Mandy and Jace

I had to double this recipe to cover all of the cupcakes that the recipe from yesterday makes. I got the recipe from a website called Joy the Baker. I have used tons of her recipes and they have all been amazing. She has a killer pancake recipe that I used and I will never go back to store bought mix. Here’s the icing recipe.

Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar and place in your mixing bowl.

Put 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the mixer too and mix with the paddle attackment on medium speed until the butter and sugar mixes.

In another bowl combine 2 tablespoons of whole milk

and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Stream the milk mixture into the butter and sugar mixture. Once it is all in turn the mixer up to high and beat for about five minutes.

Spread or pipe the frosting onto your cupcakes.

Vanilla buttercream frosting
adapted from Joy the Baker
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift 2 cups of powdered sugar and place in your mixing bowl. Put 5 tablespoons of unsalted butter in the mixer too and mix with the paddle attackment on medium speed until the butter and sugar mixes.

In another bowl combine 2 tablespoons of whole milk and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Stream the milk mixture into the butter and sugar mixture.

Once it is all in turn the mixer up to high and beat for about five minutes.

Remove icing and spread or pipe the frosting onto your cupcakes.

These turned out really well. They are very chocolaty with just a hint of root beer and the butter cream icing is nice and sweet. I got the recipe from this book. The recipe was for a bundt cake and I thought cupcakes would be better. I have to say I like the cupcakes much better than the whole cake. Here’s how I made them.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and put liners in your muffin tins.

In a small pot pour in 2 cups of root beer

and 1 cup of dark unsweetened cocoa powder

and 1 stick of unsalted butter.

Cook over medium heat until the butter is melted.

It will come together quite nicely. Resist the urge to lick the spoon, since it still doesn’t have any sugar. Again, I learn things the hard way.

Move the chocolate mixture into a mixing bowl and add 1 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar. Stir until the sugars dissolve and let it cool a bit.

While that is cooling use another bowl to whisk together 2 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

and 1 teaspoon salt and set aside.

In a small bowl crack two large eggs

Pour the eggs into the cooled chocolate and root beer mixture and stir until combined.

Combine the chocolate mixture with the flour mixture and gently fold. The batter will be lumpy so be sure you don’t over mix because your cupcakes will come out tough.

Spoon the batter into the cupcake tins. I use a small ice cream scoop to ensure even filling.

Bake for about 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from tins and set out to cool.

Tomorrow, I will post the recipe for the butter cream icing.

Root beer float cupcakes
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2 cups root beer (not diet)
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and put liners in your muffin tins.

In a small pot or sauce pan, heat the root beer, cocoa powder and butter over medium heat until the butter melts. Move the mixture to a bowl and add the sugars. Whisk until dissolved. Let the mixture cool.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs together then add them to the chocolate mixture. Stir until combined. Combine it with the flour mixture and gently fold being careful of over-beating.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins and bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from tins and let cool.

Well, we are starting a new week after a busy, but fun, weekend. Saturday we worked all day to move my Memaw and Papaw into their new house. We still have a lot of work to go but we made a big dent in the stuff that needs to be moved. Jace also made chili Saturday night and entered it into a chili cook off at church on Sunday. Guess what, people? He won! I am a very proud wifey. I made root beer float cupcakes for the cook off that were really good. I’ll get the recipe for the cupcakes up this week but sorry the chili is top secret. Then, last night we had a great time at our friends Chad and Jamie’s house for the Superbowl. I really wasn’t pulling for a team this year but I am happy for the Saints.

On Tuesday we are making an Italian beef drip sandwich. I got the recipe from my favorite Pioneer Woman. I’ll put the recipe up here later this week. I’m very excited for this meal. Also, we are moving our date night to Saturday for Valentine’s Day so I was able to get another meal in there for you.

Here’s this weeks plan.

Tonight: breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, bacon and eggs
Tuesday: Italian drip beef sandwiches
Wednesday: fancy grilled cheese sandwiches…fancy because I’m making our bread from scratch
Thursday: take out before practice
Friday: five spice beef stir fry
Saturday: date night at the Garlic Press for Valentine’s Day

Happy eating!

I can’t believe today is the first day of February. Months tend to sneak up on me more often then they used to. I have to get ready for Valentines Day and Easter will be here before we know it. I’m tired already.
This week we are trying two new recipes. I will let you know how they turn out.

Here’s this weeks plan.
Tonight: Parisian steak and cheese croissant sandwiches and baked fries.
Tuesday: lemon spaghetti with meatballs.
Wednesday: cowboy soup
Thursday: take out before praise and worship practice
Friday: date night! I’m thinking Pizzeria Venti sounds like a pretty romantic date night.

Happy eating!

Last month we decided we needed a vacation before we strangle each other or some other poor unsuspecting citizen. So, on Friday we loaded up the Cadi and headed to Dallas since the Bahamas was out of the question. Bummer, I know! We can never figure out why, but there is just something about Dallas that makes us really happy so, that is where we always head when we need a vacation.

As we pulled into town we stopped by Papasitos, one of my favorite places to eat in Dallas. I could live a very happy and large life on their white wine butter sauce alone. To our surprise and glee our wonderful waitress packed us up some extra food to take to our hotel and munch on.

Saturday we shopped until we dropped. We went to the mall first then Jace talked me to going to Fry’s Electronic Store. My first thought as we walked in was “what did I get myself into? We may never leave here”. This is like the mothership! Jace’s eyes immediately glazed over and we were off. I have to say though, it wasn’t that bad and we didn’t spend too terribly much.

Sunday we managed to find ourselves downtown. We found this AMAZING BBQ place called Sonny Bryans Smokehouse. That was the best meal we had all weekend. The BBQ sauce is so good!
We then had time to kill and the weather was beautiful so we walked around the west end area. We saw where JFK was shot, the old courthouse and I got tons of great photos. We then went and saw Avatar at the 3D IMAX. We arrived, got our tickets that we pre-bought, and stood in line. After being in line for about thirty minutes I realized I bought the tickets for 12:00 and it was 3:30. Crap. I went and begged the little girl behind the counter to please let us in and she thankfully squeezed us in. Literally. Every seat was taken. I really liked the movie but I HATED the stupid glasses you have to wear to see the movie. They don’t fit my little face, so I had to kind of set them on my head. Hour one, they hurt. Hour two, they hurt worse and I was getting agitated. Hour three, I was done, done. The guy beside me was sitting in his seat as well as mine and my head hurt. GET. ME. OUT.! Whoever invents the 3D movie that you don’t have to wear glasses to will be my hero.

All in all we had an amazing weekend. Here are some of my photos and you can see more here.