Red Velvet Irish Cream Biscotti

I think it's safe to say that I never really start with "the basics". When I first made cupcakes, they weren't just chocolate or vanilla, they were Cinnamon Chocolate Churro (I think). Well today was my first time making biscotti and I didn't start with your traditional almond biscotti. No. I went with a Red Velvet Irish Cream version. Granted, this recipe is very easy, and I'm sure it doesn't compare to a true traditional biscotti, but it sounded delicious and it broadened my baking horizons.

The best part is.... it tastes delicious too. Red velvet is a flavor I actually don't care for much in cakes. All red velvet is is color. It's a cocoa cake (or cookie or biscotti or what have you) with some red food coloring. It comes from the chemical reaction between vinegar and buttermilk, and the acid properties really bringing out that red color. But it's a red chocolate cake. I sometimes feel like the color doesn't match the flavor. If you get a really vibrant red cake, you expect the flavors to be outstanding, but I find red velvet to be more often than not blander than other flavors. However, I feel it does well with the biscotti. Since biscotti is usually eaten with coffee (or in my case a cappuccino) I didn't want something extra sweet. I also knew the glaze would add a lot of sweetness, with a nice hint of tart from the cream cheese.

I'm definitely curious about making more types of biscotti. I chose this one to start with because it was easy and because I already had all of the ingredients in my kitchen. During this wonderful winter break I am on, we chose to have insulation blown into our house. That means that I have been home all day with an insulation crew drilling holes into my house and blowing in insulation.  The dogs were riled up for a while, but the noises from the crew pretty much scared them, so they cuddled up on the couch together for most of the day. That gave me some time to do some baking...well in between Lana constantly opening up the basement door and heading downstairs to hang out with the crew. For the recipe, I had just run out of the Bailey's Red Velvet Cupcake creamer. Seriously, I even use the brand of creamer the recipe called for. Though I didn't have Red Velvet, I did have Traditional Irish Cream and Mudslide. You can use any creamer or cream for the recipe.

Just try not to eat them all once they're done!

Red Velvet Irish Cream Bisotti
slightly adapted from Shugary Sweets

6 tbsp. butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 egg
3 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream creamer, or any flavor, or plain cream
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
red gel food coloring

For the glaze:
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1-3 tbsp. Bailey's Irish Cream creamer (depending on consistency you want)

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the cocoa powder, egg, and creamer and beat until combined. Add the flour, baking powder, and a few drops of red food coloring and mix until combined. Add as much food coloring as you would like; I added a couple of bigger drops for just a slight, slight tint.
3. Split the dough in half, and pat each half into a 9 x 2.5 inch rectangle on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. You will have 2 rectangles. Bake for 25 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and cut each rectangle into 9 even slices. Turn each slice on it's side and bake for 10 more minutes.
5. Remove from oven and turn each slice onto the opposite side and bake another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.
6. For the glaze: Whisk together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and creamer until smooth. Dip each biscotti slice into the glaze or spread the glaze onto each piece. Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips.

Caramel Coffee Fudge

I'm not much of a sweet-eater especially chocolate, so fudge isn't exactly my thing unless it's got some fun flavors. Well this one is great because there's no chocolate and it has two fun flavors. Let me start this by saying you should follow the actual directions for this. I couldn't find dulce de leche (didn't think to check the aisle that has all of the Mexican foods), so I substituted a caramel butterscotch sauce. It came out just fine, but the texture of the caramel layer is very, very sticky. Dulce de leche and caramel are not the same thing, so beware if you want to substitute like I did.

Here's a fun cooking lesson for today. You can make your own dulce de leche. It obviously takes more time than buying it, but it's cheaper. Who doesn't want to save a few pennies? Baking can be expensive, so saving a little extra dough (get it?!) never hurts. Here's one way to make your own:

You need:
1 can sweetened condensed milk
kosher salt
a baking dish
foil
a large roasting pan
water
an oven

1. Preheat oven to 425.
2. Pour 1 can of sweetened condensed milk into a baking dish and sprinkle with kosher salt. Cover tightly with foil.
3. Place the baking dish into the roasting pan and fill with water around it until it's about three quarters of the way up the side of the baking dish. This is what we call a water bath.
4. Bake for 60 to 90 minutes checking o it every half hour. Add more water if the water level drops. The dulce de leche is done when it's brown and caramel-looking.

