Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and my new job

More fall weather = more pumpkin!

I am so pumped about all the pumpkin, and I'm trying to find out how to incorporate it into everyday life. Last week I made pumpkin bars, which have been great for after-dinner desserts. But don't you like to have something small after lunch, too? What better than a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie! (Or two!)

Pumpkin and chocolate chips? What?? I know, not typically what you might pair your pumpkin with, but I promise it is an incredible combination. The pumpkin results in a more soft and cake-like cookie, but the chocolate chips give it a bit more of a cookie-type crunch. Don't be surprised when they come out of the oven looking like little muffin tops instead of crunchy cookies.

These bad boys went over a lot better than I thought. I made a double batch, just in case they were too good. And good thing I did.

The cookies went tailgating at the Iowa State/University of Iowa game this weekend, and got eaten up by buzzed Cyclone fans before they would melt in the sun. The cookies accompanied me at work yesterday and made me lots of new friends. Their cake-like texture made me think people wouldn't like them, but I was wrong. Everyone seemed to like the pumpkin/chocolate combination.

And I still have plenty left for Boyfriend and me, but he is the only one who doesn't seem to like them. More for me :)

Also, I have good news. I recently got a new part-time job which involves cake, ice cream, and frosting. Any guesses?

Midnight Delight anyone?

I'm decorating cakes at Coldstone Creamery! This Midnight Delight cake pictured here is one of the first ones I made. It is built with layers of devil's food cake, fudge, and chocolate ice cream, then covered in chocolate ganache (which I am learning is the devil to work with) and sprinkled with chocolate shavings.

Strawberry Passion Cake, another one I enjoy making.  Photo credit: www.onsecondscoop.com

I get to do this about 10 to 20 hours a week, in addition to my restaurant job. This keeps my urge to bake and decorate satisfied. Good thing, because Kyle is starting to get nervous about all the sweets in the apartment.

The hardest part about this job is not eating my work.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1c. pumpkin puree
• 1c. white sugar
• 1/3c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 2c. flour
• 2t. baking powder
• 2t. pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2t. salt
• 1t. baking soda
• 1t. milk
• 1t. vanilla
• 2c. chocolate milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil and egg. Mix until combined. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, salt and baking soda. Add milk and vanilla extract to flour mixture.
3. Add pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture and mix until fully combined. Add in chocolate chips.
4. Drop spoon size dough balls onto the greased cookie sheet, about an inch apart. Bake for about 8 to 12 minutes. I wanted to leave them in longer, but they really won't get more crunchy. Remember they are cake-y!

Pumpkin Bars

September brings colored leaves, campfire weather and happy feelings of fall. All that good stuff might not be here yet, but it is September, and I'm busting out the pumpkin.

I used to be a picky kid. Anything with pumpkin grossed me out, even pumpkin pie. When I decided to grow up a few years ago, I realized I was quite in love with the orange puree.

For one thing, it's a healthy ingredient for baking. One cup has only 49 calories and plenty of fiber to keep you full for a while. When you bake as much as I do, you have to make a healthy dish every now and then.

Secondly, it's orange! It takes on its own bright personality without any added dye.

And, now that I'm a big girl, I'll admit that pumpkin has flavor. It tastes so good in a pie, in a cupcake, mixed with chocolate, and, my favorite, pumpkin bars topped with cream cheese frosting.

Since Boyfriend wants healthier desserts (and I could stand for some low-cal treats, too), I used a recipe from sheknows.com which substitutes Greek yogurt for any butter or oil you'd normally use. This swap takes away lots of fat and calories, while keeping the delicious taste.

These pumpkin bars are quite easy to make and don't take a lot of time. The cakey part is fluffy and pumpkin-y, everything you could want. I used a light cream cheese frosting and topped them with slivered almonds. They taste great with only the frosting, but the almonds make them look like they're ready to party.

I recommend chilling the bars before eating so the frosting will set and harden. I think they taste better when the frosting is cold.

I think I'll be making these a lot this fall!

