Snowballs

These, again, are my one of my mom's famous recipes. I remember her always baking these during Christmas time! I wish that this year I could go home for Christmas and do all the family traditions we usually do, but hey! I can't complain, I'm going to Hawaii!

These are absolutely delicious.. Most people make these without the chocolate kiss in the middle but I think that the kiss adds a little Umph to it! I highly recommend you put those puppies in.

 So first, we actually aren't going to preheat the oven first!

Cream together,
1 Cup of Butter (2sticks)
1/2 Cup of Powdered Sugar
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla
Once fluffy, Add
2 1/4 Cup of Flour
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
Then, Add
1/2 Cup of Finely Chopped Peacans


Once mixed well, wrap the dough in saran wrap and place in the fridge for about an hour.

 Once chilled, preheat the over to 400 degrees F. Shape the dough into about 1 inch balls, take a chocolate kiss and stick it in the middle. Bake for 8-10 minutes and do not let it brown!

Now, take a small bowl and put about 1/2 Cup of Powdered Sugar. Once balls have cooled a little but still are warm, place the balls individually in the bowl and roll them. Once those have cooled completely, strinkle some more powdered sugar over all of them to get the snow effect!

<3

Easy Peasy Mini Cheesecakes

 I remember my mom used to make these all the time when I was little and I always LOVED them. They are sooo simple, so quick and easy but delicious. Tonight, I went to a Deaf Community Thanksgiving Dinner which was a blast, (it was definitely the quietest thanksgiving I've ever had ;)!) and I brought this as a dessert. It was perfect! I got a lot of people coming up to me telling me that this dessert was their favorite :)

so lets begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees!

Line the cupcake pan with some tinfoil cupcake liners (tinfoil I found works the best with these.) and place
Vanilla Wafers
in each cupcake holder.

Then take a medium sized bowl and with an electric mixer, beat
2 (8ounce) Packages of Cream Cheese
3/4 Cup of Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
once smooth, light, and fluffy, Fill each cupcake liner with this mixture, almost to the top, but leave enough room for the Cherry Pie Filling on top.
Bake for 15 Minutes and let it cool.

Depending on when you want or need them, keep them in the fridge, and don't put the Cherry topping until you are about to serve them, or eat it for best taste. Otherwise, the cheesecake could get a little soggy!

Easy right? I hope it turns out well!

Bec

Hummmmingbird Cupcakes

These were so good... and what I also like about them, is that you can put anything in them and it will still taste amazing! you can put nuts, chocolate chips, etc, you don't even need to put anything in it because it will also be soooo delicious! It was also very hard to take a good picture of it for some reason...

 First preheat the oven to 350 degrees!

In a small bowl mix the
3 Very Ripened Bananas
1/2 Cup of Finely Chopped Pineapples
1/2 Cup of Flour
set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the
2 1/4 Cup of Flour
1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon of Ground Ginger
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
set aside.

In a large bowl beat
3 Eggs
1 3/4 Cup of Granulated Sugar
until thick and light.
While beating add in
3/4 Cup of Vegetable Oil
Once mixed, scatter the dry ingredients over the egg mixture and gently fold them together to make a loose batter. Now gently fold in the banana mixture.

Now, this is the place where you get to decide what you want to put in it. I would recommend either chopped pecans or chocolate chips! If you don't fancy either of those, than plan is amazing as well :)

Now for the frosting, very easy.
In a medium bowl beat
2 (8-ounce) Packages of Cream Cheese
12 Tablespoons of Butter
Once smooth and fluffy, add
A Few Drops of Lemon Juice
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract
2 Cups of Confectioner's Sugar


Banana's and Pecans are wonderful garnishes :) Hope you enjoy!

Heavenly Angel Food Cake

Surprised that this dessert doesn't have chocolate in it?

