hello hello s'mores

Why yes, it's summer now.  How that happened, I have no idea.  But anyway, it is summer so it is s'more season!  And I've been all about them this year.  

But sometimes you aren't by a grill (i know, that's ridiculous, it's SUMMER!) Don't despair. you can have s'more dip anytime!

I saw the ridiculously easy dip here and decided to make it for game night following the hot cocoa party when i had all these leftover marshmallows.  Yes, the hot cocoa party was in January and that is when I kicked off s'more season...

S'more Dip

Preheat the oven to 450.
Grab a pyrex and grease it with a little canola oil.

Fill with a bag of chocolate chips and top with marshmallows.  I used the jumbo ones so I cut them in half.

Bake until golden brown & gooey.  Mine took longer (probably because of the jumbo size), about 15 minutes, but smaller ones may go faster.

Serve with graham crackers and enjoy!

Yes, it is delicious. Enjoy!

xoxo

rant/rave: finally

Ok, I'm about to lay out some serious #firstworldproblems.  

I love toffee, so of course I love chocolate with pieces of toffee in it.  But I also love chocolate, so I of course much prefer dark to milk.

But do you know how hard it is to find dark chocolate with toffee pieces???

I know, I warned you it was ridiculous. But seriously.  I had just about decided it didn't exist, until...

I found this in the grocery store hidden in the candy section I usually try to avoid:

So frigging excited, obvi.

xoxo

cupcake anyone?

When shopping for supplies for the holiday party, Ashley and I came across this in TJs:

Yes that is a giant chocolate peppermint cupcake. With bark on top.

Happy Holidays

xoxo

Rant/Rave: Mug Cake

I saw this on pinterest earlier this week. I had come home from school and was procrastinating work.  I had just finished dinner but had no dessert (ridiculous I know). I had wanted to try a mug cake since they have been all over pinterest lately and I decided it was time. 

The recipe (from babble, see above link) was simple enough:

Salted Caramel Mug Cake

4 tablespoons all purpose flour

4 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 egg – beaten

3 tablespoons skim milk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 salted caramels

--

1. Into a small bowl add: flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, salt, egg, milk, and vegetable oil. Mix to combine.

2. Pour mixture into a regular sized coffee mug. Drop caramels into center of mixture one at a time.

3. Microwave on high for one minute and 30 seconds. If needed {if cake batter is still gooey}, microwave on high for up to an additional 30 seconds.

--

So I gathered the ingredients

Mixed up the dry ones

Added the wet ones (I added vanilla, obvi)

Poured it into the mug, along with some chocolate chips (another addition)

And then some salted caramel sauce from TJ's (that stuff is pure heaven fyi)

I followed the directions like a good girl and 'baked' it in the microwave

All of the above looks and sounds delicious, no? 

So why the rant? Because it's crap. Utter crap. Disgusting terribleness. The simple truth of the matter is that you cannot have your cake and eat it to...if the cake you desire is to be quick and delicious. 

Nope. This cake is certainly quick, easy to make too. But it is far from delicious.  

First off it cooks in a mug in a microwave. Think about what happens when you reheat something in the microwave: the top gets warm while the middle is still cold. Now let's apply this to cake: the top cooks quickly the middle still gooey. So what do you do? Cook it a little more. 

And then what do you have: overcooked cake.  

The flavor is off too, slightly burnt but also bitter, like the baking powder didn't fully cook. And the texture is the worst - rubbery. Finally, the concept is off: a mug's worth of cake is actually a lot of cake, probably like two proper slices, not a single serving like you would suspect. 

The whole thing is bad news bears. Try if you like, maybe you'll have better luck, 

but I have settled on the simple truth: you can't rush a good baked good. 

They are one of life's small joys so take the time to make one properly, and you will be rewarded.

xoxo

cupcake contest?

Ashbash and I had discussed entering a cupcake contest in Chapel Hill...we planned our cupcakes, we even made our test batches... But then school started, I moved, and we realized we didn't care enough.  But I did bring the 'test' batch to the Julia Child's Birthday Party, and they were a huge success.

So what are we talking about here? Oh just a chocolate cupcake, with a caramel filling, and lavender frosting, um yeah, delicious. Let's get started:

The Cupcake

1. Ingredients: 3 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped, 1 cup flour, 1/2 t baking powder, 1/2 t baking soda, 1/4 t salt, 2 T cocoa powder, 1 T ground espresso, 1/2 c butter at room temp, 1 1/4 c sugar, 2 eggs, 1 t vanilla, 1/2 c sour cream, 1/2 c milk

2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and set aside. 

3. In a stand-mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 2 minutes.

4. Add in the chocolate, eggs, sour cream, and vanilla, beat until creamy

 5. Combine the dry ingredients

6. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk

 

7. Drop batter into muffin tins and bake for 22 minutes.

*You will have batter for more than 12 cupcakes.  You have some options: you can throw it away (pathetic), you can make some more cupcakes (possible), or you can pull out a small baking dish and make a mini cake... (duh)

 

 

The Filling?

So, I was going to make a fancy caramel filling, but then I got lazy, so instead I melted down some TJs chocolate-covered caramels, yup still damn good.  Once the cupcakes are cooled, scope out less than an inch of the cake. Pour the filling in each cupcake and let chill while you make the frosting.  If you did a neat job you can put the tops back on the cupcakes but you don't have to. 

The Frosting

1. Take some milk, 1/2 a cup, bring into a light boil, turn off the heat and drop in 1 t of dried lavender. Let steep for 10 minutes.

2. In your stand mixer add the drained milk and a stick of room temperature butter. Then slowly add 2 cups of powdered sugar.  Add purple food coloring if desired and top your cupcakes!

The finished product:

Delicious, but the lavender flavor gets overwhelmed when you eat it all together...

Oh Arkansassy!

I recently got to spend a few days in Little Rock with my Arkansas team and it was of course a wonderful time filled with my wonderful people and delicious food.
I of course had to go to my favorite brunch spot, b-side.  Seriously people, it may be my favorite place to get brunch in the country.  I force myself to get something different every time I go and I'm never disappointed.  I went basic this time with the traditional breakfast - eggs, bacon, toast, gouda grits. Yes gouda grits, they are so friggin' good it should be illegal.  Did I mention the $3 mimosas? Yeah, I love this place.

I also got to enjoy some items that really you can only justify while on vacation...in the south. Items like, buffalo chicken dip and a bacon cheeseburger topped with a fried egg...

During these fine few days I also had a take on my summer fancy.  Any gin cocktail that combines cucumber, mint, and lime will do.  It is an amazingly refreshing combo that never disappoints.  This one was called the effin good martini, and it was.

Finally there was the absolute ridiculousness that was dessert.  We ordered key lime pie and a flourless chocolate cake topped with ganache, blue bell, and whipped cream.  Now the piece of pie in the picture was a standard slice of pie to help show how absolutely massive the chocolate cake was.  And it was every bit as delicious as it looks.  Now Arkansas holds a good piece of my heart, but I worry I can't ever live there again or else I'll blow up like a hot air balloon...