Pumpkin Bars

Yields: About 16 cake bars

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2/3 cup low-fat Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup white sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Cooking spray

For the frosting:

8 ounces light cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup toasted almonds, chopped

Directions:

To make the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8-inch glass cake plate with cooking spray.
Mix pumpkin, yogurt, vanilla, egg whites and sugar well in a large mixing bowl. Once combined, add in baking soda, baking powder, flour, salt and pumpkin pie spice until fully mixed.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until cake comes out dry when inserted with a toothpick.
To make the frosting: Mix cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla together. Once cake has cooled, frost and garnish with toasted almonds.

Caramel Scotcharoos

I've posted about the awesomeness of scotcharoos before...the crunch of a Rice Krispie treat mixed with a sweet honey and peanut butter twist, and topped with a rich chocolate and butterscotch mixture...what's not to love?!

Scotcharoos are also great for their versatility. You can get creative with them, change the cereal, melt different flavored chips on top, throw in something crazy.

 This past weekend I experimented with caramel, a first for me. I love the combination of chocolate and caramel. In ice cream, fudge, brownies, you name it. Caramel and chocolate are meant to be together. I've never made caramel sauce on my own however, and now I know why. The recipe I used from keyingredient.com asks you to unwrap a bag of those little caramels that are so chewy and tasty, it's a wonder I had enough left to make a topping for my scotcharoos. I could eat those things all day.

So after a lot of will power, I melted all those caramels with about 3T. of water, until they were all melted and boiling. Then I mixed in 1/2c. of peanut butter and poured the mixture on top of the already made Rice Krispie dish. Let it chill while you melt the chocolate part. That's right, we're not done yet!

This recipe has you mix the melted chocolate with 1/2c. peanut butter as well. (This treat is going to be intensely sweet, if you couldn't predict that.)

Look at that yummy caramel! 

At that point, Kyle asked what I was going to do with the pot of melted chocolate. I said, "Pour it over these." The pan of caramel-covered Rice Krispie marshmallow goodness waited anxiously for its top and final layer, when Kyle said, "Who would eat all that??!!"

Easy answer: Chalkey women. My sweet Grandma Barb. Sweet tooth crazies.

The real question is, who wouldn't want to try it? They look like your usual scotcharoos, but once you take a bite, prepare to chew for a while on the gooey, tasty caramel, and slip into scotcharoo bliss.

Caramel Scotcharoos

Ingredients

• 3T. butter
• 10oz. bag mini marshmallows
• 1T. vanilla
• 7c. Rice Krispies cereal, or Special K
• 14oz. bag unwrapped caramels
• 2T. water
• 1 1/2c. peanut butter, divided
• 12oz. bag chocolate chips

Directions

1. Butter a 9X13in. pan.
2. Place 3 tablespoons of butter and the marshmallows in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until melted. When completely melted and smooth, stir in vanilla. Turn off heat and stir in cereal until completely coated; the mixture will be very sticky. Pour into buttered pan. Coat hands with butter and press in mixture firmly. Place in the refrigerator to chill. In another saucepan, place caramels and water over low heat, stirring frequently as caramels melt until smooth. Add 1 cup of the peanut butter to the caramel and stir until completely blended. Pour onto the chilled Rice Krispies mixture and spread to the edges. Place pan back in the refrigerator.
3. Over low heat, melt the chocolate in a saucepan, stirring frequently and being careful not to scorch the chocolate. When melted, add in the remaining  1/2 cup of peanut butter, stirring until smooth. Pour chocolate mixture over caramel layer, spreading to the edges in an even layer. Place dessert in the refrigerator and allow to set up for about 1 hour or until chocolate is firm to the touch. Cut into squares or rectangles when firm.

How to make a classy 21st birthday cake

Ah, 21...there's so much to look forward to on your 21st birthday. Unfortunately, birthday cake doesn't really compare to legally buying and drinking your own alcohol. Unless of course you legally put booze in your cake.

