Brownie chocolate Halloween cupcakes

Finally a some new baking! I had a busy few weeks with my internship at the hospital, internal medicine. All very interesting, but I have less free time. So now I had a free week and I was so inspired by the other cupcakes I made, that I decided to make more! This time I made halloween themed cupcakes, with some cute pumkins made with fondant and black and (poisened) green buttercream icing. Last year I made decorated halloween cookies, which were nice as well.

These were so totally delicious in everyway! I wanted something different than chocolate cupcakes cakes, so I made brownie cupcakes. Which were very delicous but I do not recommend them if you want to keep them the day after. They are perfect after baking, but a day later they became quite hard. My friends however didn't mind and ate them anyway, awesome friends right?
I made chocolate frosting for half of the cupcakes, which I also colored red. I made the other half vanilla frosting, and colored those (poisoned) green. I decorated some with fondant pumkins, and decorated others with sparkles and drizzled white chocolate. Spoooky!

Brownie cupcakes

Ingredients

Yields: 24 cupcakes

1.6 Cups (200gr) all purpouse flour

1.3 Cups (300gr) butter, room temperature

1.5 Cups (300gr) white sugar

4 ounces (120gr) unsweetened chocoalte

4 eggs (medium)

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 170C (340F) and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners. Combine salt and flour in a bowl, set aside.

Melt the chocolate and butter au bain marie, or in the micro oven. Keep steering until combined well. Take the mixture off the heat and mix in the sugar.

Beat the eggs one by one. Then add the vanilla extract. At the end add the flour and salt mixture too it until smooth. You can add some pecans or walnuts if wanted.

Fill the liners with either a spoon or a ice scoop (what I did) by 2/3. They rise a little in the oven, but not that much. 

Bake the cupcaqkes for about 20-25 minutes in the oven. Check after 20 minutes if cupcakes are done, if not keep checking every 5 minutes.

Adapted from: Cupcakerecepten.nl

Classic Chocolate & Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients

Yields: 12-24 cupcakes (depending on how much frosting you use)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 1/2 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar

1/2 cup cocoa (for chocolate frosting)

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream

Method

Cream butter for a few minutes in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed. If you don't have a paddle attachment you can use the regular mixer, but paddle attachment is better. Turn off the mixer.

Mix dry ingredients in a separate mixing bowl.

Sift 3 cups powdered sugar and cocoa into the mixing bowl. 

Turn your mixer on the lowest speed (if you use a higher speed the dry ingredients will fly everywhere) until the sugar and cocoa are absorbed by the butter.

Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, and milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes

(You can add sugar/Milk to get the correct thickness/thinness needed).

Adapted from: Cupcakes and Bleach

Enjoy some spooky evenings!

Cookies & cream cupcakes

I have been wanting to make cupcakes in a while now. And what is better than some great Cookies & Cream cupcakes? The icing is super sweet but it combines very well with the oreo pieces in it. Also the oreo placed on the bottom of the cupcakes stays very crunchy, which I love in a cupcake.

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

24 Oreo halves, with cream filling attached

2¼ cups (142gram) all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

8 tbsp. (115gram) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 2/3 cup (375gram) sugar

3 large egg whites, at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup (235ml)milk

20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped

Method
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F (150C).  

Line the wells of two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.  Place an Oreo halve in the bottom of each liner, cream side up.  
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir together with a fork to blend and set aside. 
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Blend in the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Blend in the vanilla extract.  With the mixer on low speed, beat in half of the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  

Add the milk and beat just until combined, then mix in the remaining dry ingredients.  Gently fold in the chopped Oreos with a rubber spatula until evenly incorporated, being careful not to over-mix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared cupcake liners.  Bake for 18-20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from Annies Eats

Cookies & Cream frosting

Yield: 12 cupcakes (!!)

Ingredients
2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature 
2 1/3 cups (300 grams) powdered sugar, sifted 
2 tbsp whipping cream 
1 tsp pure vanilla extract 
1 heaping tbsp Oreo cookie crumbs (I used more)

Method

In bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with paddle attachment. 

Beat butter until very soft and fluffy - approx. 4 minutes on high speed.

Add sifted powdered sugar. 
Beat on slow speed until mixture starts to combine then increase to medium speed for 1 minute.

