Banana Split Cupcakes

Again a requested recipe here! The combination of banana cupcakes, banana custard, vanilla frosting, chocolate sauce and sprinkles was seriously tempting! Although the recipe looks like a lot of stages, all the various stages are fairly straightforward and not too complicated. My impatience played a part in the final look of these and, as I've said too many times, if I redid these, I’d take my time and follow all steps, even the waiting ones! The original recipe for these included a Swiss Meringue Buttercream but I have never had any success with these and actually prefer the taste of a normal buttercream so I subbed that for the original frosting.

Banana Split Cupcakes 

Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line pan with cupcake liners.    

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour (I had none so subbed for plain flour and baking powder, or at least that was the plan! I forgot the baking powder so the resulting cupcakes were dense, hard and almost inedible! Whoops!)
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup banana puree (I planned to do this recipe a lot sooner than I actually did it so by the time I got round to it, my ‘nanas were really discoloured and squishy! Perfect! A quick blitz in a blender made perfect banana puree)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:    

1. In a bowl, add both flours and whisk to combine; set aside. In another bowl cream the butter on medium speed until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition; set aside. In another bowl add milk, banana puree, and vanilla extract whisk to combine.    

2. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk, banana and vanilla mixture. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well combined. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the centre of the cupcake comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.    

Banana Cream Custard Filling

• 1 ½ bananas
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup corn starch
• ½ cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• ¼ kosher salt

Instructions:    

1. Place all ingredients in food processor bowl or blender and process to combine. Pour mixture into a saucepan over medium heat and cook until mixture starts to bubble, making sure to constantly whisk. Continue to cook mixture until it thickens, about 5-7 minutes or until it coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.    

Chocolate Dipping Sauce
• 2/3 cups dark chocolate
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 4 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
• 5-8 tablespoons water, warm
Instructions:
1. Place chocolate and heavy cream in a bowl over simmering water. Let chocolate and cream sit for 2-3 minutes to melt without stirring. Then slowly stir mixture to combine. Add powdered sugar and mix to combine. Add water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing after each addition until pouring consistency is reached. Set aside and let sauce cool to warm.    

To assemble:

1. To stuff the cupcakes: Create a well in the centre of the cupcake using either apple corer, the large end of cupcake tip or carve a well using a paring knife. Fill well with banana cream custard filling.    

2. To frost the cupcakes: Fill a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip and start piping from the outside working your way to the centre to create one even layer. Freeze cupcakes for 20 minutes before dipping in warm chocolate sauce, so that the buttercream frosting does not melt. Remove cupcakes and dip in warm chocolate sauce, and then rim with non pareils. Return cupcakes to freezer for five minutes for chocolate to set. Remove from freezer and finish piping frosting on top and garnish with a Maraschino cherry.

The assembling is where I came a cropper! I didn’t freeze the cupcakes so dipping them in chocolate sauce was out of the question so I drizzled instead and it worked but I still should have frozen and waited. Duh. Still, they were goof from the filling upwards!

Oh the filling! The banana custard was to die for! Tasty warm, tasty cold! Creamy, bananay, gorgeous! I NEED another way to use it! Banana Custard Pie! Banana Custard in a tart shell, topped with whipped cream and dark chocolate shavings! Or in a ramekin topped with bruleed sugar. Banana Crème Brulee! Or, as I’m seriously tempted, straight out the pan with the biggest spoon I own!

Overall a bit of a mixed bag here. The cupcakes were bad, filling was great (haven’t you been listening?!), frosting was good but most frostings are, and the sauce was tasty but nothing special. I want to try these again to improve them. They need it!

 

Strawberry Milkshake Cookies

I found this recipe on one of my recipe expeditions( how cute does that sound?! Maybe I should get a hat!) and I was instantly attracted to it for a number of reasons. Pink! Pink cookies! I love milkshake and I was intrigued by the idea of milkshake cookies but I was sceptical about the small amount of milkshake powder in the mix and just how strawberry flavoured these would be. So I filed the recipe away in my “must do at some point” folder. Then a few weeks later I was in a cookie kinda mood and I remembered these cookies and I thought why not!

