Strawberry Cream Cheese Cupcakes

This comes from Betty Crocker's website. A really easy and delicious cupcake that I think would be perfect to serve at a picnic or garden party!

Ingredients:
-1 box of yellow cake mix
-1 container of 8 oz sour cream
-1/2 cup vegetable oil
-1/2 cup water
-2 eggs
-1 jar of raspberry preserves (will not use the entire jar, but amount used varies)
-1 package of cream cheese (let sit out until room temp)
-1/4 cup white sugar
-1 container of cream cheese frosting

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Fill muffin pan with cupcake cups and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, sour cream, oil, water and eggs until well blended. The batter will be thick. Divide the batter evenly among the cups, filling about 3/4 full.

Mix cream cheese and 1/4 cup of sugar until smooth. Plop about a quarter size blob of cream cheese mixture onto the center of each cupcake and press gently down so its somewhat inside the batter. Spoon a little bit of raspberry preserves on top of the cream cheese (just a little bit less than the amount of cream cheese).

Bake 18 to 30 min or until tops are golden brown and springy to the touch. Some of the preserves may show on top of cupcakes. Take out and let cook for about 10 min, then remove from pan and let cool completely for about 30 min.

Mix a couple of spoonfuls of the preserves in with the cream cheese frosting (for color and a little flavor), and then spread over cupcakes. Add a fresh raspberry to each cupcake for garnish. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

*Also try swapping out raspberry theme for strawberry. Use strawberry preserves and fresh strawberries instead.

Chocolate Toffee Cupcakes

The idea was inspired by Johnny Carino's chocolate cake that has fudge frosting and crushed toffee on top.

Ingredients:
-1 box of devil's food cake mix
-water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for on cake box
-chocolate fudge frosting (I just used the premade kind)
-4 Heath bars
-1 jar or bottle of ice cream caramel topping

Instructions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees, put cupcake paper cups into muffin pan and set aside.

Prepare cake mix as instructed on the box. Bake accordingly, and let cool for about 10 min, then remove from pan and let cool completely for about 30 min. Take a butter knife and press a slit strait into the middle of each cupcake, but be careful not to pierce through the bottom.

Spoon refrigerated caramel into a large zip lock bag (make sure not to heat up caramel because it will be too viscous. You want it to still be really thick). Barely cut the corner of the bag off, press corner into the slit in a cupcake and squeeze caramel inside just until it oozes out a bit when you pull the bag back. Do this to each cupcake. The cupcake soaks up the caramel and gives it a sticky, moist texture.

Frost each cupcake with the fudge frosting. Crush the 4 Heath bars in another zip lock bag (I pound them with the handle of the kitchen scissors, but crunching them with the rolling pin works, too). Crush until there are pea sized chunks, and then sprinkle on top of the frosted cupcakes. Dust away any stray toffee bits on the pan. Refrigerate if firmness is desired. Store loosely covered.

Oreo Layered Cake

This recipe was in February's issue of the Family Circle magazine. It is a really fun cake to make!

Ingredients:

CAKE
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups buttermilk

FILLING
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 (16 ounce) box confectioners' sugar
3-4 tablespoons milk

FROSTING
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups Oreo cookies, crushed (or 1/2 - 3/4 of a package)(save 6-8 cookies if you plan to place whole cookies on top as decor)

Instructions: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Coat two 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and dust with flour; shake out any excess flour.

For cake, in medium size bowl, mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt together until well blended; set aside. In large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar and vanilla for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, beat flour mixture into butter mixture in three additions, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour; beat 1 minute. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for about 36 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks; let cool completely.

For filling, in large bowl, with mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add confectioners' sugar, then milk. Beat for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy.

When layers have cooled, trim off any crowned cake from the tops and discard. Cut each layer in half horizontally with a serrated knife. Place cut layer on a cake stand and top with one-third of filling; spread evenly over top. Repeat with 2 more cake layers. Place last layer on top, cut side down. Refrigerate for 20 minutes or until filling is set.

For frosting, in large bowl with mixer on high, beat heavy cream, sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Generously spread whipped cream all over cake, using the back of a spoon to make swirls and peaks on top. Place chopped cookies in large bowl and carefully hold cake stand over bowl. With cupped hands, gently press cookie crumbs onto the sides of the cake to cover. Optional: place whole cookies diagonally into the cake so they are standing up at an angle and create a circle. Brush excess crumbs off stand before serving.

Baked Voodoo Donuts

I found this recipe at http://sweetpeapatisserie.blogspot.com/ and had to try it. But instead of doing the usual donut glazes as suggested, I decided to take the route of my favorite donut spot in Portland, OR, Voodoo Doughnuts (www.voodoodoughnut.com). What makes them unique is they put crazy things on their donuts like Captain Crunch, Fruit Loops, crushed Butterfinger, and the best is the maple bar with a strip of bacon on top, easily the favorite.

So I decided to marry the two, make the baked donuts Voodoo style. I ended up making all different kinds after I bought a ton of toppings at the grocery store, but in the end these were my favorites.

1. Vanilla frosting with Lucky Charms

2. Vanilla frosting with crushed Oreos

3. Maple glaze with bacon

4. Cinnamon sugar with vanilla frosting and Cinnamon Toast Crunch

5. Peanut butter and jelly filled with chocolate frosting and crushed Nutter Butters

Those ended up being my top five, but the possibilities are endless. Anyway, here is the recipe, directly quoted from the Sweetpea Patisserie blog.

