weekend stuff {05/18/13}

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I had finals this week & it was a busy one, so not too many pictures.
But it was also the last week of my first year of college, so it was a good one :)

Happy Saturday! Have a wonderful weekend :)

xoxoxo,
Angelyn

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This cake withstood a lot.

It was unloved. It didn't get baked all the way through. And it cracked. Right in half. It was bad.

So you're probably wondering why in the world I would be sharing the recipe. Let me explain. Last week, I came home after class and I felt like baking a pound cake [doesn't everyone feel like baking pound cakes on random afternoons?]. I whipped up the batter before realizing that my mom needed the oven to make a roast for dinner. I figured, no big deal, I'll just turn the temperature up towards the end and cut 15 minutes off the baking time.

BAD IDEA. Don't do that. The cake won't bake all the way through and it will probably crack and fall apart when you attempt to get it out of the pan. Just follow the instructions.

If you don't have a problem with reading and following instructions, you'll be perfectly fine. Because other than my attempt at shortening the baking time, this cake is pretty much fail proof [just misspelled proof three times. oops]. And easy. Annnnnd phenomenal.

When I saw this recipe, I knew that I wanted to recreate. But I'm way more into chocolate than fruit [however, chocolate and fruit is good! chocolate covered strawberries anyone?], so I opted to leave the strawberry swirl out. Instead, I made a plain pound cake, which was incredibly buttery and moist by the way, and topped it with the most incredible chocolate frosting/glaze ever.

I'm going to start dunking everything in that stuff.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Pound Cake (Adapted from: Brown Eyed Baker | Glaze)

Prep Time: 20 minutes       Total Time: about 2 hours
Cook Time: 1-1/2 hours     Yield: 10-12 servings

1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 tablespoons milk
3 cups all-purpose (or cake) flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a standard sized bundt pan.
In stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and cream cheese until soft and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in eggs, vanilla and milk and beat until completely incorporated. Gradually add in flour and salt, mixing just until combined.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours or until a thin knife inserted near center comes out clean.
Let the cake cool for about 15 minutes in the pan and then flip out onto a pan or wire rack. Cool completely.
In a double boiler over hot water, combine chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup. Mix until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Pour the warm glaze on top of the cake and allow to drip down the sides.
Keep cake covered loosely with plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Now, have some cake. Everything is better with cake.

Brownie Petit Fours

Helllllo sprinkles. Nice to see you.

It's been a while. Too long actually. It's kind of hard for me to go more than a couple of weeks without using sprinkles. Yes, I used sprinkles just last week when I made these. But they were just kind of for decoration [all sprinkles are, kind of, but whatever] in that case. They didn't stand out. They weren't the main attraction. And I definitely didn't use enough. And they weren't even the colorful kind! So I made up for that by making a dessert that showcases sprinkles. Sprinkles were the main ingredient. Basically.

Can you believe that I just talked about sprinkles for an entire paragraph? I can. All the studying and finals must be getting to my head. And I'm getting a little delusional. Also: I'm pretty sure the paragraph above could win an award for the most times the word "sprinkles" was used in a paragraph.

Anyway. I have brownies! But not just any brownies, oh no. I started out with just a simple batch of brownies [which I baked a couple of nights ago at 9:30. you may have seen that I tweeted about it]. Most good things start with a batch of brownies. But I didn't stop there. No way! I cut the brownies into small-ish pieces, dunked them in melted chocolate and then doused them with handfuls of colorful sprinkles.

Let me summarize that: brownies + melted chocolate + sprinkles = Brownie Petit Fours.

So bright! So colorful! So chocolatey! So good! [so corny?] Keep in mind that these are a tad on the rich side. I can handle rich, so if I'm saying that they're rich, than they're probably pretty rich. But anyway. You should cut the brownies into somewhat small pieces. But that's totally up to you. Just have fun with it! :)

Brownie Petit Fours (Brownies adapted from Joy the Baker)

Prep Time: 25 minutes         Total Time: 50 minutes + cooling
Cook Time: 25 minutes        Yield: 2-3 dozen small brownies

8 oz. unsweetened chocolate
12 tablespoons butter
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
2-3 teaspoons canola oil
Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13" x 9" pan.
Place chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a stand mixer, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla until pale and thick. Pour the chocolate mixture in and mix until completely incorporated. Add the flour mixture and stir just until combined.
Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.
Cool completely.

Melt chocolate chips and canola oil in a double boiler. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Let cool slightly. Cut brownies into small squares. Dip the top of each brownie in the melted chocolate and top with sprinkles. Let chocolate set before serving. Store in an airtight container.

