Chocolate chip pumpkin muffins

Hello all! This is the first Austin-based post! After taking a month (and change) to settle in, I'm back on the baking bandwagon. What better way to win the hearts (and stomachs) of some co-workers than by bringing in sweet treats?

Pumpkin-inspired deliciousness is the best part of fall, so I was eager to try a new recipe with some old favorites: chocolate and pumpkin (and the organic stuff was cheaper than the regular!).

I stumbled upon this recipe from a blog I've used before, the pioneer woman. She updates more often than me (though I'm going to work on that...) and has some great recipes.

The muffins were just as easy as they sound, and my new roommate's kitchen aid mixer made the job easier than pumpkin pie. One amendment: instead of doing the whole "add half the chocolate chips, then top with the other half" gig, just roll as many chocolate chips as you desire in about a 1/2 a cup of flour. Then dump the lot into a collander or sifter and sift the flour into the trash. Coating any ingredient will prevent it from falling to the bottom of a cake-y creation (muffin, cupcake, cake, etc.).

Oh, and thanks to the new laptop and its webcam(my mac of 5 years had a swift death just 20 minutes before I had to do an interview...), I'll be able to provide more photos!

Happy baking!

Chocolate bday mousse!

So it has been brought to my attention that I've been a little lazy with the blog posting. I guess the fact that my last post was 4 months ago kinda answers that question. But with two vacations, four birthdays (including my own), a sibling graduation AND preparing to move at the beginning of August, I've been pretty busy. Oh, and don't forget that I work for two families, as well as freelance. But, on to the business at hand...

This past Saturday, my family celebrated my sister's 28th bday and I was in charge of dessert. Thought it wasn't a surprise (my sister helped me plan it), she and the rest of the family loved it! I made the chocolate mousse from the back of the Jello sugar free chocolate pudding box (recipe below). From there it was a 6 step process:

1) Crack a butter cookie into two or three pieces and place a the bottom of a glass (I used martini glasses because they were on hand and prettier, but unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo).
2) Put two to three heaping tablespoons of mousse on top of crackers.
3) Next, place a dollop of whipped cream or cool whip on top.
4) Sprinkle crushed butter cookie crumbs over top.
5) Grate chocolate shavings over it (I used dark, as requested).
6) Place four or five berries around the edge (I used raspberries and blackberries).

It was delicious!

Jello Chocolate Mousse Recipe

1 box of Jello Sugar Free Instant Chocolate Pudding
1 1/2 cups of milk
2 squares of baking chocolate
1/2 cup cool whip

Place baking chocolate and 1 cup milk in a large bowl, and microwave for 2 minutes. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Add pudding packet and remainder of milk, and beat for two minutes. Place in refrigerator for 20 minutes to cool. Mix in cool whip just before serving.

Happy baking!

Whipped up in minutes....

I love potlucks. Hosting them, attending them or even just hearing about a great, plentiful potluck makes me happy. Last-minute invites can pose a bit of a problem, but trying to come up with something yummy sans a trip to the store is one of my favorite challenges.

Yesterday my roommates and I were invited to a friend's house for another fantastic feast. And just as I was thinking of when I would make it to the store around my work schedule, I remembered: I have a can of Pillsbury crescent rolls in my fridge! Note: After this little baking success, I will be keeping a can of these on hand like flour and water.

So I thought through my other ingredients and came up with: Mini Apple Turnovers Drizzled with Chocolate. Unfortunately I don't have a photo, but my finger-licking friends can vouch for the deliciousness that were these pastries. I simply chopped up a red apple, then sliced each crescent dough triangle in half. I spread a small amount of butter on the inside of the dough, drop a teaspoon full of chopped apple on it and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Then I folded the two corners over and followed the baking directions from the can. I let the mini-turnovers cool just a bit, then I drizzled about two or three tablespoons of melted chocolate chips over them. Warm and doughy, with a slight hint of chocolate and a crunch from the apple (not entirely melted)= very good!

This recipe could certainly be altered-- put pretty much ANYTHING inside a crescent roll and you're bound to get compliments.

Happy baking!

