Rocky Road Cupcakes

I always love finding excuses to bake goodies, since I'm trying to stay on the healthier side of things, and over this past weekend it was one of my coworker's birthday. She told me she loves anything chocolate, and I thought about doing a big chocolate layered cake, but with my school schedule, I just couldn't find the time to make every layer. However, I settled for making these delicious rocky road cupcakes! 

I have been wanting to try making these cupcakes for quite some time now, so to hear of a birthday, was the perfect opportunity to whip out my muffin tins and baking bowls. 

I ended up using a chocolate fudge cake mix, since time wasn't necessarily on my side. I then whipped up a chocolate mousse, which consists of: 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup, and a couple tablespoons of cocoa powder.

If you have a favorite chocolate mousse recipe you like to follow, go ahead and use that instead. I tried following a recipe that had you melt down chocolate and then fold it into the other ingredients, however, it became too watery and lost its texture and firmness. But if you have a technique that works, or if you're just a baking wizard, then stick to melting chocolate... & teach me your ways.

I then scooped out a bit of the insides so I could fill it with the chocolate mousse, and then I smoothed it out on the top to work as the frosting. To decorate my cakes, I drizzled on some fudge and plopped on a couple tiny marshmallows. Decorating is my favorite bit, but for these guys I could be messy instead of uniform or symmetrical. 

I hope you try making these scrumptious cupcakes! If you're a chocolate lover, I'm sure you'll love these! What's your favorite cupcake flavor/combination?

Besides chocolate, I do enjoy a good ole red velvet!

Much Love! Xx

Thanksgiving & Sugar Cookies

Coming home for Thanksgiving was nice timing since I desperately needed a break from school. Unfortunately, I still had to work, but it was great seeing a bunch of my old coworkers, and getting the chance to be at my home store that I helped open. I wasn't really planning on working two 9 hour shifts, but thankfully my old boss let me leave a bit early to spend time with my family. I don't think I will go back to work over Christmas break because I'd like to spend time with family, watch Christmas programs, bake, and focus on my blog and youtube channel. It's my favorite time of the year and I don't want to miss out on anything due to work. I can't remember the last time I actually got to properly watch a good portion of Christmas movies; I adore the hallmark channel and those abcfamily classics. Anyways, back to what I was saying; I didn't have as much time with my family as I would have liked to, but I tried to enjoy every bit of it. It was quite wonderful that my brother and sister-in-law drove up from another state to spend the weekend with us - what a treat! We spent all of Thanksgiving at my aunt's house just enjoying each other's company. I don't know whose idea it was, but instead of snacking all afternoon and feasting over dinner, we had a huge lunch and snacked throughout the night. Let's just say I felt like a blueberry ready to pop by the time we left to go back home. Unfortunately, I didn't get to snap pictures of our delicious looking food because by the time I got to the table, everyone was already digging in and enjoy every crumb that fell onto their plate. I don't blame them either, I mean, who can resist a volcano of mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing, and a giant 20+ pound turkey? 

Now that I live on my own I feel more like an adult and I felt the need to bring something for people to enjoy. Me being the flourishing baker that I am, I decided to make cookies. I had never made sugar cookies before, and I thought that they would be fun to make and something different. They were a bit time consuming since I didn't have any cookie cutters, but I managed. At first I thought they were a flop, but after letting them sit they actually turned out quite successful. The cookies are "lofthouse" style, which means that they are soft and will surely melt in your mouth. I guess you could basically call this a 'copycat' of the cookies you can buy at the store... SO GOOD!

If you'd like the recipe I'll leave it down below:

For the cookie:

1 cup of butter, softened

1 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 eggs

4 teaspoons of baking powder

4 cups of flour

For the Frosting:

1 cup of butter, at room temperature

8 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla

food coloring, optional

sprinkles, optional

Directions:
Step one: Cream the butter until light and fluffy, then add in the heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Mix until combined.
Step two: Add in the baking powder and flour. Mix well.
Step three: Shape the dough into a ball and wrap in saran wrap. I used a tiny bit of flour to help mold the dough into a ball, but be careful to not use too much and try not to knead the excess flour into the dough - it could potentially make the cookies dry.
Step four: Place in the fridge overnight, or let chill for several hours.
Step five: Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step six: Roll out your dough on a lightly floured surface. When you get to your desired thickness, take your cookie cutter and start cutting out your cookies. I didn't have a cookie cutter, but I wanted triangle shaped cookies, so I used a knife to cut them out. Once your cookies are cut out, place them on a cookie sheet that is lined with parchment paper.
Step seven: Pop them into the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the bottoms are slightly brown. A good way to tell if they are done or not, is to look and see if the tops are glossy; if they appear to be wet, they are not quite done. You'll want to watch them closely because if you over cook them, they will turn out dry and hard.
Step eight: Set the cookies aside and prepare to make the frosting. Again, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add 4 cups of the powdered sugar, the milk, and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add in the remaining powdered sugar until you've reached your desired consistency ( I recommend adding the entire 8 cups if you'll be piping designs onto your cookies). Lastly, add food coloring if desired.
Step nine: Pipe the frosting onto your cookies; you can also use a knife to spread on the frosting if you aren't as picky as I am.
*The recipe I used isn't mine; I got it from Classy Clutter's blog.

I tried to make them into mini pumpkin pie slices, but they didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped. However, they still tasted good and people enjoyed them, so that is all that matters. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and I hope you ate lots of turkey! Also, I will be uploading a vlog on my youtube channel that will show me making the dough and snippets of my thanksgiving break; you can check that out here if you are interested.

Much Love! Xx

Autumn Pinspiration

If you haven't noticed yet, Autumn is my absolute favorite season! Everything just seems to slow down and gives you time to reflect on the year you've had. With this being my first year living on my own and on a tight budget due to being a student, I can only dream of my apartment being decorated accordingly and smelling like delicious baked goods. I'll get there one day, but for now I'll leave you with this post. I wanted to to share with you how I think of fall & what I love about this time of year. Hopefully, these images will make you just as enthusiastic as I am!

I got this fun idea from A Rosie Outlook who did this on her blog, which if you'd like to check out her post you can click here.

Basically, I am taking images from my Pinterest boards and merging them into one to give you some Fall 'Inspiration', hence, the title "Autumn Pinspiration". 

All of these pictures represent the beauty and warmth Autumn brings, despite the chilly weather and gloomy/rainy days. Aside from Halloween, I think these pictures best represent what I enjoy about fall. Of course I couldn't fit everything in this post, but I managed to get a good handful of what brings me joy and happiness this time of year. I always enjoy having a good cup of steaming hot cocoa on those chilly mornings, while reading a book, and snuggling up in a blanket. Candles are an essential item during this time of year, however, I can never find one that I enjoy that still screams"AUTUMN"... If any of you have suggestions, please let me know! 

Living in the midwest has it's ups and downs during fall. First the weather is bipolar; one week you can wear skirts and t-shirts, and the next you're bringing out the long johns and mittens. But I think I enjoy those November days where it's a bit dreary and lightly raining, the best. Call me crazy, but it's those kinds of days that calms me and reminds me of my childhood. With chilly weather comes heavy and warmer clothing. My favorite fall clothing pieces are long socks and scarves. Both are an absolute must-have if I'm going for a walk in the park, or just out and about. 

 Another thing that is amazing about the midwest is the amount of farm land and rolling hills. Driving through the countryside during this time of year is full of bliss. The temperature isn't too hot or too cold, so you can roll down the windows and breathe in the crisp air, upon viewing miles and miles of colorful trees, and the occasional cow pasture or bundles of hay. Although, at this point most of the leaves are being raked up and thrown away; It's still nice to let your inner child come out and run through the leaves or jump into a pile of them.

Growing up, my family would always gather at my grandparents house during November, not only to celebrate Thanksgiving, but to mark the beginning of deer hunting season. This was always my favorite, even though I don't hunt and my parent's don't hunt, I always enjoyed getting together,  spending the afternoon baking with my grandma while the men went out into the woods.  

Even though I miss those traditions, the memories will never fade. And who knows, maybe I'll start making my own traditions.

I hope this post gets you into the Autumnal mood! And quite honestly, I'm already looking ahead for winter 'pinspiration'! 

For now, however, what is your favorite thing about Autumn?

Much Love! Xx

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

The weather outside was a bit chilly today, so I decided to stay in and bake. While flipping through my collection of recipes I came across one of my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookies. You could basically classify it as a double chocolate chunk cookie rather than your standard chocolate chip cookie. More chocolate the better, am I right ladies.. and gents?!

Without further ado, here is how I made them!

Ingredients: 

2 sticks of butter at room temperature

1 large egg

1 1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

Chocolate chunks

First you'll need to preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Before

After

In a medium size bowl add your butter and sugar. With a wooden spoon, or mixer, whichever you prefer (I like using a wooden spoon), mix the two ingredients together until it becomes smooth. I found that it is best to mix using a folding technique or mashing the butter to the side of the bowl. . . if that makes sense. If you are using a mixer, just set it to a low speed and let it do all of the work. 

Next you'll want to add in a large egg. None of that small egg business.. go big or go home right? Try and have some fun by attempting to crack the egg with one hand! Did you do it?! If you did yay congrats! If not, I apologize for making you do that.. Anyways, mix the egg in with your butter/sugar. It should look like this:

Before

After

Now it's time to add in the dry ingredients. I added in the flour first but I don't think the order matters. I added half a cup at a time so that it is easier to mix - especially if you are mixing this by hand.

Then add in your cocoa powder. 

And finally add in your chocolate of choice. I went for two types of chocolate: white chocolate chips by Ghirardelli and a package of milk chocolate Cadbury squares. I used 3/4 of a bag of the white chocolate chips because the milk chocolate squares were already a lot. If you were just to use the Cadbury squares I recommend that you use two packages, but since I also used the white chocolate chips I prompted for one bar.  It really is all about personal preference when deciding on the amount of chocolate you want in your cookies.

Now for the actual baking part where your house smells of cookie goodness! Spray your pan so that your cookies wont stick to it, or you can use parchment paper. Take a spoonful of dough and roll it into a ball. I like my cookies bigger so I do two spoonfuls making them about the size of golf balls. Again, it is all personal preference. I can usually fit about 6-8 balls of dough on one cookie sheet, but it all depends on the size of your pan and how big you made your balls of dough. Pop them into the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes.

After the 10-12 minutes is done, pull out your cookies and let them cool for a couple of minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Once your cookies are completely cooled you can leave them on a cute little tray or put them in a box; if they even last the night.  I decided to place them into these fun little bags I got from target, because I am taking them to my brothers house for him and his friends to enjoy! (how nice of me right?) I like to enjoy my cookies freshly out of the oven paired with a glass of cold milk, or even with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

I hope you enjoyed this easy recipe and the cookies!
What is your favorite type of cookie?