Red Velvet Cupcakes

Double post today folks! Sorry for the e-laziness. Getting back from Christmas break has been really tough.

The first recipe I have for you is a delicious red velvet cupcake recipe, which I made at the birthday request of my new co-teacher (and pretty awesome friend).

I'm not gonna lie, I'm not usually that into red velvet, but these were really good and pretty easy. And they're so pretty! I threw on some silver sprinkles I had leftover from Christmas baking.

Your ingredients: Cake flour, cocoa powder, sugar, red food coloring, eggs, buttermilk, baking soda, oil, cinnamon, powdered sugar, cream cheese, and vinegar

So first, sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder.

Next, beat together the sugar and oil, then the eggs, then the food coloring and vanilla.

Now add in your flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating between each one, starting and ending with the flour. (Sorry about the photo quality, getting photos in the mixer is always iffy with lighting) Doesn't it look red and delicious?

Now mix together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl. It will fizz and make you feel like you're doing a really cool science experiment. Then add it to the batter and mix it in.

Then just bake those suckers!

Mmm, then frost them, preferably to the soundtrack of Wicked.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Slightly adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups cake flour

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 tsp. red gel-paste food coloring (or 1 tbsp. regular food coloring)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. distilled white vinegar

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°. Line muffin pans with cupcake liners.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt. In a mixer, beat together the sugar and oil on medium-high until combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mix well between each egg. Add in food coloring and vanilla.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, mixing well between each addition. Alternate with adding the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small bowl, mix together the baking soda and vinegar, which will fizz. Add it to the batter, mixing on medium-high for about 10 seconds.

Evenly distribute the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 of the way full. Bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

For the frosting, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar in an electric mixer until smooth. Add the cinnamon and vanilla until combined.

Frost the cupcakes and enjoy!



Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles

I'm about to confess something to you, and that's that I've never successfully made a cookie that didn't come from a box. And I didn't realize this phenomenon until last night when I made these. Remember The Great S'Mores Cookie Fail of 2011?

It all started out okay, except that it's been a very long week and I was sort of already tired and apathetic. And these didn't seem very hard. And the Husband said that I shouldn't tell you about my failure, since one pan of the cookies came out okay. "Just take pictures of the ones that turned out nice," he said.

But no. I have to be honest with you guys- otherwise what kind of blogger am I? So one pan turned out pretty and delicious and looking like this. And one pan turned out burnt.

To be fair, I have a crappy oven that hates me and wants me to fail. If you have a good relationship with your oven, you probably won't have any problems at all.

Your ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, cream cheese, cream of tartar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and butter.

So first, mix together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla, put it into a small bowl, cover it and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. It's delicious.

For your cookie dough, cream together your butter and sugar, then add the eggs and vanilla. Then, add the flour, cream of tartar until it looks like this- like a cookie dough!

In a small bowl, mix together sugar and cinnamon. Then stop and take a minute to think about how sugar and cinnamon together is never, ever wrong.

Alright, here's the hard part- okay, not hard. Just complicated.

Get a small disk of cookie dough, flatten it. Dollop some cream cheese onto it. Get another small disk of cookie dough, flatten it, put it on top, and pinch the whole thing closed. Now, roll it in the cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat.

Refrigerate the cookies for 15 minutes, then bake them for 8 minutes.

They're very yummy- that is, if they don't get burnt. But I have faith in you. You'll be able to avoid my mistakes.

Cream Cheese Filled Snickerdoodles
From Cookies and Cups
Cream Cheese Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Cookie Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 3/4 cup AP flour
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
Also, 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp. cinnamon

Beat together the cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and 2 tsp. vanilla until combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°.

In an electric mixer, cream together the butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla, then add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Mix on low until a dough forms.

In a small bowl, mix together the remaining sugar and cinnamon.

To make each cookie, flatten out a tablespoon of dough, then put a spoonful of cream cheese in the middle, then place another flattened tablespoon of dough on top of it. Pinch the edges closed, then roll the cookie in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Refrigerate the cookies for at least 15 minutes, then bake for 8 minutes on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet.