Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Tomorrow at work we are having a potluck celebration for 3 people in my department who are getting married this summer. I offered to bring cupcakes and decided to find a nice summery flavor to also celebrate that summer is upon us and school will be out soon. Pink Lemonade it was. This recipe actually used a box mix as a base, but it was changed up quite a bit, not using the directions on the box. I usually avoid box mixes unless they are very doctored like this one. I'll still count these as homemade enough, just minus having to use flour, sugar, and some sort of leavening agent. I also almost always opt out of using shortening-based frostings because they end up being such a pain to clean up. The are definitely nice and smooth and glossier than a buttercream, but shortening just gets on everything. The only reason I stuck with it is because my house was slightly humid, and in case it was warm in the school, shortening holds up better than buttercream in the heat.

The only thing I really changed in the recipe was instead of the 3/4 cup of water in the cake batter, I did 1/4 cup and a 1/2 cup of the thawed lemonade concentrate. It was just enough for a little hint of lemony tartness, but not overpowering. The lemon zest alone didn't quite cut it. Other than that I followed the recipe as is and they came out great! The frosting is a bit softer and glossier than my traditional buttercream that I like, but I knew that after a few hours the buttercream would soften up, and that just doesn't taste as good to me. The frosting is packed with more pink lemonade flavor than I expected. A lot of times I add extra flavoring because the vanilla extract and 7 cups of powdered sugar really mask any flavor added, but the lemonade really came through. I had some lemon extract on hand just in case, but never needed it. I also tried to find those lemon jelly candy fruit slices for decoration, but couldn't find any near me, so I stuck with the decorative straws for décor. Also, I used a little yellow food coloring in the cake instead of pink, so I could have the fun look of both the yellow and pink of the lemonade. Hope everyone enjoys these tomorrow! They are a great combination of sweet, fluffy cake and tart lemonade frosting.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
slightly adapted from Real Mom Kitchen

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup thawed frozen pink lemonade concentrate
3/4 cup oil
4 egg whites
3 or so drops yellow food coloring

For the frosting:
1 cup shortening
1 cup butter, room temperature (2 sticks)
1/2 cup thawed frozen pink lemonade concentrate
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk
the rest of the zest from the lemon
6-7 cups powdered sugar
4 drops or so of pink food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line 2 cupcake tins with liners.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the cake mix and pudding mix.
3. Add the sour cream, lemon zest, water, lemonade, oil and egg whites and beat on medium for about 2 minutes until smooth.
4. Add the food coloring and beat again until mixed in.
5. Divide between cupcake liners and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool completely.
6. For the frosting, beat the shortening and butter together.
7. Add the lemonade, vanilla, milk and lemon zest and beat together. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing on low speed until all is combined. Give it a good beating for 30 seconds at the end. Add the food coloring and beat until mixed in.
8. Frost cupcakes and decorate as you like!

Maple-Dijon Baked Chicken

I have 10.5 days of school left until summer break. It's a good feeling, but winding down the school year just brings an onslaught of wrapping everything up, which causes some stress. I somehow had some extra energy today, because not only did I make dinner tonight, but I made a batch of cupcakes this afternoon waiting to be frosted. There are 3 co-workers getting married this summer, so tomorrow after work we are having a little potluck get-together and I offered to bring some cupcakes. After I finish this post, I'm going to head back into the kitchen to finish up those cupcakes, so stay tuned for another post shortly.

The original title of this recipe is "The World's Best Chicken". I'm not so sure it warrants that title. It's great, and I will certainly make this again, but world's best? The chicken comes out nice and moist and the marinade/sauce gives it a really great flavor. The only issue I have with the sauce is that it sort of congeals when it bakes. Now, I know that sounds gross, who wants congealed sauce? But just the top of it does under it stays a creamy sort of mustard, so you can sort of smother it over your chicken and it's fine. It's easy to make, with nothing I didn't already have in my pantry. I have 4 different kinds of vinegar in my cabinet at all times, so if you aren't like me, you may need to grab some red wine vinegar for this. But Dijon mustard is pretty common, and who doesn't always have maple syrup? I left out the rosemary since I'm not a huge fan of it.

Maple-Dijon Baked Chicken
from Rachel Schultz

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 and grease or line a baking dish with foil. I still spray the foil with cooking spray.
2. Mix together the mustard, maple syrup, and vinegar.
3. Place the chicken in the baking dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce on, spreading over the chicken to coat it.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes, mine took about 38 minutes.
5. Serve with sides of your choice.

