I saw this recipe in the Martha Stewart Cupcake book and thought I’d change it up a bit. The real kicker here is I added cinnamon chips which made everything just sing. Talk about flava!! I also added a Wookiee, but if you don’t have one you can just make do.

ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup whole milk
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

In a medium bowl whisk the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Once combined, add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.

Alternate the flour mixture with the milk until combined. This will look like cookie batter!

Cinnamon Chips are hard to find, but so worth the hunt. They are made by Hershey’s and as far as I can tell in the Los Angeles area they are only sold at Alberton’s. So weird! If you can find them – get them, you won’t be disappointed. They add a whole new dimension to baking. Plus wookiees love them. Just look at him, he can’t wait.

Now fold in the chocolate chips and cinnamon chips.

Fill your liners about 3/4 of the way full.

Bake for 18-20 minutes until toothpick test says they’re done! Let cool on a wire rack.

These are pretty addicting, I’m not just saying that. I’ve had people eat one and then immediately ask for more. Not one more, like TWELVE MORE. This is why Chewbacca is keeping this one all for himself…

I love Valentine’s Day because I love pink and I love hearts – it’s also a perfect time for sweets. This year I made some old favorites with a twist:

I made my Neapolitan cookies but used TEENY cutters and cut out little hearts. They look so good in the pan but unfortunately they spread like crazy…

They are still cute but it makes me want to use a miniscule cutter next time to see how small I can really get these things.

I also made up some M & M cookies but used the ‘Valentine’s mix’ which means pink, red and white. Cute idea but the M & M’s don’t show up that well. Doesn’t matter, they were still delicious.

Then I made mixed boxes of red velvet cupcakes and chocolate ganache cupcakes. I just love how the white and brown look together with the little hearts.

Who knows if people appreciate all this work, but I had fun making all of it. Now what holiday is up next…?

Neapolitan cookies recipe, here.
M&M cookies recipe, here.
Chocolate Ganache cupcakes recipe, here.

A while back when I asked, ‘What desserts would you love to see at a luncheon?‘ Well I got so many neat responses, however I should have specified that it was an office luncheon, because I’m not sure a chocolate fountain would work for an afternoon meeting in the conference room, though that’d be hilarious!

A lot of people suggested mini things. Mini cupcakes. Mini cookies. Things you can grab and go. Also, you guys REALLY like Key Lime Pie. So many of you suggested that, I’ll have to try that next time.

I ended up making mini versions of my Carrot Cake Cookies:

Which turned out so cute bite sized, now I think I’ll do it this way all the time! It’s the perfect cookie to cream cheese filling ratio. Also since they are so small…you can eat ten of them.

I also made mini Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes, though because we are on Stormwatch here in Los Angeles, the ganache didn’t really set, which really ticked me off. Still, they turned out cute!

I could make mini desserts all day there are so fun but man, so time consuming! Is it possible to get carpal tunnel from scooping cookie dough? I think I’ve got it.

Thanks for all the suggestions, hopefully the office enjoyed their treats before heading back to work!

Mini Carrot Cake Cookies recipe, here.
Mini Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes recipe, here.

The kids wanted to decorate gingerbread. So I made up some dough and got out my GIANT 10″ gingerboy cookie cutter, which makes a pretty nice sized cookie. Lots of surface area for decorating!

I made up some royal icing and let the kids have at it.

The Baby went wild with the candies and was more interested in eating them than actually decorating.

I made up some Batman faces to stick on top of them, the idea was to totally Batman-them out in black and yellow, but I saw how much fun the kids were having just going whole hog with the candies, so I got caught up in the fun. They turned out not so much Batman – more like creepy Candyland. Still they were delish, then again, cover anything head to toe in candy and you can’t go wrong.

WHEE! The Kid’s chocolate allergy has magically disappeared so I’m all excited and want him to go for it Augustus Gloop-style. No dice. The Kid is way too cautious. He wants to eat at tiny bit just to make sure he’s ok. He’s no glutton like me. So I made these up to test the waters (leaving out the espresso, of course.)

ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a bowl, whisk together the cocoa powder, baking powder, espresso powder and salt. Set aside

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Carefully add the pre-whisked dry ingredients until combined.

Add the eggs one at a time. Then slowly and carefully add the flour – don’t overmix! Add the chocolate chips – you can do this by hand if you like.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes or so.

When you’re ready to go for it, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Divide the dough into two rounds, taking each one and rolling it onto your prepped sheet in a long skinny log, flattening it out JUST a touch. Yes it looks nasty, don’t mind that. Place logs a few inches apart on a silpat or parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, just until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it sit on the cookie sheet for just a bit, then let the logs cool on a wire rack.

Now’s when you cut it. Don’t be freaked out – if all goes well this should be easy…if not, don’t blame me.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Using a good serated knife, cut the loaf on the diagonal – making about 1/2″ slices. Now….Place the slices on a lined cookie sheet, and bake only for about 8 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake for 7 minutes. Yes this step is necessary, just do it. It’s worth it.

Let cool and they are ready to eat!

For the Baby’s birthday party I laid out a bunch of snacks in jars for the guests to serve themselves. Since it was Batman themed – I rolled out chocolate cookies and cut them into bats of course! Dipping them in sanding sugar made them even more fun to eat!

