Guiltless Cupcakes

I know I haven't been able to post in awhile, but I couldn't resist posting this guiltless version of cupcakes. My roommate found this recipe on pinterest and now we have tried many different variations. This version is definitively So here is the secret ingredient...PUMPKIN

Now let me tell you how to create this really difficult masterpiece. Well you take a can of pumpkin and you mix it with devils food cake mix. Yeah that's pretty much all there is to it. You mix it and then you put it in cupcake liners. Have the oven preheated to 425 and cook them for 20 minutes rotating after 10 minutes. Now go make them! Trust me they are sooooo worth it and less than 150 calories each!

Cookies N Cream Ice Cream!

This will probably be your favorite and easiest recipe ever created!  This recipe seems to be all over the blogging world and on the back of Eagle Brand condensed milk.  You can customize the flavor however you want, but this one is my favorite so far.

All that you will need for this recipe is Oreo cookies, condensed milk,  vanilla, and whipping cream. Sounds simple enough right?

Start out by putting the condensed milk, vanilla and crushed Oreos into a bowl and mix together.

In a separate bowl pour the whipping cream and begin to whip as if you are making whipping cream.  Once you have created semi stiff peaks in the whipping cream it should be ready!

Slowly fold the whipping cream into the other mixture a little at a time.  Once everything is coated put the mixture in a freezable container or pan.  I just put mine in a banana loaf pan and put it in the freezer.  Let it freeze overnight or at least 8 hours if you want it to be completely frozen.

And there you have it! Delicious homemade ice cream without an ice cream machine!

Ingredients
2 cups whipping cream
14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/2 package Oreos (you can do more or less depending on what you like)

Chocolate Cream Puffs

I got this recipe from our best bites...again....I need to branch out.

Ingredients
½ c. water
¼ c. butter
1/8 tsp. salt
½ c. flour
2 eggs

Ok so the first step is to preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine water, salt and butter in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Remove from heat and add the flour all at once and stir until a large ball of dough forms.

Add one egg at a time and stir in completely before adding the second egg.

Put teaspoon sized drops of dough on an ungreased pan (they will expand). These were a little bigger and the cream puffs came out quite large.

Put in the over for 20-25 minutes, but make sure to check periodically to see if they are golden brown

Here is how to make the chocolate filling

Ingredients
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
1 Tbsp. cold water
2 Tbsp. boiling water
½ c. sugar
¼ c. cocoa
1 c. cold whipping cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sprinkle gelatin over  the cold water in a small bowl and let it stand 1 minute to soften.
Add the boiling water and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved and mixture is clear.
Let it cool slightly.
Stir together ½ c. sugar and ¼ c. cocoa in a medium bowl.
Add whipping cream and vanilla.
Beat at medium speed until stiff.
Pour in gelatin mixture and beat until well blended.
Refrigerate ½ hour and then spoon into icing bag in order to fill the pastry.

Senior Day

These are some cupcakes I made for our tennis senior day! It was so much fun!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I found this recipe on the food network from the cupcake wars show and it turned out really well actually!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons red food coloring
• 1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• Cream Cheese Frosting, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line mini cupcake or muffin pans with 48 mini cupcake liners or line regular-size cupcake or muffin pans with 24 regular cupcake liners.
In mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt. In another mixing bowl, stir together the eggs and oil. In a mixing cup, mix together the buttermilk, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla extract and lightly whisk. Gradually add the dry ingredients and buttermilk mixture to the egg mixture, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. We are trying to achieve a dark brown, red cupcake color, so add more cocoa powder, if the red is not deep enough.  Fill the regular-size cupcake liners and bake 20 minutes, or until done. Let the cupcakes cool completely.

 To make the Cream cheese frosting:

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup or 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine the sugar, cream cheese, butter, salt, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl and blend for 2 minutes.

S'more Cupcakes :)

So I have been waiting to try this recipe I found from nibbledish.com and I finally decided to make it today.  I think that it turned out pretty tastey.  I didn't especially like the marshmallow frosting and it was super sticky and hard to work with, so I am not going to put that recipe up.