Sorry for the super terrible picture below. I made myself a plate before I remembered to snap a photo. But, you can see what I mean when I say the sauce congeals/thickens, since it slides off when you cut the chicken.

And I always slice my chicken to check for doneness. I just never trust myself enough to know that they're fully cooked. I'm kind of a freak about fully cooking chicken....

Baked "Deep Fried" Oreos

I may have found my pregnancy weakness. For a while I thought it was cheesecake but no. These are faster, cheaper, and easier than cheesecake. Cheesecake takes a bunch of ingredients, a lot of time to bake it, and then a lot of time to wait for it to refrigerate. Who has that amount of time to satisfy a craving?

Not I, said the preggo.

You know what doesn't take a lot of time, work, or ingredients? These baked "deep fried" Oreos. You need crescent rolls, Oreos, milk, and powdered sugar. About 10 minutes to make and 10 minutes to bake. OK, if you count preheating the oven that adds time, but I preheated it a little before I got to assembling them and it was no time at all.

Yeah, tell me you don't want these.

As I was assembling these delicious little confections of wonderfulness (new name for them?), Dan was emptying the dishwasher. He leaned over and asked why I was dipping the Oreos in milk before wrapping them in the dough. "To soften them a bit and give them some moisture as they bake so they're soft inside". "Oh, okay". Cut to his first bite... "I let my Oreos soak in milk when I eat them and they have never been this soft or amazing in my life". Hubby tells the truth. Good old Oreos and milk just won't cut it anymore. The warm, soft, buttery dough and the melt in your mouth Oreo cookie, all topped with some powdered sugar is sort of like eating a cookies 'n cream fried dough. But softer, and fluffier, and not fried in oil.

I had to take a few-minute pause in the middle of typing this just to go eat more. These came out of the oven 15 minutes and they're just about gone. As I eat these I think to myself, "Gestational diabetes, here I come..." My craving of sweets has been off the charts, which I'm not exactly a fan of. Before this little womb-raider came along, I never  sweets. It was a rare sight to see me eat a whole cupcake. But 12 of these Oreo goodies seemed to have disappeared...

The following is a recipe for one batch of these.

Which is not enough.

Baked "Deep Fried" Oreos
From Something Swanky

1 can crescent rolls (with or without perforations)
8 Oreo cookies
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat mat or parchment paper.
3. Open the crescent rolls but don't unroll the dough. Cut log in to 16 pieces. Don't worry about the lines or anything you're going to squish them.
4. Squish each piece into a round circle just larger than an Oreo.
5. Quickly dip an Oreo into the milk and place on a round of dough. Top with another round and seal the edges together. Place on the baking sheet.
6. Repeat with remaining cookies and bake for 10-12 minutes.
7. Top with some powdered sugar and eat!

Real Pizza Bread

As opposed to fake pizza bread?

Apparently I already have a post titled "Pizza Bread", and it's pizza fillings inside of mini bread boats. I wish I had titled that something else, like Pizza Bread Boats....

This is a legit loaf of bread filled with delicious pizza toppings. To get Dan to eat it I had to scale back on the toppings I would actually include. I would have included some chopped sun dried tomatoes, but apparently when I ordered Dan to clean out our entire fridge and freezer on Monday night I let him throw away the almost new package of them in the fridge. Bummer... What else would I like to add? Some green onions, maybe some diced green or red peppers, and some garlic powder to the dough. And more cheese....things can always use more cheese...

Other than the wait time for the dough to rise, this recipe is super simple. You can take my word for it because I almost never make "real" bread. The kind with yeast, that has to rise, and then rise again, etc. I like to throw everything in a bowl, stir it, dump it into a pan and bake it. That might be why I have about 6 different banana bread recipes on this blog...

But really, no kneading or punching required, just some chopping of ingredients, stirring, rolling out some dough, rolling up some dough and baking. It's a great recipe if you're not experienced with yeast breads, which is me.

Real Pizza Bread
adapted from Inspired by Charm

1.5 cups warm water
2 tsp. instant yeast
3 and 1/3 cups flour
1.5 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups of chopped fillings of your choice (I used pepperoni, black olives, real bacon bits, and minced garlic)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded mozzarella (or whatever you'd like, I did 1/2 mozzarella and 1/2 pizza blend)

1. In a large bowl, add the warm water and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for 3 minutes.
2. Add the flour, sugar, and salt and stir until just combined. Add the toppings and Parmesan and mix until well combined. If the dough still feels too tacky, sprinkle in a little more flour.
3. Let sit and rise for 1 hour. Move to the refrigerator and let sit for another hour.
4. Preheat oven to 450 and lightly flour a work surface.
5. Roll out your dough into an 11x17 rectangle. Top with shredded cheese and fold the edges in so the cheese isn't exposed. I just folded in each side and sealed the edges. Just make your prettier than mine...
6. Let it sit while the oven preheats.
7. Bake on a baking sheet or pizza stone for 35 minutes. After 20 minutes, I placed a piece of foil on top of my bread so didn't get too dark.
8. Let cool, slice, and enjoy!

Chicken, Bacon, and Broccoli Alredo Stuffed Shells

Cooking actual meals and pregnancy don't mix. At least not for this preggo. Most nights I have no desire to eat a meal, let alone cook one. I've been settling for easy foods, such as cut up fruits and veggies, and have had quite an aversion to meats. For some reason, the texture of most chicken and steak just makes me gag. Sweets however have been more of a craving. So with the rarity of meats and increased sweets consumption I know that pregnancy can really throw off your normal meal habits.

Last night I made a BBQ beef and biscuit casserole, which is a variation of a dish I've made numerous times, so nothing to really blog about. I was able to eat a bunch of ground beef, so that was pretty good since I haven't eaten too much meat lately. Tonight, there was some chicken in my shells, so another way I've added some meat back into my diet. Although, as I was eating dinner, I was mostly thinking about the bowl of cherries and blackberries I'm about to have as my nighttime snack. Basically, if it's fresh and cold, I'll eat it.

I LOVE stuffed shells. Traditional, ricotta-filled, red sauce smothered shells. Dan, however, isn't much of a red sauce guy. Every now and then he'll eat some lasagna or pasta with red sauce, but it's rare. He's more of an Alfredo or butter/oil and garlic kind of guy. I'll eat anything, so I can usually be accommodating. These shells have everything he will eat, chicken, bacon bits, cheese, Alfredo sauce and broccoli (one of the 4 veggies he'll eat). They're also pretty easy to throw together if you use a rotisserie chicken (like I did) and some steamer broccoli florets (like I did) and just have to chop them up.

It was also 90 degrees today. So I only ate a few, because the heat and my general disliking of heavy hot foods lately wouldn't let me have any more than that.

Now I'm off to go get my bowl of blackberries and cherries...

Chicken, Bacon, and Broccoli Alfredo Stuffed Shells
adapted from Sweet Dash of Sass

25 or so jumbo pasta shells, cooked al dente and drained
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cups chopped cooked broccoli
2 (16 oz) jars Alfredo sauce divided
Chopped bacon (optional)
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1 cup shredded Mozzarella
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven 350 and grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the chicken, broccoli, 1 jar of Alfredo sauce, cheeses, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Spread the other jar of Alfredo sauce on to bottom of the prepared baking dish.
4. Stuff the shells and arrange in the dish.
5. Cover with foil and cook for 35 minutes.

 

 

A little extra Alfredo sauce for the top would have been better!

 



French Vanilla Cappuccino Cupcakes

Two types of cupcakes in 3 days? I know, I'm excited about it too.

I'm beginning to become bolder in my cupcake baking. Okay, well, slightly bolder. I'm able to look at a recipe and loosely follow it now. I don't have to panic when I don't have all of the ingredients since I've finally nailed down some solid substitutes for ingredients. This recipe I mostly followed, with some exceptions. For the frosting, I just looked at the ingredients once and then did my own thing with them, but similar to what's outlined.

As always, I like cupcakes made from scratch, but every now and then I will doctor up a box mix. I never use a straight up box mix unless I'm a) in a super time crunch, b) ruin a batch and don't have the ingredients to replicate it and NEED a batch of cupcakes, or c) I'm testing out frostings so the cakes don't matter. When I do use a boxed mix I always change it a bit. I'll add an extra egg, use melted butter instead of oil, substitute milk for the water (or other liquids), etc...

This recipe is a boxed base, but with lots of extras added in, like brewed coffee, coffee flavoring, sour cream, milk, and egg whites. No, I did not come up with doctoring combination, the original blogger did, and man, did she nail it. These cupcakes are SUPER AMAZINGLY fluffy and moist. I would make the cakes and not frost them and then eat the whole batch.

I didn't....but I would...

