Stephanies Kitchen

Strawberry and Nutella Wontons

March 3, 2011 By Steph 5 Comments

Today was a strawberry and Nutella day. Dark dreary clouds and rain drops surrounded us all day long. I am longing for the long and lazy summer days filled with friends, otter pops and slippin’ slides. But for now, these warm and tasty wontons will have to comfort my achy soul. I am not going to tell you how many of these I ate today. But just to give you a guess, i will be running an extra 10 miles at the gym tomorrow morning to try to burn off the calories. But you know what? They were worth every single calorie…and then some. Happy Baking!

Strawberry and Nutella Wontons

1 package wonton wraps (I used the round ones)
fresh strawberries cut into small slices
Nutella
Oil for frying

Heat up the oil. Place a small dollop of Nutella into the center of the wonton. Place one slice of strawberry on top of the Nutella. Moisten the edge of the wrap. Fold wonton in half over the filling. Press the seems together and pinch to curve the edges. Fry in about a half inch of cooking oil until lightly golden. Dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar. Best when served warm and fresh.

Enjoy!

Steph xoxoxo

Filed Under: chocolate, desserts, fruit

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

February 1, 2011 By Steph 7 Comments

Mmmm…. These cupcakes were a total gamble. Totally made them up as I went. And I have to say that they were perfect. The texture was just as the perfect cupcake should be. I topped them with pink buttercream and a romantic chocolate heart. These are perfect for Valentines Day!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes

recipe makes 24 regular sized cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour*
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups whole milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup strawberry preserves

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and vanilla. Set aside. Using a mixer, whip the butter until creamy and smooth. Add the sugar and whip until light and fluffy. Add eggs one a time until well incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture and the milk mixture in intervals. Fold in the preserves. Line two cupcake pans with cupcake liners and evenly distribute the batter between the 24 cups. Bake at 350 degrees for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted into a cupcake and it comes out clean. Frost with pink buttercream and top with a chocolate heart.

Pink Buttercream

4 cups confectioners’ sugar
4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3-4 tablespoons milk

Cream together the butter and cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and almond extract and milk. Beat until creamy and light and fluffy. Add food coloring if desired.

Chocolate hearts

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Melt the chocolate slowly in a glass bowl that is place over a pan of simmering water. When melted, spread the chocolate evenly across the baking sheet. Let the chocolate set and using a cookie cutter, press out the shapes gently. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.

*substitution for cake flour: place 1 tablespoon of cornstarch at the bottom of a 1 cup measuring cup. Fill the rest of the cup with all purpose flour.

Enjoy!

Steph xoxox

Filed Under: cupcakes, desserts, fruit

The Best Banana Muffins

March 4, 2010 By Steph 7 Comments

I crave banana bread on occasion. This is really strange for me because until I became an adult, I never really liked bread that had even a hint of fruits or vegetables in it…banana bread, zucchini bread, carrot cake, you know what I’m talking about. But now, I crave it. My kids love it. They have no idea what is in it, but they love it. And I can totally justify them eating it because it is awesome when you can feed them something and you secretly know it has some nutritional value (minus the sugar) to it. But anyways, I made these the other day and I have to say it is some of the best banana bread (muffins) that I’ve ever had.

I’m going to let you in on a cool trick too. Maybe you already know it, but I didn’t. I had to google how to ripen bananas quick, because I was craving these so badly. Yes, I’ve heard the whole paper bag with an apple trick, but I was just not feeling that. So I threw them into the freezer overnight and took them out the following morning to thaw out. They were perfectly ripen and I didn’t have to wait around impatiently. I also like my banana bread to have a little banana chunks in it. I use a whisk to get it all smoothed out but I like to leave it just tad chunky. So much better this way in my opinion.

Add some nuts or chocolate chips to it if you like, but I personally like these as just plain ole’ banana muffins. I sprinkle a little turbinaro sugar over the top before I pop them into the oven to add a yummy sweet touch.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo
Steph

Banana Muffins
makes 12

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
dash of nutmeg
3 or 4 ripened bananas (about 1 cup mashed bananas)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
4 tablespoons melted butter

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside. In another mixing bowl, mash the bananas and add the sugars, egg and melted butter. Whisk together until smooth. Add to the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Don’t over mix. Evenly distribute between 12 muffin cups that have been sprayed with non-stick spray. Sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: bread, breakfast, fruit, muffins, snacks

Fresh Strawberry Pie

June 22, 2009 By Steph 12 Comments

In case you were wondering…life is crazy with 3 kids! So much more crazier than I would have ever imagined! But everyday gets a little easier, sort of. So hopefully, one day I can get used to it. It will be much easier when I can get 8 straight un-interrupted hours of sleep, but that’s a ways down the road. Motherhood is also a beautiful, beautiful thing. And I treasure every second I have with my beautiful children. I’m so lucky. ÂAnd luckily I have an awesome husband to share it with!

I made this delicious Fresh Strawberry Pie for Father’s Day and I cleaned it up today (sorry hubby). In about 2 minutes. I couldn’t stop eating it! How in the world am I ever going to get off this baby weight? Anyways, like I said, this was soooo good. I found some really sweet strawberries and paired it with a homemade graham cracker crust (so much better than store bought). Top it with some fresh whipped cream and you’ve got yourself a winner of a dessert. Give it a try! Have a great week everyone!

Fresh Strawberry Pie

1 (9 inch) graham cracker crust pie shell,
2 pints fresh strawberries
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
3 Tablespoons strawberry flavored gelatin

In a saucepan, mix together the sugar and corn starch; make sure to blend corn starch in completely. Add boiling water, and cook over medium heat until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Add gelatin mix, and stir until smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature. Place strawberries in pie shell; position berries with points facing up. Pour cooled gel mixture over strawberries. Refrigerate until set. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Graham Cracker Crust

1 1/2 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, melted butter until well blended . Press mixture into an 8 or 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. Cool. If recipe calls for unbaked pie shell, just chill for about 1 hour.

Filed Under: desserts, fruit, pie

Chocolate Covered Apple Bites

April 28, 2009 By Steph 22 Comments

Oh how I’ve missed baking. I think of something that I want and I usually go to the kitchen and bake it. It’s been a hard struggle not to be able to do that! So when my Mom came and stayed with me for a couple of days I took full advantage of her baking ability. These little cuties were her idea. There are just as delicious as they are cute. Strawberries aren’t the only fruit you can cover in chocolate. We attempted covering them in caramel first, but that proved to be impossible. If anyone knows any good tricks, let me know, because they tasted fantastic, but the apples were much too moist to hold the caramel on. It just dripped off onto the wax paper and all that was left was a soggy apple. But the chocolate stayed on perfectly. And the flavor combination was amazing. Give them a try!

Chocolate Covered Apple Bites

You will need:
melon baller
4 inch lollipop sticks
granny smith apples
chocolate of your choice
chopped nuts, nonpareils, sprinkles, toffee bits (optional)

1. With a melon baller, scoop little balls out of the apple. Pat the apple pieces dry. Place a lollipop stick into each apple ball and dip in melted chocolate. Roll apples in nuts, sprinkles, nonpareils or toffee bits, if desired. Place on parchment paper until set.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: apples, desserts, fruit