Strawberry Vanilla Cream Puffs


2 (3.5 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup all purpose flour
4 eggs

I made these with some pudding mixed into the cream. They are a more heavier cream puff than usual. I rather like the lighter filled ones but the filling was still delish I ate most of it on it's own. For a festive touch. I put a strawberry in the center of each one with a drizzle of powder sugar on top.

Mix together pudding, cream and milk and set aside in fridge. Preheat oven to 425. In large pot bring water and butter to boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer dough to large mixing bowl. Use a spoon or stand mixer to beat in one egg at a time. Mix well after each. Drop spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 20-25 mins. Centers should be dry. When shells are cool either split and fill them with the pudding mixture or use pastry bag to fill shells. I prefer a pastry bag.



Vanilla Cupcake Cookies made from cupcake mix!



I made up this awesome recipe last night or shall I say at 4am! I have searched the internet all over for a vanilla cupcake flavored cookie. There is literally NO SUCH THING. All I found were cake mix cookies. Not good enough for me! Soooooo I did some experimenting and WA LA!

Let me introduce you to a very DELICIOUS cupcake cookie!


Mmmmm look how moist the inside is yet the outer shell is a crisp cookie and look at that light golden brown bottom. Perfection.

  

Ingredients:

1 box Mrs. Fields Confetti Cupcake Mix (they always have it at the dollar store and .99 store)
                     1/4 cup oil                       
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla (I used more, always do)
flour
sprinkles
I always use butter vanilla extract for better flavor but any vanilla will do.


I did not say how much flour because that I added as I went along. Once I mixed the egg, vanilla and oil into my cupcake mix it was still very moist and not doughy. I added a little flour at a time until I got cookie dough I was able to form in balls. Oh yea and don't forget to add extra sprinkles inside! I placed on parchment paper and had the oven set for 375 degrees and I baked them for about 8 minutes. It will vary depending on your cookie size. Check at 6 minutes. Remember you do not want to over bake because they are supposed to be soft cake like cookie.


For the icing I made it in like 1 minute. I just used powder sugar and I mixed in some sweet cream coffee creamer and some food coloring. I usually use milk in my icing but I decided to be fancy and use this instead :)


Aren't they darling? I am quite proud :D


Seriously they taste just like cupcakes. That's the point. It's a cookie on the outside and cake on the inside.




Funfetti Mug Cake

8 Tablespoons Funfetti Boxed Cake Mix
1 whole Egg Beaten
1 Tablespoon Vegetable Oil
3 Tablespoons Water
I added extra sprinkles in mine

Spray a mug liberally with cooking spray. Add egg, oil, and water to cake mix, and mix with a fork until creamy.
Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute 30 seconds. Microwave 30 seconds more if still gooey.
I had to microwave mine for 2 mins and 5 secs. I let it set a couple mins to cool down before removing from the mug.


The mug cakes are enough for two. I always cut mine in half. Gotta have portion control! Btw I have never had chocolate cool whip before. I am ashamed to say I have become addicted. I eat it right out of the tub like it was chocolate mousse or something. If you haven't tried it....you should.
MissP your cupcake forks are coming in handy for these petite treats. Thank you!!!



Meatloaf Cupcakes with Mashed Potato Frosting



I made this meatloaf recipe out of my Meat Loaf Hand recipe. The ingredients are:

1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
2 pounds mixed ground meats: beef, veal, lamb, and/or pork
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 cup minced carrots
1/4 cup minced onion
Provolone cheese
Ketchup

 Preheat the oven to 350. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk until the milk is absorbed, about 5 minutes.

 Mix together all ingredients. Put into cupcake liners or without and put ketchup ontop. Bake for 30-35 mins.


My mom has made these green beans since I was a kid. It's just fresh green beans, onion, raw bacon and Italian stewed tomatoes. Add a little bit of water and salt and pepper. Cook for 15-20 mins.


You can add some parmesan cheese if you want. I always do.


Top your meatloaf cupcakes with mashed potatoes. Put in a piping bag and pipe away!




Bacon and Egg Savory Cupcakes


I took this pic of the bacon and egg cupcakes a couple years ago when I first made them. I have made them several times since. Sooooo good and I don't even like bacon OR pepper. Very easy and quick to make. Some recipes call for toast on the bottom but biscuits are better!


16 slices bacon
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury Grands! Homestyle refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
8  eggs
salt and pepper, if desired

Heat oven to 350 F. In 10-inch skillet, cook bacon over medium heat about 4 minutes or until cooked but not crisp, turning once. (It will continue to cook in the oven.) Set aside.

