Delicious Buttercream Frosting Recipe

Quick, easy and very tasty!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of shortening

1/2 cup of butter

1 tsp clear vanilla

4 cups of powdered sugar

A small amount of milk (1-2 tbsp)

Step 1:

In a mixer, cream together your butter and shortening.

Step 2:

Add vanilla.

Step 3:

Slowly add sugar while continuing to mix.

Step 5:

Add small amounts of milk depending on how think or creamy you want your icing to be.

My mother has always made the best homemade icing and I've always struggled with trying to match her's... I think this is the closest I've gotten so far.

Enjoy!

-sarah

Mini No Bake Cheese Cakes

Cheesecake is hands-down my all time favorite treat and I have an obsession with collecting cupcake wrapper.... so, I was pretty excited to try out this little recipe:

Step number one: crush up some graham crackers or some crispy cookies & fill the bottoms of the cupcake wrappers.

Step number two: mix together 8 oz of cream cheese with 1/4 cup of sugar.

Step number three: fold in 8oz of whipped cream.

Step number four: spoon topping into the prepared cupcake wrappers.

Step number five: adorn with any extra toppings you fancy.

I used vanilla wafers for my crust. 

Enjoy!

-sarah

Fresh Berry Muffins.

Here is a quick & tasty little recipe for berry muffins. Since it is right in the middle of raspberry season I have been baking with them a lot. This was one of my favorites so far (along with a crostata but i'll save that for a later day.)


Fresh Raspberry Muffins:


6 tbs of butter
1/3 cup of milk
1 egg + 1 yolk
3/4 tsp of vanilla
1 1/2 cup of flour
3/4 cup of sugar
1 1/2 tsp of baking powder
3/4 tsp of salt
1 1/2 cup of berries

Mix together all ingredients and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 min.

Enjoy! And remember that you can use any other type of berry in place of raspberries.

Have a beautiful weekend!

-sarah

A Strawberry & Apple Pie.

As a part of getting to know our new little neighborhood, Jake and I went shopping at the family owned Italian grocery, Donatelli's, that is just down the road from our place. It was such a great discovery! For the first time I felt relaxed as I shopped for our food plus everything was significantly cheaper than the dirty chain grocery store that we forced ourselves to go to when we lived in south side. Such a sweet change. I picked up the apples for Jake's apple pie that I had promised a while ago and adding strawberries sounding like the prefect idea.

Recipe:

3-1/2 cups thinly sliced peeled tart apples

1-1/4 cups sliced fresh strawberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar

3 to 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Pastry for double-crust pie (9 inches)

Bake for 10 minutes @ 450 then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 30 minutes.

I also used a simple crumb topping.

Crust recipe from Andrea's mom <3 

Turned out to be quite delicious!

-sarah

Yet Another Delicious Treat!

I promise that I will soon expand my horizons and post recipes that aren't desserts but for now I wanted to share with you all this little classic and simple cookie! I love to bake and because it was my husband's birthday on Tuesday, I wanted to make him something special. His favorite cookie since childhood has been the peanut butter/hershey kiss sugar cookie. Even though these cookies are a classic it was a first time for me! They were quite fun and easy.

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1 egg
2 tbsp of milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix together all of your ingredients, roll into 1 inch balls, and then roll balls into sugar. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Top with the candy kiss immediately after removing the cookies from the oven. Let cool and enjoy!

-sarah

Caprese Pancetta Cupcakes

A savory cupcake can, and should be done. Bff, Mindi, told me about a serious need to make an Italian inspired cupcake idea over gchat one day, and with our kindred brain waves thinking about one topic terrific things happen...via Google Doc. We both earned all of our badges from Camp Good At Things, so...

Caprese Pancetta Cupcake..huzzah!!

I need a minute to admire the brain child of Mindi and myself. This is just one more affirmation that we need a bakery.

Caprese Pancetta Cupcakes- Recipe by Mindi and I

makes 2 dozen 

1 cup salted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups parmesan cheese

1/4 lb pancetta
1/8 tsp. fresh ground pepper
zest of a lemon
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 F and line 24 muffin tins with paper liners.

Bake pancetta on a cookie sheet until nice and crispy, about 20 minutes. Dab off grease, and break up into pieces.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. 
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and pepper. Add to the butter mixture a third at a time, alternating half of the buttermilk in between the thirds. Beat until just combined. Fold in parmesan cheese and crumbled baked pancetta. Splash a little more buttermilk if it is too thick.
Fill the prepared tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until springy to the touch and a tooth pick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack, then cool for another 10 minutes out of the pan. 

