Adventures in Baking...Inservice Cupcakes!

At work tomorrow, we have an inservice in the CTRC for one of our new studies.  Something that they do in adult rheumatology (where I came from) that I am continuing to do in peds rheumatology is to bring food to the inservice.  Not only is it a treat for the CTRC staff, but it also gives me an excuse to try out new recipes!  Last time, I made a savory snack, but this time, I thought I'd make one of the yummy treats from this Taste of Home booklet/magazine that I got over the summer.  I had thought about making the cupcakes that were on the cover, but I wanted to do something a wee bit similar since I needed to tweak my slides for the inservice a bit this afternoon.  I came up this recipe as an adaption of one for peanut butter cupcakes that was in the booklet/magazine.  I really liked the recipe, but I wasn't feeling the peanut butter frosting.  I decided that instead, I would mix a like Nutella in with the vanilla frosting.  It was the perfect way to use the end of the Nutella that I had in the pantry!

The Hidden Surprise in the Middle!

Here's what I did...

Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting....aka Inservice Cupcakes

Ingredients

1 box of white cake mix with instant pudding (will require vegetable oil and eggs)

18 miniature Reese Peanut Butter Cups

1 can of vanilla frosting

Nutella

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Prepare the cake mix according to the package directions.  Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each paper-lined muffin cup.  Place a peanut butter cup in each and then fill 2/3 full with the remaining batter.

Bake int he oven for 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of frosting with 1/3 cup of Nutella until smooth.  Frost cupcakes.

Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Sauce

Today is the first Whatcha Got Cooking Wednesday that my friend Mama Bird has over at her nest today so I had to give her some love over here, too.  For this entry, I'm going to share a flourless chocolate cake that I've been dying to try that I found on epicurious.com recently.  I'm planning (plotting???) a way to get rid of some eggs that are going to go bad this week, and it seemed like a perfect way to do it.  I was inspired to do the flourless chocolate cake after having a sliver of one when I was in Chicago this past weekend.  I decided to pair with a raspberry sauce that I found with another recipe to create a sinfully yummy dessert. I searched and found my double boiler which was hiding in one of those hard-to-reach cabinets in my kitchen...you know, the one over the stove that a short person like me often forgets that it exists because it is not in my sight line.  I dusted it off, and it's ready to got.
 
Attention all MUSC employees...yes, this cake will be coming soon to a conference room near you! 
 
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
4 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder plus additional for sprinkling

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F and butter an 8-inch round baking pan. Line bottom with a round of wax paper and butter paper.

Chop chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler or metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate with butter, stirring, until smooth. Remove top of double boiler or bowl from heat and whisk sugar into chocolate mixture. Add eggs and whisk well. Sift 1/2 cup cocoa powder over chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven 25 minutes, or until top has formed a thin crust. Cool cake in pan on a rack 5 minutes and invert onto a serving plate.
Dust cake with additional cocoa powder and serve with sorbet if desired. (Cake keeps, after being cooled completely, in an airtight container, 1 week.)

Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
1 (12-ounce) package frozen raspberries, partially thawed
1/3 cup light corn syrup

Directions
Process raspberries and 1/3 cup corn syrup in a blender until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides. Pour raspberry mixture through a wire-mesh strainer into a 2-cup glass measuring cup, discarding seeds. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Enjoy!!!

This Year's Christmas Treats: Salty Chocolate-Pecan Candy

Back when I was an adult (ie, prior to nursing school), I always made Christmas Treats to give to my co-workers. I did peanut butter chocolate chip bread when I was living in North Carolina, and during my days as a study coordinator in adult rheumatology, I made grasshopper squares.  This year, I decided to do something different, and since I had the day off today, I decided to make these treats for my co-workers for holiday gifts.  I found the cutest bags at Publix this afternoon.  They were made by Hallmark and say COAL on them.  I'm hoping that their recipients appreciate my humor!! 

In order to make my life easier, I opted to use chips instead of bars for the recipe. Any holes that I found, I filled in with the mini-chips that I had in my pantry. I also used "recipe ready" pecans which meant that I didn't need to toast them.  Here's what my final was...

Salty Chocolate Pecan Candy

Ingredients

• 1  cup  Planters recipe ready pecans halves, coarsely chopped
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
• 1 bag white chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
• 1/2  teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 225F.  Line a 17- x 12-inch jelly-roll pan with parchment paper. Place chips in a checkerboard pattern and group so that there is one section of semi-sweet chips beside of white chocolate.

Bake at 225° for 5 minutes or just until chocolate is melted. Remove pan to a wire rack. Swirl chocolates into a marble pattern using a wooden pick. Sprinkle evenly with pecans and salt.

Chill 1 hour or until firm. Break into pieces. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator up to 1 month.

Adventures in Baking Part 3

The one of the really cool things about the foodie blog world is discovering intriguing recipes on other sites.  I like to check out the forum on the Foodie BlogRoll because you get the bloggers introducing themselves and sharing a little bit about their blogs.  I've found a couple that I follow now there.  One of the ones that I recently found and started following is One Couple's Kitchen.  They shared a recipe from Food + Wine for a Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake.

