The Sweetest Times

Brownies (from scratch!)

2011-06-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

I had to bake something at the last-minute for work recently and only had about an hour, so cupcakes were out. Usually I just whip up brownies in this situation, but I didn’t have any brownie mix on hand. Then I realized – I could make these from scratch!

I pulled out my trusty Joy of Cooking and found a recipe for Brownies Cockaigne.

First, I melted butter and chocolate in a sauce pan, then set aside to cool (I was crunched for time so I stuck it in the fridge).

Once they were cooled, I beat 4 eggs and salt with a wire whisk…

Until foamy:

I whisked in sugar and vanilla, then stirred in the chocolate mixture and flour until just combined.

I poured into a greased pan and baked for approx. 30 minutes.

Before it cooled, I dusted with powdered sugar – pretty!

This is a quick, easy recipe and only needs 7 ingredients – in my opinion, it was pretty comparable to the Ghirardelli boxed mix I usually use!

Brownies Cockaigne (from Joy of Cooking)

1 stick unsalted butter

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

4 large eggs

¼ tsp salt

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

· Preheat oven to 350

· Melt butter and chocolate together in small saucepan. Cool completely.

· Beat eggs and salt until foaming. Add the sugar and vanilla and mix well.

· Add the cooled chocolate mixture and stir until just combined.

· Add the flour and stir until just combined.

· Pour into a greased 13”x9” pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

· Place on wire rack to cool and dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

Bon appétit!

Sweet Finds at Target

2011-05-31T09:00:00.000-04:00

I don’t get to Target often; I hate dealing with the crowds and the parking lot and the lines. But I went last Sunday to pick up a few things I needed and, as always, swung through their “Dollar Zone” on my way in. You can find really cute things in this section if you’re willing to weed through all of the plastic placemats and children’s toys. I found some items I was excited about and decided to share them with you!

This black and white bakery box ($1) was the perfect thing to send my donation to Bloggers Bake for Hope in:

How sweet is this magnetic memo pad ($1)?

And these gift bags were 2 for $1 – I love the bright patterns, and it’s always good to have non-holiday-specific gift bags around.

Have you had any great finds at Target lately?

Honey Butter

2011-05-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

I decided to make a honey butter to go with my homemade whole wheat bread. I had this jar of lemon honey left over from a trip to Italy last fall (I know, I know, I’m so cosmopolitan!) and decided to use it.

This is pretty easy – just beat a stick of softened butter with 1 heaping tablespoon of honey and ½ tsp sea salt, and refrigerate until firm.

It’s an easy way to add some extra flavor to bread, dinner rolls, etc. If you’re really fancy, you can even form it in a butter mold for a special event.

Enjoy!

Honey Butter

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 heaping tbsp honey

½ tsp sea salt

· Beat all ingredients together until blended.

· Refrigerate for one hour, or until firm.

Homemade Honey Whole Wheat Bread

2011-05-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

Another item on my “to-do” list is homemade bread. Since I was making soup, I decided to make fresh bread to go with it! I found a simple recipe on King Arthur Flour to try.

I gathered my ingredients – pretty straightforward. I didn’t have dry milk, so I substituted ½ cup of milk (room temperature) for ½ cup of water.

I stirred together all of the ingredients – this was difficult, and I ended up doing a lot of it by hand. It didn’t seem to affect the bread at all J

Once the dough was fairly well mixed, I kneaded it on a greased wooden cutting board for 8 minutes. No pictures of this, but boy were my arms tired!

I placed the ball of dough into a lightly greased bowl and covered with a towel, then let it sit for 1 hour.

It puffed up quite a bit – though hard to tell from this picture. I should note my kitchen was very warm.

I then shaped the dough into a log and placed it into a greased loafed pan. I covered the pan loosely with greased plastic wrap, and let it sit for another 1 ½ hours.

At this point, the dough had puffed up quite a bit!

I baked for 40 minutes at 350 degrees, then removed it to a wire rack to cool. I also rubbed the top crust with butter.

Once it was completely cooled, I sliced it and topped it with a honey butter (recipe to come later!) and ate it with my vegetable soup. This was a great, simple recipe for my first time trying bread, and I’m excited to bake more kinds of yeast bread in the future!

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

½ cup lukewarm water (minus 2 tbsp)

½ cup nonfat milk, room temperature

¼ cup vegetable oil

2 heaping tablespoons honey

3 ½ cups whole wheat flour

1 packet active dry yeast, dissolved in 2 tbsp of the ½ cup water

1 ½ tsp salt

· In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir until combined.

· Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 8 minutes,

· Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and allow the dough to rise about 1 to 2 hours, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

· Shape the dough into an 8" log. Place the log in a lightly greased 9” x 5" loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise for about 1.5 to 2 hours, or till the center has crowned about 1" above the rim of the pan.

· Preheat the oven to 350°F.

· Bake the bread for 35 to 40 minutes, tenting it lightly with aluminum foil after 20 minutes to prevent over-browning.

· Remove the bread from the oven, and turn it out of the pan onto a rack to cool. If desired, rub the crust with a stick of butter; this will yield a soft, flavorful crust.

· Cool completely before slicing.

· Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature.

Vegetable Soup

2011-05-24T15:39:00.003-04:00

The weather in Boston lately has not been very spring-like (well, I guess it has been spring-like for Boston… which is not known for typical spring weather!). It’s been gray and rainy and damp. Fun! I was deciding what to cook for the week and found some soup recipes from an old issue of Martha Stewart Living. As you may remember, soup is on my “to do” list so I decided to try a vegetable soup, based on what I had purchased at the vegetable store that weekend.

This is adapted from the “Autumn Harvest Soup” recipe in the October 2010 issue.

The most time-consuming part of this was the prep work – first, I chopped up 5 carrots and 4 stalks of celery, then mixed them with minced garlic and basil.

I chopped up 2 sweet potatoes.

And a head of kale.

And some green beans.

Then I pulled out my other ingredients.

I heated 1 tbsp of olive oil in my dutch oven, then added the carrots, celery and garlic.

Once the carrots & celery began to soften, I added sweet potatoes, tomato sauce, water and vegetable broth.

I brought that to a boil, then reduced the heat and simmered for 15 minutes. Next I added the kale, green beans and cannellini beans and simmered that for 15-20 minutes.

I topped this with some grated parmesan cheese, per Martha’s suggestion, and voila! I also ate it with some homemade whole wheat bread, which I’ll post about later this week.

This soup was much easier to make then I expected, and it made a lot – I froze several batches for days when I don’t feel like cooking. This soup is great because it’s not too heavy, but it’s very filling.

Not to get all preachy, but it was great to eat this soup knowing everything that went into it was fresh. Unlike some canned varieties, which contain ingredients I can’t even pronounce! It’s obviously a little more work than heating up a can of soup in the microwave, but it makes several batches and is well worth the extra time (in my humble opinion) J

Vegetable Soup

1tbsp olive oil

5 small carrots, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp basil

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 head kale, chopped

½ LB green beans, chopped into 1-inch pieces

2 cans cannellini beans

¾ cup tomato sauce

4 cups water

4 cups vegetable broth

Grated parmesan cheese (to top it)

· In a large dutch oven or soup pot, heat the olive oil.

· Add the carrots, celery, garlic and basil. Cook, stirring occasionally, approx 8 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.

· Add the tomato sauce, vegetable broth, water and sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil.

· Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

· Stir in the kale, green beans and cannellini beans; simmer for 20 minutes.

· Top with parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Popovers!

2011-05-20T08:30:00.003-04:00

One of the items on my “Baking To Do” list this year is popovers. A popover-loving friend came over this past weekend to help me make them. I had recently ordered this popover pan and was excited to use it!

I don’t know if you’ve been to Flour in the South End, but if you haven’t then you need to go. Their entire menu is great, and I’ve yet to try something I don’t like! So when I found this recipe for Joanne Chang’s brown sugar popovers, I knew I had to try it!

I was a bit nervous about these, as I once tried making a soufflé and it was a deflated disaster. So, I was a bit touchy about trying something else that involved me being patient and not opening the oven door to check on progress!

The recipe itself is fairly straightforward. I got out all my ingredients – the butter needs to be melted and cooled to room temperature, and the milk needs to be at room temperature as well.

I didn’t take many pictures as we were concentrating on not messing up the recipe! In a small bowl we whisked together flour, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar and set aside. In a separate, larger bowl we whisked together the milk, eggs and butter.

We then gradually added the flour mixture to the milk mixture until just combined. My arm was tired!

We poured the batter into the popover pan (you can also use a large muffin pan), put into the oven and waited. Halfway through, I turned the temperature down to 350.

I took these out after 40 minutes and they were puffy! And even better, they didn’t deflate!

They were nice and airy inside as well. We tried one with salted butter, and another brushed with melted butter and dipped in brown sugar. I preferred them with the extra sugar, of course!

Overall, I was pleased with my first attempt at popovers. Next time I think I’d bake them for another 8-10 minutes as they were slightly doughy on the bottom. I look forward to experimenting with more types of popovers in the future!

Brown Sugar Popovers (directly from Boston Magazine)

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ c. plus 2 tbsp. packed light brown sugar

2 c. milk, at room temperature

4 eggs

¼ c. (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

· Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 425 degrees. Butter a popover pan or standard muffin tin, and place it in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until it is hot.

· In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, and 2 tablespoons brown sugar.

· In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk (make sure it is at room temperature, or the butter will form lumps), eggs, and 2 tablespoons of the melted butter.

· Gradually whisk the flour mixture into the milk-egg mixture until thoroughly combined. The batter will be loose and liquidy and not completely smooth.

· Remove the pan from the oven and pour the batter into the cups, filling the cups to the rim.

· Bake for 20 minutes, then turn down the temperature to 325 degrees and continue to bake for another 40 minutes, or until the popovers are completely browned and pouffy. Don’t open the oven door to look at the popovers until at least 40 minutes into baking. You want them to be golden brown all over and tall; if you open the oven door too soon, they will deflate once they are out of the oven.

· Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, or until cool enough to handle.

· Place the cup brown sugar in a small bowl. Brush the remaining 2 tablespoons melted butter on the tops of the popovers, and then remove the popovers from the pan. One at a time, toss them in the brown sugar, coating each popover completely. Serve immediately if possible (they are best when eaten warm) or within 2 to 3 hours.

Going Bananas

2011-05-17T09:12:00.000-04:00

I love bananas. However, last week was very busy and I didn’t have a chance to eat most of the bananas I had purchased at the store; they were too ripe for me to eat plain (I’m picky about bananas!) so I decided to salvage them in the form of banana bread!

This is adapted from a recipe I found on allrecipes.com. It was fairly easy to make. I had purchased some miniature loaf pans at the grocery store and decided to use those – this recipe makes 4 mini loaves.

First, I got out all my ingredients.

Then I mashed up four bananas.

It gets more appetizing, I promise!

In one bowl, I combined flour, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, I creamed butter and brown sugar, then added 2 eggs.

I mixed that together and added the bananas, then added the banana mixture to the dry ingredients.

I poured into the loaf pans and popped into the oven.

45 minutes later – voila! Banana bread!

Next time, I would stir this by hand instead of using a mixer – the batter was a little too liquid and as a result the bread was very dense (at least, I think this is why it was so dense!). I wrapped the loaves tightly in plastic wrap and froze three of them for later ;)

Banana Bread

2C all-purpose flour

1TSP baking soda

¼ TSP kosher salt

½C unsalted butter, softened

¾C light brown sugar

2 eggs, beaten

3 overripe bananas

· Preheat oven to 350

· Grease 4 mini loaf pans

· Mash up four bananas and set aside

· In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

· In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and bananas.

