Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Frosting

Nom Nom Nom!

That's what comes to mind when I think of chocolate and mint together.
Those two are a match made in Heaven.

I've had a bag of Andes baking chips in my pantry for the last couple of weeks, and I don't think they were going to make it much longer in there.
My husband kept asking to eat them, and if I didn't move soon, they most likely would have disappeared.

So... I came up with these beauties this past weekend.

BTW, don't you just love the concept of the cupcake?
I know I do.
You can limit your sweet intake, and even share the love.

Alright, alright... here you go.

Chocolate Cupcakes:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. Butter, Softened
• 1 C. Suagr
• 1/2 C. Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 Tsp. Vanilla
• 1 1/4 C. Flour
• 3/4 C. Cocoa Powder
• 1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 3/4 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/2 C. Buttermilk
• 1/2 C. Water

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.
In a large measuring cup, mix together buttermilk and water.
Add dry ingredients and milk mixture alternatively to large mixing bowl, blending well each time.

Bake 15-20 minutes. 

Yields: 24 cupcakes

Mint Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1 C. Andes Baking Chips
• 1/2 C. Butter, Softened
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla
• 2 C. Powdered Sugar
• 1/3 C. Heavy Cream or Half&Half

 Directions:

In a microwavable bowl, add Andes and bake in 15 sec intervals until melted. Set aside to cool.
Beat butter in a free standing mixing bowl until creamy.
Add vanilla, stir until combined.
Pour in melted chocolate, and beat until creamy.
Add powdered sugar, combine.
Leave beating on slow for 3-5 minutes.
Add heavy cream, beat until fluffy. 

Red Velvet Funnel Cake

This summer our family went to the Great Texas Balloon Race in Longview, Tx. 

Add caption

The balloons were beautiful! We got to watch them blow them up. Very interesting. Once they were completely blown up, they were enormous!! These guys were at a minimum of 6 stories.

They had concession stands just like any festival, which meant funnel cake... a must eat!!
The first night we went, it rained us out. We thought would get some the next night..... bug mistake.
The lines had 20+ people in them. I told the boys when we came home I would make them some. I happen to see on the sign that they had Red Velvet!!! What?! I have never heard such a thing.

I was now on a mission. When making normal funnel cakes, you pretty much want to use pancake batter. I already had a box of red velvet cake in the pantry but the tricky part would be getting it to thicken like pancake batter. It turned out to be easier than I expected.

Red Velvet Funnel Cake:

Ingredients:

• 1 box Duncan Hines Red Velvet Cake Mix
• 1 C. Flour
• 1 1/2 C. Buttermilk
• 2 Eggs

•  Criso (for frying)
• Powdered Sugar (topping)

Directions:

In a standing mixing bowl, mix together the flour and cake mix.
In a separate bowl, beat together the buttermilk and eggs.
Pour the liquid mixture into the flour and beat until there are no more lumps.

Warm up oil in pan on medium.
Using a funnel or cake icier drizzle into grease.
I made a circle first and then weaved the inside.
It won't take long to cook, so be careful not to burn it.  It will start to fluff a little and turn darker. Flip once, unless you used enough grease to submerge it.
Place on your plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Tah-dah. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

I don't have any idea why I got butterscotch chips.
I've never really liked butterscotch.
Either I grabbed them by mistake or needed them for something and completely forgot what it was for. Needless to say I needed to use them.
Cookies it is. I know how empowering butterscotch can be, so I knew I wanted to make oatmeal ones. I was thinking of adding pecans at first, until I was talking to my grandma and she thought maybe walnuts would go good with them. I ran to the store and bought pecans and walnuts, tasted them both with the butterscotch chips and decided to go with walnuts.
When they came out of the oven, I really thought hmmmm..... these look interesting. If that's what I should say.
I had all 3 of my boys come to the kitchen and we all attempted one at once. I was really hoping I didn't just do all this and they aren't going to be nasty. 
With the first bite, I just wasn't sure. (I'm used to chocolate)
By the time I finished the cookie, it had grown on me. My middle child loved them so much he came back for 2 more before I told him no more until after dinner.

Let me just say though, this cookie is very different.
Pleasant but different.

