Chocolate Covered Strawberry Muffins

I think we can all agree that chocolate and strawberries are a match in heaven.  Am I right??? 

Heck to the yesssssss.

I had some fresh strawberries in my refrigerator yesterday morning, and I wanted to use them up in some kind of super yummy recipe.  Aaaand I was craving chocolate (when am I not??).  So I figured...why not make something with chocolate and strawberries?  I wasn't really craving pancakes, and I could have easily made chocolate chip pancakes and threw some strawberries on top.  I wanted something more creative.  Oatmeal?  Nahh...too boring.  And then a little light bulb went off in my head and I decided muffins.  Oh how I loveee muffins!  I call them "breakfast's cupcake."  Many people wonder the difference between a cupcake and a muffin, and you are gonna realize that you already know the answer once I tell you: Cupcakes are more cakey.  I know.  You totally knew that already, right?  Cupcakes are also more light and fluffy, whereas muffins are more dense (but not too dense! More like pound cake.), chewy, and bready.  A cupcake batter can be made into a cake, but if you were to pour muffin batter into a cake pan, it may not turn out the same.  

Okay, now back to this recipe.  A really, really good muffin should have a very moist texture, similar to a cupcake but still a little more dense.  This recipe is the definition of a perfect muffin.  I's everything you could dream your perfect muffin should be like. The muffin is so moist from the sour cream, and wonderfully fluffy.  It's light, though not quite as light as a cupcake.  So chocolatey (did I mention they have a chocolate drizzle, in addition to the chocolate chips already in it? Genius.), and filled with sweet chunks of delicious, fresh strawberries.  These taste SO GOOD hot from the oven with whipped cream.  Ohmygoodness...my mouth is watering just thinking of how yummy they were.  I tasted one this morning (24 hours later) at room temperature and it was still awesome.  However, I recommend heating it up, to make it even more awesome.  But I do think it was best out of the oven.  I cannot wait to make these again, but I think next time I'll try them white white chocolate chips and/or vanilla chips!  Mmmm!  These, unfortunately, were not my original recipe...so I cannot take the spotlight.  I recently discovered a wonderful blog called Sally's Baking Addiction, and you can find the recipe from her...here.

Strawberry Pavlova

I saw this recipe on Allrecipe.com a few weeks ago, and I had never had Pavlova before, so I figured: why not? I altered it a little bit based on what I had in my house, and it turned out soooo tasty!  And incredibly pretty! The perfect dessert on a hot, spring or summer day.  It's light, sweet, and very refreshing. What made this pavlova super amazing was the fact that the strawberries I used were freshly picked that same day.  A local strawberry patch is now open where I live, and my family picks strawberries every year.  Mmm...who doesn't love freshly picked, sweet strawberries with whipped cream?  This pavlova is simply a light, sweet, base for that.  Crunchy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside.  The almond extract gives it a delicious flavor that pairs really well with the strawberries and whipped cream.  After a few days, the outside of this pavlova will get too soft, so eat it quickly!  I promise ---> it won't be difficult.

Yield: about 12 servings

Ingredients:

• 4 egg whites
• 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
• 2 pinches of flour, divided
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• desired amount of Cool Whip, thawed
• 1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced

Directions:

1. Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Beat egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add 1 pinch of flour; beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1-1/4 cups sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating on high until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle pinch of flour over egg white mixture; fold in. Fold in lemon juice and extract.
2. Coat a 14-in. pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spoon meringue onto pan, forming any shape you want. Build up edges slightly. Bake at 250 degrees F for 45-55 minutes or until crisp. Cool on pan over a wire rack.
3. When cool, spread with Cool Whip. Arrange strawberries over top. Serve immediately.

