Salted Caramel Cupcakes With Chocolate Ganache Recipe

Over the holidays, I made my first visit to Trader Joe's. I know, right? Small town living doesn't exactly afford such luxuries, so my friend and I decided to check one out while visiting another friend. It was a grand trip except that we chose to visit on a Sunday evening when everyone and their mother was trying to buy groceries.

Even though I could barely move through the store, I hit the jackpot on all things salted caramel. Salted caramel chai. Salted caramel candies. Salted caramel cookies. So good and so bad. They all made it into my basket. It was quite the sugar high.

Then the holidays were over, and I had to go back to eating vegetables. I knew my first cupcake should be of the salted caramel variety. Because of course I have to bake not so diet friendly cupcakes to continue my cupcake challenge. So what if I also get to partake of the the salty sweet goodness? It's for the greater good. Right? Right.

This cupcake scared the bajeezus out of me. I'm not a candy maker. Yes, I've made marshmallows & buckeyes. Those are practically foolproof. But caramel? I made it anyway, and I can tell you with confidence that caramel isn't really that hard. It just requires a lot of attention. Lock the doors. Turn your phone off. Give the dog a bone. Because it needs your undivided attention for 20 minutes. You can totally make this.

Salted Caramel Sauce Recipe
Yields approximately 2 cups

Ingredients:
1/3 cup water
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:
Set out the cream on the counter while preparing the other ingredients. In a sauce pan over medium heat, pour in the water and sugar. Stir only slightly to combine the sugar with the water. Let it boil and do not stir until the mixture turns a deep amber color.

Remove pan from heat. Being careful to avoid splatter, slowly whisk in the heavy cream. If the mixture seizes, put it back on the stove top over low heat and whisk until the mixture becomes smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the sea salt. Pour into jar or other heatproof container. Allow to cool.

Salted Caramel Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache Recipe 
Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup salted caramel sauce
Chocolate Ganache (recipe below)
Extra caramel sauce for drizzling
Sea Salt for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs one at a time until combined. Alternate between stirring in the dry ingredients and milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir in the vanilla and caramel sauce until thoroughly combined.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with cupcake batter. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out with a very light crumb. Allow to cool in the pan for a few minutes and then remove to cooling racks. 

Dip each cupcake into the ganache and allow to set up. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Sprinkle with sea salt just before serving.

Enjoy!

Slightly adapted from Vintage Cakes

Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Yields enough ganache for 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup (8 oz) chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:
Place a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Do not allow the water to touch the bowl. Pour the chocolate chips into the bowl and cover with cream. Slowly mix together until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from pan and use immediately. 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake Recipe

If I had to pick one favorite candy, it's the peanut butter cup. Especially the miniatures. You know, the ones where you start with just one and somehow end up with ten wrappers. What, that hasn't happened to you? They're addicting, I tell ya.

Needless to say, I really-really-really love them. One day I had the thought to throw one of the miniatures into a chocolate cupcake, because hello? Who doesn't love a nice candy surprise in the middle of an already sweet treat?

The only thing that could make these cupcakes better was a good peanut butter frosting. And this particular peanut butter cream cheese frosting is high up there on the lick-the-bowl-&-beater scale. I might as well have piped some onto a spoon or twelve.

Then I chopped up the leftover peanut butter cups to garnish the cupcakes. But let's be honest. There were only about four leftover because I ate too many, so I topped the rest with sprinkles. Still just as delicious and a whole lot prettier.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcake

Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup + 1 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp hot water
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks + 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temp
1 2/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream
1 bag of peanut butter cup miniatures, unwrapped
1 batch of peanut butter cream cheese, recipe below
Extra peanut butter cups for garnish, optional

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners. In a small dish, whisk the hot water into the cocoa powder. In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter and sugar over medium heat until fully smooth. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low speed until the mixture is cooled. Add in eggs one at a time, beating until fully combined. Stir in the vanilla and cocoa/water mixture. Gradually add in the remaining dry ingredients alternating with the sour cream- beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with cupcake batter. Push one of the peanut butter cups into the batter in each liner. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Allow to cool in pan for a few minutes and then remove to cooling racks. Frost as desired and top with extra chopped peanut butter cups. Refrigerate when not being served.

Slightly adapted from Annie's Eats.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
Ingredients:
1 1/2 blocks (12 oz) cream cheese, cold
3 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tbsp clear vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter and cream cheese. Blend in the peanut butter and vanilla extract. Slowly stir in the powdered sugar half a cup at a time until fully combined, being careful not to over mix. Frost cupcakes as desired.

