Cookies and Cream Brownies

Obviously, I am in a cookies and cream place. It's not the worst place I've been though, so I'm fine with it. This uses my regular brownie recipe with a few additions. I also baked it in a 9x13 instead of an 8x8, so they were thinner. It gave me more surface area for the cheesecake swirl, so that's why I did it, but if you want fatty brownies, you follow your heart. 

For the Brownies:

1 stick unsalted butter

8 oz chocolate chips (you're really going to use the whole 12 oz bag, but 2/3 of it for now)

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

3 eggs

1/2 c flour

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract 

4 oz chocolate chips for mixins (see, I told you)

8 Oreos crushed up (big chunks is fine)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 13x9 pan (I just used cooking spray). 

2. Put 8 oz chocolate chips and butter in a heat-safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until chocolate and butter are just melted. Don't over-heat. If there's still a few lumps, just stir, and the residual heat will melt everything. 

3. Add sugars to the melted chocolate mixture and combine. This will help cool the chocolate off a little before you add the eggs.

4. Add eggs one at a time and mix well before adding the next. Add vanilla.

5. Add flour, cocoa powder, and salt to the bowl and mix well to combine. Don't worry about over-mixing here. 

6. Add the other 4 oz of chocolate chips now and about 2/3 of the Oreo chunks; stir to incorporate. 

For the Cheesecake Swirl: 

4 oz (half a block) cream cheese, room temp

1 egg

1/4 c granulated sugar

Splash of vanilla

1. Using a mixer, beat to combine all ingredients. 

Assembly:

1. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan. Top with the cheesecake swirl- I just poured lines of the cheesecake mixture. 

2. Take a knife and create swirls with the chocolate and cheesecake layers. 

3. Top with the remaining Oreo chunks. 

4. Bake at 375F for about 30 - 40 minutes. *I baked them for 30 minutes, and they were still a little gooey, which I mean isn't a bad thing, but they could've stood a few more minutes. My oven is also notorious for this, so still check at 30 minutes. 

Cookies and Cream Macarons

 

Here we are again, back at our favorite, the macaron. A friend had ordered some macarons and wanted cookies and cream flavor, and who am I to say no? Who am I to not make an extra dozen to eat by myself in a dark room while Netflix plays softly in the background? So here we are, making macarons again. Honestly, they were fucking scary to make in the beginning, but the more you make them, the less intimidating they are, and they're still the same amount of delicious, so I say, give it try, folks! 

This recipe makes about 2 dozen small macarons. 

For the Shells:

1 part egg whites - 69 grams (2 egg whites for me- this is why I always go by weight, because sometimes 2 egg whites is 64 grams, so it is better just to weigh and change your weights accordingly)

1.25 part almond flour - 86 grams (69 from egg whites x 1.25)

0.8 part granulated sugar - 55 grams

1.5 part powdered sugar - 103 gram

0.3 part Oreo cookie crumbs (outside of Oreos crushed up) - 20 grams

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

1. In a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, start mixing egg whites. Don't mix them on too high of a speed (no higher than 6 on a kitchenaid). While this starts out, move to the second step.

2. Sift together almond flour, powdered sugar, and Oreo crumbs into a bowl. *I just put my bowl on my food scale and poured through my sifter until the right weight because I'm lazy.* Put aside until the egg whites are finished.

3. After the egg whites have started to foam up, add cream of tartar. *this is just to help stabilize the meringue, so you can leave it out if you want.

4. Start adding in the granulated sugar to the foamy egg whites a bit at a time. Let mixer keep whipping until you get to stiff peaks, like you see in the picture.

5. Pour in about half of your dry ingredients into the egg whites. You'd think you have to be gentle here because it's egg whites and you don't want to lose all that air. Nah. You can mix the shit of out of this; it's okay.

6. Pour the second half of dry ingredients in and keep mixing. Here I was a bit more gentle. You want to keep mixing until it looks glossy and it ribbons back on itself. You want the ribbon to homogenize and mix back into the mixture within about 20 seconds or less. 

7. Line baking sheet with silpat mat and/or parchment. *You will want to draw a circle template to pipe your macarons on to if you're using parchment;**You'll need at least two baking sheets with the parchment ***If you plan to make a lot of macarons, just invest in some mats. I bought mine on amazon for like 12 bucks for 2 mats. ****this is a lot of addendums, but I also just put the parchment on top of the silpats because they tend to come off of the parchment better, but I like that I can see the circles on the silpats. Okay, I'm done now.... 

8. Pour batter into a prepared piping bag with a large round tip. Pipe into the circles on your parchment of silpat. I just blop it in there; I don't make a circle motion, if that makes sense. 

9. Whack the cookie sheet on the counter at least 3 times to get all the air bubbles out. *Again, you can whack them on the counter pretty hard.

10. Allow to sit at room temperature until they look matte and when you try to gently touch them with your finger, they don't stick. They form a skin on top. This can take between 20 minutes to an hour (usually more like an hour). In more humid months, this will take longer, but it's one of the most important steps! *also put them away from the edge of the table if you have a dog ;)  

11. While you're waiting, preheat oven to 350F.

12. BEFORE you put them in the oven, drop to 325F. I would only bake one sheet at a time. I tried double once. It doesn't work out well. Anyway, bake for 12 - 14 minutes, but check at 10 minutes. If you can lightly touch it and the macaron doesn't move on it's base, it should be done.

13. Allow to cool completely before trying to remove from the sheet and fill.

For the Buttercream:

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

Insides of 15 regular Oreos *it would behoove you to get double stuffed so you don't have to scrape as many cookies.

1/2 c powdered sugar

2 tbsp Oreo crumbs *sift these so that you don't have big clumps stopping up your piping tip later

Splash of vanilla

Pinch of salt

1. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, put in butter and Oreo innards. Slowly add powdered sugar and Oreo crumbs into the butter.

2. Add vanilla and salt into the mix. Check for taste. If you feel like it needs a bit more powdered sugar, this is a good time to add it, and if it feels too thick, you can add a splash of cream or milk if you feel so inclined; I did not.

Assembly:
1. Put buttercream in a piping bag with a round tip *or any tip really- you do you, boo.

2. Pipe a dollop of cream on half the shells- a little goes a long way. 

3. Put the other half of the shells on top of the buttercreamed shells.

4. Most recipes say to store in the fridge; I don't like this, so I don't do it. It's buttercream, so, pretty shelf-stable. I just store them in an air-tight container on the counter. They may last longer if you put them in fridge, but eating them before they go bad has never been an issue for me!

Pecan Pie Cupcakes

I made these babies for my birthday. Yes, I realize my birthday is in August, and pecan pie is so not a summery dessert,but you know what, it was like 70 degrees, and felt like Fall, and I do what I want, so come at me. Anyway these were everything I wanted them to be. They are a spiced cupcake filled with pecan pie filling, topped with cinnamon buttercream and a candied pecan. I'm drooling just thinking about them again. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes and a little extra (or three 9inch round cakes). 

For the candied pecans:

I used this recipe and just tweaked a bit (and halved it because I didn't need so many)

1 egg white

1 tbsp water

1/2 c granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

splash of vanilla

pinch of cardamom 

2 cups halved pecans

1. Preheat oven to 225F. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat egg white, vanilla, and water until frothy. Add pecans and stir to coat. 

2. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom. Pour over pecans and stir to coat. 

3. Pour pecans onto prepared baking sheet and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Allow to cool completely before snacking (and placing on cupcakes). *I made these the night before cupcakes, which was a good idea. 

For the batter:

1/2 c vegetable oil

1/2 c unsalted butter, room temp

2 c granulated sugar

3 eggs, separated

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 c all purpose flour

1 1/2 c cake flour 

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 1/2 c buttermilk

1.Preheat oven to 350F and prepare cupcake pans with liners and grease a small (I usually do 6 in) pan for the extra batter.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together oil, butter, and sugar. Add in the yolks of the three eggs- keep the whites separate. Add in vanilla extract.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg whites until at stiff peaks. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
5. Pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix to combine.
6. Pour 1/2 of the buttermilk into sugar mixture and combine.
7. Pour another 1/3 of dry.
8. Pour second 1/2 of buttermilk.
9. Pour in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
10. Slowly fold in the egg whites that were whipped up earlier. *This ensures that the batter will be light and fluffy.

