S'mores Brownies

Dusty is crazy for s'mores so last week I decided to take boxed brownies to a new level and make s'mores brownies. I realize it's probably not an original idea but I thought I'd share because it's easy and delicious! I just mixed up a brownie mix and spread it in a baking dish like usual. Then I sprinkled mini-marshmallows across the top and topped it with crumbled graham crackers. Bake as usual and devour while they are warm. Awesome s'mores!!!

Recipe: Lemonade Cupcakes

In honor of Independence Day, I’m sharing one of my favorite summer treats- Lemonade Cupcakes! These are such a perfect sweet for summer. They come out very moist and a little heavy and are perfect sans frosting! I normally don’t bother with frosting but if I do frost them, I usually use a sour cream frosting recipe. It’s the perfect compliment for this cupcake! Lemonade Cupcakes

1- 6 ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)
1 package white cake mix
1- 8 ounce container sour cream
1- 3 ounce package cream cheese
3 eggs

Remove 2 tablespoons of lemonade from the can and discard them. In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining can of lemonade with the other ingredients. Beat at low until moistened. Beat at high speed for 3 minutes. Spoon batter into lined cupcake pans. Fill 3/4 full.
Bake at 350 for 22 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Happy Independence Day!

I'm linking up to Balancing Beauty & Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday.

Miniature Lemon Cheesecakes

I have many new recipes I’ve tried over the past few months that I have been meaning to share! One were these delicious mini lemon-cheesecakes. I made a double batch for Lindey’s baby shower this spring. My topping idea kind of backfired so I went with the non-attractive spoonful of chocolate on some of them. I really wanted to do raspberry sauce but couldn’t find any pre-made at the store and my last attempt at raspberry sauce was quite tart.

Keep in mind that this recipe makes about 12 so for most occasions, it probably needs to be doubled.

12 Vanilla Wafers
1 tsp vanilla
2 - 8 oz cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
Zest and juice of 1 small lemon

Line muffin tin with foil or paper liners.
Place one vanilla wafer in each liner. Mix cream cheese, vanilla, & sugar on medium speed until well blended.
Add eggs, lemon juice & zest. Mix well.
Pour over wafers, filling 3/4 full.
Bake 25 minutes at 325.
Chill.
Top with chocolate, sauce, fruit, nuts, galore!

I'm linking this recipe up at Balancing Beauty & Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday. Check it out for more recipe ideas!

Cupcakes!

I tried out a recipe for cupcakes for Valentine's Day and am just getting around to sharing it.

I found this recipe on Home Made Simple. I found the icing recipe on allrecipes.com and I love this icing! It's a thinner consistency so it would be great as a glaze or on cupcakes and cakes! It is wonderful.

Strawberry Preserves Cupcakes

1 pkg. moist strawberry cake mix

2 cups sour cream

3 eggs

1/4 cup water

1/3 cup strawberry preserves

24 paper cupcake liners

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line cupcake pans with papers.

2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, sour cream, eggs, and water.

3. Stir with a spoon and or whisk until well blended. (I just used my mixer)

4. Fill muffin pans 1/2 full with batter.

5. Using a spoon, make a slight indention in the center of each cup; fill with a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of strawberry preserves.

6. Spoon remaining batter evenly over each filled cup; covering preserves. (Muffin cups should be about 3/4 full).

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. If toothpick goes through the preserves, it won't come out clean. Duh!

8. Cool for 1 minute and remove from pan. Cool completely before adding icing. Store in the refrigerator.

Sour Cream Frosting

4 T butter, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 t vanilla extract

1/2 t lemon juice

1/4 t salt

1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar - powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter sour cream, lemon juice and salt. Stir in powdered sugar and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

A Valentine Sweet for You!

I decided to make some chocolate peanut butter balls to show our appreciation to our family and friends on Valentine's Day.... now that they are finished, I'm not sure if there will be any left after Dusty does his taste testing! He devours these things... oh, and I occasionally help him out with his quality control testing.

