Saturday, September 22, 2012

"Pie" Cupcakes

We had our annual chili/pie cook off at church tonight.  And since I don't do real pies I went with what I know best...cupcakes!  I wanted to do something fall tasting and different from last years.  This is what I came up with.
Caramel Apple "Pie"
I got the recipe from Warningsugarygoodness.com


Ingredients for Vanilla cupcakes:
1 /2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups sugar  
4 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups flour .13 oz.
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
*I thought this was too sweet so next time I make them I will add less sugar and maybe a little more flour.
* this makes 30 cupcakes
Directions
1.   In a bowl mix together buttermilk, milk, vanilla extract, and baking soda.   Set aside.
2.  Sift together flour and baking powder.  Set aside.
3.  Using a mixer on medium speed blend together eggs and sugar until blended.  Blend in oil.  Next add flour mixture and then milk mixture alternating beginning and ending with the flour mixture.  Blend thoroughly for about 3 minutes.  Fill  baking cups just over 1/2 full.   Scoop a dollop of apple pie filling into each baking cup.  Bake at 350 until just golden or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. About 16 minutes.   Don’t over bake !

Apple Pie filling ingredients:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 cups water
4 Granny Smith apples – peeled, cored and sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water
Directions
Combine the lemon and 4 cups water in a large bowl. Place the sliced apples in the water to keep them from browning.
  •  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain water from apples, and place them into the hot skillet. Cook and stir for about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, and cinnamon, and cook, stirring, for 2 more minutes. Stir together cornstarch and 1 tablespoon water. Pour into the skillet, and mix well. Cook for another minute, or until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat to cool. Set aside

Vanilla Buttercream frosting ingredients:
3 sticks of butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar 
 Directions:
Blend the butter and vanilla in a mixer at medium speed until soft and blended well, about 3 minutes.  Slowly add powdered sugar a little at a time on low-speed.   Once it is all in and mixed beat at high-speed until light and fluffy for about 4 minutes.  
*I used a lattice tip to add the "pie" lines on top of the cupcake.  I liked this idea better than piping since this cupcake was really sweet and didn't need a glob of frosting.  Once frosted I added cut apples as a garnish covered in lemon juice (to keep from browning) and cinnamon/sugar.
Next I drizzled store bought caramel on top. Even though we drizzled it on heavy it separated in dots. I tried making her homemade caramel but I did something wrong and burnt it.  I didn't have time to try again.

I wanted to do something that showed what flavor cupcakes these were and decided to add vinyl lettering to the plates.  Thanks Shan for helping me with this. You are the reason I thought of this in the first place.  You are so talented!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes
1 spice cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1/4 cup oil
3 eggs

Mix until blended.  Bake 350 for about 20 minutes.
*Warning: these have a texture like pumpkin pie.  I kept baking them longer and the toothpick never came out clean and I almost burnt them.

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 to 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Blend cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Gradually add p. sugar. Add cinnamon.
I tried to decorate this like a pie too.  I used the leaf tip for the border and a star tip 1M for the star, then added the candied pecan.
I totally guessed on how to make the pecan but they turned out yummy.  I hope I can guess again.
I combined an egg white with a few drops of water then added the pecans in the bowl to coat them.
Next I combined some cinnamon, sugar and a little salt until it looked good then added my pecans to that bowl and tossed them until they were really coated.  I placed them on a greased sheet and put them in the oven at 275.  Every 5 minutes I turned them and then guessed when they were done.  Probably 20 minutes.
These would be fun to bring to Thanksgiving dinner.  And for anyone who really cares... I won first place!  Thanks Shan for all your help.  I couldn't have done them without you!
j

Monday, August 20, 2012

Back to School Crayons




Made these for Ethan's class on the first day of school.  I decided to put them in the pencil case this year instead of wrap them individually. These are super easy to make but take time (if your using lots of different colors of chocolate.) Just break a pretzel rod in half and dip the ends in melted colored chocolate and then wrap them.

Got the idea from this website.You can also print the wrappers from here.


http://www.gourmetmomonthego.com/2008/08/runs-with-scissors-and-eats-crayons.html
This was how Shan did hers.  Super cute! I might have to copy that next year.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Happy 60th Rita!

I made these for sweet Rita's 60th birthday.
Strawberry:

Strawberry cake
1 box white cake mix (Duncan Hines)
1 small box strawberry jello
1/2 boiling water
3/4 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup fresh mashed strawberries
Boil water in microwave. Add jello. Stir until dissolved. Add rest of ingredients. Mix few minutes on medium. Bake 350 for approx. 16 min.



Strawberry frosting
1 stick butter
16 oz. powdered sugar
1/4 cup mashed strawberries
6 ounces of cream cheese
1 tsp. of vanilla.
*this frosting is a little runny so it doesn't pipe anything fancy unless you add more powdered sugar which makes it more sweet.


Chocolate:
Too much Chocolate cake from Allrecipes.com
  • 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
  • 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Patti's Chocolate Frosting:
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cup powdered sugar

I love the polka dot table cloth Rachel used.  She bought a few yards of fabric and used it as a runner.  What a cute idea!
Chocolate letters:
traced a 60 backwards onto wax paper so when I pulled it off the opposite side was smooth.
Happy Birthday Rita!

Friday, August 17, 2012

Back to school fun!

We made these for meet the teacher night.  Used Jill's sugar cookie recipe and my lemon cream cheese frosting.


We had to add a few bookworms to some of them. Thanks Jill and Shan for your help!  I always love our late nights together.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Elephant baby shower

I made these for Anna's twin baby shower.  She is decorating her nursery in elephants which made for a cute theme.
Too much Chocolate cake from Allrecipes.com
  • 1 (18.25 ounce) package devil's food cake mix
  • 1 (5.9 ounce) package instant chocolate pudding mix
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Frosting:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter softened
1 tsp. vanilla
4  cups powdered sugar

Richann helped me make these cupcake toppers...
And this cute elephant decoration that we made to fit over the plate holder.

Elephant sugar cookies:

2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup butter (creamed)
1 cup sour cream
Combine & beat until creamy. Add 61/2 cups flour and 2 tsp. baking soda, and 1 tsp. salt. Mix well. Roll out on floured counter 1/2 inch thick. Cut out with cutter. Place on greased sheet and Bake for 10 min. @ 350.

I have no idea why this didn't download straight but you get the idea of how I decorated them using the stripe and polka-dot theme.  This was a really cute shower that Rachel did.  I wish I took pictures of the adorable banner and food table but trust me it was super cute.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Turquoise and Orange Bridal Shower

Bridal shower for Caitlyn.  Her favorite colors are turquoise and orange so it was fun trying to find things to make this work. Thanks Sharon for your help!


I decided that turquoise frosting didn't sound appetizing so I went with orange and white frosting and used turquiose chocolate to make hearts and B's.  I used white almond bark and gel colors (blue and green) to get the color I wanted.  I printed out a B from the computer and traced it onto wax paper.  Once the hearts dried I used white frosting to write on them.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Summer fun

 Jared and I made these for a church social today. I wanted to do something summer-y. I found a few ideas on google and combined them all.
 My favorite was the beach chairs.  We folded fruit stripe gum into chairs. The sand is crushed graham crackers. Beach balls=bubble gum.
 More chairs...
 I tried to make swim shorts but it wasn't very cute.
 Can you tell that the corner one is a shark and the bear next to it got attacked?
 Ethan thought I needed blood to make it look more realistic.
*I used a fruit slice for the shark fin.






















The beach swim rings are the collision gummy life savers.

Happy Summer!!