Coconut Butter "Fudge"

This three Ingredients "fudge" makes you feel pretty healthy and is super easy to whip up. You can change the colors for almost any occasion. 

Found the original recipe here. 

Coconut Fudge

Just 3 main ingredients

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons Milk (or milk alternative) 
1/4 Cup Honey (or agave nectar)
2 cups Coconut Butter 
(optional: Food Coloring and Homemade Sprinkles)

Blend together then color

Directions:
Mix the Milk, Honey and Coconut Butter in a blender till smooth. I then separated the mix into two bowls to get the two tone look. I mixed in four drops of red food coloring into one of the bowls and mixed till it was all one color.

Then press the colored mixed into a foil lined, (trust me it makes it a lot easier to take out. I guess parchment could work too) 9x9 pan. I used a knife to spread the white mixture evenly on top. This is the time to add some sprinkles as well.

Refrigerate for about an hour or more, till it is set and firm to the touch. Lift out of pan and cut up.

Set in to Pan

Golden Snitches

These are a wonderful treat to pair with butterbeer! They can add a lot of fun to any Potter celebration, which I have a lot of apparently... 

Today marks the 16th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and the fall of the Dark Lord. I personally can see no better way to celebrate than to read the tale of the Three Brothers and eat some Snitches. 

Any way you can follow these directions, just make it with yellow cake and white chocolate with yellow food coloring. And while the chocolate is setting, place white chocolate covered pretzels as wings on the sides. Toothpicks can help keep these in place. To let the wings set even more firmly let the chocolate cool in the freezer. Also agave nectar can be replaced with honey as I've recently discovered, and personally prefer.

Enjoy these treats that open at the close!

Gluten free twix bars

I made these for my Aunt  who is gluten intolerant and hasn’t had a twix bar in years. So I found this recipe here: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/thousand-dollar-bars-recipe

And modified it a bit. These are really great snack to share with friends and this recipe makes a lot. 

Twix Bars 

Ingredients: 

shortbread layer

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups All-Purpose Flour (I used Pamela's gluten-free flour)

caramel layer

1 1/2 cups caramel, cut into small chunks

3 tablespoons heavy cream

chocolate layer

2 cups chopped milk chocolate or dark chocolate, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven 300 F. 

Beat together butter, sugar and vanilla. Add in flour and keep beating on medium speed till it all comes together. 

Butter a 9” X 13” pan or line it with parchment paper (I’ve done both now and they both work well). Then press the dough into the pan with lightly floured fingertips. Prick the crust all over with a fork to prevent air bubbles. 

Bake the crust for 35 to 45 minutes or until lightly golden brown on top. 

Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before the caramel layer. 

Caramel Layer

Melt the caramel chunks with the heavy cream in a saucepan on low heat. When the caramel is smooth (free of lumps, this can take about 5 minutes or less) pour it over the cooled crust and spread out evenly. Then allow the whole thing to cool completely in the refrigerator, till the caramel is firm. This may take about 30 minutes. 

Chocolate Layer

At this step you have some choices you can choose to cut the caramel and crust layers into small strips (like the size of twix bars) or leave it in the pan. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 50 seconds then remove and stir. Put back in the microwave  for 10 second intervals till all the chocolates are melted and smooth. Pour the chocolate on top of the caramel. Or if you have cut it into strips dip them into the chocolate (you might need more chocolate if you choose to dip). 

Let cool (can take 30 minutes in the refrigerator) and cut up and serve.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Swirl Brownies!

These add the perfect red and white coloring to any holiday dessert table. I love these because they add a rich decadent chocolate flavor with sweet cheesecake. You no longer have to choose between brownie and cheesecake! With our indecisive cultural it's always better to eliminate more choices. You can really have the best of both worlds!

Ingredients: 

1 stick (1/2 cup) Butter Melted

1 1/4 cup Sugar (1 cup for brownie and 1/4 for cheesecake) 

1/4 cup Cocoa powder
pinch of salt
5 drops red food coloring 

1 teaspoon Apple Cider vinegar
3 eggs (2 for the brownie and one for the cheesecake)

1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla (1 for brownie, 1/2 for cheesecake)  

3/4  cups flour

8oz (one packet) of cream cheese

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 F

To make brownie layer: 

Mix in the melted butter, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, food coloring, and vinegar, mixing after each addition. Whisk 2 eggs into the cocoa mix. Slowly add in the flour until lightly combined. Pour about 3/4 of the batter into a buttered or greased pan (8x8 works best for a thick brownie, but I used a slightly bigger pan and it was fine, just thinner as you can see). Set the rest aside to put on top of the cheesecake layer. 

