Breast Cancer Awareness Bake Sale

This year I will be participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for The Cure on September 9th in Central Park. I will be walking as part of the PepsiCo team. My mom works for PepsiCo which is how I got involved with it. Part of the way the team fundraises is through having a baking sale. This year, they will be going around the cafeteria to sell baked goods to fellow employees. I of course had to take this great opportunity to bake something delicious! My immediate thought were to cookies. I made them last year for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer so I figured to do them again. I also had these adorable cupcake liners which had breast cancer awareness ribbons on them, so I decided to bake cupcakes as well.

I did bake a homemade white cupcake but I will admit I did use a store-bought frosting. Mostly, for timing but also, I have yet to make a frosting that I liked that is not whipped cream based. Anyways, that is not why I am writing this entry. I am writing this entry because of the packaging. A part of baking for the bake sale was having everything individually wrapped. The cookies were no problem but I had to really think for the cupcakes. Especially since most of the stores were begininning to close around me.

For the decorated cookies, I did awareness ribbons. Each of the cookies are hand decorated. I did an outline in a darker pink and I filled the cookie with a lighter pink. After I let it dry, I add sugar to the edges to add a little sparkle.

I did not want to do just awareness ribbons so I added some circles with words such as "Love", "Hope", "Strength", "Faith", and "Courage". I used a #1 tip to write the words. I of course had to add some sugar to the circles. I just did the outside of the circle in the same dark pink I used for the ribbons and poured sugar on. I did not add sugar to the words, although that would have looked cute too.  I then made a couple with the famous saying "Keep Calm and Fight On".

For the cookie packaging, I did one of the circle cookies and a ribbon and then tied them in a treat bag with a ribbon. The ribbon I found at Michael's Craft Stores. I then wrapped a couple ribbons individually as well as the "Keep Calm and Fight On" cookie.

For the cupcake I had no idea how to wrap it besides an individual box which I did not have. My mom called me to tell me that her friend was using plastic wine cups and cellophane to wrap cupcakes. I was not thrilled with the idea because I did not want to do the same thing but I headed into the basement to look for the cups I knew I had. As I was down there I saw that we had about 40 martini plastic cups that we would never use. So I took those and decided to use them for the cupcakes. I stuffed the cup with tissue paper and put the cupcake on top and loved the way it looked. It looked so adorable and made me really want one. The only problem was how to cover the cupcake. 

The cellophane didn't work because it just buried the cupcake. My mom came up with the idea of putting the wine cup on top. So we did that, along with a little bow and we came up with these adorable cupcake holders :-) The best part is they would be perfect for any event like a Sweet 16, bridal shower, or baby shower :-)

Spinach and Onion Pizza

Hey everyone! I know I normally just post bakery type foods but I would like to add other types as well. I receive Cooking Light magazine every month. It is a great magazine for healthier recipes of your favorite foods. In the September 2012 issue they have a recipe for Spinach and Onion Pizza. It sounded delicious so I had to make it Friday night. I tried to make it a little bit healthier than what they had so I used whole wheat pizza dough and low-fat mozzarella cheese instead of the fresh mozzarella. I am not an expert when it comes these things but it has less fat and carbs than regular pizza dough and mozzarella cheese. For those of you on Weight Watchers, one piece of this pizza is 5 points (so 2 for 10 points).

The recipe is pretty simple which is great. All you need is diced tomatoes,  one large onion, spinach, pecorino romano cheese, mozzarella cheese and pizza dough. Everything you can find at your local grocery store. The pizza dough I found near the cheeses and refrigerated tortillas. You can also find Pillsbury pizza dough as well if you do not want a whole wheat pizza dough. 

Start by preheating your oven to 500. Yes, 500. I was a little worried about this at first because I never have set my oven that high but pizza needs a hot oven. Also, add your cookie sheet into the oven. So your cookie sheet is nice and hot. Once you set up your ingredients cup up your onion and let it cook with a teaspoon of olive oil. Remove the onions, add your garlic and diced tomatoes, let that cook. Then assemble your pizza with tomatoes, cheese, and onions. Let that cook for about 12-15 minutes. While that is cooking, saute your spinach just until it wilts. Once the pizza is done, top it off with the spinach and congrats! you just made a pizza :-) Doesn't it look yummy?

Spinach and Onion Pizza

(Adapted from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

12-15 ounces refrigerated fresh whole wheat pizza dough, room temperature

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

2 cups vertically sliced onion

6 garlic cloves, chopped

28.5 ounces of no-salt-added diced tomatoes

1 tablespoon oregano

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1-2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese (I used reduced-fat)

1/3 cup of Pecorino Romano Cheese

4 ounces fresh baby spinach 

Directions:

1. Place a baking sheet in oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. 
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to pan. Add onion; cook until softened, stirring frequently. Remove onion from pan.
3. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan. Add garlic; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, oregano, crushed red pepper, and salt. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. 
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 13-inch circle. Pierce the entire surface with a fork. Carefully place dough on the preheated baking sheet.
5. Add tomato mixture evenly over the dough, leaving about 1/2 inch border. Top with onion and cheeses. 
6. Bake at 500 for 12 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
7. Meanwhile, heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil to the pan. Add spinach; saute until spinach wilts. 
8. Top pizza with spinach. Cut into 8 slices.
9. Enjoy :-)

Scarborough's 40th Anniversary Cookies

My family is really into the fire department. My Dad has been a volunteer firemen for about 30 years now and of course my brothers had to follow him. My brother Michael is now a paid fireman in Richmond, Virginia. My uncles, cousin, Dad and other brother are all a part of the Briarcliff Manor Fire Department. Specifically, the Scarborough Engine Company. Saturday night they celebrated their 40th Anniversary. I of course had to embrace this opportunity to make decorated cookies for my brother to bring. My Dad and brother told me they were quite the hit. Everyone was raving about how good and pretty they look. Every new set of cookies I make become my new favorite.

