S'more Cupcakes Please!

I've spent a lot of time camping throughout my life. Camping with my grandparents was a huge part of my childhood and some of my best memories were made around a campfire or in a lake. And like any other person who's been camping, making s'mores were probably my favorite part. My grandma always made sure there was a full box of graham crackers, a bag of marshmallows, and of course Hershey's chocolate bars. As time went on we made the discovery that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are even more amazing on s'mores, but that's another story completely. Well I decided on trying to combine these classics elements into a cupcake and make it even more delicious. And it worked. I made a chocolate cupcake with a graham cracker and chocolate crust. I then topped these cupcakes off with graham cracker crumbs and then threw on marshmallow butter cream frosting. These cupcakes were absolutely the most amazing things I've tasted. The cupcake was soft and had the best chocolate flavor. While the frosting was light, sweet, and tasted pretty much like a marshmallow. To start this recipe off, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line your pan with cupcake tins.

Start off by taking your semi-sweet chocolate and chopping it up into into pieces. This will be used in the crust of the cupcakes.

Crumble up the graham crackers into a fine dust. Having some bigger chunks isn't a big deal. Set the chocolate and graham crackers aside and save for later.

Next, take a separate bowl and add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Whisk together until all the ingredients are completely mixed.

 In another bowl mix the butter, sugar, milk, eggs, and vanilla together until fully incorporated.

After the liquid ingredients are mixed together, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave. Do this by heating one minute at a time at 70% power. Once the chocolate is fully melted pour it into the liquid batter and mix together.

Once the liquid batter is fully mixed together, pour the dry ingredients into the liquid batter in sections. The batter will be thick, dense, and almost dry looking.

After the batter is fully mixed boil a cup of water. Once the water comes to a complete boil pour it into the batter and mix together.

By doing this is it makes the batter thinner and moister, but it also brings the chocolate flavor out from the cocoa powder. Set the batter aside and save for later.

With your graham cracker crumbs in a separate bowl, take another bowl and melt the butter set aside for the crust in the microwave. Once the butter is completely liquid, pour it into the graham crackers and mix until all the graham crack crumbs are moist.

Take the buttered graham crack crumbs and put enough in the bottom of each cupcake tin. Take a spoon and pack the crumbs down.

Next, take a pinch of chocolate and sprinkle it onto the graham cracker crust.

Put the pans into the oven and bake for 5 minutes at 350 degrees F. Bake until the crusts are a light brown and the chocolate is melted.

Take the cupcake batter and fill the tins until about 3/4 full. Then take the graham cracker crumbs and sprinkle on top of the batter.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes. To check if they're done insert a toothpick into the center of a couple cupcakes and it should come out clean. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then take out and let cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling you can start on the frosting. Take the butter and mix until creamy. Once the butter is creamy and light add the marshmallow creme and mix until fully incorporated.

Next, add the powdered sugar, a half cup at a time, until smooth and light. At the end, mix in the vanilla. Once your frosting is complete you can spoon it into a piping bag or simply spoon the frosting straight onto the cupcake. Make sure to wait and frost until your cupcakes once they're completely cool and there's no warmth left to melt your frosting.

I chose to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes

And top with edible pearls =]

Chocolate Cupcake Recipe

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup boiling water

Graham Cracker Crust Recipe

1 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup melted butter

3 chopped semi-sweet chocolate Baker's squares

Marshmallow Butter Cream Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter

7 oz marshmallow creme

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Enjoy baking these tasty campfire inspired treats!

Cream Soda Cupcakes

Cream soda is probably the best kind of pop out there. It's light, bubbly, and simply my favorite. I don't drink it often but when I do it's definitely a treat. Ever since I started baking I've wanted to combine a cupcake with cream soda. I just needed to figure out how to do it. So I started to break apart recipes I already knew and came up with my own original cupcake recipe. It's light, airy, and absolutely delicious. To start this recipe off preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line your pan with cupcakes tins.

Like normal, start off by mixing the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in their own bowl. Then set the bowl aside for later.

In a separate bowl mix the softened butter until creamy.

Next, add the white and brown sugar to the butter. Mix until fully incorporated. Continue mixing until it becomes as creamy as possible. This may take a while and the final product will be slightly thick. After the butter and sugars are mixed together, add the eggs one at a time, mixing for a minute between each addition.

