Bailey’s Cupcakes

I love Baileys Irish Cream and always looking for ways to cook with it.  I found this recipe for cupcakes and they are delicious.  The cupcakes are also perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!  The Bailey’s flavor really comes through since it’s both in the cake and frosting.

Bailey’s Cupcakes

Cupcakes:
2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking soda
1 large egg
2/3 cup canola oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 cup black coffee, room temperature

Frosting:
2 tsps instant coffee granules
1/2 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream, warmed ~ I put it in the microwave for 30 seconds
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar
Sprinkles or colored sugars

To make the cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350º and put cupcake liners in pans to make 24 cupcakes. I also give the liners a little spritz of Pam so nothing sticks to the paper.

Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the egg, oil, buttermilk, Bailey’s, and coffee together. Slowly add the dry ingredient mixer on low speed until just mixed then beat on medium for 2 minutes.

Spoon the batter in the cupcake liners ~ I use an ice cream scoop and filled about 3/4s full.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. I think mine too a minute or two longer than the 17 minutes but keep an eye on yours.  Cook on a wire rack for about minutes then remove the cupcakes to the wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting:

Dissolve the instant coffee granules in the warm Bailey’s and stir until the coffee is completely dissolved.   Undissolved coffee granules are not appetizing.

In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter. Gradually add the vanilla and salt. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar and some of the Bailey’s/coffee mixture to create and fluffy frosting. I didn’t use all of my Bailey’s/coffee mixture.  The frosting is a coffee color and not white like it looks in the picture.

Frost each cupcake and sprinkle with colored sugars or sprinkles.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Source:  Intoxicated Cupcakes

Happy Cooking!

Triple Layer Mud Pie

My third recipe from Gooseberry Patch’s  new cookbook Hometown Harvest.

If you are a chocolate lover like me, you will LOVE this easy pie.  I used sugar free products where I could and I purchased a Keebler chocolate crust.  I think it would be great on one of those purchased Oreo crusts, too.

I still take crappy pictures of pies ~ that hasn’t gotten any better 🙂

Triple Layer Mud Pie
Submitted by Beth Williamson, Wakefield, RI

3 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
9-inch chocolate pie cookie crust
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
2 cups milk
2 small pkgs instant chocolate pudding
8 ounce container Cool Whip, thawed

In a bowl, stir together the melted chocolate and the 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk and pour into the crust. Sprinkle pecans over the top.

Combine milk and pudding mixes in a bowl and whisk together for 2 minutes. Spoon 1 1/2 cups of the pudding over the pecans. Set aside.

Stir half of the Cool Whip into the remaining pudding and spread over the chocolate pudding in the crust. Top with the rest of the Cool Whip.

Cover and chill until serving time.

Makes 6 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

Oh my ~ these are delicious!  I know red velvet everything is big right now and I don’t usually follow trends but this recipe sucked me in.   I actually made them around Valentine’s Day and I put the recipe aside and forgot about it until I downloaded the pictures and there they were.

I chose to try this recipe because it made the brownies from scratch ~ no boxed brownie mix was involved.  I am trying to stay away from boxed mixes especially since it’s so easy to bake from scratch without all the preservatives.  I also liked that it didn’t use a whole bottle of red food coloring like so may recipes do.  Be careful when using it because it turns everything red.  The only thing I did different from the recipe was to leave out the nuts.

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies

Brownies:
1 stick butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp red food coloring
1 tsp white vinegar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup toasted almonds

Cream Cheese Layer:
8 ozs cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º. Butter an 8×8 baking pan and set aside.

Brownie layer: Melt the butter either on the stove top or in the microwave and pour into a large mixing bowl. In order, add the sugar, vanilla, cocoa, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, mixing between additions. In an small bowl, whisk the eggs and stir into the cocoa mixture. Fold in the flour until combined. Stir in the walnuts if using. Save 1/4 cup of this mixture and set aside. Pour what’s left into the prepared pan.

Cream cheese layer: Blend the cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla together in a medium bowl. Gently spread this mixture on top of the brownies mixture in the prepared pan.

Using a spoon, drop the remaining cocoa batter over the top of the cream cheese layer. Using the tip of a knife or a skewer, drag it through the cream cheese layer and the dropped batter to create a swirl effect.  Try not to mix in the brownie layer on the bottom as much as you can.

Bake for 30 minutes and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Makes 8 servings

Adapted from Food Network

Happy Cooking!

 

Chocolate Silk Pie for Pi Day!

Today is Pi Day (3.14) so I will post a pie.  As I have said many, many times, I am challenged in photographing pies.  I can’t cut them nicely to begin with and I just get mad and take a terrible picture.  Oh well.

This pie is so good and it helps that chocolate pie is one of our favorites.  Don’t leave out the coffee as it really adds to the chocolate flavor.

