Everyday Cupcakes

Thanks to a VERY old Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook my dad gave me a few months ago, I found this recipie and made these moist and delish cupcakes that aren't too sweet and balance out frosting quite well.

I made some of these on Friday when our friend Rachael was over. She desperately wanted some cupcakes and freaked out when I started making these from scratch. They are super easy and I made a double batch because, contrary to popular belief, 12 cupcakes just isn't enough! We used both strawberry and chocolate frosting...and the combo was very nice...but use whatever frosting is your favorite and I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Everyday Cupcakes
1/2 cup shortening (I used butter)
1 3/4 cups sifted  flour (I use whole wheat flour, but really whatever you have around)
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place shortening (or butter) in mixing bowl. Sift in dry ingredients. Add egg and half the milk; mix till flour is moistened. Beat 2 minutes at low speed. Add remaining milk and vanilla; beat 1 minute longer. Fill paper bake cups in muffin pans half full. bake at 375 degrees (f) for 18 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool and frost.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Bundt Cake

A long title, I know.

The other day I was asked to bring some sort of sustenance to a long event where food might be scarce. Seeing as how I had a large quantity of blackened bananas, I decided to make bananna bread. As my original recipie called for only two ripe and mashed bananas (and there were four on my counter), I decided to adapt my recipie and see how things turned out. Please forgive me because some of the measurements aren't really measurements at all. I just added things until I was satisfied with how the batter looked and what the consistency was like. For me, baking is all about trial and error...some times you win and some times you lose. Either way, it was delicious so I say that's a win in my book!

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 medium)**
1 egg
2 egg whites
2 1/2 cups flour**
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup walnuts**
1 cup chocolate chips**
1/2 cup peanut butter**

**If you stick with the listed ingredients, minus the peanut butter, the recipie turns out great. But if you use more bananas than listed, throw in the peanut butter and a little extra flour. The chocolate chips are optional, but I loves me some chocolate and you know, I use semi-sweet dark chocolate so they're healthy, right?

Preaheat oven to 375 degrees (f). Grease pan and set aside

Beat sugars and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add banannas, egg and egg whites.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt in to medium bowl; add to banana mixture. Stir in walnuts and chocolate chips (if you want them). Pour into prepared pan.

Bake one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack 10 minutes. Serve warm, preferably with a nice pat of butter.

Of course, since I added so much extra stuff, I had to use a bundt pan so I had just one loaf. I decided to take some artistic liberties and added nice walnuts to the bottom of the bundt pan, prior to spreading the batter in evenly.

It looked wonderful and recieved many compliments. So take, bake and enjoy!

Falling In Love Chocolate Mousse Pie

In relation to the last post regarding the Marshmallow Mermaid Pie, I also made this pie for our "food featured in film" dinner party.

This one was ridiculously delicious and the amount of mousse that it makes could probably fill at least two pie shells. I took the extra mousse and used it to dip fresh strawberries in. Honestly, I would probably just make the mousse again sans pie shell because it was just that good!

Falling in Love Chocolate Mousse Pie
9-inch baked pastry shell
1 14-oz. can condensed milk (not evaporated)
2/3 C. water
1 (4 serving) pkg. chocolate pudding mix (not instant)
1 1-oz. square unsweetened chocolate
2 C. (1 pt.) whipping cream, stiffly whipped

In large saucepan, combine condensed milk, water and pudding mix; mix well. Add chocolate. Over medium heat, cook and stir rapidly until chocolate melts and mixture thickens. Remove from heat; beat until smooth. Cool. Chill thoroughly; stir. Fold in whipped cream. Pour into prepared pastry shell. Chill 4 hours until set.

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

A few weeks back we attended a dinner party where the theme was "food featured in films".

You would think that this would be an easy category, but honestly, all of the easy things like fried green tomatoes or pizza were taken. I dug in a little and remembered that "Waitress", an independent film from a few years ago, featured quite a few different pies.

This one was called Marshmallow Mermaid Pie. It was good, but you definitely have to like marshmallows to like this...the other "off" part was that I used the graham crackers we had taken camping the week before so there was a slight campfire taste to the pie that just didn't seem to go along with it...but meh!

Here is the recipe, should you want to attempt this pie. It was pretty easy so if you ever feel like pie making or if you have some random dinner party to attend, why not?

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie
9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.) In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight. Top with mini marshmallows, maraschino cherries and rainbow sprinkles.

My Mind - A brief glimpse

"My mind as both empty and occupied, all of the thoughts buzzing far below the surface."  - Laurie King, "The Language of Bees"

This is generally how my mind feels. Like there is a torrent of activity going on below the surface...I know that it is there, that things are being processed, but on the surface I might have a jingle running through my mind or a gentle hum.

There have been many times where I know I should be thinking, almost aloud, in my head, where I should be digesting the happenings of the day or of a certain event, but the buzz is there without a singular thought popping into consciousness.