Don't worry all you chocolate fanatics! it's worth it. Delicious. My roommate, Bonita, made this with me. She actually showed me the recipe! This was our desert for tonight after our dinner and salad we made together. It was this potato casserole... (there is some fancy name for it but I can't remember it for the life of me)... as well as Romaine lettuce, strawberries, glazed pecans, and balsamic vinaigrette. Tonight was just an overall great night... if were talking about food that is :) other than that, today has been a very unlucky day for me in the funniest ways!

There is even a strawberry sauce I made up to go with it but I don't have any pictures of it. I might have done that on purpose. The sauce doesn't look all that appetizing but tastes phenomenal with this cake! It will be at the bottom, it's not complicated, it's so easy a caveman could do it! But seriously, just keep in mind I haven't perfected it yet ;)

So, Here we go!
First, lets move the oven rack to the lowest position and than heat the oven to 375degreesF

In a medium bowl, mix
1 1/2 Cups of Powdered Sugar
1 Cup of Cake Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Cream of Tartar
Set aside :)

Now, in a LARGE bowl, beat
12 Egg whites (1 1/2 cups)
You are going to do this with an electrical mixer on medium speed until foamy.

Once foamy, add
1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
1 tablespoon at a time! Along with
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla
1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
Continue to beat until stiff and glossy meringue forms - Don't Under beat!

Sprinkle on top of the Meringue the sugar-flour mixture 1/4 cup at a time - sprinkle it evenly on top - and then fold the sugar flour mixture just until it disappears. (Be gentle! If you're not, your batter will start deflating!)
Once all the sugar-flour mixture is in your batter, push the batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan, 10x4. With a metal knife, cut through the batter - this will get rid of those big air bubbles.

Now, bake for 30 to 35 minutes! Once done, immediately turn upside down onto a heatproof funnel or bottle until cooled, about 2 hours. Loosen the side of the cake and than remove from the pan - you can eat!

Now for a nice little sauce?

all you need are
1 Pack of Fresh Strawberries and about
3 Tablespoons of Sweetened and Condensed milk
Blend together with an electric mixer and than pour your desired amount on top of your cake. Best with freshly cut strawberries as well as the sauce :)

Enjoy!

Go Bananas! Bread

Mmm.. Don't you just love the smell of banana bread cooking in your home? I baked this today and it made my apartment smell like heaven. More good news is that I baked this hours ago and my place still smells wonderful! I was dying for something to bake, I haven't baked something new in a while... I than saw the brown bananas on my counter and knew right than what I should bake :)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees!
and a perfect loaf pan size for this is a 9 1/4 by 5 1/4 by 2 1/2 inch. I actually didn't know that and I went to the store and just picked up a random sized loaf pan and the batter fit perfectly! What luck.

So in a medium sized bowl, blend
3 Ripe Bananas (brown)
1/2-3/4 Cup of Sour Cream (depending if you want it really moist or not)
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Vanilla
Once those are all blended together, set it aside.

Than, in another medium sized bowl (preferably an electric mixer), swift together
2 Cups of Cake Flour
3/4 cup and 2 tablespoons of Sugar
1 Teaspoon of Baking Soda
3/4 Teaspoon of Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon of Salt
Once that is sifted together, (this is the part where it would be easier if you have an electric mixer but if you don't have one that is totally fine, I didn't use one either... you just have to do a lot more work in combining it really well) Add
10 Tablespoons of Butter
and make sure it is blended really well.

Now, Add the banana mixture to it in 3 batches, mixing it in between each batch. And now you can either add in nuts or chocolate chips or even both! you can put in however much you want in it. I put in about 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips :)

This part is what gets me... you have to cook it for about 1 hour and 10 minutes. I know, long! But make sure you keep checking up on it. The one today cooked a lot faster.. well, not a lot faster.. but it took about 52 minutes!

I hope you enjoy it as much as my roommates and I did :)

Homemade Style Chocolate layered Cheesecake

Can I just say that I find Cheesecake the hardest thing to bake and perfect; It is so difficult! But I decided to challenge myself this week and bake it. And hey, it turned out pretty good :) There was no purpose as to why I baked it, I just wanted to :) But I was craving something chocolate hence why I stuck in the chocolate layer at the bottom ;)

Lets begin by preheating the oven to 300 degrees this time!

