Cookies, Cupcakes, and Cardio

Baking Bloopers Part 4!

August 30, 2014 by Jenn

Here’s another in the “have a laugh at Jenn” series of baking bloopers!

This is our FOURTH video of bloopers….I’m just wondering when I am going to be a professional??????? It may look flawless when you see the finished product, but obviously it’s NOT!

Baking Bloopers Part 1
Baking Bloopers Part 2
Baking Bloopers Part 3

Filed Under: Bloopers Tagged With: baking bloopers, baking fail, Bloopers

Frosting Filled Birthday Cake Cookies- Chips Ahoy Copycat Recipe

August 27, 2014 by Jenn

I am obsessed with anything that is cake flavoured- birthday cake, cake batter- anything! I especially love the ones with the sprinkles!!! So obviously when I saw Frosting Filled Birthday Cake Cookies from Chips Ahoy on the shelf at the grocery store, I snatched them up before anyone else could steal them away from me.

I don’t think I’ve been more excited to try something than I was to try these cookies- I’ve never seen frosting filled in a cookie before- I took one bite, and was devastated! They were not very good. At all. They didn’t taste like cake batter, and they sure didn’t taste like frosting! Being the devoted sweets fan that I am, I new I couldn’t give up at that point, and I had to try to make my own version.

To make the frosting filling, I ended up using shortening, which I don’t usually like to use. I tried the recipe with butter instead, but the butter melted in the heat of the oven, and the frosting spread out all over the cookies. I also failed when it came to the cookie batter. I went with my go-to chocolate chip cookie batter, and found that it didn’t have enough flour, so the cookies spread out wide. I needed them to keep their bowl shape around the frosting filling. So, I fixed my errors, replaced the butter with the shortening, and added more flour. One more practice batch, and I had it fixed!

I hope you love these as much as I did!

Hamburger Cupcakes and French Fries

August 23, 2014 by Jenn

It has been two years since I first introduced Paityn to YouTube, and YouTube to Paityn.

We started off filming with her as a birthday gift from her parents, Birthday Cake Surprise, last year we filmed cute Rainbow Ice Cream Cone Cake Pops, and Macarons, and now this year I had her show me how to make one of her ideas. Paityn attends the same school that I teach at, and one day she had made these adorable hamburger cupcakes for her brother’s birthday, and as soon as she brought me one, I knew we had to film it for a video.

In the past two years, Paityn has grown and matured a tremendous amount. She’s also grown physically and no longer needs a stool hahahaha! She is one of the most talented, spunky kids I know- but she started out as a shy, quiet girl who I had to pull teeth to get to talk when we started filming. Now, I couldn’t get her to be quiet, and she took over my kitchen like she owned the place! I love this kid.

While Paityn was making these cupcakes, she used box mixes for the cupcakes and brownies. She suggests that using golden yellow cake mix is preferable over a white cake, as it looks more realistic and bun like. For the brownies, baking the mix worked best in a 9″x13″ pan in order for the brownies to be thinner than they would be if they were baked as according to the box directions.

For the french fries, I knew I had to have an idea to bring to show Paityn, so I made the french fries using pound cake and a crinkle cutter. Baking them under the broiler gives them the true fry look.

The recipe is super simple, and super fun to get creative with!

No Bake Nutella Oreo Cheesecake

August 21, 2014 by Jenn

When I taught you how to make your own Nutella in my previous post on the weekend, there was rumour of a hazelnut shortage. Well, now, four days later IT’S TRUE! Get to the store and hoard the hazelnuts as they’re predicting the cost of Nutella to rise dramatically due to flooding in Turkey, where 70% of the world’s hazelnuts are grown. I also learned recently that we have hazelnut farms here in British Columbia, so the next time that I make to the Coast, I’m going to have to go and check one out!

Now that I’ve added to the hazelnut panic, I’d like you to go and make some homemade Nutella, and use it to make this cheesecake. This is one of the most delicious, amazing, drool-worthy cheesecakes I have ever eaten, never-mind made. Being that the cheesecake is a no-bake recipe, the layers remain light and fluffy once they are set. I also tried a baked version of this recipe, and I felt that this one was far better. I definitely prefer a light cheesecake over a heavy, dense one.

I went with a traditional cheesecake crust for this and used graham crackers. I think that an Oreo crumb crust would be amazing as well, but I felt that the graham cracker crust made the Oreo cookies stand out more than they would have if the crust was all Oreo’s as well. This no-bake cheesecake is also amazing without the additions of the Oreo’s and the Nutella. I made them into cute Cheesecake in a Jar a couple of months ago, so if you prefer a plain cheesecake, you’ll definitely love the basic recipe.