Chocolate Silk Pie

Pie:

1 baked 9 in pie shell
1 jar marshmallow cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butter, cubed
2 ozs unsweetened chocolate
2 tbsps strong brewed coffee
1 cup heavy cream, whipped

Topping:

1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tbsps confectioner’s sugar

In a heavy saucepan, combine the marshmallow cream, chocolate chips, butter, unsweetened chocolate, and coffee. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Cool. Fold in whipped and pour into crust.

For the topping, beat cream in a large bowl until it starts to thicken. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

Spread over filling and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Adapted from Taste of Home

Happy Cooking!

Guinness Chocolate Cake

Well, I’ve made Guinness cupcakes and brownies so it only stands to reason that I would eventually make a Guinness cake.

This cake is very moist and delicious.  After a day or two, it tastes even better.   For the frosting, the directions said to make it look like the head of a glass of Guinness but I am not thrilled with all that drippy frosting so I just frosted the top with no dripping on the sides.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

12 oz Guinness Extra Stout
1 stick plus 2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cup flour
2 1/2 tsp baking soda

Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350º. Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper, then butter the parchment and the sides of the pan.

Pour the Guinness into a saucepan and add the butter by the tablespoonful and heat until the butter is melted. Whisk in the cocoa and sugar and set aside.

Beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Pour the Guinness mixture into the sour cream mixture and whisk in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the batter into the prepared ban. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Mine took 1 hour exactly.

Let cool completely on a cooling rack. When completely cool, remove from pan and set on a cake stand. I put the cake stand on top of the cake and flipped it right side up so that the bottom of the cake became the top and I was able to remove the bottom of the springform pan and the parchment paper. The bottom is also smoother and flatter to frost.

Frost the top of the cake so that it looks like a head of a glass of beer.

Makes 10-12 servings.

Frosting

Lightly whip the cream cheese until smooth with a mixer. Sift in the sugar and beat together. When smooth, beat in the heavy cream. Frost top of cake using all the icing.

Adapted from Paws-itively Good Chow

Happy Cooking!

Brownie, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cup Treats

Today, my recipe for Slow Cooker Garlic Mashed Potatoes is the recipe of the week at Gooseberry Patch.  I don’t think I’ve posted this recipe here so grab it over there.  It’s really good and can sit in the slow cooker for a bit if the rest of your meal isn’t ready.

This recipe is all over Pinterest and it looked really good and easy to me.  Once I made it, I thought it was just OK while the rest of the family thought it was great and ate them all up.

Now this recipe uses lots of packaged products so if you want to make them from scratch I think it would work fine.

I happened to have a square muffin pan but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t use a regular muffin pan.  Just make sure you grease the pan ~ the recipe didn’t call for it but it’s super hard to get them out of the pan if you don’t.

VIEW PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE!

Brownie, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cup Treats

1 box brownie mix (milk chocolate or fudge or use your favorite)
1 pkg miniature peanut butter cups
1 pkg Nestle Chocolate Chips (they are in squares in the pkg)

Generously grease a square muffin pan.

Take one chocolate chip cookie and press in the pan to cover bottom as in the picture above. Place one unwrapped peanut butter cup upside down on top of the cookie dough. Spoon some brownie dough over the peanut butter cup, covering it.

Bake at 350º for 18-20 minutes or until brownies are done.

Makes 12 treats.

Happy Cooking!

Mini Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

While looking through my Adirondack cookbooks, I found one put out by a group from the hospital in the town I grew up in.  I even found a recipe my Mom submitted which I will be trying next week.

My daughter made a recipe like this once only in large cupcake form.  I really liked them and was happy to see and try this recipe.

One other thing, this is one of the few recipes I’ve made lately that made the exact amount the recipe said it would and used up all the batter.  I love it when that happens!

The recipe came from the Hamilton County TWIGS Volume IV cookbook.

Mini Chocolate Cream Cheese Cupcakes

VIEW PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE!

Filling:
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/8 tsp salt
8 oz cream cheese, softened

Batter:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp white vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Filling: Beat egg, sugar, salt and cream together until well combined. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Set aside.

Batter: Mix flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt in a large bowl. Add cold water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

Grease mini muffin pans. Fill cups half full with the chocolate batter. Drop a teaspoon of the filling on top.

Bake at 350º for 15 to 18 minutes.

No frosting needed.

Makes 48 mini cupcakes

Happy Cooking!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Fudge

Wow ~ I am loving the comments so far on my giveaway.  Everything sounds so yummy!!  If you want to join in see this post ~ My Very FIRST Giveaway

In a word, this fudge is delicious!   I only had a taste since I’m trying not to eat any sweets and it was hard NOT to have more.  I think Mr. Meat Eater ate the rest of the pan.

This recipe is very easy and really not at all difficult like some fudge recipes can be.   I think it would wonderful with homemade chocolate chip cookies.  I used original Chips Ahoy cookies since I am basically lazy.  Don’t skimp on toasting the pecans ~ it really helps to make the recipe.

