Tag Archives: dessert

Coconut Pound Cake

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Do any of you guys do Lent? I feel like not many people do anymore. I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before, but my family always gives up treats for Lent.

Coconut Pound Cake | Beautiful Disasters

Yes..treats. ALL treats.

Coconut Pound Cake | Beautiful Disasters

I am sure you can all imagine how painful this is for me, the cookie dough-cake batter-frosting-licking-addict.

Coconut Pound Cake | Beautiful Disasters

This was about as close as I could come to making a dessert without the Lent police coming after me.

Coconut Pound Cake | Beautiful Disasters

I had my dad, the coconut connoisseur, just about on his knees praising me for this cake.  This recipe fell under the “Don’t change A THING” category for him and I know he is just counting down the days until I make it again, maybe I’ll give baking it in a loaf pan a go next time?

Coconut Pound Cake | Beautiful Disasters

Coconut Pound Cake

(Make one 9 or 10-inch tube pan cake)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

5 eggs

1 cup milk (I used skim)

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 1/2 oz. coconut (I used half sweetened shredded coconut and half unsweetened coconut flakes)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

pinch of salt

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease and flour a 9 or 10-inch tube pan. 
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Using a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs, one at a time. Be sure to scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to get everything incorporated. Add in the coconut and vanilla extract. Mix in the milk and coconut. Finally, slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
  4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, until about golden brown and top springs back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes, then invert onto plate. Enjoy!

Coconut Pound Cake | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: A rainbow can only be seen in the morning or late afternoon.

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Vanilla Malt Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

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I feel bad for those poor souls who do not know the difference between a milkshake and a malt. I think they deserve a moment of silence.

Vanilla Malt Peanut Butter Cupcakes | Beautiful Disasters

[insert moment of silence with head bowed]

Vanilla Malt Peanut Butter Cupcakes | Beautiful Disasters

A malt contains malt flavoring which I guess is the main difference, but I feel that they usually have a thicker consistency, too. Maybe I’m crazy, but they just are better. I do not know why, but that is the way it is and I do not argue with the system of my tastebuds.

Vanilla Malt Peanut Butter Cupcakes | Beautiful Disasters

My dad was and is the king of malts. He makes the type of malt at home that you can’t get at any ice cream store. It has the perfect ration of everything. I don’t know exactly how he does it, especially because he considers microwaved scrambled eggs good eatin’, but he does. And he does it very well.

Vanilla Malt Peanut Butter Cupcakes | Beautiful Disasters

My grandpa (my dad’s dad) would go out to Oberweis with us and order a giant sundae that was about half his size and finish it before I could grab a spoon. To say frozen dairy dessert ran in the blood is an understatement. These two guys know their stuff and I like to say that I have a bit of that gene inside me, too.

Vanilla Malt Peanut Butter Cupcakes | Beautiful Disasters

I decided to go a little off the frozen dairy dessert path and make some malt cupcakes. With peanut butter frosting, I mean what else? It’s my favorite frosting in the entire universe. These cupcakes are kind of like a vanilla malt with peanut butter swirled in every bite, but not with too much malt flavor where it’s overly sweet. They’re just about perfect for me. They have even inspired me for next time my dad makes malts to mix some peanut butter in mine. Summer come faster, please?

Vanilla Malt Peanut Butter Cupcakes | Beautiful Disasters

Vanilla Malt Cupcakes

(Makes about 16 cupcakes)

¾ cup white sugar
½ cup malted milk powder
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, sifted twice
3 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
¾ cup milk (I used skim)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners and set aside.
  2. Using a mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until combined. Add in the eggs. Mix in the vanilla extract. Slowly add in the flour, baking powder, salt, and malted milk powder. Once combined, slowly mix in the milk until fully incorporated.
  3. Fill each cupcake liner about 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool on wire rack; frost when completely cool.

Peanut Butter Frosting

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup peanut butter

4-6 cups powdered sugar, as needed

milk (I used skim), as needed

  1. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, vanilla extract, and peanut butter together until combined. Add in powdered sugar, slowly. Keep adding powdered sugar until you achieve desired consistency. Add milk as needed to soften or thin out your frosting. If frosting gets too thin, add in more powdered sugar. Frost cupcakes and enjoy!

Vanilla Malt Peanut Butter Cupcakes | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: We blink 25 times a minute.

