The Pillsbury Test

Well hello everybody!! For this post I'm going to do something a little different. It's not even going to be about cats or cupcakes! Today I'm going to pursue a life long dream of mine. That's right boys and girls I'm comparing the ingredients of a REAL chocolate chip cookie recipe with the ingredients listed on a Pillsbury Chocolatey Chunk Cookie Dough Roll. With store bought foods, ingredients are listed in order of use. So if flour is listed as the first ingredient and sodium phosphate is the last ingredient, then flour was used in the biggest amount in the recipe and sodium phosphate was used the least.

Alright I couldn't find our chocolate chip cookie recipe so I'm using another one we have at my house: The Branch Family Recipe, courtesy of Sarah Branch.


Pillsbury:
enriched wheat flour
sugar
semisweet chocolate chunks
soybean and cottonseed oil shortening
water
soybean oil
blackstrap molasses
wheat protein isolate
salt
dried whole eggs
baking soda
sodium aluminum phosphate
artificial flavour

Branch:
2/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 heaping teaspoon salt
As many chocolate chips as you want


So, there's actually quite a difference between the two recipes. Personally, I wouldn't use dried eggs in my cookies but I'm also pretty sure that my cookie dough wouldn't last 2 months like the Pillsbury dough does. What do you think?

p.s. Here are the directions on how to make Sarah's recipe for those interested:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2) Mix shortening, butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla thoroughly in a large mixing bowl
3) Stir in remaining ingredients
4) Roll dough into balls and place on a large ungreased cookie sheet
5) Bake for 8-10 minutes
6) Cool and DEVOUR!!!!

Mini Fudge Cupcakes

This cupcake recipe is from a Cookbook I have called "Kitchen for Kids" by Jennifer Low. These cupcakes are like fudge brownies, and are a great topping for ice-cream sundaes. They also freeze well, so you can keep them for a long time.

Supplies You Will Need:

• 1 oven (I hope you all have one of those!)
• 1 large microwave-safe bowl
• measuring cups and spoons
• 1 spatula
• 1 whisk
• about 48 (yes, 48) mini muffin-tins and liners

Ingredients:

• 6 squares of unsweetened chocolate (1 oz./30g each)
• 6 Tbsp of butter (Hint: two finger-widths on a stick of butter is about 1 Tbsp)
• 1 cup of white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 4 1/2 tsp of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp of vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F (160C)

Heat the chocolate squares with the butter for around 3 to 4 minutes at 50% power in your microwave. Since 50% of 10 = 5, on most microwaves you should heat at Level 5. (any points for that Mme?)

Cool slightly, then whisk in the sugar, eggs, flour, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Put your mini-muffin liners into your mini-muffin tins and spoon in the batter so that the liners are about half-full.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cupcakes are puffed and a tooth pick stuck in the center comes out clean.

Extra:

These cupcakes are so rich, icing isn't necessary. But after they come out of the oven, you can press a chocolate chip into the center.



Tabby Cats

Tabbies are widely thought to be their own breed. However "tabbies" are cats of many different breeds that have patterns on their fur that ressemble the patterns on their ancestors: African Wildcats.
There are 4 main types of tabbies:

• Mackerel
• Classic
• Spotted
• Ticked

The mackerel tabby pattern has vertical, gently curving, narrow stripes on the side of the body. Often, an 'M' shape appears on the forehead. Mackerels also have a 'peppered' nose, where black spots appear along the pink tip of the nose. Mackerel is the most common tabby pattern.

Classic (or 'blotched') tabbies have a similar 'M' pattern on the head, but the body markings are different. Classic tabbies have a whirled and swirled pattern with wider stripes that make a patterm that is referred to as "butterfly" patterns on their shoulders, and usually a bullseye or oyster pattern on the flank. The legs and tail patterns can be very different with respect to the width of the bands.

Ticked tabbies  produces hairs with distinct bands of color on them, breaking up the tabby patterning into a salt-and-pepper appearance. Striping or "barring" can often be seen on the lower legs, face and belly and sometimes at the tail tip.

The spotted tabby may not be a true pattern, but a modifier that breaks up the mackerel pattern so that the stripes appear as small spots. The stripes of the classic pattern may be broken into larger spots. Both large spot and small spot patterns can be seen in the Australian Mist, Bengal, Egyptian Mau, and Ocicat breeds.

Fun Fact!
These are Fictional tabbies:

• Garfield and Nermal (from the Garfield comic strips)
• Puss in Boots (from the Shrek movies)
• Prof. McGonogall's animagus (from Harry Potter)

Mennonite Cupcakes

Here's my first cupcake post!
It's from a Mennonite cookbook I have called "Food that Really Schmecks" by Edna Staebler. The Mennonite people originated in what is now Germany, but slowly moved up to the area we call Ukraine. Before they moved to Canada, my great-grandparents lived in a Mennonite village in Ukraine. But now for the recipe:

Blueberry [or cranberry] Cupcakes 

Tools You Will Need:

• 1 big mixing bowl
• 1 small mixing bowl
• 1 whisk
• 1wooden spoon
• 1 sifter
• 1 cupcake/muffin tin
• 12 paper cupcake/muffin liners
• measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of shortening
• 1 1/2 cups of sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 cup of milk
• 2 cups of flour
• 4 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 cups of blueberries (can be replaced with 2 cups of cranberries)

Directions:

"Cream shortening, add sugar gradually, then well beaten eggs and vanilla; blend well.

Stir in the milk alternately with the sifted flour, baking powder and salt.

Mix well.

Add the blueberries, sprinkled with the 1/4 cup of flour.

Fill paper cups 2/3 full.

Bake at 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

I'll bet these would be good with cranberries too."

- Food that Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler copyright 1968 McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd.

  You could also add a cream cheese icing.

                                                       My cranberry and blueberry cupcakes.

Maine Coons

Maine Coons are definitely recognizable by their big, bushy tail, and long fur. Add big "snowshoe like-paws", and this cat is equiped for the harshest winter. Both males and females have a long square muzzle, making it easier to catch prey. One thing for sure, this is one adaptable cat!

Some "original" Maine Coons were polydactyls (had extra toes). But modern, purebred Maine Coons are rarely polydactyls. My Maine Coon, Nishka (in the picture) is a polydactyl, making her paws even bigger than most Maine Coons.

A Maine Coons meow does not often actually sound like a meow! ( This explains why Nishka most often sounds like a cow trying to quack!!)

Fun Fact:
Maine Coons are the official state cat of.......Maine!!!

Introduction

hello,
My blog is going to be about Cats and Cupcakes. For each post I will either post a cupcake recipe with pictures, or some facts about a breed of cat or cute pictures! (I've got lots of those! =p) Hope you enjoy!!

Nishka (Corynn)