Guinness Black Bottom Mint Cupcakes

I am obsessed with Guinness! A lot of people tell me that they don't like Guinness because its too dark and bitter, but it is really one of the only beers I enjoy. It's exceptionally delicious when you pair it with chocolate because it enhances the chocolate flavor. I was excited when I found this recipe since its similar to Betty Crocker's Dalmatian Cupcakes, which are my all-time favorite and the basis for any cream cheese cupcake I make. Plus, how can you go wrong when you add Guinness?

Here's what you need:

• 1 cup Guinness Beer
• 1 cup butter
• ¾ cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup sour cream 

• 1 8oz block cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons mint extract (I didn't have mint extract so I used 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract)
• ¾ cup mint chips (I used Andes) 

And the steps:

1. Combine beer and butter in a saucepan. Melt butter over medium heat. When butter has melted, whisk in cocoa powder. Remove from heat and let cool. (I did this in the microwave since that's so much easier and faster than doing it over the stove)
2. With a hand mixer, beat together cream cheese, sugar, egg, salt and extract. Stir in mint chips. Set aside. (I microwaved the cream cheese for 45 seconds.  If the cream cheese is not at room temperature, it won't sink when you bake it).
3. In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. In a mixer, beat eggs and sour cream until blended. Slowly beat in the beer mixture, just until combined. Carefully stir in flour mixture and continue beating until well mixed.
5. Line cupcake pans and fill each cup 2/3 full with chocolate batter. Drop a tablespoon full of cream cheese mixture in the center of each cupcake. Bake in a pre heated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Makes 30 cupcakes.(Mine took about 3 more minutes to cook completely, but I made them too big because I only got 24 cupcakes...)

I totally forgot to take pictures of all of the steps because I was multi-tasking by making my dinner at the same time.  Here's a picture of the finished batter in the cupcake pan:

And with the cream cheese mixture:

After baking:

The final product:

 

The verdict: These cupcakes were fabulous, as I expected.  They were better than any other cream cheese cupcake I've ever made even.   The cake had a rich chocolate flavor that I fell in love with; thank you Guinness!  And the cream cheese filling was equally good.  My sister also loved them, so the were pretty much instantly gone.  I will definitely be making these again! 

P.S. These cupcakes are also great with cream cheese frosting.  For an easy cream cheese frosting, beat together 1 cup of softened butter and 1 cup of softened cream cheese.  Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 cups of powdered sugar, adding it one cup at a time.  Voila, delicious and fast frosting!

The Bottom Line: LOVED IT!!!  

Make Cake Taste Like It's From A Bakery

Since I had the oven on to make my dinner, I decided to try a dessert I've pinned. I chose this one because it was fast and easy. Plus, I had pinned it and Kelsey G. had also suggested that I try this recipe on the Recipes Jenn Should Try board on Pinterest. 

Here's the pin description:

Step 1: Look at the directions on the cake mix Step 2: Add one more egg (or add 2 if you want it to be very rich) Step 3: Use melted butter instead of oil and double the amount Step 4: Instead of water, use milk. Step 5: Mix well and bake for the time recommended on the box.

I used white Betty Crocker cake mix.

I did just as the pin description said and got this: 

Notice how thick the batter is!

I made cupcakes so here's the batter in the pan:

And the cupcakes after I frosted them (I used cinnamon roll frosting):

Can you tell how fluffy these cupcakes are?

 

One word: delicious!  They are so much better than normal cake from a box.  They have a much lighter, fluffier texture with a slight butter taste.  My mom and dad said that they were "okay, but too greasy."  Yeah, they definitely were greasier than normal cake, which is expected since there is double the amount of butter than oil in your typical boxed mix.  Although they were greasier, I don't think it was overpoweringly greasy like my parents made it out to be; they just don't like new things. Cake this way is great, but don't forget that it adds a lot of fat and calories. 

Bottom Line: LOVED IT!   

P.S. I read the labels of all the big name brands (Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines, and Pilsbury), and they all contain trans-fat.  So, I will be making my cupcakes from scratch now on out, but if you don't have the time or lack baking skills, this definitely makes cake mix taste better! 

Edible Glitter

 If you go to a crafting store that has decorative baking supplies, it's amazing to see what edible things that they have come up with: pearls, shimmer dust, glitter...and what's even more amazing (not really) is how much it costs.  A small container of sprinkles is like $5.  So, the idea of making your own edible glitter at home from two cheap ingredients is awesome.  For $5, you can have pounds of sprinkles! 

The description that was on the pin:  

 holy crap. seriously??? 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of food coloring mixed, bake10 mins in oven on 350 degrees to make edible glitter!

And the original link, which doesn't say anything else.

Since I already had the oven on for another batch of cheesy cauliflower breadsticks (they are seriously so freaking good), I decided to try to make some blue glitter.

I put the sugar and food coloring in a mini bread pan and mixed them together:

Then I popped it in the oven for 10 minutes.  I took it out and stirred it.  I could tell it wasn't ready because there was still food dye that was wet, and the sugar was really clumpy.

