Suzy Bakes – cookie recipes, cupcake recipes, and more!

03Sep
0

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

I can’t believe it’s almost been a year since I’ve started this blog! It’s been so much fun baking and updating every week. I hope I can do this for many more years! In honor of the beginning of September, this week I made pumpkin cupcakes (which, loyal readers, I hope you remember was the first recipe I ever posted on the blog). Hopefully these turned out a lot better.

I don’t know about where you are, but here in Upstate New York this week has been a scorcher, which is why I wasn’t sure if the world was ready for pumpkin quite yet. Yes, it’s September. Yes, pumpkin beer and pumpkin lattes have already been rolled out at most retail locations. It just seems a little weird eating pumpkin-and-cinnamon-flavored treats when it’s a hot and hazy 93 degrees outside. Nevertheless, pumpkin is just too good to put off any longer, so here they are!

I’ve posted the original pumpkin cupcake recipe again after the jump. You’ll also find my improved frosting recipe – this time, a cinnamon buttercream instead of that brown sugar monstrosity from last year. If it wasn’t my first post, I’d delete it. Why did you guys eat those things?!

These are much more adorable:

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Frosting

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , , , ,
29Aug
0

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Despite last week’s creativity, this week I’m going with a classic: red velvet cake. I’m rather embarrassed to admit that I didn’t realize that red velvet is really just chocolate cake with red food dye :-/ But it’s delicious!

Red velvet cake always reminds me of the holidays when my great aunt would bring an aaaaaa-mazing red velvet cake to Christmas dinner. It’s such a comfort food! The rich texture, the treacly-sweet frosting…so good. Even though it’s summer (just barely anymore!), red velvet cake instantly brings me back.

This is my second attempt, and everyone has their own version of the red velvet cupcake. Although, I want to vent about something that I encountered a lot while looking for recipes: people bitching about the red food dye. They wanted something “natural” and “healthier”. Dude…you’re making cupcakes. They’re not exactly beacons of health.

Anyway, let’s ooh and ahh over cupcakes. I made these with cream cheese frosting, and I’ve found it absolutely necessary to mix in the cream cheese while it’s cold (not softened like many recipes call for). Warm cream cheese is runny and gross, so keep it cold!

This recipe is mildly adapted from Joy the Baker‘s website, who got it from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,
20Aug
4

French Toast Cupcakes with Maple Buttercream Frosting

I was full of baking inspiration this week! After getting sick of making the same-old vanilla cupcakes, I wanted to do something exciting. Not a copycat recipe, not something shamelessly stolen from Magnolia Bakery…something somewhat original. And it is very hard to find something that no one else has baked before. There are a lot of creative bakers out there. Even though this recipe has been done, I think this recipe has an edge.

When I came up with this recipe, I tried to think about what makes French toast, French toast: cinnamon, egg, and maple syrup. I added an extra yolk to the cupcake batter, and maple extract to the super-decadent mascarpone frosting, since most stuffed French toast is filled with mascarpone or cream cheese. Okay, the mascarpone frosting didn’t work out, so I adapted the famous Magnolia buttercream to taste like maple syrup!

And these cupcakes taste exactly like French toast. It’s almost a little weird.

But, that means they count as breakfast, right?

French Toast Cupcakes

Recipe after the jump.

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , ,
13Aug
0

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Baking in my house growing up was very traditional. We made all the classics, and we made them damn well. It wasn’t until moving out on my own that I really ventured out into more unique cookies. Not that white chocolate chips are some kind of rare treasure, but I had never really experimented with them. Before recently, my only experience with white chocolate had been stuffing my gullet with a white chocolate Easter bunny and subsequently getting very ill.

I’ve since learned that white chocolate can be a lot classier than that.

Most cookies that call for chocolate chips (white or otherwise) usually suggest adding 1 to 1 1/2 cups, but I always add the entire 12-ounce bag no matter what. Who like cookies with stingy add-ins? No one, that’s who. Maybe Quakers or something.

I could have sworn that Magnolia Bakery had a recipe that I used, but I couldn’t find it. Instead, I used the Magnolia Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan cookie base with a 12-ounce bag of white chocolate chips and 1 cup of macadamia nuts.

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with
11Aug
1

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

…so I lied in my last post. Meant to post these right after Independence Day but summer got in the way. Nevertheless, here they are: my patriotic Magnolia vanilla cupcakes with complementary vanilla buttercream!

