Birthday Cake

Okay so these pictures are horrible. The battery of course went dead right when I finished the cake. By the time it was recharged it was evening time and so the pics are not great at all. I just snapped a few and he blew out the candles and we ate.


So this little 3 year old wanted a puppy cake. Now that it is done I wish I had made it Red and had it be Clifford, because it looks a lot like Clifford. And once again I made brownies instead of cake. Cake doesn't get eaten around here, but brownies do. Plus I think brownies are actually easier to work with. Less crumbly and more stable.




The next day we had cupcakes with Grandpa & Grandma & Aunts & Uncles. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cupcakes, which were steller, and the frosting was delish. It was a cream cheese white chip frosting. Yum!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
From allrecipes w/ adaptations


3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ginger
3/4 to 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.
2.Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Get chocolate chips a bit wet then mix in with flour (this helps them not sink to the bottom). Then mix dry & wet ingredients.
3.Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted a bit from Baking Bites blog

4-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup white chocolate, melted and slightly cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tsp milk or cream
2-3 cups confectioners’ sugar

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cream cheese, butter and melted white chocolate. Beat in vanilla and milk, then add in the confectioners’ sugar gradually until the frosting reaches your desired consistency (make it a bit stiffer if you wish to pipe it onto the cupcakes instead of spreading it with a knife).
Spread frosting onto cupcakes with a knife, or transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a wide tip and pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Birthday Cake Fun

My sweet Miriam had her 5th birthday! I can't believe it. She is such a fun girl. Since Christmas she has been talking about having a rudolph (family) party and cake. I was kind of hoping that by the time May rolled around she might forget, but she did not. We have listened to Christmas music in the car nonstop for months. So I found myself having to make a rudolph cake. I am not the best at creative cakes in general. I am pretty proud of how it turned out. I went google images and just pulled up an image of rudolph from the movie and used it as an outline. She wanted brownies instead of cake. Awesome! Because I don't really love cake and Brownies were much easier to work with.



I made the extra pieces on top out of sugar cookies dough. I just traced the outlines of the ears, eye, and antlers onto the dough. I used a mini york mint for the eye and a red gumball was the perfect solution for the nose. It was a hit. Gone in seconds, because brownies are so much better than cake and so are sugar cookies. All the kids went crazy over the gumballs, so it is good I bought extra. I love that this girl thinks out of the box and is not afraid to follow through. She was teased by her sister for months that she wanted rudolph, but Miriam stuck with it without a care in the world. Love that girl



The hubby had a Birthday too. Just last week. He made it easy on me (so nice since I am 8 months pregnant and still not on a first name basis with my kitchen). He chose key lime pie, which I made, and a costco bought apple pie (awesome, I didn't have to slave over it, bless him).



The key lime pie recipe came from a Betty Crocker Cookbook that we got for a our wedding, I think it is even the Bridal edition (aka: non baking savvy people).

As Good as BYU Brownies

Many of the Bakers on celestial confections attended BYU for our undergraduate degrees. And those that did not have had their fill of BYU experiences as Mom and Dad Alumni took us there many times as children. One specialty BYU has are their brownies....both regular and mint. And if you have not noticed chocolate is kind of the main squeeze around our house. So a good brownie is essential. Whitney found this recipe....I am not sure where, but she has been making it for years and shared it with all of us. These babies will not last 24 hours in your house...I promise!

As Good As BYU Brownies

Brownies
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
4 eggs
1/2 cocoa powder
2 sticks butter
1/2 tsp salt

Chocolate Frosting
4 T butter
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
2 T milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mint Frosting
4 T butter
2 T evaporated milk
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp peppermint or mint extract

Chocolate Glaze
6 T butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Brownies
Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at
a time. Add flour, cocoa powder and salt. Spray
9x13 pan with cooking spray and bake at 350
degrees for 28 minutes. (The 28 minutes is very
important according to the owner of the recipe.)

-April note: I have made these before when they ended up dry. This time I added a smidge less flour and a tiny bit extra cocoa powder and underbaked them slightly. They turned out fabulous. Do what you need to bakers!

Frostings-
Mix all together

Glaze
Melt at low heat in microwave stirring frequently.

For regular brownies just use the chocolate
frosting. For mint brownies chill with mint frosting
before spreading glaze on top.

TWD: Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia

Well, I am down to 2 1/2 weeks until baby makes her arrival. Right now I am in full nesting mode which means I am doing a ton, probably too much on some days. On top of the nesting frenzy, I have done a lot of baking over the past week. After the success of our last family TWD night, April and I decided it would be fun to do it again. She took the cookies and I took the brownies.