I became a fan of Nutella in Italy when I was an exchange student back in 1991.  I remember how excited I was when I found it for the first time at Fresh Market in Hickory.  Back then, I'd put it on bread or cookies.  I've never cooked with it, and when I stumbled across the recipe, I was probably as excited as I was that day when I saw Nutella at Fresh Market.  Nowadays, you can get it at any grocery store, thankfully.  It's been a while since I've had any, and with another SNA Bake Sale on Monday, I decided that it was a perfect excuse to try it out.  If I had found it a day earlier, I probably would've made it for the bake sale that the women of my church has with our annual barbecue this weekend! (I made Ghiradelli brownies...of course!) I like how SNA Bake Sales have become my excuse to try to improve my baking skills.  I will definitely miss it (and need to come up with a new excuse) now that my final semester in nursing school is almost over.  I've never made a pound cake before, but they were always present at all holiday get-togethers when I was growing up.  My Aunt Mary Gordon used to always make them, and like my Aunt Mable's macaroni and cheese, I will equate them of Thanksgivings and Christmases in Shelby, NC when I think of them.  I wonder what my aunts would have thought of this version.

In order to get my eggs to room temperature, I put them out on the counter prior to my going to church.  According to the reviews on the Food and Wine website, that was rather important.  When I came home, they still weren't there, but I went ahead and mixed with the vanilla extract anyway.  I decided to go ahead and bake the chocolate chip cookies that I had signed up to make to give the eggs some more time to get to room temperature.  It also gave ample time for the butter to soften, too.  Despite the fact that the Nutella jar says not to microwave it, I followed the suggestion from reviewers on Food and Wine and microwaved it for 30 seconds before spreading it on the batter.  I gotta tell ya....microwaved Nutella is much less viscous than it is straight of the jar, and I definitely had an accident that resulted in Nutella running down the side of the counter, onto the dishwasher and pooling in the kitchen floor!  Luckily, there were no kitties around to get in it, and Lysol Disinfectant wipes do a wonderful job with removing the evidence of my faux pas (and Rick wasn't here to laugh at me)!

When I went to take it out of the loaf pan, some of the bottom stuck to the pan, but I was able to piece it together, it also started to fall apart a bit (notice the pan holding it together in the pic...hee, hee, hee!).  It did cut okay, but unfortunately, in most spots, the Nutella sank to the bottom of the cake.  It's still very yummy and rich, though!  Definitely needs a glass of milk!

Here's the recipe:

Nutella-Swirl Pound Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, plus some for dusting

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 13oz jar of Nutella

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325°. Lightly grease and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, tapping out any excess flour. In a glass measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs with the vanilla. In a medium bowl, whisk the 1 1/2 cups of flour with the baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer at medium-low speed, gradually beat in the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 3 batches, beating at low speed between additions until just incorporated. Continue to beat for 30 seconds longer.  Microwave Nutella for 30 seconds (uncovered).

Spread one-third of the batter in the prepared pan, then spread half of the Nutella on top. Repeat with another third of the batter and the remaining Nutella. Top with the remaining batter. Lightly swirl the Nutella into the batter with a butter knife. Do not overmix.

Bake the cake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto a wire rack, turn it right side up and let cool completely, about 2 hours. Cut the cake into slices and serve.

Adventures in Baking Part 2

Tomorrow is the Student Nurses' Association Bake Sale. Normally in these situations, I open up a box of Ghiradelli Brownie Mix and call it a night...especially considering that I spent the weekend in North Carolina for my cousin's wedding. Yesterday while I was out shopping with my stepmom and Vicki, I purchased a new cookbook and a Taste of Home magazine. As soon as I got them, I envisioned myself on the couch with them in my hand in the kittens on my lap as I searched for something new and exciting to make. I was flipping through the Taste of Home magazine this afternoon when I came across this little recipe for Chocolate Chip Raspberry Bars. It seemed easy enough, and I'm a sucker of anything chocolate! I decided to do the Ghiradelli brownies and try out this new recipe.

I have a confession, though. After all the fun this weekend, I am rather tired which can make me rather forgetful. It wasn't until I took the raspberry bars out after the initial 5 minutes of baking that I realized that I forgot to put the egg in! Needless to say, I had to start over. Rick got a good laugh out of it when I told him about it. I ended up using almost the whole 18 oz jar of the seedless raspberry jam because it was a little difficult to spread. It wasn't until I started to try to cut them that I realized that sometimes, less is a better thing! The end result was very delicious albeit a little sweet and rich (and messy!!!). And yes, I did save a couple for Rick to enjoy.

Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Chip Raspberry Bars

Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup cold butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup seedless raspberry jam
• 1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chip

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in egg and extract just until moistened. Set aside 1 cup of crumb mixture for topping.

Press the remaining mixture into a greased 11 inch by 7 inch baking pan. Bade at 350F for 5 minutes. Spread the jam and sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture. Bake 35-40 minutes longer or until golden brown.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Return to the oven for 30 seconds or until chips are glossy. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into bars.