Sunday, March 17, 2013

Caramel Macchiato Cupcakes with Caramel Creamcheese Frosting





For the cupcakes:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
½ tablespoon Maxwell House Vanilla Caramel Latte
1/4 cup whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the cupcakes: Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour water over espresso powder; let cool. Combine instant coffee and latte with milk. Beat butter and granulated and brown sugars with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with coffee-milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour (batter may look broken).
Fill 15 cups (of two 12-cup muffin tins) three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool completely on cooling racks before frosting.






For the coffee glaze: (don’t skip this!)

1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee (not espresso)
½ tablespoon of Maxwell House Vanilla Caramel Latte
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stir all ingredients in a small bowl until sugar is completely dissolved. Poke several small holes in the top of each cupcake, and drizzle 1-2 tablespoons of glaze on each. Do not be afraid to over-moisten the cupcakes, they will soak up the liquid perfectly. Also- it is okay to glaze the cupcakes when they are still warm, just let them cool before frosting!


For the frosting:
First, make a caramel sauce:
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon fleur de sel (or any other sea salt. even kosher salt will do in a pinch.)
1/4 cup sour cream
Combine 1/4 cup water, sugar, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan; stir to combine. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until the mixture reaches 350 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in another small saucepan, mix together cream and salt over a very low heat, stirring often. Be careful not to let the cream burn or boil, but keep it warm.
When the caramel mixture has reached 350 degrees, Carefully add the hot cream to the caramel and stir rapidly. It will bubble frantically. Remove from heat, and whisk in sour cream. Cool completely, and then reserve 1/3 cup of the caramel sauce on the side to drizzle on top of the cupcakes once they are finished.

Ingredients
    8 oz cream cheese, softened
        1/2 stick real butter, softened
            2 tablespoons of heavy whipping cream
        2 teaspoons vanilla extract
       1 1/2 cups powdered sugar


.       Beat cream cheese, butter and heavy whipping cream until fluffy and combined.
.       Add vanilla.
.       Mix in powdered sugar a little at a time.
.       Mix on high speed until creamy and light.
.       Add more cream or powdered sugar to adjust the thickness if needed.

.       
 Slowly add in the caramel (still reserving the 1/3 cup that you left out from before) and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-low until combined and smooth, 3 to 5 minutes



Frost each cupcake, and then drizzle with the remaining caramel sauce. 


Indulge.





Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Healthy Breakfast Avocado Smoothie (For Hair Skin and Weight Gain)


Sooo...This is Day 1 of my Healthy Eating and Happy Hair Growing Journey (lol, I know i'm lame) . Anywho, This morning, I decided to put the Avocado's that I purchased to use!!  Avocado's are great for healthy eating!! Especially in smoothies!! " Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a "nutrient booster" by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha and beta-carotene and lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit."  So Avocado's are going to work to my advangate in a numerous amount of ways!! Eating these will allow my body to absorb more of the fat-soluble nutrients that I need!!  And it's high in fat (unsaturated fat) the average Avocado has over 300 calories!!


These are the ingredients I used in my smoothie

1/2 Avocado (I'm going to use the other half to deep condition my hair, Avocado's are VERY moisturizing!!)
1 Kiwi
1 Banana
1 Fruit Buddy
8 Ounces of Milk
1 Blender

The fruit (aside from the Avocado) that you choose to use , is totally up to you!! I just like Banana's and Kiwi's!! But you're welcome to play around with any fruits that you like :-)  Some people even add nuts!

Weekly Dishes


So I have finally realized why I was losing weight. I wasn't eating nearly enough calories with all the daily activities I was doing!! My body (energy) suffered!!  I was so tired and sleepy all the time!!

I've become enamored with cooking!!  I'm a beginner in the kitchen but I love trying out new recipes! Especially now that i'm getting better!!!  Now I make a weekly meal plan because this makes it super easy for me to make sure to eat and COUNT my calories!!!  Here are a few pictures of my dishes, if I used a recipe I will post a link to that as well!! I am a beginner so most of them aren't very pretty but they taste amazing!!  One of my favorite blogs that many of the things I cook come from is Diva's Can Cook !!  She has amazing recipes!!

Every weekend I make her Banana Bread (this past weekend I made them into muffins) they are delicious and it's great and convenient for me to make it over the weekend so that I can have it for breakfast during the weekdays.  Breakfast is sooo important and many of times I don't eat it because I don't have time.  This eliminates that!




Shrimp Scampi.  This was something quick that I threw together , when the fridge was low on things to cook!!


Yummy Parmesan Zucchini 


Paired it with Steak!! We also had a delicious mashed potato!!

Homemade Chicken and Dumplings. Omg. This was delicious! It was a very big pot that lasted about 2 days!! This is a GREAT hearty meal! Recipe HERE!!!!

Yummy Yummy Peach Cobbler!!! I don't cook this often, but when I do. OMG. I think it lasts ONE day!



Cheesy Ravioli.  I enjoyed this so much! It was super easy, and reminded me of lasagna.  I had this with Salad and Garlic Bread. BTW the picture is right before it went in the oven.  Forgot to take a picture of it after!! Smh silly me!! Recipe Cheesy Ravioli Recipe <<<<


This is Coq Au Vin . A recipe that I got from Cooking With Val !! Just recently found her blog!! Love her recipes and will be using more!! I paired this Wine Stewed Chicken with Mashed potatoes which were wayyyy too runny lol!! I mashed them a bit too much, then to add insult to injury I love love love gravy so added quite a bit over my potatoes which made it more runny. But guess what? It taste like heaven!  The Sauted Asparagus were also to die for!



Can't forget my homemade GREEN smoothie! Yum!  I usually use Spinach as the base (adding avocado when available too), and from there I add a mix of frozen fruit! I do frozen because it makes the smoothie good and cold and SWEET. I promise you , you can NOT taste the spinach !!

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