Thank goodness Oreo’s aren’t threatened, or this cheesecake would be bound for the endangered species list.

Homemade Nutella: How to Make Nutella Recipe

August 16, 2014 by Jenn

Nutella. Yum. Chocolate hazelnut spread. Yum.

I only recently added Nutella into my baking life, and posted about that when I made Ferraro Rocher cupcakes. I haven’t looked back since! I enjoy the process of recipe testing and finding a way to make things in my own way, so when I needed more Nutella for an upcoming recipe, I knew I had to figure out how to make it myself.

The recipe is fairly simple, and what I like about making things homemade is that you know exactly what is in it. During my research, I started to notice that many products have ‘modified palm oil’. What in the world is that? I always have to question what a product is if you can’t buy it yourself at the grocery store. At least when I put butter in something, I know it came from a cow!

Yesterday, a story broke in Time that the price of Nutella is rising, due to the damaged hazelnut crops in Turkey (which provides 70% of the hazelnut supply!). So, grab your hazelnuts in bulk while you still can, and get making this!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Cake- TMNT

August 13, 2014 by Jenn

TURTLE POWER! Having grown up in the 80’s with only a brother to be entertained by, I was “forced” to play with his Ninja Turtles, and “forced” to watch the TV show a time or two! I guess that was payback for making him play Barbies and My Little Pony!

When I heard there was a new 2014 movie coming out, I knew I had to make a cake- for remembrance sake! I can’t say I’ve kept up on the on goings of the Turtles since the 80’s and while making the video for this cake, I had to research which Turtle was which; Michelangelo is the orange mask, Donatello the blue, Raphael the red one, and Leonardo wears the purple mask. Don’t ask me which one has which weapon though! I obviously didn’t pay much attention to role play when we were with Splinter in sewer! I don’t think it’s a toy or series that really warrants much deep thought- why are turtles running around on two legs being ninja’s in the sewer?

I think this is a perfect cake and cake pop idea for those of our viewers that have been asking for it, as well as “boy” themed cakes ideas. For this cake I use TMNT cake pops to place into the top of the cake, and they provide a fun little extra for four special party goers! I hope all the children of the 80’s and the kids of today (a whole new generation that loves the Turtles), enjoy this cake idea!

Turtles in a half shell!

Shark Cake Pops for Discovery’s Shark Week

August 9, 2014 by Jenn

It’s time for Discovery’s Shark Week people! Get your life preservers, and water wings out as it’s time to head to the ocean! Or maybe not. With Shark Week all over social media and television, heading to the ocean right now is not at the top of my list. I’ll head out later once the images of razor sharp teeth, wide hinged jaws, and hungry feeding sharks have faced from memory.

Discovery contacted us to make something to help them celebrate shark week, so I thought that making some cute shark cake pops would be less traumatizing for some of our younger viewers. Shark week was originally started “to raise awareness and respect for sharks”. I guess shark week was the answer to the terror that Jaws created in the 1975- lets be friends instead!

If you want more information on Discovery’s Shark Week, check out their Facebook page and their Twitter feed.

The Official Nanaimo Bar Recipe

August 2, 2014 by Jenn

If you’ve been following us on our Social Media sites, you will know that we were recently able to take a working “holiday” to Vancouver Island. We have already uploaded two of our three videos that we shot while we were there- Sand Dollar Sugar Cookies, and a Marshmallow Shooter– but our video today was definitely my favourite because I LOVE Nanaimo Bars!

A Nanaimo Bar is a Canadian specialty, in case you’re wondering what in the world I’m talking about. It is a three layered dessert bar that has a bottom, brownie like base with almonds and coconut, a middle vanilla custard layer, and a top layer of chocolate.

My Grandma had a Nanaimo Bar recipe that my mom and her sisters always make. I was going to use that recipe one day to make a video, but when the opportunity to head to Nanaimo presented itself, I knew I was going to have to skip Grandma’s recipe, and go for the original one.

The true origin and documented first version of the recipe cannot be found but the city of Nanaimo claims it to be theirs, as they are the namesake of this particular bar. There are other bars that are similar and ones that go by different names, but this is the version that is known to be the official Canadian Nanaimo Bar version. The first printing of the bar was documented to be in the 1952 Women’s Auxiliary to the Nanaimo Hospital Cookbook.

If you have never heard of this dessert, or never made it homemade before, you MUST stop what you’re doing and make it now. There is NO comparison to the store bought version. This version is amazing.