Crust
In a medium bowl, combine
2 cups of Gram Crackers Crumbs
1/3 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of melted butter
Press the crust into the bottom and 1 inch up the side of the spring form pan. Bake for 6 minutes and let it cool

Chocolate Layer
Using a double boiler, melt
6 (1 ounce) squares of semi-sweet chocolate
6 tablespoons of butter
After that is completely melter, whisk in
1/2 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons of All-Purpose Flour
Pour into the bottom of the cooled crust and bake for 15 minutes.

Cheesecake Layer
In a large bowl, beat together
2 packets of cream cheese
3/4 cups of sugar
Beat until creamy. Then add 3 large eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Then beat in,
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup of sour cream

Once all is well combined, pour onto the chocolate layer and bake for 1 hour. When you pull it out, the top of the cheesecake should be a little wobbly. When it is all done, gently run a knife around the edge of the cake to release the crust from the sides of the pan. Let cool completely. Once cooled, set in fridge for about 8 hours before serving.

and there you have it! It doesn't sound difficult, which it's not, the difficult part is just mastering it. For cheesecake, everything has to be be to the T, if you do one thing slightly wrong, it could not come out how you would want it :(

Mmm.. so delicious. The chocolate layer definitely adds a little Umph to it :)
I hope you enjoy!

<3

Balmy Brownies

I made these for a surprise for my brother and sister in law... well it was supposed to be a surprise anyways. My sister gave it away. But they loved them! My brother said they were fudgey just like he likes them. They fall apart very easily and are very moist. Any brownie fan would love these!

Before anything -- preheat the oven to 350 degrees -- like always

Before you begin, here is a little secret! This will make it a lot easier to take the brownies out of the pan once they are all baked. Before pouring the batter into the pan, put a layer of tin foil that covers the bottom and sides. Then, spray the tin foil with Pam and proceed by pouring the batter onto the tin foil into the pan.

Gather together
4 sticks of unsalted butter
12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 ounces of unsweetened Baker's chocolate
Melt these together in a medium bowl over simmering water. Once everything is blended together and completely melted, take off the stove and set aside to let cool only slightly.

In a medium bowl, stir (don't beat)
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons of pure vanilla
2 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
Then pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and stir until combined. Allow to cool until room temperature

In a large bowl, swift together
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
Then add the cooled chocolate mixture into the bowl and stir together. Now, Pour into a 12 X 18 pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Once the 20 minutes is up, put a baking sheet over the brownies to prevent air from getting to the brownies and to keep air from getting out. Bake for another 15 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. DO NOT OVER BAKE! let cool before cutting into 20 large beastly squares.

Dirt Cupcakes

Sounds appetizing right? Well, maybe this will change your mind…

I'm gonna have to say, The frosting is the best part -- its a FUDGE frosting

Oooh they taste as good as they look! They are absolutely amazing. Alright, so everything I put on here I'm going to think it is amazing.. BUT I found that the best way to keep them moist is to – after they come out of the oven, let them cool only slightly, so when they are still warm out of the oven put them into a container (it would take multiple containers to fit all of them) and then leave it out at room temperature and continue eating them from there.

You want to make these now don't you... :) well preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl combine
2 cups of all purpose flour
2 1/4 cups of sugar
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon of Vanilla
8 ounces of sour cream
pour into cupcake liners about 2/3 full (CAREFUL they rise!) and back for about 16 to 18 minutes

easy right?

now for the delectable frosting --

In a medium saucepan, combine
1 cup of Heavy Cream
1 cup of Sugar
bring to a boil over medium-high heat. then reduce to a simmer for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. now take the saucepan of the heat and add the
5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate squares
1 stick of butter
once melted and smooth, let cool for 10 minutes
then whisk in 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and set aside.

now, place 30 to 40 chocolate sandwich cookies into a resealable plastic bag. now start CRUSHING!
Once you have put the frosting on the cupcakes, sprinkle the frosting with cookie crumbs and top it off with gummy worms :)

Cinna buns

 For these, they were very good. Although, I used wheat flour rather than all purpose flour and I feel as though if i used all purpose flour, it would have tasted a great deal better. So that is what I recommend. My mom wanted me to bake something a little healthier since my dad kept eating all my goodies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees!

