Sweet Treats

#86) Starwberry Rhubarb Apple Jam

2011-07-29T10:31:00.000-03:00

While I was thinking abut what to write for this post it dawned on me it is really all about generosity - the generosity of others to be more specific.

See, all the major players in this post - the strawberries and rhubarb in the jam, and the bread in the photo - were all given to me. The strawberries and the homemade whole wheat bread are from my generous mother-in-law, and the rhubarb was a gift from one of husband's co-workers (those Rhubarb Pie Cupcakes I sent him to work with must have been ok :p).

The other "invisible" key player in this post is the food science lesson I learned thanks to Christina over at Form V Artisan. She has a couple of posts where she generously explained the science behind making strawberry jam - all about negatively charged pectin and candy thermometers - the whole bit. So I took what I learned from her and applied it to my own jam concoction, and I have to say, it worked out just as she said it would!

So you see, all you need sometimes to be inspired to get in the kitchen is the generosity of others!

Now on to the recipe - it was my first attempt ever at homemade jam... I usually leave the jam making to my aunt who generously brings some to Newfoundland for me each summer. But I decided I am a big girl now and it is time to figure out how to do it myself. The jam has a great texture - thick, smooth, and sticky :) Husband would have liked some more fruit chunks, but what can I say, I like smooth jam so I mashed away at the fruit while it was cooking :) There is a touch too much cinnamon so next time (yes, there will be a next time) I will add maybe just half. And oddly enough, the one little apple I added for extra pectin packed a lot of punch. Next time maybe just half an apple.

So there you have it - my first ever homemade jam! Hope you enjoy :)

Ingredients

2 2/3 cups rhubarb, chopped (if frozen, let thaw first)
1 cup strawberries, chopped (if frozen, let thaw first)
1 granny smith apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 1/3 cup sugar (don't skimp! see this post)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Steps

-Add rhubarb, strawberries, and apple to a large pot and put over medium heat. Stir occasionally until some liquid has been released (3-5 minutes).
-Add sugar and cinnamon and bring to a boil. Let boil for 3 minutes, then add lemon juice.
-If you have a candy thermometer, attach it to your pot and continue to boil, stirring occasionally until you get to 220F. (If you do not have a candy thermometer, continue to boil, stirring occasionally until mixture is thick and resembles syrup - about 15-20 minutes. You will see the bottom of the pan as you stir.)
-Transfer to sterilized jar(s) and let cool completely before refrigerating.

*I got two small jars of jam, which would be about one large jar. If you double, triple, quadruple, etc this recipe be sure to do so precisely.

A Blog Birthday and an Epic Fail

2011-07-25T08:42:00.000-03:00

A few days ago Sweet Treats turned 3!!! (Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Sweet Treats, Happy Birthday to you.) So I thought it would be a cool idea to run a poll here and on our facebook page to see which one of our favourite recipes we should revisit for the occasion. Surprise, surprise - peanut butter balls won! (Chocolate and peanut butter - always a favourite!)

But just revisiting a recipe wasn't exciting enough. I thought it would be really fun to put a new spin on an old favourite. So what can you do to a peanut butter ball, I wondered... Add BACON of course!!!

In theory - great idea. In reality - kind of a fail.

I made the peanut butter ball filling as per usual and then added 6 strips of crumbled bacon. I thought for sure the bacon flavour would add that nice smoky, salty layer to the peanut butter... Um, no! The bacon got totally lost in the peanut butter and all I was left with were peanut butter balls with added calories :(

Even though the recipe didn't work out the way I had hoped, I am still very happy that Sweet Treats has been around for three whole years and look forward to future blog birthdays. And I am very thankful for all the readers across the world who take the time to stop by Sweet Treats every now and again. Keep it coming - I will have new treats soon, I promise... Strawberry rhubarb jam anyone??? Stay tuned!

Speaking of birthdays, I have one coming up very soon and can't decide what kind of sweet treat to celebrate with. Suggestions?

#85) Rhubarb Pie Cupcakes

2011-07-11T18:33:00.000-03:00

I may love sweet treats, but I have to tell ya, I really do love tart flavours. Give me a bit of lemon any day! So that's why I was so excited when one of husband's co-workers kindly gave me a big bag of fresh rhubarb from her garden. The only question was, "What do I make?"

I could have done the ol' strawberry rhubarb combination, but that just seemed too straight forward. Then it dawned on me that I haven't made cupcake in way too long! So there you have it - a rhubarb pie cupcake :)

The cupcake itself is kind of heavy, due the skipped creaming step, but I wanted to mimic a tart shell you might put your pie filling in. The pie filling is straight up rhubarb with just enough sweetness to take the edge off. And the frosting? OMG the frosting! I am not great at frosting and I am not a huge fan of how overly sweet homemade frosting can be. Also, I wanted to re-create the whipped cream you might have on a piece of rhubarb pie. So I went on the hunt for something a little different and found 7-minute frosting. Okay, mine took more like 14 minutes, but SO worth it! It's like a fluffy marshmallow sitting on the top of the cupcakes.

Give 'em a try and let me know what you think :) Oh, and don't forget to vote for our blogiversay recipe revisit to your left. Thanks!

Rhubarb Pie Filling

Ingredients

4 cups chopped rhubarb

1 1/3 cups sugar (start with 1 cup and add accordingly throughout cooking process depending on the tartness of your rhubarb)

6 tablespoons flour

Steps

-Combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Cook over med-high heat for about 10 minutes, until liquid from rhubarb moistens the mixture. (I covered mine and stirred often.)
-Reduce heat to low and let cook until all the rhubarb pieces have broken down. Mixture should be thick.

-Remove from saucepan to bowl and allow to cool completely.

Cupcakes

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups cake flour (for those of you with AP flour - measure out all your flour, remove 7 tbsp, replace with 7 tbsp cornstarch - def worth the extra effort!)
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup milk
4 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla

Steps

- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.
- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into large, deep bowl.
- Add the butter and 1/2 cup of the milk. Mix on medium speed until dough-like consistency.
- In a separate bowl, blend the eggs, egg whites, the remaining 1/2 cup milk and the vanilla. Add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing for 2 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Scrape down the bowl between additions.

Assembly

-Add 1 heaping tablespoon of batter to liners. To centre of batter add 1 1/2 tsp of rhubarb filling. Cover filling with another tablespoon of batter (be sure the bottom batter and top batter meet to seal in the filling).
-Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean.
-Let cool completely on wire rack.

*Makes 3 dozen filled cupcakes.

7-Minute Frosting

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/3 cup water

3 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 tbsp vanilla (I used homemade rhubarb syrup)

Steps

-Add sugar, water, egg whites, and cream of tartar to a large double boiler bowl. Beat with electric mixer until mixture is foamy (about 1 minute).
-Put bowl over simmering water and beat with mixer until soft peaks form (supposed to be about 7 minutes but it took me more like 14).
-Remove from heat, add vanilla, and continue to beat to thicken frosting (about 2 minutes).
-Let cool completely before using.

#84) Berry Burst Muffins

2011-07-03T17:35:00.000-03:00

It's the last day of Canada Day weekend. I wish I could say its been a sunshine-y weekend filled with BBQs and beers, but really its been one rainy day after another - and more in the forecast. I feel particularly bad for husband, because he downright loves Canada Day! Even with the rain pouring down he put not one, not two, but three Canadian flags up in your front yard :) So to raise our spirits I headed to the kitchen today armed with some of husband's favourite flavours - berry and maple.

These cranberry muffins have a great texture and a good play on sweet and sour. Although husband thinks the muffin could have been a little sweeter, it complimented the tart cranberries nicely.

The crunchy maple topping wasn't as good as I had hoped. It kind of crumbles off as you are eating the muffin. So two options: 1) push the topping down into the batter before baking or 2) skip the topping and just sprinkle the batter with a hefty serving of maple sugar before baking.

The berry filling is delicious, but you can easily double the recipe and add more to the insides of your muffins if you want.

So give 'em a go and let me know if they brighten up your rainy day :)

Berry Filling

Ingredients

1 cup mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
1/4 cup water
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp cornstarch

Steps

-Bring berries, water, and sugar to a boil and let summer until about half the water has evaporated. Reduce to low heat.

-Mix together cornstarch with enough water to make a runny paste. Add to berry mixture, constantly stirring, until berry mixture begins to thicken.

-Continue to cook for 2 minutes over low heat.

-Push through a sieve and funnel into a squeeze bottle. Let cool until needed.

Crunchy Maple Topping

Ingredients

1/4 cup maple sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tbsp butter

Steps

-Mix together in a small bowl and set aside until needed.

Cranberry Muffins
Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups cranberries, chopped
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar (use 1 cup if you like 'em sweet)
1 cup yogurt (I used raspberry flavoured)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps

-Preheat oven to 400F. Line a muffin tray with 12 paper liners.
-In a large bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add cranberries and stir to coat (this will keep them from sinking to the bottom of your muffins).
-In a small bowl mix together eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
-Divide batter between 12 lined muffin cups. Top each muffin with maple topping.
-Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean (mine took 18 minutes).
-Let cool for 10 minutes on wire rack still in the tray. Remove from tray and place on rack.
-Insert the nozzle of the squirt bottle into top of each muffin (as far in as it will go) and squeeze until berry filling starts to ooze out.
-Let cool completely on wire rack.

#83) Little Lemon Pies

2011-06-29T13:45:00.000-03:00

"A change is as good as a rest." - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Changes keep life interesting, I get that. But there is too much of a good thing, right?

For the past 13 years, half of my life, I have moved 10 times. That's a lot of change. Each move has been for different reasons - following my family, moving for school, finding new job opportunities. It has been hard in a lot of ways - never really having a home, no permanent address, not to mention actually moving all of my belongings. The past couple of years have been the hardest because I am married now and have a newly purchased home, only I have been living 3 1/2 hours away, separated by a gravel highway (yeah they still exist in some corners of the world).

BUT... that is all over now because I have moved into our new home with husband permanently! No more temporary mailing addresses, no more packing up my life. I am home :)

You know what that means, right? I finally get to enjoy my new kitchen and all its fixins. Expect lots of new sweet treats over the summer, and remember, if you have any requests or suggestions e-mail me at dani@sweettreatsdani.com or find us on facebook :)

What better way to start off summer with some refreshing lemon pie? These two-bite pies are great for your next BBQ with some friends, or your next work social.

Pie Crust

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1/2 cup butter
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
2 tbsp cold water

Steps

-In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, lemon zest, and butter until small, coarse crumbs appear. (I used a fork for this, but it would have been easier with a pastry cutter.)
-In small bowl, combine egg yolk and water. Stir into flour mixture.
-Knead pie dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.

-Preheat oven to 375F. Spread pie dough into an ungreased mini-muffin pan (makes 24). Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. (They will puff up, don't worry!)
-Let cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on wire rack.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients

1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tbsp butter
3 egg yolks, lightly beaten

Steps

-Mix cornstarch and water together in medium saucepan. Add sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly.
-Stir half of hot lemon mixture into slightly beaten eggs. Add egg mixture to saucepan. Bring to gentle boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and cook for 2 minutes.
-Pour into bowl and cover with plastic wrap (touching the surface of the curd) and chill until needed.

-Once pie shells and curd have cooled completely, fill shells with about 1 1/2 tsp of curd each. (There will probably be a little left over, but that shouldn't be a problem... Lick that spoon!!!)

***I used 2 lemons for the zest and juice in this recipe.

#82) Irish Bread Pudding

2011-01-10T21:08:00.000-03:00

Happy New Year everyone :) I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas season with lots and lots of sweet treats and turkey!

Husband and I spent our very first Christmas in our new home this year, just the two of us... It was hard being away from our families, but we had a great Christmas nonetheless.

But just because our families weren't around doesn't mean our friends weren't :) We had a great Christmas Day dinner complete with Gingerbread Cheesecake (coming soon) and a very delicious Irish-themed New Year's Eve dinner... complete with Irish Bread Pudding and Sticky Whiskey Caramel. (I know the previous post is very similar, but consider this one a slight improvement)...

Irish Bread Pudding

Ingredients

1 loaf sliced cinnamon raisin bread, torn into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 cups milk
1 375 mL can evaporated milk
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar

Steps

-Put bread pieces in a large glass bowl and drizzle with butter.

- Heat milk and evaporated milk with vanilla. Let cool slightly so the eggs do not scramble in the next step.

- Beat eggs with sugar. Add to milk mixture.

- Add enough mixture to bread to soak and let stand 15 minutes. (Depending on the bread you use, you may not need all the custard mixture. I had about 1 cup left over and I rolled it over into a great Whiskey Rice Pudding - coming soon!)

- Pour bread mixture into well-buttered 13x9 glass baking pan.

- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (325 for convection) or until light golden brown on top.

Serve with sticky caramel whiskey sauce.

Sticky Caramel Whiskey Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tbsp whiskey

Steps

-Add sugar and half the water to a deep steel bottom pan.

-Put over medium heat. Let mixture come to a deep amber colour, watching closely - sugar can burn extremely quickly. Do not stir.

-Once you have a deep amber colour remove from heat. Add whiskey and remaining water. Stir to combine.

-Return to medium heat until the mixture is smooth once again.

-Serve over bread pudding, or just eat with a spoon :)

#81) Cinnamon Bread Pudding

2010-11-28T16:46:00.006-03:00

Do you love food?

I love food. I love food so much that I really, truly hate to see any be wasted.

That's why bread pudding is such an awesome sweet treat - a real "recycler recipe" :) It lets you use up stale bread that would otherwise end up in the trash and you can dress it up with whatever fix-ins you have in the cupboard (chocolate chips, dried fruit, bananas)!

For this bread pudding I used some homemade raisin bread (compliments of my mother-in-law) and some whiskey left behind from a recent girls' night.

I made the dessert for a small potluck with some of the girls and it was a hit. Although I found it a tad too sweet, the pudding was rich and the sauce was gooey and delicious - sounds like a great dessert to me :)

What are your favourite "recycler recipes"?

Cinnamon Raisin Bread Bread Pudding

Ingredients

3 cups stale cinnamon raisin bread, torn into bite-size pieces
3/4 cups milk (I used skim)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar (could easily use 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup brown sugar (could easily use 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp molasses
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Steps

-Set aside bread.

-Whisk together milk, eggs, sugars, molasses, vanilla, and cinnamon.

-Add bread and stir to coat. Let sit for 20 minutes.

-Preheat oven to 350oF.

-Butter 6 muffin cups.

-Divide mixture between 6 muffin cups.

-Bake for 15-20 minutes until custard has set. (A kinfe should come out almost clean)

-Let cool slightly in cups before serving.

Whiskey Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 oz whiskey
1/4 cup evaporated milk or heavy cream

Steps

-Melt butter and sugar over medium heat.

-Add whiskey and let cook off for about 10 minutes, stirring often.

-Slowly add milk/cream, stirring constantly. Cook over low-medium heat for another 5 minutes. (I made mine ahead of time and as it sit in the pot it got thicker)

#80) Apple Carrot Cake

2010-11-08T18:25:00.007-03:00

Fall has come and gone here in Labrador, believe it or not! We are actually in the early stages of Winter already. You know what that means? Rich, spicy desserts that fill you up and make you feel warm and fuzzy inside :)

That's exactly what this extremely moist carrot cake does. The addition of grated apple and apple sauce really gives the cake its moisture, and the spices warm it up so you can stay safe from those bitter winter winds. It's all topped off with a thick maple cream cheese frosting that will make anyone go back for seconds!

In my after-school baking group we work very hard to make sure our sweet treats offer maximum flavour and enjoyment with limited amounts of fat and calories. Although this cake has a bit more sugar than we normally would use, it definitely has some of the qualities we look for in a healthier version of an old favorite:

- only 2 tbsp butter in the cake

- no oil

- replacing some of the sugar with maple syrup provides some manganese and zinc

- fat-free cream cheese for the frosting

So give the recipe a try and let me know what you think!

Apple Carrot Cake
Ingredients

2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 maple syrup (get the real stuff, table syrup doesn't have the same flavour)
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used soy milk soured with about 1 tbsp vinegar)
1/4 cup applesauce
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 cup flour (if you want to boost the fibre, use some whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated apple, no peel
1/2 cup grated carrot, no peel

Steps

Preheat oven to 350F.

Spray and 8" pan with non-stick spray.

In a small bowl, combine sugars, butter and maple syrup until well-blended.

Add buttermilk, egg, and applesauce. Mix well.

In a large bowl, combine flour, spices, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients until just combined.

Fold in apple and carrot.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan and continue cooling on a wire rack.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients

1 block fat-free cream cheese
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
500 g icing sugar

Steps

-Combine cream cheese and butter.