Cheesecake Layer: 

Mix together softened Cream Cheese, 1 eggs, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla till creamed. Creamed is when it is light and fluffy in texture and smooth. Pour the mixture on top of the brownies, then add the last bit of the brownie mix on top of that. with a toothpick or butter knife mix just the top two layers together till the cream cheese is peeking through. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Perfect Gluten Free Pie Crust

A great pie crust can make or break a pie. I find that since I've learned how to make a great crust I judge pies much more harshly now. It is not homemade in my opinion unless it has a flakey and fresh crust. So here are some of the things I've learned making gluten free pie crust, because this can be tricky. 

Ingredients: 

Amounts for only one pie crust bottom. Double for two, or if lattice topped. 

1 3/4 cups Pamela's Bread Mix

1 stick (8 TBSP) Butter (cold)

3 or 4 TBSP cold water (very cold is best)

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350 F

Cut up the butter into pea sized pieces. Add in bread mix and slowly add water while stirring, till dough comes together. 

Place wax paper on to large cutting board. Lay dough into paper and flatten with palm. Add another piece of wax paper on top and roll out dough to desired size and thickness.

Peel off top paper and invert into a lightly greased pie dish. Peel off second sheet and fix crust edge. I just use my thumb between my index and middle finger to get the wavy edge seen below. (Chill dough for 30 minutes if dough is too soft.) Poke the crust with a fork on the bottom several times to avoid air bubbles. Bake unfilled crust on bottom oven rack for 28-30 minutes***.

***However if you are planning to fill the pie with something that needs to be cooked, only place the crust in the oven for about 5 minutes. Then take it out, fill, and bake to the pie directions instructions.***

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes!

These cupcakes were fun to make last year and were loved by many friends. I also personally believe that the Baileys Cream Cheese Frosting is the BEST frosting ever! 

They do take a bit of work, but worth it for some St. Patty's Day fun!!

http://seedanibake.blogspot.com/2012/03/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes.html

So Yummy! 

Ingredients

Guinness Stout Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup Guinness
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Jameson Whiskey Ganache Filling
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 to 2 tablespoons Jameson whiskey
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, softened
4oz unsalted butter, softened
5 cups powdered sugar
4-6 tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream
4-6 drops green food coloring

Directions 

Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350°F. (Good time to take out the cream cheese so it's room temp. before the frosting steps)

Bring 1 cup Guinness and 1 cup butter to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Take the mixture off the heat and add the cocoa powder and chocolate chips and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt together in large bowl. Using a mixer, beat eggs and then add sour cream and mix well. Add Guinness-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and mix in mixer to combine--don't overmix. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed.

Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean which can happen in about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely before coring for filling.

Ganache

Heat the cream until simmering and then add in the chocolate chips and dark chocolate. Stir rapidly until smooth while on the heat. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Take the ganache off the heat and let it cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped. A tip from the recipe I used was to put it in the fridge to cool off and check on it after 10 minutes.

Cupcakes Filled with Ganache

Meanwhile, use a 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer (or a knife in my case) to cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. Don't cut all the way to the bottom, about 2/3 down will do.  A slim spoon will help you get the center out. Either toss the scraps or eat them while you finish up the cupcakes.

Frosting

Frosting Before the Green 

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer mix the room temperature cream cheese and butter on low to medium low speed until well incorporated. Slowly add confectioners’ sugar and beat until light and fluffy on medium speed. Drizzle in the Bailey’s, depending on how prominent you want the Irish cream flavoring to be. Then add in green food coloring. Mix until completely incorporated. Use a piping bag with tip of your choice and frost the cupcakes.  And Enjoy!

Pink Champagne Cupcakes

So I made these Pink Champagne Cupcakes on Valentine's day. These ones are gluten free too. It was fun to make since I had to drink the leftover champagne of course since you can't re-cork it. I also made buttercream frosting to go with these. It was my first time making buttercream frosting. My friends liked the frosting, but honestly I am not a fan. I am much more partial to cream cheese frosting. I ended up giving these to my friends, or what was left after I ate them with the leftover champagne that is. 

Original idea found on pinterest: http://www.reneequeen.blogspot.mx/2012/01/pink-champagne-cupcakes.html

Cake recipe inspired by: http://pamelasproducts.com/yellow-cake-2/

Buttercream frosting: 

http://unsophisticook.com/best-buttercream-frosting-recipe/

Ingredients for Cupcakes:

3 eggs, separated

4 tbsp butter (1/2 stick)

2 1/4 cups Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 1/4 cup pink champagne

4 drops of Red food coloring 

Buttercream frosting Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter (2 sticks), softened

4 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3-5 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Separate eggs. Whip the whites until stiff.

In a separate mixing bowl, soften butter, add Pamela’s Mix and white sugar. Blend for 1 minute on medium speed until the butter is distributed throughout. Add 1/4 cup milk with the vanilla flavoring and almond flavoring, mix for 1 minute on medium. Add the remaining 1/4 cup milk with the egg yolks, mix together on medium for 1 minute. Fold in stiff egg whites. Add in the champagne and food colors, mix till color is distributed throughout. 

Pour into cupcake pan lined with baking cups. Do not fill more than 2/3 full. Bake for 25 minutes. Do not open the oven door while baking. Cakes are done when it springs back to the touch. Pop out the cupcakes, and leave until completely cool. 

When ready make the Buttercream frosting (maybe while the cupcakes are cooking). 

Beat softened butter on medium speed for about 3 minutes.

Then add sifted confectioner's sugar and stir on low until incorporated.

Add vanilla extract and 3 tablespoons of heavy cream to the mix. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides once or twice.

Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost them! I added candy hearts for decoration. 

Yellow Cake (not from Box) with Chocolate Ganache

These where a request from a friend for his birthday. I really didn't want to make a box cake so I found this recipe on Pintrest and it was amazing! 

Source for the cupcakes:  Shelly Kaldunski's, Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup whole milk

Chocolate Ganache:

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup whipping cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  In another bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla to this mixture, and beat until well combined.  Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk to the butter/sugar mixture, until no traces of flour remain.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full.  Bake for about 18-20 minutes.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling get the ganache ready:

Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl.  Warm the cream in a small saucepan over low heat-just until it starts to steam and little bubbles form around the sides of the pan.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let sit for a minute.  Whisk the chocolate chips and cream until smooth--let it cool for about 5 minutes.  Take a cupcake, turn it upside down, dip it in the ganache--let the excess drip off and turn the cupcake top side up--viola!  Do this with each cupcake until they are all coated with ganache. Let the cupcakes cool and serve. 

Salted Caramel Cake Truffles

These bite sized cake truffles require no baking and have a great taste. The rolling of the cake around the caramel does take awhile to complete, but its worth the time! I brought these in to work for the solstice and pretty much everyone loved them! Except for the girl who is allergic to chocolate. Worst allergy ever, right? 

Sea Salt on the outside, caramel on the inside! 

Ingredients: 

3 cups Chocolate Cake Mix (I used Pamela's gluten free mix) 

3 Tblsp. Honey 

3/4 cups Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 bag of Caramels 

Melting Chocolate

Sea Salt  

Directions: 

In a mixing bowl combine Cake Mix, Honey and Sweetened Condensed Milk, and stir to combine.This mixture should be quite solid and not runny, but not so dry that you can’t mold it into balls. If you find that your mixture is a little too runny, add a touch more cake mix. If it’s a little too dry, add more sweetened condensed milk/honey.

After you've made the dough, cut the caramels into quarters. Roll the dough into a ball with a piece of caramel in the center. 

Lay parchment paper down on a cookie sheet or pan.

Melt the dipping chocolate, and dip the chilled cake batter balls into melted chocolate. After the balls are dipped in chocolate, place on parchment paper and sprinkle sea salt on top. 

Place truffles in freezer or fridge to set up.

Yields: 40 to 50 truffles depending on size preference. 

Quick and easy butterbeer

This is for Ron's birthday.  It's nice to make the full on butterbeer  (http://kneadtoknowmo.blogspot.com/2013/07/butterbeer.html). However I don't always have the patience or time for it. So here is my quick and easy butterbeer.  

Ingredients:

1 bottle cream soda

1 TBS of butterscotch toppings

makes one glass of butterbeer

Directions:

Add butterscotch to a large glass. Pour in the soda and gently stir, don't stir too vigorously since it cause the soda to foam. You might want to add some whipped topping, I've used cool whip and home whipped heavy cream. I like the cream better but cool whip is easier.  Then drizzle on more butterscotch for effect. 

Enjoy in your very own house cup! 

Happy birthday Ron. Hope you're drinking some now with Hermonie!

Peppermint Frosting

This is a great way to add a little holiday flare to an old standard. This was my aunts birthday cupcakes, so I made these gluten free cupcakes with the frosting. And added some crushed candy canes to it. Looks pretty good if I do say so myself!

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter softened
1 cup of powder sugar
1 tsp of peppermint extract
2 candy canes
(optional: red food coloring)

Directions:
Blend the butter till creamed. Then add the powdered sugar. Mix till well combined. Finally add in the peppermint extract. (I then added red food coloring to half the batch).

Frost your cupcakes however you want, knife, pastry bag or just a sandwich bag. Stripe the red and white frosting together to get a candy cane look. Mine was put on with a bag, and unfortunately the red bleed into the white too much, and didn't look as stripy as i wanted it too.

