Blueberry Peach Crumbles (BPC)

I was given a FULL gallon sized bag of fresh blueberries today; I can tell you now they will not be wasted!

Last week I bought 3lbs worth of peaches for 99 cents per pound at the grocery store. When I recieved my bountiful gift of blueberries this afternoon, my thoughts automatically went to Blueberry Peach Cobbler (I now dub the, BPC!). However, I was running low on milk and eggs so I decided to make individual crumbles instead of the cobbler. There aren't any great benefits to having the crumble in little ramekins; they are just really adorable that way and I can take them to friends as individual servings.

Here's the recipe:

First, go to Pandora and make a Black Keys Station.
Second, JAM OUT to Black Keys while baking.

Ingredients:

For the fruit filling:

2 pounds firm, ripe peaches (6 to 8 peaches)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup fresh blueberries (1/2 pint)

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

For the crumble topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Filling: Rinse the fruit clean, then peel the peaches and section (or to make it super easy, just cut it up in chunks.) Place peaches, sugar, and lemon juice in a non-stick pot on medium heat. Stir it up. When the sugar begins to melt and the juice begins to bubble, stir the blueberries in. Let the blueberry/peach mixture cook for about 3 more minutes, then remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract and flour and spoon into ramekins

Crumble: combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it's in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Place the ramekins on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature.
If you want to make these early, store the unbaked crumbles in the refrigerator and bake before dinner.
Here's some pictures for reference

Cook and stir in sugar mixture

This is what it will look like when it is ready to go in the ramekins

Spoon into ramekins after adding flour

Add crumble topping (I made the mistake of not using parchment paper on the cookie sheet -_-)

All done!

This recipe was adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/peach-and-blueberry-crumbles-recipe/index.html

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Creativity, my friend.

I made some Strawberry Buttercream cupcakes for a momma and her little girl's birthday party! I had such a hard time with the candy lettering, after hours of practice and two wasted bags of candy coating, I finally went to the store and got a fondant letter mold. It worked perfectly!



Strawberry Jam

The cupcakes were delicious (of course I had to test one out, how else would I know?) and while making them I decided to save some of the extra batter for a new flavor experiment. I'm really glad I did!!! My new cupcake flavor is.... *drum role please!* Blueberry Lemon! It's the same delicious vanilla cake from the Strawberry Buttercream cupcakes, but in the batter I mixed in whole fresh blueberries, lemon zest, and fresh lemon extract. The icing is blueberry lemon cream cheese. I took one bite and got hooked; as did my boyfriend!

I ALSO made a lemon buttermilk bundt cake for my beloved. He tells me lemon bundt cakes are his favorite, and I felt like he needed a happy surprise so I made a buttermilk bundt cake, you can find the original recipe here. I added lemon juice, lemon zest, and lemon extract. The lemon extract barelely did anything for me. Next time, I'll get about 4-6 lemons and juice them to put in that bundt cake. It wasn't tart enough. However, the icing I made was tart and sweet! It was a simple powdered sugar glaze, with lemon juice and zest in it for the flavor. All in all, pretty good.

Coconut Dream Cakes

I decided to make some cupcakes for Easter, and what better than coconut! These little vanilla cakes are soaked with a coconut cream, topped with homemade cool whip, and sweetened shredded coconut. I also played around with some beautiful bright Easter colors; blue, purple, and green. I put the cupcakes in a variety of different cupcake wrappers and made some really beautiful cupcakes! Unfortunately, they don't taste up to par (in my opinion), so I'm going to have to attempt a round two when I get time.

When I try these again, I'm going to have to find a way to incorporate the cream into the cupcake without pouring it on top, and make a coconut butter cream instead of homemade cool whip.

Finished product in one of my rainbow wrappers

They are incredibly messy!

I love these colors!

In the refrigerator to cool

The Blue and Purple Marbled cake in the rainbow wrapper is my favorite!

Spring green

Have you ever seen this many colors in a batch of cupcakes?

Marbled and colorful, perfect for Easter.

Velvet Love Cupcakes

Love is a celebration, and today I got the opportunity to help celebrate a couple's first anniversary! The couple requested Red Velvet cupcakes to celebrate, and in conversation asked if it came with any filling. I told them I could make the red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese filling and vanilla buttercream icing; they liked that idea! So today, I whipped up a lovely batch of Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese filling and Vanilla Buttercream icing, which I'm calling Velvet Love cupcakes in honor of them. I used a star tip for the icing, and added red lips sprinkles on top.



