Baking Junkie

June, 2010

Monday, June 28th, 2010

Almond Delight Cupcakes

Recipe by Aimee

Ok, so there is nothing “light” about these cupcakes, but I just liked the name

My go to alcoholic beverage of choice is an amaretto sour. A few years ago I discovered baking with amaretto and used to put it in my chocolate chip cookies all the time (I will get to those eventually). When Derek and I got married we had amaretto buttercream on the top layer of our wedding cake, and now that I make my own buttercream I have been looking forward to trying out the amaretto flavor. I have also recently discovered making cakes with almond extract, so I decided to combine the two similar flavors into a cupcake version and add some extra flair and flavor by adding a chocolate swirl on top. The almond flavor stands out enough to be recognizable, but I didn’t want it to be too overpowering. If you wanted stronger flavors you could add more almond extract, amaretto, or both. With the chocolate swirl I initially tried more of a zig-zag pattern, but that became too messy spilling over the sides. I found it was much easier to use a circular pattern and hold the chocolate syrup close to the cupcake. I still had some spillage but nothing I couldn’t wipe off with a paper towel. Enjoy!

Almond Delight Cupcakes
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Cupcakes:

1 box yellow cake mix (I use Duncan Hines)

1 1/3 cup water

1/3 cup oil

4 eggs (instead of the 3 listed on the back of the box)

1 Tbsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour into cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 25 minutes, or until tooth pick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting (adapted from Wilton):

1 cup shortening

1 cup butter

2 tsp vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar

4 Tbsp Amaretto

Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup for topping

Cream together shortening and butter, then add in vanilla. Add powdered sugar in 1 cup increments, mixing well after each addition. Add in amaretto. Frost cupcakes and top with chocolate swirl if desired.

Tags: Alcohol, Buttercream, Cupcakes

Posted in Cupcakes | 2 Comments »

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Chocolate Malt Ball Cookies (Whopper Cookies)

Recipe by Aimee

Are you guys familiar with Whoppers? Chocolatey malty goodness is more like it. I used to eat these a lot as a kid, and last fall I rediscovered them. I started to wonder what it would taste like if I substituted chocolate chips for Whoppers in a cookie, and that’s how these yummy treats were born. To me what makes these cookies so great is the malt powder you get by crushing the candy. It makes them stand out against any chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had. They are my dad’s favorite cookie now, and I have a really hard time resisting the dough. Enjoy!

Chocolate Malt Ball Cookies

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1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups flour
1 box of Whoppers (movie theater size)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat together shortening and sugars. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Whisk together baking soda, salt, and flour, and add to dough mixture until fully combined. Empty box of candy into a 1 gallon Ziploc bag and seal. Crush candy with a rolling pin (feel free to take out some aggression here), and add to dough. Roll into small balls (or use cookie scoop) and bake for 10 minutes. Makes 2 1/2 dozen (depending on how much of the dough you sample!).

Tags: Candy, chocolate, Cookies

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Monday, June 21st, 2010

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

Recipe by Aimee

Do any of you love Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal as much as I do? It has been my favorite since I was a little girl, and I have Derek hooked on it as well. I saw a picture online one day of a Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcake and I knew instantly I needed to make it. The only problem was, there was no recipe with the picture, so I just had to create my own. I went for easy and simple. I just used my usual boxed cake mix recipe and added some cinnamon and crushed cereal pieces. I left my pieces a little on the larger side, but you could finely crush them if you want. The frosting is vanilla buttercream with finely crushed cereal pieces (I used my food chopper). The result is a perfect cinnamon explosion in your mouth. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

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1 box yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cup water

4 eggs

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup broken Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all ingredients, saving cereal pieces for last. Pour into cupcake liners and bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool fully before frosting.

Vanilla Buttercream (adapted from Wilton)

1 cup shortening

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 tsp vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp milk

½ cup finely crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch pieces

Cream together shortening and butter, then add in vanilla. Add powdered sugar in 1 cup increments, mixing well after each addition. Add milk. You can make the frosting whatever consistency you like. Just add more powdered sugar to thicken and more milk to thin. Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with cereal pieces. Makes 2 dozen.

Tags: Buttercream, Cinnamon, Cupcakes

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Friday, June 18th, 2010

Chocolate Peanut Blowouts

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

The one thing I eat almost every day of my life is peanut butter. I am absolutely in love with it, so anytime I can incorporate it into baking it makes my day. It’s easy to guess that one of my favorite types of candy is a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup, so again, using it in baking makes me a happy girl. I recently found this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens and immediately knew these cookies would taste amazing, and they certainly didn’t disappoint! I love that in one bite it’s possible to get both a sweet and salty taste. I decreased the amount of honey roasted peanuts from the original recipe because I like things a bit more sweet than salty, but you could always add in more. If you don’t want anything too crunchy in your cookies you could substitute peanut butter chips for the peanuts. Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Blowouts
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½ cup butter

½ cup peanut butter

½ cup packed brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ tsp salt

1 egg

¼ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

¾ cup milk chocolate chips

½ cup honey roasted peanuts

6 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (individual cups, not bite size), cut into 8 pieces each

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and peanut butter on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugars, baking soda, and salt until combined. Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla until combined, then add flour. Finally, add chocolate chips, peanuts, and peanut butter cups. Form into balls or use small cookie scoop and place onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

Tags: chocolate, Cookies, peanut butter

Posted in Cookies | 2 Comments »

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These are the lovelies that are pictured at the top of this blog. I’m not much for drinking anything besides water (I know I know, pretty boring), but in the summer I do enjoy a good lemonade every once in a while. Make it strawberry lemonade and it’s even better!

There are plenty of versions of this cupcake floating around out there but I decided to just play around with my own. I will admit I do not actually like lemons so I never have any on hand. Derek hates drinking plain water, so we always have a bottle of lemon juice in the fridge. I decided to just add that to the cake mix until I got the lemon flavor I was going for. You could certainly use the juice of a fresh lemon in any amount until you get the flavor you are looking for.

I used my basic vanilla buttercream recipe (adapted from Wilton) and added some strawberry freezer jam (any strawberry jam should work). Same principle as above, just add the jam until you get your desired taste.

**A note on buttercream: I used to be afraid to make my own frosting (I have no idea why?), but now that I have discovered making buttercream I will NEVER use store bought frosting again. The flavor is so much better, and it really is simple. You can play around with the powdered sugar and milk until it becomes the consistency you are looking for (adding more sugar will thicken, adding more milk will thin). Don’t be afraid to take the leap!*

Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes
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Recipe source: Me

Cupcakes

1 box yellow cake mix (I use Duncan Hines)

1/3 cup water

1 1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs (instead of three as listed on the box)

3 Tbsp lemon juice (more or less to taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all ingredients. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Strawberry Buttercream Frosting

1 cup shortening

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

2 tsp vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar

1 Tbsp milk

Strawberry jam (I used about ¾ cup)

Cream together shortening and butter, then add in vanilla. Add powdered sugar in 1 cup increments, mixing well after each addition. Add milk then jam to taste. Frost cupcakes and enjoy.**

**I frost my cupcakes with a Wilton disposable bag and 2D tip. These are inexpensive and can be found at any crafting store. Swirl from the outside in to get the pattern shown. You can also swirl from the inside out to get more of a rose pattern**

Tags: Buttercream, Cupcakes, strawberry

Posted in Cupcakes | 3 Comments »