Chocolate Kiss Cookie

Ahh, the holiday that either people love or hate.  The dreaded/dreamed about "Valentine's Day"!  Are you a loather or a lover?  I love it.  No, my husband and I don't need a special holiday to express our love to each other (because I know that is a famous excuse) it is a day to do something extra special!  Anyone who doesn't like it will argue anything but, I am all about that mushy love stuff.  I get it often but I get a second helping on Valentine's day!

In case you wondered, the answer is yes.  I am that woman who tries to cook or bake everything in heart shapes or X's and O's, and writes a love note to use as a napkin ring.  Candles, and flowers, all of it.  In my defense, I am like that with most holidays, so no worries, that I am showing favoritism to this one.  Do it for your kids, for your parents, just show TONS of love on Valentine's day, don't make it so dang difficult!  This cookie for instance, adapted from the Hershey's website.  I just wanted a big cookie.  Some people don't like pies, or cakes, or cupcakes, and I think this same idea would be awesome for a birthday party if someone doesn't like cake.  It really is all about how you decorate it, or theme it.  I just wanted to share because I made it for my littles, and they loved it.  Also, I used a heart shaped pan I have.  It is about 11 inches at the widest part.  You can do it in a 9x13, or anything really, it will just make your baking time vary.  So I will give you the directions to get the particular cookie I made in the photo.

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3 T milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Red Wilton candy melts
Pink Wilton Candle melts
almond bark
15-20 Hershey's Kisses
Red sugar

Preheat your oven to 350.  Beat together, butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, milk and vanilla extract.  Beat until completely combined.  In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt.  Mix well, and pour into the peanut butter mixture, beat until just combined.  Lightly spray your baking pan.  Pour dough out into pan and use a spatula or fingers to press into place.  Bake for 10-15 minutes.  I hate to be vague but this depends completely on your baking pan size.  You want the cookie to remain soft, but be baked all the way through.

When you take it out, IMMEDIATELY place your kisses on the cookie,  However you want, randomly as I did or in a design, or a name?!?!  Or the word "LOVE" OH yes!  Let cool completely!  Melt your red and pink melts, about 4 or 5 of them will be enough of each color.  Add a few drops of vegetable oil to them if they aren't drizzling nicely enough.  Do one color at a time and your almond bark as well.  About 30 seconds in the micro for each color did it for me.  Then sprinkle with red sugar and waa-laa!  A special Valentine's Day treat for your husband, wife, gf, bf, kids, parents, or friends.  Just spread the love!

ENJOY!

Melting Candle Confetti Cupcakes!

Good Morning friends!  Fancy meeting you here for a new recipe on a Saturday morning, eh?  I am up, not feeling well, and just cracked a window for some fresh 9 degree F air, and can hear birds singing.  I can't lay back down, or I am going to, well...toss my cookies so I am writing this recipe up for you.  Wait.... let's not call this one a recipe, let's call it a method.   I saw a similar idea on the YouTube channel Cookes Cupcakes and Cardio. It inspired me to make my own version, my way.

Don't be to disappointed that I used a cake mix again! HA!  I used a white one, added double vanilla and sprinkles for my own confetti cake, but you can use any cake flavor you like.  Keep that in mind, as I will write it up how I did this particular version. 

I also used Wilton chocolate.  White chocolate, whatever it is, and used them in the colors of my candles.  I didn't run out for candles these are just some I had on hand, otherwise you may have gotten a bigger color range but, let's be honest, they are going to get pitched anyway.  You will need colors of the chocolate that will match your candles.  I got about 18 cupcakes and did about 4 of each color.  (around there).  This all sounds so wishy washy, doesn't it?  Sorry about that, it is just that it all depends on how many cupcakes you get, or make.  Let's just get on with it, shall we?

Note: You can color white chocolate, with gel/oil based food colors.  Don't use the cheap ones, it will seize on you!  I did color the blue one of mine!  A few of mine were flavored chocolate as well.  Just FYI.

