Soft Pretzels

Have an urge for soft pretzel but don’t feel like going out and don’t have any yeast in the house well lo and behold a recipe that does not require yeast. After searching the web for yeast-less soft pretzels, I found one with good ratings and that seem to have ingredients that would make good pretzels. I didn’t salt my pretzels but they turned out good nonetheless. Also, unlike the original recipe I used bread flour instead of whole wheat flour along with the all purpose flour. The pretzels were soft and have a little sweetness to them. I am very satisfied with this recipe. You guys should give it a try too if you like pretzels:)

Yummy Brownie Mix

When I was talking to one of my friends about brownies, she asked if I ever tried Ghiraradelli brownie mixes. I said no. She claimed that they were one of the most delicious brownies she has ever eaten and that they could give bakeries a run for their money. Being curious, I had to try it. I bought a box of double chocolate brownie mix and followed the directions on the box. To add a little something extra, I topped the brownies with crushed M&M’s. The end result was awesomeness. The best brownie mix I have tried thus far in the twenty-one years assuming that I remember what and how things tasted like when I was a toddler. They were soft, very fudgy, moist, and dense. I would say they are comparable to gourmet brownies. I wanted to take a picture of the whole tray, but I forget and started to eat the brownie (to be exact I forked the brownie). I did not want to scare you with the mess I created so I cut a slice for the photo. This mix is a 200% thumbs up for me. You guys should try it!!!

Surprisingly Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes and Buttermilk Cupcakes

I wanted to make cupcakes for a graduation party, but didn’t have enough butter so I searched the internet for oil based cupcake recipes. Surprisingly, I was able to come across a vegan recipe for chocolate cupcakes that overall received a great rating. At first, I was really skeptical of the recipe because it did not require eggs or milk (but then again it was a vegan recipe) and used distilled vinegar instead, but after carefully reading a handful of reviews and looking at pictures, I decided to try the recipe and I am glad I did. However, I made some changes based on the reviews. I incorporated semi-sweet chocolate chips and more cocoa powder into the recipe because many reviewers commented how the cupcakes were not chocolaty enough. Many reviews said the batter is more liquidly than a normal cupcake batter, but I thought the consistency of the batter was comparable to other cake batters. This can be due to the fact that I added chocolate chips as well as more cocoa powder. 

The cupcakes turned out really well. They were very chocolaty, a little dense, moist in the inside, and harder/drier on the top---very delicious. I topped these cupcakes with homemade vanilla butter cream frosting.

Just in case people did not like chocolate, I wanted to have another favored cupcake. I decided to make buttermilk cupcakes since I had a lot of buttermilk leftover. I was able to find a recipe on a blog that required ingredients that I have. When searching for buttermilk cupcake recipes, I learned from reviews that you can actually make buttermilk by adding 2 tablespoons of distilled vinegar to a cup of milk. Next time, I shall try this instead of purchasing buttermilk. After whipping the ingredients together in the recipe, a very fluffy batter like whipped cream formed. This was my first time ever making a batter as fluffy as this one, but the cupcakes turn out very good. It reminded me of sponge cake---very light and tasty; however, I would have been more satisfied if the cupcakes did not shrink after cooling. To top these fabulous cupcakes, I used homemade chocolate butter cream frosting.

After frosting all the cupcakes, I placed them in tray pans and decorated them. At the party, these treats goodness were a huge success. Many of the attendees praise how good they were and I saw many people taking seconds. I will definitely use these recipes in the future again---maybe I will try to make cake versions next time. The recipe to these wonderful delights are below. Enjoy:)