Adapted from Confection's of a Foodie Bride via Annie's Eats

Enjoy!

Snickerdoodle Cookie Recipe

Christmas cookie season is upon us. Sweet smells of cinnamon, clove, and vanilla will soon carry through the kitchen. Holiday sprinkles of red and green and gold covering the counters. Snow-clad gingerbread houses being built. A photo session interrupted by a hungry pup snatching a forbidden treat.

Yup. That totally happened. A sad dozen of snickerdoodles were compromised in the process. Good thing I think she's cute. There were also three dozen more cookies back in the kitchen, so all was not lost.

These snickerdoodles may be simple, but with the added colored sugar, they become the most festive cookies on the table. They outside is crisp while the inside stays nice and soft. Of course, you can make them mostly crispy if that's your jam. Just leave them in the oven for an extra couple of minutes for a cookie worthy of a mug of cocoa.

Snickerdoodle Recipe

Yields approximately 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Garnish:
 2 tbsp. red sugar & 2 tbsp. green sugar (or 4 tbsp. regular sugar)
2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375*F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, shortening, and 1&1/2 cups sugar. Mix in the eggs until combined. Mix in the vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer one cup at a time until combined.

In two separate bowls, combine each colored sugar with 1 tsp cinnamon. Red in one bowl, green in another. If using regular sugar, combine all of the sugar and cinnamon in one bowl.

Roll one tablespoon of cookie dough with your hands to form a ball. Drop in the colored sugar and roll to coat. Place on cookie sheet an inch and a half apart. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, until edges turn lightly brown.

Once the cookies are done baking, pull them out of the oven and allow to rest on the pan for a minute or two before removing them to a rack to finish cooling. For a crisper cookie, leave them in the oven for a minute or two longer.

Adapted from Allrecipes

Enjoy!

Chocolate Cut Out Sugar Cookies

I've had a lot of trouble finding just the right sugar cookie recipe. Usually, if it's easy to cut out & holds it's shape well, it tastes horrible. If it tastes great- it doesn't keep it's shape. Then, I found this recipe which added cocoa into the mix. It rolls out well. They only expand a smidge. And just about everything tastes better with chocolate, right?

This recipe is a keeper. I used it to make some turkey cookies for Thanksgiving. Well, practice cookies of the taste testing variety. I'll be baking up a double batch for Thanksgiving day. The key is to refrigerate the dough for several hours before rolling it out. Then, bake the cookies on parchment or a silpat so they don't burn. If you can smell the chocolate aroma coming from your oven, they're probably almost finished baking.

I didn't decorate mine, but I wouldn't be opposed to biting into one of these with a drizzle of white chocolate or maple glaze.

Chocolate (Cut Out ) Sugar Cookie Recipe

Yields approximately 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature'
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten together
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Gradually mix in the dry ingredients to form the dough. Divide dough in half and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375*F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to approximately 1/8th inch. Cut as desired with the cookie cutters. Re-roll leftover dough using extra flour & refrigeration as necessary.

Bake cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet for approximately 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for five minutes before placing cookies on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Decorate as desired.

Adapted from this recipe.

Enjoy!

Sugar Cream Pie Recipe

Dieters beware. Today's recipe is not figure friendly. Just looking at it might cause you to gain five pounds. There's no healthy twist to be found. Calories don't count on days that end in Y though, right?

While everyone else is looking forward to pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving, this is the dessert I crave. Sugar cream pie is my favorite comfort food dessert. So good that it's considered in the state pie of Indiana. It reminds me of countless family dinners of extended family with aunts, uncles, and cousins at Christmas time. My cousin and I used to hunt for it on the dessert tables and sneak a taste before dinner.

The best sugar cream pie comes from a freezer. Mrs. Wick's sugar cream pie. It's the very best. Made in a pie factory located half an hour away from my hometown. Next to the factory is a tiny restaurant where you can buy frozen pies or slices of freshly baked pie. It's where I purchased all of the pies for my parents anniversary party last year. They were equally delicious. I would know. I taste tested each of them.

This homemade version is easy to whip up and you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry already. It's delicious, creamy, and you'll probably have to make a trip to the dentist if you eat more than one slice.

Sugar Cream Pie Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups white sugar
3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Pinch nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450*F.