I put it in for another 10 minutes, then stirred it, and put it in for another 5.  Then I was over it.

Here's the end result.  It's still clumpy so if you want it to be smooth, you're going to have to break it down somehow:

Here's the side by side comparison of the before it was put in the oven and afterwards:

Can you tell the difference?

Does it look like glitter? No.  Is it sparkly? Slightly.  Is it any different than other sugar sprinkles that you find at the grocery store?  Maybe a little more sparkly. Is it worth turning your oven on and baking a small amount of sugar for almost a half hour?  Your call, but I would say no.  I think that this recipe is only worth it if you want a certain color of sprinkles and have run out of them, and you already have the oven on.  

Bottom Line: NOT WORTH IT!

Salmon in a Bag

I've been slacking on posting on my blog, but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy in the kitchen cooking and baking recipes I've pinned!  Look for several new blog posts this week :)

This is one of the first pins I ever pinned on Pinterest, and I figured it was about time to try it.  The description:  Salmon in a Bag - Tin foil, lemon, salmon, butter, S&P– Wrap it up tightly and bake for 25 minutes at 300°. Seems fast and easy.

I clicked the link that was on the pin to see if there were more detailed instructions. Nope.  Same exact sentence plus: surprisingly simple for the flavour it packs!

And: 
NOTE: A lot of questions have been raised regarding the temperature I cooked this salmon in which was only a suggestion because it worked for me. A few people have suggested raising the temperature to 350° – whatever worked for you I hope you enjoyed it!

So I assembled my salmon in a bag:

And wrapped it:

I put it in the oven for 25 minutes and it wasn't cooked; the top was actually completely raw.  I did notice that it smelled wonderfully of lemons.  I put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes and after a total cooking time of 35 minutes I got this:

 

I know it's not really pretty, and you can see where I cut into the middle to make sure it was cooked all the way through. 

The salmon wasn't that lemony.  Some parts of the salmon tasted more like lemon than the others.  I ended up squeezing some juice from the lemons on top of the salmon to give it more flavor.  That made it taste better, and reminded me of the lemon salmon I already make:  

Marinate the salmon in fresh squeezed lemon juice, salt, and pepper (sometimes I add capers) for 10 minutes then bake at 350° in the oven for 8-10 minutes on a pan sprayed with olive oil.

So much faster and healthier because there's no butter.  I'm going to stick to my method of cooking salmon!  

Bottom Line: NOT WORTH IT!

Chocolate Mudslide Oatmeal

I was seriously getting tired of the same old breakfasts every single morning before work so I wanted to try something that was fast and easy and most importantly different.

The pin description: So many oatmeal recipes, all healthy!  In fact, there are 19 recipes, and all of them sound appetizing.  I decided to try the chocolate mudslide oatmeal because it reminded me of how we used to put Nesquik in our Malt-O-Meal when I was a child.  

The required ingredients:

• 40 grams uncooked oats (1 cup)
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup water or milk of choice  I used 2% milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• sweetener of choice I used 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar
• optional: Amazing Grass chocolate superfood powder I didn't have this so I skipped it.
• 5 grams (1tbsp) Special Dark cocoa powder (It has a completely different taste from regular cocoa powder, so if you use regular, you might have to add a lot more for the chocolatey taste) I used regular cocoa powder and 1 Tbsp was enough!
• I added 1 Tbsp chia seeds to add extra fiber

Here's what I used: 

The directions:

1. Cook up a serving of oatmeal with the water and/or milk and a little salt
2. Add the vanilla, cocoa, and more salt and sweetener to taste.
3. Optional: Right before I eat this mess, I sprinkle on about 1/2 a little packet of the chocolate super food powder.  Then I drizzle on about 1/8 cup almond milk.  I don’t stir either of these things in.  I love the unstirred, powdery texture. (I skipped step 3)

And this is how it turned out:

 
I used to LOVE Nesquik in my Malt-O-Meal as a child and this was like 10 times better!  The oatmeal had a good chocolate flavor that made me forget that I was eating oatmeal, but at the same time, it was not too sweet.  It tasted more like dessert than breakfast, and it's healthy!  I couldn't believe how good this was. I ate in all in 2 minutes flat and it has left me craving chocolate oatmeal in the morning.  I'm making this for breakfast tomorrow!   

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

I was craving cinnamon rolls all week so decided to try these for breakfast on Valentines day. If you click on the pin on my board, it takes you here, but the actual recipe is from Recipe Girl. 

 

I was thinking that I would just make my normal pancakes and add the cinnamon swirl to it.  I saw this after the recipe:

Quick and easy tip: Use a boxed pancake mix as the base for this recipe.

Read my mind!  Here's what I used (and I added chia seeds to it):

 

The finished pancake batter:

So I followed the directions for the cinnamon swirl mix: 

CINNAMON FILLING:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, just melted (not boiling)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Prepare the cinnamon filling: In a medium bowl, stir together the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Scoop the filling into a quart-sized heavy zip baggie and set it aside.