"Don't over bake these, if anything, under bake them a bit - they will continue baking outside the oven for a few minutes. You want an interior that is moist and tender - not dry. Also, be sure to cut big enough holes in the center of your doughnuts - too small and they will bake entirely shut. Remember they rise, and they rise even more when they are baking. These really need to be made-to-order, but you can make and shape the dough the night before if you want to serve them for brunch. Instructions: after shaping, place doughnuts on baking sheet, cover and place in the refrigerator overnight. Pull them out an hour before baking, and let rise in a warm place before baking.

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated(I used a few shakes of pumpkin pie spice)
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt - just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments - if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don't have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes - start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a medium bowl. Place the sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the melted butter and a quick toss in the sugar bowl. Eat immediately if not sooner.

Makes 1 1/2 - 2 dozen medium doughnuts."

Lemon Bread

Although this recipe is meant to be made in a bread tin, I couldn't find mine and had to settle for baking the lemon bread in cupcake form.

Batter:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs
1/2 cup milk
grated rind of 1 lemon
'1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar together. Beat the eggs in a separate cup, and then stir them into the mixture.
Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and grated lemon rind together in another bowl.

Alternate with adding the dry mixture and the milk into the butter/sugar mixture, stirring in between until all is added.
Spoon into a greased and floured loaf tin.
Bake at 350 for 1 hour, or until top of bread is split open and golden brown around the edges (check w/ a toothpick). Let cool.

Glaze:
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar

Squeeze the lemon juice into a cup and add 1/2 a cup of sugar. Taste, and add a little more (up to a 1/4th cup) if needed.

Set out a piece of foil big enough to surround the bread, and take the bread gently out of the tin after it has cooled a bit, placing it in the middle of the foil. Fold up the sides of the foil around the sides of the bread. Poke holes all over the bread top with a fork or toothpick, then pour the glaze over. It will soak into the holes and form a lemony sugary goodness glaze. Let it sit so the glaze can set.

Add different fruits sometimes into the batter for variety: blueberries, raspberries, cut up strawberries, blackberries.

Homemade Oreos and Ovaltine Cookies

Let's start it off with two of my favorite cookies to make, the homemade Oreos and the Ovaltine cookies.

The homemade oreos are amazingly delicious, and if you want anyone to fall in love with you, I promise these will do the trick :). They're made with devil's food cake mix so they end up being super moist. And they're filled with cream cheese frosting - you can't go wrong with cream cheese frosting. The ones in the picture I made for Valentine's Day so I added food coloring to make some of the filling pink. Tasted even more delicious with the extra love added in. Ha.

The Ovaltine cookies were a recipe I stumbled on while searching for the oreo recipe. I am half Swiss and grew up drinking Ovaltine (more Ovaltine, please!!), because if you didn't know it, it is a Swiss product. Of course it would be, with all its chocolatey-malty goodness. I was really intrigued to see how they turned out and just had to try it. PS, they are a hit!

You have to know now that I only bake with Guittard milk chocolate chips when it comes to anything desserty that requires chocolate chips. Look for them in a shimmery silver bag, and buy two, one to use in recipes and one to keep in your cupboard because they are perfect when you are craving chocolate. Anyway, the Guittard chips are the perfect touch to the malty taste of the cookies. They come out really soft and break apart easily, which I love.

Now for the recipes:

Homemade Oreos:
(for the cookie)
1 box devil's food cake mix
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs

(for the filling)
8 oz cream cheese (a full block)
1/2 square butter (use Imperial in the gold box. It is perfect for baking soft, fluffy cookies.)
2 tsps vanilla
2 to 3 cups powdered sugar

Set the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together for the cookie batter in a medium sized bowl by hand, and not by an electric mixer. This leaves shape and plumpness. Prepare cookie sheets with Pam or whatever you use. Take a little golf ball sized spoonful of cookie dough and place on the sheet. I never round my cookies into a ball or use a scooper because I like the plump shape a cookie has when you take it directly from the bowl without forming it. Give them enough room in between because they tend to spread when they bake. Bake for about 8 minutes, but test with a tooth pick to see when its ready. Take them out when nothing sticks to the toothpick, but while they still look a bit gooey in the center because they'll continue to cook as they cool and will be the perfect softness.

For the filling, mix all the filling ingredients together. It helps to have set the butter out an hour or two previously so it is room temperature and soft. I usually like to break up the butter and cream cheese and squish/smooth it down with a fork before I add anything else so it is already soft and easy to work with. Also mix this by hand, as an electric mixer will over work the filling and make it too goopy. If it is too runny, add a little bit more powdered sugar at a time until it is the consistency that you want it to be. When the cookies have cooled, add frosting to the bottom of one and sandwich another on top. Then eat one, and experience heaven. :) Its always important to eat what you bake right when it comes out of the oven. Its a rule of thumb.

Ovaltine Cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups brown sugar firmly packed
1/2 cup Ovaltine powder mix
2 tbsp chocolate syrup (like you'd put on a sundae or banana split...mmm)
1 tbsp vanilla
1 large egg
half a bag of Guittard milk chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In one medium sized bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt, and set aside. In another medium sized bowl, mix shortening, brown sugar, Ovaltine powder, chocolate syrup, and vanilla, using an electric mixer. Beat for 2 minutes, add the egg, and beat for a couple more seconds. Slowly add portions of the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, mixing well in between additions. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips, and eat a few while you are at it. Try the dough, it is amazing!

Use a spoon to scoop egg sized portions of the dough onto a prepared cookie sheet. Once again, don't shape the dough into little balls because they'll come out more plump with a free shape. Bake for about 10 minutes or until you test them with a toothpick and nothing sticks to it when you poke one of the cookies. Take the cookies out when that happens and they look a little gooey still and they will keep cooking as they cool and will end up really soft. I think it makes about 20 cookies depending on the size of the scoops you place on the pan. Eat one freshly out of the oven. :)