· Stir banana mixture into dry mixture; stir until just moistened

· Pour batter into loaf pans

· Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Cupcakes with Blueberry Vanilla Frosting

2011-05-03T16:49:00.000-04:00

I decided to make cupcakes this weekend. I decided I’d been baking too much with chocolate (and peanut butter!) lately. The weather was beautiful and I had some fresh blueberries on hand, so I decided to try lemon cupcakes with blueberry frosting. It sounded nice and light and spring-like! This recipe is adapted from my grandmother’s old vanilla cupcake recipe.

First I got together my ingredients, preheated the oven and lined a cupcake pan.

I creamed softened butter with white sugar, then added eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, I whisked together bread flour, baking powder and salt, then slowly added to the butter mixture, alternating it with buttermilk. After that I zested (is that a word?) the outer skin of 1 large lemon and added that to the mixture then made sure it was all mixed together!

I should add that I had never used a zester before and didn't realize how sharp it was! My poor fingers are all scraped up after using it.

I poured into the cupcake pan and put into the oven to bake.

I baked these for 19 minutes; they probably could have come out a minute earlier. But boy did the lemon smell delicious!

While the cupcakes were cooling, I got to work on the frosting. I chopped up ½ c blueberries, 1tsp sugar and 1 tbsp water in a food processor and set aside.

In a large bowl, I creamed butter and vanilla then slowly added confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time. I then added ¼ c milk and the blueberries.

I decorated the cupcakes with my Wilton Dessert Decorator Pro.

These are a great treat for spring/summer, and the sweetness of the blueberry was a great complement to the lemon cake.

I also had to show off this fun new gadget. My mom picked this up for me - its an individual cupcake carrier - for when you get that lunchtime craving! Isn't it cute? I wish I knew where she picked it up because this would be a great gift item.

Vanilla Lemon Cupcakes

1/2c unsalted butter, softened

2/3 c sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

Zest of 1 lemon

1 ½ c bread flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ c buttermilk

· Preheat oven to 350 and line a cupcake pan

· In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar.

· Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well

· Add vanilla and mix well

· In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt

· Slowly add dry ingredients and buttermilk to the butter mixture

· Zest the outer layer of one large lemon and add to batter

· Mix well and pour into cupcake liners

· Bake for 17-19 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Blueberry Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

1c unsalted butter, softened

5-6c confectioners sugar

¼ c milk

2 tsp vanilla

½ c blueberries

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp water

· In a food processor, combine blueberries, granulated sugar and water and set aside

· In a large bowl, cream butter and slowly add confectioners sugar, 1 cup at a time

· Slowly add vanilla, milk and blueberries

· Mix until fluffy

Decorate as you wish and enjoy!

Baking for a Cure!

2011-04-29T06:00:00.003-04:00

Next week I’ll be participating in Bake for Hope. I found out about this event at Cupcake Camp, at Jen from Beantown Baker’s booth.

Per the website, Bloggers Bake for Hope is a virtual bake sale. Bloggers will donate their time, ingredients, and shipping costs so there are no expenses associated with this virtual bake sale. All proceeds from the bake sale will be sent to the Massachusetts Komen for the Cure. The virtual bake sale will take place on May 4-6, 2011. Buyers will make virtual pledges on the Bloggers Bake for Hope site, and at the close of the bake sale the highest bidders will be awarded the donated baked goods. They will make their donations via PayPal, and the bakers will then bake and ship their goods. Because the bakers are donating their ingredients, time, and shipping costs, there are no expenses associated with the virtual bake sale. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Massachusetts Komen for the Cure.

I’m going to be making my M&M Cookies with Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chips for this event. You can view these and all the other items available for auction here. I hope that on May 4^th you’ll head over to the site and bid on some baked goods (there are some awesome looking treats on there)!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Bark

2011-04-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

Martha Stewart Living is one of my favorite magazines. While some of her projects can be a little over-the-top for the average human, there are a lot of great ideas and recipes in it. I had a page saved from the 2010 holiday issue on several different types of ‘bark’ to make, and since I had some leftover candy from Easter, I decided to make the Chocolate Peanut Butter version – you can view the original recipe here.

This was really easy. You just need some chocolate bars (bittersweet and milk chocolate) and peanut butter!

The first step is to line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Next, melt the bittersweet chocolate.

I don’t have a double boiler, so I just placed a small glass mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water. I also didn’t get to take a ton of pictures – it was too hard to do that while constantly stirring the chocolate and holding the bowl steady!

Melt the bittersweet chocolate and then pour onto the baking sheet. Spread evenly.

Melt the milk chocolate and peanut butter together.

Mine wasn’t quite as pretty as Martha’s...

Then pop into the refrigerator for 1-2 hours to get firm, and break up the bark into little pieces! I had to refrigerate mine closer to 2 hours, since I used all natural peanut butter and it didn’t firm up as quickly as I’d imagine ‘regular’ peanut butter would.

Told you it was easy. I’d also suggest doing all the ‘prep’ work first – break up the bittersweet and milk chocolate in 2 separate piles, measure out the peanut butter and set out the baking sheet and bamboo skewer. This is definitely not the type of recipe where you want to measure as you go!

This is super easy, and the active time is only about 15 minutes. The cleanup is really quick too! This would be a great treat to make to hand out over the holidays or set out at a party. You can also press different types of candy or sprinkles into it to make it look more seasonal or add a little something extra – I foresee myself experimenting with this a lot more in the future, now that I know how simple it is!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Bark

12 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used 3 Ghirardelli 60% cacao bars)

4.4 oz milk chocolate (I used a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar)

¼ c creamy all-natural peanut butter

1 bamboo skewer - don’t eat this! ;)

· Spray a baking sheet with vegetable oil and line with parchment paper. Set aside.

