Chocolate Pretzels

Love the mix of sweet and salty - I made these for Christmas goody bags and I think they were my favorite!!! So easy and so mmmmmmm!!

Christmas

I haven't posted on my blog for too long!! The last few weeks have been crazy busy and I had no time or energy to take photos :(



But I am back :) and with cupcakes too!! :)


I was in charge of dessert on Christmas eve - made Martha's white cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes - mmmmm!!!


and I tried my hand with working with fondant... still have a lot to learn!!


For my first try, I think they are not too bad... they do look like Christmas trees, no?!! ;)


Hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends!

Vacation is over

It's back to work tomorrow. The holidays are officially over and I will be back downtown tomorrow morning!!



I am not sure if the Place Ville Marie Christmas tree will be gone... but the snow is still missing from Montreal!

I know Christmas is over...

But this is the beautiful Christmas tree in Montreal Trust Shopping Centre. It is huge!

Christmas Carrot Cake

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We did - we spent it with family and had a great time!

Too bad my dear brother and his girlfriend were sick - they missed a great party on the 24th! My step-sister had asked for a carrot cake - so that's what she got!! Decided to add some m&ms to decorate!

This is one amazing carrot cake - DELICIOUS!!!

Carrot Cake
food.com
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 3/4 cups white sugar (used 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup vegetable oil (used Canola oil)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups shredded carrots

1 cup flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts (didn't use in case of allergies)

1 (8 ounce) cans crushed pineapple, drained

FROSTING

1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened (used 1/2 cup)

2 cups icing sugar (used 3 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2.Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; make a well in the center and add sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix with wooden spoon until smooth.

3. Stir in carrots, coconut, walnuts and pineapple. Pour into 9x13 inch pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Don't panic, the centre will sink a little.

4.Allow to cool; when cool, ice the cake. You can certainly use your favourite cream cheese frosting to ice this cake, but the one I've included is highly recommended (I usually leave the cake in the 13x9 pan and just ice the top).

5. To make the frosting: Cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth; add the icing sugar and beat until creamy.

White Chocolate Cranberry Loaf

I make these every Christmas to give in gift baskets. They are soooo good!!

I rarely use cake mixes, but I started making these when I started Weight Watchers (couldn't believe it was a WW recipe!)


White Chocolate Cranberry Loaf
1 (18 1/4 ounce) boxes white cake mix
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon orange rind
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Prepare 2 loaf pans with cooking spray.

Mix cake mix, flour, and orange peel.

Add egg, egg whites, water, orange juice, and applesauce.

Fold in white chocolate chips.

Fold in cranberries.

Spread batter evenly between the two pans. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
 

Nutella Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

I knew I wanted to bake some cookies with some Nutella in them.

When I saw this recipe - I loved the fact that there was Nutella AND chocolate in these cookies!

They were quite easy to prepare and they look delicious (didn't try those but they smelled heavenly!)

They went straight in the freezer before I started eating them all!
nutella-milk-chocolate-chip-cookies

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar (used about 1/2 cup)

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup nutella

2 cups milk chocolate chips (used 1 1/2 cups)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

Cream sugars and the butter in large bowl until smooth and light in color. Add the eggs one at a time. Add vanilla extract and Nutella.

Add the flour mixture on low speed 1/3 at a time until just mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.

On an ungreased baking sheet, place rounded balls of dough at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes until set but still soft. Let cool on a rack.

3 Day Baking Weekend

What a weekend! I had Friday off and I spent 3 days baking! I hadn't started my Christmas baking yet... next year - I will start in November!!


The first recipe I tried, I found on Two Peas NSBR board. Everyone was raving about these cookies. And I agree - they are delicious!! I just hope they freeze well :)


Cream Cheese Cookies
from BelleMagic from Twopeasinabucket

1 cup butter
1 sm pkg of Cream Cheese (3oz)
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and cream cheese . Slowly add sugar beat until fluffy
Beat in egg yolk, add flour and vanilla. Mix Well. Chill dough
For at least 1 hour. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place on greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 mins.

Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tablespoons milk
4 Tablespoons of butter
1 tsp. almond extract (get the real stuff not flavored imitation but extract)

ETA: I love almond flavoring so I add a dash to the cookie mix too. I use vanilla and almond in the cookie base the original recipe uses vanilla only.

After I made the frosting I made sure it was mixed really well and than I tasted it and I could have added a tad more milk or extract to taste but I can't remember. I held the cookies upside down and just dipped them in the frosting and the frosting gently settled as they sat there and firmed up. I did made sure they were cool when I frosted them so the frosting stayed on.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Made these cupcakes for Christmas. They were moist and so delicious!


The cream cheese frosting is to die for!


Made about 20 big cupcakes - would make 24 a bit smaller cupcakes


These red-velvet-cupcakes are from Martha Stewart, of course! :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes
(Martha Stewart)
2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted (didn't sift)
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar (used 1 1/4 cups)
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (used Canola oil)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (used low-fat milk with lemon juice)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cake flour, cocoa, and salt.

With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of buttermilk, and whisking well after each. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl (it will foam); add mixture to the batter, and mix on medium speed 10 seconds.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature before serving.





Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature (used low-fat)
1 pound (4 cups) confectioners' sugar, sifted
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and then vanilla; mix until smooth. Frosting can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; before using, bring to room temperature, and beat until smooth.

Blue Haired Santa Claus

Christmas eve - first time meeting a blue haired Santa Claus. I can understand why my youngest nephew was scared!!!

Tiny and Cute Cupcakes

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We did! Spend both Christmas eve and Christmas day with family, good food and lots of love and laughs!





I was in charge of bringing dessert at my sister's Friday night - and when I saw these - I knew my niece and nephews would love them!! colorful-cupcake-poppers.  My fave part of these were the icing in between - DELICIOUS!!



Cupcakes

1 box Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
Water, vegetable oil and egg whites called for on cake mix box
1/4 teaspoon each gel or liquid food colors (neon pink, neon purple, neon orange, neon green, classic blue)

Frosting
1 1/2 cups marshmallow creme
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
Gel or liquid food colors (neon pink, neon purple, neon orange, neon green, classic blue) (didn't tint the frosting)

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 60 mini muffin cups. Make cake batter as directed on box. Divide batter among 5 small bowls, about 3/4 cup each. Make 5 different colors of batter by adding 1/4 teaspoon food color to each bowl; blend well.
 
Fill each muffin cup with 1 level measuring tablespoon batter, making 12 cupcakes of each color.
 
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely, about 10 minutes.

In large bowl, beat marshmallow creme and butter with electric mixer on medium speed until blended. Beat in powdered sugar until fluffy. Divide frosting among 5 small bowls, about 1/3 cup each. Using the same 5 food colors, lightly tint frosting in each bowl to match the cupcake colors.
 
Assemble each popper using 2 mini cupcakes. Cut tops off each cupcake horizontally (save bottoms for another use - I used the bottom parts too!). Spread or pipe about 1 tablespoon frosting on cut side of 1 cupcake top. Form a sandwich by placing cut side of second cupcake top on frosting; press lightly. Repeat with remaining cupcake tops. Store loosely covered.

Christmas Tree

I didn't make a Christmas tree at home - but we've got one in the lobby of our office!  It's huge and so beautiful!





My favorite part are the teddy bears - so cute!