Olive Oil & Herb Biscuits

First, talk about your "quick breads!" If The Flash were to take up baking, these are the biscuits he would make. Seriously, I had the dough mixed, blobs on the pan, and everything cleaned up before my oven even finished pre heating! So, if your in a time crunch and need and extra piece for your meal...I'd suggest these.

Second, these made my apartment smell amazing! I'd suggest not making them if you won't be eating them for a while, because once you catch a whiff you won't be able to help yourself.

Now, on to how to.

What You Need:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
about 1 tbs each rosemary & thyme


What You Do:
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and herbs. Mix in milk and oil.

Drop dough balls (about the size of a golf ball) onto greased cookie sheets. Bake at 475 for 10 minutes.


Review:
This recipe, using the golf ball sized dough balls, yielded me 16 smallish biscuits.

On top of being insanely easy to make and clean up, these are quite tasty. Nice crusty outside, soft inside. Great full flavor. These are without a doubt a make-again. I can see a lot of potential for changes and variety with this recipe. Different herbs, cheese, etc. I'm thinking next time i'll try to toss in some garlic...maybe green onion? Seems limitless.

Cupcake Poppers

What You Need:
1 box white cake mix
1/4 tsp each desired food coloring
1 can white frosting
mini muffin pan
bowls (1 for each color)

-OR, to make filling-
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
food coloring, if desired


What You Do:
Mix cake by box directions. Divide batter into small bowls, 1 for each desired cake color. Add coloring and mix thoroughly.

Fill tin cups with about 1 tbs batter each. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cool.

If making own filling- beat marshmallow and butter. Beat in sugar until fluffy. Divide into bowls, again one for each desired color.

Cut tops off of cakes, discard bottom "cup" portion. (or repurpose them for cake balls, etc to reduce waste!) Pair up tops and spread filling on the flat sides. Press into sandwiches.

Makes 30 poppers, 120 calories each.


Review:
Amazing. Maybe a bit time consuming, but worth it. These are just so fun! I used a canned frosting (pillsbury fluffy white, i think) to save a bit of time. I left the the filling white for the colored cakes, but dyed it for the white cakes. For the rainbow effect in the white cakes, I just stirred in basic sprinkles (the kind you get to top ice cream).

These are light, fluffy, and delicious...not to mention fun to look at! I can't wait to make them again. I plan on making red and green ones for Christmas, orange and purple for Halloween, maybe red and blue for 4th of July...so many possibilities!

Nutella Cookies

What You Need:

1 2/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 egg

3/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup Nutella spread

What You Do:

Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.

Beat together butter and sugars. Beat in egg. Beat in Nutella, vanilla, and flour mixture until dough forms. 

Split dough into two equal balls, wrap in saran wrap, refrigerate at least 3 hours.

Roll out dough and cut into desired shape. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-11 minutes.

Review:

These aren't my favorite cookies. They were good, just not great. They were a little too dense for me, and the flavor was too light. Add that to the fact that they were quite a mess to make, and they just don't make the list for me. I'm glad I tried them, and my boyfriend liked them a lot. I might try to play around with the recipe a bit, and would probably make them again, but only if it were for a party, bake sale, etc and not just to have at home.

Apple Dumplings

My body is stupid. If I so much as think of Autumn, or anything related to it, my body starts to think it actually IS that magical season. It starts wanting to curl up in a blanket. Crunch through leaves. And most of all, eat fall type foods. Apples. Pumpkin. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and other such spices. I happen to be going through one of those odd periods at the moment, and to try to satisfy it, I tried my hand at making apple dumplings for dessert last night.

What You Need:
2 small to medium Granny Smith Apples
2 refrigerated pie crusts
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1-3 tbs butter
maple syrup or caramel syrup(ice cream topping)


What You Do:
Roll out your pie crusts, and cut 4 circles out of each. Place half the dough circles on a greased cookie sheet.

Chop up your apples into small chunks. 

In a medium sauce pan combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and water. Bring to a boil. Add 1/2 - 1/3 tbs of your chosen syrup, stir. Reduce heat to a low simmer and add apples.

Spoon apples chunks into the center of crusts. Reserve sauce, keeping it warm.

Top with remaining 4 crust circles, rolling the bottom crust into the edge of the top crust. I used the left over scraps from the crusts to cut out little decorative details for the tops. The heart and "leaf" decorations worked out the best, as the lines of the other two baked up off the dumpling, and fell off as soon as you touched them. 

Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes, until golden. Serve topped with warm sauce, or a small scoop of vanilla of ice cream if you don't share my intolerance of the dairy family.

Review:
Not going to lie...I really impressed myself with these. Pies and things of that nature have never been a strong point for me, so all I was really expecting of these was apple taste, maybe a hint of cinnamon, and a warm flaky crust. However, I got a truly delicious fall themed treat that I can't wait to make again and try different variations of. I used maple syrup this time as it was all I had on hand, but next time I will try caramel. These were easier to make than I was anticipating, warm, gooey, flaky, with a really great well-rounded flavor. Love.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Brownies

What You Need:

8oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 box brownie mix (the kind with a fudge or syrup packet)

1 egg

1 tsp cherry juice

1/4 cup drained, chopped maraschino cherries

What You Do:

Mix brownies by box directions. Spread half of batter into bottom of pan.

