Candy Bar Cookies

What do you do on a snowy afternoon when you're craving fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies but don't have any chocolate chips? Get creative!

Crisp had bought me a Twix bar the other day (my favorite!) and I'd picked up some Hershey's Toffee and Almond Milk Chocolate Nuggets in advance of Winter Storm Nemo. (You know, in case the blizzard got real bad, I could eat a ton of chocolate and have extra insulation to stay warm.) I chopped up the candies and threw the chunks into the cookie dough. They came out pretty darn good, and it was a nice twist on typical choco-chip cookies.

And go me for not eating them all in one day!!!

Don't be so black and white...

... Unless you're a cookie!!

It's been a while since I've made any extravagant cakes, but I did recently make some New-York-style black and white cookies! I found the recipe with a quick Google search, and voila! I was pleasantly surprised that the frosting set with a shiny, hardening quality -- just like professional B&W cookies. Go me.

I made just a small batch of eight cookies. It was a dessert treat for Crisp. They must've been pretty good, because Crisp ate ALL EIGHT in one day.

Birthday Cake!

Crisp got me the most delicioso birthday cake this past weekend...

Yes, those really are chocolate-drizzled cream puffs all around the top of the cake.

And they were filled with chocolate cream.

Ridiculous delicious.  Ridiculous.

Thank you, Modern Pastry, for baking up such perfection.

And thanks, of course, to Crisp.

A very *SWEET* 16!

Last weekend, my lovely cousin Hanna turned 16. 

The family threw a wonderful party for her, and I got to make the cupcakes!!

I ended up making somewhere around 120 cupcakes!

Here's a sampling...

 

Chocolate chip mini cakes, classic vanilla cupcakes, chocolate-and-vanilla marble,

and also some chocolate mini cakes with butterscotch chips -- YUM!

My favorites were the chocolate chip mini cakes.

(I made some sans-chocolate, on the left,

for anyone who has a very sad and unfortunate allergy.)

Topped with some hot pink buttercream, they were the cutest little cakes!

Here's a picture of the cupcake tower at the party...

 

Assembling all the different cakes on the tower is one 

of my favorite parts of making cupcakes for a party.

It's just so nice to see the finished products (before everyone dives in and eats 'em!).

Here's a close-up of a marble cupcake with chocolate buttercream.

 I made a special "H" (for our guest of honor) from some very cool

Wilton Sugar Sheets.

The Sugar Sheets conveniently came in patterns that perfectly matched the theme...

Hot pink and zebra stripes.

And here's a shot of the complete cupcake table,

taken by our favorite photographer and friend, Fraser MacMannis!

That's all... Sweet treats for a sweet girl on her sweet sixteenth! 

This isn't about cakes at all!

It's about BROWNIES!

Well, and a new project.

#1.  

Tonight, I doctored up my own recipe, and it came out delightful.

Kahlua Brownies with White Chocolate and Butterscotch Chips.

Y.U.M.

Last week, I made Butterscotch, Milk, and White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

(Can you tell I've had a whole bunch of random chips that I need to get rid of?)

There aren't many left, and I just made them 5 hours ago.

And of course I didn't take any pictures, but oh well.

That's life!

#2.   

I have a new project.

It has nothing to do with cakes...

But I haven't been baking nearly as much as I should,

and I miss blogging.

So, enjoy :)

 

Cupcakes' Crazy Cousins...

MUFFINS!

I don't often make muffins,
but today - I did.

The idea originated from me thinking about
Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake this morning.
A few weeks ago, I had some
from Starbucks, and it was
AH-MAZE-ZING.
So, I started looking for recipes...
but none that I found felt right!
I either didn't have adequate ingredients
(e.g., Buttermilk. Buy a quarter-gallon just to use a quarter-cup? No.)
or I didn't own the right size pans.
(Note to self: Purchase a bundt pan!)

I started thinking about what I did have,
and I remembered my under-used
mini cupcake/muffin pan!
I found a pretty basic, but well reviewed, recipe online.
Then, after one quick trip to the store
to buy bananas and mini chocolate chips
(kind of essential ingredients, I guess),
I was off and baking!

They came out delicious!
I sampled a few (or four) to make sure they were good.

I packaged 'em up
to take to my family tomorrow
for Mother's Day.

Here's hoping all the moms out there
have a very sweet day!
<3

CheerCakes

This past Wednesday night was

the last cheerleading practice of the season
for the team I coach.

To celebrate a successful year,
I brought in some cupcakes for the girls.
They came out pretty cute... I was thinking,
I should call them CheerCakes :)

The cakes were chocolate,
but I added some coffee right into the batter.
They're topped with whipped cream frosting.
Yum!

2 - 4 -6 - 8 -
Cupcakes, cupcakes sure are great!