Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

Today is a very special day! It is on of my best friend and bridesmaid's birthday!  I celebrated with Tamara this weekend up in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin where we went out to a fabulous dinner and then had a good old-fashioned sleepover back at her place.  Tamara and I share a deep appreciation for cupcakes and so for her birthday I baked this outrageous Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes.  Everything is homemade!  I made yellow cake, homemade egg-less cookie dough, and dark chocolate frosting.  Check it out:

Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 eggs
For the cookie dough filling:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp skim milk
1 cup mini chocolate chips
For the frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 oz low-fat cream cheese
1 cup dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup skim milk
3-3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. To make the cupcakes, whisk dry ingredients together.  Beat in wet ingredients.  Pour into prepared cupcake pan with liners.  Bake at 350 for 15-17 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool.
2. To make the cookie dough filling,  beat the butter with the brown sugar.  Then, ad in the vanilla.  Then, add in the flour and salt until just combined.  Beat in the milk until you have a desired consistency one tablespoon at a time.  Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.  Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Then, core the cupcakes using a knife or cupcake corer and put the cookie dough inside.
3. To make the frosting, beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy.  Beat in the powdered sugar and then slowly add the milk and vanilla.  Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl on high, stirring after 30 seconds, until melted.  Beat in the chocolate.  Frost cooled cupcakes!

Enjoy :)

Two Tone Swirled Frosting: Graduation Cupcakes!

Today I am off to Champaign, Illinois for my little brother's graduation!

1. What? How is he already graduating?

2. OMG I think that means I am like officially done with college....I don't even have a sibling in it anymore!

3. Champaign is sort of the worst, but at least I get to go to college for the weekend :)

We have a ton of stuff planned because he has two different graduation ceremonies and a luncheon.  On top of that, we are going to some of his favorite places and I made these amazing cupcakes to enjoy after our dinner on Saturday.  These cupcakes are the perfect treat and a great idea for graduations! You can use the school's colors to make a festive treat and, I promise, it is really easy! 

Zack (the little brother) said his favorite cupcake flavor is chocolate.  So, I made some super simple chocolate cupcakes but then I frosted them like this:

How to do Two-Tone Frosting:

1. Make the frosting: I beat 1 1/2 cups of unsalted butter with 3 cups of powdered sugar and 1 tbsp of vanilla.  

2.  Divide the frosting into two bowls.

3. Color the frosting

4. Using two frosting bags, put the frosting into each bag (keep the colors seperate!).  Cut the ends off of each bag. 

5. Put the two bags into a third bag.  This third bag should have the end cut off and your frosting tip inside already. 

6. FROST!  Because the colors come through the frosting decorating tip at the same time they swirl as you frost the cupcakes!  Pretty cool right?

Enjoy :)  

Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes

Now there is a blog title to get excited about!  These brownies are crazy yummy and they were sort of an accident.

So, on Wednesday my students took a practice ACT during school.  This meant that I just proctored all day and I was able to go home early!  What a win!  Plus, the students did really well!  They started with an average of about 18 on the math section and now their average is above 20!  That is great growth!  I was super proud of them and I had extra time so I decided to bake something for my advisory.  I was also asked to bake for an upcoming Oscar party this weekend.  I figured I would just bake a double batch of something and have enough desserts for both events!

My students told me that they would like brownies or cheesecake.  I decided to just combine the two!  I started baking, but then I realized that I didn't have enough sugar!!! I was feeling super lazy and so instead of going out to buy more sugar, I decided to take a risk and use brown sugar instead.  My laziness ended up being a good thing since these brownies were super tasty and a huge hit!

Now, I am sitting in school and my students just had the brownies.  They loved them and there is only one left!  (Well, actually there is 13 left...I just kept 12 at home for that Oscar party I mentioned earlier).  These brownies are yummy and you should make them!

Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes

Ingredients:16 tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped
1 plus 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp espresso powder
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
8 oz light cream cheese
1 cup nonfat, plain greek yogurt
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp flour

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 and line your cupcake pan with liners.
2. In a small saucepan, place the butter and chopped chocolate.  Heat over medium-low, stirring constantly, until melted and combined.  Remove from heat.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and espresso powder.
4. In a large bowl, beat the sugars with the eggs and vanilla.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the cream cheese with the greek yogurt, sugar and flour until well combined.
6. Beat the chocolate mixture into the sugar/egg mixture until well combined.  Mix in the flour mixture until just combined.
7.  Place about 2 tbsp of brownie mixture into each cupcake well.  Place about 1 tbsp of cream cheese mixture on top.  Then place about 1 tsp of brownie mixture on top of the cream cheese.  Using a toothpick, swirl the cream cheese and brownie batter.
8.  Bake for 35-40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Cool.

Enjoy :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day! 

Every day is mother's day.  I mean, what would we do without mom's?  Literally, no one would exist!  My mom is pretty amazing and I just wanted to say, I love you!  Bri and I are planning on having brunch with my mommy today and then dinner with his mommy later.  It is going to be a really nice day!  

Here is a round-up of some of my mommy's favorite recipes that I have made in the past:

Oreo Coffee Ice Cream Cake

Skinny Mocha Cupcakes

Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

Crock Pot Honey Sesame Chicken

Chocolate Chip Banana Cupcakes with Creamy Peanut Butter Frosting

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread

I hope that all the mother's out there have a really great day!

Enjoy :)

Mini Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Peanut Butter Frosting

I have some pretty exciting news to share and it is not simply these gorgeous mini cupcakes!

Bri and I adopted a new kitty into our family!! Benny is now a big brother!  We found this amazing five-month old kitten through Hyde Park Cats and per a suggestion from our vet, we adopted him.  Benny has been a little hyperactive and crazy and we think its because he is young and we are not home very often.  So, we got a playmate for him!  Welcome to the family, Nigel!

And now, onto those cupcakes.  Mini cupcakes are pretty amazing plus they are a great way to celebrate our new little guy.  In fact, I have decided to eat healthy by only eating desserts that are mini or homemade.  Not sure this is considered a "diet," but at least it helps me focus on portion control without feeling like I'm really giving anything up.  And lets be honest, I don't think I can totally give up sweets.  I saw this recipe on How Sweet It Is and I simply adapted the cupcakes to include some slightly lighter ingredients and I made them mini which changes the baking time a bit.


Mini Brown Sugar Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Peanut Butter Frosting

Ingredients:
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup skim milk
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
Frosting:
4 oz low-fat cream cheese
1/2 cup natural, creamy peanut butter (I love Skippy)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
skim milk, if needed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 24 mini cupcake wells with cupcake liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar with unsalted butter.  Beat in the egg until well combined.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flours with the baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add 1/3 of this mixture to the wet ingredients and beat until just combined.  Add in about 1/2 of the milk and 1/2 tbsp of vanilla and beat to combine.  Repeat with the flour mixture, then the rest of the milk/vanilla and then end with the rest of the flour mixture.  Divide the batter into your cupcake pan so that each well is about 3/4 of the way full.
4. Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes.  Let cool completely.
5. To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and peanut butter in a bowl until smooth.  Beat in the sugars and vanilla until creamy.  Add in a few tsp of milk if your mixture is too thick.  Frost those cupcakes!

Enjoy :)

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Yesterday was the St. Patrick's Day celebration in Chicago.  It was also buddy, Lauren's, birthday and some of my best friends from college are in town as well! In fact, one of my friends is named Patrick so I was pretty pumped to celebrate St. Patty's day with my very own Patrick.  Last year, we went and saw the dyed green river and all of that so this year we decided to just hang out.