· Melt the bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler or a glass or metal mixing bowl set over a pot 1/3 full of simmering water

· Once bittersweet chocolate is completely melted, pour onto baking sheet and spread evenly

· Melt the milk chocolate and peanut butter together until completely melted

· Pour milk chocolate peanut butter mixture over the bittersweet chocolate

· Use the bamboo skewer to create a swirled effect

· Refrigerate until firm (at least 1 hour)

· Remove from refrigerator and break apart

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

2011-04-22T09:00:00.029-04:00

I decided to make muffins again the other day, and this time I added banana and improved the recipe, enough that I feel comfortable posting the recipe here this time around! I also decided to do mini's instead. I used a similar recipe to last time, adapted from the book 100 Best Cupcake Recipes (there’s a recipe for banana nut muffins in the “Cupcakes for Breakfast” section).

I liked these much butter than the chocolate peanut butter chip ones I made last time; the bananas made them moister and added a much-needed kick of flavor! The crusty sugar top worked better this time too, I think because I used raw sugar instead of granulated for the 'crust.'

First I got my ingredients out.

Then mashed up 2 ripe bananas.

Then I combined the bananas with melted butter, buttermilk (I used nonfat milk and lemon juice again), eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl I whisked together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt; then I added the banana mixture and mixed until well-blended.

This time, I used peanut butter and chocolate chips – yum!

I used these Reese’s peanut butter chips and two kinds of Ghirardelli chocolate – these oversized milk chocolate pieces along with semi-sweet chocolate chips.

I mixed them all together and popped them into the oven for ~10 min, then cooled them on wire racks.

And enjoyed!

Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

Makes approx 48 mini muffins

2c flour

3/4c sugar

½ tsp Baking soda

2 tsp Baking powder

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

1 stick melted butter

1/3c buttermilk

2 mashed up ripe bananas

1c peanut butter chips

1c chocolate chips

1 tsp raw sugar (to sprinkle on top)

· Preheat oven to 375 and line muffin tray with liners.

· Mash up 2 ripe bananas in a small bowl. Add melted butter, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Mix together until blended.

· In a separate, larger bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

· Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and beat until completely blended.

· Add peanut butter and chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.

· Pour into muffin cups, sprinkle some raw sugar on top and bake for 9-12 minutes.

· Cool on wire racks, pour a glass of cold milk and enjoy!

M&M cookies with Chocolate and Peanut Butter chips

2011-04-19T09:37:00.001-04:00

On a spring-like day a few weeks ago I picked up this HUGE bag of 'Bunny Mix' M&M’s at the store.

One of my favorite cookies is an M&M chocolate chip cookie, adapted from this recipe on the M&M’s website. At Cupcake Camp, I spoke briefly with Jen at Beantown Baker about Bloggers Bake for Hope and decided to participate. I was trying to think of baked goods that would be fairly simple to ship, so decided to contribute 2 dozen of these cookies. And for something different, I added some Reese’s peanut butter chips this time.

I love these cookies because they’re easy to make and freeze really well. Plus, M&M’s always has different holiday colors out for Christmas, Halloween, Spring, 4^th of July, etc so it’s easy to make these festive for different occasions!

First I creamed 1c softened butter with ½c each of white and light brown sugars.

Then added 1 egg and 2 ½ tsp vanilla extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together 2c flour, ½ tsp baking soda and 1/8 tsp salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture.

ooohhhh when two become one....

Then add the good stuff! For these, I added 2c M&M’s, 3/4c chocolate chips and 3/4c peanut butter chips.

Use a tablespoon to drop onto cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are lightly browned at the edges.

Cool on wire racks and enjoy!

Bidding starts May 4th and goes through May6th - be sure to check out the Bloggers Bake for Hope site to check out some of the other delicious treats that will be up for sale!

M&M cookies with Chocolate and Peanut Butter chips

(makes approx 36 cookies - if you don't eat 4 cookie's worth of dough like I do!)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk chocolate M&M’s

¾ cup chocolate chips

¾ cup peanut butter chips

· Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl cream butter and sugars; beat in egg and vanilla.

· In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; slowly add into creamed mixture.

· Stir in M&M’S®, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.

· If the dough is very soft, put in refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to chill slightly

· Drop tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

· Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are lightly browned

Cupcake Camp

2011-04-18T12:13:00.000-04:00

Last week I attended Cupcake Camp - it was held at the Somerville Armory. You can learn more about it here. I first heard of Cupcake Camp a few years ago on Cupcakes Take The Cake, and I missed last year’s in Boston so I was really excited when I saw on Twitter that it was going to be held in Boston again this year! I made my Thin Mint Cupcakes again, and did a mix of mini and regular size. Big thanks to my friend Whitney for helping me bake/decorate the cupcakes AND set up at Cupcake Camp!

A little blurry - oops :)

Yum :) Did I say THANK YOU to Whitney for helping decorate?!

King Arthur Flour was a sponsor and had a special booth set up with demonstrations – I can’t wait to try these mint chip ice cream cone cupcakes!

All the decorations are fondant!

Next time, I would probably make all minis – most people (myself included!) seemed drawn to the minis – more cupcakes, less stomachaches! Plus then more people could try them – I ended up cutting the ‘regular’ size cupcakes into quarters anyway.

Another thanks to Whitney for this nifty sign ;)

I would also make more cupcakes! Mine were gone within a half hour, sad L

Overall, this was a great time and it was wonderful to meet some fellow bakers and get some more cupcake ideas! Some of the 'amateur' cupcakes were presented so well and tasted so good, I couldn't believe they weren't professionals. I mostly tasted the 'amateur' cupcakes since I'd been to most of the bakeries that were there. The sugar hangover the next day was well worth it. I couldn't believe how packed it was, I left around 8:15 (the event went from 7-9) and the line was still around the block!

Below are some pictures I took while I was wandering around before the doors opened – I tried to get the cupcake/baker’s names in the photos when I could, but feel free to let me know in the comments if you see yours here and want a call-out. The lighting wasn’t the best at the Armory, so my apologies for some of the poor pictures!

These hamburger cupcakes were adorable!

I can't eat almonds so unfortunately couldn't try these, but I loved the frosting on them - so pretty!

These were fantastic - and presented so well!

