Chocolate Cupcakes with Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

Since the Holidays are finally here, I will be spending the next few days baking up a storm. I recently found these cupcakes online and couldn't wait to try them. I made them a week ago and was very satisfied with how they turned out. The cupcake is Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate cupcakes and I decided to make a mini version for bite size deliciousness. :) I did add a bit more Peppermint Extract to the frosting because the 1 teaspoon just wasn't enough for my tastes. But they turned out to be very tasty and they were simple to make too.

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cupcakes

(makes 24-27 standard sized cupcakes)

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)
1 cup boiling water

~ Directions ~
*Line muffin tin with paper liners. Heat oven to 350*F.
*In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
*Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
*Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don't worry, this is right).
*Fill liners 2/3 full with batter.
 *Bake cupcakes for approximately 22-24 minutes.
*Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.


Peppermint Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 Tablespoons) butter, at room temperature
6 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature (about 3/4 of a regular block of cream cheese)
4 cups powdered confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 to 3 Tablespoons heavy cream, heavy whipping cream (or milk- although I do like the richness that cream adds)

~ Directions ~
*Place butter in a large mixing bowl and blend slightly. Add cream cheese and blend until combined, about 30 seconds.
*Add powdered sugar (a little at a time) and blend on low speed until combined. Increase to medium speed and beat until it begins to get fluffy.
*Add vanilla and peppermint extracts
*Slowly add the heavy cream, a little bit at a time until desired consistency is met. (Don't add too much if you want the frosting to stay in place when piped on cupcakes.)
*Beat until fluffy, about 1 minute.
*Use at once or keep refrigerated. (This frosting will keep well in the refrigerator for several days, but you may need to re-beat it for the best texture.)

To achieve the red stripe in the frosting:

Before filling a large piping bag with frosting, add some red gel food coloring to a toothpick, and draw two (vertical) lines with the red dye on the inside of the piping bag. Then carefully fill the piping bag with frosting.  Squeeze some frosting into a bowl until you begin to see the red stripe, then frost the cupcakes. 

Happy Holidays!! :)

Chocolate Chip Oreo Brownie Bars

Since it was my birthday last Thursday, I decided to make a dessert that I had been desperately wanting to make for quite some time. Prepare yourselves... dieters be warned. This dessert is NOT diet friendly :)

So these are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Oreo Brownie Bars.........
You can't see the oreo very well in this picture but trust me, it's in there :)

First you must make the cookie dough.

Put wax or parchment paper on the bottom of a 9x13 pan and spray generously with cooking spray. Then spread the chocolate chip cookie dough evenly along the bottom of the pan.

 

Then, put a layer of double stuff oreos over the top of the cookie dough.

Then, make the brownie mix according to directions on package (adding 1/4 cup hot fudge topping) and pour over the cookie dough and oreos.

Then wipe the drool off your face :)

Spread out the brownie batter and bake at 350 degrees F for 45-55 minutes.

Take pan out of oven and let cool.

I found it difficult to get them out of pan after cutting them up . Maybe more cooking spray would help? But I just flipped the whole thing out of the baking pan onto a tray and peeled the wax paper off and that was much much easier.

Once you do get them cut up and taken out, they should look something like this. I love how the hot fudge topping makes the brownies all gooey and delicious. These were very good and I would definitely recommend you try them. :)

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie n’ Oreo
Fudge Brownie Bar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounces) milk chocolate chips
1 pkg Double Stuffed Oreos
1 Family Size (9×13) Brownie mix
1/4 cup hot fudge topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and both sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed for 3-5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well to thoroughly combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt, then slowly incorporate into the mixer until the flour is just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread the cookie dough in the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish that’s been lined with wax paper and sprayed with cooking spray. Top with a layer of Oreos. Mix together brownie mix, adding an optional 1/4 cup of hot fudge topping to the mix. Pour the brownie batter over the cookie dough and Oreos. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-55 minutes.

I also made a cake over the weekend for my Uncle's 50th suprise birthday party that I am pretty proud of...

I'm pretty proud of it. I'm getting better at my lettering so that's pretty exciting. It's a lot better from my first cake, trust me on that one :)

I found these hunting toys at Scheels and was sooooo happy I found them! They went perfectly with this cake!! The inside was yellow cake with chocolate chips and the frosting was a collage of vanilla and chocolate :)

Ok here we go..:)

Well this is my first official post on my baking blog. I don't quite know how all of this works so it's going to take some time and patience to learn it all so bear with me.

I figured I'd start off by showing a few pictures of some previous desserts I have baked (and am particularly proud of!) and just begin by showing the level I'm at right now. :)

 These sunflower cupcakes I made for my boyfriend's sister for her birthday this past April and I absolutely LOVE them. They were M&M cupcakes, the middle is an oreo, the yellow "petals" are vanilla frosting and the "ladybug" is a red M&M with melted chocolate piped on to it. SO CUTE.

These are a crowd favorite everytime I make them. They are S'more cupcakes with a graham cracker cupcake, filled with chocolate ganache, topped with marshamallow frosting, and garnished with a drizzle of chocolate ganache and graham cracker crumbs. Very delicious. :)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes. oh-em-gee these were delicious. I made these for my family reunion over the summer and everyone loved them. But beware, they are PACKED with sugary deliciousness. The cupcake is flavored to taste like cookie dough, the filling tastes just like cookie dough as well as the frosting, then  it is topped with a chips ahoy cookie and mini chocolate chips. Yummm. :)

Honestly, I haven't found a recipe for a strawberry flavored cupcake that I actually like. It's either too dry, too boring, too digusting, etc. But THIS is a Strawberry Daiquiri Cupcake and it is freaking amazing. The strawberry flavor in it is absolutely perfect and then the frosting just adds to it perfectly. I made these once just for the hell of it and then again for my sister's bachelorette party. Both times were equally delicious. :)

This cake I made for my friend's daughter's 1st birthday. It's lemon cake with strawberry cream cheese frosting  which is my favorite flavor combination and it worked perfectly with the girly pink John Deere theme. I was actually pretty proud of myself with this one. The John Deere logo is definitely my favorite part which is made out of sugar sheets. The flowers were a little irritating at first but it all worked out in the end. It was very well worth it. :)

Well now you know a little bit about what I do and get a better idea at what this blog is going to be about. Have a great day! :)