Candy Corn White Hot Chocolate

Okay, so I’m finally starting to get excited about Halloween being right around the corner.

I’ve been all about fall lately, but fall and Halloween are two separate things.

Anyway, like I said, I’m excited about Halloween, but I don’t have any clue what/who to be.

I want something cheap and homemade.  Right now I’m leaning towards a Kristen Wiig SNL character, because who wouldn’t want to be her?!

(Not my photos)

I love her!!! What’s your favorite Kristen Wiig character?

If you guys have any other ideas, please share!  What are you going to be for Halloween?

Anyway, since I’m in the Halloween spirit, I bought some candy corn and was determined to use it in a recipe.  Candy corn is tricky to bake with, so I went with hot chocolate.  It turned out really well!  It would be a great recipe for a Halloween party.

Candy Corn White Hot Chocolate
Adapted from: Paula Deen – my fav! 

Ingredients

• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup candy  corn
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 cups half-and-half
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine white chocolate chips, candy corn, and heavy cream.
2. Stir continuously until white chocolate chips and candy corn have completely melted.
3. Stir in the half-and-half, and vanilla extract. Keep stirring occasionally until heated through. Pour into mugs and enjoy!

National Chocolate Week Recipes

Extra Moist Chocolate Lava Cakes

Happy National Chocolate Week!

I’ve been doing my best to eat a lot of chocolate to celebrate.  However, I wasn’t able to bake anything this week because of midterms in my 16 week classes and finals in my 8 week classes.

No worries, though, because I’ve been stalking some of my favorite blogs for their chocolate recipes.  Check them out!  (All of the following photos belong to the owners of each website.)

Chocolate Snickerdoodles by Baked Bree:

Chocolate Velvet by Love and Olive Oil:

Easy Chocolate Cupcakes by Your Cup of Cake:

Sweet Chocolate Kiss Cookies by Cake Spy:

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Peanut Butter Brownies by Sweet Pea’s Kitchen:

Chocolate Ice Box Cupcakes by Two Peas and Their Pod:

How have you been celebrating National Chocolate Week? Leave links!  I would love to see your chocolate creations.

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Funfetti Cake Balls

I’ve got probs.

First of all, I haven’t jumped on the pumpkin bandwagon and I’m still making summery, Funfetti-colored cake balls. I have already had: pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin coffee creamer, Starbucks pumpkin latte, store-bought pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin tea, but I have yet to bake pumpkin-flavored food.  (Actually, I did, but I forgot to take pictures so it doesn’t count.)

Second of all, I may have overdone it here with the triple flavor combo, but it worked.

So, yeah, I’ve got probs, but it’s okay because I made you cake balls.

These are just like regular cake balls, but instead of frosting, you use melted white chocolate and peanut butter.  Yum, yum, yum.

 White Chocolate Peanut Butter Funfetti Cake Balls

Ingredients

• 1 pre-made cake (Use a box mix or your own recipe)
• 1 cup smooth peanut butter, melted  (Preferably Peanut Butter & Co Peanut Butter!)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips, melted
• 1 (3 ounce) bar chocolate flavored almond bark

Directions

1. Crumble your pre-made cake in a bowl.
2. Mix in melted peanut butter and white chocolate.
3. Melt chocolate coating in a glass bowl in the microwave, or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.
4. Use a small scoop to form balls of the chocolate cake mixture.
5. Dip the balls in chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. Place on waxed paper to set.

Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Pumpkin Ganache Filling and Brown Sugar Frosting

Holy moly, that’s a long title.

These cupcakes are worth every word, though.  They deserve it.  They’re fluffy, light cupcakes with a creamy, chocolatey, pumpkiny filling and a thick frosting that has a crunch to it.  The textures and flavors are very complimentary to each other.

You know what I love about college?  All of the new testers I’ve got for my blog.  Really, this is good for you guys, too, because it’s not just my word you’re taking.  There have been a couple of recipes I just didn’t post because the feedback wasn’t good, so I’m really thankful for all of the new people with opinions.  Yeah, it’s kind of a bummer when people don’t like what you’ve made, but it’s all worth it when someone says, “That’s the best cupcake I’ve ever had.”  And that’s what happened with these.  Someone told me that and it totally made my day.  So if you want to have your day made, make these cupcakes.

Anyway, speaking of amazing, I went to a Death Cab for Cutie concert last night.  I’m a huge fan and it was an awesome show.  If you want to see a band that can perform live, Death Cab is the one to see. I was feelin’ a little starstruck this morning when I listened to them on iTunes.  I thought, “How cool is it that I can say I saw them live?” (So cool, if you were wondering.)

I recorded a few videos, but unfortunately, when I uploaded one to YouTube, I realized I was singing way too loud. Ha! But I did still keep it up, if you want to check it out.  Ya know, just to prove I was there. 😉

P.S. I just want to thank you guys for your kind feedback and support about my vlog.  I was really nervous about posting it and you guys made me want to keep doing them.  So again, thank you!

Okay, finally…here are the cupcakes I’ve hyped up.

Vanilla Cupcakes with White Chocolate Pumpkin Ganache Filling and Brown Sugar Frosting
Cupcakes: Food Network
Brown sugar frosting: Adapted from: How Sweet It Is
Makes: 12 cupcakes

Cupcakes: 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature, separated

Directions

1. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Line the muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.
2. In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Raise the speed to high and mix until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the sides of the bowl down with a rubber spatula.)
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla, and also set aside.
4. Add the egg yolks to the creamed butter one at time, waiting for each one to be fully incorporated before adding the next.
5. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Alternately, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, waiting for each to be fully incorporated before adding the next (scrape the bowl down occasionally). Raise the speed to medium and mix briefly until a smooth batter is formed. Transfer the batter to a large bowl.
6. Thoroughly clean the bowl of the mixer and put the egg whites inside. Whip the egg whites on high speed, using the whisk attachment, until stiff peaks are formed.
7. Working in 3 batches, using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the batter, until just incorporated. Divide the batter evenly among the cups in the muffin pan. Bake, rotating the pan once, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
8. Remove the cakes from the oven and cool completely.

White Chocolate Pumpkin Ganache:

• Ingredients:
• 
  
• 1 cups white chocolate chips
• 2/3 cups sour cream, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 
  
• Directions:

1. Place the chocolate chips into a microwave safe bowl with the oil. Microwave 30 seconds at a time, taking out and stirring in between, until it is completely melted and smooth.
2. Add the room temperature sour cream, pumpkin, and vanilla; beat with an electric mixture until smooth and creamy. Warning: If you let it cool down too much it will set up.

Brown Sugar Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 stick of butter, at room temperature1 3/4 cup loosely packed brown sugar1 1/2 cups powdered sugar1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Directions:

1. Beat butter and brown sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer until completely combined and fluffy, scraping down the sides a few times. 
2. Add in powdered sugar, beating on low speed and gradually increasing to medium speed. 
3. Add in vanilla extract and cinnamon. 
4. Beat frosting for 4-5 minutes on medium-high speed until really creamy and combined. 

ASSEMBLY:

1. Make the cupcakes and let them cool.
2. Spoon your ganache into a frosting bag with a skinny piping tip.  Stick tip into the top middle of each cupcake and  squeeze until it starts spilling out of the top.
3. Frost each cupcake.
4. Enjoy!

• 
  

Vanilla Poké Ball Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting

Hey guys!

The Internet has been down on campus and it’s really frustrating.  It’s finally back though so I’m a happy camper now.

Okay, so as I was sitting in my Digital Media class, my professor was talking about blogs and then he started talking about podcasts.  After that my mind started racing with ideas.  I was like “Hey, I’m gonna make a podcast for my blog!”  So my plan now is to get a good microphone and start a What Katie’s Baking podcast.  What do you guys think?

I could talk about these awesome Poké Ball cupcakes I made.  We had a community builder, which is an event (a movie this time)  for our hall that everyone goes to, so my RA asked me to make cupcakes since I’m “Baking Katie.”  That’s really my nickname now, isn’t that silly?  Anyway, our hall theme is Pokémon so my job was to make Poké Ball cupcakes and I was so proud of how cute they were!  And they tasted even better.  🙂  I made 41 and they were all gone by the time the movie was over. I’m usually kind of wary about making plain vanilla cupcakes because they’re so delicate and hard to mess up, but these turned out so well.  I  definitely recommend this recipe.

Vanilla Poké Ball Cupcakes with White Chocolate Frosting
Adapted from: All Recipes
*Note that my step-by-step pictures will not have the same amount of ingredients as the following recipe because I had to triple it.

Ingredients

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• Frosting: the BEST white chocolate frosting
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.
4. Frost with white chocolate frosting.

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Thank goodness this no sweets week is coming to an end. 

I will admit that I thought it was going to be harder, especially since I’ve baked 3 times this week, but it actually hasn’t been that bad.  I’ve felt pretty good!  I’ve even been exercising this week, which lately I’ve not been able to motivate myself to do.  So… even though it probably won’t last, I’m not taking the motivation for granted.

Anyway, I made some cookies!  I’m a sucker for white chocolate, and these have white chocolate in them so I was disappointed that I had to pass them up.  Hopefully there will be some left for Sunday!  My neighbor came over and had one… and then came back again for another one, so I’m assuming they’re good!

Anywayyy…. I’m leaving tomorrow and I’ll be back Monday the 1st, but I’ll have some delicious guest posts for you in between. 

Do you guys go through spurts of motivation to work out? What do you do to push through the times when you aren’t motivated?

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from: Southern Living

****I cut the following recipe in half and got about 20 cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked quick cooking oats
• 1 cup (12 ounces) white chocolate morsels
• 1 cup (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

• 1.  Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until yellow disappears after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
• 2.  Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Stir in oats, morsels, and pecans. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.
• 3.  Bake at 350° for 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 3 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cinnamon Roll Balls

Okay, so remember how I told you guys I made my dad my grandma’s “coffee cake” (aka cinnamon rolls) for Father’s Day?

Well, I ended up burning them while I was writing that post!

How sad is that? I was really upset, especially since I worked so hard to do something special for my dad.

I haaattee when my surprises are ruined!  I put all that time and effort into making something so perfect for somebody and then it gets ruined!  Such a bummer!

It’s okay, though.  You know why?  When life hands you burnt cinnamon rolls, go with it.

The centers of mine were still okay, so I made cinnamon roll balls.  Like cake balls, only cinnamon rolls!

So yummy!

Have you guys ever accidentally ruined a surprise?  What did you do about it?

Cinnamon Roll Balls

Ingredients:
2-3 large cinnamon rolls
1/8 cup water
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 cups white chocolate
2 teaspoons oil

Directions:
1.  Process cinnamon rolls in a food processor until small crumbs are formed.
2.  Add water and powdered sugar.  *Add more water if needed.  Should be a doughy consistency.  (The water and powdered sugar are to make an ‘icing’ flavor.)
3.  Roll into 1 inch balls and place in freezer until semi-sold.
4.  Melt white chocolate and oil.
5.  Dip balls into chocolate. Chill until the chocolate has hardened.
*Optional: Sprinkle with cinnamon.

White Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Are you guys excited for the 4th of July?

I am, and I’ve got lots of goodies for you from Edible Gifts Plus!

FUN, FESTIVE AND PATRIOTIC GIFTS AND GOODIES
FOR THE 4^TH OF JULY
 

Oreo Stars and Stripes Cookies ($1.95 each) and Oreo Party Stars Cookies ($1.95 each) make for great treats as they are America’s favorite cookie dipped in chocolate and decorated with patriotic stars and stripes designs.