I started the day off with a nice 8 mile run outside!  I am so excited that spring weather is here and it no longer hurts to be outdoors.  It was fantastic.  After a much needed shower, my friends all got together and kicked off the day with green mimosas and cinnamon rolls!  We ended up hanging out on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather and it was just awesome.  After some pizza for lunch, we walked to a nearby Irish bar and saw some Irish step dancers.  This is something that I've always wanted to be able to do and I just can't figure out.  I mean, I am a decent dancer, but I just can't get my feet to do anything that resembles Irish step dancing and so I give those girls a lot of credit and I think it's crazy cool.  For dinner, we went to Cheesie's by the Belmont Red Line stop.  That place is so bad, but so good.  If you are ever in the area and respect a great grilled cheese sandwich, you have to go.  And then, we ended our night at Cesar's having some "killer" margaritas along with some delicious nachos.  Overall, it was a really fun day.  It's days like these where I am so grateful for the fantastic friends I have and the great city I live in.

Because it was the St. Patricks Day celebration and because it was a birthday celebration.  I decided to make Irish Car Bomb cupcakes.  I have tried a similar cupcake before and it was really yummy.  So, I wanted to make my own.  I was inspired by the Brown Eyed Baker and I made some adjustments to the recipe.  Here is what I came up with!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Cupcake:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup Guinness beer
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
2/3 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
Filling:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tsp Irish whiskey
2 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp Bailey's Irish Cream

Directions:
1. Make the cupcakes: preheat oven to 350 and line 24 cupcake wells with liners.  Or, if you want, I made 6 giant cupcakes in my silicon cupcake holders and 24 mini cupcakes in a mini cupcake pan.  Then, in a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder.  In a small saucepan, place butter, canola oil, Guinness, and cocoa powder.  Heat until butter melts and stir to combine.  Let cool while you beat the eggs and greek yogurt in a large bowl.  Beat in the chocolate mixture until well combined.  Beat in the flour mixture until just combined and fill your cupcake wells so that they are about 3/4 full.  For mini cupcakes, bake for about 12 minutes, for regular, bake for about 17 minutes, and for giant, bake for about 19 minutes.  Let cool completely.
2. Make the filling: chop the chocolate and place in a microwave safe bowl.  In a separate, microwave safe bowl, pour the cream and heat for about 30-45 seconds.  You want it to be warm, but not boiling.  Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir until the chocolate completely melts.  Stir in the whiskey and the butter and then let sit so that the ganache starts to set.
3. Make the frosting: beat the butter in a large bowl until it is light and fluffy.  Beat in the powdered sugar, about 1/2 cup at a time, until it is well combined.  Beat in the Bailey's and continue to beat until your frosting because light and fluffy.  Add in more powdered sugar as needed.
4. To assemble: using a knife or a cupcake corer, cut out the centers of your cupcakes.  Spoon in the ganache to fill the centers.  Then, using a piping bag or an offset spatula, frost your cupcakes.  Serve immediately, or store in the fridge in a container.  Before serving, let the cupcakes sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy :)

Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes

So yesterday I ran a marathon.  I can't believe I get to say that now!  I completed the Bank of American Chicago Marathon.  My toes really hurt right now, but I am so excited and proud of myself.  My finishing time was 4 hours and 37 minutes and I ran the entire time at about a 10 minute mile pace.  I walked through water stations and stopped for the bathroom, but other than that, I ran the entire freaking thing.  It was so cool.  If you want, check out my thoughts on this whole thing here: My First Marathon.

And here are some of the highlights from yesterday!

Ready to start!

13 miles in!

DONE! 

One refreshing beer...that I had 4 sips of

My running buddy Jana and our metals! 

I was so nervous going into this weekend, that I baked cupcakes for no reason at all.  I just needed something to do.  However, now I am really happy that I did because these Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes are super delicious and a well-deserved treat after the 26.2 miles I ran yesterday.  Make these delicious cupcakes for a yummy fall treat!

Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes (I call them Chumpkin Cupcakes)
adapted from (The Kitchn)

Ingredients:
Chai Syrup:
1 cup water
6 tbsp sugar
4 chai tea bags
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
Cake:
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp cloves
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp canola oil
4 eggs
3 tbsp chai syrup
1 tsp vanilla
15 oz pumpkin puree (plain)
Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp chai syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. To make the chai syrup:  Place water, sugar, spices, and tea bags in a medium saucepan.  Stir and bring to a rolling boil.  Lower heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until water is reduced and you have a syrup texture.  Remove tea bags and place syrup in a container.  Place in fridge until cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 and place cupcake liners in your cupcake pan.  I made regular cupcakes and mini cupcakes.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie spice, and cloves.  In a large bowl, place brown sugar, sugar, and canola oil.  Beat until well combined.  Beat in eggs, chai syrup, and vanilla.  Slowly add in the flour mixture until just combined.  Stir in the pumpkin puree until combined.
4. Fill cupcake wells about 2/3 full.  For regular cupcakes bake 20-23 and for mini cupcakes bake for 15-18 minutes.  An inserted toothpick should come out clean.  Let cool before frosting.
5. To make the frosting, beat butter until whipped and then beat in the powdered sugar, chai syrup and vanilla.  Beat until well combined and frost!

Enjoy :)

5 Courses to Celebrate 5 Years

August, 3rd: Bri and I had a really great year.  One year ago, we moved into our apartment and celebrated our 4-year anniversary.  Now, we have been living together for a year and are on year 5 of our relationship!  It has been really great and I am so appreciative for all the amazing times we have experienced together.  To celebrate year 5, I thought it would be cute to cook dinner together and have 5 courses in honor of 5 years.  We shared this amazing meal and watched a movie and it was a quiet and lovely anniversary.

Zucchini Soup

Strawberry Poppyseed Salad

Whole Wheat Gnocchi with Feta and Peas in a Brown Butter Balsamic Sauce

Toasty Parmesan Tomatoes

Creme Brûlée Cupcakes

Creme Brûlée Cupcakes

Creme Brûlée Cupcakes
(adapted from Cooking Classy)

Ingredients:
Pastry Cream Frosting:
1 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup skim milk
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt
4 egg yolks
3 tbsp cornstarch
8 tbsp sugar, divided
1 tbsp unsalted butter
Cupcake:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 + 2 tbsp sugar
2 egg whites
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup skim milk

Directions:
1. To make the pastry cream, in a medium saucepan, combine the cream, milk, 6 tbsp sugar, vanilla, and salt.  Heat over medium heat until you just start to see bubbles.  Turn heat to medium-low.  While cream is warming up, in a bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 2 tbsp of sugar and the cornstarch.  (Save 2 of the egg whites for the cupcake batter).  When cream mixture is warm, take about 1/2 cup and slowly pour it into the egg mixture while whisking.  Continue to whisk and pour the egg mixture into the cream mixture.  Whisk until cream thickens.  Turn off heat and whisk in the 1 tbsp of butter.  Pour pastry cream into a bowl and cover with saran wrap so that the saran wrap is pressed against the pastry cream.  Cool in fridge for 2-3 hours.
2. To make the cupcake batter, in a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  IN a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the egg whites and egg, one at a time, until well combined.  Measure out the milk in a liquid measure cup and stir the vanilla into the milk.  Alternate adding the flour and milk to the butter/sugar starting with the flour and ending with the flour.  Beat until just combined.  Divide batter into 6 jumbo or 12 regular cupcake wells.  Bake at 350 for about 23 minutes.  Let cool completely.
3. To assemble cupcakes, spread the pastry cream over the tops of the cupcakes.  Sprinkle sugar on top and, using a kitchen torch, burn the sugar until it just starts to brown and harden.

Enjoy :)

4th of July Cupcakes

Happy 4th of July! 

I made cupcakes :)

PB Crave: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

I have found the new perfect peanut butter.  Seriously, this stuff is amazing!  I was lucky to sample 4 different flavors of PB Crave and all of them were delicious!  Of course, being the chocoholic that I am, my favorites were their Cookie Nookie flavor and Choco Choco.