-Add rest of ingredients and mix until smooth.

*This recipe makes more icing than you need for the cake. I am saving mine in the freezer for a cupcake recipe I have in the works for this weekend :)

PS - please excuse the pic... souRIRE photography was not around :(

#79) Peanut Butter Blondies

2010-09-12T09:38:00.006-03:00

This past summer has been quite important in my life - a perfect wedding day, an amazing honeymoon, a new SUV, and our first home.... Needless to say, with all the important things going on in our lives recently, my husband (oh that is so fun to say!) and I haven't had a lot of down time, and that means I haven't been in the kitchen a whole lot lately...

But, once we bought the house we decided we should make the kitchen somewhere we would go out of our way to spend time. How are we doing this? A new floor, a fresh coat of paint, and most importantly, a new stove... But not just any stove - this, my dear friends, is a CONVECTION OVEN! For those of you who are scratching your head and asking yourselves what on Earth I am talking about, let me tell you I was in the same state only a few months ago, until I started doing some reading about these amazing ovens. The fan in the back of the convection oven cirulates all the hot air in your oven so you get more even baking in less time. Still not convinved? What if I told you I baked 3 sheets of my chocolate chip cookies at one time and each sheet was perfectly baked to perfection? No burnt bottoms, no undercooked centres - just perfect crispy edges with chewy centres! Seriously, a baker's dream :)

Now on to the blondies - I cam back from our honeymoon in Quebec City with lots of neat ingredients to play with, but one of my favorite was the Belgian milk choclate chips I got at La Fudgerie. If you are ever in the area, it is well worth your time to stop in for a look. (The creme brulee fudge is out of this world!) So I toyed around with a couple of ides for these bad boys, but then decided it was about time for yet another peanut butter and chocolate combo. These bars are kind of like a peanut butter blondie dotted with creamy milk chocolate - are you drooling yet? I thought so!

Now I bet you wanna scroll down for the recipe, don't ya????

Well, I must confess that I have "misplaced" the scrap of paper this beauty was scribbled on, but I am sure all my wonderfully creative friends out there in cyberspace (yes, you!) can whip up something equally as good, or even better in fact!

Happy Baking :)

#78) Strawberry Squares

2010-07-27T07:19:00.007-03:00

Hello again everyone! The summer months sure are flying by, aren't they? Its hard to believe that in just 4 days I will be a married woman!!! Gonna be a good weekend :)

But enough about that and let's get talking about that dessert. (I have to apologize for the quality of the pic... I had to do it myself and, well, my skills stop at the kitchen :p)

I came home to my parents' a few days ago and one of the first things we did was go to a U-Pick for some fresh strawberries. We left the field with almost 20 cups of strawberries!!! The very first thing my dad asked for was a pan of strawberry squares and I couldn't say no :) But if you follow along on this blog at all you know I avoid using any packages in my baking and prefer to do everything from scratch - and those strawberry squares have gelatin in them to keep them nice and firm once they cool. So I done a bit of googling to find a gelatin substitute and what I actually found out was what gelatin is made out - bones, hooves, and connective tissue! (I am done with anything jelly and jiggly) It was time to find another way to make these squares.

So I put myself to work in the kitchen and whipped up a nice syrup, added my berries, and thickened it all with some cornstarch and water, and with my fingers crossed I put the squares in the fridge and hoped for the best.

Although they don't cut out with the same clean edges as the jelly version, they are so tasty and bone-free that my dad forgave me :) What do you think?

Strawberry Filling

2 cups water
1 1/2 cups sugar (could easily be reduced to 1 cup)
3 cups berries (I used whole fresh, but frozen would work too)
2 tbsp cornstarch

- Bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring often.
- Once it reaches a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Add berries and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often.
- Mix cornstarch with enough water to make a liquid, not a paste. Add to berry mixture all at once and stir quickly.
- Continue to cook for 5 more minutes, stirring often.
- Put a large sieve over a large bowl. Pour berry mixture through sieve. (This will separate the berries from the syrup and remove any lumps of the cornstarch mixture.
- Let cool for 30 minutes.

Graham Cracker Bottom

2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp cinnamon

- Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
- Mix together all three ingredients and press into a 9X9 glass baking dish.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, or just until it starts to brown.
- Remove from oven and set aside.

Chantilly Whipped Cream

500 ml whipping cream, cold
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla

- In a cold bowl with cold beaters, whip the cream until soft peaks form (it will take a while so don't give up!)
- Add the icing sugar and vanilla and whip until stiff peaks form.
- Keep cold until ready to use.

Assembly

- Place cooled strawberries from sieve on top of graham cracker bottom.
- Pour enough syrup over the berries to cover. (The leftover syrup is excellent for crepes!!!!)
- Let set in fridge until stiff.
- Cover with whipped cream. (The leftover cream is excellent for crepes!!!!)

Strawberry

#77) Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

2010-06-28T15:17:00.007-03:00

After nearly 2 years of blogging (my blog bday is on the 19th), it is sometimes hard to find new sweet treats to share with you guys. It is true, I tend to stick within my comfort zone of chocolate and peanut butter a lot, but every now and then it is really fun to whip up something totally different than my usual flavour combos, and that's why I enjoyed this cake so much!

I have to admit, until this bad boy came out of the oven, I had never even tasted any lemon and poppy seed sweet treats before - but I have been converted! This cake is so light and citrus flavour is so crisp that each bite addictive. And the four-berry curd in the middle - OMG! I was a little unsure while it was still hot, but once it cooled and settled into the cake.... well, let's just say it was a match made in heaven :)

I am going to be MIA again now for a while - July is gonna be a busy month - so with the exception of a couple of possible posts this week, I won't see you much next month. I am away in beautiful Quebec for two weeks, travelling home to Newfoundland for a week, getting married, and heading back to Quebec for the honeymoon... See you in August!!!

Lemon Poppy Seed Cake

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seed
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup evaporated milk
5 egg whites, room temperature (keep the yolks for the curd)
1/2 tsp sugar

Steps

-Spray 13x9 inch pyrex dish and line with parchment paper (long enough so there are "handles" on each side to lift out cooled cake).

-Preheat oven to 350F.

-In a medium bowl, stir together cake flour, baking powder, salt, and poppy seeds.

-In a large bowl, cream sugar, zest, and butter.

-Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture in 4 additions, starting with milk and ending with flour. Beat after each addition.

-In a separate bowl, beat eggs and 1/2 tsp sugar until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into batter.

-Pour batter into prepared dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in dish for 15 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Cut down the middle to form to square cakes.

Four-Berry Curd

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups berries, fresh or thawed
5 egg yolks, lightly beaten
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Steps

-Melt butter in large sauce pan.

-Add berries, yolks, and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently and mashing berries. Mixture should thicken. (Mine didn't thicken very much so I ended up with a slightly runny curd, but the flavour was great)

-Once thickened, pour through a large strainer to remove the large pieces of berry. Add lemon juice and let cool to room temperature (should thicken more as it cools).

Assembly

-Pour some curd over top of one square cake. Place second cake on top.

(There will be plenty of curd left over to add to individual servings, as desired)

#76) Cinnamon Cupcakes

2010-05-27T11:35:00.009-03:00

Have you missed me? Well, that's not important - what is important is that I have missed you! But I am here with cupcakes in hand hoping you will forgive my long absence, yet again...

Here's the deal, fiance and I are getting married in just 65 days!!! (Yes I am nervous, but everything is falling into place nicely) So to get in shape and shed a few pounds I have hired a trainer and joined a Booty Boot Camp. Let me tell you, this trainer knows her stuff and she makes sure I work hard. But you know what that means, less time to be in the kitchen and super bad guilty conscious for eating all the sweet treats I love so much!

Buuuuuuuuuuuuutttttttt - last weekend was the May Long Weekend and I decided it was about time I got back in the kitchen and started playing with some ideas and ingredients.... the guilty conscious went on vacation :)

I started out wanting cinnamon buns, but I have a strange fear of yeast and am quite nervous about using it... I know, this makes no sense and cinnamon buns would be worth it, right? Yeah, I couldn't do it... So I done the next best thing - cupcakes!!! But sticking with the cinnamon bun craving I slapped some cinnamon sugar in the middle and topped them all with a highly addictive lemon cream cheese frosting. You have to try them!!!!!!!!!

Cinnamon Filling

Ingredients

1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cocoa powder

Steps

- Mix together in small bowl.

Cupcake Batter

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups cake flour (for those of you with AP flour - measure out all your flour, remove 7 tbsp, replace with 7 tbsp cornstarch - def worth the extra effort!)
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup (soy) milk
4 eggs
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla

Steps

- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.

- Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into large, deep bowl.

- Add the butter and 1/2 cup of the milk. Mix on medium speed until smooth.

- In a separate bowl, blend the eggs, egg whites, the remaining 1/2 cup milk and the vanilla. Add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing for 2 minutes on medium speed after each addition. Scrape down the bowl between additions.

Assembly

- Place 1 1/2 tsp cake batter into the muffin liners.

- Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of filling into the muffin cups.

- Cover with more batter, filling cups about 2/3 full. Use a toothpick to swirl the cinnamon centre.

- Bake at 350°F for 18-20.

- Cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 8-oz block (light) cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
Juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
Grated rind of one lemon
1/2 cups icing sugar (this will change depending on moisture content of cream cheese, amount of juice in lemon, etc. - you want a smooth, fluffy consistency, but not pipeable frosting)

Steps

- Beat together all ingredients except icing sugar until combined.

- Add icing sugar 1/2 cup at a time until proper consistency is achieved.

#75) Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

2010-04-30T07:58:00.005-03:00

I went out to a "girls' night" last weekend and thought it would be nice to add a sweet treat to the finger food menu... I had loads of bananas in the kitchen, and a couple handfulls of different kinds of chocolate chips kicking around... Well, what goes better together than banana and chocolate?

The banana bread was good, but I like a nice dense banana bread so to improve I would add another banana next time around. Also, the recipe I tweaked said to use all the batter in one loaf pan, but it was a lot of batter so I divided it into two loaf pans and got two nice loaves.

(PS - please forgive the poor photo, but souRIRE photography wasn't visiting last weekend)

I've got a few more bananas to use up this weekend... any suggestions for a banana sweet treat you'd like to see here?

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips + extra for the top(I used a mixture of white and mini semi-sweet)
2 cups ripe banana (about 4 bananas)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup (soy) milk
2 eggs

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare 2 loaf pans with spray oil.

-In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Set aside.

-In another bowl, mix together bananas, butter, milk, and eggs. Pour over flour mixture and stir just until combined.

-Divide between two loaf pans.

-Sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top (up to you how much!)

-Put loaves in the oven for 3 minutes. Remove and run a butter knife through each loaf lengthwise and widthwise to swirl the chocolate. (I used a "sawing" motion so I didn't drag the batter all over the place)

-Return loaves to oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

-Let cool completely before slicing.

How to Bake: The Prepared Pantry

2010-04-11T14:53:00.005-03:00

Hi everyone!

I know I have been MIA for a while but let me tell you I have not been lying down on the job - during Easter break I made a trip home back to Newfoundland for my bridal shower, where the theme was "Desserts for Dani." We had cake, cookies, cheesecakes, bars, and cupcakes - but I didn't get any good photos, sorry!

While I was on my little trip the folks from The Prepared Pantry contacted me about a great e-book they offer via their website. I should tell you I have been looking for a good how-to baking book for quite some time now - you know, not just a collection of recipes but a book that tells me the who, what, when, where, why, and how of baking. I have found some in bookstores, but am far too frugal to spend $75 on any book. That's why when I got this e-mail I signed up right away. Now, once a week I get a chapter e-mailed to me until I eventually have collected all 250 pages. I am currently on Chp 3 and have found the information very useful and explanatory. Sign up right now!

After I signed up I browsed through their website and found they offer a lot of neat products. Mainly they sell mixes, but you will also find herbs, spices, and tools as well. I have found a dozen or more items I wouldn't mind having, and have bookmarked them all for my fiance to have a look at (hint hint).

I hope you find this site as intersting as I did, and please, let me know if you have found any other similar places I might enjoy :)

#74) Peach Upside-Downs

2010-03-27T11:35:00.003-03:00

I have been drooling over my copy of Better Homes and Gardens' "Ultimate Desserts" since I got it in the mail last week. So I thought today was a good time to try out one of the many recipes I had picked out. The recipe in the book is a Caramelized Fresh Apricot Upside-Down Cake. Well, as I have said before, I live in Labrador so getting anything "fresh" is a pretty hard task. Also, I couldn't find canned apricots, so I went with canned peaches. And I couldn't justify making a whole cake for just myself, so I halved the recipe and made cupcake versions. Oh, and I have to apologize for the quality of the photo - fiance, aka souRIRE photography, wasn't here to do it today.

Here is my version of the recipe:

Syrup

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup butter (almost 2 tbsp)
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp lemon juice

Steps

-combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil for 5-10 minutes (mine was done in about 7), stirring often. You want the syrup to be a rich amber colour. (watch closely as colour begins to change as syrup can go from sweet to burnt in just seconds)

-set aside.

Cakes

Ingredients

6 canned peach slices, drained (I will cut them into smaller pieces next time)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps

-preheat over to 350ºF and lightly spray 6 muffin cups with Pam.
-place peach pieces into muffin cups.
-pour slightly cooled syrup over peach pieces. Set aside.
-stir together flour and baking powder in small bowl.
-in a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in milk and vanilla.
-in a clean, dry bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
-fold one quarter of the egg whites into cake batter. Fold in remaining egg whites.
-using a 1/8 cup measure, divide batter among muffin cups.
-bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (mine took 22 minutes)
-let cool on wire rack in for 5 minutes, then run a knife around edges to loosed cupcakes. Carefully turn over onto a plate. Spoon any remaining syrup over cupcakes.

Brownie Recipe Published!

2010-03-22T16:34:00.009-03:00

Have you ever stopped my mixingbowl.com? Well, I have and it is a great place to share you recipes and find some real keepers from other people. There are loads of groups to join and a new contest every few weeks.

The folks at Better Homes and Gardens selected some recipes from this community to feature in their newest special interest publication, Ultimate Desserts, and guess who is featured on page 6......

You got it - sweettreatsdani :)

They have shared out Strawberry Almond Brownies with all their readers.

But when you pick it up don't stay glued to page 6, because I am already drooling over the pages and pages of tempting sweet treats. It is definitely a book I welcome to my collection with open arms, for more than selfish reasons :)

#73) Peach Partinis

2010-03-14T10:14:00.009-03:00

This recipe has a sordid past...

1) You know how when you come across a great ingredient you need to find a recipe that really showcases it? Well, that was how this recipe started - my fiance came home with farm-fresh eggs... Now we all know I am more of a baker than a cook, and that I have a somewhat dependant relationship with chocolate...

2) Also, I was recently invited to join the cooking/baking community over at Cook Eat Share. (I have seen plenty of online communities, but I find this one easy to navigate and full of delicious recipes with helpful reviews.)

So between my new farm-fresh eggs and Cook Eat Share membership, I thought, well I will find a great recipe in my new community to showcase these eggs... And boy did I! I am not sure how many of you are familiar with French patisseries, but they are a little bit of Heaven here on Earth, and most serve this decadent, fudgey flourless chocolate cake... It consists of lots of chocolate and lots of eggs... We're off to a good start right?

Have I mentioned fiance and I live in two different towns, separated by 285 km of gravel highway? Yeah, we are. And we drive this nearly every weekend. This means half of my kitchen supplies are in one kitchen, while the rest are in the other...

Pitfall #1 - my round cake pans are in the other kitchen.
Oh, that's fine! Let's make mini versions in the muffin pan. Great@

Pitfall #2 - fiance's oven is on steroids and burns everything in record time, including my pretty little mini cakes :(
Oh, that's fine! Let's cut off the burnt bits and use the middles for something else.

That's how these Peach Partinis were born. Thank goodness, too, because they were fantastic!!! Our friends ate them up, as you can see :)

Ingredients

12 ounces chocolate (I used semi-sweet)
2/3 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
5 eggs, separated

Canned peaches (in water)
Cool Whip

Steps

- Preheat oven to 350 F

- Spray pan (9" round or 15 muffin tins) with spray oil.

- Melt the chocolate, butter and granulated sugar together until the ingredients are thoroughly blended. Set the mixture aside to cool.

- Whisk the egg yolks into the chocolate.

- Beat the egg whites in a large bowl just until they form peaks; do not over-beat egg whites.

- Add one-third of the egg whites to the chocolate batter and mix vigorously.

- Gently fold in the remaining whites. Do this slowly and patiently. Do not over mix, but be sure that the mixture is well blended and that no streaks of whites remain.

- Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake until the cake if firm and springy, 35-40 min.

- If you want the parfait dessert just layer Cool Whip, chocolate cake pieces, and fruit until your dessert dish is full :)

#72) Lovely Lemon Squares

2010-03-07T18:47:00.008-03:00

Living alone has its pros and cons, but the severe lack of taste-testers has to be my biggest con.... However, my fiance was here for the weekend and we had some friends over for dinner - the perfect opportunity to try out a brand new recipe! I had never made lemon squares before and was really excited to try and recreate that creamy sweet and tart lemony filling my mom makes from that ever popular blue Shirff box (oh, you know the one!). It was pretty touch and go for a while - is the bottom supposed to be this crumbly? is it supposed to smell like egg? But in the end, once they had cooled, they were perfect! Just as good, or better, than that popular blue box HaHa!

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp lemon rind
1/2 cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp icing sugar

Steps

-Preheat oven to 325ºF.

-Beat together butter, sugar, and salt until light and fluffy.

-Add flour in 2 additions.

-Press into 13X9 pan (I used a glass to pat it in evenly).

-Bake for 35 minutes, until slightly golden. Let cool.

-Beat eggs with sugar until thick. Add lemon rind, juice, flour, and baking powder.

-Pour over baked bottom.

-Bake for 25-30 minutes, just until the centre is set. (The top will have a bubbly white crust, don't worry!)

-Let cool and slice. Dust with icing sugar.

#71) Greek Shortbread

2010-01-27T20:27:00.008-03:00

This lovely looking sweet treat also played a part in my New Year's cookie buffet, too. Although everybody else seemed to favour the Dirty Bottoms, I actually prefer these guys. I am a shortbread lover and I like pretty much all varieties, but this one was really great because it had a great texture and a crumb that melted the second it hit your tongue, and the sweetness from the icing sugar is, well, the "icing on the cake!"

Give 'em a go and let me know what you think :)

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 tsp vanilla (I used homemade vanilla that was given to me as a Christmas gift and it was awesome! Thanks Laura :))
2 3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silpat.

-Beat together butter and icing sugar. Add egg yolk and vanilla.

-Sift in flour and baking powder. Beat until combined then knead with hands until smooth.

-Roll into small balls (about 2 dozen) and place on cookie sheets. Flatten with hand.

-Bake for 15 minutes, or until pale golden brown.

-Meanwhile, sift icing sugar onto falt plate. Place hot cookies in icing sugar. Let sit for 3 minutes and then sift more icing sugar over top.

-Let cool completely.

#70) Dirty Bottoms

2010-01-17T20:39:00.005-03:00

Have you ever had a "to-do" list so long you never seem to finish it? It seems that since Christmas my list has multiplied every single day, morphing into this new creature I don't even recognize... lesson plans, chores, cooking, errands, gym, evening classes.... it all adds up.

But, this is me taking over and deciding that cookies come first on my list all the time :)

These cookies are a melt-in-your-mouth shortbread dipped in creamy milk chocolate. They were made as part of a cookie buffet for a New Year's Eve party, but I was kind of stuck on a name for them so I asked a group of friends to name them... "Dirty Bottoms" was the very first suggestion, and no matter how cute or creative the following names were, we all decided that these cookies will be forever known as Dirty Bottoms! I hope you enjoy this sweet treat as much as we did.

Ingredients

7 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Steps

-Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

-Beat together butter, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

-Add flour and baking powder. Stir until combined.

-Roll dough into small balls (yields 1 dozen). Place balls on cookie sheet.

-Press down balls (I used a tip from my cookie press, but a fork will work).

-Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until a pale golden colour. (Watch closely as they will burn easily).

-Let cool completely.

-Melt chocolate in double boiler. Dip bottom of cookies in chocolate. Let excess drip off.

-Let cool top-side down until chocolate has hardened. (Keep refrigerated so chocolate does not melt).

*Makes 1 dozen cookies.

#69) Banana Coffee Cake

2009-11-09T17:21:00.003-03:00

Can I just say that living alone is one the most depressing things I have ever done? And this fact is just emphasized every single time I go into the kitchen - breakfast for one, lunch for one, dinner for one, tea for one, and most sadly of all, dessert for one!

I know you are probably all saying "Enough with the self-pity, already." But this is a huge issue for me because not only am I lonely, but now because I have no one to share my goodies with I make them a lot less often, and that makes me sad, too.

Ok, my rant is over, I promise. Now let me tell you just how good this coffee cake is. I done some reading and researching when I decided to turn my latest batch of rotting bananas into a sweet treat and through the jigs and the reels I came up with a very moist, very tasty, and semi-light coffee cake (if you cut the amount of chocolate, drastically LOL). My only issue was that I added a little too much chocolate. I know, I can hear your gasps of shock and disbelief, but it's true - it was a little too chocolate-y, even for me. But other than that it is fantastic and will now be a go-to recipe, when fiance comes to visit and I have someone to share it with that is :)

Ingredients

3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used minis, and will probably use like 1/3 cup next time)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, but you can use whatever you have on hand)
1/2 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 egg white
3 mashed bananas
3 tbsp sour cream (I used fat free)

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350º and spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray.

-Mix together first 4 ingredients and set aside.

-Sift together dry ingredients.

-Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg white, bananas, and sour cream.

-Stir in dry ingredients with as few strokes as possible.

-Pour half of batter into pan. Spread half the streusel over top. Cover with remaining batter. Spread remaining streusel over top.

-Bake for 25-30 minutes.

#68) Creamy Cheesecake

2009-10-12T08:24:00.009-03:00

You feel neglected, I understand. No, you're right, I haven't been paying enough attention to you. I have been very distant lately.

Well folks, I have been away so long because I have found that living alone means I am responsible for eating anything and everything that is baked in my apartment, and with a wedding coming up that probably isn't a good idea!

However, I braved that Trans-Labrador highway this weekend to spend Thanksgiving with my man :) and we had a great turkey dinner with some friends. You know what that means, right? I had a perfect excuse to make some dessert!!!

So here it is - the creamiest cheesecake you will ever eat. My end result was very creamy, almost too creamy, but I think I know where I went wrong. First of all, I think I should have baked it a little longer than I did. I took it out after a respectable amount of time, but I did not take into consideration that the seal is gone on fiance's oven... Result - an almost runny centre. But, the guests still ate it and really enjoyed it... So much so that the whole 10" cake is gone! But I think the bakeapple sauce helped :)

Ingredients

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted

2 (8-ounce) packs cream cheese, softened (I used light)
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 cups sour cream (I used fat free)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350º.

-Mix together first three ingredients. Press into bottom of a greased 10" springform pan and up about 1" along the sides. Let sit in fridge while making the filling.

-Beat cream cheese until smooth.

-Add eggs, one at a time.

-Gradually add sugar.

-Stir in sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla.

-Pour into crust-lined pan.

-Place a dish of water on the bottom rack of the oven to stop your cheesecake from drying out and cracking.

-Bake for 1 hour. The middle should be slightly jiggly.

-Let cool in pan for 30 minutes then move to fridge for several hours, overnight if possible.

-Enjoy!

#67) Indulgent PB Cookies

2009-09-06T09:45:00.006-03:00

OMG!!! I have missed you guys soooooo much this summer!!!!!!!

My summer was super crazy this year and I only made it into the kitchen 2 or 3 times :( On the bright, though, I have my Bachelor of Education all done and am officially a certified teacher :D I am all settled into my new apartment and am getting comfortable in my new job.

So you know what that means - I am back and ready to bake :)

You may notice a peanut butter and chocolate theme on my blog that arrives in spurts. Well, let me tell you that those spurts always coincide with a visit with my brother. He has come to help me settle in here and as a small reward I offered to make a new sweet treat, and of course, he demanded a chocolaty and peanut buttery version. And trust me, I am not one to disappoint :p

We had a really hard time naming these, by the way, because there is so much going on: not only do we have my favourite peanut butter cookie so far, but we have the best chocolate icing I have ever made, AND mini caramel Rolos on top!!! (Thank you for the applause! LOL)

So please, stay tuned for more frequent posts now that I have a kitchen again, and try out these cookies because you will never want another plain PB cookie again :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 375°F. (I found this a little high and reduced to 350°F)
-Beat together shortening and peanut butter. Add sugars and beat until fluffy.
-Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Combine.
-Sift together dry ingredients. Add to peanut butter mixture.
-Roll into balls and place on ungreased baking sheet.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes.
-Let cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
2 1/2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps

-Stir cocoa into melted butter.
-Alternately add milk and icing sugar, beating between additions.
-Add more milk if necessary.
-Stir in vanilla.

Assembly

Spread icing on tops of cooled cookies. Add mini rolos. Hide the cookies, because if not they will disappear HaHa!

#66) Strawberry Almond Brownies

2009-07-19T16:11:00.004-03:00

I recently started a Facebook page and I have been using this page to get suggestions from my fans about what to bake next. Strawberries seemed to be the theme this week, so I paired that suggestion with my craving for brownies and these tasty creations were born. Now that they are finished I would have to admit I would change a thing or tow next time around:

I used a little too much cake filling - I should have used just enough to fill the centre, leaving about an inch edge so that the brownie layers could have baked together more.

Also, they taste very rich, as in like dark chocolate, and most of the people I share my treats with like milk chocolate more so I should have stuck to white sugar and upped it a little, I think. But if you prefer dark chocolate, like me, they are great!

So please give them a try and let me know what you think! And if you want to join my Facebook page just click the badge in the sidebar :)

Strawberry Cake Filling

Ingredients

2 cups strawberries, cut into halves
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch

1/3 cup chocolate chips

Steps

-Boil strawberries, water, and sugar until most half the water has evaporated. Reduce to low heat.
-Mix together cornstarch with enough water to make a runny paste. Add to strawberry mixture, constantly stirring, until strawberry mixture begins to thicken.
-Continue to cook for 5 minutes over low heat. Let cool slightly.

Brownies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (white will be fine)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 cup almonds, chopped

Steps

-Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 8x8 inch pan.
-Mix together butter, sugar, and vanilla.
-Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition.
-Add cocoa. Beat until blended.
-Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Beat well.
-Stir in half of almonds. Reserve rest for later.

Assembly

-Pour half brownie mixture into prepared pan.
-cover with cake filling (I would suggest using just enough filling to cover the brownies within one inch of the edge).
-Sprinkle chocolate chips over top.
-Cover with remaining brownie batter.
-Sprinkle remaining almonds over top.
-Bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely.

#65) Gooey Pecan Cake

2009-06-26T15:08:00.003-03:00

This cake was made because my two besties are coming for supper today - my maid of honour and a high school friend, who is her bf :) Although we are all looking forward to the BBQ, this dessert will be the highlight of the meal, I think. The chocolate cake is spiced up with some cinnamon, and the pecan topping is gooey and sweet enough to cut the cinnamony taste. Looking forward to sharing this one!!!

Pecan Topping

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter (not margarine)
3 tbsp margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp water
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup pecan halves

Steps

-Melt butter and margarine in a medium saucepan.
-Add brown sugar and water. Bring to a boil and keep boiling for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Mixture will be smooth.
-Add chopped pecans to mixture. Add remaining pecans. Set aside.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Steps

-Grease a 10-inch springform pan. To prevent leakage wrap the outside of the pan with aluminum foil. (I had some issues with leakage, so I would caution you to place to pan on a foil-lined cookie sheet before putting it in the oven. There is nothing worse than burnt sugar in the bottom of the oven!)

-Place a tine can filled with dried beans in the centre. I also lined this with foil and sprayed it.

-Preheat oven to 350°F.

-Beat butter with sugar and vanilla.

-Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

-Combine dry ingredients. Add to egg mixture alternately with sour cream (3 additions dry, 2 additions sour cream).

-Add pecan topping to bottom of greased pan. Pour batter over top and spread out.

-Bake for 50 - 60 minutes. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Turn out onto cake pan, replacing any nuts stuck to the pan.

#64) German Chocolate Chewies

2009-06-24T19:40:00.004-03:00

I know, I know... The topping on these suckers looks less than appetizing, BUT it sure does taste good!

These little things were made as a treat for a cousin of mind who has a sweet tooth just as big as mine :) They are quite similar to one of my favorite cakes, German Chocolate Cake, but the bite-sized version is even better. The brownie cookie is great on its own, with a chewy texture and chocolately flavour, but the gooey crunchy topping adds a great new twist!

Brownie Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup shortening
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet and milk)

Steps

-Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Beat together brown sugar, shortening, water, and vanilla. Add eggs. Beat well.
-Combine flour, cocoa, salt, and baking soda. Add to shortening mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
-Drop by rounded tablespoonful and bake for 7-9 minutes.
-Cool completely.

German Topping

Ingredients

1/2 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup white sugar
1/8 cup shortening
1/8 cup butter
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Steps

-Combine evaporated milk, sugar, shortening, butter, and egg yolks in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until thickened.
-Remove from heat. Add vanilla, coconut, and pecans. Cool completely.
-Frost cookies.

*Makes 3 dozen cookies.

#63) Caramel Cocoa Cakes

2009-06-19T17:48:00.005-03:00

OMG! These things are amazing! Not to toot my own horn, but wow! I came home to visit the fam yesterday so of course my brother was immediately asking for Peanut Butter Balls, but you know me, I always want to try something new :) So he said if I could get caramel inside a chocolate cupcake he would love me... He obviously doesn't realize just how easy this is! :) And what goes best with chocolate cupcakes then chocolate ganache???

Cocoa Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with papers.
-Sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
-Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
-Divide into muffin tins (about 18).
-Bake for 20 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time.

Caramel

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
6 tbsp butter
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Steps

-Bring sugar and water to a boil over medium heat. Whisk until crystals are dissolved.
-Boil syrup until an amber colour begins to take form.
-Add butter. Whisk.
-Remove from heat and count to five. Add milk slowly, whisking.
-Let cool for at least one hour.

Ganache

Ingredients

1 cup chocolate
3/4 cup heaving whipping cream
2 tbsp butter

Steps

-Put chocolate in steel bowl.
-Heat cream and butter over medium heat.
-Pour hot cream mixture over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes.
-Stir until smooth.

Assembly

-Using a serrated knife at an angel, cut a cone out of the top of each cooled cupcake.
-Fill the hole with cool caramel and ganache.
-Replace cone.
-Top with ganache.

#62) Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

2009-06-07T07:45:00.006-03:00

Hey everyone!!! I made it home to my parents' for a quick weekend visit, so of course, the first thing I done was whip up a chocolate and peanut butter treat for my brother. I was having a super bad craving for peanut butter cookies so I figured the best way to make brother happy was to squeeze some chocolate in the middle - GOOD IDEA :) The cookies are surprisingly chewy and the ganache, my first attempt, is addictive. I had some extra ganache left over so my dad is using it as a dip for the sandwiches because he said we didn't put enough in the middle LOL. Let me know what you think!

I head back to my summer living accommodations later today so I probably won't be back for a while, but keep me in mind later the summer :)

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
Pinch of cloves
1 stick butter, room temp
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp molasses
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar, for rolling

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
-Sift together flour, baking soda, and cloves.
-Cream butter. Beat in penaut butter. Add sugar and molasses. Beat for 1 minute.
-Add eggs and beat until incorporated.
-Add dry ingredients and stir until combined. The dough with be somewhat "mushy" but you can still mold it in your hands.
-Roll 1/2 tbsp measures of the dough into balls, roll in sugar and place on baking sheet.
-Criss-cross with a fork.
-Bake for 8-9 minutes. Let cool completely.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients

3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter
1 cup + 2 tbsp chocolate, chopped (I used milk chocolate, but I think dark would have been a better match)

Steps

-Put chocolate in a steel bowl.
-Bring cream and butter to a boil. Pour over chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes.
-Stir until smooth.
-Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Sandwich Assembly

-Put ganache in a piping bag and pipe a swirl in the back of a cookie (they should be matched by size) and press the second cookie in top.
-Refrigerate until firm.

#61) PB Brownie Bars

2009-05-07T21:37:00.007-03:00

Ok, I have a couple of apologies to make:

1) I am sorry to those of you who have come here looking for those super-duper healthy sweet treats I keep promising to experiment, but the baking demands of my brother always include chocolate and peanut butter, and although I use light pb, it still isn't very healthy... I am sorry if you feel misled :(

2) Apology #2 is for my future actions - or lack thereof... I am heading back to university for the summer, but there is a considerable amount of moving involved for an extra bout of teaching practice and classes so I will not have my "own" kitchen for quite some time... Although I will try my best to get some sweet treats up here for all my lovers - I can't make any promises :(

Now that that's over on to better and chocolate-ier things :)

This bar is a new take on my brother's favorite treat - Peanut Butter Balls. The brownie bottom is, I hear, excellent, seeing as it isn't "safe" for me... and the peanut butter looks so ooey, gooey that it must be amazing :) Please give 'em a try and let me know what you think!

