Cupcake Camp 2010

My first foodie event!! I really didn't expect there to be that many people at Cupcake Camp 2010! There was a huge lineup, starting outside, continuing down the halls of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel and leading upstairs! I even bumped into a few friends there! I have never seen that many people go crazy over cupcakes... And the event turned out to be a huge success according to their website. Isn't that amazing? A completely volunteer run event that raised over 34,500$, shared 25,000 cupcakes with 2,500 people for the Kids Help Phone and La Tablée des Chefs!!

Two chefs from the Food Network: Nadia G. from Bitchin' Kitchen and Ricardo Larrivée from Ricardo and Friends. They were both really nice and let me take pictures!

There was also a cupcake competition. Take a look at these cupcakes! Amazing!

These are some of the cupcakes I got to take home. This one my friend made (yes, she donated over 200 cupcakes!!) and it was one of my favorite: white velvet with pomegranate filling and white chocolate frosting if I remember correctly!

This one I didn't get to try. I only had the fondant jalapeño and my sister decide to eat it cause she thought it was chocolate and got a nice surprise! Apparently it was quite hot!

I can't wait for next year's event! My friend and I really want to participate in the competition but we're going to have to work hard to come up with something creative. I'll make sure I post the cupcakes I donated soon!

Cinnamon Rolls

It's increasingly difficult for me to find time to bake nowadays. Projects are due, finals are ahead and so is Cupcake Camp 2010!! I am so excited, I've been thinking of what cupcake to make for a long time. I can't wait to finally assemble it this weekend! By the way, Ricardo is supposed to be there... THE Ricardo from television! I think it's the first time I'll be seeing a celebrity chef in real life!

Ok enough excitement for now, let's keep some for Sunday! I made these cinnamon rolls out of the blue. I woke up early one morning, and as I updated myself in the blogging world, I fell upon some delicious looking Cinnamon Rolls. I always have this fear of working with yeast for some reason, but I thought, what the heck! They were supposed to be knock-off Cinnabons but I found them to have turned out 10 times better!

Cinnabon Knock-Off Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from Tartelette

Makes 12 rolls

For the dough:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1/4 oz. size or 1 pkg.)

1 cup warm milk (105 to 110 degrees F)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

4 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Mix together the sugar, butter, salt and eggs in a mixer bowl. Then add the flour and milk (with yeast) and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball using your hands lightly dusted with flour. Put it in a clean bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the dough has doubled in size (I left it for about an hour and 20 minutes).

Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it until it is approximately 21 inches long and 16 inches wide, about 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and position rack in the middle of the oven.

For the filling:

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter evenly over the surface of the dough (I didn't use it all) and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the surface.

Form the rolls:

Working carefully from the top (a 21-inch side), roll the dough down to the bottom edge. Cut the rolled dough into 12 slices of equal thickness (about 1 3/4 inches slices) and place 6 at a time, evenly spaced, in 2 lightly greased baking pans. Let the rolls rise again until doubled in size (about 30 minutes). Bake for 10 minutes or until golden on top.

For the icing:

Adapted from Michael Smith

1 tbsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp cream (or more depending on the consistency you like, I added more to make it runny)

1 cup powdered sugar

Stir together all the ingredients for the icing and when the rolls have completely cooled, drizzle the icing over them.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I didn't make these cookies. My sister had never baked anything on her own before and wanted to make the best peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for her boyfriend. So I put myself to the task and searched for the recipe that had the best reviews!

I also want to share with you that I got a new camera!! Actually my boyfriend got it for me (he's the best!!) and now I can't stop taking pictures. Everything looks better through a DSLR!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from All recipes

Makes 24 addictive cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tbsp light corn syrup

2 tbsp water

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (I used a pinch)

2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate (or chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water and vanilla. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt, and stir into the peanut butter mixture in 3 parts. Fold in the chocolate chunks (or chips). Drop onto ungreased baking sheets using a tablespoon, 3 inches apart.

Bake for about 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown (the more you bake, the less the cookies will be soft and chewy). Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on cookie sheet before removing them and placing them on a wire rack.

Rocky Road Ice Cream

Rich, french-style chocolate ice cream with toasted peanuts and mini marshmallows! Really, if you haven't added marshmallows to your just-churned ice cream, you've been missing out!

This is one of those recipes in The Perfect Scoop where I put a heart next to the title :)