Expresso Cupcakes, Caramel Ganache, and Irish Cream Frosting!

Today is my good friend, Josh’s birthday.  He had taken some really great pictures of my creations for the blog.  To celebrate his birthday I made him some cupcakes!

The cake recipe came from: Confessions of A Faux Gourmet

• I used at chocolate fudge cake mix
• I used 3/4 cup espresso and then a little under 1/4 cup water

The filling recipe came from: The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts on Pg. 23

The frosting recipe came from: Brown Eyed Baker

• I have made her Irish Car Bomb cupcakes before, and knew the frosting was exactly what I wanted for these cupcakes.

St. Patrick’s Day – Fun Foods

St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow!  I love this holiday for all the fun foods!  I have been browsing pinterest and food blogs for fun green food ideas as well as other festive ideas.  Here are some of my favorites; click the picture to go to the recipe!

1. Crab Stuffed Baked Avocado – Domestic Fits

2.Cucumber Cups Stuffed with Spicy Crab – Domestic Fits

3. Lucky Leprechaun Hats – Betty Crocker

4. Ligurian Pesto with Spaghetti – Bon Appétit

5. Cheddar Biscuits – Kraft Foods

6. Irish Cheesecake – Kraft Foods

7. Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes – Brown Eyed Baker

8. Grilled Corned Beef and Fontina Sandwiches – Bon Appétit

9.Green Eggs and Ham – Martha Stewart

10.Vegetarian Split Pea Soup – The Curvy Carrot

11. Monster Veggie Burger – Shape Magazine: Healthy Eating

12. No Bake Mini Grasshopper Pies – A Pretty Life In The Suburbs

13. Mrs. O’Callaghan’s Soda Bread – Bon Appétit

Hope these pictures and recipes gave you some ideas for your St. Patrick’s Day food festivities!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Happy National Peanut Butter Day!

Peanut Butter; one of my favorite things!  When I saw that it was peanut butter day, I knew I HAD to make something!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cupcakes (Recipe From: Cupcakes by Susannah Blake):

8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1/2 Cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 Cup All-Purpose Flour

2 Tablespoons Milk

1 Teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

Peanut Butter Frosting:

8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter

1 Cup Peanut Butter

2 Cups Powdered Sugar

3 Tablespoons Milk

Directions:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Soften the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds on high.  Mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

4. Mix in the flour and the milk until creamy.  Beat in the cocoa powder and the vanilla extract.

5. Spoon the batter into cupcake liners.  Only fill the liners 2/3 full of batter.

6. Bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.

7. Remove the cupcakes from the oven.  Let the cupcakes cool completely!

Peanut Butter Frosting:

1. In a bowl melt the butter in a microwave for 30 seconds on high.

2. Mix the peanut butter in with the butter.

3. Beat in the powdered sugar.

4. Gradually beat in the milk, one tablespoon at a time.

5. Beat until smooth and creamy.

6. Pipe onto completely cooled cupcakes!

Pumpkin Bars

It’s that time of year when everyone is making dishes with pumpkin.  So to start off my pumpkin recipes I made some tasty pumpkin bars. I used Paula Deen’s Recipe.  To make them a little more spooky I added candy melt bats on to each bar.

Ingredients for Bars:

4 eggs

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

15-ounce can pumpkin

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Ingredients for Icing:

8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions For Bars:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.Beat at medium speed, the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy.

3.Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low-speed until the batter is smooth.

4.Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

5.Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

Directions for Icing:

1.Combine the cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl with a mixer until smooth.

2.Add the sugar and mix at low-speed until combined. Stir in the vanilla and mix again.

3.Spread on cooled pumpkin bars.

Directions fo Chocolate Bats:

1. Put about 10-15 candy melts in a microwave safe bowl.

2. Microwave bowl for 30 seconds.  Stir chocolate.

3. If not fully melted, microwave for another 30 seconds.

4. Stir chocolate, left cool for 45 seconds.

5. Transfer chocolate to a disposable decorating bag.

6. Cut a very small piece of the tip of the bag.  The hole should be equal in size to Tip #3.

7. Put bat stencil under wax or parchment paper.  Trace bat with the melted chocolate. Make as many bats you want.

8. Let the chocolate bats cool for at least 20 minutes.  Then add the bats to your pumpkins bars for a festive Halloween treat!

**Note: Here is the stencil I used for my bats.

Pizza Roll Bites

Sorry for not posting in a while. I have been busy getting ready for school.  I just finished my first week as senior in college.  It is hard to believe that in three semesters I will have completed my bachelors degree in physical education.  To help with the anxiety of the first week I made these whimsical pizza roll bites.  I found the recipe on Our Best Bites blog.

Ingredients:

1 Package Pepperoni

8 Ounces Mozzarella Cheese

1 Jar of Marinara Sauce

1 Package Refrigerated Pizza Dough

•  I used a garlic and herb dough.

Italian Seasoning

Olive Oil

9 Inch Cake Pan

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to the temperature listed on the pizza dough package.

2. Roll and stretch out the pizza dough.  You want to be able to cut out about 24 squares of dough.

3. Once you have cut your squares, I suggest using a pizza cutter to cut the dough, stretch it out a little more.  Add your toppings, mozzarella and pepperoni.

4. Fold corners to the center and pinch so that none of the tasty goodness inside can seep out during cooking. Put the pinched side down in the cake pan.  Line all pizza roll bites in the pan like your would cinnamon rolls.

5. Once all the bites are in the pan, drizzle some olive oil over all the bites.  You don’t want to soak them, so only pour enough olive oil to lightly coat each bite. Then put a little Italian seasoning on top of each bite along with a few sprinkles of mozzarella cheese.

6. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until bites start turning golden brown on top.

7. After you take the pizza roll bites out of the oven and are waiting for them to cool, heat up your marinara sauce.

8. Dip pizza roll bites into the marinara sauce and Enjoy!

I am taking a class this semester about reading and literacy in the classroom.  We have been talking about how students and people in general read a variety of texts, but usually have one that they are most comfortable reading.  I know that I really enjoy reading sci-fi, fantasy, and/or romance books.  I have currently been reading Sherrilyn Kenyon‘s Dark-Hunter series.

There are so many different types of texts to read such as: cookbooks, musical lyrics, play wrights, user manuals, blogs, menus, poetry, and others.  Which text(s) are you most comfortable reading?