Red Velvet Cupcakes

I've never eaten a red velvet cupcake before. I guess the whole, is it a vanilla or chocolate cake or just something in between steered me away from even attempting this cake. If it wasn't for my brother who begged me to make these cupcakes for his friend, I don't think I would ever make these. I chose a butter based instead of oil recipe for maximum flavour because I just couldn't see how a cake made with one tbsp of cocoa would have any taste. Red velvet isn't supposed to be a chocolate tasting cake, but the thought of a something tasting like it had a 'hint' of chocolate flavour didn't seem appealing to me. Plus with the tanginess from the buttermilk and vinegar, I was really worried these would have some weird flavour and that the only thing drawing me into eating these was the pretty red colour and cream cheese frosting!


As it turns out, these weren't so bad. They were even moist the next day even after storing them in the fridge, which was great because most butter based cakes dry out. I used the recipe from the Joy of Baking, increasing the butter by 2 tablespoons.

Red Velvet Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons (10 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used 6 tablespoons)
3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
1 tablespoon liquid red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18 - 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and them remove from pan. Let cool completely before frosting. Either spread the frosting with a knife or offset spatula, or use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCupcakes.html#ixzz1LhfpGcJ0

Cream Cheese Frosting
6 tablespoons of butter at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1.5-2 cups of icing sugar, sifted depending on how sweet you like your frosting

Cream butter at medium speed until smooth
Add cream cheese and continue beating at medium low speed until there are no lumps
Sift icing sugar and continue beating at medium low until incorporated
Do not overbeat or else frosting will be too soft to pipe

I could only take this picture at night when the lighting is all screwed up, but this is what the red velvet cupcakes were really made for.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

I'm not generally a fan of chocolate based cookies, but these are amazing! I added chopped caramel to the top to make them look a little prettier and for some extra chewiness. The easiest way to cut the caramel up is to use a pair of sharp scissors. I love the simplicity of this recipe because all the chocolate comes from cocoa powder. There's no need to melt chocolate. Sometimes I get so obsessed with thinking that real chocolate is the only way you can get good chocolate flavour, but this recipe proves me wrong.


The dough is very sticky so it's best to chill it for a while. As usual, I press my cookies down so they spread a little nicer.


If you're looking for a truely chewy cookie and not one that's cakey like most chocolate based cookies are, try this recipe!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Adapted form Ina Garten
Makes 40 to 48 cookies

Ingredients
1/2 pound (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Chopped caramels

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I baked at 335 F)
Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla extract. Add dissolved mixture, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Put chopped caramel pieces on top. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 (I baked for 12) minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

TWD: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

It's been, oh, I don't know... 6 months since my last TWD post! I'm shocked if I'm still on the blogroll for being such a lazy member. Anyway, I thought I'd make my return with blondies.

I used to be a coconut hater, but ever since I made the samoas bars, I've been finding excuses to bake with coconut. Instead of adding the coconut into the batter, I toasted it and sprinkled it on top for a nice textural contrast. I don't like putting coconut into the dough because it makes them gritty. For the coconut haters, I sprinkled the nuts on the other half. I also don't like putting nuts in the dough because I find that they get soggy. I omitted the white sugar completely to cut down on the sweetness. These were good, but I wasn't crazy about them. I would rather have a chocolate chip cookie so I can enjoy the crispy edges rather than a uniformly soft and chewy square. I may try these again with white rather than butterscotch chips.


Thanks to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for choosing this week's recipe

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

What's not to love about oatmeal cookies sandwiched with a fudgey chocolate centre?! My expectations for these bars were pretty high, especially since they were very rich so it was a little bit of a disappointment when they weren't amazing. They were still good, but if I'm eating something this fattening, it better be crazy delicious.

I meant to blog about this for TWD when it was chosen by Lillian of Confectiona's Realm back in January!

Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies

Who wouldn't want to bite into a super chocolatey cookie, only to find a caramely surprise in the middle? Even though these cookies were a lot more time consuming and messy than usual drop cookies, it was totally worth the reactions I got once everyone bit into the centre. I had these bookmarked ever since I saw them over at Rebecca's blog, indecisive baker.

I opted for caramilk instead of rolos because I think they just taste better.
Cadbury >> Hershey's in my opinion.

The only thing I was worried about was the caramel hardening after the cookies cooled because that would kind of defeat the purpose of putting a chocolate covered caramel in the centre in the first place. To retain the gooeyness of the caramel, I broke chocolate into squares and then froze them before wrapping in dough. By the way, I'm not sure if I just totally made that up, but I figured that if the caramel stayed cooler longer, it would cook less and therefore, not harden as much later. The frozen chocolate also helped with shaping the cookie because the dough stayed cooler longer and was less sticky. I would definitely recommend chilling the dough first before shaping.


If only it wasn't that obvious that there was something in the middle...

Since I love Ina's chocolate white chocolate chunk cookie recipe, I used hers minus the white chocolate instead. You can also use Rebecca's recipe

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ina Garten
Makes 40 to 48 cookies

Ingredients
1/2 pound (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used white chocolate chips)
40-48 caramilk squares/rolos

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I baked at 335 F)
Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla extract. Add dissolved mixture, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed until just combined.

Cover and place bowl into the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours. (you need to chill or else it's too sticky)

Use a small cookie scoop (I use the Oxo brand, 2 tsp capacity) and unscoop it onto your hand. Flatten into a circle and place chocolate in the middle. Add another 1/2 a scoop to cover the top and seal the cracks.

Bake for 12 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Samoas Bars

Have you ever had a samoas? I haven't, until now because the only girl guide cookies in Canada are vanilla, chocolate and thin mints. This is something that everyone must try, even coconut haters because they are that good! To make it easier, I made the bar version from Baking Bites. I was seriously addicted to these and they even contain coconut and shortbread, both of which I'm not a fan of.

Unwrap

Melt

Enjoy

I'm posting the recipe showing the proportions of ingredients I used for an 8 x 8 square. For my bars, I made the crust thinner and topping thicker than it would have been had I followed the recipe for a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Homemade Samoas Bars from Baking Bites

Cookie Base:
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsps unsalted butter, softened
1/2 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 8x8-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping
1.5 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) I used unsweetened
8-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp milk
1 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok) - I only drizzled

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. (I melted caramels over a double boiler)
Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.
When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).
Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.
Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.

Note: You can simply drizzle chocolate on top of the bars before slicing them up if you’re looking for yet an easier way to finish these off. You won’t need quite as much chocolate as noted above, and you won’t quite get the Samoas look, but the results will still be tasty.

Smarties Cookies

Forget the mixer, everyone should make cookie dough by hand. It's more fun and you get a bit of a 'workout' HA! to help burn off all those cookies you end up eating.

I had a hard time incorporating all the flour in so I ended up using my hands, which gets kinda messy, but at least that's more cookie dough for me to snack on.

I flatten my cookies so they actually spread.

10 minutes later... I may have underbaked these a little too much because they were really soft and kind of reminded me of snacking on sugar cookie dough. I love cookie dough when it's completely raw, but the in between raw and cooked texture of grosses me out a little.

I wanted these to be more sugar cookie like than chocolate chip cookie like so I adapted a snickerdoodles recipe from CI. I thought that increasing the butter while decreasing the flour would make these chewier, but they ended up even softer and cakier than the regular snickerdoodles. Does anyone have a crispy edges, but chewy center sugar cookie recipe recommendation?

Smarties cookies
Based on CI's Snickerdoodle recipe
2 3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 335 F
Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated
Add vanilla.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix until the flour disappears
Portion dough using a medium cookie scoop ~ 1.5 tbsp and place on prepared cookie sheet three inches apart.
Flatten the dough slightly and press smarties into the dough
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are very lightly colored around the edges, the tops have cracked and the cookies have puffed and started to deflate
Cool cookies for 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack.