Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Hello Everyone! Today I am most excited to share with you a recipe that I found ages ago, and made for the first time tonight; Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip! (And yes, it is every bit as delicious as it sounds).

YOU WILL NEED:

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1/3 cup brown sugar

- 1 cup icing (powdered) sugar

- 1 cup mini chocolate chips

- 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over low to medium heat. Gradually stir in brown sugar; stir until fully combined and the mixture has begun to boil. Remove from heat and allow to cool. 

2. Using a mixer, beat cream cheese until fluffy. On low speed, gradually add icing sugar. Once fully combined, continue to beat for 1-2 minutes.

3. Slowly add and mix in the brown sugar and butter mixture. When fully combined, continue beating for another minute or so.

4. Using a spatula, fold the mini chocolate chips into the mixture.

5. Serve cool, with a selection of dipping options (pretzels, strawberries, animal crackers, etc).

 

Again, I owe my pitiful photo quality to my currently lacking a useable laptop.

Brought this to a baby shower tonight and it went over incredibly well! I'll definitely be making this again in the future.

Enjoy!! 

Peep Sunflower Cake

So unfortunately due to issues with my laptop, this is the only decent photo I can access to post right now, and it isn't even of the full cake! I assure you that when the laptop is up and running again I will upload all of the photos to Instagram, if not directly on the blog.

Anywho, I got the idea for this cake from (surprise!) Pinterest; here's the webpage that the pin brought me to: http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/peeps-sunflower-cake?crlt.pid=camp.rjXcJmm05yLz

Of course I tweaked the recipe and made this cake my own way, based really on only the photo from Pinterest. Here's the process and recipe I used for my version of this gorgeous treat!

For the cake:

1. Make a chocolate cake mix (yes, I use cake mix) according to box directions, bake in a 9 inch round pan, allow to cool.

Hint: I usually add an extra egg, as well as a teaspoon of flavoured coffee creamer (in this case I used Mocha Fudge creamer) to make the cake richer and moister.

For the icing:

To ice this cake I started with my base vanilla buttercream:

1. In a mixer, thoroughly combine 5 cups icing sugar, 1 cup butter (softened), 1 tsp. vanilla extract (although who really measures their vanilla?), and 1 cup of whipping cream (found in small cartons next to coffee creamer at the grocery store).

2. Add heaping tablespoons of Nutella, mixing each one into the icing completely before adding the next. Do this until you have achieved desired chocolate flavour and color. (I used probably 6-7 tbs.).

NOTE: You will likely have quite a bit of icing left over, so unless you have another intended use for it, you may wish to halve the recipe (you will still have plenty!).

To decorate:

1. Spread a thick, even layer of the icing onto the cake. Make sure it is level on top, and that the icing is smooth all around.

2. Place literal HANDFULS of chocolate chips in the middle of the cake, and spread towards the edges. The layer of chips should be thick enough that icing does not show through.

3. Place a generous dollop of icing on the bottom of each Peep, then press it firmly on the edge of the cake, tail facing outward (if anyone is wondering, I used 25 peeps for my cake).

4. Continue this until the entire edge of the cake has been filled with Peep "flower petals".

5. Fill in any spaces visible on top of the cake with chocolate chips.

I think this cake is super adorable and can't wait to serve it after dinner tomorrow on Easter Sunday.

I am SO pleased with how this cake turned out!  If anyone tries this cake please let me know how good it was on the scale of deliciousness. I hope everyone has a happy, fun-and-chocolate-filled Easter :)

Pin of the Week! Cadbury Creme Egg Cupcakes

With Easter coming up next weekend, Pinterest is filled with baked goods of all kinds. As a lover of Cadbury's trademark Creme eggs, as well as any cupcake that has a surprise inside, these little cuties immediately caught my eye. 

A simple chocolate cupcake with an egg of deliciousness laid on top of the batter pre-baking. I would probably ice these with my own vanilla buttercream, but any icing will do as long as it's some pastel color, of course! 

Recipe and photo came from http://pizzazzerie.com/desserts-food-2/cadbury-egg-easter-cupcakes/ (Pizzazzerie blog), which I very much encourage you to check out for a bunch of other awesome posts,  recipes and otherwise! 

Thank you for reading, & happy baking! :)

Welcome!!

Hello everyone! 

I've been considering starting a blog for a while now, for a few different reasons. 

Reading has been a favorite hobby of mine for as long as I can remember, but unfortunately none of my friends share my love of books. I'm hoping to use this blog as a place to talk about books and to hear the opinions of others who love reading as well! 

I also love baking, and it's a hobby I continually try to improve on. I would love to share recipes and photos of my creations with others, as well as to see what other people are making. 

As a junior in high school, my life is often very busy. I volunteer with several different groups, work, babysit, spend time with friends, and of course try to fit in some reading or baking whenever possible! I am intending to apply to nursing school in the fall,  and my eventual hope is to become a doctor...I may occasionally post about things going on in my day to day life, so stay tuned for that :)

So with that being said, on this blog you may find any combination of book/movie reviews, movie trailers, reading challenges, TBRs, recipes, photos of things I bake posts about the goings-on in my life, and things that humor me :) My posting will likely get sporadic at times so please bear with me, but I'll try to keep things as regular as possible.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!