Tag Archive for "cream cheese" - Simple Everyday Food

red velvet whoopie pies

Posted by :Amy On : February 21, 2014

Tags:cake mix, cream cheese, dessert, red velvet, whoopie pies

I always seem to hop on the holiday baking train a few days late. Rarely do I ever find myself getting ahead of the game and baking things in anticipation of the upcoming holiday. Don’t ask why – it has always been a problem and I don’t think I plan on fixing that problem anytime soon. I have too many things to take care of, and right now baking ahead of schedule just isn’t as important as things such as studying for boards, spending time with family, working a full-time job, making sure everyone is fed and happy at the dinner table, and squeezing in time to run errands and do housework (I absolutely despise doing laundry).

[It’s soooo hard to work full-time and find time to cook, bake, photograph, edit, write, and post blog posts! I’m open to any advice, tips, and tricks anyone can give me!]

To me, this blog isn’t about making and posting a number of holiday desserts in anticipation of a holiday… don’t get me wrong, I admire (and am a little jealous of) all the talented food bloggers out there that are able to do so, and if I ever have the opportunity to make a full-time income off of SEF, I’d do it in a heartbeat. However, my current lifestyle simply does not allow such extensive food blog planning, so you guys will just have to put up with whatever my little heart felt like making at the moment… even if that means making Valentine-y red velvet desserts days and days after the holiday is over :)

So, about these whoopie pies.

I always like to think of whoopie pies as soft, puffy, big fat Oreos. Except these are thicker and softer than an Oreo cookie and has at least twice as much filling. And they’re soooo easy to make! I was itching to bake something the other day and just wanted a super simple recipe that didn’t require a long list of ingredients and a bunch of steps to follow. These really are not that complicated at all. The directions can be condensed into 6 simple steps:

1. Make cookies

(Oooh… those crinkles. I absolutely looooove crinkly cookies!!)

2. Bake cookies

3. Make filling

4. Pipe filling

5. Sandwich cookies

6. DEVOUR! (with a big glass of ice cold milk is highly recommended)

See? Simple. So simple that a monkey can do it. Okay, maybe not a monkey, but it is a really straight-forward recipe. l I even made these a “double stuffed” whoopie pie by generously piping the cream cheese frosting on BOTH cookies, because well, who doesn’t like extra frosting?! If you don’t have a piping bag, you can also just smear the frosting on the bottom of the cookies using a spoon, knife, spatula, or any kind of kitchen utensil you have handy before sandwiching them together.

I think I could’ve probably eaten the cookies by themselves without the cream cheese frosting – they were so soft and so moist and so good! They even remained soft and moist in an airtight container three days later! My favorite way of eating them was twisting them open and eating each half of the sandwich with a little bit of cookie and a little bit of frosting.

red velvet whoopie pies

2014-02-15 12:00:36

Save Recipe

For the cookies

One 16.25-oz box of red velvet cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the frosting

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
2 teaspoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
Using an electric mixer, combine all the ingredients for the cookies until well mixed. Roll the cookie dough into dough balls 1" in diameter. Place dough balls ~2" apart and bake for 8 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies start to crack. Remove from oven and let cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling, make the frosting: combine the butter, cream cheese, milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Then add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, making sure the mixture is well-mixed in between each addition.
Spread a generous amount of frosting on the bottom of all the cookies*, and pair cookies up together, pressing gently to sandwich them together. Store an an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Makes about 13 cookies
*I spread the frosting on the cookies using a piping bag and a starred tip. If you don't have piping supplies, you can also simply spread the frosting onto the bottom of the cookies with a knife, offset spatula, a regular spatula, or whatever kitchen utensil you have handy.

By Simple Everyday Food

Adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff

Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

Recipe adapted from Six Sisters’ Stuff

© Simple Everyday Food. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use any of my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or kindly link back to this post for the recipe.

Sharing is caring!

pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes

Posted by :Amy On : December 15, 2013

Category: Desserts

Tags:buttercream, cream cheese, cupcakes, dessert, pumpkin

I know it’s December, and December is the month for all things mint chocolate, but I can’t help but share these pumpkin cupcakes with you guys. I made these for thanksgiving this year and they were a hit!

I’ve never made mini cupcakes before, but I found some cute Thanksgiving mini cupcake liners at Michael’s a few months back, and decided what better cupcakes to make for these than pumpkin ones? And let me tell ya, these babies are GOOD.

I was afraid the cupcakes were going to be slightly on the drier side because of their smaller size, but the pumpkin spiced cream cheese filling kept the cupcakes nice and moist. Every single bite is filled with cinnamon-y, nutmeg-y, pumpkin-y goodness…. oooh yeah, my mouth waters just thinking about them. Good thing this this recipe yielded almost 40 cupcakes, because the other dessert I initially had planned failed miserably (sigh. maybe I’ll try it again some other time). I don’t think anyone (i.e. Brian) minded only having one dessert since these cupcakes were so good and there were so many to go around.

pumpkin cream cheese cupcakes

2013-12-08 12:19:45

Save Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs

For the filling

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

For the vanilla buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a mini cupcake pan with cupcakes liners and set aside.
Using an electric mixer, make the filling first by beating the cream cheese, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice on medium speed until light and fluffy. Transfer to a large Ziploc bag. Snip off a small portion of a corner and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, sugars, vegetable oil, and eggs. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stir until just combined.
Scoop small spoonfuls of the batter into the bottom of the cupcake wells, covering about 1/4 of the well (or just enough to where it covers the bottom). Squeeze small dollops (~1/4 teaspoon) of the cream cheese filling mixture into each well. Top with remaining batter to completely cover the filling, making sure each well is only about 2/3 full. Bake for 13-14 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wired cooling rack.
While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting: using an electric mixer, beat the butter and powdered sugar on medium~medium high speed until light and fluffy. Turn the speed down to low and add the milk, vanilla, and pumpkin pie spice. Beat until combined, then increase speed back up to medium and beat for another 2-3 minutes.
Using an offset spatula or your favorite frosting tip, pipe frosting onto cupcakes and serve immediately. Cupcakes can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.
Makes 35 mini cupcakes

By Simple Everyday Food

Adapted from Damn Delicious

Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/

Wordpress Recipe Plugin by Recipe Card

I’m usually not a fan of eating cream cheese in its regular form (i.e. the mushy form), but I actually really liked the filling – maybe because I figured if I shoved the entire cupcake in my mouth, all the flavors and textures would play out harmoniously in my mouth and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate so much on the mushy cream cheese. And sure enough, it worked, because I’ll definitely be making these again sometime soon.