Neon, Nutella and an Addiction to Rhyming

This weekend I went to Boston to see some friends, one of whose birthday it was! Lots of birthday's in May in case you didn't catch on to that- :)

It was an amazing time. Lots of 80s style bowling followed by lots of dancing. I LOVE bowling.  I don't think you fully understand my degree of love for bowling... and the 80s for that matter. I know that my girl Amy over at Fruit Salad Life will be extremely jealous when she sees my neon orange nails that were painted for the 80s bowling occasion!  Please see the amazingness below of the ladies bowling:

On the train ride home, feeling quite gross, I decided two important things:

1) I was ABSOLUTELY going to work out the second I got home

2) I refused to let the excess frosting from Faj's Bday Cupcakes go to waste so more (different!) cupcakes needed to be made.

After my fabulous workout- it stunk, but hey, I did it!- I made these amazing creations. I had a little bit of Nutella left over from my Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies. I had to be used up. I am pretty much addicted to Nutella so leaving it around the house is never a good idea for this girl. Therefore this creation was made with a combination of Nutella and These Easy Vanilla Cupcakes.  

Also, I made roommate take them with her to work this AM because I am pretty sure my colleagues are going to kick me if I keep bringing in baked goods and they obviously can not stay in my apt.

Vanilla Nutella Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting- RHYMING!

These are easy as pie, or in this case- cupcakes!

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 egg whites

3/4 cup fat free vanilla greek yogurt

1/4 cup fat free vanilla yogurt

1/4 cup fat free skim milk

1/3 cup Nutella

Steps:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F.

2) In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt 

3) In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy with an electric mixer

4) Add eggs and yogurt to the wet mixture and mix until well-combined with an electric mixer

5) Alternating between the flour mixture and milk, add to the wet mixture while the electric mixer continues to run until batter is fully blended

6) Spoon batter into muffin tins that have been pam-ed and lined. Each muffin should be about 3/4s full and 3/4s of the batter should be gone from the bowl

7) Add a dollop of Nutella on top of each cupcake

8) Add the remaining cupcakes mix on top of each cupcake evenly so Nutella is no longer visible

9) Bake until tops are slightly golden about 18 to 23 minutes. 

10) Let cupcakes cool. 

11) Once cupcakes are cool frosting with Buttercream Frosting 

Below the frosting domainted them:

After frosting dominated them:

NOM NOM NOM.  I ate one for dessert and I would deffinitly give them a Star Fabulous Rating of 7/10.  They are quite delicious and hit the spot.  When warm, we are probably looking at a Star Fabulous Rating of 8/10. Nothing like warm melting Nutella- OOPH I am making myself hungry!

Star Fabulous Rating: 7/10

Pancakes, Cookies and Happy Weekends Galore

Hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and that this dreary weather isn't getting anyone down.  I had an action packed weekend!  Before I launch into the deliciousness that was prepared this weekend I just want to remind everyone to head to the CNC Bake Sale today to bid on great treats to help benefit an amazing cause- Team for Kids. I contributed my delish

PB and J Bars!

On to the amazingness that was created this weekend.  First of all, bf is a master when it comes to pancakes so he whipped up these Barefoot Contessa pancakes, which were immediately devoured.

With the bf in town I decided to create something spectacular for him. He is a giant nutella fan so, what better treat than Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies! Yum Yum Yum! These were super easy and came out very well- a couple friends got to try some and lets just say this- Kman was a fan (KMAN SHOUT OUT!)

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Sprinkled ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons unsalted butter at room tempurature

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2/3 cup Nutella

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 egg whites

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Steps:

1) Combine flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium size bowl and set aside

2) With an electric mixer combine butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

3) Add Nutella, egg whites and vanilla to the sugar mixture with the electric mixer

4) Add the flour mixture slowly to the sugar mixture

5) Mix in chocolate chips until fully incorporated

6) Place mixture in the fridge for 45min-1hr to let chill

7) Place tablespoon size circles on a pam-ed, tinfoil-ed pan about 2 inches apart and bake at 350 degrees F for 7 to 10 minutes- makes about 32 cookies

8) Remove, let cool and dig in!

Kman and Ames gave these a Star Fabulous rating of 9/10 and not to too my own horn, but I definitely agree.  I think the trick to making the best cookies is chilling the dough! 

Star Fabulous Rating: 9/10