Tag Archives: Powdered sugar

Chocolate Peppermint Whoopie Pies

Posted on by

4

I have to admit, this year I have totally been on top of my holiday sweets game. I have cranked out quite a few treats that’ll be perfect for all your dessert needs.

WhoopiePies-2

But….my gift buying situation is not exactly looking too good. So far I have bought one gift for a family member. I have ONE person covered! ONE. I hope you all feel pretty good about yourselves right now, because I’m sure you’re all in much better shape than I am.

WhoopiePies-3

I’m seriously struggling with ideas for everyone. For as well as I know my family, you’d think that this would be way easier than it is. And googling “gifts for guys” is not very helpful, FYI. Oh well…Some idea I’m sure will spontaneously pop in my little brain. That’s basically my plan as of now.

WhoopiePies-4

WhoopiePies-5

Till then, let’s bake whoopie pies! These whoopie pies have one of my absolute favorite flavor combos, chocolate and mint. I actually had a whoopie pie mix that I used to make the whoopie pie cookie part, but there are several recipes you can use from the web (like this one), and then I made my own filling. The filling is one of the best things I have ever tasted in my life. Seriously. Holy chocolate. It really makes the whole whoopie pie. The filling is super chocolatey, smooth, and light, with the perfect amount of mint. I am for sure going to be using this new recipe as frosting on cupcakes and cakes in the future.

WhoopiePies

Chocolate Peppermint Buttercream Frosting Filling

(This will make enough to make about 8-10 whoopie pies)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1/2 cup-3/4 cup powdered sugar

3 Tablespoons marshmallow creme

2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

  1. Beat butter, powdered sugar, and marshmallow creme until smooth. Beat in melted chocolate. Mix in vanilla extract and peppermint extract. Add in milk or powdered sugar as needed to achieve desired consistency. Fill whoopie pies or use as frosting on cakes, cookies, or cupcakes! Enjoy!!  :-) 

WhoopiePies-1

Random Fact of the Day: If you shake a can of mixed nuts, the larger ones will rise to the top.

Related articles

Stuffed Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Posted on by

6

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone and Black Friday is here, I believe the Christmas season is officially upon us.

The Christmas/Holiday season means many things to me. Snow, candy canes, stress over last minute gift shopping, Black Friday frenzy, the dark nights lit up with the festive Christmas lights, and hot chocolate. I’m going out for Black Friday this year and am genuinely scared for my life. I’m thinking armor and a helmet may be necessary.

One of my favorite flavors of this fabulous season is mint. I’m a total chocolate-mint nut, and these cupcakes are like my Kryptonite. These babies really just have it all.

We start off with my absolute favorite chocolate cake recipe and put it in cute little cupcake liners. Then we whip up some fabulous homemade whipped cream because it really is just the right thing to do.

 

 

And then we finish it off my topping the stuffed cupcakes with a mint chocolate chip frosting that is like the mint chocolate chip ice cream’s frosting clone.

 

My dad is a HUGE whipped cream fan, so I did frost some of mine with the whipped cream to give him the double dose of whipped cream

Chocolate Cupcakes

(Makes 12-16 cupcakes)

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons white sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line regular cupcake tins.
  2. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over cocoa powder, and whisk until smooth. Let mixture cool. Into a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Cream butter and sugar together with a mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs. Stir in vanilla. Add the flour mixture. Add the cocoa mixture. Pour batter into prepared cupcake tins.
  4. Bake in preheated oven 15-18 minutes. Allow to cool in tins, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. When thoroughly cooled, fill with whipped cream and frost with frosting below.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2-3 Tablespoons powdered sugar (to taste)

  1. Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar together on high until it form stiff peaks and looks like whipped cream. Taste it as you go along to see if you need more powdered sugar. Be sure to start with a low amount so you don’t over sweeten the whipped cream.

Minty Frosting

1/2 cup butter

4 cups powdered sugar, and more as needed

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

green food coloring

1/4 cup milk, more or less as needed

1 cup mini chocolate chips or regular chocolate chips chopped up into small pieces in food processor

  1. Whip the butter, powdered sugar, peppermint extract and food coloring together on high and add milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Be sure to whip the frosting for about 5 minutes to be sure you get a nice, fluffy frosting. When you have achieved the desired consistency of your frosting, fold in the chocolate chips. Frost cooled and filled cupcakes. Enjoy!

Random Fact of the Day: The word ‘Indiana’ is Native American for ‘Land of the Indians’, yet less than 16,000 Native Americans live there.

Related articles

Puppy Chow

Posted on by

3

There are some foods that I find amazing. Like super delicious, just solid, great foods.

However, there are some that I have a little problem with.

Fettucini Alfredo is amazing but I can not eat more than two forkfuls, white cheddar cheeze-its are good for the first 4 crackers, white chocolate is only okay with me when it is mixed in with different stuff (I’m talking to you Hershey’s Cookies ‘N Cream bars!), and puppy chow is something I have to stop after one (maybe two) handfuls.

All that stuff is super rich to me. Like it makes me woozy, and my stomach starts to feel like a goopy swamp. I want to have more, I just become physically incapable of having more. It is some horrible curse from the health gods or something.

Anyways, my friends and my sister happen to really like puppy chow and it is super simple to make, so I figured I would share with you guys the recipe, in case you have never heard of it or tried it before!