Before making this, clear out room in your refrigerator for two cookie sheets. I didn’t do this beforehand and had to go on a refrigerator re-arranging and disposal mission. It was not pretty what I found in there! Was it sour cream or penicillin?
Also before starting, make sure you have all the ingredients… I always forget this step and my dear husband is always running to the grocery store for me… this time he went to get me powdered sugar. Thanks, Amazing Husband!

Amazing Husband wouldn’t humor me and take a photo with the powdered sugar by the way. He also wasn’t willing to take pictures of me making the candy so these pictures are the best I could do! No action shots.

Here's the MIA powdered sugar bought by Amazing Husband.Peanut Butter Balls

2 cups peanut butter
1 stick butter, softened
1 16 oz. bag powdered sugar
3 cups Rice Krispies2 bags chocolate chips (approximately)
2-3 T shortening

Mix peanut butter, butter, and powdered sugar. Add Rice Krispies and mix in.

Roll into balls and place them on wax covered cookie sheet. As you can see, I am not a consistent ball roller… they get bigger and bigger as I go…. Which does mess with the peanut butter to chocolate ratio…. Try to make them uniform if at all possible or do whatever floats your boat.
Refrigerate.
Melt chocolate chips and shortening either on stove top or microwave. Using toothpick, dip each ball in melted chocolate and return to wax papered cookie sheet. Coat all balls and refrigerate until chocolate is hard.

Devour!

Note: I store mine in a Tupperware container and layer wax paper and candies and then refrigerate.

Disclaimer: I am not promising that we will give these out on Valentine's Day... it was a thought... they may not last that long so we may have to dispose of them as we see fit.

Some Kisses for you!

Yes, I am giving everyone an early Valentine's Day present - kisses! So, enjoy! Oh, wait... it's actually the recipe to make Peanut Butter cookies w/Kisses on top! I think they are a great Valentine surprise for special friends, so I thought I would share. This recipe originated from Jean Wilks, a family friend. It is one of Dusty & my favorite cookies! I usually double the recipe and freeze half of them.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Kisses

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cup sifted flour
2 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
5 dozen chocolate Kisses

Sift flour w/soda and salt. Mix butter and peanut butter. Add sugars and beat well until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture; mix well.
Using a level tablespoon for each, shape into a ball. Roll in granulated sugar. Place 2" apart on greased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes at 375. Remove and press kisses on top. Bake 2 minutes longer. Enjoy! You can always use this recipe for plain pb cookies. Just press the top with a sugared fork and bake for 10-12 minutes. I like to stir in chocolate chips with this recipe... nothing beats peanut butter and chocolate! A great combination!!!!

Brownie Cupcakes ~ Yum-o!

Dusty & I LOVE brownies!!!! Okay, we pretty much just like anything chocolate. Sometimes I will make brownies so I can lick the batter off the bowl - isn't that pathetic? I decided to try a little spin on brownies today and do some experimenting. The basic principle being - bake the brownie batter in muffin pans instead of a 13x9 pan. No need for measuring & cutting out the perfect 1.5" x 1.5" brownies. It makes them easy to pack for lunches or share with your good friends (as in me :). You could also use the adorable Valentine cupcake paper liners to make them fun and festive!

So, here are my basic instructions -

Boxed brownie mix 9x13 size (along with all ingredients needed for brownies, eggs, water, oil, cooking spray)

Peanut butter chips

9-18 Miniature peanut butter cups

Mix brownie mix according to directions. Preheat oven as directed on box. Stir in approximate 1/3 of the bag of peanut butter chips. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray. Spoon batter into pans - about 1/2 full. Place brownie cupcakes in oven.

I cut most of the peanut butter cups in half, but I left a few whole. After the brownies have baked for 5 minutes, remove them from the oven and push the peanut butter cups into the center of each cupcake. Finish baking until done (so technical, I know). I think I baked mine for another 10 minutes or so.

Run a knife around the edge of each brownie cupcake and remove them.Afterwards, place the brownie cupcakes on a beautiful plate and it looks like you worked hard on a home-made dessert. Enjoy!!!