Apologies for the distant photograph; was enjoying the Fourth of July party far too much to take pictures. Sparklers are from a local party store, and sugar lime cookies courtesy of my wonderful friend Ashley, who accompanied me on my baking and Fourth of July journeys this year. It was wonderful having her back in town, if only for a few days! No one (other than my mom) appreciates baking in the kitchen watching good movies more than her.

Embarrassingly enough, on my first attempt making these cupcakes that night, I dropped an entire egg into the batter, and my beloved KitchenAid mixer dutifully chopped the eggshell into bits within seconds. I tried picking out the bits of shell, but soon admitted defeat and started over again. Such is life.

I’ve posted the Magnolia vanilla cupcake recipe previously (when I made my Super Bowl cupcakes earlier this year), but I’m posting the recipe after the jump for convenience. Hopefully Ashley will do a guest post and provide the recipe for her awesome sugar lime cookies!

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,
29Jun
2

Coming Soon…

They’ve been referred to as “crack cupcakes” due to their overwhelming deliciousness. They are perhaps even better than Reese’s cupcakes. They rarely make it to the end of any party, never mind a normal work day at the office. And I will be making the most epic version of this classic cupcake for Independence Day.

Stay tuned!

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes, News and tagged with
22May
0

Chocolate Cookies with Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chips

Sadly, it’s been a while since the last post. Like, 2 months. But I am back (!) and I solemnly swear I will post more regularly. No more vacations, no more reasons not to bake!

Since I’ve been short on time lately, I’ve opted for cookies. I adore baking cupcakes, but they are multi-step treats: bake cupcakes, make icing, wait for cupcakes to cool, rewhip icing because it went flat, pipe icing onto cupcakes, try again because it looks like crap, give up and use a frosting spreader.

Yea, cookies are easy.

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with ,
21Mar
2

Magnolia’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

I’ve mentioned these before on the blog, and these are without a doubt the most fabulous, delicious, simple cookies. Ever. They combine the best ingredients (chocolate and peanut butter chips AND toasted pecans), and have a fantastic base that can be used with any number of other ingredients. They’re easy, they’re decadent, and they’re perfect.

When I first bought my Magnolia cookbook, this was the recipe I tried out right away and have been perfecting ever since. While they were always amazing, I recently discovered the key to making this cookie outrageous: heavy cream instead of milk. Never mind that the reason I had to use cream was because I didn’t have any milk in the house; this is the kind of serendipitous feat that doesn’t need an enlightening back story.

While the milk makes these cookies insanely smooth, the heavy cream makes them even more unbelievable.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cookies and tagged with , , , ,
28Feb
6

Reese’s Cupcakes

I’m not going to say I invented these cupcakes. The combination of chocolate and peanut butter has long been replicated in baking recipes. I will, however, say I did this recipe the best I could find. These are not just chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting…these are REESE’S CUPCAKES. As in, just like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. As in, amazing.

You could use the Magnolia chocolate cupcake recipe (the old standby), but I instead used a devil’s food cake recipe that made for some awesomely fluffy cupcakes. Frosting is simple and completely foolproof, and I crumbled up some peanut butter cups for garnish. I suppose you could use Reese’s Pieces as well, but let’s be serious. Peanut butter cups are way better.

Am I right?

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , , ,
09Feb
1

Superbowl Cupcakes

It’s been a while!  There has been a significant pause in updates for a reason though: a company trip to the Carribbean!  As we all scramble to get swimsuit-ready in just a few weeks, baking for the office has slowed significantly.  However, it’s too hard to stop baking for too long, plus there are plenty of other people in the office to bake for :)

I’m not ashamed to admit that I really don’t give a crap about football.  Never really been my thing.  For me, the best thing about football was having people over so I could cook and bake.  But the Superbowl is a different story.  It’s football, but it’s also commercials AND snacks AND beer all rolled up into one delicious evening.  I didn’t mind the Superbowl this year since I knew I’d be whipping up some kind of baked good.

I am pretty shocked that the original Magnolia cupcake recipe hasn’t turned up on this blog yet.  I beg of you, if you have never had a vanilla Magnolia cupcake, go have one.  Like, now.  No seriously.  A-maz-ing.  The fluffiest, most flavorful cupcake you can make.  Plus they’re the perfect canvas for all kinds of frosting!

(more…)

Posted by Suzy in Cupcakes and tagged with , , ,
Next Page »