Ingredients:

• 1 Butter flavored Crisco stick
• 3/4 C. Brown Sugar
• 1/4 C. Sugar
• 2 Tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/2 Tsp. Nutmeg
• 1 3/4 C. Flour
• 2 1/2 C. Oats
• 1 Pkg. Butterscotch chips
• 1 C. Chopped Walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream together Crisco stick and sugars in a mixing bowl.

Add vanilla and eggs, beat until blended.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Add flour mixture to mixing bowl.

Add oatmeal, blend.

Add chips and nuts (if you using them).

Bake 8-10 minutes.

Makes about 52 cookies.


**** If you are not using nuts, you may want to cut the amount of butterscotch chips. The walnuts help keep the flavor from being too overwhelming.

Lemon Cheesecake Roll

I'm on another lemon kick, but this time I was also wanting a cheesecake. I didn't want a lemon cheesecake though.. so I kept thinking and thinking until I came up with the Lemon Cheesecake Roll.

The last time I made a rolled cake I was a junior in high school and got the recipe from my French teacher and it was named some kind of log.

Wish I still had that recipe... that would be interesting to try now that I am older, since it called for rum and being a kid you don't much care for anything with a strong taste like rum.

Anywho.

This was my little experiment and how it turned out:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla                                                        1- 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
• 4 Eggs                                                                      1/2 C. Cool Whip
• 3/4 C.  Sugar                                                            1/4 C. Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 1 Tsp. California Lemon Peel
• 1 Tsp. Baking Powder
• 3/4 C. Cake Flour
• Powdered Sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.
Using non-stick foil, cover a 9x13 cooking sheet.

In a standing mixer, add eggs, and beat until frothy.

Add sugar, vanilla, lemon juice, and zest, mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder.
Add to wet ingredients and blend until batter has no lumps. 

Pour into foiled pan.

Bake 10-15 minutes.


While cake is baking. Get a clean kitchen towel and sprinkle with 1/2 cup powdered sugar.
(I used a dark towel, so you could see how much I put on there and try to make it only the length of your cake)

Give your cake no more than 5 minutes to cool. Slowly remove from foil and lay on top of powdered sugar, I flip it once to cover both sides.

Slowly roll it up, like so::

Keep rolled like this for 1 hour.

In the meantime, you can start your cheesecake filling.

In a small-medium mixing bowl, whisk together cream cheese, cool whip, and sugar.
It should make a thick filling. Refrigerate until the hour is up on the cake.

Slowly and carefully unroll your towel. Get your filling and spread evenly across the entire cake.

 

Roll your cake back up.
Sprinkle a little more powdered sugar on top.

There you go!!


**** This being my first time, I think I will add a little more lemon next time. My husband said it was perfect the way it was... but it didn't hit the lemon spot entirely for me.

S'more Krispies

Rice Krispies.... oh are they dangerous!!!

You know what I mean, they are completely and highly addictive.
I also usually don't want to try them any other way because they are perfect just the way they are.

HOWEVER........

Occasionally, I get that wild hair and can't resist.
Sometimes they are a success and others, not so much.

One time on Pinterest, I saw these Lemon Rice Krispies and had to try them.

I love my lemon but I can actually say I hated those. Those made the never again list, unless by some miracle all the ingredients changes. Sad, I know.

Anyways, my boys love s'mores. I'm not the biggest fan but if you think about it, Rice Krispies are practically already s'mores, all they are missing are the chocolate.

I scammed my pantry and had everything I needed and here is what came of S'more Krispies.

Be Aware: They are just as addicting as the original Rice Krispies.

 Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
• 4 2/3 C. Marshmallows
• 1 C. Crushed Graham Crackers
• 1/4-1/2 C. Chocolate Chips

 Directions:

 Grease an 8x11 glass dish.
Melt butter in pan, add vanilla, and stir until blended.
Once blended, add marshmallows. Stir constantly until completely melted.
Remove from hot burner.
Add graham crackers and  Rice Krispies, mix.
Let sit about 3 minutes, stirring once every minute.
(This gives it time to cool so that the chocolate chips don't completely melt.)
 Add your chips.

Pour into greased pan and mold.
             
             ***** When molding, it could get messy, Have a damp paper towel handy for easy clean up.



Enjoy!!

Independence Trifle

This is one of the easiest trifles to make.

No seriously, because this one is all for looks.

I have a recipe for a red velvet trifle that I really need to find, remake, and share.
So much homemade goodness in that one.

I was supposed to post this yesterday, so I'm not going to ramble today.

Ingredients:

• 1 Box red velvet
• 1 Box blue velvet
• 1 Large box (5.1 oz) of vanilla pudding
• 1 -8 oz Cream cheese, softened
• 2 C. Milk
• 1 1/2 - 2 C. Cool Whip

                                                    **** If you are lucky, around the 4th you can find a cake mix box with both red velvet and blue velvet.


Directions:

Prepare cake mix according to boxes in the 9 in round cake pans.


                                   Filling the pans only half way with batter.

***One important note. You will only make 1- 9in pan from each cake, I used the left over batter for cupcakes.


While the cake is cooling, you need to make your cream cheese pudding.

In a large mixing bowl, add the softened cream cheese and milk. Whisk together until smooth.
Empty your pudding package and whisk 3-5 minutes, the pudding should be come fluffy.
Yes, it is yellow, this is why we add the Cool Whip in the pudding instead of putting a layer on the cake. (It also gives it a sweeter taste)
 
Start by only adding 1 1/2 cups of Cool Whip and adding up to 2 (but no more), until it reaches your liking.

Now, it's time to layer.

Start by crumbling the blue cake on the bottom.
Adding half of your pudding.
Crumble the red cake on top of your pudding.
Followed by the last of the pudding.

You are welcome to put small dabs of Cool Whip on top for looks along with red, white, and blue sprinkles  if you would like to give your trifle some flair.

Ta-Dah!

Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Super fast and simple trifle that can be thrown together at the last minute.

Have a Happy 4th of July and enjoy your Independence Day! 

Cookie Cake

Summer is in full swing for our boys, and we started it off with swimming lessons.
All of the boys did really well and worked very hard.
I wanted to get them a treat to celebrate their good behavior and job well done.

(Yes, good behavior.. there were other kids there that were absolutely horrible. Pushing other kids in the water, screaming, crying, and not listening. I want them to know that I appreciate that they listen and can be taken into public without us having to say anything.)

Went off topic there, sorry. Anyway.

My first thought was just to go pick up a cookie cake from American Cookie. Everyone loves those but I really didn't want to pay the price for one, so, I decided to make one of my own.

Here's the recipe I came up with.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. Butter, softened
• 1 c. Brown Sugar
• 2 tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Large Box Vanilla Pudding
• 2 c. Flour
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 Bag of Hershey Dark Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

In a large mixing bowl, add together your butter and sugar.
Once creamed, add vanilla, pudding packet, and eggs (one at a time).
Cream as well.
Add baking soda, stir until blended in and then add flour.
Mix until creamy and then hand stir in chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased 9" round cake pan.
Cook at 350 for 40-50 minutes.

 ***** You may think your cookie is burning, be assured that it is not.

***** I frosted around the edge and sides just to make it look pretty. I may not next time, frosting made it a little too sweet for my liking. 

Mississippi Mud Trifle

I couldn't decide if I wanted the Mississippi Mud Pie or Cake... so I came up with the Mississippi Mud Trifle, which is a mix between the two.

Ingredients:

• 2 boxes Brownie Mix
• 3 oz. Chocolate Instant Pudding
• 4 oz. Vanilla Instant Pudding
• 3 c. Milk
• 7 oz. Jar Marshmallow Creme
• 4 oz. Powdered Sugar
• 2 tbsp. Butter
• 1/2 tbsp. Cocoa Powder
• 2 tbsp. Milk
• 1/4 c. Chopped Pecans
• 1 tsp. Vanilla

Yes, you will need to boxes of brownies, simply because they aren't as fluffy as cake.
Bake them together in the 13x9 according to instructions. Let them cool completely before crumbling into pieces, set aside.

The pudding boxes do not come in these sizes, so I measured them out to what I wanted. Trust me, you don't want have too much pudding in your trifle. Once you have your two puddings measured out, pour them in a small mixing bowl and whisk in the milk until it's fluffy or the consistency of pudding. Set aside.

Get your trifle dish and place half of the crumbled brownie into the bottom. Pour all of the pudding on top of the brownie. Now carefully pour the remaining crumbled brownies on top of the pudding.
Your next layer is your marshmallow creme, which can get sticky. Carefully spoon the creme on top of the brownie and spread as evenly as possible. Set aside.

Turn your stove on to a med-low heat. Add the butter, milk, and cocoa. Stir until it comes to a boil, remove from burner. Add your powdered sugar, vanilla, and nuts. Let it cool about 3-5 minutes and then pour on top of your marshmallow.

All done!  Place in fridge until you are ready to eat.

Pumpkin Spice Streusel Muffins

Simply because most people enjoy pumpkin, besides who says you have to wait until fall to enjoy it?!

Muffin Ingredients:

• 2 cups Flour
•  1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
•  15 oz Can Pumpkin 
• 1/2 cup White Sugar 
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar 
• 3/4 cup Softened Butter
•  1 tsp Vanilla 
•  1 tsp Cinnamon 
• 2 Large Eggs

Preheat oven to 350.
In a medium bowl, mix flour and baking soda; set aside.
In a mixing bowl, add pumpkin, sugars, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and butter. Beat with beaters for 5 minutes or until fluffy.
Add flour mixture and beat until combined.
Place muffin cups in pan, if not using cups make sure to grease well.
Add muffin mix to just above half way point.

          ******DO NOT BAKE YET****


Streusel:

• 1/2 cup Flour 
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar, packed
• 1/2 stick Softened Butter 
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Mix well. 
Add softened butter and fork until crumbly. 
Sprinkle of top of muffin mixture. 

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

Banana Lemonberry Bread

How does this bread even come together?? It goes something like this...

       While walking to the register on my typical grocery shopping day I passed fresh organic blueberries, which looked simple irresistible and I couldn't pass up. A few thoughts ran through my mind... I could make smoothies, pancakes, or maybe even muffins. All sounded good to me at the moment. I get home and place them on the counter to wash and notice from the corner of my eye, 3 perfectly ripe bananas that are screaming use me use me. The only thing I really enjoy using bananas for is banana bread, so I thought I could make banana bread and put blueberries in there, that would taste great. As I kept unloading groceries and placing cold stuff in the fridge, I see lemon juice and think lemon and blueberries are a great team, and wonder if these three items would good together.......

      I made the bread and waited until after dinner to try it. My husband who practically hates bananas all together, ate half the loaf in a matter of minutes. He ranted about how much he liked it (which he hardly does to this extent), so now I am thinking he is just trying to make me feel good until I tried it... it was perfect! Not one ingredient was overly empowering.

      Here is what I did::


Bread:

• 2 c. Flour
• 3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 c. Sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. California Lemon Peel (Found it in the seasoning aisle)
• 1/4 c. Butter, melted
• 1/3 c. Sour Cream
• 2 tsp. Vanilla
• 2 Eggs
• 3 Ripe Bananas, mashed (if they are mushy they are too overly ripe and the banana will dominate the taste)
• 1 (6 oz) Container Fresh Blueberries

Preheat oven to 350.

• In a large mixing bowl, add the first four ingredients, blend. 
• In a separate medium sized bowl, add butter, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well combined and then whisk in sour cream. 
• Pour batter into flour mixture and beat until creamy. Add bananas, stir. 
• Fold in blueberries. 

I've made this recipe using 1 large loaf/bread glass pan and then tried it using two smaller loaf/bread pans. I preferred the two smaller ones, but do as you would like.

• Grease your pan or pans of choice. 
• If using 1 large pan, bake for 1hr 20min-1 hr 40 min., or until knife comes out clean. 
• If using 2 smaller pans, bake for 1 hr- 1 hr 15 min., or until knife comes out clean. 

Let cool 5 minutes before taking out of pan and sitting on dish or wire rack to cool completely.



Cream Cheese Glaze:

•  2 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1/2 tbsp. Milk
• 1/2 tbsp. Lemon Juice
• 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar

 Whisk all ingredients together in a small mixing bowl until there are no clumps.
Once your loaf/loaves has cooled, you may ice them.
Serve!

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

I love apples and applesauce but when it comes to putting apples on or in things, such as pie, lets just say I don't exactly like it. Seeing that it is apple season, I bought a bag full. I am very picky when it comes to my apples, I will only eat Gala apples..... oh so sweet and crisp! If you get this apple make sure you pick them right, the redder the better, just remember that saying and you'll do fine. As the apples sat in my fridge for a few days, I tried to think of something I could make with some of them. I didn't think I would ever be brave enough to try an apple cheesecake, let alone bake one. It just doesn't sound very appetizing to me but you never know unless you try it.

