Lovin' From the Oven

See’s Candies Valentine’s Day Chocolate

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Look what I received in the mail the other day! A beautiful assortment of milk and dark chocolates from See’s Candies…

I can feel Valentine’s Day creeping up just around the corner.. Eek! Only 7 days left until Valentine’s Day! I’m not gonna lie– I’m a fan of this holiday. Sorry to the ones that aren’t a fan, but all the pink/red and hearts popping up in stores bring me such joy. I love all the heart shaped desserts, the cheesy cards, and the beautiful flowers. Desserts, as you may have guessed, are at the top of my list. I think that Valentine’s Day brings out the cutest desserts that you find all year. I love scrapbooking cards for this holiday, too. Let me know if you would like a Valentines Day card sent directly to you! I love sending and recieving snail mail. Leave a comment here or send me an email at kim@lovintheoven.com with your mailing address and I’d be more than happy to send you a homemade card. Who knows, maybe a homemade card will make your Valentine’s Day this year THAT much better. 🙂

I was contacted by See’s Candies last week to sample and review some of their chocolates, and they sent me a pound’s worth of chocolate! Lucky me! I was so excited to open the package (who am I kidding, I always love opening packages), and was delighted when I saw the bright red, heart-shaped box. I wasn’t expecting something so cute! After I finally got over the cuteness and opened the box, I soon found out that the contents were just as appealing.

I slowly tried one, two, three pieces and loved all of them. Like Tom Hanks says in Forrest Gump, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” Usually with assortment boxes, I take a bite of each one (because I have no idea what’s inside of them) and throw out the ones I don’t like. In this case, I haven’t thrown out a single chocolate. This assortment had many with caramel, my favorite! The one pictures above is a milk chocolate with a caramel center. I am also a huge fan of the molasses chips from See’s– they’re especially addicting. If you haven’t gotten a gift for you significant other yet this Valentine’s Day, I’d totally go for the Valentine’s Day heart shaped chocolate gift boxes from See’s! The presentation, quality, and idea is impressive and it will be sure to leave an imprint in your lover’s heart. 🙂 Oops, there goes the cheesiness again. Sorry, I just can’t help it! I mean, who can ever turn away chocolate? It’s always sure to please.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

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These were made in celebration of my dad’s birthday two days ago– Happy Birthday Dad! I originally baked a brown sugar cupcake, but those didn’t turn out so great for me… probably because I didn’t have brown sugar on hand and made my own by creating a mixture of white sugar & molasses. So after disposing a batch of failure cupcakes into the trash can, I decided just to go with a simple french vanilla based cupcake instead.

I was planning to put cookie dough in the middle of the cupcake, but in order to do that, you have to use well-frozen cookie dough so that it doesn’t cook all the way while baking inside the cake batter. Since I didn’t have time to freeze the cookie dough, I just left my cupcakes the way they were and focused on the frosting. The next time that I attempt these (there will definitely be a next time, if not a third and a fourth), I’ll make sure to have enough time to freeze the cookie dough in advance. Cookie dough inside the cupcake would have been a welcomed addition! The frosting itself was very rich and decadent. It’s EXTREMELY sweet before mixing in the eggless cookie dough. I couldn’t stop eating the eggless cookie dough batter that you mix into the frosting. It’s so addicting! PLUS, it’s okay for you to eat because it’s eggless! Double points.

Have I mentioned how much I hate piping frosting? I swear I’m terrible at it and always make the biggest mess while doing so. I envy the talented pipers out there! This frosting was a bit frustrating because the mini chocolate chips would get stuck in the tip, causing my frosting to go all over the place. I’d have to use a toothpick to unjam my tip every now and then. I wouldn’t waste time piping frosting onto cupcakes if they weren’t so gosh darn cute. Curse the cuteness (but not really because we all know how everyone’s a sucker for a good lookin’ cupcake)!

Brown Sugar Cupcakes

(Recipe from Cupcake Bakeshop. Makes about 12 cupcakes)

  • 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
  3. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds after each.
  5. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
  6. Measure out milk and vanilla together.
  7. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine.
  8. Add about one third the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until combined.
  9. Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.
  10. Place previously prepared frozen cookie dough ball (mine were fairly big) into cup liners, then fill about half to three-quarters full of cupcake batter.
  11. Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden and the cake springs back when lightly touched. (Testing by using a toothpick would be insufficient because of the gooey cookie dough in the center).

Cookie Dough Frosting

(Recipe from The Cupcake Review. Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes.)

  • 1-3/4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • Eggless cookie dough (recipe below)
  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, salt, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary.
  2. Add milk and continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary. With the mixer running, slowly add remaining 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, mix until well combined.
  3. At this point you can mix in the eggless cookie dough. Mix in enough cookie dough to suit your taste. Any cookie dough leftover you can gladly eat! There are no eggs in it so it is safe. Yum!

Eggless Cookie Dough

(Recipe from How To Eat A Cupcake)

  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
  • 2 teaspoons water
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
  1. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a small bowl. Add water and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and salt and stir to combine. Stir in mini chocolate chips (optional).
  2. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Guittard’s Polka Dot Cookies

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Superbowl schmooperbowl. Football never really interested me, but how could I pass up the event of getting together and eating buffalo wings, 7 layer dip, and some barbeque? I couldn’t! Everyone knows that I’m a sucker for guacamole. I was at Cost Plus Word Market yesterday, one of my new found favorite stores, and came across Guittard’s mint chocolate chips! I’ve been looking for mint chocolate chips for quite some time now, and was ecstatic to come across them. I immediately bought a bag and made the recipe on the back to bring with me to a superbowl party today.

These cookies were soft, chewy, and mint/chocolatey. To be completely honest, I’m not really a fan of these mint chips after trying them and baking with them; I’d much prefer working with a bag of Andes mint. I do like that this recipe uses the same method of making the chocolate cookie as my favorite Andes mint cookies do, though. These cookies were good, but not GREAT, despite what the boys at the superbowl party said (they raved how they were better than Girl Scout thin mints). In my opinion, I’d take a thin mint over this cookie anyday. Mmmmm.. girl scout cookies.. Too bad they only sell ’em a couple months of the year AND they’ve downsized all their boxes. Worst ever.

2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups (12 oz) Guittard Green Mint Chips

Preheat oven to 350F

In top of double boiler over low heat, melt semi-sweet chips and butter, stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light. Blend in melted chocolate, then dry ingredients. Stir in green mint chips and chill for 10-15 minutes or until stiff. Drop by well-round teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes, cookies will be soft in centers but will harden as they cool.

Microwave instructions: Heat semisweet chips in a small bowl at medium power (50% or level 5) for 2-3 minutes, stirring well after each minute until smooth.

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