Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

These cupcakes are great for any cookie dough lover.  I made my ususal butter cream frosting and shaved chocolate into it, to make a chocolate chip icing on top to finish it off.

I baked these cupcakes in silicone cupcake liners.  They work really well and look great too!

Cookie Dough
1 ½ cups flour
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp sea salt
½ cup butter, softened
¼ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips  

White Cake
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
4 eggs
4 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
1 cup milk

For cookie dough:
Mix the flour, baking soda, and sea salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth.
Add the egg and the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
Mix the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until it is all incorporated.
Fold in the chocolate chips just enough to evenly combine.
Form the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place onto a baking sheet or plate and freeze until solid (about 2 hours).

For cake & adding cookie dough:
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
Stir in the milk until batter is smooth.
Pour or spoon batter into the prepared cupcakes liners, filling each 2/3 full.
Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (not the cookie dough ball) comes clean, about 20 minutes.
Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
Once wool, mix chocolate shavings into butter cream frosting and spread on to cupcakes.  Top with chocolate shavings and enjoy!

Ready to go in the oven

The finished product.
Buttercream icing with chocolate shavings mixed in.
Topped with chocolate shavings.

Butter Cream Frosting

This is my go-to icing recipe.  I use it on all my cakes and cupcakes, unless otherwise specified.

½ cup margarine
½ cup shortening
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
5 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ cup milk
Food coloring

In a large bowl, cream margarine and shortening until light and fluffy.
Add vanilla, confectioners' sugar and milk. Beat well.
Put into separate bowls and add food coloring to desired shade.

Cheese Scones

These are so easy to make and VERY good! I made them for dinner last night, yum!  This recipe yields about 12 scones.  It is a very old recipe that I found in our recipe cupboard.

2 cups flour
4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup water
1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.  Cut in margarine with a pastry cutter until mixture is mealy.  Add cheddar cheese and water and mix until you can spoon dough onto a greased cookie sheet.  Put them in a 375 degree oven for 15 to 25 minutes (depending on you oven), until the are starting to turn golden brown.


Ready for the Oven

Yumm!

Banana Coconut Milk Pancakes

For breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  These are the best pancakes I have ever had. 

My dad would make them camping with a pancake mix and using coconut milk instead of regular milk and added bananas into the mix as well.  He was told about the recipe in a cooking class and they were called Malaysian Pancakes.

Try them with syrup and butter, or even jam.

I like making them from scratch, so here you go.

2 1/4 cups flour
1  tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1  tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp white sugar
1 can coconut milk (400 ml)
3 eggs
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 bananas, mashed

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.  In a separate bowl, mix coconut milk, eggs, oil, and mashed bananas.  Add to flour mixture and stir until combined.

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat or an electric frying pan to 375 degrees. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Best Ever Blueberry Muffins


These are by far, the best muffins I have ever made.  You can substitute the blueberries for chocolate chips, strawberries, or anything else.

1 ½ cups flour
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
½ cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
¼ cup butter, cubed
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.

Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Put the vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup and add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done.

These pictures are of the recipe my coworker made.  She substituted the vegetable oil with olive oil.  They were amazing!


Malt Gelato

Here are some pictures of the Malt gelato I made.  It was one of the best so far.

It is a plain base, with malt powder and chopped up malt balls.

If you want the recipe, let me know.




Cake Balls

I decided to try and make some cake balls, as I have seen them in Starbucks and they looked delicious.  This recipe was very easy to make, but it definitely makes a lot!

They are rich, so just one or two will do.  I am going to try cake pops next and decorate them.

All you need is:
1 baked white cake, warm (click on link to see recipe)
1 batch of butter cream frosting (click on link to see recipe)
Chocolate

First I made a white cake from scratch and put it in the oven.  While it was cooking, I made the icing.  When the cake was done, I crumbled it into the frosting(while still warm) and beat it all together.  I then rolled the mixture into balls and place them onto wax paper.  I melted chocolate, dipped the balls into it, placed them back on wax paper, and into the fridge/freezer to cool.






Dad's Favorite Angel Food Cake


This is the best Angel Food recipe ever.  It is a family favorite.  We can go through one (large) cake in a sitting.  


You will need to buy cake flour, if you do not already have it at home.  Same with almond extract.  Those are the 2 items I did not seem to have stocked in my cupboards.

1 cup cake flour sifted
1 ½ cup granulated sugar, sifted and split into 2 x ¾ cups
12 egg whites
1 tsp cream of tartar
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp lemon juice
½ almond extract

1 small bowl
1 extra large bowl
electric mixer or whisk
angel food or other cake pan
spatula
  1. In a small bowl sift 1 cup of cake flour with ¾ cup of granulated sugar and set aside.
  2. Beat 12 egg whites with cream of tartar on medium speed until they become fluffy. Add the other ¾ of sifted sugar gradually and mix until it becomes pillowy.
  3. Continue to beat on medium speed and add vanilla, lemon juice, and almond extract. Mix until thoroughly combined.
  4. add sifted flour and sugar mixture to egg mixture 1 tablespoon at a time and fold in with a spatula (very gently), until all of the flour is mixed with the egg mixture and it is combined into a fluffy, pillowy batter.
  5. Pour batter into non-greased cake pan. Tap on counter a few times to release unnecessary air bubbles. Bake at 300 degrees for 40 to 60 minutes, depending on your over. The top should be a light golden color and spring back when you touch it with your finger.
Ready to pour into the pan.

The Finished Product!


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I feel like I haven’t made anything in ages, so I decided to make one of my favorite ice creams: chocolate chip cookie dough.

I made a small batch of eggless cookie dough, perfect for those who are pregnant, have an egg allergy, or are scared to eat anything with raw eggs in it.  It was very simple to make and I made little cookie dough balls and froze them for at least an hour.  This made them stay in chunks while they mixed into the ice cream and kept the ice cream hard as well.

For the cookie dough, you need:
2 tbsp butter
2 ½ tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1/8 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp water
¼ cup flour
As many semi-sweet chocolate chips you want.

  1. I creamed the butter and sugars together and after it was mixed thoroughly, I added the vanilla and water. 
  2. Once that was mixed, I added the flour and finally the chocolate chips. 
  3. I made balls in between the size of a teaspoon and tablespoon, placed them on a wax paper covered plate, and put them in the freezer for at least an hour. 

I made a custard tasting white base to put the cookie dough in.  You could make vanilla, chocolate, or any other kind of ice cream you want.  This recipe was the easiest with all the ingredients I had and without throwing away egg whites.  Also, it wasn’t too rich like some ice creams I have made.  It was perfect for the yummy cookie dough.

2 eggs
¾ cup of sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups milk
1 cup half & half

  1. Put the milk and half and half in a medium size sauce pan over medium-high heat until it begins to boil. 
  2. While milk and cream is heating, in a heat proof bowl, mix eggs and sugar until it become pale yellow and fluffy.  Add 1 of the 2 teaspoons of vanilla and mix a bit longer. 
  3. Once the milk/cream mixture has begun to boil, take it off the heat and add to egg mixture ¼ cup at a time while mixing thoroughly. 
  4. Once everything is combined, put back into the sauce pan over low heat until it thickens and coats the back of the spoon.  Do not let it start to boil!
  5. Remove from heat once it is thick enough and pour through a strainer/sifter back into the heat proof bowl.
  6. Fill sink up with cold water and empty 3 ice cube trays of ice into the cold water.  Place bowl in ice bath and mix the custard until it has cooled down.
  7. Once cooled to room temperature, put into air tight container and refrigerate for 4 hours or put in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours.
  8. Once it has sat in the fridge or freezer, pour into ice cream machine.
  9. During last 5 minutes of mixing time (dependent on manufacturers instructions), put in cookie dough.
  10. Empty into air tight container and freeze for 2 hours, mixing every 30 to 45 minutes to thicken the whole batch, rather than just the edges.
Cookie Dough ready to freeze

Ice Cream before Cookie Dough

Ice Cream with Cookie Dough

Ready to eat!

Cinnamon Bun Loaf

So tonight is girls night with Jersey Shore of course.  I decided we needed a treat for tonight.  One of my friends came over early as I told her about this treat I was going to try and create.


