Lovin' From the Oven

S’mores Brownies

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these babies definitely weren’t pretty out of the pan, they stuck to everything! proof:I hope everyone had a good 4th of July! I spent the day working (since we’re only closed three days of the year and sadly, the 4th of July is not one of them) and then bbq’ing with my boyfriend and family. Afterwards, my parents, my bf and I went to the top of a hill and watched the fireworks picnic-style. It was really quite pleasant and I love spending time with my parents. It makes me realize how lucky I am to have them and I can only hope to have even half of the relationship that they have one day.

Because of work, I wasn’t able to bake any 4th of July themed goodies, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t bake this past weekend. I was craving summer and baked some s’mores brownies to satisfy by summer craving. These were delicious! I may have overdone it with the extra graham crackers that I threw in, but no harm done there. These pictures may not look as scrumptious, but I guarantee that they are! I had to give away half of the pan so I wouldn’t eat them myself. My boyfriend’s co-workers devoured them in two minutes. No joke.

The only difference that I would have made is to add the marshmallows on halfway through baking rather than at the beginning. They cooked for a little bit too long and became a bit burnt. The final product was also extremely sticky and nearly impossible to cut without making a mess, so let it cool completely before cutting!

I used my normal brownie base and just added some throw-ins to create this concoction. The brownie is always a winner in my books! You can also use a brownie box mix if you’re short on time; it works just as well.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups sugar (white)
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • ½ cup cocoa
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • about 1 cup graham crackers pieces, broken by hand(I used 4 sheets of graham crackers)
  • half a bag of large marshmallows
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 9 x 13 pan.
  2. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Once melted remove from heat and add sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Blend together.
  3. In separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, and salt. Add dry mixture to the wet and mix well. Add broken graham crackers and mix.
  4. Pour into greased pan. Place marshmallows over the poured batter, I used about 15 large marshmallows, but you can do more or less depending on your taste. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

P.S. I have been getting a ton of emails recently and I’m sorry if I have not responded! I’m so behind on that and I just want you guys to know that I do take the time to read every single one. If I still don’t respond, please feel free to bug me until I do so! 🙂

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Cinnamon Toast Cupcakes

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Have you guys been following the World Cup? If so, what team is everyone rooting for? Since my boyfriend is Argentinian/Argentine (which one is it, btw? I always go back and forth between the two), he’s quite the die hard soccer fan. When I say die hard, I mean waking up at 4:30 AM to watch a game, taking the day off from work so he won’t miss Argentina playing, and shouting so loud the neighbors across the street could easily hear him. For me, the sport is just not that appealing. Sorry, soccer lovers!

Ninety minutes of going back and forth across the field with hardly anyone ever scoring is not my form of amusement. I need a more fast paced & higher scoring sport to watch. Maybe I never got into soccer because I never played it. I mean, running is not something I like to do willingly. I will, however, admit that I do like watching penalty kicks… but it normally takes so long to even get to that point that I give up watching way before the penalty kicks even happen. Nevertheless, since I have a boyfriend that’s so crazy about it, I must be a supportive girlfriend. Go Argentina! (The boyfriend is watching YouTube videos about previous matches with Germany/Argentina and about Messi as I type. ::sigh::) Pleeeasseee win tomorrow so I don’t have a sulking boyfriend for the next week.

Oh, and since we’re talking about my boyfriend, I’ll gloat for him a little bit. His nerdy reviews were posted on Gizmodo for the Iphone 4 earlier this week and he was really excited about it. Check it out here (His comments are under his name, Gabriel)! Yup, I’m dating a total geek and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

This is finally the last of the cupcakes. It only took me about a million years to post all the recipes when I originally aimed for a week. Sorry for the delay! It comes from the same book that I used for all the previous cupcakes posted by the cake mix doctor. I kicked up the amount of cinnamon when I did it, but I would recommend using what’s posted. I’m not quite sure what Cinnamon Toast is supposed to taste like, but I will tell you that these taste exactly like their name.

  • 24 paper liners for cupcake pans
  • 1 package (18.25 oz) plain yellow cake mix
  • 1 package (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 1 1/4 cups whole milk
  • 3/4 cups vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 24 cupcake cups with paper liners. Set aside.
  2. Place the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds. Increase mixer to medium and blend 1 1/2-2 minutes more, scraping down the sides if needed.
  3. Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each lined cupcake cup, filling it 3/4 full. Place the pans in the oven.
  4. Bake cupcakes 18-22 minutes.
  5. When toothpick comes out clean, place the pan on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes before taking them out.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 1 package (8 oz) cream cheese at room temp
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, at room temp
  • 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  1. Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Stop the machine.
  2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, blending with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is well incorporated, 1 minute.
  3. Add the cinnamon, then increase the mixer speed to medium and blend the frosting until fluffy, 1 minute more.
  4. Frost!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

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What do we have here? Swirls of cookie dough frosting on top of a moist yellow cake with mini chocolate chips mixed into the batter and neatly sprinkled on top. Mmmm look at those cupcakes… I’m actually just distracting you from the news that I promised you in my last time. But no more of that nonsense, let’s get right to it, shall we?

Deep breaths now… I’ve decided to finally pursue my dream, to do something for myself for once. I figured what better time than now? I have no real commitments, nothing holding me back, no kids to take care of, I’m young and I still have plenty of time ahead of me *knocks on wood* to start my life. Heck, this is me starting my life right now.

I’m… I’m… going to Paris next year for Le Cordon Bleu!!!!! Well, I’m not going to get too ahead of myself just yet because nothing’s official. I haven’t done any paperwork or anything.. I’ve just made the decision that I’m going.

I figure that I’ll work until then and save up as much money as I possibly can before I leave. I’m debating to either go to the one that starts in March or June of 2011. I actually have an uncle that lives in Paris with a spare room, and he told me that I could stay with him for as long as I want to. It’s meant to be. I can feel it.

The program is divided into three parts: basic, intermediate, and superior. Each part is about three months long, so I’ll be gone for a total of roughly nine months. Oh, also the superior course is only demonstrated in French… which means I’ll need to get my hands on the Rosetta Stone soon. I’m really excited about this decision and I will definitely keep you posted along the way.

Back to the initial distraction– I got the cupcake recipe from Cupcakes From The Cake Doctor and the frosting recipe from Perry’s Plate. Frosting was a bit sugary for me, but the cupcake was perfect. I seriously love that book and sleep with it by my bed every night. It’s comforting.

  • 1 18 ounce package of cookie dough
  • 24 cupcake liners
  • about 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, depending on your taste
  • 1 18.25 ounces box of yellow cake mix
  • 1 3.4 ounce box of vanilla instant pudding mix
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Put the cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in your big mixing bowl.
  3. Mix with an electric mixer until combined (2 minutes-ish) scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well blended.
  4. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  5. Take a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop batter into each lined cupcake cup for a total of 24 cupcakes.
  6. Push a frozen cookie dough chunk in the middle of each cupcake.
  7. Bake the cupcakes until they are goldeny done – for about 20 to 25 minutes.

For the frosting:

  • 3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp. salt
  • 3 tbsp. milk
  • 2½ tsp. vanilla extract

  1. To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy.
  2. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.
  3. Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

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