S'mores Brownies.

I'll be the first to admit that I like my brownies undisturbed by any other ingredients.  No peanut butter chips, no extra chocolate frosting, no marshmallows - nothing.  Just give me a nice and big gooey brownie and I'm good to go.

Basically this recipe goes against all my brownie morals but it was sooo good.  And easy.  Which automatically makes it better.

Ingredients:
1 box of Betty Crocker dark chocolate brownie mix
eggs and oil as stated on box
big marshmallows, or mini marshmallows if you so desire
graham cracker crumbs

Directions:
1.  Preheat your oven as instructed on the box.
2.  Mix brownie mix together with eggs and oil.  Grease your pan and even the brownie batter out in the pan.
3.  Take your jumbo marshmallows and cut in half, place as many as you'd like across the top of the batter.
4.  Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs across the top of the mix.
5.  Bake as instructed or until a toothpick comes out clean.

They should look a little something like this.  The marshmallows get all gooey and toasted and the graham cracker crumbs get nice and crunchy.  And of course the brownies are amazing!

Fondant Adventures

I got really adventurous and decided to try making my own fondant for covering cakes.  I wasn't exactly sure how it would go because every recipe that I found was either too complicated or didn't get good reviews.  I finally found a recipe that I liked and went for it.

It was so easy.  So, so so easy.

After my red velvet cakes were cooled, I dirty iced them.  Which, by the way is seriously....dirty.  Then I rolled out my fondant and covered each of my little cakes.  I was surprised how well it was going.  In the back of my mind I figured it would be a disaster.

But the cakes needed some color...so I dyed some of the fondant light pink (for me) and red (for the hubs).  I put cute little heart cut outs on the top of each cake and rolled out some little fondant balls to put around the base of the cake.

Finished product:

I Want S'more Cupcakes

I have been asked repeatedly for this recipe (on Facebook, text messages, and on blogger) since I posted a picture last Friday night.  So here is the long/short of it:

I knew I wanted S'mores cupcakes.  So I searched for some recipes and stumbled upon this website.  "Ming" came up with the recipes (though some are pretty standard in the cooking/baking world) and I mixed and matched to get my S'mores.

However, I'm claiming the S'mores cupcakes as my own (can I do that?  Haha) and here is the recipe:

Cupcakes only:

Now, while your cupcakes are cooling you can work on your marshmallow filling.  Yes, marshmallow filling.

Are you still with me?  You are?
Okay good, here's the last step.

Two words:

chocolate ganache

There you go.  You will be slightly exhausted after making these, but the end result is totally worth it.  Have fun!

I've Been

baking cookies.
packing sales.
paying bills.
making new items for my etsy.
coming up with an inventory/invoice/filing system.

and this weekend i'll be...
baking more cookies.
making Christmas gifts.
making more new items.
cleaning the house.
doing some more decorating.

what are ya'll up to this weekend?

Same Old Cookie, Yummier Twist

Yesterday I felt the insane need to bake something.  I looked in our pantry and saw a big bag of Craisins that I knew I could do something with.  So I thought...hmm, muffins?  Nah.  Too messy.  


And then it hit me.  Oatmeal craisin cookies.  I'm not a fan of raisins at all so this seemed to be an acceptable substitution.

Just use your favorite oatmeal cookie recipe and instead of adding raisins put in the craisins.  It's really easy and is a great cookie for upcoming fall picnics and even a new alternative to Christmas cookies (I will definitely be making a batch or two of these for friends).  Not to mention your place will smell so yummy after your cookies will done.

That's my favorite part of baking.  Enjoy.

Apple Pie Baking Experience, Part 1

I used my oven for the first time today.  We're going to a church picnic Sunday afternoon, and I said I would bring a yummy chocolate cake with butter cream icing, so I whipped one of those bad boys up along with a half portion with peanut butter icing for the hubs. 

Anyways...while we were at the farmer's market this morning I saw some lovely apples, so I picked some up and said to myself, "hmmm...I think I'll try to make an apple pie."  Sure, why not?  I looked over some recipes online and found a pretty simple looking crust that got good reviews and an easy breezy filling recipe that could be tweaked as necessary.  

Thus began my mission.  It started with a pie crust (hence part one, since the pie is in the oven as I type). 

I mixed flour, salt, shortening and a little bit of ice water to make the crust.  I formed a ball and let it sit in the fridge for at least half an hour.  I made two crusts, one for the bottom and one to make my design on top.

After watching The Departed, I set back to work in rolling out the pie crust, pressing it and cutting the excess off the edges to give it a nice clean look.  I put wax paper under the dough while rolling it so that I could easily pick it up and move it without worrying about tearing the dough.  It worked pretty well.

Although I would love to share the rest of the pie making experience, I'm tired and the pie has just come out of the oven.  Check back later this weekend, I'll have the second half of pie baking and taste testing results.  Woohoo!