Oreo Cookie Cupcakes

My mom gave me a recipe from one of her friends for these cupcakes.  I was excited to try them because I am a fan of both Oreo cookies and cupcakes.  They were pretty easy to make with the hardest part being the time I had to restrain myself from all eating the cookies before they could make it into the cupcakes.

Here's how they turned out fully decorated and delicious.

I started by putting an Oreo cookie on the bottom of each cupcake and poured chocolate cake batter on top to cover and fill the rest of the wrapper and put them in the oven.

Next I made the frosting which is a cream cheese frosting with crushed Oreo cookies in it.  The directions said to chop them finely in a food processor.  I naively thought that I could get away with just crushing them up in a plastic bag with a hammer.  I soon found out that a food processor was really the way to go.

I put the frosting in a pastry bag to pipe the frosting on in swirls to make it look fancier.  It was shortly after starting the application process that a chunk of Oreo got stuck even though I was using the largest icing tip that I had.

As a result, the first few that I did look kind of awkward when I had to stop and restart constantly to remove the large pieces of Oreo.  However, once the large pieces were removed, the icing came out smoothly and I got some professional looking cupcakes out.

As a final decoration, I placed a mini Oreo cookie on the top.

As you can see, the cookie on the bottom isn't visible until you really pull back the wrapper.  It also makes it easier to remove the cupcake from the wrapper and keeps it together better when eating.

With the cookie on the bottom, there is a crunchy texture which is a nice change.  In fact, I think I'll go eat another one right now, because they taste delicious.

Chili Pizzelles

My neighbor told me that there was a cookie contest at the fair and I decided to give it a shot and enter.  The rules asked for an original recipe, so I put my thinking cap on and got to work.  After many test ideas and feedback from my neighbor, I decided to enter a chili powder pizzelle.  Pizzelles are Italian cookies made in a press similarly to a waffle cone.  Typically they are anise flavored (black licorice).  I added enough chili powder to a normal recipe to get the flavor to pop.  I nervously entered the contest and hoped for the best.  I wandered around the fair and returned to hear the judgement.  It was at this time that I noticed that all the judges could be classified as senior citizens and would most likely not like something that didn't taste traditionally sweet and yummy like a chocolate chip cookie.  Alas, I was unsuccessful, but the experience was well worth it.  I will definitely look into doing it again in the future.  As for my recipe, just add two tablespoons of chili powder to a basic pizzelle recipe and don't add in any anise extract.  Also, I waited until all but the last cookie was eaten to take a picture, so it unfortunately is a bit broken for this picture:

French Macaroons with Raspberry-Rose Buttercream from Bon Appetit

With macaroons becoming more and more popular, I decided to give it a shot after my mom showed me the French Macaroons with Raspberry-Rose Buttercream recipe from her Bon Appetit magazine.  If you are interested in the recipe, you can get it here: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/01/french_macaroons_with_raspberry_rose_buttercream

Macaroons are pretty much fancy sandwich cookies.  They are made with almond flour and are fussy, but delicious.

Almond flour is just finely ground almonds.  You get a batter like this that you then pipe out into dots on a cookie sheet.

If you've ever made meringue cookies, it's a similar process.  However, the baking process is fussy and you need to be by the oven to make adjustments often.

After baking the cookies I made the filling for the recipe.  One part of the filling is making raspberry jam.  If I make this recipe again, I would probably just go buy some jam as I didn't think mine tasted too different and it would save on the time that it takes to make these cookies.

I ran into a snag with the rose buttercream.  I couldn't find any rose water, so I'm not sure how that would have changed the taste.  I was skeptical about the frosting since you have to heat it over a water bath and I was sure the eggs in the recipe would curdle.  I was wrong and it comes out as a smooth frosting that even with the addition of the jam tasted to me like a fancy butter spread that will be going on some waffles in the near future to finish up the leftovers from the recipe.

The next part is the assembly.  I tried to match up all the cookies since my hands aren't steady and I don't have the practice and finesse of a professional baker to ensure equal sized cookies.

Next I applied the jam to one side of the cookie.  I also don't think I cooked my jam long enough, because it stayed runny.  I also would probably just strain all the seeds out, because I'm not a fan of them, but it isn't a critical thing for the recipe.

Then the frosting was spread on the other half of the cookie. 

And then after putting the two together, a marvelous macaroon was created.

Because of the piping method for creating the cookies, I made exactly the three dozen cookies that the recipe said it would make (I usually make my cookies too big and end up with significantly less).

And then I got to indulge in the tasty treats.  They came out delicious, but the amount of work that went into them makes me hesitant to try them again.  However, I was really pleased with the cookie part which is plain, so I think I'll make those again and maybe try some different filling combinations.

The one bad thing about macaroons is that they do not hold up for a long time.  I kept mine in an airtight container in the fridge, but the liquidy jam I made had them getting softer after a day.  I'm not sure how well they would have lasted after that, because they were all eaten.

Pillsbury Funfetti Brownie Pops

So this post is sort of a product review, but also my first foray into the world of cake/brownie pops.  I know they have gained in popularity, but I never really understood the appeal of them.  It just seemed like a lot of work for not a lot of payout, but I can see them as an easy way to have a decorative dessert at a themed party if you're willing to put in the time and extra money to get the supplies.  With that in mind, I avoided them until my mom bought me this ready to go package from Pillsbury.

The nice thing about the package is that they provide the sticks and everything you need to make it other than a pan to cook the brownies in.  This appealed to me, because I know I'm not going to go out and buy the special cake pop cooker and only special parties or projects send me to a store where I can also get the pop sticks.

I followed the directions and you pretty much bake the brownies, and cut off the evil crust to leave the yummy gooey soft center part.  Yes, I am not a fan of the edges of brownies and if you are, then you could have easily eaten the edges if you were here when I made them.

Then you cut them into twelve pieces.  It was at this point that I realized my brownie cutting abilities are about the same as an eight year old child, although that child would probably cut them straighter than me.  It was also at this point I realized my pan was 9x9" instead of the 8x8" the instructions called for.  This just meant I really had to roll my brownies into balls to get them to work.

After rolling, you use chocolate to adhere the sticks to the brownies and let them chill in the fridge.  This is another reason I wasn't too interested in cake pops due to the extra wait time you have to put in, but it is necessary.

So then they look like the one with the stick in it and are ready to be coated with chocolate and sprinkles.

I got my chocolate and sprinkles ready to go.  The package reminds me not to overheat the chocolate, which I already knew not to do after having some previous disastrous  results when trying to chocolate dip strawberries.  If you aren't aware of the consequences, the chocolate clumps and becomes a hard chalky/clump mess.  Anyway, I wasn't sure the best method for sprinkle adhesion, so I made it dip-able.

The chocolate hardens fast due to the thermodynamics involved in placing warm chocolate on cold brownies, so get those sprinkles on fast.

They came out pretty delicious, so I can understand more of the appeal to them.  They seem like they are easy to customize and chocolate coated brownies are just an amazing product.  My only criticisms is that it is a lot of time for so few, so I would make larger batches if I was going to do this.  Also, for people really interested, a foam block would make drying the chocolate easier.  That being said, if I was still 8 I would beg my mom to buy these all the time. As a much older than 8 year old, I can see these as a good party food with a lot of design potential.

Black Magic Cake (Orange and Chocolate deliciousness)

This is my absolute favorite tasting cake ever.  It is a mix of orange and chocolate and deliciousness.  The basic recipe (although slightly more complicated) is to marble a chocolate cake mix with an angel food cake mix that had orange juice added to it and then cover it with orange butter cream frosting and a chocolate ganache top.

Here it is in it's majestic outside.  You can see the smooth chocolate ganache waterfalling over the edge and getting into the center of the cake.

Then once you cut open the sweet ring of delight, you get a different marbled looking section for every slice.

The mix of the angel food cake makes the cake lighter allowing you to eat a larger slice than you normally would. Or maybe this cake is just so good that I usually glutton myself a bit when eating it.

Berry Pie Cupcakes

For my friend's birthday, I wanted to make her some cupcakes that were a little bit different.  I saw this in one of the Hello Cupcake! books and decided to give it a shot.  My one problem was that I made the frosting a bit too liquidy, so it didn't decorate quite right.  I also didn't put in any cocoa powder for coloring, but used dyes instead, so the color didn't come out quite right.  I found some raspberry flavored M&Ms which made it easier to decorate normal looking berry pies.

Here's how mine came out.  They were very tasty. 

My one recommendation (other than making the frosting correctly) is to make them on the day you want to eat them, because the frosting will alter the color of the M&Ms if left overnight as seen in the above pictures.

Baker's Death By Chocolate Cookie

My mom kept seeing the Baker's Chocolate advertisement for this cookie and finally decided that she wanted to try it.  She got me all the ingredients and left them and the recipe with me.  It's a fairly simple recipe and consists of about 70% chocolate, 20% nuts, and 10% of everything else required to make a cookie (flour, eggs, sugar, etc.).  I can't say no to chocolate, so I got to work on it.  The recipe requires two packages of the semi-sweet chocolate squares.  My mom already had a box from a previous thing she made and only got me one additional box, so I was about 4 squares of chocolate short on my batch, but I don't think it made too much of a difference.

The cookies came out very close to the picture, which always makes me happy.  They are very chocolaty and rich and definitely a keeper for my family.  I highly recommend a glass of milk to go along with these.  Or, if you are a chocoholic and cookie monster like my dad, then just eat them by the handful.  However, if you eat them by the handful, just be aware that the recipe only makes about a dozen and a half cookies, although they are larger than my normal chocolate chip cookie size.

I also ran across an interesting find.  The older chocolate box had a cookie that looked very similar to the one I was making, so I looked at the recipe for it on the back of the box.

It was the same recipe for the death by chocolate cookies under the name of chocolate chocolate chunk cookies.  I'm on to you Baker's.