Brownie Bottom

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chocolate (I used milk)
1 1/2 cups sugar
Dash salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup flour
2 tbsp cocoa

Steps
-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 9x9 pyrex dish with foil and spray.
-Melt butter and chocolate together. Let cool slightly.
-Add sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix until incorporated.
-Beat in eggs one at a time.
-Mix in flour and cocoa just until combined.
-Turn into dish and bake for 35-45 minutes, rotating halfway through.

Peanut Butter Filling

Ingredients
1 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup icing sugar
Dash salt
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Step
-Beat together until well combined.

Chocolate Topping

Ingredients
1 cup chocolate (I used milk)
1/4 cup butter

Steps
-Melt together.
-Pour over cooled brownies and chill for at least 2 hours.

#60) Cinnamon Bun-fins (& Joy)

2009-05-05T13:59:00.003-03:00

So have you all heard that Adopt-a-Blogger is back for round three?!?!?! And this time around I'm having a go at it - as a newbie, of course :)

As part of Adopt-a-Blogger I have to introduce you all to my mentor, although she needs no introduction at all - Ms. Joy the Baker!!! I am sure most, if not all, of you are already familiar with this kitchen crusader - I have been following her since the day I started my blog :) Her recipes are fantastic, but what I enjoy most about Joy's posts are her whimsical ramblings that never fail to make me laugh out loud! Check her out if haven't already.

To best introduce, no, to best praise Joy I had a go at one of her recipes I have been eying for quite some time - Easy Cinnamon Roll Muffins. They are fabulous! And not to mention, easy as could be! The only big thing I changed was regular milk to soy milk, and it worked fine, so make your own and enjoy licking your fingers :)

Bread Base
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp yeast
2/3 cup warm (soy) milk
3 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg

Steps
-Stir together dry ingredients.
-Stir yeast into warm milk.
-Add the milk mixture, oil, vanilla, and egg to dry mixture. Stir until smooth.
-Place in greased bowl and let sit for 15 minutes.
-Make cinnamon topping (below).
-Divide bread base between 12 greased muffin cups. Add topping. Place into cold oven and set temperature to 350°F. Bake for 20 minutes.
*If any of the cinnamon topping has spread onto the pan use a butter knife to sweep it back onto the buns before they cool.

Cinnamon Topping
Ingredients

2 tbsp butter
2/3 cup brown sugar (I only had white on hand so I added about 1 tsp molasses)
3/4 tsp cinnamon
pinch allspice
*I had loads left over so if you want to half this part go ahead.

Steps

-Mix all ingredients together until well incorporated.

Frosting
Ingredients

1 cup icing sugar
1-2 tbsp (soy) milk

Steps

-Add milk by half teaspoon measure until desired consistency is reached.
-Pipe onto warm buns with plastic bag.

*Make sure you lick you fingers clean :)

#59) Peanut Butter Cups

2009-05-04T09:33:00.002-03:00

On my way back to campus for the summer I have stopped in with my family for a week or so.... and this means I have been put back on "real" baking duty. My family, especially my brother, loves sweets!!! In my brother's case - if it is chocolate and peanut butter it is as good as gold.... So for my first family treat I made homemade peanut butter cups. These treats are so much better than the ones you buy in the store! I find the store ones have a filling that is way toooooooo dry so I make my own nice and creamy! Other than that chocolate on the outside these actually fit nicely into my new eating rules so i left a few uncovered LOL. When I made these suckers I only had a dozen muffin liners on hand, so once they were filled I added some rice crispies to the peanut butter mixture and melted some extra chocolate - voila! peanut butter balls... Needless to say my brother was a very happy boy this day :)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups chopped chocolate (I used milk chocolate)
1 cup + 4 tbsp peanut butter, divided
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

Steps

-Melt chocolate in double boiler. Add 4 tbsp peanut butter. Let cool slightly.
-Add a tsp of melted chocolate to the bottom of each muffin liner. Let harden in fridge.
-Shape peanut butter mixture into patties and place on top of hardened chocolate. Cover entirely in additionally melted chocolate. Let harden in fridge.

*These are best stored in the fridge... they get too soft otherwise.

#58) Chewy Ginger Cookies

2009-04-28T10:48:00.003-03:00

So the in-laws came to town yesterday :) I can't remember the last time I seen my fiance so excited - he gets to see his parents, and his brother and nephew :) In order to make him even happier I gave in to his constant beggings for "real" cookies - with butter and eggs LOL

I am confident these little treats were a good choice because between him and his dad the whole batch is pretty much gone! When they came out of the oven the outside had a great crunch to it while the inside was warm and chewy... As they cooled the outside lost the crunch and they are now a truly chewy cookie.

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Steps

-Beat butter for 30 seconds.
-Add brown sugar, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon. Beat.
-Beat in egg and molasses.
-Beat in flour.
-Chill dough for 1 hour.
-Roll into tablespoon balls and roll in sugar and cinnamon mixture.
-Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, until tops are cracked.

#57) Hawaiian Drops

2009-04-26T15:39:00.005-03:00

This, boys and girls, is my new baking reality - no dairy, no fat, no yolk.... BUT, please don't feel bad for me because these cookies were awesome!!! Jam-packed with pineapple and raisins, the texture was soft and chewy, and with combo of brown sugar, honey, and maple syrup, the flavour had many layers and left me wanting more every time I took a bite.... I have to say, these new restrictions don't seem to be too hard to deal with, my only issue is the change in the texture of my sweet treats, but I am sure I will get used to that... And better yet, now my treats are healthier so I can eat more of 'em, right? :)

Ingredients

1/4 cup flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 cup applesauce
3 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup pineapple, crushed with juice

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and grease or line a cookie sheet.
-Mix together dry ingredients. Set aside.
-Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Add applesauce, syrup, and honey. Mix well.
-Stir in raisins and pineapple.
-Add wet mixture to dry ingredients and let sit for 10 minutes.
-Spoon onto sheet by tablespoonful and bake for 20 minutes.
-Let cool on wire rack.

#56) Double Chocolate Chippers

2009-04-21T10:57:00.006-03:00

I know, I know, this recipe doesn't fit in at all with my new diet restrictions - but, they aren't for me. They are actually for my students. I finished up my internship a couple of weeks ago and leave to head back to campus shortly so I wanted to bring them one last treat before I leave town.

Making these cookies was fun because my fiance decided to help out. I am not sure if I have ever mentioned here just how cute my man is - he is romantic, cuddly, funny, and sweet, but one thing he is not is "kitchen-inclined." That aside, he started creaming the butter and sugar, well, more like whipped, and then he beat in those eggs, again, more like whipped... When it came time spoon out the dough it was obvious the consistency was not right - baking it like it was would have given me some sort of meringue crossbreed - interesting, but not what I was looking for. So we added in more flour and cocoa and hoped for the best...

And better they were! These cookies have a very cocoa-y flavour and the texture is spot on. A somewhat cakey cookies with slightly crunchy edges. Although the maple flavour of the syrup doesn't come through as I had hoped they are still very satisfying cookies! (Now only if they fit into my new diet LOL... Hmm... maybe I will play with it a bit and see what I come up with.)

Thanks for your help babe <3

Ingredients

1 cup cake flour
2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-In a small bowl, combine flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
-In a large bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and maple syrup; beat until creamy.
-Beat in eggs to butter mixture, one at a time.
-Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. (I add it in thirds)
-Stir in chocolate chips.
-Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes.

#55) No-Fat Banana Muffins

2009-04-17T09:03:00.007-03:00

So a recent visit to the doctor ended in me being told I have a difficult-to-manage digestive issue... Well, that sounds fun! And when he said "difficult-to-manage" he wasn't joking: no dairy, no red meat, no egg yolk, less sugar, less fat, no alcohol, no carbonated beverages, minimal raw fruits and veggies... I will stop there as not to bore you. Based on that you can imagine the difficulty I am having in the kitchen, both with cooking and baking. I have a pretty good handle on the cooking side of things, finding new ways to dress up chicken and potatoes, but I am still struggling with the baking - I mean really, no butter and no egg yolks?!?!?!
This recipe is my first attempt at something safe for me, and I gotta say I wasn't super pleased, but wasn't super disappointed either. The muffins have a toughness to them, but it is almost forgiven due to the intense banana flavour.... You be the judge!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 egg whites
2 mashed bananas
1/4 applesauce, unsweetened

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and line 12 muffin cups.
-Stir together dry ingredients.
-In another bowl, mix together wet ingredients. I left some small chunks of banana in my mixture and it was very nice in the end product.
-Add wet ingredients to dry mixture and stir just until combined.
-Divide between 12 muffins cups.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes.

#54) Mini Bakeapple Lava Cakes

2009-04-12T11:27:00.006-03:00

We are invited out for Easter dinner today so, as usual, I took on the role of "dessert maker." The friend hosting dinner is the very same friend who recently gave me some bakeapples. I thought it only appropriate to make a divine dessert with these tart berries for the evening. I wanted to do a simple cake, nothing too fancy, because I am still in the experimenting stages with bakeapples and do not want to pair it with the wrong flavours. (As I have mentioned before, there are virtually no recipes written for bakeapples so it is all experimentation for me!). Then I thought, wouldn't it be cute to give everyone their very own dessert? Of course! So I divided the batter into my jumbo muffin pan and got these adorable little cakes. Slice them in half, pack some berry filling, and presto - individual desserts! I know many of your do not have access to bakeapples, or even know what they are, but I can tell you that this sponge cake paired with a raspberry or blueberry filling would be amazing! Play with it :)

Happy Easter!!!

Sponge Cake

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
3 eggs, room temperature (beaten)
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour

Steps

-Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until the mixture is pale in colour and light and fluffy.
-Add beaten eggs, a teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
-Sift flour and salt and carefully add to the mixture, folding in with a metal spoon or spatula.
-Bake in greased pan(s) for 25-30 minutes, until golden and pulling away from sides.
-Let cool completely, cut in half (if applicable), and add filling*.
-Dust with icing/caster sugar.

*Berry Filling

Ingredients

2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 tbsp cornstarch

Steps

-Bring berries and 1/3 cup water to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
-Strain the berry mixture and return to heat.
-Add cornstarch to remaining water. Whisk into berry mixture.
-Add sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
-Cool completely.

#53) Salted Peanut Butter Cookies

2009-04-08T08:14:00.005-03:00

These little treats will be taken to a class get-together for an evening class I teach. We will be hanging out with another class doing a more advanced course. Last time around I made the Banana Bites with Cinnamoney Frosting, but this time I was more in the mood for a cookie (that mood has been around for a while now if you haven't notice :p). These cookies lend themselves well to variations - creamy or smooth peanut butter, chocolate chips, and in my case, coarse salt. I tried adding the salt a couple of ways - over top of the dough before they were baked, and then on the freshly baked cookies. I like the second way better :) The salt adds another level to the cookies but doesn't overpower the nutty pb taste.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 egg
Coarse salt for sprinkling

Steps

-Line a cookie sheet and preheat oven to 350°F
-Sift together dry ingredients and set aside.
-Cream together peanut butter, butter, and sugars. Add milk and egg. Beat well.
-Add dry ingredients in fourths. Do not overbeat.
-Drop onto lined cookie sheet by tablespoonful. Sprinkle with coarse salt.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden.
-Let cool on wire rack.

#52) Carrot Muffins & CC Frosting

2009-04-07T10:12:00.009-03:00

This recipe was actually one of the first I posted here on Sweet Treats. Since the first time I used this recipe I have never used another... I have played with this one to get it right where I want it and doubt I will ever stray from it. It is rich, heavy enough, and packed with carrot, raisins, and pineapple. This time I decided to add some cream cheese frosting (well, I was more coerced to add cream cheese frosting bc fiance had a craving LOL). But I have to say I am more than happy with the outcome. Not a drop of oil or ounce of butter in the muffins means you can indulge in the creamy frosting, right?

Carrot Muffin
Ingredients

1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup raisins
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp applesauce
2 large eggs
3 cups grated carrot
1 cup canned crushed pineapple, drained (reserve juice and add by tsp if batter is too dry) *I added 2 this time, but it varies

Steps

-Sift together dry ingredients. Set aside.
-Add the pineapple, carrot, eggs, and applesauce to another bowl. Mix until combined.
-Add dry ingredients in thirds, mixing until incorporated after each addition.
-Pour into muffin cups and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

**I made 1 dozen regular muffins and 3 jumbos :)

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1 pk light cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 cup icing sugar

Steps

-Beat together cream cheese and butter.
-Add icing sugar gradually.
-Beat to a thick consistency.
-Spread on cupcakes and lick the bowl :)

#51) Bakeapple Blossoms

2009-04-04T07:52:00.007-03:00

I know, I've been away a while, eh? Well, with finishing up my internship and last weekend's wedding show get-away, I haven't spent that much time in the kitchen. But with yesterday being the last day of my internship I thought maybe I should bring in some treats as a thank you to the staff. I didn't want to make anything too fancy because I didn't have a lot of time, so I decided to make some scratch shortbread. But that wasn't enough - they needed something more. So I took out a bag of bakeapples given to me by a good friend and made some of my no-fail berry cake filling, sieved out the seeds, and poured in into indentations in the shortbread. The result was exactly what I was going for - a simple treat with a interesting twist. They were huge hit and will stay in my back pocket now as a go-to recipe :) The cake filling can be replaced with any fruity preserve you like, but if you have access to bakeapples I would give 'em a try!!!

Bakeapple Cake Filling

Ingredients

1 cup bakeapples
1/4 cup water
7 tbsp sugar (adjust according to the tartness of your berries)
2 tsp corn starch

Steps

-Boil berries with 3/4 of the water. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
-Push the cooked berries through a fine sieve, discarding the seeds.
-Whisk corn starch into remaining water. Add cornstarch mixture and sugar to berries.
-Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Let cool completely.

Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients

1 1/8 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour

Steps

- Combine butter, sugar and extract in mixer bowl and beat until creamy.
- Add the flour, scraping often until well mixed.
- Refrigerate dough for 1 hour. Work together with hands upon removing from refrigerator.
- Heat oven to 350°F.
- Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place them on silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Use a tsp measure to make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
- Fill the indentation with a small dollop of your fruit filling.
- Bake for 14 - 18 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned.
- Place cookies in wire rack and cool completely.

#50) Cocoa Nana Cookies

2009-03-23T14:46:00.008-03:00

Wow! My 50th post :) Seems like I should have tried out a more intricate recipe for this blogging landmark, but cookies it is!

At school we are taking our homeroom skiing on Thursday. They are very excited and asked for me to bring in something sweet. One student in particular asked for my Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies. I said yes, but once I got to making them I decided they needed something new, their own identity.... And now we have a chocolaty banana cookie filled with chocolate chips...

They are much better than the originals in my opinion, but you be the judge :)

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda (next time I will lessen this to about 1/2 tsp)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar (remove or crush any large chunks)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup mashed bananas
2 cups chocolate chips

Steps

-Spray cookie sheet (or line with rubber mat) and preheat oven to 350°F.
-Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Set aside.
-Stir together dry ingredients. In three additions, stir the dry mixture into the banana mixture.
-Stir in chocolate chips.
-Drop by tablespoonful onto pan.
-Bake for 7-10 minutes.

*Makes about 60 cookies!

#49) Chocolate Orange Crunchies

2009-03-18T20:42:00.004-03:00

These little guys were an after-thought, really. I was in the kitchen waiting and waiting for my Mega-Orange Muffins to come out of the oven, and all the while I was getting more and more enticed by the citrus aroma filling the room. I got to thinking - what can I do next with some orange zest? Well, chocolate goes great with orange, but I wasn't in the mood for a cupcake or cookie... I wanted 100% chocolate. But, I couldn't make candy with just chocolate and orange zest? Well, really I could have (chocoholic, remember?!?!), but I thought it would be better to load it up with some crunchy extras!

Ingredients

2 cups chocolate chips (good quality)
zest of one very large orange
1 cup toasted almonds, chopped
1 cup coconut, toasted

Steps

-Melt chocolate.
-Stir in zest.
-Add almonds and coconut. Let cool slightly.
-Drop by tablespoonful onto parchment paper until hard.
-Eat, crunch, and be merry :)

#48) Mega-Orange Muffins

2009-03-14T13:10:00.004-03:00

These giant muffins were quite a surprise when I took the first bite!!! I never imagined the orange flavour would be as prominent as it was and the texture was simply perfect. The orange flavour can be attributed to the orange juice and more so to the amount of zest included. The texture can be credited to the use of cake flour and the addition of whipped egg whites. Although I love these muffins as is, next time I am planning on adding some orange jam to the middle before baking :)

Ingredients

2 egg whites
1 3/4 cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup orange juice
zest of one large orange (my orange was the size of a softball!)

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a jumbo muffin pan.
-Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
-Whisk together dry ingredients. Add oil and juice. Mix until combined.
-Gently fold in egg whites.
-Divide between muffin wells and bake for 20 minutes.

#47) Minty Midnight Bars

2009-03-12T08:39:00.009-03:00

I have mentioned before my uncontrollable craving for brownies, and this past week has been no exception. I guess knowing that I am off the whole week for March break has convinced my baking conscience that I can spend all day in the kitchen whipping up sinful treats... Too bad my hips don't have a conscience :)

Anyway, back to the bars - they have a surprisingly chewy brownie base covered with a minty buttercream, then the whole thing in encased by a delicious chocolate shell.

I used food colouring in the buttercream to highlight its minty flavour (from extract), but next time I want to leave it white and use fresh chopped mint. I know that sounds like a mild request, but in Goose Bay finding any fresh herb is a challenge, never mind one like mint HaHa.

I know, I have gabbed enough. Here is the recipe!

Brownie Base

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder

Steps

-Grease 8x8 dish. Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Melt butter. Add sugar and vanilla. Mix well.
-Add eggs and beat until mixed well.
-Add dry ingredients and beat just until blended.
-Pour into prepared dish and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
-Let cool in pan completely.

Minty Buttercream

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tbsp water
3 tsp mint extract
4 drops green food colouring

Steps

-Cream together all ingredients until smooth.
-Spread over cooled brownies.
-Refrigerate until cold and set.

Chocolate Shell
Ingredients

4 tbsp butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Steps

-Melt together in double boiler.
-Let cool slightly.
-Pour over frosted brownies.
-Refrigerate until chocolate hardens (about 1.5 hours).
-Cut in squares and enjoy :)

#46) Banana Bites & Cinnamoney

2009-03-07T20:54:00.005-03:00

I made these mini cupcakes a few days ago in a bit of a rush. I was attending a get-together and had procrastinated on making something to bring along. Then I found a bag of frozen ripe banana in the freezer and these wonderfully coloured mini liners in the cupboard - it was like fate! Okay, maybe not fate, but a very strong suggestion.

They were quite a hit and I would definitely use this recipe again, but next time I might dress it up with some chocolate chips or raisins!

Banana Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Sift together dry ingredients. Make a well in middle.
-Add wet ingredients and hand mix just until blended.
-Divide amongst liners and bake until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cinnamoney Frosting

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp cinnamon

Steps

-Add all ingredients to one bowl and mix until smooth and of spreading/piping consistency.
-Dress up cooled cupcakes :)

#45) Chocolate Chippies 3 Ways

2009-03-03T20:56:00.006-03:00

You know, I love being in the kitchen trying out new recipes. There is always something exciting about baking the unknown... a sense of anticipation. That being said, I still have some recipes I love dearly, but as mentioned in a previous post, because baking time is precious I want to always do something new and interesting. For that purpose I have started re-inventing some old favorites (see my Minty Brownie Drops).

I know everyone must have that special chocolate chip cookie recipe hidden away in that drawer in the kitchen - oh you know what drawer I mean!!! To make mine a bit more interesting today I decided to make the basic dough and divide between three bowls. Each bowl turned into a new and exciting sweet treats :)

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

2 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Cream sugar, vanilla, and butter. Add eggs. Beat well.
-Sift together dry ingredients and add in fourths to butter mixture.
-Divide between three bowls.

Variation #1 - Old Faithful

Milk chocolate chips

Variation #2 - Chocolate Orange

Milk chocolate chips
Zest of one large orange

Variation #3 - Cinnamon Swirl

Milk and white chocolate swirled chocolate chips
2 tsp cinnamon

-Spoon onto baking sheet with a tablespoon and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool on wire rack :)

Another Award :)

2009-03-03T09:17:00.008-03:00

Thanks to Maria over in The Goddess's Kitchen I can add another award to my new collection - the Adoralbe Blog Award...

In Maria's words:

"I visit many adorable and cute blogs that are filled with bright colours, innovative and inspiring pictures and best of all absolutely delicious food, which inspire me daily! I would like to thank all of you who visit my blog and leave such encouraging comments. Passing on this award is my thanks to you and your friendship."

When I sat down and considered all the blogs I visit on a daily basis I simply could not choose a handful that fit this criteria... They are all too wonderful. So instead of choosing a list of adoralbe blogs to pass this award on I will pass it on to one of the most inspiring blogs I follow, one with great photography and wonderful narratives...

Hélène of Tartelette

Please:

- include the award logo in your blog or post
- nominate as many blogs which show adorability, cuteness and charm
- be sure to link to your nominee(s) within your post.
- let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog
- share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.

#44) Fudgey Brownies

2009-03-01T13:31:00.007-03:00

As much as I love cookies, cakes, and cupcakes, brownies are my true favorite - the fudgier the better :)

It is a well known fact I am a true chocoholic, and these rich and chewy brownies are like heaven on a plate. Made with decadent 70% cocoa chocolate the flavour is divine, and the reduced amount of flour allows the batter to bake into a chewy, fudgey brownie that will stick to your teeth! YUMMY!

Ingredients

1 cup 70% cocoa chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup + 1 tbsp flour

Steps

- Line a 9" baking dish with foil and spray with oil. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler. Set aside.
- Beat eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla until pale in color (2 minutes). Whisk in chocolate mixture.
- Fold in flour, mixing as little as possible. Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out of the centre with a small amount of sticky batter on it.

*Any brownie is better with a scoop of ice cream and caramel sauce :)

PS - Don't forget to vote for my Caramel Macchiato Cuppas here! Thanks :)

Cookie Recipe Contest

2009-02-28T14:09:00.004-03:00

Over at Mixing Bowl there is this great little contest for original cookie recipes. I have entered my Cranberry & White Chocolate Chippers, so if you like the recipe please click here to vote for them :) Thanks!

#43) Minty Brownie Drops

2009-02-22T12:07:00.009-03:00

Since I started this blog I have tried dozens of new recipes.... leaving some old favorites behind. I guess with precious time to spare in the kitchen I find repeating recipes boring.

However, today I had an undeniable craving for my minty brownies, but did not want to spend my baking time with an already-accomplished recipe. So, I took that brownie recipe and tweaked it to come up with a matching cookie recipe.

And the result? Well let's just say I am home alone, and the cookies are almost gone :)

Ingredients

2/3 cup shortening
1 1/3 cups brown sugar (I used dark but light would be fine)
1 tbsp water
1 tsp mint extract
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips (I would have used mint chips if I had had any)

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Cream shortening, sugar, water, and extract. Add eggs. Beat well.
-Stir together dry ingredients and add to sugar mixture in three additions. Mix well.
-Stir in chips.
-Drop by tablespoonful onto lined baking sheet (I used a silicone sheet, but parchment paper would do).
-Bake for 10 minutes.
-Let cool on wire rack.

My First Blog Awards!

2009-02-21T14:04:00.005-03:00

I received a couple of awards from Liesl quite some time ago, and it the rush of life, forgot to post about it....

This "lemonade award" was for being a refreshing blog...

And this one for being downright fabulous :)

I want to pass these on to some of my favorite blogs:

Joy the Baker
How to Eat a Cupcake
Dine and Dish
Rosie
the chocolate and peanut butter gallery

Please:
Add the awards to your blog.
Link to the person who gave you them.
Nominate other refreshingly fabulous blogs you love (with their links).
Leave a message for your nominees in their blogs, informing them about the award.

Caramel Macchiato "Cuppas"

2009-02-15T13:37:00.011-03:00

Entry #2 folks!!! This month's theme is coffee, and judging by the submissions to date, it is going to be one tough competition :)

Our February ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

DIANAEVANS - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5599270
as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!
As an added bonus for February, SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in a variety of cupcaking supplies, http://www.acupcakery.com/index.html.

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com; a t-shirt from UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/. Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

I decided to put a cupcake spin on one of my favorite caffinated drinks - the Caramel Macchiato from Coffee Matters in St. John's NL. This comforting drink has the perfect blend of strong coffe and sweet caramel!

My cupcake starts with a coffee cupcake base, and when I say "coffee" I mean strong coffee - a good jolt to start off the day with. Inside there is a gooey centre drenched in homemade caramel sauce - a nice way to cut the good-but-bitter bite of the coffee. A nice swirl of sweet and smooth buttercream tops it all off - just for that sweet tooth.

Coffee Cupcake

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4 1/2 tbsp instant coffee granules
3/4 cup water

Steps

- Preheat oven to 360°F and line 12 muffin cups with papers.
- Cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla. Mix. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition.
- Add dry ingredients, including coffee, and mix well. Mixture will be slightly dry.
- Add water 1/4 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Divide between the 12 muffin cups.
- Bake for 20-22 minutes. Let cool.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup water
6 tbsp butter (real butter, margarine will not taste right)
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Steps

- Put sugar and water in a deep sauce pan. Heat over med heat. Whisk until crystals are dissolved.
- Allow syrup to boil at the same temp for several minutes until an amber color begins to show. Add butter and whisk until melted. Remove from heat and count to five.
- Add milk slowly, whisking constantly. The mixture will bubble so be careful!
- Let cool slightly then transfer to a mason jar to cool overnight.
- Keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.

Buttercream

I used the leftover icing form my Valentine's cake, found here.

Assembly

- Let cupcakes cool til slightly above room temp.
- Transfer caramel to a squirt bottle. Poke tip of bottle into tops of cupcakes and squeeze. The caramel will soak into the cake, giving you the gooey centre, so let them sit and top the holes up several times before icing.
- Pipe buttercream onto filled cupcakes.
- Eat and lick your fingers :)

#42) Chocolate Heart Cake

2009-02-13T17:17:00.004-03:00

Well guys, it's almost love day <3

We had an awesome activity at school today for the kids to kick off the love-fest that is Valentine's Day - a cake auction!!!!

Now, I am a cake lover, and I do not discriminate, BUT scratch cakes are the best, and when they are chocolate they are even better - so what better kind to offer up to the cake auction gods than a dark, rich, and moist chocolate cake????

I know the decorating leaves much to be desired, but I am only learning (this is only the 2nd cake I have ever decorated). Please send me along any tips or hints to make it easier or prettier :)

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp strong coffee
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and grease and flour your pan.
-Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, vanilla, buttermilk, yogurt, and coffee.
-Sift together dry ingredients. Add to wet ingredients in three additions, mixing well after each addition. (Try not to lick the spoon yet!!!)
-Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.
-Let cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp milk

Steps

-Cream shortening and butter together. Add vanilla. Mix.
-Add icing sugar in several additions, mixing well after each addition.
-Mix in milk.
-Decorate :)

#41) Cranberry & White Chocolate Chippers

2009-02-03T21:52:00.006-03:00

So this past Sunday was an interesting day for me...

Since moving back to Labrador again for the winter I decided I was going to make a good effort to enjoy some of the outdoor life the Big Land has to offer. This "good effort" led to my first foray into cross-country skiing ever!!! What a wonderful day the fiance and I had. It was SO fun, even when I was lying on my butt in the middle of the trail LOL!

The local ski club, which offers amazing trails with beautiful views, is volunteer run, so to pitch in I decided it would be a good idea to bring some cookies by for all the skiers to snack on... and a little birdie told me they were very good :)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup chopped fresh cranberries

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F. I used a silicone baking sheet, but if you don't have one, grease your pan.

-Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well.

-Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture in several additions. The dough will be slightly crumbly.

-Stir in chips and cranberries.

-Drop onto pan by tablespoonfuls and bake for 20 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Iron CupcakeEarth Voting

2009-01-29T17:13:00.009-03:00

The time has come everyone - the voting has opened for this month's ICE challenge. Here is a quick recap of my entry:

The theme ingredient was wine, so I decided a light champagne-infused cupcake would be a good place to start. I paired that with a bit of bakeapple syrup, but could not decide on a good frosting.... Then I got to thinking, what is delicate enough to pair with champagne, but rich enough to give the cupcake some weight - white chocolate!!! I added some booze to the frosting, just for good measure :)

Head on over to http://mkecupcakequeen.blogspot.com/ and cast your vote!

#40) Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-01-25T13:05:00.004-03:00

This will be the last installment of my banana bake-athon for a while. We all started to get tired of banana this and that after so many recipes LOL.

These cookies were made for my Grade 9 homeroom's pizza party this past Friday. The kids loved them and asked for more HaHa. They were relatively easy to make and have a great banana taste that is just right with a cup of hot tea :)

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
3 mashed bananas
2 cups chocolate chips

Steps

-Spray cookie sheet and preheat oven to 350°F.
-Beat butter and sugar. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Set aside.
-Stir together dry ingredients. In three additions, stir the dry mixture into the banana mixture.
-Stir in chocolate chips.
-Bake for 7-10 minutes.

#39) Homemade Granola Bars

2009-01-25T12:52:00.005-03:00

Wow! I made these little guys about an hour ago and we have the pan pretty much half gone already!!!

I have been wanting to make my own granola bars for some time now, mainly because I work at a school where nuts are not permitted, and it is quite difficult to find nut-free bars. Also, with the homemade version I know exactly what I am eating, and it doesn't involve any strange chemicals or weird preservatives :)

I found some homemade recipes for granola bars that involved sugar, but I decided the corn syrup was sweet enough, but if you are looking for an even sweeter treat, I would add about 1/3 cup brown sugar. As for the add-ins, I plan on trying raisins and cinnamon, maple syrup and banana, oh the list goes on - be as creative as you can be!

Ingredients

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup rice crispies (I used the Christmas ones, hence the green and red LOL)
2/3 cup coconut
2/3 cup chocolate chips (I used half white and half milk chocolate)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened (suggestions on how to lessen this amount?)
1/2 cup corn syrup (or honey if you prefer)
1 tsp vanilla

Steps (so simple!!!)

-Mix all ingredients together with your hands.
-Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and pat down.
-Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes.
-Let cool for 15 minutes before cutting into bars.

*Makes 16 bars

#38) Lemon Cranberry Muffins

2009-01-21T19:19:00.007-03:00

I know the title says "muffins", but I gotta say, these little guys have a more cake-like texture. Thus, they are more of a cupcake than a muffin. But, despite the unintended texture, the taste is great - nice and lemony with a nice bite form the cranberries. Not bad for my first foray into the world of cranberries :)

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup oil
1 cup chopped cranberries
zest of 1 large lemon

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 12-cup muffin tray with paper liners.
-Mix dry ingredients together.
-Beat eggs with milk, lemon juice, and oil. Stir into dry ingredients. Mix just until moistened.
-Add cranberries and zest and fold in.
-Divide batter between lined muffin cups.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes.

#37) Old Faithful Banana Loaf

2009-01-18T21:18:00.005-03:00

This time-tested sweet treat is the continuation of my banana bake-off. I searched high and low for a "new" banana loaf recipe, bit not one seemed as reliable or as tasty as this one. Enjoy it with some butter, fruit sauce, or even peanut butter, and it always tastes good :) (It is pictured above with bakeapple syrup - what a combo!)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup mashed banana
2 cups flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cinnamon

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 9x13 baking dish.
-Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, banana, and milk. Mix well.
-Stir together dry ingredients and add to banana mixture in three additions. Beat until combined.
-Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.

#36) Big Banana Crunch Muffins

2009-01-17T20:33:00.006-03:00

One of the downsides to living in Labrador actually became a surprising plus today at the grocery store... The past week has been absurdly cold here, like -50°C - so cold that on Thursday and Friday the schools were closed!!! Now, how on Earth did this turn into a plus for me??? Well, fiance and me went grocery shopping today and as soon as we walked in the door there were these HUGE bags of bananas that were in terrible shape, pretty much black all over - they must have got hit with the cold on the way to the grocery store. Perfect for loads of banana recipes, right? Oh yeah, I was all over it! The best part is that these giant bags of recipe-ready bananas were only 99¢!!! Stay tuned for more banana baking :)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mashed banana
2 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup crushed pecans

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a jumbo muffin pan.
-Cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well.
-Add banana and beat well.
-Stir together dry ingredients. Add to banana mixture in three additions.
-Stir in chocolate chips and pecans.
-Divide between 6 jumbo muffin cups.
-Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

#35) Chocolate Banana Burritos

2009-01-11T21:41:00.007-03:00

Tonight we had a couple of friends over for supper and in the planning that went into the meal over the past couple of days, the evening took on a somewhat Mexican theme. The menu was to include chicken quesadillas, Mexican rice, and tortilla chips. I intentionally made yesterday's brownies as this particular meal's dessert, but my finace decided dessert should also be slightly Mexican.... That is what led to this wonderfully simple and tasty sweet treat. These were great and I would definitely make them again, and again, and again! LOL

Burritos

Ingredients

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1 cup mashed banana
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp oil
1 cup chocolate chips
5 large flour tortillas

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a pyrex dish.
-Cream sugar and butter. Add banana, egg, and vanilla. Beat until combined.
-Add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and oil. Beat until combined.
-Spread 1/5 of banana mixture on each tortilla. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and roll up. Place in dish seam side down.
-Bake for 30 miunutes, or until golden.

Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients

1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tbsp shortening

Steps

-Melt all 4 ingredients together in a saucepan and drizzle over baked burritos.

#34) Brownie Bites with Mocha Glaze

2009-01-10T20:36:00.005-03:00

This recipe came from a great cookbook my parents gave me for Christmas... Seriously, I have bookmarked nearly every recipe :) This is the first one I have tried and it was quite a success... Other than the glaze not really living up to expectations, the brownie was chocolatey deliciousness!!!

Brownie Bites

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, melted
2 egg whites
1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°and spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray.
-Melt butter and set aside.
-Beat egg and whites until foamy.
-Add sugar and beat until thick.
-Mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add to egg mixture. Beat until blended.
-Add melted butter and beat until blended.
-Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.
-Bake for about 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completey on wire rack.

Mocha Glaze

Ingredients

1/4 cup icing sugar
3/4 tsp cocoa
1/4 tsp instant coffee
2 tsp hot water
1/4 vanilla

Steps

-Stir together icing sugar and cocoa.
-Dissolve coffee in hot water. Add to cocoa mixture.
-Add vanilla. Mix until smooth.
-Drizzle over brownie bites.

#33) IronCupcake:Earth Wine, to Toast the New Year - Bakeapple & Bubbly Cupcakes with White Chocolate Champagne Frosting

2009-01-06T22:50:00.006-03:00

A long title, I know... but these cupcakes are multi-dimensional and therefore warrant a wordy introduction.

This is my first official entry to ICE so I am very excited to be a part of this great blogging activity for the first time :)

Our January ETSY PRIZE-PACK is from artists:

DOGBONE ART - http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=22042
as well as a pair of cupcake earrings from LOTS OF SPRINKLES at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6057281.
PLUS, IronCupcake:Earth can not forget our good friend, CAKESPY, http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5243382, who is now going to be doing a piece for our winner each month until further notice - sweet!
As an added bonus for January, our friend at SWEET CUPPIN CAKES BAKERY AND CUPCAKERY SUPPLY will be tossing in another treat as well, http://www.acupcakery.com/index.html.

Last and certainly not least, don’t forget our corporate prize providers: HEAD CHEFS by FIESTA PRODUCTS, http://www.fiestaproducts.com, HELLO CUPCAKE by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson, http://blog.hellocupcakebook.com, JESSIE STEELE APRONS http://www.jessiesteele.com; the CUPCAKE COURIER http://www.cupcakecourier.com; TASTE OF HOME books, http://www.tasteofhome.com. NEW, BEGINNING IN JANUARY; our new friends at UPWITHCUPCAKES.COM http://www.upwithcupcakes.com/ will be providing our winner with one of their cute cupcake attitue t's! Iron Cupcake:Earth is sponsored in part by 1-800-Flowers, http://www.1800flowers.com .

My cupcake creation is a light and delicate treat topped with a wonderful swirl of melt-in-your-mouth white chocolate frosting. The champagne undertones are complimented nicely by the bitter but subtle bite of the bakeapples. It is a sweet treat that elevates the everyday cupcake to a more elegant and refined class!

Bakeapple & Bubbly Cupcake

Ingredients

2 egg whites
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup champagne
1/4 cup bakeapple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and line a muffin tray with paper cups.
-Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
-Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until combined.
-Stir together champagne, bakeapple syrup, and vanilla. Add to butter mixture.
-Add flour, baking powder, and salt to mixture and beat until well combined.
-Gently fold in egg whites.
-Divide between 12 muffin cups.
-Bake for 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

White Chocolate Champagne Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp white chocolate
1 3/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup champagne
1/2 tsp bakeapple syrup
6 tbsp butter

Steps

-Melt chocolate in double boiler. Let cool to room temperature.
-Mix together icing sugar, champagne, and bakeapple syrup. Add butter and beat until smooth.
-Add cooled chocolate and mix well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
-Pipe on cooled cupcakes.

#32) Lemon Cheese Coconut Cake

2008-12-29T11:58:00.006-03:00

I am having a little get-together tonight with a couple of my girlfriends from university and their men tonight so I decided to go all out and cook up one of the most challenging meals I have done to date - apricot stuffed chicken breasts, sweet and smoky broccoli, and creamy parsnip mashed potatoes. This cute cake will be served as dessert.

Cake

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut
1/3 cup ground almonds
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk (1 cup milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice)
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Steps

- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, sugar, coconut, ground almonds, and baking powder. Make a well in centre.
- Whisk together buttermilk, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Pour into well.
- Use hand mixer to blend until smooth.
- Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour. Let cool completely. Cut horizontally into two even layers. Set aside.

Lemon Cheese Filling

Ingredients

1 block cream cheese (8 oz)
3/4 cup icing sugar
2 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp lemon juice

3/4 cup toasted coconut

Steps

- Beat the four ingredients together until smooth.
- Add half of the mixture to the top of one cake layer. Place second layer on top.
- Spread remaining cheese mixture on sides of cake. Add toasted coconut over cheese mixture.

Icing

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp milk

1 drop green food coloring
1 drop red food coloring

Steps

- Combine icing sugar, butter, and milk. Mixture should be barely pourable.
- Add 1 tbsp of mixture to two bowls (1 tbsp per bowl). Add one drop of food coloring to each bowl (red in one, green in the second).
- Add the remaining white icing to top of cake and spread out evenly.
- Add the colored icings to two small sandwich bags. Snip off a very tiny amount of the corner to make a small piping hole.
- Pipe straight lines across the cake's top.
- Use a toothpick to drag lines in one direction. Repeat in opposite direction.

#31) Cheesecake Bars with a Bakeapple Swirl

2008-12-24T16:41:00.012-03:00

It is Christmas Day - can you believe it? I certainly can't!!!

Christmas Eve or not, yesterday I still got in to the kitchen :)

My bf's (actually my "fiance" considering he proposed this morning!!!) mom sent me a few bakeapples along with the presents with the hopes I would make her boy a bakeapple cheesecake. Well, a plain cheesecake with a simple bakeapple sauce didn't sound like enough fun for me so I decided squares with a sweet but bitter
bakeapple swirl would be more interesting... I hope you agree :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Bakeapple Swirl Sauce

Ingredients

2 cup bakeapples (fresh or thawed)
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Steps

- Bring berries and water to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Pass through a sieve to remove the large seeds. Return to pot.
- Add sugar and vanilla and bring to a boil once again. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Let cool and set aside.

Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

1 cup butter, separated into 2/3 cup and 1/3 cup
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 pks cream cheese (light), at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
4 1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 eggs

Steps

- Preheat oven to 325°F.
- Beat 2/3 cup butter with brown sugar. Add flour and crumbs.
- Remove 2 cups and put in another bowl. Add the remaining butter (melted) to the new bowl. Mix and push into a 9x13 pan. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes.
- Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Beat in milk, lemon juice, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until smooth.
- Pour half of cream cheese mixture over cooled crumb crust. Add tablespoon-sized dollops of bakeapple sauce. Pour remaining cream cheese mixture over top and add dollops of bakeapple sauce (reserve remaining sauce for decoration). Use a toothpick to create swirls.

- Sprinkle crumb mixture over top. (I didn't use all of it and the fiance said he would actually prefer it without any next time)
- Bake for one hour. Let cool completely before cutting. Drizzle sauce over top of individual squares.

#30) Chocolate Christmas Bells

2008-12-23T10:54:00.008-03:00

This past summer I posted about peanut butter balls, an all-time favourite in our house. For Christmas there is always a batch of peanut butter balls in the fridge, but this time I wanted to improve this sweet treat for the holidays. The original recipe we have used for years calls for parowax and this imparts an unusual quality onto the chocolate - it becomes waxy (duh! haha) and sticks to your teeth. Regardless of this we have eaten batch after batch of these things and still love. But like I said, for the holidays I wanted them to be perfect. I have tweaked the recipe just slightly and now this favourite sweet treat is even more irresistible :)

Ingredients

2 cups peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 - 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
1 cup rice crispies

2 cups chocolate
2 tbsp shortening

Steps

- Put peanut butter, butter, and salt in a microwave-safe bowl. Put in microwave for 30 seconds and mix together.
- Add vanilla and rice crispies. Add icing sugar until the mixture reaches a dough-like consistency. - Roll into balls.(It would be helpful to refrigerate the mixture before rolling into balls). Refrigerate balls for 15 minutes.
- Melt chocolate and shortening in double boiler. Use two spoons to dip balls into chocolate. Place on cookie sheet covered with waxed paper. Refrigerate until stiff.
- Try not to eat them all at once :)

#29) Strawberry Truffle Brownie Cake

2008-12-20T19:39:00.006-03:00

Do you like truffles? I do. Have you ever made truffles? I haven't even attempted them until today, and now I know why...

I have been toying with the idea of making truffles for a while now and seeing as my aunt sent me a bag of beautiful strawberries I decided I should make truffles with a fruit twist. What in the world was I thinking?????

I found a recipe for strawberry truffles here and am quite confident I followed it to the letter, but for some reason my filling would not set to a point where I could roll it into balls... What was I going to do????

Well, I tried using my truffle mold instead, but that just created one BIG mess so that was a no go...

So here I am in the kitchen with this delicious bowl of strawberry truffle-ish mixture and no idea what to do... Then it came to me - brownies plus this concoction would be delicious. So I whipped up a brownie batter and baked it....

Now that sheet of brownie looks kinda big, I thought. Brilliant idea #2 - make a layered brownie cake!

Turns out I piled on way too much of the "filling" and ended up with more of a "frosting" effect.

Say what you will about it, but this sweet treat took every bit of creativity and energy I had to offer!

It is far from my best attempt in the kitchen (it is messy, too sweet, and overloaded with chocolate) but not too bad of a save considering my amateur nature. If you have any suggestions about where I went wrong with the truffles in the first place, please let me know :)

Strawberry Truffle Mixture

Ingredients

2 cups strawberries (divided into 1 1/2 cups and 1/2 cup)
1/3 cup cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp syrup
8 ounces chocolate
1 cup whipped cream (not part of original recipe, but part of my attempted save)

Steps

- Puree (thawed, if frozen) strawberries. Stir in cream, vanilla, and syrup.
- Melt chocolate in double boiler and add to strawberry mixure. Mix well.
- Fold in whipped cream and 1/2 cup of whole strawberries. Set aside.

Brownie Layers

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and line a 10X14 pyrex dish with parchment paper.
-Add sugar and vanilla to melted butter and beat.
-Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
-Add cocoa. Beat.
-Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat.
-Pour into pyrex dish and bake for 20 minutes.
-Remove from dish and let cool. Trim edges and slice into two equal sheets.

Combination

-Cover one brownie sheet with truffle mixture. Add second brownie sheet and repeat.

Try to enjoy :)

#28) IronCupcake:Earth Choclate with a Twist - Clementine Cupcakes

2008-12-18T17:32:00.018-03:00

Here is what was supposed to be my first entry into ICE... my clementine cupcakes. But when I tried to upload my picture to Flickr I encountered some problems. Oh well, here they are in any case...

When this month's theme, chocolate with a twist, was announced I was immediately interested. Being a total chocoholic I love pretty much every possible combo with chocolate AND one of my all-time favourite treats around the holidays are those Terry's Chocolate Oranges. It was so convenient that my dad came home last night with a whole crate of clementines. What a nice way to re-create this tasty sweet treat!

Ingredients

1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tbsp milk
5-6 clementines
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup icing sugar
melted chocolate

Steps

-Preheat oven to 350°F and line 7 muffin cups with paper liners. (It is a small recipe because my family isn't a big fan of cupcakes - they are more cookie people)
-Cream sugar and butter together.
-Beat eggs in small bowl. Add 1/4 cup clementine juice (need about 4-5 clementines), and milk. Add to butter and mix with hand mixer.
-Sift together dry ingredients. Fold into butter mixture. Use mixer to incorporate fully.
-Bake for 18-20 minutes.

-For the icing, squeeze juice of 1 clementine into a bowl. Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
-Add the icing sugar in 1/4 cup additions, beating after each addition.
-The icing will be a bit thin, but no too thin that it will not sit on top of the cupcakes.

-Separate last clementine into segments.
-Melt chocolate.
-Dip segments halfway into melted chocolate and let cool on waxed paper.
-Top each cupcake with a cooled segment.

Eat & Enjoy!

#27) Candy Cane Cupcakes

2008-12-16T13:24:00.005-03:00

Alrighty folks... the holiday season is upon us and you all know what that means - BAKING!!! Nicole @ Baking Bites is hosting a Holiday Cupcake Contest and seeing as I have loads of free time now that the semester is over, I wanted in. I whipped up a plain vanilla batter and divided it in thirds. To one third I added raspberry candy flavouring and red food colouring, to a second peppermint candy flavouring and green food colouring, and the third I left as is. To all three bowls I added some crushed candy cane. They baked up nicely, but I have to say they were a little dense for my liking... next time I think I will use less butter. In any case, here is the recipe:

Cupcakes

Ingredients

3 eggs
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
raspberry candy flavouring
red food coloring
peppermint candy flavouring
green food colouring
2 crushed candy canes

Steps

-Preheat oven to 320°F and line muffin cup with liners.
-Lightly beat eggs. Add butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
-Add buttermilk, flour, baking powder, and vanilla. Beat until light and creamy.
-Divide mixture evenly among three bowls.
-To one bowl add 5 drops raspberry flavouring and red food coloring. Mix.
-To a second bowl add 5 drops peppermint flavouring and green food colouring. Mix.
-Add crushed candy cane to each bowl and mix
-Add the different coloured batter to the liners by tablespoonfuls, creating layers in each liner.
-Once all the batter has been distributed, poke a fork into each liner twice.
-Bake for 20 minutes and let cool completely.

Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

1 1/4 sticks butter
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
sprinkle salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
1 crushed candy cane

Steps

-Beat butter until smooth (20 seconds).
-Add sugar and salt. Beat for one minute.
-Scrape down sides of bowl and add vanilla and milk. Beat for 2 minutes.
-Pipe or spread on cooled cupcakes.
-Sprinkle candy cane on top.

#26) Peanut Butter Blossoms

2008-12-15T18:09:00.004-03:00

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I won one of the Hershey baskets Mayre was giving away over at Baking Delights? Well I got my hands into its contents today: flour, sugar, Reese's peanut butter, Hershey kisses.... all packed into a great big steel bowl. In the basket was also a recipe card for peanut butter blossoms. They looked so cute in the pic, and they are a combo of chocolate and peanut butter, so I couldn't resist making this sweet treat :)

Ingredients

48 Hershey kisses
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda

Steps

-Preheat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from kisses.
-Beat peanut butter and shortening.
-Add sugars. Beat until fluffy.
-Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat well.
-In another bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking soda. Gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.
-Roll into 1-inch balls and dip in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.
-Immediately press a kiss into each cookies. (The cracks that form are normal)
-Let cool and enjoy!

#25) PBCs

2008-12-15T09:06:00.005-03:00

Finally!!!! Exams are over and I am at home for Christmas break.... and when I mean home, I mean in the kitchen. I was no more than in the door Saturday evening when my brother decided he wanted some peanut butter cookies, and fast! (PS - those are his greedy little fingers in the picture haha). I remembered a post I made this past summer about eggless peanut butter cookies. The recipe I made up was very quick and quite popular, so we used that same recipe, but added more cocoa for some chocolatey flavour because, well, I am addicted to all things chocolate :)

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cups brown sugar
2.5 tbsp skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup flour

3 tbsp cocoa

Steps

-Cream butter, sugars, milk, and vanilla together.

-Stir in peanut butter.

-Add flour, cocoa, and baking soda.
-Roll into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, separated. Squish with a fork in two directions.

-Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.

#24) Magic Middlers

2008-12-01T17:04:00.005-03:00

This recipe was so much fun to make!!! I made this one, and the one below, for a couple of cookie exchanges I have this week, and I am sure these guys will be a hit. A chewy chocolate cookie coating surrounding finger-lickin' good peanut butter filling.... Is that the smell of perfection????

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cookie Coating

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1/2 tsp baking soda

chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Filling

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

3/4 cup icing sugar

1 tbsp corn starch

Steps:

Filling

- Beat peanut butter and butter until smooth. Blend in icing sugar and cornstach until combines.

