Category: culinary fun

The “What’s Cookin’ Wednesday” giveaways were supposed to end last week… but I’m adding one more week. I am SUPER excited about it, and I think you will be, too.

A couple weeks ago, I was invited to take part in a webinar with NYC cupcake chef David Arrick. David, who was formerly a Wall Street attorney, founded Butch Bakery, which specializes in unusual cupcakes – specifically, cupcakes made for men. Take a look:

In addition to not looking like your everyday pink fluffy cupcake, they come in really unique flavors. For example, they’ve got The Campout,which is an ode to s’mores, and the Beer Run, described on their website: “Butch meets buttercream in our chocolate beer cake with beer-infused buttercream topped with crushed pretzels.” Think that’s unique? Check out the Home Run – “This peanut butter cake with banana bavarian cream & crumbled bacon is more fun than getting to third base.” Yes, you read that right – bacon on a cupcake.

They also have a rum and coke cupcake, which they may have thought they made for men, but they really made for me. AND according to David, he’s working on a new margarita cupcake. Really – there are no words to describe my thoughts on that.

Anyway… The point of the webinar was to introduce us to the genius that is Butch Bakery, but also for us to get baking tips from David himself. His biggest tip? Use Breville products!

I was introduced to Breville a while ago, when I was asked to review their blender. I love that thing, so I was excited to see what other small appliances they offer. David showed us how he can make his famous cupcakes using two things – the Breville Stand Mixer and Smart Oven.

Aren’t they pretty?

After we all drooled over these for an hour, David told us that the people at Breville were sending us one of each – and a stand mixer to give away! Needless to say, we were all thrilled. Cortney and I pretty much stalked the UPS guy until they were delivered!

I was intrigued by the Smart Oven. I’ve actually never had a toaster oven. I’m a child of the 80s, we love our microwaves! I really never thought about getting one, but now that I have it, I love it! This model comes with a wire rack, a removable crumb tray, a pizza pan, a baking pan, and a broil rack. It can do just about anything! The LCD display has options for baking, toast, pizza, broil, roast, cookies – you name it. It’s big enough to fit a casserole dish as well! The first time I used it, I could not believe how quickly it preheated. My oven preheats really quickly, but still, the Smart Oven caught me off guard with how fast it was ready. There are so many times that I want to bake a few dinner rolls or something and I hate to use the regular oven, so I am looking forward to having the Smart Oven for things like that.

Now, onto the stand mixer!

I was soooooooooo excited about this, because as my interest in baking has developed over the last year or so, I’ve heard time and time again how wonderful stand mixers are. They are an investment, to be sure, and a lot of people I know got one for a wedding present. However, when I got married, I was too clueless to know I needed one, and I hadn’t been able to pull the trigger on buying one myself. But let me tell you.

This. Thing. Is. Amazing.

I’ve had it for about a week, and I’ve tested it out quite a bit in that time. I made buckeyes first. I have been making buckeyes for a few years, and while they are delicious, a problem I always had is that the peanut butter filling turned out very crumbly – so much so that I couldn’t use a good portion of the last batch I made. Not so with the stand mixer – the mixture was creamy and beautiful and I used every last morsel.

I also made three pumpkin rolls. I love making pumpkin rolls and I love eating them even more, but they are rather time consuming. A couple weeks ago I made three of them, and it took me a solid three hours. This time, using the stand mixer, I shaved a half an hour off the total time AND I managed to do the dishes and clean up the kitchen during that time as well. Honestly, I have no idea why the mixer saved me so much time, but it really did. It also made the cream cheese icing super fluffy and smooth – no butter chunks to be found.

The mixer comes with an assortment of attachments – a regular mixing one, a dough hook, a wisk, and my personal favorite, a scraper.

It scrapes the side of the bowl as you go, and it comes standard with the mixer. How cool is that?

As you can see, I could not be happier with either of these products, and I am thrilled that Breville has given me an opportunity to give a mixer away!

Here’s how to enter!

Required entry: Leave a comment on this post and tell us what you like best about the Smart Oven or the Stand Mixer.

Extra entries:
— Tweet about this contest & leave a comment with a link to your tweet. Here’s an example: “Win a @brevilleusa stand mixer from @momminitup & @jennyitup! http://bit.ly/eX8m9k”
— “Like” Breville on Facebook and tell them Mommin’ It Up sent you, and then leave a comment here telling us you did so.

For more information about all Breville products, check them out on Facebook , Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.

This contest will end at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 29. Good luck!

p.s. You can also enter to win a Breville stand mixer from our good friend Cortney!

