Lovin' From the Oven

Knockoff S’mores & Winner!

by 4 Comments

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First things first, I picked a comment to win and this came up:
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Congratulations to comment number 55 by Anny! Please email me at kim@lovintheoven.com so I can forward your information about the prize.
I’m the kind of gal that while browsing tastespotting or foodgawker, I always initially click on the photos with star shaped sprinkles, light pastel colors, and cakes shaped into cute characters. The pretty desserts are what catches my eye.

After making this, I realized that the pretty things aren’t always the tastiest. These knockoff s’mores are certainly not the easiest on the eyes, but it’s darn good for the stomach. I was craving s’mores at home but didn’t have any graham crackers or hershey bars, so I had to elaborate with what I had on hand. Sometimes throwing everything you have into a pot does wonders (not to mention it only took three minutes)! And okay… I always swear I don’t do knockoffs when it comes to purses/designers, but I’ll let it slide for dessert. 🙂
I never measure my ingredients when making rice crispy treats, so why do anything different with these? I didn’t. Feel free to play with the marshmallow/cereal/chocolate ratio until you get what you like. In fact, I’ll give a guideline for you to play with!
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 cup miniature marshmallows
  • 2 cups golden graham cereal
  • a handful of miniature chocolate chips
  1. Melt the butter and marshmallows in a pot over the stove over low/medium heat.
  2. When the butter and marshmallows are completely melted, turn off the stove and remove from heat.
  3. Stir in the golden grahams until well covered. (Make sure to mix AWAY from the heat, as the golden grahams will loose their crunch when it’s too hot)
  4. Dump the mixture onto a piece of wax paper or tin foil and sprinkle the chocolate chips on top. Enjoy straight from the wrapper!
This totally reminds me of college food. ::sigh::, how I miss those days!

Chocolate Pudding Cake & a Giveaway

by 61 Comments

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I adore gloomy days like today, especially when I don’t have to work! It means sleeping in for the morning, laying in bed for however long I want, having a casual lunch with the DB, listening to Maroon 5’s new CD on repeat while baking, blogging, and watching a Top Chef marathon on Bravo. Life is good.
To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post with a way for me to contact you! You have a week from today ’til enter. The deadline is 11:59 PM Pacific Time, Sunday, September 26th. The winner will be chosen through random.org. Good luck! (details in comment section below)
This recipe is from allrecipes and might be one of the greatest things I’ve ever made. I was initially intrigued by the method of preparing the dish, but followed the directions to a T and was glad I did. The cake was moist, the pudding was thick, and they both blended perfectly together. I couldn’t wait until the cake cooled from the oven and ate it instantly. No regrets here! It tasted just as good as if it was cooled– just a bit runnier. Let the cake sit for a bit after the oven so the pudding has a chance to thicken. Oh, serving with ice cream doesn’t hurt, either. 🙂
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cups hot water
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In an 8×8 inch square pan, stir together the flour, white sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add milk and oil, mix well. Sprinkle brown sugar, remaining cocoa and chocolate chips over the mixture. Add the vanilla to the hot water, then pour the water over the top.
  3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the surface appears dry. Serve warm with a spoon or at room temperature.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes

by 8 Comments

First, let’s start with this:
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…the ginormous Costco pack of Nutella. Double jars of pure deliciousness. If you make good use of it, you can turn it into this:
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Toss it in the oven and poof!
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Remember that gym membership I got a while back and how I said that I was going to try and get a consistent schedule working out? Yeah, me either. I’m probably the worst gym member in California. But I will say that when I do go, I go hard. Usually, I run about 5-7 miles and then do random things afterward for however long until my ipod shuffle goes back to track 1.

I don’t mind working out. I actually love it after I get on a roll; it’s the driving to the gym and getting started part that kills me.
This past week, I actually did something out of the ordinary. I… worked out on the weight machines instead of just doing cardio! That’s big news for me! I’m usually too intimidated by all the muscle men that pump iron 24:7 and hog the area. For me, I’m the girl who’s sitting on the machine, reading the instructions and taking mental notes of the example pictures so I know what I’m doing.
It’s true. I’m not a buff person, believe it or not. In fact, my arms were dying from soreness after the baby shower I went to on Sunday from holding babies all day! I took that as a sign that it was time to overcome my muscle men fear and get on the machines. That’s exactly what I did.
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I was really excited when I saw this recipe on the Novice Baker. Nutella? Cupcakes? Yes! Unfortunately, they didn’t live up to par for me. They weren’t sweet enough and were a tad bit dry (that could have been my fault since I did over bake them for five minutes). The cupcakes seemed really jiggly at the 20 minute mark so I left them in for longer. The toothpick didn’t come out particularly clean, either. If I were to do them again, I’d add a frosting and some liquid into the batter for a softer and fluffier cake. This one was just too dense! The nutella swirl wasn’t very strong. You could barely taste it when you took a bite. Overall, this recipe needs a lot of work, but it does have potential. Every recipe does!
  • 1 1/4 stick butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup white sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • Nutella, 12 teaspoons. (1 teaspoon for each cupcakes)
  1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. Cream butter and sugar together. Slowly add in eggs and vanilla until well mixed.
  3. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is blended.
  4. Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter. Top each cupcake with 1 heaping teaspoon of Nutella and swirl it with a toothpick.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

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