Paleo Banana & Chocolate Chip Muffins (but I call them cupcakes)

I really enjoy treats, but I enjoy them more, when they are made from WHOLE ingredients. I've slowly made the move to consuming more Paleo desserts, and this banana muffin/cupcake is so moist and is a perfect replica of the regular "white flour" version....that I had to include it on my own blog.

I took this recipe straight from http://paleomg.com/banana-nut-chocolate-chip-muffins/

so, I give all the credit to Juli Bauer for her amazing Paleo blog. Go check it out!

Ingredients:

• 3 bananas, mashed with a fork

• 3 eggs, whisked

• ¼ cup maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ½ cup smooth almond butter

• ¼ cup coconut flour

• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon baking soda

• ½ teaspoon baking powder

• pinch of salt

• ½ cup chopped walnuts (I actually Omit these when I cook mine)

• ½ cup 72% Eating Evolved Baking Chocolate, chopped into pieces (or other chocolate chips you like)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mash bananas in a large bowl. Add eggs, maple syrup, almond butter, and vanilla extract and mix together.
3. Then add coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder and a pinch of salt and mix well.
4. Lastly, fold in walnuts and chocolate chips.
5. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop batter into 9 cups of a silicone muffin pan.
6. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before removing from silicone pan.

Special thanks and credits given to: http://paleomg.com/banana-nut-chocolate-chip-muffins/

Snicker Bar Cheesecake

I made Homemade Snicker Bars....again. I had a half of a pan leftover.
What to do? What to do?

That's it....I'm making a cheesecake and perfecting the consistency.

My dad makes the MOST PERFECT cheesecakes and I'm trying my best to make them rich and creamy like his. Honestly, his are the best. I love challenging my baking skills to see if I can perfect certain recipes.
This time I wanted to see if it really made a difference to cook a cheesecake in a water bath. So I needed to get heavy duty, wide foil and a roasting pan. (The water bath is optional, if you feel like that is just too much work, you may omit the water bath step. You can surely cook this without the water bath.)

So, here I go. Let's try this recipe!

Ingredients:

CRUST:

6 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 tbsp. granulated sugar

pinch of sea salt

FILLING: (make sure all ingredients are ROOM temperature)

2 pounds cream cheese (four 8 oz. packages)

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups sour cream

6 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tbsp. pure almond extract

1 C. chopped up snicker bars

TOPPINGS:
Snicker bars, chopped up
chocolate chips and peanut butter, melted together in microwave
1/2 bag of caramels and 1/4 C whipping cream melted in a saucepan together over low heat.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.

For the Crust:

 Melt the butter, covered in the microwave safe bowl, or a saucepan. Brush a 9-inch spring-form pan with some of the butter. Stir the remaining butter together with the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and salt. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom of the pan, taking care to get the crust evenly into the edges. Place in oven and bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 min.
Cool.

For the Filling:

Beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Add the granulated sugar and beat just until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl and beaters as needed.
Slowly beat in the sour cream, then eggs, then vanilla:

Take care NOT to over-whip.
Then, add the chopped snicker bars and gently fold in.
Pour the filling into the  spring-form pan.


Water bath step: (optional)
Then, wrap the bottom and UP the sides of the spring-form pan with foil. 
(I used the HEAVY duty, wide foil for this part)
Then, put the spring-form pan in a roasting pan.
 Now, bring a medium saucepan or kettle of water to a boil.
Put the spring-form pan in the roaster.
Put the roaster in the oven.
Pour in enough HOT water to come about HALFWAY up the side of the spring-form pan.

Time to Bake:
Bake the cheesecake for 70 min.---the outside of the cake will set, but the center will still be loose.
Turn the oven off, cook the cheesecake in the residual heat in the oven for about 1 hour.
This gentle finish minimizes the risk of the dreaded crack in your cheesecake.

Remove cheesecake from the roasting pan to a rack.
Run a knife around the edges and cool to room temperature.
Cover and refrigerate 8 hours OR overnight.