Closer look at all the cookies.

Left: Engine 92's emblem
Right: Happy 40th Anniversary. Red sugars are bordered along the outside. 

Replicas of the company's truck and fire gear

A Healthy Blueberry Muffin

I recently had a huge craving for a blueberry muffin. Normally when I get this craving, I go to Dunkin' Donuts for one of their delicious blueberry muffins. However, I decided to try and make my own muffins. I wanted to try a healthy blueberry muffin. But making a healthy muffin is a little difficult when most recipes call for 1/3 cup of vegetable oil or butter. Then there are the recipes with the crumb topping which just makes everything better. I also had this problem where I was out of unsalted butter and it was 11 o'clock at night. I then remembered that applesauce can be substituted for butter. I never tried it because I always figured that if I am going to be eating something like a muffin or cake, it needs the fat in order to be good. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I was very wrong. This recipe turned out to be surprisingly good. The muffins are nice and moist. They smell great baking and look delicious when you take them out of the oven. I couldn't wait to try one once I took it out.

The only thing I might do differently is the amount of blueberries. Which is actually funny because when I was making them, I thought there wasn't enough. This could just be a personal preference, or I just happened to pick a muffin with more blueberries than another. If you want big muffins, this recipe will make less. Otherwise, it should make about 12. Anyways, you should try this recipe. I cannot wait to have one tomorrow morning with my fresh cup of coffee :-)

Blueberry Muffins
(Adapted from Colleen's To Die For Blueberry Muffin) 
Yield: About 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup applesauce
1 egg
1/3 cup Skim Plus Milk
1 cup fresh blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Line muffin cups with muffin liners.

In a small bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Set aside. In another small bowl, whisk together applesauce, egg, and milk. Pour liquids into flour mix and whisk together. Fold in blueberries. Divide the batter evenly among 12 muffin cups. Sprinkle sugar on top of batter.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until done.

Note: 4 points on Weight Watchers

Tool Kit Cookies

My brother Jeff is a landscaper so for his birthday I made him these cookies. I used tool set cookies to create the hammer, screwdriver, saw, pliers and wrench. Then I used square cookie cutters and food color markers to draw a boy pushing a lawn mower. He loved them. I think they are so adorable. I am not much of a drawer but I am pleased with how they came out. If you do not own food color markers and you are into decorating, I suggest you go and buy some. They are awesome and I plan to use them more in the future! :-)

Two Much Cupcakes...Never!

Hi everybody! I am back! I haven't written in this blog for about a year but I really am going to change it. I am living at home now and have a little bit more free time than I used to. So that means more time to bake some delicious goodies. I come back with not one but TWO delicious cupcake recipes.

My brother Jeff's birthday was the other day so I made him some cupcakes with the help from my best friends Alicia and Erica. We decided to go with a chocolate cupcake with oreo whipped cream frosting and a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate mousse frosting. They came pretty delicious and they looked amazing!

For the longest time I was trying to find a good chocolate cupcake recipe. Every time I made them they were too dry or not enough chocolate. So then I remembered when I made these Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes, how moist and delicious the cake was. I knew the beer probably had something to do with that, so then I decided to substitute heavy cream in for the beer. I think it was rather successful and so did my family who was eating them.

Since Jeff is a huge fan of chocolate mousse, I decided to make a chocolate mousse frosting. We also decided to add an alternative of oreo frosting. The first time I made this with Alicia and Erica, it came out so delicious and we have no idea what we did. But this recipe is pretty good. Stay tuned because I am sure I will adjust all of these recipes in the future. After all, I am still a beginner and in the experimentation phase. But feel free to try these because either way they were still yummy!


Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
16 tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream and butter. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients; flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. With an electric mixer, beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend. Add the cream-butter mixture and beat just to combine. Mix in the dry ingredients on low speed until just incorporated. Divide the batter evenly between the cupcake liners, filling them about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick insterted in the comes out clean. About 17-20 minutes. Allow to cool in plan for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Mousse Frosting

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of heavy cream
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
Dash of Salt
1 Chocolate bar

Directions:
About 15 minutes before making this, allow a bowl to chill in the freezer along with the beaters. Once the bowl is chilled, combine heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder and dash of salt in bowl. Beat until the mixture holds a peak. Add frosting to pastry bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Top with shredded chocolate bar.

Oreo Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients:
1 3/5 cups plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup finely crushed Oreos
6 Oreos cut in half.

Directions:
Allow bowl to chill in freezer with beaters. In a Ziploc bag, add about a dozen Oreos to bag and crush until very fine. Then add heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract to bowl. Beat until stiff peaks form. Then fold in the Oreos. Add frosting to pastry bag and pipe onto cupcakes. Top with half of Oreo.

Graduation Cookies

These are just some decorated cookies from my college graduation party that I made. I felt like sharing them because I am really so proud of these. I love decorating cookies but these are probably the best that I had made. I love the sugar on the outside of the caps. And I think the polka dots are just adorable. I think this just shows the improvements that I have made over the years. The only thing I would do differently is the tassels. I would probably do those first before the border.