Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

I've come to a reluctant revelation recently. I am now officially a cupcake junkie. Yes, me, the one who used to loathe and despise the sickly sweet frosting, the one who always preferred a wholesome muffin over a pretentious act-cute cupcake. Bleh. As I was rejoicing over the success of this latest cupcake and tried to offer the recipe to my bestie, she turned it down saying how she didn't appreciate the sickly sweet frosting of cupcakes. That was when I went, crap damn, I have gone over to the dark side. Or rather, the pretentious act-cute side. *Groans*

But as I bit into the moist cake along with the sweet and tart cream cheese frosting, it made perfect sense to have both. Granted some of the decorations offered out there can be overkill, but a little sprinkle here and there, or a little cookie here and there just entices you reach out for the yummy-ness that is underneath all that pretentious act-cute-ness :D

I got this recipe from here but used a cream cheese frosting instead since I've never really enjoyed buttercream frosting.

After frosting and plopping on the Oreos...

A close up. A generous dose of cream cheese never hurt anyone :P Especially not a cheesecake lover like me, bleh. 

And inside, even more Oreos. 

The cake turned out surprisingly soft and moist. So recipe is definitely a keeper! The Gardener already devoured 3, and he usually doesn't eat my cupcakes unless I force him to. Try some today! :D

Of Macarons and Cookies

I've been going through a bad baking spell lately, with lots of failed recipes.

There was my 4th attempt at macaron making, photos of which I'm going to post up anyway. But that kind of dimmed my spirits and I stopped taking photos hence no new blog post.

There were my numerous icing making attempts, which were really horribly measly, and my cupcakes looked pathetic, so again no more photos.

There were the doomed whoopie pies, which looked and tasted awful, so there went my Mother's Day gift.

But before I deliver the good news, let me show you my macarons.

Tadah...my Ribena with white chocolate ganache macarons. 

Yea, my ganache sort of failed because I didn't have enough white chocolate :P 

But it was my first time trying out the Italian meringue method. So now I can understand why they recommend this method to macaron beginners, because it really does stabilize the meringue for you to whip and smooth it out. And I got really pretty obvious feet! At first...

Because the whole process took me so long that I had to go off for dinner and leave the macarons resting. For too long =.=" 

Then I got lopsided feet. Sigh. 

Anyway, the Italian method produces softer shells, I find. Not as crunchy as the French method. Which I prefer. So...I guess I'll keep working on the French meringue. Onward to attempt #5!

So I stopped with the macarons and the cakes for a while. And made some cookies instead. Hmm, which is funny because The Gardener's brother didn't know what they were called and told me that my 'chocolate cookies' were really good. Psst...they're called macarons o.O

Right, digressing.

Made some wonderful crunchy awesome chocolate wafers! But they were so good I forgot to take any pictures :P But I'm telling you they're so good The Gardener who normally avoids chocolate cookies (for example my chocolate macarons) were wolfing them down like crazy. No worries, will make somemore and snap photos then!

And then since I was on a cookie roll and on the quest to search for the perfect crunchy cookie ala Famous Amos, I found and made this!

Best! A tad sweet, but crunchy!

I made about 36 cookies, and these were the last 6. 

But you count five. Where's the last one, you ask?