Happy National Kidney Day!

I would say this is the most odd cupcake I've done, I just had to share them! A friend contacted me to do cupcakes for a customer of his, a Nephrology office, for National Kidney Day. Well to work I went! I decided to use the Royal Icing technique and made up these cute cupcake toppers.I never thought in a million years that I'd be making icing "kidneys" for my cupcakes, but I thinkthey turned out great!

Happy National Kidney Day everyone! Enjoy your kidneys!!

Salted Caramel Brownies

Y'all I gotta share a pretty funny story, well, not really a story, just a situation I guess. As some of you know from my days on Facebook, my laptop took a fatal fall about a month ago and since that fateful day has never fully recovered. In fact, I think it's to the point now where I need to call time of death. I've been trying to get this blog post out there for about a week now, and have now resorted to this...

You see, for Christmas, Santa brought my dear son a new computer. Yes, this is a make-shift office. Complete with Hot Wheels track pieces, remote control cars, and Spiderman sheets. You may have a hard time making out the black computer in that pile of junk, but believe me it's there. And after looking at this picture, dear son will definitly be spending now until he turns 31 cleaning this area he refers to as his bedroom. I know this isn't the most inviting work space in the world, I wouldn't want to have to sit on this 12" wooden chair for 8 hours straight, but right now, it's all I got! And I wouldn't want to let anyone down with not getting this post out there. Okay, so enough about the workspace, let's get on to the business at hand, Salted Caramel Brownies!


A few months ago a friend of mine (I won't name any names, Wes) mentioned on Facebook that he needed an intervention to help him overcome his addiction to salted caramel. Well now I know just what he was referring to. Since that day, I have been thinking non-stop about salted caramel. I've done everything from Chocolate Salted Caramel cupcakes (I'll post about them later) to Salted Caramels straight from the pan, and now today, Salted Caramel Brownies.


It's time for me to admit something. I've never ever made brownies from scratch. *Gasp*! I know! Boxed brownie mix, what was I thinking!! Today I decided was the day to do it from scratch. Partly because I didn't have a brownie mix on hand and wanted to make these today, and partly because this recipe seemed pretty simple. These brownies were a little bit involved, they took some planning, cooling off of different parts, but overall they turned out pretty good. They are very fudgy and ooey, gooey. Just how I like them!


This all started when I was searching for different ways to use a new ingredient I bought last week and I happened to see a recipe for Sea Salt Caramel Brownies here at She's Becoming Doughmesstic. I pretty much followed this recipe as is, but I used a different size baking pan. I was afraid if I used the 8 x 8 pan she suggests that they would be too thick, but now, after using a 13 x 9 pan I wish I would have used an 8x8 (I guess I was being greedy and thought the bigger the better and the more brownies for me to consume). Never dawned on me that you still use the same amount of batter. Hey, I never claimed to be a math or chemistry or whatever science that invloves wiz! Anywho, they turned out to be this rich, fudgy, decadent brownie. After trying one fresh from the pan I decided they needed just a little more caramel. So I topped the brownies with the left over caramel that I didn't use in the brownies and I think that added just enough to send me over the edge. You definitly need to make sure you have a nice tall glass of ice cold milk to go along with these.


Although these brownies were divine, I honestly think the next time I make them I will be using a box mix. For the simple fact that it takes alot less time preparing a box mix than it does making them from scratch. And secretly, I think I like Duncan Hines version of fudge brownies better. Hey what can I say, I'm a Semi-Homemade girl at heart on some things, fudge brownies and Kraft Mac & Cheese just to name a couple. So with that being said, I don't want this to deter anyone from making these brownies from scratch, just know, that once you make them, you may decide never to go back to the box mixes again!

Sea Salt Caramel Brownies…

Sea Salt Caramel

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 cup sour cream

In a small saucepan, combine the cream and the salt.  Simmer over very low heat until the salt is dissolved. set aside.
In a medium saucepan combine the sugar and corn syrup carefully. They will not combine well until the sugar begins to melt. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes.  Add the cream mixture and the vanilla to the sugar mixture. 
Whisk in the sour cream. 
Let the caramel cool to room temp, then follow the brownie instructions. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate any leftover caramel. it makes a great ice cream topping or tastes great straight out of the jar.


Brownies

• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• pinch salt
• 3 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup
• half of the above caramel recipe

Preheat oven to 325F.
Melt Chocolate and butter in small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
In a bowl, mix together sugar, eggs, and vanilla, and mix until well combined
Add flour, salt, chocolate syrup and chocolate mixture and blend well.
In a greased 8×8 pan, pour a little over half of the brownie batter and bake for 18 minutes.  Remove from oven and pour in the caramel.  On top of the caramel, add the rest of your brownie batter. If it doesn’t pour smoothly, just plop it in a swirl it around a little bit.  Return to oven and bake for another 18-22 minutes.  Brownies will still appear a little shaky, due to the caramel, but they will firm up once cooled. Do not overbake.

 Again, once I removed them from the oven, I drizzled the remaining sea salt caramel over the top of the brownies. You certainly don't have to do this, but it gives it just a little something extra!

Corporate Cake Pops!

What some of you might not know about me is that this is just my part time job. You see, I have a wide variety of education and employment back ground (I guess I'm still trying to find my niche in life). I have gone from being in Business Adminstration, to Computer Science, to Medical Assisting, to Massage Therapy, to Medical Billing & Coding, and now to Cupcakes and Cake Pops. And all of these jobs have pretty much been at the same Physicians Office that I've been at now for close to 13 years. It's a great job and I get to meet so many new and interesting people. I've met some of my best friends there. I've also had alot of corporate networking opportunities. Which is was leads me to this post. We recently switched to a new Network IT company. Agil IT. Now I have to say, this company has alot of great employees. Very well educated. Very dedicated to their jobs. Very focused. But also alot of fun! I've gotten to know a few of them very well. Check out their page and you'll see just what I'm talking about. I decided it was time to pay AgilIT back for all of the hard work that they have done for us.  I decided to make Wes and his crew some cake pops. And what would be better than to make cake pops look like their company logo.

I love doing stuff like this. I love the look on people's faces when you hand them a special treat made just for them. I've always thought it would be fun to work for a florist. To be able to deliver flowers all day long, well except for the funeral part of it. That's why I think cupcakes and cake pops are even better! Agil IT has been a great company to work with and I would highly suggest them for any of your IT needs. They are a great group of people to work with. In fact I've been challenged  asked to do more cake pops for some of their other customers. I hope they have turned out how they wanted them.



Kettering Family Practice logo Cake Pops



Chocolate Cake Pops for KFP



 If anyone is interested in ordering any Cupcakes or Cake Pops for their company of any of their associates please let me know. I'd love to keep trying different designs!!