Red, White, & Blue Cupcakes

I hope everyone had a wonderful July 4^th! I spent the day at a friend’s house for a little BBQ. It was oppressively hot, but I had a great time.

My contribution to the gathering was of course dessert. I brought some red, white, & blue cupcakes.

Why I thought baking in the middle of a heat wave was a good idea, is beyond me! The original inspiration came from something Grace had pinned.

Source

I thought the bundt cake (originally from Betty Crocker) was super cute. I don’t have a bundt cake pan, so I decided to try it in cupcake form. 

I gathered up my supplies - not much needed for this recipe!

I whipped up the cake batter and separated it into three bowls. In one bowl I added blue food coloring. In the second bowl I added (a lot) of red food coloring and the third bowl I left as is.

Next it was time to layer the batter. Red went in first. I put about 1 ½ tablespoons in each cupcake liner.

I did the same with the white batter.

I finished up with the blue batter.

As you can see not every cupcake was perfect, but that’s okay!

I baked them according to the directions. Here’s how they looked out of the oven:

Once they were cooled, I placed them on a wax paper lined baking sheet.

Aren't they so cute?

I scooped a little bit of icing into a bowl and microwaved it for about 10 seconds. That allowed me to just drizzle the icing onto the cupcakes.

Then I scooped a bit more icing out, microwaved it, added some blue food coloring, and drizzled that as well. I finished up by doing the same thing again, this time with red food coloring.

Unfortunately, my red icing was more on the pink side, but you get the idea.

I think they are adorable!

The Verdict: These were a hit! The cake itself was fluffy and light. They made a big impression but were pretty easy to make. I would definitely make these again.

Things to Note/Consider: I wouldn't really change a thing with this recipe. Honestly it was very easy to do. I did use many bowls –making clean up a pain in the rear. Also, prepare to use A LOT of red food coloring. I must have put at least 15-20 drops in the white icing and it still came out pink. 

I'm glad I used plain white cupcake liners. I would suggest doing the same. It was nice to be able to see the layers through the liners. 

Dreamy Oreo Brownies

You guys, I think we need to have an intervention. I have an addiction .... and it’s to the combination of Oreos and brownies. It seems that’s all I ever bake up these days. I've made: OreoTruffle Brownies, Brownie Hearts, Brownie Cookie Candy Goodness, and BrownieCovered Oreos. I guess I won’t stop until I've tried all the combinations possible!

Last week, my friend was having a bunch of us over for snacks and wine. I decided to try out these Dreamy Oreo Brownies from Cookies & Cups. They are very similar to the Oreo Truffle Brownies, just with the addition of cool whip and powdered sugar.

Cookies & Cups

Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures. I made them the night prior and wasn't able to start making them until 8:30pm. I was exhausted so I apologize for the lack of quality in the photos.

I started by whipping up my boxed brownies with some chopped Oreos mixed in.

While the brownies were cooling, I put the cream cheese/cool whip layer together. It’s basically powdered sugar, cream cheese, & cool whip mixed together. Then I spread it over the brownies.

Here’s where I ran into some issues. I thought I had plenty of chocolate chips at home, but I only had less then half a bag. I measured it out and I had exactly what the recipe suggests (1 & ½ cups). Unfortunately that was not enough chocolate to cover the entire pan. I just spread it out as much as I could and topped it with my remaining crushed Oreos.

The final step is to let the brownies cool in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Since it was already 10 pm, I let them cool overnight. The next morning I tried one for breakfast –it was delish! Sadly, all my end product photos came out blurry- probably because it was 6am when I was taking them.

The Verdict: These were tasty but very rich. Honestly, I think I like the Oreo Truffle Brownies just a tad better but I would still make these again.

Things to Note/Consider: One and ½ cups of chocolate was not enough to cover my 9x13 pan -so definitely plan ahead for that. Other then that, I wouldn't change a thing.

Dreamy Oreo Brownies

adapted from Cookies & Cups

1 box of brownie mix with ingredients to prepare them

1 package of coarsely chopped Oreos divided equally into thirds

1 (8oz) tub of Cool Whip thawed in the fridge

1 (8oz) block of cream cheese, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

• Prepare brownie batter according to package direction, folding in 1/3 of the chopped Oreos.
• Bake according to package directions
• Allow brownies to cool completely
• Beat cream cheese & powdered sugar until combined and smooth
• Fold in Cool Whip and another 1/3 of the chopped Oreos
• Spread the mixture on top of the cooled brownies
• Melt the chocolate and vegetable oil in the microwave
• Spread melted chocolate evenly over cream cheese layer.
• Sprinkle the remaining Oreos on top.
• Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Pretzel Crusted Brownies

Way back in March, my mom invited my cousins, sister-in-law, aunts, a couple of her friends, and me to a Tricky Tray fundraiser a coworker of hers was involved with. While it was a fun night, not one of us won a single thing. We made up for the losses by enjoying some wine and lots of bad-for-you snacks. I decided to give these Pretzel Crusted Brownies a try for the event:

Source: The Avid Appetite

I love the combination of salty and sweet and the added crunch of the pretzels intrigued me. I have never made brownies from scratch before and Shannon warned me that she has never had any luck with them so I was a little nervous about how they would taste. 

