Sweet & Simple

Well, I am now doing one post a month. Yay me! Okay, not as good as I want to be doing but I promise I'm working on it.

This past Friday, I tried a brand new recipe. TWO WORDS: Mini. Cheesecakes. Yes, you heard me right. And they were just as delicious as they sound. I made them for a family get together, and everyone loved them! However, I had to leave them sitting out for a little bit before I served them, and they are much more delicious when they are cold. Just a little pointer. And now, for the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 cup (4 1/2 oz.) graham cracker crumbs

5 tbsp. sweet butter, melted

2 cups ricotta cheese

2 cups cream cheese, softened

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

3 large eggs

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries (or whatever fruit you wish to use)

First, preheat the oven to 325F. Place 12 paper (or in my case, I used silicone) cups in a cupcake pan. Then, put the cracker crumbs into a medium bowl and stir in the butter. Spoon tablespoons of the crumb mixture into the cups, pressing firmly into the bottom. Chill until set.

In a large bowl, beat the ricotta cheese until smooth. Add the cream cheese, vanilla, and confectioners' sugar, blending until smooth. Slowly add the eggs, blending well. Spoon the mixture into the cups, filling all the way (or very close to) the top. 

Bake for 25 minutes. Remove pan from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Then remove the cheesecakes and let them cool on a wire rack. When you pull them out of the oven, they will be puffed over, but after cooling they will sink in just enough to put fruit on top. Chill until time to serve, and top with your fruit of choice! You can store these covered for up to 2 days.

They are super cute and super yummy! I was really proud of them. Let me know if you like them, and if you like my blog so far feel free to click that little "follow" button over to the right :) 

Sweet Summertime

So, I have... fallen down on the job, you might say. I know it may seem like I don't care about blogging or that I'm not excited about it, but that is completely untrue! I am excited, but (especially after spring break) school was kicked into high gear, leaving very little time for extracurricular writing. Anyway, I'm back now and planning on getting this thing rollin'.


It is FINALLY summertime. I thought this day would never come! Although I miss my friends from school terribly, it is so nice to be home with my family! Anyway, enough chit-chat.


Even though I haven't been posting recipes, I have still been baking up a storm! Just last night I made (delicious) homemade Funfetti Cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting! 

Yields 12 cupcakes (but I make large cupcakes, so I only made 11)

Credit goes to: CakeSpy.com

You will need: 

for the cupcakes

1-1/4 cups AP flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 large egg + 1 egg white, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (I used half-and-half instead)

2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

for the frosting
2 sticks butter
7 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions --

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a stand mixer, fitted with flat beater, beat the sugar and butter until well combined, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating on low.
4. Then add vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with milk in 2 additions, ending with the flour mixture. Fold in rainbow sprinkles.
5. Fill cupcake liners about 1/2-2/3 full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire cooling rack before frosting.

For some of you, you have gotten what you want from this blog: a recipe. However, it didn't really get interesting until the cupcakes were out of the oven, so if you're interested in how I messed up royally, read on.

Earlier this year, my parents gave me a cake decorating set. I decided last night that my Funfettis were the perfect guinea pigs. My first mistake was putting off the cupcake decorating process until one in the a.m. My second mistake was not understanding that there are many different types of food coloring. There is the liquid kind that you can buy from Wal-Mart that you have to squeeze every drop out of to get the most vibrant color, and then there is the fancy brand, Wilton, which is what I was using this time. For this first time ever, in fact. I was planning on doing flowers, so I had pink, yellow and green fancy Wilton food coloring. Being a very intelligent young lady, I didn't read the directions and proceeded to dump half of the tub into each separate bowl of frosting. Needless to say, the results were not so pretty. I now regret not taking pictures, because it would probably give you all a little laugh. However, it was not so comical at one in the morning. 

I was so frustrated that I dumped it all out and whipped up another batch of frosting in about five minutes. This time, I read the directions. They read: "Highly concentrated. Dip one toothpick in and swirl it around until well blended." So I'm thinking, there is no way... that is barely any food coloring. Well, it was the perfect amount. So, about 20 minutes wasted, I began decorating. It was rough at first, but I got a little better. Seeing as it was my first time to really try decorating with icing, I was pretty proud of the end result. 

Anyway, there is my tragic little baking story. Let me know if you try the recipe --- they really are unbelievable! 

Can't Go Wrong With Glitter.

