Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2

I love hot pockets but its hard to find vegetarian ones at the grocery store.  Most of the time everything has chicken or pepperoni in it.
      So what do vegetarians do when we want a traditional meaty comfort food?  We come up with a homemade version :)  It was a lot of fun coming up with different flavor combinations when making these homemade hot pockets.  I finally decided on white sauce, kale and artichoke that baked beautifully and was quite tasty! What flavor combo would you try?

Artichoke, Kale and Cheddar Hot Pockets for 2
Oishii Treats Original
Yields: 2

Time:
Prep 20 Min
Cook 20 min

Ingredients

1 can Pillsbury seamless dough sheet
1 cup Kale (washed and chopped roughly)
4 Artichoke Hearts (I bought canned artichoke, drained them of their water and chopped them)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup half/half
1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
dash of pepper
dash of garlic salt
1 egg white

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
- Place a small saute pan on medium high heat and spray with cooking spray
- Add you chopped artichokes and kale to the pan and saute for about 5-6 minutes or until kale is wilted sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Set aside
- In a small sauce pan on medium high heat melt your butter and add the flour, stir until completly combined.
- Pour in your half/half and whisk until thicken about 4 minutes.  add 1/2 cup of your shredded cheese, whisk until completely melted and combined.  You should have a nice thick white sauce.
- Roll out your dough sheet on too parchment paper- I had to re roll mine due to the packaging ripping the dough
- Evenly divide the dough into 4 equal rectangles

- Add about 3 tablespoons of the white sauce to the middle of 2 rectangles (keep the filling in the middle away from the edges so it can seal well), add 2-3 tablespoons of your artichoke and kale mixture, top with some extra cheddar cheese.

- Take your other rectangle half and do a light egg white wash on the seams of the dough, cover your filling and sealing the sides by using a fork to crimp down the edges. do a light egg white wash on the top of the dough and sprinkle with some garlic salt. transfer the parchment paper with your pockets onto a cookie sheet and Bake for 20 minutes .

Carmel Apple Pie Cupcakes

For the last month I've been cookin up ideas to make a carmel apple cupcake and when the time came to make a batch, something always came up.  Usually that something was work, cub scouts, homework, or hiking the Hakkoda Mountians.  I finally decided enough was enough, time to get into the kitchen and I will not leave until I have my Carmel Apple Pie Cupcakes.

After making alot of cupcakes I decided it was time to try and attempt my luck at making my own batter.  I wanted to infuse the cupcake with apple flavor without adding chopped apples, because the apples were going to be cooked into something like apple pie filling for the middle of the cupcake.  It took a couple of tries but I finally produced an oishii cupcake with a great apple flavor.  I'll be honest there are a few steps to this cupcake and it takes a little time, but it was well worth it :) You could always skip a step and buy store bought carmel sauce....though trust me you will be very happy that you made your own.


I also want to give a huge thank you and shout out to Vera from Cupcakesgarden.com
Vera and her husband designed an awesome button for me.  When it comes to web design and anything fancy with computer graphics I am totally out of my realm.   Check out her amazing blog, she highlights the most delicious cupcakes from all over the web from other bloggers.  If you love cupcakes as much as I do then you gotta check it out :)

Carmel Apple Pie Cupcakes 
Oishii Treat Original

Yields: 20 Cupcakes
Ingredients

3/4 cup Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 cup Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/3 teaspoon Bakin Soda
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 cup Apple Cider or Apple Juice

Directions

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cupcake pans with lineras
- In a electric mixer combine the coconut oil, sugar and brown sugar together on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
- In a separate small bowl combine your dry ingredients flour, baking powder, packing soda, salt, and cinnamon
- Alternate your dry ingredients and apple cider to your batter until just combined
- Fill your cupcakes 3/4 full and bake for 15 minutes
- Cool your cupcakes on a wire rack, once cool use a potato peeler to crave/ scoop out a hole in the middle of your cupcakes for the carmel apple pie filling

Salted Butter Carmel Sauce
Adapted From Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Ingredients

1 cup Sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup Whipping Cream




Directions

- In a medium Sauce pot on high heat add your sugar and whisk until it starts to melt and turn golden brown (about 5 min)
- Remove the pot from the heat and add a dash of sea salt and butter, becareful there will be steam!
- Whisk the butter until its melted
- Put the pot back on the heat and slowly pour in the heavy cream, whisk until its a uniformed color, reduce the heat the medium low and whisk for 1 minute.
- Take off the heat and pour into a heat proof jar, let it stand for 15 min. to help thicken the sauce   Place the carmel in the fridge to thicken.

