S'mores cupcakes

S'mores cupcakes. Or, oh-em-gee cupcakes. Or, better yet, I-love-you-so-much-I-made-you-these-ridiculously-yummy-but-time-consuming cupcakes. Yeah, that last one.

I don't think a dessert has ever frustrated me more. Fairly simple ingredients. But: uses a lot of bowls and such, have to make two batters, they take a really long time to prepare, and they're so difficult to get out of the pan (if you mess it up like I did) that I had only one pan out of three survive.

But they're soooooo good. Even my father, who hates cupcakes (insane, I know, right?) loved these. LOVED them.

So, if you have the time, I recommend making them. I mean, they're worth it. And it probably wasn't that bad, I just messed up five million times.

Mess-up #1: While adding the milk to the batters, I accidentally added all of the milk to the chocolate batter, instead of half in each. Which lead to a very liquidy batter. So, I just put it in a cake pan and cooked it. BAD IDEA. It was the densest, chewiest cake I've ever made. I guess in my frustrated mind, I figured batter + cake pan = cake. Nope. Not so.

(Ew. Do not try this.)

Mess-up #2: I did not inspect my pantry well, which meant that I bought a thing of chocolate chips and a bottle of vanilla because I saw we didn't have enough, while, in fat, we had the largest bottle of vanilla I've ever seen and more chocolate chips than imaginable at the bottom of a basket in our pantry. And then I ran out of cupcake liners. Yeah, the grocery store saw me a lot that day.

Mess-up #3: I overfilled many of the cupcake tins, and did not expect them to rise as much as they did, which lead to ruining half the batch.

(See?)

Mess-up #4: I did not ice these until a day after I made them (mostly because I was so aggravated about the whole ordeal), so the only photos I was able to take were pre-iced cupcakes, because once they were iced, they were gone in about five seconds.

S'more cupcakes with chocolate ganache icing (adapted from Bakerella)

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 cups cocoa
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups milk
4 eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup oil
Bag of mini-marshmallows or bag of jumbo marshmallows, cut in half

Graham Cracker Crumb topping
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted

Ganache
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda together with a wire whisk.
Separate the mixture in half into two bowls.

Stir cocoa into one bowl and the graham cracker crumbs into the other.
Add 1 cup milk, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 cup oil to the cocoa mixture and beat on medium until combined.
Repeat adding the same ingredients to the graham cracker crumb flour mixture.

Prepare the graham cracker crumb topping.
Add the brown sugar and crumbs in a small bowl and pour on the melted butter. Stir until combined.

Pour a little graham cracker cake batter into the bottom of your baking cups (you need like the size of a quarter. This rises a lot. But then again, it depends on the ratio of graham-to-chocolate you want. For mine, I did just a little dollop in the bottom) and then sprinkle the topping mixture lightly on the surface.
Place a marshmallow half on top (or about 3-4 mini marshmallows) and then cover the marshmallow(s) with the chocolate cake batter until it is about 3/4 full. (Remember: this rises. A LOT.)
Sprinkle with more topping mixture.

Bake cupcakes for about 15 minutes.

Let cool and top with ganache.

Heat the butter and cream on the stove. Heat until just before it boils. Remove and pour over chocolate. Stir until completely melted and smooth.
Pour over cupcakes and add more marshmallows if you desire.

This makes about 24-36 cupcakes.

(Hello, grainy photo taken at midnight.)

Blogs revisited

People (blogs, really) you should check out:

Who -- What I love

KNITTING, etc.

Rawrchar -- This is Carly's blog, a good friend of mine

JL Yarnworks -- love the Hermione hat

VO Knits -- the Lyon hat, yet to be made

Present Knits -- her Mossy Pebbles scarf. I made a similar one for my friend Megan for Christmas

Midnight Knitter -- used her Karaoke Cable scarf pattern for my mother

Na Vlne -- I LOVE her Capucine hat. This was also one of the failed January hats. Let's not talk about it.

The Sweatshop of Love -- Love the name, love her slouchy red hat

Creativeyarn -- these fingerless gloves, yet to be made

Knit Me! -- I really love this dinosaur. A lot.

BAKING, etc.

Usually I just mess around with recipes I have, but I just found:

Bakerella -- LOVE her cake pops. There are no words.

Pinch My Salt -- awesome photos

Baked Perfection -- yum. yum yum yum.

Annie's Eats -- stolen many recipes from. So good.

Cake Spy -- so cute.

Sweetnicks -- Such an adorable family, and some really awesome-sounding recipes.

Bake at 350 -- LOVE those cookies. All of them.

The Good Apple -- even though fondant terrifies me, she makes me want to try it.

The pillow

Things I've learned in the past two weeks:

1. It is inevitable that when I have no one to knit for and start a project for myself, twenty million people (aka three) will want me to make them something.
2. Midterms are any knitter's/baker's enemy.
3. I will get sick at the most inopportune times. Like the week before I'm supposed to go home for a surprise visit. And when I have papers and quizzes and things that one cannot be ill for.
4. A upper respiratory infection is just a cold. But it sounds so much serious when you call it an upper respiratory infection.
5. When I get sick, I get really emotional. Flashback to a couple days ago when Joannie Rochette skated her short program and cried upon finishing. So did I. And just now, when I read Bake at 350's blog post on livestrong and her mother's battle with cancer. Tears. I'm a sap, I know.
6. Spring break is T-7 days away. Which, finally, after months of reading food blogs and dreaming about scones and cupcakes and cake truffles, BAKING.
7. Uncrustables are a lazy girl's best friend. Especially when she runs out of strawberry jam. And bread. Also, they say they thaw in 30 minutes. THIS IS A LIE. I have had one sitting next to me for the allotted half-hour, and it is still mostly frozen. And I am hungry.
8. I am a poor college kid. I cannot afford a pillow form. Well, I probably could, but I don't really think I could find one on campus.

So, that brings us to knitting. I made my sister a pillow. Mostly because I had/have a lot of yarn of various blues and greys and not much to do with it. Except for the things I was asked to make after I started the pillow. And once you start a pillow, you can't stop. It's easy. You just... knit. No decreases or ridiculousness. And, the best part is, you can use any stitch. I used US 8s.

For the front, I used my old not-so-soft light grey. I did the same cabling pattern I used on this hat. CO 68, knit 68 rows (including cast on and off rows).

For the front, I used various blues I had. From the hats from The Mission II and my mother's hat and scarf. The small grey stripes are my Vanna's Choice Silver Grey. It was 6 rows of the blue, 2 of the grey, and repeating with the other blues. Also CO 68 and knit 68 rows (including cast on and off rows).

So I sewed up three sides and some of the fourth side inside-out. Turned it right side out and stuffed it with the stuffing I have.

And then I realized, this pillow is not square. I think it would be if I used an actual pillow form, (I believe it was a 14" by 14" [do those even exist?]). But I adapted the pillow form from one I found a long time ago, and figured it would work any way. That was knit on US 6s and fit a 12" by 12". And I'm positive that will fit. I think mine didn't because it had nothing to stretch around.

Whatever. She'll like it. No, she never asked for a pillow. Or anything, really. But everyone likes presents.

(Front)

(Back)

The Mission Part II

I finished. Well, I finished Saturday around 4 pm, so it's been a while. I'm just lazy and dealing with midterms and the like. But I had a nice long Roommate From Hell-free weekend, so I got a lot of knitting done. Five pm on Saturday found me at the FedEx in town, where I shipped the FIVE hats I made. They should be arriving sometime tomorrow.

So, when I posted The Mission (Part I), I was in such a rush to get started that I failed to mention details. The hats are for one of my aunts who lives up north. Many years ago, she had breast cancer (twice) and survived. I was pretty young at the time, so all I remember is going up for the summer and seeing her with no hair. Recently (as in, like, two days before The Mission Part I), doctors found a small tumor near/on/in her brain. This was really really scary at first (let's just say there was some hysterics on my part. This isn't something I ever wanted to hear, much less on the phone with my mother while I'm on my way to my art history class). About four years ago, I had a brain cancer scare (if that makes sense), and though it wasn't, it was still beyond terrifying for me and those around me. So I can't even imagine.

But she's going to be fine. Thank god. She lost her hair on Friday, so I wanted to make sure the hats got out to her as soon as possible. So, the final product:

Grey: The Lydia Hat

Pink: Large Horseshoe Cable Hat

Light blue: Karma Hat

Medium blue: Braided Cable Hat

Green: Horseshoe Cable Hat

Lydia hat and scarf

I made these for my RA, Lydia. She kills all the bugs for us (we can handle the thousands of ladybugs, but it's the stinkbugs and wasps and cockroaches none of us care to handle). And she's helped us (by "us," I mean my two suite-mates and I) with dealing with my roommate, whom I not-so-affectionately call the Roommate From Hell.

I gave Lydia the scarf today, but I ended up sending the hat with the other Mission hats. (Sorry, Lydia). I'll probably end up making her another one. Seeing as we're expecting snow tomorrow and probably for the rest of forever, she can definitely use it. I guess that's what you get for going to school in the mountains. It's pretty, but it snows like no where else in the south.

Anyways. Both were knit on 10s with Vanna's Choice Silver Grey. (Honestly, this is such a good gift-giving yarn. Grey matches with just about everything.)

The hat:

(Notice the change in hair color? Yeah, no one else has either).

CO 80

K1 P1 across for 6 rows

*P1, K2, P1, K6 across

K1, P2, K2, P6 across

P1, K2, P1, K6 across

K1, P2, K2, P6 across

P1, K2, P1, K6 across

K1, P2, K2, P6 across

P1, K2, P1, C3F across*

Repeat between ** three times, for a total of four cable crosses.

K1, P2, K2, P6 across

P1, K2, P1, K2tog, K2, K2tog across

K1, P2, K1, P4 across

P1, K2tog, P1, K2tog, K2tog across

K1, P1, K1, P2 across

P1, K1, P1, K2tog across

K1, P1, K1, P1 across

K2tog, K2tog across

P across

K2tog across

P2tog across

Cut long tail, pull through remaining stitches, sew up the back.

The scarf:

Okay, preface: I wanted a cabled scarf (I've been obsessing about cables a bit lately, it seems), but I didn't want garter stitch edges, blocking something this large isn't really an option in a room the size of a postage stamp, and I wanted the cabling to be the main thing. So I made this.

CO 22

[*K2, P1, K2, P1, K10, P1, K2, P1, K2

P2, K1, P2, K1, P10, K1, P2, K1, P1*

Repeat between ** for ten rows

K2, P1, K2, P1, C5f, P1, K1, P1, K2

P2, K1, P2, K1, P10, K1, P2, K1, P1]

Repeat between [] once, for a total of two cable crossings

Okay, now, do the same thing again, but where it says "Repeat between ** for ten rows" do it for TWENTY. And the repeat everything above until the scarf is as long as you want it. (I ended with the ten-row cable part, just to make it all nice and even). Cast off, add fringe (if you want). The end.

Large horseshoe cable hat

I like how this turned out, but I don't LOVE it. I think the yarn I used wasn't right for the pattern, but, then again, I couldn't find a good pattern in the first place, hence my making one. Ravelry failed me in finding a large horseshoe cable hat that had more than two or three cable panel things.

This is on 10s (duh. It seems I can't use anything else right now, but I half-blame this on the need to finish these quickly). Vanna's Choice Baby Cheery Cherry (which is really bright. But cute).

CO 76

K2p2 for 5 rows

P across

K across, inc by 3

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, C3B, C3F across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, C3B, C3F across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, C3B, C3F across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, C3B, C3F across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, K12 across

K1, P12 across

P1, C3B, C3F across

K1, P12 across

P1, K2tog, K8, K2tog

K1, P10 across

P1, K2tog, K6, K2tog

K1, P8 across

P1, K2tog, K4, K2tog

K1, P6 across

P1, K2tog, K2, K2tog

K1, P4 across

P1, K2tog K2tog across

K1, P2tog across

K2tog across

Cut long tail, pull through remaining stitches, and use tail to sew up the back.

Horseshoe cable hat

This hat turned out a little big (I think it was because of the yarn). But I put a smaller version in italics. This was knit, as per usual, on straight 10s. I used Vanna's Choice Baby green something.

