poptarts.

so it's been awhile since i've last baked. due the recent acquisition of a kitchen aid stand mixer, my new favorite website, and just my all-out desire to bake and try new recipes, i've been going a little crazy in the kitchen. ok, not crazy per-say, but baking much more than i have the past few months. sunday morning i decided to test the waters with some homemade poptarts.

one of the first recipes i saw on this site was the homemade strawberry poptarts. as soon as i saw it, i knew i was going to make it this weekend. they tasted great. i think for an icing i would just mix up some confectioners sugar with a little bit of milk. the dough was easy to make, but i found it very difficult to roll out and maneuver onto the pan. the heat may have had something to do with it. next time i might just make them more like biscuits and add the filling after the pastries have baked. or before i refrigerate the dough, section it off so i don't have to roll and cut so much at one time. despite all the minor mishaps they were delish. the recipe can be found here. i didn't actually take pictures of mine/they didn't turn out as pretty as deb's.

enjoy!

neiman marcus cookies.

a few years ago, i tried some homemade neiman marcus cookies. i've been wanting to bake them ever since. my baking adventure today involved these cookies. i must admit, i make a mean chocolate chip cookie. therefore, i am always a little skeptical of a different chocolate chip cookie recipe. i decided to be bold and experiment with the nm recipe. these cookies turned out b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l and taste great as well. i did some slight tweaking of the recipe, but next time i will do a bit more. i also altered the baking time, but the cookies turned out a bit crispier than i prefer. the original recipe is below.

NM CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE

Ingredients 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened 1 cup light brown sugar 3 tablespoons granulated sugar 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips Directions 1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds) 2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds. 3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips. 4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

the dough just before baking.

if you like softer cookies, i would suggest baking the cookies for 12 minutes. i baked them for only 15 minutes and the cookies came out quite crispy. as a general rule of thumb, i always add a little more salt to my cookies.

a warm cookie + a cold cup of milk = perfection.

yummy cupcakes.

i've somewhat turned to baking as an outlet for my boring life. well, i suppose i've always been a baker and also enjoy cooking. lately, i've been trying to concoct slash perfect my cupcakes. i'm a big fan of chocolate. (if you hear or believe otherwise then you obviously haven't met me.) when i was last in nyc, i stopped by crumbs bakery. i was tempted by all of their delicious flavors, but went with the ever simple squiggle cupcake. ever since, i've been trying to figure out how to actually insert a frosting filling into a cupcake. i've also been curious about making my own frosting and have become quite adept at making some dark chocolate frosting. below are some pictures of my very own creation.

looks pretty good, if i do say so myself.

first, i make a box of chocolate cupcakes. i don't get too inventive when it comes to the cakes.

while the cupcakes are baking i suggest making the chocolate frosting first.

1 c. sugar (i usually use about half the sugar)

1/4 c. cocoa (i used hershey's special dark)

1/4 c. butter

1/4 c. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

melt all ingredients and let bubble for 1 min. set aside and cool. after the mixture is cool mix with mixer for approximately 5 minutes or until it looks like frosting consistency. it should look something like this:

while the chocolate icing is cooling, mix the white frosting for the filling.

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. milk

2/3 c. crisco (i suggest using less, i think the frosting tastes too much like crisco on its own)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tbsp. water

1/2 c. powdered sugar

beat all ingredients, except powdered sugar for 7 minutes. then add powdered sugar and beat for 5 min.

then comes the fun part...

i tried both a turkey baster and a syringe to insert the frosting. the turkey baster is much, much more frustrating, but inserts more icing. with that being said, i would probably stick with the syringe though. (i was too sticky and slightly frustrated to take any pictures of this process.) after inserting the filling, ice the cupcakes with the chocolate frosting. to top them off, i put the remaining filling into a plastic bag, and cut the tip off. then add the squiggle or your own design on top. overall, the process itself is frustrating, but worth it, if you like the people you are making them for. the first go round i did all the making and baking and my sister inserted the filling. so doing all of it this time proved to be a little less fun. but look how pretty! the taste is worth bragging about as well.

enjoy!