Chocolate Cream Filled Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes that I brought with me to retreat this time. I've seen the recipe all over the internet and in a magazine and kept thinking how fun this would be. In addition to the classic "swirl" on top I also did my best at putting some words - laugh, fun, LOL, haha - on top. And I left cupcakes at home for Keith that said "love" and "babe" on them.

The only real problem I had with these is that it's a little hard to tell how much cream filling is really going into the cupcake. The girls at retreat all said I should add more filling and when I told them that I ended up throwing some away I almost feared there would be a mutiny! :)

Chocolate Cream Filled Cupcakes

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin cups with paper liners (I got 21 cupcakes from this recipe).

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to blend. Combine the buttermilk and vanilla in a measuring cup. Beat the butter and sugar in a medium bowl on medium high until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture.

Divide the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.


Filling and Swirl Ingredients

4 T unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 - 3 T milk

Beat butter in a medium bowl until light and fluffy; gradually add powdered sugar. Add 2 T of milk and beat 5 minutes until mostly white and fluffy, adding additional milk if mixture is too thick. Spoon frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a medium plain round tip. Insert tip of pastry bag into the top of cupcakes, about 1/2 inch deep, and squeeze.


Chocolate Glaze Ingredients

1/2 cup heavy cream
1 T light corn syrup
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat the cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate chips. Cover and let stand 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.

Dip the tops of the filled cupcakes into the chocolate glaze. Place on a cooling rack to set for 10 minutes.

Change the piping tip for the vanilla frosting to a smaller round tip to pipe decorative swirls or words on top of the glazed cupcakes.

I dare you to just eat one!

My Computer is Back Home!

Well Praise and Glory be - my computer is out of the shop as of about 2 hours ago! Now I'll be able to catch up on a bunch. :)

Over the weekend was one of 3 retreats I go on each year with girlfriends. It started out that we all met as scrapbooking friends, but now the retreat has really just turned into girlfriend time. I did some sewing and quilting all weekend (and will post pictures just as soon as I take them) and I think that all the others were working on something scrapbook related, including one digital scrapbooker. But more than that we laughed and shopped and ate and took naps and whatever else struck our fancy for an entire weekend. Definitely good times and I feel very blessed to have a husband that doesn't blink an eye over me leaving for weekends like this.

The retreat house we go to is very well priced, mostly because we take care of our own foods. I think we've been to this house 4 times now and our food plan has evolved over time. The first time we tried doing one meal and having different ladies plan it and have done a couple of variations on that theme. What we discovered worked best for us though is basically for everybody to bring what they want for all meals and then we eat out on Saturday night. My menu was mostly panini sandwiches (there's always a panini maker there for us to share) and pastries from a local german bakery we found. The kitchen table is home to all the snacks that everybody brings to share and it works out just perfect.

Tomorrow night is my 2nd Bible study! We didn't meet last week as the hostess had to cancel (her mom is receiving treatment for cancer and had a bad day, so of course she needed to be with mom), so this is week 2 of our study. Totally enjoying it.

And that's the first update I have with my computer back home where it belongs. When we dropped it off at the shop I did tell the worker guys that I love this machine and that I usually put a mint on the pillow for my computer each night, so hopefully they treated it nice as well. :)

Great American Aran Afghan - Janet Martin Block

My computer is still in the shop, but I did cajole my beloved into letting me use his for just a minute (please honey, do you really need to work and earn money to feed and clothe us???).

I had a fabulous Mother's Day weekend and have photos to prove it (!), but that post will have to wait until I have more than just a couple of minutes. In the meantime, I wanted to show what my latest knitting accomplishment is.

This is the Janet Martin block from The Great American Afghan. My knitting guild is doing a group project to enter into the state fair this fall and how could I pass up that opportunity? I think that after it is finished being displayed at the fair we are going to sell raffle tickets for some lucky winner.

