Chocolate Blood Orange Cupcakes

So you're probably wondering why I love blood oranges so much right? (Even if you're not, I'm going to tell you.)

The first week I was studying abroad in Italy, my roommates took a trip to the local grocery store. Now I didn't speak much Italian at that point so the whole experience was a little bit overwhelming. Fortunately we went during an off-peak time so there weren't people everywhere to make it even worse.

But the store was tiny and I couldn't read any of the labels so I stuck with fruits and vegetables and other such easily identifiable things... or so I thought.

Well I got home that night and went to eat an orange from the 5lb bag I bought. I started to peel it, and started to break apart the wedges, and then I notice that the orange was a weird color. Being in a different country and not knowing how fresh food was, etc., I figured the orange had gone bad. So I started to peel a new one... same problem.



It took me about 4 oranges before I realized that these weren't the same oranges I was used to. After giving one a try, I fell in love, and proceeded to buy one of those massive bags every few days.

Since they're so hard to find in the Northeast US, I gradually forgot how good they were. But when I saw a recipe on another blog about a year ago that used blood oranges, I knew I needed to find some and get baking. It took me a year, but here we are...

Chocolate & Blood Orange Cupcakes

(from Love & Olive Oil)

1c coconut milk

1/3c pure olive oil

1t vanilla extract

1t blood orange zest

3/4c sugar

1c flour

1T almond meal

1/3c cocoa

3/4t baking soda

1/2t baking powder

1/4t salt

1/2c butter, at room temperature

2-3c confectioners' sugar

1/2t vanilla extract

3T blood orange juice

1t blood orange zest

1-2T heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 350.

Whisk together the coconut milk, sugar, olive oil, vanilla extract (1t), and orange zest.

Note: For this recipe, you'll need about one large orange for both the zest and juice.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and almond meal.

(I didn't have any almond meal on hand, and couldn't find it at the store, so I substituted corn meal.)

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.

Divide the batter between 12 cupcake liners and bake for 18-20 minutes, then let cool.

While the cupcakes are baking/cooling, make the icing.

Cream the butter until fluffy. Beat in 1c confectioners' sugar.

Mix in orange juice, zest, and vanilla extract.

Gradually add more confectioners' sugar and heavy cream until desired consistency.

Can't find blood oranges? This recipe would work equally as well with any type of orange, but the frosting would obviously be orange instead of such a pretty pink color.

Peanut Butter Brownies

I've always been a sucker for the peanut butter and chocolate combo. Give me a pack of Reese's and they'll be gone before you can even open yours. Surprisingly, I haven't done much with the combo in terms of baking, except for these chocolate peanut butter truffles (which I couldn't stop thinking about for weeks later).

So when someone recently requested I make them brownies, I went for a peanut butter twist. These brownies are very dense - more of a fudge base than your typical cake-y brownie. Whatever you want to call them though, they're worth making.

Sweet, salty, crunchy, and chewy - the perfect blend.

Peanut Butter Brownies

For the brownies:

3/4c butter, room temperature

7 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1.5c sugar

1.5t vanilla extract

1/4t salt

4 eggs

1c flour

1c roasted peanuts, chopped

For the frosting:

1c peanut butter, chunky

1/4c butter, room temperature

3/4c confectioners' sugar

1/8t salt

1/8t nutmeg

1T milk

1t vanilla extract

For the coating:

7 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4c butter, room temperature

Preheat the oven to 325. Line a 13x9x2" pan with foil, then grease.

Make the brownies:

Place butter and chocolates in a saucepan over low heat until melted and combined, stirring constantly.

Remove the pan from the heat, then stir in the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt.

Add the eggs one at a time.

Stir in the flour, then the peanuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, then let cool.

Make the frosting:

Beat together the peanut butter and the butter until smooth.

Beat in the sugar, salt, and nutmeg.

Add in the milk and vanilla extract.

Spread the frosting on top of the cooled brownies.

For the coating:

Combine the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted and smooth.

Drop on top of the frosting and spread to cover.

Chill the brownies until the coating is set, about 1.5 hours.

To store, cover and keep chilled.

Green Velvet Cupcakes

I'm back! Sorry for the recent disappearance, but life (and by life I mean work) has been getting in the way of baking and blogging. But with a holiday coming up this week, I couldn't let the chance pass by to try something new.

This week at work my team somehow got into a discussion about red velvet cake. Ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. Red velvet has always been one of my favorite flavors of cupcake, but I've never been corageous enough to try it. Something about the unique ingredients (vinegar and buttermilk) has always scared me. Like I've said before though, I'm trying to start incorporating new ingredients into my baking, so I figured there's no time like now to try these.

Why green velvet though? Well obviously - St. Paddy's Day! This holiday will always remind me of the lepruchan that magically dyed the milk green every year and left green cakes in hidden places (not to mention the stories my mom tells about my sister and her best friend running all over the house looking for the lepruchaun). So, in the spirit of the holiday, Green Velvet Cupcakes (makes 6-7):

Recipe adapted from Brown Eyed Baker
To make the cupcakes:

To make the frosting:

Add green food coloring to the frosting until the desired color.

I learned a few tricks while making these that might help you too:

No buttermilk on hand? Don't need enough to buy a full carton of it? Just mix either white vinegar or lemon juice with milk and let sit for 5 minutes. Since this recipe already calls for white vinegar, I just used this to make my buttermilk. Pour 1T vinegar into a measuring cup, then fill to the 1c line with milk and let sit. (Since I only needed 1/4c buttermilk for this recipe, I used 1/4T vinegar and filled to the 1/4c line with milk.)

Looking to cut some calories? Try using Neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese. Less calories and fat, but still just as tasty.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, decorate them with the frosting and sprinkles (I used light green sugar pearls), then enjoy! Keep these stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days... if you can manage to keep them around that long.

Pomegranate Blueberry (Raspberry) Sorbet

After those pork chops the other day, I had about half a container of blueberries left over that I needed to somehow use. Those combined with the left over pomegranate juice from the Berry Chai Infusion made the perfect sorbet.

To make this, combine 1c of water with 1/2c of sugar and boil until the sugar dissolved. Chill until cold, about 1 hour, then combine with 2c pomegranate juice, 1/4c lemon juice, and 1T raspberry extract. Chill again (or chill the additional juices before adding). Pour into ice cream maker and freeze according to instructions. About 5 minutes before finished, add in 1/2c blueberries.

I wish this had scooped better, but what was lacking in consistency was more than made up for with taste. This sorbet is super tart and tangy, and a great snack for dessert or just a quick refreshment.

Football sugar cookies

That Steelers loss the other week hurt. (Didn't hurt too much since they didn't exactly play well, but it still hurt.) I made these cookies for the big game, and was really happy with how they came out.

Once again, I used this sugar cookie recipe. I cut the cookies into jersey and football shapes. For the royal icing, I added in 1/2t of lemon extract to liven up the flavor. Once the outline icing was ready, I separated out two small bowls of it (for the lettering), and divided the rest between two larger bowls. Using the small bowls and food coloring gel, make one bowl yellow and one bowl white. In the larger bowls, dye one bowl brown and one black.

For the jersey cookies:

Once dry (overnight), use the yellow and white icing to write in player names and numbers, and to decorate the arms of the jerseys.

For the football cookies: 

Thin the icing, then used it to flood the cookies.

Once dry, use the white icing to decorate the stitching.



And if you're a Steelers fan (or just a football fan in general), check out this post from Bakerella. So amazing I was speechless.

Homemade Oreo Hearts

Now I've done homemade Oreos before, but given my Type A personality, I couldn't deal with the cookies in them being different shapes and sizes. I was looking through old posts from Bake at 350 the other day, and saw a post for her version of Oreos, and decided I needed to try again (especially since her's were so darn cute). Since I liked my version of the cream filling, I used that again, but tried her recipe for the cookies. And with it being Valentine's Day and all, I made these cookies in a heart shape!

These cookies are cut out cookies, so they require a little more work. I had a ton of trouble getting the dough to stick together, and it was obvious when they were baked. I'm not sure what my problem was, but even if they're hard to get to come together, the taste is totally worth the extra effort. These cookies are the perfect blend of sweet and salty, and would taste great by themselves.

Chocolate Cut Out Cookies

(from Bake at 350)

2.5c flour

1/2c cocoa

1/2t salt

1c butter (unsalted), softened

1c sugar

1 egg

1t vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350, and line baking sheets with parchment.

Stir together the first 3 ingredients, then set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Gradually add in the flour mixture.

Chill the dough for about an hour.

Roll dough onto a surface covered in flour and cocoa (evenly mixed).

Cut out the cookies with a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Press a smaller heart shaped cookies cutter into the center, but not the whole way through (only about halfway).

Bake 7-9 minutes, then let cool.

Meanwhile prepare the filling.

Fill the cookies using a piping bag, or by spreading in the center.

Valentine's Day Cookies

I know it's a little late, but if you're anything like me, you've had your Valentine's Day treats planned for weeks now and have been getting really excited to make them! There have been so many great posts on other blogs this week and I'm thinking I might have to start celebrating Valentine's Day every day so that I can try out all the great ideas I've seen.