You will need:
1 white cake mix (not paid or sponsored but ya'll know I am a Pillsbury girl)
2 T. multicolored sprinkles
1 T. vanilla extract
birthday candles
colored chocolate
white chocolate chips, or chocolate melting wafers in colors coordinating with your candles.

Mix up your cupcakes, adding in sprinkles and vanilla and bake per package directions.  Let cool completely!!!

When they are completely cooled, work with one color at a time.  I tried to coordinate my cupcake papers as well, not everyone is that OCD, shall we say? 

Place your candles in the cupcakes before you do anything else.  Push them down as far as they will go for this one.  Just makes the "melt" look more realistic.

Melt your chocolate in a bowl 30 seconds at a time and if needed add a bit of vegetable oil to it, if it isn't as workable, or pourable as you want it or need it to be.  Also add your coloring if you need to.  When it is melted use a small spoon and start pouring it down the sides of the candle unto the cupcake.  Do this until you have the desired effect.  I used about 1/2 cup of melted chocolate for 3-4 cupcakes.  Let it drip down the side and pool, create layers, whatever makes it more dippy candle wax-ish to you!  It is kind of a fun look and unexpected with the chocolate on top when people expect icing. 

Let the chocolate set, in the fridge or at room temperature for about 30 minutes and enjoy!

I am still on a cupcake roll.  Don't worry it will all end after my birthday!!!

Banana Cupcakes with Whipped Peanut Butter Ganache

Let me start by thanking Melissa Whitefoot, for requesting this recipe.  It is my goal to make as many kinds of cupcakes in this, my birthday month as possible.  So make sure to get your requests or ideas in, because it may be YOUR idea that I make next!!   Let me also, tell you, how difficult this actually was.  Seriously, it doesn't seem like it should have been but, trust me, it was!  I think they turned out perfect in the end and isn't that what matters?  Let me tell you of my debacle!

This recipe was supposed to be up a couple of days ago.  However, each attempt at this, kept turning out more like a muffin or bready.  Though the flavor was great, I was disappointed with each try because, well, I wanted cupcakes, not bread and not muffins!

Then, I got a call from my sister Peg.  She is my fellow cake mix addict, and friends, after our conversation I decided to "turn tot he mix".  After 4 tries, and pounds of bananas, and more muffins than I knew what to do with, I thought, let me just go "there".   I mean it was already a CAKE mix.  How could this turn out bad?  And why was I beating myself up so much for "resorting" to a box mix when I am loud and proud about how I have 10 in my pantry at any given time?!?  I made a decision, at that moment, that no matter what I did, I couldn't mess this one up.  And boy was I right.  Perfection.  The perfect flavor combo if you enjoy these flavors, one doesn't outweigh the other, and well, just trust me.

Just a note, though I did use a half of a teaspoon of banana extract you do not NEED it.  If you can get it, I would say, go for it, I find mine actually at my Asian grocery store, but, you don't have to have it.  Don't use vanilla, just let the banana that you use give you the flavor you need.  Also, when you mash your banana, leave some chunks, it leave little pockets of banana goodness that pureeing them would just mess all up. 

Let's get on with this!  I am going to give you the ganache recipe first, as you will need to let it come to room temperature and then refrigerate. 

12 ounces peanut butter chips  (not regular peanut butter friends, you need CHIPS)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 T. butter

Place your chips into a bowl.  Set aside.  In a small pot, place  your heavy cream and watch for it to create some bubbles on the outside.  You don't want to boil it, just "scald" it.  Pour it over the chips, without stirring or disrupting them, let it sit for 30 seconds.  After 30 seconds, begin to mix with a whisk.  Whisk until the peanut butter chips are melted, add in the butter and whisk until incorporated.  Set aside.

1 yellow cake mix
1/2 tsp. banana extract or essence
3 bananas just crushed up with a fork. (leave some chunks)

Preheat oven to suggested temperature on the box.  Prepare according to package directions adding in the extract and the bananas.  Don't worry about the size of your bananas just make sure they are nice and ripe and sweet!  Line your cupcake tin with papers.  This will make exactly 24 cupcakes.  Bake for 24-28 minutes.  You need a few extra minutes with the extra moisture from the bananas.  Take out and let cool completely.