In a medium bowl, beat remaining ingredients. Spread over batter in pan. Top with remaining batter, smoothing out the surface.

Bake at 350 for 39-49 minutes.

Review:

Amazing. A bit messy to make, but well worth it. I made this for a potluck lunch, and they went fast. A few people took 4 or 5 each! Moist, chewy, and wonderful mixture of chocolate and cherry flavors.

*Makes 16 brownies, 300 calories each*

Whiskey Pudding or Mousse

It may not look the prettiest, but once you taste it...that won't matter so much anymore.

What You Need:

2 Tbs Whiskey 

1/4 cup Irish cream

1 box (3.9oz size) Chocolate instant pudding mix

1 1/4 cup milk

*2 cups Cool whip if you are making it mousse

What You Do:

Whisk together pudding mix, milk, irish cream and whiskey until smooth.

If making mousse, stir in cool whip.

Refrigerate at least 20 minutes before serving.

Review:

Pretty good. A great dessert for my St. Patty's Day meal. You could taste the whiskey for sure, but it didn't overpower the other flavors. Super simple to make, too. My only complaint was that it made more than I thought it would, but didn't keep for very long, so a lot of it had to get tossed. I'd suggest cutting back on the amount you make, or make it for a party.

Slow Cooker BBQ Ribs

What You Need:

2 lbs pork back ribs

1 1/2 Tbs paprika

1 Tbs light brown sugar

2 cup bbq sauce

What You Do:

Mix paprika and sugar together, rub into meat. Place meat into slow cooker.

Pour in sauce.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Review:

Pretty dang good. Made enough for both of us to make two meals out of. Very tender, fall of the bone. Great flavor, but not the strongest one...needed to have extra sauce on the side for dipping. Overall, I'll make this again, but I think it would be my 2nd choice recipe for ribs.

Lime Crinkle Cookies

What You Need:

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 Tbs lime juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

What You Do:

Mix sugar and butter until fluffy.

Whip in vanilla, egg, and lime juice.

Stir in all dry ingredients except powdered sugar. 

Pour powdered sugar onto a plate/into a bowl. Roll Tbs' of dough in sugar. 

Place on greased, light colored cookie sheet. 

Bake 9-11 minutes at 350, until bottoms are just barely browned.

Review:

Fabulous. Light, chewy, and sweet but not too sweet. A really great cookie for Spring, for sure. I sent them to work with my boyfriend after we each had a few, and he said they were gone in about 5 minutes!

Sweet, Boozy Boredom

I got bored today. It's too hot to go outside. My boyfriend is out doing guy stuff. The dog was sleeping. So, as any kitchen addict would, I decided to bide some time on Foodgawker looking for nifty new things to make sometime in the future.

So, a bored gal that likes to cook finds a simple recipe. With all the ingredients and time on her hands, she makes...

Honey infused BEER BREAD.

What You Need:

3 cups all purpose flour

2 Tbs sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs baking powder

2 Tbs honey

4 Tbs butter, melted

12 oz beer of choice (I used regular Bud)

What You Do:

Grease a loaf pan, and heat your oven to 350.

Whisk together dry ingredients. Stir in beer, then honey. (It helps to stick the honey into the microwave for easier stirring. About 8 seconds did it for me.)

Pour half of the butter into the pan. Spoon in dough. Cover with remaining butter.

Bake 50-60 minutes.

Review:

Not quite what I expected. I was hoping for a stronger beer flavor, to be honest, and this didn't deliver on that front. I'm assuming this changes depending on which beer you use, so next time I'll use a different one.

As a bread, this was good. Light, fluffy, delicious. It was simple to make (only took me about 5 minutes to get it in the oven) and uses basic ingredients that you probably already have.

This seems like it would be easily tweaked as well. Next time, I think i'm going to cut out the honey, add cheddar into the dough, and maybe some herbs on top. I've also seen recipes using different cheeses, bacon, spices, etc...so it's one of those fun ones that you can easily change to suit personal tastes.

No Recipe Required

Sorry for the lack of posting. To make up for it, here a few quick, simple things to make that don't even really require a recipe or directions.

scrambled eggs with spinach, black olives, and cherry tomatoes.

gingerbread cookies (pillsbury refrigerated) with mint icing.

*for mint icing, mix powdered sugar and milk with coffeemate peppermint dry creamer)

mini blueberry-brown sugar muffins. (betty crocker muffin mix, add REAL blueberries instead of the included can. top with brown sugar before baking.)

Irish Soda Bread

What You Need:

3 TBS butter

2 1/2 cups flour

2 TBS sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

*raisin or currants (i'm not a fan of either, so I opt out of this ingredient)

What You Do:

Mix butter, flour, sugar, soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir in just enough buttermilk to form a dough. (Too much buttermilk will yield a loaf that is too moist/dense.)