I don't have coffee extract, nor do they have it at the grocery store near me, but I decided I'd sub in some brewed coffee and some of coffee candy flavoring oil. It worked well. It didn't over-power the cake, but gave it just a hint of coffee flavor. I also used vanilla bean paste instead of extract for a little extra punch. In the frosting, I also used some brewed coffee, coffee flavoring and a little sprinkle (may an 1/8 teaspoon) of espresso ground from a N'Espresso  capsule. The recipe below is how I made it with what I had on hand.

These may be in the top 10 of cupcakes I've made. My last post, with the Watermelon Cupcakes, also might make the list. They went like hotcakes at the cookout, with people telling me I should be selling them. Oh if only I could make a living on that...

French Vanilla Cappuccino Cupcakes
adapted from Living Better Together

1 box of white cake mix
1 package vanilla instant pudding mix
4 egg whites
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp. brewed coffee (or coffee extract)
1/4 tsp. coffee flavoring oil for candy (LorAnn brand) (If using extract, omit this)
1/4 tsp. sea salt

For the frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
4-5 cups powdered sugar (I used about 4.5)
About 1 cup instant French vanilla cappuccino powder (I bought a box that had 4 little packs that was maybe 3/4 cup)
1/8 tsp. coffee flavoring candy oil
2 tbsp. brewed oil
2-3 tbsp. heavy cream
1/8 tsp. espresso grounds

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line 20 muffin cups with liners.
2. Beat all cake ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium for about 1 minute until combined.
3. Fill liners 1/2-3/4 way full and place in the oven. Lower the temperature to 375 and bake for 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Let cool completely
5. For the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer beat the butter for 2 minutes until fluffy. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time, mixing on low in between additions. When it gets very thick, add a tablespoon or two of brewed coffee. Add more powdered sugar and beat on low. When it gets thick again, add a tablespoon or two of cream. Add the cappuccino powder, coffee flavoring oil, and espresso grounds and beat again until fluffy. Add more cream or sugar depending on the consistency you want.
6. Frost cupcakes and tell your husband several times he can't eat them all.

Until I get real labels made, I used sticker paper, a 2-inch hole punch, a rubber stamp, and a marker to make some labels for my boxes. Not bad for 3 minutes....

Watermelon Cupcakes

It's April 25th, and the high today is going to be maybe 58 degrees. Get your act together New England, we're done with the cold!

My friends' daughter is 4. They're having a little cookout to celebrate and I made my tortellini skewers that I bring everywhere. While my tortellini were cooking I decided on a whim to make cupcakes. I couldn't use my go-to Vanilla Bean Cupcakes since I was missing a couple of things, so I used an easier vanilla cake recipe that I've used before. Both are good, but the Vanilla Bean recipe is better. I doctored the recipe with some mini chocolate chips and food coloring gel for the pink cupcakes (watermelon with seeds), and then whipped up my own buttercream with some watermelon candy flavoring and food coloring gel again for the watermelon flavor. It's a flavor for some (hopeful) warmer weather soon. I also didn't have sour cream, so I substituted it with some homemade buttermilk (1 tsp. lemon juice with 1 cup of milk, let sit for 5-10 minutes and use as much as needed).
These are just the right amount of watermelon flavor, enough to taste it but not overwhelming, and the frosting was perfectly fluffy!

Watermelon Cupcakes
adapted from Deliciously Sprinkled
Makes 12 cupcakes

For the cakes:
1 and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste
1/2 cup sour cream or buttermilk (see homemade above)
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
pink or red food coloring

For the frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
4 cups powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp. milk, divided
1/2 tsp. watermelon flavoring (depending on your liking, I use candy flavoring oil)
green food coloring

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a muffin tin cupcake liners. This made 15 for me, so I needed more than 1 pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs, 2 minutes, until fluffy. Add the butter and beat for 1 more minute. Add vanilla bean paste and beat again.
3. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mix and beat until JUST COMBINED. Don't over mix.
4. Add in buttermilk or sour cream and bear again until creamy.
5. Add a few drops of red or pink food coloring and beat on low until color is mixed in. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Fill muffin tins about 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely.
7. For the frosting beat the butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and beat in between on low at first. (If you beat on medium right away, the powdered sugar will dust up EVERYWHERE). Add milk, 1/2 tablespoon at a time to get desired consistency.
8. Add watermelon flavoring 1/4 tsp. at a time and mix until you get your desired flavor. (I did 3/4 tsp.)
9. Add a few drops of green food coloring and beat until color is fully mixed in.
10. Frost your cupcakes and enjoy!