This peanut butter makes any recipe better! I made oatmeal peanut butter cookie cups, but I used Choco Choco flavor and it was amazing!  That hint of cocoa in the peanut butter cookie sent it way over the top.  The cookies were a hit and I fell in love with this peanut butter!  With the holidays ending, and the new year approaching, these cookies are a great way to celebrate or send some love to your friends and family!  When you are done with the cookies, you can then snack on that Cookie Nookie flavor with some pretzels, or my favorite, apple slices!  Head on over to PB Crave to check our all the amazing flavors and products!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup creamy, Choco Choco PB Crave
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flours, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch.
3. In another large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well combined.  Slowly, beat in the flour until just combined.
4.  Scoop cookie dough into a mini muffin pan so that each well is filled about 3/4 of the way up.  Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies have risen and just start to brown.

Enjoy :)

Foodie Friends Friday

This week, Foodie Friends Friday is back!  This week is a just a party so bring whatever you want! Just follow the rules and link up some recipes that are perfect for this party! Also, host favorites will be featured on Daily Dish!  This week I'm linking up Red Velvet Cupcakes, Funfetti Cupcakes, and Chocolate Chip Meringues.

Most Clicks:

1. Fluffy Biscuits

2. Hush Puppies

3. Pizza Dipping Sticks

And Host Favorites!

Welcome to Foodie Friends Friday!

Please take a moment to read through the rules before getting started, Thank You!

*By linking up you agree that you read these rules and all photos/recipes are original and belong to you. You agree to allow Foodie Friends Friday and any of it's affiliated websites or publications (Social Girls Media, LLC) to use photos, links, and recipes for reprint and/or republishing and distribution without monetary compensation to you. If photos & recipes are used, proper link backs to you will be included.

Adding Links back to Foodie Friends Friday and our Button is our only form of advertising to bring in more people to see YOUR recipes.

Please remember to do this. It benefits you! To thank you, we will continue to feature those with links throughout the year on various outlets.

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An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

22nd Birthday Celebration!

I don't know 'bout you...

Oh! So this is what T Swift has been talking about.  I totally know what it feels like to be 22 now :).

Today is my 22nd birthday! My mom keeps saying that she can't believe how old I am.  Frankly, I can't believe how old I am.  Bri gave me a really sweet card that talked about some of the things that have happened in the last year like running a half marathon, graduation, getting a job, and signing a lease on an apartment.  I can't believe I am old enough to be doing all that! I am so scared and excited about what the future holds and this birthday is a reminder of the fact that I am pretty sure I'm an adult now.

Last night, I had a really fun celebration with some of my friends downtown.  We went to RJ Grunts for dinner and then hit up a couple of bars in Lincoln Park.  It was a great night and we all had a really fun time!

Now, I am getting ready for a little birthday zumba with my mom and then grocery shopping for a birthday bbq!  We are having friends and family over tonight for a grill out and I am excited to keep the celebration going!  I also made my favorite desserts to share: Red Velvet Cupcakes and Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes.  I brought some of these in for my counselors at camp, made Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes for my campers, and now I have leftovers for today's party!

For the Red Velvet, I did the same recipe as the cake version, poured the batter into cupcake pans, and baked them for 12-18 minutes.  12 for the mini cupcakes and 18 for the big ones.  Then, I frosted them with my favorite cream cheese frosting:

16 oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
milk or half and half as needed

Simply beat together and frost!

For the Funfetti, I followed the exact same recipe as last year and they came out super delicious! The campers were raving!

Peanut Butter Nutella Swirled Mini Cheesecakes with Oreo Crust

I was proposed to by another math teacher because of these.  She said she was willing to leave her husband if it meant getting to eat these Peanut Butter Nutella Swirled Mini Cheesecakes with Oreo Crust.  They were pretty fantastic.

But first, I can't believe that tomorrow is my Half Marathon! I have been training for over 10 weeks now and it totally snuck up on me.  I feel pretty ready, but I am still nervous! I hope that the weather is nice and I am excited to run it with my friends, Lauren and Patrick.

