The Adventures of a Frustrated Baker

So, hopefully by now you have all checked out my last blog entry with the best peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies I'd ever had.  Notice the past tense there...they were the best ones I had ever had until I made one little addition!  Any guesses?!  Bacon! (It was my hubby's idea, he claims bacon is the "duct tape of food", it makes everything better...) The basic recipe is the same, the only difference is that I mixed in eight pieces of chopped bacon, cooked until crispy.  Honestly, it sounds weird.  Trust me, I know...I've had pretty much every single one of my coworkers look at me like I was crazy since I first baked these cookies...that is until the tasted them.  I don't think I know a single person that was not converted after trying these little gems!  The crispy bacon adds a more interesting texture and a little bit of salty crunch.  I don't think I will ever go back, chocolate + peanut butter = amazing...chocolate + peanut butte...

I don't know about you all, but I have two things that I do when I am down.  One is clean, which I usually reserve for super serious cases, and two is bake.  After receiving yet more bad news in my quest for my dream job, I felt the urge to create something delicious.  Yummy food always cheers me up, especially if it combines the two best ingredients ever, peanut butter and chocolate!  These cookies are seriously one of my comfort foods.  I think of peanut butter and chocolate as God's gift to the food world...all sweet and salty and creamy and deliciousness!  Nothing makes me feel better than these two together.  Plus I had this delicious new roasted honey nut peanut butter I've been dying to try in a batch of cookies!  So why is this blog post called a "battle" you ask?  Mainly that while I find these cookies perfection in themselves...my hubby thinks that there is one way they could be improved...but we will get to that in part 2! The...

Saw this recipe recently while reading the May 2012 copy of Food Network Magazine and just knew I had to try it.  It looked amazing...and it used a product that I had never tried before...silken tofu.  I like tofu, it's alright...mostly it ends up tasting like whatever it is cooked with.  However, I've never used it in a sweet dish before so I was a little curious about how this works. Hmm...mine didn't look quite that perfect...where's my food stage-er?! Honestly, as soon as you mix it with the cream cheese and powdered sugar, it tastes like yogurt!  This recipe is amazing, it was a total hit and everyone who tried it said it was amazing.  Best part, it tastes like a decadent danish or...strudel, and it's not as fattening.  The tofu allows the flavor of the cream cheese to come through without it being so sinful. Plus it makes it really light and creamy... Yup, that's all there is! The tofu before it is made all creamy and smooth....

Well, lets make this short, sweet and to the point.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!  I can't think of a better way to celebrate than baking Guinness into delicious cupcakes and topping it with frosting with Bailey's Irish Cream inside.  Well, I'm pretty sure I could think of better ways to celebrate, but seeing as I have to work at 4am tomorrow, this cupcakes is probably going to be the only celebrating I'm going to do today. My only comment on this cupcakes recipe...to those of you crazy people who don't like Guinness, give this cupcake a try.  The flavor of the Guinness doesn't stand out too much, in fact if I just told you it was chocolate you probably wouldn't even know there was Guinness in it.  They are by for the BEST chocolate cupcakes I've ever tasted! The ingredients... Mmm...Guinness... Bring the butter and Guinness to a simmer then whisk in the cocoa. Beat together the eggs, sour cream and milk. Add in the...