Now place your ganache in your stand mixer or in a bowl if using a hand mixer.

 Now whip that ganache....(Every ounce of me wanted to say, whip it, whip it real good).  Anyway whip until the color lightens, it becomes large in volume and it has the texture of almost a whipped cream.  This will be just enough icing for 24 cupcakes.  Don't use a ton or it will over power the mild banana flavor!!

Leave them plain or garnish with some sprinkles or decorations!!

Dig in and trust me when I tell you, if the combo of peanut butter and banana is your thing, make someone hide them from you.  They are moist and pure sunshine in your mouth!

ENJOY!

Fingernail Polish Party Treats

Cute, right?  I KNOW!

A reader of mine on Facebook posted a photo of some of these a few months back.  I seriously almost died.  How adorable?  I had to try them!   And while they are SO cute, I thought to myself, "how good could these taste"?  Well, they rock, if you do them my way!  I used fun flavored candy melts and they are yummy!  While I admit, as an adult, one is definitely enough, kids would go nuts over these!  These would be PERFECT for a little girl (or big girls) birthday party, a girls night IN, and a hundred other occasions.  You could coordinate the colors of "polish" with a party theme.  They are so easy to make, and if I had bothered looking at the recipe that went with the photo that was posted, I might not have been in the state of panic that I was, because....

as usual.........

I didn't look up how to do it.  I went with my own idea and they turned out adorable and the reality is, it doesn't matter how anyone else ever made them, because this method is awesome.   I am going to list the ingredients you need.  I made about 18 of these.  I APPROXIMATE that you can get about 15-20 "bottles" of polish from a 10 ounce bag of candy melts.  I did a small amount of three colors to experiment.  That being said, I will leave it up to you as to how many you need and will make. 

You will need:
Candy Melts in colors of your choice
Midgees Tootsie Rolls
Vegetable Oil
Large Marshmallows (get a pkg that hasn't been smooshed!)

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil.  Unroll the tootsie rolls ahead of time.  I used 2 skewers for dipping. 

When you are ready to melt your candy melts, make sure to heat them for 30 seconds, then stir, 20 seconds and then stir, 10 seconds and stir, if needed.  I added vegetable oil to mine to thin them out a bit, it makes dipping easier.  Just use your own judgment, add in 1 tsp and see if it is thin enough for your liking.  Stick your skewer into the middle of the marshmallow, dip in your melted candy, work quickly and cover the entire marshmallow.  Make sure to let ALL of the excess drip off over your bowl or cup.  I used a deeper small glass measuring cup so I didn't have to do a ton of work, there was enough I could dip it straight down and get it covered.   Sit it up right on the cookie sheet and then add the "handle", the tootsie roll to the top.  You may need to hold it for a couple of seconds so it will set.  It is that easy!  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving! 

Have fun and enjoy them!!

Your "nail polish IS now safe to eat" Chefwannabe

DISCLAIMER: It is NOT safe to eat REAL nail polish.  Please do not attempt to do so or let your children attempt to do so.  Can you believe I really felt the need to do this?!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

Hello to my favorite people!  It is so good to be back, in the kitchen, writing, creating, and sharing!  Wow, that sounded like a PBS television show.  I affectionately call it the coma channel, between the Victory Garden, Bob Ross, and the quilting lady, who needs sleeping pills?

I am BACK!  Done with sickness and back, better than ever!  Well, that might be a bit of an assumption but  I am hoping it will be true.  I think besides having double ear infection and a sinus infection, my MIND needed a break too.  I feel so refreshed.  Of course part of my excitement could be simply that I can breath again.  I can take 3 steps without hacking up a lung!  Oh, if I had a dollar for each time I said, "God, if you just make me feel better I swear I will never EVER say I am not feeling well to get out of anything again" I would be a rich woman.  By the way, the jury is still out on if this is a legit agreement. 