Then increase speed to to and beat for another 5 minutes .
Scrape down sides of bowl. Add heavy crean, vanilla extract and cookie crumbs. 
Beat 2 minutes on medium speed.

Pipe into the cupcakes, top with an oreo cookie if wanted. 

Adapted from Lemon Drop

Voilà! The result! Delicous and so so very sweet!

Sticky cinnamon pecan bites

This is a very easy recipe if you like cinnamon rolls. I love them, but I don't like working with yeast. I just find it very troublesome, and this recipe doesn't use any so I thought I would give it a try. They turned out delicious. Also, I love pecans so this recipe is perfect right?
I baked mine a little longer, which is not recommended if you wish to eat them the next day (the dough gets dry). But I like mine with a crispy layer of baked sugar, which you can clearly see on the pictures. If you don't want that, just bake them as the recipe says!
I did screw up in some part, mine didn't turn out to be small 'bites'. I didn't roll out the dough in a rectangular size, and I cut the dough into 12 pieces instead of 24. They became bigger like that, which is not a problem and they where delicious anyway, and just bigger.
But if you really want small bites, then use a mini cupcake pan and follow the recipe correctly. Enjoy!




Sticky Cinnamon pecan bites
Ingredients

24 pecan halves

1 cup (125gr) unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface

1 teaspoon (5gr) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt, plus additional for sprinkling

3/4 cup (200gr) heavy cream

1/2 cup (119gr) packed brown or muscovado sugar

1/2 (3gr) teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons (30gr) unsalted butter, very soft, plus more for the muffin cups

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Lightly butter the muffin cups unless they are nonstick.

2. Place a pecan half in each muffin cup, top side down. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork. Make a well in the center. Pour the cream into the well. Use a rubber spatula to fold and stir the flour mixture and cream together just until the dry ingredients are completely moistened and a soft dough is formed. The dough should not look perfectly smooth. Let the dough rest for 2 to 3 minutes to firm.

3. Meanwhile, mix the sugar with the cinnamon.

4. On a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll the dough to a rectangle about 12 by 7 inches and 1/4 inch thick. Use a small offset spatula or your fingertips to spread the dough with the soft butter, then sprinkle with a pinch of salt and the brown sugar, leaving a 1/8 to 1/4 inch border. Press the seam to seal. Starting at one short end, roll the dough tightly. Gently stretch the dough to lengthen the roll slightly to about 12 inches in length. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

5. Cut the dough roll crosswise into 24 equal pieces. (It’s easiest to do this by cutting the dough in half, then cutting each half in half, then cutting each portion into 6 pieces. This is easier to do than it sounds.) Place each piece of dough in a muffin cup, cut side up.

6. Bake the sticky buns for 12 to 15 minutes, until browned. Rotate the pan(s) from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking(I really advise this). (The longer you leave them in the oven, the crisper the edges but the drier the dough.) Immediately turn the buns out onto a sheet of parchment on a heatproof surface. (And we do mean immediately, otherwise the buns may stick to the pan.) Serve warm out of the oven.

Enjoy these babies!

Taco Pizza

Mexican food is one of my favorite types of food. Guacamole, sour cream, nacho's, melted cheese, salsa sauce... need I say more? One of my favorite dishes is enchiladas, with homemade enchilada sauce, homemade guacamole and also topped with a big portion of sour cream. Yes I am drooling right now. And yes, this has a lot of calories (that's why I don't eat it much, but when I do eat it, I eat it goood.)

I found this video on YouTube the other day, and then I found this video as well. And well, the taco pizza was made! And let me tell you, it was de-licious! (for the recipe, check the second video out)

Taco Pizza

Ingredients

I have no exact measurements for this recipe, because you can make it exactly like you want it. And that's the fun of it! Also the directions speak for themselves, but I mention it anyways.

Storebought pizza dough
1 can Tomato sauce
1 tsp Mexican spice mix (like taco mix or something else you like)
Cheese
Guacamole

Sour cream

Natural nacho's
Olives

Other vegetables for topping

Method
1. Preheat oven as instructed on the dough package. Rollout your pizzadough. Mix the spiceswith the tomato sauce (this is ofcourse optional, but I like this spicy) and spread it over the dough.
2. Add your cheese, olives and other vegetables.

