Hostess Cupcakes

I know you know what I'm talking about... even though it's something that you love and are passionate about... sometimes it falls by the wayside. You can't predict it and sometimes you can't fix it. I go through this with all my hobbies. It's the ebb and flow of life, I suppose.

And with this blog, I feel like I've lost my writing mojo. I've always loved to write. I've always written terrible short stories and poems. I've got notebook after notebook filled with characters, plots, pieces of dialogues and intros. But for the last year or so, it's been a struggle for me to even bang out a simple, entertaining blog post about some damn cupcakes.

What is wrong with me???

The one thing I do know about writing is.. the worst thing you can do is stop altogether. I've always read and learned that one must power through the block and even if you get pages and pages of worthless drivel... eventually... you'll find the otherside.

So, this is my attempt. I'm just going to ease back in and see what happens.

Such is my writer's block that I made these cupcakes back in JULY. That's right folks. Back when it was still flaming outside, back when I was in the midst of my 30 day vegan/macrobiotic/just eat fruits and vegetables diet. That was a long time ago.

I've become good friends with some running partners. And these cupcakes were made for one of those friends. It was his birthday, he was having a party at his new house and instead of being the lovable party-goer that brings booze (like I normally am), I was the lovable party-goer that had shunned alcohol for the month, so I brought the next best thing... cupcakes (because, let's be honest.. I can say no to a cupcake wayyy easier than I can say no to booze).

It was a fun night. My favorite kind of night, actually... I didn't really know if I'd know anyone at the party besides my friend who was the man of honor for the shindig... so it forced me out of my comfort zone a bit. And as those nights usually turn out.. it was a total blast. I met new people, I got to meet my friend's girlfriend and see their awesome new house.

It was a great time. And these were the cupcakes that I made. I know nothing about what my friend likes in baked goods. So, I figured a crowd pleaser would be chocolate cupcakes. And to make them a little more festive. I mimicked that of a hostess cupcake... with a thin layer of icing, with a white squiggle and a gooey white center.

Per my diet that month, I didn't taste these cupcakes, but... I was told that one of the kids that was there was asked what her favorite part of the party was... and she replied... the cupcakes! A good sign, no? (Nevermind the fact that of course at a party full of grown-ups, the cupcakes are going to be the star for the kid!).

Hostess Cupcakes

I did a bunch of different things for this recipe. First off, I made Rose Levy Beranbaum's recipe for Baby Grands Cupcakes that I found in her delicious and amazing cookbook, Rose's Heavenly Cakes. Which, I incidentally won on Hilary's awesome website, Nosh With Me awhile back and am just now getting around to thanking her on the blog! (I'm an awful blogger, I swear).

After the cupcakes were baked, I scooped out part of the center of the cupcake and filled with a mixture of marshmallow fluff that had been diluted with a little bit of water so that it was runny (next time, I dont think I'll dilute it). I put the marshmallow mixture into a ziploc bag and piped it into the center of each cupcake. After that, I covered all the cupcakes with a layer of chocolate ganache. And put squiggles on the top to mimic the snack cakes with pre-bought white cookie icing in a tube.

I thought they turned on beautiful! But, they also turned out very, very messy. The marshmallow center kinda of oozed into the whole cupcake and instead of being a filling it made it into a gooey center (no complaints on the flavor!). So next time, I would pipe the fluff straight into the center (maybe even make it a little stiffer by mixing it with some confectioners sugar!).

Easily adaptable to your favorite recipes for the components. Definitely a fun way party cupcake!

Ingredients:
Chocolate Cupcakes
Marshmallow Fluff
Chocolate Ganache
White Icing

Follow assembly instructions above!

TWD: Fold Over Cherry Torte

When I was very small, one of my most very favorite toys was a Fisher-Price kitchen. I didn't have all the accessories that went along with it, but I didn't really need them. I was happy to pretend with some of my mom's cooking utensils or with nothing at all.

I don't really remember what all I cranked out of that little kitchen. But, I do remember baking a bunch of cherry pies. You see, Cherry Pie was my dad's absolute favorite dessert. My mom made him cherry pies all the time, so of course... I had to make him cherry pies as well! (I'm talking imaginary cherry pies, obviously).

The relationship between my dad and I has changed a lot through the years. When I was small, the highlight of my day (and I'm sure my mom's too) was hearing his key in the front door. I remember my brothers and I scrambling to the foyer to greet him with hugs and kisses when he got home from work.

As I got a little older, I always enjoyed whatever time I could get to spend with him. He's not the type of guy that you would imagine upon meeting him that he's warm, loving, and affectionate. And with anyone else besides our immediate family, he's not really. But with my mom, my brothers and me he has never been afraid to show his love for us. Which, I know isn't always an easy emotion to express openly with those around you.  But, there were times when I don't really remember much about him. He worked long and hard hours to provide for our family, and to ensure that my mom was able to stay home with my brothers and I. And even at a young age, I never resented it. Somehow, I understood and it made sense.

By the time I was in high school and went off to college, to be honest, I didn't feel like I related to either of my parents. I was at that age: the teenage-y, angst-y age and I thought my parents had no clue what was going on. And I really didnt make any attempts to get close to them.

During and after college, I started to become friends with my parents. Especially my mom. Our relationship got better and closer and my relationship with my dad definitely grew stronger, but it wasn't until I started working for him/with him 6 years ago that our relationship really changed.

At first, it was kind of hard. I was used to a different dad. Not the work environment dad, but the at home dad. So, it was interesting for me to see him in a different role. Also, I took everything way too personal. There were a couple of moments that I had to excuse myself to the bathroom to bawl my eyes out, because he'd yelled at me or gotten upset with me over something. But, eventually, I evolved. I grew a backbone and instead of being a little apprehensive about speaking my mind around my dad (which I never did before), I started doing it all the time. (I'm sure he thinks I've copped a little bit of an attitude, but whatev).

People ask me all the time.. isn't it hard to work for your dad? And I always have the same response: It's not hard at all, it's great! My dad and have become so close. I can definitely tell him anything and everything now and I feel like I know him more on a personal level, rather just on a parent/child level. I also tell people that it's nice, because as a kid, he wasn't around as much as he would have liked, and so now, I get to spend everyday with him!