- Spoon onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Use the wrap to roll the filling into a 2 cm thick log. Freeze for 10 minutes.

Chocolate Cookie Coating

- Beat butter with sugars and peanut butter. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla.

- Stir flour with cocoa and baking soda. Stir into butter mixture with spoon. Refrigerate.

Combination

- Slice peanut butter log into 32 pieces.

- Using a 1/2 tbsp measure scoop out chocolate dough and form into patties.
- Place a peanut butter slice on top of the patty and close the edges, rolling into a ball. Roll in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly.

- Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes.

#23) Chocolate Crinkles

2008-12-01T16:45:00.004-03:00

I realize there are a lot of chocolate crinkle posts out there lately thanks to Anita Chu's new book, Field Guide to Cookies. Her recipe sounds great, with lots of yummy chocolate. Mine is a recipe I came across a couple of years ago and has been a favorite ever since. Although I use cocoa instead of real chocolate, and oil instead of butter, they are still rich and chewy, and very, very sinful.....

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup cocoa

3 tbsp butter ("light" margarine such as Becel will not work well here)

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

icing sugar

Steps:

- Add cocoa and butter to a microwave-safe bowl. Heat until butter is melted. Stir to combine.
- Using an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, cocoa mixture, oil, baking powder, and vanilla together.

- Beat in as much flour as possible, then stir in the remaining amount.

- Cover and chill dough for a minimum of 2 hours.

- Shape dough into 1-inch balls. (I spray my hands periodically with flavorless Pam to avoid becoming a sticky mess.)

- Roll balls in icing sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. (I used my silicone sheet and it was perfect)

- Bake at 375°F for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies have a crackled appearance.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.

#22) Buried Bakeapple Bites

2008-11-28T08:52:00.009-03:00

I have had two bags of bakeapples left in the freezer since the summer and have wanted to use them, but every time I got into the kitchen (which hasn't been much as of late) a new recipe would intrigue me and it was "so long bakeapples." Last night I started toying with the idea of a bakeapple cupcake... I don't know how many of you use bakeapples, but anyone who does will know there aren't many recipes written for them, and most of the ones that are just turn them into a sauce or a topping for cheesecake. I wanted to do something new so I made a small recipe of bakeapple cake filling and let it chill overnight. Then it was time to bury it... :) I used the left-over cream cheese frosting from a previous recipe found here. The spice of the nutmeg with the tang of the berry filling is such a unique combination you will eave your taste buds begging for more :)

PS - Classes are almost over and exams soon begin, but after that it's home to Mom & Dad's and back into the kitchen... There will be more frequent posts as Christmas draws nearer!!!

Bakeapple Cake Filling

1 cup bakeapples
1/4 cup water
5 tbsp sugar
3 tsp corn starch

-Boil berries with 3/4 of the water. Simmer for 3-5 minutes.
-Push the cooked berries through a fine sieve, discarding the seeds.
-Whisk corn starch into remaining water. Add cornstarch mixture and sugar to berries.
-Cook for another 2-3 minutes. Let cool completely.

Cupcakes

3 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk (room temperature)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp bakeapple preserve (optional)

*I wanted this recipe to have a rustic type flavour, so I kept the mixer in the cupboard and just used some old fashioned elbow grease to mix everything together :)

-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line pan with paper liners.
-Lightly beat eggs.
-Add butter and sugar and mix.
-Add milk, flour, baking powder, and preserve (if using). Mix.
-Add a couple of tablespoons of batter to each liner.
-Divide cake fill into liners.
-Cover with remaining batter.
-Bake for 18-20 minutes.
-Let cool and frost with icing, if desired.

#21) Banana Peanut Butter Muffins

2008-11-15T10:13:00.005-03:00

I know, my muffins look a little sad. But believe me, they are super tasty. For a while now I have had a couple of bananas screaming to be turned into something, so I thought a muffin would be great. Then, when I was making some toast and peanut butter for my breakfast I thoguht, "This would be great thrown into my muffins!" So that's what I done HaHa. However, in my over-zealousness (is that a word?) I chucked in two bananas instead of one.... Now I have some very dense, very moist cupcakse, hence the sunken look they have going on. But this is one sweet treat I would definately make again, minus the extra banana :).

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 mashed banana

1/4 cup chocolate chips (just because I like 'em!)

Steps:

- Preheat oven to 320°F. Line 12 muffin cups with papers.

- Beat eggs. Add butter and sugar and mix until light and fluffy.

- Add milk, flour, baking powder, and peanut butter. Beat with mixer for about 2 minutes.

- Add banana and chocolate chips and stir through evenly.

- Fill paper liners and bake for 20 minutes.

#20) Autumn-Spiced Cupcakes with Ginger-Infused Cream Cheese Frosting

2008-11-02T14:34:00.007-03:00

I have been daydreaming about this recipe for a while now. About 3 weeks ago the bf and I went to Bulk Barn and I loaded up on cloves, allspice, nutmeg... all the spices that remind me of Fall. But, other than my chai tea experiment, I haven't done anything with them. That all changed today :)

The bf recently had a bday, but because I am away for school, we weren't together for it. He flies into town tomorrow so I wanted to have a belated birthday cake-type surprise for him. Well, not so much a surprise becasue I can't keep a secret to save my life, but he will appreciate these little sweet treats no less.

All I done was take a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and added some cloves and allspice. For the frosting I searched high and low for a pipable cream cheese frositng, and thought I had found one here, but the end product was less than pipable and I was quite dissappointed. Nonetheless, here is my bealted birthday cupcake collection for my baby!

Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

Steps:

- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tray with 12 cupcake papers.

- In a medium bowl lightly beat eggs. Add butter, oil, and sugar and beat until combined.

- Add milk, flour, baking powder, cloves, and allspice. Stir to combine. Beat with mixer for about 2 minutes.

- Divide batter between cupcake papers. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese

5 tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger

2 1/2 cups icing sugar

pumpkin spice (for sprinkling)

Steps:

- Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature.

- In a medium bowl beat cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and ginger until blended.

- Add sugar one third at a time and beat until smooth.

*Do not overbeat!

#19) Chocolate Oatmeal Chippers

2008-10-31T09:32:00.005-03:00

Yummo! These little sweet treats are chocolate lover's dream. Me, I love a good chocolate chip cookie, but this twist on a classic is scrumtious!!! The oats give the cookie a nice texture that stands up to a good glass of milk :) PS - I apologize for the short, sporadic posts, but school is eating up ALL of my time :(

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup chocolate chips

1 3/4 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned)

Steps:

- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a mdium bowl.

- Cream butter, sugars, and vanilla. Beat in eggs.

- Gradually beat in four mixture.

- Stir in chips and oats.

- Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. (I used a silicone sheet and they came out beautifully)
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

*makes about 4 dozen cookies

#18) Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

2008-10-26T12:46:00.004-03:00

If your tastebuds are anything like mine, then the combo of chocolate and peanut butter is heaven in your mouth. I am also a brownie lover, so a peanut butter swirl brownie just sounds too good to be true.... Although this brownie is a little gooey for my taste, it is still a sweet treat I wouldn't turn down :)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
1 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour + 1/4 cup flour, divided
dash salt
1/3 cup peanut butter

Steps:

- Melt chocolate and butter together. Let cool 5 minutes.
- Beat 2 eggs with sugar. Stir in vanilla. Pour chocolate over top.
- Sift flour and salt over chocolate. Fold until blended.
- Pour all but 1/4 cup batter into greased 8-inch pan.
- Add peanut butter and remaining egg to the 1/4 cup batter. Mix until combined.
- Spoon dollops of peanut butter mixture into pan. Run knife through to create desired design.
- Bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes.

#17) Coffee Cupcakes with Quasi-Chocolate Ganache

2008-10-15T19:33:00.004-03:00

No, they weren't a textbook success, but these little cupcakes are one yummy sweet treat.

I was walking by the bookstore the other day, and well, they had this cute little cupcake and muffin cookbook there fore less than $7. Well, I just had to have it! So I brought home my new little treasure and read it cover to cover and drooled over every single picture.

The recipe I attempted here sounded perfect! I love the taste of coffee, but drinking it makes me sick, so when I can whip up a coffee-flavoured sweet treat, I am one happy woman. The recipe was easy to follow and I had everything on hand for it, or so I thought, so I whipped up the batter and put them in the over.

After I finished licking the spoon (oh, you all do it!!!!), I started making my topping. It was supposed to be a nice, thick choclate ganache-ish frosting. BUT..... I didn't have any cream in the fridge and all the stores were closed! So in my amature frenzy I decided chocolate milk would have to do.

What was I thinking?!??!?!?!?! Instead of a nice, thick ganache-ish frosting, I ended up with a rather tasty bowl of dark chocolate soup. Frenzy #2 - What in the world will I put on top of my now baked and cooled coffee cupcakes???? This "soup" was too runny to use as icing, and to messy to drizzle over top......

Then my bf came up with the great idea of just dipping my little sweet treats into the chocolate soup concoction. Aren't they just adorable? We used several toppins - coconut, silver balls, and colored sprinkles. The coconut was best!

Well, there you have it - my very long-winded explanation of this sweet treat. The lesson I learned - be 100% sure you have ALL the ingredients you need, and then double-check to be 110% sure. By the way, thanks for your help Babe. I love you!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup instant coffee

1 cup butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 cup water

1 tbsp instant coffee

3/4 cup cream

1 cup dark choclate, finely chopped

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 360°F. Line muffin tray with paper liners.

-Sift dry ingredients together. Set aside.

-In a medium bowl, beat together butter, vanilla, and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time.

-Add dry ingredients. Mix. Slowly add water and mix again.

-Pour batter into muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 mintues.

-Meanwhile, gently heat coffee and cream in saucepan.

-Pour hot mixture over chocolate. Stir thouroughly.

-Use star tip to pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

#16) Chai Tea

2008-10-12T08:30:00.005-03:00

I feel so badly about having been away from Sweet Treats for so long, but school has become even more time consuming now with midterms, and the bf has been visiting for the past couple of weeks so any free time I did have was spent with him, instead of in the kitchen. But last night I started reading a slow cooker cook book I bought for the bf last week and it was very impressive. This recipe for chai tea really caught my eye becasue a mug of this tea is one of my favorite ways to end a long day. It has just the right amount of sweetness and its aroma will surely make you smile :) This sweet treat is really simple... All you do is dump everything in the slow cooker for a couple of hours and presto, you have calming chai tea!

Ingredients:

8 cups water

8 bags black tea (I used orange pekoe)

1/2 cup sugar (chai tea is meant to be sweet, but you can surely adjust it to your own taste)

16 whole cloves (I used 3/4 tbsp powdered becasue its what I had on hand, but of course it has all settled to the bottom, making that part too strong for me... next time I will pick up the real stuff!)

16 whole cardamom seeds, pods removed (same deal as cloves)

5 cinnamon sticks

8 slices fresh ginger

1 cup milk (I used white soy in some and chocolate dairly in some - there wasn't really any difference in taste)

Steps:

-Combine water, tea bages, sugar, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger in slow cooker.

-Cover and cook on high for 2-2.5 hours.

-Strain and discaard solids.

-Stir in milk just before serving.

*Can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Sweet & Simple Bake #2 - Vanilla Apple Cake.... Errr, I mean Vanilla Blueberry Cake :)

2008-10-01T01:20:00.005-03:00

Alright folks, here it is - my attempt at this month's truly scrumtious Sweet & Simple Bake. This recipe is generally a simple recipe, but the end product is worth it's weight in gold! I am telling you, one bite of this thing and you are not going to want to share. I made some alterations to the recipe, some intentional, some not so much, but I will get to that later. Thanks ladies for another worthwhile experiment and I look forward to the next :)

Ingredients:

250g/9oz unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

250g/9oz golden caster sugar (or normal caster sugar)

4 eggs, beaten

250g/9oz self-raising flour

1 vanilla pod, split, seeds removed and reserved (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

3 small Bramley apples, peeled, cored and cut into wedges (or any other type of cooking apple, if not apple of your choice)

2 tbsp Demerara sugar

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

*My ingredients:

1 cup + 2 tbsp butter

1 1/3 cup sugar

4 eggs, beaten

1 tbsp vanilla

2 1/3 cup flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 cup fresh blueberries

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

...Reasons for changes:

more vanilla - just because I love vanilla and always add more than the recipe calls fore :)

extra flour - when I done my conversions I wrote down 2 full cups instead of just the 1 needed

milk - to offset the extra flour

blueberries - I didn't have any apples on hand, but had a load of fresh berries

more cinnamon - same as vanilla

Sorry for all the changes SSB, but desperate times call for desperate measure LOL

Steps:

-Heat the oven to 350°F.

-Spray 8-inch springform pan, then line the base with baking paper.

-Beat the sugar and butter together until the mixture turns pale and fluffy.

-Beat eggs with vanilla.

-To butter mixture add eggs, flour, baking powder, and milk. Beat together quickly to make a smooth batter.

-Pour into the prepared pan. (I had enougb batter left over to make 6 muffins as well).

-Sprinkle the berries on top of the batter, pressing in with the bottom of a measuring cup.

-Sprinkle with the brown sugar and cinnamon over top.

-Bake for 1 hour 5 mins, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean and the sponge is risen and golden.

-Leave to cool for a few mins, then release the tin and cool the cake completely on a wire rack.

#15) Blueberry Cheese Coffee Cake

2008-09-26T12:28:00.007-03:00

I know, I know.... You are all getting tired of my blueberry concoctions, but the berries are almost all used up, I promise. HaHa. This recipe came from The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook. The book was was a b-day gift from bf, and seeing as he is coming to visit tonight, I thought I would make a sweet treat from it. I chose this one because bf's two faves, besides me of course LOL, are cheesecake and blueberries. This coffee cake has a subtle layer of cream cheese infused with loads of blueberries in the middle, so I figured it was a safe bet. It was a little more labour-intensive than my lastest posts, but I figured he was worth the extra effort :).

The cake is made in three sepearate steps:

1. Crumb Topping

1 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon (I used 3/4 tbsp)

1/3 cup butter, melted

-In a small bowl, stir together dry ingredients. Drizzle with butter and stir until moistened. Set aside.

2. Cream Cheese Filling

1 pkg (light) cream cheese (250 g)

1/4 sugar

1 egg

1tsp lemon rind (I used lemon juice)

-Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Beat in egg and lemon until smooth. Set aside.

3. Cake

1/3 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup (fat-free) sour cream

1 1/2 cups blueberries (I used a little more than 2 cups)

-Beat butter with sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla.

-In seperate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

-Add flour and sour cream to butter mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour mixture. (flour, sour cream, flour, sour cream, flour) Mixture will be thick.

-Spread into greased 9-inch springform pan (I used 10-inch, hence the extra berries).

-Sprinkle half of berries on top. Cover gently with cream cheese mixture. Spinkle with remaining berries. Sprinkle evenly with crumb topping.

-Bake for 1 1/4 hours at 350°F. Let cool in pan on rack for 30 minutes.

#14) Birthday Brownies

2008-09-22T21:13:00.006-03:00

Even students have to take a break for their friends' birthdays, right? And you can't celebrate a birthday without mouth-watering sweet treats, right?

Well if you answered yes to these two questions, you are officially in my good books. :)

It is my new roomie's birthday tomorrow, so I decided to whip up a nice batch of dense, chocolately brownies.... What women doesn't appreciate a chewy brownie? *Be honest ladies! :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

Steps:

-Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8x8 inch pan.

-Place butter in microwave-safe bowl. Melt in microwave (about 1.5 minutes).

-Stir in sugar and vanilla.

-Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well after each addition.

-Add cocoa. Beat until blended.

-Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat well.

-Pour into greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until brownies begin to pull away from sides.

-Cool completely then cut into squares.

*Makes about 16 brownies.

*This recipe is easily doubled, but be sure to use a 9x13 pan.

#13) Banana Blueberry Bread

2008-09-12T17:21:00.006-03:00

OMG! One week into my Education degree and I am already exhausted.... But I guess we wouldn't be good teachers in the end if our profs didn't make us work hard for it, right? That being said, my studies don't leave me much time for baking (*tear*), so when I whipped this delicious sweet treat together I done it as quickly as possible. But don't worry, the taste of this sweet bread will not tattle to anyone that you didn't slave away to make such a wonderful treat :)

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar, separated

2 eggs, beaten

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup blueberries (fresh work best; frozen will change your baking time)

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.

-Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

-Beat butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Add eggs, mashed banana, and vanilla. Stir together.

-Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture. Stir junt until moitened. (Over-mixing will produce a dry bread)

-Spray loaf pan with non-stick spray oil.

