Mint Chocolate Cookies

 So I know we haven't had anything for like, 2 weeks but my oven broke down.  Yup.  I believe I killed it.  (You know I say that but I think it was my mom) But anyway, guess what I have today!  I'm sure this will totally make up for the last uh....  month or something.  But hey!  It's like we skipped all the way to Thanksgiving.  Best baking season, right?
Yeah you're gonna thank me when this is done.  XD
Preheat oven to 325.  (I know it's kinda low but trust me, it's a perfect temperature.)

Okay start out by mixing up  2 cups flour, 2/3 cup cocoa, 1 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Don't forget the salt, even though this is a sweet, pleeeeaaase do not forget that salt.
But don't put to much.  That would be bad.

• 
  

Next, cream 1 cup softened butter, 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 2/3 cup packed brown sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Once that is mixed up pretty well, add 2 eggs and mix again.

And thirdly, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  Oh, and have you tasted this batter??  Please don't pass that up.  :)  Anywho I kinda sorta forgot to take a picture of the scooped cookies on the baking sheet so.................  you can just imagine it.  Yeah, so I used a little cookie scoop to make them all nice and perfectly round.  Now FINALLY, bake them in the oven for 11-13 minutes.  11 is best for my oven.  Let them cool a little bit so they can set a bit more.

Ooooooh wait, cooking them was SO not the final step.

Eating the whole batch is.  xD

Enjoy!!!

My Birthday Cake!!

A couple weeks ago was my birthday!
Sorry for the delay, I've had no Internet for like, 3 weeks so....  Here I am again!  My friend, Anna, came over the night of the little get-together so she helped me make this incredibly gorgeous and delicious cake.
We made a red velvet cake with a white, vanilla fondant that we painted red, green, and blue.  I also made some flowers, if you can see them up on the left.

I had a limit of 8 people, so here are the people that came from left to right: Martha, Olivia, Annie, Anna, Me, Lillie, Tillie, and Seth.
The only dude there was Seth.  Hang in there, buddy.

Like I said before, the red velvet cake was AMAZING.  I love red velvet cake but this one....  With the oil in all?  DROP.  DEAD.  DELICIOUS.  But you can't have the recipe.   It's top secret.
Just kidding!
Not.
Gotcha.  Okay I'll stop.

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. red food coloring

Red Velvet Cake

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. red food coloring

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans.
• Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside.
• Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk.
• Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined.
• Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles.
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
• After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool.
• Then make the frosting.

                                                                                               

Then make the frosting.

I just threw together a little vanilla frosting to throw on for a light layer to assemble the fondant.
I bought some vanilla fondant and colored it with food coloring and edible paint.
In the middle of the cake, we put dove chocolates and popcorn.  How cute is that?!

Enjoy!

THIS RECIPE IS FROM BAKERELLA.

                                                                                                                

Flower Cake (With Tillie!)

 I.....  Made a cake.

  A cake that not only LOOKED good, (Imagine that..)  but TASTE good.  I think those many, and I mean many, times trying to make a pretty cake paid off.  But of course, Tillie was there, so....  I guess I know why it looked so pretty. :)

Tillie and I have been friends for as long as I can remember, and she's been baking as long as I have.  Her father just got done with culinary school, and is now an official chef.  Soooo, like father like daughter, Tillie loves to cook...  and bake....  Yeeeeahh.  All that good stuff.
SO, without further a-due, let us make a cake.

Of course, not just any cake, but a cake so pretty you want to stuff your face with it.  I mean sure, it's not perfect, but I think it's dang beautiful.  

We kinda ran out of frosting, so I dug in my cabinet and found a tube of white butter cream icing.  You could still see the chocolate cake at the bottom, so I just did a little ruffled edge to make it pretty.
GOOD EATS!

chocolate Cake:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda  
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup hot water

Buttercream Frosting:
1 1/2 cups butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

6 cups powdered sugar

4-8 Tablespoons milk

2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels, if desired

For the cake:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans. Then place parchment paper cut to size on the bottom of each pan and grease paper. Dust pans with cocoa.
• Sift dry ingredients together and place in a large mixing bowl.
• Add eggs, oil, milk and vanilla and beat for a couple of minutes until combined.
• Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add hot water and mix together.
• Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 28-30 minutes. Batter will be very liquid.
• Cool for about 5 minutes in the pan. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

For the frosting:

• Beat the butter in a mixer until smooth.
• Add vanilla and mix until combined.
• Add the powdered sugar in several additions, scraping down the sides after each addition.
• Add milk a tablespoon at a time and mix together until you achieve a smooth consistency.
• Note: If you want your frosting whiter without using shortening, add a little white icing color to tint.

