Oreo Cupcakes

When I'm stressed, I bake. Something about stirring and mixing and concocting is just so soothing. It happened that one of my friends' birthdays was the same week as midterms, so I decided to make her some cupcakes. Ok, more than just some. A LOT of cupcakes. The first half were Oreo cupcakes.

Ingredients:
1 package of yellow cake mix
5 eggs
1/3 cup of melted butter
1 1/3 cups of milk
1 package of Oreos

Recipe:
First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
While the oven is preheating, using a mixer (electric or manual) mix the cake mix, milk, butter, and eggs in a large bowl.
Then, crumble 3/4 of the package of Oreos. Add them to the batter using a spoon or similar until thoroughly combined.
Next, pour the batter into a cupcake pan lined with baking cups.
Next, bake for 18-21 minutes, using a toothpick to determine if the cupcakes are cooked thoroughly.
Finally, allow them to cool before frosting. I frosted with this frosting recipe and topped with halved pieces of Oreos.

I really liked making these cupcakes. They were the perfect way to destress during midterms. Plus, my friend liked getting these for her birthday, too. If you're going to do a cookies and cream cupcake, I highly recommend this recipe. These cupcakes had the perfect balance between the tastes of chocolate and of yellow cake. I plan on using this recipe again.


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Toy Story Birthday Cupcakes

One of my friends' birthdays was the other day, and I really felt like baking (because I love baking more than I like this particular friend...), so I decided to make her some cupcakes. Even though they came from a box, they tasted like they were made from scratch. This adaptation on the box-mix recipe is a combination of several tricks I've heard around from various bakers, but can be found on Tidy Mom's blog.

Ingredients:
1 box of cake mix (the nicest kind you can get)
3 large eggs (or 4 if you want it to be really rich)
1/2 cup of melted butter
1 cup of milk

Recipe:
Melt the butter and mix all of the ingredients together until it has formed a nice batter.
Then, cook as directed on the box.
And then you're done. It's easy, but it tastes so good.

This alien toy is from Disney Land.

The trick to making a boxed mix taste like it came from scratch is to add 1 or 2 more eggs than the box calls for, use melted butter instead of oil, and use milk instead of water. My friend loved them, and so did I. I'll be using this trick from now on every time I use a boxed cake mix.

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Frowny Cookie

My best friend invited me to Poulsbo, WA with her mom yesterday. The day was quite enjoyable. We shopped and ate and shopped and ate some more. I always have so much fun with her, so of course today was the best of fun. Just before we left, we decided to stop into a little bakery, which had a line nearly out the door. The food in the window looked really good and as soon as we walked in, it smelled AMAZING. So, of course, we had to get something. We ended up getting some cookies. But these weren't just any cookies. The bakery sold happy face cookies, but these frowny face cookies just seemed so accurate. I mean, wouldn't you be frowning if someone tried to eat you? He wasn't happy to be eaten, but man, was I happy to eat him. He was so delicious.

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American Flag Truffleballs

This year, like the past couple of years, we had the chance to celebrate the 4th of July by showing a foreign exchange student what it's like to be an American. It is the third year in a row that we have hosted a student - our first hailed from Châteaurenard, France; our second from Lille, France; and our third from San Sebastian, Spain. My sister and I became quick friends with all three of these girls so we look forward to one day coming to visit them (fingers crossed).
Anyway, to celebrate our American pride, this Independence Day we went to the Hood Canal, where my boyfriend's family has a beach house. We swam in the Puget Sound, watched TV, played some soccer, shot off fireworks, and, of course, ATE. To show our gratitude, my sister and I made skewers of fruit, marshmallows, and brownies. But the real hit were these American Flag Cake-batter Truffleballs. The recipe comes from Six Sisters Stuff. I only made very slight changes to the recipe.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour 
1 cup + 4 Tablespoons yellow cake mix (separate) 
1/2 cup softened salted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3-6 Tablespoons milk Sprinkles (for this design I used the sugar crystal sprinkles, but other more solid sprinkles would likely work better)
1 package of white candy melts

Recipe: First, using mixer (electric or manual), beat together the sugar and butter until they are combined.
Then, slowly add in 1 cup of yellow cake mix, all of the flour, vanilla, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
Next, add in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it has reached the consistency of dough.
Then add in sprinkles by hand until you feel you can actually see the sprinkles throughout the dough (I used red and blue sprinkles for this design).
Next, roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.
Then, chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. It was a very hot day and we were pretty busy elsewhere, so we chilled them for about 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
Just before taking the dough out of the refrigerator, melt the candy coating in the microwave at 30 second intervals. Be sure to stir between intervals and not to overcook, as this can burn the chocolate, which is not desirable.
Once the candy coating has been melted, you can add in the 4 remaining Tablespoons of yellow cake mix.
Now, you can take out the chilled balls and dip them in the melted candy coating using a fork. Be sure to coat entirely, but leave some for the rest of the dough balls.
After you have dipped all of them, you should place them in the fridge until you serve them. Since we were making these at home, we opted to freeze them for 2 hours and then bring them to the party. This was a bad idea, though, because the candy coating started to melt while we were transporting them to the party. This recipe makes 24-30 truffleballs. I highly recommend doubling the recipe, as they go quickly.

