Sugar Cookies

Today we went out to The Bronx to hang out with a couple of Anthony's friends from college. I baked some sugar cookies for the occasion. They came out really good so here is the recipe:

Sugar Cookies recipe: (yields 30-36)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl, gather your flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

3. In your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.

4. Beat in egg and vanilla.

5. Gradually add the remainder of your dry ingredients.

6. Roll your dough into little balls, using either your hands or a tablespoon (like I do!) and place them onto your greased cookie sheet one inch apart from each other.

7. Bake in preheated oven 9-12 minutes. Don't go beyond 12, even if it looks questionable, because the texture will not be right at that point. As soon as you can see some golden, they should be ready.

8. Enjoy! Share these with your friends and family!

Now, if you have kids at your house -- or boyfriends -- let them join you in the kitchen! In my case, since this recipe yields so many cookies, I let Anthony "play" with some of the dough... Here are his works of art:

Happy Super Bowl XLVI! Let's go Big Blue!

XOXO,

Marge

My Favorite Recipe

Just last week, I finally discovered my go-to vanilla cake recipe! I've had such bad luck in the past with vanilla cupcakes, that I was determined to find a successful recipe. So I did! Here's its background story.

I went to a high school just 2 blocks away from well-known NYC bakery, Billy's. I knew a couple of people who worked there, so I would often visit them and get free cupcakes. It was bliss! They made the most amazing vanilla cupcakes, and I'm sure my friends knew the recipe, though I never bothered asking. However, just the other day, when googling "the best vanilla cupcake recipe," one of the top results happened to be "Billy's Vanilla/Vanilla Cupcakes". Not only that, but it was posted on Martha Stewart's website. I made Anthony visit numerous supermarkets in the hunt for non self-rising cake flour (which is extremely hard to find). Eventually he found a box and boy, oh boy, was I thrilled!

The recipe yields around 30 cupcakes, which was perfect, since we had all our friends over for the Giants/49ers game. Anthony made pulled pork and it was absolutely delicious. Nothing went to waste, which is a miracle in my household, so it was the ultimate success. And the Giants beat SanFran and made it to the Superbowl!

I can't stress this enough when I say, "if you follow this recipe to a T, you will not be disappointed!" Only use the ingredients that this recipe calls for. Don't try to use substitutes for the non self-rising cake flour, it really won't come out as perfect. Also, and this is very important, do not overfill your liners! It will destroy your cakes, I promise you. I made this mistake once. Another tip is to never over-beat your batter. Keep that in mind when making any recipe - especially this one. Without further ado, here it is:

Vanilla Cupcake recipe: (yields 24-30)

1 3/4 cups non self-rising cake flour

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 T baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

2 sticks butter

4 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract (not pictured below)

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

2. In your mixer, gather all your dry ingredients and give it a good stir.

3. Cut your 2 sticks of butter into cubes, and add them one at a time into your bowl, mixing thoroughly each time.

4. Add your eggs one at a time. Mixing thoroughly after each addition.

5. Pour your vanilla extract into your milk. Add your vanilla-milk into your batter in 3 parts.

6. When all your ingredients are blended, scrape the sides of your bowl and give it a good mix with the scraper, just to bring it all together.

7. Scoop your batter into your liners, dividing evenly. Only fill up 3/4 of the way.

8. Bake in preheated oven 17-20 minutes. Until toothpick comes out clean.

Peanut Butter Frosting recipe: (makes enough for 14-18 cupcakes)

2 sticks softened butter

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup marshmallow creme

2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 T milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Gather all your ingredients, leaving out the milk, and mix till everything is blended.

2. Add milk till a consistency to your liking is reached. Usually 2-3 T.

3. Pipe away and decorate! We used chocolate shavings!

Last but not least, share these babies with your friends and family -- they will love you forever! I made this recipe yesterday when visiting our friends and their 3 kids. Their 7-year old told me, "this is the first time I ate a whole cupcake!" And guess what? That's one of the many reasons why I bake. Because it makes my loved ones happy. Why do you bake?

XOXO,

Marge

My Christmas Present

Long time no see, huh? I've been so busy with school and work! Now I'm on break though, so I had some time to organize my life. I finally opened my Christmas gift from my boyfriend and mom: an awesome KitchenAid stand mixer!