Velvet Love

Velvet Love



Velvet Love

Oreo Truffles: Fun for Everyone

I went though some old pictures of mine and found some great pictures of yummy oreo truffles! I'll post the recipe here along with some pictures. They take a little bit of time dipping in the chocolate but it's fun and kids can help. I like to swirl white & milk chocolate across the already-dipped truffles. Also, I suggest using two spoons or forks to roll the truffles in the melted chocolate, and then place on foil or wax paper to harden in the refrigerator.

I employed my neices and nephew on Christmas. Yay for child labor! Muahah

Oreo Balls RecipeIngredients:

1 Package regular Oreos (not double stuff), FINELY CRUSHED!

8 oz cream cheese (room temperature is easier to work with)

1 bag dark, milk, or white chocolate or almond bark

Directions:

Mix crushed oreo's with cream cheese in a large bown until thoroughly incorporated. Roll into small balls, roughly 1 inch in diameter. Place on wax paper or foil and chill. Once the balls are chilled, melt the chocolate.

I use the microwave to melt it but it can be difficult. If you microwave for too long the chocolate will burn and harden. In my microwave I melt the chocolate in a glass microwave-proof bowl for 30 seconds, and then at 10 second intervals until it's at a smooth consistency when stirred.

Roll the oreo balls around in the chocolate and place on the foil or wax paper. If you want to do stripey or swirly patterns on the truffles, use a different type of chocolate and a spoon to swirl (if you made white chocolate truffles, use dark or milk chocolate for pattern, etc.)

Refrigerate and VOILA!




Oreo truffles with white almond bark and milk chocolate almond bark stripes



Oreo truffles with milk chocolate almond bark and white almond bark stripes.

Skills to pay bills!

Yesterday I slaved in my kitchen for 12 hours straight baking cupcakes and cookies for a twirling competition at my local middle school. I got three and a half hours of sleep and sore feet, but it was all worth it to see and hear the feedback for my cupcakes! If it weren't for my friend helping me out, I would have pulled an all-nighter! 

Within the first couple of hours we sold almost all of my boxes of 6 and a lot of single cupcakes, along with some cookies. An hour before the competition was over, all the boxes were gone and I was almost sold out. So many people came back for more cupcakes and wanted boxes to take them home!

For the twirling competition, I wanted to bake three different types of cupcakes that had flavors that would appeal to girls and moms. I also wanted them to look feminine and girly. Something vanilla, something chocolate, and something a little bit different. Here we have Vanilla cupcakes with Strawberry filling and a Strawberry Buttercream icing, Chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter filling and Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge icing, and Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing.
The Strawberry Vanilla was the absolute best in my opinion, and a lot of people agreed! So I've decided to share a recipe with you, along with my pictures. Enjoy, and comment with questions or feedback!

Make Ahead!!

Strawberry Filling:

• 1lb Strawberries in syrup. You can make your own simply by cutting strawberries in half and pouring one half to a whole cup of sugar on them. Let them sit out, covered, for a few hours until all sugar is dissolved. VOILA! Strawberries in syrup.
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons of corn starch

Put strawberries with 1cup of syrup in a blender, chop or puree, your preference (chunks make filling cupcakes difficult.) Pour blended strawberries into a pan, add other ingredients and cook until mixture starts to boil. Take off the burner and let cool completely, the mixture thickens as it cools. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Can be used in cupcakes, icing, for toast, biscuits, whatever! Mmmmmm


Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing & Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter filling and Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge icing



Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing



Strawberry filled Vanilla cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream icing



Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter filling and Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge icing



Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese icing



Strawberry filled Vanilla cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream icing



My Display at the table and my super bored friend

Long overdue

I've been on a little bit of a break since my last post. I did succeed in baking the chocolate banana baklava cupcakes but I didn't like them, and they aren't tasty enough to be worth the time. My friends thought they were delicious; either that or they are lying because they are friends and they don't want to hurt my feelings! Either way, I'm glad I challenged myself to try something I'd never done before.

"To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself."  

~Soren Kierkegaard

I'll post pictures of that little adventure soon, along with more pictures of cupcakes I am making for two bake sales in the upcoming weeks. I'll be making Strawberry filled Vanilla cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream icing, Chocolate Peanut Butter filled cupcakes, and Red Velvet with Cream Cheese icing. All of them are pretty easy to make and very tasty! So stay tuned!

Recipe for Chocolate Banana Baklava cupcakes can be found here.