Not-so-sweet treat, but just as delish

Though this blog is mostly devoted to the lovely world of baking, I will from time to time actually cook. That being said, I want to share with all of you intertron-fans my savory successes as well!

The other night I made a chicken and dumpling recipe that was the easiest AND most home-y, warms-the-soul-on-a-cold-night meal I'm made in a long time. The recipe can be found here, though I only used the dumpling portion. My friend and I shredded a small, pre-cooked rotisserie chicken from the store. We also added green beans (there has to be SOMETHING healthy going on here...).

Might I add, the most fun part of this meal (besides the eating and the tons of leftovers) was slicing the dough with a pizza cutter.

Any other great variations on chicken and dumplings?

Valentine's Day portraits!

Here's just a sampling of the adorableness....

Chocolate Sweethearts!

For the cutesy V-day party my roomies and I threw last night, I decided to make a Martha Stewart recipe: Chocolate Sweethearts. Now, normally, Martha's concoctions are adorable and ever-so-themed, but there's just too much detail involved. But this recipe turned out great!

Find it here.

I had to substitute chocolate chips for cocoa, which I thought would make it super sweet. But, I cut down on the chocolate pieces and the sweetness was just right. Subtle, with a great after taste (and a true relief next to all the other super sweet desserts).

And I have no photo of my own, but I guarantee mine where just as cute as Martha's. And some shots of our adorable V-day portrait area will arrive shortly!

Happy Baking!

Katie-Kelsey-Kupcake-Katastrophe

photo: World's Largest Cupcake by none-other than Duff Goldman, the owner of Charm City Cakes and featured on Ace of Cakes, the Food Network show. (photo courtesy of delish.com)
This past Saturday, my roommate Katie and I ventured into the world of cupcakes sans papers for a friend's birthday party. Greased tins? yes. Successful? Not so much. After peeling away 18 cupcakes by hand to find a soft and extremely messy outer layer, we realized these could not be served. Not as cupcakes, anyway.

So, we smushed them into a casserole dish and iced the top. Oh, and distracted from the gaps by adding heart-shaped strawberries, cookie crumbles and chocolate covered coffee beans. And we called it a cake.

Lesson learned: do NOT use Crisco. For anything (at least, that's my theory.).

The chocolate icing was what was truly to-die for; recipe to be posted soon.

best wishes in your baking endeavors!

I've been busy?

Long time, no update! Ah well, it's been pretty crazy with graduation, the holidays and a niece's birthday. I almost lost my baking touch (gasp!) but I think it may have been salvaged in the last week. My most recent baking exploits:

- Thanksgiving: a chocolate meringue pie. It was my first time baking a pie (though not a first for the pie crust), and my first time making meringue. The recipe looked easy enough, but I think it should have been more specific as far as how long to let the chocolate mixture go on the stove. My chocolate never thickened, even after freezing. The meringue, while delicious, also didn't spread well, so it looked like little icebergs of meringue floating on a chocolate ocean. Delicious according to all and completely devoured by the end of the night, but a bit of a failure in my opinion.

- Pre-Christmas: sugar cookies. The dough was made by my sister and I did the rolling and cutting (very soothing). The cookies themselves weren't sweet enough, but her icing compensated. The only problem was that the icing wouldn't harden, allowing you to stack the cookies. So when I decorated cookies with friends, I made a new icing that advertised itself as perfect for cookies because it hardens quickly. One problem: way too much crisco! It was all you could taste and the tupperware containers were impossible to clean with all that grease! It was good fun though (see picture), as was making creative and hip ornaments for my friends' tree.

- Christmas: Snowball cake. Another fantastic success thanks to Kraft Foods! The recipe was about as simple as it gets, but super delicious with the cream cheese surprise and crunchy coconut. The cake also comes out super moist.

- Soup night: rosemary bread. My first-ever bread and it got rave reviews. A great accompaniment to any soup, this bread is supposed to be an imitation of Macaroni Grill's bread, though most people said its better. I would recommend this recipe to anyone, first-time bread makers or seasoned bakers!

Will do my best to keep up with the blog. Now that I'm done with school (!!!), I'll have a lot more time to try new recipes. A delicious basket of cookies could be just the trick to getting that new job....