Strawberry Bread

I cannot wait until strawberry season.  Wanna know why?  Because I wanna use fresh strawberries for this yummy bread.  I had some leftover strawberries in the fridge, so I decided to make a sweet bread with them.  And it turned out amazing!!  It barely lasted a day in my house.  I can't even imagine how much more amazing it would be with freshly picked strawberries.  It's a sweet, dense, very moist cake-ish bread.  I guess you could call it a coffee cake.  This is best served all room temperature, in my opinion, with coffee.  Or with some cream cheese frosting on it...Mmm..this makes it taste like strawberry cheesecake!  It's also very good warm with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups fresh, sliced strawberries
• 1.5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease 1 loaf pan.
2. Slice or dice strawberries, and place in medium-sized bowl. Sprinkle lightly with sugar, and set aside while preparing bread mixture.
3. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt and baking soda in large bowl: mix well. Blend oil and eggs into strawberries. Add strawberry mixture to flour mixture, blending until dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in pecans. Divide batter into pans.
4. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until tester inserted comes out clean. Let cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Turn loaves out, and cool completely.

Strawberry Cheesecake Toast/Sandwich

I had a blog-worthy idea the other day: dessert toast.  Genius, right?  Yeah, I know.  It's so easy and there is an incredible amount of options to choose from. And you can have it for dessert or breakfast...or even just a snack.   I got the idea from my delicious pumpkin pie toast found here.  I came up with this because we had some left over Cinnabon cream cheese frosting in the refrigerator (from cinnamon rolls on Christmas Eve morning...yum!), so I decided to use it up (usually I just slab it on graham crackers, but I decided to be more creative).  This  seriously tastes just like a cheesecake, but in toast form.  I let my dad have a bite, and the first thing he said was: "you have got to put this on your blog.  It's amazing."  So true.  It's very refreshing tasting.  Now that I think about it, It's like a cross between strawberry shortcake and cheesecake.  I realized after making this recipe that you can make sooo many variations of cheesecake toast: chocolate, cherry, peanut butter cup, caramel, apple...pretty much any type of cheesecake that you've ever heard of (think the Cheesecake Factory!) you can incorporate onto toast.  I'm definitely gonna post some more cheesecake toast recipes very soon(: So stay tuned.

Ingredients:

1 slice of bread

1/4 cup cream cheese frosting**** (more or less, depending on how you like it)

2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs (again, more or less)

enough sliced strawberries to cover the top of your toast

whipped cream (optional)

****you can find a home-made cream cheese frosting recipe here.

Instructions:

1. Toast bread

2. Spread cream cheese frosting evenly over toasted bread.  Sprinkle graham cracker crumbs evenly over frosting.  Top with strawberries.

3.  Top desired amount of whipped cream over strawberries, if desired.

***you can add a slice of toast bread on top to make a sandwich, too.

Mashed Banana Toast/Sandwiches

Do you mash or slice your bananas???


I would guess you have probably been slicing them your whole life.  Well, here's something new to try: MASH 'EM! All it does it make it creamy.  It's literally like creating your own banana spread.  Especially if the banana is really ripe...mashing a ripe banana will make it taste way better than a greenish banana (since ripe bananas have more sugar). Did you know that they sell banana peanut butter?  I don't understand why would anyone buy that when you can just make it yourself.  Anyways...instead of your usual peanut butter and sliced banana toast/sandwiches that I'm sure you've been doing for as long as you can remember, just mash the banana!  You can mix other spreads in with the banana if you want to change it up even more.  


Mashed Banana Toast/Sandwich:


Ingredients:
1 slice of bread, toasted   (or 2 for a sandwich)
1/2 to 1 ripe banana (depending how big it is)




Instructions:
Mash the banana as chunky or creamy as you'd like.  Spread mashed banana on hot toast.


***Add a slice of bread on top to make a sandwich if you prefer.  Toasting is optional. 


Variations:  Mix into mashed banana mixture before spreading on top of bread...

