New family favorite

I love love love the sweet potato casserole at Damon's, and even more when I order it for dessert with vanilla ice cream. However, trying to save money and not eat out so often, I haven't gotten my fix in a while. But I found this recipe, which is *almost* as good as eating out. In the future, I will chop up the pecans (bought chopped pecans at the store, but they were still too big) and spread the topping more. It didn't quite spread all over like I wanted.

I doubled the recipe, which ended up being too much even for a big family get together. I don't have the source, so I will add that when I find it!


Sweet Potato Casserole
INGREDIENTS:
3 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup melted butter

Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup chopped pecans

PREPARATION:
Combine first 6 ingredients.
Pour into a buttered 1 1/2 to 2-quart casserole dish.
Mix remaining ingredients together and sprinkle over top.
Bake at 350° for 30 to 40 minutes, until hot and browned.
Serves 6 to 8.

Cake Decorating

In November, I started the Wilton cake decorating classes through Michael's. I'm really enjoying the classes, and am about to start Course 3 - tiered cakes and fondant :)

Below is my first decorated baked good. I tried writing on it, but I need more practice with that. I might invest in stencils to keep it even.

I didn't keep the cake recipe (I'm not too good with cakes from scratch yet!), but it was a basic white cake recipe found online. I used butterscotch pudding for the filling, and for the frosting, I used Wilton's buttercream recipe:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened I used 1 cup of vegtable shortening and omitted 1/2 cup of butter - Crisco sells premeasured sticks of shortening in 1 cup measurments
1 teaspoon Clear Vanilla Extract I used regular vanilla extract instead of Wilton's clear extract, which didn't change the color
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk I used water, which stores better.

In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

Black Bottom Mini-Cupcakes

I got this recipe at http://homecooking.about.com/library/archive/blc96.htm. They were pretty good, and very straightforward to make.

Ingredients
Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/3 cups sugar
Cupcake Batter:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (about 1 cup)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line mini-muffin tins with paper liners.
In a small bowl, blend cheese, egg and 1/3 cup sugar until smooth. Set aside.
In a nonreactive large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and 1 cup sugar.
Stir in water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla.
Beat until smooth.
Fill paper-lined cups about 1/2 full.
Top each with about a half teaspoon cream cheese mixture.
Press 2 chocolate chips into cream cheese on each cupcake.
Bake in center of oven 14 minutes, or until firm. Cheese filling will still be a bit soft.
Cool completely before serving.

Yield: about 60 mini-cupcakes
For standard cupcakes:Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 standard muffin cups with paper liners. Prepare filling and batter as above. Fill paper-lined cups about 1/2 full. Top each with about a tablespoon cream cheese mixture. Press 3 to 4 chocolate chips into cream cheese on each cupcake. Bake in center of oven 25 to 30 minutes, or until firm. Cheese filling will still be a bit soft.
Yield: 24 cups (or cupcakes)
CreditsRecipe revised from an heirloom recipe by: Peggy Trowbridge

(Ignore the pumpkin cake in the background - can't take credit for that!)

Happy Halloween!

Only a few months late, right? :) I made mini-cupcakes for a work Halloween party. I'm in love with mini-cupcakes now!

I used the recipe for Birthday Cupcakes, both the cupcake and frosting recipes. Not too much success looks wise. I also tried to sprinkle after the frosting was set, which obviously didn't work.

For the orange frosted cupcakes, I added cocoa powder to the batter. For the other batch, I added cocoa to the frosting.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these with and without chocolate chips (you can see the withouts on the back of the plate). They were pretty good, and gave off a great aroma in the kitchen. Really felt like fall even though it was 70-80 degrees in October!

The cookies were a little too cake like for me, but that's just personal preference. Again, no sifting, and the canned pumpkin is enough for 2 batches of cookies. So, if you want to use the whole can, you'll need to double the recipe.

I got the recipe from Melissa (mrslolo) on Bakespace.

CHOCOLATE CHIP PUMPKIN COOKIES

2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. chocolate or peanut butter chips

Grease a cookie sheet.
Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and nutmeg.
In mixer, beat butter for 30 seconds.
Add brown sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add egg, pumpkin and vanilla.
Add dry ingredients, beat until well mixed.
Stir in chocolate chips (dough soft).

Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 48 cookies.

Sunday Morning Cupcakes

I found this recipe on How To Eat A Cupcake (Love that site!), and had to try it - French Toast Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting.

The cream cheese frosting was a little too sweet for me, and I think I messed it up (see Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting link below - I think I overbeat my frosting.) For my second batch of cupcakes, I grated about a half cup of apple in mix, which added a sweet and tart kick when you got a bite with apple.


Recipe from Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcake Recipes.
NOTES from how to eat a cupcake: I got 14 cupcakes out of this recipe. I couldn't really taste the maple so I'll probably add 1/2 or 1 teaspoon more next time. Also, some chopped pecans in the frosting might be delicious!

French Toast Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and then cooled
2 eggs
1 tsp maple extract
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350'F and line baking pan with paper liners.

2. Mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Make sure the butter is cool or you’ll have scrambled eggs.

4. Whisk in maple extract and then alternate between whisking in flour mixture and milk. Make three additions of flour mix and two of milk. Beat until smooth.

5. Scoop batter into prepared pan and bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.

6. Cool the cupcakes on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.


Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

FrostingMakes 3 cups
1 package (8 ounces) reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl.
Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds.
Stop the machine.
Add the con­fectioners' sugar, a little at a time, blend­ing with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is well incorporated, 1 minute.
Add the cinnamon, then increase the mixer speed to medium and blend the frost­ing until fluffy, 1 minute more.


Perfect Cream Cheese Frosting

Catching up!

I've done some baking in the past few weeks, but no posting! So, I'm playing a little catch up today.

I attempted my first filled anything. I made "Peanut Butter Filled Dreams," which are my husband's new favorite cookies. You wrap the cookie dough around the filling before baking, so the filling part wasn't too bad.

In the future, I will try sticking the dough in the fridge while making the filling. It was much easier to work with when given the chance to sit - the more it was handled, the sticker the dough got, and was a little harder to work with. I also did not sift, as I have yet to buy a sifter. But it still worked :)

The recipe came from Lynn (heartsfire) on Bakespace
Peanut Butter Filled Dreams

Cookies:
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter - softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:
3/4 cup powdered sugar (sift before measuring)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons granulated sugar for pressing


1. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda to combine; set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat butter, the 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar and 1/4 cup peanut butter until combined, scraping sides of bowl occassionally.

3. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla until combined.

4. Spoon in as much of the dry flour mixture as you can into the liquid. It will get thick. Stir in remaining flour mixture with a wooden spoon.

5. Shape dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. You should have a total of 32. Set aside.

6. For peanut butter filling, in a medium bowl stir together powdered sugar and the 1/2 cup peanut butter until smooth. Shape mixture into 3/4 inch balls. You should have 32.

7. On a work surface, slightly flatten each chocolate ball and top with a peanut butter ball. Work the chocolate dough over the filling and make sure peanut butter is completely covered. Roll dough into balls.

8. Place balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using a small juice glass or jelly jar, dip in sugar and then lightly flatten cookies. A tip is to first tap the cookie with glass to get it a bit sticky - then dip in sugar - then lightly flatten just a touch bit more. You want them a bit plump so don't flatten as you would a peanut butter cookie. These cookies will spread a little as they bake.

9. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes or until just set and suface is slightly cracked. Allow to cool for a few minutes on sheet before transferring to wire rack.