Chocolate Lava Muffins

Numero two of the romantic desserts together. Whenever we go and get dinner, I almost always order something with chocolate and if I see the chocolate lava cake, I always order it. It's bad, I know, but I enjoy the nice lush center and the cake-like outside. I've always wanted to make it myself, but just never had the nerve to really.

This recipe from Alton Brown was nice and fluffy and apparently the "right amount of sweetness" in a dessert for my boyfriend. To me, I wanted to add the ice cream to make it sweeter. This recipe was really easy to put together and even easier to bake. We made 1/4 of the recipe and ended up with 2 ramekins. We had one together the first night and the next night I had mine with vanilla ice cream and cherries.

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

After I got back from Sacramento, my boyfriend and I wanted to make dessert together since we never do it. We only make dinner together...sometimes. I made him promise that he wouldn't eat all the oreos and he didn't! He had about 10 left and we made half the recipe. It combines two of his favorite things together - chocolate chip cookies and oreo cookies.

To be honest, I've had one of these cookies that my friend had made a year or two ago. It was so sweet and decadent and I decided I would put off making those for a while. Well, it was a while, and I wanted to see if I could make them for myself.

These were super easy to make and using a silpat and some parchment paper, we threw the recipe together in a couple of minutes. Putting the cookie together was the best party and we had a lot of fun doing that together. I think the next time, I'll make these with mini Oreos so that they don't come out like huge cookies that no one wants to eat. Instead, they'll be smaller with a little surprise in the middle!

Recipe:
Modified from Becky Bakes
1 sticks (1/2 cup) softened butter
3/8 cup or 6 Tablespoons packed brown sugar, light or dark
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup of chocolate chips
some Oreo cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars together with a mixer until well combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a tablespoon take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of an Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet and bake cookies 9-13 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Mississippi Mud Pie [Club Baked]

Yes, I was going to start baking again, and I have! One of my many New Years Resolutions is to bake (and cook) - at least once a week. This way I'll be improving my skills and providing wonderful treats to my friends in the Bay Area. I'll probably send a couple of cookies on the way to my friends in different countries and states which means I need your addresses and requests!

Anyways, back to this recipe. In the book it describes the Mississippi Mud Pie as a controversy so I decided to wiki it. Apparently on wikipedia, they only have the second version of the pie, with the dense cake and not this version.

This version has a nice cookie base, chocolate in the middle, ice cream, and some fudge on top! It's a nice delicious (and fattening) treat after a great dinner with my boyfriend. I used some Bailey's instead of whiskey, oreos instead of wafers for the base, and well, karamel sutra ice cream instead of coffee. I know it's not the same, but it was delicious regardless. I really enjoyed making this. I used about 1/6 of the recipe and ended up with three little pies in cupcake liners. I made these before I left for a business trip. I was gone for a week to Sacramento so it was great to eat dinner, drink wine, and talk to him. It's those little things in a relationship that really count.

PS. Thanks to Club Baked and Jess for this awesome pick!

(maybe) Better than Sex Cupcakes

So I know, I haven't been keeping up with baking, but I'm trying to get back into. These were made for the Kiwanis Takeover. They were sold for $40! YAY!

It's based on this recipe, but I replaced the mousse with pudding because it was easier to buy. I also used devil's food mix instead of making it from scratch. I'm being lazy, I know! It was delicious regardless!

I called them (maybe) Better than Sex Cupcakes because...well I don't want to promise anything. What if it wasn't better than sex, that would just not be good.

Look at that delicious inside!

Coconut Pecan Frosting with Devils Food Cupcakes [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Coconut Pecan Frosting, was chosen by a great friend, Eliana of A Chica Bakes.

I remember when I was travelling to New York, Eliana gave me some great tips and pointers for going there. I'm super sorry that we were not able to meet up anything, but I'll be back in New York in March with my best friend for Spring Break. We'll be partying it up and eating some delicious foods.