Spray 8 jumbo muffin cups or 8 (6-oz) glass custard cups with cooking spray. Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Place 1 biscuit in each muffin cup, pressing dough three-fourths of the way up sides of cups.

 Place 2 bacon slices in each biscuit cup, and crack an egg over each. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until egg whites are set. Run a small knife around cups to loosen. Serve immediately.


Strawberry Bruschetta Grilled Cheese with Chicken


These were just like having a chicken summer salad with bread on the side. The first time I had a summer salad was last year. I saw strawberries were in it and thought hmmm...interesting. It was rather delicious.








Ingredients:

8 thinly sliced pieces of sourdough baguette

4 tablespoons butter
4 large strawberries, chopped (about 1 cup)
4 large basil leaves, slivered
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
kosher salt and pepper
8 ounces brie cheese


Instructions:

Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread, then flip the bread buttered side down and repeat with the other 6 slices.

Add the chopped strawberries to a small bowl, sprinkle with the basil leaves and dress with the extra virgin olive and balsamic vinegar. Mix gently then top with lemon zest and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Slice the brie and spread on unbuttered sides of the bread. Spoon a generous amount of the strawberry mixture on 4 pieces of the brie topped bread.

Place the strawberry stacked bread, buttered side down, in a non-stick fry pan over medium-high heat and top with the other slice of buttered bread. Cover with lid and let cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden.

Reduce heat to medium and flip sandwich to the other side and cook for 2-3 minutes or until bread is toasty golden and the cheese has melted. The second side will cook faster than the first so watch carefully. 

Repeat process with the other sandwich ingredients to make the rest of the grilled cheese sandwiches. Enjoy hot.

I used more strawberries and I also added chicken. I'm not a fan of brie cheese but this recipe with chicken was great.

Lemon Lavender Shortbread Cookies


Lemon and lavender were made for each other.



I just LOVE the smell of lavender. I forgot I bought some and when I walked into my house today I could smell it throughout. Baking with it is even better when mixed in cookies. The aroma is so refreshing and everyone loves the smell of cookies baking right?!

This is the part I HATE. Once I turn that switch on flour be flyin' everywhere and my baby gets covered in it. Yes I am referring to my mixer. It is my pride and joy. Anyone even talks bad about it they get a mouth full of my fist! I'm so serious.


Adding the food coloring to make my lemon cookies pop.


It looks like granules of sand but keep that mixer goin!


Ready for the final touch.


And out they come! If you look very closely past the sugar you can see the lavender buds inside. What's also awesome is that I used the cap from the lavender sprinkles to cut out my cookies into bite size medallions.


I tweaked the recipe and added measurements for 2 batches because 1 cup of flour for a cookie recipe is just ludicrous. I also added some of my own ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (I use sweet cream always. Always!)
2/3 cup powder sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp lemon extract
2 tsp chopped culinary lavender buds (If you are scared it may be a little potent which I do not think so. Go ahead and cut back and use 1 tsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp butter vanilla extract
A couple pinches of salt
2 cups flour
yellow food coloring (optional)
lavender sugar (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add butter, powder sugar, zest of 1 lemon, lavender, extracts and salt to bowl and beat with mixer.

Add flour and beat until dough forms. It may take a while and if it looks like it needs more flour add little by little. 

Bake for 8-10 mins.

I know I know....some of my ingredients may not be so easy to find in stores. Like the culinary lavender and the butter vanilla extract. I was lucky enough to find the lavender at the flea market at some herb and spices stand. I got the butter vanilla extract from amazon.com for way cheap. Walmart carries it too but not all do as I have experienced. You can get lavender on there too. If you are not a online shopper then your best bet is to look on yelp for tea and spice shops in your area. You will find it there I promise. The butter vanilla is something I added to the recipe so if you would rather do without then make sure you replace that measurement with another tsp of vanilla extract mmmkay?

Mini won ton tacos


Ok I had to work with what I had. This recipe calls for chicken, bbq sauce, cheese, taco seasoning and cilantro.


I boiled the chicken and shredded it. Then I added the cilantro and cheese. I did not have taco seasoning so I used recipe inspirations quesadilla casserole seasonings. I just used the two things of chili powder and cumin. Then I squirted in some bbq sauce to give it a tang. I added salt too.
This is the seasoning card I used. I <3 these things!



After you mix it all together place on a won ton wrapper. Close the two corners with water and press together to seal.


Set oven to 400 deg and bake for 10-15 mins. Make sure you spray some pam on that pan!


