Puppy Chow

At work I was asked to make some puppy chow for an event. After I confirmed that I would be getting reimbursed for ingredients, I happily agreed to make and deliver it.

There's peanut butter and chocolate, how can you go wrong with that?

Monday night I made 2 batches and last night I made the other 2. The boys were thrilled, they love the stuff. When I told them it was for work, the whining was immediate. I asked them to be patient and asked if they would test it to make sure it was good. They happily agreed. Shocking right?

Sorry about the lack of good pictures, I didn't even think to take some while I was making it.

Semi-sweet chocolate

White chocolate

Ratings:

Mom - A+
Peanut butter + Chocolate = YUM!

R2 -A++++++
I love this stuff!

Hank - A++++++
Yummy in my tummy!

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Puppy Chow
  
Ingredients

1 12 oz box rice cereal
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup smooth peanut butter
5 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. (16 oz. or 1 lb.) powdered sugar (you will probably need less, use a little at a time)

Directions

1. Pour out cereal into large bowl and set aside.
2. In 1-qt. saucepan, heat chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter over low heat, stirring frequently until melted.
3. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
4. Pour mixture slowly over cereal while stirring with a spatula to evenly coat.
5. Pour into a 2-gallon resealable plastic storage bag or grocery bag.
6. Add powdered sugar slowly. Shake until well coated.
7. Spread onto wax paper to cool. Store in airtight container.

Suggestions

• Substitute white chocolate for the semi-sweet chocolate. (I tried it and the chemistry wasn't quite right. I need to play around with it a bit, it ended up being too firm to spread easily. It still tasted great but it doesn't look quite as pretty)

Cream filled chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting

 Remember that cupcake book that I told you about? A couple weeks ago I tried another recipe from it.

You know those Hostess cupcakes with cream filling? This recipe is kinda like that.It was a fun one to play around with for sure!

Ratings:

Mom - C
The cake was great, the filling needed something, I'm not sure what. The ganache was a little thin (I think that's my fault) This is one that I will try again sometime with a few changes.

R2 - B
It's good. I like the regular (butter cream) frosting better though.

Hank - B
It's ok.


And here we go with the recipe:

Cream-Filled Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 package (18-1/4 ounces) devil's food cake mix
2 teaspoons hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 jar (7 ounce) marshmallow creme
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

GANACHE FROSTING:
1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. Prepare and bake cupcakes according to package directions for cupcakes.
2. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
3. For filling, in a small bowl, combine water and salt until salt is dissolved. Cool.
4. In a small bowl, beat the marshmallow creme, shortening, confectioners' sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy; add the salt mixture.
5. Cut a small hole in the corner of pastry or plastic bag; insert round pastry tip.
6. Fill the bag with cream filling. Push the tip through the top of the cupcake to fill each cupcake.
7. Place chocolate in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth.
8. Cool, stirring occasionally, to room temperature or until ganache reaches a spreading consistency.
9. Dip cupcake tops into frosting; chill for 20 minutes or until set. Store in the refrigerator. Yield: 2 dozen.

Blonde Brownies

Today is Erin's birthday - Happy Birthday Erin!

When asked what kind of sweet treat she wanted her reply was: Anything without chocolate.

It makes her sick so I wasn't insulted.

When I was trying to decide what to make I did a mental grocery shopping trip through my kitchen - I have some bananas that are ready to be baked into something fantastic, I could go with cookies of some sort, possibly a cake, something with butterscotch perhaps?

I did some Googling and found this recipe. I'm so glad I did. It's quite tasty!

It doesn't look like much...

But it tastes SO good!

Ratings:

Mom - A+
Moist. Delicious. Buttery. Good. I don't know what else to say, they're just so good!

R2 - ??
(He hasn't had a chance to taste them yet. I hope there are leftovers.)

Hank - ??
(He hasn't had a chance to taste them yet. I hope there are leftovers.)

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Blonde Brownies

Ingredients

1 pound light brown sugar (about 2 cups packed)
1 1/2 sticks butter, melted
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup nuts, chopped (I used cashews)

Directions

1. Melt sugar and butter together in a sauce pan. Cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease 9x13 pan.
3. Add eggs and vanilla
4. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to wet mixture. Mix well.
5. Stir in nuts
5. Bake for 30 minutes.

Suggestions:

• You could add frosting or a glaze to make these even better. 

Oatmeal Spice Cake

Last week was Matthew's birthday. When asked what his favorites were he said:

Favorite baked goods:
1.    Cookies, most any kind, favorite being oatmeal raisin
2.    Fresh baked bread
3.    Probably go with donuts, but pie and cake worthy options

I waited until the last minute to make his birthday treat and knew I wouldn't have time to make the cookies, so I knew I would be making a cake of some sort. I found this recipe and thought it sounded good so I went for it. I'm always a little nervous when I try something new. I really need to stop that. It got rave reviews at work!

Ratings:

Mom - B
This cake was moist and delicious! The recipe had some extra prep time, all the boiling water, it was totally worth it. I think a different frosting or topping would get this up to an A. Something with coconut and nuts? I'll work on it.

No reviews from the boys this time, they didn't get a chance to taste them.

And here is the recipe...