When I first read the recipe I thought to myself, this is a lot of work for brownies so they had sure better be good. I have a recipe that I love and use often enough that I have it memorized. These brownies were more labor intensive than I prefer brownie recipes to be. When they came out of the oven they were still quite gooey so I put them in for an extra 5 minutes. Even at that point they still seemed a bit gooey but I figured that the recipe said they should be fudgy so hopefully when they cooled, they would be more fudge-like and less runny.

Saturday I spent the day cleaning the house with my sister and mom to make room changes for the baby's arrival. I made the brownies in the morning and by the time it came to go to the TWD night, I was exhausted and couldn't walk. My hips were killing me so Josh was nice enough to take the brownies, and the kids, to a family evening while I stayed home and enjoyed the quiet and a bath. It was heavenly.

I actually never got to taste the finished product, or take a picture of it. I sent a plate with Josh and kept a few for photos but didn't take pictures quickly enough as the rest of the brownies were eaten by my dad and my hubby on Sunday. Oops! Josh came home and said that the brownies were a huge hit. As he finished off the last one he told me they were addicting, so much so that he said he had been thinking about them all day. So having never tasted them, I'll have to take the word of family that these were good brownies.

Even with the good review though, I still don't know that I will make them again because of the extra work involved. I know it's not huge, but I think brownies should be a one bowl dessert. Josh loved them though, so maybe he could persuade me to make them again at some point. For the full recipe and great photos, head on over to Chocolate Chic.

Until next time, happy baking!

TWD: Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte

Fabulous!!! I really did love this dessert. It was super rich though so only one piece was enough for all. I had to change it a little so it would work for us. I don't really like making things we can't or won't eat so I altered it a bit.

The Review:
The brownie bottom was sensational. It surprised me how much I liked the dried cherries mixed in. The brownie torte was extremely fudgie and rich...just the way I like it. I ended up halving the recipe since we have a small family and we were not planning on having guests over. I actually kind of liked the pepper added to the brownie, but I think the torte would have been just as good without it.
The mousse was a nice offset to the rich brownie layer. It needed something to tame the fudginess. I liked the added cherry filling (my addition), because it made it a little different than your normal whip cream topping. It also served the purposes of making it more like a black forest torte.

The alterations:
The brownie portion of this lovely dish called for kirsch that is added to the dried cherries then you ignite it. Since we don't do alcohol here I omitted the kirsch and added a few tablespoons of apple juice and let it simmer with the cherries and thicken a little. It worked fine.
The second alteration I made was to the mousse. The original recipe calls for mascarpone cheese. I am not a huge fan of the mascarpone flavor. I thought of using ricotta instead but opted to add more cream cheese and some cherry pie filling to get more of a cherry flavor to the mousse. It turned out beautifully!
I did not have a springform pan small enough so I just used a 6 inch cake pan and carefully removed the torte about 10 min after it came out of the oven. Then in order to get the mousse layer shaped with the brownie I put wax paper in my 6 inch pan and topped the torte with the mousse. After freezing it I pulled it out of the pan easily. I also had a little extra batter that I put into mini muffin tins. It was very fun to have these rich little brownie bites with a dollop of cherry mousse on top.

Overall we loved it and will surely make it again. If you are interested in making these you can visit April of Short + Rose.

TWD-Tribute to Katherine Hepburn Brownies

With Rach moving, she has decided to take a break from TWD until they have a house and are somewhat settled in their new place. I kindly offered to take her recipe this month so that she didn't have to worry about it. Who wouldn't want to try a new brownie recipe?

I loved the story behind these brownies. Who would have thought that Katherine Hepburn had a fabulous brownie recipe! I also loved the fact that this entire recipe was assembled in one pan and didn't require the use of a mixer. The less mess the better! I have never made brownies in this method before. Adding all the ingredients to the melted butter pan was new to me.

I made mine minus the coffee for religious reasons. There are some times I will purchase decaf for recipes like this but I didn't have it on hand so I just made do with what I had. When they were finished baking and I took them out of the oven, I could tell they were very soft. I let them rest for the time recommended but they still fell apart when I took them out of the pan. No harm done, they still tasted fabulous. They were rich and fudge-like and required a tall glass of milk. The cinnamon was a subtle, but nice addition to the brownies and you got little chunks of gooey chocolate in every bite.

These are a definite keeper and are a recipe I will make again. Thanks to Lisa at Surviving Oz for the pick this week. Head on over to her site for the full recipe.

Happy Baking!

TWD - Chipster-Topped Brownies

Brace yourselves people this Tuesdays With Dorie has a high dosage of chocolate. It was pure heaven. I went from no baking at all to this beauty. Hallelujah!!!! Chipster-Topped Brownies are basically a thick layer of the richest chocolaty brownie ever with a layer of chocolate chip cookie spread on top. Here is the run down.

