Sprinkles Cupcake Mix - Review

I attended a friend's baby shower recently, and came home with a tube/box of Sprinkles' Dark Chocolate Cupcake Mix (I won one of the silly shower games). Now I had heard of Sprinkles before but had never tried one of their cupcakes. And honestly after sampling the cupcakes produced from their mix I don't think I would be in a hurry to buy the original. The cupcakes (from the mix) were moist enough, but I found them very bland and unexciting. There was no explosion of flavor or pop of taste, and if I'm paying $14 for a box of cupcake mix I expect an end product that makes my taste buds stand up and sing.


I made the Sprinkles cupcakes for my Mom's 76th birthday party. I always buy her birthday cake from Swiss Confectionery (the BEST tasting cake in New Orleans), but some last minute additions to the party list made me fear that I wouldn't have enough cake (a serious crime in my family). So I pulled the Sprinkles mix from the pantry and whipped up some cupcakes in less than an hour.

I did make one change to the Sprinkles cupcake: I added a cookie crumb crust. I grind up Lorna Doone shortbread cookies, mixed them with sugar and butter, press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the cupcake liner, and bake the crust for five minutes until it sets. My Mom LOVES cupcakes with cookie crust.


Next came the mixing of the Sprinkles cupcake batter. The sequence of mixing was a little different than normal. 1) Cream the butter then added the dry mix to the butter, 2) add the eggs, 3) and finally the milk. The batter was thick and luscious looking, but even at this point it was a little lacking in flavor.


I spooned the batter on top of my pre-baked cookie crust, and then baked the cupcakes for 20 minutes. My oven runs a little hot so I always remove my baked goods at the lower end of the baking range.


I didn't think the trademark Sprinkles "dot" looked festive enough for a birthday party, so I skipped the blue and black dot and used my own sprinkles.


Looks cute, but taste-wise the cupcake was unremarkable. Even the cookie crust and luscious frosting wasn't enough to perk up flavor of the Sprinkles cupcake.

Triple Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Almond Cookies

Every morning I run on the treadmill and while I'm sweating and panting and cursing my fat thighs I watch cooking shows. Go figure. The other day I watched an Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa episode entitled Baking Basics. She baked some soda bread and some savory palmiers, but then Kathleen King, of Tate's Bake Shop, came on and together they baked Double Chocolate Almond Cookies. Oh-la-la. As soon as the treadmill timer hit 30 minutes I hopped off that torture device and started yanking ingredients out of the pantry. (No wonder I can't lose any weight, I get off the treadmill and bake cookies!)


But before I actually started to bake I pulled up the recipe on the Food Network web site and read all the reviews. Yes, all of them. Most people LOVED the cookies, but a few complained that the dough was dry and the finished cookies were crumbly. One reviewer suggested adding another egg to the recipe, and another suggested reducing the amount of flour.

I took all the comments to heart and adjusted Kathleen King's recipe slightly. My final cookies were wonderful. Everyone agreed that they were the best chocolate-chocolate chip cookies ever. Thank you Kathleen and Ina, this has become my new Go-To chocolate-chocolate chip cookie recipe.




Triple Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies
Adapted from Kathleen King's Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 -1/3 cups all-purpose flour
( IMPORTANT, sift the flour and then measure, if you don't sift you will use too much flour and the cookies will be dry)
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
(I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, it give the cookie dough a pitch black color)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
(Kathleen's recipe called for 3/4 tsp, but I used unsalted butter so I upped this a little)
• 1 -1/4 cups (2 -1/2 sticks) UNSALTED butter, softened to room temperature
(Kathleen used salted butter, but I only had unsalted butter in the house. I upped the amount of salt accordingly.)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
( I added another egg to combat cookie dough dryness)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
(I decreased the volume of semisweet chips and added some milk chocolate. I think the lighter color of the milk chocolate really stands out against the dark cookie dough)
• 1 cup almonds, toasted and chopped


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time mixing until the yolk disappear. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture and continue mixing on low just until combined.

Add the chocolates and almonds and using a spatula mix until combined.

