What a Difference

As of a few days ago, it has been a year since I began this blog.  In looking back over the year, I cannot believe all of the yummy, wonderful things that I made.  I began this blog as a cooking novice with a fear of any recipe containing more than 5 ingredients.  I would be so paralyzed, that I would just flip the page of every cookbook, magazine, etc.  Now, I still don't love organizing a million ingredients, but I have the confidence and ability to do it...successfully!

Thank you to all of you who have read and supported my cooking journey this past year.  I couldn't have done it without your love and encouragement.

I can't believe what a difference a year makes.  I now feel like I can provide my family with healthy, home cooked meals, as well as some tasty treats too.  With that in mind, let's get to a very tasty treat, shall we?

Over the past year, some very yummy meals have been enjoyed in my home, but if I had to pick a favorite recipe for the whole year...it would be chocolate.  HAS to be, right?  My absolute favorite recipe is for the Oreo cake.  I make this cake whenever a cake is necessary.  I'd love to branch out beyond it, but there's really no need.  It's too amazing!

My 4 year old princess is rapidly heading towards being my 5 year old princess, and in talking about what she wants to have to celebrate, my sweet girl knew it had to be the Oreo cake.  She said, "Momma, I just really want my friends to know how delicious that cake is."  Is there any higher compliment?  I was prepared to order a princess cake of some variety from the closest bakery, but that sweet girl wants me to make her cake, and I couldn't be more flattered.  We're branching out though, and turning that amazing cake into cupcakes.  That's where we are today my friends.

The same blog that gave me the Oreo cake recipe, also gives us the cupcake version (see below).  While the cake is the same, the frosting isn't.  I ended up going out on a limb and doing a combination of the two frostings, but as long as you get the cake right, you can use your own trusty buttercream if you like, as long as you remember to add some crushed Oreos, I believe you'll be fine.  It's not that I don't trust this blogger.  I whole-heartedly do.  She's never steered me wrong.  It's just that this recipe found me on a day where I just couldn't justify adding a cup of shortening to the already fat/calorie heavy ingredients already involved.  Believe me though, you WANT to make this cake/cupcake.  Worth. Every. Calorie. Every calorie I tell you!

This was no average baking day, this "no longer novice" cook was ready to experiment!  I've got a birthday girl with high expectations to prepare a birthday treat for, so of course, I want to provide the BEST cupcake ever.  So, I made the batter and tried these cupcakes 3 different ways.

As seen below, and going left to right:

Cupcake 1- I hid a mini Oreo in the middle of the batter.  This largely went unnoticed upon baking.  The cream filling disappeared, and the mini Oreo IF noticed, looked more like an accident than intentional.

Cupcake 2- Just straight batter, no secret treats hiding inside...a simple, baseline cupcake.

Cupcake 3- This little fella has a full sized Double Stuf Oreo at the bottom.  I am partial to this cupcake.  I love the thought of added Oreo fun in full scale.  For some reason, the cream filling did not disappear at all, as opposed to the mini hidden in cupcake 1.  Maybe it's because it's full size?  Maybe it's the Double Stuffin'.  Either way, it works for me.

Before the batter is poured on top.

After baking, and half-eaten...

Lastly, I topped each cupcake with the same Oreo buttercream frosting and finished each off with a left over mini Oreo.  Adorable, right?

Not only adorable, super dee duper delicious!  What a difference a year makes.  Thanks again for your love and support.  Now get in your kitchen and bake these little guys up!  You won't regret it!!

Link to My Baking Addiction's Oreo Cupcakes Recipe

AMAZING Brownies

Today is the celebration of my absolute favorite person in the whole wide world.  The person who loves me most, who makes every day better, and the person I don't want to imagine being without.  Today is my loving husband's birthday.

In my world, I find that a day is just not enough time to celebrate someone you love so dearly.  So this birthday celebration will go on indefinitely with various surprises and reminders of how much my dear husband is loved not only by me, but by his girls, and countless others.  He's the best guy, and he's impossible not to love.  I'm not trying to make you gag, but these are the facts.  He's amazing!

I started his celebration last weekend by baking.  I went to my online diary of dreamy desserts, My Baking Addiction, and I had him pick out what he would like.  He's not a cake fan, so instead he chose the "Amazing Brownies."  Oh, and AMAZING they were!  These brownies were designed to please all types of brownie lovers from the more cakey to the fudgy.  Yup, this brownie is SO the crowd pleaser!  As you can see from the picture above, the bottom is a tad more cakey, where as the middle is ooey gooey wonderful.  That's right, those brownies are not undercooked, that's just the gooey fudgy middle!!  Gooey. Fudgy. Middle.  It just needed to be repeated.

Gooey Fudgy Middle

As if these brownies weren't awesome enough, they are so easy to make!  The trickiest part is just keeping an eye on them.  You don't want them overcooked, or you'll miss the gooey fudgy middle.  (I just had to say it again).  You want your toothpick tester to have wet crumbs on it, not sludge and not dry, wet crumbs.

Only one confession...I have a habit of not reading recipes with 100% focus and only skimming them until I'm actually cooking/baking.  This obviously leads to problems here and there.  The only problem it brought forth this time, was the part about the brownies cooling.  You are supposed to wait THREE HOURS for them to cool.  Since that would have meant 11 p.m., and we were kind of wanting to chow on them while watching the Oscars, that part was a bummer.  I sent out a facebook post complaining about my sad brownie debacle, and instantly some pretty obvious advice turned up.  Pop them in the freezer.  Duh!  Why didn't I think of that?  I put the brownies in the freezer for about 15 minutes, and that seemed to do the trick.

Now if you want pretty, perfectly cut brownies, I'd wait the three hours.  We weren't into looks, merely Oscar snackage, so some brutally cut brownies didn't bother us in the slightest.  And did I mention?  These brownies are AMAZING!!  Enjoy, and happy birthday sweet L!

Link to AMAZING BROWNIES recipe