One of the best things about working with him and spending so much time with him, is I get to see how good of a person he really is. I'm not longer only exposed to him in the "dad" role, but I get to see him as others see him. I get to see how hard of a worker he truly is. How well respected he is by his colleagues and clients. If I had a nickel for every time a client expressed to me in private how much they respected my dad as a professional as well as a person, I'd have a much better shoe collection.

It warms my heart to see him do what he loves and I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity to be apart of his daily work. His knowledge about his profession seems limitless and he's always willing to teach me new things and always pushes me out of my comfort zone to try more difficult things, and while sometimes I'm cussing him under my breath, because it's scary to learn new things, I'm always grateful in the end that he had the faith in me to give me such opportunities to grow and learn.

Aside from work, I've also grown an appreciation for my dad's generosity and his commitment to family. He's always willing to listen without judgement and offer up any advice or help he can give. He's not just a great father, he's a great man.

His birthday was Friday and I wanted to make him something Cherry related. Something that I might have whipped up in that imaginary kitchen of mine years ago. So, instead of trying to make two desserts one for Tuesdays with Dorie and one for my dad's birthday. I did a little substituting in the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe to make it more appealing to dad.

Honestly, it didn't really work for me. I'm not sure if it was the recipe, the execution or the cherries, but I suspect it was a combination of all three. Not a hit... I'll stick with my favorite cherry pie recipe for sure (actually, eating this cherry dessert made me crave my cherry pie, so I'm pretty sure I'll be making one of those for Thanksgiving this year)! But, it was an interesting idea and I had really high hopes for it.

My dad didn't complain. I'm pretty sure he's just happy to spend time with his family on his birthday. But, I was kinda disappointed that I didn't deliver with an excellent dessert to knock his socks off.

Happy Birthday Dad! I love you and appreciate you!

Fold Over Pear Cherry Torte

Recipe by Dorie Greenspan
Chosen for Tuesdays with Dorie by Cakelaw of Laws of the Kitchen

First off, the absolute best part of this recipe was the pie crust. I used to hate the taste of pie crust, but now that I'm getting better at making it myself, Dorie's pie crust is out of this world! YUM!

Second off, I used frozen cherries in a baked good for the first time. BIG mistake. Just not tart enough for a pie. The cherries were so bland and blah.

I substituted frozen cherries (thawed and drained) for the pears and dried cherries for the raisins.

I was afraid of overfilling the pie with custardy filling, so I think I didn't fill it enough, because there just wasn't much custard or cream to the pie.

Not the worst thing I've ever made, but not the best either. Probably better with pears. Or with tarter cherries.

Recipe can be found by clicking this link.

Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies back in May. Which turned out to be the month of Birthdays for me. Four friends and one brother all had birthdays in the month of May. What the heck? I didn't realize I knew so many May babies.

It was actually a good thing, because if it hadn't been for these birthdays, I likely wouldn't have seen a bunch of these friends during the course of that month. And am kind of wishing that I'd had lots of friends with birthdays in June and July, too! I have been insanely busy the past 3 months or so. But, I'm not complaining. Not at all actually... the things I've been doing have been awesome: I've been to California, Cincinnati, Utah, and New York. I've gotten to spend a lot of time with friends that I don't get to see very often on all these trips and I've ran in some really cool races and places. Aside from traveling, my workload has also increased greatly in the last few months. But, you know what? I'm really enjoying that, too. I'm learning new things and am just grateful that in this economy, my job and company is doing so incredibly well. I'm really blessed. And, I know it's easy to get stressed out when you're so busy, but I make a conscious effort to just enjoy it all and take it in. Being busy can be a really great thing, if you let it be.

So, even though I had all this stuff going on, I was still thrilled to get to celebrate my friends birthdays with them.

Normally, I would have made my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but it requires a little extra time to chill out in the fridge, etc. So, I turned to one of my favorite bloggers, Deb at Smitten Kitchen and perused her recipe index for a suitable cookie recipe.

I found a recipe that sounded perfect, Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. How could I go wrong, right? And I was right, these cookies were delicious. They weren't all that crispy (which was fine by me), but they were chewy and baked up really well. Nice and sturdy, but not too thick and delicious. The recipe is exactly how a chocolate chip cookie recipe should be: straight forward, easy to follow, with easily accessible ingredients. The perfect birthday cookie recipe.

Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Found on the Smitten Kitchen Website.

These cookies turned out sturdy and tasty. They definitely had a good chew to them which is of utmost importance to me. Don't be turned off by the "crispy" in the title, if you're a chewy fan. The crisp is subtle and they aren't greasy at all like some crispy cookies can be.

The only substitute I made was to use almond extract instead of vanilla. But, that's only because I was out of vanilla. Good even without the vanilla, but next time, I'll go to the store and buy some vanilla.

Recipe can be found here.

Best Yellow Cake

There are few words in the English language that intimidate me, but in the baking world there are two: Yellow Cake. As soon as I hear the words yellow cake, I scoff. Not because I don't like yellow cake. In fact, I love yellow cake! But because yellow cake is my kryptonite.

I mean yellow cake, it seems simple, right? Yeah, I thought so, too. And then last summer, my brother Mike, chose a yellow cake with chocolate frosting as his Birthday cake. My first initial thought was to previous yellow/vanilla cakes I'd made in the past up to that point, Italian Cream Cake and Caramel Cake. Both delicious, but both made even more delicious by their fancypants icings. The "cake" wasn't the star in either of those recipes. I soldiered on and ended up presenting him with an awful cake for his birthday.

Since that day, I've stayed as far away as possible from the yellow cake.

Until a few weeks ago.

Here's the backstory. So, back in September I went to brunch with a couple friends. I may have partaken in a screwdriver (I mean, I am supposed to drink orange juice with my high blood pressure medicine) and the bartender might have mixed us up a couple of complimentary shots (and doh! It's rude to say no to complimentary shots. Everyone knows that!). By the time I left the restaurant, I was approaching the perfect buzz. But, it was only 2pm! Which meant one of two things: I could either walk home and go to bed and wake up with a wicked hangover at 7pm... OR I could call every friend I have in town and see if they wanted to meet up at a bar for a beer or two.

I think you know which option I chose.

So, I convinced (pretty easily, I gotta say) a friend to imbibe with me and we hit up a local brewery in town. I'm sucking down the Dos Perros and we're having a good time and one of his friends shows up to the brewery as well.