I have had this idea swimming in my head for awhile and decided it would be my "out of sickness" post.  I knew it wasn't going to be difficult because I used ALL box products.  Except the butter cream.  Yes, I did, and if you choose to be a better person than I, you can make your cake from scratch and the cookie dough as well.  This is a great recipe for little hands to help with.  It is fun, and when you bite in and you get cookie dough, well, come on now, that is the bomb diggity in, and of itself!

Please enjoy these!  I am on a cupcake kick, be expecting some cool stuff!!!  I will post the cupcake recipe first, and then beneath will be the chocolate butter cream recipe.  This amount of butter cream is the perfect, exact, on the dot, amount of frosting for 24 cupcakes! 

Cupcakes
1 devils food cake or just plain chocolate cake mix
1 roll of refrigerated cookie dough (or make your own)

Prepare cake mix as directed on the back of the box.  Set bowl aside.  Line cupcake tins with liners.  Add 1 tsp cake batter to the bottom of each. 

Take the cookie dough and divide into 28 slices.  OK, that was my original intention.  I wanted enough balls for the cupcakes and a few leftover to bake plain to crumble on top.  You will get about 3-4 balls from 2 slices.  I trust you will do fine with this.  If you don't care about crumbling any on top, then by all means, just divide into 24 balls. 

Now put a ball of dough in the center of each cupcake liner.  It makes no difference if they aren't EXACTLY the same size.  Don't fret.  Just go with the flow! 

Now divide the batter among all of the cupcakes.  Just get the dough balls covered.  Make sure to press them down a bit into the batter at the bottom too. 

Now, bake according to the direction on the box.  Mine was 350 F, for 18-23 minutes.  Mine took 20 exactly.  When they are done, let them sit and cool. 

Chocolate Butter cream
1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter + 3 tbsp 
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder

Mix all ingredients until smooth and creamy.  Pipe or spread with a knife on top of cooled cupcakes.  YUMMO!

Your "Eat More Cupcakes" Chefwannabe

She Wore an Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny, Yellow Polka Dot Bikini (Cake)

Summer is quickly approaching, ready or not!  I can't wait for the hot summer sun, and fun!  Are you all summer fans?   I know baking and cooking is set aside for cold meals, sandwiches, bbq's, fresh fruits and veggies.  Sometimes the last thing you want to do on a 100 degree day is crank that oven up.  BLEH!!  Makes me hot just thinking about it. But trust me when I tell you the cuteness of this cake is worth it! 

I saw this idea done on cookies over on the Woodland Bakery YouTube channel quite some time ago.  The video no longer exists so I can't link it but check out Gretchen over there!  She did these cookies and I thought how PERFECT on a cake.  She did this around Valentines Day (you will understand why later) and so it has been that long since I have wanted to recreate these adorable cookies with cake.  I also knew, I HAD to recreate this with one niece in particular, Jenna.  She is a summer girl for certain!  She is such a delightful young woman and I just knew this project was right up her alley.

I love cooking with my nieces, from the little ones to grown ones!  More than the cooking is spending time with them, finding out what is going on in their lives, and learning more about who they are becoming.  It is so exciting, I am proud of them all (and my nephews too).   So when my niece told me she had classes winding down, and had time after clinicals, I couldn't wait to see her OR hang out with her.  We have made a few dates before and then had to cancel so it was about time we got it together!

For this cake, you will need 2 heart shaped pans.  If you only have one, just bake the first cake, let it cool and then bake the second cake.  Heck I suppose if you are a gifted "cutter" you could do 2, 9x13 cakes and cut them into heart shapes.  You can use a cake mix or a from scratch cake, it makes no difference.  Just end up with 2 heart shaped cakes.  I used a yellow cake mix, as I thought it would simulate a nice "tan"!   HOWEVER, we ended up frosting it all in a flesh tone because we didn't want part of the cake left unfrosted.  This post is going to give you the method, my butter cream recipe, and the food coloring formula we found for flesh colored icing (Caucasian).  Because the answer is, YES, I forgot to pick up flesh colored food coloring.  Sue me.

I am giving you the directions for THIS cake.  How we did it, the colors we used.  You can change these colors, you can just frost it using a knife instead of piping bags, I mean you know how this goes, the choices are yours, I can only tell you how we did ours!