-Add 1/4 batter to bottom of pan. Sprnkle 1/3 cup blueberries over top. Cover with another 1/4 of the batter. Repeat until berries and batter are gone. (It will be necessary to spread the batter, as it is quite thick. I used a butter knife and gently pulled on the batter layers to cover the berries. Easy enough!)

-Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over top and place in pre-heated oven.

-Bake for approximately 1 hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.

#12) Cocoa Peanut Butter Cookies

2008-09-04T21:15:00.005-03:00

Okay, the semester has started... I had my first classes of my Bachelor of Education today :) Overall the day was good, busy and a little stressful, but there is something satisfying about taking those first steps towards what you want in life. To celebrate taking these first steps, I decided to bake a new sweet treat, combining two of my faves again, good ol' PB and chocolate :)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup chopped almonds (or just use crunchy PB)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips (milk chocolate is best for this recipe)

Steps:

-Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
-Cream together butter, sugars, peanut butter, and nuts.
-Add eggs and vanilla.
-Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture in thirds (not with an hand-mixer, the batter is too thick).
-Stir in chocolate chips.
-Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
-Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on sheet for 2 minutes then move to cooling rack.
Tips:

-Do not drop too much dough for each cookie because they will spread out and meet (not pretty HaHa).

Sweet & Simple Bake #1 - Victoria Sandwich Cake

2008-09-01T07:30:00.003-03:00

Here is my first food blog challenge, compliments of Sweet & Simple Bakes! This challenge was fun for me because I have never made a cake quite like this one before - no chocolate in sight! I do not have scales so it was a bit difficult to do the measurement conversions from the original, but the end result was delicious. Also, I substituted some homemade raspberry cake filling for the jam so there was an extra challenge :) Here is the original recipe and my own simple alterations and substitutions...

Ingredients:

The sponge
175g (6oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g (6oz) caster sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature, beaten
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
Pinch of salt

*My sponge
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
3 eggs, room temperature (beaten)
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour

For The Filling
4-6 tbsp strawberry jam, or your own choice of flavour
1 tbsp caster sugar

*My filling
2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 tbsp cornstarch

-Bring berries and 1/3 cup water to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
-Strain the berry mixture and return to heat.
-Add cornstarch to remaining water. Whisk into berry mixture.
-Add sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
-Cool completely.

Buttercream (optional)
75g (3 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature 175g (6 oz) icing sugar Few drops of vanilla extract

*I opted out of the buttercream.

Steps:

-Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl until the mixture is pale in colour and light and fluffy.

-Add beaten egg, a teaspoon at a time, beating well after each addition.
-Sift flour and salt and carefully add to the mixture, folding in with a metal spoon or spatula.
-Bake in greased pan(s) for 25-30 minutes, until golden and pulling away from sides. (*I used one greased 8-inch spring-form pan)
-Let cool completely, cut in half (if applicable), and add filling.
-Dust with icing/caster sugar.

#11) M&M Mouthfuls

2008-08-28T13:51:00.012-03:00

For the past couple of weeks I have been staying at my parents. And see, no one loves cookies more than my brother so seeing as I am moving out again tomorrow, I decided to get him to help me make my latest sweet treat. So I went back to that wonderful cookie cookbook from my birthday and adapted a "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Chip Cookie to make this adorable version.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup M&M minis
Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt.
-Cream butter with sugars. Add eggs, one at a time.
-Add flour mixture to creamed mixture in three additions. Fold in with rubber spatula.
-Fold in chocolate chips and M&M minis.
-Drop onto un-greased cookie sheet from rounded tablespoon.
-Bake for 10-12 minutes.

*For that true bakery look, we added some chocolate chips and M&M minis on top of the dropped cookies before baking.
*Should make about 4 dozen cookies :)

#10) Bakeapple Muffins with Streusel Topping

2008-08-27T10:53:00.008-03:00

School starts soon and that means my baking time will be drastically decreased... But you all know what that means, right? As much baking as possible before September 4 LOL. I still had some bakeapples left in the freezer when I went in search of a sweet treat main ingredient today, so I decided to make some muffins, and what makes a tasty muffin even better???? Streusel topping of course. Dig in!

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg + 1 egg white
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp sour cream
1 1/2 cup berries

1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tbsp butter
1 tsp cinnamon

Steps:

-Thaw berries, if frozen.
-Preheat oven to 425°F and spray muffin tin(s) with non-stick spray.
-Stir together flour, sugars, salt, and baking powder.
-In a small boil whisk together oil, egg, milk, and sour cream. Add to dry ingredietns with as few strokes of the spatula as possible.
-Fold in berries.
-Using a 1/4-cup measure, fill muffin tin(s) to the top.
-In a bowl mix together the brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon. Sprinkle over muffin tin(s).
-Bake for 20-25 minutes

*Makes about 18 muffins
*Be sure not to add too many berries... The muffins will not bake properly.

#9) Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cupcakes

2008-08-23T12:52:00.005-03:00

Recently, while on vacation, bf and I went to a U-Pick. Now I have a cherished bag of raspberries crying out to be turned into delectable sweet treats... Today I decided to make some of my raspberry cake fill and pair it with some oh-so-sweet chocolate. This recipe makes a rich cupcake filled with sweet and sour raspberries and gooey chocolate.

Ingredients:

Filling
2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 tbsp cornstarch

-Bring berries and 1/3 cup water to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.
-Strain the berry mixture and return to heat.
-Add cornstarch to remaining water. Whisk into berry mixture.
-Add sugar and bring to a boil. Simmer for 8-10 minutes.
-Cool completely.

Cupcakes (All at room temperature)
3/4 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup buttermilk, shaken (1 cup regular milk + 1 tbsp vinegar)
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tbsp brewed coffee
1 3/4 cup flour 1 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
150 chocolate chips (preferably dark)

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F. Line pan with paper liners.
-Cream butter with sugars for 5 minutes on high.
-At low speed, add eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
-In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee.
-In a third bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
-At low speed, add the milk and flour mixtures to the butter alternately, in thirds. (You should begin with the milk and end with the flour.)
-Mix only until blended. Fold slightly with a spatula.
-Place 1 tbsp of batter in the bottom of each liner. Top with 1 tsp cake fill and 5 chocolate chips. Cover completely with remaining batter.
-Bake for 20 minutes.

*Should make about 30 cupcakes. Happy eating!

#8) Bakeapple Bars

2008-08-21T10:38:00.010-03:00

As part of our vacation, the bf and I spent some time in southern Labrador with the "in-laws." While we were there we spent a day picking bakeapples. It was my first time tasting bakeapples and I fell in love a little... Okay, let's be honest, I fell in love a lot. I like mixing them with sugar for toast well enough, but these berries are too good not to bake with. This sweet treat is my own spin on blueberry squares, so you can use practically any berry you like. Don't let the length of the ingredients scare you - this recipe is simple and delicious!

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar, divided in half cups
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 tsp cornstarch
4 cups berries

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 375°F.
-Grease a 9x13 pan.
-Stir together 1/2 cup sugar, brown sugar, flour, and baking powder. Add salt and cinnamon.
-Beat egg with vanilla. Add to flour mixture.
-Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender. The mixture will be crumbly.
-Pat down half the dough into the pan.
-Stir together 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch. Gently mix in berries.
-Spread berry mixture over the crust. Crumble the remaining dough over top.
-Bake for 50 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

*The smell of the the bakeapples baking is enough to make you hungry :)
*A scoop of ice cream over top makes this sweet treat even tastier!

#7) Double Chocolate Banana Cookies

2008-08-18T13:48:00.005-03:00

My birthday was a little better than a week ago, and being as smart as she is, my bestest girlfriend gave me a cookbook all about cookies. I couldn't wait to try one of the yummy looking recipes, so here is my first attempt. This sweet treat goes heavy on the chocolate, so if you aren't into cocoa as much as me, I would steer clear :)

Ingredients:

3-4 extra-ripe bananas
2 cups oats (I used quick oats)
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1 /4 cup butter, melted
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped roasted almonds

Steps:

-Beat bananas with hand mixer.
-In another bowl, combine oats, sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix well.
-Stir in bananas, butter, and eggs until blended. Add chocolate chips and almonds.
-Refrigerate for 1 hour, until partially firm. (Batter will run if not chilled, as seen below)
-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Drop batter unto greased cookie sheets by the 1/4-cup measure. Flatten slightly with a spatula.
-Bake for 15-17 minutes on the middle rack. Cool on wire rack.

Info:

-I halved the recipe above and got 20 large cookies.
-the 1/4-cup measure makes for a big cookie. If you would like smaller try tablespoon drops.
-Refrigerate batter right up until you place it into the oven. If not you will get monsters like those in the second picture HaHa.

#6) Peanut Butter Balls

2008-08-15T09:18:00.004-03:00

Vacation was fun, but once it was over all I could think about was getting back into the kitchen to make some home-style sweet treats. Two of my favorite things in life are peanut butter and chocolate, and any recipe that puts them together is worth a shot! This one is an old favorite that is religiously requested by the bf and my brother :) The recipe is easily doubled, or tripled even, so make as many as you want as big as you want!

Ingredients:

1 cup peanut butter (light works fine)
1 cup icing sugar
1 cup rice crispies
1 tbsp butter
1pkg chocolate chips (I used 1 cup milk chocolate discs from my local bulk store)
1/4 block parowax (pure refined wax, used commonly for candle making)*

*I assure you, even though it doesn't say on the box it is edible, it is.

Steps:

-Mix together peanut butter, icing sugar, rice crispies, and butter together. Roll into balls.
-Cover one or more cookie sheets with waxed paper.
-Melt the parowax over low heat, then add the chocolate. Stir until smooth.
-Keeping the chocolate mixture over very low heat, dip the balls in one at a time, transferring to cookie sheets with two spoons.
-Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes.

Tips:
-Leftover chocolate can be used to dip almost anything: marshmallows, gummy candy, fruit...
-Semisweet chocolate is a bit healthier than milk chocolate.

Vacation

2008-08-03T13:39:00.001-03:00

Hey everyone!

So, remember when I mentioned that "much-needed vacation?" Well the time has finally arrived!!!

I will be back with even tastier sweet treats by Aug 15th. See you all then!

Dani

#5) Practice Peanut Butter Bites

2008-07-30T14:50:00.010-03:00

Lately my kitchen, err my rental kitchen, I should say, has been in an uproar... Not only are the bf and I getting ready to go on a much needed vacation, we are also in the process of packing up to move to another apartment. Needless to say, measuring cups are missing, bowls are packed, and certain baking essentials are lacking (notably - EGGS). That being said, I still wanted to bake today. One ingredient I did have a lot of was peanut butter (*yummy) so I threw some in a bowl and hoped to find a sweet treat at the end of this experiment...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cups brown sugar
2.5 tbsp skim milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup flour

1 tbsp cocoa

1 tsp baking powder
(*chocolate chips)

Steps:

-Cream butter, sugars, milk, and vanilla together.

-Stir in peanut butter.

-Add flour, cocoa, and baking soda.
-Roll into 1-inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet, sparated.

-Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes.

*Just before the first sheet of cookies was done baking, I removed it from the oven and pressed in the middle of each cookie with a spoon and placed chocolate chips in the dip. I then returned the cookies to the oven for less than 1 minute.

Although they look cute, my plan didn't work as I had intended. I wanted the chips to soften so I could swirl it with a spoon, leaving a chocolate topping on the cookies, but they were so messy I wouldn't even take a picture. BUT, they were tasty :p.

Discoveries:

-Eggless PB cookies bake out thinner and crispier than a traditional recipe.

-Anything bigger then a 1-inch ball produces a cookies too large and too flimsy for my liking.

-Increasing the cocoa may have given the cookie more depth.

-They still go great with a tall, cold glass of milk :)

#4) Beautiful Brownies

2008-07-27T20:33:00.008-03:00

When it comes to sweets I have many loves, but if I was forced to choose just one sweet treat to have for the rest of my life, it would would be the brownie, without a doubt! I love brownies for many reasons: first of all, I am a chocoholic with a severe dependence on all things cocoa; second, I am a sucker for anything chewy and gooey; finally, a good brownie recipe hands itself over body and soul to a countless number of flavour mash-ups. This recipe is an A+ in my opinion, resulting in a pan of gooey, rich, satisfyingly chocolately brownies :) (The brownies pictured were my minty experiment...... DELICIOUS!)

Ingredients:

1 2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
2 tbsp water
2 tsp vanilla

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-Sift together sugar, cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add chocolate chips.
-Add melted butter, eggs, water, and vanilla.
-Pour batter into a 13x9 inch greased pan.
-Bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out slightly covered in brownie (all ovens vary so be cautious and check often within the last couple of minutes).

*I baked these for 19 minutes, but the boyfriend said they could have baked another minute or so for a better texture.

Flavour Ideas:

-Mint: mint chocolate chips + mint extract
-Terry's Chocolate Orange: rough chopped chocolate orange + orange extract
-Savoury Southwest: monterey jack cheese slices over top of batter

Tip:

-Let your imagination be your only limitation and have fun with it :)

#3) Perfect Pancakes

2008-07-24T09:36:00.013-03:00

My blender is one counter-top appliance I simply can NOT live without. I immediately fell in love with how easy it makes life. I now have some recipes specifically written for blenders, but I have also adapted some of my faves to work with it as well. This recipe is a perfect example of one my "blender makeovers". A sweet treat for breakfast, who could ask for more? :)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk (soy milk works fine)
4 tbsp melted butter (I used vegetable oil this time and it was fine)
1/2 tsp vanilla

*Add-ins - chocolate chips, lemon zest, pecans, sliced banana, let your imagination go wild! (From 1/4 - 1/2 cup, depending on taste)

Steps:

-Add flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt to blender. Pulse until mixed.
-Add eggs, milk, butter/oil, and vanilla to flour mixture. Pulse until combined.
-Add-ins. Pulse just until incorporated.

#2) Cooking Light Carrot Muffins

2008-07-22T09:38:00.033-03:00

If it is a question of having a sweet tooth, I am guilty as charged. But, this is why I try some healthier recipes every now and then. This one is my favorite light version of carrot cake. Granted, it is not as dense as original carrot cake, and no, it isn't smothered with cream cheese frosting.... BUT it does turn out a tasty sweet treat you can eat without one ounce of guilt.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup flour

1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup flaked coconut

1/3 cup raisins (optional)
2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon

3 tbsp applesauce
2 large eggs
2 cups grated carrot (2 large carrots cut in chunks, if using blender)
1 1/2 cups canned crushed pineapple, drained

Steps:

*I make my muffins using the blender. It is a time saver and keeps the mess contained :)

-Add the pineapple, carrot, eggs, and applesauce to blender. Mix until carrot is grated and ingredients are combined.
-Add cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and coconut to blender. Incorporate well.
-Add sugar and flour and incorporate. If the batter is too dry add reserved pinapple juice by teaspoon until you acheive a better texture.
-If you are using the raisins, add to the blender and pulse just until the are incorporated.
-Pour into muffin cups and bake at 350°F for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Yields 1 dozen muffins :)

Tips:

-Allow muffins to cool before removing from the paper muffin cups. They do not separate well when still hot/warm.

-Spread into a 13x9 inch pan sprayed with Pam for a cake.

#1) Confidential Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-07-19T10:42:00.015-03:00

These particular chocolate chip cookies are confidential because I have never shared this recipe before. Guess you could call me greedy, haha. They are the perfect chocolate chip sweet treat, cooking to a perfectly plump finish with just the right amount of chips.

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1 cup margerine (if using real butter, bring to room temperature before mixing)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips (the better quality chocolate, the better quality cookie)
1 cup chopped nuts (if you omit the nuts add another 2 tbsp flour)

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.
-In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
-In a large bowl, combine margerine, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract; beat until creamy.
-Beat in eggs to margerine mixture.
-Gradually add the flour mixture to the margerine mixture. (I add it in thirds)
-Stir in chocolate chips.
-Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
-Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden.

*I get about 3 dozen cookies, but I make them rather large :)

Tips:

-Allow baking sheets to cool between each batch (this can be done by placing the sheet in the fridge/freezer for a couple of minutes).
-Wipe baking sheets clean of grease between batches, or wash and dry baking sheet.
-For a softer, chewier version reduce granulated sugar to 1/2 cup and increase brown sugar to 1 cup.

The beginning...

2008-07-19T10:28:00.001-03:00

Who doesn't like a warm and chewy chocolate chip cookie, or a rich and chocolately brownie, or decadent cheesecake, or... The list goes on and on, but at the root of it is that all of us has a sweet tooth hidden somewhere and we all have those little guilty pleasures.

I want to share with you some of my favorite recipes that I have tested and perfected until they produce the tastiest sweet treats you could ask for. Feel free to change them up to suit your tastes, but please share any feedback whatsoever with me :)