 The next day, I take my cheesecake, chocolate chips, snicker bar block and caramels, whipping cream and prepare the toppings.

I cut up as much of the snicker bars as I want to decorate with.
I melt my chocolate and caramels. (The melting strategies can be found on the snicker bar recipes)

Then, I decorate it up to my hearts content!

 Bring the cheesecake to ROOM temperature before cutting, because the toppings create a thick crust and it can be hard to cut if it's directly out of a fridge.

It's a VERY creamy version of a Snickers Bar cheesecake!
It was fantastic. I think the water bath was the trick to keeping it moist and crack free.

I love baking my family treats.
We like to workout hard so that we CAN enjoy some yummy treats every now and then.
Try this! It's worth the work!

Recipe courtesy of: http://m.foodnetwork.com/recipe/36437 (with a few variations of my own)

Golden Oreo Caramel Enrobed Cheescake

After getting my hands dirty with the Oreo Cupcakes, I really wanted to make a big, Golden Oreo cheesecake to see if the same concoction bakes up nicely as a 9" cheesecake.

....and it SURE was.

Heaven.

Cheesecake Ingredients:

1/2 pkg Golden Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped

2 lbs. cream cheese at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

4 large eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream (NOT fat free)

pinch of salt

Crust Ingredients:
1/2 package Golden Oreo cookies, finely crushed.
2 tbsp. salted butter, melted.


Melted Caramel Drizzle:

one bag of caramels, unwrapped (about 50)

1/4 c. heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Instructions:

1. Take 1/2 package of Golden Oreo cookies & finely crush them. (I used a food processor and ground them up to a fine powder) Then melt 2 tbsp. butter & add to the cookies. Mix with a fork. Set aside.
2. Using parchment paper and a 9" spring-form pan, cut a circle of parchment paper and lay on bottom of spring-form pan. (OPTIONAL)
3. Take the crushed cookies and pour into a spring-form pan. Press the crushed cookies to the bottom of the spring-form pan and slightly up the sides of the pan. Place in freezer.
4. In a mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth.
5. Add sugar until combined.
6. Beat in vanilla.
7. Add eggs, one at a time, making sure EACH one has had the time to incorporate and mix into the batter.
8. Beat in sour cream and salt.
9. Coarsely crush 1/2 package of cookies and add to batter.
10. Gently fold in cookies by hand.
11. Pour batter over chilled cheesecake crust.
12. Place in preheated oven and bake for 45-55 min. (check cheesecake after 45 min or until center is almost set.) Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim.
13. Refrigerate 4 hours or preferably overnight.

**To make caramel drizzle:
In a medium pan over low heat, melt the caramel candies along with heavy cream and stir constantly.
Once melted, drizzle the caramel sauce over the cheesecake.

I seriously LOVE cheesecake and this pie was outstanding!

Let me know what you think!

Triple Salted Caramel Cupcakes

I have had this fetish with "salted caramel" desserts lately.

 I've wanted to learn how to make my own caramel or to just sample salted caramel recipes.

So, this is the one I found that looked OVERLY tempting. 

I found it on the website, Sally's Baking addiction.

I HAD TO TRY IT!

Seriously.
These were AMAZING. (...and I only had a bite)
(you'll have to forgive me, I do NOT have STEP by STEP pictures for this recipe)

CARAMEL CUPCAKES:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar.
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk or heavy cream (do not use fat free milk or even 1% milk)

THICK, SALTED CARAMEL FROSTING:
1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1-3 cups powdered sugar (you'll beat in 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in at a time to the consistency that you want)
additional pinch of salt

MELTED CARAMEL DRIZZLE:
one bag of caramels, unwrapped (about 50)
1/4 c. heavy cream