I have never met someone who doesn’t like puppy chow, so this is a perfect treat for a party or after school snack for any little kids you have running around…or even after work snack, there is NO age limit on puppy chow!!

I packaged it up nice and cute in some jars with fabric and ribbon for my sister and friend (part of her birthday gift).

Puppy Chow

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups Chex cereal

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

  1. In a microwave safe bowl or liquid measuring cup, melt peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, then microwaving for 10 more seconds until fully melted. Stir it all together until combined. Mix in vanilla extract.
  2. Place the Chex cereal in a large bowl, pour peanut butter-chocolate mixture over cereal and mix it all together until all the cereal is completely coated.
  3. Place the powdered sugar in a large zip-lock bag, pour in the coated cereal, and shake bag to get all the cereal coated with powdered sugar. Once the mixture is fully coated, place puppy chow in container or plastic bag. Enjoy!

Random Fact of the Day: In what country will you find the most Universities? India.

Related articles

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

Posted on by

6

I have no idea what has been up with me lately, but I’ve like totally turned country.

I went to a Zac Brown Band concert about a week ago and have just like not stopped listening to country. I should probably mention that I have been a long time foe of country music. I was dead-set that it was just NOT my thing. I was kind of prejudice against country music…I’m even a little ashamed about it.

Anyways, one of my friends asked me to go to the Zac Brown Band concert with her. She wasn’t even a big country fan till like this past summer but she insisted it would be fun, so I reluctantly agreed. Something about listening to country makes me feel so…American. And patriotic!

Somehow it kind of soothes me, though. I’ve noticed that, strangely, it makes me drive slower. Weird, I know. Like I used to be a total speed racer (I know, sorry mom!), but now I don’t even have to try to drive the speed limit and people on the road don’t annoy me as much. It’s very, very odd. So maybe instead of those darn online driving school classes they make speeders take, they should make them listen to country music. Just a thought.

On a completely different note, I made some more pumpkin stuff. Don’t hate me. I know this is a lot of pumpkin stuff, but it IS that time of year!!! So embrace it, people.

These are super easy, and actually healthy cupcakes made from a box mix and can of pumpkin and water. SUPER EASY. Then you can plop some of this yummy spice buttercream on top and call it awesome. I was even told it was one of the best cupcake combinations I’ve ever made. And I have made a lot of cupcake recipes!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes

FOR THE PUMPKIN CUPCAKES:

I used this recipe, that I have posted before for my pumpkin marshmallow cupcakes

FOR THE SPICE BUTTERCREAM:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

scant 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

scant 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

about 2 cups powdered sugar

2-4 Tablespoons milk (I used skim), as needed

  1. Using the mixer, cream butter until smooth. Beat in vanilla extract and spices. When mixed, add in powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, mixing in completely after each addition. If frosting gets too thick, beat in milk. If too thin, beat in more powdered sugar until right consistency. Be sure not to add too much powdered sugar or milk where you lose the flavor of the spices. Pipe or frost cooled cupcakes as desired. Cupcakes may be stored on countertop in closed container. Enjoy!

Random Fact of the Day: About 39,000 gallons of water are used to produce the average car.

Related articles

Chocolate-Whipped Cream Layer Cake

Posted on by

1

Call me crazy but I really enjoy baking cakes.

 

Something about decorating them and putting them all together in one fancy stacked pile of yumminess is just so satisfying to me. My only problem is that I hardly ever have a real occasion to make a cake for. And to be totally honest, the last thing we need in our house is a big ‘ol cake staring at us. So I basically jump on every chance I get to make a cake. I even made my own birthday cake. Twice. Well…one was an ice cream pie. But whatever, you get the point. Wait, what was my point?

Oh yeah, cake. I like to make it. So anyways it’s my uncle’s birthday in a week or two and he came over for dinner last weekend, so I decided to give him a little pre-birthday birthday cake. Nobody had a problem with that.

Dark chocolate cake with whipped cream filling, whipped cream frosting, chocolate chips on the sides, and chocolate syrup drizzled on top. Classic goodness :-)

Dark Chocolate Cake

I used the same recipe as the one I made for my mom’s birthday cake, which was posted HERE.

Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy whipping cream

4 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  1. In a mixing bowl, using a mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until stiff peaks begin to form and the cream looks like whipped cream. It helps to have a chilled bowl and whisk for this.

ASSEMBLY:

NOTE: It helps to have the cakes baked in plenty of time before assembly. I like to bake mine the day before, then wrap them in saran wrap and keep them in the fridge until I’m ready to use them.

  1. Cut baked cake in half, lengthwise and trim tops to make them flat. Be care to keep a steady, even cut to be sure your layers are even. Lay one layer of cake on serving plate with the cut side facing up. Spread a layer of whipped cream on top, be sure to leave at least a 1/2 inch from the edge for when you place the top layer of cake on due to smooshage (it’s a word). I like to refrigerate the cake at this point for about 30-45 minutes before I put the top layer of cake on, to make the whipped cream filling slightly firmer and set.
  2. After chilling, place the remaining cake layer on top of the whipped cream, trimmed side facing towards the whipped cream filling. Let cake chill for another 30 minutes before frosting the whole cake with the rest of the whipped cream.
  3. Decorate cake as desired, I stuck some chocolate chips on the side for a little extra something-something and drizzled chocolate syrup on top. Be creative and add your favorite toppings!

Random Fact of the Day: Fleas can accelerate 50 times faster than the space shuttle.

Related articles