knock you butt(er) naked brownies!

i have made

{knock you naked brownies}

courtesy of pioneer woman

many times

and trust me they are delicious!

but tonight

after making them

and having some left over ingredients

and some other ingredients

i decided to be creative

without further adieu 

i present you

"knock you butt(er) naked brownies"

let me explain the butter

i used 

reese peanut butter pieces

in lieu of chocolate chips

pretty creative huh?!?

another change i made:

i used duncan hines

triple chocolate fudge

and 

added 

hershey's chocolate syrup

i'm not craving chocolate or anything!

the steps are exactly like pw's recipe

so

you will need 

1/2 cup of melted butter

evaporated milk

cake mix

be creative here folks!

then i added just a drizzle of chocolate syrup

mix it all together

put half the batter

in a 9x9 greased pan

pop it in the oven at 350 for 8-10 minutes

while that's cooking

take your caramels

unwrapped of course!

add it to 1/2 cup of evaporated milk

and melt

in a double boiler

once melted pour over your 

half of batter baked mixture

sprinkle your reese's pieces

we just bought halloween candy 

so i used that 

it's not stealing from kids

it's being resourceful!

then add the other half of the batter on top

pop it back in the oven

for 20-25 minutes

let cool

then 

sprinkle with powdered sugar!

then 

enjoy

your

knock you butt(er) naked brownies!

cowboy leftovers to pasta cuisine

last night i made 

{the pioneer woman's cowboy calzone} 

it's a great reciepe

and i highly recommend it

and i had some of the 

meat mixture

left over

today

i didn't want calazone

and didn't want to throw out the meat

so 

i thought

and thought

opened my cabinets

to see what 

if any groceries i had

today is the must go grocery shopping

or starve to death day

and

i saw this

  and thought

"hmmm... backed penne with cowboy calazone meat mixture..

sure...

why not"

so 

i cooked the pasta

you know

boil water, add pasta, cook 8-10 minutes, drain water

if i can make pasta without looking at directions

so can you

used my 8x8 pan

you can use a 9x13 but

i didn't have that much meat to cover a 9x13 

layer it

meat, noodles, meat, noodles, etc

top with parmasean

and shredded mozzarella

place it in the oven

i did 350*F for 20 minutes

and

voila!

you have a new dish

made with leftovers

and 

it wasn't half bad either!

i would definitely make it again if i had left overs from cowboy calazones     

 

 

thankful thursday: it's her birthday!

because

during our chat this week

she said

"i miss your baking blogs"

wow! really! someone reads them?!

because

cupcakes make me happy

because

she loves summer

and these are the perfect summer cupcakes

because i have new kitchen island

just waiting to get dirty!

and because

{kristi's}

birthday is today

i tackled a new recipe

{fluffy lime cupcakes with lime frosting}

yum.

first like any good american

cooking in italy

open a bottle of wine!

now we are ready to bake!!

mix your dry ingredients

the flour, baking powder, and salt

set that aside

and whisk four egg whites and buttermilk together

set that aside

prepare your lime zest

remember

{this}

yep, the grater still scares me

grate away

then step back and take a moment to smell the aroma in your kitchen

lime smells delicious, fresh, crisp!

now pull out your stand mixer!

i'm going to digress here so bear with me!

or skip down three pictures

pull out my mixer?!?

in italy i have yet to use my stand mixer

mainly because it ain't easy 

and counter space was limited

but now i have a new island!

so i lug out the 2000 watt transformer

it's heavy and ugly

so i usually hide it

i mean who wants to answer the question 

"what's the theme of your kitchen"

with

"electrical conversion equipment"?

then i found my stand mixer

plugged it in to the transformer

and prayed i didn't blow the breaker

success!

i still have lights after turning it on!

ok back to the cupcakes!

add your sugar and lime zest in the stand mixture 

then blend it together

i used my hands it made my hands smell like lime all day

yum.