11. Distribute into pans and bake for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

For the filling:

I used this recipe for the filling; it will make more than you need for the cupcakes, but I say you still want to make this amount, and then you can stick it in a jar and eat it with a spoon, like I did. 

3 eggs

3/4 c dark corn syrup *I used light corn syrup, and it was fine

3/4 c dark brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c unsalted butter, cubed

1/2 tsp salt

2 c chopped pecans

1. Combine all ingredients into a saucepan except the pecans. Heat over medium heat until it starts to boil, stirring constantly. 

2. Add the pecans and boil for another 30 seconds or so. 

3. Remove from heat and allow the mixture to cool. *You can stick it in the fridge if you want it to cool faster. 

Ask me how many times I "tasted" this for quality testing....

For the buttercream:

2 c unsalted butter, room temp (4 sticks)

5 1/2 (ish) cups of powdered sugar

Splash of milk or cream (optional)

1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

Pinch of salt

1. Put butter in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and start to add in powdered sugar slowly to incorporate. 

2. Add in vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Whip for a few minutes until light and fluffy. If it's too thick, you can add a splash of milk. 

3. Put in a pastry bag with your desired tip. 

Assembly:

1. Take the cooled cupcakes and hull out the center, making sure to not go all the way to the bottom. 

2. Spoon in some of the pecan pie filling. 

3. Pipe some buttercream on to the cupcakes. 

4. Top with a candied pecan. 

5. Pretend like it's Thanksgiving and wear your stretchy pants. 

Honeymoon Cookies

So I made these cookies for my neighbors who just got married. If you know me, you know I love a good themed gift, and this gift was beer themed. So, I made cookies using honey and blue moon = honeymoon cookies. It's adorable, damnit. Love it. You know you want to.

Anyway, these are a really easy dough, and they aren't overly sweet. The beer makes they yeasty and earthy, and the honey (and orange zest because, hello, blue moon) bring it all together. This recipe makes about 2 and 1/2 dozen cookies or so.




For the dough:
12 oz of blue moon (you're going to reduce this and use it for both the dough and the glaze); you could probably get away with 8 oz, but I had a bottle, soooo here we are. What I'm saying is buy the bottles, and if you want, you can take a few swigs of it before you start reducing.
1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tbsp honey
2 eggs
2 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
Zest of 1 orange
*I didn't put any cinnamon in here, but imagine that is a great idea, and I may do that next time. I just didn't want it to overpower the beer flavor.

1. Put blue moon in a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Reduce until about half. This does take a while- you don't want to crank up the heat to make it go faster. Ask me how I know... I also did mine the night before so that it's cooled off; if you do it day of, just allow it to come to room temp before using.
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter, honey, and sugars.
4. Add one egg at a time, mixing to incorporate. Add 1 tbsp of blue moon reduction.
5. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients- flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Add in orange zest.
5. Allow dough to chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up a bit.
6. Scoop out balls and place onto cookie sheet. Bake 8 - 12 minutes or until slightly golden around the edges. *mine took about 12, but my oven always tends to take longer*
7. Allow to cool completely before glazing.

For the glaze:
3 tbsp blue moon reduction
1 tbsp honey
1 1/2 c powdered sugar
Pinch of salt

1. Mix together. If it feels too thin, you can add more powdered sugar. If it feels too thick, you can add more blue moon.
2. Dip top of cookies into glaze and allow to firm up.
3. Enjoy with your favorite beer :)

Fudgy Brownies

People who like cakey brownies are wrong. There, I said it. If you want a cakey brownie, eat some

freaking cake. I feel better now with that off my chest. So, if you're wondering what kind of brownies these are (and you didn't read the title), now I am sure we are all on the same page. Brownies are a crowd pleaser for even the pickiest of dessert people. Another great thing about brownies- one bowl, no mixer, less clean up!

