Baking Junkie

Tag: White chocolate

Sunday, December 4th, 2011

Cookies and Cream Bark

I imagine that many of you have been busy baking away in your kitchens. I usually try to spend one long day in the kitchen doing all of my holiday baking at once. Because of my schedule this year that isn’t possible, so I am spacing things out and just baking one thing here and there. My biggest dilemma is trying to find the balance between making all of my traditional goodies and also trying to add in some new recipes as well. I decided to kick things off with something new, and this is the recipe I chose.

It helps that it only requires two ingredients!

I have made various different barks in the past, but not for several years. I loved this recipe because of it’s simplicity, but mainly because of it’s taste. One piece was usually not enough for me. You know that something is good when Derek has to hide it from me! Enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Bark
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15 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped
1 (12 0z) bag white chocolate chips

Place the chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals until melted, stirring after each interval.

Once the chocolate has melted, mix in cookies. Pour onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper, smoothing out with a spatula. Chill for approximately 10 minutes, or until chocolate has hardened. Remove from wax paper and break into pieces.

Tags: Candy, chocolate, Christmas, No Bake, Oreo, White chocolate

Posted in Misc. | 2 Comments »

Monday, May 16th, 2011

Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats

Recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats

Hello everyone! I am certainly well aware that it has been 3 (three!) weeks since my last post, and I honestly apologize. We spent a long weekend visiting some of our best friends in South Carolina, and ever since we got back life has been nothing but crazy. I decided that in order for me to keep my sanity I needed to take a little break from both baking and blogging, and I am starting to feel refreshed again! My other problem has been a decreased appetite that has been keeping baked goods as one of the last things on my mind (I know, I’m shocked too). That seems to be slowly improving, so hopefully I will be baking more soon!

I also feel the need to mention that life’s craziness doesn’t show signs of letting up soon, so while I am hoping to post more often than once every three weeks, it won’t be back to twice weekly posts until probably August. I do hope you’ll stick around, because I have some fantastic recipes to share with you…starting with this one!

Derek requested Rice Krispie bars last summer when I started the blog, but I felt they were too “boring” to post about. When I saw these bars in Annie’s archives I jumped at the chance to make them.

Confession: These were the first Rice Krispie Bars I have ever made. Ever.

They are a dessert I could usually care less about. These, however, have changed my thinking. Cookies and cream anything ranks way up there with chocolate and peanut butter for me, and these certainly don’t disappoint. Annie added some bittersweet chocolate to the bars, but I preferred them without. While I think these would be great without any topping, that’s what puts them over the edge. Derek likes his Rice Krispie bars huge, so I made a full batch pressed into an 8×8 inch pan. If you like them smaller or are feeding a crowd you could easily use a 9×13 inch pan instead. Enjoy!

Cookies and Cream Rice Krispie Treats
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5 Tbsp butter
1 (10 oz) bag mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups coarsely chopped Oreos
1 cup finely chopped Oreos
1 ¼ cups white chocolate chips

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Once butter is melted add marshmallows and stir until combined. Remove pan from heat and gently stir in Rice Krispies and coarsely chopped Oreos. Mixture will be thick. Press into a greased 8×8 inch pan (for thicker bars) or 9×13 inch pan (for thinner bars).

Cut bars into squares once they have completely cooled. Place chocolate chips into a glass bowl and set on top of a small pot of boiling water to create a double boiler. Stir chocolate frequently until melted and smooth. Dip the top of each bar into the white chocolate and then immediately into the finely crushed oreos. Set aside and let chocolate set before eating.

Tags: Bars, chocolate, No Bake, Oreo, White chocolate

Posted in Bars | 7 Comments »

Sunday, March 13th, 2011

Shamrock Shake Cupcakes

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Hello friends! I hope you have all had a great weekend. I spent mine with great friends and went downhill skiing for the first time ever. I’m writing this, so I obviously survived! Luckily I made it the entire weekend without a trip to the ER, but I still had some nasty falls. My entire body is sore right now and I have some impressive bruises (one that’s not even related to skiing) but I had fun nonetheless.

Initially I wasn’t planning on any sort of St. Patrick’s day post. To be honest, it’s not a holiday we really celebrate much (even though Derek is part Irish). When my sister-in-law sent me the link to these cupcakes it changed my mind though!

Ironically, I had never had a Shamrock Shake, so in order to fully prepare for these cupcakes I felt it was necessary to try one.

Halfway through the shake I remembered that I am mildly lactose intolerant.

Needless to say I won’t be having more Shamrock shakes (although I thoroughly enjoyed it)!

I was a little nervous while making these, because I just wasn’t a huge fan of the batter. I also wasn’t a huge fan of the frosting, but the combination is fabulous! Obviously the texture is quite different from the actual shake, but the taste is surprisingly similar. I was worried about the cupcakes not being fully baked, and I ended up over-baking them just a bit which resulted in a brown color around the edges, but they should normally look nice and green.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!

