Oreo cupcakes

Again, I've gotten a little behind in my posting and I apologize to the whopping two readers I may have. This summer has proved to be quite hectic between working two jobs and taking care of a new kitten. But, of course, I have still managed to find plenty of time to bake! As I mentioned before, I picked up a new cupcake cookbook at Barnes and Noble titled 100 Best Cupcake Recipes. The book is full of delicious looking recipes and I was having a difficult time deciding which I would try first until a higher power [or my parents] intervened. I spotted a brand new package of Oreo cookies on our kitchen counter and knew, right away, that I had to make some cookies and cream cupcakes! Again, I went ahead and made mini ones so my mom could enjoy without overindulging and reversing all of her healthy eating. I guess it's partially for myself as well because all of this baking and a lack of physical activity hasn't been very kind to my waistline.

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
2 1/4 cups + 4 tablespoons cake flour [eliminate the tablespoons if using AP flour]
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup [1 stick] butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 egg whites
1 cup crushed Oreos [about 10 cookies]

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease your muffin cups or line with paper baking cups.
Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl; stir in sugar. Add milk, butter and vanilla; beat with electric mixer at low speed for 30 seconds. Bead at medium speed for 2 more minutes. Add egg whites and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup of crushed cookies and then spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 2/3 full.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into centers comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pans. Cool completely on wire racks.

I foolishly overfilled some of my muffin cups and these resulted in some very flat-topped cupcakes. Thankfully, I didn't do this for all of them so some of the cupcakes did form perfect muffin tops. Also, the baking time differs when making the mini cupcakes. All of my times varied due to trial and error, but I would suggest baking them for 6 minutes and keeping on eye on them from there. I do believe 8 minutes worked well but better to check sooner rather than later.

As for the frosting, I don't really have much of a recipe. I decided to wing it and threw a stick of butter into a bowl, beat it until it was light and fluffy, and then started adding powdered sugar. I kept adding the sugar until it reached a good piping consistency and then i stirred in extra cookie crumbs. The frosting was a bit sweeter than what I usually prefer, but I reminded me of the frosting I had on my cookies and cream cupcake back at Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery. I ended up needing another half-batch of the frosting to finish up my cupcakes and that batch turned out a little sweeter than the previous.

All in all, I thought the cupcakes were great. They were very light with a very mild...well, Oreo flavor, I guess. The frosting added a nice sweetness to the cupcakes without being too sweet. I really doubted the family and coworkers would finish off this batch, which yielded way more cupcakes than I expected, but the sweets are nearly gone! I'm sure this is due to my sister sneaking at least 2 a day, but that's okay.

I do have another batch of baking to post, but I'll be leaving tomorrow morning to go stay with my boyfriend for a few days. I'll do my best to post them as soon as possible!

Mini mango cupcakes with pineapple cream cheese frosting

The super-tiny font was getting to me, so I'm going to try something different this time around. So much for cohesion!
Anyway, I found the original recipe for these cupcakes over at Coconut & Lime a short while ago and I've been aching to try them since. I'm a sucker for anything mango and these sounded like a really nice, light summer cupcake. I made some alterations to the recipe for personal tastes and other such reasons. My mom doesn't care for spicy things, so the chile was omitted. Also, I liked the idea of using pineapple with the mango, though I'm sure key lime would be really tasty. Finally, I went with the mini size to, again, make them more appealing to mom. She participates in a weight-loss "competition" of sorts at work and so I felt that mini cupcakes would be more approachable during this time.

Mango Cupcakes with Pineapple Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from Coconut & Lime

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour [only use 1 cup if using AP flour]
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup milk, at room temperature
1/4 cup mango nectar, at room temperature
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350. Line or grease and flour the mini cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg, mix thoroughly. Add flour, baking powder, and salt to the butter mixture. Add the milk and mango nectar to the rest of the batter and beat until well combined. Fill each well 2/3 of the way full. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted the center of a cupcake comes out mostly clean. Cool briefly in the pan, then remove cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.




4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons pineapple juice
optional food coloring

In a large bowl, beat together all ingredients until well combined. Spread on cupcakes.



I was worried that the cupcakes would stick to the pans, but a liberal spray of some Baker's Joy prevented that from happening and the little cakes popped right out after cooling. I also used more powdered sugar in the frosting so I could try some more piping. That probably wasn't the best idea and I made a pretty big mess while piping.
We all found the mango flavor to be very subtle. Maybe...too subtle? I could barely pick up on it and some people couldn't at all. In the future, I may try cutting down on the milk some and using more nectar, or perhaps adding fresh mango to the mix. As for the frosting...delicious! It's not too sweet and the pineapple juice provides a nice tang and some freshness to the cupcake. I would definitely try making these again, but with some changes to the cake and possibly a different frosting.

S'mores [cupcakes]!

Oh my gosh, I have been so unbelievably busy. Since my last update, I've started back at both of my summer jobs, acquired a new kitten [Lucy!], and had my wonderful boyfriend, Bryce, up to visit for 4 days. As promised, oh so long ago, I have more baking to share! After making the peanut butter banana bars we realized those alone were not enough to take to my sister's function. I've been aching to try a new recipe and this was the perfect opportunity.


I used my little Rocket blender to crush up the graham crackers, which worked so much better than my usual rolling pin and plastic bag method. And while the "crust" added a nice visual touch to the cupcakes, I don't feel like they added very much flavor-wise. Now, this could be due to the age of the graham crackers because I have no idea how long those have been in our pantry. The cake was a light and beautiful dark chocolate that was perfectly chocolatey and not too sweet.


The most exciting part of making this dessert was the frosting. I've never made a frosting like this before and I was worried it wouldn't turn out right. It took quite a while, but everything worked out just right and I ended up with some amazing marshmallowy frosting to pipe on the tops of my cupcakes. I'm still getting the hang of piping but practice makes perfect, right? These cupcakes were a huge hit. My dad ate two in one sitting and even eyed up a third before being scolded by mom. I would most definitely make these again and I don't think anyone would object to that.



Since baking these, I've also baked up a batch of amazing chocolate brownies [which I do believe are Bryce's personal favorites] and another batch of the pb banana bars, which my sister devoured. I did change up the recipe a little bit, using some brown sugar in place of white sugar and adding a little more peanut butter. They had a different, moister texture and a more prominent peanut butter flavor which is a winner in my book.
I also picked up a new cupcake cookbook at Barnes and Noble and I'm sure I'll be baking something out of there very soon.

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Bars

I went on a bit of a baking spree this past Saturday. My sister needed some sort of baked good for an event and I, of course, volunteered. We had two incredibly over-ripe bananas, so I figured I would try a recipe I found for these bars. I wouldn't really call them blondies but I also wouldn't call them cookie bars...so I'm not too sure what they are, other than amazingly easy and delicious.

2 eggs, beaten until frothy
3/4 c sugar
1 c flour
1/2 c butter or margarine, softened
1 over ripe banana
1/2 c peanut butter
1c chocolate chips

I sort of added the ingredients in whatever order I seemed fit and combined until smooth. You can bake them in a greased 8x8, 9x9, or 7.5x12 pan at 370 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes. The original recipe suggests turning once halfway through baking, so I did and everything was evenly baked. I baked mine for about 25 minutes because they batter was much thinner when spread in a 7.5x12 pan rather than a 9x9 pan. To test for doneness [yes, I'm aware that isn't a real word but I'll use it anyway] insert a knife into the middle and if it comes out clean, they're done!
These bars are absolutely delicious and not too sweet, which is a nice change of pace for my family. And, surprisingly, my sister has already requested more. She's the picky eater of the family and I really did not expect HER to enjoy these. Now we're just waiting for our latest batch of bananas to ripen enough for more of these bars!


Now, I did say Saturday was a baking spree and these bars themselves don't quite constitute the use of that word. While the bars were amazing, they didn't make a large amount so I had to bake something else...which I will post about later :-]

Rainbow Cupcakes!

I first saw these on a LiveJournal baking community and I fell in love instantly. The swirls of bright colors and the individuality of each cupcake made these look like so much fun. I had to try making them and I figured my sister's 15th birthday would be the perfect opportunity. I went out to the craft store and bought Wilton's food gel [it doesn't water down the batter or icing!] plus some piping equipment. I had never tried piping my frosting before and figured I would add even more adventure to this baking excursion.

As for the recipe, I turned to Billy's Bakery Vanilla Vanilla cupcake recipe that I used in at least 2 other baking episodes. The flavor and texture of these cupcakes has always been amazing, so why try something new? I also used the vanilla buttercream recipe from Billy's Bakery because, again, why try something new when you have already found something that's nearly perfect? I cut both recipes in half because I knew there was no way my family would be able to eat the entire batch ourselves. I don't know if my measurements were off or if it was just from cutting the recipe in half, but the consistency of the batter was off. At first I thought maybe I was imagining things or had forgotten what the batter was like, but after baking the cupcakes weren't nearly as light and fluffy as usual and didn't rise as much as usual. Oh well, I can't expect perfection every time.

I thought the frosting would be fine for piping and I even added more powdered sugar than usual, but it was still a little too soft. It didn't hold it's shape as well as I would have liked, but it still looked cute and it was something fun and different. In the future I would try another frosting or I would add more powdered sugar.

So I may not have been 100% satisfied with the results, but at least the cupcakes still taste great! The family agreed that these tasted just as delicious as previous batches and my sister was so excited to have her own birthday cupcakes on her very special day.

Scones for Mother's Day!

I finished off my junior year of college [woo hoo, I'm a senior!] and made my way home on Thursday. I've been itching to bake. I have a list of at least 5 different cupcakes I want to try, as well as brownies and cookies. Unfortunately, we've been very busy around the house lately and I've been sick so I've had to control myself, which went pretty well...until this morning! I wanted to do something special for Mom for Mother's Day and I figured I could bake something for her. She loves scones, so I decided I would wake up early and bake some blackberry scones for breakfast. After much searching through www.allrecipes.com I found this recipe, which received rave reviews. I altered the recipe slightly and the finished product was absolutely amazing, so I'll post my version.

Basic Scones
3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter. Mix the egg and milk in a small bowl and then stir into the flour mixture until moist. NOTE: You may not need all of the milk. Add a little at a time.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead BRIEFLY. Roll out dough into a 1/2 inch thick round. Cut into 8 wedges and place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse sugar, if desired. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove to a rack to cool.

Now I took that basic recipe and added fresh blackberries, but you can add anything you'd like [chocolate chips, cranberries, blueberries, etc.]. I was worried that blackberries were a poor choice and anticipated ending up with stained hands. Fortunately, the berries held together fairly well and the mess was minimal. Just so you know, the dough is incredibly sticky. I had "club hand" seconds into the kneading. This could be due to using too much of the milk mixture and I'll be more careful with that next time.
I've made scones before, but these are the best I've had! They're incredibly fluffy and buttery, with a very soft and tender texture. I would definitely make these again in the future and I'm sure Mom wouldn't object. She talked about the scones all day and even considered having another for dessert after we returned home from dinner. I'm so glad they turned out so well and I'm even more glad that she enjoyed them on Mother's Day.


Hopefully I'll be posting more soon. My sister is planning on having a birthday party with a couple friends and I'm planning on baking some cupcakes for the occasion. I also got sent home from school with a pile of hot chocolate mixes [thank you, Bryce!] and I want to make some Hot Chocolate cookies with those.

Pink Moon Cupcake Bakery

Again, I apologize for my lack of updates. Between school, two small jobs, and an internship, I've been super-busy. I have a handful of cupcake recipes that I'm very anxious to try out but haven't really had the opportunity to do so. My friend, Amy, has an apartment and has graciously offered her kitchen to me a number of times...but I just haven't gone for it. Granted, we've baked some tasty shortbread, pie, and cookie, but I've stayed away from cupcakes. Once I'm home for summer, I'll be baking up a cupcake storm :)
Anyway, I'm a little off-topic. So...


My internship involves traveling to a number of schools in Delaware County and today's lesson was at Tyler Run in Powell, Ohio. A couple months ago, I read about a cupcake bakery in Powell and so I mentioned this to Ashley, the prevention educator I was observing today. Surprisingly, she had noticed the little bakery on her trips out to this particular school. Ashley said we could possibly stop on our way back to the office, but I figured she'd forget or decide against the idea. Fortunately, I assumed wrong! Pink Moon Bakery is located in a small building [formerly a home] in Powell, Ohio. The smell of cupcakes was AMAZING and I think my mouth began watering before we even walked in the door. The room had a long table that was covered in an assortment of cupcakes - Buckeye [chocolate with peanut butter frosting], Pumpkin Buttercream, Apple Crumb, and more. After a good 10 minutes or so of debating, Ashley and I finally settled on our cupcakes. Ashley went with a Pretty, Pretty Princess for Julie [vanilla with vanilla frosting and a "Diva" ring on top], Raspberry Margarita, Devil's Food with Buttercream, and Chocolate with Vanilla Frosting. I also went with Devil's Food, along with Snickerdoodle with Buttercream, and Strawberry [which had real pieces of strawberry in the cupcake!].
Back at the office, we all dug in and I thought Julie was going to die [from happiness, of course]. These cupcakes are really good...really good. My only complaint was the frosting to cake ratio. I prefer more cake than frosting and these are the complete opposite. I ended up ditching a lot of the frosting, as did Ashley. Now I'm not saying the frosting wasn't enjoyable...it was DELICIOUS, just a little too much for my liking.
I enjoyed my strawberry cupcake at the office and a co-worker took the Snickerdoodle one [she wasn't aware the second box belonged to me, rather than to the agency...]. Yes, I was a little bummed, but I'm very glad she enjoyed it. The only reason I bought three cupcakes was because I couldn't make up my mind. I would have had far too many cupcakes, so that mishap was for the best. I have yet to try my devil's food cupcake, but my roommate, Claire, and I were both dipping our fingers into the silky and light frosting...



I may end up going back tomorrow...one of the specials for Friday is a Coconut cupcake with Coconut frosting...Hmmmm...

The Spring Break baking binge continues...