The night continues... we switch venues and apparently at some point in the night, the friend of my friend starts talking about his birthday... to which I (allegedly) (in my happy, drunken state) slur ever so eloquently... "oooo a birthday! I'll plan your birthday! hiccup!" (to which I'm told a week later when my friend reminds me that I emphatically insisted on planning his birthday that night). Which, brings up a good point... who in their right mind believes a drunk chick??? I mean... what universe are we in?

Anyway, as a staunch believer in the Hemingway code of  "always do sober what you said you'd do drunk" (don't even ask about the other things I've had to do), I offer up to make this dude a cake as a surprise. (Incidentally, the guy is super nice, so I didn't mind).

What cake do you make when you have no idea what the recipient likes and you can't ask him cause it's a surprise? You make a yellow cake with chocolate icing, my friend.

So, my arch nemesis and I come face to face again in the kitchen. This time, I came equipped with what appeared to be a surefire bet... a recipe from Deb of Smitten Kitchen. A recipe that she in fact named as the BEST Yellow cake.

I entered into the recipe with extreme trepidation. I almost went out and bought a yellow cake mix as a back up. But, I instead decided to just go with it. And thank God I did, because this cake is THE BEST YELLOW CAKE ever! It's moist and flavorful! It's super easy to make! I was thrilled! Hell, it was so good, I felt like it was my birthday instead! And so, I say thank you... Thank You Hemingway, for making me make good on my drunken promises (when I probably normally wouldnt have) and thank you Deb, for sharing this great recipe! You've saved my ass and I'll no longer cringe when someone utters "yellow cake" to me again.

Best Birthday Cake

by: Deb of Smitten Kitchen

This cake comes together easily and is really moist and tasty. I went ahead and made the cake exactly as Deb has it on the website, the chocolate sour cream frosting and all, and I have to say, I was not a fan of the frosting at all. Next time, I'll stick with my regular chocolate buttercream favorite: Hershey's. (If you DO use the Hershey's frosting DOUBLE the recipe to frost this 2 layer cake).

Yield: 2 layer 9 inch cake or a single 9x13 inch single layer cake.

4 cups plus 2 tbsp cake flour (not self rising)

2 tsps baking powder

1 1/2 tsps baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 tsps vanilla

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups buttermilk, well shaken

Preheat oven to 350. Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs one at at time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack let cool completely (about an hour).

Hershey's Chocolate Buttercream

Like I said, double this recipe.

6 tbsps of butter, softened
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter in medium bowl. Add powdered sugar and cocoa alternately with milk; beat to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla.

About 2 cups frosting.

Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Filling and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Sure, being witty and intelligent are important attributes. It's also nice if you're kind-hearted and dependable. All good things. But you know what the number one most valuable personality trait or characteristic is? Go ahead... think about it... I'll entertain you with a story while you formulate your guess.

Earlier this week... my office had a new copier installed. This was one of the happiest days of my professional life. Seriously, if you've never had a shitty copier, then you have no idea how lucky you are. The next time you walk by the copier... give it a little love tap and a thank you. Because, the copier may seem to be the meek and unforgettable piece of office equipment... but, don't you test it, because it can and will go postal on your office at any given moment and render your entire office into a frustrating, unproductive hell-hole in which you think you will never see the light of day again.

So, yeah, I was pretty psyched about the new copier installation.

The IT dude that did the install was kinda cute. Not like Eric Bana/Mike Fisher smoking hot-cute. But, more like a Jim Halpert cute. Which... I'll take. So, anyway... he's in the office for awhile and I'm helping him figure out something about our network and I'm not even really paying attention to him. All I can think about is how freaking excited I am at the prospect of having a copier that might not give me nightmares and wake me up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night. And then... at some point, I look at him and I think... "huh. This guy looks familiar." So, I stare for awhile.. trying to place him...

Is he a regular at my local bar? Ehhh... doesn't seem like it would be his scene.
Is he a friend of a friend of a friend? Possibly.

And as I'm staring at him and trying to place his face, I start thinking... "huh. this guy is pretty cute." And then he looked up at me and caught me staring at him with a studied look and I blurted out the next possibility...

"You look familiar... did you do our last copier install?"

And as soon as he smiled and said yes... I realized what a dumbass I am.

You see... our last copier install was like 2 years ago. Oh wait, actually, he corrected me... it was 2.5 years ago. So, the fact that I remembered him from 2 years ago (my bad, make that 2.5 years ago) is like male-speak for... "crazy-stalker-desperate bitch" type. (Which... let's be honest... suits me to a tee).

So, I tried to downplay it... Tried to engage him in copier talk and I really, ultimately just crashed and burned.

Which brings me to the initial question I posed... the most valuable characteristic or personality trait... is being able to flirt effectively.

The past couple of years, it's been brought to my attention that my flirting skills are quite shitty. Like... if someone else gets the ball rolling first, I can usually hop on for the ride and get a little flirty back. But, when I'm trying to initiate the flirting? HA! Forget about it. It turns into an awkward mess of mispronounced words, mumbling, and broken eye contact. It's not pretty, folks. Not pretty at all. And I'm sad to say that it's actually something I've been working on and yet... I'm still operating at the speed of a 45 year old virgin. I mean, at this point, I'm thinking she could probably out-flirt me. It's THAT BAD.

So, what's a girl to do? I've tried practicing. I've tried advice. I just can't get the hang of it and the more I think about it, the worse the flirting becomes.

If only I could let my oven do the flirting for me. You see, if, in the cute copier dude story above, I had had a piece of this cake lying around and instead of mumbling on about stack bypass trays and paper jams I just said, here... have a bite. I'm sure I could have sealed the deal. Because, really... how could you resist a girl holding a piece of cake? Until I can figure out a way to carry around various baked goodies without A. jacking up the lining of my purse and B. coming off as some crazy baker chick who carries around baked goodies that, rumor has it, is laced with a sedative so that she can drag you off to her condo and when you wake up you've got a paint brush in your hand and she's thanking you for "volunteering" to help her paint her kitchen. I think I'm going to have to continue to work on the flirting. Because, all I need is to become *that* girl as well. Dammit!