Easy isn't it? How does this work? You basically just have to take the water out of the sweetened condensed milk, which just leaves the fat and sugar to caramelize. You can also do this using the stove top, microwave, or a crockpot.

I forgot to mention in my previous post about the Dark Chocolate Peppermint Oreo Fudge that I went to the grocery store 4 times in 2 days last week right before Christmas. I forgot the Fluff EVERY TIME, despite writing it on my list EVERY TIME. So, I went back to the store again, and then ended up getting the stomach bug so I couldn't even make the fudge after all, which is sad because this fudge is wonderful. Other than the chewier, stickier texture of the caramel layer, it was awesome. You can equally taste each layer when you eat it, and the chocolate drizzle just adds more flavor and more fun. I will definitely try this again (actually using dulce de leche) to see how the texture and flavor differs. If you choose to make it with caramel sauce like I did, be prepared to spend lots of time peeling it off the foil, because it makes the foil stick right to it.

Caramel Coffee Fudge
from Inside Bru Crew Life

For the caramel layer:
2 cups white chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
3/4 cups dulce de leche
1/2 cup marshmallow cream

For the coffee layer:
2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 tsp. hot water
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 cups white chocolate chips
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup marshmallow cream

For the chocolate drizzle:
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. shortening

1. Line an 8x8 baking dish with foil.
2. For the caramel layer melt the white chocolate and butter in  a saucepan over med-low heat and stir until melted. Stir in the dulce de leche until smooth. Stir in the marshmallow until smooth. Pour into the prepared dish and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
3. For the coffee layer, mix the coffee and hot water together until the coffee is dissolved. Mix the coffee into the sweetened condensed milk and set aside.
4. Melt the white chocolate and butter in saucepan over med-low heat until melted and combined. Mix in the sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Mix in the marshmallow until smooth. Pour over the caramel layer. Place in the refrigerator for 4 hours or longer.
5. For the chocolate drizzle, place the dark chocolate and shortening in a microwave safe bowl and heat 1 minute in the microwave. Heat for another 30 seconds if needed and mix together until creamy and smooth. Pour the chocolate into a piping bag or small plastic baggie and cut the tip or corner off. Drizzle over the entire block of fudge or drizzle over each individually cut piece (what I did).

*To cut the fudge, use a warm knife, it cuts much smoother.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Oreo Fudge

Today I was finally able to get around to making the fudge I was supposed to make on Christmas Eve.

Why didn't I make it on Christmas Eve, you say? Well, our household had a touch of the stomach bug. By touch I mean Dan and I were horribly sick for a few days, so making food wasn't a possibility. Dan was down Sunday until Tuesday around noon, and I was down Tuesday night until Thursday morning. Once Dan recovered he got to take over all cooking duties, making my cheesy potatoes and the chicken cordon bleu lasagna. I held off on the fudge. I don't think people would have wanted to sample my cooking, even when I was on the mend. Now that I am back in full force, I can finish all the cooking I didn't get to and more.

I highly recommend checking out the website this recipe of from. She is chock full of great, easy recipes, that are insanely delicious. I've made some basic fudge before that was okay at best. These two recipes I made today (the other recipe will be up soon!) are fun and soooo good. Maybe I shy away from fudge because it isn't an instant gratification dessert. You make it and then you have to wait for it to set. I prefer desserts you can get right into when they're done, I mean, who doesn't?!

You will need some Andes peppermint crunch chips, which are easier to find around the holidays. I happen to have 3 bags that I purchased a while back at the Christmas Tree Shop because they looked fun. When I came across this recipe and saw that I finally had a great use for some of them it was meant to be. I even had the mini candy cane Oreos at my local grocery store. This comes out with a great, smooth texture and the layers hold up well together, they don't try and separate when you cut them.

