Brownie Heart Cupcakes

I've always loved Valentine's Day. While so many people are cursing the hated hallmark holiday, I love the sappy romantic stuff: flowers, chocolates, candies… count me in! Valentine's Day is the perfect excuse to dress up and go out to dinner, whether it be with your beau or a group of your single girlfriends and celebrate your love for each other. I've already started whipping up some Valentine's Day themed desserts. Over the weekend I made these Brownie Heart Cupcakes. They tasted just as good as they looked!

Fresh Homemade Cookies

Baking cookies has always been one of my favorite pastimes. To this day I still watch my mother bake batches upon batches of cookies to send to relatives during Christmas time. Last night I decided it was about time I whipped up a batch of something. I decided to make the Orange Creamsicle Cookies I told you my friend Victoria brought to class during the school year. They're light, sweet and absolutely delicious; perfect for summer. When I finished making them I realized I had nothing to put them in, not even tupperware. So I went on a search for a cute cookie jar I can display at home when I bake fresh homemade cookies and I found this perfect one from Crate and Barrel. Just what I was looking for!

A Special Treat

Yesterday morning I flew home after spending a week and a half in Myrtle Beach visiting my boyfriend. I had so much fun but coming home, back to reality, was depressing. When I got home I went straight to school and my friend Victoria had a special treat waiting for me. A nice little pick me up. She brought me these amazing homemade Orange Creamsicle Cookies. They have a light summery taste with the perfect amount of white chocolate chips and orange zest. Honestly, so delish! She posted the recipe on her blog last month here. You must try them! (P.S. Thanks Vicky!)

Photos: 1

Santa Hat Brownies

I'm sure by now you guys know I love to bake. I saw these Santa Hat Brownies the other day and decided I have to try them. I've been in the Christmas spirit since way before Thanksgiving even came around. (I really love the holidays.) They're fun and easy to make. The perfect holiday treat. This is the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 box of your favorite brownie mix

Round cutter

12-16 small strawberries

Vanilla-mascarpone buttercream (recipe below)

Mascarpone Buttercream

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

8 ounces mascarpone cheese

2 1/2-3 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Directions: 

Beat butter and mascarpone cheese until light and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla extract and salt. Add 2 1/2 cups of sugar, half a cup at a time and beat until smooth. Add more sugar if needed to reach desired consistency and sweetness. Bake brownies as directed on box. Cool completely and cut with round cutter. Pipe ring of vanilla buttercream on top of each brownie. Cut off the base of a strawberry so it is flat and place upside down on each brownie. top the tip of the strawberry with a dot of buttercream to finish the santa hat. 

Caramel Brownie Cheesecake

Over the weekend I made my first ever cheesecake. The task seemed a little daunting at first but my mother assured me she'd made cheesecake before and it wasn't that hard. I have to say that I am very good at following recipes so that gave me a tiny boost of confidence. I chose to make a caramel brownie cheesecake. I used this recipe and it came out amazing. I was very happy with the way it turned out. Now I have to figure out what I want to try next.

Crust:

12 graham crackers

6 tablespoons of butter

Filling:

2 cups of leftover brownie crumbles

1/3 cup of caramel sauce

4 blocks of 8 oz. cream cheese

1 1/2 cups of sugar

4 eggs

1/4 cups of sour cream

1 1/2 cups of vanilla

Directions:

Prepare the crust by breaking the graham crackers into crumbs by hand or in a food processor.  Melt butter and stir into graham crumbles with a fork.  Pack the mixture into a springform pan packing half way up the sides.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

For the filling, in a mixer, whip together cream cheese and sugar.  Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla.

Crumble the brownies into the cooked crust, then drizzle with the caramel sauce.  Pour cream cheese filling over the brownies and caramel.

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes, then lower oven to 250 and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Allow to sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours, then wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours - overnight.

Photos: 1

Chocolate Chip Cookies

About a week ago, my dad bought me a belated birthday gift. A kitchen-aid mixer. I've been dying to use it and tried to think of what I wanted to bake first. I decided on classic chocolate chip cookies because they're easy and I feel like you can't mess them up. This is only the second time I'd ever baked something from scratch. (The first thing was these chocolate cupcakes.) So yesterday afternoon I whipped out my Magnolia Bakery Cookbook and made them. A couple of them came out a little disfigured from the way I put them on the baking sheet but still tasted extremely delicious. I used this recipe...

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugars until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. 

Wishful Wednesday

Wishing I could eat this ultimate chocolate chip cookie and oreo fudge brownie bar without dying. Yum.

Giant Cookie Cake

Everyone knows I'm all about baking. I can cook a meal if I really put my mind to it but cooking for me takes serious effort. Baking on the other hand, is easy and fun and desserts are so much better than real food. So this is my next baking project. Giant Cookie Cake. (I realize the small sliver shown in this picture does not look very "giant" but I assure you the actually cake is large.) I got the recipe from Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
3/4 cup heavy cream
3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
40 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Put butter, brown sugar and granulated sugars into mixer bowl; mix on medium until pale and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, eggs and yolks. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the cream. Stir in chocolate chips.

For each of the 5 layers, drop 1 level cup batter onto center of baking shit lined with parchment. Using a small spatula, spread into an 8-inch cirlce. Bake until edges are pale golden brown (about 12 minutes). Remove from oven. Use spatula to reshape circle. Return to oven; bake until edges are golden brown (8-10 minutes). Let Cool.

Mix cream cheese and confectioners' sugar in clean mixer bowl on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Spread onto 4 cookies. stack cookies, placing unfrosted cookie on top. Refrigerate until frosting is set