52 Weeks of Cooking - Week 11 Part 3

Black and White Cupcakes – Preheat oven to 350.

Vanilla Batter:

1 ½ cups self-rising flour

1 ¼ cups AP flour

1 cup butter, soft

2 cups sugar

4 lg. eggs

1 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Line two 12 muffin cup pans with liners or spray with pam

Mix flours together in bowl. Set aside.

Cream butter till smooth. Add sugar and beat till fluffy

Add eggs, beating after each one.

Add flour in 3 parts, mixing in between each one.

Add milk and vanilla.

Fill ¾ full and bake 20-25 minutes.



Chocolate Batter:


2 cups AP flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup firm brown sugar

4 lg. eggs

6 ox unsweet chocolate, melted and cooled to room temp.

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla


Line two 12 muffin cup pans with liners.

Sift flour and baking soda.

Cream butter till smooth. Add sugars and beat till fluffy.

Add eggs beating after each one.

Mix in chocolate.

Add flour mixture in 3 parts.

Add vanilla and buttermilk.

Fill ¾ full and bake 20-25 minutes.

For the cupcakes that are half and half, what I did was I made the recipes exactly as above. I made some cupcakes normal and for the ones that are half and half, I spooned part of the batter on one side and filled the cup up the rest of way with the other.

52 Weeks of Cooking- Week 11 Part 2

Ok, so in addition to the Impossible Peanut Butter Cookies, for Emily’s party I also made the Multiple Choice Bars (2 entries back), Kool-Aid Cookies and Black and White Cupcakes.

Onto the cookies!

Ingredients

1 package any flavor Kool-Aid cookies (make sure to not get the kind with sugar already added) (I used Lemonade)

1 and 2/3 cup sugar

1 and ¼ cups soft butter (2 ½ sticks)

2 lg eggs, beaten

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups AP flour

½ cup white sugar, set aside

Directions

Mix Kool-Aid with 1 and 2/3 cup sugar

Add butter and mix till fluffy

Add eggs and mix well

Mix in salt and baking soda. Mix sure it’s well incorporated.

Add flour in ½ cup increments, mixing in after each one.

Spray cookie sheets with Pam (or use parchment paper).

Roll dough with your hands, about 2 teaspoons of batter.

Roll balls in set aside sugar and place on sheets.

Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes or till slightly golden brown.

Let cool about 1 minute on pan, and then remove to wire racks.

52 Weeks of Cooking- Week Eleven Part One

With chocolate chips, for the party.

Without, the practice batch.

So this weekend (tomorrow actually!) is my best friends birthday. She is having a party Saturday. We were talking and she was asking me how my cooking challenge is going {great, thanks for asking =) } and she asked if I wouldn't mind making a few things for her party.

EEP! Talk about my first real challenge. I mean, it's one thing to make food for my co-workers or just myself. They don't have to eat it and I'm not really cooking to please them. I just happen to share it with them.

But this is a party... for a bunch of my friends. Who if they don't like this, then they won't have any desserts to eat (she might buy a cake though, I'm not sure).

Did I mention the eep!

So I'm trying out a new recipe I have been really wanting to make, but haven't gotten around to it. I figured I should try this out before the party.

And let me tell you, it's a good thing I tried this out before hand because I just put in my last pan and I only got...12 cookies. And they're not huge cookies either. Normal size cookies.

I'll have to at least double, if not triple the recipe for the party...

Impossible Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

* 1 cup peanut butter (your choice, smooth or chunky- I used smooth)

* 1 cup granulated sugar

* 1 large egg

* sugar, for rolling (optional)

Directions

1. Mix together until smooth.

2. Drop by teaspoon onto cookie sheet two inches apart. If desired, roll in extra sugar before placing on cookie sheet.

3.Press with fork and press again in opposite direction.

4.Bake 10-12 minutes at 350°.

5.Do not brown, do not over bake.

52 Weeks of Cooking- Week Ten

Like last week, this week's recipe was decided by one of my co-workers.

Multiple Choice Bar Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Column A (1 1/2 cups of...)

Grahmn Cracker Crumbs

Chocolate Wafer Crumbs

Animal Cracker Crumbs

Sugar Cookie Crumbs

Column B (2 cups of...)

Chocolate Chips

Butterscotch Chips

Peanut Butter Chips

Raisins (regular or golden)

M & Ms (without peanuts)

Column C (2 cups of...)

Flaked coconut (equal to 5oz)

Rice Krispies
Mini Marshmallows

Frosted cornflake crumbs

Column D (1 cup of...)

Chopped walnuts

Chopped pecans

Chopped peanuts

Chopped cashews

DIRECTIONS:

1.) Melt butter and pour into a 9 by 13 inch pan. Tilt to coat bottom.