For the Batter:

1 stick unsalted butter

8 oz chocolate chips (you're really going to use the whole 12 oz bag, but 2/3 of it for now)

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 c granulated sugar

3 eggs

1/2 c flour

1/4 c cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract 

4 oz chocolate chips for mixins (see, I told you)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare pan with some non-stick spray and parchment paper. *I use an 8 X 8 inch square pan. This makes THICK brownies, but I'm not mad about that, and when I asked my husband if he wanted me to put them in like a 13 X 9, he literally told me that was a stupid idea because he wanted chunky brownies, so here we are. You follow your heart. Obviously they'll cook faster in a 13 X 9, so there's that. 

2. Put 8 oz chocolate chips and butter in a heat-safe bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals until chocolate and butter are just melted. Don't over-heat. If there's still a few lumps, just stir, and the residual heat will melt everything. 

3. Add sugars to the melted chocolate mixture and combine. This will help cool the chocolate off a little before you add the eggs.

4. Add eggs one at a time and mix well before adding the next. Add vanilla.

5. Add flour, cocoa powder, and salt to the bowl and mix well to combine. Don't worry about over-mixing here. 

6. Mix in your favorite brownie fixins- I just add more chocolate chips. I'm a purist. You could do nuts or other chocolate candies or really anything. 

7. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out kind of clean. This is such a personal preference. I err on the side of less done, but you know what you like. 

8. I would say allow to cool before eating, but let's be honest, no one will ever do that. I am pretty sure I burned my entire esophagus while eating these firey chunks of chocolate bliss. No regrets. I mean, minor regrets, but not much. 

Cinnamon Swirl Pound Cake

Is anyone else having a hard time baking in quarantine? I feel like my shit just isn't turning out like it usually does. Can it sense my stress? I don't know, but I was determined to have something come out, and this cake did NOT disappoint. Thank god- I felt like I was losing my touch for a minute! This is a straight up pound cake recipe with a cinnamon swirl and some streusel for good measure. By straight up, I mean all the same weight for butter, sugar, and flour. I did weigh this, but I will try to give you pretty close to cups measurements. It's easiest to start with the accouterments and then move on to the batter so that you have everything ready to assemble.


For the Cinnamon Swirl:
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp milk (I used heavy cream because that's what I had)

1. Combine all ingredients a small bowl.
2. Pour into a small piping bag or ziploc bag for assembly.

For the Streusel:
1/3 c packed brown sugar
1 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Combine all ingredients into a small bowl and mix with fingers until you get the butter about the size of peas. Set aside until assembly.

For the Cake:
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp (12 oz)
1  1/2 c granulated sugar (12 oz)
1 3/4 c flour (ish) (12 oz)
6 large eggs (12 oz)
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1. Prepare a bundt pan with goop and preheat oven to 325F.  *You can also do this in a loaf pan or really any pan that it'll fit into, and do your streusel on the top.
2. Cream together butter and sugar in a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment until the mixture becomes a pale yellow and is slightly fluffy. This will take about 2 - 3 minutes.
3. Slowly incorporate eggs, making sure mixture is combined between each addition.
4. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. Then add them to the wet ingredients slowly until incorporated.
5. Add the vanilla. Let's assemble!

Assembly:
1. Pour half of the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
2. Cut a hole in the corner of the ziploc bag and pipe in swirls of the cinnamon swirl mixture, using half now, and half later.
3. Take a toothpick or butter knife and swirl the mixture into the cake batter just slightly- like you're making a marble cake.

4. Sprinkle half of the streusel topping on top.

5. Repeat- cake batter, cinnamon swirl, toothpick, streusel.
6. Bake for about one hour, but check at about 50 minutes. When a toothpick inserted comes out clean, you are good.
7. Allow to cool before turning it out, and then glaze.

For the Glaze/Icing:
1 cup (ish) powdered sugar
3 tbsp milk (again I have heavy cream)
1 tbsp corn syrup *I tried this, and it does make it thicker and a little more luxurious

1. Mix together until it's at the consistency you want.
2. Pour on top of the cake. *mine was really thick, so it was more of a smear than a pour, but I liked it like that. Follow your heart.