Carmel Apple Pie Filling

2 cups diced apples
(2 large apples, diced very small)
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Juice or Apple Juice
1/2 cup Carmel

Directions

- Using the same pot that you made carmel rinse it out place it on the stove on medium high heat.
- Add your juice and diced apples and cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently
- After the apples have cooked remove from heat and add your carmel.  place in a heat proof bowl and let the mixture cool in the fridge. Once cool, scoop the apple filling into your cupcake holes.

Carmel Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup Butter (let stand at room temp for 1 hour)
1 8oz container cream cheese (let stand at room temp for 1 hour)
5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup carmel (do not add hot carmel to the frosting)

Directions

- In a electric mixer combine your butter, cream cheese and mix on medium high for 2 minutes
- Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time until fully combine and smooth.
- Add your carmel and mix for 2 minutes until smooth and fluffy

Update: I shared this post on several link up parties, so many great recipes were shared clink on the links below to check them out.
http://tidymom.net/
http://myturn-evelyn.blogspot.jp/2012/10/freedom-fridays-23.html
http://www.jamhands.net/

Oatmeal Whoopie Pies

I had A LOT of frosting left over from the birthday cupcakes post.  I couldn't let all that delicious cream cheese frosting go to waste.  So I thought to myself hmm besides cupcakes what should I use the frosting for.  Whoppie Pies!!! I've noticed they have become quite popular lately.  Funny thing though, only half of my friends knows what a whoppie pie is, the other half had no idea what I was talking about.  They thought I meant something "dirty" if you know what I mean ;)

Oatmeal Whoppie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Mother Thyme

Yields: 18 Whoppie Pies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup butter (1 stick at room temp)
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs

Directions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper
- In a large bowl combine the flour, oats, salt, cinnamon and baking soda and set aside
- In a medium bowl cream together the butter and brown sugar, add the eggs one at a time until combine.
- Add the butter mixture to the flour and mix until completely combined
- using a spoon make rounded tablespoon sized balls and place on the cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until sides of cookie start to brown, cool completely on a wire rack before applying cream cheese between two cookies.

Cream Cheese Frosting


Ingredients

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 1/2 Cups powdered sugar

Directions

Let the cream cheese and butter sit at room temp for at least 45 minutes. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until fluffy. Gradually add your powdered sugar until full combined. place in the fridge until ready to pipe or frost cupcakes.

Birthday Time! Vanilla Bean Cupcake

Goodness it seems like I've been baking a lot of cupcakes lately.  But I'm really not complaining.  Just making a tasty observation.  Today my office was celebrating a birthday for one of our Captains/Attorney's that happened to slip by early September without a celebration. So a couple of us Paralegals decided that we couldn't let that happen.

For some kookoo reason people in my office are not big fans of chocolate... say what! I know I know pretty absurd right?  The Captain I made the cupcakes for said he was a chocolate fan, Yay obviously someone with taste buds.  So I made a Milk Chocolate Buttercream (mainly for him) and Cream Cheese Frosting (mainly for the other crazy non chocolat people)  and at the end of the day what cupcake does the Captain take.  Cream Cheese!! lol geez.  anyways both frosting are quite delish and pairs great with the Vanilla Bean Cupcake.

Though one frosting caution, if you do decide to make 2 different frostings, you will have ALOT of leftovers.  So here is some ideas to use up that extra frosting   1. Can use them in whoopie pies and use it as the cream for the middle 2. make more cupcakes duh lol (thats what I should have done) 3. melt the frosting and use as a glaze over muffins, donuts, scones etc.

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes w/ Milk Chocolate Buttercream and Cream Cheese Frosting

From Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publications 2012

Yields: 12 Cupcakes and 12 mini Cupcakes

Bake Time: reg: 18 min. mini: 14 min. 

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Butter

1 Egg

2 Egg yolks

1 Vanilla Bean, split lengthwise

1 1/2 Cup Flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 Sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 Cup whipping cream

Directions

- Let your eggs and butter sit at room temperature for at least 45 min. 

- Preheat oven to 350 F and line a cupcake tin with 12 regular sized muffin cups and mini tin with 12 mini muffin cups (if you have a 24 mini tin, put a muffin cup into every other tin cup).

- In a medium bowl mix your dry ingredients together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. 

- In a electric mixer on medium high, beat the butter for 30 seconds and add your sugar until combined. Beat in your egg and yolks one at a time and vanilla bean seeds (scraped out of the bean) until mixed.  Alternately add you flour mixture and whipping cream to the batter until just combined. 

- Fill your muffin cups 3/4 full and bake the regular sized cupcakes for 18 minutes and the mini cupcakes at 14 minutes.


Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 1/2 Cups powdered sugar

Directions
Let the cream cheese and butter sit at room temp for at least 45 minutes. In a large mixing bowl beat the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla with an electric mixer on medium to high speed until fluffy. Gradually add your powdered sugar until full combined. place in the fridge until ready to pipe or frost cupcakes.

Milk Chocolate Buttercream
Adapted from The Cupcake Diaries 

Ingredients
2/3 Cup Milk
5 1/2 cups powdered sugar
12 Tablespoons butter at room temp
5 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 bag chocolate chips- melted and at room temp

Directions

Place all ingredients expect melted chocolate into a electric mixer and beat on medium high or 2-4 minutes until light and fluffy.  Slowly add the melted chocolate until combined.

*update: I also posted this on Freedom Friday over at My turn (for us) blog.

Baked Donuts w/ Pumpkin Spice glaze and Dark Chocolate

 I love bringing treats into work, usually its in the form of a cupcake, but today I was feeling frisky and wanted to bring something special in for Friday.  People usually like to bring donuts to work, I mean who doesn't like donuts? they go great with coffee and milk.  Usually I would buy the donuts from the nearest dunken and pick up a dozen.  

  Unfortunately in Misawa the closest place is Mister Donut, same thing like duken here in Japan. very tasty but its about 25 minutes away.  Way too far to get some donuts and the ones they sell on base at the shoppette are terrible.  That is why I decided to make homemade donuts, and even better their not fried, which means they're healthier and you can at least have two without feeling guilty ;)  oh and because of Halloween they have these pumpkin spice Hersey kisses at the store (amazing!) and I used those delicious kisses to make an wonderful pumpkin spice glaze on the donuts.

Baked Donuts

Adapted from Food.com

Yields: 18 donuts using a donut pan.

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons butter (soften)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 cups flour

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup Almond milk (or regular milk)

Pumpkin Spice Glaze

1 1/2 cup unwrapped Hersey Pumpkin Spice Kisses

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

Vanilla Bean Glaze

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean

4 tablespoons hot water

Dark Chocolate Glaze

use the remaining vanilla bean glaze and add 4 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate

Directions

- preheat the oven for 350 degrees

- Mix the soften butter and sugar together in a large bowl

- add the eggs and mix until blended

- in a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients together: flour, baking powdered, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together

- Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and blend with the wet mixture

- Add the milk to the batter, the dough should start getting thick and sticky 

- Using a donut pan, Spoon the batter into a pipping bag, snip a hole in the bottom and pipe the batter into each individual donut mold about half way full.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

Directions for the Glazes

Pumpkin Spice Glaze

- add the kisses and butter to a small glass bowl and microwave for about 30 -60 seconds, make sure to not burn the chocolate.

- add the powdered sugar to the melted butter/kisses and mix well

- add about 3 tablespoons hot water to the mixture and mix until the sugar is dissolved

- dip you cooled donuts half way into the glaze, remove and set on a wire rack, once the glaze starts to hardened dip a second time to add a thicker layer

- sprinkle with chocolate sprinkles

Vanilla Bean Glaze

- Melt the butter in the microwave

- Add powdered sugar and mix well

- add your vanilla extract and vanilla bean (cut lengthwise and scrape out the insides)

- Add your hot water and mix well

- dip your donuts into the glaze and place on a wire rack, dip a second time after the first glaze has hardened if you would like a thicker glaze.

Dark Chocolate Glaze ( I only used the vanilla bean glaze for about 6 donuts and made my chocolate glaze with the remaining left over vanilla glaze)

- Using the left over vanilla bean glaze add chocolate and microwave for about 45 seconds and mix well. dip you donuts half way into the glaze and set on a wire rack.