These were so damn good! I know for sure these will be a hit at my bros grad party!




IHOPS WHO CAKES!


Ok so apparently I missed out on these a while back when Horton Hears A Who! came out. I had no idea they even existed until recently. They look so damn good. Sugar rush for sure and the bubble gum lollipop at the top just sells me instantly! It's like your after meal toothpick so to speak.


This is what they look like. The pancakes are plain and have a glazed icing with little rainbow chocolates thrown on. If you google "ihop Horton Hears A Who Pancakes" you will see some from all kinds of different IHOPS around the state.


Instead of plain pancakes I made cake batter pancakes. I will honestly say that these are HANDS DOWN the BEST pancakes I have EVER had. Best cake batter pancake recipe I have found and believe me...I have made quite a bunch of different ones. This one wins and I will always use it. I will give the recipe at the end.


I will also give the recipe for the glaze. I kicked it up a notch and added cupcake bites on the pancakes instead of chocolate.


BAM! Here they are with sprinkles added on top.


And here they are with the cupcake bites. Don't they just scream happy birthday? I'm sure kids will love these. They are soooooo yummy! So if you too missed out on IHOPS delicious who cakes then try mine!


Nom nom nom....


Cake Batter Pancake Recipe:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup yellow cake mix
1 Tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I also used 1 tsp butter vanilla extract)
1-2 cups milk (Try 1 1/2 cups first because that was PERFECT)
assorted sprinkles

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
assorted sprinkles
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
Mix all the ingredients together and then pour batter on the griddle. Stack at least 5 in various sizes starting with large and then make each one smaller than the one before. Drizzle icing on the cakes and top with a lolli :)


Snow Cone Cupcakes


I had to look up a white cake recipe (posted at the bottom). One that had the right ingredients to make sure the batter would be super thick. It had 4 egg whites which was perfect. The recipe was a pain in the ass because you have to sift the dry ingredients 3 times. THREE times. I had to alternate it back and fourth from bowl to bowl when dumping it back in the sifter.

 Then you have to prepare the meringue in a separate bowl. THEN in another bowl you have to cream the butter mixture together. Between all this you also have to alternate milk and sugar in the meringue and butter mixture while you beat both.

Yea....it's a pain but the good white cake recipes are all like that. You don't want to buy a box mix because that batter is too runny. You need a stiff batter if you want to do a row of colors without them bleeding into each other.

I already had the snow cone cups and straws as I do have a snow cone machine. So that is why when I saw that pic above I knew what I was going to do! Besides....those little cups are not big enough for my massive snow cones and those tiny straws yea right. I need like a super fat smoothie straw.

Anyway! I used neon food coloring. The only food coloring I will use since I discovered it. I was all out of pink so I had to go with making a green apple color, the standard purple and blue.


Once I made my batter I separated it into three bowls and dyed them each a different color. I tried to scoop it in the cups with a spoon putting the colors side by side. I obviously failed. It looked awful.


So I put the batter in piping bags. Which I should of done in the first place DUH!


Came out much better once I piped the batter in. As thick as the batter was it did not budge at all. I was able to line them all up. I did a little bit first in all 12 of the cups. I wanted to make sure I had enough to disperse evenly. Then I went back over each color with more to fill the cups almost all the way to the top.


Like so...


I bought a cake tester in one of those strip mall kitchen shops. Best $1.99 spent! It's a long metal thing that is long enough for the thickest cakes to test when done. No more small toothpicks getting lost in your cake!


Once done I removed the cupcake wrappers. Look how almost perfect that looks. Not sloppy at all.


Then I popped them into the snow cone cups.


I cut holes in a shoe box so my mother can transport them to her bunko game *rolls eyes* She always asks me to make something. I have no problem with that! :)


Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup butter
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

1. Measure sifted cake flour, baking powder, and salt; sift together three times.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 cup sugar gradually, and continue beating only until meringue will hold up in soft peaks.

3. Beat butter until smooth. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add sifted ingredients alternately with milk a small amount at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Mix in flavorings. Add meringue, and mix thoroughly into batter. Spread batter in a 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan which has been lined on the bottom with parchment paper.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. This cake may also be baked in two 9 inch round pans for 30 to 35 minutes, or in three 8 inch round pans for 25 to 30 minutes.

 The recipe does not say anything about cupcake pans so I baked mine for 20 mins and it was perfect. Not a minute less or a minute more. Just make sure your cupcake cups are filled with enough batter to almost touch the top. If you only fill the cups half way then 15 mins might be perfect. I'd check after 10 mins if so.