Self-Frosting NUTELLA Cupcakes

I love Nutella. And the word love is a serious understatement. I usually just eat it straight from the jar, but I saw this recipe on Pinterest and figured I had to try it. I have never made cupcakes from scratch and if it has Nutella in it, it can't be bad, so I tried it and it was a huge hit!

The recipe is super easy and it turned out so great.

(Find the site the pin and recipe came from  HERE)


1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4-1/2 cup Nutella, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 325F.

In a medium bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt; add to the butter mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. The batter will be very thick,but that makes it easy to swirl the Nutella.

Divide the batter between 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Drop a spoonful of Nutella on top of each, and swirl through the batter with the tip of a bamboo skewer, knife or other pointy object. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Tilt them in the pan to help them cool. Makes a dozen cupcakes.



 I feel so accomplished baking something from scratch and the feeling was amplified when my taste testers couldn't get enough of them!

Garlic Chicken Puffs!

We were going to a Sunday School Christmas party Friday night and we were all supposed to bring something. Instantly my brain went to pinterest and all the amazing appetizers and recipes on there. I found a recipe for Garlic Chicken Puffs and thought it would make the perfect appetizer. The blog post that the pin links you to is actually about taking these to a Christmas party so its perfect!

Its a simple recipe and it tastes delicious.
Basically you mix chicken, cream cheese, and flavors to taste and put them into triangles of crescent roll dough and bake for a few minutes. (I added some shredded cheddar because everything tastes better with more cheese)


I had chicken breasts, cream cheese and everything else I need for this already in my fridge so this actually worked out great!


Since I have to work today until 5 and the party is at 7, I went ahead and mixed up the creamy chicken mixture last night.

 

It makes a yummy cracker dip too!

The blogger this recipe came from says
"Unroll crescent rolls and cut each triangle into 2 triangles (when you unroll the crescent rolls, 2 triangles are attached making a big square, I just cut from there following the perforation for one cut and made another cut from the other corners = giving you 4 little triangles)"

That is how you get the little triangles to put the mix in.

I just spoon what I think looks like a good amount and roll those babies up! Bake them for about 10-15 minutes (every oven is different) at about 375.

They are delicious and a definite crowd pleaser!

BATTLE OF THE CLEANING AGENTS

Today I put two pins head to head in a challenge of cleaning some nasty burned up baking pans.

In the blue corner:  baking soda and PEROXIDE

And in the red corner: baking soda and VINEGAR

BEFORE-- VINEGAR

BEFORE -- PEROXIDE

BEFORE--- GROSS and BURNED from my lack of kitchen skills.

I am not much of a cook and so my baking pans that were brand spanking new this time last year, have sadly fallen victim to many ill attempts at baked goods.

The peroxide method uses mostly baking soda and tells you to squirt in peroxide and make a paste. Then you are supposed to rub the paste on the offending item with your fingers or a small sponge or dish brush.

I slathered that paste on there and scrubbed my heart out and did not get the stellar results that I hoping for based on the before and afters of the pin.

After- its better but I'm still using tin foil for everything I bake on this thing

I was getting really disappointed  because I did not want two nights of failure in a row, so I made some macaroni and cheese and drank a glass of wine and was ready for the vinegar test.

Remembering back to my first science classes, I was suddenly struck with the thought that vinegar and baking soda are what makes up the classic volcano project. The outlook for the night was suddenly much brighter, especially since D said he had never done the volcano thing as a kid. (I tend to forget that not everyone was a nerd growing up).

The basics for the vinegar project were put vinegar in the pan, heat  it to boiling then  sprinkle in some baking soda and let her rip! (bring it to the sink first!) After the fizz calms, you are supposed to Rinse and scrub. it suggests to make a paste of baking soda and water and let it sit on the especially tricky stains.

The results I got from the vinegar test were much better than the peroxide results. If I has used steel wool and a little more elbow grease I could have gotten some really rad results, but I didn't feel like putting that much work into scrubbing a pan that I always cover with tin foil anyways.

After- Its not brown! and that is not a glare, that is shiny metal like it was when it was new!!

So, the champion tonight is definitely VINEGAR!

Vinegar worked better and it was totally more fun to do (Addy would have loved to see the fizz)

....and anything that makes scrubbing burnt cookie sheets a little less crappy, wins by default!!!

Pasta Cordon Bleu

What better way to start than FOOD!


Today, my inspiration comes from my delish! board on pinterest. Its a yummy pasta dish inspired by the wonderful classic:  Chicken Cordon Bleu.


The pin I'm trying today is: PASTA CORDON BLEU!!!!