These were gone before I could try one :(

I loved these adorable little honeybees

Whole Foods' Easter-themed cupcakes

Some of the amateur cupcakes were presented SO well, I couldn't believe they weren't professionals!

Yum!

setting up the 'professionals' section

Beantown Baker's cookie dough cupcakes - one of my favorites of the night!

These girls were next to me - I loved these cupcakes!

The creamsicle cupcakes (2nd tier from the top) were to.die.for.

Loved this sweet cupcake bouquet - I think this was C-Cups?

YUM

These were from an amateur baker - how beautiful!

My first attempt at Waffles.

2011-04-08T13:58:00.000-04:00

Last weekend, I woke up Sunday morning craving waffles. Growing up, my mom often made us waffles on Sunday mornings after church. It’s one of my favorite memories – I remember my dad always put peanut butter and maple syrup on his, which grossed me out at the time… now, it actually sounds pretty good! So, I have a waffle iron that I’ve never used. It was bought on sale at Target about a year ago, amid visions of freshly baked waffles and fruit on the weekends. The vision never came to fruition… until now!

Problems: I didn’t have waffle mix. Or fresh fruit. Or my mom to help. At least the first part of this dilemma could be solved without me needing to change out of my pajamas – with some help from Joy of Cooking.

I had all the ingredients on hand, so I figured this would be super easy. I had visions of light, fluffy waffles dancing in my head! Alas, it was not to be. Yes, my friends, I’m afraid we’re going to have to file this one under “baking FAIL.”

It started easily enough – I whisked together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

In a second bowl I whisked together an egg and 1 cup of milk, then melted butter. This is where things went downhill. The cookbook called for 1-2 sticks of butter. That seemed like a lot to me! I went with 1 stick. This turned out to be way too much.

However, I continued on – creating a “well” in the middle of the dry ingredients to pour the butter mixture into...

... and whisked it until “just” combined. I knew enough from using mixes that you don’t want to over-whisk waffle mix!

I poured some onto the waffle iron.

Problem #1 – I poured way too much on! As soon as I closed the lid, this happened.

Yikes!

Problem #2 – the waffles would not’ rise and get light and fluffy! This was likely due to the STICK of melted butter I added to the mix.

My boyfriend was a trooper and ate one, and I had half a waffle as well but overall this will have to be filed as a ‘fail.’ At least now I know for next time – and will keep you updated on attempt #2!

Waffles

1 ¾ C sifted flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 ½ tbsp sugar

1 egg

1 c milk

1 stick melted unsalted butter (I would recommend adding less than this for non-FAIL waffles! 2-3 tbsp should be enough)

In a large bowl whisk together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and milk, then whisk in butter. Create a ‘well’ in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter mixture. Whisk until just blended (don’t overmix!). Pour into your waffle iron (baking time varies by appliance – mine took about 5-6 min). Add butter, syrup, powdered sugar, fruit, or all of the above – and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-04-03T21:50:00.000-04:00

Hello hello! I would first like to apologize for the lack of posts this past month; I have been traveling A LOT for work (and fun) and things have been crazy... plus, being new to this blog thing it's still taking me awhile to get into a regular posting schedule... anyway, on to the sugary stuff!

I recently purchased some chocolate chips and peanut butter chips at the grocery store and was excited to use them. I had just made oatmeal raisin cookies so I didn't want to make more cookies! I decided on muffins. I was feeling kind of lazy so instead of trying to find a recipe I just adapted a recipe I us to make banana muffins... and left out the banana, obviously. Although these would be pretty good with banana added in...

First I mixed together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt; and added in the chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Then I beat together eggs, milk, vanilla and vegetable oil.

Then it was time to combine them!

Pretty easy , right? I poured the batter into some muffin liners then sprinkled some sugar on top of each one before popping them in the oven; I was hoping this would give them that sugary crust you see on muffins in Starbucks, Au Bon Pain, etc!

I baked the for 20 minutes then smelled something burning.... uh oh! Luckily, it was just some extra batter that had spilled onto the edges of the pan. Whew!

They were rather pointy... and slightly over-cooked... and most concerning, I couldn't see any chocolate chips! Where did they go??

But where is the chocolate?!

Oh, there they are! YUM!

Overall, they weren't bad; they could have been a little moister, and they just seemed to be missing something... next time I think I'd add some banana, or more of the peanut butter chips. I give myself a 5 out of 10!

PS - the sugary crust sort of worked... next time needs more sugar!

Cinnamon Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-03-10T15:04:00.001-05:00

It was rainy and dreary last Monday and I was craving some comfort sweets - and I had a big can of oats in my cupboard, along with a few random bags of leftover chocolate chips. So I decided to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, which have always been a favorite of mine.

I adapted this recipe from my favorite cookbook - the classic Joy of Cooking.

The recipe is below, but the ingredients are pretty basic. First I preheated the oven to 350. In a small bowl, I whisked together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl I creamed butter and sugar then added 2 eggs and vanilla.

I liked this speckled egg!

Once the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla were combined, I slowly added in the dry ingredients, then stirred in the oats and chocolate chips. I had both mini and regular size chocolate chips in my cupboard, so I used those.

Oats, Oats, lots of Oats...

Roll them into 1-inch balls on a baking sheet... then, bake for ~13 minutes , pour a glass of cold milk and enjoy! This recipe makes a lot of cookies, but one of my favorite things about these cookies is how well they freeze, so that when I'm craving one it's easy to take one out to satisfy my sweet tooth!

Cinnamon Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes approximately 36 cookies

Ingredients:
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla
4 c oats
1 1/2 c chocolate chips

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and white sugar. Once blended, beat in the brown sugar, then add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla.

Slowly add the flour mixture. Once combined, stir in the oats and chocolate chips. Put the dough in the fridge for ~10 minutes to firm up (which makes it easier to roll the dough).

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 350 for ~13 minutes.

Make like this guy and EAT!

2011-03-04T14:43:00.000-05:00

So there are a lot of random things that are fairly common foods to make that I have never even attempted to bake/cook. I decided to record them on here – my goal is to attempt all of these before my (gulp) 26th birthday, which is in early September – so approximately 6 months. Hopefully having them here for all the world to see will give me extra incentive to actually try all these and not just resort to my tried & true recipes!

Without further ado, here are my top Foods To Make Before I Enter My Late-Mid Twenties.

The Baked Goods (aka the majority of this list)

· Fudge - I know, the simplest thing ever – or so I’ve heard

· Pillow Cookies - essentially a brownie stuffed into a cookie. I’ll have to save this for a diet-busting day

· S’mores Cupcakes – I love s’mores. I love cupcakes. These should make me ecstatic (which means “like, really really happy” as Deena from Jersey Shore taught us last night)

· Popovers – I’ve tried Jordan’s popovers in Bar Harbor. I don’t expect mine to be nearly this good.

· Layer Cake – I’ve never made one of these from scratch. I tend to stick to smaller, more manageable treats.

· Bread – I’d like to try honey wheat, but any (non-dessert) bread will do!

· Soft Pretzels – from SCRATCH (sorry Crate & Barrel, I loved your kit but it’s time for me to put on my big girl pants and venture into the great world of pretzel-making on my own!)

· Angel Food Cake – one of my favorite desserts when I was younger; I’ve always used the store-bought variety (I know, boo! hiss!)

· Shortbread – I LOVE shortbread, but have never attempted it. I once tried butter cookies and they were nothing short of a DISASTER; I think it scared me off all similar recipes.

· Cappuccino Cupcakes – a special request from my boyfriend, who is a weirdo and doesn’t like sweets, and usually just humors me by having a bite or two of my baked goods.

· Cake Pops – I love Bakerella’s website; and love looking at all the images of these cute pops. But I’ve always been too afraid/lazy to make them.

· Whoopie Pies - normal sized ones this time.

The “Real Food”

· Beef Stew – nice n’ hearty; I better make this before the weather warms up!

· Roast Chicken – yup.

· Soup – any soup. I’ve only ever used the canned variety. I’d like to conquer this; or at least attempt it.

· Macaroni and Cheese – the possibilities are endless.. truffle oil, bacon, spinach, oh my!

Obviously I’ll record my successes (and failures!) here. Godspeed to me!

Soft Pretzels

2011-02-28T21:20:00.001-05:00

I love soft pretzels. In college, my friends and I used to go to a local farmers market on weekends. Every Saturday there was a booth run by 3 mennonite women who made the best soft pretzels! So when I saw this Soft Pretzel Mix at Crate & Barrel, I had to get it.

It was pretty easy overall. The kit included pretzel mix, pretzel salt and yeast. After melting butter and combining it with water, I added the yeast and stirred until dissolved. Then I added the pretzel mix and combined it.

Next came the fun part - kneading the dough! The instructions suggested lightly oiling your hands.

"What kind of oil?" I wondered. "Olive Oil? Sure!"

So after oiling up my hands, I kneaded the dough for three minutes. Then I set it in a bowl and covered it with a towel, and left it for a half hour to rise.

In retrospect, I think they wanted me to use a more airtight cover. Oops - that probably explains why the dough didn't rise very much!

Not much bigger.

After a half hour, I pre-heated the oven to 450 and set about rolling out the pretzels. I divided the dough into five sections and rolled it into 24-inch long sections. This. Took. Awhile. The ropes of dough kept falling apart, and it took forever to get them long enough. I have a newfound respect for the pretzel-makers at Auntie Anne's!

Anyway, eventually I ended up with four conventional pretzels and one twisty-log-pretzel. I used a "baking soda bath" to make them extra dark - basically I boiled a pot of water and baking soda and dipped each pretzel in it for 30 seconds.

splish-splash pretzel's taking a bath...

Then I brushed each pretzel with egg yolk...

...and sprinkled them with salt.

Then it was time to bake!

bon voyage, little pretzels!

After 12 minutes, the pretzels were a nice golden brown. And boy, were they delicious! Really soft and not too salty. I ate them plain and they were plenty flavorful!

Next time, I think I'd like to try making these from scratch and experiment with other flavors - like cinnamon sugar and jalapeno. Hmm maybe I need to create a baking "to-do" list....

It's that time of year...

2011-02-24T14:25:00.001-05:00

Girl Scout Cookie Time! Like most of America, my absolute favorite is the Thin Mint (don't worry Peanut Butter Patties, I love you too). So when the boxes I ordered from my co-worker's daughter arrived last Friday, I was very excited!

I decided to try and make some thin mint cupcakes. I couldn't find a recipe that I really liked/ had the ingredients on hand for, so I decided to (gulp) try making up my own! This was a first for me, as I usually stay pretty close to a recipe, especially with something I haven't tried before.

First, I crushed up a sleeve of Thin Mints in my handy-dandy food processor.

(don't worry little cookies, I have better things in store for you!)

I processed these until they were just teensy little crumbs, then combined them with cocoa powder and some hot chocolate.

Yep, hot chocolate! I whisked this into the cocoa powder and crushed thin mints, then put it into the fridge to cool.

In the meantime, I mixed up some bread flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and set that aside.

Once the chocolate mixture cooled (approx 20 minutes), I took it out and added some vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla and white vinegar. I whisked it all together then mixed in the dry ingredients. At this point, the cake part was done and ready to bake!

I popped these in the oven and while they were baking, I whipped up a 'Thin Mint Buttercream' frosting. I mixed together butter, heavy cream, the rest of the crushed thin mints and vanilla (recipes below).

Once the cupcakes cooled, I decided to use this Wilton Decorating Tool for the frosting.

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it - I know I froze the other sleeve of cookies to make these again before next year! You could also substitute in other cookies - grasshoppers, oreos, etc.

