Peach Nectarine Cobbler

It's been quite awhile, hello all! I have been through a lot of major transitions lately with moving to a new city and whatnot so my apologies for being absent.  I have a few old recipes to post in the near future. 

This is a peach cobbler with a butter cookie dough frosting.  It is super duper easy, doesn't take long at all, is very sweet, and is great paired with some vanilla ice cream.

I made this in the summer when the weather was still incredibly nice and the fruit was amazing.  I used both orange nectarines and white peaches I believe.  I'm not going to lie, I made this ages ago so I don't remember the exact measurement of the fruit part (I do have exact numbers for the topping which is the most important).

I'll leave it up to you but I would recommend using 2-3 nectarines and 2-3 peaches and cutting them up.  You probably want to coat them with about 3/4 cup of sugar and some lemon juice.  You can play with the amounts (if you like it sweet add more, less sweet don't put as much).  I apologize for not making it straight forward but its pretty easy and variable.  

Below I will put the recipe for the topping!

I love each season for different reasons but the fall in Oregon is beautiful.  We have been blessed with great weather (which is just now seeming to leave us) and the leaves are falling from the trees in an array of great color.  In California I never really noticed the beauty of the Fall and the foliage here is in a much greater density so I am able to appreciate it. 

Also, the fall means fall foods like pumpkin! Anything pumpkin flavored is going to be something I like, so this time of year is amazing yet dangerous for me. 

Ingredients: 

This recipe makes 8-inch square pan of cobbler. 

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 stick unsalted, softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg yolk 

1/4 tsp. vanilla 

Fruit:

4-6 nectarines/peaches

1/2-1 cup sugar

2-3 tbsp. lemon juice 

Directions: 

1.  Prepare your fruit filling and place into a pre-greased 8-inch square pan. 

2.  Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

3.  Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Then, beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.  

4.  Mix in dry flour mixture.

5.  Dollop dough over the fruit (try your best to spread over evenly).

6.  Bake at 375 for about 40-50 minutes or when the crust is a golden brown color.

Enjoy this immensely! And make sure you use good, ripe fruit. 

Happy baking!

Double Chocolate Heath Bar Cookies with Salted Caramel

This cookie is very multifaceted because not only does it have chocolate chips and cocoa powder but it has toffee/heath bars bits as well, not to mention the salted caramel drizzled on top! 

Baking is sort of an addiction of mine.  When I get hooked on the fact that I want to bake something it will most likely happen. I had several little bumps in the road while making these cookies like randomly having no baking soda and scootering down to my neighbors who graciously gave me some.  Of course I returned the favor by giving her a plate of cookies! Another was that I barely had any caramel so only about half of the cookies had it which is fine because it isn't totally necessary but gives it some extra oomph. 

This summer has been great so far, I have a perfect balance between baking, blogging, working, free time, time with friends and family, etc.  I am excited to hopefully start volunteering at an animal shelter sometime soon as well. 

If you have a history with me you know that I like Heath Bar, especially because my boyfriend gave me pounds of it 2 years ago... which is now almost gone, this is the last bag: 

I guess this is going to be good for me though because I will need to expand beyond the world of Heath bar deliciousness! Anyways hope you enjoy this recipe which was inspired by Center Cut Cook.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies. 

2 sticks of unsalted softened butter

1.5 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour

2/3 cups cocoa powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup heath bar bits

*Optional: salted caramel for topping

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2. With an electric mixer combine softened butter and sugar until it appears creamy. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix again until combined. 

3. In a large separate bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet with a spatula. 

4. Fold in the chocolate chips and toffee.

5. Roll the cookie dough into balls and space evenly apart on a baking sheet.  It is recommended to leave about 1.5-2 inches of space between each dough. 

6. Bake for about 8-10 minutes, remove from the oven, allow to cool a little on the sheet, and finally transfer onto a cooling rack. 

7. While they are cooling drizzle the salted caramel onto each cookie.  

Serve and enjoy!

Happy baking everyone!

Christmas Cookies Galore!

I apologize for the fact that I am posting a Christmas cookie recipe after the holidays but I actually made these cookies on December 26th and handed them out after that so I was a little late but who cares right? They still tasted delicious!

This is pretty much just a basic sugar cookie recipe with royal icing frosting.  I had a package of royal icing that you just add water too until you reach the desired consistency.  Unfortunately it did not make very much so I also just made a lot of plain milk and powdered sugar frosting (continue to add sugar until it is thick enough). 

My mom, my sister and I spent the whole night making these and it was quite fun and quite the project! We had a variety of cookie cutters such as snowflakes, Christmas trees, Santa Claus, birds, bells, hearts, candy canes, gingerbread men, and more!

                 

                               

I used Ziploc bags for piping and had a different bag designated for each color.

Tip: If you are going to do multiple layers of color (which most cookies do have), first outline the cookie, fill it in several minutes later, and allow this base color to dry most if not all the way before moving on to secondary colors.

    

     

Feel free to search the internet to get inspired, use sprinkles, create unique colors, and use your imagination!

I am just going to provide a sugar cookie recipe and provide you with this great royal icing recipe from the blog Bake at 350: Royal Icing.  My mom has been making these cookies since I was a little girl so it is definitely a family recipe that will be passed down.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 stick unsalted butter

1.5 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl: flour, baking powder, and salt.

Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer and once it is thoroughly combined add eggs and vanilla.

Slowly add the dry ingredients until blended.

Divide the dough in half and roll out each one between 2 sheets of parchment paper to form a 15' x 11' rectangle about 1/8-1/4 inch thick. Refrigerate until firm.

Remove dough from parchment paper and cut out desired shapes.

Bake on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper.

Baking time varies based on cookie thickness and size so try to bake cookies of apprx. the same size together.  Remove from the oven when the edges begin to turn golden brown.  

Let them cool completely and then go ahead with your decorating!  

These cookies can be used for any occasion, it does not have to be for Christmas... I hope you try them regardless! 

Happy New Year and Happy Baking!

Peanut Butter Hershey's Kiss Cookies

These peanut butter chocolate cookies are decadent and so ridiculously easy.  Only 4 ingredients are needed: peanut butter, sugar, eggs, and Hershey's chocolate kisses.  No flour, no baking powder, no hassle.  

I could not believe it when I saw the recipe but my boyfriends mom insisted she had made them plenty of times and that they come out delicious.  This could not be more true! 

You have to try these.  They take 10 minutes at the most to create and only 10 more to bake! And they taste amazing right out of the oven with the melted warm chocolate.  They disappeared so fast and I am already craving more already.

I hope everyone is getting ready for the new year, 2013 here we come!

Again, I want to acknowledge that I got this recipe from my boyfriends mom, Sharon, so she receives worthy credit. 

Ingredients: 

This makes 35-40 peanut butter chocolate cookies.

2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 cups creamy peanut butter
35-40 chocolate Hershey's kisses 

Directions: 

Preheat the oven to 350.  

Mix together using a wooden spoon or spatula the sugar, eggs, and peanut butter until full combined.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place spread apart onto 2 ungreased nonstick cookie sheets. 

Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a light golden brown color. 

Remove from the oven and immediately place the Hershey's kiss into the center of the cookie.  (Make sure to insert it far enough in so that it is secure but not so that it goes all the way through)

Enjoy and consume while warm, mmm mmm good!

I told you it was easy! A must try holiday treat to bring forth the New Year! Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend. 

Happy baking! 

Rachael Ray Oven Lovin Nonstick Crispy Cookie Sheet (Google Affiliate Ad)

Cookies and Cream Cake

Most people love Oreo's don't they?  "Cookies and cream" brings me back to when I was a little kid because I used to love the ice cream flavor more than anything. 

It was two of my friends at school, Rachelle and Jordan's, birthdays over Thanksgiving break so I figured that when we came back to school I could make them something scrumptious! 

Believe it or not, this is a Cookies and Cream birthday cake and it was quite delicious if I may say so myself. 

The recipe entails the following: dark chocolate cake, Oreo cream cheese frosting filling, a buttercream coating, as well as chocolate whipped cream and Oreo's for decor. 

I have been so busy lately with school work and finals are coming up in about a week and a half so even having time to make this cake was a miracle.  I'm so happy I did though!  It's amazing how just sitting in the common room for an hour with a cake can make it vanish so quickly. 

My amazing boyfriends mom, Sharon, gave me a cute apron a few months ago with a cupcake pattern on it... 

Isn't it adorable? Thanks Sharon!

The decoration of this cake can be done in any way you like but I will explain what I did. After the buttercream frosting had set I chopped up a bunch of Oreos into fine crumbs and coated just the top of the cake with them.  Then with the remaining Oreos I had a cut them eat into half circles and placed them around the base of the cake.  Lastly, I piped the chocolate whipped cream both around the perimeter of the face of the cake and between the Oreos around the base.  I also added a heart on the top with my left over buttercream.  There are many ways that you could go about decorating this so be creative and have fun with it! 

Ok now that your mouth is watering I can give you the recipe... and I would like to acknowledge The Dainty Chef and Cooking Classy for inspiring me to make this wonderful creation.

Ingredients:

This recipe makes a regular sized 2-layer cake.

For the chocolate cake:
1¾ cup all-purpose flour
⅔ cup cocoa powder
1½ tsps. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¾ cup butter (this is one and a half sticks)
1½ cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs at room temperature
1¼ cups buttermilk

For the Oreo cream cheese filling:
4 ounces soft whipped cream 
1/2 cup soft unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
5-7 chopped Oreos

For the buttercream:
3 sticks salted butter
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp. heavy whipping cream
1½ tsp. vanilla 

For the chocolate whipped cream (This recipe makes a lot):
Approximately 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
Chocolate chips

*Note: Also need Oreo's for decoration (1 package is enough for the whole recipe)

Directions:

For the chocolate cake: 

Preheat the oven to 350.  Pre-grease and flour 2 8-inch round cake pans.  Make sure that you put a good amount of flour because I had a hard time getting my cake out. 
In a medium bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 
In a larger bowl, using an electric mixer, combine butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs (1 at a time).  
On low speed, mix in the flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk (start and end with flour mixture). 
Divide batter amongst the 2 pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely before attempting to remove from the pans. 

         

              

For the Oreo cream cheese filling: 
Beat, with an electric mixer, the cream cheese and butter until smooth.
Gradually add powdered sugar and mix until very well combined.  
Stir in chopped Oreo's (not finely chopped). 
Once cake layers have cooled, spread the filling on top of one of the layers, and place the second layer over. 

For the buttercream frosting: 

Beat butter with an electric mixer until it turns a white color (at least 5 minutes). 
Slowly add in powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, and vanilla until well combined and retains a thick consistency. 
I decided to use salted butter because it makes the sweetness not as intense and creates a perfect balance. 
Spread over the sides and top of the cake. 

For the chocolate whipped cream (optional):

Take a generous amount of heavy whipping cream and whip with an electric mixer.  

Slowly add in about a half cup of melted chocolate chips (this will be up to you on how much you want to add).  Keep whipping until it is thick enough to pipe. 

This recipe makes a lot of whipped cream so you can use it to put in hot chocolate or anything you want!

Putting it all together: 

As described above, I put crumbled Oreo's on the top, half-Oreo's around the base, and piped the whipped cream all around.  Get inspired by these pictures or come up with ideas of your own! 

Here is a picture of one of the pieces of cake... mmmm I miss it already.

Happy Birthday Jordy and Shelly! Love you guys!

This cake does have a lot of moving parts but they all come together very nicely and it is well worth all the work! 

Happy Christmas season and Happy Baking!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Cupcakes with Caramel Filling

College Cooking Episode #1 has officially begun! I spent this past Saturday night baking these delicious cupcakes for my hall mates as they patiently waited for several hours.  I really missed getting in my "baking zone" and am so grateful that I could finally get back into things.  So be prepared: there is definitely more to come! Suggestions welcome!

So as the title indicates that these are Snickerdoodle cookie cupcakes.  For those of you who don't know what Snickerdoodle is... you have seriously been missing out!  It's basically just a sugar cookie with cinnamon added to it, but this one ingredient makes a world of difference.  

Anyways, the base of the cupcake is actually made of a snickerdoodle cookie dough, and the cake portion as well as the cream cheese frosting is cinnamon spiked.  Last, but certainly not least the cupcake is filled with a freshly made caramel sauce. Mmmmm.

I have to give a shout out to one of my favorite blogs, How Sweet It Is, for inspiring me to create this masterpiece.  Additionally I got my caramel recipe from The Messy Baker.  This was my first time ever attempting to make caramel and I was surprisingly very successful.  

This was also my first time using a hand mixer instead of a standard kitchen aid mixer which took a little getting used to but it wasn't too shabby- just very loud.

Overall, this was a messy project to do in a tiny dorm kitchen but I still had tons of fun so it was worth it in the end. 

They think so too. 

Ingredients:

This recipe will make about 15 cupcakes.

For the cookie dough base:

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter (half of a stick) 

1/2 cup of packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

For the cake layer:

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1.5 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/3 cup of milk (I used 1%, but just use whatever you have around)

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 heaping tsp. cinnamon 

For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting:

1/2 cup softened butter

8 oz cream cheese at room temp. (I used 1/3 less fat, but any kind works fine)

2.5 cups powdered sugar

2 tsps. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

For the caramel:

Side note: This is something you can easily buy at the grocery store if you want to save some time. Also, this recipe will make a pretty hefty amount of caramel (I probably used half of it for my cupcakes) but it's always nice to have some left over for sundaes, etc).

1.5 cups of sugar

1 1/4 cups of heavy whipping cream

1/3 cup tap water

As you can see this recipe has lots of different parts to it but they all come together so nicely!

Directions:

For the cookie dough base: 

Beat (with electric mixer) butter and sugar in a medium sized bowl until creamy and smooth.  Add the 1 egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. 

In a separate small bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. 

Combine dry and wet ingredients and mix until the dough comes together nicely.  Cover and put in the fridge while you complete the second step.

For the cake layer:

Preheat the oven to 350. 

Beat (with electric mixer) butter and sugar in a medium sized bowl until creamy and smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. 

In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. 

Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients... combine, add milk... combine, and add the second half of the dry ingredients until you reach a smooth and fluffy consistency. 

Assembly of the cupcakes: 

1. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.

2. Add about 1 tablespoon of refrigerated cooke dough to the bottom of the liner and flatten as much as possible (pictured at the left)

3. Drop about 2 tbsp's worth of cake batter on top until it is about 75-80% full (pictured at the right). 

4. Bake for about 14-16 minutes at 350 and when they are done baking, allow to cool completely.

For the caramel:

This should probably be done several hours ahead of time so that it is able to cool off and thicken completely.  I made the stupid mistake of not allowing myself enough time but it still ended up working out for the most part! 

Combine sugar and water in a medium sized pot (no heat yet) and stir.  This is the only chance you will have to stir it- resist the urge to stir it while it is caramelizing, trust me!  Place over medium-high heat and it will eventually come to a boil, and then begin to caramelize (this should take about 10 minutes). Don't touch it for the duration of this time. 

Take it off the heat right as it becomes a familiar light brown/caramel color.  You have to be watchful because it can burn in a split second. 

Once you remove it from heat, immediately yet slowly, add the heavy whipping cream and whisk to combine.  The mixture will bubble violently and it may become clumpy but do not fear!

Place back on low heat for 1-2 minutes to melt the remaining clumps until you reach a smooth consistency.  It will become thicker as it cools so don't be alarmed by its thinness. 

Place in a heat safe container, cover, and let it cool down completely.

For the cinnamon cream cheese frosting:

Cream (with electric mixer) butter and cream cheese together in a medium sized bowl.  Gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla, alternating back and forth.  

Finally, add cinnamon!

Refrigerate from 10-15 minutes to let it firm up a little more before frosting the cupcakes.  I will warn you that this is one of the thinner frostings I have made but it is oh so delicious.  If you are insistent in having a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar, but I don't think it really needs it. 

Creating the masterpiece:

1. Take any standard piping bag and fill it with the cooled caramel.  Stick the tip as far you can into the cupcake and squeeze the bag while lifting up to fill the center of the cupcake.  Another way you can do it is by cutting out a portion of the cupcake and filling up the hole you created- either way works fine! 

2. Using another piping bag with any kind of decorating tip (I used a star shaped Wilton- per usual) frost your cupcakes with the cinnamon cream cheese frosting!

3.  If you want, sprinkle some cinnamon or drizzle some of the extra caramel on top!

So I finally completed my first in-college baking experience.  Please continue to keep checking in and see what's new! Hope you are all having a great school year! 

Happy baking!