Peanut Butter Cups

4 Ingredients…

Peanut Butter

Chocolate

Powdered Sugar

Graham Cracker Crumbs.

You may actually not want to know how easy it is to make your own delicious peanut butter cups.

It’s powerful information…maybe even dangerous!

The recipe for these comes from Sweetest Kitchen and you can literally have them whipped together in half an hour (unless your kids are helping….if your kids are helping you might as well triple the time and double the ingredients to make up for how much they’re going to lick/eat during the process.  You will also have a HUGE chocolate mess in the kitchen, and the bathroom or wherever it is you send them to wash their hands…not to mention the added mess of letting  your 6-year-old do the dishes afterwards…have I mentioned how much I love re-washing dishes?!?)

You will also need regular or miniature sized parchment cupcake liners, a spoon, and a clean, small round paintbrush to chocolate coat the edges.  The paintbrush is optional, you could easily achieve the same thing with a spoon but as I had the kids helping I thought it would be easier for them and a little bit more fun.

Peanut Butter Cups (makes about 12 large)

• 1 1/2 cups chocolate, chopped (I used semi sweet chips but you can do whatever works for you)
• 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp graham cracker crumbs
• pinch of salt

Lay out 12 parchment cupcake liners on a sheet pan.

Using the method of your choice (microwave or double boiler) melt the chocolate with 2 tbsp of peanut butter.

Spoon about a teaspoon of chocolate into the parchment liner and smooth it around the bottom as well as up the sides a bit.  We used paintbrushes at this point to paint the chocolate around the edges.

Pop the chocolate shells in the freezer and make the PB filling.

Combine the peanut butter with the powdered sugar and graham cracker crumbs. (the graham cracker crumbs lend a texture that is very familiar to a reeses peanut butter cup)

Remove chocolate shells from freezer once set and gently press the filling into the chocolate shell.  The filling should not be higher than the edges of the chocolate shell.

Spoon a small spoonful of chocolate on top and smooth it out.

Return to the freezer for 5-10 minutes or until the chocolate has set up.

Remove paper liners and store the PB cups in the fridge until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Sticky Buns

I owe this wonderful recipe to Pinterest, Eats Well With Others  (for the filling and frosting) and Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. (for the dough)

Imagine a sticky bun, but without the cinnamon, or the carmelized brown sugar…instead picture bright sweet lemon and rosemary!  They’re sticky, sweet and delicious.  The rosemary is a bit unexpected but it really does lend a beautiful aroma and flavour to these sweet treats.

I’m beginning to get into the habit of having dough all ready to go in the fridge, and thanks to Artisan bread in 5 Minutes a Day, it’s really easy to have everything all ready to go with really little effort.   I would really recommend getting your hands on a copy of this book if you’re interested in the recipes and the method.  I’m going to provide the basic recipe but there are a lot of tips and tricks in the book that I couldn’t possibly provide them all for you!

The basic “boule” recipe is quite large.  I used half of my dough for sticky buns and the other half to make cheese sticks.  The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 7 days so you can use part of it and then bake the rest up at another time. Once I’ve used all the dough in my large bowl, I mix another batch right away (no need to wash the bowl) the bits of leftovers in the bowl will act like a bit of a sourdough starter lending flavour and more complexity    There really is no limit to what you can create with this dough so use your imagination and have fun with it!

Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Sticky Buns (There is enough dough here for two batches, if you don’t want extra for the fridge, cut the dough portion in HALF) makes 12 buns

for the bread dough:

• 3 cups of lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tbsp salt
• 6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Filling

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• zest of two Meyer Lemons (you could use a regular lemon, but the Meyer Lemons do have a bit of a brighter flavour)
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp juice from the Meyer lemons (reserve remaining juice for glaze)
• 2-4 tbsp butter, softened

Glaze

• 4 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• juice of 1 Meyer lemon

For the Dough:

In a large bowl, combine the water, salt yeast and flour.

Stir with a wooden spoon until all of the flour has been mixed in and there are no dry spots remaining.  I find it easiest to wet my hand with water and mix it by hand once it’s all stirred together.  The dough will be fairly sticky, that’s just the way it should be!

Cover and let the dough rise for 2 hours at room temperature.

At this point you can toss it into the fridge for up to 7 days (in a lidded, but not airtight container) and it’ll be all ready to go when you are!  You can use the dough right away, it will defiantly rise faster if you do, but it will be really quite sticky.

To make the buns:

Line a 9X13″ pan with parchment.

Remove the dough from the fridge and dust it with flour, take half of the dough (unless you’ve halved the recipe) and put it on a lightly floured surface.