I was really happy with how my first foray into straying from recipes went - the cake was very moist, and the frosting was light and not too sweet. My only regret is not baking more than 12 ;)

The Sweetest Times' Thin Mint Cupcakes

Ingredients:
2/3c chopped Thin Mints
1/3c cocoa powder
3/4c hot chocolate
3/4c bread flour
1c sugar
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp baking powder
6tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs
5tsp vanilla extract
2tsp white vinegar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1c heavy cream, room temperature
3c confectionary sugar

Preheat oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with 12 baking cups.

Ground up one sleeve of Thin Mints in a food processor.

In a large bowl, combine 1/3C of Thin Mints with 1/3C Cocoa Powder and 3/4C of hot cocoa.
Whisk together and set in fridge to cool completely (approximately 20 minutes).

In a small bowl, combine 3/4c bread flour, 1c sugar, 1/2tsp salt and 1/2tsp baking powder.
Whisk together and set aside.

Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, remove from the fridge and add 6tbsp vegetable oil, 2 large eggs, 2 tsp vanilla extract and 2tsp white vinegar. Once this is combined, slowly add in the dry ingredients.

Pour into muffin pan and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Thin Mint Frosting:
Cream 1 stick unsalted butter (softened) and 1c heavy whipping cream (room temperature). Once mixed, add 1/3c of Thin Mints and 3 tsp vanilla extract. Slowly add in the powdered sugar (amount may vary depending on desired thickness).

Spread onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Not-Quite-Perfect Pot Roast

2011-02-21T14:49:00.001-05:00

Believe it or not, I actually use my kitchen for more than just cupcakes, cookies, whoopies, cakes, breads… where was I? Oh yes, sometimes I actually cook “real” food – with nutritional value! – in my kitchen. And sometimes, when I conquer some recipe that I’ve struggled with or been afraid to try, I’ll share it here!

Last week we had some warm weather in Boston, which was great, but this being New England and it only being February, it got cold again quickly. So I was in the mood for a hearty meal – and had recently seen this recipe for the “Perfect Pot Roast” on Pioneer Woman Cooks – one of my favorite sites for all things kitchen-related. I had also recently purchased a dutch oven and was excited to use it!

So, I went to the store and purchased 3.5LBS of chuck roast and some carrots, fresh thyme and organic beef broth.

I pre-heated the oven to 275 and salted and peppered the roast. I wasn’t sure exactly what PW does, but I just poured some sea salt and ground pepper on the roast and rubbed it in.

And rinsed and chopped up the carrots.

Then I heated up the dutch oven on the stove and added some olive oil. Warning: it heated up WAY faster than I thought, and the oil started smoking almost immediately. FAIL. So, I had to do that part again, and didn’t wait so long to add the oil – it worked much better the 2^nd time. I browned the carrots then took them out and browned each side of the roast (there were 3 sides, for the record) for about 45-60 seconds per side and removed it. Then I poured some cabernet sauvignon (approx 1 cup) into the dutch oven to “de-glaze” it. Not sure what that meant, exactly, but I basically just poured the red wine in and swished a whisk around until the remnants of beef came off the bottom.

I turned off the burner and put the roast back in and added 1 cup of beef broth and a little bit more wine. Then I added the carrots and fresh thyme. The recipe called for rosemary, but I’m not a big fan of rosemary so I used herbes de provence instead. Side note: I had no idea what herbes de provence were, but saw this cute little pot of them at the Williams + Sonoma outlet when I was visiting Wrentham last summer. I use them on everything! Vegetables, meat, etc – they have a great flavor and go with almost everything.

Anyway. Herbes de Provence – try them. At this point I was ready to “roast”! I put the pot roast in the over for 3 hours and waited.

And waited.

When there were ~10 minutes left, I put some frozen garlic flatbread into the oven to heat up – I think mashed potatoes would have been great with the roast and carrots, but it was pretty late at this point and I didn’t want to eat some heavy, creamy potatoes.

It came out great, for a first time try, in my opinon! The meat could have probably been a bit rarer, and I think the sauce could have been more flavorful. But, I conquered my fear of cooking a huge chunk of meat, and next time will experiment a bit more with seasoning and ingredients.

Bon appétit!

Whoopie!

2011-02-16T11:45:00.000-05:00

Sur La Table recently had a big winter bakeware sale and I ordered a Whoopie Pie Pan. It arrived this weekend and I was so excited to use it! Since Valentine's Day just passed, I decided to try out Red Velvet Whoopie Pies. I adapted this recipe.

First I whisked together the dry ingredients - 2c flour, 2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of salt.

I set that aside and creamed 1 stick of butter with 1c brown sugar then beat in an egg and 2tsp vanilla.

I didn't have buttermilk, so I mixed some lemon juice with 1/2 cup of regular milk and waited for it to curdle (sounds gross, but it works!). I added this and the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, then mixed in about 2 tbsp of red food coloring.

It made exactly 12 cakes - or enough for 6 Whoopies. At least, enough for 6 whoopies the way I poured them....

These took approx 12 minutes to bake. While they were in the oven, I made vanilla cream cheese frosting for the filling. I combined 1 stick of butter with one package of cream cheese, then added in confectioners' sugar (approx 2-3 cups, I was measuring based on consistency) and 2 tbsp vanilla extract.

When the cakes were done, they were HUGE. Way too big! I guess I poured too much batter into the molds; I filled the molds to the top, and probably should have only filled them 1/2 - 3/4 full. Oops :)

Like I said, BIG whoopies! Once they cooled, I added a dollop of the cream cheese filling to six cakes, and pressed down with the others to make sandwiches. I made about twice as much frosting as I needed. Maybe these should be called WHOOPSIE Pies?

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2011-02-11T14:18:00.000-05:00

With Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to make something festive (and use some pink cupcake wrappers I've had sitting around). Now I normally try to bake everything from scratch, but my mom had picked me up an adorable Red Velvet Cupcake Kit and I decided to use it (plus, I was in a bit of a hurry!).

Isn't it cute? And it was so much simpler than baking from scratch... all you needed was 3 ingredients for the cake: Oil, Water and 1 egg.