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners. Set Aside
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugars together at a medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until combined. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until NO flour remains, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly stir in the milk. Do no over mix the batter.
3. Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 full, dividing the batter between all 12. Bake cupcakes for 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcake comes out clean. Let the cupcakes cool before frosting, about 1 hour.
4. While the cupcakes are cooling, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Once melted, add brown sugar and heavy cream. Stir constantly over medium heat until sugar is dissolved. Add salt. Allow to bubble for 3 minutes, no more. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature, about 30 min. Do NOT place in refrigerator to cool.
5. Put cooled caramel sauce in a medium sized bowl. Using a HAND MIXER a medium speed, beat in powdered sugar (1/2 C. at a time) until you reach the desired consistency. Add a pinch of salt is the frosting tastes too sweet. **If the frosting becomes too thick, add a 1/2 tbsp. of heavy cream.
6. Frost cooled cupcakes. Set aside.
7. In a medium pan over low heat, melt the caramel candies along with heavy cream and stir constantly.
Once melted, drizzle the caramel sauce over the frosting, and adorn with a pinch of coarse sea salt.

 (Cupcakes can stay fresh in an airtight container for up to 5 days)

Recipe courtesy of: http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2013/01/10/triple-salted-caramel-cupcakes/

Oreo Cookies & Cream Cheesecake Cupcakes

Oops, I did it again. 

Blog surfing created THIS in my kitchen...

If it looks incredible, then I'm gonna make it!

Ingredients:

1 pkg Oreos, divided (12 coarsely crushed and 27-30 WHOLE)

2 lbs. cream cheese at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

4 large eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten

1 cup sour cream (NOT fat free)

pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
Line muffin tins with paper liners.

Place one cookie in the bottom of each liner.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese at medium speed, until smooth.

*****Be sure to SCRAPE all the sides of the bowl after you add each ingredient.

Gradually add sugar until combined. Beat in vanilla. 

Add eggs, one at a time, making sure EACH one has had the time to incorporate and mix into the batter.

Beat in sour cream and salt.

Coarsely crush the cookies.

Add to batter.

Stir in crushed cookies by hand.

Divide the filling among the cups
Filling them to the top.

Bake until set, about 22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool for about 15 minutes.
Then, refrigerate for 4 hours.

These will prove to be another hit in your house!
Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of http://cookingwithmandy.blogspot.com/2012/10/cookies-cream-cheesecake-cupcakes.html

Dark Chocolate Cake

This is my husbands FAVORITE cake!

After I completed my first NPC competition, this is the first thing I wanted to make. 

Not only because I've deprived my own husband from having it (due to my lack of willpower with a gorgeous chocolate cake in the house) 

but because I wanted to sink my teeth INTO something really decadent.

So, I wanted to share the "Dark Chocolate" joy with you.

Ingredient List:

2 cups Sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 cup BOILING water

Put all dry (first 6 ingredients) ingredients in a bowl.
Mix well.

Grease and Flour two 9-in. round baking pans

Prepare the boiling water.
1 Cup. water on medium-high heat (by the time it's boiling, you'll be ready to add it)

Add eggs and milk.
Mix.

Add vegetable oil and 2 tsp. vanilla
Mix with a medium speed of electric mixer for 2 minutes.

Add 1 C. boiling water and stir.

Batter should be runny.

Pour equally into 2 prepared pans.

Put in 350 degree oven for 30-35 min or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool for 10 min in pans.

Shave off rounded top (if you want to) with a long, serrated knife.

Remove from pans to wire racks.
Cool Completely.
Then, prepare dark chocolate frosting.

DARK CHOCOLATE FROSTING

Ingredients:

6 tbsp. ROOM TEMPERATURE butter

2 2/3 Cups powdered sugar

1/2 Cup cocoa powder

1/3 C. milk

1 tsp. Vanilla

 FIRST, in a small bowl, beat the butter until creamy.

Then add the powdered sugar and cocoa over the butter.
Beat well.
Then add in milk and vanilla.

Beat with an electric mixer.
DONE.

Frost the top of one cake.
Place other round on top.

Frost Entire cake and sit back and relax with smooth, creamy bites of a rich and delicious cake.
 Incredible.

Recipe adapted from: Hershey's 100th anniversary chocolate cooking book, Deep Dark Chocolate Cake.