Vanilla Butter cream Icing
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, at room temp
1lb powdered sugar (sifted)
2-4 tbsp heavy cream (milk or half and half will work in a pinch)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter for 3-5 minutes alone. Add vanilla.  Then add sifted sugar, mix until combined.  It will likely be a bit crumbly.  Add in heavy cream, start with 1 or 2 tbsp.  Continue to beat. I used 4, but you may choose to use more or less.  Just use enough to get to the consistency you need for piping or icing. 

Here is how to divide the icing up.  Divide into separate bowls as follows:
1/4  flesh colored (recipe below)
1/2 white
1/4 yellow (as bright or light as you choose)

To get flesh colored icing, in a SEPARATE BOWL  add together 8 drops of yellow, 6 drops of red, and 2 drops of green, food coloring.  DO NOT mix it in the icing.  Add a few drops at a time to your bowl of white icing, until you get the color you want.  It worked perfectly for us! We just googled it and came up with it on Yahoo Answers! 

For this cake you will need:
2 heart shaped cakes
Piping bags
tips (star tip any size and a writing tip to do the tie and outline)
offset spatula
knife
large cookie sheet, board or platter it will fit on. 
1 batch of butter cream icing

Place your cakes on your large cookie sheet or whatever you are using to build the cake on.  The top heart will be upside down and the bottom cake will also be upside down.  Drop the point that is fitting into the top heart, between the 2 sides.  Wow, this instruction isn't going well.  Point the up or the down to the side of the center..........yea, that is about as much sense as I feel this is making so let me just give you a photo.  This is after it had been trimmed a bit to fit together, and icing in flesh colored icing!  So once you get it trimmed and fit together, frost it.  You do not want to use the flesh colored icing where you are putting the bikini, it will just be to much icing and you left only enough to cover the top and sides of the NAKED parts of the cake! So to speak........  OMGOSH, we iced it all mostly, DO NOT DO WHAT WE DID.  LOL  Really though just frost where the "skin" would be showing.  Use a cup of hot water if needed to smooth it out as nicely as you can.  Don't forget the SIDES!  Nobody wants cellulite on their own butt OR on their cake! Sorry this is sideways.

Next, using a toothpick or skewer, map out your bikini.  Ours, obviously was more of a granny panty style bathing suit, but you do what you want.  It is so much easier to map it out, that way there is no guessing.  The bottom of the top heart is obviously the "bikini top" and the bottom of the bottom heart is the "bikini bottom" is that all politically correct enough because there are MUCH easier words I COULD use.  HA!

Now, place your white icing in a piping bag fitted with a plain round writing tip.  Use it to outline the bikini.  You MAY need to thin that icing out a WEE bit, but you may not.  Just get a nice outline so all the rest is mindless "filling in".  Also do your ties at this point if you are doing the "ties around the neck" style. 

Now switch that tip out for your star tip (white frosting).  Any size star tip will work.  Begin filling in all of those outlines.  It is a little tedious, but not bad and the more you do it the faster it goes!  You can also just do this part with a plain spatula and frost it flat.   I am just obsessed with piping bags.  I remember when my mom used to decorate cakes, there was no airbrushes, or edible computer transfers, she used a star tip and "colored" everything in!   When you are done you will have something that looks like.....

Now, rinse that star tip out and put it unto a piping bag of your yellow frosting.  Time for the POLKA DOTS!!  Add them in as big or small and as few or many as you like!  Be creative!

When you are done you can always go back in and add more, or fill in more if you need to.  Here is "our" finished product, being proudly displayed by Jenna herself!!

So there you have it, the perfect cake for a summer girl.  I think making miniature cakes, and letting little girls decorate them for a birthday party would be a blast.  Of course, as long as I don't have to clean up.  Make this cake and post me your photos on Facebook or Twitter!!

Your "flipflop thwackin"chefwannabe

PS.  If you are lost and this makes no sense and you can't figure it out from the photos......I am sorry, I have no excuses, but I trust even if my words aren't sensible, you can figure it out.  Granny panties to string bikini's...........CHEERS!