Using a rolling pin dusted with flour, flatten the dough into a large rectangle about 10 X 15″

In a small bowl, combine the sugar with the lemon zest and the rosemary.  Rub the mixture together using your fingertips until it is very fragrant.  Stir in 2 tbsp of lemon juice.

Smear softened butter over the rolled out dough and sprinkle evenly with the lemon/sugar mixture.

Roll up the dough and pinch the seam together…at this point my dough was warming up and beginning to get quite sticky, you may need to dust with additional flour.

Slice  using a string of dental floss (slide the floss under the rolled up dough and then cross the two ends over top, pulling tight to slice) and place rolls in the prepared pan.

Set rolls aside in a warm, draft free area to rise until doubled in bulk. (about an hour)

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 – 40 minutes or until the tops are a light golden brown.

To make Glaze:

combine all ingredients and beat them well  until smooth.  Smear over hot baked sticky buns!

Serve warm.

Enjoy!

Red Velvet Donuts

Wondering what to make your loved ones for Valentines Day?

How about some sweet red velvet donuts dipped in chocolate and topped with crushed cinnamon heart candies?

These donuts aren’t sweet, the first batch I did I had forgotten the sugar but the crushed cinnamon candies and the chocolate made up for what was lacking in the sweet department.  The second batch was made with 3 tbsp of sugar but if you’d prefer a more sweet dough you’ll probably have to up the sugar by a tablespoon or two!

Don’t have a donut pan?  Then why not try frying your own donuts??  They’re the best, and you can find my favorite raised, fried donut recipe here. 

Red Velvet Baked Donuts makes 6

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil (canola)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp red (no taste) gel paste food colouring
• TOPPING:
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips, semi sweet
• 1/4 cup milk or cream
• 1/4 cup cinnamon hear candies, crushed

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray your donut pan with non stick spray or grease with vegetable shortening.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients and whisk until well combined.

In another bowl, combine the egg, sour cream, milk, oil, vanilla and food colouring.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together until all of the dry ingredients have been combined.

Using a spoon, fill the donut pan about 3/4 full (I overfilled, had I of not been quite so generous there would have been enough batter left over for a 7th donut…but I didn’t want to bake twice)

Bake for 10 minutes or until donuts have risen and spring back when gently touched.

Cool in the pan for 3-4 minutes and then remove them by turning the pan upside down and giving it a good “whap” on the counter.

Once donuts have cooled, melt the chocolate with the milk (30 seconds in the microwave or over a double boiler on the stove top) Whisking until smooth.

Dip the prettier half of the donuts into the chocolate and let set slightly before liberally sprinkling with the crushed cinnamon candies.

Enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Scones

The last time I baked scones I was certain they were going to be perfect!  I could tell from the dough that they were going to rise like crazy and be flakey, light golden brown and all around perfect.

Then my oven element broke

After 20 minutes in the oven the butter had melted and pooled on the pan, and my scones were flat and gooey, it was a sad day!  Lucky for me, my husband ran out on his lunch hour and brought back a new element for my oven.

Now we have scones!

The recipe for these Scones comes from King Arthur Flour and it’s a recipe that I use on a regular basis.  It’s a good basic recipe that’s simple to make and can you can change it up by adding different combinations of dried fruit, chocolate, nuts, spices or extracts.  For these scones I went with dried cherries, chocolate and almond extract.  They were delicious but the flavour of the cherries didn’t really come through the way I had hoped.  Dried cranberries would have been just as tasty and about 1/3 of the price…here we go with that cheap thing again!!

Cherry Chocolate Scones recipe slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

• 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup cold, unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup chopped dried cherries
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup of milk or cream (I used 1/4 cup milk whisked together with 1/4 cup sour cream)
• cream to brush on top of scones
• Demerara sugar for topping

Line a large pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder.

Cut the butter into the flour using either a pastry blender, or food processor.  You should have some pea size bits of butter once it’s all cut in.

Mix in the cherries and chocolate chips.

In another bowl, mix together the milk, eggs and extracts.

Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and stir together using a wooden spoon until combined.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 portions.

Pat each portion of dough into a circle about 3/4″ thick.

Slice each circle into 6 wedges and place on the prepared pan (spaced 1-2″ apart)

Brush scones with cream and sprinkle with Demerara (raw) sugar.

Pop the pan into the freezer for 30 minutes (uncovered) and heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Once chilled for 30 minutes, bake scones for 20-25 minutes until they’ve risen up and are golden brown.

Enjoy!

Artisan Cheese Sticks…In 5 Minutes a Day!