The good news? Is this cake will hopefully make you forget how god-awful you are at flirting and make you realize that a good slice of cake can make you feel better about almost anything. I made this cake a couple of months ago (eek! I know! I've been in a blogging slump lately, but I'm coming back, I promise) for my friend Ash's birthday. He had a party at his house and I of course baked a cake and brought it along.

The week prior to the party, I was hanging out with Ash and I sneakily asked him (while he was drunk) what kind of cake he likes... he said chocolate. Actually, he went off on some diatribe about weird cake flavors and frostings, but all I remembered the next day (well, of course, I was drunk, too) was chocolate.

The cake was a hit. People are always impressed when they find out that you made a layer cake, and then even more impressed when they find out that it's entirely homemade. And, while, I agree... boxed mixes have their place in the culinary world, when it's a friend or family member, someone you care about... take the extra effort and bake them a cake from scratch. It might not turn out as moist as a boxed mix, but it's definitely full of more love and the recipient will be touched that you went out of your way for them. Sure, it's messy and takes time, but it's worth it, because your friend/family member is worth it.

Chocolate Velvet Cake with Vanilla Filling and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Adapted from recipes from: Southern Living and Hershey's

This cake is easy, moist, and delicious. Actually, it's almost too moist. I made a 2 layer cake and then attempted to slice the cakes in half to make a 4 layer cake. My layers came out in pieces, so I had try and smush everything back together. Not pretty. And it made for an equally ugly slice. So,I suggest you just leave it at 2 layers. The cake itself is light but flavorful. I love that it uses only brown sugar, which I think lends itself to a moister, richer flavored cake.

I wanted to lighten up the chocolate in the cake so I decided to whip up a basic vanilla filling to go between the layers instead of chocolate frosting. I think it worked. But feel free to fill the cake with whatever frosting you desire.

The outside of the cake I frosted with my all-time favorite chocolate icing. Hershey's One Bowl Chocolate Buttercream. Easy and delicious. It's like a bowl of chocolate bliss. I topped the cake off with a few chopped pecans and called it day.

Chocolate Velvet Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 16 oz package of light brown sugar

3 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 8 oz container of sour cream

1 cup hot water

2 tsps vanilla extract

<>Grease and flour 3 8 inch cake pans (I used 2 9 inch pans) and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt semisweet chocolate morsels in a microwave safe bowl at high for 30 second intervals until melted. Stir until smooth.

Beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer, beating about 5 minutes or until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to chocolate mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition. Gradually add 1 cup hot water in a slow, steady stream, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in vanilla. (Makes about 8 1/2 cups of batter).

Spoon cake batter evenly amongst greased pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes; remove from pans and let cool completely on wire rack.

Vanilla Frosting

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup (maybe more) of milk (I used heavy cream)

2 to 2 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar

Splash of vanilla

pinch of salt

Mix butter with a hand mixer until smooth, slowly add in milk and sugar while mixing. Add more confectioners sugar or more milk to get the desired consistency. Finish with vanilla and salt.

Yield: Enough to fill 3 layers of a 9 inch cake.

Hershey's One Bowl Chocolate Buttercream

Ingredients

This is a half recipe. Since I used a different frosting for the filling, I only needed enough frosting for the outside of the cake. This recipe yields one cup. If using this recipe for your filling, I'd double recipe, at the least.

3 tablespoons of butter, softened

1 1/3 cup of confectioners sugar

1/4 cup Hershey's cocoa

1/4 cup of milk (I used cream), maybe more

1 tsp of vanilla

Beat butter in a medium bowl. Add confectioners sugar and cocoa alternately with the milk, beat to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in vanilla.

TWD: Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie

How serendipitous that this recipe chosen for this week's installment of Tuesdays with Dorie is something that I know my best friend, Stephanie would love. Why is that serendipitous? Well, because her birthday was Saturday and while I was making it (on Saturday, even), I couldn't help but be reminded of her and be saddened because I couldn't share it with her on her birthday.

So, here I am a few days later, sharing it with her and the rest of the Internet and telling all y'all... this pie is damn good.

Steph moved to Portland, Oregon a little over a year ago. And while I'm ecstatic for her and her awesome new life out West, it's a hard adjustment to make. Admittedly, neither of us are phone people. We've never really had to be. I mean, we both went to different colleges, but we still came home pretty much the same weekends, etc, so it wasn't really an issue. And after college, if I wanted to talk to her... we would just meet up for dinner or shopping or whatever. But... that's kind of hard to do when we're 1000s of miles apart.

So, basically, I've dropped the ball. I get kind of wrapped up in my own stuff... and I have kind of an unusual routine for someone my age: I go to bed around 9pm and wake up around 5am. I'm not a phone person, so the idea just doesn't pop into my head very often... "oh! I should call so-and-so." And while I think of her everyday, it just doesn't dawn on me to actually pick up the phone and call. And then... after, oh say, 3 months of not calling... when I realize it's been 3 months... then I feel guilty for being such a shitty friend. 3 months! who doesn't call their best friend in 3 months? (This girl, apparently).

I view my life as a work-in-progress and as such, I have this really long self-help to do list for myself that I am constantly working on. Here's a snippet of the list:

32. Say YES to every 2 out of 3 things you're invited to.
33. Be a better friend. Call your friends who live far away, more often.
34. Say NO to 1 out of every 5 tequila shots ordered.
35. Don't engage in flirty texts with douche bag dudes who wronged you in the past.

So, you see... keeping in touch better with friends is something that I know I need to work on and I'm going to make a conscience effort to do so from now. So, all you friends of mine out there... I'm sorry. I know, I suck, but I'm going to get better.

So, Steph, even though I couldn't share this pie with you... it has your name written all over it. You would FREAK over it. It's so creamy and lime-y. It's like a key lime pie, except without the chemically aftertaste that sweetened condensed milk can sometimes leave. I didn't really give it enough time to firm up before I dove into it, but no matter... it was still creamy and silky and tangy. Lime perfection.

Happy Birthday, Steph! I love you and miss you! If I could have wrapped this pie up and shipped it to you, I would have.
Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie (click the title for the recipe)
Chosen by Linda of Tender Crumb

Ok, so of course... I couldn't make this pie directly as written because 1. I dislike calf slobber meringue and 2. I'm a little leery of ginger and didn't want to buy any. I made this pie with a graham cracker crust, although, I think I will try it sometime with a regular crust. My graham cracker crust just never really set up properly. I also added a touch of ground ginger, instead of fresh ginger and I couldn't even notice it in the flavor of the pie (hooray!). The recipe calls for a crapload of butter, but I only added in one stick and didn't even notice the missing calories (though, my love handles thanked me). It's very much like a key lime pie, but, it's a touch silkier, I think. Definitely a keeper and I will definitely make it again... and maybe top it with some fresh whipped cream. Yum.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake

I've been extremely lucky my whole life. I was born into an amazingly supportive and loving family. I was raised with good values and morals, but was also allowed to spread my wings, be independent and find things out on my own. And aside from my family and the environment I've grown up in, I've also been extremely lucky to find friends that I don't deserve.

Not to toot my own horn anything... but my friends are seriously some of the best people around. Not only are they loving and supportive like my family... but they're dependable and stable, they put up with my fickle and moody nature. I mean, I gotta be honest with you folks... I am a hard person to love. I'm stubborn and fiercely independent, at times. I am a complete contrarian and will assuredly change my mind just when you think you've gotten me figured out. I can be extremely private, which I'm sure makes people feel isolated from me. I try to keep my true feelings to myself as much as possible. I mean, damn. I wouldn't be friends with me.

But, despite these things... I still have some really kick ass friends (I guess having a baking blog doesn't hurt).

My friend Sara had a birthday back in June. Sara is one of those friends that you wish you could freelance out. Like... I feel fairly confident in saying that if a lot of bad people in the world had a friend like Sara, they wouldn't be so bad. All my friends are great in their own ways... but Sara is definitely the friend that I can depend on. If it were 2am and I was stuck on the side of the road in Alaska and I could only make one phone call... I would call Sara. Because it wouldn't matter that she was 1000s of miles away. Regardless of the fact that I might not have talked to her in 2 months, I could rest assured that she would do whatever it was that I needed and THEN SOME.

She is also loyal beyond belief. I know without a doubt, that we could have had the biggest argument of our lives.... but if someone else tried to badmouth me. She'd be standing up for me. Now, that, is loyalty, my friends.

But, I don't want it to sound like I'm just using her for her dependability and her loyalty. Oh no... I also use her for comic relief. She is hysterically funny and she's up for anything. She'll go and do practically anything you want. She's always up for a shopping trip, a car ride, a dinner, a drink, a walk. As long as her schedule is clear... she's good to go.

So, for her birthday, I wanted to make her whatever she wanted. And what she wanted... was White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake. This request immediately reminded me of one of our favorite past times in college: watching Golden Girls. Sara and I always say that when we're old and gray we're going to move down to Florida and live together. We're going to smoke cigarettes and drink whiskey all day, eat cheesecake and walk around in moo-moos and flip flops. Cheesecake was the perfect choice for her birthday.

I didn't have a specific recipe for that variation of cheesecake, so I set off to adjust the Dorie Greenspan Cheesecake recipe that I adore. Hopefully she enjoyed it at least half as much as I've enjoyed her friendship.

Happy Birthday, Sara!

Thank you for being a friend
Traveled down the road and back again
Your heart is true, you're a pal and a confidant.

And if you threw a party
Invited everyone you knew
You would see the biggest gift would be from me
And the card attached would say thank you for being a friend.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cheesecake
adapted from Dorie Greenspan

This is adapted from my favorite cheesecake recipe. It's creamy, rich and dense.

Ingredients
For the crust:
2 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
3 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
2 pounds (four 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
4 ozs of white chocolate melted and cooled.
chopped macadamia nuts for garnish

Procedure
To make the crust:

Butter a 9-inch springform pan—choose one that has sides that are 2 3/4 inches high (if the sides are lower, you will have cheesecake batter leftover)—and wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil; put the pan on a baking sheet.

Stir the crumbs, nuts, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl. Pour over the melted butter and stir until all of the dry ingredients are uniformly moist. (I do this with my fingers.) Turn the ingredients into the buttered springform pan and use your fingers to pat an even layer of crumbs along the bottom of the pan and about halfway up the sides. Don't worry if the sides are not perfectly even or if the crumbs reach above or below the midway mark on the sides—this doesn't have to be a precision job. Put the pan in the freezer while you preheat the oven.

Center a rack in the oven, preheat the oven to 350°F and place the springform on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Set the crust aside to cool on a rack while you make the cheesecake.

Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.

To make the cheesecake:
Put a kettle of water on to boil.

Working in a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft and lives up to the creamy part of its name, about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition—you want a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the heavy cream. Turn off your mixer and pour in the cooled melted white chocolate. Stir into the batter with a rubber spatula.

Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in the roaster pan.

Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter will reach the brim of the pan. (If you have a pan with lower sides and have leftover batter, you can bake the batter in a buttered ramekin or small soufflé mold.) Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour enough boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.

Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven's heat and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.

After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours, although overnight would be better.

Serving:
Remove the sides of the springform pan— I use a hairdryer to do this (use the dryer to warm the sides of the pan and ever so slightly melt the edges of the cake)—and set the cake, still on the pan's base, on a serving platter. Adorn the top of the cheesecake with the chopped macadamia nuts. The easiest way to cut cheesecake is to use a long, thin knife that has been run under hot water and lightly wiped. Keep warming the knife as you cut slices of the cake.

Storing:
Wrapped well, the cake will keep for up to 1 week in the refrigerator or for up to 2 months in the freezer. It's best to defrost the still-wrapped cheesecake overnight in the refrigerator.

Banana Pudding

Okay, confession time. As much as I like to moan and groan about it to as many people as will listen, I have to admit... having two older brothers is an awesome experience. And even though I had my doubts when we were growing up of what kind of men they'd turn into... I mean, who wouldn't wonder that about a kid who sits on his little sister's head and farts on her when he's babysitting? Right? Or what about making their little sister hold a G.I. Joe up on a fence post so that they can shoot BBs at it? You gotta admit, that's a wee bit demented. I'm happy to report (thanks in large part to my parents, I suppose) they both grew into good men who I am proud to call my brothers.

Sure, we had our moments growing up... we fought, I cried, I tattled, we fought, I got them grounded, etc and that just describes one afternoon of my life growing up.