Using a small ice cream scoop (2 Tablespoon size), drop the dough two inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment. Note: the cookies don't flatten or spread very much so if you like flatter cookies press the ball of cookie dough down with moist finger tips.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. (My convection oven runs hot, so I only baked my cookies for 12 minutes. The outsides were crispy and the insides were soft and chewy.)

Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets. The cookies should be very soft when they are removed from the oven. They will firm up as they cool.

TWD: Thumbprints for Us Big Guys

This week's Tuesday With Dorie assignment was "Thumbprints for Us Big Guys".

Sigh, I must have done something wrong, because here are my cookies before baking...


and after...

Before, After. Before, After. Please scroll back and forth and as you view my latest baking misadventure make soothing sounds of pity and comfort. On days like this I need all the pity and comfort I can get.

Honestly I don't know what went wrong. The dough went together with out any mishaps, and (as instructed by Dorie) I rotated my two cookie trays half way through the suggested baking time. When my timer went off at 14 minutes (suggested baking time was 15-18 minutes), I checked my cookies and found confusing mix of results. Some of the cookies were round and puffy with a nice little depression in the middle, while others were as flat and crispy as tuiles. Even on the same cookie tray some were showpieces and others were flops. Huh????

Was the butter the culprit? If I didn't mix the butter and flour well enough would random chucks of butter cause some cookies flatten during baking? I guess that is a question for Dorie and other baking gods and goddesses out there. Hellooooo anyone out there?

But from my two trays I did find a few cookies that were presentable. Here they are sprinkled with powder sugar and waiting for the jam to be poured into the thumbprint depression.


One great trick I did learn from this recipe was to fill the cookie depression with boiled jam. The heat liquefies the jam so that it pours like water.


And once the liquefied jam cools, it jells into a smooth, mirror like surface. Amazing. Astounding. Jam-marvelous. Isn't astounding the things you can learn from cooking blogs?

Charlene's 40th Birthday Cake

My sister-in-law's sister, Charlene, turned 40 on Saturday, February 20 and her husband threw her a blow-out, over-the-hill surprise birthday party. But to keep Charlene from suspecting that she was getting a BIG party, we had a combination birthday party/Mardi Gras crawfish boil on the Tuesday before her "real" party.

And you know what? I was asked to bake the birthday cake for the Mardi Gras party!

Wahoo!

I'm very new to cake decorating, so I consider it an honor when someone wants me to make the cake.


But because I'm new to cake decorating problems seem to crop up at every turn. My biggest issue involved the large "40" gum paste topper that I made for the cake. The "40" looked perfect as it dried atop my counter, but as soon as I lifted it and tried to insert it into the cake it began to crumble. To compound the crumbling issue I realized (too late) that I had cut the support wires too short. I wanted the "40" to stick up above the flowers, but no matter what I did the heavy topper kept sinking into the cake. Grrrr…

Once I delivered the cake to the party house, I did some quick repairs and managed to elevate the "40" using some of the pink curly things and a lot of butter cream icing. The topper looked pretty unstable so I quickly picked up my camera to snap a picture, and, and, and…. The stupid battery in my camera was dead.

Stupid camera.

Stupid me.

I knew the battery was low, but I didn't think it would just give out on me like that. Oh well live and learn. You'll just have to take my word for it, the cake looked much better with the "40" not crouching shamefully behind the flowers.

But even with all my problems the birthday girl seemed happy with her cake, and she was completely surprised when she walked into her real over-the-hill birthday party.

As for the crawfish boil, it was a success too. Yummy, yummy crawfish soaking in their spicy bath water. Corn, potatoes, sausage and other veggies too.



Lets EAT!

MS: Brown Butter Toffee Blondie

TOO SWEET!

That was my first impression of Martha Stewart's Brown Butter Toffee Blondies. Ultra sweet, tooth achingly sweet, hyperactive kids bouncing off the walls sweet.


The mixing process for the Brown Butter Blondies started with, surprise, surprise, browning butter. I had never browned butter before, and instead of being prudent and watching a how-to video on YouTube I just kinda winged it. In hindsight I think I browned it a little too much (okay I burned it), but the scorched butter didn't seem to negatively affect the taste.