How apropos that this quote should show up today, when I have long since tried to phrase how my mind works.

Anniversary Trip

After a crazy summer full of ups, downs and running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we decided to take it easy for our anniversary trip this year.

Instead of going on a marathon road trip where we see the sights, get very little sleep and try to cram a ton of activities, sights and experiences into one little three day weekend, we took a liesurely drive to Glenwood Springs and spend most of the weekend there.

It takes beween 2.5 and three hours to get to Glenwood, but the drive is very scenic and easy as it is all on I-70.

We decided to take Dave's new/used car for this trip for a few reasons. First, it was our first time being able to take out the Frau (what we have named her) out on a trip that lasts more than 30 minues as well as the fact that we didn't need to take the Explorer as we weren't planning on heading into mountainous territory (ok, we were in the mountains, but we weren't off-roading). There's also that little fact about gas mileage...but you know, just a mere trifle in today's economy =)

Here's a pic of The Frau in case I didn't share one before...

Since we waited until the last minute to plan this anniversary trip, we were torn as to where we should go. There were discussions of heading back down to Mexico for a long weekend or even heading over to San Francisco to see the sights, but after buying a new/used car, something local and relaxing seemed to be just what we needed.

Due to the last minute planning, we didn't get much of a choice in our lodgings, but we ended up staying at a fairly high rated (thanks trip advisor), yet budget friendly lodge. They had an indoor and an outdoor pool, along with a hot tub and sauna, plus a nice breakfast bar in the mornings which was nice when not overrun with the other clientele.

The first day was travel and then taking in the sights of the town. We stopped in Vail for lunch after getting lost in the maze of luxury condos and resorts. We arrived in Glenwood in the early afternoon and decided to walk the downtown area, check out the shops, and stop in at the local brewery.  Dave and I love visiting local breweries. Its something we try to do when we visit a new town. My favorite thing to do is to get a flight or sampler of the different beers they brew...I also do this at vineyards/wineries when available.

After our foray into the different styles and tastes of beer at the Glenwood Canyon Brewing Company, we headed over for a nice anniversary dinner at the Italian Underground Restaurant. It is down in the basement of a building, small and intimate. The staff was great, but I have to say that my Italian food is much better than what we got that night. Its hard to go to Italian places though because we generally make better food...such is the curse of being taught by Dave's Grandma!

The restaurant is in the basement of this building...

Some nice gentleman decided he would take our anniversary picture

After that, a dip in the pool and hot tub, our night was complete. The next day we decided that we would try to go to Hanging Lake. Unfortunately just about everyone in a 100 mile radius decided that they wanted to do the same thing, so we ended up turning around and heading back into town. Luckily for us though, we saw another trailhead and decided to stop and go on a nice hike. We ended up hiking for about three hours at the Grizzly Creek trail. It was beautiful, challenging and hot, but I'm so thankful that we decided to stop and partake in the fresh air. We could have gone farther, but lunchtime had come and gone, so we decided to take a break in the freezing cold mountain stream and head back down the trail.

 (As always, you can click on any of the images in this blog and it will enlarge the image for you)

After a semi-quick lunch at Vicco's Charcoal Burger Stand (which was good, but overpriced and you had to wait while they slaughtered the cow and grew the potatoes), we ended up at the Yampah Vapor Caves. I have to say that the caves are a wonderful way to spend your afternoon/evening. Its a natural sauna heated with the hotsprings water. We spent at least three and a half hours going from cave to solarium (so we could cool off), stretching our sore muscles after our long hike and just in general having a nice relaxing afternoon. We decided that since we spent so long in the Vapor Caves, we were going to put off going to the hot springs pools for another time since it was ridiculously crowded and pretty much just your standard pool, except that it is heated naturally.

Here's Dave at the Charcoal Burger Stand

Here's a pic from the Vapor Cave's website...

The next day we decided that since we were only an hour away from Aspen, and since visiting there is on my Colorado To-Do list, we would meander that way and have a nice lunch. Well, we drove there and tried to find somewhere to park and then somewhere to eat. Both of those things were pretty much impossible to do. Aspen is not really what I thought it would be. I thought that it would be a high class mountain town, similar to Steamboat Springs, but it was kind of like being in a Denver suburb, only in the mountains. We ended up skipping lunch and headed to the Maroon Bells, which we ended up turning around at because the road up was full of bikers and tour busses.

So we headed back to Glenwood, which was fine with me, and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon before heading to dinner. I do wish that we had visited the Hunter S. Thompson Memorial, but we realized that we missed visiting that when we were almost back to our hotel and we didn't feel like turning back around.

Once we reached town, Dave wanted to see the house where their longtime friends of the family used to live. He spent quite a bit of time up in Glenwood when he was younger, but the friends have since sold their house and moved down to the metro-area.  He remembered how to get there and was flooded with childhood memories. These were people who knew Dave's parents before his mom went crazy and his dad, well, his dad has always been his dad...so ?