 
 

 

Cake Pops($2 each)  are also an excellent and fun addition to any gathering, with a rich rudgy double chocolate cake mixed with just the right amount of cream cheese filling and drenched in white chocolate or milk chocolate coating. Beautiful designs top these mouthwatering treats off.

 

 

The Big Patriotic Heart Cookie($35.50) and Patriotic Giant Fortune Cookie ($29.50) are larger than life goodies that everyone can share. The Big Patriotic Heart Cookie measures a memorable 9-10”. The Patriotic Giant Fortune Cookie weighs in at over one pound and is nearly the size of a football.

 

 

Weighing over 1.5lbs, the Jumbo Chocolate Dipped Chocolate Chip Apple with Patriotic Stripes ($25.95) is a sweet and delicious choice for sharing at gatherings or for sending to a loved one.

 

 

Whether they’re near or far, honor your favorite military member with the American Dream Lollipop Bouquet ($41.95) or the Happy 4^th of July Patriotic Cookie Bouquet ($53.95). The American Dream Lollipop Bouquet features a festive collection of hard candy lollipops, while the Happy 4^th of July Patriotic Cookie Bouquet features hand-decorated red, white and blue cookies with your personal message displayed on the center cookie.

 

 

Don’t forget to thank the host! Do so with the Grill Master Cookie Bouquet ($53.95), featuring delicious cookies hand-decorated as everyone’s favorite barbecue items and with your personal message displayed on the center cookie.

While you’re waiting for your yummy gifts to arrive, you should make these brownies.  

Kellen was coming back from visiting home and I wanted to make him something special.  He’s been wanting brownies for the past couple of weeks and I wanted to make him brownies, but I’ve already put two brownie recipes on here, so I had to make them different.  That’s when I started brainstorming.  Since he loves cookie dough ice cream, why wouldn’t he love cookie dough brownies?

Well, I guess he did because he said they’re the “best brownies he’s ever had”.  Pretty tough to beat if you ask me!  They aren’t as time consuming as I thought either.  Perfect brownies.  

White Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies
Adapted from: One Ordinary Day

1 c. butter

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa

2  c. granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. white chocolate chips

Prepare 13×9″ baking pan by laying a piece of foil in the bottom and up the sides.  Spray with cooking spray or butter the foil.

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a medium saucepan; add cocoa, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat and cool slightly.  Add sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla; beat with a spoon until combined.  Add flour and baking powder; mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread batter into pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow brownies to cool completely before moving on to the next step.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filling: 
(adapted from Taste of Home)

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. packed light brown sugar  

1/2 c. granulated sugar

4 Tbsp. milk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. white chocolate chips

Combine first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl and cream together.  Add flour and stir until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spread in an even layer on top of cooled brownies.  Chill before adding chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze:

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 Tbsp. Crisco shortening

Melt chocolate with shortening and stir until smooth.  Spread over chilled cookie dough layer.

P.S. I got my hair done!

One Bowl Cranberry-White Chocolate Orange Cookies

I got a precious new kitten; his name is Francis.

It broke my heart taking him away from his family, so I knew I had to make him feel extra special when he came home with me…

…which is why I made him a house!!

To find instructions on how to make the house, click here.

I also made him some milk and cookies… but he only liked the milk. 😉
These cookies are amazing though!! Seriously good.  Maybe even my new favorite… the different flavors all go together so well.  I was looking for a “one bowl” recipe and these are what I found.  So they’re obviously easy, since they’re one bowl, but the taste is out of this world!!

One Bowl Cranberry-White Chocolate Orange Cookies
King Arthur Flour
Yield: about 4 1/2 dozen cookies.

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon orange oil (4 to 5 drops) (can substitute with almond!)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 cups (11 5/8 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) white chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups (5 1/4 ounces) dried cranberries
1 cup (3 3/4 ounces) chopped pecans or walnuts

Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and orange oil, and stir well. Add the egg and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda and flour, mixing until blended. Stir in the chips, cranberries, and nuts.

Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto light-colored baking sheets. Flatten into disks, using gentle pressure from your fingers.

Bake the cookies in a preheated 375°F oven for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned; the tops shouldn’t brown, they should still be slightly gooey. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then slide them onto a rack to cool completely. 

White Chocolate Frosting Blondies (Frosting in the batter!)

I used to do this thing where I ate when I was sad or upset.  A lot.  I didn’t know why I did it, but I did.  Baking became a hassle for a while because I knew that every time I did it, I would eat way too much of what I was making, but for the love of you all, I did it anyway.

After trying and trying to just flat out stop stress eating, I sat down and tried to figure out why I did it instead.  I came to the conclusion that either:

a) I did it one time when I was upset and it made me feel better, so after that I just turned to food every time I was stressed out.

or

b)  When I’m eating and eating and eating, I don’t think about anything, I just taste the sweet (because it was mostly sweets) in my mouth and all I know is that it’s making me feel good.

Once I found the root of my problem, I was able to fix it.  Considering that there are many other things to relieve stress, I made a list of alternatives and haven’t done it binged since then.

Here’s my list:

1.  Start a craft of some sort.  Lay everything out and just start it.  Once you get into it, the project will most likely consume you.
2.  Call one of your friends you haven’t talked to for a while.  Talking to a friend will immediately release stress and hopefully by the time you get off the phone, the feelings will have passed.
3.  Drink a glass of water and go for a walk.  The water will fill your stomach and the walk will clear your head.
4.  Watch TV or read a good book.
5.  Write!  Anything… make a list of things you’re grateful for, or things you love about yourself.  Or just write whatever comes out.
6.  Set a budget and go shopping.  It doesn’t have to be big… makeup, jewelry, clothes, whatever. Just go… but don’t let it turn into retail therapy. 😉
7.  Do yoga.  I’ve found that yoga is really good at clearing your head.
8.  Make a hair or nail appointment.
9.  Make a list of how you’re feeling and then another list of how to fix that without doing something you’ll feel bad about later.
10. Paint your nails.
11.  Clean the house. Wash the dishes by hand.
12.  Go for a drive and listen to your music.
13.  Color.
14.  Donate clothes to someplace or someone.
15.  Just get dressed up.  I find that when I put myself together I already start to feel better.
16.  Go the library.  I love going to the library!
17.  Take a long bath.
18.  Take some online quizzes or play some online games or just do stuff online.

You might feel unproductive doing some of these things, but just let yourself enjoy them and remember that any of these things are better than stress eating (or anything else you do because of stress).

And, since some of you are probably here for a recipe, I’ve got one for you!  Remember those White Chocolate Frosting Cookies I made with the frosting in the dough?  Well, I’ve turned them into blondies! They’re suppperr good.  When they first came out of the oven last night, I was kind of worried because they weren’t very dense.  They tasted good, but more like cake.  But when I woke up this morning, they had become dense and blondie-like.  And they’re delicious, so make them! 🙂

White Chocolate Frosting Blondies
Serves 30ish (depending on how big you like your pieces 😉 )

Ingredients

• 
  
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 16 tablespoons (2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cups frosting, room temp.
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly butter an 9×13 inch square baking pan.
Using an electric mixer, beat together the brown sugar and eggs until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add the vanilla, butter, and 1/2 cup frosting and beat to mix well.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter mixture, beating until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
Using a spoon, stir in the white chocolate.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
Drop the remaining 1/4 cup over batter and spread into top of batter with a spatula.
Bake the blondies for 40-45 minutes, until the top is dry and golden and a knife inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached (not wet, but not perfectly dry).
Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Cut the blondies.
The blondies can be stored, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to 3 days (they get better as they sit).

I like to make these even worse for you and drizzle white chocolate on top. 😉