This year I made a couple things - cookies, cupcakes and ice cream! I'll slowly be posting those over the next few days, but today I'm going to share my heart shaped sugar cookies with you. I wanted to make them look like candy hearts since those are one of my favorite candies, but my piping skills aren't quite up to par so they didn't come out as planned. (Still tasty though!)

I recently purchased this Ateco food coloring. While I really love the bright vibrant colors, it's been making my royal icing a weird texture, and it hasn't been getting quite as hard as normal.

Here's the sugar cookie recipe I used, and I cut them into various sized hearts. Once cooled, pipe the outline onto the cookies using royal icing. Use a few drops of your favorite food coloring gel to tint the icing whatever color you'd like. To make the icing taste a little better, I added 1/2t of lemon juice. About 1/2 of the royal icing recipe should cover cookies from the whole dough recipe. Reserve a small amount of the icing for lettering.

Fill the cookies with flood icing and let sit overnight.



The next day (when dry), lay a large piece of parchment on the counter or table and sprinkle a generous amount of sanding sugar in the center. I used both white and bright pink sugar, but the white definitely looked better since it was a contrast to the cookie color.

Using the reserved icing, pipe on any words you'd like, and an outline. Immediately dip the cookie into the sanding sugar, then let sit to dry. Once all of the cookies are decorated, pour the excess sugar back into the container.

For the mini cookies, I used the outline icing to fill in the center of the cookies, then pressed a little harder when I put them in the sanding sugar so the icing would spread to the edges in a heart shape.

 

Package each cookies in a cellophane bag to prepare them for your Valentine...or to ship them to your friends and family (get ready Mom & Dad).

Fudgy Oatmeal Bars

So this one was not my favorite recipe, but I'm also not the biggest fan of chocolate desserts unless it's in solid chocolate form. I mean, growing up so close to Hershey, it's not really possible to resist the Great American Chocolate Bar (remember that part of the song?). Anyway, when Jim and I were trying to decide on a dessert one night, he kept shooting down all my deliciously fruity and sweet suggestions. Eventually I gave in and agreed on these (because who can really go without dessert on a Saturday night).

His mom used to make these for him and as everyone knows, mom's cooking/baking can never be beat, so I'm not really sure how satisfied he was with these, but I was a happy girl. These bars are sweet and chocolatey and have just the right amount of texture from the oats, but boy are they rich. If you make these, be sure you have lots of friends to share them with because one little bar will be plenty to satisfy even the biggest craving.

Fudgy Oatmeal Bars

2c packed brown sugar

1c softened butter

2 eggs

1t vanilla extract

2.5c all-purpose flour

1t baking soda

1/2t salt

3c oats

12oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

14oz sweetened condensed milk

2T butter

1t vanilla extract

1/2t salt

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a large rectangular pan.

Mix brown sugar, 1c butter, eggs, and 1t vanilla in a large bowl.

Stir in flour, baking soda, and 1/2t salt, then stir in oats.

Reserve about 1/3 of the oatmeal mixture. Press the remaining mixture into the pan.

Heat chocolate chips, milk, and 2T butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolate chips are melted.

Remove from the heat and stir in 1t vanilla and 1/2t salt.

Spread the chocolate mixture over the oats mixture in the pan.

Drop the reserved oats mixture by rounded teaspoons on top of the chocolate mixture.

Bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes.

Cut into bars while still warm (but not hot).

More Ice Cream

As I mentioned in an earlier post, one of my goals for this year is to start baking and cooking with new ingredients. One ingredient I've really been wanting to try is vanilla beans, but they're always so expensive, especially when buying them from local stores. When beanilla recently had a sale on vanilla beans, I ordered a 10 pack each of Bourbon and Tahitian beans.

The first thing I tried making with these was vanilla bean ice cream. This used the same basic recipe as I used for peppermint ice cream, but I tried using half Splenda, half sugar. NOT recommended. The consistency of this ice cream was very weird and after freezing for several days, it was too hard to scoop, even after sitting out for a while. The recipe below is for the version using only sugar.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

3c heavy cream

3/4c sugar

pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean

3/4t vanilla extract

Pour 1c cream into a saucepan. Add the sugar and salt. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape the seeds into the saucepan. Add the pod to the pot.

Warm over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved.

Remove saucepan from heat and stir in remaining cream and the vanilla extract. Chill thoroughly in the refrigerator.

Remove vanilla bean pod. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and freeze according to the instructions.

Once frozen, transfer to an airtight container to store.

Once frozen solid, your ice cream is ready to enjoy! Try it plain, or add some toppings.