Jello Cupcakes

 These are super fun and easy cupcakes to make.  You can use any combination of colors or flavors

you wish.  I used orange, strawberry and lemon for this batch but feel free to mix it up however you’d like.  Here’s what you’ll need:

 

Ingredients:

1 pkg. white cake mix

3 different flavors, ¼ cup of each dry Jello packets

1 container of vanilla frosting

Directions:

Prepare cake batter as directed, then divide evenly into 3 bowls

Stir in different flavors of dry gelatin mix into batter

Spoon from each bowl into cupcake liners (about 2 tablespoons each)

Bake according to package directions

Let cool, spread icing, and enjoy!

Jamaican Banana Fritters

Ingredients

3 ripe bananas

1 egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 cup of sugar

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4-1/2 cup milk

Directions

Peel and mash the ripe bananas.

Beat egg, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Next, blend egg mixture with mashed bananas.  Make sure it is all incorporated.

Then sift flour and baking powder into the banana/egg mixture.  Mix it all together.

If the batter seems to be too thick add a little milk… I added about 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of milk.

Add oil to a frying pan and place on medium high heat.  Drop spoonfuls of the banana fritter batter into the hot oiled frying pan. Flip when you see the edges starting to get brown and golden.

Lastly, combine cinnamon and sugar together to create your cinnamon sugar.  This is used to sprinkle on top of the fritters once they are finished cooking and still hot.

Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

Frito Dip

Ingredients:

2 bricks of cream cheese

1 can of corn

Juice of one small lime

1 Tablespoon cumin (or more to taste)

1 Tablespoon chili powder (or more to taste)

1 small chopped/diced onion

Directions:

First mix together cream cheese, juice of lime and spices.  Once they're combined do a taste test.  If you taste more lime than spice add a little more spice until it taste yummy.

Second add in onion and corn mixing together thoroughly.

Lastly, enjoy!

Cherry Chocolate Cake Balls

I'm especially proud of these cake balls because it was my first attempt at making them and I used my own recipe.  It's really simple.


There are two ways to make these cake balls.  I used a Baby Cakes Cake Pops Maker:

This method is super simple.  I used a Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe- Devil's Food cake mix and followed the recipe on the box EXCEPT for the water, I used maraschino cherry juice in place of that.  Once the batter is complete you just pour the batter into the baby cakes maker and it takes only a few minutes for each to cook.  For some I cut up a maraschino cherry into fours ( I know that's small but so are the cake balls) and pushed a piece into the batter before I closed the lid.  After they're done cooking I let them cool and then covered them in white chocolate.  

I always use two things to melt chocolate, Crisco butter flavored shortening and Wilton's Candy Melts:

I used about half the bag of chocolate pieces in a microwavable bowl, add about 2 tablespoons of the Crisco and microwave for about a minute, stir it up and continue to melt in 20 second intervals as needed.  I also have a Babycakes Chocolatier Mini Dipper

This is obviously not needed but really helps keep the chocolate warm while dipping.  Since this was my first time, they didn't come out looking as pretty as I originally envisioned.  This is because I dipped them in the white chocolate and then put them in mini cupcake cups.  In the future I've decided to save Styrofoam so that I can use that and tooth picks to elevate the pops until they dry.  An easy way to make sure the tooth pick sticks in the pop is to dip it in chocolate before you stick it in the pop, let that dry and then cover the pop in chocolate.  You of course can also use sticks like the ones pictured above to make them into true "cake pops."

The second method, if you do not have a cake pop maker, is as follows:

First make the cake as usual in a regular cake pan.  Once it cools put it in a bowl and crumble it up.  Add icing to the bowl little by little.  The first time I tried this method I added the entire can of icing and the cake/icing mixture was too moist.  Add just enough icing to bind the cake together so that you can roll it into balls.  Roll the mixture into balls the size of golf balls or slightly smaller.  If you're going to make cake pops dip the stick in chocolate and then insert into cake ball, or tooth picks into chocolate and then the cake ball and let cool in refrigerator for at least an hour.  I would work on about 10 cake balls at a time.  The first time I did this I took all of them out and didn't work fast enough, by the time I got to cake ball 20, they had thawed some and were hard to work with.

