Red Velvet Cupcakes

Happy Valentines Day!


Although I am not a huge fan of this "Hallmark" holiday, I will say that these beautifully red desserts are a perfect way to celebrate.

I had never really understood what exactly a red velvet cake was prior to making this recipe. I was under the assumption that one simply added red food coloring to any basic cupcake recipe, and voila; red velvet cake (or cupcakes, in this case).

Wrong.

In an essence, red velvet cake is similar to a devils food cake, and must include cocoa, buttermilk, vinegar, cream cheese frosting, and...do I even need to say it?

LOTS of red food coloring. Much more than I initially thought necessary. Alas, that perfect hue doesn't lie!

Red Velvet Cupcakes (makes 12)
original recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbsp. red food coloring
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup + 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Cream Cheese Frosting
4 oz butter (1 stick), at room temperature
4 oz cream cheese (half a package), at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla

     1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a muffin pan with liners of your choice.
     2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar for about 3 minutes until it is light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix until well incorporated.
     3. In a small bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, vanilla, and red food coloring to make a paste. Add the paste to the batter and mix well, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so that all of the batter is evenly colored.
     4.Slowly mix in half of the buttermilk, followed by half of the flour. Mix until well incorporated. Scraping down the bowl as needed, repeat with the remaining half of buttermilk and flour. Mix until smooth.
     5. Add in salt, baking soda, and vinegar.
     6. Beat for another few minutes until batter is smooth and consistent.
     7. Fill cupcake liners evenly (I recommend using an ice cream scoop).
     8. Bake for about 20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

     9. Remove cupcakes from pan and allow them to cool completely before frosting.

     10. To make the frosting, whip together butter and cream cheese, scraping down the bowl as necessary until smooth and consistent. Slowly add in powdered sugar and vanilla and mix well until frosting is nice and smooth.


There are so many ways you can decorate these for Valentines Day, but this year I kept it very simple.

Enjoy!

Simple pearls and sanding sugar.

Then add a little red...

And finally some pink and cute little sugar toppers with messages!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Oh my.

Reese's.
Inside of.
A (mini, mind you) peanut butter cookie.
Does it really get much better than that?


These adorable snacks are fun to make and will be a huge hit if you're looking for a crowd pleasing dish to bring to any event. Chocolate and peanut butter make such a perfect combination for most any dessert, and these goodies are no exception.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies (makes 40)
original recipe here 

1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. milk
40 mini Reese's peanut butter cups (1 bag)

     1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Unwrap every

     Single

 peanut butter cup.

I'm being slightly dramatic here, it doesn't take that long :)

     Place the cups on a plate and put them in the freezer while you make and cook the dough to prevent too much melting when you add them to the cookies.

     2.Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
     3. Cream together butter, both sugars, and peanut butter in another large bowl. Add in the egg, followed by vanilla and milk.
     4.Add in the flour mixture and mix well.
     5. Shape into 40 balls (about a tablespoon each) and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

     6. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately press a peanut butter cup into each cookie.

      7. Wait about 10 minutes until the cookies are cool enough to handle, and use a knife to carefully remove each cookie from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack

 Lastly, let me just say that these are my new favorite.  I  polished off about a quarter of the batch...in one day...

Spiced Molasses Cookies

These seasonal cookies are super easy to make and have that perfect holiday mix of warm spicy flavors.

Christmas this year was...quite hectic. Between the rush of last minute shoppers at work (which is a terrifying amount at a candy store...), finals at school, and my own shameful last minute shopping, I didn't quite have the energy or the time to make the more elaborate desserts that I prefer to for special occasions. So I stuck with cookies.You can whip these up in no time at all, and they make quite a few. Double yay!

Molasses Cookies (makes about 35)
 original recipe from Martha Stewart

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses

     1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl or small plate, place 1/2 cup sugar with 1 tsp. cinnamon (combined) and set aside.
     2. Beat together butter and remaining cup of sugar.
     3. Beat in egg and molasses until well mixed.
     4. Mix in dry ingredients until dough forms.
     5. Using a tablespoon or cookie scoop, roll dough into balls. Roll balls into sugar to coat them.

     6. Arrange about 3 inches apart (they spread quite a bit). Bake one sheet at a time so that they crackle nicely for 13-15 minutes.

     7. Transfer to cooling racks and store in airtight container.

 These cookies go wonderfully with a glass of milk for a late night snack or with your morning cup of coffee.