My oldest brother had his birthday a few weeks ago. And my mom pulled the "mom trump card" on that birthday and made his birthday cake for him. Now it's my other brother's turn and since my parents were out of town on his birthday, I took it upon myself to make him something that I knew he'd love.

Banana Pudding.

Now, honestly... banana pudding has never been my favorite. It's mushy. It's pudding-y. Blech. Not my cup of tea. But it is something that is very traditional in southern cuisine, so I was anxious to try my hand at a recipe.

I ended up adapting a couple of recipes into my own. It came together really easy and when I gave it to him... I went ahead and helped myself to a little piece... I mean... I couldn't let him eat a piece of it by himself, for heaven's sake. What kind of sister would I be?

I gotta say... homemade banana pudding is 15,000 times better then the jello banana pudding I've had so many times. Holy Crikies is this stuff good. Like... so good that I kept going back to sneak more. It is so sweet, so creamy, so banana-y. Soooo delicious.

Jackpot! Maybe next year, I'll make this banana pudding for my birthday!

Happy Birthday, Bro!

Banana Pudding
10 servings

This banana pudding is rich and super sweet. I'm obsessed with peanut butter and banana, so I used peanut butter sandwich cookies to line the entire bottom and to alternate on the top. If you like your banana pudding straight up traditional, just go for vanilla wafers all the way.

Also, I had some pudding left over... but, it's delicious with cookies dipped in it, etc.

1/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
Dash salt
2 ½ cups whole milk
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tsps vanilla extract
8 oz cream cheese, softened
12 oz of Cool Whip, thawed
3 cups sliced ripe bananas (5-6)
45 vanilla wafers
Package of Nutter Butters

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in milk and condensed milk and yolks, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes or until thickened.

Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and set aside with a piece of saran wrap pressed down onto the pudding till it cools. After it comes to room temperature, beat in cream cheese. Gently fold in cool whip. Set aside.

Place a layer of Nutter Butters in the bottom of 2 quart baking dish and arrange 1 cup of bananas on top. Then spoon 1/3 pudding mixture over bananas; top with a layer of vanilla wafers. Repeat layers once; top with remaining bananas and pudding. Arrange Nutter Butters around the inside edge of dish and push gently into the pudding. Cover the top with vanilla wafers, if you wish. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Red Velvet Cake (err... Green Velvet Cupcakes)

So, I have a bit of a secret...

I was 25 years old before I had my first piece of Red Velvet Cake.

(I'll give you a moment to let that soak in).

That's right. I wasn't raised with red velvet cake (or grits!).

There. I've said it. Hopefully the South will forgive me and still accept me (who am I kidding, of course it will... the South forgives... we may not forget, but by golly, but we sure as hell forgive).

Even with two grandmothers, a mother, and about 3-4 aunts who all had/have mad cooking and baking skills... there was never a red velvet cake in sight. I can't even remember if I ever heard of it as a kid. But now, it's all the rage. Bobby Flay is throwing peeps down in NYC and everyone and their brothers are running out to their local bakeries for a red velvet cupcake. Sheesh. You'd think it was like crack or something.

Never one to shy away from cake and cream cheese frosting, I decided to not only try red velvet cake for the first time, but to also make it myself. And who better to strip me of my red velvet cake virginity than...

Martha Stewart.

That's right. Who better to teach me how to make the supposedly quintessential southern dessert than a Yankee from New Jersey?

I used her recipe (after seeing her make it on her Living show) and made a gigantic red velvet cake for Christmas one year. It sat proudly on display on my grandmother's antique buffet amongst all the Christmas Dessert Regulars... Pecan Pie, Coconut Cake , Claire (Chocolate Eclair), and various other pies, cookies and pastries. I distinctly remember that besides my mom and dad (who, by blood are required to taste all things I make for family gatherings, all the while I hover over them awaiting their reaction with bated breath), only my uncle Jim had a piece. And actually he had two and cut off a hunk to save for later. So, I've come to the realization that my uncle Jim is the only true southerner in my family. (He probably even eats grits when none of us are looking). The rest of us are just hillbillies.

That was the first and last time I'd had red velvet cake. I mean, sure it was delicious. Utterly delicious (we'll get to that later), but it was kind of like... okay, been there done that, let's move on.

Enter: St. Patrick's Day Party.

Swap out the red food coloring for green and BAM. Instant St. Patricks Day Party. These are now going to be a regular at the Annual St. Patrick's Day Party. (I've always felt like Southerners and the Irish are kindred spirits, anyway... but that's a post for a whole other blog).

Red Velvet Cake

Recipe from Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. (2002).

For the longest time, I just assumed red velvet cake was a yellow cake with red food coloring in it. But, it's so much more than that. It's incredibly light and moist. Melt-in-your-mouth moist, in fact. And it's got a little whang from the buttermilk and the vinegar that is mimicked in the traditional cream cheese frosting.

I've recently found out that some people say that traditional red velvet cake actually has a tablespoon or so of cocoa powder in it. This recipe does not. Maybe it's cause Martha is a Yankee or maybe it's cause she's a genius. You'll never know unless you try it.

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 1 minute

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 1 (9-inch) Layer Cake

Ingredients:

cooking spray, for pans

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup whole buttermilk

2 1/2 tbsps red food coloring (yes, that says tablespoons)

Cream cheese frosting, recipe follows

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 3 (9 by 2 inch) round cake pans with cooking spray, and line with waxed paper. Set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour and baking soda. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla. With an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix on low speed just until the flour has been incorporated. Slowly add buttermilk. Add food coloring and beat to combine.

Divide batter between pans; each pan will be about half full. Tap pans on counter to remove bubbles. Bake until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove the pans to a rack to cool for 5 minutes. Invert pans onto wire racks sprayed with vegetable oil to cool cake completely, or quick chill in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

To assemble, place 1 layer, top-side down, on a cake stand. Using an offset spatula, spread with 1/4 inch of frosting. Repeat with remaining layers. To frost the top and sides of the cake, work from the center toward and over the edge, making sure to evenly coat. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 pound confectioners sugar, sifted
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Place cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar, pecans and vanilla. Beat, on low speed to combine. If too soft, chill until slightly stiff, about 10 minutes, before using.

