Tea Time!

Ah tea, wonderful in the morning to wake you up, and great at night to put you to sleep. Whatever time of day you drink tea, I'm sure you'd enjoy a nice, light, crispy treat to go with it? Or maybe you just want to enjoy the taste of tea but not in a drink? How, you say? =D Well, after watching an episode of 5 Ingredient Fix the other day, I found out how. Tea shortbread cookies =D yum! So as I was making these cookies at 10 o' clock at night, I was very tired so I put in an extra cup of flour :O But not to worry, I fixed it of course and added a bit of lemon for a little somethin somethin. So, I hope you enjoy this recipe for tea shortbread cookies =]


Ingredients:
-3 cups flour
-1 cup powdered sugar
-2 tea bags of your favorite tea (I used a vanilla chamomile tea) 
-2 1/2 sticks of butter
-2 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp. lemon extract 


Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  
-In a food processor, combine flour, sugar and contents of tea bags and pulse until incorporated and tea stuff is ground up. 
-Add butter and extracts into food processor and process until dough forms. 
-Form into a log, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for about an hour or until firm
-After an hour unwrap your cookie dough and cut into 1/4 inch rounds and place on baking sheet about an inch apart and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack and enjoy! 

If you've got tea lovers in the family, these won't last long =]

Puppy Doggy!

This is Deacon, he's the family dog, the little guy who brought our family together, he's that stupid yet smart dog who runs into walls yet knows right from wrong, he can open doors, tell you when he has to go outside or just drops a ball at your foot when he wants to play. The one thing he loves most of all though is, of course, food! He's always had his snausages and beggin' strips but he seemed to like our treats much more, so that's why yesterday, when I was feeling kinda down, I combined my two favorite things I love most when I'm upset, baking and Deacon! So if you want to show your dog just how much you care, I hope you (and your dog of course) love this recipe for Peanut Butter Puppy Biscuits! =D

Ingredients:

-1 1/2 cups water  
-1/2 cup oil
-2 eggs
-1 tbs. molasses
-1/4 cup Peanut butter
-1 tbs. vanilla
-3 cups flour
-1/2 cup cornmeal
-1 cup shredded coconut or oats

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
-Beat wet ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Combine dry ingredients with wet gradually until incorporated into a dough ball (it will be kind of like a pizza dough) 

Yes, they are tempting

-Roll about 1 inch bite sized pieces of dough into balls and plop onto your baking sheet. (they don't have to be too much apart because they wont spread out much so there can be a lot on one pan) bake for 20 minutes and let cool completely on a wire rack before feeding to your little friend =] 
-Store in an airtight container

I'm sure your pup will love em' as much as mine did

Probably have to keep and eye on them too xD

Hope

A few days ago my friends Savannah, Amber, and I got together to make cupcakes for Relay For Life. Since our friends mother has breast cancer we thought it would be nice to decorate appropriately (although they don't look the best, but hey, it's the thought that counts) So If you wanna do something nice for an even like this or just make some tasty cakes here you go! It's a vanilla cake with chocolate ganache topping. 


Ingredients:
-3 cups flour
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. salt 
-1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp.
-2 cups sugar
-4 eggs, room temp
-1 cup milk
-2 tsp. vanilla extract 


Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tray with baking cups 
-In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking power, and salt. In the bowl of an electiric stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy, then add sugar until light and fluffy. 
-Add eggs on at a time, beating well after each one. Turn speed on low and alternately add milk and flour mixture, ending with flour until just mixed, add vanilla until just mixed. 
-Divide batter into cupcake pans about 2/3 of the way full. Bake for about 18-22 minutes or until tooth pick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting, ENJOY! 


For ganache:
-8 oz. dark chocolate chopped fine
-1 cup heavy cream 
-Opt: 1 tbs. rum 


Directions:
-On medium low heat melt chocolate in a double boiler (glass bowl over boiling/simmering water) until smooth, add heavy cream and rum and stir until smooth, let cool a little bit then dip your cupcakes. 

I decorated the ribbons on the cupcakes with royal Icing I used Wilton's so here is a link to that http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Egg-White-Royal-Icing-1 
I hope you enjoyed this recipe =] If you would like to donate or learn more about relay for life please visit http://www.relayforlife.org/relay/ thank you for your support! 

It's cookie time!

So I actually did not make up this recipe, I got it from http://www.lovefromtheoven.com/ it's actually where I got the inspiration to make a baking blog, so if you read this, then you should definitely  check out love from the oven, it's great (and a lot better than this one lol) So anywho, onto the cookies. So my friend Cassie and I went hiking a few weeks ago, we worked very hard and had lost a lot of calories, which is great, but...we wanted cookies xD so my mom dropped us off at the store for ingredients and after spending half an hour looking for vanilla (we couldn't find it) we went home, and probably gained back all the calories we lost from the hike, by eating the dough xD although, the final cooked product was delicious too =]

 Ingredients:
-2 sticks butter, cold and cut into cubes 
-3/4 cups light brown sugar
-3/4 cups dark brown sugar 
-2 eggs
-1 1/2 tsp. vanilla (found some in my cabinet, yay!)
-3 cups flour (slightly more or less may be needed)
-1 1/2 tsp. salt 
-2 tsp. cornstarch 
-1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
-1/4 tsp. baking soda
-2 cups chocolate chips (I used chunks) 
Opt- 1.2 block semi-sweet or dark chocolate
Opt- 1 cup walnuts


Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, cream together cubed butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, until well mixed. 
-In another bowl, mix flour (about 2 1/2 cups to start with), salt, cornstarch, baking powder, and baking soda. Add that to egg and sugar mixture until just combined. It should be very thick, if dough is still sticky though, add more flour (about 1/4 cup at a time). 
-Combine dough and chocolate chips, its a very thick dough though so don't be afraid to mix it all in by hand, it's more fun that way anyway =] 

-So here I have provided an example of two different sized cookies, Cassie and I made normal sized at first but decided they were too small so we made large ones in the next batch. The normal cookies bake for about 8 to 10 minutes and the large bake for 12 to 14 minutes. 


