Key Lime Pie Cupcakes

I have never actually had Key Lime Pie....maybe I should try that!....but these cupcakes we absolutely DELISH! The lime flavor was perfect and the the buttercream frosting was just the right touch. ANd look how pretty it is!!!!!! You put a graham cracker crust in the bottom of each cupcake wrapper and that really makes the cupcake!  I found the recipe on Elly Says Opa! blog.

The Recipe:

Key Lime Pie Filling

8 oz. mascarpone or cream cheese, at room temperature
1 (9 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
5 oz. key lime juice

Place all ingredients in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, and mix on low for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium and blend for 2 minutes.

Refrigerate the filing for 2 or more hours.

Graham Cracker Crust

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp. sugar
3-4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Prepare 2 muffin tins with liners.

In a food processor, blend together graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add 3 Tbsp melted butter and pulse a few times. If it seems like it needs more butter, add the remaining tablespoon. Distribute evenly among cupcake liners and press down to form a shell.

Lime Cake

2.25 cups cake flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1.5 cups granulated sugar
2 egg whites
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. lime zest

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy.

Add egg whites, beating well after each addition. Add eggs, beating well after each addition. Beat in the lime zest until blended.

Combine milk, vanilla, and sour cream in a bowl, whisking until incorporated.

With electric mixer at low speed, add flour mixture alternately with milk mixture, beating well after each addition.

Lime Buttercream

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 to 8 cups powdered sugar
3 TBSP key lime juice, possibly more to thin out frosting
splash of vanilla

Beat together the butter, 3 cups of the sugar, key lime juice and vanilla on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 3-5 minutes.

Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency.

You may not need to add all of the sugar. If too thick, thin with more key lime juice. You can also use more lime juice if you want a more tart flavor.

WHAT I DID:

1-The biggest thing I did was I didn't use Key limes. They didn't have any at the store I was at and I didn't feel like hunting them down somewhere else. So I guess they're just Lime Pie Cupcakes! I don't know what key limes taste like, but the cupcakes were awesome with regular limes!

2- It takes ALOT of limes......they really aren't the juiciest fruit!

3- In the frosting I used about 3 1/2 Tablespoons of lime juice and about 5 cups of powder sugar.

SOOOO Delicious and PRETTY!

Pink Lemonade Crumble Bars

So GOOD!.....but kinda a pain in the old rear to make!!! It just was alot of bowls and honestly I think it was mostly that my kids were DRIVING ME NUTS! I personally couldn't really taste the raspberry in them, but they were really good! I found this recipe in my Family CIrcle magazine.

Igredients:

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour


1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

5 large eggs

1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam, stirred to loosen up

1/2 cup cup fresh lemon juice (about 2 lemons)

Grated zest of 1 lemon (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9 x 2-inch metal baking pan with nonstick foil.

2. Crust and Crumbs. Combine 2 cups of the flour, the sugar, almonds and salt in a food processor. Pulse to finely grind almonds and blend ingredients. While processor is running, add butter and vanilla. Reserve 2/3 cup crumbs mixture and press rest into bottom of prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, with your hands, blend remaining 2 tablespoons flour into reserved crumbs.

3. Filling. In a medium-size bowl, whisk sugar and flour. Whisk in eggs, then raspberry jam. Whisk in lemon juice and zest.

4. Remove crust from oven and pour filling over crust. Return to oven and bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle crumbs over top of bar and bake an additional 15 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Chill before cutting into bars. Refrigerate until packaging or serving.

WHAT I DID:

1. I followed the recipe on this one except I used just regualar rasberry jam with seeds and I couldn' t even tell they were in there.
2. Just FYI- there is only one thing that I ever use Real Butter in.....I use I Can't Believe Its NOt Butter in Everything else.

Peach Crisp Cupcakes

I found this recipe on the blog 52 cupcakes, but I tweeked it  bit. I have this dream of someday coming up with a completely original recipe.....a time when I just know how much flour, baking soda, perfect flavor combinations.....you get the point. So this was my first attempt! I was not a fan of these to be completely honest. I felt they had way too much nutmeg in them. But my honey LOVED them! So they're worth a try!

The Recipe:

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

1-1/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp grated orange zest-

3/4 cup milk

2 peaches or nectarines, pitted and thinly sliced and cut into thirds

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
2. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until light and fluffly. Add vanilla and orange zest, beating well. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth. Fold in peaches or nectarines.
3. Scoop batter into prepared pan. Bake in preheated over for 23-28 minutes or until golden brown and tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched.
Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack.

The CRISP part:
1/2 Cup Flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 cup butter

Mix into a crumble with a fork.
Put on top of cupcake batter before you bake them. Don't fill the cups up as much as normal because the crisp part fills them up some.
Top with whipped cream.
 

What I did::

1. I used grapfruit zest because I didn't have any oranges. I'm not sure it did anything....I couldn't taste it!
2. Instead of using the cut up peaches, I substituted a 1/4 cup of the millf with peach puree. SO it was 1/4 cup peach puree and 1/2 cup milk. I think I would even do 1/2 cup peach puree and 1/4 cup milk. I mixed the two together so I could add them at the same time. 

Red Velvet Cupcakes w/ Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting


This was actually the recipe for Red Waldorf Cake out of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. Anyway....I had never had Red Velevet cake before. Everybody hyped it up so much that I decided it had to be on my list. Well, really it is just chocolate cake with red food coloring. I'm not sure why mine turned out VERY dark....2 oz of red food coloring!!!! All in all it was good. Probably not as good as people make it sound, but hey......who doesn't like chocolate cake?!!!

The Recipe:

2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 ounces red food coloring (1/4 cup)

2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour or 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup buttermilk or sour milk

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vinegar
Directions:

1. Allow eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, grease and flour two 9x1-1/2-inch round cake pans or one 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Set pan(s) aside. In a small bowl stir together cocoa powder and food coloring; set aside. In another small bowl stir together flour and salt; set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and vanilla to shortening; beat until well combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating on medium speed after each addition until combined. Beat in cocoa mixture. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk, beating on low to medium speed after each addition just until combined. Stir together baking soda and vinegar. Add to batter, mixing until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan(s).
3. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes for round pans, about 30 minutes for 13x9x2-inch pan, or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool cake layers in pans for 10 minutes. Remove cake layers from pans; cool thoroughly on wire racks. Or, place the 13x9x2-inch cake in pan on a wire rack; cool thoroughly. Frost with Creamy Frosting. Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Makes 12 servings.

Frosting Recipe:

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting-
 
1  8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 t vanilla
5 cups powder sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
 
Beat cream cheese, butter, and vanilla till fluffy. Beat in cocoa. Beat in powder sugar.
 

What I did:::

1. On the cake I used apple cider vinegar instead of white. I was watching Cupcake Wars once and oneof the groups said that they used it. So I figured if they were good enough to get to Cupcake Wars it was worth trying!!!
2. For the frosting....I used about 1 t of milk as well becaue it was way thick.
3. I also used Almond exctract instead of vanilla. I did get some compliments on the frosting so I guess that was a good trade!

Candy Bars

My sister told me about this recipe. They were so easy to make and soooooo good! Very fast for when you're in a rush!

The Recipe From About. Com- Busy Cooks:

•1/2 cup butter, melted
•1 pkg. two layer chocolate cake mix

•1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

•1 cup white chocolate chips

•2 cups chopped pecans OR coconut

•1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

•14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Preparation:

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter and cake mix in large bowl. Mix with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over bottom of 15x10" jelly roll pan and press to form crust. Sprinkle with semisweet chocolate chips and white chocolate chips and pecans or coconut.

In microwave on medium power, melt milk chocolate chips for 1-2 minutes or until melted. Stir sweetened condensed milk into the melted chips. Spread milk mixture evenly over nuts in jelly roll pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-25 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely and cut into bars. 48 bars

What I did:

1. Instead of using white chocolate chips....because I didn't have any!.....I used Butterscotch! I love the change! I love Butterscotch!
2. I didn't use any pecans or cocunut. Just chocolate chips!
3. The chocolate/milk mixture didn't spread over it very well, so when you pour it on, just pour it around well and then when it cooks it spreads out.
4. These are great for a big group!

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes

VERY DELECTABLE!! These were so light and lemony and delicious! I'm making some cupcakes for a Relief Society thing at the end of this month, so I'm doing some experimenting!! After I get all my trials posted, I want ya'll to vote so I can see what you guys think would be best!!!
I found this recipe on The Sisters' Cafe blog:

Meyer Lemon Cupcakes


Submitted by Erin ~ The Sisters Cafe

Recipe from cupcakeblog.com

Makes ~28 regular cupcakes


1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 large eggs

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup meyer lemon juice

zest of one meyer lemon
Preheat oven to 375°. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds between each. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add about a third of the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat to combine. Add about a half of the milk and beat to combine. Continue adding, alternating between dry and wet and finishing with the dry. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest, beat to combine. Scoop into cupcake papers about half full. Place cupcakes in the oven and turn the oven down to 350°. Bake for 22-25 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.


To assemble cupcakes: Fill cupcakes by cutting out a cone from each cupcake. Flip the cone and cut off the excess. Set the top aside. Fill each cavity with the tart cranberry filling. Replace each top. Frost with the meyer lemon cream cheese frosting. (I put the frosting in a piping bag with a star tip.)
Tart Cranberry Filling

Half of a 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries

½ cup water

¼ cup sugar
Rinse and pick through cranberries. Add to a medium pan with water and sugar. Bring to a boil stirring to dissolve sugar. Let the mixture boil for ten minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight

Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

1 sticks (½ cup) butter, room temperature

¾ of a 8-oz package of Philly cream cheese

1 ½ - 2 cups sifted powdered sugar

½ tablespoon meyer lemon juice

zest of one fourth of a meyer lemon
Beat butter at medium speed until creamy. Add cream cheese and beat until combined. Sift 1 ½ cups of the powdered sugar into the butter and cream cheese. Add the lemon juice and zest. Beat until combined. Add more sugar until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like. I used 2 cups.

What I Did:

1. The main thing that I did different....which is a huge difference.... was that instead of doing the tart cranberry filling, I used the Raspberry filling stuff from the raspberry cream pie that is also on this blog. I just didn't see cranberries and lemon going together but it is probably delicious too!
2. I'm not sure what meyer lemons are, so I just used some regular lemons and I think it turned out the way it was supposed to!

Brownie Dipped Oreos

I first heard of this idea from my sister, but then I found a few food blogs with them. They were good, a little crunchy.....I was excpecting chewy soft brownie and one site even said that the oreo got soft, but I didn't think so. The yellow frosting was just a powdered sugar glaze......good with or without. All in all I think I would rather just eat a straight up oreo! But so fun to make and cute with " Holiday" oreos!

What I did:

1. Just make a box brownie mix.
2. Grease a muffin tin VERY well.
3. Dip the oreos in the brownie mix and put in mffin tin.
4. Bake on 350* for about 15 or so min. I would start looking at them aroumd 10 min.
5. The center may look like it's not quite done (mine did anyway) but it really probably is. The oreo in the center makes it look that way.