Fabulous Homemade Snickers!

I decided I wanted to give these a whirl and see how closely they were to the real deal.  Even though we STILL have Christmas candy laying around the house....or in my dad's candy storage hiding spot which is in a cooler, in the basement, on top of like 5 other coolers....in case anyone was wondering.  However, I made these yesterday and they actually turned out pretty spot on.

 
The ingredient amounts are a little strange because I cut each amount in half from the original recipe to make a batch for an 8x8 pan instead of a 9x13.  So here is the recipe I used for the 8x8 pan.

Ingredients & Directions:

Bottom Layer
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/8 cup butterscotch chips
1/8 creamy peanut butter

Melt these three things together in a bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until all is melted.  Spread into a lightly greased 8x8 inch pan.  Place in fridge to cool.

Filling
1/8 cup of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/8 cup of evaporated milk
3/4 cup marshmallow cream
1/8 cup of creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup salted peanuts - chopped

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  When the butter is melted, add the sugar and milk, stirring constantly to dissolve the sugar granules.  Bring to a boil and continue stirring for 3 minutes.  The mixture will start to follow your spoon.  Remove from heat and stir in the marshmallow cream, peanut butter, and vanilla.  Mix this until smooth.  Spread over the first layer, and sprinkle the chopped peanuts on top.  Place back in fridge.

Caramel Layer
1/2 bag of Kraft caramels (half is 25 candies, I ended up having to use 30)
1/8 cup of evaporated milk

Unwrap the caramels and melt them with the cream in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted.  Carefully spread over filling layer.

Top Layer
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/8 cup butterscotch chips
1/8 creamy peanut butter

Melt together in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted.  Spread evenly over caramel layer.  Store in the refrigerator until cool and hardened.  Cut into small bars.  Keep refrigerated (chocolate will start to soften/melt if put in room temperature too long).

Heaven In My Mouth...Brown Sugar Pound Cupcakes w/ Brown Butter Glaze

So, you want to bake something and don't know what?  This was me this morning.  Well, I had my leftover buttermilk from the Pink Velvet Roll and I knew that the Brown Sugar Cupcakes called for buttermilk so I went for it.  It's a fairly easy recipe and it's based off of a recipe by my girl Martha.  She's a doll isn't she?!  Is she still in jail?......just kidding....

My mom insisted I used this plate :)

This made exactly 30 cupcakes when I did this.

Ingredients for Cupcakes:
3 cups sifted all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter - softened
2 1/4 packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs - room temperature
3/4 buttermilk

Ingredients for Brown Butter Glaze:
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2-4 tablespoons whole milk

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line cupcake tins with 30 paper liners.
-Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Cream together the butter and sugar with a hand mixer until light and fluffy.  Add each egg one at a time, beating thoroughly after each one.
-Now, put the mixer to low.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions; alternating with the buttermilk and ending with dry ingredients.  Divide mixture among the cupcake liners, filling 2/3 of the way full.

-Bake for 25 minutes.

While the cupcakes are baking, make the glaze....
Directions for Glaze:
-Heat butter in a small saucepan over low-medium heat until golden brown, this took me exactly 10 minutes.  With a spoon, scoop out the sediment that is left behind into a small bowl (don't need this).  Carefully pour the brown butter into a bowl.
-Add sugar, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of milk, and stir until smooth.  If the glaze is still thick, add more milk.  I ended up adding 3 tablespoons of milk.

-After the cupcakes are finished, put cupcakes on a wired rack over parchment paper.  Spoon the glaze over tops, and let stand until set & then serve!

***The recipe called for light brown sugar, next time I would use dark brown sugar for more flavor.  Also, instead of vanilla in the glaze I might change it out with 1 teaspoon of maple flavoring.***

Round One...Pink Velvet Roll!

Okay, one of my favorite things in the fall is pumpkin roll.  I don't know about you, but I can't eat anything pumpkin flavored unless it's fall time.  So now it's January, it's cold, rainy, and I want a cake roll.  I decided to make a Pink Velvet Roll.  Now everyone I've talked to tells me they are intimidated by cake rolls due to the actually rolling part, and the cake always tears when they do it.  Have no fear!  First time I made one, it tore, and I haven't had one tear since!

 

Ingredients for the cake:

4 Eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

1 tablespoon oil

2 tablespoon buttermilk (yeah, I know, most grocery stores carry it in a half gallon...annoying)

1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Desired amount of red food coloring (for the pink cake)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

-Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 9x13 jelly-roll pan with vegetable spray and line with parchment paper.  Then grease the parchment paper as well.

-In a large bowl, beat the 4 eggs with a hand mixer for 5 minutes.  I set a timer to be sure I beat them for 5 minutes.

-After the 5 minutes, with the mixer still running, slowly add the sugar and the oil to the whipped eggs.  Then add buttermilk, cider vinegar, vanilla, and food coloring (add food coloring a little at a time til the right color is achieved.)

-Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt (I didn't sift it, and it still turned out fabulous)...slowly add this mixture to the liquid ingredients.  Mix until well combined.

-Sprinkle a cotton towel with 1/4 cup of powdered sugar and rub into the towel with your hands.  (*waffle towels are not ideal for making cake rolls)

-Pour batter into prepared pan and distribute evenly to all corners.

-Bake for 12-15 minutes.  Check the cake at 12 minutes.  You'll be able to tell if it's done when the cake springs back when pressed with fingers.

-Now for the "tricky" part!  When the cake is finished, turn it onto the powdered sugared towel immediately!!!  Be careful.  Peel off the parchment paper and roll cake into the towel.  *beginning at the narrow end*  Roll tightly and evenly.  Place the rolled cake onto a wire rack, seam side down.  Cool completely (about an hour).


Ingredients for Buttercream Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1 Large Egg Whites (use two eggs if small)
12 Tablespoons butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1/2 Teaspoon vanilla

-Whisk egg white(s) and sugar together in a large, heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water (I just used a double boiler because I'm not that fancy).  Whisk constantly until sugar melts into the egg whites.  You can check this by rubbing a bit between fingers.  If sugar granules remain, keep whisking....this could take 5-10 minutes.

-When sugar and egg white are blended, transfer to a stand mixer.  Whip until the egg/sugar doubles in size.  Add the vanilla and then whip in softened butter a little at a time.  Whip until it has the consistency of frosting.  And VIOLA!

**I found that the frosting was a bit too buttery tasting for my liking so I added about 1 teaspoon of lime juice to it and it definitely made it better, personally.  So you could use lime, lemon, etc.


Assembly:
Carefully unroll the cake from the towel.  Allow the most tightly rolled end to curl slightly.  Once it's unrolled you'll see what I mean.  Frost inside with the buttercream frosting and roll cake tightly back up!  Cut into pieced with a serrated knife.  The end!

For Starters...

Well, I've never exactly had a blog before.  I've attempted many time and fail miserably.  Hopefully this time it works.  I've decided to start a blog on the things I bake and if anything significant happens in my life which is very unlikely.  Unless you consider finishing a scrapbooking page or baking another batch of chocolate chip cookies as significant.  I sound pathetic...which maybe I am.  Let's hope I keep up with this! Peace out.