Lovin' From the Oven

Ronald Reagan’s Centennial Celebration Cupcake

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Remember back when I was majorly stressing over work and the grand re-opening of the museum? Well, at least my work was nice enough to give us all cupcakes to celebrate the weekend. These were baked by the local Four Seasons hotel in honor of what would have been Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday.
It was a plain chocolate cupcake with vanilla whipped frosting. Jelly Bellys (Reagan’s favorite) were sprinkled on the top of the cupcake and a white chocolate disc imprinted with the centennial logo finished it off. It sure looked pretty!
The packaging was just darling. You could tell that a lot of work went into each individual cupcake. But as for the cupcake itself? Dry, a bit bland, and unimpressive. C’mon now Four Seasons… if you charge that much for a night at the hotel, couldn’t you at least make a decent cupcake?! The frosting was good, though.
PS. Sorry this post is so delayed. I really should have posted it last week. Better late than never!
PPS. I’ve done a blog makeover! Thoughts?
PPPS. I was featured as day 13 of BlogHer’s 14 days of chocolate. Woooo! Chocolate overload.

Brickle Drop Cookies

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I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s day! I’ve always been a fan of the holiday, with a Valentine or not. There’s something about seeing hearts and flowers everywhere that just makes my little heart flutter. Lucky for me, I’ve had a Valentine for the past three years now. Here’s my Valentine’s Day outfit, if you’re curious!
My DB made me breakfast in bed (scrambled eggs in the shape of a “heart” that really looked like a triangle with sausage) and we went to BJ’s for lunch. That was about the extent of our V-day because I had to work the Valentine’s event at my work for the night.
When I came home, I was surprised with homemade chocolate covered strawberries and the book, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo!” I’ve been meaning to buy the book for a while, but haven’t gotten around to it because I have so many books in my queue as is. I really want to finish the series before I start watching the movie, though. All in all, it was a laid back day with the boy I love!
Now, I wanted to post this cookie so you can see that not all of my cookies come out perfect! I have this problem, just like any other normal human being, too! My cookies came out extremely flat and a bit undercooked, despite me leaving them in the oven for an additional 5 minutes. What the heck. I even refrigerated them overnight! Oh well, sometimes flat cookies happen to hardworking bakers. Nothing you can do about it but eat it all up yourself!
Recipe from the back of the Heath’s bag. Can also be found online at Hershey’s.

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1-1/3 cups (8 oz. pkg.) HEATH BITS ‘O BRICKLE Toffee Bits

  1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
  2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt in large bowl until blended. Add eggs; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and cream of tartar; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in toffee bits. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet.
  3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 6 dozen.

Chunky Twix Cookies

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Just a quick post while I prepare myself for the crazy weekend coming up at work. It’s Reagan’s Centennial on Sunday and the museum’s grand re-opening, so we’re expecting HUGE crowds and lots of business! Here’s a cookie to get you guys through this madness…

My favorite candy bar has and always will be Twix. Something about the caramel, shortbread, and chocolate reel me in every single time. When I saw a recipe that involved a copious amount of candy bars, I bought a huge bag of Twix and went straight to the kitchen. These cookies were wonderful. The Twix’s texture didn’t change much in the oven, but the caramel did feel gooey straight out of the oven. The caramel that did happen to melt out of the cookie hardened a bit, but no harm there! Recipe from Sprinkled with Flour.

  • 2 cups
  • ½ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 12 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 cups coarsely chopped Twix bars
  1. Preheat oven 325°.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.
  4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Gently stir in the Twix chunks.
  5. Roll the dough into balls and bake on a baking sheet for 15-18 minutes.
  6. Allow the cookies to cool for ten minutes before removing them off the baking sheet.

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