Ingredients for cupcakes:

• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar  
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

 Directions:

1. Combine 1 cup of  the graham cracker crumbs and 1/4 cup of melted butter. Scoop a tablespoon into each cupcake paper, pressing down to cover the bottom. Set aside.
2. Beat 1/2 cup of butter on high speed until soft, about 30 seconds. Add in brown sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds after each . Set aside.
4. Mix together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
5.  Add milk, vanilla,  and flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture. Beat to combine.
6. Fill cupcake cups with cake batter (they should be 2/3 - 3/4 full).
7. Place muffin tins on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for approximately 18-20  minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
8. Remove cupcakes and let it cool down for 20 - 30 minutes.
9. After the cupcakes have cooled, use a knife and cut a hole into the cupcakes (shaped like a cone). Fill with chocolate fudge filling .
10. You might want to keep the top of the cupcake hold to over the fudge so the  frosting doesn't sink in. Mine turned out looking like little mountains, but I think that's better than it sinking in.

Ingredients for fudge fillng:

• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate, cut into pieces
• 1/2 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 teaspoons milk

Directions:

In a double boiler, mix all ingredients together until fully combined.

cool and fill each cupcake with a spoonful of fudge

use the extra as decoration on top of the cupcake

Rainbow Cupcakes :)

I made these today and they were so fun and cute :)

Mini Apple Pies

I'm a really big fan of pies.  The problem is that it would sit at my house until my roommate ate it all ourselves.  It's too much of a hassle to give pieces of pie away.  I had this brilliant idea of making mini pies so that I could share them!

First I took one granny smith apple and peeled the skin off. The first time I made these I cut the apple chunks too big and it was hard to get very many in the pies and after they had baked the filling was pretty sad looking inside.  Make sure that the apple chunks are tiny! The more you can get to fit in the pies the better!  Put the apple chunks into a mixing bowl I then mixed in 1/4 cup of both brown sugar and regular sugar.  I added about 2 tablespoons flour maybe a tiny bit less (I was revising a recipe I had found).  Then lastly add a 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.  Stir all of these ingredients around until the apple pieces are completely covered.

For the dough I just used a pillsbury premade pie crust. I actually tried a generic brand too, but everyone agreed that the pillsbury crust was better.  I laid the pie crust on a cutting board and rolled it out to be a little thinner.  The crust was a little too thick without rolling it out.  I had to experiment with different cups that could cut out the right size circle shape. Try a few cups or round objects so you get a nice circle of dough that can fit in the mini cupcake pan.

After I put all of the dough circles into the pan I generously filled them with the apple filling.  The apples shrink so don't worry about them overflowing too much.  I actually put a tiny dollop of butter on top of the apple filling before I put on the pie top.  For the top of the pie you can do any sort of design with the extra pie dough.  I decided to be fancy and create a woven top (which took forever).  I spent probably 45 minutes making the tops of these pies (luckily lord of the rings was on.)

With the oven at 350 degrees bake them for about 15-20 minutes or until the edges are brown.  Take them out, let them cool and serve with some vanilla ice cream!

Ingredients
1 Granny Smith apple
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Pie crust
Butter (optional, but it makes it extra tastey!)

Smore Cookies!

These are pretty easy to make.  Roll 1 inch balls of chocolate cookie dough and flatten it down wwith your hand.  Add a piece of hersheys chocolate  and mini marshmallows. After removing them from the oven add pieces of graham cracker. Yum :)

Cupcakes!!!

Sohonestly this wasn't my favorite recipe, so I'm not going to post it. I just thought they looked super cute! I made them for my teammates birthday :)

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

  Ok so I absolutely loooove this recipe.  I found it on a website called our best bites.  It is probably the best cupcake I have made in awhile!  I am just going to post the recipe as I found it because I didn't change anything when I made them.  However, when I made them I noticed the center of my cupcakes sank in like this

I read a few other reviews of this recipe and many others had the same problem.  Since I'm no baking experts, I don't know how to fix it, but honestly after I put the frosting on t wasn't a big deal.  Alright here is the recipe from www.ourbestbites.com

CUPCAKES:

1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 c. firmly packed dark brown sugar (dark brown sugar is REALLY important!)