 My kids LOVE Cheese Sticks (not to be confused with cheese strings…they love those too)

 Bread dough rolled into sticks, covered in cheese and baked until the bread is golden, the cheese is bubbly and the edges are crunchy!

 What’s not to love???  These are a great addition to the school lunch box.

These are simple to make and you could really use any bread recipe you prefer, you could even use frozen bread dough but I went with some dough I had in the fridge from the book  ”Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day”  You can find the recipe for the bread dough HERE.  After teaching a friend how to make the bread, she took home her remaining dough and made cheese sticks. Brilliant!

I had a half recipe of dough that had been in the fridge for about 5 days (so it was extra tasty) and was able to make one dozen good size cheese sticks.

Cheese Sticks makes 12

• 1/2 recipe Vermont Cheddar Bread Dough, risen and refrigerated (recipe HERE)
• 1 – 1 1/2 cups grated OLD cheddar cheese (I refuse to buy medium cheddar, it has very little flavour and I kinda feel ripped off by it!)
• dried dill or herb of choice *optional*

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line two pans with parchment paper.

Grate Cheese and set aside.

Working on a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 12 equal portions.

Roll each portion of dough into a rope 8-10″ long and place on prepared baking sheet.

Set aside to rise, uncovered for 30-45 minutes.

Sprinkle liberally with cheese and herbs.

Bake for 12 minutes or until the bread appears to be done.  Turn the oven onto broil and place each pan under the broiler for a minute or two until the cheese crisps up (watch carefully, they can burn quickly under the broiler)

Let cool completely before serving.

Linking this post up to “I’m Lovin’ it!” Friday at tidy mom.  Check out what everybody else is lovin’ this week by clicking the link below!

Enjoy!

Inspired by…

I’m inspired by all sorts of things…

Books, blogs, bakeries, pinterest and friends!  I also think I’m sometimes inspired by the fact that I’m a little bit cheap (maybe thrifty is a better word)  I figure that if I give it enough effort I can probably create it myself.  (like the starbucks oat bars)

My friend Megan inspires me!  She started baking cakes for her kids and loved it so she decided to bake cakes for other people too.  She jumped right into it with both feet and has taught herself how to create awesome cakes and the other day she posted her crazy awesome icing trick on Facebook and I felt the desire to clone it….but in pink and purple for Valentines Day!  You can check out Megan’s creations by visiting her Facebook Page Huggle Bug Cakes and maybe you’ll get inspired too!

I started with chocolate cupcakes, using ”the best chocolate cake ever” recipe.

Then I put a miniature reeses peanut butter cup in the bottom of each muffin liner.  (You shouldn’t do this…they burned a bit on the bottom and stuck to the parchment liners…I’d suggest filling it halfway and then adding the PB cup)

While they were cooling I whipped up a basic buttercream and got out my giant pastry bag fitted with a large tip (actually, it’s my brother’s giant pastry bag that I never gave back….cheap or thrifty??  Thanks Ryan!)

Here’s the secret part….

Using  a small, clean (new) paintbrush, paint stripes of gel paste food colouring onto the inside of the piping bag.  I did 6 stripes about 1cm wide.  I found it easiest to turn the top half of the bag inside out and have the tip sitting in a large glass so it stood up easily and I could paint the stripes.

Using a rubber spatula, fill the pastry bag with buttercream.

The first bit of buttercream will be quite vibrant but as you move along the colour will lighten up.

I think they’re quite pretty!  Thanks for inspiring me Megan!

In need of Repair!

I’m not even sure if I’m posting this correctly as I’m blogging from my blackberry! My computer crashed I had all sorts of delicious Christmas goodies to share but am afraid I’ll likely be taking a bit of a blogging break until the new year!
Wishing everyone a warm and wonderful holiday with family friends! ( Our shelf elf is keeping a close eye on the kids, he even helped himself to some cookies and eggnog last night!)
Merry Christmas!!

Just like Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

Tis’ the season for lights, trees, gift giving, food, family, friends and Seasonal red cups full of yummy drinks and treats from Starbucks!  I made this recipe years ago after having a Cranberry Bliss Bar from Starbucks and was reminded of it last week (and how good it was) when I was out for coffee!  The cake is dense with a little hint of sweet crystalized ginger and studded with dried cranberries and white chocolate, and frosted with a lemon cream cheese frosting!

  The recipe came from one of those copycat websites but I’m not 100% sure which one as I wrote it down ages ago.  For the price of about 2 of these at Starbucks you can whip up 16 and impress all of your family and friends! 