There you have it! The most amazing chocolate chip cookies you will ever eat! At least, we thought so =] and again, this recipe was from http://www.lovefromtheoven.com/, the only thing I did was add vanilla because I love vanilla. But seriously, the woman who made this site is wonderful, there are many great recipes on there so I hope you'll check it out =D

Pick Me Up

Ahhh tiramisu, one of Italy's greatest creations. I take Italian in my school and today was (or was suppose to be) food day! I was excited to eat ravioli and bread and all that good stuff and of course I wasn't going to be there without bringing something so I made tiramisu! It was great, too bad food day was interrupted by a bomb threat at my school, gotta love my town xD. Anywho, my class didn't get to try it but to be completely honest, I didn't mind too much (more for me!) so I shared it with some bando friends and two random people, and its almost gone xD (there was a lot) so I hope you enjoy this recipe, it's very light because I did not put eggs in it like its traditionally made with so I guess you could say it's a healthier version of tiramisu ;]

Ingredients:

-Two packages of lady fingers (finger-like italian cookies)

-3 cups strong coffee

-2 tbs. dark rum
-1 cup heavy whipping cream
-Two 8 oz. packages of mascarpone cheese
-About 1 cup of sugar
-About 1/2 cup cocoa powder
-13 by 9 inch pan


Directions:
-In a medium bowl, whip whipping cream with about 1/3 cup of sugar (more or less may be needed, it depends on how sweet you like it)  When cream is stiff and forms soft peaks, gently mix in mascarpone cheese, but not for too long, otherwise you'll end up with butter. 
-Meanwhile, make three cups of strong coffee and let cool, when its about room temp add the rum and about 1/3 cup of sugar(again, more or less may be needed, depends on what you like). Now it's time for the fingers, lady fingers that is, dip them in coffee-rum mixture and place in bottom of pan, you should have half of the lady fingers remaining. Spread the cream mixture on top and sprinkle with half of the cocoa powder, do the same thing for the next layer, dip, place, spread, sprinkle with the rest of the ingredients. And there you have it, the famous tiramisu! Enjoy! 


Tiramisu: literally means "pick me up"

Delicious Chocolate Cake!

So this is the recipe that I used to make the cupcakes for my teacher, I got it from a magazine but I tweaked it up a bit, so it's seriously rich and delicious, I made this with a basic butter cream but I love it with peanut butter frosting so that is what you get, hahaha! 

Cake:

-1 1/2 cups sugar

-1 1/2 cups flour

-3/4 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1 cup coffee

-6 oz. of a dark chocolate baking bar, finely chopped 

-1/2 cup vegetable oil

-1/2 cup sour cream, room temp

-2 large eggs, room temp

-1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with baking cups.

-Sift together sugar, flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Bring coffee to a simmer in a small, heavy duty saucepan. Remove from heat and add chocolate and whisk unitl chocolate is melted and smooth. 

-Whisk vegetable oil, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract in another large bowl to blend. Add chocolate-coffee mixture, blend well. Gradually add the dry ingredients, and blend well. Pour equally into cupcake tins.

-Bake for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool on wire racks until cool enough to frost. 

Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting:

-1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened

-1 1/4 cup peanut butter

-1/3 cup cream cheese

-1 tsp. vanilla

-3 tbs. milk

-2 1/3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

-Place butter, peanut butter and cream cheese in a medium bowl, beat with an electric mixer until smooth, gradually mix in sugar. When it starts to get thick and vanilla, then milk. Beat for at least 3 minutes or until creamy and smooth. 

So there it is, I hope you like it! And sorry about the peanut butter frosting, I know it looks all over the place but I didn't have a recipe in front of me so these were kind of the random measurements I used but it came out good, trust me!

                                                                                               

Hi there, my name is Kim and I love to bake =] It all started after watching an episode of cupcake wars one night, I craved a sweet treat, but never really considered making them from scratch before. So I called up my friend Cassie and we decided to bake, it was our first time making homemade cupcakes so they weren't the best, the cake was dense and the frosting, runny, but still kind of tasty. I did not give up though, I had a lot of fun making these little treats so I tried again and uh, didn't turn out so well, but.. third time is the charm! You see, I told my teacher that I was getting into baking and I had a really good chocolate cake recipe (my mom has made it before) so she asked if I wanted to make her some for a party (woah! =D) so I tested the recipe and it was great!  So since then, I've been baking some pretty good stuff, and in fact, a few other people have bought my cupcakes =D I cannot tell you how happy I am since I've started baking, I hope to do this for the rest of my life. And thank you everyone for all your support! Friends, family, boyfriend =D <3 I love you all