Happy New Years Eve! And a New Frosting Recipe

In case you haven't noticed, I haven't made many cupcakes recently. I don't know if I just got burnt out or what, but I've been making more bars and cookies recently. Bars are especially low maintenance which makes them so much easier to make than cupcakes. But cupcakes will always hold a special place in my heart. And I'll continue to make them.

I actually made these cupcakes earlier in the year for a weekend getaway to a friend's family lake house. I thought these photos with the sprinkles were perfectly festive for New Years Eve! Hubby and I are off ringing in the new year in Las Vegas with a big group of friends!

Since it's our first trip to Vegas, I'm sure we'll have a bunch of fun and plenty of stories to share when we get home. But for now, lets talk more about cupcakes. For these cupcakes, I used a classic chocolate cupcake recipe but I decided to try a new frosting recipe.

I used the new neon colored cupcake liners that have been in the grocery store this year. I love them because in general, the Wilton cupcake liners that come in a bag at stores like Michaels are cute, but they always seem to be a bit off in size. The cupcake liners that I order online are great - vibrant colors and the perfect size - but they're a bit pricey. By default, I mostly use the classic pastel colored liners that come in the round plastic container, but recently, they've had these neon colored ones that are great. I can't get enough of them!

This frosting has a great bakery-frosting flavor. It's very sweet and everyone really enjoyed it. It had a decent amount of stiffness that was perfect for piping onto cupcakes as well. I will definitely be making this frosting again.

Dawn's Buttercream - from Cooking with Carrie
Printable Recipe
1 cup Crisco
1 pound powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons meringue powder

Cream shortening, water and flavoring.

Add powdered sugar and meringue powder. Mix until blended.

Add additional water until you reach the desired consistency. If you want really white icing be sure to use a clear extract. Vanilla extract will make the icing off white.

Puppy Chow

Puppy Chow is another family favorite that comes straight off the cereal box. There's no need to mess with this classic. It combines chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. What more could you ask for? And, as an added bonus, it's so easy to throw together and nobody can keep their hand out of the bowl!

I recommend using rice or corn chex for this recipe. They seem to be more airy. I've made Puppy Chow with wheat chex and it tastes fine, it's just a bit more dense.

Puppy Chow - from Chex - makes 18 servingsPrintable Recipe
9 cups Chex cereal
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Into large bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla.

Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.

Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Mini Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

These mini ham and cheese sandwiches don't appear to be all that interesting, but believe me, don't let the photos fool you. This isn't just ham and cheese thrown between halves of a roll. The sauce that these sandwiches is marinated in takes them over the top. The first time I had them was at a party at my Dad's house. Obviously, we wanted the recipe immediately. These would be amazing to serve at a New Years Eve gathering.

The recipe is from my step-mom's sister, K. She explained that the key to these little guys is the overnight marinating. This allows all the flavors of the marinade to soak into the bread and surprisingly doesn't leave the rolls soggy at all. My sister has made these and didn't have time for an overnight marinade, and they just weren't the same, so don't skip that step!

Hubby has made these two years in a row for our friend's holiday potluck. They're always a huge success. They're great for potlucks because you can do all the work the night before and then just pop them in the oven when you get to the potluck location and 10 minutes later people will be asking you for the recipe. (Note: The pictures are takedn with rolls that are bigger than the ones the recipe calls for. We couldn't find the mini-Hawaiian rolls at our store, so we used potato rolls. They tasted delicious, but weren't as cute and small as the first time we made them)

Merry Christmas and Peppermint Brownies with Chocolate Ganache

First of all, I want to say Merry Christmas Everybody! I hope everyone is having a great holiday. I wanted to show off a picture of our tree. This is the first year we've done a tree in Boston because there isn't a whole lot of room for one. Last year I didn't even decorate because we were traveling so much with the holidays. But this year, we got a real tree! I was very excited. It's about 5'8" tall and it fits on top of our end table since we have really high ceilings.

Once we got it into the stand, we realized that our box of ornaments had been stored at Hubby's mom's house since we had never planned on needing ornaments here in Boston. So we went to the dollar store with $20 in our hands and came out with the decorations you see here. It's just red and silver bulbs with white lights. And, Hubby fashioned a star out of a coat hanger that I wrapped in foil. Ta-Da! Here's what our tree-on-a-budget looks like. I love it!