Everything Bagel Crackers

It's still quarantine time. Still.. Week 6 of at least 10... Mustn't dwell. Anyone struggling a little bit, like I am? I wanted to get into the kitchen and play around with some recipes because that makes me feel better, but as I have said a few times already, I need treats that the two other people in my house will actually eat with me, and I need to not make a million of something. This recipe checked both of those boxes. I also wanted to try making crackers because I have really only made shortbread, and that is so not the same. These crackers are crunchy and sharp and would be a great addition to a charcuterie board if you happen to have the fixins at home. I didn't, so I've just been eating them straight up or with some hummus. You really can't go wrong. Did I also mention that this recipe from start to eating is like maybe 30 minutes at most? I didn't count the crackers because I am bad at forethought, but this recipe makes two cookie sheets-worth of crackers.

For the crackers:
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter, cold and cubed
1 1/4 c-ish all-purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp everything bagel seasoning (plus more for topping)
1/3 c cold water

1. Preheat oven to 400F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor, add in all ingredients but the water and pulse to combine. *I just have one of those baby food processors, and that's totally fine. I feel like you could probably make this by hand like you would a pie crust, but I didn't try that yet, so I don't have a ton of pointers for you.
3. Slowly stream in the water while pulsing until the dough starts to come together and pull away from the sides.

4. Dump out onto a clean surface with a little flour dusted and roll out really as thin as you can get it.

5. What I should have done is probably do this step here, but I did it when they were cut, which is fine, but I bet it would be easier here- sprinkle some more everything bagel seasoning on top of the dough and gently press down so that the seasoning sticks.
6. Take a pizza cutter and cut the dough into strips and then into squares, or really whatever shape you want. *Also, as you can see, I am really bad about cutting into even squares. Like I really can't do it, and I can't be bothered to measure out and do it precisely when I'm just making them for my own snackies.

6. Place the squares onto lined baking sheets and dock with a fork to give some steam holes.

7. Bake for about 10-13 minutes or until they are slightly golden brown. I rotated my pans about halfway through.
8. Allow to cool completely before devouring. Store in an air-tight container.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

For Easter, you have to have carrot cake. You just have to. Even in quarantine. Delicate spice cake riddled with carrots and topped with tangy cream cheese frosting. One of my favs. I didn't want to make a big three-layer cake when there are only three of us in the house, so I halved my regular recipe. This recipe makes about 18 cupcakes. These were possibly the softest cupcakes I have ever made in my life. I would have eaten the entire cake if I did make it... a little regret there, but not as much regret as I would have had eating an entire three-layer cake.

For the cupcakes:
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c unsalted butter (1/2 stick), room temp
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Pinch of cloves
3/4 c buttermilk
About 8 oz grated carrots
*You can add additional fixins like nuts and/or raisins. I'm a purist. You do you, boo.

1.Preheat oven to 350F and prepare cupcake pans with liners. Grate carrots and set aside. *Can I also just say that the store only had baby carrots which are a bitch to grate. Perrin was happy that he got to have all the nubbins. Perrin is my dog. I feel like you should know this already. Are we even friends?
2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together oil, butter, and sugars. Add in the yolks of the two eggs- keep the whites separate. Add in vanilla extract.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg whites until at stiff peaks. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices.
5. Pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix to combine.
6. Pour 1/2 of the buttermilk into sugar mixture and combine.
7. Pour another 1/3 of dry.
8. Pour second 1/2 of buttermilk.
9. Pour in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
10. Slowly fold in the egg whites that were whipped up earlier. *This ensures that the batter will be light and fluffy.
11. Fold in the grated carrots.

12.Distribute into pans and bake for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
13. Allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
8 tbsp (1 box) cream cheese, room temp
4 c (ish) powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
*splash of milk to thin- this is optional, but I felt like it needed it so I could pipe. 

1. In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter and cream cheese.
2. Add in powdered sugar slowly, a little at a time.
3. Add in vanilla and salt.
4. Whip until light and fluffy. Add milk if you need to thicken. Add more powdered sugar if it's too thin.
5. Slather on cooled cupcakes. I didn't pipe- I feel like carrot cakes should be rustic. 