I do want to apologize to everyone for not posting for a while. School and recruiting has been taking over my life lately, but I have some extra time this weekend because I don't have midterms until next week. I had a date this weekend, one of many since my ex and I broke up. He decided to cook me dinner while I made him these cupcakes with this topping. He loved it. I made the Devil's Food cupcakes from a mix, but doctored it up. I used this recipe for Chocolate Rum Cake because I had some Malibu lying around...well because my friend Elan is awesome and bought me some when I was super depressed.

Anyways, back to my blog, I've been trying to get myself back into baking, and I'll attempt to make something weekly. Wish me luck!

Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Torte [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Torte, was chosen by Jennifer of The Rookie Baker.

I'm sorry for not posting for the past couple of weeks. To be honest, I haven't felt like baking in a while. My boyfriend, Brent, decided to break up with me 2 weeks ago after being together for almost 3.5 years. It was hard, but it was right decision for both of us. I'm both glad and sad that this happened. I mean it's been coming for a while, and we are just both so busy with our own lives that we haven't seen each other for more than 4 months already.

Back to this pick, I absolutely loved it. I ended up making it on a Thursday when I was off from school. I forgot that I didn't own anymore 9x13 pans anymore after losing them earlier in the year. Instead, I placed 4 ramekins of water next to the springform on a cookie sheet, 2 on each side. It didn't seem to affect the cake very much. I finished it with a frosting from this brownie and topped it with even more raspberries. It was super sweet, but raspberries cut out some of the sugar and was a bit better.

What is hilarious is that my roommate thought that the cake was too sweet and I expected the cake to stay a while in the apartment. I went out to dinner for a friend's 21st and I came back and my roommate and her friend finished about half of the cake. I guess I shouldn't leave too many sweets for her.

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

ps. does anyone have any places in NYC that I have to try? I'm going from the 15th til the 20th so I need places to try/avoid/whatever. It has to be good for college kids and a 12 year old. My brother and I are the only ones doing the vacationing! Preferably near Times Square too because that's where we're staying...I think!

pps. I just started yelping! Add me!

Chocolate Walnut Brownies [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Chocolate Walnut Brownies, was chosen by Tiffany of A Spoonful & a Heap.

They were super delicious and fudgy. I really enjoyed them and so did my friend who came from Southern California to visit for her orientation here at Cal. We certainly had fun while visiting SF.

slideshow | Viewer

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes [msc]

I had made these cupcakes soon after the June cupcake. My friends and I were getting together for a sleepover. One of our guy friends had never painted his nails before and we decided one weekend would be nice and we would just talk and paint nails and get facials - normal sleepover stuff. This bond we had was formed over a long car talk around probably 4-5 hours. It was wow. We talked about everything. This sleepover's conversation was mostly about relationships, but I feel like most conversations I have are about relationships.

I decided that since I just got my new place, we could use that place since it will be empty. It would be great since we could just all sit there or be in our sleeping bags and just talk. So we ate some food and hung out and ate my flourless cupcakes. They were pretty good, but they never got the shells like they were on Martha's book. They were a dense little cake of chocolately goodness. The ice cream on top was wonderful as well.

The recipe for this month's Cupcake Club is found on page 146 of Martha Stewart's Cupcake book or here. Thanks to Lauryn of Bella Baker for choosing this.

Phish Food Cupcakes

This is my last ice cream cupcake that I have made. So this is marking the end of the annual Ice Cream Cupcake competition by Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious. This is inspired by the wonderful Ben and Jerry's flavor Phish Food. It's one of my boyfriend's favorite ice cream flavors and I love the combination of chocolate, marshmallow, and caramel.

I started out with a chocolate cupcake. I used the Martha Stewart 1 Bowl Chocolate Cupcake Recipe. It's super simple and easy to clean afterward baking.

I topped the cupcakes with some marshmallow fluff to imitate the marshmallow in the ice cream.

