s'mores cupcakes

Three things that you must know:

1)  I have never actually been camping before.

(Shame on me right?  That's what you get when you live on a berry farm in Summer)

2)  I have made s'mores in Winter by placing a marshmallow on a toothpick, and holding it over a candle.

3)  I definitely borrowed my Dad's blowtorch for these cupcakes since I don't have a proper kitchen one yet....and it just sounded way more exciting.

It's always fun when I get to experiment with something new in the kitchen....and using a blowtorch for these cupcakes was a hoot!  Haha.  Let's say there was quite a bit of squealing and giggling coming from the kitchen as Jordyn and I tested our torching skills!

These cupcakes were inspired by

call me cupcake

's

version

, although I used my own chocolate cake recipe!  You should definitely go check her website out!  Some of it is in Swedish, but she always has her recipes in English as well.  It's just so darling!

I'm in love with all of the textures these cupcakes have going on.  The crunchy/crumbly graham cracker crust (that will inevitably end up all over your lap), the fluffy chocolate cake, and finally the little dollop of toasted heaven on top!  So good.

S'mores Cupcakes

inspired by:

Linda Lomelino

Ingredients:

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp butter (melted)

1/2 cups Flour

1 cups Sugar

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1/3 cup Cocoa

1/2 TBSP Vanilla

1 TBSP Vinegar

1/3 cup Margarine (melted)

1 cups Warm Water

3 large egg whites

2/3 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

*thermometer (for measuring marshmallow frosting temperature)

Instructions:

1) Mix together graham cracker crumbs and melted butter.  (If crumbs seem too gooey or too dry, you can just add either a bit more crumbs or butter).

2)  Prepare a cupcake tin with paper liners.  Firmly press a couple teaspoons of crumb mixture into the bottom of 12 liners.

3)  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Set aside.

4)  In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients together.

5)  Pour wet ingredients over dry, and mix until combined.

6)  Pour cake batter into the 12 liners.

7)  Bake cupcakes for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely.

8)  Mix together egg whites and sugar in a bowl set over a saucepan with gently boiling water.  Whisk constantly to ensure your eggs don't curdle.  Whisk like crazy!  Keep cooking until the mixture reaches 65 degrees celsius. 

9)  Remove from heat and whip on your highest speed until stiff peaks form.  Add in vanilla.

10)  Frost your cupcakes however you like!  I used my largest star tip and a frosting bag, but a large ziplock with the end simply cut out would also work great.

11)  If you have a kitchen torch, then go to town toasting your marshmallow frosting.  

If not, you can place your cupcakes on a cookie sheet and broil them in the oven.  These do not take long at all, so please do not take your eyes off of them!

Or, you can always borrow a blowtorch and toast them that way...

Oh yeah....and big news of the week?  I learned how to make a gif!!!

It was a bit of an impromptu thing....as I had taken a million shots while Jordyn torched this cupcake, so next time I'll definitely use a tripod!  But, I was pretty stoked with how it turned out, and it's always fun to learn something new.  Even if it did take me an hour and a half to figure it out....

Also....try not to set your cupcake liners on fire.  Ooops!  Our bad.

p.s. 

♥

 kelsey

chocolate pecan caramel thumbprint cookies

Mmmhhh....caramel!  You can't say that you're surprised that it's shown up again so soon. Ha!

We made these cookies for Christmas (yeah yeah...I'm working on the whole procrastinating thing), and they were a huge hit.  Definitely a bit more work than your average cookie...but well worth it when you want something extra special.

These cookies have so many wonderful textures going on...from the crunch of the nuts, chewiness of the chocolate cookie, and finally the smooth creaminess of the caramel!

Chocolate Pecan Caramel Thumbprint Cookies

adapted from: taste of home

Yields: ~2.5 dozen

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, separated

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup finely chopped pecans (walnuts would be a great alternative!)

FILLING:

12 to 14 caramels

3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1)  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2)  In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3)  Beat in the egg yolk, milk and vanilla.

4)  In a small bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder and salt.  Gradually add to the creamed mixture.

5)  Shape dough into approximately 1-inch balls.  Place egg white in a shallow bowl and beat.  Place chopped pecans in another shallow bowl.

6)  Dip dough balls into the egg white, then pecans.  (You may need to pat the pecans on to help them stick to the dough)

7)  Place on a greased baking sheet and press a deep indentation into each dough ball.  (We used a measuring spoon, which worked well!  Your thumb would also be a good option...haha).

