Cookies n Cream Cupcakes Round 2

I know I haven't blogged since leaving Japan but I've never stopped wanting to continue sharing my passion for baking and creating delicious treats to put a smile on someones face.  Some big changes occurred in those two years.  The biggest, we moved to Germany and we had a baby! She was born in late December of 2015 and I absolutely adore her.  Lately I've had that itch again to resume my blog and decided to give it a go.  Though I needed to make some minor changes to help me not only be able to blog, but work full time, take online classes, earn my next rank and of course spend as much time as possible with my daughter.

Thanks everyone for stopping by and checking out my blog!

Heres the latest Cupcake, for some reason just this month alone everyone in my work center has a birthday in September.  I have literally made 4 different kinds of Oreo Cupcakes in 3 weeks.  I look like I'm the one with an Oreo addiction.  These are pretty awesome though, by the way did you know they make Cinnamon Bun Oreos??  I had a friend give me a package of them and hinted (not very subtlety) that I should make cupcakes.  Well I did and will be sharing those soon as well.

This is the site and link for the recipe I used to make the cake portion of the cupcake.

http://www.baked-in.com/2014/06/16/cookies-n-cream-cupcakes/

I just lessen the sugar from 2 cups to 1.5 cups.


Oishii Treats Original 

Cookies n Cream Buttercream 

1 cup milk, with 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons flour
1 cup butter, at room temp
1 cup sugar (not powdered)
leftover cookie wafers, crushed (from recipe above)

Directions

- Using a small stove top pot add in your milk and place heat on high, add in your flour and whisk until the mixture starts to thicken, about 2-3 minutes.

- Keep whisking the mixture for another 1-2 minutes until its thick and has the consistency of pancake batter or cake batter. Remove from heat and immediately transfer the mixture to a ramekin or bowl and let cool to room temp. 

- In a electric mixture beat the butter and sugar together for 7-8 minutes on high, the mixture should be white and fluffy. Beating the butter and sugar together for this amount of time will help the sugar dissolve better.

- Add in your cooled milk mixture and whip on high for another 4-5 minutes, the sugar should almost if not be basically dissolved. If it is still slightly grainy the sugar should still dissolve the rest of the way when you pipe it on the cupcake.

- Fold in your crushed cookies and use a pipping bag and a large tip to pipe onto your cupcakes 

Kabocha Squash Coffee Cake

Squash is an awesome versatile vegetable, wouldn't you agree? It can sit on your counter for weeks and wont go bad, it can be added to everything from soups, casseroles, and even baked goods.  I even used squash as the sauce in mac n cheese and it was a-ma-zing!  I don't know why it took me this long to start using squash....oh ya maybe because the commissary charges over $6 bucks for any type of squash, it wasn't till I ventured off base and started shopping for my produce at the local Japanese farmers market that I realize how cheap squash really is.  The same sized squash I buy on base for over $6 dollars I can get off base for under $2 bucks, crazy right.  

I've been stocking up on squash and searching for a wide variety of recipes to start using it, not only is it cheap, its super hearty for vegetarians, full of fiber and vitamins and it can be added to every dish.   I recently used the Kabocha squash (Japanese pumpkin squash) in a chickpea stew, mac n cheese and now this delicious coffee cake.  Whats great about Japanese pumpkin squash is that it taste a lot like the normal orange pumpkin you can buy for Halloween.  Its slightly sweet, a pain in the ass to cut though and orange in color.  I've been making a lot of dishes lately with pumpkin and have turned a pumpkin hater co-worker into a pumpkin lover now, especially after she tried this coffee cake, her mom even wanted to recipe :) When a mom wants your recipe you know you got something special.

Next time, I'll be doubling the crumb mixture because you can never had enough added to the top.

Kabocha Squash Coffee Cake
Servings: 10-12 

Ingredients

Crumb Mixture

1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cooking oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons cold un salted butter

Directions

1.  Add all the dry ingrentins into a bowl and mix until combined,
2.  Cut in your cold butter and mix until the mixture is crumbly. I find that using a fork helps or just my hands. Set the bowl aside when finished.

Cake

1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed cooked kabocha squash (or any othre sweet squash like pumpkin or butternut)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
A pinch of ground cloves
1/2 cup unsweetned applesauce

Directions

1.  Preheat your oven at 350 degrees and grease a 9-in springform pan. 
2.  In a medium bowl combined your dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg,   and clove. whisk until combined and set aside.
3.   In an electric mixer cream together the shortening and sugar on high until light and fluffy, about 3 min.
4.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5.  Beat in the squash and vanilla.
6.  Gradually add in your dry ingredients into the creamed mixture until fully combined.
7.  Spoon half of your batter into the greased sprinform pan, using the back of a spoon to help spread it evenly.
8.  Spread your appleasauce over the batter in the pan and sprinkle with half of the crumb mixture.
9.  Spread the remaming batter over the applesauce/crumb mixture, using the back of a spoon again to help spread it evenly.  Add the remaining crumb mixture to the top.
10.  Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. (FYI my oven bakes fast so it was done early. around the 40-45 min mark. so test your cake early.)
11.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the pan. Makes about 10-12 servings.

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home

Candy Corn M&M Blondies

Its been a few weeks, I know I can give every excuse in the book, I'll spare you from coming up with a few, like my dog ate my computer....yeah that one diffidently sounds plausible.  I haven't been neglecting my kitchen, trust me I have piles and piles of dishes in the sink to prove it.  I've just been neglecting my little blog.   Yes I've been busy, work is constant but still, I could have taken a few photos of something, but then I get home late and I sit on the couch for 2 seconds and it turns into 2 hours before I have to peel myself off and go to bed.  

 

But no more! fall is just right around the corner and there are too many awesome apple, squash, pumpkin recipes to share.  I love baking and cooking with fall flavors its part of the reason I love this season so much, its not just for the gorgeous foliage changing and the crisp cool sweater weather its also for all that delicious food.  Kinda like these blondies I wanted to share, I happen to discover candy corn m&m's at the store and immediately added a bag to my basket, didn't even have to think about buying them because I know I was going to make something tasty with these m&ms. 

Crumb Coffee Cake

Its good to be home and back in my kitchen ~ But I think I'm going to need another vacation from my recent vacation.

When we set out for our trip 3 weeks ago to the states to visit family I had not fully prepared myself with the amount of traveling we decided to cram into 3 weeks.  I'm still in disbelief on how many miles we drove, walked and even rowed.  We easily covered over 1500 miles, traveling to 4 different states and another country (Canada).

The best highlights of the trip were starting off in New York City for 2 nights where we walked  10 miles of Manhattan to eat at the "first" pizza place Lombardi's, checked out the Empire State Building, visited the Space Shuttle Enterprise at the Intrepid Museum, by the way free for active duty :) and hitched a ferry ride to Staten Island to catch a glimpse of the statue of Liberty.  After leaving NYC we picked up our car in Syracuse and headed south to Pennsylvania to Hersey Park and went to a Dave Matthews Concert (totally awesome!), then headed up towards Scranton to visit my brother in-law, his gf and our niece for the first time.  (This was the first 5 days)

The best bagel cream cheese in Lox in all of NY

Intrepid Museum 

Biggest Ladder Back Chair in the world

Dave Matthews 

After our time in PA we drove to Vermont to visit family, play some disc golf and had fish in chips in 

Massachusetts with Grandma.  Took a detour to Lake George and camped out for 3 nights on a island in the middle of the lake, did a little kayaking, cliff jumping (small cliff), tubing, watched an amazing electric storm on the lake..oh and was savagely attacked by mosquitos.  We kept traveling north for  a reunion in Plattsburg NY later that evening went even further north to Montreal Canada where we stayed in the historic part of downtown in a cute little hotel watching fireworks from the bridge, walking the entire city checking out local shops and restaurants and trying putine for the first time, which by the way is fries smothered in gravy and topped with cheese curds...delicious!! (All this in week 2)

Putine

Cliff Jumping Lake George 

Birds eye view of Montreal 

After our stay in Canada we left to meet up with my father in-law at his camp in the Andirondacks where we stayed a couple of nights, went canoeing, boating and thrift shopping. the last leg of our journey we headed back to Syracuse to catch up on sleep, laundry and more sleep before leaving to go back to Japan.

 All in all it was a very successfully trip, we saw a lot of family that we haven't seen an a couple of years, our rental car never gave us issues and for the most part we didn't get lost when driving all over the northeastern side of the country.

Now to the food, I made this coffee cake before I left on vacation, some co-workers were craving it, this recipe came out amazing, very light, sweet and the huge brown sugar crumbles are delicious, they were my favorite part.  Place this cake soaks up coffee like a sponge.

Crumb Coffee Cake

Adapted from Sally's baking addiction

1 Tablespoon Flour, to coat the pan
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons cold butter, lightly softened in the microwave for 20 seconds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9 inch springform pan with cooking spray and sprinkle the bottom of the pan with flour, tapping out excess flour.

2. Whisk the flour, sugar, salt together in a large bowl until combined.  Cut the butter into 1 tablespoon sized pieces and using your hands or a fork mix/mash together the butter and dry ingredients until it resembles a crumbly mixture. scoop out 1 cup of the mixture and set it aside.

3. Transfer the rest of the ingredients from the large mixing bowl into an electric mixer (the batter is going to be very thick and the mixer helps a lot) Add in the baking soda and powder and mix together for 1 minute. Add in the buttermilk, egg, vanilla and mix everything together on medium high speed for about 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy, the batter will look kinda of like frosting, pour the batter into the springform pan and using a spatula smooth the top of the batter until even in the pan.

4. Using your empty large mixing bowl add in the reserved 1 cup of flour mixture and add in the brown sugar and cinnamon, using a fork or your hands crumble up the ingredients together making course crumbs. Sprinkle the crumbs over the batter, pressing lightly so the crumbs stick to the batter.

5.  Bake for 50-55 minutes (mine took 50) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, allow to cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, remove the side of the springform pan and cool completely to room temp.

Chocolate Chiffon Cupcakes w/Raspberry Buttercream

Military Life: EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE.....I will hear this sentence at least 50 times in the course of an military exercise/drill that we do on base every few months.  It's expesically not fun when you're sleeping in the middle of the day and over the base intercom system you hear someone shouting the word exercise 3 times, along with a command, every hour or so.  Unfortunately I'm a light sleeper :/ but I love working night shift, and I'm prepared to never get any sleep since I live on base and hear every alarm, warning and the "big voice" come over the base intercom system.  Exercise's mean wearing chem gear and performing certain training injects for about an week.  It makes you appreciate your normal job you do in the military every day, after you've sweated through your chem gear for 12 hours a day for a week. If you want to know what it looks like to wear chem gear I have pics here the last time I made my portobello mushroom chili. 

During a break this weekend we had a baby shower for one of the captains and his wife, and there was a ton of delicious food there.  I always like to bring the dessert.  So for the baby shower I had asked the mommy to be what her favorite flavors were and she mentioned chocolate & raspberry or chocolate & peanut butter, I knew I liked her!  That right there is like the perfect combo for any baker, who doesnt like chocolate & peanut butter or chocolate & raspberry together....if  you dont, well then you must be crazy.  I found the worlds fluffiest cake recipe, I've heard of chiffon cake before but never gave it a shot till today.  This recipe turned out to be one of the truly fluffiest and lightest chocolate cakes I've ever had and paired with a raspberry buttercream topped with ganche drizzle, how can you say no to this tasty creation.  Sadly I made a peanut butter version with this same chiffon cake because I had so much batter leftover, but I didn't have anytime to take pictures before we had to leave for the party, expect for this pic taken with my ipod which clearly shows that the cake vanished fast...

the 8 inch Chocolate Chiffon Cake w/ Peanut Butter Frosting & ganache

oh well...looks like i'll have to make it again :)  FYI this is a lot of batter so if you have a big party or a lot of mouths to feed this is perfect.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Adapted from Natasha's Kitchen 

Yields: 24 cupcakes and 1 (8 inch 2/12 inch tall cake pan) or over 48 cupcakes or 1 cake using a 10" springform pan

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsweetned cocoa powder
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 egg yolk at room temp, keep the egg whites! you will use them later