• peanut butter
• nutella
• honey
• melted chocolate chips (flavor of your choice)
• cocoa powder
• cinnamon
• blueberries
• almond butter (or other nut butter of your choice)
• chopped or sliced strawberries
• crushed Nilla Wafers
• toffee bits
• coconut flakes
• dash of vanilla extract
• brown sugar (this is very sweet..but delicious)
• chopped nuts of your choice
• grape nuts (or other cereal of your choice.  Honey Nut Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch is really good too)
• caramel sauce
• whipped cream
• chocolate sauce/syrup
• pudding
• maple syrup
• jelly 
• yogurt

Melted chocolate chips & banana:

Peanut Butter, Cinnamon, and Banana:

Peanut Butter, Banana and Chocolate Chunks:

Mashed Banana and Nutella Sandwich:

Almond Butter and Banana:

Spread it on graham crackers!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Strawberry Mascarpone-Cheese Filling and Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

  

I recently took a cooking class called "The Art of Cupcakes," by Chef Wynton Mann (you can check out his site at www.wyntonsworld.com), and it was so much fun!  We made five different types of incredibly delicious cupcakes: these, pumpkin cupcakes with maple and ginger buttercream frosting, banana nut cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream frosting, chocolate cupcakes with strawberry mascarpone cream cheese-filling and chocolate cream cheese frosting, honey pear cupcakes with white chocolate and pistachio buttercream frosting, and vanilla coffee cupcakes with tiramisu filling and coffee buttercream frosting.  I know you're probably drooling right now just reading over that. Imagine actually biting into them.  They were all sooo good...not one of them was even close to forgettable.  And none of the recipes are available online, so I guess you'll just have to make them all from my blog(:


Yield: 24 cupcakes


Ingredients:
For the Cupcakes:
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 cups sugar
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


For the Filling:
1 - 8oz container mascarpone cheese, chilled
1/2 cup frozen strawberries, thawed, drained
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice


For the Frosting:
2 oz. butter, at room temperature
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
2 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla


Directions:

For the Cupcakes:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line cupcake pans with liners; set aside.

3.  In a large mixing bowl, sift together cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

4. Add the eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla; mix batter until smooth.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl to assure batter is well mixed.

5. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about one-third full.  Bake until tops spring back when touched, about 20-25 minutes.

6. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

For the Filling:

In a food processor combine the mascarpone cheese, strawberries, 1/4 cup sugar, and lemon juice.  Process the mixture until smooth.  Transfer the strawberry mixture to a pastry bag fitted with a small tip.

For the Frosting:

Cream butter and cream cheese; gradually add part of the sugar, alternating with chocolate, then milk, until well blended and spreading consistency is reached. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Strawberry Cheesecake

I made this cheesecake for my mom on Mothers Day, and she declared it was by far the best cheesecake she's ever had.  She declared it her cake after the first bite, and my dad and I seriously had to beg her to have a piece. It truly is incredible.  And it looks absolutely gorgeous!  Almost too pretty to eat.  But once you have the first bite, you just can't stop eating it - it's so delicious.  This is tied with my pumpkin pecan praline cheesecake for my favorite cheesecake of all time. I've had the strawberry cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory, and I promise you: this is better. The sweetened condensed milk makes it unique from other cheesecakes because it gives it a rich, creamy, dreamy texture.  The sauce served on top adds more deliciousness as well...even though it's outstanding without it.  This was also the first cheesecake I've ever made that didn't crack!  Happiest day of my life right there(;  My mom now wants it every Mothers Day.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Combine graham cracker crumbs, sugar and butter. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. 
2. In a blender or food processor, combine strawberries and cornstarch; cover and process until smooth. Pour into a saucepan; bring to a boil. Boil and stir for 2 minutes. Set aside 1/3 cup strawberry sauce; cool. Cover and refrigerate remaining sauce for serving.
3. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in milk. Add lemon juice and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, beat on low just until combined. 
4. Pour half of the cream cheese mixture over crust. Drop half of the reserved strawberry mixture by 1/2 teaspoonfuls onto cream cheese layer. Carefully spoon remaining cream cheese mixture over sauce. Drop remaining strawberry sauce by 1/2 teaspoonfuls on top. With a knife, cut through top layer only to swirl strawberry sauce. 
5. Bake at 300 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around edge of pan to loosen; cool 1 hour longer. Refrigerate overnight. Remove side of pan. Thin chilled strawberry sauce with water if desired; serve with cheesecake. Store in the refrigerator.