Combine the sugar, flour, cream, and milk in a mixing bowl. Pour into the pie shell. Dot the pie with small bits of the butter. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Bake pie at 450*F for approximately 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350*F and continue baking pie for another 30 minutes. Allow the pie to cool to room temperature and refrigerate until chilled. 

Serve & Enjoy!

Slightly adapted from Paula Deen.

Enjoy!

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Paula Deen & a carrot cupcake recipe

We are halfway through October already. That means we're halfway to Halloween and a little over a month away from Thanksgiving. And then... Christmas. Confession: I definitely spent a good amount of time watching Christmas movies this week.

Before you start sending the hate mail, just know it was merely for inspiration to finish a few holiday projects.  And what does this all have to do with cupcakes anyway? Well, these carrot cupcakes were adapted from one of my mom's favorite recipes: Paula Deen's carrot cake.

My mom is sort of a Paula Deen fan girl. It all started when we switched tv providers and suddenly found the Food Network. She watched endless Paula Deen episodes and bought one of her cookbooks.

For Christmas that year, my dad and I bought her the rest of Paula Deen's cookbooks at the time and there were tears. I'd even go so far as to say they were waterfalls. It rivaled the Christmas when my dad bought her a mothers ring. She loved the cookbooks that much.

The carrot cake was the first recipe she tried, and she's made it many times over. It's a favorite in our family. I was happy to take that cake recipe and make it my own. Except it's not. It's a little bit of Paula Deen, a lot of my mom, and a little bit of me.

Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

Cake:
2 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 cups grated carrots

Frosting:
1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
8 oz. cream cheese, cold
2 to 3 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
chopped pecans (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare muffin pan with cupcake liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the eggs, sugar, and brown sugar. Slowly add in the oil and stir until the mixture is smooth. Mix in the dry ingredients being careful not to over beat the batter. Fold in the grated carrots.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from pan and allow to cool.

For the frosting, mix together the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Stir in the powdered sugar until the frosting reaches the desired consistency. Stir in the vanilla.

Frost cupcakes and sprinkle with chopped pecans, if desired.

Adapted from Paula Deen.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cheesecake Filling & Cinnamon Buttercream

I think I might have a cinnamon problem. Silly, I know. Is there such a thing as Cinnamon Anonymous? I hope not because then I'd have to make a visit.

It's easily my favorite spice, simple as it may be. From my very first taste of a sweet cinnamon roll, I knew we would be good friends. It's found in all of my favorite autumn recipes and the best apple pies. It was only right to include it in both the cupcake AND the frosting of these pumpkin cupcakes.

I once had a professor tell me that she hated the smell of cinnamon. The culprit? Those cinnamon brooms that used to be hung for decoration. Do you remember those? I'm not sure why it came in broom form. It's much more appealing in breakfast form. If I could, I would try to change her mind with these pumpkin cupcakes and all of their cinnamon-y goodness.

Inside is a creamy, cheesecake filling that was inspired by the cheesecake filling in those infamous muffins found at my favorite coffee chain. The sprinkles, of course, are optional and only intended if you want to achieve a happy-dapper-cupcake-muncher status.

I've already made this recipe twice in the last week. Chances are good that they will likely reappear again and again throughout the season.

Pumpkin Cupcakes With Cheesecake Filling & Cinnamon Buttercream

Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcake:

2 2/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. salt
1 15oz. can pumpkin puree
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
4 eggs

Cheesecake filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
4 oz. whipped topping (about half of a small container)

Cinnamon buttercream frosting:
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
3 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1-2 tbsp. heavy whipping cream

Decoration:
Sprinkles (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare muffin tin with cupcake liners. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, mix together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and oil. Mix the eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture, one cup at a time, and stir until just combined. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with the batter.

Bake for 24-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

Prep the cupcakes for filling by using a knife or cupcake corer to make a well in the middle of the cupcake.

For the filling, mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Stir in the vanilla and whipped topping. Mix until fully smooth. Using a piping bag, fill each cupcake with the cheesecake mixture. Cover each hole with a small piece of the leftover cupcake cores.

For the frosting, beat the butter and powdered sugar in a mixer until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon. Beat in the heavy cream until the frosting reaches the desired consistency. Pipe onto cupcakes. Decorate with sprinkles if an extra special dash of cheeriness is requested.

These cupcakes should be refrigerated when not serving.

Cake source: Williams Sonoma

Bonus: Layer any leftover cupcake cores & cheesecake filling for a mini pumpkin cheesecake trifle.