Sugar cookies came to mind because I use A LOT of sugar. I actually passed a 25lb pound bag at Costco and it gave me pause – that’s when you know you bake too much. Luckily C&H sent me a $20 gift card! C&H has a lot of great holiday baking ideas on their website – it is the only sugar I use, maybe because our family is from Hawaii and I used to love driving by the sugar cane fields. Plus they had such memorable jingles!!

ingredients:
2-3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking powder and cocoa. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electrc mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Carefully add the eggs and vanilla.

Add the flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and just chill. A few hours should do it but if you are impatient, like moi, throw it in the freezer for a bit.

When you are ready, roll out cookie dough onto a well floured surface. This dough is a little sticky so working fast and with cold dough will get you done in no time.

Cut out your shapes – in this case…BATS for the Batman party. After the shapes were cut out I dipped the edges with sanding sugar. It gives it a little extra crunch and looks festive.

Bake for approx 10 minutes give or take depending on your oven. Let cool on wire racks.

These are a nice cookie on their own, but imagine making an ice cream sandwich out of them?? Or you can just throw ‘em in a jar and invite Batman over.

This was originally from the Jessica Seinfeld book Deceptively Delicious, but I have a real problem with hiding healthy food from kids. If you teach them about it, they’ll probably learn to eat it just fine – sans deception. Anyway, this is FAR from ‘healthy cooking’ considering the mass amounts of butter, chocolate and sugar – but whatever. It sure is hilarious to see people’s faces when they find out what they are eating.

ingredients:
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
one 15oz can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
2 cups (12 ozs) semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats or parchment.

In the mixing bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg whites and vanilla, then the chickpeas and chocolate chips. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix on low speed until a thick dough forms.

Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes, depending on your oven. Cool on a wire rack.

The chickpeas actual taste like nuts, if you didn’t know the difference. O.G. HATED these and wanted them WITHOUT chickpeas. Which would just be…a chocolate chip cookie. Oh well. Maybe on April Fool’s Day…

All the coffee lovers in the house say HEY…HO! I LOVE coffee. I thought it’d be cute to make Coffee+Donuts Cupcakes, using the coffee cupcake and frosting as a nice flavorful base. I know not everyone has a mini donut maker, so here’s just the recipe for the cupcakes. They are really excellent on their own.

ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/8 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

(coffee frosting recipe, below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prep a cupcake pan with liners.

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Combine the coffee and milk, set aside.

Alternate the flour and the coffee mixture into the butter mixture, beating until combined.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

The cakes become more coffee-vescent the longer they sit. These make a really nice cake as is. The coffee frosting is just a nice touch.

Coffee Frosting:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-1/2 Tablespoons coffee
1 Tablespoon milk (as needed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream butter, carefully adding the sugar, coffee, and vanilla; mix until light and fluffy. Add a little of the milk at a time to get the right consistency. Turn the mixer up to high and beat well.

Quite obviously, if you have a donut maker OR a tiny sous chef to help sprinkle the donuts: top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.

Then you can just top these with a donut to make coffee+donut cupcakes. Or just buy mini donuts from the store, they make a really cute presentation.

I needed a chocolate cut out cookie and made a variation on this Martha recipe. The dough is perfect for rolling and cutting out into any shape. This is a great recipe for a quick cut out cookie. Batman would be proud.

ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
1 Large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

ganache:
9 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy cream

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until creamy. Mix in egg and vanilla. Slowly add flour mixture until just combined. Cut dough in half, and wrap them in plastic. Refrigerate about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick. You can use any cookie cutter you like, but bat-wiches are pretty awesome.

Space them about 1 inch apart on baking sheets prepped with parchment paper or silpats. If the dough gets too soft, refrigerate, reroll and cut. Bake about 12 minutes. Cool on on wire racks.

To make the ganache, put the chocolate chips in medium bowl. In a saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Pour over chocolate; let stand 5 minute, then stir until smooth. I like to chill it in the fridge for a bit, until it becomes spreadable. Maybe about an hour. Spread onto bottom of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies.

I had dreams of Girl Scout cookies this year. Dreams of making Thin Mint Ice Cream. Dreams of putting it on top of a cupcake. Dreams of topping it with chocolate. It was a wonderful dream.

You will need 12 chocolate cupcakes for freezing, and some Magic Shell topping.

Thin Mint Ice Cream
ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups milk
3/4 white sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/2 box (1 roll) of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies

In a bowl, mix together the cream, milk, sugar and vanilla. Cover and put in the fridge.

Now when I thought of making this – I wondered if I’d need to add peppermint extract to bring out the mint-i-ness. Turns out the cookies are sooo minty they are just perfect as is.

Rough chop the cookies into small pieces. I don’t suggest using a blender or bashing them in a bag, because they are covered in chocolate you will just get a gooey mess. How do I know? Trust me…Anyway, get them into small pieces.

Turn on your ice cream mixer according to manufacturer’s directions. Pour in your vanilla base.

When it gets near the end of it’s run, carefully add in the chopped cookie pieces. Pour into a freezer safe bowl, and freeze until solid.

When you are ready to serve your cupcakes, pull the frozen chocolate cupcakes out of the bag, top it with a scoop of the ice cream, then pour on the Magic Shell for a nice candy top. I served these at a party and they held up well. The combination was delicious! Just as I had dreamed…