Baklava

This is my first post that isn't part of my 2018 Baking Challenge! At this point, I am going to start

sharing some recipes that I have made that I just really loved.*This doesn't mean I haven't changed the recipe, but that even if I didn't completely follow the main recipe, I ended with something totally delicious.* Most will still be baking, but some might be savory meals as well! Anyway, baklava. I would put baklava in my top 5 desserts of all time. I can literally eat my weight in baklava. It's a dessert that I have to physically remove myself from in order to stop eating.
So. Much. Butter. Honey. Nuts. Flaky, flaky phyllo. Man I need some fucking baklava NOW! Okay, sidetracked there. It happens. So here's the recipe I used: https://hubpages.com/food/baklavarecipe
I will warn you that this is not a difficult recipe, but it does require some time. It is a bit cathartic though. So, if you are ready to slather butter on about 1 million paper-thin sheets of dough, then jump on in, folks!

First of all, you will need:
1 box Phyllo Dough *you can buy it frozen at the store, just make sure that you let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
1 pound of butter, melted

For the filling:
1 pound Walnuts (4 cups) *you don't have to use walnuts. You don't even have to use just one kind of nut. I literally went through my pantry of all my leftover nuts and kept pouring until I had enough. I used pecans, pistachios, and walnuts in mine.
1 c granulated sugar

1. Chop the nuts in the food processor until about pea sized or smaller. You can also chop these with a knife or hand chopper.
2. Once chopped, put in a bowl with the granulated sugar and mix to combine.
3. Set aside until assembly.

For the Syrup:
2 c granulated sugar
1 c water
4 tbsp honey

1. Combine sugar and water into a small saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, and then add the honey.
3. Once the boil has returned, reduce the heat and keep simmering while you assemble the baklava. *The recipe doesn't tell you when to stop simmering. I just did it until I put the baklava into the oven, and then let it cool while the baklava was baking. It turned out fine for me. **Also, don't multi-task. I was like I'm gonna make this WHILE I am layering my butter and dough so I don't waste time. Just waste the 5 minutes and make this before you are doing the assembly. I have an electric stove, and so much sticky stuff had to be cleaned when I wasn't paying attention and the syrup overflowed.

Assembly and baking:
**This will take a little bit of time, and like I said above, this is not a multi-tasking moment. Put on some good music, and settle in.
1. Get your phyllo dough, melted butter, and filling in one place.
2. Take a baking sheet, and brush some of the melted butter on the sheet.
3. Place a sheet of phyllo on the baking sheet and brush with butter. *If your sheets are too long, you can fold over. If they're too short, you can cut them. It really doesn't matter, as long as you have butter between every overlap of dough.
4. Add another sheet, followed by butter. Repeat once more.

5. At this point, you have 3 sheets of phyllo with butter. Now, you can add 1/3 of the filling all over the dough.
6. Add three more phyllo sheets (each separated by butter), then another third of the filling.

7. Repeat this process again, and add the final 1/3 of filling.
8. Add three final sheets (each separated by butter) to the top of the baklava. *So you have dough ->filling ->dough ->filling->dough->filling->dough. Just so we are clear!
9. Preheat oven to 350F.
10. Take a sharp knife (I used serrated), and cut the baklava BEFORE it bakes. Cut diagonal lines one way, and then turn and repeat the process.

You will end up with diamond shapes that look like this: 

11. Bake in the oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. The color should be golden brown. 

12. While the baklava is baking, check on the syrup. It should have cooked down a bit and be a little thick and golden in color. 

13. Once the baklava is out of the oven, pour the syrup all over it WHILE IT'S HOT! All the syrup will soak into all the layers of phyllo, and HEAVEN!!! 

Difficulty: 2

Amount of Time: 3

Awesomeness: 5

Coconut Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

It's quarantine time, y'all, which means I want to bake, but there's only 3 of us in this house, and I'm not trying to gain 50 pounds, AND I have limited ingredients. It feels like an episode of chopped. Anyway, I wanted to make cupcakes, but I didn't have buttermilk which I always use in my cupcakes (if you've seen any of my other posts, you know), but I did have some coconut milk. It turns out I didn't even have enough coconut milk, so I also used sour cream. All of this to say, I'm gonna give you my recipe, but I am also gonna give you some alternatives because maybe you're like me, stuck at home, and have other ingredients that I don't have and don't have ones that I do!
Also, I tried to just make a dozen cupcakes, so I halved my usual ratios. I still ended up with about 15 cupcakes. If you need more, feel free to double the ingredients.

