The Best Brownies I've Ever Made

A few months ago I was really craving brownies, and wanted to find a recipe that I would fall in love with. Now, I haven't always had the best of luck making brownies, in fact I have always overcooked them because I didn't exactly know when I should take them out of the oven, I didn't want them to be undercooked so I would just leave them in the oven until it was just too late. So, after many years of failed attempts to find the perfect recipe I came upon a recipe that sounded like I could possibly nail, and I did. I've never been so proud to have passed that hurdle, and now I know I will be making some more any time I crave them because they were actually not very hard to make as long as you read all the instructions. 
These brownies are not only moist and soft, but are topped with a chocolate ganache that just adds the perfect amount of chocolatey yumminess to this recipe. Just thinking about them makes my mouth water. If you're ready to learn how to make these then just keep on reading.

Ingredients:
3/4 c All Purpose Flour
3/4 c Unsweetened Natural Cocoa Powder
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Instant Espresso Powder
3/4 c Unsalted Butter, melted
3/4 c Granulated Sugar
3/4 c Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 c Milk
Ganache:
1/2 c Heavy Cream
1 1/2 c Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease 9x13 inch pan with baking spray and lay some parchment. Set aside.
Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and espresso in a bowl and set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and eggs.
Then, add the eggs milk and vanilla extract.
Add dry ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.
Pour batter into the pan and bake for 20 minutes.
Once it has baked let it cool completely.

For ganache:
Heat up heavy cream in microwave or saucepan and pour into chocolate chips. Set aside.
After a couple minutes, whisk to melt chocolate completely.
Pour ganache over the brownies and let the ganache set. I put it in the refrigerator to produce a denser brownie.
After it has set it is ready to cut and eat.

I hope you enjoy these brownies as much as I enjoyed them, and have enjoyed sharing the recipe with you.

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

It has been a while since I've wrote a post on this blog, and I am very glad that I decided to start posting on here again. I had stopped because I got a little discouraged and also I was attending culinary school, working, and being part of a dance company. As you can see life happened, and I just didn't have the time to make posts. I'm happy to announce that I am done with culinary school, and I have learned so much. I am now ready to show you all what I have learned, and show you my creations as well as help you create them. 

Last year for Valentine's Day I decided I wanted to make a little bit of money so I decided to make a flyer, and sell some cupcakes to my friends and family. I thought since it would be Valentine's day, and everyone seems to like my cupcakes I could sell them for less than most cupcakes out there, and get many orders. Well, I may have bit more than I could chew at that time because it was a lot of work and I didn't sell as much as I thought I would. Also, I had so many cupcakes leftover that I had to give some away. Now, you may ask why did I make so many? Why didn't I take orders ahead of time? Well, I did. The problem was that I decided that for each package I would make 6 different flavor cupcakes with 6 different frostings so that each cupcake was different. I only got 5 orders therefore, I had so many cupcakes and not enough orders. It was a good learning experience because I learned that if I want to make that much work for myself I need to be able to get more orders. I still had a lot of fun making them so it was not all for nothing. 

Now that you have read all of my life story, if you want to see the cupcakes that I made and maybe give you an idea for some cupcakes you can make for your sweetie this Valentine's Day then here is a little description of each one and a photo to go along with it.

 Top: Chocolate Chip Cupcake with Chocolate Whipped Topping and Topped with Chocolate Chips, Pink Velvet Cupcake with Whipped Topping and Topped with Pink Pearl Sprinkles, Vanilla Cupcake with Pink Vanilla Buttercream Frosting and Topped with White Pearl Sprinkles
Bottom: Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting and Topped with Red Heart Sprinkles, Red Velvet Cupcake with Cream Cheese Frosting and Topped with Red and White Sprinkles, Cookies and Cream Cupcake with Cookies and Cream Whipped Topping and Topped with an Oreo Cookie

 I put them in a cupcake container with 6 cavities

I wrapped the box with a cute red and white ribbon bow

These are my orders for Valentine's Day and the two red boxes are cookies which will be my next post.

I really hope you liked this post, and continue to read my baking journey.

Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas

This week is teacher appreciation week and I thought I would share what I made. These are just some ideas that you can make for Teachers Day or Back to School. They are really cute and fun to make so you can show the teacher in your life how much you appreciate them.

Apple Cupcakes:

Apple Cake Pops:

Turkey Cookies

If you love sugar cookies and turkeys then you have come to the right place. Not only are these cookies delicious, but they are extremely cute and very easy to make. The kids can even help with the decorations. If you want to know how to make them then keep reading.

What you need:
Sugar cookie ( you can either buy the dough that is already ready or make some from scratch) if you need a recipe for sugar cookies here is the link to my recipe:
Edible Eyeballs
Candy Corn
Orange Candy Melts

How to:
Bake cookies
Melt the candy melts
Get five candy corns and use the candy melts to stick them to the cookies. These will work as the feathers.
Stick the eyes to the middle of the cookies
Draw a beak with the candy melt. Just draw a horizontal line and then draw a vertical line and with a toothpick make a triangle.
Done
Wasn't that easy? I told you. Now enjoy your cookies, your family and your holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving

Final Result:

Churro Cupcakes

If you like churros then you'll love these cupcakes. They are fluffy with the right amount of cinnamon. I decided to make these and top them with a few sprinkles to bring out the fall season. If you're interested in how I made these then keep on reading.

Ingredients:

For Cupcakes:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk

Cinnamon Sugar Crunchy Topping:
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Makes 34-36 cupcakes

Directions:

Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
Line standard muffin ins with paper liners
Whisk together both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until fluffy
Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated
Beat in vanilla
Reduce speed to low
Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each
Fill each cupcake liner to three-quarters full
Bake 20 minutes
Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes

Cinnamon Sugar Crunchy Topping:
In a small bowl melt butter
In another small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon
When cupcakes are completely cooled brush melted butter on the tops and dip into the cinnamon sugar mixture

Final Look:

Strawberry Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Strawberry Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 2/3 Cups Cake Flour
3/4 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
3/4 Cup + 2 Tbsp. Granulated Sugar
1 Egg
2 Egg Whites
1 Cup Strawberry Puree
1/4 Cup Buttermilk
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Servings: 12 Cupcakes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit
Sift cake flour into a mixing bowl then add baking powder, baking soda, and salt, whisk 20 seconds and set aside. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy (occasionally stop and scrape down bowl throughout entire mixing process if not using a paddle attachment that constantly scrapes bowl). Mix in egg then mix in egg whites one at a time. In liquid measuring cup used to measure buttermilk, whisk together the buttermilk, 1 cup strawberry puree and the vanilla extract. Working in three separate batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, add 1/3 of the flour mixture (to the butter mixture) alternating with half of the buttermilk mixture and mixing just until combined after each addition. Divide batter among 12 paper lined muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full (nearly 1/3 cup in each). Bake in preheated oven 20 - 23 minutes until toothpick inserted into center of cupcake comes out clean. Allow to cool in muffin tin several minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
12 oz. Cream Cheese
4 oz. Butter 
1/2 Tablespoon Vanilla
10 oz. Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Lemon Juice 
1 tsp. Lemon Zest

Servings: Frosts 12 Cupcakes

Directions: 
Room temperature cream cheese and butter
Whip butter, cream cheese, vanilla, lemon zest, and lemon juice for 5 minutes
Add powdered sugar and whip another 5 minutes

2.     

Bunny Cupcakes

If you love cupcakes and you love bunnies then these cupcakes are perfect for you. I took these for a potluck at work and they were a hit. Hope you enjoy.

Materials:
Cupcake Liners
Cake mix
White Frosting

Marshmallows
Pink Sprinkles
Pink Icing
Black Gel Pen
Mini Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Bake cupcakes and let them cool.
Take some white frosting and cover each cupcake

Take the marshmallows and cut them diagonally.

On the sticky side add some pink sprinkles. They should stick automatically

Add the mini chocolate chips as eyes.











Draw a pink nose with the pink icing
Make the mouth with black gel pen

Add the ears

Final Result: