Rocky Road Cupcakes

It has been awhile since my last posting...almost two weeks.  Well it is because I was BLESSED with a new granddaughter.  I have spent my free time visiting her and cooking for her mommy and dad.  That is grandma's way of getting them to my house.  I love her so much!  I am so excited because she is the first girl for me.  I have four sons and two grandsons.  So she will be spoiled!

The weekend after her birth, I invited her other grandparents and aunties to a BBQ at my house. I spent the morning cooking and cleaning.  We had BBQ chicken, ribs, hot links, potato salad, chili beans and cupcakes.  ROCKY ROAD CUPCAKES!  Easy and delicious!

Cupcakes
Devils Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/8 cup slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Follow directions on the cake mix box, except replace water with cold brewed coffee. Once cake mix is all mixed, add the chips and marshmallows.  Mix about one minute.  Fill cupcake holders with mix and bake for about 15-minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.

Frosting
Tub of store bought chocolate frosting
Semi sweet and white chips
Slivered almonds

Frost cupcakes and top with chips and almonds.

Coconut Cupcakes

This recipe again is made with a cake box recipe.  DELICIOUS AND VERY TASTY!

Cupcake
1 box of white cake mix
Coconut Milk
1/4 cup Coconut (sweetened)

Follow the recipe on the box, except replace the water with coconut milk.  Once all mixed folded in 1/4 cup of shredded coconut.  Fill cupcake tins and bake in a 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack.

Frosting
1 stick of butter
1- 8 oz pack of cream cheese
2-4 cups of powder sugar
2-tbsp of coconut milk
Shredded coconut

Mix butter and cheese until completely blended.  Add coconut milk and powder sugar.  Frost cupcakes and top with coconut.

Mexican Chocolate Chili Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Chili Frosting

Boy was I daring with this recipe.....I was watching the food channel and they had this show on chocolate candy made with different spices, so I thought why not try something with chocolate and chili, just like the mole in Mexico.

This is an easy recipe and it is made with a cake mix and store bought frosting.  You will just need to add a few extra ingredients.

Cupcakes
1 box of devils food or dark chocolate cake mix
Milk (instead of water...amount required on box)
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp New Mexico Chili Powder
a dash of kosher salt
a dash of ground black pepper
1 disk of Mexican chocolate chopped up into small bits

Makes 24 cupcakes


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Follow directions on cake box but instead of using water use whole milk.  Add all ingredients except the Mexican chocolate.  Mix until all combined then fold in the Mexican chocolate.  With an ice cream scooper fill cupcake holders about 3/4 of the way.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes.  Remove and let cool on baking rack.

Frosting
2-store bought tubs of cream cheese frosting
3/4 tsp of cinnamon
3/4 tsp of New Mexico Chili Powder
2-3 tbs of Dutch Cocoa Powder

Add frosting in a bowl and sift the remaining ingredients.  Mix for about one minute.  Frost with spoon or use a tip with a piping bag for desired design.

These cupcakes turned out to be quite TASTY!  Frosting had a nice spice and the cupcake had the WONDERFUL flavor of the Mexican Chocolate!

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

I am not really a lemon meringue pie person, but was interested in trying something new. The recipe is easy and the results are WONDERFULLY DELICIOUS!

Cupcake
1 stick of unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of self rising flour
lemon zest of one lemon and the juice of the lemon
lemon curd

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl add sugar and butter and beat together until pale and fluffy.  Then add the eggs, one egg at a time.  Sift flour into mixture and fold in, then stir in the lemon juice and the lemon zest.

Spoon a good dollop of the mixture into cupcake holders and make an indentation with the back of a teaspoon. drop a half of teaspoon of lemon curd into each cupcake then top each with the remaining cupcake mix.  Bake for about 15-17 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.

Meringue
2 egg whites
3/4 cup of granulated sugar

In a double boiler add ingredients and beat for about five minutes, until mixture is thick and glossy and stands in peaks.

You can decorate with the back of a spoon or us a star tip with a piping bag.

Makes 12 cupcakes

ENJOY!

Blueberry Cupcakes......YUMMY!

Every other week I get a box of fresh veggies and fruits delivered to me by local farmers and all organic.  This week in my box, there were blueberries.  I am not really a blueberry fan, so I did not know what to do with them. 
I set out searching my cookbooks and the Internet for recipes with blueberries.  Mostly, what I found was muffin recipes and fruit salad recipes.

After awhile, I came up with something.  Blueberry cupcakes with a blueberry frosting. 

The cupcakes were DELICIOUS!  Then family loved them.


Blueberry Puree
1-pint of blueberries
1-tbsp sugar
1-tbsp water

Add all ingredients into a pot bring to boil and let cool for a few minutes.  Add blueberry mixture to blender and blend.  Once well blended, pour the mixture through a mesh strainer.  Frozen blueberries will work too, but do not cook or add ingredients.  Just thaw, blend and run through mesh strainer.

Cupcakes (makes 12-regular size cupcakes)
6-tbsp of the blueberry puree
1 1/2 cup of sifted flour
1/8 tsp of salt
4-tbsp of whole milk
1 tsp of vanilla extract
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp of baking powder

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.  In a separate bowl mix the blueberry puree, vanilla and milk together.  In the mixer bowl cream butter then add sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time until completely mixed.  Scrape down the bowl.  Now alternating add the dry ingredients and the puree mixture. Scrape the bowl down again and mix on low for another minute.  Line cupcake pan with 12-liners.  Using a ice cream scooper fill each holder.  This will make your cupcakes uniform in size.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  You can use a toothpick to insert into the center of the cupcake, if it comes out clean the cupcakes are ready.  Place on a rack and let cool.


Frosting
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) softened
4 oz of cream cheese softened
1/2 cup of blueberry puree
3-4 cups of powder sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with the mixer.  Add the blueberry puree one tablespoon at a time until the frosting is smooth and spreadable.  If the frosting is to runny add more powder sugar.  You can also let the frosting set up a bit in the refrigerator.

You can frost anyway you like.  I used a star tip.

Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes

This weekend I had an Italian Theme dinner with my boys.  To go with my chicken parmesan, pasta and salad, I decided to make some SPAGHETTI & MEATBALL CUPCAKES!  They were so easy to make and easy to decorate.

I used a yellow box cake mix.  Followed the directions as indicated on the box.

For my frosting, I used standard vanilla frosting.  To get the frosting to be the color of pasta, I added a teaspoon of cocoa powder and yellow food coloring to the frosting.  Once I got the desired color, I frosted each of the cupcakes with a little frosting.  I added the remaining frosting to a pastry bag cut a little tip off the pastry bag and went WILD with the frosting.  It was so much fun and easy to make the spaghetti.

Once all the cupcakes were full of spaghetti frosting, I microwaved about a half a cup of strawberry jam in the microwave.  I dropped my hazel nut candy balls into the jam topped each cupcake with a candy and drizzled the remaining jam on the cupcakes.  They turned out AMAZING! 

My guest were so impressed they started on dessert first!

WELCOME!

Cute, colorful and sweet....cupcakes and cakes are always pleasurable! They are always the centerpiece to every party!