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Oreo Fudge
from Inside Bru Crew Life

For the dark chocolate layer:
1.5 cups dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup marshmallow cream (such as Fluff)
1/2 cup chopped mini peppermint Oreos

For the white chocolate layer:
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. butter
2 tbsp. marshmallow cream

For the peppermint layer:
3/4 cup Andes peppermint crunch chips
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp. butter
2 tbsp. marshmallow cream

36 mini peppermint Oreos

1. Line an 8x8 pan with foil.
2. In a saucepan over med-low heat, melt the dark chocolate, sweetened condensed milk and butter together and stir until smooth. All the marshmallow cream and stir until smooth. Quickly stir in the Oreo chunks and pour the mix into the prepared dish. Set aside.
3. For the white chocolate and peppermint layers, you will make both at the same time. In one saucepan over med-low heat, melt the white chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk and butter. In another saucepan over med-low heat, melt the Andes chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Stir both until smooth. Add the marshmallow cream to each and stir until smooth.
4. Spoon some of each over the dark chocolate layer, in any order. Swirl the two together with a butter knife to make the swirly design. Be sure only to go through the tops layer with the knife and not the dark chocolate layer.
5. Let set slightly, then place the mini Oreos on top, pushing into the top layer a bit.
6. Place in the refrigerator for 4 hours or more. Cut with a warm knife.

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes

Am I weird for liking the rainbow fruity flavored candy canes more than the peppermint flavored ones?

Don't get me wrong, I love mint. Especially chocolate and mint. Andes Mints. Peppermint Patties. Thin Mint Cookies. So, it's a no-brainer that I would make a chocolate peppermint cupcake for the holidays. I still need a bit more practice with my peppermint swirl frosting technique, but not so bad for my first time, right?

I like that these cakes have just enough of a hint of peppermint that it's not overwhelming. Peppermint extract is Really strong, so a little goes a long way. Trust me, I spilled an entire bottle of it last year in my kitchen.

Mint for months...

I used a basic chocolate cake, filled it with chocolate peppermint ganache, and topped it with a peppermint buttercream. These were the simplest ones out of all my flavors, and a big hit as well.

Could use a little more red in some of these...

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
adapted from Glorious Treats

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (best quality available)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (best quality available)
1 cup boiling water

Peppermint Buttercream:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1/2 to 1 tsp. peppermint extract
2-3 tbsp cream or milk

Chocolate Peppermint ganache:
8 oz. baker's chocolate, broken into small pieces
1/2 cup whole milk or cream
1 tsp. peppermint extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 muffin pants with cupcakes liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed for one minute.
4. Stir in boiling water (the batter will be thin, don’t worry, this is right).
5. Fill liners 2/3 full with batter. I used my glass mixing cup with the spout to help pour the batter.
6. Bake cupcakes for approximately 22-24 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack before frosting.
7. For the ganache (make while the cupcakes cool): Heat the milk or cream in the microwave in 30 second intervals until scalding. Pour over the chocolate pieces and let sit for 5 minutes. Add the peppermint extract and whisk with a fork until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Let sit to thicken up a bit.
8. Once the cupcakes have cooled, cut a hole in the middle of each one and fill with ganache.
9. For the frosting, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and beat. Add the extract and beat once more. To adjust the consistency, add milk or cream, one tablespoon at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
10. Pipe onto cupcakes and serve!

**To get the red swirl in your frosting you need
red gel food coloring
toothpicks
piping bag and frosting tip

1. Set up a piping bag with the tip you're going to use.
2. Dip a toothpick into the frosting and make vertical lines down the sides of the piping bag. If you need more food coloring, dip a NEW toothpick into the gel, do not dip a used toothpick into it.
3. Load the bag with frosting and pipe as usual.
4. When you need to add more frosting to the bag, repeat the process of making food coloring "stripes" down the bag.

"Winter Whiteout" Cupcakes

Onto holiday flavor #3. The first two batches I made were Carrot Cake and Gingerbread. It was more of an undertaking than I had estimated, but I think everyone was happy with the results of the baking spree. From what I heard, coworkers were hoarding cupcakes, trying to take one of each flavor and stash them in their classrooms. I'll take that as a compliment!

These "Winter Whiteout" cakes are made from a vanilla bean cake, topped with a whipped white chocolate mascarpone cream frosting. They didn't come out exactly as I had hoped, but I know why, so I can fix that in the future. My tip to you, if you're going to make the frosting with white chocolate, is to use melted baking chocolate, and not your leftover candy melts white chocolate. The candy melts hardened (which I don't know why I didn't foresee that coming), and put little flecks of white chocolate in the frosting. Everyone liked them, but the bigger flecks don't exactly fit through the frosting tip....so, I had to repeatedly, dislodge chunks of white chocolate from my frosting tips. Using baking chocolate will help it be smoother and really mix everything together. I also added coconut snowballs as a decoration on the top, which I added into the directions below. This frosting is nice and light compared to the cream cheese and buttercream frostings I used for my other flavors. I also learned a trick I should use for more of my cupcakes. Spraying the liners with a bit of cooking spray or bakers spray. Sometimes the cake sticks to the liners. I almost skipped this step for these but figured they might be the "sticky" kind, so went with it, and they peel perfectly out of the liners.

A package of all four flavors I made

"Winter Whiteout" Cupcakes
adapted from My Recipes

Vanilla bean cake:

1/2 cup butter, softened 

1 cup shortening 

2 cups sugar 

4 large eggs 

2 3/4 cups all-purpose soft-wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 cup buttermilk

1 to 2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

Paper baking cups

Vegetable cooking spray 

For the mascarpone frosting:

1 cup whipping cream 

12 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened

1 cup powdered sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1/8 teaspoon salt 

1/4 cup melted white chocolate, cooled

For the snowballs:

24 Lindt white chocolate truffles, unwrapped

1 container of white chocolate candy melts that can go straight into the microwave

1.5 cups shredded sweetened coconut

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 muffin tins with cupcake liners. Spray each liner lightly with cooking spray or baker's spray.

2. Prepare the snowballs so they have time to set. Melt your candy melts according the package directions. Using a toothpick to hold the truffle, dip the truffle into the melted white chocolate and then roll into the coconut coating the truffle. Place on a piece of wax paper to call and set. Repeat with all 24.

3. Beat butter and shortening at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition.

4. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla bean paste.

5. Spoon batter into cups, filling about two-thirds full.Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks, and cool completely. 

6. To prepare frosting, beat cream at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Beat mascarpone, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt, and white chocolate in a large bowl at medium speed with mixer until blended. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture until blended. 

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramel Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting

And we're on to flavor 2 of 4 for my Christmas baking spree. The first was Carrot Cake Cupcakes. Does anything scream "Christmas!" more than gingerbread? As I was making these, I realized that almost every flavor I had chosen to make called for a cream cheese frosting. I used the cream cheese for this one, but changed it for my Chocolate Peppermint cupcakes I made after.

Deciding to bake 4 batches of cupcakes in one day is a lofty goal. Granted, I was able to bake 2 sets of cakes last night, but I still had 2 more to bake today and to frost all four. Not to mention, I didn't just choose standard cupcakes with plain frosting. No. My cupcakes needed chocolate ganache filling, or white chocolate coconut snowballs, or mini gingerbread men, or little carrots made out of frosting. I don't always choose easy recipes when I should...

It was all worth it in the end, but after a few hours in the kitchen, and dropping a box with 3 cupcakes in it, my frustration began to kick in. I powered through and got them all done, all while cleaning my kitchen 3 times, and cleaning my electric mixer bowls a total of 7 times between batter and frosting batches. I also could not find gingerbread dough or mini gingerbread men cookies in the store. I was certainly not about to bake a batch of cookies, I settled on glazed molasses cookies that I used my mini gingerbread man cookie cutter on to make them into what I needed. I also made a makeshift, quick, homemade caramel sauce with these. Not as good as taking the time to really make a caramel sauce, but it worked for what I needed.

A little sneak peek at some other flavors...

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Caramel Molasses Cream Cheese Frosting
frosting from Life, Love & Sugar, cake from McCormick's

2.5 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting:
1 block cream cheese
2 sticks salted butter, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp. molasses
1-2 tbsp. milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. For the Gingerbread Cupcakes, mix flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and baking soda in medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Beat butter, brown sugar and molasses in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended and smooth. Add eggs; beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with boiling water, beating on low speed after each addition. Spoon batter into 24 paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup 2/3 full.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely.
4. For the frosting: Place 1 stick of butter and brown sugar in a microwave safe bowl and cook for 30 second intervals, mixing in between for 2 minutes. Mix until the sugar mostly dissolves.
5. Beat the remaining butters and cream cheese together until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, mixing between additions. Add the caramel slowly and beat. Add the molasses and milk and beat until everything is combined and a desired consistency. To make it thicker, add more sugar, to make it thinner, add more milk.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

'Tis the season to be baking....

I have finally settled after 6 hours in the kitchen today and 2 last night to make some Christmas goodies. That doesn't include the actual cooking I need to do for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I am happy to say that I am done shopping already as well. This may be the first year that I won't be shopping on Christmas Eve.

The first set of cupcakes I made (out of 4), were carrot cake cupcakes. I debated between using a recipe I had found and the one I used for my carrot cake cheesecake. The cheesecake version uses pineapple in it, which keeps it super moist and gives it a really great sweetness. I decided to use the newer recipe, which uses applesauce to keep the cake moist. I've used applesauce in many of my cake recipes and it definitely makes a difference. I used a simple cream cheese frosting and then colored some canned vanilla frosting for the decorations. They came out great! I even got to use my new mini food processor to shred the carrots. So, so, so much easier than grating them by hand.

To make the carrot decoration I used two Wilton tips, both the same tip just slightly different sizes. I'm going to be lazy and not go dig them back out of my tip bucket, but I'll post a picture of the tip to use for it.



I wish I had colored some of the cream cheese frosting to use, which was a little firmer than the canned frosting, but I didn't want to waste what I had already colored. They came out just fine in the end.

The original recipe makes 12, so I doubled it. Below you'll find what I used to make 24 cupcakes.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
from Cooking Classy

2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

3 cups very finely shredded carrots (from about 7-8 medium carrots)

1 and 1/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

4 large eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup chopped pecans

 

For the frosting:

1 block cream cheese, softened

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

6 tbsp. salted butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

 

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 muffin pans with liners.

2.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg for 30 seconds, set aside.

3.Shred carrots as directed in notes below, set aside.

4. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together granulated sugar and brown sugar, then add eggs and using an electric hand mixer, blend mixture on low speed 30 seconds, until slightly pale.

5. Mix in applesauce and vanilla extract. With mixer running on low speed, slowly pour in vegetable oil and mix until combined, then mix 20 seconds longer.

6. Mix in half of the dry ingredients, then pour the shredded carrots into the bowl with the remaining flour mixture and toss in flour mixture to coat carrots (they'll clump together a bit but that's fine). Pour carrot mixture into the batter and blend until evenly combined.

7. Pour batter into paper-lined muffin cups, filling each cup about 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean, about 19 - 21 minutes. Cool in muffin tin several minutes then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

8. For the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter together until fluffy. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time and beat. Mix in vanilla and beat to combine.

9. Frost the cupcakes as desired. I frosted mine, rolled the edges in chopped pecans, and then decorated the top with carrots.

 

 

Now I just need to post my other three recipes: Gingerbread Cupcakes, Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes, and Winter Whiteout Cupcakes.