chocolate banana cupcakes

Two of my favorite flavors in dessert, brought together in a fabulous cupcake! I mean, can you ever go wrong when chocolate and banana are involved?! Plus, the icing is so smooth and chocolatey, I could probably just eat it with a spoon! You're going to want to make these ASAP. (And careful, they seem to disappear quickly!)

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes (recipe from Bakerella)

ingredients:

Cream Cheese Mixture

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 small banana, pureed

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

8 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Mixture

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large bananas, pureed

1/3 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the cream cheese mixture:

• Beat cream cheese and sugar until nice and fluffy.
• Add banana, egg and vanilla and mix together until combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips and set aside.

For the chocolate mixture:

• Sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, soda and salt using a wire whisk.
• Add bananas, oil and vanilla and mix together on low until combined.
• Use a large scoop to fill cupcake liners with batter.
• Repeat topping the cupcake batter with the cream cheese mixture.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until done.

Chocolate Sour Cream Icing (recipe from Real Simple)

ingredients:

12 

ounces 

semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 

cups 

(3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 

cups 

confectioners’ sugar

3/4 

cup 

sour cream

pinch kosher salt

directions: 

1. Heat the chocolate in a double boiler or medium heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water, stirring often, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and let cool, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter on high until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low. Gradually add the sugar and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the chocolate, sour cream, and salt and beat to combine.
3. Top the cupcakes with the frosting once they are cooled.

Let me know if you try them out! 

-Kylie

red velvet brownies

As you all know by now, I love baking. LOVE it. So obviously I had to do a Valentine's Day baking post. And what could be better for Valentine's than red velvet? So I made red velvet brownies with a chocolate frosting that you will want to eat with a spoon! (obviously, I added Valentine's sprinkles as well because....any excuse to use fun holiday themed sprinkles!) And the best part? It's all SUPER easy to make. Score. 

Red Velvet Brownies (recipe from Newlyweds Blog)

1 cup  unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 oz red food coloring (optional)

4 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour an 9 X 13 clear glass baking pan.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then stir in food coloring (if not using food coloring add 4 T of water or milk) and vanilla, mix until the color is fully incorporated. Mix flour, cocoa and salt in a separate bowl.  Slowly add in the flour mixture being very careful not to over mix..  Do not over mix.  The batter will be very thick.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir up the batter with a rubber spatula once or twice just to ensure all of the flour has incorporated from the sides of the bowl and there isn’t anything stuck on the bottom of the bowl.  You’ll want one uniformly colored (red) batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-40 minutes. 35 minutes for a thin crust on top and gooey underneath.  Set aside to cool, cut into bars and serve.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting (recipe from Something Swanky)

12 ounce package semisweet (or any mixture of) chocolate chips

1/2 cup salted butter

8 ounces sour cream or Greek yogurt

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 60 seconds, or until butter is melted completely.

Add the chocolate chips to the bowl and stir until chocolate chips are very melted. When you feel like the chocolate chips won't melt any more just from being in the warm butter, place the bowl back in the microwave and heat for 30 seconds. Remove and stir until chocolate chips are completely melted and smooth (nuke an additional 30 seconds if necessary).

Use an electric mixer to mix in the sour cream.

Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time and the vanilla extract, mixing well in between each addition.

Use immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Warm in the microwave in 30 second increments for spreading after refrigerating.

What Valentine's treats are you making?

-Kylie

chocolate pretzel fudge

I have really been on top of it with the cooking posts this year (all three of them ;)). Hopefully I can keep it up! Today's is another magical fudge, aka the wonder of chocolate and pretzel. Fun Kylie fact, I used to dip my pretzels into chocolate pudding. So Good! This fudge turned out really yummy, and got rave reviews from my sister and her friends! (Hopefully they weren't just being nice!)

Chocolate Pretzel Fudge (slightly adapted from Eat At Home Cooks)

ingredients:

• 12 oz. bag + 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can substitute some milk chocolate in if you want it sweeter!)
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 Tbs. milk
• 1 cup broken pretzel pieces
• extra pretzels for top

directions:

Melt all the ingredients, except the pretzels in a heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Stir often.  When everything is melted and smooth, remove from heat.  Stir in pretzel pieces.  Pour into foil-lined, greased square (8x8 or 9x9) baking pan.  Press whole pretzels into top of fudge.  Refrigerate 3 hours or longer.  Remove foil and cut into squares.  Store in refrigerator.

What's your favorite kind of fudge?

-Kylie

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