beat in your butter

 your lime juice

and your lime extract

disclaimer:

i could NOT find lime extract at the commissary

so i squeezed some of the lime from the lime zest into the batter

then 

the recipe breaks down how to add in your dry mixture 

and your egg/milk mixture that you set aside

honestly 

because i'm not good in math

and i become overly anxious

wondering if i added in 1/3 or 1/4 

i just alternated adding in the two different mixtures

a little dry, then a little of the wet, a little more of the dry

well you get the idea

and after it's all combined

it looks something like this

this is where i do the 

"make sure it doesn't kill you"

taste test

really i just like batter

and trust me folks!

this is good batter!!

before you eat all the batter 

remember you have to make cupcakes

so fill those cupcake pans

put it in the good ol' oven at 350 for about 18-20 minutes

or until they look like this

and your kitchen smells heavenly!

while they cool

and trust me you want the cool before you frost them

i tried rushing the frosting bit 

and it melted off the cupcake

i'm impatient i wanted to eat one!

make your frosting

and you get to use your stand mixer again!!

yay!!

take your chilled heavy whipping cream

and 

whip it with the balloon whisk attachment

until it has a peak

this takes a little while

be patient

then add your sugar

and lime zest

the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of sugar

i didn't like the consistency of the frosting 

so i 

added another 1/2 tablespoon

and still not pleased

i remembered that

{the pioneer woman}

uses powdered sugar a lot in frostings

so i added 1/2 tablespoon

a minute later

i was pleased

then ice your cupcakes

and garnish with more lime zest 

or fresh lime slices

and enjoy.

i will say this

the cupcakes were a little dry for me

this could be baker error

but next time

i might try a stick and a half of butter

i'm not a professional

i'm a trial and error kind of gal

and 

i know anything with butter is usually very moist

so why not try more butter?!

 so for my dear friend

kristi

happy birthday

i am so thankful that you are in my life

i wish i was there to enjoy your day with you

i miss you 

and will see you very soon!!!

my sunday adventure

ken's working this weekend

and

the weather is cloudy

overcast

not very welcoming

so

what's a girl to do?

i can only go to the gym so many times

before rumors start flying

and

i can only read so many books before my eyes hurt

and

i have no books left to read

so 

i bake

plus i have a new apron thanks to my daddy

today's baking adventure was 

courtesy of

{nana's bread via pioneer woman}

mocha and dark chocolate reese's peanut butter cup

cupcakes

say that two times fast!

trust me you can't once you've taken a bite of them!!

now 

i had to modify this recipe

because 

i could not find dark chocolate anything

on base

and today is sunday

which means almost every store in italy is closed

so 

i used milk chocolate 

here we go!!

the key players:

now doesn't that look delicious! 

chocolate, peanut butter cups, and coffee

first you mix 

the cake batter,

chocolate syrup

oy the chocolate!

3 eggs,

the vegetable oil,

and

the brewed coffee

after pouring the batter into 

the cupcake pan

take one reese's cup

and place into the cupcake

even with the top of the batter

like so....

typically 

when making cupcakes you fill the liner 3/4 full

compensate for the peanut butter cup and only fill about half

otherwise they will spill out 

(trust me it happened to me)

bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit

(or approximately 178.8 celsius)

for about 15-20 minutes

depending on your oven

i use convection so it was closer to 15

yum.

while your cupcakes

are becoming

extra delicious

start on your frosting

you should have extra reese's cups

if you can't refrain from eating one

everytime you put one in a cupcake

then buy two 11.5 oz bags

it's very hard to not eat an open reese's peanut butter cup

take the leftover reese's cups

plus your bag of chocolate chips

and mix them together

joyous

bring your whipping creme to a boil

then pour onto your chocolate heaven

let it sit

and soften the chocolate

once the chocolate is soft 

mix together till smooth

then 

add your powder sugar

slowly of course!

by now 

your cupcakes should be done

pull those babies out the oven

let cool 

then top

with your chocolate decadence

then 

get them out of the house

give them to friends

neighbors

your husband's boss 

the stranger walking down the road

just get them out of there!

because you will eat them all!!!

happy sunday y'all!!