S’mores Cupcakes

One of my favorite things about Summertime is S’mores. I mean, what’s not to love about gooey marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers?! It doesn’t hurt that usually I’m making them over a fire while imbibing on some sort of booze and surrounded by family (or friends). unfortunately, we’re not allowed a grill here, and I don’t think the apartment complex owners would appreciate me building a fire on the lawn. So… here’s my new take on an old favorite.

 

I used a standard/ common recipe for the graham cracker “crust”, but substituted cinnamon instead of regular graham crackers. I like the sweetness from the cinnamon flavored grahams compared to the regular ones. To each her own, I guess. I also made mine last night, and left it in the fridge overnight… mostly because I didn’t want to make it this morning. I think making it the night before and leaving it in the fridge helps prevent the graham crackers  from burning. Maybe? The downside to that was the melted butter hardened, and it was a bitch to break it all apart again.

 

The cake was also a standard yellow cake recipe (i got this one from Betty Crocker’s Big Book of Cupcakes), I just added the chocolate chips and marshmallows! It’s a very thick and fluffy batter that is originally supposed to make 24 cupcakes. With the addition of the CC & MM i ended up with 30.  You can probably fill the cupcake tins 3/4 full, as they didn’t rise really well.

Oh! some of my cupcakes got stuck to the tin (melted gooey marshmallows), so I used a plastic knife around the edge to push them apart.

 

I’m not sure if this chocolate ganache is really ganache… there are like a million different chocolate ganache recipes online. I forgot to bookmark the website that I got this one from. Sorry!! Make sure you let it cool all the way before you start putting the Fluff Frosting on, or else you’re going to get streaks and spots on the tops.

 

I used Rachael Ray’s Fluff Frosting recipe. I had a few problems… nothing serious, though. First was the massive amount of butter!! 4 STICKS, aka ONE POUND, aka 2 CUPS! Yikes. This was the only recipe I found that didn’t use egg whites ( I despise separating eggs), so I went with it, despite the massive amounts of buttah (that was my hometown accented butter). The next problem was how much trouble I had stirring the Fluff in. I swear I almost pulled a muscle. Maybe I should have used the hand mixer? Thirdly, I used a little under 3/4 of the frosting, and I over-frost my cupcakes like it’s nobody’s business. The frosting was a little hard to get on the cupcakes… I ended up dropping a heaping tablespoon on top, and then flattening it out toward the edges. It got a nice “melted” gooey marshmallow look, which I liked.

 

And If you want to make them a bit easier: Use a box yellow cake mix. Instead of the ganache I imagine you could use that chocolate shell topping (for ice cream), but I’m not sure if it would actually work…  Or, you could use chocolate cake mix and skip the ganache.

 

Happy Sunday Cupcakery!

-Hey Waitress!!

 

 

*UPDATE 5/1/12*

Ummm… as much as I hate to say it… these cupcakes were SUPER dry. I won’t use that yellow cake recipe again! And I totally didn’t realize that all the mini marshmallows would melt! Sooooo sad. I’ve got plans for another S’mores cupcake, though, so don’t you worry!

Cookie Dough & Vodka Cupcakes

let me start with the FULL description “Whipped (Pinnacle) vodka cupcakes filled with cookie dough and topped with cookie dough and Whipped vodka buttercream”. Be jealous. I’ve been dying to try using a flavored vodka in my baking. I really love the new flavored vodka fad! I used to drink the Three Olives Cherry (or Grape) with Coke (or Sprite). And since then there’s been a crazy increase in flavors! I was in the Liquor store and had so many options… I ending up picking the Pinnacle Whipped Vodka on the recommendation of a friend. I know you’re probably thinking that it’s silly to use vodka because it’s “flavorless”… don’t judge, just enjoy.

 

The cool thing about these cupcakes is how easy they would be to make without the vodka…

 

The cookie dough filling I used was originally a Cookie Dough Truffle recipe from Angie ( a friend, sorority sister, and food blogger extraordinaire) over  at Big Bear’s Wife. You should check her out!! It was sort of sticky, so I kept a little water on the side and dampened my fingers/palms every few dough balls. It worked out pretty well.

If you’re more daring than I am, you could probably use store-bought cookie dough… supposedly the preservatives make it relatively safe to eat raw (as long as you keep the finished cupcakes in the fridge). I’m not a big fan of taking chances with raw eggs. Can you say, Salmonella?! I can, and I’d rather not.

 

The Vodka cake was a weeks worth of comparing Harvey Wallbanger cakes. Yes, I typed Harvey Wallbanger. All the recipes online where basically the same, so  I  just substituted extra vodka for the other liquors, and SHABANG! a Whipped Vodka cake was born! The batter was wicked thin, but that seems to happen a lot when I use boxed mixes. It thickened up a bit the longer I beat it, but it’s possible that was wishful thinking! The bottoms of these cupcakes came out a little more browned than I like, but (again) baking them for less time didn’t bake the cake batter all the way. You know what I mean!? They weren’t burnt (haha, it rhymes), just a shade darker than I wanted.

If you don’t want to use the Vodka, you can just use a regular box of cake mix (follow the directions on the box). Try chocolate. Then let me know how they taste.

 

The buttercream frosting was adapted from lovin the oven. I used Angie’s eggless cookie dough recipe instead of the one on that site. I doubled the recipe, and used vodka instead of milk. This recipe is by faaaaaaar my favorite buttercream to date. I also didn’t use cold butter, I actually ‘nuked it for about 16 seconds to soften it a bit. It took me a hot minute (I didn’t check the time, but it felt like FOREVER) to get the powdered sugar and butter smooth and well mixed.  Finally, I recommend taking the cookie dough out of the fridge before you start working on the frosting, or else it’ll be harder to smooth out the buttercream in the last step.

 

Enjoy with a whipped on the rocks. Or a whipped hot chocolate. Or a whipped coffee…

-Hey Waitress!!

Songs From an Old IPod

My husband and I are taking a trip to Texas next month, and it involves 4 airports and 3 airplanes. This much air travel REQUIRES music. Especially because I can’t stand airplane sounds (coughing, kids, other people’s conversations), small spaces, large crowds, heights… I’m a terrible air traveller, but that’s a post for a different time.

Back to the point… Music. I need music to travel.  Because I don’t want to KILL KILL KILL my phone’s battery, I dug through all our boxes of crap, and found my old Ipod. I haven’t used it since 2009(ish). I’m not sure why. It probably had something to do with being too cheap to buy new music, the fact we subscribe to Sirus/XM, or the invention of Pandora…

What I’m getting at here is that I installed ITunes, hooked up my 2nd generation Nano, and was THRILLED by all the awesome music I haven’t heard in a long time. In celebration of the great music I like I figured I’d share a random sampling of Songs From an Old IPod…