After the eggs are mixed in, add the vanilla and mix until fully incorporated.

After the vanilla has been mixed in, pour in the milk and cream soda. Mix until the milk and cream soda are completely combined.

After the liquid batter is fully mixed together, separate the dry ingredients into three sections. By doing this it prevents clumping as you combine the two bowls of ingredients. Pour the sections of the dry ingredients into the liquid batter one at a time and mix until each section disappears into the batter.

Once everything is mixed together the batter should be thick and somewhat dense.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake tins until about 3/4 full.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 18 minutes. To test if fully cooked insert a toothpick into the middle of a cupcake and it should come out clean.

Once done baking, take out of the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Once the 5 minutes is up take them out of the pan and let them cool completely.

The tops will be a beautiful light golden brown color and they smell amazing. While the cupcakes are cooling you can make the frosting.

In a bowl, cream softened butter until smooth. Once the butter is beaten, add the vanilla and cream soda and mix into the butter.

Add one cup of powered sugar at a time, mixing between each addition until the frosting is light and holds structure. You can then put the frosting into a piping bag to decorate your cupcakes, or you can spoon it into the top of the cupcakes.

I used a piping bag on half of the cupcakes...

...and spooned frosting onto the tops of the other half.

Cream Soda Cupcake Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup cream soda

Yields about 18

Cream Soda Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 tablespoon cream soda

3 cups powdered sugar

Enjoy my original recipe and happy baking!

Soft Snickerdoodles

If there's one thing I hate, it's hard snickerdoodles. I've never been a fan of the cookie. I've never understood people's obsession with them. All the snickerdoodles I've ever had are like trying to eat a brick, and I don't enjoy eating desserts when I'm in fear of chipping a tooth. So, I've just avoided the cookie altogether. After I made the blondies for Jaime's co-workers, one of the them suggested snickerdoodles and of course my eyes instantly glazed over. Are you kidding me? The one cookie I hate. But hey, this gave me an opportunity to turn a brick into a glorious soft spongy edible cookie. And I pulled it off. I made a soft snickerdoodle that...wait for it...stayed soft longer then 10 minutes! Even a day later they're still soft and enjoyable.

There are few ingredients that go into snickerdoodles. These simple yet daunting cookies consist of butter, vanilla, white sugar, eggs, baking soda, salt, flour, cinnamon, and cream of tartar. Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F and sticking at least two cookies tray into the freezer to chill.

Dry ingredients

Start by whisking flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set the bowl aside for later.

Next, put softened butter and white sugar together in a large bowl.

Butter and sugar combination

Mix together until the butter and sugar are fully combined and the mixture is smooth. This may take a few minutes so be patient.

After the butter and sugar have been mixed together and the mixture is smooth, add the eggs, one at a time. Mix until the egg is totally incorporated. After the eggs have been added mix in the vanilla until everything is fully combined. The batter should creamy and wet.

Seperate the dry ingredients into three different sections so that it's not all added at once. Add the sections one at a time and mix until the dry ingredients disappear into the batter completely. After the batter is totally combined put the bowl of batter into the freezer and chill for 10-15 minutes. This will make it easier to roll.

While the dough is chilling in the freezer combine the white sugar and cinnamon into small bowl and whisk until fully combined. This will be used to roll the dough balls in.

Once the dough is chilled take it out along with one cookie sheet. It's time to start pumping out these cookies!

Roll the dough into about a one inch ball. My first tray of cookies were a little small but with trial and error you'll find the perfect size.

Take the dough ball and roll it around in the sugar cinnamon mix until fully coated.

Repeat the above step until your cookie sheet is filled. I had to pat the dough balls down some so they cooked wider. While your cookies are going into the oven put the dough back into the freezer so that it stays chilled.

Put the cookie sheet into the oven at 350 degrees F and bake for 9 minutes. Remove from the oven and remove them from the cookie sheet immediately. Put the cookie sheet just used back into the freezer and pull out the other cookie sheet and fill that one with dough balls like before. Repeat this until your dough runs out.

Now you should have some soft snickdoodles to enjoy!

Soft Snickerdoodle Recipe

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

1 1/2 cups white sugar

2 large eggs

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Cinnamon Sugar Coating

3 tablespoons white sugar

3 teaspoons cinnamon