To assemble: trim tops off of cake layers with a long serrated knife so they have a nice, flat top. Place one layer bottom side up on cake stand. Mix about 2/3 cup morsels with about 1 cup of the frosting. Spread frosting on top of bottom layer. Place second layer on top. It helps to have a crumb coat on the outside of your cake first. Simply apply a thin coat of frosting to the entire cake to catch any excess crumbs. Then place cake in freezer for a few minutes to firm up frosting and cover the entire cake again with a thick layer of buttercream. This will help you keep all those crumbs from getting caught in your pretty work.

THIS RECIPE IS FROM BAKERELLA.

Enjoy!

Pancake roll-ups

Oh, my gosh. These were gooooood.  They deserve more than that, but that's all I've got.  My friend Anna came over and made breakfast with me.  I loved em'.  she loved em'.  My family loved em'.  AND YOU WILL TOO!  ;)

Any who, we made an attempt to make a crep, but of course, it just turned to a big ugly thin pancake thingy that didn't look very appetizing, but we laughed and had a good time after attempted after attempted of messy deliciousness,  we decided to add more flour and make them pancakes.  

Er, um....  she decided to make pancakes......  Sometimes I just can't wake up fast enough.  Sorry Anna, but you didn't let me take a different picture.  So, there ya are.  Hahaha...... haha....  ha.

Sorry....  My immaturity got the best of me.

To a bowl, crack 2 eggs.

Beet them to the pulp.  (Or, is it yolk?)

Then add 1 cup milk, or butter milk,

And then add something like 2-3 cups flour.  I didn't exactly keep track of what I was measuring, but at least I have an idea (Uh, I think...)  With the flour add about 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

While I was whipping up the pancakes, Anna whipped up a mixture of sugar, milk, and cream cheese.  Don't ask me the measurements, I don't know.

cook the pancakes until nice and golden.

Oh yeah!!  Don't forget the best part!  Make my Blackberry syrup recipe and put it in the middle of a warm pancake, along with the cream cheese mixture.  but DON'T mix them up, just spoon them in the middle of the pancake.  Next, roll up the pancake, and....

Top it with a little syrup.

Put a cherry on top of everything!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Almond Mousse

Mousse.....  What a wonderful creation.  And....  Hey!!!  Ever added nuts to an EXTREMELY rich chocolate cream mixture thingy?
No?
Then you haven't lived.
Aaaannny who, do a favor and treat yourself to an easy treat, won't ya?

Ingredients

• 1 package Cool Whip  (I just whipped fresh heavy cream)
• 2 Tablespoons Strong Brewed Coffee, Completely Cooled  (I used a little more.)
• 1 whole Hershey Bar With Almonds  (I used a mixture of oil, cocoa, sugar and milk heated up.)

Instructions

Allow Cool Whip to thaw on the counter for ten to fifteen minutes.

Gently stir in cool coffee until combined.

Melt Hershey bar in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes, then stir into Cool Whip mixture. Since the Cool Whip is cold, it will solidify the candy bar in tiny particles.

Serve soft or refreeze and serve as an ice-cream type treat.

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Sweet Rolls

SWEET mama of living sweet rolls!  This is......  by far.....  my favorite food ever yet to behold.   I highly doubt I will ever put anything more magnificent in my mouth than this.  The sweetness, the texture, the way it looks as I smash it in my siblings mouth as they hork it down without a thank you, (Jus' sayin)  I love this.  And I will love it to the very end of my life.  And.....  You will to.  Just trust me.  Just trust me.

So, it starts out like the regular cinnamon roll recipe, but then, thing get a little harry.  Pour 1/2 stick of melted butter mixed with 2 teaspoons vanilla onto the cinnamon roll dough.  sprinkle on 1/2 cup of granulated sugar.

Add 1 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.  Roll up, let em' rise for about 20 minutes or so and bake for 15-20 minutes @ 375 and....  HALLELUJAH!  You've got yourself some pretty darn good sweet rolls!

WARNING: Eating of this recipe may be fatal.  Extreme desire to eat more sweet rolls may cause screaming, and throwing until given what is wanted.

Enjoy!

Apple French Breakfast Puffs

Shooga, shooga, shooga, have I got a surprise for you.  Apple in a French breakfast puff?  Life never tasted this good!  Throughout this week of our VBS, I've been craving something sweet, like this.  After this morning of (OF COURSE) totally embarrassing myself at a game of kick ball, coming home to the smell of these almost made me forget.  Make these!  It'll put a smile on somebody's face.