Basil Marscapone Frosting

4 chopped fresh basil leaves 

9oz of marscapone cheese
8oz block of cream cheese
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper

2 tsp of rice vinegar or balsamic vinegar, dashes of salt to taste

Mix well, and adjust to taste. The vinegar gives it that pizzazz it was lacking. Use whatever kind you have lying around. Garnish with a sliced cherry tomato and mozzarella ball through a toothpick and stick in top of the cupcake. We highly suggest sprinkling some more parm on top. 

Part savory meets sweet, part MAGIC!

Make sure to store these angels-in-tin in the refrigerator. The expletives that were coming out of our mouths after trying these are too risque for this blog. Swearing out of joy is better than crying in my book. Make 'em, eat 'em, then swear about 'em.

-andrea

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

It was chilly today, snow flurries and all, and I had a bag of broccoli that needed to be used up before it turned into the angry brown version of itself. What better than a nice cozy soup!?

I used this recipe from Pioneer Woman (who I am recently obsessed with), and just altered it to what I had.

Ingredients:
1 whole onion, diced
1 stick (1/2 c.) butter
1/3 c. flour
4 c. (1 qt.) whole milk
2 c. half and half
4 heads broccoli cut into florets
1 pinch nutmeg
3 c. grated cheese (mild cheddar, sharp cheddar, jack, etc.)
Dash of salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Smidgen of chicken broth if needed for thinning

1. Melt the stick of butter and then add all of the onion, cooking 2-3 minutes until onions are translucent.

2. Sprinkle flour over the melted butter and onions. Stir to combine, and cook for 1 minute or so. This is called a roux.

3. Pour in milk and half and half. Stir.

4. Add nutmeg, **then broccoli, a small dash of salt, and plenty of black pepper.

**I accidentally cooked my broccoli first because I am made of straw.

Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender. IF you cook the broccoli first like I did, just simmer for a few minutes. You don't want the broccoli to get mushy.

5. Find an adorable gal to help add the cheese. (3 cups is one and a half bags). Stir and allow to melt.

Taste seasonings and adjust if needed. Serve it up chunky, mash it up with a potato masher to break it up a bit, or pour in a blender in two batches and puree completely. (If you puree in a blender, return it to the heat and allow to heat up. Splash in chicken broth if needed for thinning.)

-andrea

Honey Butter Recipe!

Idea for a sweet and simple valentine gift!
I made some of this recipe around Christmas time and it was a pretty big hit so I decided to re-use the idea for a Valentines Day Craft show that is coming up in a couple weeks.

Here is that very quick and easy recipe:
1 cup of butter at room temperature
1 cup of honey
1 cup of powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
(makes six 4 oz jars)

Whip butter and then add sugar, followed by honey and cinnamon.

So delicious on an english muffin!

Try it out and let me know what ya think!

-sarah

Coffee Cake Cupcakes

I make a delicious coffee cake. If you didn't know, now you do! Today the best friend the world can offer, Mindi, had me over, gave me my birthday gifts a day early (score!), and we made my coffee cake into cupcakes! After some shopping of course...

Preheat oven to 350*F

Cake: Box yellow cake mix (ingredients on the back)

3 eggs

1 cup water

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Crumble: 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

2. tbsp. melted butter

Cream Cheese Frosting: 4 oz. unsalted butter (softened)

4 oz. cream cheese (softened)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Pour cake mix into a bowl. Add the 3 eggs, 1 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of vegetable oil. Mix together until smooth.

Then, in a different bowl, add 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 cup flour (leveled), 2 tbsp. melted butter (about 10 seconds in the microwave will do the trick!). Stir them together until the butter has moistened the mixture.

3. Scoop cake batter into lined cupcake pan 2/3 of the way up.

4. Sprinkle a spoonful of the crumble mixture over the batter.

5. Using a straw, or toothpick, swirl the crumble throughout the batter.

6. Place in the heated oven for 15-20 minutes. (I suggest about 17 minutes)

Let cool.

In the meantime make the frosting!

Cream together the 4 oz. of unsalted butter and 4 oz. of cream cheese in a bowl. Then, a cup at a time, add 2 cups of powdered sugar. Lastly, add in 1 tsp. of vanilla. Be sure you use unsalted butter or you won't be too thrilled with the result!

8. Put a tablespoon full of the frosting on top of the cooled cupcake.

9. Spread evenly over the top.

10. Sprinkle with some more crumble. There will be plenty left, and you won't be sorry!

-andrea

Another thanks to Mindi for the photos, kitchen, and friendship <3