I started by making the pretzel crust: crushing up a bunch of pretzels (I used the plastic bag/meat tenderizer method), mixing with melted butter and sugar and baking it in a foil lined pan.

After about 10 minutes in the oven, I was left with this delicious looking (and smelling!) crust:

As per Rachel's instructions, I put it in the fridge to cool (resting on a towel). Then I mixed up the brownies using the same recipe she used (adapted from BAKERS One Bowl Brownies:

I have never been good at melting chocolate in the microwave. That's why my cake pops always come out horribly and anything I try to dip looks awful. I followed the instructions and let the butter melt using 10 second intervals, but it never really got the chocolate to melt completely. I kept mixing and mixing but eventually gave up and just completed the recipe.

You can't really tell, but there's chunks of unmelted chocolate in there.

Right before they went in the oven. 

Once I had the all the ingredients in though, the batter seemed to set up nicely. Here they are fresh out of the oven:

And after I let them cool and started cutting them up:

See that delicious layer of pretzels?

I halved the butter cream recipe knowing that I always wind up with extra frosting in my fridge and because I wanted to leave some un-iced in case anyone wanted them plain. 

The Verdict: They were alright. The crust was delicious and I slightly under-cooked them (which is how I prefer brownies) but they almost didn't seem chocolatey enough. I am not sure if that was my fault for not getting the chocolate to melt completely, or if I am just not a fan of homemade brownies. Now, that's not to say I didn't eat them. I did. They didn't really get touched at the Tricky Tray because there were so many other goodies there so I brought them home. And proceeded to eat the majority of them over the weekend until I finally had to throw them out so I wouldn't gain 100 lbs. 

Things to Consider: I would probably get the food processor out to crunch up the pretzels next time. Doing it by hand took forever and I think it would have been a little nicer if I got them a little smaller. I also would like to give this idea another try using a box mix and seeing if I like it any better. As I said above, they weren't bad, just not "worth" the calories to me - I would rather a nice thick, gooey, chocolatey brownie. I did love the foil method though - it made getting the brownies out really easy and cleanup was much easier too.

Anyone have a better brownie recipe for me to try? I have read that once you master making brownies from scratch you can't go back to eating them from a box-mix, but so far Shannon and I haven't found the right recipe!


Pretzel Crusted Brownies with Fluffy Buttercream Frosting
from The Avid Appetitefor the crust:
4 C pretzels
¾ C unsalted butter (1.5 sticks)
½ C sugar

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 13x9” baking pan with foil, letting some hang over the edges. Spray with cooking spray or grease with butter and flour.
• Process pretzels in a food processor until chopped small, but not too finely. Meanwhile melt the butter in the microwave. 
• Transfer the pretzels to a mixing bowl. Mix in the sugar.
• Mix in the melted butter. Press into a the baking pan and bake for 10 minutes or until the crust has set.
• Cool in the refrigerator while you make the batter (note: I put the pan on a towel in the fridge so as not to break any glass shelves).

for the brownies:
*Adapted from BAKER’S One Bowl Brownies
4 oz BAKER’S unsweetened chocolate (4 squares)
¾ C unsalted butter (1.5 sticks)
2 C sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 C all purpose flour

• Change oven temperature to 350 degrees. 
• Combine the butter and chocolate squares in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave at 10 second intervals until the butter is melted.
• Transfer the butter/chocolate mixture to a mixing bowl or the bowl in your stand mixer. 
• With a rubber spatula, mix the chocolate pieces in the butter until they are completely melted.
• Mix in the sugar (I used the paddle attachment on my mixer, but by hand will probably work too!)
• Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
• Mix in the flour.
• Pour over the cooled pretzel crust and carefully smooth the edges so as not to pick up any pretzels.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out almost clean, but with a few fudgy crumbs. BUT, make sure that the middle has set!
• Once the bars have completely (!) cooled, remove from the pan by carefully lifting out the bars from the pan using the foil overhang.

for the frosting:
½ C unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
3 C confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp milk

• In the stand of an electric mixer fitted w/paddle (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar, one cup at a time until completely combined.
• Mix in the vanilla and milk (if the frosting is too thick, add more). 
• Once completely combined, carefully spread over the cooled brownies.

Brownie Roll-Ups

Here’s another post about a pin I tried forever ago (April 2012 to be exact) but never typed up – this time because it was a total failure.

Let me start this post by admitting that I LOVE yodels –they are my guilty pleasure. I used to buy them every so often at the grocery store and hide them at the bottom of my cart because I was so embarrassed. I was [and still am] completely devastated when they were taken off the market because Hostess & Drake's went under. I’m hoping this article is true!

Now that you have some background on my love of yodels, you can see why I wanted to give these brownie roll-ups from cookiesandcups.com a shot.

Don’t they look sort of like yodels -just missing the chocolate coating?

I'm guessing these didn't work out for me because I tried to take the easy way out. Shelly gives directions on how to make the brownies from scratch. I decided to use a box mix and store bought frosting.

So I whipped up the brownies…

and cut them into squares.

Then I put the brownies between two pieces of wax paper

and flattened them with a rolling pin.

Next came the frosting.

And here’s where this whole thing took a turn for the worst.

They did not roll correctly at all.

I tried it with one or two different squares and then gave up.

Perhaps I will need to try this again, using Shelly’s homemade brownie recipe and see if they come out any better. If I do, I’ll let you know how it turns out! Have any of you tried anything recently that didn't come out quite right?

Cannoli Dip

Grace & I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day! Grace hosted her annual Mother’s Day brunch for our family. I’m sure she’ll have plenty to post about in the coming days.

For me, this is the first in a series of short little posts about pins I tried months ago but never shared –mostly because I didn't take any pictures or because they were complete failures (and I was too annoyed at the time to rehash them by typing up a post). This post is in the former category.

A few months ago, I hosted “book club” (we stopped the charade of actually picking book a long time ago). One of the items I made was Cannoli Dip from grouprecipe.com (we all know how much I love cannolis). This is one of the easiest, most delicious pins I've ever attempted.

Unfortunately, I was preparing the dip in a rush and only took one or two blurry pictures with my cell phone.

I basically followed the directions exactly -except I omitted the pistachios. Unlike PSY, I am not a fan.

I served the dip with broken pieces of ice cream sugar cones. 

The Verdict: This dip was delicious – very light. This is a great alternative if you want something different and lighter then cake batter dip. I honestly think this is my favorite dip that I've ever made. Mental Note- I need to make this again!

Things to Note/Consider: I wouldn’t change anything about this recipe. To switch it up, you may want to consider other items to serve the dip with – fresh fruit, vanilla wafers, or graham crackers.

Cannoli Dip

adapted from GroupRecipes.com

¼ cup semi-sweet mini chocolate morsels, plus some more for garnish

1-15 ounce container of ricotta cheese

¼ teaspoon vanilla

¼ cup powdered sugar

1-8 ounce container Cool Whip

• In a bowl, add sugar, ricotta cheese, vanilla and chocolate.
• Stir until well blended
• Fold in Cool Whip
• Sprinkle with additional chocolate chips
• Chill for 30 minutes before serving

Smores Bars

I am excited to be linking up this tasty post to the latest Pinterest Challenge!

Check out all the other links at Young House Love, Bower Power, Red Bird Blue, and Sparkle Meets Pop!



Remember how I mentioned the next book club when I posted about the baked spinach dip in mini bread bowls? Well I was so busy and running around like a nut that week that I didn't have time to bake or cook. I shamefully ran to ShopRite and Target after work to pick up some cheese and crackers and a cute plate and this was just the best I could do:

Keepin it real: sometimes life just gets too busy to bring a homemade goodie to every event...

Pitiful, right? Anyway, I tried to redeem myself with book club last night. I wanted to test out this new Smores Bar pin:

from Sugar Cooking. It looks like Sarah's blog has become inactive, but thankfully this recipe is still up there. Its pretty easy, basically you just make a graham cracker crust dough:

Then layer it up with some Hershey's bars and a jar of Fluff (the original recipe made it clear to use Fluff and not actual marshmallows:

To put the dough on top, I just made a couple balls and flattened them. I laid them on top and then filled in any holes with a little smush of dough. Pop it in the oven at 350 for 30-35 minutes and you are left with this delicious creation:

And all cut up into delicious little cookie bars:

look at those yummy gooey layers!

The Verdict: Not only did they smell amazing while they were baking and cooling, they were absolutely delicious. I was nervous because it almost seemed like there wouldn't be enough graham cracker, but it was fine. I was also afraid they would be a little flat but the dough rose pretty high.

Things to Consider: While its a pretty simple recipe, it doesn't come together really fast. Between the dough mixing and the baking time, it was like an hour for me. Not that an hour is really that long, but its not a quick, throw together and out the door type thing. If you are looking for something a little faster, the smore cups might be a better fit. Also, its only a 8" x 8" square pan, so you might want to make two if its for a big crowd (although they are pretty thick and heavy - a little goes a long way). 


Smore Bars from Sugar Cooking
(originally from Lovin' in the Oven)
my edits in red
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 king-sized milk chocolate bars (e.g. Hershey’s) - I used 3.5 regular 1.55oz bars
• 1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme/fluff (not melted marshmallows) - I used almost an entire small jar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined.
3. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. Place chocolate bars over dough. 2 king-sized Hershey’s bars should fit perfectly side by side, but break the chocolate (if necessary) to get it to fit in a single layer no more than 1/4 inch thick. Spread chocolate with marshmallow creme or fluff. Place remaining dough in a single layer on top of the fluff (most easily achieved by flattening the dough into small shingles and laying them together).
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Makes 16 cookie bars.