Butterbeer Cupcakes!!

In honor of the Deathly Hallows Part 2 midnight show, I decided to make Butterbeer cupcakes, and I am just now putting this recipe up... a month later... Here goes!!

Snatched from Cook Like A Champion

Butterbeer Cupcakes
Makes 18

For the cupcakes:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon butterscotch schnapps
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cream soda

For the filling:
5 1/2 ounces butterscotch chips (half an 11 ounce package or a little less than a cup)
1/2 cup heavy cream

For the frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup butterscotch filling
1 tablespoon butterscotch schnapps
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 to 4 cups powdered sugar
Splash of cream soda (as needed)

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350º and line cupcake pans with liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add both sugars and continue beating until well combined. On low speed, add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the cream soda and buttermilk. Mix until just combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full, then bake for 15-17 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the filling by combining the butterscotch chips and heavy cream in a glass bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Stir occasionally until combined.

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Transfer to a squeeze bottle and fill each cupcake just until the filling comes to the top.

To make the frosting, cream the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the butterscotch filling, schnapps and salt and beat until well combined. On low speed, beat in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until desired consistency is reached. Add cream soda as needed to thin the frosting.

Frost cupcakes and drizzle with remaining syrup.

There the are! All in all, these were delish. I poured too much soda in the icing, so it was a little soupy and not as fluffy as I'd like, but it still tasted good. The filling helped keep these guys moist over night and they were still amazing the next day!

Wontons II: Spinach and Cream Cheese

Ok, so we all remember the amazing meaty wontons I posted about...if you don't, well, remind yourself and then behold the (slightly) healthier vegetarian brother of the meaty wontons:





Spinach and Cream Cheese wontons!
8 oz of cooked spinach (pat dry)
10 oz cream cheese (maybe soften it a little)
1 green onion (minced, we slap chopped ours)
1/2 tsp minced garlic (we used the kind from the jar)

Put them in a bowl like this:



Do we remember how to wrap them into little armies of wontons? They will look like this:


We also made the meat kind too for variety. If there's too much meat (sometimes you might start out making small meatballs, thinking there are too many wrappers) you can always use the extra meat and fry them just like that! They are delicious.



Now with the veggie wontons, since you don't have to worry about cooking any meat all the way through, you can turn up the heat from around 3-4 to 5 and get those bad boys a cooking good and fast!



The amazing finished product. We kind of made this one up, but it turned out pretty amazingly. Again, feel free to dip in soy sauce or just pop those suckers right from the bowl.

I haven't done much of anything besides pregnancy posts, so I'm going to try to put some other things in here too.

Oh Crepe

My dad is a wiz in the kitchen. Instead of just buying a cake for Matt's birthday friday night, he decided to wow us with home made crepes! They make you feel healthy AND fancy, what more could you want?!


Crepes!
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Any desired fruits
Whipped cream (optional)
Ice cream (optional)
Cinnamon (optional)

Mix together the flour, eggs, milk and water. Thaw frozen fruits (or prepare fresh ones) Let ice cream soften a little.



Put the burner on low heat and put a little pat of butter down to melt. Pour about half a cup of batter into a pan (like you're making pancakes). Constantly keep swirling the batter so it doesn't get stuck to the pan. Carefully flip and cook the other side. (My dad is amazing at flipping things in pans, I'd ruin a bunch before I master this)



Once cooked on both sides, plop it down on a plate to cool a bit while you make the others.



At this point, I just went to town, and I put down some ice cream and covered it in blueberries, strawberries and peaches. (Matt put cinnamon on his!)



Fold it up like a burritto, maybe top it with a few things for flair!





And enjoy.




We also had lattes to sip! It was a wonderful combination.

Let Them Eat Cake! And Get Drunk On It Too!

Last week, someone says to me 'We need a birthday cake...' I say, 'What kind!'. And then someone says 'Well, between vanilla and chocolate, my pick is chocolate' and then I think this seems a little boring to me... so I go a few steps more with it. Thus, the Frangelico Cake was born.


Frangelico Cake
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup frangelico
2 1/4 cup flour
1 Tbs baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix the first 5 ingredients (butter-egg yolks) in one bowl, beat with mixer
Mix the water and frangelico in another smaller bowl
Mix the flour-salt in a third bowl.
Alternate the water mixture and the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until smooth.




Pour into a pan (or cupcakes) and bake on 350 for 18-22 minutes. The cake took longer and cooked on the outside faster than the inside. I would recommend 325 for 35-40 minutes if you are going the cake direction (13x9 inch pan). Let it cool before devouring or adding icing...


And to top it off, literally...
Nutella Icing!
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup nutella (which is basically just enough to lick a good few spoonfuls out of the jar to finish it off)
5 Tbs butter
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Just beat it! And spread on that delicious cake.

Over all, it was light and moist and very very yummy. If you don't finish it in the first few hours of it being made, it will still be soft and yummy the next day.

I didn't take too many pictures of the process or the cake, due to the party and the pre-gaming prior to the party... but here's a picture of a slice of it the next day:



Oh, and you're welcome.

Wontons aka Fried Heaven

So it's been a while! We took a trip up to Maryland for what is most likely the last time before the season starts up! It's finally getting a little warmer. I really can't wait until spring hits for good. I've made alot of yummy food since I last posted! Here's what's first on the list:


Fried Wontons
Get in touch with your inner asian with these rediculously addictive little pockets of fried heaven.

1 packadge of wonton wrappers
1 lb ground turkey (or beef, but turkey is healthier)
3 Tbs minced garlic (just get it in the jar)
8 oz can of sliced water chesnuts, drained and smashed into goo
1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
1 egg, beaten for "glue" to keep the wonton wrapper stuck together
2 pints olive oil (for frying)




Mash together ground meat, water chesnunts, teriyaki sauce and garlic. Just put your hands all up in it.

Everyone has their own way of folding them, basically you can't go wrong as long as you take a healthy pinch of the meat mixture, make it into a meatball and roll it up nice and tight in wonton wrapper.
I found this cute little cartoon on google:


Here is out little uncooked army of wontons!



Heat 6 ounces (2 pints, whatever just a nice deep pool) of olive oil in a pot, on low to medium heat. If it's too high it will burn the wrapper without cooking the meat, so slow and low is the key.



Plop as many bad boys in there that will fit comfortably in one layer. They will sink to the bottom, let them get nice and warm and stir if you think they are getting stuck together. They will start to rise which is a good sign that they are almost ready, but keep them browning until they are a nice bubbly crispy looking outside.



Scoop them out with a metal slotted spoon (ours was plastic and ended up wonky and slightly melted). Dry them on a plate with a papertowel (we want to soak up at least SOME of that oil). Cool just a little and then chow down!



I like to dip mine in some soy sauce, duck (sweet and sour) would be good too. If you want to make this a (more balanced) meal, serve with white or fried rice! Don't forget about the saki!!

Tasty Tuesdays

Sorry it's been forever since I posted! I was being a slacker, plus we had an impulsive over night stay in Maryland, which left me WAY overtired, not to mention working on p90x! BUT I have alot to post about! Including last night's dinner! So yesterday I had no plan of action when I decided to make dinner, we hadn't gone grocery shopping in a week or so and we can't eat fast food after working out (also the little moths in my wallet can't afford it). I rummaged and threw a few things onto the counter and just tossed something together! So Today is Toss it Together Tuesday! I grabbed what I could find and here's what I came up with.




So from some random canned chicken someone gave us, some sauce, a few different left over pasta shapes, 2 garlic breads and some cheese, I decided to make a breaded chicken marinara?! If we had salad I would have added that to it and maybe I would make this an alfredo sauce next time... but here's what I did!




We had some Italian bread crumbs and shredded parm, so I mixed those together! We had weird canned chunked chicken (this was my first time working with it so I wasn't sure how it would take to the mix. I would use fresh chicken breasts next time).





Since I had the chunked chicken I decided it would work better if I shook it up in a bag. But then I had to use a collander to get the exta cheese and breadcrumbs out.




I tossed the chicken into a high heated and 'pam'ed pan to just get it dark on the edges (since it was already cooked) if it needs to cook, I'd put it on a low heat and cover it with foil for a while.




Meanwhile, I heated up the sauce and added a little half and half to lighten it up (and per request, added some more seasonings. I added rosemary, basil, oregano and cilantro)



While doing all of that, I boiled and drained some pasta and added olive oil to keep it from sticking (as well as toasted up some garlic bread).



Grabbed some pasta, tossed some sauce on it, and layered the chicken on top! Add some parm ontop if you wish, and add a garlic bread!



Candles and red wine (to match the sauce) always make it feel a little more fancy.

Tasty Tuesdays!

Today's recipe is in honor of my mom's birthday Carrot Cake!! Thanks to the ever popular and lovable Annie's Eats:










Carrot Cupcakes
Yield: about 20-22 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2½ cups (12.5 oz) all-purpose flour
1¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. grated nutmeg
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. salt
1 lb. (6-7 medium) carrots, peeled
1½ cups (10.5 oz) granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1½ cups canola, safflower or vegetable oil

For the frosting:
12 oz. cream cheese (not softened)
7½ tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
3¾ cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt; whisk together and set aside.

In a food processor fitted with a shredding disk, shred the carrots (you should have about 3 cups). Add the carrots to the bowl with the dry ingredients and set aside.

I don't have a food processor so I just shredded carrots by hand... it didn't take as long as you would think.



Wipe out the bowl of the food processor and fit with the metal blade. Process the sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds. With the machine running, add the oil in a steady stream through the feed tube. Continue to process until the mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 20 more seconds.




Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Stir in the carrots and dry ingredients until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain.




Scoop evenly into the prepared cupcake liners.



Bake for about 20-24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan at least 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.



To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the vanilla extract. Gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth. Frost cooled cupcakes as desired.








Matt likes them!



Here I am in my new apron!