TWD – Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

Third time’s a charm.

I can’t tell you hooow many times I’ve heard this simple phrase and paid it no mind, gave it no attention, practically ignored it. No more.

I’m a changed gal. And I have these cookies to thank.

First batch: set timer for 12 minutes. Didn’t look done, tacked on another two. Crunchy, hard cookies.  

Second batch: set timer for 10 minutes. Still didn’t look done, tacked on another two. Slightly overly crunchy cookies.   (

Third batch: set timer for 10 minutes. Decided I was taking them out to see what would happen. DEEEEELISH soft and chewy cookies.  :D

Third time was a charm. Oh man, were these delicious. I ate a third of the batch by myself, made some into yummy ice cream sandwiches, and shared the rest with co-workers. They are all gone now and I’m left with one regret:

That I didn’t bake more. ( Or share less ;D )

These scream HOLIDAYS and beg to be put in that goodie bag or care package. They beg to be shared over hot tea and good conversation.  

For the recipe, head over to Pam at Cookies With Boys and for pointers and tips, go here.

More pics.

I’m on Twitter!!

I feel so technologically advanced!!

I haven’t quiiiite gotten the hang of this Twitter business just yet, but I’d like to add all my readers and bake-along(ers) to my Twitter.

So, send me a shout (whmsicalcupcake) or leave me a comment with your Twitter username and I’ll follow you.

In a totally non-stalker way.

SMS – Butter Toffee… Er…. Crunch

A very wise woman once said to me “You really get like 30 seconds between undercooked and burned with candy.” Which made me question WHYYY I had to be just two seconds early to the party?

Party, being crunchy toffee. As I’m sure you’ve already gathered.

That’s right, another oopsy in my kitchen. That’s what I get for casting a magic spell on my meat thermometer and trying to turn it into a candy thermometer. WHICH, in my defense, I’m sure would have worked out just fine….. IF the temperature didn’t stop at 190 degrees. *thud* Way to do my homework.

BUT, I WILL be making this again. Without a doubt. Why? Well, regardless of the aforementioned and lask-luster crunch (it was somewhat soft to the bite) the flavor was PHENOMENAL!!

The fiance even liked it. Is this thing on? *taps microphone* THE FIANCE LIKED IT!! This….. is huge people. One for the books.

I halved the recipe and it yielded about 3/4 of a standard cookie sheet and changed nothing else. It was my first time, I wanted to play it safe.

My favorite part of making this was chopping away at my 10 lb bar of Guittard chocolate and the amazement that followed due to the chocolate slivers melting as SOON as they touched my hands. I really should get a picture of this next time.

“I’m the chocolate monster. Arraarrrr grrrr…” *wiggles fingers childishly*

Ok. I’m done. Scout’s honor.

You want this recipe. Trust me. Visit Kaitlin at Kait’s Plate.

TWD – Cran Apple Crisps

I think I have a secret apparent love affair with all desserts with funny names. For those of you who need examples:

Crisp

Crumble

Fool

Grunt

Buckle

Slump… Get the picture??

Each incorporates fruits and makes them practically irresistible to me.  Now if only I can invent a fruit dish and call it a “Whoopsy” I think my life would be complete!!

So naturally I was all smiles and sunshine when it came time to make this weeks TWD recipe. I didn’t change much about the recipe: I doubled the cinnamon and subbed the ginger for nutmeg, added some cinnamon to the cran-apple filling, and added chopped almonds to the crumble topping. And boy, let me tell you… this was GOOD!!

I don’t think I have ever fully appreciated the cranberry in anything except juice UNTIL NOW! I’m a changed woman. Changed I say.

Their tart tanginess dances beautifully with the sweet apples and crunchy-nutty-aromatic crumble topping.

My only regret? Not having vanilla ice cream to top it off with.

You KNOW you want the recipe, so head on over to Em at The Repressed Pastry Chef and take a gander at her delish goodies.