I made some basic dough, rolled it out about 1/4 inch thick in a rectangle shape and spread butter all over.  I then mixed cinnamon and brown sugar together and spread that on top of the butter (I would have chopped up raisins and sprinkled them as well, but we didn't have any in the house).  After the cinnamon sugar was spread evenly, I cut the dough in sixths length wise and then quarters width wise.  I piled the 24 rectangle shaped on top of each other and placed them in a greased loaf pan.  They went in a 425 degree over for about 20 to 25 minutes.
Once the started to get golden brown on the edges, I took the pan out and let it cool on over racks.  I then made a cream cheese drizzle that was thick enough to stick to the top of the loaf but thin enough to drizzle.  I made it with about 1 tbsp of butter, 2 tbsp of cream cheese (I only had light), 1/4 cup of icing sugar, and 1 or 2 tsp of half and half to achieve the desired consistency.  
Here is the finished product.  My family and I tasted it and my dad said it was marvelous.  Usually he tells me that my cookies are too soft or my brownies should have walnuts in it etc.

I will definitely be making this again!

Previously Decorated Cakes

Dearest Katie left for London.  
This was her birthday/going away cake.

I met Katie at the Accounting firm I had my work term at.
This was our end of Tax Season work preparty cake.

This was for my, now, cousin-in-law's son's 1st Birthday! 

One day my friend Lindsay and I were bored.  
We decided on a beach cake, since we hadn't been having beach weather.
 

G-Shock Birthday Cake.
For someone who has 5 watches...this was the perfect cake.

The classic boob cake. 
I have made this a few time and is always a hit with the guys.



Just some boobs

Previously Decorated Cupcakes

Spring Cupcakes




Canada Day Cupcakes

Summer Cupcakes
Halloween Cupcakes


Christmas Cupcakes

21st Birthday

Dallas, and not the city


Toronto Maple Leafs

Cookies and Cream Gelato

Just like what I had in Italy! This was one of my favorites that I have made so far.  The only problem was that I used frozen whipping cream and melted it in the sauce pan.  Make sure you use fresh whipping cream.  If you want it more rich, use 2 cups of whipping cream and a cup of milk.

1 ½ cup whipping cream
1 ½ cup milk
2/3 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
6 Oreo cookies
Large heat proof bowl
Large Sauce pan
Whisk
Wooden Spoon
Fine Metal Sifter/Strainer
Air tight container
2 Ziplock bags

  1. In sauce pan over medium heat, heat whipping cream and milk (I used 1% because the whipping cream is so creamy) until it starts to slowly bubble.
  2. While milk is heating, whisk egg yolks and sugar in a large, heat resistant bowl until they become light yellow and fluffy (about 3 minutes with hand whisker).
  3. Once milk has started to boil, remove from heat.  Add 1/3 cup of milk to egg at a time while mixing thoroughly. Turn element down to medium-low heat.
  4. After all the milk has been added to the egg, pour the whole mixture back into the sauce pan and onto medium-low heat.
  5. Whisk mixture every 30 seconds until is starts to get thicker.  Switch to a wooden spoon and when the mixture can coat the spoon, remove from heat.
  6. Let the heated mixture sit while you put cold water and ice in the sink and place your larger heat proof bowl in the ice bath.  Pour the custard like mixture through a fine metal sifter/strainer into the heat proof bowl.
  7. Use your wooden spoon or spatula to get everything out of the pan into the bowl.  Mix the custard in the ice bath until it cools.  (Be careful of the water in the sink.  You don’t want it getting into your custard!)
  8. Once the mixture has cooled, place it in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but over night is better.
  9. Put 3 cookies in each Ziplock bag.  Crush one bag into small crumbs and crush/cut the other 3 Oreos into sixths or eights, depending on your preference.  Place both Ziplock bag into the freezer.
  10. When the mixture has cooled, empty both cookie bags into the custard.  Mix well. 
  11. Place into Ice cream maker and mix for at least 15 minutes or until the instructed time.
  12. Once Gelato is thick, place in an airtight container and freeze for at least 2 hours.  Mix after 1 hour to thicken whole batch, rather than the edges hardening and the middle of the container being soft.

Once the mixture has cooled in the ice bath,
put it into the fridge for at least 4 hours
(preferably overnight).  Then add cookies and
put into Ice cream maker.

After 10 minutes of mixing.

After 15 minutes of mixing.  Almost finished.
 
In air tight container after being in the freezer
 for an hour and mixed with a butter knife.