I am also pretty darn excited about this long weekend.  These past few weeks of school have been pretty crazy.  I started teaching Pre-Calculus in addition to my Geometry block and two Algebra 2 blocks.  Having three preps is hectic and for a while I wasn't really sure of myself.  I couldn't keep all of my plans straight! However, now that I have gotten used to it, I feel much more confident and I am glad that I took on the challenge of teaching all of my cooperating teacher's classes because it has made me feel better prepared for next year.

Speaking of next year... I am going to have my own classroom! This is slowly sinking in and I keep getting nervous and excited about everything that goes with teaching.  I am so nervous for the first day and I keep running through what I want to say.  I am also nervous about having questions or being unsure of myself and NOT having a cooperating teacher there to help.  I am sure that once this all gets going it will be okay, but right now I feel like I have a million things on my mind! Any teachers out there with any words of wisdom about the first year?

And, back to the cheesecake.  Keeping up with cooking and baking while also trying to be the best teacher ever is difficult  but it keeps me happy! This dessert was super yummy and I shared with my teacher friends in the math department.  I was inspired by Chocolate Therapy and then got creative with the rest!

Peanut Butter Nutella Swirled Cheesecakes with Oreo Crust

Ingredients:
16 oreos
16 oz light cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp flour
2 eggs
1/4 cup nutella

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cupcake pan with 16 liners.
2. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with sugar until well combined.  Beat in the vanilla and peanut butter until smooth and creamy.  Sprinkle flour over the mixture and beat to combine.  Beat in eggs one at a time.  Scrape down sides and beat to combine.
3. Place an oreo in the bottom of each cupcake well.  Fill the cupcake to the top with your cheesecake batter.  Drop 1/2 tbsp of nutella on the top of each cupcake and, using a tooth pick, swirl.

4.  Bake for 20 minutes or until cheesecakes are no longer wobbly.  Let cool.  Serve same day or place in fridge overnight.

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream Frosting

It's time to celebrate! This weekend is all about graduation and I am enjoying every minute.

First, Bri and I have been in a long distance relationship all through college.  He has been in St. Louis and I've been up in Madison.  Last night, I flew from Madison to St. Louis because he is graduating today.  This also marks the END of our long distance!!! I am very excited to see what our future has in store!

After Bri's graduation  we are going to his favorite restaurant, The Fountain.  The food here is great, the drinks are fun and yummy, and the desserts are out-of-this-world amazing.  I'm pretty pumped.  Then, we have to pack up his apartment and drive back to Madison because I graduate tomorrow!

I am graduating with a degree in Secondary Math Education and I already have a job teaching high school math.  I am so excited and proud that this day has arrived.  Of course, I am also sad that things are going to change so much, but I am excited to see what life is going to be like now that I'm like a "real" grown-up.

So, lets celebrate! Today I have what is basically my favorite cupcake combo: Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream.  I adapted the cake recipe from Food and Wine and I used my yummy Mocha Frosting.  The cupcakes were perfect, the buttercream amazing, and I treated myself to one of these in honor of graduation.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Mocha Buttercream

Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup water
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 egg
pinch of salt
1/4 cup creme fraiche
1 tsp vanilla
For the Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3-4 cups powdered sugar
3 tsp espresso powder
3 tsp vanilla

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a cupcake pan so that you can make 16 cupcakes.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. In a saucepan over low heat, melt butter with canola oil and water.  Pour mixture into the dry ingredients and beat until just combined.  Beat in egg until well combined.  Beat in vanilla.  Stir in creme fraiche until just combined.
4. Fill cupcake wells about 2/3 full.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool before frosting.
5. To make the frosting, beat butter until light and fluffy.  Beat in sugar, 1/2 cup at a time until you have 3 cups.  Beat in espresso powder and vanilla.  Add more sugar for a desired consistency and taste.  Frost cupcakes!

Enjoy :)