8)  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set.  As soon as you remove from the oven, re-press your indentations to make sure they're deep.

9)  In a medium saucepan, melt caramels with cream on low and stir until smooth.

10)  Fill each cookie with the caramel mixture and allow caramel to cool and set. (Work as fast as possible here as the caramel tends to set very quickly.)

p.s.

 ♥ kelsey

bison cookies (chocolate sugar cookies)

I am ridiculously excited to share these cookies with you all.  They are bison!!!  And they're hilarious.  Totally a man cookie.  So make these for your man friends and I guarantee they'll be pretty stoked (mine definitely were).

I made these bad boys as a snack for my mini Grey Cup party (that's like the Superbowl for Canadian football in case you're confused) I hosted a million years ago in November right before Christmas took over the blog.  Ha!  One of my friends has a dream to own a bison ranch when he "grows up", so I knew these would be perfect to make!

Jordyn and I debated doing gingerbread for the cookie base, but eventually decided that we wanted something a little simpler.  I decided that chocolate shortbread might be the way to go, however, recipe after recipe called for several hours of chilling the dough, and that just wasn't cool with my timeline.  So, we decided to just try something new!  Jordyn adapted our favorite sugar cookie recipe, and it turned out beautifully.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies
by: Jordyn Siemens

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 Tbsp milk

1 3/4 cups flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

Directions

1) In a small bowl, cream butter - add sugar, vanilla, egg and milk; beat hard.

2) Add flour, cocoa powder and baking powder to cream mixture and beat again.

3) Roll onto a floured counter, approximately 1/2" thick, and cut into shapes.

4) Bake at 400 degrees F for 5-6 minutes.

Decorating

Icing (either soft butter cream or royal icing)

Chocolate sprinkles

Black icing (we bought a tube from Michaels)

1)  I used royal icing to outline where I wanted the bison's fur to be, leaving out the shape of the horn to fill in later.

2) Then I pressed chocolate sprinkles into the icing, and shook off any excess.

3)  Once the icing had set, I added in a small horn with white icing, as well as a black dot for eyes and black hooves.

*next time I'll use chocolate icing so that you can't see the white through the chocolate sprinkles.

I love how well these turned out, and am pretty stoked to have a new, no-fuss chocolate sugar cookie recipe.  It'll be great for more animal cookies that are sure to happen in the future!

- kelsey

tasty tuesday: hunky bills

Now Hunky Bills are actually something we make at Christmas time, but since I'm an excellent procrastinator (and life was nuts around Christmas), I'm just blogging about them now!  Really they would be a delicious treat all year round, we just happen to only make them once a year.  Which is probably good for my waistline!

Funny story:  their real name is definitely not Hunky Bills....but rather: Uncle Bill's Cuban Lunch.  Somehow, someway, over many many Christmases.....they slowly morphed into Hunky Bills.  

My family all knows it's not right, but we can't help that we call them that!  It's pretty hilarious.

Moving on.  These babies are another easy peasy recipe, where all you do is melt chocolate and stir deliciousness into it!  (Deliciousness being chips and peanuts....yum.)  

Man, I'm such a sucker for anything  sweet and salty!  Just so darn good.

Hunky Bills

from: my Auntie Bobbi

Ingredients:

3 cups chocolate chips

3 cups reese's peanut butter chips

200 grams plain Ripple Chips, crushed (these usually come in a 200 gram bag, so measuring is easy!)

2 1/2 cups salted peanuts, chopped

Directions:

1)  In a very large saucepan, first melt the peanut butter chips.  Add chocolate chips once the peanut butter chips are melted.  Stir together.

2)  Allow mixture to cool slightly, and then add crushed chips and chopped peanuts (you want the chunks of chips and peanuts pretty small).

3)  Line a mini cupcake pan with mini cupcake papers, and spoon the mixture into the papers.  Let them cool until firm enough to remove from pan.  

*We always pop ours in the freezer for a few minutes until hardened, remove the hunky bills, and then do another pan until all of the mixture is gone.

Soooo....once you've finally caved on your healthy New Year's Resolutions, you know where to find this recipe.  Ha!  They're totally worth it.  Promise.

p.s.

