And the winners are…

Saturday, October 18, 2008

First for the throwdown – chocolate cupcake style. AND on National Chocolate Cupcake Day! How fitting. I made a half batch of the chocolate cake (I got 15 cupcakes) out of Confetti Cakes for Kids by Elisa Strauss. The recipe is definitely “fussier” than my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. This one has sour cream and coffee in it. Neither of which are staples in my kitchen. I paired it with the Brown Sugar frosting because I was intrigued by that idea…

The batter came together quite nicely. It does take 3 bowls and like I mentioned, has some ingredients that I had to send hubby out to grab for me… It does have some great flavor combinations going on. It’s got almond extract as well as vanilla and includes coffee. Both almond and coffee go great with chocolate. The batter was quite thick and very tasty. Hubby really enjoyed licking the beater 🙂 And this frosting is AMAZING. We both agreed, it’s one of the best I’ve ever made. Think of a caramel Swiss-meringue buttercream. It paired perfectly with the chocolate cupcake.

Now to the Throw-down results. I’m basing this on 3 categories: Overall Taste, Ease of making, Moistness

Overall Taste – hands down goes to the Confetti cupcake. It is amazing.

Ease of making – definitely goes to my go-to cupcake. So much easier and I always have everything on hand.

Moistness – this is a tie. Both of these recipes yield very moist cupcakes. It’s because of the oil in one and sour cream in the other.

So it’s a TIE!?! I’ll definitely keep my go-to chocolate cupcake for when I just want to whip something up. It’s quick and easy and the results are great. But when I want to go the extra mile, I’ll make the Confetti cupcakes. It does take more effort, but the results are worth it. I’m not going to post the recipe here, but definitely I definitely recommend checking out Confetti Cakes for Kids by Elisa Strauss.

Now on to the GIVEAWAY!! I almost forgot about it after these amazing cupcakes. Thanks to everyone who participated! Using Random.org, I chose 5 random numbers from 1-79 and the lucky winners are…

Megan – who’s email begins with mybakingadventures
Chrissy – who’s email begins with chrissyblogs
Grifam93 – who’s email begins with aseminara
Jared – who’s email begins with jared
MoonFreckle – who’s email begins with angelaj

Congratulations to the winners!

Thanks to everyone who participated. If you won, send me an email at beantownbaker[at]gmail[dot]com with your address and your book will be at your house in no time. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I already have!

Cupcakes, Dessert

3 comments »

17 Responses to “M&M Cookies to Celebrate Valentine’s Day”

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Carrie — February 12, 2010 at 2:26 pm

I love freezing dough but somehow most ends up in my tummy unbaked when I do that 🙂
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oneordinaryday — February 12, 2010 at 2:40 pm

What a great gift! I’m thinking that would be wonderful for all sorts of occasions. Thanks for the idea!
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Carly — February 12, 2010 at 5:00 pm

These are adorable and I love that idea! Two questions, though: 1) Were these as good as the cookies from the other recipes? and 2) When you freeze them, do you bake right from frozen?
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Jen — February 12, 2010 at 5:04 pm

Great questions Carly – As far as comparing them to the other cookies. I enjoyed the chocolate M&M cookies the best, but they were REALLY chocolatey. The other non-chocolate M&M cookies were a bit more chewy and they had nuts in them, so they had a different vibe. This recipe was more of a classic M&M cookie for sure.

As far as baking from frozen, you can def just go straight from freezer to oven. Bake them ~13 minutes instead of ~11 and take them out when they look done.
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Cara — February 12, 2010 at 5:18 pm

these were delicious!
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stephchows — February 12, 2010 at 5:35 pm

they look so cute all frozen up 🙂
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Leanne — February 12, 2010 at 6:11 pm

I love the pink and red M&Ms. Thanks for the idea of freezing the cookie dough.
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Memória — February 12, 2010 at 8:06 pm

I was going to ask you the same thing as Carly, well the first question. These cookies are cute. Your freezing method reminded me that I have a bunch of sugar cookies still in the freezer! Do you know how long cookies can stay in the freezer?
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Jen — February 12, 2010 at 9:32 pm

I don’t know how long they will last in the freezer. I have a tendency to forget about things in my freezer… I’d guess a couple months? Anyone have ideas?
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nutmegnanny — February 12, 2010 at 9:43 pm

What festive little cookies 🙂 I love them! I also like the fact that you froze them. I bet they were delicious. Make sure to enter the All Through the Year Cheer event for Valentine’s Day 🙂
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Julie — February 13, 2010 at 4:49 am

I think that sounds like a great way to spend valentine’s day. It can be intimidating the way it’s so hyped up. The cookies look very festive, love ’em!
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Vivian - Let's Try These... — February 13, 2010 at 2:16 pm

We don’t do “valentine’s day” either since my MIL was born on the 14th and daughter’s birthday is the 15th – besides, its more important to say you love someone everyday, not just one day out of the year. Love the idea about freezing the cookie dough in preshaped form and giving that away. Wonderful idea!
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Deborah Dowd — February 14, 2010 at 1:03 pm

I am looking for cookies that travel well for my soldier adopted through Soldier’s Angels and these look like a winner!!
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Kerstin — February 14, 2010 at 8:00 pm

Mmm, these were so tasty! Happy Valentine’s Day!
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Amy (Sing For Your Supper) — February 16, 2010 at 9:54 pm

These are just too cute!! I love M&M cookies too!!

http://www.singforyoursupperblog.com
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bcallegra — February 17, 2010 at 1:13 am

Just had to add my two cents on the idea of giving cookie dough frozen and ready to be baked – genius! For some reason, I’ve never thought of that, even though I’ve given cookies frozen to people to be defrosted when they’re ready to eat. I love the dough idea!
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Megan — February 20, 2010 at 2:16 am

YUM-these look absolutely delicious! I love the pink and red M&Ms!