Monkey Bread

Growing up, I always heard about my grandma making this and it being so delicious. Since I was little I wanted to make monkey bread but just never got around to it...the name just *sounded* complicated. Well, I am here to tell you not only is it *very* simple, its also *very* affordable!

I will admit...I messed this recipe up the first time. It was a complete disaster because I was not paying attention. So pay attention or you will end up with a pile of uncooked, buttery biscuit chunks all over the place...literally!! Learn from my mistakes (yes, plural!) and everything should be a-okay.  :)

*Recommendations added at the end of the recipe*


**Pictures will be added at the end of the post**


Here you'll need:

• 4 cans of refrigerated biscuits
• 1 c. packed brown sugar (I used light)
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter
• 1/2 c. white sugar
• 2 Tbl. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-10" tube pan. Mix white sugar and cinnamon together in a medium sized plastic bag and shake well. Cut the biscuits into halves or quarters (I did quarters) and place six to eight biscuit pieces into the bag at a time; shake well. Once all the pieces are coated, place into the greased tube pan. Continue until all pieces are in the pan. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar over medium heat. Boil for one minute; pour over layered biscuits. Bake for 35-40 minutes. Allow the bread to cool then turn out onto a plate. 

Recommendations

1. If you are using a size smaller than the 10" tube pan (mine was 9.5") then I suggest using 3 cans of refrigerated biscuits instead of the original 4. Once it has completely cooked, it will rise significantly and pour over the pan edges leaving you with a big mess to clean.

2. Which brings me to my second recommendation: place this on a cookie sheet before placing it in the oven. Cleaning the cookie sheet if you do end up having spills is much better than cleaning your oven.

3. Make sure you grease your pan!! The second time I made this, I forgot to spray the pan (because I was so excited I didn't make the mistakes I did the first time) and I ended up not being able to flip it out. Also, cinnamon and brown sugar are *not* interchangeable in this recipe...that was my first mistake. So if you somehow mixed them up, do yourself the favor and just through it out! 

 The brand of biscuits I used. I just love the Pillsbury dough-boy. :)

 This is the equivalent of one can of biscuits. As you can see, I tore them instead of cut them. I was just being lazy...but it worked!

 Placing the biscuits after they have been covered in the sugar/cinnamon mix.

 The butter and brown sugar melting into a delicious syrup

 In the oven!! By the way...you do not want to fill the pan to the brim like it is in the picture.

Otherwise, it overspills like this. Not that its not still delicious BUT it will save on cleaning. 

Now that you have this super simple, super addictive recipe (because once you eat it you won't want to stop!): Create, Share & Enjoy! :)

[[Original recipe can be found at Easy Monkey Bread Recipe]]

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I came across this recipe on a fellow blogger's page (link will be provided at the end of post) and just had to try them out!! I will say beforehand, this recipe calls for quite a few steps since you're making the cupcakes, snickerdoodle cookies, and (if you want) the frosting. I opted out of making the frosting from scratch since I had two cans of store bought frosting in the pantry and wanted to put them to use. So that being said, let's get to the recipe!

*Recommendations can be found at the end of the recipe*

**Pictures are added at the end of the post, after the recipe and recommendations*

Here's what you'll need:

For the cupcakes; Yields 30

• 1 1/2 c all purpose flour
• 1 /12 c cake flour, sifted
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 T ground cinnamon
• 2 sticks (1 c) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 3/4 c sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 c milk

For the frosting

• 3/4 c plus 1 T. sugar, divided 
• 1/3 c water
• 1 T light corn syrup
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature

For the garnish

• mini snickerdoodles *make sure to half the recipe
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp. sugar

To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  Combine the flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl; whisk to combine.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Blend in the vanilla.  With the mixer on low speed, add in the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Beat each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners, filling each three-quarters full.  Bake, rotating the pans halfway through, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pans about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup in a saucepan with a candy thermometer clipped to the side.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally so the sugar dissolves.  Continue boiling without stirring until the temperature reaches 230° F.

In the meantime, while the sugar mixture is heating, beat the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whisk on medium-high speed until medium-soft peaks form.  As soon as the sugar mixture reaches 230° F, remove the pan from the heat.  With the mixer on medium-low, pour the syrup down the side of the bowl in a slow steady stream until it has all been added to the bowl.  Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and whisk until the bottom of the bowl is completely cool to the touch and stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes.  Use immediately.

Original blogger left these notes: 

"I used an Ateco tip #829 to frost these cupcakes" 

"To make the mini snickerdoodles, I used a half recipe of regular snickerdoodles (and didn’t even use all of the dough) and rolled the dough into tiny balls, about ¾-inch diameter.  I reduced the baking time to about 8-10 minutes."

Recommendations (for cupcakes):

1. If you do not have an electric mixer with a bowl, use a larger bowl than size you used for the dry ingredients. 

2. I am forever terrible when it comes to recipes that call for "butter at room temperature" so what i did was pop each stick in the microwave for 30 seconds to make it soft. Doing this also gives you the option of hand whisking the butter, sugar and eggs together (which I did since I was on the phone).

3. I *did* use the electric mixer for adding the milk and dry ingredients. ::sigh:: Once again, learn from my forgetfulness...make sure when you turn off the mixer, you let it come to a complete stop before pulling it out of the batter. 

4. With that said, while the mixer is out of the batter, it helped when I would scrape the sides of the bowl  with a rubber spatula in between adding the milk and dry ingredients. 

5. I discovered if you let this batter refrigerate for about 10 minutes, it will thicken it and make it slightly easier to transfer from bowl to pan. 

 The cupcake batter, in the process of mixing. 

 Look how smooth this batter is once its all mixed together!! (btw...this batter is finger-licking good if you enjoy licking the bowl!)

 This was halfway through the baking time (10 minutes) when it was time to rotate. 

 Cooling!! Don't they look delicious?! 

The snickerdoodles I made. There were about a dozen more than this that I experimented with. It didn't work so I tossed them. 

 Cupcakes decorated. As you can see, I tried different frosting techniques. I also used canned frosting instead of the homemade. 

 More canned frosting. In vanilla. I decided to try the basket weave design so this is my first attempt. haha. 

...and this is my third attempt. 

Have fun with decorating the cupcakes!!! Especially if its for an informal event. :) 

[[Original recipe can be found at Annies-Eats]]

Red Velvet Cake Balls

These are SO delish!! Even without being dipped in chocolate! I have been eyeballing these babies for *weeks* now and the other day I finally made the time to try them out. It was so much easier than it looked. I definitely see more of these...maybe even more detailed...in my near future. :)

**Pictures are added at the end of the instructions**

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 box of Red Velvet Cake
• 1 can of Cream Cheese frosting
• Dipping Chocolate ( I used 2 boxes of Baker's Premium White Chocolate Baking Squares from Krogers) 
• 13 x 9 pan (for cake)
• cooking spray
• something to hold cake balls ( I used the HEFTY EZ FOIL Oven Rack Liner...you don't have to use this though if you have an alternative space for them) 

Follow the box directions for preparing the cake. Once the cake is *completely* cool, crumble fine in a large bowl. Add the can of cream cheese frosting. I used my hands for this part, it was super messy but also so much easier than when I tried using a spoon. Either with a small ice cream scoop or with your hands ( I used my hands) make small quarter-sized balls; place on Rack Liner. This recipe made 49 for me. Place in the refrigerator and let chill till hard. For this, I honestly let it set a day or two just because I became busy with other things. (Meanwhile everyone...including myself...felt the need to steal one for a quick, sweet snack. Let me just say they are *amazing* without the chocolate! I even put a few aside instead of dipping.) Once they are hardened (not gooey) place the chocolate squares in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 1 minute, remove, stir and "cook" for another minute. Stir until completely melted (**Be careful here!!! I know this may seem silly to add as a reminder but I ended up burning myself so make sure you have something to grab the bowl safely!!**) Next, using a spoon, your fingers, or a long-stemmed fondue fork, dip the balls into the chocolate making sure you cover each one entirely and place back on the Oven Rack. Once all the cake balls are dipped, place back into the fridge until chocolate hardens. I let it sit over night. Now, enjoy!!! 

 Here is a picture of me dipping the cake balls in the chocolate. I apologize for it being blurry; Hubby took this pic.

Here is a picture of a couple of the cake balls post-dipping, just to give you an idea of how many this recipe makes (minus about 5 that we ate!) as well as what they look like dipped. 

Ok, so I know this is not a great picture but here I'm covering the holes left by the forks by just dribbling a tad bit of chocolate over the holes. Can't even see it! :)

Here is a close up of these bad boys all dipped and waiting to have a bite taken out of 'em!! I have to say, separately the white chocolate and the cake balls are both pretty sweet...but when you combine the two the white chocolate actually balances the sweetness out. SO GOOD!!!









[[This recipe was courtesy of Bakerella's website. To find this and other Cake Ball recipes, visit www.bakerella.com and fall in love! :) ]]