Put the candy canes into a sandwich bag, without the plastic wrapping on the canes. Then crush them with a rolling pin. Sprinkle them on top of the frosting and you have one festive cupcake!

Reindeer Cookies

These are so cute to give away for the holidays. I made these last year to give as gifts. They were eaten fast, which is good since the antlers are prone to fall off. The cookie is gluten free, and you can find the recipe here for the cookie. The chocolate covered pretzels, which I like the look of better, are gluten free. However for the taste I enjoyed the slated pretzels best, it give that salty sweet flavor that I love a lot. 

Ingredients: 

The makings for peanut butter cookies (could make almost any cookie if you wanted, but here is a link for quick peanut butter cookies that I like) 

1 large bag of m&ms

1 bag of pretzels (use gluten free pretzels) 

Directions: 

Once you take the cookies out of the oven set in the pretzels on the top of the cookie at an angle. Place two brown m&m's in the middle of the cookie like eyes. Then add the red m&m as the Rudolph nose! You can have blue and green eyed reindeer as well, which I did after a while since I ran out of brown m&m's. Set on a cooling rack and let the decorations set. Then you will be ready to spread the cheer! 

Easy Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

So I found some form of this recipe on pinterest. I originally tried this with Chocolate Almond Butter from Trader Joe's and it fell a little flat, like literally! They ended up like some kind of brittle rather than a cookie. If you want to try plain Almond butter, please let me know how it goes. I frankly don't want to waste more Almond Butter figuring it out.

Anyway these are quick and very delicious for the peanut butter lover like myself! You could definitely try adding in chocolate chips too!

**Side note: Please excuse my bad photo quality. I only had my camera phone that day.

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar (best to do half white and half brown)
1 egg







Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F

Stir together peanut butter, eggs and sugar in a medium bowl. Mix until well combined, to the point that you can form them into nicely mixed cookie balls. Lay them out, with some room between them, on a cookie sheet. I used wax paper to keep the cookies from sticking.

Pop them into the oven and bake them for only 12 minutes or so. You want them to be a golden brown on the edges. Transfer them to a cooling rack and you have some very quick and easy cookies ready to go!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Muffins (No sugar added)

I have been experimenting with sugar alternatives. I wanted to give honey a try in sweetening my baked goods. The less processed the better right? Well maybe. I got some help from a blog from vegetarian times that says "Use 3/4 cup honey per 1 cup sugar, and reduce the liquid used (e.g., milk, water) by 1/4 cup if using more than 1 cup honey in a recipe. Check baked goods 10 minutes before the end of cooking time; honey can make them brown faster." (That link has some other sugar alternative suggestions too, you should check it out!)

So that is what I tried here. These where really good, and my roommates eat them up quickly. They make great breakfast muffins or late night snacks.


Ingredients:
1 Can of pumpkin
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 tsp baking soda
 dash of salt
1 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix pumpkin, butter, sugar, and egg together. Add nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda and salt to the mixture. Then gently stir in flour. Be careful not to over-mix. Pour mixture in to muffin tin filled with cupcake liners. Fill each muffin 3/4 full with batter. Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick come out clean. 

Black Bean Brownies by Sugarboy (Gluten Free!)

 So my dear grandfather, probably the main reader of this blog, wanted to add a recipe. Since he is my biggest supporter, and I pretty much learned most of my baking skills from him, why not? 

If you are gluten free, or just want an alternative "healthy" brownie I REALLY recommend you try this. The cocoa real covers up the taste I promise! I tried it out, with sugar, on my roommates and they tasted no bean flavor to the brownies. As long as you have a blender, you can whip, or rather blend, these up in a jiff!  

These are Brownies are Sugarboy approved!
(photo by sugar boy) 

So here are Sugarboy's (yes that is my grandpa's name) Black Bean Brownies:  Hey, I found the most amazing recipe, (actually, it is a combination of several recipes I saw online).
 The cool thing is that they are made without any flour or sugar, (Grandpa's diet/Aunt Kim's diet), and it uses a whole can of black beans for healthy fiber.

Everything you'll need!

---------------------------------------------------

BLACK BEAN BROWNIES

Everything you'll need!
1 can black beans, drained  and rinsed.
2 eggs. (or 4 egg whites)
3 Tbs. olive oil.
1 tsp. vanilla.
1/2 cup granulated Splenda, (or real sugar)
1/4 cup + 1 TBS. unsweetened cocoa.
1 tsp. baking powder.
pinch of salt.
(You will need a blender as well)

Photo by Sugarboy

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 F

Blend beans, eggs, olive oil, and vanilla in a blender until smooth.

Mix sugar (or substitute), cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Then beat the two mixtures together.

 Put in greased 8x8 glass pan and Bake @350 for 20 minutes.