Chocolate Chipness

Not only did I bake cupcakes yesterday, but I tried out a new chocolate chip cookie recipe as well. Now I've been making the same chocolate chip cookie recipe for as long as I can remember..I've never felt the need to try out a new recipe because, frankly, I love my chocolate chip cookies. Over the past few years I've changed the recipe up enough that I've gotten the cookies to be deliciously chewy and contain just the right amount of sweetness. However, over the past couple weeks I've been given a couple different chocolate chip cookie recipes, and have done some internet searching on my own, so I figured, what the heck, I 'd try out a new recipe.

I can't say that I was overly pleased with how the cookies turned out. They definitely were not sweet enough for me, were more on the crunchy side, and the dough was a little oily, so the chips didn't mix in very well. I also found it interesting that you mix up the dough all by hand...I'm used to using a Cuisinart mixer, (can't wait to have a green one of my own someday!) so that was bit different.

I did, however, add in some butterscotch chips, which made the cookies look very fall-ish..while these cookies definitely will not be replacing my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe any time soon, they did still taste good, just not over-the-top amazing :-)

Here's the recipe (from www.wellroundedtable.com):

1-1/2 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar packed
1/2 cup of white sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips (or more)

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Melt the butter in a medium sized bowl. Let the butter cool a little before adding the sugar. Add sugar, mix well. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Add the flour, salt, and soda together. Fold into mixture to incorporate. Add chips.

Place tablespoon sized scoops of dough on a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for 10-14 minutes (however, always start with less time..you don't want to overbake your cookies, and all ovens are different)

The original recipe says it makes 16 large cookies, however, I got over 20 large cookies when I made it.

Cookies 'n Cream Galore

Since I love all things cookies 'n cream, including cupcakes, I decided to try a twist on the classic and bake some mini cupcakes with golden oreos and nilla wafers mixed in. I've been searching for a new vanilla cake recipe that I could doctor up and make my own, and figured I'd test a new one out and add in some vanilla flavored cookies. I can't say that I'm in love with this new vanilla cake base, I think it was a bit too dense for my liking, (I normally like cakes that are super light) but my family loved it, so that counts for something, right?

On a side note, I am in love with the leopard print cupcake papers that I used. If you know me at all, you know that I have a slight obsession with all things animal print, and am especially partial to all things leopard print...so, naturally I was drawn to these amazing cupcake papers!

I ended up making half of the recipe with the golden oreos and nilla wafers mixed in, and the other half with regular oreos mixed in. I then made up a vanilla bean buttercream frosting and mixed in crushed golden oreos and nilla wafers in half, and crushed oreos in the other half.


To make these cupcakes (or a cake, if you prefer) all you need to do is make up your favorite vanilla/white cake batter, crush up some cookies (I don't crush them up super fine because I like to have chunks of cookies inside the cake) and stir them into the batter before baking. When I crush up the cookies to mix into the frosting, I do crush them up super fine because it's too hard to pipe on frosting that has big chunks of cookies in in!















Vanilla Bean Frosting:
(this is the site where I got the frosting recipe from- http://www.evilshenanigans.com/)

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp.
2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 milk or cream

Combine butter and vanilla paste. Add in powdered sugar and most of the milk. Mix to combine. If the frosting seems too stiff, add in the rest of the milk. If it seems too soft, add in some extra powdered sugar.

Past Baking Endeavors

Here are pictures of some of the desserts I made for my sister's high school graduation party this past June, and also of some desserts I made for a friend's baby shower last August.














Cupcakes:

Cookies 'n Cream with a cookies 'n cream buttercream frosting, topped with crushed Oreos and an Oreo half

Funfetti with a buttercream frosting

Red Velvet with a cream cheese frosting


















Cake Balls:

Red Velvet cake mixed with cream cheese frosting, dipped in either dark or white chocolate and drizzled with chocolate

Devil's Food cake mixed with cream cheese frosting, dipped in either dark or white chocolate, topped with either crushed Oreos, crushed Reese's cups, or rainbow sprinkles, and drizzled with chocolate



Mini Cookies 'n Cream cheesecakes, with an Oreo cookie as the crust, topped with whipped cream and a mini Oreo

Vanilla cupcakes topped with a chocolate buttercream frosting

First Step Towards a Career in Baking??

I've loved to bake for as long as I can remember, but it has turned into a passion of mine over the past few years. I enjoy trying new recipes, or doctoring up old ones to make them my own. It is a dream of mine to own a bakery someday and to be able to turn this hobby of mine into somewhat of a career. I'm starting this blog to have a place to post pictures of the things that I make and to hopefully start to get the word out there. So far I have baked for graduation parties, wedding showers, a baby shower, a wedding, a high school cheer banquet, countless birthday parties, and just for the heck of it...I'm always looking for an excuse to bake!

I'm in the process of figuring out the logistics of what it will take to turn my passion for baking into a business. The main detail I'm working through is figuring out how to price my baked goods so that I am competitive with already-established bakeries and other smaller businesses, while still remaining reasonably priced for my target market. Any tips in that area would be greatly appreciated! My ideal target market would be those people who are looking for someone to bake for smaller gatherings such as bridal showers, baby showers, small weddings, school banquets, graduation parties, birthday parties, holiday parties, etc.

Some of the things I enjoy baking most are cupcakes/mini cupcakes (red velvet, cookies 'n cream, devils food, vanilla, pumpkin spice, etc.), cookies (sugar cookies, chocolate chip, double chocolate peanut butter chip, snickerdoodles, chewy peanut butter cookies, banana chocolate chip...the possibilities are endless!), and my newest favorite-cake balls (red velvet, cookies 'n cream, devils food, etc.).

I've been saying that I want to start selling my baked goods for so long that I finally decided it was time to stop just talking about it and actually take the first step towards doing something about it...so here's that first step!