This was an okay first attempt but I have an obsession with cupcakes and cake pops, so I'll be back.  It's easy to play with recipes and to decorate for different occasions!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Prep Time: 40 minutes | Bake Time: 17 minutes

Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Whiskey Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

Baileys Frosting:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

1. To Make the Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa powder and whisk until the mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

3. To Make the Whiskey Ganache Filling: Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

4. To Fill the Cupcakes: Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large decorating tip), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down. Transfer the ganache to a piping back with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

5. To Make the Baileys Frosting: Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

6. Using your favorite decorating tip, or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container.

Valentines Day- Rolos

Use decorative paper to wrap the Rolos in. On the inside as the candy is unwrapped write I like the way you roll.

Valentines Day- Gum

I 'chews' you Valentine

Valentines Day- Sweedish Fish

Of all the fish in the sea, you're the only one for me

White Chocolate Covered Valentines Day Oreos

I found a mold at a local craft store and didn't realize it's purpose was to cover Oreos when I bought it. But who doesn't love a white chocolate covered Oreo? Of course there's not much to the 'recipe.'

My mom bought a Babycakes Chocolatier Mini Dipper at Kohl's.  We use it more to keep the chocolate warm than to actually melt the chocolate.

 We've had a lot of trial and error with melting chocolate but we've found that using Wilton's Candy melts and butter flavored Crisco make the smoothest, easiest to work with melted chocolate. 

We put about half the bag of chocolate pieces in a microwavable bowl, add about 2 tablespoons of the Crisco and microwave for about a minute, stir it up and continue to melt in 20 second intervals as needed.

Next we poured a little bit of chocolate in the mold, popped an Oreo in and the covered the top with more melted chocolate. Be sure to let the chocolate completely cool before removing for mold, they should just fall out, if you force then they'll crumble. Decorate however you'd like!

Painted Glasses

 

My mom always said she wanted to paint wine glasses or margarita glasses.  So for mother’s day last year I got her all the supplies to do it.  We just now got around to actually doing it.  The one pictured is mine.  I have to add everyone else’s once they’re complete.  It was definitely fun, but as you can tell, we need a bit more practice.

We used:

Americana Gloss Enamels- paint

Craft Smart glass enamel pens

Any glasses you’d like!

Strawberry/Brownie Cupcakes!

We had a few special visitors to help with my next project.  My friend Ney’Shawne and I had been talking about getting together and baking with her kids for the longest time.  We finally set a date and made these really yummy Valentine’s Day themed cupcakes.  They’re not as difficult to make as they may look.  The cupcake pictured is topped with white melting chocolate, I had left over from the Oreo cookie project.  However they’re yummy with regular vanilla icing.

 Ingredients

• 1 (19.5 ounce) package brownie mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package strawberry cake mix
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 3 egg whites

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 48 muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Whisk together the brownie mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup canola oil, and 1/4 cup water in a bowl. Stir just until fully incorporated, about 50 strokes; set aside.
3. Mix the cake mix, 2 tablespoons canola oil, 1 1/3 cup water, and 3 egg whites in a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Spoon the brownie batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup 1/3 full. Spoon the cake batter over the brownie batter, until muffin cups are each 2/3 full.
5. Bake in the preheated oven until golden and the tops spring back when lightly pressed, about 20 minutes.

Jello Shot Mini Cupcake

Ingredients

For jello shot cupcakes
1 pkg. white cake mix
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg. (3 oz.) Jello Gelatin, any red flavor (I used strawberry)
1 cup Malibu coconut rum

1 can of Cool Whip

Instructions

I used mini cupcake tins but you can also use little condiment cups.  

Make the white cake as instructed, then poke holes in the top of the cupcake with a fork.

Boil 1 cup of water, stir in jello until dissolved, add 1 cup of Malibu coconut rum then spoon generously over cupcakes and let cool.  Then top with cool whip and enjoy!

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Wonderful smoothie for breakfast of before a workout.  Very yummy.

2 bananas sliced and frozen
1/4 cup oats
1/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup milk

Throw it all in a blender and mix it up!

Mexican Chicken Casserole

Ingredients

• 4 cups of cooked, chopped chicken (about 4 to 5 breasts halves)
• 2 cups of instant rice
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup frozen diced onion
• 1 can Ro*Tel tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese, divided

Instructions

1. Combine all ingredients and half of cheddar cheese in a large bowl. Mix well.
2. Turn out into a greased casserole dish and top with remaining cheese.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Cake Batter Dip

This recipe is easy, quick and really yummy (if you ate cake batter as a child like I did!) 

 

3tbsp cake mix

2tbsp plain yogurt (feel free to use fat free if you so choose)

1 tbsp cool whip

 

Mix it together and enjoy with some animal crackers.  This is a single serving, double, triple or quadruple the recipe for more!