supreme bars: cookie brownies

i've been a bit under the weather the past couple of days but i start to go a little stir crazy if i haven't baked anything for a few days. however, being on vicodin and soma limits what i am able to/should do in the kitchen. i decided tonight was the perfect night to make that betty crocker cookie brownie mix i bought a while back. it just looks so tasty!

i may have screwed up putting the cookie dough into the brownie batter but i don't care. maybe i was supposed to push it down in the batter instead of just plopping it on the top? i don't know, the directions weren't very clear but nothing burned and it all tastes great and that's really all i'm concerned about. 

this would be very easy to make from scratch as well, i imagine. just make your favorite brownie batter, spread it in a pan, and put in teaspoons of your favorite cookie dough. although, i think the cookie dough in this mix must be engineered in some way not to burn because it has to bake for a very long time and most cookies would be burnt to a crisp after being in the oven for 50 minutes. 

chocolate monkey cake

today was my nephew's curious george themed party so i experimented with this cake. i used peanut butter frosting instead of the caramel frosting the tutorial called for. i just love chocolate and peanut butter together so it was a no brainer. also, i think i might have used a slightly larger cake pan because the image of cutting a cupcake in half for the ears seemed ridiculous. he's a monkey, he should have big ears! so, i used a cupcake for each ear. i knew from previous experience that my peanut butter frosting doesn't spread too well but i think it still turned out somewhat cute. nels sure liked it!

it looks like my decorating skills still need some work though. 

birthday cupcakes

today is my nephew's 3rd birthday and we're throwing him a curious george themed party. i decided since george is a monkey and monkeys like bananas that i would make my banana "pudding" cupcakes. i couldn't find curious george cupcake liners so instead i went with solid red and blue and dyed the frosting bright yellow.

someone got a special treat after his bath last night. don't worry, we shared it. he mostly wanted to eat the icing off anyway. 

also, i had to make cupcakes for a thing at work yesterday and since i left early i left my cupcake carrier there since not everyone had gotten a cupcake yet. so i was forced to buy this adorable carrier that i've literally been lusting after for weeks. every time i go to the grocery store i walk by and stare at it longingly and now i finally have it!

stay tuned to see how this went! 

mimosa cupcakes

i've been wanting to make these mimosa cupcakes for a couple of months now and i finally have a reason to. my good friend sarah is coming to town from LA and i gave her a list of recipes i've been wanting to try and she picked mimosa. i don't blame her. after reading the comments on the recipe, though, i decided that i needed to spruce these up a lot so that i (and everyone else) wouldn't be disappointed. i used blood orange juice instead of regular orange juice and right after taking the cupcakes out of the oven i poked holes in each one and brushed champagne on. the reason for the blood orange juice is that it is a more subtle flavor than regular orange juice. i didn't want these to just taste like orange cupcakes. the brushed champagne was to add another layer of champagne flavor in case what was in the batter baked out. 

i completely scratched the frosting recipe they have and made a raspberry blood orange buttercream. i used the wilton buttercream recipe as a base but added a lot more powdered sugar, omitted the vanilla and milk, and put in blood orange juice and fresh raspberry sauce (purchased at central market because i'm too lazy/busy to make my own) to taste. the extra powdered sugar was to make it taste less buttery and also stiffen it up because i put a lot more liquid in it than was called for. the decision to use raspberry was based on the fact that it's tart and after the complaints about this being too sweet, i wanted something to cut that sweetness. 

anyway, on with the pictures, right?

cheap champagne and not so cheap blood orange juice

did i mention these were minis? they're minis!

the finished product, complete with gold dust on top

i had enough batter left over to make this mini cake, or giant cupcake, for my dad. the decorating is a bit sloppy but luckily papi doesn't care :) 

stored in the fridge, waiting for happy hour tomorrow!

fashionable baking?

"fashionable" is not a word i would ever use to describe myself, and certainly not in the kitchen. i normally bake in my pjs. pretty classy, eh? i've been wanting a cute apron and a couple of my friends gave me gift cards to paper source and i finally found time to swing by there on friday afternoon. check out my beautiful purchases!

now i just need a kitten to carry around in the huge pockets in that apron. they're seriously so big, it's incredible! 

next i think i need this roll-up tote bag to carry around my kitten when it becomes a cat. haha!