I then added some caramel flavored ice cream on top. I would have made my own, but alas, I have no ice cream maker. In addition, I found this place near my house that sells a scoop of ice cream for a dollar and they're also homemade.

I topped the ice cream with some homemade marshmallow fluff frosting. I took some of the extra marshmallow fluff and made Marshmallow Fluff Frosting. It's super delicious!

To recreate the fish that are IN the ice cream. I piped some melted chocolate onto some parchment paper in the shape of fish. When they set, they made the perfect topping to the cupcake.

I had a super fun time making, creating, and eating all these ice cream cupcakes.

ps. feel free to look at my other creations that I didn't end up entering.

Half Baked Ice Cream Cupcakes

So, the beginning of this month marked the beginning of the annual Ice Cream Cupcake competition by Cupcake Project and Scoopalicious. I wanted to make a couple of different for my friends to try to see which ones are best. Since this is the only week I'm basically going to see my friends who tried my first ones, I have to make all my best combinations this week.

I started this week off with relaxing since I just finished finals, but I have started to get back into baking again.

This is my first ice cream cupcake to try. This was inspired by the Ben and Jerry's ice cream flavor Half-Baked.

It starts out with a brownie cupcake [recipe below].

I added chocolate ice cream and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

Then I topped it off with some homemade whipped cream.

It's a great alternative to the real ice cream flavor and my friends and I thought that they were an AMAZING combination.

Brownie Cupcake Recipe

adapted from All Recipes

[makes 5 cupcakes]

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/6 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a cupcake tin. You probably only will need 5 cupcake liners.
In a large saucepan, melt 1/4 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, egg, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.

Beat in 1/6 cup cocoa, 1/4 cup flour, salt, and baking powder.

Add approximately 1/8 cup of batter in each of the cupcake liners.

Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes. Do not overcook.

Peanut Butter Truffles [sms]

This week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick, Peanut Butter Truffles, was chosen by Mara of Love Your Mother Earth.

I had actually made these late Friday night, I just never got around to photographing it and getting to it until today because it's been a super busy weekend. I'm really sorry that I don't have more pictures, but I'll make it up by giving you pictures of what happened this weekend!

First, Friday night was UC Berkeley Circle K Banquet. As many of the constant readers of my blog know, it's a community service organization that I am a part of on campus. Therefore - banquet season! It was about 5 hours of eating, writing notes to people and other amazing things that I can't particularly think of.

Family picture!

Saturday was spent in Davis for something called Spring Training Conference. Therefore, lots of helping out, setting up, and just basically helping the person in charge running the event as smoothly as possible.

Old District Board

Sunday was spent going to various stores and buying stuff for the last family social on Tuesday and also Wong Fu Productions showcase. For those who don't know what Wong Fu is, it's 3 guys who started a video making production company that shoots a lot of short videos to put on youtube. They've recently worked with AJ Rafael, David Choi, and KevJumba [Youtube Celebs]. So yes, we got to see a couple of their more recent, unreleased works...WHICH WAS AMAZING.

I got to take a picture with them!

WONG FU PRODUCTIONS!

I actually meant to give these to them, but I decided instead to make them brownie cupcakes which were amazing!

Make sure to check out the rest of the SMS bakers on the blogroll.

Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes [msc]

This cupcake has got to be one of the more complicated ones for me.

I didn't have marshmallow fluff and so I had to melt down marshmallows for it, but somehow, it just didn't turn out . But it go onto the cupcake and into the cupcake. I got some cool pictures of me putting the cream into the cupcake.

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The cupcake was pretty good itself - I had tried it. The whole cupcake was average I suppose with the average marshmallow creme.

Sorry for the super short post, I'm super busy this week. It's like showcase week [where my friend in Taiko performed Wednesday and then another friend in a dance group is on Friday]. This weekend is also the Bake Sale!

The recipe for this month's Cupcake Club is found on pages 133 of Martha Stewart's Cupcake book. Thanks to Jess from Cookbook Habit for choosing this.

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