The sprinkles are mandatory. Waiting for the chocolate to set is not.

Mini Cinnamon Buns

Mini things are so much fun, yeah?

They taste better too. And you can have as many as you want [actually, you can have as many as you want when it comes to normally sized things too, but it might be somewhat frowned upon. I mean depending on where you are and who you're with]. Mini cupcakes are kind of ironic though. Because cupcakes are mini versions of cakes. So why would you need a mini version of a mini version!? I don't really know.

But they're fun. And they taste wonderful. 

Frosting mini cupcakes is fun, but dividing the batter between all the little cupcakes is kind of a pain. And a little bit tedious. And that's it. I'm all out of talk about mini stuff.

Unless we're talking about cinnamon buns. Cinnamon buns are in my top 3 favorite foods, right up there with pizza and chicken bacon ranch subs. I will never, ever turn down a cinnamon bun. And I will probably never turn down an opportunity to make cinnamon buns. So I can talk about Mini Cinnamon Buns. 

I've always thought that these cinnamon buns were my favorite recipe, ever. But I don't know. I think this recipe might be replacing it. I mixed up the dough in my stand mixer and it took all of ten minutes and was super easy to work with. That's a huge plus for me because I really don't like making dough in my stand mixer. Even with the dough hook. I find it to be a pain.

I probably don't even need to talk about the filling and icing, or the smell while these were baking, or how phenomenal they tasted straight out of the oven, dripping with icing, and still nice and warm. We all know just how amazing cinnamon buns are. This is just another recipe to add to your repertoire. And it's an incredible one at that. Enjoy!

Mini Cinnamon Buns (Adapted from: Barbara Bakes)

Prep Time: 30 minutes         Total Time: 40 minutes + rising/cooling

Cook Time: 10 minutes        Yield: 48 mini cinnamon buns

4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 cup sugar

2-1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

1-3/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup milk

1/3 cup butter, cut up

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

4 teaspoons cinnamon powder

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon milk

Using the paddle attachment, combine 3-1/2 cups flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a large mixing bowl. 

In the microwave, heat the milk and butter together until warm. Add to flour mixture. Mix in eggs. Mix at low speed until moistened, then mix at medium speed for 3 minutes. 

Switch to the dough hook and beat in the remaining flour, a little bit at a time, to make a soft dough. Knead the dough for 5 minutes. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.

Mean while, stir together the brown sugar, granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl for the filling. 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease 48 mini muffin cups.
Divide the dough into four pieces. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into an 8" x 12" rectangle. Spread with 2 tablespoons of butter and sprinkle with 1/4 of the sugar mixture. Start with the long end and roll up. Cut into 12 slices. Place each slice into the muffin pan, cut side up. Repeat with the three remaining pieces of dough.
Loosely cover the muffin pans and let the dough rise for about 30 minutes.
Bake for about 10 minutes until lightly golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Beat cream cheese and butter together in a small bowl. Slowly add in powdered sugar. Beat in vanilla and milk. Spread the icing over warm rolls.

What a way to start out your Monday, huh? Have a lovely day! 

weekend stuff {05/11/13}

[Follow along on Instagram!]

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts.
This week was wonderful :)

xoxoxo,
Angelyn

Banana Cream Oatmeal Bites

I've decided that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.

Maybe even more than dessert. Wait a second. That's a big maybe. Besides, I'm not even sure if dessert is actually a meal. Basically, I prefer breakfast over lunch and dinner.

Yesterday, I went to a breakfast buffet and awards ceremony for school. There was the usual lineup: eggs, bacon, hash browns, English muffins, fruit, coffee and orange juice. But then I came to the platters of mini pastries. There were even tiny cinnamon buns. I was sold. Everything on my plate was phenomenal. And I would like to hire that caterer to bring me breakfast in bed every morning.

I may possibly need to get a couple of really well-paying jobs.

Anyhoo. You could eat these little bites for breakfast if you wanted. I wouldn't mind. They even have oats in them! And banana! Sort of. These Banana Cream Oatmeal Bites are simple: oatmeal cookie dough topped with banana cream pudding. Ridiculously easy. Completely addicting. Good enough for breakfast. Actually, they're delicious no matter what time of day you consume them. Breakfast is just better with cookies.

I also gave these a healthy [not really] dose of sprinkles. They looked a little too plain and boring. And it's practically the number one rule of food blogging/food photography/being a "foodie" to jazz everything up with sprinkles. The number two rule is that everything is better with chocolate. That's why I tossed a handful of chocolate chips into the cookie dough.

Banana Cream Oatmeal Bites (Adapted from: Created by Diane)

Prep Time: 15 minutes        Total Time: 25 minutes + cooling
Cook Time: 10 minutes       Yield: 4 dozen bite-sized cookies

1 package (3.4 oz) banana cream pudding
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
Sprinkles, optional

Prepare the banana cream pudding according to package directions. Refrigerate while preparing the cookies.
Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease two mini muffin pans.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in oats, flour, salt and baking soda just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.
Fill the muffin tins about halfway with dough. Bake for 9 minutes or until very lightly browned on top. Let cool in pans for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Pipe the prepared pudding on top of the cooled cookies. Decorate with sprinkles. Store in the refrigerator.

I really love making cookie cups like these. Happy Friday!!

Cookies for Causes {my fundraising weekend}

I've been mentioning [probably way too much] that I baked a ton of cookies for a fundraiser a couple of weeks ago.

Well I went to the fundraiser two weekends ago [it was on April 27]. A friend of my uncle's was recently diagnosed with terminal breast cancer so her friends & family put together an event for her. Tickets were about $25 and there was a buffet and open bar plus live entertainment. It was held at a really cool venue near Philadelphia right on the water.

And everything was pink. Seriously.

In order to raise even more funds, they auctioned off hundreds of items including bedding sets, candles, cameras, guitars, small furniture, purses, wine baskets and a whole lot more. They also sold shirts and cookies. Which is where I come in. I was asked to bake and donate 150 cookies [50 packs of three] to be sold at the event.

Here's what I did: I baked up about 4 batches of this sugar cookie recipe, and used this cookie cutter to cut them into the ribbon shape before baking. Then I made two batches of this buttercream recipe and dyed it pink. I outlined the cookies in the pink icing. That's all they needed. Really! Lastly I packaged them up in groups of three and secured them with a pink ribbon and a little label.

Pretty sure they were a hit. Cause I came home with an empty basket.

I also attended another fundraiser the day before. Well, not quite. Let me explain. All year long, the different clubs at my school [including the one I'm part of] have been doing a ton of fundraising to benefit kids in need in the city around the campus. Friday [the 26th of April] was the final event and I was a volunteer. There were games and music and cupcakes [I'll admit that I had two. and they were phenomenal] and we got to present the kids with a big check. I had to take a picture. Because I've always wanted to see one of those big checks. They're cool.

So I attended two fundraisers in one weekend. They both supported great causes and I'm happy to have had these experiences - it makes life interesting!

Catch you all on Friday with another recipe. Happy Wednesday!! :)

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies

I should have added a couple more words to that title.

But I figured it was already a tad long. Wanna know what the title really should have been? Chocolate Covered Pretzel Peanut Butter Brownies. Heck yes, there are chocolate covered pretzels on top of peanut butter frosting on top of brownies. We already established that chocolate covered pretzels are among my favorite things. [seriously need to compile a list of all my favorite things some time. I just have so much to share!]

Another favorite thing? Tortilla chips dipped in sour cream and then in shredded cheese. The sour cream helps the cheese stick. Last Thursday, we had tacos [nope, not yesterday, even though yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. we're not traditional like that] and I did this whole chip thing. You should probably try it for yourself. It's so good. I'm pretty sure it ended up being my lunch the next day too. Oops.

You're probably a lot more interested in these brownies though. Last week, I posted about some chocolate covered pretzel cookies that I made. If you look at the pictures, you can see that there are some chocolate covered pretzels scattered around. I didn't actually put those in the cookies. They were kind of just props. So I popped them in a plastic bag and stuck them in the freezer. And then I needed the perfect recipe to use them up.

And then I stumbled across the recipe for these Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies. Ohhhh mannnn. My brother said they were his favorite thing that I've made. Ever. They even beat out these [so good!]. And these [even better]. It's basically just a pan of brownies. With a stiff peanut butter buttercream/topping. Covered in chopped chocolate covered pretzels. You might want to do this.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies (Adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction)

Prep Time: 30 minutes          Total Time: 1 hour + cooling
Cook Time: 30 minutes         Yield: about 24 brownies

2 sticks butter
2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
2 cups confectioner's sugar
about 25 chocolate covered pretzels

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13" x 9" pan; set aside.
In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in sugar and vanilla. Remove from heat and add eggs, one at a time, stirring after each addition. Stir in cocoa, flour, baking powder and salt just until combined. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Let cool completely.
In a medium bowl, cream butter and peanut butter. Gradually add confectioner's sugar. Spread over the brownies in an even layer. Coarsely chop the pretzels and sprinkle over the peanut butter layer. Let set before cutting. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Say hello to your new favorite brownie.