Double Dark Chocolate Cupcakes

This week's desserts is one for the chocolate lovers! It is a decadent, rich dark chocolate cupcake, topped with a semi-sweet chocolate frosting. You have to be a true chocoholic to enjoy this one. Paired with some strawberries or raspberries, this dessert would be perfect for anytime! Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup whole milk plus

2 tablespoons whole milk

1/3 cup strong brewed coffee or espresso

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

Frosting:

6 ounces Semi-Sweet Chocolate baking bar, broken or chopped into 1-inch pieces

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup Milk or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 12 cupcake molds or muffin tins with paper liners or spray with nonstick spray.            

To make the cupcakes, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.           
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, brown sugar, and white sugar. Whisk in the milk, coffee, and melted butter. Whisk in the dry ingredients. Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake molds, filling them about three-quarters full.               
Bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes. Using a small spatula or knife, remove the cupcakes from the pan. Continue to cool on a wire rack to room temperature.
To make the frosting, melt the chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler, or in a heatproof bowl, over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Heat the cream until hot. Remove from the heat and whisk in the chocolate. Transfer to a bowl and cool to just warm. Whisk in the butter until smooth. Let sit until it reaches a spreading consistency, about 1 hour. Spread the frosting on top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle them with chocolate chips.               

The component that really makes this dessert special is the coffee. This is a trick I use anytime I'm baking with chocolate. The coffee really brings out the taste of the chocolate. I hope this dessert is perfect for you!

Homemade Ice Cream Recipes

For our wedding, my husband and I received an ice cream maker. It sat in our pantry for the past six months and to be honest I completely forgot we had it. But the other day I was digging around my pantry looking for something else and I stumbled upon our ice cream maker! It hadn’t even been removed from the box yet. So I unpackaged it and plugged it in. It came with a book of ice cream recipes but they are very simple and not very impressive. So I decided to experiment a little with my own ice cream creations. I’m going to share with you the top recipes that I have tried and found to be delicious!

#1: Caramel Macchiato Ice Cream. How good does that sound?! This ice cream is sooo good! I was inspired by a drink at my favorite coffee vendor.  I love it because while it’s very sweet, it’s also kind of salty. These two combined make this an amazing recipe! So here it is…

Ingredients: 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules, 1 cup white sugar, 1 pinch salt, 2 cups heavy cream, and ¾ cup caramel dessert cause.

Directions: Mix milk, coffee, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add in the heavy cream and chill mixture for 2 hours. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions. Pour caramel sauce over finished ice cream and enjoy!

#2: Banana Walnut Ice Cream. This is a delicious, unique ice cream that is perfect for the summer months! It would be perfect with a slice of banana nut bread. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients: 2 ½ cups half and half, 8 egg yolks, 1 cup white sugar, 2 ½ cups heavy whipping cream, 2 bananas, ¾ cup half and half, 1 cup walnuts

Directions: Heat 2 ½ cups half and half over medium heat. Meanwhile mix 8 egg yolks and sugar in a bowl. Add mixture to the half and half and continue to heat. Stir in heavy whipping cream. Puree the bananas and the ¾ cup half and half in a blender until smooth. Combine banana mixture and egg mixture in a bowl and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s directions.

These recipes are great for you to start making your own ice cream. Then once you master them, it’s very easy to create your own masterpieces! You don’t need to become a forensic scientist to figure this one out. You simply take some milk, cream and sugar and add in whatever you want to flavor your dessert! Good luck to you in all your creations!

Top 3 Ways To Spice Up Boxed Cake Mix

So tonight my husband and I celebrated Valentine’s Day a little early. We went to dinner and saw a movie. After the movie we were heading home and both really were in the mood for something sweet. With me being an avid baker, I can’t bring myself to pay 8 dollars for a dessert I can make myself, so baking at home was our only option. We stopped by our local grocery store and tried to agree on which sweet treat we were going to make. I decided that it was late and I didn’t feel like using my mixer and having to clean it so we bought a boxed mix. This is something I usually try to avoid but I have found that boxed desserts can be really good if you know what to add to them. Here are the top five things I have found to spice up ordinary boxed up mixes…

#3: Food coloring: This is something that doesn’t affect the taste of the food, obviously, but it can make it look much more appealing. (This is especially true on a night like tonight.) Taking a white cake mix and tinting it pink would have been a perfect touch to our Valentine’s Day dessert!

#2: Candy: This is one you have to be careful with because candy can alter the batter in a way that will affect the way it bakes. Try to stick to larger pieces of candy. For example, when making cupcakes, rather than chopping up a bunch of peanut butter cups and throwing them in the batter, just place one whole peanut butter cup in the middle of the cupcake.

#1: Extracts: These can completely change the way a dessert tastes. Once again, you have to be careful with them because a little goes a long way. But the next time you make a cake and use store bought icing, just place a few drops of your favorite extract in the icing and you will have homemade tasting icing in a snap!

Now you have the resources to make the most boring cake mix into a masterpiece!

Top Five Romantic Desserts

Valentines Day is just around the corner, and there is nothing more romantic and sweet than making dessert for your special someone. For this week I’ve decided to share with you the top five romantic desserts for you and your honey to share on Valentine’s Day.