CO 80 [Or cast on 72 if you want it smaller]

K2P2 across for 6 rows
P1 K8 across, make 10 (for 90) [If you did the smaller CO, only increase by 9]

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1 K8 across

K1 P8 across

P1, C2B, K2, K cable stitches, K2F, K2, K cable stitches across

K1, P8 across

P1, K2tog K2tog K2tog K2tog across

K1, P4 across

P1, K1, K2tog, K1 across

K1, P3 across

P1, K2tog, K1 across

K1, P2 across

P1, K2tog

K1, P1 across

K2tog across

P2tog across

Cut long tail, pull through remaining stitches, sew up the back.

Braided cable hat

(I think we can all agree that I need new needles, especially when they have turned from gold to silver, and they're turning my fingers colors. Not good. But they were my first needles. I don't know if I can give them up.)

I really like how this hat turned out. It's on the Loops and Threads Threadless Cadet Blue. Straight 10s, as per usual.

CO 80

K2P2 across for 6 rows

K across, make 10 throughout (I made mine at the ends, as in K1 M1 for 10)

Stockinette for five rows

K4, C3 front, K3, K3 from cable across

Stockinette for five rows

C3 back, K3, k 3 cable stitches, k 4 across

Stockinette for five rows

K4, C3 front, K3, K3 from cable across

Stockinette for five rows

C3 back, K3, k 3 cable stitches, k 4 across

Stockinette for five rows

K2tog, K2tog, C3 front, K3, K3 from cable across

Purl across

K2tog, K8 across

Purl across

K2tog, K7 across

Purl across

K2tog, K6 across

Purl across

K2tog, K5 across

Purl across

K2tog, K4 across

P3, P2tog

K2tog, K2

P1, P2tog

K2tog

Cut a long tail and pull through the remaining stitches. Use tail to sew up the side.

Karma Hat

I LOVE this hat. A lot. I love cables, and stockinette, and having entire purl/knit rows. No counting. To top it off, this hat took me only a few hours. Maybe five? I'm not sure. I should start keeping track of these things.

(Yeah, I need new needles.)

First, let me tell you about this yarn, the Threads and Loops Threadless. I knit my Hermione hat with the burgundy of it, and LOVED it. A lot. So before I came back to school, I bought two blues. Cadet Blue, and what I knit this hat on, True Blue. I was looking online to see other colors, and I found out it's the Michael's store brand. And I was pleasantly surprised. It's pretty soft for acrylic, and knits really well, without a lot of stray strings and whatnot that the Vanna's Choice sometimes has. The only downside is that the ends fray a bit more than most when leaving them loose (like fringe and such).

I promise that Michael's didn't pay me to give them their own little commercial. Though I wouldn't mind.

So, anyways. The actual pattern is knit on 8s, and I'm lazy and wanted to knit it on 10s. So straight 10s, with Loops and Threads Threadless True Blue.

CO 78

Knit 6 rounds of K2P2 ribbing

Knit a row, increasing by one on each end

Purl a row

Knit a row

**C2F, K2, Knit C, K4 across

Purl a row

Knit a row

Purl a row

K4, C2B, K2, Knit C across

Purl a row

Knit a row

Purl a row**

Repeat between ** three more times, or until desired length.

K4, C2B, K2, Knit C across

(I had some trouble with the following, but I think I just miscounted my decreases. Sorry.)

Purl a row

SSK, K6 across

P across

C1B, K2, Knit C, K4 across
P across

K5, K2tog across

P around

K3, C2F, K1, Knit C across
Purl across

K1, K2tog, K3 across

Purl across
C1B, K1, Knit C, K3 across

P across

K2, SSK K1 across
P across
K2tog, K2 around
P across
K 1, C1F, K1, Knit C across
P across
K1, K2tog

P across
K2tog

Cut long tail, pull through remaining stitches, sew up the back.

The Mission

Who: me, of course

What: hats!

Why: for one of my favorite people in the world, who is sick.

When: by February 10th, or February 26th

How: yarn I already have, and the soft Vanna's Choice Baby I ordered, which was shipped today

The Patterns:

The Cap Karma Hat (with this crown shaping)

(Possibly) The Claudia Hat

Another Hermione Hat

Aother Lydia Hat (which I'll upload soon)

A simple striped hat

And more, once I find them.

I'll upload photos/patterns as I finish.