Kaitlyn (my first friend in Ames!) turned 21 last weekend. I don't know who was more excited: her for being able to get into bars or me for getting to make a new cake.

After eating some cake and going to the bar, we were both pretty happy.

21st birthday cakes require some kind of alcohol, in my opinion. I have a great cupcake cookbook called Intoxicated Cupcakes that has all kinds of recipes for using leftover booze in cupcakes. From margarita cupcakes to Guinness and cosmopolitan, this cookbook has a recipe for any type of liquor.

Since Kaitlyn like's coconut, I went with the recipe for pina colada cupcakes and converted it to a cake (use the same amount of ingredients, same oven temperature, just use two round cake pans and bake for about 35 minutes instead of 25). The recipe was composed of Malibu rum, pineapple, and coconut. This was also a perfect cake to end the summer with. 

Once the recipe was chosen, the next decision was whether to make a classy cake or a drunken cake. By drunken, I mean those cakes with the sloppy party Barbie and quotes or mini bottles of alcohol on top. Kaitlyn's favorite color is lime green, so I went with a classier looking 50 shades of green cake.

How much fun is that cake?!

I found this design on Pinterest and couldn't resist. At first I made a normal two-layer cake, but when I started decorating, it wasn't going to be big enough for all those layers of green. Solution? Four-layer cake!! Double the cake, double the fun, and double the yum.

The best part about decorating this cake was mixing all the greens. I used kelly green, electric green, mint green, leaf green, and turquoise to get all of the fun shades.

To make the swirls on the cake, I used a Wilton 1m tip, the big one that is used to make roses. I simply went around in a tight circle to get the swirl. They weren't perfect, but they were good practice. 

I wanted to add a little contrast to the cake, so I added a martini-shaped sugar cookie. I made a green one at first, but liked the pink better.

I was so happy with the finished cake, and I think Kaitlyn was, too. I got lots of drunk hugs and thank yous all night.

Those four layers of coconut and fruity cake tasted so good with the Malibu and coconut frosting. Click here for the pina colada recipe.

Coffee Mug Cupcakes

The weekend before I left Streator, the Chalkey's (my aunt and uncle) had a family party. Baking ingredients in our house were sparse, considering we were all packing up at that time, but I couldn't show up without cupcakes. I wasn't about to be that person who blogs about all the cupcakes I'm making and not bring any for my family.

In the pantry, I had a box of cake mix, a can of frosting and a bag of Milano Pirouette cookies left over from my birthday cake. My creation was obvious: 

Coffee mug cupcakes! I had to go the easy way out and use a box cake mix and canned frosting, but I could still dress the cupcakes up and make them cute. The coffee mug costume is an easy way to disguise a simple cupcake. Stick part of the pirouette cookie on top of white frosting and crush part of the cookie on top. Cream and cinnamon to the imaginative eye.

Of course these would be much more darling in a little tea cup, but any of those I had were packed away. But I have the little saucer plate!

I would have liked to try a coffee-inspired recipe since these look like coffee mugs, but I wanted to use up the things we had. My challenge for this week will be to come up with a coffee cupcake recipe. I just got the Folger's mocha-flavored coffee and it is delicious! Be ready for some mocha cupcakes later this week. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

When I was in college, I worked at The Great American Cookie Company. Shocking, I know. What's really shocking is that I hated that job more than any other part-time gig I've held. Probably because it was more of an unwanted full-time gig, while I was a full-time student, and added more stress than any college class would ever cause.

However, they did have good cookies. The job certainly had its perks. My roommates loved that I brought home boxes of cookies and cookie cakes every night.

One of my favorites was the peanut butter cookie. This weekend I made my own peanut butter cookies in attempt to match the cookie that kept me company the first semester of junior year (had I worked there any longer my teeth would have fallen out from all the sugar).

What I loved about those cookies was that they had actual peanuts in them, giving them a little more zazz than plain old peanut butter. I made mine with chopped salted peanuts and peanut butter chips. As always with peanut butter cookies, dab the tops in a bowl of sugar and make the criss-cross with a fork before pressing them down. That's just how peanut butter cookies work! At least in the Chalkey house.