Peppermint is by far my favorite holiday flavor. Something about it just makes me feel like it's wintertime. It reminds me of snow. It's well known that I love fun sprinkles. When I saw these at the store, I had to have them. Not only are they shaped like candy canes, they have a peppermint flavor to them. I also have some fun snowflake sprinkles that are obviously only useful in the wintertime. Hubby and I were trying to figure out what to take to a holiday potluck and I knew I wanted to build a dessert around these festive sprinkles.

So I knew there would be peppermint involved, and I wanted to pair it with chocolate. I've been doing a lot of bars recently so I thought I'd make peppermint brownies, drizzle them in some ganache and highlight the fun candy cane and snowflake sprinkles. I also added a bit of peppermint extract to the white chocolate and bittersweet chocolate ganache.

To kick things up even more, I was thinking about another of my favorite peppermint treats. The Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe Joe's. They're dangerous to have in the house because I tend to pop one or two when the box catches my eye. So I combined all of these things together by adding the candy cane Joe Joe's to the brownie batter prior to baking the brownies.

I cut these into small brownies so they are more like little bites of peppermint brownie deliciousness. These little brownies were a huge success at the party. If you're looking for a festive wintery dessert to make, definitely give these a shot.

Peppermint Brownies - adapted from King Arthur Flour
Printable Recipe
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
1 tspsalt
1 tspbaking powder
1 tspespresso powder, optional
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
~25 peppermint sandwich cookies, such as Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe Joe's, cut into chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan

In a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the heat briefly, just until it's hot, but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating this mixture a second time will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.

Transfer the sugar mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl, if you've heated it in a saucepan. Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, peppermint, and vanilla.

Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth.

Add the flour and cookie chunks. Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.

Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool completely prior to cutting.

White and Bittersweet Chocolate Peppermint GanachePrintable Recipe
3 oz bittersweet chocolate
3 oz white chocolate
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
6 Tbsp heavy cream

Break white chocolate into chunks and place in a bowl. Break bittersweet chocolate into chunks and place in another bowl.

Bring heavy cream and peppermint to a boil.

Pour half of the cream over the white chocolate and half over the bittersweet chocolate. Let set for a minute then whisk each until smooth.

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Gingerbread is a classic holiday flavor. I actually had never had gingerbread until I met Hubby. I guess it just wasn't part of my eating background growing up. A few years ago I made some gingerbread cut out cookies that had a lemon cream cheese frosting piped onto them. I was remembering those cookies when I decided to make these cupcakes. I'm entering these cupcakes into Baking Bites Holiday Cupcake Contest (and just barely in time since entries are due by midnight tonight!)

I love these cupcakes because they have very festive sprinkles, (I love sprinkles), festive colors, and festive flavors. For the frosting, I made a lemon cream cheese frosting. Lemon actually pairs really well with gingerbread even though most people gave a weird look when I told them the frosting flavor.

I mentioned the festive colors. Not only are the sprinkles red and green, but the cupcake liners are as well. I love the vibrant colors of these liners and I'm hoping Santa brought me some more, because I'm starting to run low.

Gingerbread Cupcakes - from Martha Stewart - makes 24
Printable Recipe
1 1/2 c flour
2 Tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 c (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/2 c sugar
3 Tbsp molasses
4 eggs, at room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Sift flour and spices together and set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and beat until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined. Beat in vanilla. With mixer on low, add flour mixture until just combined.

Fill each muffin tin ~3/4 full. Bake ~25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting - adapted from 52 Cupcakes
Printable Recipe
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 stick unsalted butter
4 cups confectioners' sugar
Zest of 1 lemon, grated
2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

With an electric mixer on medium, beat the cream cheese and butter until softened. Slowly add the sugar, zest, and juice and beat until creamy, about 3 minutes.

Operation Baking Gals Round 15 Roundup

I wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who participated in Team Beantown Baker for Operation Baking Gals Round 15. We had 16 team members sending care packages to Rebecca who is stationed in Iraq for 18 months. Rebecca should be getting all of her packages in time for the holidays. Thanks again everyone who helped make her holidays a bit brighter.

I asked the members of my team to send me any pictures or links to blog updates about their packages. I love seeing all the hard work people have put in to help make a stranger's day. Here are some of the things that Rebecca will be receiving from our team.

Nutmeg Nanny (love that name!) sent a package that includes Butterscotch Scotchies, some Girl Scout Thin mints, and plenty of other goodies


A Little Mom-Me Time made Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

I also got a few emails listing some of the goodies sent to Rebecca:
- Kim sent 2 boxes, including chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon bread, orange cranberry bread, a "Christmas Vacation" DVD, toiletry items, and a card and photos

- Shari sent two packages including one where she asked everyone in her cookie swap to bring extras to send to Rebecca. Some of the cookies included: Mexican wedding cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter blossoms, sour cream cookies, sugar and spice cookies, sweet and spicy nuts, pretzels
- Tammy sent a box of cookies
- Keri sent a box of variations of the classic chocolate chip cookie

And finally, here is what I sent to Rebecca. One of Rebecca's favorite cookies are peanut butter cookies. I decided to send her two versions of a peanut butter cookies. The first is the Monster Cookie. I've made these before and this time I just used the holiday colored M&Ms to make them more festive.

I also made some double peanut butter cookies (recipe to come soon). It's a basic peanut butter cookie with peanut butter chips in it as well.

I also threw in a couple of my holiday favorites including some Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe Joe's. I love these cookies! I also added a small box of mini candy canes and a holiday card that I wrote to her. I hope she enjoys all the goodies.

If I missed anyone's information, please email me and I will update this post.

Superbowl Snack Throwdown - Week 14

Well it's a snow day here in Boston. We got around 10 inches of snow overnight and it's still coming down. It's definitely really pretty out and Hubby and I will be staying in to watch football all day. I'm excited about the snow day! It's really helping to get me in the holiday spirit!

Since it's Sunday, it's time to review Highlowaha's Super Bowl Snack Throwdown recipes from Kate and Lauren. This week's secret ingredient is turkey! As a reminder, recipes are to be judged on the following criterion: Creative use of the ingredient, most likely to be eaten first, best photograph, and reproducibility. So now, on to the recipes (be sure to click through to check out the entire recipes).

Kate made Turnover Turkey Ring.

Lauren made Mini BBQ Meatballs.

I'm excited about this week's ingredient because I love turkey! I'll start with photography. I have to give it to Lauren because once again, her photos are amazing.

When it comes to reproducibility, both of these recipes could come across as intimidating to a novice chef. But when you break it down and read each recipe, they are not too difficult at all. Especially since you could take either of these recipes and make it easier if you're short on time or apprehensive about making your own meatballs or making the crescent ring. Based on that, I'm going to have to call this category a tie.

For creativity, we've got a turkey sandwich made with crescent dough and a meatball subbing ground turkey for ground beef. I'm going to go with Kate's crescent ring for creativity.

The last category is most likely to disappear quickest at a football gathering. This is another tough call because I always say that little bite sized snacks seem to disappear very quickly. So the mini meatballs definitely have that going for them. but at the same time, that crescent ring could be cut into bite sized pieces that are a quick grab as well. But, at the end of the day, I'm going to have to go with Lauren's mini meatballs.

Congratulations Lauren! I can't wait to see what you and Kate come up with next week!!

I've placed my vote, now it's time for you to cast yours! Be sure to go to Highlowaha to vote for your favorite of these two recipes.

Week of Family Favorites Recap

This week I got to showcase some of the favorite dishes from both of our families. We almost always see these dishes at holiday get togethers!

First, the classic pecan pie. My older brother loves this pie and always makes it for the holidays.


Next came the classic breakfast of biscuits and gravy. We like for my dad to make this for us when we're in town.


One of Hubby's all time favorite desserts is chocolate mousse. Maybe someday I'll be able to make something he loves as much, but I doubt it.


Another one of Hubby's favorites, eggplant parmesan is a hearty comfort food perfect for any family get together.


And last but definitely not least comes one of my favorites, green bean casserole. A holiday just isn't complete without it!