SMS – Pear Cranberry Muffins

NOTE: my flickr account is being a pain in the *cough* so for now, because I’m out of time… for pictures… visit my Flickr account! And will SOMEONE please tell me how I’m supposed to transfer my pics from flickr to my blog? Thanks!

There is one phrase that I tend to save for something big, so it will make a big impact when I use it.

DOUBLE WHAMMY!!

And that’s exactly what these muffins are. Easy to make (see: throw together) and deeeeeelicious (see: yum).

The base for these is the exact same that I used for the peach muffins, but those were a disaster compared to these. They were very dense and just lacked in texture and flavor. I needed to alter these to make ‘em work for me because pears…. and cranberries?? Hello, lover!

I halved the recipe, omitted the orange zest (I didn’t have any on hand, but I WILL throw this in next time), omitted the gingersnap crumble (to cut down on cost, but will consider next time),  substituted half of the butter for unsweetened applesauce (and added roughly 1/2 tsp more), I added cinnamon (I want to say 1/2 TBS but I can’t recall exactly, I just threw it in) and I used 2% milk in place of the whole milk. My pears weren’t ripe (which made for a nice crunchy texture), cranberries frozen solid, and my milk and egg weren’t at room temperature. Threw it all together, and was blessed with the most tender, moist, flavorful muffins that have ever come out of my oven! This is a keeper, a keeper I tell ya!!

Because I know you’ll want the recipe, head on over to Jennifer’s blog Maple N’ Cornbread. Oogle her goodies and nab that recipe

TWD rewind: Cottage Cheese Pufflets

I feel like I’m running on empty! I feel so scatter-brained and all over the place. Maybe it’s because my head is racing with thoughts of sugar plums and decorating for Christmas, the upcoming anniversary, thanksgiving, baking, and lots of stuff I no longer feel necessary to bore you to death with. You’re welcome

I didn’t make this weeks Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake, although I would have LOVED to, I just couldn’t remember to pick up the missing ingredients, and even if I WOULD have, I managed to break my hand mixer. If you want the recipe for this weeks goodie, Head on over to Katya’s blog.

Instead I’ll post a TWD recipe that I missed posting about a while back. I made 3 variations as far as fillings go: apricot, raspberry and Nutella. Although I am a HUGE fan of Nutella, the apricot ones were my favorite!!

If I remember right, the dough was a pain in the patella!! But I clearly recall enjoying these in all their jammy glory. A note of caution though, eat/serve them the day/night you make these. The texture of the dough changes over-night.

The recipe can be found here. Enjoy!!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Let me start off this post by saying “thank you Tracey!” If it weren’t for that delectable picture of that slice of cake and ice cream, I never (and I repeat NEVER) would have made this cake. Oh I’m ALL FOR chocolate… but zucchini…. in a cake?! “What the…..“

And I would have continued to wander the world with a sad soul full of regret. This cake is AWESOME!!

I originally made it for my future mother-in-law’s birthday, and I figured if its got zucchini in it, its a bit healthier than a normal chocolate cake, no? Don’t argue with my logic, just nod and smile.

It’s what gets my fiance through

Back to the cake: it’s moist, oh BOY is it moist! It’s chocolatey with a perfect crumb. It was easy to put together. It even uses stuff that you probably already have in your pantry right now. It can be adjusted to make anything from cupcakes to bundt cakes.

Have I sold you yet? Or do I need to go shout it from the mountain tops?

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
Adapted from King Arthur Flour (as seen on Tracey’s Culinary Adventures)

1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups (12 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (4 ounces) sour cream or yogurt (I used sour cream)
2 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (2 1/4 ounce) Dutch-process cocoa
2 teaspoons espresso powder (optional, I omitted)
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 10″ zucchini, about 12 ounces)
1/2 cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips

Raspberry Glaze
3/4 cup raspberry preserves (can be substituted for any flavor you like)
2 tablespoons water

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 F. Lighlty grease a 9″ x 13″ pan. (I made this in a bundt pan and used Pam for baking)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the eggs.

Stir in the sour cream or yogurt alternately with the flour. Then add the cocoa and espresso powder, mixing until smooth. Finally, fold in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan (it will be thick). Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set (took roughly 40 minutes in my bundt pan). Slide the cake out of the oven and cool on a rack.

While your cake is cooling, put the raspberry preserves and water in a small pot over medium-high heat and whisk until it begins to bubble. Turn down a bit and whisk for 3 minutes. Strain the glaze (unless you don’t mind the seeds, in which case you can skip this step) and pour liberally over your cake.

You can dust with powdered sugar, frost with chocolate buttercream, glaze with chocolate ganache, top with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream, or leave it completely plain. The possibilities really are endless.

SMS – Devil’s Food Cake

**Sorry for the photo, flickr is being weird!**

First things first: please remind me to NEVER make a mini muffin/cupcake ever again.

Make me promise, make me sign it in blood, I don’t care.  Please? Just save me.

This cake is the devil. Its moist and springy and chocolatey and delicious and every bit as devilish as the name promises. To my hips. Because I can’t stop popping the tiny, adorable little cupcakes into my mouth.

Thank goodness I skipped out on the frosting or I’d be in serious trouble! But these didn’t need it, in my opinion. As I said, moist… yummy… the works. But for curiousity’s sake I miiiiight make it one day. But not today. My hips are in enough trouble as it is.

This is definitely a show stopper. Make this as a birthday cake for that chocoholic lover in your life and I swear you’ll get whatever you want, at least while they are taking the first bite

If you’d like the recipe, head on over to see Holly of Phe/MOM/enon and see how the other bakers did, as I’m sure they added frosting

There goes another one

TWD – Sweet Potato Biscuits (erm, cookies)

This will be a short(er) post than normal. I don’t have much to say regarding these biscuits. In a few words…

They didn’t rise.

SO I decided to market them as soft sweet potato cookies. I told the story and offered them to my coworkers and they were well received!! So,

I think my biscuits went south because I used a glass cup to cut the biscuits rather than a sharp biscuit cutter. I must remember to invest in some of those!

So, lessons I’ve learned:

* Don’t over-handle the dough. Stop JUST BEFORE you think its done.
* I need to invest in biscuit cutters AND a pastry cutter.
* Check the expiration date of your baking powder/soda BEFORE you bake.
* I must make these again. Simply because they tasted so good (and because I had tons of fun mashing up the sweet potatoes!)

For the recipe please visit Erin’s blog Prudence Pennywise and oogle her delicious goodies!! And for a better visual of these biscuits, visit the TWD blogroll!

TWD – Allspice Crumb (ptth) Muffins

Is there a muffin god? Because if there is… s/he doesn’t like me.

Is there a crumb god? Because if there is… s/he doesn’t like me.

My muffins came out dry as a bone and the crumb just melted into a mass of brown sugar gloppyness. To be fair, the dryness was my fault. I must have left them in too long or measured a bit too much flour. THAT, I can live with.

But the crumb? what. the. hell?! Twice, this is TWICE now that my brown sugar crumble didn’t stay crumbly!! WHAT AM I DOING WRONG??

On the plus side, I think the baking gods winced a bit at the face I made and the loud bang as I pulled out the muffin pan and threw it on my stove top. I hope I scared ‘em into submission because this is just… ridiculous!

The flavor of these is amazing. I added cinnamon (naturally) and I doubled the recipe because this was SUPPOSED to be breakfast for all of us that were moving the next day. 12 big muffins for after dinner dessert at the future mother-in-law’s house and 24 mini ones for breakfast. It was all so perfect. Or so I thought. I didn’t even have the heart to ask anyone to try one.

They weren’t horrible, I was just upset and pouting about my crumble.

If any of you have any trouble shooting pointers for my crumble… please, Please, PLEASE(!) send ‘em my way. I need them. For my sanity. And by proxy, yours as well

For now my dear sweet crumble…. I bid you…

PPPPPTTTTTHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

If you would like the recipe and a glimpse of what these are supposed to look like, visit Kayte at Grandma’s Kitchen table and oogle her other delicious goodies!!