#1: Chocolate Covered Strawberries: The most simple and yet the most classic V-day desserst. I am an RN and my time is precious so this one is definitely my favorite. All you need for this one is 16 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons of shortening and a pound of strawberries. Just melt the chocolate and shortening in a double boiler. Stick the strawberries on some toothpicks and let the fun begin!

#2: White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake: Just the name of this dessert has my mouth watering. What’s better than chocolate, fruit AND cheesecake? Yum! This one is a bit more complicating but so much more decadent. Click the name for the recipe.

#3: Oreo Balls: So the name of this one doesn’t sound quite as romantic, but these rich chocolate balls are such a cute dessert! Just grind up a pack of Oreo cookies with an 8 oz. block of cream cheese and roll into balls. Dip them in melted white chocolate and let cool. For this specific holiday, you could tint the white chocolate with red food coloring for a perfect Valentine’s Day treat!

#4: Nutty Caramel Clusters: If you’re someone who doesn’t like super sweet desserts, this one is for you. Don’t be fooled by how impressive they look, they are a breeze to make! Click the name for the recipe.

#5: Irish Cream Creme Brulee: With only 5 ingredients, this is a dessert that is super simple, yet looks very elegant. It’s an adult twist on a classic dessert! Click the name for the recipe.

So there you have it. Five great dessert options to make your Valentine’s Day dinner one to remember!

Sweetheart Whoopie Pies

Valentines Day is just around the corner and so I decided to let that inspire this week's baked goodie! I was talking to one of my friends who is an administrative assistant about what the perfect dessert for this holiday would be and we found it! They are red and cute and sweet and so perfect for this holiday!! These mini sandwiches are basically just red sugar cookies filled with a sweet buttercream icing. They are easy to create and will be the perfect addition to any Valentines Day present.

Here's the recipe:

For the cookie dough:

Ingredients:
4 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 stick)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Heart shaped cookie cutters

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder. In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time to make a stiff dough. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out a portion of cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out heart shapes using cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheets. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minute, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking time. Cool completely on pans about 5 minutes, transfer to cooling racks and cool completely before decorating.

For the icing:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons water
3 to 4 drops red food coloring, plus more as needed until you get the red color you want

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix sugar and water to form a thick, smooth icing. Stir in food coloring to reach desired shade.

To assemble the cookies, just take one heart shaped cooke and turn it upside down. Pipe a small amount of icing around the edges of the cookie. Take another red cookie and place it on top.

See? Soo simple! These cookies are so cute and will make anyone you give them to feel good because you made them yourself!

Butter Pound Cake

This past week was my aunt's birthday and it is a tradition every year that I make her a pound cake. It's her favorite kind of cake! This is the recipe that I have used every year since I began making these for her and I haven't changed it a bit! Pound cake is great to make in a hurry because it doesn’t use many ingredients and you don’t have to worry about icing! This recipe, specifically, makes a rich, dense cake – it is the perfect pound cake!

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 6 eggs
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons lemon extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 or 10 inch tube pan.
2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well.
3. Introduce the flour, one cup at a time while adding cream a little at a time until all flour and cream is mixed in well.
4. Add the vanilla and lemon flavoring and blend well. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 1-1/2 hours or until center springs back from small amount of pressure. Immediately turn out on cake rack to cool.

Some tips to remember when making this cake:

• This recipe makes 14 servings. You can modify for however many servings you need.
• Use name brand sugar. This may sound kind of odd. But name brand sugar is usually ground differently that store brand sugar. The generic sugar is generally more finely ground which leads to more sugar per cup, which can cause the cake to fall (and nobody wants that!)

Calhouns Banana Pudding

Where I live, there is a restaurant called Calhouns. It's not a national restaurant so they aren't everywhere. They have a dessert on their menu that is an absolute decadence. The first time I ordered it, I thought it would be some pudding, vanilla wafers and bananas. But what the waiter brought to my table was sooo much better. While it was a simple southern dessert - banana pudding,  they had definitely put a spin on it. Instead of pudding mix, they used cheesecake filling mix. Instead of vanilla wafers, they used white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies! It took me a while, but I got the recipe. So here it is...



Ingredients:

16 oz. Instant cheesecake filling
5 cups Milk
1 1/2 oz. Whipping cream
13 Macadamia Nut Cookies
5 Large bananas (peeled & sliced in 1/4" discs)
3 cups Chantilly cream

Directions:

Mix the instant cheesecake mix with milk and whole whipping cream
Refrigerate to set.

Break cookies into pebble sized pieces and line the bottom of a 2" line pan with 18 of them

Put the filling on top of the cookies spreading it evenly gently without shifting the crumbs

Evenly distribute banana slices over pudding
Break up seven more of the cookies and evenly distribute them over the banana slices
Top with Chantilly cream. Cover and refrigerate before serving


This recipe is so easy. You don’t need a degree in forensic science to figure it out. It's basically just building the layers. But it is sooo yummy! The recipes are common, everyday products. For those of you who don’t know what Chantilly cream is, let me explain. It is a French cream used to fill pastries. You only need three ingredients to make this cream: heavy cream, white sugar, and vanilla extract. Just put them in a mixing bowl and beat on high speed until soft peaks are formed.