Chocolate Lava Muffies (cookie+muffin hybrid)

Lately, weekends meant laboring in the kitchen for me. And since my body clock's all twisted due to my work, I wake up in the middle of the night and bake! Then baking it is for me! Oftentimes, I bake for little orders that come by and mostly for personal consumption at home. I'm not a big batch baker, you see. The most that I did was for four dozens of cupcake for a birthday celebration in the office. Here's how the cupcakes looked like:

The past two weeks, I was all about cookies! Chocolate chip cookies to be exact. My series of cookie baking started with actually started with 2 layers of cookies, baked on top of each other :) Take a look:

All you need are the generic ingredients for a chocolate chip cookie. Look for one online that would work best for you.

Here are the stuff that I needed. I used Belgian hard bake chips so the chocolates are still in their form after baking.

And here they are after about 20 minutes of preparation and 10-15 minutes baking time. How do taste? Read for yourself:

Chewy goodness!!

chocolate laden creation!

So how did I make these gastronomical babies? All it took was any regular chocolate chip recipe which you can easily find online. But please, this idea did not originate from me. I borrowed it from my favorite blog: www.kevinandamanda.com. Hop on and take a look! But first, scroll down just a wee bit more and you will find youself:

1. Hungry
2. Salivating
3. with Panic-stricken-grip-in-your-tummy-Please-give-me-some-of-these-cookie-wonders!! 
4. or All of the above!! 

hahaha! that was literally what I was feeling when I first saw the recipe on Amanda's lovely blog. I was at the office and I cannot stop thinking about them cookies!! I just had to make it!

Making them was a process I totally enjoyed. I made a mess but my house smelled divine!! ok, going back. Let me build up the excitement further and show you some photos from the preparation stage:

first layer of cookies!! It felt like starting to build the foundation hahaha!

them comes the melted Belgian chocolate that's sandwich between two sinful cookie dough then place another later of the dough.

Waiting, waiting, waiting. Can you feel that I was getting impatient and excited while taking this photo??

Patience paid off, big time!! This is what was waiting for me. Best. Reward. Ever.

I would have wanted to share some but I can't really post an edible one here on the blog hahah! Go visit Amanda's blog and get the ingredients and bake! Link is posted above. Happy baking!! and don't forget leave a comment here and share your baking experience!

Apron Adventures: Moist Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes with ButterCream frosting

Last time I traveled was last November and the next one's scheduled in the last week of February. Seems like a long time, yeah? So what do I do in between the waiting and anticipating? Baking. Yes, baking is in fact a reignited passion. I remember my mama used to take orders of simple cakes with just ganache as frosting, no fancy schmancy icing that requires piping tips. She took lessons back when I was really young and she put it to good use before she started working. Another fond memory was selling the puto cheese she made to our neighborhood during summer days. I guess that's where my love for baking began.


Since I do not have travel stories to write about yet, let me share with you some photos when I decided to whip up some goodies last Sunday night. I made the Moist Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes with ButterCream frosting. 

So I got some (1) flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder sifted and mixed before being added to a (2) mayonnaise (yes, this obedient ingredient made a huge difference) and sugar mixture. Mix, mix, mix (3)! That should create your batter (4).

After cooking for 15 minutes in an oven pre-heated at 350F, this is what came out next. Gooey Moist goodness!! What I need to work on next time: avoiding that volcano like shape. For smoother decorating process, it's better when they're flat.

Simple frosting will do, icing sugar + butter + milk + vanilla extract. I added a drop or two of the fuschia gel food coloring to add tint to the otherwise off white buttercream color. Then carelessly put some sprinkles on top! Viola!

My cuppies up close:

So how does it look? :)  Let me know and leave a message.