Saturday, January 17, 2009

More Baking...

I have really committed myself this year to learning new recipes, and baking and cooking more. I have always been curious, but never tried it, afraid I would fail.

What I have really been catching onto more than anything is baking/cooking is therapy for me. This week (and sadly this whole semester until I get a job) will be stressful. At least I have something to pour my anxious energy into.

Two of the recipes I found from another blog... Bakerella. (Thank you for these FUN and easy recipes!)

First, were these delicious brownie/chocolate chip bars. If you know my husband, or my family in the slightest you know that we LOVE chocolate. This recipe is a perfect combination of two great foods... brownies and chocolate chip cookies. The best part of this recipe is how easy it is... its simply from boxes!

Here is the recipe as posted by Bakerella. Super simple to make, and trust me... delicious!!

Here is my attempt...



The second menu item were peanut butter cheese cake bites. I found this recipe on the Food Network website, and LOVE them. I made a batch a week or so ago for "game night" and they did not last the weekend!

This time I made them in mini muffin pans rather than your standard muffin pan size. I like them better as smaller bite size. I cut the peanut butter cups in half to better fit in the pan...

Here they are...

Before adding the cheesecake mixture.

With the cheesecake mixture...

and the finished product...


I forgot to take pictures of the mini's.. but you get the idea.

Finally, I took a stab at these cupcake bites- also a bakerella recipe. Again, such a fun recipe! Here are some pictures from my attempt. I am really excited to share these with others!

I used a yellow cake mix instead of red velvet- because that is what I had on hand. My sister gladly crumbled the cake and mixed in the cream cheese frosting.


Next, into the almond bark.



And the candy melt toppers with some fun sprinkles.



How yummy does that look! Trust me, they tasted as great as they look.

And after literally hours of baking (oh, and a run for cream cheese frosting and Culver's), I had quite the mess on my hands!

Baking is great therapy!

3 comments:

Christine said...

I really wanted to make those brownies, but I didn't have any place to take them and I was afraid I would eat the entire pan by myself. How did they turn out? I can't imagine they weren't anything besides freaking delicious.

Your cupcake bites also look better than mine.

And next time you make Oreo balls, you should throw a glob of peanut butter in there. It's outrageously good.

Jen said...

They are absolutely delicious! I at least get to send them with Mike to school :)

The cupcake bites took some time. What did you use over the top- almond bark? I used candy melts which seemed a lot thicker than almond bark...

I will try the peanut butter thing...I have wondered if peanut butter would enhance or run the consistency. Did you put less cream cheese in then? Thanks for the tip! We should have a baking day together... I would love to learn some of your tips!

Christine said...

When I made the cupcake bites I used almond bark. The first few turned out okay but then it got kind of cold and lumpy. I bought a bag of candy melts but I've never used them.

I still used the same amount of cream cheese in them. They were a lot creamier in the middle, but they still rolled up fine. I stuck it in the fridge first so it would harden up a little though.

We should definitely have a baking day one of these weekends. That would be awesome!