Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes With Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting!

These are definitely in my top three list of favorite cupcakes to make! My go-to recipe comes from Brown Eyed Baker's blog and it is easy and delicious (I do not use the whiskey ganache, however).

Although I would categorize these cupcakes as an 'autumn' recipe, nothing stops me from whipping up a batch in summertime.

Guinness stout, melted butter, and rich dark chocolate come together to form a moist cake that is not too dense and certainly not too sweet. Whipped Bailey's Irish cream and cream cheese make a frosting that is to die for. I highly recommend these!

Chocolate Cupcakes With Nutella Cream Cheese Frosting!

Last week, we celebrated the birthday of a close family friend. Every year I ask her to tell me what she would like for her birthday dessert and this year she just said, CHOCOLATE! After asking a few more questions to establish preference of frosting, I knew it was time to incorporate Nutella somewhere into my standard chocolate cupcake.

The result was beautiful - the frosting is perfectly chocolatey but not sickly sweet, and the cake came out moist and rich.

Frosting recipe can be found here!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins!

Hearty and healthy pumpkin chocolate chip muffins! Recipe courtesy of Joy of Baking.

Guiness Cupcakes with Bailey's Frosting!

These were made in honor of a special Irish-American friend's birthday - Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting! I adapted the recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, essentially just removing the whiskey ganache filling part. I topped the frosting with a dark chocolate espresso bean. Yum!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom's birthday cupcake request this year was a bit odd - she requested chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's frosting. Nothing wrong with that combo (nice one Mom!), but it was a bit out of character for my fruit-loving, booze-shunning mamma. Regardless, the birthday girl had it her way!

Espresso Chocolate Cupcakes with Pink Bailey's Buttercream (rosette themed)!

Chocolate Kahlua Cupcakes!

For a very special co-worker birthday, I made chocolate Kahlua cupcakes. The batter contained Kahlua and so did the cream cheesey buttercream, and both came out fabulous! I topped each one with a milk chocolate-covered pretzel for garnish. Yum! Why are boozy cupcakes the best?!

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Caramel Frosting!

I didn't even know that Bailey's came in caramel-flavor, but once I made this happy discovery (quite accidentally), I knew it needed to be incorporated in frosting, and soon. I decided to make a super chocolatey cake and top with a chocolate buttercream frosting with plenty of Bailey's caramel. Topped with a dark chocolate chip!

Starbucks Inspired!

I made these mocha macchiato cupcakes with butterscotch drizzle for a co-worker's going away party back in May. I did not use a frosting tip, and was pleased with the thick swirl result. I used a bottle of butterscotch topping for ice cream as a drizzle, much like Starbucks would over a freshly made latte. Yum!

Banana Chocolate Cupcakes!

Is there anything better than baking on a rainy day? I am going to a pool house party with some friends tomorrow and wanted to bring something baked ... the verdict ended up being these banana chocolate cupcakes I had seen on Pinterest last week. I topped the cupcakes with a banana chip for garnish. I like these because they are not too sweet and the banana flavor really comes through. The chocolate frosting is light and fluffy and only lightly sweetened.

Recipe courtesy of Feast on the Cheap.

Pink Velvet Cheesecake Cupcakes!

I made these cute pink velvet cheesecake cupcakes for a lovely co-worker birthday last week. Unfortunately the cheesecake part came out more red then pink velvet, but I compensated by making a hot pink vanilla buttercream topped with white sugar pearls for an elegant finish. I used confetti oreos for the crust!

Recipe courtesy of Cares Bakery.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In honor of all things Irish, this year I made Guiness chocolate cupcakes with Bailey's cream cheese frosting. Recipe courtesy of Annie's Eats. Any dark stout complements chocolate so perfectly in a cupcake, and I was just as happy with the flavor of these as I was back on Halloween, when I made Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes. Yum!

Chocolate Cupcakes With Peanut Butter Frosting!

One of my girls at work recently left, and I wanted to go all out for her 'goodbye cupcakes'. I bought some new frosting tips and finally, finally made a rose design with frosting! I was so happy and it was ridiculously easy - I just never had the right tip! (It's Wilton 1M by the way). The recipe for the cupcake and frosting are both courtesy of Barefoot Contessa over at Food Network.

