Your Cup of Cake: Andes Mint Cupcakes New photo from my cookbook “Your Cup of Cake” I was introduced to Andes Mints at a very young age. Though, my strongest memory was not of eating them, it was of being attacked by them. My family commonly went to a little Mexican restaurant in town, and when we finished eating we would get these mints with the check. My two older brothers would make a sort of blow dart from the wrapper, and choose their target. Ingredients Chocolate Cakes: 1 cup sour cream ½ cup oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3 eggs ¼ cup water ½ cup buttermilk Devil’s Food Cake Mix Chocolate Mint Filling: 1/3 cup chocolate chips 2 tablespoons heavy cream 1 teaspoon peppermint extract ¼ cup powdered sugar Mint Buttercream: 8 oz cream cheese 6 tablespoons butter 3-4 cups powdered sugar 1 tablespoon heavy cream or milk green food coloring Directions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Copyright © YourCupofCake I used the Ateco #855 piping tip
Snickerdoodle Muffins Last Friday I finished my exams and was planning on coming home and having a baking extravaganza, but then I tripped on my cat and fell down the stairs. We're both fine, though I think he's a lot more fine than me because as soon as I felt his soft body under my foot I took all my weight off of him and slid down the stairs. Which has left me with a swollen foot. I recently discovered the insane deliciousness of snickerdoodle cookies. As for how they turned out, the muffins were incredibly moist and a great sour cream muffin texture. Snickerdoodle Muffinsslightly modified from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody 2 sticks unsalted butter1 cup sugar2 tsp vanilla2 eggs3/4 tsp baking soda3/4 tsp baking powder3/4 tsp cream of tartar3/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg1 1/4 cup sour cream2 1/4 cups all purpose flour 1/2 cup sugar and 1 TBSP cinnamon mixed together for rolling* 1.Cream the butter and sugar until soft about 3 to 5 minutes. 4.
Reese’s Stuffed Crescent Rolls You might be getting bored with my vacation stories. I’m sorry. But a change of scenery tends to get the creative juices flowing. So, yes, I apologize about all this vacation talk, but this story must be told… As you all know I am allergic to exercise. It’s a pretty severe allergy. I carry an EpiPen for it and everything. But when I am on vacation I like to try and shake things up a bit. So when the resort pool offered up “Water Aerobics” my friends and I decided, “Why the heck not?” I mean it’s exercise without sweating or gravity…2 things that I have decided make exercise much too difficult. Sign. Here’s how it went down: Got to the pool where the class was being held. I instantly felt young and fit. My friends and I brought the average age of the class down by 40 years or so. There is definitely something to doing water jumping jacks while sandwiched in between an elderly woman and a man with large man-breasts to elevate your self-esteem. Next our instructor made her appearance. Bless her heart.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars Cookie Dough + Cheesecake = all my dreams coming TRUE! These were seriously good, friends. I know I say that quite a bit here, but really...really, these were tasty. The cookie dough part was my personal favorite. You know I like to break it down for you, so here's how it goes! Really friends, get on these right away (and bring me some)! by Brandy's Baking Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 30-40 minutes Crust:1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs5 tablespoons unsalted butter, meltedChocolate Chip Cookie Dough:5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature1/3 cup packed light brown sugar3 tablespoons granulated sugar1/4 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract3/4 cup flour2/3 cup chocolate chipsCheesecake Filling:10 oz cream cheese, room temperature1/4 cup sugar1 large egg, room temperature1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Source: My Baking Addiction
Freezer Meals **Update - Click here for a review of the meals we made** This post is extremely long, but hopefully it will be helpful to someone planning on freezing meals! I plan on posting updates after we actually eat this food too, to give an update on how it fares after the defrosting process. I have always thought that making meals to freeze would be a great idea, but we have never found the motivation to do a big day of cooking before now - I guess the idea of having a newborn to take care of is the kick in the pants we needed to try this out! When planning what to make, I probably went a bit overboard, but Ben helped to keep my plans realistic, and more in line with the amount of freezer space we have :) We have 2 normal size freezers - one upstairs and one in the basement. For all of the meals with chicken, except the chili, we used 2 rotisserie chickens that Ben then shredded - this saved a TON of time and effort. Recipe - a Ben original 4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded 2 diced onions
The Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes How do you like your potatoes? Fried, baked, mashed, au gratin? Everyone in my family likes them different. Everytime I my husband to the grocery store with a list he comes home with the everything on the list plus at least one bag of chips. He can kill a bag of chips in a sitting. I, on the other hand, can take or leave chips. Our friends the Clarks have brought these over for dinner a couple of times and they are always a hit. The Ultimate Twice Baked Potatoes Ingredients 4 large baking potatoes 8 slices bacon 1 cup sour cream 1/4 to 1/2 cup milk 4 tablespoons butter 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese, divided 8 green onions, sliced, divided Instructions Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Notes