Around the 4th of July, I had the fun privilege of being involved in a recipe challenge with Rice Krispies and the Motherhood.com.   It was really fun, so when Rice Krispies asked me to participate in their end-of-the-year holiday recipe challenge, I was game!  Especially since the campaign also comes with a $100 Visa gift card giveaway to one lucky reader!

Our challenge this time around was to create a holiday Rice Krispies Treats show-stopper recipe.  Since I am not the most domestic girl in the world, the “show-stopper” part made me a little nervous.  But I am happy to say I came up with a simple recipe that tastes and looks AWESOME!  My favorite flavor of the season is peppermint, and I thought Holiday Peppermint Rice Krispies Treats would be fabulous!  So I got some cookie cutters, some candy canes, and some Rice Krispies and got creative!   Here’s what I came up with:

Holiday Peppermint Rice Krispies Treats
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal
2/3 cup crushed candy canes (about 8-10 regular-size candy canes)
10 oz marshmallows
1 can white frosting

Directions:
Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until totally melted. In large mixing bowl, layer marshmallow-butter mixture and Rice Krispies cereal (layering makes it easier to mix.) Stir together until thoroughly mixed. Place candy canes in a resealable plastic bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into a chunky powder. Thoroughly mix 1/3 cup of crushed candy canes into bowl.

With wax paper, press mixture evenly into 13x9x2-inch pan coated with cooking spray or margarine. Cool, then use your favorite cookie cutters to cut into holiday shapes. Decorate with frosting as desired and sprinkle remaining 1/3 cup crushed candy canes on top for decoration.

Enjoy!

Not too toot my own horn, but these turned out AWESOME! They taste terrific and look great too! I took them to a church dinner and they were a big hit!

Thanks to Rice Krispies and the Motherhood.com for allowing me to be a Rice Krispies challenger once again! I hope you all try this recipe at home – you’ll love it!

And now for the part that’s even more fun than eating Holiday Peppermint Rice Krispies Treats – your chance to win a $100 Visa Gift card! Simply leave a comment on this post telling me how you like your Rice Krispies Treats! And don’t forget to read the official rules!

THE MOTHERHOOD HOLIDAY RICE KRISPIES TREATS EXCHANGE BLOGGER GIVEAWAY

Abbreviated Rules. No Purchase Necessary. Begins no earlier than 12:00:00 AM (ET) on 11/29/10 and ends no later than 11:59:59 PM (ET) on 12/21/10. For complete Official Rules, go to http://web.mediacdt.com/docs/motherhoodholiday
Open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and District of Columbia who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry. Subject to complete Official Rules. Void where prohibited. Sponsor: TheMotherhood; www.TheMotherhood.com

___________

This post and contest are sponsored by Rice Krispies and the Motherhood.com. All opinions and the recipe are all me!

Last week I told you two things – that I am trying to be a better cook and that I’ve realized how important good equipment is! This is part two of the four part What’s Cookin’ Wednesday series, during each of which I’ll be doing a giveaway for an amazing product from ScanPan!

This week’s piece of equipment is their Professional Nonstick Square Grill Pan.

Here’s a little bit about the pan:
This practical grill pan is a necessity for low-fat cooking. Great for searing and grilling sandwiches, hotdogs, hamburgers, and thinly sliced meats and vegetables. Its clean, elegant design is unique and modern. Dishwasher safe.

I, for one, was thrilled to read that “dishwasher safe” part because I didn’t think it was! That is pretty awesome.

I’ve used this pan to make hamburgers and hotdogs and it works very well for both, just like they promised. I hadn’t thought of using it to grill sandwiches, but that is a great idea. I’m picturing a Panera panini. But then again, it would be me cooking so it probably wouldn’t be that pretty.

Speaking of not pretty, here’s the bacon I cooked in this poor unsuspecting pan just the other night.

Believe me, that is USER ERROR, it was not the fault of the pan. But I couldn’t let you think I was becoming too good of a cook! You should have seen the pancakes that went with the bacon.

Yeah, it turned into a Papa John’s night. After I turned off the smoke alarms.

Anyway! I am giving one of these babies away, and to whomever wins – I want to see pictures of the pretty bacon you make!

So here’s how you can win the ScanPan Professional Nonstick Square Grill Pan:

Required entry: Leave a comment on this post and tell us what you’d cook in the pan.

Extra entries:
— Visit this site and then leave a comment telling us what ScanPan product you’d like to try out.
— Tweet about this contest & leave a comment with a link to your tweet. Here’s an example: “Win a @scanpang grill pan from @momminitup & @jennyitup!”
— “Like” us on Facebook and leave a comment telling us you did.

This contest will end at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1. Good luck!