I was very interested in making a peanut butter frosting after one of my girlfriends mentioned it to me in passing, and I was so pleased with the result. This is definitely in my top 3 of frostings! The peanut butter whips up beautifully with butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla. It pipes wonderfully, and together with the moist chocolate cake - delicious! I garnished the cupcakes with some cute little pink heart picks (thanks Michael's post-Valentine's Day sale) and drizzled melted dark chocolate on a few.

Happy Anniversary!

Christmas was very special this year. Not only was it the first one for my boyfriend and I as living together, but it was also our official one year anniversary. We didn't really celebrate on the day since we were with both of our families, but I decided to surprise him with a romantic dinner a few days later. I feel like I haven't been in the kitchen, cooking a meal in ages. Between my busy busy job and school, I have not had the time, nor made the time, for about two months. It felt so good to grocery shop in WholeFoods and come home and be a little housewife. I decided to keep it simple, with fresh flavors. I had some lovely tilapia filets, and I baked them in foil with diced cherry tomatoes, chopped garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, lemon slices, salt, and pepper. To serve alongside, I decided to oven roast four different types of veggies and not serve a rice or pasta side. I diced butternut squash, yellow squash, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms and roasted them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic powder. Everything came out fresh, delicious, and so healthy! I also made a simple chocolate mousse, using heavy whipping cream and melted Ghiardelli dark chocolate, to be served with raspberries. Yum!

Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes! 1

In honor of a friend's Halloween party tonight, I baked up some Pumpkin Ale Cupcakes, recipe courtesy of My Baking Addiction! I haven't baked with beer before, and I was very happy with the result! Even though there is an entire bottle of beer (12 oz) in the cupcakes, what you taste is an enhanced, deeper chocolate flavor. The only change I made was to the frosting, instead of using all butter, I added cream cheese and sour cream, along with a bit more of the pumpkin ale, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. I topped them with little candied pumpkins I picked up at the Fresh Market! I was very pleased with these turned out, as I was naturally wary of using such an odd ingredient in cupcake-making, however they are both tasty and festive!

Crispy Chocolate Cookies!

Yesterday I was in a cookie-baking mood. I'd previously made two cookie recipes from Joy the Baker, her Cappuccino Cookies and her Dark Choc & Pistachio Cookies, both fabulous, but I decided to try a mash-up version of both recipes, and add a special ingredient. Instead of simple espresso powder, I ground up dark chocolate-covered espresso beans into powder, and used that instead. The power of espresso bean and chocolate really brought home those flavors. I used a little more sugar, and baked the cookies for a bit longer so that they really flattened and crisped up. Beforehand, I made sure to stop at Homegoods to stock up on vanilla extract and a cute new spatula!

What goes great with deeply chocolatey and coffee-flavored cookies? A full-bodied red of course! The man and I tried a new one, The Velvet Devil, from Washington State! Love the name and loved the taste :)

Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen: Manic Monday Party #13

New Marketplaces!

I have been on a hunt for fresh new stores to expand my grocery shopping beyond our local chain, Publix. Last week I started going to The Fresh Market, which I would describe as a mini, more organized version of Whole Foods. I've only been to Whole Foods a handful of times and my impression is always the same - too big, too expensive, and too chaotic. Quite frankly, one doesn't need ten different types of quinoa. The Fresh Market seems to be in it's own category. Although relatively small, the selection of fresh produce, proteins, wine, and imported products is spectacular. I spent about an hour last week browsing all the aisles, and I was pleasantly surprised to find many Italian or Swiss food products common to my college years.

I ended up buying two pieces of bourbon glazed salmon, chicken breast wrapped around ricotta and spinach and covered in breadcrumbs, haricots verts, and baby bella mushrooms for dinner. I can't take too much credit with this picture - my boyfriend took over once I unpacked my groceries! Yum :)

I also baked some basic chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting (topped with rainbow sprinkles) for my attorney's little girl's birthday - but I made sure to use my favorite chocolate cake recipe which always includes a healthy serving of sour cream, the key ingredient to keeping any chocolate cake rich and moist :)

This past weekend, I made my way to two well-known, New York-style farmer's markets, one called The Boys and the other, aptly named The Girls. The Boys is small but fully stocked with a lovely bakery, cheese, wine, fruit, veggie, protein, and ready-prepared food sections. I had every intention of coming home with a bag bursting with freshly ripe berries, broccoli florets, and whatever else my little veggie/fruit loving heart desired ... however I made a beeline for the wine selection and came home staggering with bottles of Chianti, Merlot, and Marsala. (Fairly typical.) I also bought some lovely linzer cookies with apricot in the middle, but I got a little too excited and forgot to snap a pic. Here is just one section of the bakery side.

