Midnight Baking Madness With Cornbread and Mug Cake

SO, what do you do when you are bored college students on a thursday night? BAKE of course! Now I was going to bake my famous cornbread anyway because it's about the perfect time for it, but I got a special request for an experimental super chocolate mug cake! How could I refuse, I mean it's CHOCOLATE?!

A few quick notes before I get into the baking fun, first: Two weeks ago I flipped over the handle bars of my bike avoiding a car and running into a pothole on my way to work. Knocked myself out for a few minutes when I smacked my head against the ground and gave myself a nice concussion. Also apparently I had put my arms up to try and shield myself when I flew over and thats how I ended up breaking my wrist. So I've been a one arms gimp for a bit as my friends call it. So I'm sorry about the spelling, it takes a great amount of time to write these posts when you are one armed.

Two: I smashed my wonderful love of my like iPhone 4 when I flipped over, but the coffee mug in my bag on my back somehow survived. I'm not sure what gods thought that was funny. BUT the new screen today and my super genius tech friend was able to spend over an hour taking the phone completely apart and replacing the screen with some youtube instructions and a replacement I bought off amazon. <3

NOW!
ONTO THE NOMS!!

My super simple delicious cornbread! In a Cast Iron! This is in high demand! I used to make it twice a week last semester. 

 Yes, thats a WHOLE stick of unsalted butter (the best kind) 

 Lots of sugar, why? Because cornbread needs to be sweet people!

 Drop the sugar into the melted butter, remove the pan from heat and drop in two eggs. Keep stirring!

 

 Add in the buttermilk quickly and keep stirring!

 I put just over a cup of cornmeal in. 

 Then just under a cup of flour.

 Mix until it looks this delicious.

 Bake on 375 for 30 min

 AND WHILE WE WAIT, SOMETHING CHOCOLATE THIS WAY COMES. 

 The Starfox mug is mine :D

It's all so simple!

 Add Flour

 Brown sugar!

 A little (a lot) of my love

 This is what it looks like dry

 Then add two table spoons milk and vegetable oil

 Mix!

A staple in every dorm room.

 Why you ask? Because I can. 

 Pop in the microwave for a minute, but make sure to monitor it, depending on the size of your cup you might need more or less time. 

 ............*dies of happiness*

 It fills up about half the mug.

NOM! 

AND NOW, BACK TO THE CORNBREAD!

Tap the top and center of the cornbread to make sure that it is fully cooked. The more you make this the more you realize by the color and touch when it's done.

 You can put a toothpick in it if you are unsure.

 How perfect is that cut?!

 I think it was enjoyed by the friends

Mostly since this guy polished off his and the rest of hers. 

 I think they were good! Can you tell?

 Midnight baking is fun, but the highlight of my day is that fact that the new screen for my iPhone4 came in! And since my wrist is still broken my friend swapped them out for me! Apple charges 180$ and they just give you a new phone, amazon charges 35$ and you can spend an hour doing it yourself. It's EXTREMELY tedious but it's worth it.

 I messed this up real good.

 This was in the hand with the broken wrist, it came in direct contact with the ground when i flipped over the bike.

It strangely worked just fine too, I was shocked and for two weeks walked around and used it just fine. So glad I don't have to look at my phone and cry now though. 

Anyway guys, Happy Midnight Baking! 

OH and this Thursday I'm heading out to a farm to pick up my 20 lb organic Heritage turkey! But more about that later!

Music of the night: Spirit, Stallion of the Cimmeron sound track. 

Bake on!

Fancy Pumpkin Doughnuts

Well this recipe was a bit of a mash up, I have too many cans of organic pumpkin and WAY too much creativity for my own good. It's simple, delicious and flexible. Now I say flexible because you can add walnuts or dried fruit to the batter and change the topping. (There are way too many good things that go with pumpkin). 

I made these for a costume party that I went to and they were a huge hit!

 Ok so you SHOULD have doughnut pans but these are FANCY doughnuts, so we are using mini bunt pans.

 Y ou don't need organic pumpkin, it was weirdly cheaper though at the store so I stocked up. You'll need nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. 

  Combine all your dry ingredients! Flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. 

 It should look like the color of whole grain flour when it's done.

 In another bowl combine half a stick of butter and half a cup of brown sugar. (MMMM brown sugar)

 How many people does it take to open a can with the most archaic can opener known to man (Next to pulling out my pocket knife)

 Took 3 of us and 15 minutes

 Add only a cup of pumpkin, so you should have a bunch left over. 

 Two farm fresh eggs to the mix! and Two tablespoons of milk.

 Mix! Mixing bowls are for rich people.

 Combine with the dry ingredients 

 Yet again, mixers are for rich people. Your hands work the best I find. (Thats my nice cast)

 Scrape all of the batter out into a ziplock bag.

 It's a little messy but it works. 

 Cut the tip off of the bag, i suggest about half an inch so you have maximum control. 

 I pipped two rings around, which fills the pans up about halfway.

 Make sure that they are even! You don't want them to bake unevenly.

 Super cool close up! Bake for about 15 min on 350 but keep a watch on them!

 See how they rise? This is the size you want! And it doesn't matter if they crack a bit thats the bottom anyway. 

 I wish you could smell these through your computer!

 Wait until they are fully cool so they pop easily out of the bunt pans.

 I got six out of this batch but we were cutting them in half for people to eat.

 Ok now here is where it gets tricky, melt some chocolate.... and drizzle it over! Then generously dust with powered sugar.

Yum! 

You can do a couple different toppings on these, I'm experimenting with a maple syrup glaze.

Happy Baking! 

And Have a Happy Halloween!

Music of the meal: 

The Band Perry

Thats my awesome steampunk costume. That corset was killer, and I decided to strap a scope to my cast with a belt to make it cool looking. I'll explain that whole cast thing next post xD And oddly enough the angel is my it's complicated part of life. 

It took me forever to type this with a broken wrist.