I made the filling and then put it in a candy squeeze bottle since I figures it would be easier to use:

Next, I made the glaze:

CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2-ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare the glaze: In a small pan, heat the butter over low heat until melted. Turn off the heat and whisk in the cream cheese until it is almost smooth. Sift the powdered sugar into the pan, stir and add in vanilla extract. Set the pan aside while you make the pancakes.

I did this the easy way and put the butter in the microwave to melt it!

The directions:

Cook the pancakes: Heat a large, nonstick skillet over medium-heat and spray with nonstick spray.

I used olive oil in a Misto sprayer.  

Use an ice cream scoop (or 1/3 cup measuring cup) to add the batter to the pan. Use the bottom of the scoop or cup to spread the batter into a circle (about 4-inches in diameter).

I estimated and got 9 pancakes, so mine were slightly smaller.

 Reduce the heat to medium low. When your pancake begins to form bubbles, add the filling. Starting at the center of the pancake, squeeze the filling on top of the pancake batter in a swirl (just as you see in a regular cinnamon roll).

*Tips for the cinnamon filling: Before swirling, open up the baggie again and give it a good stir to re-incorporate any butter that may have separated from the sugar. You want the mixture to thicken a bit- it's best when it's similar to the squeezing texture of a tube of toothpaste, which will happen if you leave it at room temperature for several minutes. Don't try to use the filling for the pancake swirl unless it has thickened as it will be too runny to make a solid swirl.

Important!  

What happens if you don't mix the filling.  I probably should have paid more attention to the tips.

And then once you mix it:

It started to thicken by the 4th pancake and was hard to squeeze:

So my solution was to keep the filling in hot water to keep it melted.  It worked like a charm:

 

My stack of pancakes:

And with the glaze:

 

Not only did these pancakes smell wonderful, they tasted awesome!  They were like cinnamon rolls without all the extra frosting and sugar.  I offered half of the pancakes to my sister.  She said she would "try one," and ended up eating 4.  Her exact words, "oh my god, these are amazing!" And, the best part: I used high fiber, whole grain mix and added chia seeds, so even with the added butter and sugar, it was decently healthy and didn't taste like it!  These were 10 times better than the cake batter pancakes I tried a couple weeks ago.  These are worthy of a birthday morning tradition!  By the way, I had leftover filling and glaze, so I'm making these pancakes again soon.  :) 

Bottom Line: LOVED IT!!! (Literally the best thing I've tried from Pinterest thus far!)

Warm Cinnamon Swirls

I LOVE cinnamon rolls and pretty much anything with cinnamon in it! I really want to try making cinnamon rolls from scratch, but I had some extra crescent roll dough that I had to use, so I opted to make it this way instead.  They're 1 Weight Watcher Plus point each if you follow the recipe. Here's the blog I got the recipe from.

The required ingredients:

8 ounces reduced-fat crescent rolls (I used normal crescent rolls, Walmart brand*)
4 teaspoons sugar-cinnamon
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons skim milk (I used 2%)

 *NOTE: Don't use Pilsbury brand rolls because they have trans fat in them even though it says 0g on the label.  It has partially hydrogenated oil listed as an ingredient which means that there's <.5g of trans fat per serving, but not really 0g.  Sorry I'm going off on such a tangent, but I'm a biology major/chemistry minor and let me tell you, you DO NOT want to put any amount of trans fat into your body!  It's unnatural and clogs your arteries.  Not worth it).  

Anyways, mine probably weren't 1 point each since I used normal crescent roll dough and 2% milk, but I'm not on Weight Watchers so it doesn't really matter to me.   Personally I don't like anything that says "reduced fat," "sugar-free," etc. because that means they took away one ingredient and added something else to make it still taste good (i.e. reduced fat usually means that they took away some of the fat and added more sugar).

And the directions are as follows:

Unroll crescent dough; separate into 2 pieces. Press perforations together and sprinkle each with half of the sugar-cinnamon. 

Roll up 1 section, starting on long side and press firmly to eliminate air pockets. Pinch seam to seal. Cut each roll into 10 slices (For a total of 20 slices)

Place rolls on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees. 

I baked mine for 10 minutes:



Once golden brown remove from oven. Whisk together powdered sugar and milk. Pour over warm rolls.

The final product.  How cute are these? 

 

They turned out smaller than I expected (must be why they are only 1 point), but they were tasty.  They weren't exactly "cinnamon rolls" since they had that crescent roll taste and weren't as soft as your typical roll, but overall the taste was good.  It's definitely easier than cinnamon rolls from scratch and healthier than the cinnamon rolls you buy pre-made in metal rolls (those have trans fat too!)  Plus, they're perfectly portioned so you don't go overboard on dessert, and would be great for a party snack or dessert.  

Bottom Line: LOVED IT!