pie spice takes the place of the espresso powder & some of the cocoa powder, and maple extract joins the vanilla extract for an extra boost of flavor. The resulting pudding is just as silky (though a bit lighter) as its predecessor, but with the added flavor kick of warm pumpkin pie spices. You can thank me later.

Banana Split Cupcakes Banana Split Cupcakes ~ It’s been what, a little over 30 days since I posted a cupcake, so of course I went crazy with dipping, rimming, stuffing and stacking this Banana Split Cupcake with all kinds of cupcakey goodness. Banana Split Cupcakes Remember these Banana Split Bites stuffed with ice cream from last year? It’s actually the same banana cream custard I used in this Mini Banana Cream Pie recipe. By now, I’m sure you’re beginning to sense that I have a deep, serious love for anything banana flavored. Until then, I hope you love this riff on a banana split dessert recipe as much as I do. A few notes: Advance preparation: The banana cream custard filling can be prepared up to a day in advance. Banana Split Cupcakes Adapted from Magnolia’s Vanilla Cupcake | Makes 20-24 cupcakes Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Ingredients: Cupcakes: Banana Cream Custard Filling: Classic Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: Instructions: 1. 2. 1. 1. Chocolate Dipping Sauce: 1. To assemble: 1. 2.

Over 100 Quick and Easy Recipes We Have Preparation and Cooking Times of 30 Minutes or Less The majority of recipes we offer can be both prepared and cooked in 30 minutes or less, from start to finish. A number of them can also be prepared ahead of time and enjoyed later. Our Recipes Allow Flexibility and Adjustments We realize that if our recipes are going to fit your individual tastes, schedule and lifestyle, they can't just dictate exactly which ingredients you need and the exact amount of each one to use. The Recipe Assistant Are you interested in customizing your search for WHFoods recipes? How to Make Multiple Selections To make multiple selections on the "Foods to Include" or "Foods to Exclude" list, hold down the control key (on a PC) or Apple key (on a Mac) and click on the different foods that you would like to choose. Over 100 Quick and Easy Recipes Breakfast Salad Entrees Soups Fish Chicken and Turkey Lean Meat Vegetarian Entrees Side Salad/Dressings Side Vegetables Desserts Meatless Recipes

peanut butter pretzel bites « Two Tiny Kitchens Salty and sweet. Crunchy and melt-in-your-mouth. Peanut butter and chocolate. Dangerous and delicious (you know what I mean). One little bite, so much to experience. Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites recipe courtesy Foodaphilia.com Calorie estimate: 4,000 – 5,000 for complete recipe (depending upon dipping chocolate and pretzels used, etc.) Yield 60 – 80 pretzel bites Ingredients 1 cup creamy peanut butter 2 tbsp softened butter 1/2 cup powdered sugar (maybe more) 3/4 cup brown sugar (maybe more) Pretzels 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions Combine peanut butter and softened butter in a large bowl with a fork or whisk, or in a stand mixer. Use a teaspoon measure to scoop the filling. Pour the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl and heat at 30-second intervals, stirring occasionally until completely melted.

How to Pipe Icing Roses I baked this spring bouquet of cupcakes for my Weekend Baker post on the Cooking Channel blog. I was limited in space and wanted to go into a bit lot more detail on how to pipe the icing roses. Creating these flowers is not at all difficult, but it helps to have some simple tricks of the trade. With a little practice and the right tools you can easily recreate these flowers. The contrasting color that tips the petals is one of those easy tricks that takes them from ordinary roses to extraordinary. Here is how I did it: You can find my recipe for the cupcakes on the Cooking Channel Piping Icing (This recipe is easy to pipe with and it has lots of body, so the flowers will have structure and not flop over. (makes about 8 large roses. 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 2 tablespoons shortening (This gives a little insurance that it won’t melt in your hands as you are piping) 4 cups confectioners’ sugar pinch salt Food Coloring (I prefer gel or paste for intense colors) (Ateco #914)

Watermelon Lime Sorbet Slices A sweet and tangy watermelon lime sorbet is a great way to cool off in the summer. As a bonus, this recipe is frozen back in the watermelon rind and cut off into slices. It’s hot. The type of heat where when you step outside the door and your skin is wet before the door swings shut behind you. It’s a hot that hangs in the air, letting you breathe it in, that is cured only by two things: being completely immersed in water or hiding indoors, the air conditioning cranked as far as it will go.I find that the heat makes me very unmotivated to do things like take a walk, water and weed the garden (though I have forced that one on myself) and prepare food and eat it. However, when the promise of cooking provides ice cold watermelon sorbet, I just may be convinced. When your simple syrup is cool and watermelon chunked, blend them together in a food processor or blender until smooth. Cool the liquid completely in the refrigerator for a few hours. This then goes into the freezer. Truly, nothing.

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