Finished, beautiful product <3

I definitely considered naming this “The Anti-Chocoholic Cupcake” but I decided that my first rendition was simply TOO INTENSE for most people, and with a different chocolate (milk or semi sweet) it wouldn’t be so scary, haha. The recipe calls for semi-sweet: I used normal dark chocolate and got an intensely dark chocolate cupcake. I only recommend this if you love dark chocolate (my family does). Use semi-sweet otherwise, or possibly milk. This recipe makes about 12 cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• 3 1/2 Tbsp soft margarine
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Notes: Use the margarine. If you must use butter, melt it. Or make sure it is very very soft first.

Frosting

• 4 oz. semisweet chocolate (dark chocolate if you want a very dark cupcake)
• 2 Tbsp superfine sugar
• 2/3 cup sour cream

Notes: make sure you taste before you finish if you are using dark chocolate, I added some more sugar and sour cream to lighten it.

Directions:

Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine margarine, sugar, eggs, flour, baking soda, and cocoa in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand mixer until just smooth. Using a metal spoon, fold in sour cream.

Line cupcake tins, this recipe yields about 12 cupcakes. Spoon batter into tins, up to 3/4 full depending on how big you want your cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until well risen and firm to the touch. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

These were for my brother's birthday. Do not ask.

Frosting: Break chocolate into chunks in a heatproof bowl (glass or ceramic). Set the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and heat until melted, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and let cool slightly, then whisk in sugar and sour cream until just combined. Make sure your cupcakes are cool before frosting.

For a beautiful toppin, save some choclate and shave it into curls using a potato peeler. Sprinkle the curls on top, or if you have finer, smaller pieces you can lightly press the top of the frosted cupcake into a small bowl of shavings (I did both).

Comments:

This is a very rich and EASY recipe!  It looks and tastes delicious but there really isn’t too much labor involved. Very impressive cupcake. My version used all dark chocolate, just the kind you buy bars of in the store, and it was very very dark. My dad, who loves dark chocolate, loved it. You could also use other frosting recipes ( I bet  the orange one would be great) on it. The shaved chocolate is a really lovely touch.

Ingredients:

Filling

• 8 fresh peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced into thin wedges
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. cornstarch

Topping

• cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup boiling water

Sprinkled Topping

• 3 Tbsp. white sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinammon

Notes: I did one 2 tsp brown sugar, 2 tsp white sugar for the sprinkled topping, it was lovely.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2-quart baking dish. Bake in pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

In a large bowl (I recommend a quick rinse and dry of the first one), combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder and salt. blend in butter with fingertips of pastry blender until the mixture resembles course meal. Stir in water until just combined.

Remove peaches from oven and drop spoonfulls of topping over them.

Mix remaining sugar and 1 tbsp cinnamon and sprinkle onto cobbler. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

Comments:

This gem was a newspaper clippin, highlightign the now in season peach. I have made it with canned peaches as well and it has worked just fine, just remember to drain them. This recipe has a lot of ingredients but doesn’t require that much skill to make, so it is a nice impressive recipe that doesn’t require a culinary genius to prepare. If you have the chance to visit Schnepf Farms, I highly recommend it.

In keeping with the “Father’s Day” theme, here is the recipe I made today to surprise my dad with. This recipe is great for lovers of those chocolate oranges you find at Christmas time and fans of citrus and chocolate in general. This is a very RICH recipe, that yields a near perfect baker’s dozen: I advise halving it if you are only entertaining a few.

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

• 1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 6 Tbsp Water (a bit more than 1/3 cup)
• 1/4 cup buttermilk or yogurt (no buttermilk?)
• 1 small beaten egg (or 4 Tbsp beaten egg)
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• generous pinch of salt
• 1 cup flour

Notes: Dark cocoa powder or normal cocoa powder both work. The recipe this was adapted from called for dark but when made with regular they were still very chocolately.

Frosting

• 4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 4 oz. (half a standard package) cream cheese or Neufchâtel cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp. orange extract
• zest from one small orange (optional, I did not use any)
• About 1 cup powdered sugar
• food coloring (optional)

Notes: Omit orange extract and zest for a basic cream cheese frosting you can use on anything! Or add your own flavors.

Directions:

Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Using a wire whisk, whisk in cocoa until smooth, then add water and whisk again until smooth and incorporated. Remove saucepan from heat and whisk in orange extract, sugar, buttermilk (or yogurt or substitute) and egg. Stir in soda, powder, salt and flour. Slightly lumpy batter is ok, I used the whisk to incorporate the dry ingredients and got a good smooth texture.

Line cupcake tins, I prefer to do 6 at a time but 12 should be fine. Fill tins about 3/4 full of batter so for 12 beautiful, rounded cupcakes, or a little less for 13-14 smaller cupcakes. Bake for 18-20 minutes o until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean

Look at those beautiful little cakes *_*

Frosting: Beat room temperature cream cheese and butter together in a medium mixing bowl until fluffy. Cold butter and cream cheese will not blend properly or easily.

Fluffy fluffy

Beat in orange extract and zest. If you are coloring your frosting add color now, folding it in until incorporated (I used probably 8-10 drops red and 3-4 yellow to get my color, just add it slowly and mix until you get one you like). Resist the urge to taste frosting at this point: it will taste reasonably bitter due to the extract.

Add the powdered sugar (aim for only 3/4 cup) 1/4 cup at a time; I folded mine in to get it wet THEN beat it together so it wouldn’t fly everywhere. Beat until fully incorporated. Taste it now, if it is too liquid or not sweet enough for your tastes, add the extra 1/4 cup (I did).

Frosting after sugar and dye has been added.

This should be enough to frost 13 cupcakes. The recipe this was based on said 6 cupcakes so I doubled it: big mistake, now I have a tub of it sitting in my fridge. I have therefore included the halved recipe. If you are doing a lot of baking or like a lot of frosting, double frosting recipe.

Make sure your cupcakes are COOL before frosting them! Otherwise your frosting won’t spread easily and will melt.

If you don’t want your frosting totally orange, try setting aside part of it after it’s been mixed and dying only that portion, then use it to accent your cupcakes.

Comments:

This is a very rich recipe! I used Neufchâtel cheese for the frosting as is my common cooking preference. If you haven’t tried Neufchâtel yet I highly advise it, it may be marked as “1/3 fat cream cheese” more prominently with the “Neufchâtel” marked less obviously. It is naturally less fatty than cream cheese and softer, so perfect for frosting. You can also substitute a margarine suited for baking for butter in both recipes.
Before frosting ALWAYS remove cupcakes from the tins to cool. Plop a dab of frosting in the center and rotate the cupcake slowly while you smooth the frosting with a knife or small rubber spatula for a neat frost job.

Maybe not professional grade work, but reasonably presentable!

Check google for some inspirational photos!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Sliced fruit of your choice (strawberries, kiwis, raspberries, blueberries, bananas, peaches, etc)

Notes: Cookie crust can be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or two before topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream butter and 3/4 cup sugar. Add egg and mix. Add flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Blend well and press into a pizza pan, or individual tart pans. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool. At this point you can also cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight if desired.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla. Works best with room temperature cream cheese, but you can also microwave it (covered) for 30 seconds to soften it up (do NOT get it too hot though, you don’t want it hot when you add the fruit). Spread on cooled crust. Arrange fruit on top of filling and chill before serving. brush with melted jam if desired.

Comments:

Very easy and very fun recipe you can get people involved in the preparation of. Dough recipe is a normal sugar cookie recipe and can be made as sugar cookies. Also a great way to use seasonal fruits!
Also works well paired with a fruit dip.

• 1 package (3oz.) Jell-O Gelatin of any flavor (house brands with identical instructions also work)
• 2/3 c. boiling water
• 2 c. ice cubes
• 3 1/2 c. (8oz) Cool Whip non dairy whipped topping, thawed (or equivalent house brand)
• 1 c. diced fruit (optional, I’ve never used it)
• 9-inch graham cracker crumb crust

Notes: Cool Whip will be in the frozen foods of most stores, place in the refrigerator overnight to thaw.
I do not recommend the use of pre-made pie shells for this recipe, or any variations
Boil water easily by microwaving it for one or two minutes in a microwave safe measuring cup.
Fruits recommended: fresh strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries. Canned or dried apricots, peaches, or crushed pineapple in syrup only. If the Jell-o box says it won’t work, do not use it (this includes fresh pineapple and most citrus)

Directions:

Completely dissolve gelatin in boiling water in a medium or large mixing bowl, stirring about 3 minutes. Add ice cubes and stir constantly until gelatin is thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove any unmelted ice. Using a wire whip, blend in whipped topping; then whip until smooth. Fold in fruit now if using fruit. Chill if necessary until mixture will mound. Spoon into pie crust. Chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Comments:

This is my favorite pie! It is incredibly easy to make, relatively fast and simple prep, and yields a pie that will impress anyone. I often make it with low-fat whipped topping and this seems to work fine, though you may have to chill it a bit more before filling the crust. Strawberry seems to be the favorite Jell-O flavor, though personally I prefer wild berry and raspberry.

It is VERY important that you follow the directions exactly though. If the gelatin isn’t thickening before you add the topping it will NOT gel correctly and you will have a runny or liquid pie. If your mixture is liquid after folding in the whipped topping, try chilling it (‘until mixture will mound’ means until you can get a spoonful of it and plop it on top and it will stay there, in a mound, as opposed to being too liquid and immediately melting down). If the filling is liquidy or very very wet in the crust before chilling it most likely will not set properly.

I’ve personally never added fruit to this pie as I like it fine without it, so I can not vouch for how well it would turn out.