For the Cake:
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 c unsalted butter (1/2 stick), room temp
1 c granulated sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c all-purpose flour

3/4 c cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4  tsp baking soda
3/4 c coconut milk *I only ended up having 1/2 c left from making muffins earlier in the week, so I did 1/2 c coconut milk and 1/4 c sour cream; you could also just do 3/4 c buttermilk; another good option would be 1/2 c whole milk and 1/4 c sour cream*
**coconut extract - I did not have this. Again, hello shelter in place. IF you do have it, totally use some. Use it sparingly- it is very strong. The cake doesn't really taste like coconut just with the coconut milk - my husband who hates coconut can attest to that. If you don't have extract, that's okay; we are going to coat the buttercream in toasted coconut, so it'll be coconut-y, but if you do have it, use it.

1.Preheat oven to 350F and prepare cupcake pans with liners. Again, it's a little more than a dozen. You could make the remaining  batter into cupcakes or fill a small cake pan. Follow your heart. I did more cupcakes.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together oil, butter, and sugar. Add in the yolks of the two eggs- keep the whites separate. Add in vanilla extract.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg whites until at stiff peaks. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix to combine.
6. Pour 1/2 of the coconut milk (or whatever milk you had) into sugar mixture and combine.
7. Pour another 1/3 of dry.
8. Pour second 1/2 of coconut milk and sour cream (if you used it).
9. Pour in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
10. Slowly fold in the egg whites that were whipped up earlier. *This ensures that the batter will be light and fluffy.
11. Distribute into pans and bake for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
12. Allow to cool completely before filling with ganache.

For the Ganache:
1/2 c heavy whipping cream
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips *or any chocolate you like
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
Splash of vanilla extract

1. Place the heavy cream in a small pan on the stove and heat until just at a simmer. You don't want this to boil.
2. While the cream is heating, put your chocolate and butter chopped into small cubes into a heat- safe bowl.
3. Once the cream has heated, pour over the chocolate and butter and cover bowl with plastic wrap for about 5 minutes. *This just ensures that your chocolate will melt and be easier to incorporate.
4. Stir the ingredients together. At first it will look like they aren't coming together. They will. Once it's smooth, I add some salt and vanilla to taste, and make sure to fully incorporate it.
5. Allow to cool a bit because it will look like this at first:

But it will start to thicken a bit more. You want it to be able to be piped into the cupcakes, but not too runny. If you let it harden too much, then you'll be a little sad when trying to get it into the cupcakes. 

For the Frosting (and topping):
1 c unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temp
3 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract *or again, if you have coconut extract, use here, but NOT a tsp; probably much less
Pinch of salt
3/4 c coconut flakes *I'm not gonna lie- I didn't measure this; I just put some in the pan. It feels like it was about this much, and it was plenty. You can use sweetened or unsweetened- I used sweetened because that's what I had.

1. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and slowly add powdered sugar until fully incorporated.
2. Add in vanilla and salt. Beat until fluffy.
3. If it feels too loose, add more powdered sugar. If it feels too stiff, add a splash of milk.
4. Put coconut flakes in a small, dry pan on low-medium heat. Stir frequently until they start to lightly toast. Pay attention here! This shit will burn real fast. Set aside in a bowl for assembly.

Assembly:
1. With a pairing knife, cut a hole in the center of the cooled cupcakes, being careful not to go all the way to the bottom. I cut off the top of the cone that I cut out so that I could put the little "hat" back on top of the ganache. This was just to help it from coming out when you pipe buttercream on top.
2. Put ganache into a piping bag (or a ziploc bag), and cut a hole to pipe ganache into center of each cupcake. Put the "hat" of cupcake back on top of the ganache.

3. Fill a piping bag (or again a ziploc bag) with buttercream frosting, and cut a large hole in the bag. Pipe in the center of the cupcake. You don't have to go to the very edges.
4. Take each frosted cupcake and push the frosting into the bowl of coconut flakes, moving the cupcake around to get it completely covered. I pushed straight down on the buttercream at first so that the cream would come to the edge of the cupcake and then went around the edges of the buttercream as well for full coverage.