 ♥ kelsey

Christmas baking: cranberry almond bark

We really really love bark in our house (

as you may remember:

peppermint bark

,

coconut bark

,

toffee pretzel bark

.

).  Maybe because sometimes we're a little bit lazy, and maybe because it just tastes so darn good!

The toasted almonds and dried cranberries are such perfect flavors for winter, and we always make some for Christmas!  But honestly, there is no right or wrong time to make this bark.

p.s. Christmas is in 3 days....say what?

I'd just like to recommend you bringing this bark to the next party, family gathering, dinner, or potluck you go to.  So simple, but it looks so fancy.  Impress your friends, co-workers, boss, or in-laws.  They'll love you for sure!

(I'm so not ashamed to bribe people with food....a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?)

Cranberry Almond Bark

Ingredients:

1/3 cup slivered almonds (blanched)

1/2 pound milk chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1 oz white chocolate

Directions:

1)  Spread your almonds out on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes, or until toasted, and set aside.

2)  Melt milk chocolate in a double boiler.

3)  Remove chocolate from heat, an stir in almonds and dried cranberries.

4)  Pour onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper.  Spread evenly to about 1/4" thickness.

5)  Melt white chocolate in double boiler.

6)  Drizzle white chocolate over milk chocolate before the milk chocolate has set, and use a fork to swirl designs in the white chocolate.

7)  Refrigerate until firm.  Break up into pieces and store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer until ready to serve.

p.s.

 ♥ kelsey

Christmas baking: triple chocolate shortbread cookies

Soooo much chocolate.  We've come to the realization that nearly all of our Christmas treat have chocolate in them....and we're totally okay with that!  These triple chocolate shortbread cookies have been my all-time favorite for many Christmases now, and are still going strong.  The shortbread is chocolate, there are mini chocolate chips inside, and then they're dipped and drizzled in chocolate to make them pretty.  So...if you're not a fan of chocolate, these aren't for you!

But let's be real here.  Who isn't a fan of chocolate?

What I love most about these cookies is how the melt-in-your-mouth shortbread goes so well with the chocolate shell covering it.  It's oh so good!

Triple Chocolate Shortbread

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (softened)

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 oz square of unsweetened semi-sweet chocolate [melted]  

2 1/4 cup flour

1 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

1.  Mix together softened butter, icing sugar, vanilla and melted chocolate until smooth.

2. Add flour and chocolate chips and mix.

3. Roll dough into 1" balls (or whatever size preferred) and place onto a baking sheet.

4. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.

Decorating:

You can choose to dip these in any kind of chocolate you want; we usually dip ours twice (once in white and once in semi-sweet chocolate).  

Also, if you spoon a small amount of melted chocolate into a ziplock bag, you can drizzle a zig-zag pattern onto the top!  The drizzle looks the best when you cut the smallest hole you can in the ziplock.  Good luck!

Are you sick of Christmas baking yet?  I hope not.  We still have a few more Christmas-y recipes to share, so stay tuned!

p.s.

 ♥ kelsey

Christmas baking: turtle bars

So here I am, more than halfway through December, about to start blogging about Christmas desserts.  Better a late than never, eh?

These turtle bars look beautiful on a plate of Christmas baking, and are a sure way to impress your friends, family, or maybe if even your boss! Ha!

Seriously, just look at those swirls.  I'm totally in love.  Plus, there's chocolate, pecans and caramel involved. Oh yum.

Turtle Bars

Bottom Layer:

1 cup Butter (room temperature)

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups of flour

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup pecans

Directions:

1)  In a medium bowl, mix together butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla.

2)  Mix in flour and salt.

3) Grease a 9x13 pan and line with parchment (this makes removing and cutting your bars way easier).

5)  Dump your crumbs into the pan, spread out evenly, and press down gently.

6) Press pecans lightly into crust.

7) Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned.

8) Let cool, and prepare caramel.

Caramel:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup sweetened condensed milk

4 tbsp corn syrup

Directions:

1)  In a large saucepan stir together brown sugar, butter, sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup.

2)  Cook on medium-high heat stirring constantly.  Boil for 4 minutes.

3) Let stand 2 minutes, and then pour over crust.

4) Place in the fridge to set.

Chocolate layer:

1 1/2 cups Chocolate (good quality)

1/2 cup whipping cream

White chocolate:

1/2 cup  (about 4 oz) White Chocolate - good quality

2 tbsp whipping cream

Directions:

1) In a small sauce pan (or a double boiler), melt down your chocolate and cream, watching carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.  Melt your white chocolate and whipping cream at the same time.

