Cappuccino Chip Muffins

I discovered this recipe off one of my new and favorite websites, http://www.cookiemadness.net It's actually a "celebrity recipe," apparently William Shatner likes these muffins a lot. The espresso powder is slightly hard to find so I suggest going to little Italian shops. I found this specific espresso powder at a place called Luccesi's. The espresso acts like a subtle background to the cake-lake muffins. The coffee also acts as the perfect counteract for the chocolate. I used mini muffins tins in my recipe, so adjust the cooking time to 8 min. Note: make sure the eggs, milk, and butter are all around room temperature, otherwise the muffins won't rise as well or they'll either be too tough. 

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. instant espresso powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 large egg (room temperature)

1 cup milk (room temperature)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, espresso powder, cinnamon, and salt. 

In a medium bowl, whisk egg lightly. Whisk in milk, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in milk mixture. Stir JUST until evenly blended (over stirring will make the muffins tough). Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake 8-15 min. for regular-sized muffin pans, or 7-9 min. for mini-muffins pans. 

Neapolitan Rice Krispie Treats

I found this recipe on a website called cookiemadness.net If you haven't figured it out by now, I love cooking with cereal. These are just a change from the regular Rice Krispie treats. The bottom layer has strawberry NesQuick in it, which I personally wouldn't drink on my own, but it gives the bottom layer a nice hint of strawberry. The second layer has Cocoa Krispies with a little bit of chocolate chips, and the last layer is just the plain Rice Krispies. I added a little more butter, marshmallows, and Cocoa Krispies to mine b/c I of course wanted the chocolate layer to be the largest. 

Ingredients:

Layer 1:

1 1/2 tbsp. butter

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

1 3/4 tsp. strawberry Quik

2-3 drops red food coloring

2 1/4 cups Rice Krispies

Layer 2:

1 1/2 tbsp. butter

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

2 1/4 cups Cocoa Krispies

Small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Layer 3:

1 1/2 tbsp. butter

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

2 1/4 cups Rice Krispies

Directions:

Line a 9x5 inch metal loaf pan with parchment paper on non-stick foil (I used a glass pan with aluminum  foil).

Melt butter in a bowl. Stir in Strawberry Quik and food coloring into melted butter, getting a dark pink hue. Add the marshmallows and stir to coat with pink butter. Microwave marshmallows for 30 seconds; stir until melted and smooth. Add cereal and stir to coat. Empty into loaf pan and press down well.

Rise out bowl and repeat melting procedure with Layer 2--add Cocoa Krispies to melted marshmallows, then stir in chocolate chips. Empty onto strawberry layer and press down as neatly as possible.

Repeat melting procedure with Layer 3. Add Rice Krispies, stir to coat, then layer on top of the chocolate layer. Press flat. At this point, your bars should be at the very top of the loaf pan. 

Let sit for a least 1 hour. 

Lift from pan and set on a big cutting board. Slice a thin layer off each end of the loaf to trim. Slice lengthwise down the center, making to long sections, then slice the loaf cross-wise to make 6 big squares.

Chocolate Wafer Icebox Cake

This cake is very  light and can be used with chocolate wafers (which are really hard to find...try Fresh Market), but I used Oreo cookies that I separated. It's easy to make and tastes like an ice cream chocolate chip cake minus the thick ice cream texture. 

Ingredients:

4 cups heavy cream

3 tsp. sugar

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. vanilla

1 & 1/2 packages Nabisco chocolate wafer cookies (or Oreos)

Directions:

Combine the cream, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip until soft peaks form. Do not overmix. Place a cookie in the center of a plate that is at least 9 inches in diameter. Arrange 6 cookies around the center one, formng a circle. Spread about 3/4 cup of the cream mixture onto the cookies. Repeat layers, ending with the whipped cream. Garnish if desired with chocolate shavings, nuts, cocoa, etc. Refrigerate for at least 5 hours. 

Nutella Cupakes

This came from one of my favorite blogspots, Fresh From the Oven. Just so I get this out, I really feel guilty for using these pictures that aren't my own. I feel like I'm committing the unforgivable sin of plagiarism. I won't keep doing it, but I hate giving a recipe without a picture...it's no fun and gives no motivation or desire for you guys to make it. 

I made these cupcakes and they were very easy and delicious. I used the mini-muffin pans to make them smaller, but they are so pretty and swirly!

Ingredients:

10 tbsp. butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 & 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. baking powder

Nutella, 12 tsp. (1 tsp. for each cupcake)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners or spray with nonstick cooking spray. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 min. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. The batter won't look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains. 

Fill each muffin liner with bater. They should be 3/4 full. Top each cake with 1 heaping tsp. of Nutella; swirl in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the Nutella. 

Bake for 20 min. and allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Mandarin Orange Cake

So it has been over a month since I've last posted anything on the website; I'm afraid I've become quite lazy with taking pictures of my recent discoveries. Because of this, the few recipes I'm going to put up don't have pictures that I've taken.  Instead I'm just going to steal the pictures from the original website just to get things started up again...I promise to take my own pictures next time. 

This cake recipe was given to me by my dear friend Ashley who raved about how wonderful this cake was. I myself haven't made it or tried it, but my mom did and she said it was easy and absolutely incredible. The oranges in the cake batter apparently make the cake very moist and light. 

Ingredients:

1 (18.25 ounce) package of yellow cake mix

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 (11 ounce) can mandarin orange segments

1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple with juice

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, eggs, oil, and mandarin oranges with juice. Beat until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 min. Allow to cool. 

To make topping: In a large bowl, beat together whipped topping, pineapple with juice, and dry pudding mix until blended. Spread on cake. 

Dark Chocolate Chunk and Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe came again from bakeorbreak--I love this blog. http://www.bakeorbreak.com/recipes/2008/02/22/dark-chocolate-chunk-and-dried-cherry-oatmeal-cookies/ I'm not a huge fan of cherries, but I would imagine that the dried cherries would add a good counter balance of tart to the sweet of the chocolate.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1 cup dried cherries

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I recommend using dark chocolate)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and brown sugar together until smooth.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.  Add vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Gradually add to the butter mixture just until combined.  Do not overmix.  

Drop by tablespoonfulls onto lightly greased baking sheets.  Bake for 10-12 min., or until bottom edges are lightly browned.  Cool on pans for a few min., then remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies. 

Chocolate Billionaires

These very similar to a 100 Grand candy bar. If you want to make these extra special toast the pecans!

Ingredients:

1 (14 ounce) package caramels

3 tbsp. water

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 cup crisp rice cereal

3 cups milk chocolate chips

1 1/2 tsp. shortening

Directions:

Line two baking sheets with waxed paper; grease the paper and set aside.  In a large saucepan combine the caramels and water; cook and stir over low heat until smooth.  Stir in pecans and cereal until coated.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared pan.  Refrigerate for 10 min. or until firm.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips and shortening over low heat; stir until smooth.  Dip candy into chocolate, coating all sides.  Place on prepared pans.  Refrigerate until set and store in an airtight container.