Enjoy!

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caramel apple pecan sticky rolls

Two fantastic things happened yesterday. 1. The Colts won. & 2. I made these ooey gooey caramel apple sticky rolls with pecans.

I love this recipe because it doesn't have yeast in it. There's no proofing involved. No rising. Just some flour, butter, buttermilk, and vanilla combined in a mixer. Knead it a couple of times and the dough is done. It's as easy as that.

We'll just not talk about the amount of butter required for this recipe, okay? Paula Deen would be proud. My diet? Not so much. These are worth it though. Serve them for breakfast or brunch. Your guests will be glad you did. I bet you would even get 100 bonus points if you served them with bacon and coffee.

Caramel Apple Pecan Sticky Rolls

Yields one dozen rolls

Ingredients

Topping:
1/4 c. (half stick) butter, melted
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. chopped pecans

Rolls:
3 c. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. buttermilk, warm
1/4 c. (half stick) butter, melted
2 tsp. vanilla

Filling:
1/4 c. (half stick) butter, melted
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 medium apples, peeled & diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400*F. Prepare a 9x9" pan (with a raised edge at least 2" high) with cooking spray. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, and chopped pecans for the topping and pour into the prepared pan. Set aside.

For the rolls:
In a stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly stir in the buttermilk, butter, and vanilla until fully combined. The dough will be fairly sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 3-4 times. Then pat into a 9x12" rectangle.

Cover the rectangle with the melted butter, brown sugar, and diced apples. Roll into a log, starting with the long edge. Cut one inch slices and arrange in the prepared pan.

Bake at 400*F for 22-25 minutes. Once the rolls are out of the oven, immediately invert the pan onto a serving tray and let sit for 15-30 seconds to let the rest of the topping fall out of the pan. Remove the pan from the tray and serve immediately.

Adapted from King Arthur Flour.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my Canadian friends!

maraschino cherry chip cupcakes

The end of the week should start with pink cupcakes. Actually, Mondays should probably begin with pink cupcakes. Or any cupcakes for that matter.

This batch was baked to celebrate a friend's recent birthday. Her favorite cake flavor- cherry chip. Only these have more cherries and less of those fake chips. They would be sweet for any pink themed celebration.

Don't forget to remind your friends and family that no, you did not cut off your finger. That's just the red coloring from chopping all of those maraschino cherries. I probably spent more time washing my hands of the red dye than I did actually baking the cupcakes, but I'd do it again to have another one.

Maraschino Cherry Chip Cupcake Recipe

Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 c. + 2 tbsp. flour, divided
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. milk
4 egg whites, lightly beaten
Small jar of maraschino cherries, chopped (reserve 1/2 cup cherry juice)
2 tsp. almond extract
pink food coloring (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare pan with cupcake liners.
Whisk together 2 cups of the flour, baking powder, & salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a stand mixer bowl using a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Combine the milk, cherry juice, and egg whites in another dish. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and liquids to the mixer (using the whisk attachment), beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat on medium speed until combined. Stir in the almond extract & food coloring (if desired).

Mix the flour with the chopped cherries until the flour is completely absorbed. Fold the cherries into the batter.

Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Frost with chocolate buttercream (recipe below) & enjoy!

Slightly adapted from SprinkleBakes.

Chocolate Buttercream Recipe
Yields approximately 3 cups frosting

Ingredients:

3 cups powdered sugar
6 tbsp. dutch processed cocoa
6 tbsp. butter (2/3 stick)
3-4 tbsp. heavy cream
2 tsp. vanilla

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the powdered sugar cocoa mix with the butter. Beat until smooth. Thin out with a tablespoon of cream at a time until it reaches the desired consistency. Mix in the vanilla.

Fill a pastry bag with the buttercream to frost cupcakes.

Adapted from this recipe.

Enjoy the weekend!

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes

The new season of Big Bang Theory premiered last night. Who watched it? Not me. I was so busy hemming pants and baking cupcakes for a friend's birthday that I forgot about my favorite show. How in the world could I forget about Mr. Bazinga himself, Sheldon Cooper and his friends? Did Howard make it back from space? Are Penny & Leonard still together?

I tend to forget important things. Like that time I forgot about a church potluck until late the night before and had to whip up a dish with what I had on hand. There was no butter, but I found a yellow cake mix. What resulted was an easy, semi-homemade cupcake that presented well: Pineapple Upside Down Cupcakes.

My normal recipe for the cupcakes involves a butter cake from scratch, but these were so good, I couldn't tell a difference. The secret is substituting pineapple juice for the water called for on the box.

For the pineapple on the bottom, I just cut a small wedge out of each slice until they were small enough to fit in the bottom of a muffin pan. After I ran out of whole slices of pineapple, I fit together the leftover wedges to make more pineapple rings in the bottom of the pan.

Pineapple Upside Down Cupcake Recipe

Yields approximately 18 cupcakes

Ingredients
Yellow cake mix (+eggs/oil called for on box)
20 oz. can of pineapple slices in 100% juice (reserve juice)
2/3 cup brown sugar
Maraschino Cherries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare muffin pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar into each cup in the pan. Cut a section out of the pineapple until it's small enough to fit inside of the muffin cup. Quarter a few of the maraschino cherries and place one piece in the middle of each pineapple piece in the muffin cup. Set aside.



Prepare cake mix with eggs and oil as called for on the box. Substitute leftover pineapple juice for the water in the mix. (If you don't have enough pineapple juice, just add water to the juice until it reaches the proper measurement.)

Cover the pineapple and cherry with cake batter until each muffin cup is 2/3 full. Bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the muffin pan to cool for a minute. Run a knife around the edge of each muffin cup, loosening the edges of the cupcake. Flip the pan over onto a cooling rack to release the cupcakes from the muffin tin.

Place each upside down cupcake into a muffin liner to serve. Enjoy while warm!

sweet potato pie

The last few days have been cold and rainy, and I'm loving it. Weather like this makes me want to cuddle up with a good book and a cup of tea. It's perfectly autumn. And you know what else goes well with this weather? Pie.

Well, technically pie goes well with everything. Good day? Eat some pie. Bad day? Eat some more pie.

My dad has been harvesting the last of his garden and gave me some sweet potatoes. So naturally, I baked a pie. Sweet potato pie is a lot like pumpkin pie. They look the same, taste similar, but sweet potato pie is a bit more dense. Plus, sweet potatoes are loaded with fiber and vitamin A so you can totally somewhat justify eating a slice even when you're trying to make better food choices. At least that's what I keep telling myself.

Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb. of sweet potatoes (about 2 medium sweet potatoes)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1-9 inch deep dish pie crust

Directions:

Peel, cube, and boil the sweet potatoes for approximately 30 to 40 minutes or until tender. Drain and transfer to mixing bowl.

Preheat oven to 350*F. Mash the sweet potatoes. Mix in the butter, sugar, & brown sugar. Stir in the evaporated milk, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin spice until the mixture is smooth. Pour into pie shell. 

Bake pie in oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until the middle is set. Allow pie to cool completely before serving.

Adapted from my mom's recipe.

Enjoy!

s'mores cupcake in a jar

There are few things I love more than s'mores. It's easily my favorite food. (Sorry, Mexican food. I still love you a whole lot.) And it's not just s'mores that I love, but the countless hours spent around the campfire with some very cool people. Summers spent at campgrounds and weekly bonfires led me to develop a fond appreciation for the treat.

You can take practically anything, give it a s'more twist, and I'll love it. I've spent years trying to find another s'mores cappuccino like the one I found at a gas station during finals week once. S'mores candy bars? Yup, I loved those. S'mores ice cream? Of course. S'mores brownies? Heck yeah. Obsessed much? Perhaps.

It took me a while, but I finally tried s'mores cupcakes. Combining two loves, s'mores and cupcakes, seemed right. Just for fun, I decided to bake them in a jar. They are great for a picnic or gifting to a friend. You can certainly bake these cupcakes in a regular liner instead of a jar. If you go that route though, I would switch out the marshmallows & "frost" with marshmallow fluff.

S'mores Cupcakes in a Jar Recipe

Yields approximately 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 1/2 sticks butter, room temp

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa powder

1/2 cup hot water

2 cups flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

3 large eggs

1 1/2 tbsp vanilla

3/4 cup sour cream

miniature marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt 4 tablespoons (half stick) of the butter and mix with the graham cracker crumbs and 1/3 cup of the sugar. Press a tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each jar (or cupcake liner). Place the jars on a pan with a raised edge to prevent them from sliding around. Set aside.

Mix the hot water with the cocoa in a small bowl until fully combined. in a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Set both bowls aside. 

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs in one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Stir in the vanilla. Slowly add the cocoa mixture and stir until fully combined. Alternate between adding in the flour mixture and the the sour cream, beginning and ending with the flour. 