These cookies are so good right out of the oven with a glass of cold milk.

Now we have plenty of cookies in the cookie jar! Which means we need visitors to help us eat them!

I noticed a certain someone got into the cookie jar this morning and left me half a cookie.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2c. butter, softened
• 1/2c. shortening
• 2 eggs
• 3/4c. brown sugar
• 3/4c. sugar
• 1t. vanilla
• 1t. baking soda
• 1t. salt
• 2 1/4c. flour
• 1/2c. peanut butter, I used creamy
• 1/4c. chopped salted peanuts
• 1/2c. peanut butter chips

1. Beat butter, shortening, eggs, both sugars and vanilla together in a large bowl. 
2. Add in peanut butter until well blended.
3. Add baking soda and salt. Add flour gradually, until mixture is thick enough.
4. Mix in peanuts and peanut butter chips.
5. Refrigerate at least one hour.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes. Peanut butter cookies tend to take a little longer than chocolate chip cookies.
7. Enjoy!

Cinnamon Banana Bread

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Barichello's came to visit last weekend and so I baked them a bunch of stuff. I already wrote about the strawberry cheesecakes and the Oreo puppy chow I made for the occasion. Today I'll share the recipe I (kind of) came up with for the best of the three, Cinnamon Banana Bread.

The photos hardly capture the awesomeness of this stuff. Notice there is a ton of sugar and cinnamon on top :)

I found a recipe for cinnamon Amish bread and another recipe for cream cheese banana bread (from acooksquest.blogspot.com). I really wanted both, so I made them into one Cinnamon Cream Cheese Banana Bread.

It's a basic banana bread recipe, using cream cheese instead of milk or buttermilk. The cream cheese makes the bread a little softer and mushier and very delightful. All I did to make it a cinnamon bread is add a mixture of cinnamon and sugar in the middle layer of the bread and poured the rest on top. I suggest adding more in the middle so you don't have as much on top. All that sugar was a little intimidating (but yummy, nonetheless). I also put pecans in my banana bread, because I enjoy a good crunch.

This recipe would probably make really awesome muffins as well.

We ate a good chunk of that bread over the weekend, picking at it between beers in the apartment and warming it up with butter for breakfast.

We had to go out Saturday night so we wouldn't keep eating it.

Kyle's momma, Sharon, and I had a little too much fun while the guys went golfing.

Cinnamon Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 3/4c. softened butter
• 8oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 2c. sugar
• 3c. flour
• 1/2t. baking powder
• 1/2t. baking soda
• 1/2t. salt
• 1 1/2c. mashed bananas (about 4 bananas)
• 1c. chopped pecans (optional)
• 1/2t. vanilla

Cinnamon Sugar filling and topping

• 2/3c. sugar
• 2T. cinnamon

Directions

1. In a bowl combine the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until well blended. Add the two eggs and blend well. Add the dry ingredients and mix until everything comes together, do not overmix. Add the vanilla, nuts, and bananas. 
2. Pour half the batter into a large greased loaf pan or two smaller ones. Add most of the cinnamon/sugar mixture across the top, the add the rest of the batter. Sprinkle the leftover cinnamon/sugar blend across the top. 
3. Bake at 350 for about an hour, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. 

Oreo Puppy Chow

The Barichello's came to visit this past weekend, giving me yet another excuse to bake a whole bunch of stuff. Puppy chow is my version of having chips and dip at a party; you can pass it around in a bowl, get a good crunchy fix, but, the best part, it is sweet and chocolatey, unlike chips and dip.

It was my first time making puppy chow, and I can't believe how easy it was. It's something you can mix up in just fifteen minutes or so. It would be perfect for bringing along on a road trip, to a pot luck, or for your kids' sleepovers.

And when it looks as yummy and sinful as this, how can you resist?

I've come across a ton of puppy chow recipes, and it's basic enough that you can play around with it. Oreos have always been a favorite of mine.

There's chocolate and white chocolate in here, which makes the otherwise plain Chex cereal taste sweet and incredible. Add in the crushed Oreos and you're in puppy chow heaven. The powdery crunch of cookies and cream is so delicious, it's impossible not to go back for more.

The Barichello's loved it and so did we. I sent a ton of it home with them because the bowl seemed to keep calling my name. I hate when that happens!

Like I said, puppy chow is incredibly easy to make, and it's fun to be creative with it. What versions have you tried?

Oreo Puppy Chow

Ingredients:

• 5c. plain Chex cereal
• 5oz. milk chocolate
• 5oz. white chocolate
• 1/2c. powdered sugar
• 8 to 10 Oreos, more for garnishing

Directions:

1. Place five Oreos in one gallon-size Ziploc bag and five Oreos in another. Crush both bags of Oreos, either with a rolling pin or with your hand, getting any frustration out.
2. Separate the cereal into two bowls. 
3. Melt chocolate and white chocolate in separate bowls at 30-second intervals. Once melted, pour milk chocolate over cereal in one bowl and white chocolate over the other bowl of cereal. Mix each bowl thoroughly. 
4. Add each bowl of chocolatey cereal into the separate bags with Oreos. Add 1/4c. powdered sugar to each bag, and shake bags around until the cereal and Oreos are mixed together and covered with powdered sugar. 
5. Add both bags to a large serving bowl. Add extra crushed Oreos for more decoration. Enjoy!

Birthday cake for a golfer

My awesome boyfriend (and now roommate!) turned 23 last week. For someone who is not a big fan of cake, which breaks my heart a little, I had to do something that would make him love it anyway.

This Wilton golf bag cake pan was just the answer:


Kyle might not like cake, but he loves to golf. Who wouldn't like a cake shaped as their favorite hobby?

This pan was very easy and fun to use. Just grease the inside or spray it with cooking spray and pour your cake mix in to fill it. (I made a lemon cake, which Kyle loved, and I hated.) Bake the cake for the same amount of time you would for a 9x13 pan, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Let it cool, at least twenty minutes, then level off the top with a knife. Once it is completely cool, place a plate or cake board on top of the cake, and flip the cake onto the board keeping both hands on the pan and cake board. Lift pan off cake carefully, and your cake should look like this:

Decorating is the fun part! I made a fluffy vanilla frosting (I was going to make it lemon, but I forgot to add lemon juice. I guess I was looking forward to decorating too much.) Kyle's favorite color is green, so I made a green golf bag and red and blue clubs. Basically, follow the image on the pan to decorate. However, the cake comes out facing the opposite way than in the picture, so keep that in mind!

Also, I am not a golfer and had no idea that the numbers on the clubs pictured on the pan meant anything. I thought for sure I could substitute Kyle's age, but he didn't seem to get why there was a "2 iron" in the golf bag. I guess that's not a thing.

It takes some time to make a good-looking golf bag, but I watched a lot of Reba and had a good time with it.

Anyway, Kyle was pretty stoked about his golf bag cake (or he did a good job pretending to be). I know I'll get a lot of use out of this cake pan with the golf guys in my family. Also, Wilton has cake pans for just about every character and hobby out there. I really want to get some of the princess ones, but I think I'd be the only one getting any enjoyment out of them.

Strawberry Cheesecakes

There are so many recipes to try that I always have a hard time picking one from my baking board on Pinterest. Now I know I just need Kyle to take a quick look at it with me, and his reactions to the pretty pictures of cupcakes and brownies make my answer for me.

He saw the pin for strawberry cheesecake bites and cried "Why haven't you made these for me???" So I click the link and there's a blog post, and a picture of a happy couple mixed in there. "We could be as happy as this couple if you make these!!"

How could I say no to that?

These strawberry cheesecake bites are delicious. They're great for summertime, since they're cold and refreshing. The original recipe makes them into smaller bites, but I set them in cupcake tins because I thought that sounded more fun.