The Dough Mixture
In a large mixing bowl, beat
4 eggs
6 ounces of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
Then separately, combine
2 cups of lukewarm milk
4 ounces of margarine
now, combine the milk mixture with the egg mixture.
slowly add
4 cups of all purpose flour (beat well)
2 tablespoons of yeast
and another 4 cups of all purpose flour
mix on medium speed for 7 minutes. Then place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and let the dough rise to double its size (about an hour)

Roll dough into a 1 1/2 by 2-foot rectangle

The Filling
spread 4 ounces of margarine
sprinkle the entire surface with
2 cups of brown sugar
3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon
1 cup of chopped pecans
Now roll the dough into a cylinder shape starting with the bottom edge and cut 12 (or however many you can make) slices and place them onto an oiled pan to back for 15 minutes.

The Icing
Stir together
4 cups of powdered sugar
4 ounces of margarine
1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of almond extract
and your golden!

Once the buns have baked their way to be golden brown, let cool and then feel free to cover them with the amount of icing you desire!

I hope you enjoy :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

These bring back memories of high school. These were the cupcakes that were always recommended that I would bake for people's birthdays, for any kind of special occasion, or even just to bring to school. Just like any cupcakes from scratch, these taste a hundred times better than the red velvet from the box or even the red velvet made in grocery store bakeries!

Its funny, out of all the things I have baked, these are probably the ones I have baked the most and I only have this one sorry of a picture… :)

The texture of these cupcakes are heavenly... so thick and moist. It was hard to find a good frosting that went with this cupcake but I think I was able to fix up a recipe that fits it just nice :)

Lets begin by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, Swift together

1 ¼ cup of all purpose flour

3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon of salt

In a larger bowl, use a mixer to beat

½ cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter that is at room temperature

1 cup of sugar

Make sure this is on high speed. Beat until light and fluffy (for about 5 minutes)

Reduce speed to low and add

2 eggs (one at a time)

Mix until incorporated.

Next add 2 tablespoons of red gel paste food coloring. Now, this is not just any ordinary food coloring. If you use ordinary food coloring you will not get the same texture. This is difficult to find, a lot of grocery stores do not have it. I always get mine from Michaels (the craft store).

With the mixer still on low, alternately add the flour mixture and 1 cup of sour cream – ½ cup each alternation. Mix until all is well incorporated.

In a very small bowl, combine

1 teaspoon of white vinegar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

Once fizzing has stopped, add it to the batter and mix well. Now you can divid the batter evenly into the cupcake holders. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Now for the Cream Cheese frosting! Mmm

In a mixer bowl, combine

1 packet (8 oz) of cream cheese

1 stick of butter

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 cups of confectioner’s sugar

1 cup of granulated sugar (this adds a little bit of texture to the frosting)

If you would like, you could add a garnish – pecans, fresh raspberries, or fresh strawberries would go great!!

Chocolate Truffle Tarts with Raspberry

This is my dads personal favorite. He wont stop begging me to make these again! This is the very first dessert I started to bake -- they were his father's day request :) You have to be a huge chocolate fan to love these! They are very rich.

Crust

First, use a fork to mix together

1 1/2 cups of fine chocolate wafer crumbs (from Oreo cookies or chocolate wafers, it doesnt matter which one)

6 tablespoons of melted butter

Then spray the cups of a cupcake pan with a vegetable spray. Cut out parchment or waxed paper to line the bottoms of the cupcake holders. Press the crumbs over the bottom and sides of the cupcake holders. build the sides up to about 1 1/2 inches.