2)  Pour chocolate over the caramel layer.  Smooth evenly.

3)  Drop spoonfuls of white chocolate over this layer, and then run a knife through it to make swirls.  Starting from the middle of the white chocolate and spiraling seemed to have good results.

*One tip about marbling is to stop early!  It's easy to overdo it, and then it just looks messy.

4) Pop it in your fridge to let it set, and you're ready to go!  We store ours in the fridge/freezer, otherwise they get a bit soft.

Your crumbs might be a bit crumbly when you dump them in your pan.  Don't panic, that's completely normal, just press them in gently and they'll be fine.

We placed our white chocolate on in 6 equally spaced blobs, and then used a butter knife to swirl them around.  Be careful not to go too deep and hit the caramel layer.

Happy baking!

p.s.

 ♥ kelsey

tasty tuesday: caramel apples

Caramel apples are just one of those classic Fall foods that I honestly can't get enough of.  We always sell them during September and October during our apple festivals on the farm, so I'm spoiled with a steady supply of them.  A farm down the road makes them for us, using our own apples, and they are so wonderful.  Due to this, I had never actually made my own caramel apples from scratch!

I can now cross that off my bucket list though, because these beauts were completely homemade.  Not even halfway homemade with store-bought caramels. No way.  Although the ingredient list might make your teeth hurt by just looking at it.....hehe.  I will tell you that these are hands down the best caramel apples I've eaten!  The only thing that is keeping me from making them every day is because they take quite a bit of patience for your caramel to reach the right temperature.  And if you know me....you'll know that patience is one of my strong suits.  Ha!

This caramel has a beautiful colour, and is so creamy and rich.  It went so well with the tart Elstar apples that it covered, and made many mouths quite happy.  The extra caramel was used for dipping apples in over the next couple of days....and we also made some homemade turtles with it.  Delish.

---

Caramel Apples

recipe from:Sprinkle Bakes

Ingredients:

12 small/medium tart apples (I used Elstar apples)

popsicle sticks (I used cake pop sticks, which got a bit soggy and then weren't quite strong enough!)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup light corn syrup

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

*you will need a candy thermometer for this recipe!

Directions:

1)  First, place a large sheet of parchment or wax paper on a work surface that will be able to hold all of your apples without them touching each other.  Set aside.

2)  Clean and dry your apples (the caramel won't stick if they're wet at all!).  Remove the apple stems, and punch a guide hole for your stick using a metal skewer or skinny knife.  Insert stick into each apple, and make sure it's secure.

3)  For the caramel: in a 4-cup liquid measuring cup, stir together the sweetened condensed milk and heavy cream.  Set aside.

4)  In a large pot, combine corn syrup, brown sugar, and white sugar.  Bring to a simmer over high heat.  When the mixture boils, add the butter.  Stir until the butter is melted, and reduce the heat to medium-high.

5)  Add milk mixture in a small steady stream, whisking continually.  You want the caramel to keep boiling slightly.

6)  Reduce heat to medium, and attach a candy thermometer to your pot.  Be careful that the candy thermometer does not touch the bottom of your pot, as it will give you a false temperature reading.

7)  Bring to 250 degrees F.  This will take approximately 15 minutes or so.  So be patient!

8)  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract.

9)  Wait until the bubbling stops, and the caramel has a smooth glassy surface.  Tilt pan slightly so that caramel is deeper on one side, and start dipping apples.  Cover apples completely in caramel, and twirl and gently tap the stick on the side of the pot to help excess caramel drip off.  Place on parchment to set for about an hour.  Serve and enjoy!

[Optional]: Immediately after dipping, roll your apple in chopped nuts, chocolate, skor bits, coconut, etc.

Keep extras in the fridge until you're ready to eat them!

You may have noticed the mini caramel apples in a few of these pictures.  We used a melon baller to carve out some mini apple balls for dipping.  While this idea was great in theory, they ended up being a bit too wet, and the caramel slid off most of them.  Sad day.

My favorite combo of flavors was definitely the pretzel covered apples.  Sweet and salty will always get me.  The extra crunch from the pretzels was also a lovely addition!

So, be creative and make these yummy treats!

♥ kelsey