This is what I got:

I can honestly say I NEVER care to eat another kind of cheesecake again!!

Crust:

• 2 c. Flour
• 1/2 c. Brown Sugar
• 1 c. Butter, softened

Mix all ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13 glass baking dish, make sure to press it.


Cheesecake:

• 2 (8 oz) Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 c. Sugar
• 1 tsp. Vanilla

Beat or whisk these ingredients until thick and fluffy. Pour on top of your crust.


Apples:

• 4 Apples, peeled and diced/chopped
• 1/2 tbsp. Cinnamon
• 1/8 c. Sugar
• 1/8 c. Brown Sugar
• 2 tbsp. Butter
• 1/2 c. Water
• 1/4 c. Cold Water + 1 tsp. Cornstarch

Once you have peeled and diced/chopped your apples to your liking of size add them to a pot.

Add your cinnamon, sugars, butter, and 1/2 c. water to your pot and cook on medium heat for 4 minutes. At this time, in a separate cup add your
 cornstarch to your 1/4 c. cold water and once
blended pour into your pot. Continue to cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes. Apples should be tender. If you have remaining juice, just drain it, the spices have already cooked into your apples. Pour on top of your cheesecake.





Streusel Topping:

• 1 c. Flour
• 1/2 c. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1/2 c. Butter, softened
• 1/2 c. Sugar

In a medium bowl, blend all ingredients using a fork. Spread evenly over your apples.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.


Once your cheesecake is out and cooling make your caramel drizzle.

Caramel:

• 5 1/2 oz. Caramel bits (find them on the baking aisle)
• 1 tbsp. Water

Place caramel bits and water in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir. Cook another 1o seconds, or until melted.
Drizzle over the top and serve!

Heaven in your mouth!

Crust Layer         Cheesecake Layer         Apple Layer         Streusel Layer        Caramel Drizzle

Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberries... I usually don't like them but my kids and husband do. However, over Spring Break we visited my grandma and she made this strawberry mixture and put them on ice cream.... they were so delicious that when we returned home I went out and bought a box of strawberries. I began to think, what is it that I could make with those strawberries. I have never eaten a pound cake nor strawberry shortcake. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it but there was only one way to find out... bake one.

Loved it!!!

Pound Cake:

• 1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese, softened
•  1 c. Butter, softened
• 3 c. Sugar
• 6 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Lemon Extract
• 1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
• 3 c. Flour
• 1/2 c. Buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325. 
Cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. 
Stir in both extracts. Mix in flour and buttermilk, alternatively. Pour into your greased bundt pan or 2 round 9" pans (for this cake, I used the two 9" pans but you are more than welcome to use the bundt instead). 
If baking in the bundt, cook for 80-90 minutes. 
If cooking in the two 9" pans cook for 45-60 minutes. 
                                                                                

                                                                  *For a fluffier and more cake like add 1 tsp. of                                                                      baking soda after mixing in the extracts.  
 
Once done, let cool 10 minutes before removing from pan and letting it completely cool on racks. 





Strawberry Filling/Topping:

• 1 lb. Strawberries
• 1/4 c. Sugar

Cut the tops of our strawberries off and toss. 
Slice them into slivers. 
Dice into cubes. 
Place diced strawberries into a container that will seal, add sugar and mix until all strawberries are coated. 
Cover with lid and place in the fridge for 1 hour. 









I added frosting to mine, if you choose to do so:

• 1 (8oz) Package Cream Cheese, softened
• 2 sticks Butter, softened
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 20 oz. Powdered Sugar

Whisk all together in a bowl and set aside.




Now it's time to assemble:

Place your strawberries evenly throughout the bottom of your cake. (If your pour the juice in, it will make it near impossible for the cake to hold the frosting on)





Add just enough frosting to cover the top of the strawberries, this will help the two cakes hold together.



Place the other cake on top and frost.
Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.

Nanatella Muffins

Bananas.... a battle I can never win, I either don't have enough or have too many. There are only so many things you can make with them before you are sick of them too. This time the bananas got lucky. Since we were going out of town and prefer to leave super early before breakfast and eat on the road, I decided to make some banana muffins. I didn't want just plain banana muffins though because then they would taste too much like banana bread. As I browsed through the pantry, I decided Nutella would go good. 

