Perfect Carrot Cake

I've never been a huge carrot cake fan. And then I found this amazing recipe from The Pioneer Woman, and I was changed forever!

You'll need...

For the cake:

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups grated carrots

For the icing:

8 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 pound powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Blend together sugar, oil, and eggs.

Sift all your dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon) into the mixture - yup, just add it all in there.

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until just blended. Then add carrots, and mix for about a minute.

Pour into a sheet pan that's been greased with Baker's Joy, and use a rubber spatula to make sure the batter is distributed evenly.

Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Let the cake cool at least 30 minutes before spreading with icing. Chop your pecans... or buy the pre-chopped bag of pecans - no judgment.

Blend together softened butter and cream cheese until smooth. Then add powdered sugar about a cup at a time, blending well in between each addition. Blend in vanilla. Then use a rubber spatula to mix in the pecans.

Spread icing over cooled cake.

This got eaten FAST, so the pictures aren't great... but I can't wait to make it again!

Enjoy!!

White Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

Can't believe I let July pass by without a blog update! Here's a fun dessert... I made these for a friend's birthday by putting a twist to this cake recipe by Sweetapolita.

You'll need...

For the cake:

5 large egg whites

3/4 cup milk, divided

2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 3/4 cups cake flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 Tbsp. and 1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

12 Tbsp. unsalted butter

For the icing:

8 oz. cream cheese

8 Tbsp unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 lb. of sugar

Let eggs sit on the counter for about 30 minutes to bring them to room temperature. Move butter to a plate and cut into cubes. Let this soften for about half an hour as well. 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare 2 cupcake pans by lining each tin with paper liners and spraying each with a shot of Baker's Joy.

In a measuring cup or small bowl, use a fork to whisk together the egg whites, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of the milk. Set this aside for later.

Sift together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, salt) into a large mixing bowl, and stir gently with a whisk until just combined.

Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk to the flour.

Then toss in the butter.

Use an electric mixer on low speed for about 30 seconds until the mixture moistens up. Then crank the speed to medium-high until the batter is well combined - about 90 seconds.

Scrape the sides of the bowl, and add one-third of the egg mixture at a time, mixing well between each addition.

 Voila! Now use a scooper to evenly fill the cupcakes tins.

Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden on top. 

Blend together icing ingredients until creamy, and spread or pipe onto the cupcakes once they've cooled. This icing is SO sweet, so I didn't pipe the edges, but there's enough to smother them if that's your thing. :) Top with sprinkles or other fun treats! I used strawberry halves and mini Oreos.

Enjoy!!

THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are THE BEST chocolate chip cookies in the world. In the WORLD. And I've made A LOT of cookies. I got this recipe from another food blog (Apple A Day).

You'll need:
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (OR 1/2 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 peanut butter chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Start with butter and sugar - the way all good things start. Blend together the softened butter with both sugars until creamy.

Mix in an egg and vanilla, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

 

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.

Gradually add flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture, just until blended.

The trick is not over mixing, so stop blending before the flour disappears completely. Folding in the chocolate chips will take care of the lingering flour.

Use a mini-scooper to drop globs of cookie dough on parchment paper, and slightly flatten the tops.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, and no longer than that! These cookies don't really turn brown on top, so it is sometimes hard to tell when they're done, but 10 minutes is plenty!

After I put in the first tray, I had the urge to throw in a handful of peanut butter chips to the remaining cookie dough. Good choice.

 When you take them out of the oven, let the cookies cool on the tray for about 10 minutes before removing.

Gorgeous. Enjoy these - they get eaten fast!

Nutella Puppy Chow

Here's an easy crowd-pleaser! Just make sure you have lots of people around when you conjure this up because it makes way too much for one person to handle.

You'll need:

1/4 cup butter

1 cup Nutella

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

9 cups Chex (I used Rice Chex.)

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Melt together the butter, Nutella, and peanut butter in a medium-sized saucepan on medium-low heat until smooth and creamy.

Pour half the cereal into a bowl, top with the hot nutella mixture, and then add the rest of the cereal.

Stir together gently.

Pour the mixture into a gallon-sized Ziploc bag filled with the powdered sugar, and shake!

Enjoy!