Dessert | I Can Cook That

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Buttercream Frosting

We recently had a baby shower for one of my co-workers. She’s a big chocolate fan, so I went in search of a super chocolately cupcake that I could make for the shower. Lauren’s Latest had a great recipe that incorporated dark chocolate and cocoa powder, perfect! I used an altered buttercream recipe from my Guinness Cupcakes so that I could have a white icing that I could dye blue. She is having a boy so I went with a duck theme!

Cupcake ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

12 oz dark chocolate

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I used light)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cup flour

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk

3/4 cup low fat sour cream

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Buttercream ingredients:

1 stick of butter, softened
3 cups powdered (confectioner’s) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Milk, as needed to get to desired consistency

4-5 drops blue food dye

So I did something that is typically a big no-no in baking. I took Lauren’s recipe and multiplied it by three to make 24 cupcakes. And (thankfully) it turned out a-ok! So feel free to use my multiplied version. Be sure to check out Lauren’s page though to see how beautiful hers came out, especially with that chocolate icing, yum!

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with paper liners.

In a small pot, melt the butter and chocolate over medium low heat, stirring until smooth. When combined, remove from heat and allow to cool.

While the butter and chocolate are melting / cooling, add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and flour in a large bowl.

Mix to combine.

In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, sour cream and vanilla.

Make a well in the dry mixture.

Pour the wet ingredients into the well.

Mine overflowed. Oops@

Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients as well as the cooled butter-chocolate mixture until just combined.

Add half of the mixture to the cupcake tins (the recipe makes 24 so you will have enough batter for 24 cupcakes). I use an ice cream scoop to at least attempt to divide the batter evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a middle cupcake comes out clean.

Allow to completely cool before decorating.

To make the icing, use a hand mixer to beat butter until smooth. Add half of the sugar and beat until smooth. Add other half of the sugar and repeat. If the mixture is too thick, add a bit of milk to thin and beat until smooth. (Note: be careful to not add too much, a little bit of milk goes a very long way!)

I added 4-5 drops of blue food coloring to get a light blue color. The icing became water for my ducks.

How cute are these?

I used a pastry bag to add the icing, but you can also put the icing into a plastic zip lock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to squeeze the icing out. It doesn’t have to be perfect (mine definitely aren’t!), the ducks splashing makes ripples in the water 🙂

I ordered the ducks and the sprinkles from The Bakers Confections, which you can buy on Etsy.

You’re probably thinking, super, they are adorable. But are they tasty?

They sure are! The double chocolate makes it a really nice dense cupcake, fully of chocolately flavor. The sour cream keeps them nice and moist.

My cupcakes were snatched up in minutes, so I think they were a hit!

Thanks to Lauren for posting such a fantastic cupcake recipe!

English Blackberry Pudding

Recipes can tell you a lot about the time period in which they were written. I have always been interested in how recipes change over time to meet tastes, availability and personal income. A few months ago, I went to an event at the Historical Society of Philadelphia about a Civil War era cookbook they found within their documents. The cookbook, written by Ellen Emlenwas written around 1865 and is really well organized, especially for the time. Mrs. Emlen, a Philadelphia housewife, put a lot of time into the cookbook, organizing it into thirteen categories including over 200 recipes.

Some of the fun facts that I learned:

If you think Americans have a sugar problem now, you should see some of the amounts of sugar that used to go into recipes! Most recipes would have to be altered to include less sugar to make palatable to us today.
Despite their not so wallet-friendly prices now, oysters used to be “poor man’s food” in nineteenth century Philadelphia. The Delaware River used to be teeming with them! Because of that, there are some ridiculous-sounding recipes for things like “how to pickle 1,000 oysters”
It’s quite amazing how some things haven’t really changed. There is a recipe for eggnog in the book that is comparable to today’s recipe.
The affluent families of Philadelphia (Mrs. Emlen included) really had a thing for saffron. So many dishes include it in the ingredients!

The event was really interesting and we all were given a copy to take home with us! (Expect some posts including adaptations of her recipes in the future). I also picked up another book while I was there, 35 Recipes from “The Larder Invaded”, which also included historical recipes from local Philadelphians. I used a recipe from that book for this Blackberry Pudding, with a few slight changes.

I’m sure some of you just looked at that photo and thought to yourself “that is NOT pudding.” It’s actually an English pudding. Although in the U.S., pudding is usually a milk-based custard type dessert, pudding in the United Kingdom can be used for any sweet dish after dinner (think: Christmas pudding or “figgy pudding”). So, this recipe is actually more of a bread or cake.

Ingredients:

1 pint almond milk, plus more for glaze

3 1/2 cups flour plus more for dredging the blackberries

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine to make dairy free

2 heaping teaspoons baking powder

1 pint blackberries

powdered sugar

To make this recipe a bit more my own, and bring it into the 21^st century, I decided to try this with Vanilla Almond Milk. I thought it might add a nice extra flavor to the whole dessert. Feel free to use normal milk.

Beat the eggs together until light.

Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine. Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.

Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.

Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.

The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours. Yep. Not happening.

Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.

Because I have a ridiculous sweet tooth, I decided to add a little bit of a glaze to the top of the dessert. Combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk. (I made 1 tablespoon powdered sugar to 1.5 teaspoons almond milk).

So how was it? Delicious of course! Look at that beauty!

I was a bit afraid of how this would turn out because I messed with the method of preparation. But it looks fine to me! I enjoyed the glaze on top to give it an extra pop of sugary goodness. The blackberries were nice and tart, so it was a good contrast. I was really happy with the almond milk in it as well!

Best thing about this recipe is that it can easily be adapted to include any kind of berry you choose. It’s a wonderful base recipe to let your creativity run wild.

I actually had a really hard time taking these photos; I kept trying to eat the pudding!

English Blackberry Pudding

A traditional English pudding made with blackberries and drizzled with a simple glaze

Course Dessert

Cuisine United Kingdom

Keyword Blackberry, Cake, Dessert, English, Pudding

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 5

Servings 6

Author Kaitlin @ I Can Cook That

Ingredients

1 pint almond milk plus more for glaze
3 1/2 cups flour plus more for dredging the blackberries
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 tablespoon melted butter or margarine to make dairy free
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
1 pint blackberries
powdered sugar

Instructions

Beat the eggs together until light.
Add the almond milk and flour and mix to combine.
Add the melted butter, salt and baking powder and mix to combine.
Wash the blackberries and dredge in flour.
Add the blackberries to the pudding and mix to combine.
The original recipe wanted me to put the batter into a pudding tin (I have no idea what a pudding tin is) and then place that in a pot with some boiling water and cook it this way, replenishing the water when needed, for 3 hours.
Instead, I preheated my oven to 350, added the batter to some Pyrex bowls (I used one medium and one small to use all the dough) and baked them for 40-50 minutes.
Let cool.
To make the glaze, combine 2 parts powdered sugar to 1 part milk and drizzle over the pudding while it cools.

Sugar Cookies

I am always so excited to make sugar cookies. To be more precise, I’m actually really excited to decorate the cookies. (Mind you, I’m awful at it. A 6 year old would beat me by a mile in a cookie decorating contest). But it is so fun to see the cookies transform from flour, sugar, and butter into cute little Christmas trees, snowmen, and candy canes. I used a traditional sugar cookie recipe from Cooking Light.

Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 11 1/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
10 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Decorations:
Cookie cutters
Sprinkles
Other edible decorations

Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl, stir with a whisk.

Add sugar and butter in a large bowl, beating with a mixer until combined.

Add vanilla and eggs.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Mine looked very very crumbly. So if yours looks like this, don’t panic.

Add the mixture to a large piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.

Refrigerate for an hour. Unwrap the ball after an hour. Preheat the over to 375. Split the dough in half, rolling out out half of the dough on a floured surface.

Using any cookie cutter you have, cut out shapes and place on a cookie sheet two inches apart lined with parchment paper.

Repeat with remaining dough. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until lightly browned along the edges. Cool on pans for 5 minutes then remove and place on wire racks.