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. butter, softened

2 large eggs at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 350. 

line 18 cupcake holders with foil liners

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

 In another bowl, combine sugars and butter together on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 1 additions, beating on low speed until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling about 2/3 full.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes and then transfer the cupcakes to the wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Oreo Truffles

I decided to try this recipe that I found on allrecipe.com because it just sounded extremely tastey.  They turned out pretty good, but they were really rich.  Overall I was satisfied with the taste and the recipe was super easy.  The recipe originally called for a whole box of oreos, but I decided to cut the recipe in half because I definitely didn't want 42 of these guys sitting around my kitchen for me to eat.  I first put 18 oreo cookies into a food processor for about 20 seconds.  I then put 4 oz of cream cheese in a bowl (half a container).  I mixed in the crumbs, which actually took some effort because the cream cheese was pretty firm.  After it was completely mixed i rolled it up into 1 inch balls. Then I took an 8 oz bar of dark chocolate and melted it in a microwave for increments of 20 seconds stirring in between.  So in the recipe it says to dip the the balls into the chocolate with a tooth pick but they just fell off and broke.  I ended up having to use a spoon to drip the chocolate on to the balls.  If I made this again I would definitely thin out the chocolate while melting it.  It was too thick to cover the truffles.  After the truffles were covered I took some extra cookie crumbles and sprinkled them over the chocolate

I let the truffles dry and then they were ready to eat :)
Ingredients 
(I cut all of this in half)
1 (16 ounce) package OREO Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
1 (8 ounce) package PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1 (8 ounce) packages BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate, melted

Peppermint Bark

Even though the holidays are coming to an end I couldn't resist making some peppermint bark.  I got this recipe from allrecipes.com which is one of my favorite websites ever! You can book mark your favorite recipes in a recipe book, so you can go back and look at them.  I think it's brilliant!  Anyway that is where I got this recipe and it turned out really delicious.  Luckily I went to the movies today with my friends and I was able to give them all little baggies filled with it, so I don't eat it all myself. I think the hardest part of this recipe was crunching up the peppermint candies.  I literally had to use a hammer.  I unwrapped the candy, put it into a ziploc bag and just crushed the bejeezus out of it.  I may have overdone the crushing because the candies became a little to powdery.  I wish I had kept larger chunks.  I also noticed that it might be easier to use candy canes.  I think the coloring would be better because there is more red in candy canes.  I also had to line a 9x9 pan with wax paper so the chocolate wouldn't get stuc on the pan (makes for easy clean up).  Ok so the original recipe calls for using a double boiler to melt the chocolate, but I just used the microwave.  It works just as well.  I took 8 oz of semisweet chocolate and put it into a microwaveable bowl.  I microwaved it for 30 seconds first then I added just a little bit of canola oil.  I put it back in the microwave and waited another 30 seconds.  I took it out and started to stir it.  If you don't stir it the chocolate can burn and become clumpy.  I put in a 1/4 teaspoon of peppermint extract and put the chocolate in the microwave for another 15 seconds.  I took it out and just stirred until the chocolate was smooth.  I poured the chocolate into the wax paper covered pan. I used a spoon to spread the chocolate out.  I then put half of the crushed peppermint candies on top of the chocolate layer

the original recipe said to let the chocolate cool for an hour, but I don't have that kind of patience so I just popped it in the fridge while I melted the white chocolate.  For the white chocolate I did the exact same thing as the semi sweet chocolate.  Microwaved it for 30 seconds added a little canola oil, put it back in for 30 seconds, stirred in 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract and microwaved a final 15 seconds.  After the white chocolate was smooth and melted I poured it on top of the semi sweet chocolate in small sections so it was easier to spread (ex. puring the chocolate in each of the corners and the center then connecting them with a spoon.  After it was smooth I put the remaining crushed peppermint candies on top and let it sit.  If you want it to harden quicker, put it in the fridge.  After its solid lift the wax paper out and break the bark into pieces.  It was a little painful breaking the bark because the candy pieces were so sharp, but I survived.  Anyway I didn't have any problem with the two chocolates separating and it turned out delicious :)

Ingredients
8 oz semi sweet chocolate
2 teaspoons canola oil (divided)
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract (divided)
25 peppermint candies