Just Like “bucks” Cranberry Bliss Bars  makes 16 large bars

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp finely chopped crystalized ginger*
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 4 oz white chocolate, chopped

*the ginger is quite sticky once you start to chop it so I tossed it into my magic bullet with a tbsp of granulated sugar and pulsed it until it was a fairly fine powder.

for the frosting

• 4 oz cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries to sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9X13″ pan.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes) Beat in the molasses and then add the eggs one at a time mixing well between each addition.  Add the ginger and vanilla.

Mix in the dry ingredients stopping to scrape the bowl as needed. 

Fold in the chocolate and cranberries.

Using a rubber spatula, spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Set the cake aside and cool.

Once cake has cooled, make the frosting by combining all of the ingredients and beating until smooth.

Spread icing on cooled cake and sprinkle with chopped cranberries.

Chill to set the icing.

Slice the cake into 8 portions and then cut each square in half to create a triangle.

Enjoy!

 

Spiced Cocoa Snowflakes

These spiced cocoa snowflakes cookies are my first Christmas cookie this year!

My assigned blog this month for the secret recipe club was Secrets from the Cookie Princess  where Colleen has baked and blogged about a zillion different cookies!  I was lured to this recipe right away and didn’t change much aside from adding a bit of cinnamon and ginger as I love a bit of a spicy chocolate cookie.  These cookies would also be phenomenal with a little bit of peppermint extract in place of the spices.  

If you’re looking for a fudgy, chewy, awesome cookie then you should give these a try for sure!

Spiced Cocoa Snowflakes recipe from Secrets from a cookie Princess (and slightly adapted by me) makes 2 dozen cookies

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 5 Tbsp butter
• 6 Tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (for rolling)

In a saucepan or a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and then add the cocoa powder.  Whisk together until there are no cocoa lumps.

Add the sugar and mix until combined, followed by the vanilla and then the eggs.

Sift or whisk the dry ingredients together and then mix together with the chocolate mixture.  The dough will be quite sticky.

Cover the dough and chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Line two pans with parchment and put the powdered sugar in a bowl.

using a spoon, or a cookie dough scoop, form balls with the chilled dough and roll them in powdered sugar until they are completely coated.

Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes or until they’ve spread and look crackled.  They will be quite puffy but deflate when you remove them from the oven to cool.

Cool on cookie sheets until you’re able to remove them to a wire rack to cool 100%.

Check out what all the other participants have made this month by following the link!
Enjoy!

Just in Time For the Holidays…Cranberry Eggnog Cupcakes

Light and airy eggnog flavoured cake filled with a cranberry cream and topped with an eggnog inspired buttercream! 

Yummy!

I was inspired to make a cranberry eggnog cupcake after making cranberry eggnog muffins a few weeks back.  The eggnog flavour is subtle and pairs up beautifully with the sweet cranberry filling.

Give these a try, I’m certain you won’t be disappointed!

Cranberry Filled Eggnog Cupcakes makes 24 cupcakes

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups eggnog
• 1 tbsp spiced rum *optional
• 4 large egg whites
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter softened
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

For Filling:

• 1/2 tub of cool whip
• 1 can of whole berry cranberry sauce

For Buttercream (I never measure, but here are the ingredients…)

• Butter
• Shortening
• Eggnog
• Cinnamon
• nutmeg
• Vanilla
• powdered sugar

To make cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and fill muffin tins with liners.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine sugar and butter and beat until light and fluffy. 

Sift the flour, salt, nutmeg and baking powder together in a separate bowl.

In another bowl, mix the egg whites, eggnog and the rum.

Add one third of the flour mixture, followed by 1/3 of the ”nog” mixture and beat well after each addition. Once all combined beat the batter for about 2 minutes.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake 18-22 minutes or until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.

Cool cupcakes.

To make Filling:

Break up the cranberry sauce with a spoon and then fold it into the cool whip until smooth. 

To Make Buttercream:

Beat 3/4 cup butter with the same amount of shortening.

Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time and continue to beat until you have a thick frosting.  Add some eggnog to thin it out a bit.  Add vanilla and spices.   Fill piping bag with a large tip of your preference.

To assemble:

Using an apple corer, remove the centre from each cupcake.

using a piping bag or ziplock bag with a corner snipped off, fill the middle of each cupcake with filling. (if the cranberries get stuck just help them through with a toothpick)

Don’t worry if the filling peeks out as you’re going to top with buttercream.

Pipe a generous swirl of buttercream on the top and sprinkle with a pinch of nutmeg.

These should be stored in the fridge but are best brought to room temperature before serving.

Enjoy!