Place a raspberry in the center of each crust

Truffle mixture

in a sauce pan, bring

1.2 cup of heavy cream

to a simmer over low heat

place 8 ounces of doos-quality bittersweet chocolate chopped in with the cream and mix until chocolate is melted. once melted, pour the chocolate into a bowl and add

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

and mix until smooth. set aside and let cool for 1 hour at room temperature.

once it was let sit, beat the chocolate at medium speed until it is thick and light colored

Fill the tarts with the truffle mixture and smooth the tops. you can also top it off with another raspberry :) this would call for about 12 raspberries if you were to do that. otherwise it would only take about 6.

refrigerate until set, about 2 hours.

And there you have it!! Very easy to make. This only makes about 6 servings but trust me, only one is more than someone can finish in one sitting (unless you are my dad) ;)

Triple Chocolate Berry Cake

This is one of my all time favorites. My friend and I made this at her house and all her neighbors came over to test our baking skills. It was a hit!! everybody loved it and there was enough for people to take home.

First preheat the oven to 350 degrees and it would be a smart idea to line the bottoms of all three circled pans with parchment paper. (depending on how tall and big your circled pans are, you might need 4 of them)

melt together

5 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 1/4 stick of butter

let it cool

sift together

2 3/4 cup of sifted cake flour (not self rising)

1/4 cup of cocoa powder

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

set aside

With an electric mixer beat together

4 large eggs (room temperature)

1 cup of granulated sugar

1 cup of packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

mix until pale, for about 3-5 minutes

next, mix in the melted chocolate with the beated egg mixture. Then, in 3 batches, alternate incorporating the flour mixture with the sour cream (2 cups) into the egg mixture. Once mixed, pour the batter into the pans evenly without any air bubbles. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until you can poke a toothpick in the middle and have no batter come onto the pick.

Now for the delectable chocolate frosting :)

Whisk together

1 cup of sugar

6 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons of cocoa powder

a pinch of salt

Whisk it in a small saucepan over medium heat

than add

1 1/2 cups of milk

whisk constantly until mixture boils and thickens, about 3-5 minutes

remove from heat and whisk in

4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract

transfer it to a bowl to let it cool down to room temperature. cover it with parch paper to prevent a skin from forming

next beat 6 sticked (1 1/2) pounds of butter (unsalted, at room temperature) until creamy, then add cooled mixture a little at a time. Beat until frosting is fluffy and spreadable. 

Once the cakes are done, run a knife around the edges of the pans. carefully place one layered cake on a plate and frost it. I found that putting strawberries on each layer really adds to the cake so I would strongly recommend doing that. You cut the strawberries so that they are thin (not too thin though). once you have frosted that layer and placed the strawberries on top, carefully tip over another layer of cake onto the already frosted one. Once again, frost that cake and place the strawberries on top. Continue doing that with every layer.

now, you will be able to agree with me when I say it's one of my all time favorite desserts :)

Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

You have to be a huge chocolate fan to like these ones. They are so rich and flavorful and are best right when they come out of the oven.

First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. in a medium bowl swift together
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
set aside

using a mixer, combine
6 tablespoons of butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup of sugar
until pale or for about a minute and than add
1 egg and stir until just combined.
gently add in half the flour mixture and than 2/3 cup of milk and than the rest of the flour mixture.
to make the cupcakes more moist, I always add 2 big spoonfuls of sour cream
set aside

In a small bowl combine
6 ounces of cream cheese (room temperature)
4 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla
as many chocolate chips you want
set aside

fill the cupcake liners with the chocolate batter until the bottom is just covered. Than add a little bit of the cream cheese filling followed by more of the chocolate batter. Cover the cream cheese filling.
Bake for 20 minutes


now for the ganache frosting :)
place a heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. in this bowl place
3/4 cup of semisweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup of heavy cream
continue whisking until the chocolate is melted and is thick, about 4 minutes. remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes

Once the cupcakes have cooled down for about 5 minutes, take a spoon and pour the frosting onto the cupcakes. To top it all off, a raspberry can be placed on top of each cupcake. Any fruit would work. You could also just sprinkle them :)