Fill the rest of your jars (or liners) with the batter. Bake in the oven for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Allow the cupcakes to cool.

Top them with the mini marshmallows and place under the broiler for approximately 30 seconds or until the marshmallows are toasty brown. Serve immediately.

Adapted from Annie's Eats.

Enjoy!

Baked Crab Rangoons

Middle school was total drama for me. It was easily my least favorite teeny bopper experience. The one saving grace was my friends. One of those friends happened to be part of the family that owned the only Chinese restaurant in my tiny town.

Confession: the only Chinese food I'd tried before meeting this friend was the kind that came from a Lipton bag.

I had a meat-and-potatoes kind of family. Thanks to this friend though, my family tried out her restaurant, and I quickly became hooked on the crab rangoons. Which some quick reading tells me are pretty much just an Americanized Chinese dish, but that's okay. They're delicious, and that's what counts.

I still love crab rangoons. They're good for my tastebuds but much less for my waistline. Lucky for me, I found a recipe for baked crab rangoons on Pinterest. Same tasty goodness, but a bit less fattening. Unfortunately, the link now redirects to the Weight Watchers website, and I can no longer find the original recipe. That being the case, I decided to share my modified version with all of you!

Baked Crab Rangoon Recipe

Yields approx. 30 rangoons

1 8oz package of cream cheese

8 oz pre-cooked imitation crab meat 

1 green onion 

1 tsp garlic salt

1 package wonton wrappers

Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Chop the crab meat up into very small pieces with your knife or use a food processor. Mince the green onion. Mix together the cream cheese, crab meat, onion, and garlic salt. 

Spoon about 3/4 tablespoon of the mixture into the middle of your wonton wrapper. Moisten the edges of the wrapper with water. 

Fold one corner of the wrapper over to the opposite corner making a triangle shape. Smooth out the wrapper making sure there is no air trapped inside and press to seal. 

You can also fold these up like regular rangoons, but I like to fold them into triangles like samosas so the edges get crispy.

Arrange the crab rangoons on your baking sheet. Give them a light coating of the cooking spray over the top. The cooking spray gives the wrappers just enough oil so they bubble up at the edges. 

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until edges turn golden brown. Flip the rangoons halfway through baking to ensure browning on both sides. 

Serve while warm. 

Enjoy!

1-2-3 Ice Cream Pizza

When I was a kid, my dad used to buy me these choco taco ice cream treats at the convenience stores. As a kid, I was all "this is the most amazing thing ever". I loved tacos & I loved ice cream. Naturally, an ice cream taco seemed like it came from heaven.

So I decided to take one of my nephew's favorite foods (pizza) and make it into the best ice cream treat he's ever had. That's right. An ice cream pizza. And it's as easy as 1-2-3 because no one wants to spend too much time in the kitchen during the summer when they could be outside soaking up the sunshine.

There are three major components to the ice cream pizza. Cookie dough, ice cream, and toppings. If you are channeling your inner Martha Stewart, you can whip up a batch of homemade cookie dough. I just used a premade dough found at the grocery. Add in your favorite ice cream with toppings and you have a tasty, summer treat.

1-2-3 Ice Cream Pizza Recipe

6-10 servings

Ingredients

16 oz package of premade cookie dough
1 quart of ice cream
Ice cream toppings (I used chopped oreos and mini M&Ms)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line your pizza pan with parchment paper. Roll out cookie dough on parchment paper to form your "pizza crust". Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the cookie dough is fully baked. Allow to cool.

After the cookie is cooled completely, set your ice cream on the counter to thaw out for about 5-10 minutes. This makes the ice cream easier to spread. Once the ice cream has thawed out a little, spread it over the cookie (using as much or as little as you like).

Cover the ice cream with your toppings and immediately return to the freezer for at least an hour. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Easy Watermelon Cupcakes

When I was a kid, I hated watermelon. Why? Thanks to my older sister, I was convinced that swallowing one of the watermelon seeds would cause me to grow a baby in my stomach, or at the very least, I would grow a watermelon in my stomach. Thanks for that one, sis.
As an adult though, I’m starting to come around to watermelon and its non-baby growing properties. Since watermelon is pretty much synonymous with summertime, it’s only fitting that I share one of the very first cupcakes I ever made- watermelon cupcakes.

