Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Graveyard Grave (aka fudge balls)

So why not add fudge to the arsenal that I made last Friday night for a Halloween party?

Ingredients:
3 c semisweet chocolate pieces
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 tbs butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
dash of salt
2 cups mini marshmallows
unsweetened cocoa powder mixed with an equal amount of powdered sugar
powdered sugar

Instructions:
  1. Line a 9x9x2 or an 8x8x2 inch baking pan with foil; set aside.
  2. In a medium saucepan, heat and stir chocolate pieces, condensed milk, butter, vanilla, and salt over medium heat until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat; stir in marshmallows just until combined.  Spread mixture evenly in the prepared pan.  Using a table knife or thin metal spatula, swirl marshmallows through fudge in pan until marshmallows are mostly melted.  Cover and chill about 2 hours or until firm.
  3. Using a small scoop, scoop fudge and shape into rocks (fudge will be sticky).  Roll some in cocoa powder mixture and some in powdered sugar.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.  Makes about 80 pieces (2 1/4 lbs.).

Monday, November 1, 2010

Gooey Pumpkin Butterscotch Brownies

Ummm...hello... pumpkin, butterscotch, and brownies.  Sure, I'll give it a try!
 Ingredients:

1 family size brownie mix
1/4 Cup water
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 bag butterscotch chips
1 small box instant butterscotch pudding mix
1 1/2 Cups canned pumpkin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 Cup butterscotch ice cream topping

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Let cool for 1 hour before removing from pan and cutting into squares.
  2. In a bowl mix brownie mix, water, oil, eggs, chips, pudding, pumpkin and cinnamon. Mix until well combined.
  3. Pour half of mix into a 11×7 inch baking pan that has been lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Pour 1/2 Cup butterscotch ice cream topping over brownie mix. Pour remaining brownie mix over top and bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick comes mostly clean from center. 
Makes 12 brownies

Alterations/Recommendations:
  • I think I used too much butterscotch sauce in the middle.  The top and bottom layer kinda slid around, they didn't really "fuse".
Recipe from Picky Palate

Body Bits Dip

I know this is officially a day late, but it's still really yummy and needs to be shared.  And really, it's hot cheese dip and it's football season...do the math.

Ingredients:
8 oz bulk pork sausage
1 medium red onion, sliced
2 lb American cheese, cubed
2 10-oz cans chopped tomatoes and green chile peppers, undrained
1 5.3 oz pkg cocktail wieners, halved crosswise
Tortilla chips

Instructions:
  1. In a medium saucepan, cook sausage and onion over medium heat until sausage is brown; drain fat.  Transfer sausage mixture to a 3 1/2 to 4 quart crockery cooker (aka crockpot).  Stir in cheese, tomatoes, and wieners.
  2. Cover and cook on high-heat setting for 1 to 2 hours or until cheese is melted, stirring after 1 hour.  To serve, keep dip warm on low-heat setting, stirring occasionally.  Serve with tortilla chips.  Makes 18 servings.
Alterations/Recommendations:
  • I, always trying to "healthify" recipes, used hot Italian turkey sausage.  I just took the casing off and cooked it up!
  • If I had them on hand, I would have used turkey lil' smokies.
  • And if I could have found it at the grocery store I went shopping at, I would have used 2% velveta cheese.
Nutritionals per serving:
Calories: 168; Total Fat: 14g (saturated fat: 8g); Cholesterol: 41mg; Sodium: 644mg; Carbohydrate: 2g; Fiber: 0g; Protein: 9g

Caramel Sauce/Fondue

I've made chocolate fondue before, so I figured it was time to venture into the world of caramel fondue.  Which is kinda a little bit scary because there is a fine line between sauce and caramel chewy candies.  But what the heck, I'll try it anyways!

Ingredients:
1 c evaporated milk
2 c white sugar
4 tbs butter
4 tbs corn syrup
Assortment of dippers (apples, bananas, pound cake, marshmallows, pretzels, etc)

Instructions:
  1. In a small saucepan, mix the evaporated milk, sugar, butter, and corn syrup.
  2. Heat up over medium heat and bring to a boil while stirring.
  3. Let the mixture boil and thicken for about 5 minutes.
  4. Pour the content into your warm fondue pot.
  5. Dip bite size pieces of various dippers using a fondue fork.
  6. Enjoy and repeat.  No double dipping!
Alterations/Recommendations:
  • For some reason, it took way longer than 5 minutes to thicken.  So I kept it on the burner longer.  I probably should have taking it off when the 5 minutes were up, 'cause guess up, it kept cooking while being kept warm by the fondue warmer!
  • It was easily dippable for awhile, now I have caramel candies.  :)

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes with Cookie Dough Buttercream Frosting

Holy butter Paula Deen! These cupcakes are not for the weak at heart.  No, seriously.  If you are watching your cholesterol, do not read further.  I repeat, close this page now or you'll regret it later.

I came across this recipe some time ago and I knew that I had to make them.  But I had to be strategic about it too.  I would only make them when I knew there would be a crowd to eat them.  The last thing I needed was a plate full of cupcakes sitting on my counter.  So I we (Kaitlin mostly) made them a few weekend ago.  I definitely have some alterations I would make next time, but for the first time we followed the recipe.  Oh, and ah, the only pictures I took are from the first step - cookie dough.  So, here it is.
To see more pictures, as they're supposed to look, you need to visit KevinandAmanda.com's site, and really you just need to check out the recipe.  Ok, on with the recipe....

Ingredients:
For the Cookie Dough:
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbs milk
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

For the Cupcakes:
3 sticks softened butter
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the Frosting:
3 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:
To make the Cookie Dough:  
Combine the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffly (about 2 minutes).  Beat in milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth.  Beat in the flour and salt until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Using a 1.5 tbs scoop, shape the dough into balls or tubes.  Freeze on a parchment lined baking sheet overnight.

To make the Cupcakes:  
Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total).  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar.  Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Stir together to blend.  Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated.  Blend in the vanilla.

Using a 3 tbs scoop, fill the prepared cupcake liners 2/3 full with the cupcake batter.  Place a frozen cookie dough ball on the top center of each cupcake.

Bake at 350F for 16-18 minutes.

To make the Frosting:  
Combine the butter and brown sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in the powder sugar until smooth.  Beat in the salt, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth and combined.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.

Makes 24 cupcakes.

Adjustments:
  • My 1.5 tsp dough balls were too big.  We ended up having to take some dough off each ball.
  • Honestly here, I wasn't a fan of the cupcake batter.  It kinda had a cornbread flavor.  Next time, I'm just gonna use a vanilla cake mix from a box.  Plus that'll shave 3 sticks of butter off the recipe...
  • They took longer than 18 minutes to bake.  And it was hard to tell when they were done because of the raw cookie dough in the middle.
  • The frosting was really good, but it was a little grainy from the brown sugar.  Not sure how to make that go away without dissolving it first.
So if you counted, there were 8 total sticks of butter in this recipe.  Coleman was so kind to do the math and calculate that that is 1/4 stick per cupcake.  Yea, I'm definitely going to have to find ways to shave that down some if I want to make them again. 

Oh man were these good!

recipe from KevinandAmanda.com