See all the black flecks floating around? That's the butter :(

But I didn't let crispy butter stop me.

And the batter ended up looking luscious, black specks and all.


I didn't have the walnuts that the recipe recommended so I substituted macadamia nuts. And because white chocolate and macadamias go hand-in-hand, I subbed 1/2 cup of toffee chips with 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips. Look at that mound of chunky batter. I would give you the spatula to lick if I could.


So this Martha recipes gets a thumbs up (from both me and the party goers), but be aware that it is very, very sweet. If you like cakier blondies, you might want to try a different recipe.

DB: Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

When I saw the February 2010 Daring Bakers’ Challenge I groaned. Tiramisu. Two tastes I hate most in the world (coffee & pudding) rolled into one dessert. I seriously considered not doing the challenge, but then I remembered my mom LOVES Tiramisu so I figured I could pawn the whole thing off on her.


The Tiramisu was composed of a lot of individual parts that made up the finished product. Mascarpone cheese, Savoilardi Biscuits, Zabaglione, pastry cream, and sweetened whipped cream. Each had to be made from scratch and then assembled.

First came the Mascarpone cheese. I had trouble from the beginning. You were supposed to use pasteurized whipping cream and using a double boiler, heat it to 190 degree. I don't have a double boiler, and all I could find at the store was ultra-pasteurized. I use an improvised double boiler, but no matter how long I heated, I couldn't get the temperature of the cream to rise above 170 degrees.


Finally I took the pot of cream out of my improvised double boiler and set it directly on the heat. The temperature shot up to 190 within seconds and the cream started to thicken.


After cooling, the mascarpone cheese went into a sieve lined with cheese cloth (I didn't have cheese cloth so I used a kitchen towel), and then into the frig for overnight chilling.


Next came the Zabaglione (what in the heck is that?). Egg yolks, sugar, Marsala wine, vanilla and lemon zest, heated gently (in that double boiler again) until it thickens.

Pastry cream next. Same kinda ingredients: egg yolks, sugar, milk, lemon zest, vanilla, heat until thickened.


Now the cookies. Yes! Something I might actually eat. Whip together the egg whites and sugar and then add the yolks.



Add the flour to the egg mixture and fold gently.


Pipe the batter onto a parchment lined baking pan.


Sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar and then bake for 15 minutes. I think I might have baked my cookie a little too long. They were a little hard and the bottoms were very brown.


With the cookies baked and my mascarpone, zabaglione, and pastry cream chilled it was time to start assembling the Tiramisu.


I de-sieved my mascarpone and found a hard lump. It was supposed to be soft and smooth, but mine had the consistency of cold butter. In other words: hard-as-a-rock. I guess using that ultra-pasteurized whipping cream did me in.


But I moved on. I beat my mascarpone till it softened a little and then dumped in the pastry cream and zabaglione. Looks kinda gross huh? Like jars of baby food all dumped together. Did I mention I don't like "cream/pudding" desserts. This kinda grossed me out.


Now comes the assembly part. Dip the Savoiardi biscuits (Lady Fingers), into sweetened coffee and line the bottom of the pan with the moist cookies.

Top with the cream/pudding mixture and then more cookies.


Refrigerate overnight, and then server. My Tiramisu wouldn't set, so I stuck it in the freezer to harden it up enough to cut.



And yes I did taste some. It had a lemony flavor and I didn't taste much coffee at all (which is a good thing for me).

So all-in-all the Tiramisu challenge was very enjoyable. I had a lot of fun making the individual components and assembling the finished product was a breeze. And you know what? Everyone who tried the Tiramisu honestly seamed to enjoy it (some even asked for seconds, and one person wanted thirds), and in the end making your guest happy is what is really important.

I'm sure glad I didn't skip this month's challenge. Thanks Aparna and Deeba for introducing me to a great new dessert.

TWD - Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia

I know I'm a little late but here is my posting of "Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia", which was due on February 9. This recipe was selected by Tanya of Chocolatechic for the weekly Tuesday with Dorie challenge.