1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

7 egg whites at room temp
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

Directions

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and line 2 cupcake pans with paper liners and set aside, if making a cake too  in a 8inch cake pan line the bottom with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl combine the cocoa powder and boiling water together and stir until smooth, add in the oil, buttermilk, vanilla extract and egg yolks and whisk until combined and smooth.
- In a separate large bowl combined your flour, baking powder, salt, and brown sugar together and whisk until the ingredients are blended together breaking up any large pieces of brown sugar lumps.
- Now combine your wet mixture into the large bowl with your dry mixture and mix until the ingredients are wet, be careful to not over mix.
- In a electric mixer add your egg whites and mix on medium speed for 2 min. till frothy, add in the cream of tartar and beat for another 2 minutes on medium-high speed till whites start forming small peaks, Turn the mixer to high and slowly add in the sugar, continue mixing on high speed for 2 more minutes till stiff peaks form.

Soft peaks

Stiff peaks

- Using a spatula fold in the whites into your chocolate batter 1/3 of the whites at a time until all is completely incorporated.

- Using a ice cream scoop fill your paper-lines up 3/4 full and bake for about 10-13 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  For the 8 inch cake bake for about 45 minutes.
- Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack, once cool decorate with your buttercream
*Note: when the cupcakes come out they will shrink a little so dont be alarmed.

Raspberry Buttercream
Adapted from Grandbaby Cakes 

Ingredients

1 cup butter at room temp
3/4 cup raspberry jam
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons whipping cream or milk

Directions

- In a electric mixer beat or butter on medium-high speed till light and fluffy about 3 minutes, add in the jam and continue beating on medium high until fluffy about 3 more minutes.
- Gradually add in your powdered sugar, using the milk or cream to help thin it out. Mix until all is combined and smooth about another 2-3 minutes. Pipe your buttercream onto the cooled cupcakes

Chocolate Ganche
Adapted from Grandbaby Cakes 

Ingredients

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

- Place your chocolate chips into a medium bowl and set aside
- In a small saucepan heat your whipping cream on medium heat on the stove until just boiling
- Pour the hot cream on top of your chocolate chips and let sit for 2 minutes.
- Add in the corn syrup and vanilla and whisk till smooth.
- Place your frosted cupcakes into the freezer for or refrigerated for 30 minutes and then dip into the cooled ganche, place back in the fridge or freezer (if your short on time) to set the ganche.

I link up to these great parties!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I love me some veggies in my cupcakes, who doesn't!  Its a great way to sneak in some vegetables and not feel so guilty eating a delicious cupcake or 2 ;)....okay who am I kidding, there's not that much veggies in a carrot cake cupcake, it would be better if you just ate a carrot.  But at least you dont feel as guilty eating carrot cake as you would say a chocolate cupcake :)  

I made these moist and delicious cupcakes for a birthday party last night, paired with a slightly tangy lemon cream cheese frosting it was the perfect addition that put these cupcakes over the top and made them a huge hit at the party.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Adapted from Paula Deen

Yields 24-28 cupcakes

Ingredients 

2 cups flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups canola oil

3 cups grated carrots

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line your cupcake pans with 24 liners

- In a electric mixer combined your flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix together on low for 30 seconds.

- Add in your oil and eggs and mix until completely combined

- Mix in your grated carrot and mix until fully combined into the batter.

- Using a ice cream scoop, fill your cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

6 tablespoons butter, at room temp 

12 tablespoons cream cheese, cold

1 tablespoon lemon juice

4 cups powdered sugar

Directions

- In a electric mixer beat the butter and cream cheese together until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

- Add in the lemon juice and slowly 1/4 cup at a time add in the powdered sugar until all of the powdered sugar is completely incorporated. 

- Beat the frosting for another 2-3 minutes and pipe onto your cupcakes.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

I've had a nice short vacation this week, just what I needed to recharge for the next couple of months of courts, school and volunteer work. We spent the first 3 days in Sapporo Japan experiencing the extreme cold and the snow/ice festival. 