Aloha! Sorry it has been so long since I have posted anything... Things have gotten extremely busy with school, but I'm officially on spring break, so expect some amazing posts to come!

I love the Oxford-style shoe, and I already have a pair of the gray Steve Madden ones. Well, last night I was at DSW in Dallas, and I saw a gold glittery pair. No, this is not a joke. Unfortunately, due to my large foot, they did not have my size in the store. So immediately upon returning home, I ordered them online! They are currently en route to my house. Yay!

A screen shot is as good as I can do right now, but rest assured that as soon as they are in my possession, I will be posting pictures!

SPRING IS NEAR! So prepare for shorts, sleeveless tops and breezy skirts.

Coming Soon!

New post coming soon... Sorry for the large gap in between posts; since we've been having snow days galore, my teachers have PILED on all the work! I have an idea for a new post and I'll get it up ASAP!
xoxoxo

PB&C

As I blog, I am munching on a delicious PB&C (peanut butter and chocolate) cookie. Totally delicious! I baked them earlier today and they are so yummy that I just have to share them with you!

Ingredients: 

6 tbsp.  butter, room temp.

1 c. sugar

1 c. packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 c. crunchy peanut butter

2 2/3 cups all purpose flower

2 ½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ c. chocolate chips

Yields 24 cookies. 

(I ended up being able to squeeze 25 out of mine... And I make mine a bit larger than normal!)

Okay, so to be totally honest, the recipe called for 1 stick PLUS 6 tbsp. butter. In my distracted state, I didn't see the "1 stick PLUS" part, and I only used 6 tbsp. Nevertheless, the cookies turned out GREAT! And now I feel even better because now they're like "diet" cookies! Well, maybe not so much but... I'll just keep telling myself that. ;)

Also, I used organic light brown sugar and EXTRA crunchy peanut butter, which gave the cookies the best texture and flavor!

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Put the butters and sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or a handheld electric whisk) and cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time (scrape the sides with a rubber spatula to remove any unmixed ingredients). Turn the mixer to slow speed and add the vanilla and peanut butter.

Add flour, baking soda, and salt and mix well until a smooth dough is formed. Stir in the chocolate chips until evenly mixed.

Drop 12 equal amounts of cookie dough on each prepared baking sheet. Make sure they are spaced apart to allow for spreading while baking.

Now, the recipe says to bake them for ten minutes, but I like to make my cookies a bit bigger than normal, so I ended up having to bake them about sixteen minutes per batch. And trust me, I am not one to over-bake. I love my cookies to be soft and chewy.

And, ouila! These cookies don't take very long to make and they are a tasty treat!

If you try out this recipe, let me know how it goes! 

Credits for this yummy recipe go to: The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. This cookbook has great recipes for cupcakes, cakes, pies, cookies, brownies and more! I definitely recommend this cookbook to anyone who loves to bake. And, you don't have to be experienced to do it. The recipes are very easy to follow!

A Tide-Over

I would really love to start posting pictures of myself actually wearing my favorite outfits, soon! But, with this lovely winter wonderland (or, "blizzastard" as I've heard our local weathermen call it), I have not yet gotten the chance to grab my handy-dandy photographer (aka, one of my friends) and go out to shoot a few pictures. So, instead of pictures of me, I'm just going to post a few things on my wish-list for this spring.


One thing that you will soon discover about me is that I love J. Crew. I've been a loyal shopper there for quite some time, and I've acquired quite the collection!


Item #1: New cafe capri



Item #2: Floral tulle mini



Item #3: Sequin fête dress (it's a long shot, but totally adorable!)



Item #4: Silk Henley Tunic



Is there more? Oh, yes. Much more. So excited for the new J. Crew spring line! 


Arrivederci, fashionistas!

Sugar Sweet Summertime.

As I'm looking out the window at what everyone is calling "Snowpocalypse 2011", it hits me how much I miss summertime. I miss shorts and sandals, swimming and basking in the warm sun. 

So, while I'm throwing a pity party for myself, I thought I would post some sunshine-inspiring cupcakes.

I made these cupcakes just in my spare time... Ha! I wish. These cupcakes were made by Eleanor Meloul of Prestige Cakes! If you live in the Dallas area, she designs some of the cutest cupcakes I've ever seen, and they are super yummy!

Just imagine sprawling out in this crisp, green grass and taking a big bite out of this scrumptious cupcake! Mmm... Summer, hurry up!

Prestige Cakes by Eleanor Meloul: www.prestigecake.com

Photography: Katharine Bain