Place dough on a floured surface and knead about 2 minutes. Shape into a round loaf. Place onto a greased cookie sheet.

Slice an X into the top of the loaf, about 1/2 - 1 inch deep. According to lore, this is to "let the fairies out", so don't forget it!

Bake at 375 for 35 to 40 minutes.

*makes 14 slices*

Review:

This is one of my favorite things to make all year, not just for St. Pat's. It's so simple to make, requires mostly things that are already around the kitchen, and is just a really nice snack. Light, but dense. Dry but not too much so. And at only 110 calories a slice, not too bad on the diet either ;)

An Irish Cream Dream

These are Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies. Need I say more than that? Being a gal of Irish descent, I very much look forward to St. Patrick's Day every year. The green beers are fun, but really it's the food for me. So, in the spirit of the holiday, I'll be cooking several Irish/St. Pat's themed things the next few days, and sharing them with you!

What You Need:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup Bailey's Irish cream

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

chocolate chips (I used Tollhouse milk chocolate)

What You Do:

Whisk together the butter, egg, and sugars.

Add in vanilla and Irish cream.

Mix together flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir into batter.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes.

Review: 

My budget wasn't exactly Bailey's friendly ($20 a bottle) so I cheated and used Brady's. ($9 a bottle) Not sure how much, if any, effect that has on the flavor.

These are the BEST cookies I have ever made, and that's saying a lot. Cookies are kind of my thing, that's where I started. This recipe yielded the softest, fluffiest, yummiest cookies! They were also very easy to make. No busting out the mixer, no mess everywhere. They cooked perfectly. I was impressed to the point that these will now be my go-to cookie.

What A Tart

What You Need:

Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts (1 box per 21oz of filling)

Pie filling of choice (pictured are cherry and apple, but any typical fill would work)

Small round/scalloped cookie cutter

Mini muffin/cupcake tins

What You Do:

Unroll one crust at a time. Using the cookie cutter, cut out as many circles as you can from your crusts. I rolled it out, cut all I could, then set aside the scraps. After I had gone through all my crusts, I balled the scraps together and continued cutting.

Press the circles down into the greased cups of the tin. Press down lightly in the center, forming them into cups.

Spoon in desired filling.

Bake at 425 for 14-18 minutes.

Remove to cooling rack.

*My cherry ones were a bit too tart, so I sprinkled them with a bit of sugar after they came out of the oven. I also sprinkled cinnamon over the apple one, to make them more "pie like"*

Review:

These were very popular (the cherry a bit more so) and went fast at a party. They were easy to make, easy to serve, and easy to eat. I intend to make them again with different fillings, like blueberry, pumpkin, and peach.

Breakfast Cups

What You Need:

6 eggs

3 english muffing

6 slices packaged pre-cooked bacon, not heated

cheese, spices, etc to taste

What You Do:

Spray a muffin tin. Press half of an english muffin into the cups. 

Put one slice of bacon inside each muffin, making a circle inside. (sort of like a little bacon wall within the muffin)

Crack one egg into each muffin, inside the bacon circle.

Sprinkle in desired seasoning, spices, etc. (in the pic, I went with plain old salt and pepper)

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Review:

I wasn't sure how these would go over, but they get a rave review from both myself and boyfriend. They're tasty, and so easy to make. They're also easy to eat, which would make them a good breakfast on the go. Next time I think I will try adding a bit of cheddar though.

Starting Simple

I figure I'll start out with something basic, that actually happens to one of my very favorite meals to not only make, but eat as well. Easy, simple, and delicious, this is my "Italian Chicken & Rice".

What you need:

1 pound of chicken breast, broiled, and cut into chunks/strips

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 cup chopped broccoli

1 bottle Kraft light zesty Italian dressing

Rice or pasta of your choice (I use Success brand whole grain brown rice)

What you do:

Cook the chicken ahead of time, cut it up, and set it aside. 

Chop the broccoli. Cut the peppers into strips or chunks. 

Cook rice or pasta by package directions.

Place all into large skillet or pan, add enough dressing to fully coat everything, and heat through. 

That's it. Dinner is ready!

Welcome!

Hello there, and welcome to The Pupcake Chronicles.

I'm Elyse. 23 years old, a displaced Michigander, with a passion for both food and photography. Luckily for me, those two go together fairly well. I get to cook up a storm, try out new recipes, and flex my skills behind the lens all at the same time to bring you this blog.

In this blog, I will share recipes and the occasional craft, along with photos, instructions, and stories. I'm not a professional chef or photographer, just a lady that likes to cook and take pictures, that decided to share.

The name, Pupcake Chronicles, I pulled from my imaginary "maybe someday" bakery, which I plan on naming Pupcakes. I chose this name to reflect my love for both baked goods, and my dogs.

So, read...cook...feel free to take and share. Join me on this little culinary adventure of mine. :)