When completely cooled, prepare the icing. Combine the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk stirring until smooth. I added the icing to a squeeze bottle (like a ketchup bottle) but you can also add it to a ziplock bag and cut off one of the bottom corners to make piping easier. Decorate the cookies however you like.

Allow to dry overnight.

Hehe. Aren’t they fun? You can use whatever you want. I happened to be a bit, well, sprinkle happy.

Oh yeah, they taste pretty darn good too 🙂

Snickerdoodles

I am back in cookie baking mode. This time around, I’m going the more traditional route. First on my list, classic snickerdoodles.

Ingredients

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (about 6 3/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Continue reading Snickerdoodles

It’s My Birthday & I’ll Make Cake Pops If I Want To

This year has flown by. I can’t believe we are about two weeks away from Christmas already! Which means I have a weekend of celebrations upon me, it’s my birthday!

I have been intrigued by cake pops for a while now. I have no idea how a little ball of cake could keep my interest, but I have been looking for an excuse to try these out. I wanted to focus on making the actual cake pop so I used the best from-the-box cake mix there is: Funfetti of course!

Ingredients:

Cake Mix

Eggs

Water

Vegetable oil

12 oz frosting

Assorted candy coatings

Wax paper

Lollipop sticks

Styrofoam, or a pop stand

Assorted sprinkles

Bake the cake according to box directions. Allow to cool. While its cooling, prepare to make the cake pops. Set out two cookie sheets lined with wax paper. Gather the lollipop sticks and place near the cookie sheets. Set out a large mixing bowl.

Finely crumble the cake in a large mixing bowl.

Add the frosting to the crumbled cake and mix to combine (This gets realllly messy, which is why I don’t have a photo). Roll the cake into balls and place on the wax paper. I got I think 28 cake balls from one box of candy, but I think I made them a bit big. Oops.

Pop in the refrigerator overnight, or for a few hours. To decorate, melt the candy coating according to directions in the microwave. (This was surprisingly more difficult than I expected. I managed to burn one of the batches!) Be sure to use somewhat deep bowls. You want enough melted candies so that you can completely submerge each cake pop in it.

When the candies are smooth, take out a few cake pops. Dip the tip of a lollipop stick into the candy coating.

This will work as a glue to keep the cake pop in place. Stick the lollipop stick into a cake ball Repeat with remaining cake balls. Allow to set (I left mine overnight, but if you return it to the fridge for maybe 30 minutes I think that would be just fine).

Take a cake pop and submerge in the melted candy coating. Do not swirl the cake pop, or they might fall off!

boooooo

Be sure to coat the entire cake ball. Remove from the candy coating by pulling straight up.

To remove excess candy coating, hold the cake pop over the bowl and tap the wrist holding the cake pop gently until some of the coating falls off. Place the completed cake pop into a cake pop stand or into some Styrofoam to set.

You now have a cake pop! If you want, you can add sprinkles or other decorations.

Soo… mine turned out so lumpy; and drippy. They are more like cake lumps, not cake balls. Who cares? They were delicious!

Here’s some of my “birthday-themed” cake pops:

and here’s some of my Christmas-y cake pops.

These cake pops take quite a bit of time, but I was pretty giddy with the results!

I made these over three days because I was making them during the week, so you can most certainly make these ahead of time. Just place the dried and finished cake pops in an air tight container or back in the fridge.

I hope all my friends like them!

Lemon Pound Cake with Mint Berries and Cream

I thought I’d step away from cookies and cupcakes for the moment to make… pound cake. I don’t know why I am on such a baking kick, but at least I have the chance to try a bunch of different new recipes! I found this recipe through MyRecipes.com, originally from Southern Living. The recipe sounded absolutely fantastic so I stuck to it for the most part, but I added blueberries because, well, I like blueberries!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup loosely packed mint leaves
3/4 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar, divided
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whipping cream, divided
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 (12-ounce) jar lemon curd
1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
1 pint fresh blueberries

Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies

I promise I’ll stop my cookie binge after this post. I was looking for a somewhat “adult” cookie for a bake sale at work and I came across this recipe for Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies. Ginger and lemon cookies? Hmm. This recipe takes a long time (a lot of refrigerating, freezing, etc.) so if you plan on making these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, make sure you have a good chunk of time, around 2 hours.

but they are so pretty it’s worth it!