I'm a chronic procrastinator, but you know what? Sometimes procrastination pays off! I took all the lessons learned by the "on-time" TWD bakers and tweaked the recipe to conform to my taste (I prefer cakey brownies). Several of the TWD bakers commented that the finished brownies were VERY gooey, and others stated that they were almost impossible to cut. To combat the gooeyness some bakers added more flour and others increased the baking time. I did both.

Ta Da! My version of "Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia"


Mixing wize, this brownie batter was one of the most involved I've encountered. In one bowl you melt the chocolate and butter, in another bowl you whisk together the eggs and sugar. Slowly drizzle half the egg-sugar mixture into the melted chocolate, stirring all the while to keep the eggs from cooking in the warm chocolate.


Beat the remaining half of the sugar-egg mixture until it doubles in volume.

And then gently fold the fluffy sugar-eggs into the chocolate mixture.

Sprinkle the flour over the chocolate mixture and fold with a spatula to incorporate. Spoon the batter into the pan. I opted for individual ramekins instead of one large pan. I figured the ramekins would solve the problem of un-cutable brownies (as reported by other TWD bakers), and the individual servings would reduce the gooeyness of the brownies because there would be more crunchy edges and less soft center.

Just out of the oven. I baked them for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Still hot from the oven the center of the brownie was pleasantly moist, but as it cooled the center hardened and became cakeier (sp). If I had to do it over I would reduce the cooking time to 25-27 minutes.

But there probably won't be a next time.

While the brownies were good, they weren't good enough to justify the involved mixing process and the number of dirty bowl and utensils that littered my counter top. Not only am I a procrastinator but I'm a lazy procrastinator.

Cinnamon Bun Cookies

Something that had long been on my baking "To Do" list were Cinnamon Bun Cookies. The name alone is enough to fill my nose with remembered scents of yeast, cinnamon and sugar. Ahhh Cinnabon where art thou?


But despite my fevered anticipation (or may be because of it), my Cinnamon Bun Cookie experience was not up to par. I had both assembly and baking issues, and honestly I just didn't think they tasted all that great. I thought there was too much cinnamon and the cookie part was kinda bland.

So now the recap:

The dough was easy to prepare. Here I am rolling it to 1/8" thickness between two sheets of waxed paper. Since discovering this method a few months ago I have never gone back to "floured surface" method. Using the wax or parchment paper eliminates the mess, the sticking, and the real hazard of adding too much additional flour to the cookie dough.


Here is the dough topped with its cinnamon-sugar filling. Notice how close I have the cinnamon-sugar to the long edge of the dough. Uh-Oh, this will come back to haunt me.


The rolling up of the dough was a little tricky. The dough got very sticky and tore in a few spots. I also had an issue with the center of the dough rectangle being thicker than the ends, so my log rolled uneven. This caused another set of problems during baking.


Here is the dough getting sliced. The center pieces looked really nice, all perfectly round and tightly rolled, but the pieces cut from the ends were lopsided and malformed (notice I didn't photograph them).


I take that back, I did photograph some of the deformed looking end pieces. To get rid of the gaps between the cinnamon-sugar and cookie dough layers I tried squishing it tight together. But ultimately my squishing didn't help.


Just out of the oven and Cinnamon Bun Cookie disaster! The outer ring of dough and cinnamon just kinda collapsed and fell flat. I was so disappointed.

With the second batch I squished the cookie rolls even tighter but the sides still fell over. Thinking about it now, I probably didn't leave a large enough sealing edge of dough. I probably scattered the cinnamon-sugar too close to the outer edge of the roll-up so there wasn't enough dough-to-dough contact to form a tight seal.

Poor little Cinnamon Bun Cookies how unlovable you look, but it is amazing how many flaws you can cover up with a little bit of icing.


So all-in-all not a very satisfying baking experience. The Cinnamon Bun Cookies tasted okay, but not good enough to warrant a second baking attempt.

If you want to see what they SHOULD look like, check out The Recipe Girl's version (and not mine).