I had so much fun playing around with it this afternoon. My plan was to make red velvet cupcakes, but turns out I have really crappy food coloring gel at home, and it's time I go buy something better... So these just turned out to be your average chocolate cupcakes. I also did not do so well with piping the frosting. I'm a little rusty! However, they still turned out delicious. I took pictures of everything and I'm going to share the recipe with you here.

Chocolate Cupcake recipe: (makes 20-22 cupcakes)

1/2 cup softened butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 T distilled white vinegar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp salt

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Also, make your life easier and get your muffin pans ready.

2. In your mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla extract.

4. Stir in the baking soda and vinegar.

5. Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Stir into the batter just until blended.

6. Scoop the batter into the prepared cups, dividing evenly.

7. Bake in the preheated oven 20-25 minutes. Until toothpick comes out clean.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe: (makes enough for 12-15 cupcakes)

1 cup softened butter

3 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2-3 T heavy cream

1. Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy.

2. Gradually add the sugar. Do it slowly so that it doesn't go everywhere.

3. Add the vanilla extract.

4. Add the heavy cream. Do it till it reaches a texture that is to your liking.

5. Pipe away, baby! (Try and do a better job than my boyfriend and I did!)

Last but not least, have fun with them and enjoy! These were supposed to be festive NY Giants cupcakes -- we made it to the playoffs and have won our first game, sending Atlanta home! They were supposed to be red velvet, and the frosting was supposed to be blue... However, nothing turned out as expect. At least they were delicious, and that's all that really matters in the end.

Next weekend my best friend is coming over and we are baking some more! I'm going to record everything and post it here later on... It's great to be back!

XOXO,

Marge

Not a bad week after all

Just to update you on what's been going on since my last post: I no longer feel like total crap. The weekend is almost here, which means I will be going to Salem very soon, and I think I did well on both tests I took this week. I know I totally aced my C++ exam, but I have a very good feeling I will be happy with whatever grade I get from my Linear Algebra test. My only issue was that I couldn't remember how to write my answers the way that he likes them... There's only so much I can do though. I'm still a little stressed over my Physics exam, I can't wait till that's over with. Although, to be honest, it would mean that my Chemistry test is around the corner again. This semester is killing me!
I need a vacation that lasts 6 months after this semester is done. Which won't be happening. Matter of fact, I don't think I'll have that long of a break till maybe the day I retire. It's a bit upsetting, but I'll get over it.
XOXO,
Marge

Long time no see

I'm tired, frustrated, stressed out, sad, and I don't know what else... As you can see, things are not going too well.
I took a Differentials test last Thursday and it was bad! I'm telling myself not to stress out too much because it's only been one test, but that's not working out. We're already halfway through the semester, it's time to start worrying. I'm freaking out because my Physics exam is coming up and I haven't studied at all. I'm a little worried about my C++ exam later on this afternoon. I did well on the last one, but this one is a little tougher because I haven't been keeping up with the work. I got my Chemistry grade back (60% of it) and I did awful. I think that's what I'm mostly upset about. There are a lot of different ways to bring that grade back up, but that's not the point. The point is that I worked and studied super hard and it didn't pay off in the end. I completely abandoned my other courses because of this test and it wasn't even worth all of my effort. Now I have tons of more work that piled up in my other classes that I need to catch up with and not even a good grade to balance this bad situation out. Just shoot me now, please.
I do have some good news though. Friday we celebrated my birthday with Anthony's family. It was great, because I had a delicious dinner, a yummy cake, his parents got my Tiffany bracelet fixed and got me an extra charm as a birthday present, and Connor (ahem, Lauren) made me an awesome picture portrait with a photo of Connor and I in it. Couldn't have asked for anything more, both gifts were amazingly meaningful and made me a happy girl!
On Saturday, I went out to the city with the Reddit girls for karaoke. It was super fun, and I sang so much! On top of that, one of the girls got me a beautiful (and incredibly delicious) Mocha cake. It was the sweetest thing and made me so happy!
I invited 2 of the girls I met last September at our first Reddit gathering over on Sunday. It was a pretty mellow Sunday and nothing too special happened. I made some chocolate chip cookies, and I must admit, I've become quite the expert cookie-maker. I'm proud of myself. The Bears totally destroyed the Vikings, and that made my day! The Giants beat the Bills as well... That was a wonderful victory because the Bills have been doing so well. It was a close game, but we came on top in the end.
This concludes my weekend. This Friday we're finally going up to Salem, so I'm sure I'll have tons to share when I get back.
XOXO,
Marge