Green Bean Casserole

For my final installment of a Week of Family Favorites, I'm going to feature a favorite of mine. Green bean casserole. It's such a classic holiday casserole, that to me, the holidays just aren't the same without it. In fact, Hubby knows that I was very disappointed that his family Thanksgiving meal didn't include green bean casserole. Next time, I'll just have to bring it myself to make sure it's there.

This is another case where the recipe is straight off the packaging. And, yes I realize some people have strong feelings about using canned cream of mushroom soup. I say there is a time and a place for everything. While I am not usually a fan of cooking like this, I just look the other way once or twice a year for this nostalgic side dish.

Green Bean Casserole - from Campbell's Kitchen
Printable Recipe
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon soy sauce
Dash ground black pepper
4 cups cooked cut green beans
1 1/3 cups French Fried Onions

Stir the soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, beans and 2/3 cup onions in a 1 1/2-quart casserole.

Bake at 350°F. for 25 minutes or until the bean mixture is hot and bubbling. Stir the bean mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining onions.

Bake for 5 minutes or until the onions are golden brown.

Check out my week of Family Favorites here.

Eggplant Parmesan

Today I'm featuring another recipe from Hubby's mother. Hubby loves eggplant parm. It's another one of the things his mom usually makes for us when we're in town because she knows how much he loves it. Recently, we requested the recipe from her and Hubby made it at home all by himself.

Hubby likes to claim this is a healthy recipe since it's vegetarian. I would not call this healthy, but it sure is delicious. Hubby used Panko bread crumbs because that's all I keep in the house. I really this they give a much better texture than regular bread crumbs. If you wanted, you could make this with meat sauce if you feel like it needs some meat. Eggplant is a very meaty vegetables, so I think it's fine without it.

This recipe also freezes really well. I wish I had thought of that back when we did our kitchen renovation and stocked up on frozen food. Since this makes a whole casserole dish, we ate it for leftovers all week. But if you don't like leftovers, just portion it out into individual tupperware containers and freeze it after it has cooled completely.

Eggplant Parmesan - from Hubby's mom - makes 12 servingsPrintable Recipe
Sauce (1 large jar or homemade)
1.5 lb. eggplant, look for long slender firm eggplant
2 eggs, beaten
1.5 cups Panko cread crumbs, seasoned with salt and pepper
Cooking oil
1 lb. mozz shredded or thinly sliced
1/4 cup parmesan grated

Preheat oven to 425.

Peel eggplant and slice about 1/4 inch thick. Dip into egg and let it drip off, then into bread crumbs. Set aside on a sheet of waxed paper.

Heat a jelly roll pan with enough oil to cover the bottom in the oven. When hot, add eggplant but see sure not to over-crowd the pan. Cook until nice and brown and crispy, then turn. Drain on paper towels.

Turn oven to 400.

Layer in a 13x9 baking dish 1/3 sauce, 1/2 eggplant, 1/2 mozzarella cheese, repeat, end with last 1/3 sauce. Sprinkle parmesan on top.

Bake uncovered for 15-20 min.

Check out my week of Family Favorites here.

Chocolate Mousse

Hubby claims he's not a big dessert guy. Or a big chocolate guy. I have a hard time believing that because no matter what I bake, he always wants a bite. But even after everything I've made, this chocolate mousse is one of his favorites of all time. We literally have to hide the bowl so there is enough to share with others.

Hubby's mom makes this for every holiday that we're home. I've never tried to make this, but she gave me the recipe and permission to post it on here (thanks N!)

This mousse is best the day it's made. If you need to make it in advance, be sure to give it a good stir prior to serving.

Chocolate Mousse - from Hubby's mom - makes ~20 servings
Printable Recipe
6 eggs, at room temp, washed with soap and water, 5 separated, 1 slightly beaten
1 pint heavy cream
1/2 lb chocolate
1/3 c powdered sugar

Using the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, beat the 5 egg whites until stiff. In a separate bowl, whip cream with powdered sugar.

In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate. Add the beaten egg and mix together. Beat in the egg yolks of the 5 separated eggs. Mix chocolate mixture together with whipped cream. Carefully fold in the egg whites. Refrigerate 2-3 hours.

Note, if using white chocolate, it needs to be melted with some liquor, milk, or cream.

Check out my week of Family Favorites here.