See? Easy!

And boy was it RED! The cupcakes took about 25 minutes to bake, so while they were in the oven I made the cream cheese frosting - which was super easy, the kit had a frosting pack and you just needed to add butter, milk and cream cheese. It was a little thin (with a VERY strong cream cheese flavor), so I added some confectionary sugar to thicken it and make it a little sweeter.

Once the cakes had cooled, I got to decorating. Nothing fancy - I just added some pink sanding sugar to the tops and that was it. I would have liked to do more decorating, but as I said - I was in a hurry.

Overall, these were pretty good, especially coming from a mix. But they were no match for homemade cupcakes. Next time, I'd probably use a mix again if I was in a hurry, but I'd make the frosting from scratch.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sweetest Visits: Kickass Cupcakes

2011-02-04T11:39:00.001-05:00

I was recently at Kickass Cupcakes in Somerville and decided to add a quick recap of my visit. Now, I've been to Kickass before and would probably visit a lot more if it was closer to where I live/work.

I should mention I have a close friend who works at Kickass, so I've had the opportunity to try lots of the flavors she brings home. For example, their "basic" flavors - vanilla, chocolate, red velvet - are to die for. They use all-natural coloring and ingredients, so the cupcakes aren't as vibrant in appearance as at some other shops, but they're delicious. The cakes that I've tried are always moist, with a good cake-to-frosting ratio.

One of my favorites is their take on the 'Funfetti' cupcake - a vanilla cupcake with sprinkles baked in, and a vanilla buttercream frosting. Simple, but delicious!

This visit, I tried something new: their DEEP-FRIED CUPCAKE. Yes, you read that correctly. And yes, it was as awesome as it sounds.

Image courtest of Elizabeth at Free Food Boston

There it is! So it's a vanilla cupcake, deep fried, then covered in chocolate fudge and homemade whipped cream. Oh my! I shared it with a friend, as it is a LOT of sweetness, but it was delicious. It reminded me of a very dense funnel cake. I can only imagine how good it would be with some fruit toppings as well.

Yep! Like I said - awesome. I really like Kickass Cupcakes - they have a unique spin on a lot of flavors, and try to use all natural and seasonal ingredients, which is great. There's also a dairy bar attached, which I haven't tried yet... and they're located next to When Pigs Fly Bakery, so you can overdose on carbs without having to walk more than 20 feet! Genius!

*Note: I forgot my camera, so all images are from the Kickass Cupcake website or Google images.

The Sweetest Times is not paid or reimbursed by the restaurant for a positive or negative review. The reviews are strictly for educational purposes only. A bad review does not mean that the restaurant is a bad restaurant. We do not hold back the negative reviews, all reviews are posted upon validation.

2011-01-26T11:10:00.001-05:00

My birthday was a few months ago and I wanted to make some pink vanilla cupcakes. This was largely because I had recently purchased not only pink cupcake wrappers, but a tub of pink sparkly sprinkles. I used this Magnolia Cupcakes recipe. I didn't have any self-rising flour, so I used only all-purpose...

Overall, this recipe was really easy to make. The biggest issue I seem to encounter with cupcakes is making the the same size! I can never seem to put the same amount of batter into all the cups.

I tried using a small ice cream scoop for these, but it still didn't pour evenly! They didn't look too bad once they baked though... although there are pretty big size differences in some! I figured they were fixable with frosting...

While the cakes were cooling, I mixed up the Magnolia buttercream frosting from the recipe posted above. I used a few drops of red food coloring to get the right shade of pink.

Then I prepared all my sprinkles - I also used some Betty Crocker "cupcake gems" to embellish the tops of the cupcakes. I found these at Stop & Shop a few months back and had been really excited to use them!

And voila! Birthday cupcakes fit for a twenty-five year old. These were really fun to make, and they an excellent accompaniment to a glass of Prosecco ;) However, the cake was definitely dry, which was more or less offset by the frosting but something I'd like to avoid next time. I'm not sure if this was because I used all-purpose instead of self-rising flour, or if my ratios were a bit off, but I'll have to experiment with this next time I use this recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-01-26T10:44:00.001-05:00

I've had a few bags of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chips sitting in my cupboard for awhile now and decided to make some simple chocolate chip cookies. I love baking cupcakes and 'fancier' treats, but sometimes nothing beats some old-fashioned cookies (or the raw cookie dough!!).

I've been trying to find a good recipe for awhile. My mom makes the best chocolate chip cookies, but she knows her recipe by heart at this point. I tried the recipe in Martha Stewart Cookies, but they came out greasy - I'm sure that was my fault, not Martha's. So this time I tried the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip back - it can be found here. And they came out great!

I only baked mine for about 7-8 minutes, and they came out just right. That may have just been my oven, though. Also, I used about twice the number of chocolate chips the recipe called for - so while the cookies were delicious, they were very gooey and messy!

Here are a few pictures - from now on, I envision the posts being more illustrated as they go, but I'm still figuring out this blogging thing! Feel free to comment on YOUR favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes :)

I took the cookies in to work the next day - and they went over VERY well with my co-workers. The only negative feedback I received was from my friend Larry - who pronounced them "too cakey, with too little chips." But I'm gonna go with the majority on this one ;)

Hi there!

2011-01-26T09:46:00.002-05:00

Hi there! I'm a 25 year old marketing professional in Boston. I've always had a sweet tooth and in the past few years, I've taken up baking as a hobby.

My baking addiction initially started with a pink-frosted cupcake on a visit to Buttercup Bake Shop in New York City - to this day, the best vanilla cupcake I've ever had!

However, I've started to expand into baking other, non-cupcake treats as well - like cookies, muffins, scones and even (gasp!) full-size cakes!

I decided to start this blog to chronicle my successes (and failures - trust me, there are many!) as I learn my way around the kitchen.

Do you have questions, suggestions or want to get in touch? Leave a comment or email me!

Thanks, and happy baking :)