When the idea was first presented we were able to look through the pattern book and choose which block we wanted to do. I instantly fell in love with the fish block as it made me think of "fishers of men" and my choice was easy. And then I read about this block and found out that out of the 24 blocks in the book this one is one of the 5 hardest!!! :-O

I learned SO MUCH knitting this and in the end I'm glad I did it. It wasn't so much that it was hard as it was just a lot more involved than anything I've ever done. I quickly learned that I could NOT watch tv while knitting this and really I pretty much needed absolutely silence in order to concentrate.

Right now the block is blocking (I crack myself up!) and that was a comedy in itself. Every time I would put the pins in, then straighten the other side, the pins on the first side would pop out. Keith finally brought in a big piece of cardboard to put under the towel and he helped me to stretch it out.

I doubt that I do another one of these blocks any time soon, but I am very pleased that I did this one.

Girlfriends Bible Study

"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain."

We had another large storm roll through North Texas this morning and while I didn't literally dance in the rain I did grab my camera and run outside after it stopped raining. After the 'feet in the air sock picture taking moment' I think my neighbors might not be the least surprised to see me out dancing in the rain though.

The air is so fresh and clean and cool now and the birds are absolutely thrilled based on the sound of their songs.

Living Beyond Yourself: Last night's Bible study was wonderful. Beth Moore's studies are detailed enough to really make you think, learn and grow. The flip side of that is that her videos show how silly she can be sometimes, then sneak up when you least expect it and bring it all around to make a point. We all laughed so hard at some of her stories and at other times we sat startled by the fact that can seemingly see right into our souls. Some tears were shed and new friendships have started to take root. Honestly can it get any better than that?

On the girly side of things, our hostess last night was just so kind and gracious. There was chocolate and talk of hair and children and grandchildren. A typical gathering of girlfriends. :)

Good times....

Living Beyond Yourself

I really can't believe it, but my computer is ill again. At first I felt that panic in the pit of my stomach, then I remembered that we're trying to spend less time in front of screens. Somehow though it's a lot better to want to do something rather than to have to do it!

And we took our truck to the dealer tonight to get a few things fixed. Minor things, like when we were out on Saturday it suddenly started flashing lights and ringing its little bell to alert us to the fact that the brake system needed checking immediately. Of all the things that I really want to work on a vehicle I'm driving, brakes rate right up there. We explain to the super nice man that we want this stuff fixed before the warranty runs out and, silly us, TOO LATE! I wonder if they program the computers on vehicles now so that they know when the warranty is over.....

On the bright side, tomorrow night is the first night of a new Bible study, Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself. I'm sure it will be fabulous, her studies always are. And I'm excited that for the next 11 weeks I get to spend time in the Word. Somehow the little things like the computer and truck needing fixing just seem to not be nearly as big of a problem.

One last note, I wrote up my new Bible verse to start memorizing and just realized I never posted it on the blog. So here it is:

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

Sunday Afternoon Chatter

I have to confess that I didn't take this picture, though I did take it from my daughter-in-law! Little B is so cute and never fails to make me smile.

Empty Restaurant: This morning after church Keith and I went to breakfast at the same place we go most weekends. Big difference today was that not only did we not have to wait for a table, but there were quite a few empty tables. All I can figure is maybe people are really nervous in my neck of the woods. Most of the area schools will still be closed next week due to swine flu. Our church also had a family fun day planned at an area amusement park that had to be cancelled - partly from rain and partly from flu worries. I'll be glad when the flu is no longer a threat and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Migraine Headache Relief: This afternoon I started getting a horrible headache, complete with upset stomach. I tried taking something, then laying down for about an hour. Nothing seemed to help, so Keith asked if I wanted to try getting out of the house for a bit. Off we went to run an errand and off in the distance, with rainbows and unicorns appearing in the clouds above (!), was a brand spanking new Cinnabon! We ran in (not to be taken literally) and shared a cinnamon roll and Coke and that worked - no more headache! I have no idea why it worked, though I suspect it had something to do with caffeine and sugar rush, but I was so thankful it did help.