Shamrock Shake Cupcakes
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½ cup shortening
1 ¾ cups granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 egg whites, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
¼ cup green creme de menthe

White Chocolate Buttercream
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, room temperature
6 oz (3/4 cup) white chocolate chips
⅓ cup heavy whipping cream
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening for approximately 30 seconds. Add sugar in ¼ cup increments until fully incorporated, light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla. Add egg whites one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl combine buttermilk and creme de menthe.

Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to the batter, starting and ending with flour.

Spoon batter into a muffin pan lined with baking cups, filling approximately ⅔ full. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool completely.

To make frosting, heat whipping cream in small saucepan until simmering. Remove from heat and pour over white chocolate chips in a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir until smooth. Add butter and beat in with an electric mixer. Gradually add powdered sugar, then milk.

Frost cupcakes using a Wilton 1M tip. If desired, cut a straw into three pieces and stick into frosting for a garnish.

Mouthwatering Mondays

Tags: Buttercream, Cupcakes, Mint, White chocolate

Posted in Cupcakes | 6 Comments »

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

White Chocolate Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes

I’m a list person. I love them. Can’t live without them. No lie, I will sometimes add things that I have already done to my to do list just so that I can cross them off. I once made a list of lists that I wanted to make.

I hope my OCD’ness hasn’t scared you off yet.

Naturally I made lists when I started blogging. I started a master list of various different desserts I wanted to make, and split them into subcategories (cake, cookies, cupcakes, etc). The longest list was for cupcakes and I started brainstorming all of the different flavors I wanted to try. Peanut butter and jelly was near the top of the list but it has taken me until now to figure out exactly how I wanted to do it. Remember the white chocolate peanut butter and jelly puppy chow? It was such a heavenly combination that I knew it needed to be in cupcake form. I brought these in for a coworkers birthday and she doesn’t like filled cupcakes so that meant I had to put both flavors in buttercream on top of the cupcakes.

I modified a recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor (love her!) for the white chocolate cake. It is so much more rich and indulgent that just a regular box of cake mix, and combined with both peanut butter and strawberry buttercream makes for one heck of a flavor explosion! One of my coworkers even labeled these as her new favorite (hi Cathy!)

I got about 18 large cupcakes out of this recipe and had just enough frosting for the pattern seen below (Wilton tip 22). If you made two dozen smaller cupcakes, or want to use more frosting in swirl patterns (one flavor on top of the other) I would multiple the frosting recipes by 1.5. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes
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Cake
1 package white cake mix
1 box (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
⅔ cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup white chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Buttercream
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
½ tsp vanilla
½ cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

Strawberry Buttercream
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, room temperature
½ tsp vanilla
¼ cup strawberry jam
2 cups powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an electric mixer combine together cake mix, pudding, eggs, sour cream, water, vegetable oil and vanilla. In a small bowl melt white chocolate chips for one minute. Stir until smooth then add to remaining cake mix and combine. The mixture will be thick. Place in cupcake liners, filling ⅔ full. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool in pan for five minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

To make the peanut butter buttercream, beat together the butter, vanilla and peanut butter until smooth. Mix in powdered sugar in one cup increments, then add milk to thin. Repeat process to make strawberry buttercream. I used a disposable pastry bag with a Wilton 22 tip to frost.

Tags: Buttercream, Cupcakes, peanut butter, strawberry, White chocolate

Posted in Cupcakes | 5 Comments »

Sunday, January 2nd, 2011

Peanut Butter Dough Balls

Recipe adapted from What Megan’s Making

Happy 2011!

Have you made any resolutions yet? Broken any already? If losing weight, eating healthy and giving up baked goods and junk food are on your list of resolutions you may want to leave now. It’s not that I really want you to leave, but I know how much these will tempt you. The thought of them will torment you until you finally break down and make them, and then proceed to eat a dozen of them like I did!

Ok so maybe it was only 10, but you get the picture.

I don’t really know how you can NOT love these. Cookies that taste like cookie dough. Pure heaven, right? I mean my favorite part of making cookies is eating the dough! I will be honest and admit that the first time I made these the dough was very crumbly and impossible to form into a cookie. After doing some research and looking at the comments on Megan’s site I discovered that adding a little extra peanut butter solves that problem pretty quickly.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to not overbake these, because it is easy to do (I know because I did)! Even being slightly overbaked these were still amazing, so I can’t wait to try them again. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Dough Balls

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½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
¾ cup peanut butter
½ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
½ cup cake flour*
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup milk chocolate chips

*If you don’t have cake flour place 1 Tbsp of cornstarch in a ½ cup measuring cup, then fill the rest with all purpose flour*

In a large bowl beat together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, powdered sugar and vanilla. In a separate smaller bowl combine baking powder, baking soda, salt, and flours. Slowly add this to the peanut butter mixture and combine until a dough forms. Stir in the chocolate chips. If the mixture is too crumbly (which mine was initially) add more peanut butter. Place dough in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Form dough into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. DO NOT overbake. They will still look soft and dough-like when you remove them from the oven. Cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then place on a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Tags: Cookie Dough, Cookies, peanut butter, White chocolate

Posted in Cookies | 8 Comments »