Ingredients

Ginger dough:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice

Lemon dough:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

To make the Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies, begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.

Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.

You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.

Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.

Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.

Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.

Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.

Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.

Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.

Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices (I got 39 out of mine, so close!)

Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

So I can’t lie, this Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies recipe has to be one of the most time consuming and difficult cookie recipes I’ve ever made. But the result is pretty awesome. I was so proud of myself when they turned out looking like pinwheels!

You primarily taste the gingerbread, but the aftertaste is a light lemony flavor.

I thought these two flavors might compete with each other, but they end up being quite complimentary. Who knew?

Also, these Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are pretty snazzy looking aren’t they? 🙂

These Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies are not soft chewy cookies (like a chocolate chip), they are more firm than that. They would probably be awesome dipped into some tea. Yum!

Ginger Lemon Pinwheel Cookies

Two cookie recipes rolled together to create these yummy ginger and lemon pinwheel cookies!

Course Dessert

Keyword Cookies, Ginger, Lemon, Pinwheel

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Chill Time 1 20

Total Time 2

Servings 40 cookies

Ingredients

Ginger dough:

1/4 cup unsalted butter softened
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg yolk
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Dash of ground allspice

Lemon dough:

5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white
the zest of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Begin by making the ginger dough. In a medium bowl, add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and allspice, stir with a whisk to combine.
Add 1/4 cup butter and the brown sugar to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium until well combined.
You will end up using an entire egg in this recipe. To remove the yolk from the egg white, crack the egg over a bowl carefully. Split the two ends of the egg and move the egg from shell piece to shell piece until the white falls into the bowl and the yolk is left in the shell. Reserve the egg white for the lemon dough.
Add molasses and egg yolk to the sugar and butter. Beat until well blended.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture; beat at low speed just until combined.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
To make the lemon dough, add 5 tablespoons softened butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Mix at medium speed until blended. Add the egg white and beat until combined.
Add lemon rind, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, and vanilla using a mixer to blend.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and beat at low speed just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill 30 minutes.
Unwrap ginger dough. Roll ginger dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 8 1/2–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). (I honestly just eyeballed this). Chill 10 minutes.
Unwrap lemon dough. Roll lemon dough between sheets of plastic wrap into a 13 x 9–inch rectangle (3/16 inch thick). Basically I just tried to make it slightly thinner than the ginger dough. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Chill 10 minutes.
Carefully stack ginger dough on top of lemon dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border along one long edge.
Starting with the long side without a border, roll up dough, jelly-roll fashion. Seal edges (do not seal ends of roll). Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the freezer. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap dough. Cut with a sharp knife into 40 slices.
Arrange slices 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake one batch at a time for 9 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Notes

If you make this recipe, share a photo on Instagram and tag me @icancookthat!

Lemon Scented Blueberry Cupcakes

My work is hosting a bake sale this week, so I am using it as the perfect opportunity to try out these cupcakes from Cooking Light that caught my eye a while back. How fantastic do Lemon Scented Blueberry Cupcakes sound?

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups (about 6 3/4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
10 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Frosting:
1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Fresh blueberries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cupcake liners into the muffin cups. Melt 1/4 cup butter over medium low heat. Zest the lemon.

Add 1 1/2 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon to a medium sized bowl. (I suggest springing for cake flour if you can find it, if not all purpose flour works just fine). Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.

Add melted butter and egg to a large bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine.

Add buttermilk, milk, and 1 teaspoon lemon rind to butter mixture (I used zest from 1 lemon), stirring with a whisk to combine.

Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, stirring until just combined.

In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour.

Add the blueberries to the batter, stirring until just combined.

Spoon batter into the muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop to get evenly portioned cupcakes.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Add cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until just blended.

Gradually add powdered sugar mixing until just combined. Stir in lemon juice.

Add the frosting to a ziplock bag. Cut off one of the bottom corners.

Squeeze the icing on top of the cooled cupcakes. Top with blueberries and lemon zest if desired.

I absolutely loved these cupcakes. The lemon zest added great flavor to the sweet blueberry cupcake.

I am having a bit of a problem with the idea of giving these away. I want to keep them all for myself! But that is terribly selfish of me so I guess I should share their deliciousness.

Remember to refrigerate the cupcakes, the icing is part cream cheese.

Yum

Lemon-Scented Blueberry Cupcakes

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups (about 6 3/4 ounces) plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
10 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 large egg
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

Frosting:

1/4 cup (2 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind plus more for garnish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
Fresh blueberries (optional)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place paper cupcake liners into the muffin cups. Melt 1/4 cup butter over medium low heat. Zest the lemon.
Add 1 1/2 cups flour plus 1 tablespoon to a medium sized bowl. (I suggest springing for cake flour if you can find it, if not all purpose flour works just fine). Add the granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir to combine.
Add melted butter and egg to a large bowl. Stir with a whisk to combine.
Add buttermilk, milk, and 1 teaspoon lemon rind to butter mixture (I used zest from 1 lemon), stirring with a whisk to combine.
Add the flour mixture to the buttermilk mixture, stirring until just combined.
In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with 1 tablespoon flour.
Add the blueberries to the batter, stirring until just combined.
Spoon batter into the muffin cups. I use an ice cream scoop to get evenly portioned cupcakes.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then remove and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.
Prepare the frosting while the cupcakes are cooling. Add cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon lemon rind, vanilla, and 1/8 teaspoon salt to a bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed until just blended.
Gradually add powdered sugar mixing until just combined. Stir in lemon juice.
Add the frosting to a ziplock bag. Cut off one of the bottom corners.
Squeeze the icing on top of the cooled cupcakes. Top with blueberries and lemon zest if desired.

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Sweet and Salty Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am on a bit of a cookie kick at the moment. I’m blaming the particularly brisk weather. I also realized that Christmas is only 7 weeks away so it’s time to test out cookies that I can give away near the holidays. Cooking Light always has really delicious sounding recipes, and this one was no exception. The original used peanuts instead of walnuts, but I happened to have walnuts on hand.

Ingredients

1/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Parchment paper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium sized bowl. Stir to combine.

Add sugar, brown sugar, and butter to a large bowl. Beat with a mixer until well blended (about 2 minutes)

Add vanilla and egg and beat until well combined.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture. Beat on low until blended. Stir in the walnuts, salt and chocolate chips.

Add the dough to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, about one teaspoon per cookie. Keep them 2 inches apart so they don’t run together while baking.

Bake for 12 minutes and cool on pan for 5 minutes. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

I cooked mine for 14 minutes, and I found them to be a tad too cooked, so I suggest trying 12 minutes. You can always pop them in for a minute or two longer if need be.

I loved the random burst of salt that just enhanced the chocolate chip flavor.

I wanted a bit more walnuts though, so I’d suggest bumping the walnuts from 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup.

Past that, these were really tasty cookies!

Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I never seem to eat all my bananas before they get too ripe. I know the go-to saver for over ripe bananas is banana bread, but I wanted to use them for something a little different. Cooking Light had a great cookie recipe that used ripe bananas, so I tried it out.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 medium)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
5 3/5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 1/4 cups)
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray (or parchment paper)

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Day After Halloween Brownies

If you’re like every other American adult the day after Halloween, you have a whole lot of random candy sitting in your house. My guess is you either 1. want to get rid of it ASAP or 2. consume it all in one sitting. Well friends, I have a recipe to satisfy both ends of the spectrum. Two Peas and Their Pod had a wonderful Peanut Butter Snickers Brownies recipe on their site that got me thinking. Any chocolately goodness could be thrown in these brownies to make a yummy dessert! So I used Dark Chocolate Reese’s and Peanut Butter M&M’s to make these Day After Halloween Brownies! Past that, the recipe is the same as Two Peas and Their Pod, so thank you very much for posting this great idea!

Feel free to use whatever chocolate you have lying around the house. Just be sure to end up with about 1 1/2 cups of candy to make the recipe consistent.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped candy (I used about a dozen Reese’s Cups and a bag of Peanut M&Ms)
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

Continue reading Day After Halloween Brownies

Bread Pudding with Peanut Butter-ROOT Sauce and Sliced Bananas

I have wanted to make bread pudding for a long time. But I’ve been too lazy to actually search for inspiration. So when the “How to Cook Like A Top Chef” cookbook literally showed up on my door step containing a recipe for Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread Pudding, I knew it was time for me to finally make the delicious treat. I actually made this for a really decadent breakfast over the weekend, a little treat for making it through a long week.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

(adapted from Ash & Ashley’s Chocolate-Peanut Butter Bread Pudding)

3 eggs

1/2 cup honey

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

2 brioche knots, cut into cubes (I got 9 cubes per knot)

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 oz ROOT liqueur

1 banana, sliced

Begin by whisking together the eggs and honey vigorously until combined and fluffy.

In a pot, add 1 cup heavy cream over medium heat until it begins to bubble lightly. Reduce the heat to low. Add a little bit of the warm cream to the egg/honey mixture, whisking vigorously so that the eggs don’t curdle. (This is called tempering). Add the egg mixture to the pot with the remaining cream, whisking constantly until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Prepare the brioche rolls, cutting into cubes. I bought the rolls at Trader Joe’s, they are the perfect size for individual servings of bread pudding.

Add the bread cubes and the custard to a large bowl, stirring lightly to coat. Add the chocolate chips. Allow to sit for at least a half hour at room temperature. If planning ahead, you can do up to this step the night ahead of time and allow the bread to soak overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the bread mixture to a loaf pan. Place the loaf pan into a cookie sheet with sizes. Add hot water into the cookie sheet so that the entire bottom is covered.

Cook for 40 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

While the pudding is cooking, make the sauce. Add 1/2 cup cream and the condensed milk to a pot over medium heat.

When it bubbles, reduce to low and whisk in the peanut butter, ROOT, and vanilla extract. ROOT is a flavored liqueur that slightly resembles the taste of root beer. I made an awesome chocolate cake with it before so I thought it would work great in a sauce for bread pudding. You can read my post and more information on ROOT here. (If you’re making this for kids, feel free to just omit the ROOT.)

Whisk until smooth. If you want it a bit thinner, add more cream.

Spoon the sauce over the bread pudding while still warm. Top with banana slices.

What an absolutely delicious bread pudding. I can’t believe I ate this for breakfast, but I’m not ashamed either, it was amazing! I’m glad I only made a serving each for my boyfriend and I, or I’d eat this all day!

I had some of the sauce left over, which I plan on saving for ice cream!

The flavors work really well together in this dish (and how could they not??): chocolate, peanut butter, banana, with a hint of root beer at the end.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

At the request of a coworker (and by request I mean he brought in cans of pumpkin puree), I finally made a pumpkin classic — Pumpkin Bread. Although usually made with walnuts or pecans, I instead decided to use chocolate chips. I used a recipe from Cooking Lightas a base for the recipe.

Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 large eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin
Cooking spray
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Add the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves to a medium sized bowl.

Combine using a whisk.

Add the sugar, egg substitute, oil, buttermilk, and eggs in a large bowl.

Using a mixer, beat on high until well mixed.

Add 2/3 cup water and the pumpkin puree.

Beat on low until blended.

Add the dry flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and beat on low until just combined.

Add the chocolate chips. Combine using a spatula. Be sure to not overmix.

Add batter into 2 9×5 inch loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Using a knife to loosen the edges, remove from pans and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

You can either half this recipe, or freeze the extra bread for up to one month. Just tightly wrap it in plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer.

The original recipe topped the bread with pecans or chopped walnuts, feel free to do that as well before baking.

If you think the bread is browning too much on top, cover it with tin foil towards the end (with 10-15 minutes left).

This bread is so so yummy. I love when I can pass off a dessert-like bread for a breakfast also. (Shh.)

I limited a bit of the spices, more so than I usually would, so that the star would be the sweetness from the chocolate chips. Definitely a winner!

