The Eternal Optimist

This upside-down triple chocolate brownie pie turned out excellent, and it was pretty easy to make! I failed to take a photo of the finished product, though. (You take the above brownie baked into Oreo crust, flip it over and coat it with chocolate ganache.

This would also be easy to adapt by adding some fruit flavors or, as I hope to do next, ice cream! My plan is to use half the brownie mix, then fill in the top of the pie with ice cream before flipping it and adding the ganache. Yum!!!

 

To celebrate a pie-loving co-worker’s birthday in April, Katie and I made mini pies for work.

My contributions were these cute apple cup pies and some cinnamon bun pie pockets.

The apple pies were completely adorable. I had trouble getting the tops to attach well to the bottoms on a few, but otherwise, they were pretty easy.

I assembled the cinnamon bun pie pockets the night before, then baked them in the morning and added the drizzle once I got to work.

 

These treats are simple and delicious. You won’t be able to say no to s’more.

I made Bakergirl’s graham cracker s’mores candy to bring to work. I have a habit of doubling most recipes, so I doubled this one. (Exception: If it makes at least 24 cupcakes, I figure that’s as many as I can carry to work.) I think my co-workers will be happy for the added treats. Plus, I might eat almost half before they make it to work!

I improvised a bit, using the chocolate bars I had (not all Hershey’s), and I threw in some dark chocolate bar pieces with the milk chocolate. I didn’t measure the marshmallows but just split a bag between my two pans. I think I should have used a few more.

The recipe that killed my hand mixer earlier this week were these amazing malted rocky road brownie cupcakes from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. The mixer death was not at all the fault of the recipe; it was the result of an old and overused mixer finally getting up.

And the cupcakes are both delicious and fairly easy, so you should try them!

These are probably the easiest filled cupcakes I’ve made. The base is basically box brownie mix baked in a cupcake wrapper. The filling is pre-made (marshmallow cream), so it’s simple, and the denser brownie base is even easier to cut into without destroying the cupcake. I used a pastry bag to easily pipe the cream into the cupcakes, but you could cut a hole in the corner of a plastic zip-close bag for the same results.

If you really want to ease the burden, just use a can of frosting for the top. However, I highly recommend this delicious chocolate malt frosting in the recipe. And it’s quick and easy to make, so anyone could easily do it.

I skipped the almond bark pieces altogether to save time. Instead, I sprinkled some crushed sliced almonds on top of the marshmallow cream (under the frosting) and some more on top of the finished product.

 

I’m sad to report my hand mixer (which was previously my grandma’s) officially bit the dust tonight.

I had asked Santa for a new one because I kept fearing the motor would burn out or start sparking from overuse. (It isn’t really a heavy-duty mixer and I used it frequently.) But Santa brought me other toys instead, and I hadn’t gotten around to buying a new one yet.

It died doing what it loved: mixing yummy treats. And luckily I was just finishing my last batch of frosting as it went down. I ended up hand-whisking it at the end, which I don’t recommend. I doubt I’ll be able to lift my arm tomorrow. (How did people DO this before electricity?)

At least I still have my KitchenAid. But I will probably go online or to Target in the next day or two (if not tonight) and buy a replacement. I might suffer from withdrawal if I don’t have a mixer handy when I want it.

R.I.P.

I just planned out the next four treats I plan to make (three for work and one for a homebrewers meeting I’m going to this week). I am super-excited to bake and share these!

Tuesday was excellent. The weather reached 80 degrees, so it was still 70 when I got off work at 8 p.m. And I managed to complete a three-step cupcake in less than 2 1/2 hours!

Perhaps the second point sounds a bit crazy, but it’s true that many of the more complicated recipes I try make for long baking nights. (It doesn’t help that I don’t get home until almost 8:30 usually, and then I still have to eat dinner, too.)

What made Tuesday easier?

1. As soon as I got home, I scanned the entire recipe (cake, filling and frosting) and took out ingredients that needed to be at room temperature. (It helped that none of those ingredients were used in the cake portion of the project.)

2. I started mixing the frosting while the cupcakes were baking.

3. The recipe suggested using a squeeze bottle to insert the filling. (I only recently bought squeeze bottles, so now I can do this.) This was SOOOO much easier than inserting filling by cutting a hole in each cupcake. I plan to use the squeeze bottle method for every filling possible from now on. I’m guessing a few might be too thick for it to work, but it saved me tons of time.

4. I’ve now had a bit of practice with the decorating bags and tips, so I can dive right in without any hesitation.

So what did I make? A grown-up St. Patrick’s Day treat: Andes mint cupcakes from the blog Mel’s Kitchen Cafe. I tried one as I cleaned up, and it left my mouth minty fresh (and my stomach and taste buds satisfied).

My only complaint is that my frosting seemed a little grainy. It’s possible I didn’t mix it long enough, but I’m not sure. (I used the KitchenAid, so I just let it go for a bit while I gathered what I needed for the next step so I’m not really sure how long it was. Note: KitchenAid does NOT condone leaving your mixer while it’s on. However, I was in my minuscule kitchen so basically within arm’s reach the entire time.) The flavor is great, though!

 

Last weekend, I wrote a quick late-night post celebrating National Grammar Day.

That photo was of the cookies I brought to work to celebrate the holiday as well as a co-worker’s birthday. The whole project took many hours, but it was fun.

I used these letterpress cookie cutters that I bought a few months ago. Then I whipped up some royal icing for decorating. I tried to color it red, blue and yellow, but the “Christmas Red” Wilton food coloring just got brighter pink as I kept adding more. I finally gave up and stuck with bright pink. I ended up with a Technicolor trio of frostings.

I piped the yellow icing with a decorating bag and narrow tip, and I used squeeze bottles and additional water to thin the blue and pink to “flood” the letter imprints. I was pretty pleased with the results, though some letters turned out better than others. It also took a bit of time to finish the decorating. Next time I’ll have to start earlier in the day.