 They are fairly easy to make. I filled a few with more crust, because the graham cracker crust is so crunchy and tastes great after the fruity, creamy "cupcake." The recipe says to refrigerate for two hours before serving. Mine didn't want to set too well in the fridge - I think I may have filled them too high with the cream cheese mixture. I kept them in the freezer and just took them out about five minutes before Kyle and I dove in. We split one, and instant happiness and bliss was achieved:

This is payback for always stealing my camera.

 Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Makes 16 cupcakes

ingredients:

for the strawberry cheesecake:
2 cups strawberries, rinsed and hulled
3 tbsp + 1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp + 1 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup boiling water
1 tbsp plain gelatin
1-1/4 cups heavy cream
8 oz cream cheese
¼ tsp salt

for the graham cracker crust:
1-1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup packed light brown sugar
7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

directions:

for the strawberry cheesecake:
- Combine strawberries, 3 tbsp sugar, and 2 tsp lemon juice in a blender and blend until smooth. Push mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to remove seeds. Set aside.
- Mix gelatin and 1/3 cup sugar in a bowl. Add the boiling water and stir until gelatin completely dissolves, about 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fit with a whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream to form stiff peaks. Add the cream cheese, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and salt, and beat on medium-high speed until mixer is smooth and well incorporated, at least 3 minutes.
- Slowly add the gelatin mixture to the cream mixture and gently fold to blend. Add the strawberry puree and continue to slowly fold the mixture until well incorporated.

for the graham cracker crust
- Line cupcake pan with liners
- Combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl.
- Add the melted butter and mix until well combined. Press a ~ ¼” thickness of graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each well. Use the bottom of a shot glass or small cup to flatten out each crust.
- Divide the strawberry cheesecake mixture evenly among the cupcake wells and refrigerate (or freeze) for at least 2 hours before serving. Garnish with whipped cream and a strawberry slice if desired.

Brown sugar cream cheese frosting

I've been treated to a lot of good meals since moving to Ames, and I don't mean at fancy restaurants. Had I known Kyle was going to cook for me, I would have moved in a long time ago! One night last week, we had our first family dinner with his old roommate Tom, and his girlfriend Kaitlyn. Since they've all been cooking together for so long, I needed to bring something to the table.

But let's face it, I can't cook. So I made dessert.

I whipped up a box mix of pound cake (taking the easy way out, I know), but I made a new frosting recipe: brown sugar cream cheese frosting from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book. It is so easy and so delicious! The brown sugar adds a yummy twist to your classic cream cheese frosting.

Since our dinner meal was pretty healthy, I added some strawberries for design and nutrition. If there's fruit in it, it's healthy, right? Let's just pretend.

This was a quick and easy dessert for a dinner party, (I'm not sure if eating on the couch and a small end table counts as a dinner party, but that was the intention) and it's pretty simple to dress the plate up so it looks like you put more work into it. Place any kind of berries on the cake or around the plate and your dessert is instantly more fancy and appealing.

Everyone is familiar with cream cheese frosting, but adding brown sugar instead of powdered sugar makes your frosting unique and memorable. This frosting pairs well with carrot cake, peach, lemon, and definitely sweet potato cupcakes. It's an easy staple frosting that can be mixed up in five minutes.  

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 1/2c. butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1c. packed light brown sugar

Mix!

Banana Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Granola Frosting

It is my last week at both jobs, The Times and Teke's, and what kind of person would I be if I didn't bring in cupcakes? Not a memorable one.

At the half marathon this past weekend, I took advantage of all the free food they give the runners at the finish line. Most runners used the bananas and granola for recovery fuel. I of course was thinking about how I could use them in my cupcakes. After 13.1 miles of running, all that I'm thinking about is cupcakes.

I was feeling especially banana-ish, since I ate bananas every day in my training for the race. So I found a great recipe on The Cupcake Project for Banana Cupcakes with a Vanilla Cinnamon Cream Cheese Granola Frosting. Perfect!