Thus was born Nanatella Muffins:

Ingredients:

• 3 Ripe Bananas, Mashed
• 1 1/2 c. Flour
• 3/4 c. Sugar
• 1/4 c. Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
• 2 eggs, Beaten
• 1 tsp.Vanilla
• 1/3 c. Butter, Melted
• 1/4 c. Nutella

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. 

In a medium bowl, mash bananas and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugars, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder).  Once well blended, set aside and return to mashed bananas.

Add beaten eggs, vanilla, and melted butter to your bananas, whisk until combined. Pour on top of your flour mixture and whisk until you see no lumps. 
I decided to put the Nutella in the batter before hand and not a spoonful into each cup individually to save time but you may do as you wish. After adding your Nutella, pour into your cupcake liners (filling them only half way) and bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

                                                           *This recipe made me 16 muffins.

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients:

•  2 c. Flour
• 1/2 c. Sugar
•  2 tsp. Baking Powder 
• 1 tsp. Baking Soda 
• 2 Eggs
• 4 tbsp. Butter, Melted
• 1 1/2 C. Milk + 1 1/2 tbsp Vinegar

I have learned over the years how to make my own buttermilk and it's super easy! Hints the milk plus vinegar. 

Directions::

In small mixing bowl, stir together your milk and vinegar, set aside for about 5 minutes. 

While your milk it sitting, get a large mixing bowl and blend your dry ingredients (first 4 items). Set this aside and go back to your milk mixture. 

Stir the milk, add in the eggs and melted butter, and whisk until completely blended. Once this is done add it to your dry ingredients. Whisk them together until there are no more lumps. 

Turn your burner on to medium heat and allow it to warm before pouring batter onto it. Use 1/4 cup to measure the batter. Watch for the bubbles to form and flip. These will be quite fluffy... After the first flip you will notice them rising in the middle, when they have completely rose then you may remove and go to your next pancake. 

If you are serving for only 2, I would suggest cutting the recipe in half, which can easily be done. 

Enjoy!

Dr.Seuss Cupcakes

This week was Dr.Seuss's Birthday and if you have children, then you know that usually the kids get to do something fun at school. Not the case for my kids this year at their new school. Yeah, I was disappointed and decided if they couldn't enjoy something fun there then I would make it up to them at home. 

        We had "Green Eggs and Ham" for dinner. I made buttermilk pancakes (you can find this recipe in my blog)and dyed them green in substitute for real ham, looked like sliced ham anyways.

I wasn't too sure anyone would be up to eating green eggs, but they demolished them. Although, it may have been for the cupcakes I made for dessert. I made "Thing 1 and Thing 2" and "Truffula Trees". Directions will follow picture.

These cupcakes are super easy. I did cut corners this time and made boxed cake mix.

"Thing 1 and Thing 2" : 

Things you will need:

• Boxed Cake Mix 
• Red Liners 
• White Frosting 
• Blue Cotton Candy

Bake your cupcakes according to box instructions and allow to completely cool, I used red velvet and chose cream cheese frosting.
Slow pull of chunks of cotton candy and place on top. 
Yup, that's it. 
           
            *Please note, the more you handle the cotton candy the faster it will stick together. Also, I would suggest not putting the hair on until you are ready to have them. Where we live there is tons of humidity and in a matter of an hour the cotton candy was melting. 


"Truffula Tree":

 Things you will need:

• Boxed Cake Mix
• Preferred Liner Color
• White frosting with Neon Green Dye or Pre-made Light Green Frosting
• Cake Pop Sticks
• Cotton Candy
• Large Candy Bar Sized Laffy Taffy in 2 colors 

Bake cupcakes according to directions and allow to cool. I used red velvet for these too, I had split the box and used half for these and half for the other cupcakes. Since, I was using cream cheese frosting I added neon green dye (yes, I would suggest getting the neon green so you can get the right color). 


While the cupcakes are cooking, take your Laffy Taffy and using a pizza cutter slice the taffy into smaller strips (they should be about the length of your cake pop sticks). I had to cut the taffy in half quite a few times to get them to the thickness I though was right , as you can see in the picture.... the middle ones are my final width. Remember you don't want them too thick. 