Sadly, my Spring Break is over and I'm back at OWU. And while that means no more baking for a while [or so I feared...], that doesn't mean I don't have anything to post. I did quite a bit of baking while I was at home last week - 3 batches of cupcakes and 2 batches of frosting, to be exact. Do I have a problem? Maybe. I don't think so, but others might. Baking actually serves as my personal therapy. The experience is calming for me and serves as an escape from everything else. The cupcakes I'm writing about tonight were especially therapeutic, considering they followed a horrible experience involving my keys being locked in my car...at a gas station. Okay, it wasn't that horrible, but I was shaken up. I was in a less-than-favorable location, my dad had to leave work to help me out, and I was convinced every guy at the gas station was going to attack me. So, obviously, some serious pastry therapy was necessary.

My second batch of cupcakes in as many days was a bunch of lovely Coconut Cupcakes, again from 52 Cupcakes. I had originally planned to make a cream cheese frosting to go with the cupcakes, but I had so much leftover chocolate buttercream that it seemed silly not to use that. I went a little light on the frosting this time around because I feared the chocolate would overwhelm the possibly subtle coconut flavor. I ended up with a great balance between the two, but I probably could have done with even less frosting - a little goes a long way with this stuff. The cupcakes were awesome - a light and fluffy cake and the coconut added an interesting and contrasting texture, as well as some additional sweetness. I slightly altered the recipe and substituted cake flour for half of the all-purpose flour and I also used only vanilla extract, rather than using vanilla and almond extracts. I definitely plan on making these cupcakes again and I am thinking about trying a pineapple cream cheese frosting for that batch...We'll see what happens!

More vanilla cupcakes!

I know, I know...It's been quite a while since I last posted. No, I haven't forgotten about this blog. I just haven't been sure what else to do with it aside from posting cupcakes and other baking escapades. More than once I considered posting reviews of different food items - Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper [never again will I touch a bottle of that drink], Chocolate Skittles [not as bad as I had anticipated, but definitely not tasty], and Wild Cherry M&Ms [okay...not too bad, but nothing great] - but I was afraid it would either be yawn-worthy or, well, silly. But now that I'm on Spring Break I can get back to the cupcakes!

I made plans prior to break to try a new cupcake recipe - Peaches and Cream cupcakes - but after much thought and deliberation [probably far too much of both], the vanilla cupcakes I made for my birthday were the obvious choice. Don't worry, I won't be posting the exact same cupcakes as the previous post. I opted to go with a chocolate buttercream frosting, rather than the vanilla buttercream. Oh my gosh. I could eat the entire batch of frosting with a giant spoon. Screw the cupcakes, give me the frosting! Sure, I'd be suffering later for my gluttony but I'd completely fail to consider that consequence. Mmm...

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, cupcakes. I stuck with "Billy's Vanilla Cupcakes" and paired them with the simple chocolate buttercream, creating a heavenly result. The frosting is light & fluffy, and the semi-sweet chocolate cuts the sometimes overwhelming sweetness of the powdered sugar. The cupcakes were light & soft & airy & every other adjective that could be used to describe fabulous cupcakes. The family is absolutely in love with this batch, especially the frosting. I caught my dad sticking his finger in the leftover frosting more than once and he ended up with some on his nose after diving into a cupcake earlier this evening.

First post!

Well, here goes nothing.

I was home last weekend to celebrate two birthdays - my dad's and my own - and after showing a family friend some pictures I had taken earlier in the night, she suggested I start my own food blog. After much contemplation I caved and this is the final product. I don't know how often I'll be posting because I rarely get the opportunity to bake during the school year.

Anyway, on with the food!

Most 21 year-olds opt to celebrate that fateful birthday by treating themselves to a drink or two (or twenty-one). I celebrated with baking my own birthday cupcakes. As of late, I've become addicted to food blogs and 52 Cupcakes is one of my favorites. I decided to stick with simple chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for the occasion [although I was VERY tempted by a peaches and cream cupcake recipe...] in order to make sure Dad enjoyed the cupcakes just as much as I would. I used the recipes for Billy's Chocolate Cupcakes and Billy's Vanilla, Vanilla Cupcakes and intended on making both a vanilla and chocolate buttercream frosting, but after hours of cupcake baking before the birthday party I decided one frosting would be enough and went with vanilla.

These were the BEST cupcakes I have ever tasted. Both were light and fluffy, and full of flavor. The buttercream complimented both flavors perfectly and didn't over-power the cake in the slightest. Mom and I had a blast decorating the cupcakes, even though I did yell at her a few times for being overzealous with her sprinkles [here's where I should note that the cupcake featured in my banner is one she decorated and it provided beautiful pictures].

Party guests devoured the cupcakes, some taking one of each. I split the remaining cupcakes with my family, bring half of them back to Ohio Wesleyan with me. My roommates and boyfriend were more than happy to taste the cupcakes and less than a week later, we have one lonely chocolate cupcake left in the container.