Christmas Tree Cookie Stacks & the Year in Review

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe that 2013 is over you guys? It had its ups and downs, but I have to say, it was a better year than 2012, for many reasons. Still no series 3 of Sherlock, though (but soon, very soon).

Top 10 Most Popular Posts of 2013:

1. Easy Apple Cobbler
2. Bananas are Good Frozen Nutella-Covered Bananas
3. Lemon Bubble Ring
4. Individual Elvis Pies
5. Peanut Butter Cookies
6. Peanut Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
7. Dalek Cupcake Tutorial
8. DIY TARDIS Dress
9. Doctor Who Round Up
10. Bad Wolf Cupcakes

I'm definitely noticing a theme here. That's five Doctor Who themed posts (one more subtle than the others), 3 peanut butter recipes, and 2 so-easy-they-barely-qualify recipes. And lemon bubbles, which are just awesome. I have one rule when I write this blog: I assume there is at least one other person out there just like me, who wants to read what I want to write about. By the looks of this list, that rule pays off.

And the Bad Wolf Cupcakes were a bit of a surprise, but I'm starting to suspect Rose Tyler had something to do with that...

Honorable Mentions (My Top 3):

Black Forest Icebox Cake

Bowties are Cool Blueberry Goat Cheese Pasta Salad

Neapolitan Cupcakes

My Family's Favorites:

Cherry Almond Oatmeal Cookies (gluten free)

Raspberry Red Wine Sauce

Sfogliatelle Scones

Most Pinned on Pinterest:

Doctor Who Round Up

Pumpkin Spice Marshmallows

These both kind of went viral on Pinterest (the marshmallows thanks to a pin from Recipe Girl *starry-eyed fangirl moment*) shocking the crap out of me.

My Favorite Search Terms:

1. My brain is leaking
2. Why is Nathan Fillion getting fat 2013
3. Don't involve me
4. Nathan Fillion singing peanut butter song
5. Nerdy Nummies helping hands fanfic The Nerdy Nummies helping hands videos are funny, but not so much I'll write a fanfic for them. Watch them here
6. Non-sucky homemade gifts
7. Velvet Elvis Castle fanfic
8. Dalek shower
9. Epic bean dip
10. Bad Wolf Okay, so not funny, but it's one of my TOP search terms, which tickles me

As I have each year since the beginning of the blog, I've also included a recipe with your Year in Review round up: These super cute, super easy Christmas tree cookie stacks

Except, it's not really a recipe. More of a method. You just start with any roll-out cookie dough (I used LilaLoa's End-All Chocolate Cookie Recipe (These are my go-to roll out cookes because a) chocolate b) no chill variation c) yum) plus 1/2 tsp. peppermint extract).

Using graduated star cutters (I got mine at Home Goods. They're an imported brand, I think Italian?), cut two of each size for each cookie stack (3 of the smaller stars so you can put one on top)

Melt some white candy melts (I like the ones they sell at Candyland. They taste better and melt smoother) with a splash of peppermint extract (flavoing oil is better because it doesn't have water, but if the chocolate seizes, just add a little shortening or vegetable oil. The Candyland chocolate didn't seize, but the Wilton's did). Dip the face of the cookies in white chocolate, and stack to look like Christmas trees.

Add sprinkles if desired, and stand a star on top. Et voila. Christmas tree cookie stacks. A unique and fun way to give out cookies, and easy enough for the kiddos to help.

And you know, my stats for the year show that you guys are a lot like me, so don't ever hesitate to reach out. Facebook, Twitter, email. Do you have a fandom you want recipes for? Do you have a question about baking? Do you think I got something wrong? Do you just want to talk? I'd love to hear from you guys more.

Here's to more geeky, sugary goodness in the New Year. Happy 2014, lovelies!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

You know the downside of wanting something made into a movie? If it does become a movie, and it sucks, it feels like it's partly your fault. You willed it into being, right? That means you're to blame.

A current topic of conversation between my brother and me has been the possibility of a Deadpool movie. I think we're pretty much in agreement that it could be awesome, but only if it's done right. We've seen that superhero movies can very easily go wrong, and a movie about a tragically flawed anti-hero assassin with a love of pancakes that regularly breaks the forth wall, well... I don't know much about movies, but I do know that doesn't sound like an easy task.

And then I read on Wikipedia that the character my brother said sorta seemed Deadpool-ish from one of the X-Men movies (Wolverine Origins, I think), except, you know, wrong, well, he's actually supposed to be Deadpool, and they might be making a movie about him. Played by Ryan Reynolds. You know, Ryan Reynolds who kind of sucked as one of my favorite DC superheroes, the Green Lantern? Yeah, he's supposed to be Deadpool.