There are two things you should know about these cupcakes:
They are made from a cake mix & they do not taste like watermelon.
At seven or eight years old, the first time I was introduced to this recipe wasn’t in cupcake form at all but a regular sheet cake. My youth pastor’s wife didn’t just love watermelon, she l-o-v-e-d it. Her kitchen was full of watermelon decorations.
That summer, she threw a watermelon themed party for the VBS kids that Pinterest would be proud of. The centerpiece of the party was this cake with green frosting. When you cut into it, it looked just like a slice of watermelon. The biggest surprise was that she made it with a strawberry cake mix. And folks, I loved strawberry cake.
I could not stop raving about this cake to my mom, so she suggested we recreate it in cupcake form. And so we did.
Watermelon Cupcakes Recipe
Yields approximately 18 cupcakes
Ingredients1 strawberry cake mix + the ingredients listed on the box
1 cup of semisweet mini chocolate chips
1 can of vanilla frosting
Green food coloring
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line your pan with baking liners.
Prepare cake mix as directed on the box. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Fill baking liners 2/3 full. Bake according to directions on the box.
Allow cupcakes to cool completely after baking.
Mix green food coloring into the can of frosting until you reach the desired shade of green.
Frost your cupcakes & enjoy!

Strawberries and Cream Scone Recipe

You might have noticed that I took a little time off from the blog world. Well, a lot of time. Baking and blogging turned out to be much more of a luxury than I could afford this winter (that felt more like spring). I genuinely love both though, so here I am, back just in time for summer! I'm going to take Tim Gunn's advice and figure out how to make it work. Less thinking and more doing.

So here I have a special recipe for you. Something sweet that says "I love you, readers." Because all of you rock. And maybe also because I love strawberries & cream. But mostly because you guys & gals really do rock.

Given that I live in the midwest, it is a luxury to enjoy in season strawberries. They're so much sweeter than the grocery store variety. Seize the opportunity and find yourself some locally grown strawberries for this recipe. You won't be disappointed.

Strawberries & Cream Scone Recipe

Yields approximately 12 scones

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter

1 cup of heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chopped strawberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and prepare a baking sheet. I covered mine with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the stick of butter into small pieces. Using a pastry blender or your hands, blend the butter into the flour until the mixture is coarse and resembles small peas.

Stir the cream and vanilla into the mixture just until combined. Fold in the strawberries.

Pour the mixture out onto a floured surface. Sprinkle the dough with a little more flour and pat into a round about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick.

Use a cookie cutter (or the end of a cup) to cut out the scones. Roll out the leftover dough once more to cut with the cookie cutters. Place the scones on the baking sheet two inches apart

Bake at 375 degrees F for 12-15 minutes until the edges turn a nice, golden brown.

Adapted from the Rich Cream Scone recipe found in the February 2012 edition of Martha Stewart Living.

Enjoy!

P.S. I'm SO glad to be back!

Confetti Cupcake Recipe

When I was a kid, I loved funfetti cake mixes. It was the tried and true birthday favorite around our house. Besides, what kid wouldn't like a cake with "fun" in the name? Those rainbow sprinkles were like bits of happiness in edible form.

This time around, I wanted to try to recreate the funfetti cake from scratch. I read about Dorie's Perfect Party Cake and knew that would be a great place to start. I took her basic cake recipe and subbed the lemon flavoring for vanilla to create a nice, white cake that made the perfect backdrop for rainbow sprinkles.

Sometimes you just need a little color in your life. Why not have it in your cake too?

Confetti Cupcake Recipe
Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sprinkles (I've found the jimmies type sprinkles work best)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F. Line muffin pan with baking liners.

Mix sprinkles with one tablespoon of flour and set aside. Sift the rest of the flour with the baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the vanilla extract.

To this bowl, alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients to your sugar and butter mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Finally, mix in your sprinkles.

Fill baking liners 2/3 full with batter and bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Remove from pan and allow to cool before frosting.

Frost with your favorite buttercream (like the one in this post) and top with a few more sprinkles.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Dorie's Perfect Party Cake in Baking From My Home To Yours via Annie's Eats 

Root Beer Cupcake Recipe

Oh, hey there, February. It seems I've fallen behind on my cupcake posts. Have I been baking? Yes. Enjoying the cupcake goodness? Of course.

One of my nephew's recently celebrated his tenth birthday. Yes, tenth. That makes me feel so old. Wasn't he in diapers just yesterday? His beverage of choice is root beer, so I decided to have a go with a root beer cake. These cupcakes taste like chocolate root beer float goodness.