 

I loved this recipe. They tasted so good and were such a hit. They really did taste like cake batter. I especially liked that the candy coating, which usually doesn't taste all that good, was actually an enjoyable part. I highly recommend making these if you have the chance. However, be sure to do it for your own party, where you don't have to worry about transporting them without having them melt.


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Candy Graduation Caps

My sister graduated from high school the other day! But this recipe can be used for any type of graduation. High school, college, preschool, what have you. Our high school colors were blue and silver (they were navy blue and cyan when I was a freshman, though, so I like to say that our colors are blue and blue), but this can be done with any school color. In a few years, I see myself making this with purple (the color for University of Portland).

Making these candies is a lot simpler than it looks. It does, however, require two shopping trips: one trip to any craft supplies store, and one to your regular grocery store.

Ingredients:

12 chilled but not frozen Reese's Cups

12 chocolate squares

12 M&M's of your school's color

1 colored licorice rope of your school's color

12 candy sticks (the kind used for lollipops)

Candy Melts (chocolate is probably the best idea. I used Vanilla, but mistakes show very easily with this one).

Recipe:

First, cut the colored licorice into about two inch sections. Then, either pull the licorice apart or cut it apart so that you have a thin two inch rope, which will look like a tassel.

Next, melt the candy melts. Follow the instructions on the package, but generally this is done by melting in the microwave, on defrost or half power. You won't need the whole package. Just a handful should do. If the candy melts harden while you're working, just microwave it again. That's the best part. You can always go back and reuse. It's not really that time sensitive.

While you melt the candy melts, unwrap your chocolates and Reese's cups.

Once you've done that, take one candy stick and dip the end into the melted candy melts. Take this end and insert it into an upside down Reese's cup.

After the candy melt has hardened so that the sticks are firm in the cups, coat the top of your Reese's cup with melted candy melts and place a chocolate square on top. Let this harden, too, so that it looks like a graduation cap and is firm in its shape.

Next, stick the "tassel" (licorice rope) on the top using melted candy melts as glue. I used the tip of a sharp knife as my paint brush. Be sure to make the line as thin as possible (or even better, paint half of the licorice rope and then place it firmly on the top of the cap.

Then, paint the "M" half of the M&M with melted candy melts. Place this in the center of the top of your cap.

And now you're done. You have candy graduation caps that, once the candy melts have hardened, will stay together and be enjoyed by all your graduation party guests. Do be sure to clean up your mess as quickly as possible. If your candy melts have hardened in your mug, melt them again before you clean, which will make it significantly easier to clean.

These candies were a hit at my sister's graduation party. They'll be a hit at yours too. They're a lot more personal than candies you might find at the grocery store, but a lot easier than other graduation-themed treats that you might make for your party. I found a similar candy on Pinterest but it didn't come with a recipe. So, I used ideas from this How To. There are several different ways to make this candy, but this is, by far, the easiest. And it can be done in a dorm kitchen. All you need is a mug and a microwave, as well as all the ingredients.

Happy graduation to all the graduates out there!

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Scat on a Log

I don't remember who in my family decided to name this snack. It was probably my sister. Anyway, Scat on a Log doesn't actually taste like scat. Or logs. But it does kind of look like scat on a snowy log, I guess. Based on Ants on a Log (or Bran on a Log like I made back in August), Scat on a Log is simple to make.

You will need:

Celery

Cream Cheese

Sliced Black Olives

First, wash your celery. You may want to rinse the black olives, too, since canned olives tend to have unnecessary salt added to them.

Then, cut the celery into lengths about the length of your index finger.

Next, spread cream cheese along the pieces of celery. Place slices of olives firmly in the cream cheese, along the length of each piece of celery.

Finally, eat, enjoy, and clean up the mess. The cream cheese will start to smell if you leave your dishes unwashed for too long.

This tasted pretty good. The cream cheese is rich, the olives are salty, and the celery is healthy. What's not to love with this snack?

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Topped Ramen: Number 3

In the last Topped Ramen post, I tried the Oriental Flavor Top Ramen. I didn't really like the flavor. However, I had another package of the flavor leftover. So, I decided to try something new: making Ramen without the flavor packet. Essentially, this Topped Ramen involves Ramen stir fry.

To make this, I first chopped vegetables. I used baby carrots and regular celery, slicing in 1/4 inch pieces.
While I chopped the vegetables, I soaked the ramen noodles in boiling water.
After all the veggies were chopped and the ramen was soft, I mixed them with two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. Then, I let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours.
After a couple hours, I put the mixture onto a hot frying pan with just enough oil to keep it from sticking. I stirred constantly while it cooked, until the noodles darkened.
Finally, I put I ate, enjoyed, and cleaned up the mess.

It ended up tasting really good this way. I'd never made stir fry before, and I have a lot to learn, but for an experiment, this recipe turned out pretty well. I would recommend trying this recipe. The only change I might make to it is possibly steaming the veggies first, as the carrots, especially, were a bit too crunchy.


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