1. I’d Sure Hate To Break Down Here- Trace Adkins
2. Renegades Of Funk- RATM
3. 99 Red Balloons- Reel Big Fish
4. (sic)- Slipknot
5. Ch-Check It Out- Beastie Boys
6. Four Dead Cheerleaders- Dropkick Murphy’s
7. Kiss My Irish Ass- Flogging Molly
8. Little Respect- Wheatus
9. Wrong Way- Sublime
10. Girls Girls Girls- Motley Crue
11. Too Close- Next
12. You’ll Think of Me- Keith Urban
13. Here It Goes Again- OK Go
14. Sheena Is a Punk Rocker- Rancid
15. Click Click Boom- Saliva
16. Mrs. Robinson- Simon & GArfunkel
17. You Don’t Mean Anything- Simple Plan
18. Don’t be Cruel- Bobby Brown
19. Maneater- Hall & Oates
20. Spiderwebs- No Doubt
21. Lady Picture Show- STP
22. LAst Dance With Maryjane- Tom Petty
23. Stuck in the Middle With You- Steve Miller Band
24. I Wanna Be Sedated- The Ramones
25. After Hours- We Are Scientists
26. Harlem Shuffle- The Rolling Stones
27. Electricity- 311
28. Whiskey Girl- Toby Keith
29. Cowboy Coffee- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
30. Down With The Sickness- Disturbed
31. Wonderwall- Oasis
32. Cute Without The E- Taking Back Sunday
33. Metal Militia- Metallica
34. Youth Of The Nation- POD
35. Homewrecker- Grethchen Wilson
36. Coming To Your City- Big & Rich
37. Clothes Off- Gym Class Heroes
38. Blister In The Sun- Violent Femmes
39. Heart Attack- Low Vs. Diamond
40. Way Away- Yellowcard
41. Open Arms- Journey
42. Rape Me- Nirvana
43. You Don’t Know Me- Ben Folds (fet Regina Spektor)
44. Blind- Korn
45. Black- Pearl Jam
46. It’s My Life- Bon Jovi
47. The Day I Die- Benjy Davis Project
48. If I Had A Million Dollars- BNL
49. Fuck Me Pumps- Amy Winehouse
50. Louisiana Saturday Night- Alabama
51. Sweet Tea- Cravin Melon
52. Tainted Love- The Cure
53. Beautiful Oblivion- Eve 6
54. Handlebars- Flobots
55. Silver and Cold- AFI
56. Hey Bartender- hed pe
57. Where The Blacktop Ends- Kenny Chesney
58. If You Steal My Sunshine- Len
59. Hella Good- No Doubt
60. Sex Type Thing- STP
61. Beat It- Michael Jackson
62. PunkBitch- 3oh!3
63. Morning Glory- Oasis
64. One- Korn
65. Just A Girl- No Doubt
66. Watermelon Crawl- Trace Adkins
67. Never Alone- Dropkick Murphy’s
68. Come As You Are- Nirvana
69. I Like To Cuss- Rehab
70. Welcome to Paradise- Greenday
71. Do It For Me Now- Angles & Airwaves
72. Empty Apartment- Yellowcard
73. Black Friday Rule- Flogging Molly
74. Vietnam War Song- CCR
75. Short Skirt, Long Jacket- Cake
76. Won’t Back Down- Tom Petty
77. The Dope Show- Marilyn Manson
78. Baby You Save Me- Kenny Chesney
79. Nookie- Lomp Bizkit
80. Head Like A Hole- NIN
81. Why Don’t You GetiA Job- The Offspring
82. Wait and Bleed- Slipknot
83. Starstrukk- 3oh!3
84. By The Way- RHCP
85. Plush- STP
86. Heaven Is A Halfpipe- OPM
87. The chemicals Between Us- Bush
88. Yellow Ledbetter- Pearl Jam
89. About An Hour Ago- O.A.R.
90. MakeDamnSure- Taking Back Sunday
91. I Woke Up In A Car- Something Corporate
92. Summertime- Lost Boyz
93. Drop The Bombshell- Powerman 5000
94. Brackish- Kittie
95. Beast of Burden- The Rolling Stones
96. Hemorrhage- Fuel
97. Chairlift- Bruises
98. Sandpaper & Silk- Hawthorn Heights
99. Sex Is Violent- Janes Addiction
100. Love Me Dead- Ludo
101. Hey Girl- O.A.R.

. <3,

-Hey Waitress!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Quick notes from Sunday’s baking… I made these as a special request. A friend of my husband had a birthday last week. As a (slightly) belated birthday gift, I offered him whatever baked good he wanted. He picked chocolate peanut butter cookies.

• I found a version of this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website, and a reviewer said that they where too crunchy! The original recipe used 1/2 c granulated sugar, 1/2 c brown sugar, and NO corn syrup. She suggested removing the granulated sugar and adding extra brown sugar & the corn syrup. I’m glad I did!
• I also doubled the recipe and made 6 doz instead (also by request).
• The batter (dough?) was super soft, so I put it in the fridge for about 30 minutes. It helped.
• It was also pretty sticky, but I just kept a bowl of water on the side, and dampened my fingers a bit, before I flattened the cookies.
• I used M&M’s and mini peanut butter cups.
• I only baked for 7 minutes.

Super simple. This was the quickest Sunday baking I’ve had in weeks!

Also note- they’re alcohol free (also by request). I thought about using some whipped (flavored) vodka in place of the water…

 

Happy baking!

-Hey Waitress