Once you have them sliced, wrap them around the stick so they swirl. Make sure to leave a good 1/2" or more, you need that space to stick it into the cupcake.
              Like so------>




Have all sticks done before adding your cotton candy to the top of the sticks. If you pull the cotton candy carefully from the center, the tops will be more fluffy. Remember what I said about the cotton candy, it applies to these as well. 
You're done! Enjoy! 

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

This last week I have been on a major pancake kick! No, seriously! I can't get enough pancakes!  I want them in the morning, lunch, dinner, and even snack times in between. It's that kind of craving you get when you are pregnant except you're not. Yeah, it's that bad. 

In my house, everyone is guaranteed to eat their whole plate if we are having pancakes. Double score for me! I get what I want to eat and get the satisfaction of knowing they are going to eat a lot too. 

Today we had cinnamon roll pancakes and let me tell you.... all of the boys kept raving over how good they were. 

Pancake Ingredients: 

• 2 C. Flour
• 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
• 2 Tbsp. Cinnamon
• 1 C. Brown Sugar
• 2 C. Milk
• 2 Tbsp. Oil
• 1/3 C. Butter, Melted
• 2 Eggs, Beaten

Cream Cheese Glaze Ingredients:

• 4 Tbsp. Butter
• 2 Oz. Cream Cheese 
• 1 1/4 C. Powdered Sugar
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla

Directions::
   We will be making the cream cheese glaze first. 

            In a medium microwave safe Pyrex mixing bowl, place the butter and cream cheese, and cook for about 10 seconds, stir and cook another 10 seconds or until they are melted. (If butter melts and cream cheese is just softened, this is okay because the heat from the butter will melt it when stirred) Stir in vanilla until well blended. Add powdered sugar and mix until there are no clumps. Set aside. 

            In a large mixing bowl, add all dry ingredients from the pancakes and mix well. Next, add all the remaining ingredients until smooth and lump free. I cook my pancakes at about low medium and use 1/4 cup to measure the batter. Pour batter onto skillet and watch for your pancake to get a few bubbles (this won't take but a minute or two), this means it is ready and flip. Leave it on this side for about a minute and remove. Once all your pancakes are done and on your plates, drizzle the cream cheese glaze across the top and add syrup. Ta-dah! ENJOY!
 

German Pancakes

Last week I decided we were going to have brinner (you know, breakfast for dinner) and I wanted something new. I searched and searched through tons of muffins, casseroles, and pancakes. I saw German Pancakes... I thought hmmm... so I pulled up the recipe and thought dang those are super easy and they even cook in the OVEN! I then searched German Pancakes and in the end had about 4 recipes I was comparing. Of course I did the one thing I do best, intertwined and altered the recipes to what I thought would work and sounded best. They turned out great and my boys were disappointed when they learned there were no left overs for in the morning. *I think they are a mix of french toast and pancakes*

German Pancakes

Ingredients: 

• 6 Eggs
• 2/3 C. Milk
• 2/3 C. Heavy Cream
• 4 Tbsp. Sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp. Vanilla
• 1 C. Flour
• 2 Tbsp. Melted Butter

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 475.
• In a medium bowl, beat eggs with a mixer.
• Stir in milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla. Beat until well combined.
• Sift in the flour and blend.
• Let sit 10-20 minutes.
• While the batter is sitting, butter a 9x13 glass dish. Pour in the batter.
• Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.
• Top with syrup and dust with powdered sugar. Serve!

                                                 *This served a family of 5 with other sides, such as eggs and bacon.

Love Bugs

Every holiday I try and bake something relative to that holiday.
This Valentines Day I came across Love Bugs on The Cake Blog, they were absolutely adorable.
I am not even close to perfecting how to decorate cakes and cupcakes but I try my best.

I did go a little bit of a different route than did...

I usually go the old route and bake the cake and then add the frosting to the cake to make the cake balls but since these had so much frosting on the outside I bought a cake ball cooking pan and they came out like these:

Instead of fondant (which I am not the biggest fan of) I made chocolate heart feet. I melted chocolate melts, took some non-stick foil, and traced little hearts onto the foil so I knew where to put my chocolate and then placed them in the fridge to get hard again:

Once the hearts were hard, I started frosting the bottom of the cake balls first so it will stick to the heart and then made my way to the top. I also took cake pop sticks, cut them in half, and the put mini marshmallows on top (dipped those in chocolate and covered them with sprinkles). The sticks were antennas and then I added the candied eyes to finish. Making most of it edible and tasty.