The recipe itself is very easy and doesn't take much time to whip up. The smell of banana cupcakes baking in my kitchen takes me back to kindergarten when I learned how to make banana bread. Along with chocolate chip cookies, isn't banana bread one of the best smells of the kitchen? I just love it. The little cupcakes crack at the top and you can see the banana, just like banana bread. These would have tasted great plain, without frosting, if you love banana bread.

 

But, frosting makes everything better. I have a few tweaks I would suggest on this frosting recipe however. My cream cheese frosting was very runny and gooped over my cupcakes, making them very messy. I would suggest doubling the butter, and maybe use half the amount of cream cheese. It will still have the cream cheese taste, but should be thicker and less runny.

The frosting tastes incredible. It calls for ground up granola, in which I used a Bare Naked fruit and nut granola sampling pack they gave us at the race. (Refueling with cupcakes should not be frowned upon.) You can use any kind of granola you like, even cereal if that works better for you. As long as there is a crunch in the frosting.

I topped my cupcakes with some granola, too. That gives them the healthy illusion.



The cupcake has received rave reviews from my co-workers at The Times. Hopefully they impress the Teke's crew just as much.

Banana Cupcakes (from www.cupcakeproject.com)

Yield: 18 cupcakes

• 1 stick butter
• 1c. sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2c. sour cream
• 1t. baking soda
• 2c. flour
• 1t. vanilla
• 2 bananas

Vanilla Cinnamon Cream Cheese Granola Frosting

• 1 8oz. package cream cheese, room temp. (use only half for less runny frosting)
• 1/4c. butter, room temp (double for less runny frosting!)
• 4c. powdered sugar
• 2t. vanilla
• 2T. cinnamon
• 2c. ground granola

Cupcake Instructions:

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add eggs.
3. Add sour cream, flour and baking soda.
4. Add vanilla and mashed bananas.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Frosting Instructions:

1. Mix cream cheese and butter until fully integrated. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon. Add powdered sugar 1/2c. at a time. Make sure it is fully mixed in, but do not overmix. Fold in granola.

Post-race indulgences: How to make cinnamon roll pancakes

I did it! I finished my first half marathon, the Chicago Rock n' Roll, in 2:20:40, right at my goal time.

Kyle and Axel did awesome. Kyle finished at 1:50 and Axel 2:03.

We had an incredible experience with the race and a great weekend with our friends in Chicago. All the mornings of waking up at dawn to run, the sore legs and embarrassing moments (tripping over sticks and curbs), all came together on this one day of running for two hours and twenty minutes straight. It was so worth it.

The breakfast I indulged in after made the race even more worth it:

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes!

One of my favorite parts of this training has been the extra carbs I got to eat. Now, I still wasn't eating cupcakes and pancakes all day every day like I do in my dream world, but I could certainly enjoy a cupcake without a doubt.

My second post-race indulgent was this beauty:


A red velvet cream cheese frosted cupcake from the bakery near my mom's new job.


While the cupcake was awesome, cinnamon roll pancakes were a pretty great indulgence. It was the taste of a sugary, frosted cinnamon roll in a nice flat pancake, dipped in a little maple syrup. Soooo good! 

No need to run a half marathon to enjoy some cinnamon roll pancakes from a Chicago breakfast diner. You can whip them up at home anytime! Recipe Girl has the easy recipe right here. You basically make regular pancakes, and when the bubbles start to form, you swirl in a cinnamon filling of butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Top with a glaze made of cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. Alas, you have flattened cinnamon rolls! AKA, cinnamon roll pancakes.

Who says we can't have a little something sweet to start off the day?

Sprinkles Cupcakes

No baking for me today. I'm home sick with all kinds of stomach problems, which couldn't come at a worse time. On Sunday, I am running my first half marathon! Even better, it's the Chicago Rock n' Roll Half Marathon. There are bands performing at every mile and a concert after the finish line. It sounds really cool.

No cupcakes or sweets of any kind today (worst day ever), just rice and applesauce. I'm doing whatever it takes hoping this will pass in 24 hours. I'll be devastated if all of this training was for nothing.