Skinny Iced Pumpkin Cookies & Review of Melt Buttery Spread

One of the huge downsides of my pumpkin obsession is that most of the sweets made with pumpkin really should be eaten in moderation (something I am not capable of adhering to). So I am always in search of a way to lighten the calorie intake of those desserts so that I can still enjoy them without feeling terribly guilty afterwards.

Kelly from Eat Yourself Skinny recently had a post trying out a new buttery spread called Melt with rave reviews. Luckily, Melt graciously sent me two packages of their organic buttery spread for me to try out as well!

So what exactly is melt and what makes it different from other butter substitutes? Melt contains virgin coconut oil, flax seed oil, palm fruit oil, and canola oil — all healthy cooking oils and “good fats.” Typical buttery spreads are made of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils, which have been liked to obesity, heart disease, etc. Melt is also organic, gluten free, soy free, kosher, and has 50% of the saturated fat and fewer calories than butter. Whew.

Melt’s, well, melt point is close to original butter’s melting point, making it perfect for baking. Typical buttery spreads usually have a lower melting point, which means they tend to separate during the baking process resulting in a flat cookie. So what better way to really test out Melt’s best qualities than making a batch of Skinny Iced Pumpkin Cookies? I adapted this recipe from AllRecipes.com.

Ingredients (this makes 3 dozen cookies):

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Melt buttery spread
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing, for drizzling:

1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons 2% milk
3/4 teaspoon melted Melt buttery spread
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Continue reading Skinny Iced Pumpkin Cookies & Review of Melt Buttery Spread

Stuffed Pumpkin with Cranberry Raisin Bread Pudding

When I came across the title of this recipe, I was intrigued. I wasn’t sure if this would actually be a success, but it sounded so interesting I had to give it a try. So behold, Stuffed Pumpkin Cranberry Raisin Bread Pudding.

Ingredients:
1 pie pumpkin, about the size of your hand
1 stick of butter (1/4 cup) plus 1 teaspoon butter, melted and divided
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup half and half
1/3 chopped pecans
1/2 a raisin bread loaf, cut into smaller pieces
1/4 cup fresh cranberries
Lemon-Vanilla Sauce, to taste
1 vanilla bean, split
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
A pinch of salt
1 teaspoon butter or margarine
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add the butter to a pot over low heat to melt. Cut off the top of the pumpkin. Reserve the lid.

Scoop out the pumpkin seeds and pulp.

Brush the inside of the pumpkin with 1 teaspoon melted butter. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon brown sugar.

Cut the bread into similar sized pieces.

Top with the lid. Add the egg, sugar, half and half, pecans, raisin bread loaf pieces, and the remaining melted butter to a bowl and stir to combine.

Pour the pudding mixture onto a cookie pan sprayed with cooking spray. Add the pumpkin to the cookie sheet as well.

Bake the pumpkin and bread pudding for 25 minutes. Allow to cool enough to handle and add the bread pudding to the pumpkin.

While the pumpkin and bread pudding are baking, make the lemon-vanilla sauce. Split the vanilla seed down the middle.

Add vanilla bean, water, corn starch, sugar, and salt to a saute pan over medium heat. Stir until smooth and thickened. Add the butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Stir to combine. Remove from heat when the mixture is warm.

Pour the lemon-vanilla sauce over the bread pudding as desired.

Have you ever been in possession of a recipe that is so good that you almost don’t want to share it? Well, this is one of those recipes. It took a lot of internal debating before I finally decided to share this recipe with you. (Yes, it is that good).

The bread pudding is sweet and slightly toasted, adding a little bit of a crunch to the dish and the cranberries add a pop of tanginess. The lemon-vanilla sauce is citrusy and sweet at the same time.

But the best part is that the nifty presentation has an additional enhancement: you can eat the pumpkin! Yay!

The pumpkin roasts and softens in the oven, making it easy to scrape away at it bite by bite.

You can make this recipe in individual sizes if you’re really looking for a dessert presentation that wows. Just use smaller pumpkins and distribute the bread pudding among them.