Root Beer Cupcake Recipe
Yields approximately 2 dozen cupcakes

Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp root beer concentrate.
1 cup of root beer soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*F. Line muffin pan with baking liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and set aside. Cream together the butter with both sugars. Add the eggs in one at a time, stirring until combined. Stir in the root beer concentrate and vanilla. Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and root beer soda to the batter, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Fill baking liners two-thirds full with the batter. Bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan to cool.

Root Beer Frosting
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp root beer concentrate
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp heavy cream

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until smooth. Slowly add in the powdered sugar.  Stir in the vanilla extract & & root beer concentrate. Then mix in your heavy cream & beat for two minutes.

Pipe frosting on cupcakes once cool. Enjoy!

Cupcakes adapted from Bakingdom and Baked: New Frontiers in Baking
Frosting by Nicole.

Coconut Snowball Cupcake Recipe

I've never been much of a fan of coconut, so when my nephew suggested it as a cupcake flavor I wasn't all that excited. The toasted coconut changed my mind. Don't skip that step. It's important.

The extra coconut on top will almost make up for the mild winter we're having. If I can't have snow outside, might as well have some pretend snow inside.

Recipe:

Coconut Snowball Cupcakes
Yields about 2 dozen cupcakes

Cupcakes-
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup toasted coconut*
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coconut extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups shredded coconut for decoration

*To toast coconut- preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Spread the coconut in a thin layer on a baking sheet. Bake on the middle rack in the oven for 5-10 minutes until lightly brown.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pan with baking liners and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, toasted coconut, & salt. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Mix in the eggs one a time. Stir in the extracts.

Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until cupcakes are lightly brown. Allow them to cool while you work on the filling & frosting.

Filling-
Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
3 tbsp flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp coconut extract

Directions:
Whisk together the milk and flour in a small sauce pan on the stove over medium heat. Stir until the mixture thickens but do not let it boil. After it thickens, remove from heat & cover with Saran wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool completely.

After the flour-milk mixture cools, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the flour-milk mixture and mix until combined. Stir in the extract and set aside.

Frosting-
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:
Beat the butter until smooth. Mix in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until incorporated. Stir in the vanilla extract. Add the milk one tablespoonful at a time while mixing until it reaches the desired consistency. Set aside.

Cut a small hole into the cupcake with a paring knife or a cupcake corer. Fill them by spooning in a small amount of the filling.

Spread frosting on the cupcakes and dip each one into the extra coconut.

Enjoy!

Cupcakes adapted from this recipe. Filling slightly adapted from Our Best Bites

Snickerdoodle Cupcake Recipe

Here I am cupcake #2. My dilemma this week was to make a cupcake with ingredients I already had in the kitchen. And believe me, there wasn't a lot in the kitchen. Then I remembered the one cookie I seem to always have the makings for- the snickerdoodle.

What's not to love about snickerdoodles? They're basically sugar cookies wrapped up in my favorite spice, cinnamon, with a bunch of extra sugar. Yum. Everyone will assume you're baking cookies, but these are better.

The thing about this cupcake is that it was so good that it almost wasn't. With my crazy work schedule lately, I've been leaving my house before the sun comes up and returning after sunset. All work and no natural light is no bueno for someone wanting to take nice photos of cupcakes. I set aside a couple of them to take photos of when I would have better lighting but by the time I was able to take the photos, the cupcakes disappeared. Seems someone thought they would be better in their tummy than in my photos. Luckily, I had snapped a quick shot with my phone to post on instagram. That lovely background is the refrigerator. Classy, I know.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Yields about 2 dozen cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. milk

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin pan with paper liners. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a larger bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Blend in the eggs one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.
Alternate between adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Stir between each addition.
Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full with batter & bake at 350 for 15-18 minutes or until the tops are golden brown. Allow them to cool in the pan for few minutes before removing them to finish cooling.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1 8 oz. pkg cream cheese, room temp
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), room temp
3-4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 tbsp. milk

Directions:
Beat the butter and cream cheese in a bowl until smooth. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time until it's all incorporated. Stir in the vanilla & cinnamon. Add the milk one tablespoonful at a time while mixing until it reaches the desired consistency. Fill a pastry bag (or ziploc bag with a corner snipped off) with the frosting and pipe onto the cupcakes.

These cupcakes are best eaten within 2-3 days of baking.

Enjoy!

Adapted from Martha Stewart