I tend to get stomach pains when I'm anxious or stressed, so I'm not really surprised this happened with all of the anxiety of the race coming up. (Although it could be some bad Subway I had last night...)

To try and soothe my anxiety, I'm thinking past the race and on to the best cupcake bakery in Chicago: Sprinkles Cupcakes. Cupcake lovers, whenever you're in Chicago, Sprinkles Cupcakes is a must. I'm hoping to make a stop after we conquer this race.

www.sprinkles.com

 

Sprinkles Cupcakes was the world's first cupcake bakery, opened by Candace Nelson in Beverly Hills in 2005. Candace Nelson is a judge on Cupcake Wars. I got to go to the bakery in Chicago a few months ago and fell in love!

This is why...

Yes, that's exactly what it looks like: a cupcake vending machine! Well, they call it a Cupcake ATM. You pick which cupcake flavor you want, swipe your credit card, and your beautiful cupcake comes out in a box with a fork, which, along with all of their packaging, are made with recycled materials.


www.sprinkles.com

The bakery itself is a cute little shop with a beautiful display of flavors to choose from and a cupcake bar (my kind of bar!). Sprinkles also sells their cupcake mix at the shop. I wanted to get a box, but the line was pretty long and I had my ATM cupcake in my hand, waiting to be eaten.

I chose a classic flavor, vanilla milk chocolate, mainly because I didn't want to keep the line waiting and it was the first choice. It was incredible. The frosting was rich and creamy, while the cake was moist and delicious. Although it comes out of a machine, it tastes just as fresh. The vending machine was what really made the experience unique, and I highly recommend it.

They top their cupcakes with colored dots to mark the flavors.



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A cupcake from Sprinkles will be the reward I look forward to after the race. I'm thinking either the chocolate coconut or red velvet.

For now, I'm going to focus on that cupcake rather than the thirteen miles I will run before the cupcake. I would think that cupcakes dancing around in my head can lower anxiety.

Readers, any tips for lowering anxiety?


Happy cupcake thoughts!

Summertime S'mores Cookies

It was hard to type the title without drooling. I hope I can make it through the whole blog post.

The very thought of these S'mores Cookies makes my heart melt. They are that good.

www.smells-like-home.com (I was unable to get photos of mine, but this is pretty much what they looked like. Mouthwatering.

And what's more perfect for summertime? There haven't been too many nice nights to make s'mores outside, so let's make them inside! Let's take it one step further, and make them inside a COOKIE!

This recipe is very easy, and a lot of fun. Those of you with kiddies, this would be a fun cookie to let them help with.

Start by making a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, use your own recipe or mine listed below. Refrigerate it for an hour like you normally would. In the meantime, unwrap a few Hershey bars and have your marshmallows and graham crackers ready.

Scoop out a 2" ball of cookie dough and press it flat on your cookie sheet. Assemble a mini s'more (graham cracker, marshmallow, chocolate, graham cracker) on top of the dough. Top the s'more with another ball of dough. Sandwich your s'more in middle of the two cookie dough balls and spread the dough so you can't see any part of the s'more. Getting hungry yet?

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Assemble a dozen on one cookie sheet, careful, these are going to get huge when they bake. Bake for about 12 minutes at 375 degrees.

Try to wait until they cool to eat one. I know these are already the longest twelve minutes of your life.

Make sure you have friends around who will stop you from eating the whole batch yourself.

Please try these cookies and let me know what you think. You can even by store-bought cookie dough, just this once. You just have to try them!

Chocolate chip cookie dough:

1/2c. butter, softened
1/2c. shortening
2 eggs
3/4c. sugar
3/4c. brown sugar
1t. vanilla

Mix all that together, then add:

1t. salt
1t. baking soda
2 1/4c. flour

Refrigerate for one hour.

For s'mores, have three Hershey chocolate bars, one bag of marshmallows, and a box of graham crackers.

Happy baking!

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