Strawberry Milk Chipsters

2 sticks softened butter

1/2 Cup strawberry milk Powder (I subbed this for angel delight powder, purely cos I was under the impression that a big tub of strawberry milkshake powder would end up in the back of my cupboard all forlorn, lonely and forgotten [all together now… awwwwwwwwww!] so I went with a packet of strawberry angel delight cos I figured its made of essentially the same stuff. I was later informed that the milkshake mix would have been used [annoyance #1753])

3/4 Cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1-2 drops red food colouring

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

10 oz bag White Chocolate Chips (I couldn’t get chips so subbed for chunks!)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a stand or electric mixer beat the butter, strawberry milk and brown sugar until well combined.  Place eggs into a bowl and whisk in 1-2 drops of food colouring.  Pour into mixer along with vanilla and beat until combined, about 30 seconds.   Place four, baking soda and salt into a large bowl; mix to combine then slowly add to wet ingredients along with white chips.  Mix on low until just combined.

2.  With a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Bake for 9-11 minute or until edges just start to brown.  Let cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

My cookies were, I think, a funny colour but that's my fault! Liquid food colouring was just not cutting it so I resorted to a few drops of gel food colouring. The result was the murky pink colour. Taste wise, the strawberry really came through and the white chocolate really added to the milky sweetness. I think I’d like to experiment with the base recipes. i think you could add any flavour milkshake or angel delight powder (Mmmmm butterscotch) and create a myriad of flavoured cookies. I’d also be tempted to add dried milk powder to add to the milkiness. I think dark or milk chocolate chips would also work. Overall a tasty cookie but plenty of room for experiments!

Cherry Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes

 

Phew! What a mouthful! These are probably one of my most requested cupcakes and with good reason. They’re delish. A tiny bit fiddly but ultimately worth it. Maraschino cherries can be quite hard to find here but I found them next to the cocktail onions, mini gherkins and lemon slices but these cherries are worth much more than a cocktail garnish! I don’t, cos of my own stupidity, have a photo of the finished cupcakes because I accidently deleted it! But next time I make these, I’ll update with a photo.

Cherry Cheesecake Brownie Cupcakes

Brownie Batter:

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Cherry Filling:

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup maraschino cherries (chopped)

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 lb icing sugar
• 2 Tbsp cocoa
• 4 Tbsp milk

1. To make the brownie batter, first melt the butter. Add ingredients in the order listed, mixing until combined after each addition. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a separate bowl before adding to the liquid mixture.

2. In another bowl, beat cream cheese and 1 egg with an electric mixer until light and fluffy (about three minutes). Add sugar and flour and stir until combined. Mix in cherries.

3. To assemble cupcakes, first put a small spoonful of brownie batter into each cup. The batter will raise while baking, so you only need enough to cover the bottom of the cups. Use a small spatula to spread the batter out to the edges of the bottom of the cup.

4. Spoon a generous tablespoon of cherry filling into each cup. If you have any left over filling, you can fill any empty spots in your muffin tin with it. Its not exactly a cupcake, but it tastes good.

5. Top with another spoonful of brownie batter. Using a spatula, gently spread brownie batter out to the edges of the cupcake cup so that the cherry filling is completely covered (add more batter if required). The cups should be about 3/4 full. (I find the best way to assemble these is to drop a tablespoon of batter, which gets really stiff and hard to work with v quickly, into each liner then use a teaspoon to spread it gently over the bottom of the liner. I never worry about making sure it goes round the sides of the liners. Then just top with a spoonful of cherry filling and finally a dollop of brownie batter. I find it nigh on impossible to spread it over the top of the filling without making a huge mess so I don’t bother! As long as the batter dollop is big enough, the batter will spread and cover the filling all by itself!)

6. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes. Cupcakes are done when the top center of each cupcake is cooked.

7. To make frosting, melt butter and chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and smooth.
Place icing sugar, cocoa and 2 Tbsp of milk in a large bowl. Add melted butter and chocolate and mix until smooth and uniform. Add remaining milk until the frosting reaches the desired consistency. Lightly frost the cupcakes using a smooth spatula or butter knife. (The frosting here may seem like overkill but it really does complete the cupcakes. I have used this original frosting recipe on occasion and once I used the frosting from the marshmallow brownie bites recipe I previously posted. On this occasion I made a chocolate ganache by melting chocolate in hot cream then chilling to a spreadable consistency.)

These are pretty tasty little cupcakes that seem to be a favourite of my samplers. They simple and well worth the effort!

Brownie Marshmallow Bites

 

These were a recipe I wrote in my recipe books (4 and counting!) and only picked out as part of  huge batch of baking for someone. I wasn’t expecting too much from them and they were more of a filler item. But actually they turned out to be one of the stars of the show!

Brownie Marshmallow Bites

Makes 3 dozen

1 cup margarine (I subbed for butter, just because)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used vanilla bean paste, purely cos I’m going through a stage of using it for everything!)

1-3/4 cups all-purpose (plain) flour

1/3 cup baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking (bicarbonate of) soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

18 to 20 large marshmallows (I couldn’t get marshmallows so I ended up using those 10p flump things cut up)

ICING:

6 tablespoons butter, softened

2 tablespoons baking cocoa

1/4 cup milk

1-3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

pecan halves (skipped these but I actually think they’d be very tasty!)

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add egg, milk and vanilla; mix well. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; beat into creamed mixture.

2. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. (I found the mixture was stiff enough to round into balls and place onto baking sheet thatta way) Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, cut marshmallows in half. Press a marshmallow half, cut side down, onto each cookie. Return to the oven for 2 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

3. For icing, in a small saucepan, combine butter, cocoa and milk. Bring to a boil; boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Cool slightly; transfer to a small bowl. beat in confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread over the cooled cookies. Top each with a pecan half.

These were tasty! The brownie was perfectly dense and chocolatey and rich. The marshmallow added a dose of sweetness and chewiness and the frosting was sooo good! So good that I abandoned the frosting for other things and used this! I could see that a toasted pecan on top would add a lovely crunch to these and I would add this in future. Overall a winner and a pleasant surprise!

Mini Pretzel Turtles

 

So I had a bag of salted pretzels in my cupboard. They were tasty alone and even tastier coated in chocolate but I still had like half a bag left! So I scoured the internet for ideas and found some brownies that I will be attempting at a later date and I saw quite a few recipes for these turtles. Wiki (my main source for all information) says that turtles are made of ‘chocolate, soft caramel and toasted pecans’ which sounds awesome in itself! But I saw the recipes that included pretzels and decided to go with those. I didn’t really follow a particular recipe, who needs one when its this easy?! But examples of a recipe can be found here, here and here!

Essentially you place pretzels, as many as you have and seriously go mad, I ate the ones I made in less than an hour, on a baking sheet. I lined mine for ease of caramel removal. Then top each with a Rolo. Just bog standard rolos!

Place in a hot oven for literally 5 minutes. Keep an eye on them. Burnt caramel is just gonna be nasty! The rolos will go squishy (technical term) and the whole thing will look yummy but resist the urge to shovel them in yet, if only cos a burnt mouth is no fun! As soon as they come out the oven, top straight away with a toasted pecan. Be sure to push it in so the roll surrounds it.

Once you’ve squished a pecan half into each, you just need to be patient for 10 mins or so till the chocolate cools and traps the nut in its chocolately prison! Then you can shovel them in! You could also top these with something else, another type of nut or even more chocolate! These were easy and tasty and gone in a v short amount of time!