I gotta say you know the one thing that's a little unnerving about living in Japan? the amount of earthquakes and tsunami warnings we get.  Try being on a ferry off the coast of Japan for 8 hours with a tsunami warning flashing on the t.v constantly.  In Japan the minute there's an earthquake there will usually be a tsunami warning that follows, so they will put a small map of japan on the lower corner of every t.v. channel flashing either yellow or red with what areas are in potential danger for a tsunami.  Totally didn't calm me nerves while I was on the ferry for 8 hours, so i decided to turn off the tv and sleep until we reached our destination.   Thank goodness the boat ride was smooth and uneventful. The last few days this week have been spent at home unwinding and making some delicious recipes. I also wanted to share some pictures from Saporro Ice Festival, this is the biggest ice and snow festival in Japan.

Those are real fish and crabs in the ice

The snowboarding ramp was built right in the middle of the city in Odori Park

My Favorite snow sculpture and you can even see the guy on top still working on it

Back to the food, this is a nice healthy banana cake with coconut oil replacing the butter, some rolled oats added to the batter for fiber and of course gotta have some mini chocolate chips for a little indulgence. 

I had some extremely rippen bananas that needed to be put to good use, I also wanted an excuse to use a cake pan and test my new cloth baking strips to see if they actually work, they are supposed to go around the outside of your cake pan and they help the cake bake even with a flat surface instead of a dome shape.  I was pleasantly surprised that the cake came out pretty even, the strip prevented the sides from becoming to overly cooked and hard and for the most part the cake came out flat, with just a very slight dome.  If I didn't use the strips I know the cake would have came out with a larger dome. 

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
Oishii Treat Original

Ingredients 

1 1/4 flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 ripe bananas mashed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons skim milk
1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line a 8 inch cake pan with parchment or wax paper and spray with baking or cooking oil on the sides of the pan. (to prevent the cake to sticking to the sides)
- In a small bowl combined your dry ingredients flour, baking soda, spices and oats and whisk until mixed together.
- In a electric mixer cream together the coconut oil and brown sugar, add in your egg, vanilla extract and mashed bananas. Mix until combined.
- Add half the dry ingredients + 1 tablespoon milk to your wet mixture and mix till combined. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients with the other tablespoon of milk and mix until the batter is fully combined.
- Hand stir in your chocolate chips and pour the batter into the cake pan and level in out with a spatula.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes and remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, remove cake from pan and let cool to room temp. or serve warm with some whipped cream and a tall glass of milk.

I link up to these fun parties 

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Its that time again for a weekend dessert!  I decided for quick and easy this Sunday. Since we're trying a gluten free experiment right now I searched the great abyss know as the internet and found a great recipe for a cake that required no flour... what could be easier than that. A cake made strictly out of eggs, butter, sugar and chocolate.  I literally whipped up the batter in less than 10 minutes and popped it in the oven.
WARNING!! This cake is very decadent and might leave you in a chocolate comatose state. or A.K.A chocolate wasted! Eat at your own risk.

Well I better start baking and cooking myself into a frenzy this week to prepare the hubby for my departure to paralegal school at Maxwell AFB for the next 7 weeks.  I need to stock up on some homemade hummus and soup for the hubby before I go or he might be living off fried eggs (only thing he cooks) and frozen meals.  poor guy

Flourless Chocolate Cake
Adapted from Realsimple.com 

Yields: 10 servings

Ingredients for the Cake
1 Cup Unsalted Butter or two sticks
1/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
8 ounces Bittersweet Dark Chocolate
5 Large Eggs
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
Ingredients for the Whipped Cream
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 Cup Light Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

Directions for the Cake
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Using a 9 inch springfoam pan, spray the bottom and sides of the pan with cooking spray,
 dust with cocoa powder. (to help prevent cake from sticking to the pan)
In a medium saucepan, heat the butter and heavy cream on medium low heat, once the butter is melted add your chocolate and stir until melted and remove from heat.
In a medium size bowl, beat your eggs, sugar and cocoa powder together and whisk in your melted chocolate.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan for 1 hour.
Directions for the Whipped Cream
In a electric mixer beat together the whipping cream, sour cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form, about 3-5 mintues, dust the cake with powdered sugar and top with whip cream.