3. Bake as said on the packaging.

4. When baked, put guacamole, sourcream and nacho's on top and cut in pieces.

Enjoy!

Katharine Hepburn's brownies

 I have been searching for a good brownie recipe quite some while, and have been through about a dozen recipes. This was the last one I tried out, and it's a keeper! I have been making it ever since for special occasions. It's a fudge-type brownie, which is my favorite.
It's probably one of the easiest recipes out there, so perfect for those busy days where you have to bake something fast.

All of the ingredients, except the chocolate, vanilla extract and salt.

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.

2. Butter and flour an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan. Melt the chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.

Whisk the eggs

3. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Next, stir in the vanilla extract and eggs.

4. Finally, stir in the flour, salt and chopped nuts. I didn't have any nuts when making it this time, but I REALLY recommend adding some pecans! Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. These freeze very well.
 Makes 16 brownies.

I cut mine into squares and put them in this cute tin. Cute and yummy!

Katharine Hepburns Brownies
Ingredients

2 ounces (60 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsaltedbutter, cut into pieces

1 cup (200 grams) granulated whitesugar

2 largeeggs

1/2 teaspoon purevanillaextract

1/4 cup (30 grams) all-purposeflour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (100 grams) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. 

2. Butter and flour an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan. Melt the chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.

3. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Next, stir in the vanilla extract and eggs. 

4. Finally, stir in the flour, salt and chopped nuts. I didn't have any nuts when making it this time, but I really recommend adding some pecans! Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature or chilled. These freeze very well. 

 Makes 16 brownies.

Adapted from Joy of baking

Strawberry tart

Summer is comming! And for me that means fruit tarts! One of my favorites is this strawberry tart. I have made it several times for birthdays, and made it for my colleages from my internship. And so far, it has been a great succes!

My favorite part is the crust. It's made of pecans, my favorite nut type. The filling is made of creamcheese and white chocolate, and to make it summery, I added some lemon juice. 

Crust

• 3/4 cup Pecans
• 1/4 cup (32g) sugar
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2cup (113gr) butter, in pieces
• 1 eggyolk
  
  

1. Preheat the oven at 170C (338F). Grind the pecans in a food processor. My experience is that the pecans don't really 'grind', but they consist of bits of pieces. Thats no problem, I actually quite like it. Yumm!

2. Mix the butter, sugar and flour together. I do this with the Kitchen Aid, but use what you like. Then add the pecans.

3. Add the eggyolk and combine throuhly untill it forms a ball of dough. It's not supposed to be a firm dough, like a cookie dough. It's more like a floury dough.
 (is that even correct english, haha)

4.This dough is hard to roll out. What I do is I take pieces from the dough and press them into the pan, untill it forms a whole crust. Make sure you spread the dough evenly, so that there are no tiny holes.

5. Place a piece of baking papier over the crust, then spread baking beans over it.  Bake in the oven for about 15-17 minutes with the baking paper over it. After, remove the baking paper and baking beans and bake for another 10 minutes. At the end the ends should be brown and crispy.
Let it cool down.

Filling

• 80gr white chocolate
• 300gr creamcheese
• 1/2 cup (100g) white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• Strawberries

1. Mix in a bowl or a food processor the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla sugar until its a fluffy'-like mixture
2. Melt the white chocolate a bain marie. Then you can spread the chocolate over the crust, or mix it with the entire filling.  Sometimes I like spreading it over the crust, and let it cool down and get hard. This gives an extra firm and crispness to the tart. If you mix it with the filling, let it cool down a little before you do so.
3. Spread the mixture over the crust. Remove the crowns of your strawberries and cut into slices. Place them on the cake, and voila!

I let the cake still half an hour in the refrigerator before I cut it.
I promise you will not regret having the tart, perfect for spring or summer!

Cupcake decorating attempt

So I did my first time cupcake decorating! It was so much fun to do, but sadly I didn't have the right tips for it.And I'm not that happy with the results either, but hey! But first time for everything right?
I did love to make them, and I am going to do it more often from now on.
These were chocolate cupcakes and the topping was just plain butter cream. The taste was great well, next time I will post a recipe!
Don't mind the brown tips of the cupcake wrappers, I have no idea why those changed color.

Any tips for me to improve my decorating?