Tulip Tree by frances robson
Good evening ya'll. Come on in for a visit for it is a warm and beautiful night down here in South Georgia and we had a great supper at the Catfish House. They have a delicious grilled shrimp and we sure enjoyed it. It is warm enough to have to turn on the AC and I am looooving it and hope we don't have anymore cold weather but I am afraid we will.
As you can see the flowers are beginning to burst out all over. The picture at the top is our tulip tree or Japanese magnolia. I love these beautiful pinks against the blue sky and this tree will go from buds to blooms in a matter of a few days. A friend of mine says if you stand still long enough you can watch it open up and that is almost true for they bloom so quickly. To me it is one of the most beautiful signs of spring we have.
There is a new show this year that has captured my attention - The Cupcake Wars. I didn't know there were so many ways to make a cupcake and how many different kinds of ingredients you can add and some of them sound like they would taste good. Some of them sound awful and the judges seem to agree with me. I just don't see turkey and dressing in a cupcake and that was one of the loser's idea. That is just not a cupcake or at least what I think of as a cupcake. My idea of a good cupcake is sugar and chocolate and the rest is just icing on the cake....
This week I saw a recipe from Paula Dean for a brownie cupcake and she put peanut butter chip in the center and that sounded so good but I didn't have peanut butter chips and I sure didn't want to run to town for one ingredient so I decided to have my own cupcake war. It was fun and they turned out pretty well so I thought I would share them with you.
To begin with you can use your favorite brownie mix or your favorite brownie recipe. Follow the directions on the box and I use cold coffee rather than the water and I usually add an extra egg to give it a little extra volume. If you add a teaspoon of vanilla, it adds even a little more flavor.
After you mix the brownies, the fun begins. I had a 12 muffin pan and I lined the cups with cupcake liners after preheating the oven to 350 degrees. I halved the mixture into 2 bowls so I would know how much I had to divide among the 12 cups.
To 4 of the cups I added 1 tsp. crunchy peanut butter
To another 4, I added 1/2 marshmallow that I had cut in half with scissors - easier than a knife.
To the last 4, I added about 5 dried cherries
Divide the remaining dough among the 12 and be sure the middle ingredients are covered with the top layer of dough. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remember this is brownie dough and to me it looks half done when you take them out of the oven but don't overcook.
Remove them from the muffin pan and let cool on a cooling rack. You can ice them with your favorite frosting but I just sprinkled them with powdered sugar.
I called the ones with marshmallows - Chocolate Marshmallow Delight. The next time I am going to add a few chopped pecans and that would be rocky road delight. You could also use about 3 little marshmallow instead of the 1/2 of the large one.
The peanut butter one I called the Peanut Butter Delight and be sure and use the chunky peanut butter.
The cherries are Chocolate Covered Cherry Delight and this is my favorite.
The idea of being able to make 3 different kinds with one pan and one mix is a good deal to me and you could use whatever you like in the center. If you try these, let me know how you liked them and if you used different ingredients.
Join the cupcake wars with me and let's see what we can create.
Now ya'll be careful going home and come back to see me soon.
Nuff said,
The Georgia Peach
As you can see the flowers are beginning to burst out all over. The picture at the top is our tulip tree or Japanese magnolia. I love these beautiful pinks against the blue sky and this tree will go from buds to blooms in a matter of a few days. A friend of mine says if you stand still long enough you can watch it open up and that is almost true for they bloom so quickly. To me it is one of the most beautiful signs of spring we have.
There is a new show this year that has captured my attention - The Cupcake Wars. I didn't know there were so many ways to make a cupcake and how many different kinds of ingredients you can add and some of them sound like they would taste good. Some of them sound awful and the judges seem to agree with me. I just don't see turkey and dressing in a cupcake and that was one of the loser's idea. That is just not a cupcake or at least what I think of as a cupcake. My idea of a good cupcake is sugar and chocolate and the rest is just icing on the cake....
This week I saw a recipe from Paula Dean for a brownie cupcake and she put peanut butter chip in the center and that sounded so good but I didn't have peanut butter chips and I sure didn't want to run to town for one ingredient so I decided to have my own cupcake war. It was fun and they turned out pretty well so I thought I would share them with you.
To begin with you can use your favorite brownie mix or your favorite brownie recipe. Follow the directions on the box and I use cold coffee rather than the water and I usually add an extra egg to give it a little extra volume. If you add a teaspoon of vanilla, it adds even a little more flavor.
After you mix the brownies, the fun begins. I had a 12 muffin pan and I lined the cups with cupcake liners after preheating the oven to 350 degrees. I halved the mixture into 2 bowls so I would know how much I had to divide among the 12 cups.
To 4 of the cups I added 1 tsp. crunchy peanut butter
To another 4, I added 1/2 marshmallow that I had cut in half with scissors - easier than a knife.
To the last 4, I added about 5 dried cherries
Divide the remaining dough among the 12 and be sure the middle ingredients are covered with the top layer of dough. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remember this is brownie dough and to me it looks half done when you take them out of the oven but don't overcook.
Remove them from the muffin pan and let cool on a cooling rack. You can ice them with your favorite frosting but I just sprinkled them with powdered sugar.
I called the ones with marshmallows - Chocolate Marshmallow Delight. The next time I am going to add a few chopped pecans and that would be rocky road delight. You could also use about 3 little marshmallow instead of the 1/2 of the large one.
The peanut butter one I called the Peanut Butter Delight and be sure and use the chunky peanut butter.
The cherries are Chocolate Covered Cherry Delight and this is my favorite.
The idea of being able to make 3 different kinds with one pan and one mix is a good deal to me and you could use whatever you like in the center. If you try these, let me know how you liked them and if you used different ingredients.
Join the cupcake wars with me and let's see what we can create.
Now ya'll be careful going home and come back to see me soon.
Nuff said,
The Georgia Peach
No comments:
Post a Comment