This is all my fault because I wanted a Deadpool movie. I'm just going to drown my sorrows in these bars, mmkay?

These were originally meant to be an experiment to see if I could make brownies with white chocolate the same way you make them with regular chocolate. But of course, I wasn't following a recipe, and I added peanut butter, and I ended up with these firm, cakey bars. Not the white chocolate brownies I'd been trying to make, but too delicious not to share.

These are not overly sweet. The peanut butter is the most prominent flavor, but with the light sweetness of the white chocolate coming in behind it. The texture is a cross between a cookie bar and a cake. It's light but firm. It's a thoroughly unfussy dessert, great for the lunchbox, or for stuffing in your face while trying to psychically will Joss Whedon to take over the Deadpool movie.

And don't forget to enter my giveaway! It ends this Sunday, tell your friends.

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
Yield: 12 servings

Ingredients
4 oz. white baking chocolate, chopped
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
½ cup creamy peanut butter
3 eggs
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1¼ cups flour
¾ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup peanut butter chips
½ cup white chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 7x11 inch baking dish with parchment paper. In the microwave, or in the top of a double boiler, melt together the baking chocolate, butter, and peanut butter. Allow to cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Add in the melted chocolate mixture and mix well. Gently fold in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the peanut butter and white chocolate chips, reserving about 1/4 cup.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan (the batter will be thick). Sprinkle the reserved chips on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned, and the top bounces back when lightly pressed. Cool completely before cutting.

Tip: For the drizzle, I just melted a spoonful of peanut butter with some white chocolate chips together in the microwave. You don't need much.

Recipe by Kim

Flourless Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I've been thinking a lot about personality theory lately. (You can take the girl out of the psych classes, but you can't take the psych classes out of the girl.) Specifically, I've been thinking about introversion vs. extroversion.

Me? I'm a textbook introvert. I hate crowds. I get like social anxiety when I meet someone new. Small talk is not listed in my skillset. And I'm usually so wrapped up inside my own head that I have difficulty picking up on social clues. Like flirting. I never notice that someone's flirting with me until they're gone, and I'm like wait, was that flirting? Come back, I wasn't ready! Or when people mistakenly think I'm flirting with them, like the time the training class guy asked if I had any plans for the weekend, and I said, "not yet!" like in an excited voice, and there was this awkward silence, and in my head I'm like, "oh god, that wasn't a coy, flirty answer waiting for you to ask me out, I'm waiting for my friend to text me back to see if she wants to see Star Trek this weekend."

Socially awkward penguin, I am you.

Created with Meme Generator

Somebody asked Neil Gaiman once how to seduce a writer, and he responded that while writers are very good at what happens inside their heads, we don't always notice what's happening outside of them, and will often fail to notice they are being flirted with, leaving everyone feeling very uncomfortable. He said the best way to do it is to give them a note that says, "You are invited to a seduction this Friday night."

Neil Gaiman gets me, you guys.

So while I like to pretend that if I ever met Felicia Day, I would be witty and interesting, and we'd become instant best friends, and she'd invite me to play tabletop games with her and Wil Wheaton, I know the reality is that I'd probably get very red in the face, say two coherent words, make a lot of incoherent vowel noise, and anything I do get out will most likely make me sound like a stalker. And then I'd probably trip and fall on my face (and I don't even want to think about what would happen if I met Benedict Cumberbatch in person. I've already got second-hand embarrassment from even considering the topic).

What does this have to do with cookies? Umm, nothing. I just thought I'd amuse you with the embarrassing details of my life.

These flourless cookies are surprisingly chewy, with a rich chocolate-y flavor. I've been a little obsessed with the idea of flourless peanut butter cookies lately, so when I needed a quick, mid-week chocolate fix, that's what I decided on. I used White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter for these, which gave me the "double chocolate" idea (chocolate and white chocolate). The cookies themselves are not overly sweet, which pairs well with the sweet white chocolate chips.

If you like your cookies chewy, these are most certainly for you. They are not delicate or gooey in the way flourless cookies often are. That bit of cocoa powder seems just enough to give these cookies proper structure. And, bonus, they are naturally gluten-free.

I usually prefer my cookies more on the softer side, so I might experiment more in the future with chilling or even freezing the dough, but for a quick and easy chocolate cookie recipe, these cannot be beat.

Flourless Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Yield: 20 cookies

Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used White Chocolate Wonderful)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 whole egg plus 1 egg white
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch salt
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients except chocolate chips until smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips. On a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat mat, drop the dough by rounded tablespoonful, leaving minimum 2 inches between each (cookies with spread). Bake about 10 minutes, until the edges are not quite set. Let cool on the pan until firm (about five minutes) before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe by Kim

Chocolate Peppermint Icebox Cake

Urgh, you guys. I should know better by now. Me and planning, we will never get along. Ever. We will be mortal enemies. One day there will be an epic battle, and only one of us will survive. With light sabers.

Can you tell I had a bout of insomnia last night?

I think planning is gunning for me. Loading the deck. Everyone tells me, try it out, it'll make things easier on you, you won't have to do everything last minute. But then I try. And it's not easier. It's never easier. It just screws me up and ends up taking more time, and now I'm frustrated because it didn't work and I hate myself and I just make another icebox cake. Because icebox cakes are cool. And next to impossible to screw up. I know. I've tried.

This isn't exactly the prettiest icebox cake I've ever made. And it's a bit...tilty. You see, I screwed up making the ganache, and I tried (read: planned) to do something funky with the graham crackers and it didn't work. No more planning for this girl, nuh-uh. So I came out with a cake that's a bit wonky because I had to manhandle it out of one container into another, and I didn't have enough whipped cream, because I screwed up the ganache. So it's not quite right, doesn't have that half-melted ice cream cake texture.

And while I was making it, I realized I totally screwed up when giving you the recipe for red velvet graham crackers. I never put down the cocoa powder. D'oh. So I fixed that up and tweaked it a little bit further for you. Because I never make a recipe the same way twice. That would be boring.

For some reason unknown to man, I had Reddi whip in my fridge, so I tried to distract you by doing a cute swirl on top, with a peppermint kiss and some Christmas-y sprinkles. But the Reddi whip started melting 30 seconds out of the can. The one time I actually want to use that fake stuff, and it completely lets me down. My life is this.

But, it's all Christmas-y and yummy and (if you do as I say and not as I did) pretty. So, I guess we can call it a success?

And don't forget to enter my giveaway! Only 2 days left to enter to win the cutest apron in the entirety of existence or a surprise box of awesome.

Planning, you better watch your back. Because I been training up my light saber skills. Zwong! (That's kind of like the noise it makes, right? Zwong, zwong. You can totally hear it, can't you? Maybe I should just stick to laser guns. Pew pew pew!)

Chocolate Peppermint Icebox Cake {Printable Version}
Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream, divided
3 oz. white chocolate, chopped
½ tsp. peppermint extract
1 recipe Red Velvet Graham Crackers (or 1 box chocolate graham crackers/wafer cookies)

Directions
In a small saucepan over low heat, heat ½ cup heavy cream just until the edges start to bubble. Remove
from heat, add the chocolate, and stir until completely melted. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Add the remaining cream and the peppermint extract to the bowl of a stand mixer. With the whisk
attachment, beat the cream at high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Add in the chocolate mixture
and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Spread some of the whipped cream evenly in the bottom of the loaf
pan, about ¼ inch thick. Place a row of graham crackers over the whipped cream, filling as much space
as possible. Spread more of the whipped cream, and top with more graham crackers. Repeat until the
top of the loaf pan is reached, ending with the whipped cream. Refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

To serve: invert the loaf pan over a serving dish to release the cake (it should pop right out). Frost the
sides with the remaining whipped cream. Serve chilled.

Recipe by Kim

Zwong!

Vampire Fang Cupcakes

Happy Halloween, everybody!

...what do you mean, it's not Halloween? It is. Governor Christie said so. He signed an executive order and everything. You don't want to go against Governor Christie do you? I wouldn't. He's a scary, scary man.

Here in New Jersey, our governor can eat your governor. And wash 'em down with a couple of beers.

Look, I don't agree with Gov. Christie's politics. Like, ever. And up until now, I figured he was good for little more than the butt of everyone's jokes. But boy, is he the man you want on your side in a crisis.

Gov. Christie, I'll probably never agree with you on anything, but if I met you right now, I'd kiss you. And feed you as many cupcakes as you wanted.

Halloween here in New Jersey got postponed via executive order because last Wednesday the majority of us were without power (and we were the lucky ones). Downed power lines and trees and traffic lights that weren't working made trick or treating downright dangerous. Power is being restored, and things are getting cleaned up as fast as they possibly can, but unfortunately, it's not fast enough for some people. Especially with the temperatures dropping and the nor'easter we're expecting this week.