5. Try to make people eat your cupcakes so that you don't eat all of them while sitting on your ass in quarantine.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

These little guys are so delicious. It looks like a regular yellow cupcake with chocolate frosting, and then BAM- a sweet vanilla pastry cream is shoved inside! you could totally do this as a cake as well (obviously since that's the normal way to do it), but this recipe makes 24 cupcakes and a smidge more for a baker's treat! You do want to make the pastry cream in advance so that it has time to cool off before filling the cupcakes.

For the Pastry Cream:

1 2/3 c heavy whipping cream *I usually do half milk and half whipping cream, but I only had whipping cream at home, so I did all whipping cream, and it was delicious 

½ c granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

4 large egg yolks

½ c flour

4 tbsp unsalted butter, cold

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1. In a medium heat-proof mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks, salt, and sugar until completely combined and a bit frothy. *If you're doing this alone, use your stand mixer bowl. This way you can stick it on the base so that it doesn't move later when you need to pour and whisk at the same time.

2. Add flour and set aside while heating cream.
3. Heat heavy cream and butter on the stove until simmering. Take off the heat when mixture starts to simmer *you don’t want it to boil.
4. Slowly add cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Whisk well. *Be gentle- you don’t want to cook the eggs, so baby steps here, folks.
5. Return the mixture to the pan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. The mixture will thicken within a few minutes. Take off heat once it’s thick and add in vanilla extract.  
6. Cool to room temperature and transfer into a bowl with a lid to be refrigerated. It needs to cool at least four hours or overnight.
**I actually had to do my pastry cream twice because I fucked it up the first time. I think I heated the mixture too hard and fast the first time, and then my pastry cream was all weepy (see left picture). The second time, I went slower, lifting the pan off the heat every once in a while so that my cream didn't get too hot too fast. See right picture for pretty pastry cream. 

 

For the Cupcakes:
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c unsalted butter (1 stick), room temp
2 c granulated sugar
3 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c cake flour

1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 c buttermilk


1.Preheat oven to 350F and prepare cupcake pans with liners and grease a small (I usually do 6 in) pan for the extra batter.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together oil, butter, and sugar. Add in the yolks of the three eggs- keep the whites separate. Add in vanilla extract.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together egg whites until at stiff peaks. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients- flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Pour 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix to combine.
6. Pour 1/2 of the buttermilk into sugar mixture and combine.
7. Pour another 1/3 of dry.
8. Pour second 1/2 of buttermilk.
9. Pour in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.
10. Slowly fold in the egg whites that were whipped up earlier. *This ensures that the batter will be light and fluffy.

11. Distribute into pans and bake for 18 - 22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

12. Allow to cool completely before filling with pastry cream.  

For the Frosting: 
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c cocoa powder
1/8 c black cocoa powder *if you don't have this, it's fine- you can just add a bit more cocoa powder- this just makes it a little darker and richer.
4 c powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

1. Sift together powdered sugar and cocoa powders in a large bowl.
2. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter.
3. Slowly add powdered sugar and cocoa powders to the butter.
4. Add salt and vanilla and mix to incorporate.
5. If it seems too loose, add a bit more cocoa powder; if it seems really tight, you can add a bit of heavy cream or buttermilk to it.

Assembly:
1. Take a pairing knife and cut out the center of each cupcake, making sure to not go all the way to the bottom of the cupcake.
2. Place cooled pastry cream in a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off. Fill each cupcake hole with pastry cream.

3. Place buttercream in a piping bag and snip the end off. Starting from the outside, pipe around until you have the cupcake and the cream covered. *You can also use a different tip if you want, but I just went for the straight swirl. I would say it's easier to do this with a piping bag instead of just an offset spatula because you have that pastry cream sticking out of the top of the cupcake.

4. Serve immediately- if you have leftovers or are making these ahead of time, put them in the fridge since they have the pastry cream in them. When you go to serve, just take out of the fridge about 30 minutes beforehand and they'll warm back up to room temp.