Oatmeal Spice Cake 


Ingredients

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (I used quick oats and it turned out just fine)
1 cup raisins (regular, golden or any combination of the two)
2 1/2 cups boiling water
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar (Brown, white or a combination of the two)
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla


Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

1. Boil 1 1/2 cups water, then add the oatmeal. Give it a stir and then let it sit and allow it to cool.
2. Boil 1 cup water, add raisins and let them soak for 5-10 minutes. (You could ad a splash of rum here if you want.)
3. Sift the flour with the baking soda and spices into a bowl.
4. In your mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until until well mixed.
6. Add sifted flour mixture alternating with the cooled oatmeal, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.
7. Beat well.
8. Butter and flour an 8x12-inch baking pan.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Cool 15 minutes before frosting, if desired. (I used cream cheese frosting.)

Variations

Use Crasins or a Crasin/Raisin Combination. Just make sure that you're using a total of 1 cup.

"Egg" Decorating My Way

This year for Easter I knew we weren't going to boil and decorate eggs. Why? The kids and I are just not fans of hard boiled eggs. I still wanted to do something fun and creative for Easter though so I decided to make Rice Krispie treats and we would cut them out and decorate them.

I made 2 batches of bars one was the standard recipe the other was a chocolate recipe. Then I made a small batch of butter cream frosting.
 

I got the cookie cutters ready and we were set to go!






The boys were anxious to start decorating. It was harder than I thought it would be to use the cookie cutters to cut out the 2 shapes that we picked. I'm still trying to figure out a way to make it easier next time. Thankfully the boys were patient while I got the cutouts done. Once I got the shapes all cut out, we were ready to decorate. I grabbed the box of sprinkles (there's a crazy mish/mash of decorations in there, after holiday clearance deals, you get the idea,) the bag of Easter M&M's I bought and of course, the frosting.

Here is how they turned out:

We started off doing them all the same, then we went with free form whatever...

The chocolate ones, I love how the colors pop on these.

The rest. That ugly thing on the left is the scraps. R2 had the idea that we should make a Rice Krispie sandwich, it tasted pretty good!

Ratings:

Mom - A+
Rice Krispie Bars + frosting and M&M's, how can you go wrong?

R2 - A+
SOOOOOO good! And I helped.

Hank - A+
YUM! We did a good job!

Without further ado, here is the new recipe: 

(the others can be found here.)

Coca Krispies Treats (modified from the original Kellogg's recipe)
 

Ingredients

1/2 stick of butter
1 (10 oz., about 40) pkg. marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows (Use regular or chocolate flavored - or a mix of the two)
6 cups Coca Krispies (or whatever generic brand you like)

Directions

Grease 9 x 13 cake pan with butter.

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add the marshmallows and continue to stir until the marshmallows have completely melted. Remove from heat. Add Vanilla.

Stir in the Coca Krispies cereal coating them well with the melted marshmallow mixture.

Using a buttered or silicone spatula, press the mixture evenly into the pan.

Let the bars cool.
 

Enjoy!

Holy Crap!!!

I might be attending culinary school, starting in July!

Obviously it's something that I'm interested in, I've just never done anything about it. Last night, I toured The Art Institute of Minnesota. I loved the place! The admissions guy got me, and my situation. Or he's just very good at his job. I don't know. I've applied to the school. I have a bunch of paperwork to fill out. When I went online to start the ball rolling for financial aid, I hit a snag. I screwed up our taxes. So I need to get that straightened out but I know I can.

Pending acceptance, I will be a part time student going to school at night, starting in early July.

I'm excited and terrified at the same time!

Wish me luck!

P.S. Work has been nuts and my computer at home has needed some triage. I will get back to my normal posts (because they're so much fun!) soon I promise!

Coconut Cupcakes

I got this recipe from a cupcake book that I couldn't pass up in the grocery store checkout. There are so many recipes in this cute little book that I can't wait to try! About a month ago or so I had mentioned to Helbert, a co-worker, that I found this coconut cupcake recipe. He has been bugging me ever since to make the cupcakes. Ok so not really bugging me, more like suggesting that I do. I once told him, and anyone else in earshot, that I like to bake to relieve stress. Jokingly, he made it his mission to stress me out one day, in hopes that I would go home and bake these cupcakes. It cracked me up.

I don't cook with coconut often so this was a fun one because it wasn't the same old thing.

After they were baked and cooled, I got ready to decorate them:

Frosting at the ready

Toasted coconut cooled

Cupcakes all set!

Here is how they turned out:

I left some without the toasted coconut.

Ratings:

Mom - A-
The flavor of these was spot on, and I'm a sucker for almond extract anything. The only reason for the minus is that, to me they were a little dry and the once crunchy toasted coconut, got soft as they sat over night.

R2 - F
I guess I don't like coconut. They look cool though Mom.

Hank - C
He was my little helper with these from start to finish.
He devoured the frosting and after a couple of bites of the cake, he tossed it. Have I created a almost 4 year old cupcake snob?

Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Coconut Cupcakes

Cake Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (I used regular milk)
1 1/4 cups flaked coconut

Frosting Ingredients:

1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

Garnish Ingredients:

1 cup flaked coconut

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Beat in extracts.
5. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt,
6. Add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.
7. Fold in coconut.
8. Fill paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full.
9. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
10. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

For frosting, in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and extracts until smooth. Gradually beat in confectioners' sugar.
For the garnish, put the coconut into a dry non-stick pan over low heat. Move the coconut around the pan. Keep your eye on it. It can go from toasted and delicious to black in an instant. Once you have gotten it toasted to your liking (I went for a golden brown) get it out of the pan and cooling, a paper plate works just fine. Note: not all of the coconut will be toasted, some will still be un-toasted white, that's just fine.
Frost cupcakes and either sprinkle with toasted coconut or dip the frosted cupcakes into the toasted coconut.
Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.

Suggestions:

• Wait to add the toasted coconut until right before service to keep the crunch.