Thursday, March 28, 2013

Not-So-Blonde-Blondie-Cups

Not-So-Blonde-Blondie-Cups



So, to be completely honest, these were a mistake....a wonderful happy accident! 

Here's what happened....I woke up on a mission to make my favorite brownie cups and well, wouldn't you know it, I only had 3/4 of a cup of coco powder...not enough for those wonderful brownies! Boooo!!! Sooo, I decided to make Blondie's instead...in the middle of mixing and clearly not thinking...I poured in the 3/4 of a cup of coco powder into the mix...and this is what happened!

 Fudgy-Not-So-Blonde-Blondie-Cups


YUM!


Ingredients:

1 cup of butter (melted)
4 eggs
3 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup coco powder
1 cup chocolate chips plus additional 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees...spray 2 non-stick 24 count mini muffin pans OR 2 non-stick 9x13 pans. Note: if pans are darker reduce over temp to 325.

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla just until blended. Combine the flour, coco powder, baking powder and salt; add to brown sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. 
  •  Bake Blondies in the muffin pans 8-9 min. take out of oven and add additional chocolate chips on top. Let cool before taking out of pans.
  • Bake Blondies in the 9x13 pans 18-20 min. take out of oven and add additional chocolate chips on top. Let pans cool completely before cutting.

I doubled the recipe above...so here is the recipe for a smaller batch.

1/2 cup butter (melted)
1/1/2 cup brown sugar 
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/8 cup coco powder or 6 tbsp
1/2 cup chocolate chips (plus additional 1//4 cup) 

Bake times/temp are the same 1-24 count mini muffin pan or 1-9x13 pan

 
LOOK AT THEM!
THE ADDED CHOCOLATE ON TOP MADE THEM PERFECT!
 
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY "BAKING WITH MELISSA"


                              The perfect bite sized treat!  
                                           ENJOY!!!



Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

I have a confession, I am a Chocolate Lover! Shocking right? If you follow this blog you will notice that 99% of everything I bake has some sort of Chocolate in it! I mean, if I am going to do the damage, I may as well be in LOVE with what I am eating, right?

Last week, I was looking around at my Pinterest Boards I found this amazing recipe for a Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake and well, my goodness, the title alone gets me excited!

Take a look at THIS!!!

All photos taken by "Baking with Melissa"

Fresh Strawberry Yogurt Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 Tb. lemon juice, divided
Zest of 1 lemon
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
8 oz. plain or vanilla, Greek yogurt (I used Vanilla)
12 oz. fresh strawberries, diced
1 cup powdered sugar



 The batter alone is what won me over! Look at this goodness!


Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Mix together 2 ¼ cups of the flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in the lemon zest and set aside.
  • Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 1 Tb. lemon juice. Alternate beating in the flour mixture and the yogurt, mixing just until incorporated.
  • Toss the strawberries with the remaining ¼ cup of flour. Gently mix them into the batter.
  • Pour the batter into the Bundt pan. Place in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325 degrees. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
  • Allow to cool at least 20 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely. Once cooled whisk together the remaining 2 Tb. of lemon juice and the powdered sugar. Place cake on cake plate and then drizzle mixture over the top of the cake. (Note: Only using 2 Tb of lemon juice made my glaze very thick, next time I will add 3 Tb. to the powdered sugar to make it thinner).



I have a very DARK bundt pan which tends to bake my cakes faster and darker. If you have a darker pan, watch your cake and make sure you do not over bake it!


YUM!

This cake is definitely worth making! Note: The Strawberries can all fall to the top or disperse themselves throughout the cake depending on the thickness of the Greek Yogurt you use. Either way, this cake is moist and delicious! The mixture of lemon and strawberry is AMAZING! 
The bottom of the cake is dense yet gooey! 
Everything about it is perfect!

ENJOY!


Sunday, March 10, 2013

Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Dream Cups






Peanut Butter Oatmeal Dream Cups
Everything tastes better baked in a mini muffin pan!  

 
 

I was inspired by this recipe that I found on PINTEREST and just HAD to try it! My goodness these are AMAZING! And not only that, you can make this recipe in 2 bowls and you don't even have to bust out a mixer or run out to the store (if you already have the basics for baking in your pantry)!

The center of these sweet treats is where all of the magic happens! The peanut butter center is so creamy and delicious! I never knew that Oatmeal and Peanut Butter were such a perfect match! But they are! You will LOVE these!

 Ingredients:                                                                               
  • 1 cup melted butter 
  • 1 cup brown sugar 
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda 
  • 2¼ cups Old Fashioned Oats
  • 1½ cups flour 
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  •  1 can sweetened condensed milk 
  • 2 cups of Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 350.
  • Lightly spray 2 mini muffin pans with PAM. 
  • In a medium mixing bowl, stir together melted butter, sugar, soda, oatmeal, flour & salt until it’s crumbly. Add one cup of the chocolate chips.
  • Press the crust into prepared mini muffin pan and fill up about 1/2 way. 
  • Set aside the rest of the crust for later. 
  • Bake crust for 2 minutes.  
  • While crust is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk. 
  • Once crust has baked, put one full teaspoon of the peanut butter filling over each of the mini muffin cups.
  • Evenly sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top of the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk mixture. Bake for 8 minutes. 
  • Once done baking press the remaining chocolate chips on top of the cups so the chocolate melts.
  • Allow to cool and then gently twist the cups out of the pan.
  • Yeilds 36-48 Mini Cookie Cups (depending on how full you fill your pans)!


You may also like my: Fudgy Oatmeal Cups 
or my Cookies and Cream Fudge Cups 

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