2.) Evenly sprinkle one item from column A along bottom.

3.) Drizzle milk.

4.) Sprinkle one item from Column B.

5.) Sprinkle one item from Column C.

6.) Sprinkle one item from Column D.

7.) Press everything down with hands.

8.) Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven, with the rack in the middle position.

*There are over 400 possible choices*

*Zack choose the following: Chocolate graham cracker crumbs, M&Ms, chocolate chips, and chopped peanuts. Yes, that means 2 things from Column B and nothing from Column C. We didn't think anything from Column C would taste very good in this recipe.*

52 Weeks of Cooking- Week Nine

This week, I gave the choosing part to my manager at work, Holly. She's a very picky eater and I like baking things that other people will eat.

She hasn't like some of the things that I've brought in before (although she loved the cake from last week!) so I brought in my recipe binders and told her to pick.

So this week's recipe is...Despiration Cookies

2 cups melted butter

3 cups white sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

4 beaten eggs

5 cups flour

3 cups chips (the chocolate/butterscotch etc kind!) [She choose white chocolate] {Any combo of chips is okay}

4 cups chopped nuts (Use any kind of nuts you want. But if you don't have eactly 4 cups, fill with crushed cornflakes or Rice Krispies) (I'm using 2 cups cashews and 2 cups Rice Krispies)

Melt butter. Mix in both sugars. Add vanilla, baking soda, salt and mix. Add eggs and stir. Add 1/2 flour, chips, and nuts. Stir. Add remaining flour and mix.

Drop by teaspoons on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes and then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

52 Weeks of Cooking- Week Eight

It's my birthday weekend!

This Sunday I will be turning the big 23. And like the wild adult I am, I will be staying in to bake my own birthday cake.

I'm so crazy.

Since I have things going on tonight (Whoo! Party!), I figured while I was just sitting her, I would write the post early and then just edit it when I make the cake sometime Sunday.

By the way, I got this recipe from allrecipes.com. They also have a video to go along with it.

Ingredients

1 package (2-layer size) white cake mix

1 pkg. (4 serving size) JELL-O Brand Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

2/3 cup BREAKSTONE'S or KNUDSEN Sour Cream

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1 (8 ounce) tub COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8- or 9-inch round cake pans; set aside.

Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Pour half of the batter into medium bowl. Add dry gelatin mix; stir until well blended. Spoon half of the white batter and half of the pink batter, side-by-side, into each prepared pan. Swirl batters together using a teaspoon.

Bake 30 min. Cool 30 min. in pans. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Mix sour cream and powdered sugar in medium bowl until well blended.

Gently stir in whipped topping. Place one of the cake layers on serving plate; spread top with 1 cup of the whipped topping mixture.

Top with 1 cup of the strawberries and remaining cake layer.

Spread top and side of cake with remaining whipped topping mixture. Top with remaining 1/2 cup strawberries just before serving.

Store any leftover cake in refrigerator

If you would like to view the video, here is the link.

http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Strawberry-Swirl-Cake-Video/Detail.aspx

52 Weeks of Cooking-Week Eight? Week Seven and a Half? Week Seven Bonus?

Ok, so if you've followed my blog (or if you've gone through some past posts on here), you will know that I work at Arby's.

I have quite a few regular customers come through and I've gotten to know them really well. I know their orders, they know who I am, and we share about our days when we don't see each other.

Well, there is this group of guys who come in pretty much every day, Monday through Friday. They all work together and they all stop and get breakfast at Arbys.

Ever since taking on this year long challenge I have been sharing the food with these guys. And it's really great to get some feedback from someone right then and there.

Well, tomorrow is my day off and I just so happened to find a recipe for chocolate chip waffles the other day while searching for the perfect birthday cake recipe. I love waffles. I would pick waffles over pancakes any day. I was thinking about making them tomorrow, since I happened to have all the ingredients on hand.

I mentioned this to the guys and their eyes got so big! I couldn't break their hearts.

So I guess I'm making waffles tomorrow and bringing them in on Friday...

WOW this post is long and I'm just now getting to the recipe!

Chocolate Chip Waffles

INGREDIENTS

2 cups flour

1 cup chocolate chips

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 and 2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup butter

2 eggs

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your waffle maker

In a large bowl, combine flour, chocolate chips, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Add milk, butter, eggs. Mix till moistened. Some lumps may remain.

Add 1 cup batter to the area where you cook the waffle. Set a timer for 3 minutes and 45 seconds and cook.

Enjoy!

Oh and this recipe will have me at 5 desserts and 3 non-desserts. I am going to try to have just about an equal amount of both by the end of the year.

(I counted this one as a non. Even though it has chocolate in it.)