Fudge Brownies with Hershey's Chocolate Spread

I recently had the opportunity to try the new line of chocolate spreads by Hershey's.  They're available in three flavors: Chocolate, Hazelnut and Almond.  Since I'm allergic to nuts, I was happy to receive the Chocolate one to try.

I thought it would be fun to bake with it.  I've seen many recipes that use Nutella, a similar hazelnut spread.  I thought it would be interesting to take one of those recipes and substitute the Hershey's Chocolate spread.  I had a craving for brownies and decided to use Buns In My Oven's Nutella Brownies recipe and make some Chocolate Fudge Brownies.

Blueberry Scones

My husband and I recently went to Panera for breakfast.  I had a coupon on my Panera card for a free pastry from the bakery for my birthday.  My husband ordered me a blueberry scone (I was already seated with the baby).  I had never had a scone before.  But it was so good.  I even sent Panera a tweet telling them how yummy it was and how I wanted to make some myself.

This past weekend was the perfect opportunity to try.  I was having a birthday brunch at my house for my Dad and figured scones would be good for a brunch menu.  I looked at a few recipes online and found one that didn't seem too complicated to make.  It's from the La Petite Brioche blog.

Blueberry Scones
Makes 8.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1 stick cold unsalted butter, diced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen (I used fresh)
Heavy cream for brushing the tops
Raw sugar for sprinkling the tops

Directions
1.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2.  In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, orange zest, and salt.

3.  Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed.

4.  Combine the egg and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy.  Add the blueberries to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

5.  Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands and a rolling pin and roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. You should see small bits of butter in the dough. Keep moving the dough on the floured board so it doesn't stick.

6.  Shape the dough into a square. Cut the square into quarters then cut again into eighths, diagonally, making triangles.

7.  Brush the tops of the scones with heavy creme and sprinkle with the raw sugar.

8.  Place the scones on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the insides are fully baked. The scones will be firm to the touch.

9.Serve warm with butter and preserves.  

Mummy Cupcakes

When my son came home from Cub Scouts last week, he told me I had to make cupcakes for his troop party.  They had to be chocolate and they had to be scary. I had some ideas, but didn't really start to think about it until the weekend.  Unfortunately, the cold that I was fighting earlier in the week had turned into full blown bronchitis by the time the weekend came.  I even had to call in to work.  So, by the time I needed to make the cupcakes, I wanted something simple to make.  Mummy Cupcakes were perfect!

I've seen them all over Pinterest and they looked pretty easy to make.  Plus, I had some Candy Eyeballs that I had bought earlier in the year when I hosted a Hotel Transylvania party.

Owl-Themed Baby Shower

A few months ago, my family and my sister's husband's family threw one of my sisters a baby shower.  I was in charge of the cake and cupcakes.  I knew my sister's nursery was going to have owls and was going to have grey and pink.  So, I wanted to make her desserts that reflected that.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

One of the technicians at work recently moved on to another job.  Before she left, she had jokingly asked me to make her some cupcakes after one of the other doctors was talking about how I bake.  I said that I would bake her some and asked what kind she wanted.  She requested Pumpkin cupcakes.  I've never baked with pumpkin before, but thought what a perfect time to try!

I immediately went to my favorite source of cake recipes: Piece of Cake! by Camilla Saulsbury.  I wanted to use a recipe that wasn't too involved.  This book is all about recipes that use only one bowl.  Basically, you can throw everything in all at once and the cakes come out awesome!  While the book doesn't have specific cupcake recipes, I chose one that was meant to be a sheet cake and just made them into cupcakes.

I don't really eat pumpkin and neither do my kids.  But we all liked this!  It's not a strong pumpkin flavor.  It's more spice than anything, but you can tell there's pumpkin in the cake.  The original recipe calls for a maple frosting, but I went with cream cheese instead.  Mainly, because I didn't have any maple syrup on hand.