Yield: 6 cups.

Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake

Lord have mercy, I couldn't let those nasty looking "floating islands" be the first thing people see on my blog for more than a day. I mean... talk about embarrassing. Yikes.

So, here I am bestowing upon you a Paula Deen recipe. And not just any Paula Deen recipe... but the recipe that was made for my 29th birthday!

Originally, the idea was this: I pick a dessert that I want for my birthday... my mom makes the dessert... the family devours the dessert... my mom writes a guest post about the cake... and I post it!

Great idea, right??

Except... it didn't happen like that. I mean, I did pick this as my birthday dessert. And my mom did make it... and the family did devour it, but she didn't write up a post. So, just imagine that instead of my words... you're reading her saying things like how wonderful I am... how I was such a kind and brilliant child. How I've grown into the perfect daughter, etc, etc, etc... cause I know she would say all those things.

Instead of the things like... how getting me to talk about my personal life is like pulling teeth. How, I'm stubborn and opinionated. Or how I have a mouth that could make a sailor blush.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't say any of those things...

Thanks for the cake mom, it was delish!!! (FYI, while it looks like I used my huge, pointy chin to cut the cake, I actually just used a knife).

Recipe for Paula Deen's Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake
The only thing I'd say about this recipe is be sure not to overcook it. I think my mom actually did bake this a little too long, as it turned into more of a sturdy brownie-like consistency instead of a gooey cake. Also, I think this is probably best served hot out of the oven, with ice cream, of course!

Chocolate Guinness Cake with Baileys Frosting

Friday I was able to surprise my friend April with a birthday cake! I went down to Memphis to spend friday night with her and her husband to celebrate her birthday!

Now, April and I... we are like two peas in a pod. All the things I love... she loves.

Running? Yes
Beer? Yes
Wine? Yes
Bowling? Yes
Tailgating? Yes
Chocolate? Yes
Beer? Yes, again
Being silly? Yes
Taking silly photos? Yes
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Yes
Pizza? Yes
Chocolate? YES!

So, even though I wasn't able to ask her what her preference for her Birthday Dessert was... I kind of had a good idea of what I wanted to make her. And it included two of the things in that list.

Chocolate and Beer, of course! Awhile back, I had made mini cake of this recipe and I remembered that April had left a comment on that post about how good the cake looked. So, I decided to make the full cake version.

Thanks for being such a great friend, April. Happy Birthday and I hope that you enjoyed your cake!!

Last Year for April's Birthday? German Chocolate Pie

Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey's Frosting

Original recipe here. Recipe with my changes listed below.

This cake is very moist and easy. The only change I would make next time... is to eliminate the salt. The beer has enough salt on it's own. I would also make 1.5x the frosting. I felt like there was enough when I was icing the cake, but when I was actually eating it, I would have liked a little more.

Ingredients

Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt (eliminate if using Guinness)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup Guinness Beer

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 2 (8-inch) round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

Bailey's Chocolate Frosting:
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate (recommended: Callebaut)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon Baileys Irish Creme

Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee powder in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don't whip!

Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

Caramel Butter Bars

"It happens sometimes... friends come in and out of our lives like busboys in a restaurant."

--Gordie from Stand By Me

I've never been the type to have lots of friends. Actually, I find the idea of having lots of friends simultaneously to be kind of stressful. I mean... how do people have the time to spread themselves around to lots of different friends? I suspect the people who do, are less of the homebody type than I am.

I've always had a few close friends. My first best friend was Lisa McBroom. We met in the daycare at the fitness center that our mom's belonged to. We were lucky enough to be put into the same kindergarten class and our friendship continued to grow through the next few years. Her family eventually moved and I eventually went through a large group of close girl friends and guy friends through the years. But only a handful remain. And these are the friends that I consider my true blue, tested and weathered best friends: Stephanie, April, Jeff, Sara, and Leigh. These are my peeps. These are the friends who share my awesome times and my not so awesome times. The people I trust and love like family.

But you know what sucks? Their geography... Steph's in Portland, April's in Memphis, Jeff's in Baltimore, Sara's in Louisville, and Leigh's in Columbia, SC. I mean... bloody hell! Do you know how shitty it is to have a network of such amazing friends... but not have the ability to call any of them up and be like.. "yo, let's grab a burrito... or go to a movie... or get drunk tonight, cause there's nothing better to do?" Yeah. Let me tell you... it sucks.

But... a couple of weekends ago... that changed! Just the other night I was able to text my friend Sara and be like.. "what up? Let's grab dinner." and she called back (cause, girls not a texter... I'm working on her though... give me some time) and we went to dinner, because she moved to Nashville!!!! And not only did she move to Nashville, she's living like 2 miles away from me! Woop Woop!

It's great to have her here! And to welcome her, I wanted to bake her something yummy.

Now, I know Sara REALLY well. And I know that her favorite candy bar is the Milky Way. So, I definitely wanted to make her something that was very caramely and gooey and yummy.

This recipe immediately popped out at me. It came together really easily and turned out pretty tasty. But... honestly... it needs chocolate. I mean, it REALLY needs chocolate. It's like eating just the peanut butter side of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's good, but it's blatantly missing it's rightful partner. So, I will make this again, but I will sprinkly chocolate chips over the caramel layer.

The Stand By Me quote I referenced above is true... some people do come in and out of lives like busboys... but if you're lucky like me... you'll have a few really true friends that stick with you forever. (And hopefully you'll eventually succeed in convincing them all to move to Nashville to be close to you, cause you're selfish like that. 1 down, 4 to go...) :)

Gooey Caramel Butter Bars
From Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey, by Jill O’Connor

These bars are delicious and I consider the crust to be an awesome base for other fillings. Mainly fillings that have chocolate in them. So, if you're making these bars.... I suggest throwing in some chocolate chips, some heath toffee bits, or something to add to the salty, chewiness of the caramel.

For the Crust:
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

For the Filling:
1 bag (14 ounces) caramel candies (about 50 individual caramels), unwrapped
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons dark rum (optional)
Pinch of salt
1 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions:

To make the crust: in a large bowl, combine the butter and sugars. Using an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat together until creamy. Add the vanilla and salt and beat until combined. Sift the flour into the butter mixture and beat on low speed until a smooth, soft dough forms.
Spray a 9 by 13 inch baking pan lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Press one-third of the dough evenly into the pan to form a bottom crust. Pat the remaining dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Bake until firm and the edges are a pale golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
While the bottom crust is baking and remaining dough is chilling, make the caramel filling: Place the unwrapped caramels in a microwave-safe bowl. Add the cream, vanilla, rum (if using), and salt. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth. If caramels are not completely melted, microwave on high for 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.

Sprinkle the nuts (if using) over the bottom crust. Pour the caramel filling over the nuts, using a small metal spatula to nudge the filling evenly over the crust. Remove the remaining chilled dough from the refrigerator and crumble it even over the caramel. Return the pan to the oven and bake until the filling is bubble and the crumbled shortbread topping is firm and lightly golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Use a sharp knife to cut the bars evenly into 15 large squares. Remove the bars from the pan with a metal spatula and, if desired, cut in half on the diagonal to form 30 triangular bars. Dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

The bars will keep, covered tightly at room temperature, for about 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

TWD: Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

Now, here's a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe that I can get behind. Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Glaze chosen by Clara of I heart food 4 thought. Clara suggested that we might all decorate these cupcakes for halloween! Which is a GREAT idea. But... I had an even better idea...
With their rich, dark color, they were perfect for a Gamecock Tailgate! Check. It. Out. Our sweet ass tailgate set-up for the South Carolina vs. Ole Miss game (wayyy back on Oct. 4th). My intention was to decorate these cupcakes with South Carolina themed decorations... but, I didn't have the time. (It's probably for the best though... my decorating skills SUCK).

Instead of the glaze that Dorie had in the book, I used some leftover Dark Chocolate Frosting that I had in the freezer to decorate with.

These cupcakes are great! I find it very hard to mess up Chocolate cake recipes (don't even talk to me about any kind of vanilla or butter cake recipe... they ALWAYS jack up for me). They are flavorful and tender... moist and delicious!

Check out Clara's blog for the recipe!

Here is the recipe that I used for the frosting:

Especially Dark Chocolate Frosting
(from the back of the Special Dark Hershey's cocoa box)

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup Special Dark Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk (might need more)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating to a spreading consistency. Add small amount of additional milk, if needed. Stir in vanilla. About 2 cups of frosting.

Lemon Bars

I think it's awesome (and usually dangerous to your diet) the way food can link you to memories of people or particular moments of your life. A lot of my favorite foods remind me of people or places that I love... Pecan Pie: My Aunt Rita. Outback's Cheese Fries: College. Grandma Cookies: My childhood. Coconut Cake: My Paternal Grandma. Chili-Cheese Dip: Tailgating. And Lemon-flavored anything: My Maternal Grandma.

My Grandma B. loved all things lemon. And every year, her birthday usually coincided with the big family reunion in October. I can remember my mom cooking all day and night on the Friday before... and one of the things she always made was specifically for my Grandma: a lemon bundt cake with a lemon glaze. The cake was from a box mix, but damn was it good. Moist and sweet and lemony, it was the only time I really ever had anything lemon-y like that and I loved it.

My Grandma B passed away when I was a senior in high school. Before she passed, she was living with us for a couple of years... and in my selfish, teenage angst I think I subconsciously resented her for taking away attention from me (I know, it sounds terrible... but when you're a teenager you think that the world completely revolves around you) and I'm sad that I never really got to know her as a person... I really only knew her as my grandma with the uncomfortable couches, chickens that pooped everywhere, and constantly churning milk in the kitchen. I think as adults, she and I would have gotten along really well.

She was a very strong, independent woman... she wasn't necessarily sweet and demure like you think of most grandmothers, she was fiery and passionate and you always knew where you stood with her. As a child... I didn't appreciate those qualities... but as a woman of 28, I understand her a little more and I definitely feel like I've acquired a lot of the same qualities.

Her birthday is today... and while I didn't make a lemon cake, I did make these lemon bars a few weeks ago in her honor. They are absolutely delicious and definitely the best lemon bars I've ever had. It's funny how her favorite dessert is representative of her personality... sassy and tangy at the onset... but sweet and smooth for the finish. If you're looking for your go to lemon bar recipe, look no further... Anna at Cookie Madness found them.

Possibly The Best Ever Lemon Squares

It looks like the original source of this recipe was a Cooks Illustrated recipe. But, Anna at Cookie Madness made some changes, click the link above to see her post and recipe (and to check out her blog, cause it's awesome).

This recipe is everything that a lemon bar recipe should be: the filling is lemony and creamy and oh so smooth and rich and the crust is buttery and crunchy with a hint of saltiness that compliments the sweet tanginess of the filling.

A word on the crust: it will look like it's just flour pressed into the pan... but fear not... as it blind bakes in the oven the butter will melt and meld the crust together. I also poured the filling over the hot (not just warm) crust and it turned it out perfect (it did sizzle when it hit the pan though).

This makes an 8 inch square pan.

Crust:

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (114 grams)

1/3 cup powdered sugar — plus extra for garnishing

2 tablespoons cornstarch

3/8 teaspoon salt (just use ¼ tsp plus an extra pinch)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling:

2 large eggs

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon lemon zest (the zest of 1.5 lemons)

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (I found this to be 2 lemons)

3 tablespoons half & half (I used heavy cream, cause thats what I had)

1/8 teaspoon salt

Don’t preheat oven quite yet. Line an 8 inch square metal pan with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.

Pulse flour, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and salt in food processor. Add butter and process to blend, 8 to 10 seconds, then pulse until coarse. (I used a pastry cutter to cut the butter in)

Pour what will seem like a very *dry* mixture into lined pan and press over pan bottom.

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While it chills, you can make the filling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. When oven is preheated and after the crust has chilled for 30 minutes, bake the pre-chilled crust for 18-20 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned.

Filling:

Lightly beat the eggs, sugar, and flour together in a bowl. I used a fork. Add lemon juice, lemon zest, half and half, and salt and mix well.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees (oops! I forgot to reduce the temp, I cooked mine at 350 and had no problems). Stir filling again, then pour filling over **warm** crust. Bake for 20 minutes or until filling no longer appears wet and shaky.

Set on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Lift from pan, place on cutting board, dust with extra powdered sugar and cut into bars.

Cut into a dozen squares.