But in the midst of it all, kids still love dressing up and getting free candy. And by golly, I love giving it to them. I also have a set of bloody gel handprints on the front door that gets rave reviews (I tell them they're from a kid that got too greedy with the candy. Then I give them giant handfuls of candy. Eh, I'm not their parents.)

I'd seen vampire bite cupcakes before, and thought the idea a simple way to make great Halloween cupcakes. Then I saw a silicone vampire fang ice cube tray in the dollar store (a bit like this one), and the wheels started churning. I could make vampire bite cupcakes, but with the fangs on top.

For the "blood" I used a strawberry champagne sauce that I got from foodie penpals (and I added a little red food coloring because it was a bit brown). You could always use your own favorite dessert sauce, pureed cherry pie filling, or this recipe for edible fake blood.

The cakes themselves are one of my favorite recipes for white cake (from, you guessed it, Old Reliable). The frosting is a white chocolate buttercream, which firmed up nicely without crusting. It was a great base for the blood, and I scored it with a toothpick to guide myself when drizzling (so the blood looked like it was coming from where the fangs were biting. I'm detail-oriented like that).

But plain white cupcakes, while always yummy, don't sound particularly Halloweeny, do they?

Who said anything about plain?

Poke cakes always kind of looked to me like they were bleeding, so they seemed the perfect choice. Just stab the cooled cupcakes a few times with a fork, mix one 3oz. package of strawberry, cherry, or raspberry flavored Jello with 1 cup boiling water, then pour onto the cupcakes. I put the cupcakes in a rimmed baking sheet to eliminate the mess while doing this, then double-cupped them to serve.

The rare cupcake vampire strikes whenever Halloween is moved to Nov. 5th

For more on Hurricane Sandy and how to help out, you can visit RedCross.org/Sandy, see my post on the hurricane, or check out my Facebook page, which I will keep updated with shelters and first responders requiring donations as I learn about them.

Vampire Fang Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 recipe white cupcakes (see below. Vanilla or almond work as well)
1 3oz package raspberry, strawberry, or cherry Jello
1 cup boiling water
1 recipe white chocolate buttercream (see below) or your favorite white frosting
White chocolate vampire fangs
Red dessert sauce, pureed cherry pie filling, or edible fake blood

Directions
Bake and cool cupcakes according to the recipe. Using a fork, pierce holes in each cupcake. Add the cupcakes to a rimmed baking sheet. In a bowl, whisk together the Jello and boiling water. Carefully spoon the Jello over each cupcake, then place the baking sheet in the refrigerator to chill for minimum 30 minutes. Generously frost each cupcake and add a white chocolate vampire fang. Using a toothpick, score a line radiating from either fang, and pour as much or as little of the fake blood on the cupcake, concentrating on the lines you made. To avoid sticky fingers, place the cupcakes in another liner before serving.

Recipe by Kim

Silver-White Cupcakes {Printable Version}

Yield: 28 cupcakes

Ingredients
4 egg whites
1½ cups sugar
2¼ cups cake flour
1 cup milk
½ cup unsalted butter or margarine, softened
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. almond extract

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a small bowl with an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites
until frothy. Gradually add ½ cup sugar and continue to beat on high until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and remaining 1 cup sugar on
medium speed until fluffy. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add half of
the flour mixture and half of the milk to the butter and beat until just combined. Add the remaining
flour and milk, and beat until smooth. Gently fold in the egg whites.

Fill the muffin tins 2/3 of the way with batter and bake 17-20 minutes, until the tops are a light golden
brown and spring back when pressed gently.

Recipe adapted from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook



White Chocolate Buttercream {Printable Version}


Ingredients
1/3 cup heavy cream
6 oz. white chocolate, chopped
Pinch salt
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
In a small saucepan, heat the cream over low heat, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming,
just until it starts to bubble. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate and salt. Continue to stir until
the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

With an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed. Gradually add in the powdered sugar and
continue to beat on medium until smooth. Add the chocolate mixture and vanilla, and gradually increase
the speed to high. Whip on high speed until light and fluffy.

Recipe by Kim

White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Hello my very patient lovelies. I know, I know. It's been a while. But look, I have some super pretty cupcakes for you! It's a peace offering. Truce? Plus I have a super special crafty tutorial planned for you this weekend. Those of you that follow me on Facebook already know what that is, but I won't spoil the surprise for the rest of you. Let's just say that it's Victorian-inspired and super cute. *Cue mysterious music*

So where have I been the past week and a half? Well, you already know that Baby CC's first birthday party was last Sunday, and I was super busy making treats for that. What kind of treats? I can hear you asking. Well, first and foremost was his smash cake.

Or rather, his unsmashed cake. I think the birthday crowd was a little overwhelming for him, but he liked picking off the sprinkles and playing with the cherry. And he ate a little frosting. But he was so dainty, that it was pretty funny. Especially when his Aunt Allie tried to make him smash it, and he was not best pleased. But Momma and Daddy kept the cake, and I had some extra frosting for them, so they were planning on touching it up and having him smash it when it was just them. Or maybe they just ate it on their lonesome. Whatevs.

The cake itself is adapted from my applesauce cupcakes (Momma wanted to keep things low-sugar, so the sweetness of the applesauce let me cut that down). The cake was super fluffy, so I had to level it, and I got to try some. Holyohmigoodness was it good. CC don't know what he's missing. The frosting is one of my favorites, a whipped agave cream cheese frosting. I figured that he'd get mostly frosting in his mouth, so I wanted it to be the next best thing to sugar-free without using artificial sweeteners. I'll give these recipes their own post some time in the future, promise.

But the smash cake was actually the easiest thing I made for CC's birthday. Because of course, I also made cupcakes.


Me n' AJ decided this guy was Sarge

 He had a Toy Story theme. I got the army men at the dollar store, and CC's Grammy (my aunt) bought the icing decorations, picks and themed baking cups. The original plan was for me to decorate these like the aliens from the movie. My aunt called me at work and told me all these things she was buying from Party City. Then she stopped and said, "They have candy eyeballs. Should I buy them?"

I replied. "Don't buy candy eyeballs. I have candy eyeballs." Then I stopped, thought about what I just said, and really hoped nobody overheard me. But as you can see, I didn't end up decorating them like aliens, because I had enough in the way of decorations. I'm also very proud that I swirled 2 kinds of frosting, chocolate and buttercream. The green coloring for the frosting had made sense at the time, with the army men, and aliens and dinosaurs, but now I'm thinking I should have gone with blue, maybe. Ah well.

Another reason I didn't make cupcake aliens, was that I spent a lot of time making these guys:


Note the one guy with orange ears: I ran out of pink

It was only my second time making cake pops, so I'm pretty pleased. I got the instructions from Bakerella. Of course, her's are 500 times better, but if you didn't see hers first, these look pretty awesome, no? (only three of them have eyebrows, because the eyebrows were too much of a pain) It took me 4.5 hours to make 19 of these guys, and I only stopped there because I ran out of the arms. Cake pops are definitely only going to be once-in-a-while thing for me. They're exhausting.

Then I get back to and they're all "Hahahaha, psych! I hope you enjoyed your time off, because we're gonna inundate you with stuff." And Wednesday there was this major meeting with executives and I was at work from before 7:30 to after 6:00. Yeah.

But you may remember that last Wednesday was my mother's birthday. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she went, "Ooh, I get cake?" And I'm like, "Of course you get cake. You have a baker for a daughter who has the week of your birthday off." But she decided she wanted these cupcakes instead.

These are mommy's favorite cupcakes, and I never mind making them because not only are they super yummy, but they're pretty darn easy to make. The recipe calls for self-rising flour, which is just all-purpose flour with leavening agents added (salt, baking powder, baking soda). I always have it on hand, because some of my favorite recipes use it (case in point), but I'm sure you can google substitutions.

The cakes themselves are a not-too-sweet vanilla buttermilk cake, which contrasts beautifully with the light sweetness of the white chocolate chips. Really, these don't need to be frosted, but I went with a light, whipped buttercream, because, well, lookit how pretty!!!

White Chocolate Chip Cupcakes {Printable Version}

Yield: 14 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups self-rising flour, sifted

½ cup buttermilk

1¼ cups white chocolate chips

For the frosting:

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup whipping cream

Directions

Prepare the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 325°F. In a large bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating well after each addition. Fold in the flour, alternating with the buttermilk, and mix until smooth. Fold in the white chocolate chips. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill ¾ of the way with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Prepare the frosting: In a large bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter at medium speed. Gradually add in the powdered sugar, and beat until the mixture resembles small peas. Add the cream, and beat at medium until just combined. Increase the speed to high and whip until light and fluffy.

Cupcake recipe adapted from Indulgence Cupcakes. Frosting recipe by Kim

This recipe is featured on Walking on Sunshine and Foodie Friends Friday Linky Party