The fudge would make an excellent gift or treat at Christmas.  I found the recipe in Southern Living’s Cooking for Christmas.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Fudge

1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 (12 ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels
1 (11.5 ounce) package milk chocolate morsels
1/2 cup evaporated milk (one of those small cans is 1/2 cup)
1 1/2 tsps vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
12 chocolate chip cookies, chopped (about 1 3/4 cups)

To toast the pecans ~ spread on a small baking sheet, place in a preheated to 350º oven and let bake for 10 minutes or so. When you can start smelling them, they are done. Be careful NOT to burn. If they burn, toss and start over.

Line the bottom of an 8×8 baking pan with aluminum foil so the foil hangs over the edges. Lightly grease the foil.

Combine both packages of morsels and the evaporated milk in a large saucepan; cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Rmove from heat and stir in the pecans, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the cookies. Spread in prepared pan.

Let stand for 4 hours or until the fudge is firm.

Lift fudge from the pan using the foil sides as handles. Remove foil and throw away and cut the fudge into squares.

Makes 2 1/4 lbs fudge

Happy Cooking!

Black Forest Cupcakes

Before I go any further, Black Forest Cherry Cake is my all-time favorite cake.  In fact, we had one for our wedding cake.  That’s how much I love it.

A few weeks ago, I was reading The Disney Food Blog (one of my very favorite blogs) and came across this post ~ Black Forest Cupcake.  I could NOT stop thinking about it and since I won’t be going back to WDW for a few months, I sent my son (who lives in Orlando) to check it out.  He ate at the Contempo and said the cupcake was one of the best things he had ever eaten.

That was all it took to send me on a mission to recreate it.  As luck would have it, I did a google search and came up with a copycat recipe for regular sized cupcakes.  Being diabetic, I should NOT be eating these at all so I saved up some carbs so I could try it.  I wish I hadn’t.  They are VERY good.  I am looking forward to trying the real thing when I get back to the World.   And I ate more than one.

Black Forest Cherry Cupcakes

1 (18.25 ounce) package chocolate cake mix
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened (I used lite)
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
1 (19 ounce) can cherry pie filling (I used lite)
1 1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip  (I used sugar free)

Heat oven to 350º. Prepare cake batter as directed on package and set aside.

Mix cream cheese, egg and sugar until well blended.

Remove 3/4 cup of the cherry pie filling for garnish; set aside.

Spoon 2 tablespoons cake batter into each of 24 paper-lined medium muffin cups. Top each with 1 tablespoon each of the cream cheese mixture and the remaining cherry pie filling. Cover evenly with remaining cake batter.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan to wire racks. Cool completely.

Top with whipped topping and reserved cherry pie filling just before serving.  Keep in refrigerator.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Happy Cooking!

Guinness Cupcakes

All I can say is WOW!!!  These are fabulous!  I know lots of people think you can’t make a cakey dessert with beer (or bourbon) and chocolate but really it adds such a depth of flavor to the baked good.

I had some trouble with the frosting so the next time I make this I will just bake a regular buttercream frosting and  use the reduced Guinness for some of the liquid.  I also did not use the vanilla bean ~ $11.99 for ONE bean and that’s just not happening so I added a bit more vanilla.   And I am a lousy frosterer!

@JanetRudolph tweeted this recipe last week and it comes from her blog ~ Dying for Chocolate Her blog is just chock full of chocolate ~ YUM!

Give these a try and see what you think!

I want to blog chocolate all week in time for Valentine’s day but I am getting a cold so if you don’t see me for a day or two, that’s why!

Guinness Cupcakes

1 cup Guinness extra stout
12 tbsps butter
3/4 cup unsweetened chocolate chunks (I broke up 1 Ghiradelli unsweetened chocolate baking bar)
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 tbsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350º.

Place the stout and butter in a saucepan and bring to a simmer ~ do not boil ~ over medium-low heat.

Add chocolate chunks to hot stout/butter mixture and whisk until the chocolate melts. Take the pan off the heat and let the mixture cool.

Add the sugar to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine well.

In a bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt together.

Using a mixer with a whisk attachment throughout, combine the eggs and sour cream. Add the stout/chocolate mixture to the egg/sour cream mixture mixture and combine until well mixed.

Slowly add the flour mixture to the egg/chocolate mixture in thirds, scraping the sides of the bowl as you go along.

Place cupcake liners in pans and fill to about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350º for about 18-24 minutes or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. Mine took 18 minutes.

Cool on wire rack before frosting.

Frosting

1 cup butter, room temp
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/2 whole scraped vanilla bean
1/2 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup Guinness extra stout

In a small saucepan, simmer Guinness on low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Stout will reduce and become somewhat syrupy. Be careful that it doesn’t burn. Let cool.

Using a mixer, cream the butter for one minute. Slowly add the powdered sugar in thirds, alternating with some of the milk each time. Mix until creamy.

Add scraped vanilla bean and extract.

Slowly add reduce Guinness a bit at a time. Taste until you get to your desired flavor. I used a couple of tbsps so you may not use all the reduction.

Place in a piping bag with a large start tip and frost or just frost with a knife if you prefer.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Happy Cooking!