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Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies

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I’m pretty mad at myself right now..

I failed to get a picture of these cookies, so you’re all just going to have to take my word on this one. They basically look like a regular chocolate cookie with bits of Andes Mint candy throughout. I’m sure you all have great imaginations and can come up with a nice illustration in your head, probably even better than what I could capture with a picture!

Here’s my drawn replication. No, I am not related to Picasso, despite popular belief.

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oooh mouth-watering!

Eeek I’ve probably scared you away from these cookies already, but I swear they’re good. Especially if you’re a mint-chocolate freak like me. If you can’t tell, I’m suffering a major case of the Monday’s. Hope you all have a great Monday filled with cookies and nonforgetfulness!

Chocolate Andes Mint Cookies

(Makes about 3 1/2 dozen small cookies)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1¼ cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup dark cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (or all-purpose)
pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup Andes creme de menthe baking chips

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
  2. Cream together butter and sugar until fully combined. Mix in both eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla extract. Add cocoa powder until completely mixed in. Slowly add flours, salt, and baking powder. By hand, stir in Andes creme de menthe baking chips.
  3. Drop dough by the teaspoonful onto cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes. Let cool for about 2 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer cookies to wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

In absence of the cookies, please enjoy this picture of my model dog, Harry

He's doing the signature Tyra look behind the shoulder pose

He’s doing the signature Tyra look behind the shoulder pose

Random Fact of the Day: The sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog.” uses every letter of the alphabet!

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Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars

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So maybe you’ve heard of these little things called sugar cookies…I don’t know, they’re pretty well known. Pretty popular especially around this time of year..

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One of my favorite memories with sugar cookies is going to this bakery a couple towns over, when I was younger, and getting their iced sugar cookies. They had a perfect royal icing and would make giant smiley face cookies, that were almost too adorable to eat. Almost.

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During the Holidays, I would always get a Santa sugar cookie when my mom would pick up our doughnuts. I had a method and strategy on how I would eat my Santa cookie. It was not a simple “Dig in!” process.

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No, oh no… I would usually start at the beard, knowing that trimming the beard couldn’t hurt Santa too much. Then I would move on to the hat. After I finished the hat, I would take Santa out of his misery and gobble up his face, trying hard to remember that Santa was magical and came in many forms other than cookie form.

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I’ve already shared a sugar cookie recipe on here before, so I thought I’d share a new, quicker, easier way to get a sugar cookie-like treat. Sugar cookie bars! Genius, I tell you. I think these bars are best thick, and pretty under baked. I only baked mine about 15 minutes, until the outside was baked up nicely, and then when I cut them they were super chewy and yummy and tasted just like warm sugar cookie dough.

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It’s like a sugar cookie, without all the rolling and cutting work. Simply whip up your dough, plop it in a greased pan, sprinkle some sprinkles on there for some fun in the form of sugar, and bake away!!

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One final note about these sugar cookie bars is that one of the best things about them is that they are a recipe that is totally usable all year round! Colorful/rainbow sprinkles for birthdays or everyday, Halloween sprinkles for Halloween, Pink for Valentines Day, and so on!!

Sugar Cookie Bars

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Sprinkles!

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until combined for about 2 minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Add in vanilla extract.
  3. Slowly add in flour, baking soda, and salt until fully combined and you get a nice, thick sugar cookie dough. Spread cookie dough into greased baking pan and press to make one even layer, about 3/4 inch thick of cookie dough. Next sprinkle on sprinkles and press into dough. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Random Fact of the Day: A person will burn 7 percent more calories if they walk on hard dirt compared to pavement.

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Thanksgiving Dessert Round-Up

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So I was going to do a full Thanksgiving meal round-up..then I realized that with the recipes on my blog her at Beautiful Disasters that a dessert round-up would be much more appropriate. So here you go, everything you need for a sweet and delicious Thanksgiving dessert table! Note that all these recipes can be made ahead of time (1-2 days ahead, ideally) to save yourself a headache.

  1. Pecan Pie

  2. Homemade Toffee

  3. Pumpkin Pie

  4. Vanilla Cupcakes with Pumpkin Buttercream

  5. Gram’s Apple Crisp

  6. Gram’s Apple Cake

  7. French Silk Pie

  8. Apple Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

  9. Homemade Caramel Corn

  10. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Spice Buttercream

  11. Pumpkin Cupcakes with Marshmallow Buttercream

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