After that we went to a nice, romantic dinner on the river at a place called, aptly enough, Rivers. 

It was a nice end to our relaxing anniversary trip. There were other things we could have done while we were there, other sights to be seen, but in the end, we have been running at full tilt for the entire summer and we just wanted to rest and relax. Coming home was nice...and I maintain that there is seriously nothing better than climbing into your own bed after a few days at a hotel.

I'm so going to make these!

With all of the travelling and events we have coming up, I won't have time to really bake until the end of September. We DO have a post-wedding potluck that we will need to bring an item for...I just need to figure out if we are in the appetizer section or the dessert section...

Either way though, I'll be making these pillow cookies I saw over on the Bakerella website as soon as the house is cool enough to bake again.

They look delish and right up my alley! (Well, once the wedding festivities are over...I have to make sure that I fit in my bridesmaid dress and that Dave fits into his tux!)

Pillow Cookies

Have you ever had any pillow cookies? I’ve only had them once, but I was immediately smitten. I found them in the bakery section of the Fresh Market sometime last year. They were some sort of sugar cookie wrapped around a brownie center. I immediately went on the hunt for a similar recipe but didn’t have much luck until just a few weeks ago when I was rummaging through some of my aunt’s recipes.

And there it was. A torn out recipe for Chocolate Chip Brownie Pillows.



Not sugar cookies, but good enough. Better even. And when I read the how-to, it all made sense. I had been throwing around scenarios in my head trying to figure out how the brownie batter and cookie batter all came together to form such soft sugary cookies.

And… It’s easier than you think.



First… bake up some brownies. You can just use your favorite box mix if you like. Let them cool and cut about ten 1 inch squares. You won’t need the rest for the cookies. I’m sure you can find something to do with the leftovers.



Then you need some chocolate chip cookie dough (recipe below). The dough should be chilled for at least an hour before using.

Each cookie uses about 1/2 cup of dough. Yes, you read that right. One half cup. For each.

And yes, they are ginourmous!



All you do is place the dough on parchment paper and make a pretty big indention in the center. Place the small brownie in the middle and fold the dough around it to form a ball. Then bake. I know, I was a bit skeptical at first, too. But it worked perfectly.

Not convinced? Want to see it again.

Okay. here goes.



Place 1/2 cup of cookie dough batter on a parchment lined baking sheet.



Make indentions in the dough and place a 1 inch square brownie in the center of each.



Smoosh it a little, so the cookie dough surrounds the edges of the brownie.



Then work the dough around the top to cover the entire brownie and shape them into balls.

Place no more than 6 on a 15 x 20 inch baking sheet at a time because these guys are HUGE!

Bake and voila………




Giant pillow cookies. Now these are much, much, much larger than the ones I had from the Fresh Market. And actually, the process may not even be similar, but the result reminds me of them. I’m guessing these could go smaller if you like, just use a smaller brownie to start.
But I love how big the are.


Gigantic.

I guess you want to see the inside.
The magic.
The pillowy goodness.
Let’s face it – you just want to see the brownie.
I know. I know.
Okay, here ya go…


Oh my.


I’m in love.

Brownie Pillow Cookies
1 package brownie mix
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 oz. bag miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Make brownies according to package and let cool. Cut about ten 1 inch squares. Enjoy the remaining brownies. (I used a pan about 8 X 8)
For the chocolate chip cookie dough, beat butter with a mixer until creamy.
Add brown sugar and beat until smooth.

Add eggs, yolk and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.

Add flour to butter mixture and beat until combined. Stir in mini chips.
Let dough chill covered in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Use a measuring cup to scoop batter by the 1/2 cup. Since it’s chilled, you may need to pack it with a spoon. Then use the spoon to remove the dough from the cup and place it on parchment paper. Work quickly so the dough remains chilled or either prepare one cookie at a time so the rest of the dough remains cold.

After the dough is on the parchment paper, make an indention and place a 1 inch square brownie in the center. Press the brownie down gently and work the remaining dough around the brownie. You can use your hands to shape the dough into a ball.

During this step, I found it easier to use a piece of parchment paper as a work surface since the dough can get sticky and then I used another piece of parchment paper for the baking sheet. If your dough gets too soft, you can chill the rolled dough balls for a few minutes right before baking.

Prepare six cookies at a time using a large baking sheet (15 X 20) and bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes. Return the remaining dough to the refrigerator until time to bake the second batch.

Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes about ten cookies using a little less than a 1/2 cup of dough for each cookie.

If your cookies start to get too brown before they are done baking, you can place a sheet of aluminum foil over top for the last few minutes.

Recipe adapted slightly from an ad for a Southern Living Cookbook… I think it’s in the Christmas with Southern Living 2009, but not sure.


Enjoy!
P.S. If there was ever a time to use the term “Brookies,” this would be a good one.