Along with the Christmas dessert tray :)

Molasses Cookies with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting

For this Thanksgiving, I chose to present traditional Autumn flavors in a not-so-traditional package. These rich, fluffy sandwich cookies are a delicious balance of exactly what I was looking for as one last ode to Fall and all its yummy spices.

Molasses Cookies (makes about 12-16 sandwiches)
(recipe from Pastry Affair)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 Tbsp. butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup molasses
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour

     1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
     2. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
     3.Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing each one thoroughly.
     4. Mix in molasses,cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt until evenly incorporated.
     5. In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add this mixture to the molasses mixture in 2-3 additions, mixing well in between.

     6. Drop about an inch apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper using wither a small sppon or an ice cream scoop. .
     7. Bake for 8-12 minutes, until cookies spring back when lightly touched.

     8. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
     9. Sprinkle powdered sugar on the tops of half of the cookies (these will be the tops)

Ginger Cream Cheese Filling 

3 ounces (1/3 of an 8 oz. package) cream cheese, room temperature
4 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

     1. In a medium mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Mix in ginger, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually add powdered sugar until smooth.
     2. After cookies have cooled, using a piping bag fitted with a large tip, pipe frosting on the bottoms of half the cookies.

     3. Press the other cookies on top to make sandwiches.

     4. Store in an airtight container.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Lollipop Cookies

I originally made these cookies for Halloween, but simply using a different color palette can make these perfect for most any occasion. They're super adorable and fun to make.

As a general rule, if I have the option to make something miniaturized, I will. Yet with these I took the attitude of 'go big or go home!'. If you don't already have Popsicle sticks laying around, when you buy them you'll notice that you have multiple sizes to choose from, so keep in mind if you want monster lollipops or mini lollipops.

Lollipop Cookies (makes about 24 large cookies) 
Original Recipe from Martha Stewart

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Colored sanding sugar/sprinkles of your choice
24 wooden Popsicle sticks

     1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
     2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric mixer.
     3. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until combined.
     4. Add flour mixture with mixer on low; until just combined.
     5. Place each color of sprinkles in a separate shallow bowl or small plate.

 Roll dough into balls, about 1 Tbsp. in size (or smaller if you're making minis. It might take the first  batch to judge how big they will end up, they do spread a bit.)

           

 Roll in sprinkles, coating completely.

          
     6. Insert a wooden stick into the center of each and place on baking sheets with sticks lying horizontally, about 2 inches apart.
     7. Lightly press down on each cookie with the flat bottom of a glass.

     8. Bake 20-25 minutes.
     9. Transfer to wire rack to cool. 

I love these cookies because of the freedom for theme that you can have with them. I plan on making these again, and possibly skipping the sprinkles altogether and decorating with frosting post-baking.
We shall see!

As a side note, just in case you were wondering:

No. The sticks do not catch on fire in the oven. All is well!

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins

I am quite fond of doughnuts.

I am also quite fond of muffins.

I am very fond of having leftover ingredients that I don't typically have around the house as an excuse to find new recipes.

Sometimes everything just falls into place.

Let me just say that cinnamon is definitely in my top five of favorite flavors. If it will fit in a recipe that doesn't include it, I'll add some in. And double it in any recipe in which it already exists. I have a problem...

These light snacks are rolled in a cinnamon sugar coating, giving them the feel of a doughnut, yet in every other aspect are very much traditionally yummy muffins. They accompany your morning cup of coffee perfectly :) 

Pumpkin Doughnut Muffins (ever so slightly adapted from Martha Stewart )

10 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 1/4 cups pure pumpkin puree
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs

Cinnamon-Sugar Coating
3/4 cup sugar
3 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted


     1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour (or use pan spray if you prefer) 18 muffin cups.
     2.In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Set aside.
     3. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk and pumpkin.
     4. In a large bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down bowl in between.
     5. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the pumpkin mixture and mix well.
     6. Spoon batter to fill 3/4 of each muffin cup.
     7. Bake for 30 mins.
     8. While they are cooking, combine sugar and cinnamon in a wide bowl and melt butter in a small dish.
     9. Let muffins cool enough to handle, and using one at a time, brush with melted butter then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Let cool completely on wire rack.

Fresh out of the oven!

Try to use a wide bowl for the coating, it'll be easier to roll them around. 

Coated and un-coated.

Tower of muffins!

The coating is what makes these so good :)