Vino!

The Girls was a smaller, more country-type store, with various knicknacks, every flavor of fresh ice cream imaginable, and mile-long shelves of every jam and jelly in existence. I'm not kidding - there was even a homemade fig-jalapeno jelly on stock.

I also had the best strawberry milkshake of my life at The Girls, which is locally known for offering people to pick their own strawberries (sadly not in season on my visit), so their main menu features strawberry milkshakes, strawberry shortcakes, and strawberry ice cream - all homemade with natural ingredients and a comforting lack of preservatives or artificial ingredients, something that seems to be all too prevalent in everyday groceries.

I was in a Mexican mood for dinner over the weekend, so I purchased the usual suspects;  ground beef, sour cream, corn, refried beans, shredded cheese (Mexican 4-cheese blend) corn tortillas, and fresh limes to make one of my favorite recipes - tostadas. I have made them before (here) and my basic recipe comes from Gimme Some Oven, but I generally tweak it each time, depending on the ingredients at hand. In the case of this past weekend, the avocados I had bought were not ripe in time, so I substituted corn to add a sweet element amidst the salt and crunch of the other components.

Delicious! I love how crunchy the tortillas get when baked in the oven, both sides doused with a healthy serving of extra-virgin olive oil. Topping it with enchilada sauce-soaked ground beef, sweet corn kernels, dollops of creamy sour cream, melty cheese, and smooth refried beans - yum! These are filling and so quick to put together whenever you have a Mexican craving.

Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes!

Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting are such a classic and elegant combo. My favorite color is red and I love the flavors of light chocolate and sweet cream cheese, so it's always fun to whip these up. The special occasion this time was that it was one of my new co-workers birthday, a very sweet girl. Her favorite color is purple so I dyed the frosting and topped with white pearl sprinkles. I used a recipe from Annie's Eats, and made two variations: I added espresso powder and substituted butter for vegetable oil, to make the cupcakes more rich. They were a big hit in the office! I always think the best form of praise is when someone is telling you how much they like your cupcake with their mouth full ;) Such a compliment!

Snickers Cupcakes!

Snickers Cupcakes .... take it in .... the idea is so gloriously chocolatey and decadent ... this is not a cupcake for the faint of heart! This is also not a cupcake to skimp on ... no 2% milk or low-fat sour cream on the menu!

The first time I made snickers cupcakes was in November of 2011 and they came out great! I was blown away by how much a cupcake could taste like a candy bar. I had seen the recipe on AmyBites, but she had gotten it from the always fabulous Annie's Eats. I decided to re-make them to bring them into my new job :)

I don't often stop in the middle of the baking process to snap a pic of cupcake batter, but this was a special exception. If you make these, it will be a serious challenge not to polish off a good size of this bowl, right at the moment .... it tastes JUST like snickers, but in heavenly cake batter form.

 YUM! :)

Bake-a-palooza!

Today is a big day - my last day at work (I start a new job next week) and it's also my boyfriend's mom's birthday. I want to go out with a bang, so I went over to Michael's and picked up some adorable colorful Chinese takeout-style boxes, and decided to bake cookies to give to my co-workers.

For my boyfriend's mom, I wanted to create a cake reminiscent of the famous Italian cookie, the rainbow cookie. To do this, I made three separate cake tiers, two vanilla layers and one almond-flavored layer, and colored one layer green and the other red. I sandwiched them with vanilla buttercream in between the layers, and then frosted the whole thing with more vanilla buttercream, and dusted the top with rainbow sprinkles. It's a departure from traditional rainbow cookies to use vanilla frosting (chocolate frosting is normally used) and the rainbow sprinkles were my addition as well (as a play on the name of the cookie).

Finally, the third baked good I made were gluten-free and HCG diet-friendly coconut macaroons. I had never made coconut macaroons before, and I wasn't really a fan of them to begin with, but this 3-ingredient recipe was surprisingly delicious! I will definitely be making them again - they are so easy to make.

Vanilla cake, batter recipe from Annie's Eats!

The dyed cake layers, stacked with vanilla buttercream, recipe also from Annie's Eats!

 

 Cake inspiration: Italian Rainbow Cookies!

Completely frosted and decorated!

Chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips and walnuts, recipe from All Recipes!

Coconut macaroons, from HCG Diet Recipes!

The finished product!