THE MAKING - I felt like this was an easy make simply because both brownies and cookies are such common treats around here that I didn't need to be paranoid about how it was supposed to look during the process. I used the Ikea dark chocolate bars for the bittersweet chocolate in the brownie portion of the treat. It did the job superbly. For the cookie part of the treat I felt like there was A LOT of butter. The batter tasted like butter to me, but in the end it cooked up nicely so maybe you need all that butter. The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate chips, but it also says you can change it up according desire. I ended up using peanut butter chips in combination with an Ikea milk chocolate bar. The peanut butter cookie and deep chocolate brownie complimented each other nicely.




THE EATING -
Like I said these were heaven. You must be a chocolate person to truly appreciate them. Miriam (my chocolate obsessed 3 yr.old) quickly gobbled them down wanting more. Rebekah (my chocolate obsessed want-a-be but truly a lightweight, 5yrs) ate half a one and then gave the rest to Daddy who inhaled it quickly. Glenn and I both loved them and ate way too many. I made the whole 9x13, but I was glad I did. The day I made them we had play dates in and out of our house. So we sent treats home with two different families who all came back raving saying that they ate them all quickly and even began hoarding and hiding what was left. This recipe is definitely a keeper.


I LOVE the Ikea chocolate bars. This was the first time I used the dark chocolate bar in baking and it was just as fantastic. My chocolate bars usually do not make it into my baking because I eat them soon after making it home from shopping (sometimes before). Yum!

If you want to give it a try you can go visit Beth at Suppilicious for the recipe.

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownie Babies

Did this one pique your curiosity?

These are awesome!!  And they don't just have a little bit of peanut butter cheesecake flavor swirled around inside, it has a real mass of deliciousness in the middle that you can enjoy and let linger in your mouth for a while.  Yummy!!!

I found this recipe in Kraft's Food and Family magazine.  They always have fun (and easy) recipes and its free!!  They even have archives online if you missed something.

1 pkg brownie mix (19-21 oz., I prefer Ghiradelli mixes!!) + ingredients to make

1 pkg cream cheese (8 oz.)

1/3 c sugar

1 egg

1/4 c peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups cool whip

20 maraschino cherries (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare brownie mix according to package directions.  Spoon into 20 muffin cups.  I like the silicone ones, they just pop right out.

In a separate bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, peanut butter, and vanilla with mixer until blended.  Spoon a rounded Tbsp into each muffin cup and use another spoon to pull brownie mix over the top.  You should still be able to see some of the cheesecake on top.  Bake 30 minutes or until centers are set.  Cool to room temp, then transfer to refrigerator.  

True cheesecake needs to be refrigerated for at least 24 hours.  I found that to be true with these as well.  These are great on the first day, but if you can wait 24 hours, they're even yummier!

Serve topped with cool whip and maraschino cherries.

Magnificent Mint Brownies

I have always been on the hunt for a fabulous mint brownie recipe. Growing up I looked forward to attending any BYU event that might have BYU Mint Brownies as the dessert. They were the best! 

Well, my search for the best mint brownies ended when we attended a baptism a number of years ago. After the baptism there were mint brownies as part of the refreshments and after taking one bite I was sold. I had to have the recipe! Apparently this recipe comes from an elderly lady who was a neighbor of our friends, the Andersons. The elderly neighbor always included these brownies as part of her Christmas goodie plate that she gave to neighbors. Jane was kind enough to share the recipe with me and it has been a favorite ever since. In fact, I have taken them to events and introduced them as, "Brownies that are as good as BYU Mint Brownies" and have been told that they are better than BYU Mint Brownies. In my book, that is the ultimate compliment! 

Magnificent Mint Brownies

4 cups sugar
4 cups flour
8 eggs
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups butter

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter and sugar together.   Add eggs one at a time.   Add flour, cocoa powder and salt.  Mix to combine. Add chocolate chips. 

Spray baking sheet pan with cooking spray and bake at 350 degrees for 28 minutes.  

Cool brownies. When completely cool, frost with mint frosting. Place pan in freezer until frosting has set . Remove from freezer and spread glaze on top. Freeze again until glaze is solid.

Mint Frosting

3/4 cup butter

6 T evaporated milk

6 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp peppermint or mint extract

Food coloring (green or pink) optional

Mix all together until smooth and creamy.

Chocolate Glaze

3/4 cup butter

4 tsp vanilla

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine butter and chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl. Melt on low heat in microwave stirring frequently until smooth. Add vanilla and stir to combine. 

p.s. You can cut the recipe in half and bake it in a 9x13 pan.