stick this in your mouth and eat it

Me and Scott made these effin amazing cupcakes! Do it! My only comment is for the cupcakes we put only 1 1/2 cups of sugar because some of the reviews of the recipe said they were a bit too sweet. for both cupcakes and frosting, i added a smidgen more vanilla. we topped them with coconut flakes (the one slight mistake was icing them all first and then topping with coconut because the icing already started to stiffen and the coconut didn't stick too well). The frosting is a bit runny too, when you first spread it on-but in the end was awesome because it stiffens up all smooth and shiny so the cupcakes look way profesh. We made this for a going-away/engagement party thing thats why they're super white and prettytown.

WHITE CUPPYCAKES YUM
FROSTING TIME!


Tomorrow we're making Chinese food! Yay! Maybe I'll have a delicious dumpling recipe to post.

and in the spirit of recent posts. tonight we watched superbad and it was the third time i've seen it, and funnier than ever!

Christmas Eatings

Here it is. Roughly. My recipe for the best apple pie ever.

Crust

• 40 gingersnaps
• 6 tablespoons of butter

crush gingersnaps until they're all crumby and have no big chunks. melt the butter and add to cookie crumbs. use parchment or tin foil to press into a pie pan evenly and up the sides. bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. the crust will bubble so just press it back down with a spatula.

Pie Filling

• 6 apples
• about 3 heaping tablespoons of flour
• about a half cup of sugar
  
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• ginger spice
  

peel and slice apples thin. place in bowl and mix with flour and sugar. add spices depending on desired flavor. i don't recommend going overboard with the ginger. mix well and spread inside cooked pie crust. top with crumb topping (a totally eye-balled mix of butter, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon, cut together until good crumbly consistency).
bake at 350 degrees for, uhhhhh 30 minutes? just peek in the oven and see if you think it looks done.

this pie rules. the molasses in the gingersnaps gets gooey and causes the crust to get really chewy and great. i love it. people love it.

allie's first bloggage

Sunday Baking Adventure! (a.k.a. sometimes cupcakes are not easy)

while baking, remember to devour half a block of cheese all by yourself. you'll feel so accomplished. i promise.

"THIS IS NOT WHAT YOU HAD PLANNED"
Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

• 7 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 3 sticks butter
• 2-1/4 cups sugar
• 8 eggs
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons (7 grams) baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 20 oz can light cherry pie filling
• 1 pack chocolate pudding mix

1. melt chocolate and butter in bowl in the microwave
2. mix in sugar
3. Add one egg at a time, mixing for 10 seconds between each
4. put the flour, baking powder, pudding mix, and salt into the mixture, mix until blended
5. add cherry filling
6. Scoop into cupcake cups and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

* i used light butter, light cherry filling, and fat-free/sugar-free pudding mix. using whole ingredients shouldn't make a difference, but its good to be healthy and not so fat. haha.




makes a shiz-ton of cupcakes! the recipe i used for the base chocolate cupcakes, said it yielded 25 cupcakes. that is officially bogus, considering i just put 30 in the oven, and i still have half the batter left. now comes 2 very important questions.

1. will i have to run back to the grocery and buy more cream cheese for the frosting?
2. how the fuzz am i supposed to get 60 cupcakes up to work tomorrow morning?

i just checked on the first batch after 20 minutes, and they appear to be done, but they have a kind of spongy feel to them, and the tops started to sink after a few minutes (this may be the pudding's fault). i put them back in for another 5 minutes just to make sure they'll hold together. i've got my fingers crossed that they don't end up looking like sad cupcakes, but at least i'm positive they'll taste great!

my little sunken treasures

Now, the frosting.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 8 ounces cream cheese (again-i'm using fat free)
• 4 cups confectioners sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

beat softened butter and cream cheese until well blended. add sugar and vanilla and beat until creamy. i'm also topping with red sugar crystals. festive!

(i had to add an extra stick of butter because it didn't thicken up enough. after the extra butter it still wasn't thick enough. this is because the real problem was that i didn't have enough sugar. oh well. i just plopped the failure-frosting in the sunken holes of the cupcakes. looks cute enough)




definitely a hit at the office. and in my tummy. i ate six. holy sugar overdose. so they didn't turn out as imagined. but i'm going to pretend they were supposed to look like this. and they are really delicious! tastes puddingy. yums!


soundtrack: the baking process lasted the entirety of 2 weezer albums, one wilco album, and half of the wrens. i think it was the perfect progression from up-beat and exciting to mellow and contemplative, as i look back on my day of baking, and welcome the accidental results.