King cake

In celebration of Mardi Gras I decided to make King cake!
Mmmmm-mmmmmm
For those of you who do not know what a king cake is, its like a giant Cinnabon!
It can have many different flavors inside.
King cakes are very traditional during Carnival season in New Orleans.
It was my first time ever making king cake so I was a little nervous!
I looked around for a recipe and found one here.
I changed the filling inside the cake.
I am not a big a fan of raisins and pecans in bread so I omitted them.
This recipe was authentic and super yummy.
Trust me I lived in New Orleans and it was pretty darn good!
It also made enough for two king cakes which is great since all of my coworkers have been begging me to bake them something!
Sorry for taking soo long!!!
I was able to take one to a Murder mystery party and the other one to my school.
It was a success!

Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting

I have been reading Alton Browns I'm just here for more food baking book, to learn more about the method of baking.
I really want to some day create my own things.
His book has very helpful tips on how to bake your basic things.
He teaches you different methods on how to bake.
Such ask: Muffin method and biscuit method.
Very neat!
I hope that I am able to learn from his book and make my own delicious desert some day soon!
Last week I made a carrot cake using his baking techniques and the cake came out super delicious!
It was super moist and the cream cheese came out perfect!
I used the following ingredients:
1 3/4 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
6 oz Whole vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup Vegetable oil
1 1/4 cup Granulated sugar
3 Eggs
3-4 Raw carrots

Then I followed his Muffin Method to combine and bake the cake.
Refer to his book for his methods!!!
Yum!

Homemade Thin mints

Do you remember when girl scout cookies were just $2 a box?
Now they are $4 dollars a box!
Times have definitely changed!
This past week I was craving cookies and decided to make some homemade thin mints!
YUMMY!
I used the book Small Batch baking again.
I am telling you, if you like baking and don't want too many left overs buy this book!
In the book the recipe is called Mint Chocolate wafer cookies.
I started making them on Tuesday.
I started off by making the cookie dough,
but came to a halt when it recipe then said I needed to chill the cookie dough for 4 hours!
Seeing that it was 7 pm I knew I wouldn't be able to make this masterpiece until the next day.
I am a teacher and go to sleep early!
The next day I could not wait to get home from work and finish my cookies.
The cookies were in the oven and I was ready to make my chocolate glaze!
Little did I know I did not have any shortening for the chocolate glaze.
My husband being an amazing man left for the groceries and bought some shortening.
In the end the cookies came out amazing!
They were fresh and crispy.
The best part was eating them. YUM!

All you need is the following:

Ingredients for cookie dough
1/4 cup and 1tbsp of flour
pinch of baking soda
1 tbsp and 2 1/2 tsp cocoa powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter ( room temp)
3 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tps egg ( well beaten)
1/8 pure vanilla extract

Ingredients for chocolate glaze
3/4 cups semisweet chocolate
1 tbsp of vegetable shortening
1/4 and 1/8 tsp pure peppermint extract


Steps:
1. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder together in a bowl.
2. Then blend together the butter, vanilla, egg, and sugar.
3. Once completely blended slowly add the dry ingredients until mix.
4. Get plastic wrap and roll the dough into 3 inch long log. It should be 1inch in diameter.
5. Put in the fridge for at least 4 hours or over night
6. Once completely chilled cut into 1/4 inch slices
7. Bake in the oven for about 8 minutes. The oven should be 350 degrees.
8. Once completely cooled transfer them onto wax paper and dip them into the glaze one at a time.
9. Put in the fridge for 15 minutes or until the chocolate has harden
10. ENJOY!

For the glaze just melt all ingredients in the microwave and stir.
Then dip all the cookies into the chocolate one at a time.

Muffin Monday: Blueberry Granola Whole Wheat Muffins

This week has been super fun!

I had a three day weekend! As a teacher I LOVE three days weekends

Only thing better then a three day weekend is summer vacation!

And BAKING!

Every day on my three day weekend I baked something new and I loved it.

Makes me wish I was baking all the time.

ONEDAY!

Calling all bakers... Who wants to open a bakery with me?!

I saw that a lot of people do Muffin Mondays so I decided to jump on that wagon and join them.

I first saw it on my friends Mike's blog who saw it from Baker Street.

Check their blogs out!

They are amazing bakers!

On to what I baked!

I've been using this book called Small-Batch Baking.

I love it because it allows me to bake and not have too many left overs!

In the book I found a delicious recipe.

Blueberry Granola Whole Wheat Muffins

This recipe gives you 4 servings.

Enough for you and 3 other people or just YOU! Ha

You need the following:

1/3 cup of flour

1/3 cup of whole wheat flour

1 tsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup granola

1/4 buttermilk

1/4 cup of packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp veg oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup of blueberries (thawed out if frozen)

For exact steps please refer to book.

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350

2. Combine all dry ingredients (using only half of the granola; Do not put sugar in this)

3. whisk together all wet ingredients including brown sugar

4. Combine all the ingredients

5. Add the blueberries to the mix; carefully stir

6. Equally divide batter into liners

7. Add the remainder of the granola on top of muffins

8. Bake in the over for about 15-18 minutes

Enjoy after cooled or save for the next day!

Chocolatelove: Super Bowl Sunday Football Cake

In case you didn't know I love CHOCOLATE!

Luckily I am a co-hosting #ChocolateLove!

This is my second Chocolate love post so check out: Fudgy Cupcakes with PB frosting

I was invited to my best friends house on Sunday for the Super Bowl.

I have a football cake mode and I thought it would be appropriate to use it!

My friend Megan LOVES my Chocolate Ganache so I decided to make some just for her.

I looked around for a great yellow cake mix and decided to make one of Martha Stewart recipes.

Can't go wrong with her recipes!!!

Click on the link if you wish to make an amazing yellow cake!

I then adapted Martha Stewart's Ganache frosting.

I used the following ingredients:

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

12 oz of bittersweet chocolate (chopped)

1/4 corn syrup.

To make the ganache following these steps:

1. Combine the whipping cream and corn syrup

2. Heat it up ; Do not boil

3. Add on top of the chocolate in a small bowl

4. Do not stir until chocolate has begun to melt.

5. Stir until combined

6. Put into the fridge for 10 minutes. Stir and repeat until chocolate thickens.

7. Use

ENJOY!!!!

Please check out my fellow co-host! Tell them Sam sent you!

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~ @astigvegan

Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl

Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29

Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins

Baking Extravaganza ~ Samantha

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue

Cooking with Books ~ Marnely ~ @nella22

Creative Cooking Corner ~ Karriann ~ @KarriannGraf

Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies

Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19

Java Cupcake ~ Betsey ~ @JavaCupcake

Kitchen Belleicious ~ Jessica

Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Preheat the Oven ~ Jason ~ @officialchefjae

Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

Sprint 2 the Table ~ Laura ~ @Sprint2theTable

Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna ~ @tspbasil

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Dusty Baker ~ Jacqueline ~ @dustybakergal

The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

February is #chocolatelove month!

Please join in on the #chocolatelove fun by linking up any chocolate recipe from the month of February 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #chocolatelove event! The twitter hashtag is #chocolatelove :).

Chocolate Bloghop: Fudgy Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

This month I have the fabulous privilege to be co-hosting Chocolate Bloghop.

This is my first time co-hosting and I am extremely excited to be part of amazing bloggers!

This past Christmas I received the book Small-Batch Baking by Debby Nakos.

I love this book! Especially because it makes no more than 4 servings!

Perfect treat for my husband and I!

It's simple and quick!

Nothing goes to waste!

I looked over many of the recipes in the book and decided to make Really Fudgy Cupcakes with Peanut butter frosting.

The recipe is super easy!

All you need is the following:

4 TBSP unsalted butter

1/2 cup of flour

1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate

1 TBSP of buttermilk

1/2 TSP of baking soda

2 egg yolks

1/2 pure vanilla extract

2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 TSP salt

For the frosting you need:

1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 TBSP of butter

1/4 TSP pure vanilla extract

(For exact directions please refer to Small-Batch Baking)

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 350

2. Mix all dry ingredients together

3. Mix all wet ingredients together

4. Slowly add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients

5. Once all is mixed together than spoon into 4 muffin liners evenly

6. Bake for approximately 18 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean

For the frosting:

Mix all ingredients until fluffy!

YUM!

They came out super delicious! I can't wait to try more recipes from her book!

You should look into her books if you want to bake for two!

February is #chocolatelove month!

Please check out my fabulous co-host! Leave them comments and let them know Sam sent you!

A Little Bit of Everything ~ Roxana ~ @RoxanaGreenGirl

ASTIG Vegan ~ Richgail ~ @astigvegan

Badger Girl Learns to Cook ~ Kimberly ~ @BdgrGrl

Baker Street ~ Anuradha ~ @bakerstreet29

Baking and Cooking, A Tale of Two Loves ~ Becky Higgins

Baking Extravaganza ~ Samantha- @Sam_Antunez

BigFatBaker ~ Erin ~ @BigFatBaker

Bon a croquer ~ Valerie ~ @Valouth

CafeTerraBlog ~ Terra ~ @CafeTerraBlog

Cake Duchess ~ Lora ~ @cakeduchess

Cakeballs, Cookies and More ~ Sue

Cooking with Books ~ Marnely ~ @nella22

Creative Cooking Corner ~ Karriann ~ @KarriannGraf

Easily Good Eats ~ Three Cookies

Elephant Eats ~ Amy

Georgiecakes ~ Georgie ~ @georgiecakes

Hobby And More ~ Richa ~ @betit19

Java Cupcake ~ Betsy ~ @JavaCupcake

Kitchen Belleicious ~ Jessica

Mike's Baking ~ Mike ~ @mikesbaking

Mis Pensamientos ~ Junia ~ @juniakk

No One Likes Crumbley Cookies ~ TR ~ @TRCrumbley

Oh Cake ~ Jessica ~ @jesshose

Preheat the Oven ~ Jason ~ @officialchefjae

Rico sin Azucar ~ Helena ~ @ricosinazucar

Savoring Every Bite ~ Linda ~ @Spicegirlfla

Simply Reem ~ Reem ~ @simplyreem

Smart Food and Fit ~ Lisa ~ @LisaNutrition

Soni's Food for Thought ~ Soni ~ @sonisfood

Sprint 2 the Table ~ Laura ~ @Sprint2theTable

Teaspoon of Spice ~ Deanna ~ @tspbasil

That Skinny Chick Can Bake ~ Liz ~ @Thatskinnychick

The Dusty Baker ~ Jacqueline ~ @dustybakergal

The More Than Occasional Baker ~ Ros ~ @bakingaddict

The Spicy RD ~ EA ~ @thespicyrd

The Wimpy Vegetarian ~ Susan ~ @wimpyvegetarian

Vegan Yack Attack! ~ Jackie ~ @veganyackattack

Vegetarian Mamma ~ Cindy ~ @VegetarianMamma

You Made That? ~ Suzanne ~ @YouMadeThatblog

Please join in on the #chocolatelove fun by linking up any chocolate recipe from the month of February 2012. Don't forget to link back to this post, so that your readers know to come stop by the #chocolatelove event! The twitter hashtag is #chocolatelove:).