Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies

With Easter just around the corner, the shops are stocked up with my favorite chocolate candy, Cadbury Mini Eggs. I love, love, love these little guys. They are so pop able, I have to put them in a remote location so I don't eat them in one sitting. Do you love mini eggs or are you a fan of the cream eggs? The cream eggs are pretty good but they don't really hold a candle next to the minis.

I purchased the big bag (18oz) thinking it would hold me through the rest of the season...WRONG! I wanted to make cookies and I didn't have but a 1/4 cup of mini chips in the house. (Clearly I need to go shopping) So I rummaged through the candy drawer to see what I had. I have thought about mini egg cookies before but was always hesitant to make them. I always thought the dough would over shadow the the vanilla shell/chocolate flavor. I dwelled on the option but decided to wing it, see what would happen.

I'm just saying,I'm glad I took the leap. These babies are delicious and not much harder to make than a chocolate chip cookie. You need to smash the eggs, I tried chopping them whole, but that proved dangerous. Just place the mini eggs in zip lock bag and smash them with a rolling pin. I then chopped them into smaller pieces, just because that's how I like them, you could totally skip that step if you wanted. After smashing and chopping I got started on the dough.

I have seen a lot of recipes floating around that say to use cornstarch instead of baking soda in cookies to make for a softer cookie. I thought, well if ever there is a time for a soft cookie it is now. I also used powdered sugar in the recipe, I find this increases the softness too.

Recipe:
1 8oz bag of cadbury mini eggs (the regular sized bag, not the huge one or the mini size bag) smashed
2 1/4 C Flour
1/2 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C powdered sugar
3/4 C white sugar
1/2- 1 Tbs vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp cornstarch
1/2-1 tsp salt
3/4 C melted unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350*

In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Once melted mix together with sugars then add eggs one at a time until combined. Mix in the vanilla, salt and cornstarch. Finally, slowly add in the flour. I do this is 3 parts and with the last part I add in the crushed mini eggs.

Drop spoonfuls of batter onto ungreased cookie sheets. These do not spread much.  Bake for 8-10 minutes. After cooling slightly on tray remove cookies to cookie rack for further cooling.

Makes 24-36 tbs sized cookies (ish)

Enjoy these guys while you can. Easter will be here soon and the mini eggs will be gone!!

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Strawberry Cinnamon Trifle

Trifles are so easy to pull together. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to make one of these! A few days ago I had a family get together with my oldest sister and younger brother. Katie was in charge of dinner: venison steak, blistered green beans, homemade mac and cheese and french bread, it was amazing! Since she did such a terrific job at dinner I was left to compete with dessert.

I had recently made some cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies and the batch made a TON! so what's a girl to do with left over cookies? I racked my brain with desserts to make and remembered a time when I had a cinnamon ice cream topped with strawberries (it was outta this world) so I wanted to play on that. Time was limited so I went with what I knew was easy and fast, trifle.

I went to the store, purchased a cook and serve pudding (or instant) a little thing of heavy whipping cream (to make whipped cream) and a thing of fresh strawberries. Honestly I meant to pick up instant pudding but when I don't look at the box thoroughly I get cook and serve pudding....  I guess it's all the same in the end.  You cold clearly save yourself some time and purchase premade pudding and cool whip, but I love homemade whipped cream.

After making the pudding and whipped cream then chopping the strawberries and cookies,it was assembly time. I like to mix a little whipped cream into the pudding to fluff it up a bit. I put a layer of pudding in the bottom of a clear bowl (so everyone can see the layering) a layer of chopped cookies, a layer of sliced strawberries then top it with whipped cream. I did another round of this layering then topped it with left over cookies and strawberries.

Honestly folks, I loved, loved, loved this trifle. I liked it so much I had it for breakfast the next morning! Please make this for your friends, they may think it's a unique flavoring at first but it is outta this world, for reals!

Recipe:
1 box of instant vanilla pudding
1 container of whipped cream (homemade if you want)
1 container of fresh strawberries
12 cinnamon oatmeal cookies (recipe below)

Follow the instructions on the pudding box.
If making homemade whipped cream make sure to freeze the metal bowl and beaters that you will mix the whipped cream in. Remove from freezer (only needs to be in there for about 15 minutes) Pour in heavy cream and a few tablespoons of sugar (sweeten to your liking.) Turn your beaters on medium speed as the cream thickens increase the speed. Mix until the cream can hold its shape (stiff peak test)
Chop the cookies into half bite pieces to little chunks (or whatever size you like) Chunk the strawberries into quarters.
In a clear bowl, layer the pudding then cookies then strawberries then whipped cream. Continue layering until you have run out of room. Cover the trifle and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Oatmeal Cookie recipe:
1/2 C. Shortening
1/2 C. Butter
1 C. Sugar
1 C. Brown Sugar
2 eggs
2 vanilla beans ( 2 tsp. Vanilla)
1 1/2 C Flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 C. Quick Oats
12oz bag of cinnamon chips

Pre heat oven to 350*
Grease cookie sheets
In a bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In a mixing bowl combine butter and shortening and sugars and beat until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, mix in vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture. Stir in oats one cup at a time then add the cinnamon chips. Once combined, spoon batter onto cookie sheets about 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 to 20 minutes. Cool slightly than transfer to cookie racks to finish cooling.

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Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

(pictures coming soon)

Happy New Year! As a new year resolution, I plan to write you all at least one recipe a month (yikes!) I have been on hiatus last year, I just was not having a good year, I couldn't get into the groove of anything. I definitely plan on making 2013 my year.

How about you? What types of goals/resolutions do you have for the new year?

I've been thinking a lot about the winter season and what my favorite foods are this time of the year. Aside from the obvious holiday sweets, I love citrus fruit. It's so refreshing and vibrant - don't you think? I've heard a lot about Meyer Lemons in the recent years but this is the first year I have ever seen them. I swooped them up the instant I saw them, I had to see the hype.

If you've never seen/heard of them, they are a cross between a lemon and a type of orange. I guess they are not sure what type of orange, I've heard anywhere from a tangerine to a Mandarin. In my opinion they are tangy and not so tart like a normal lemon. I want to test out a few more recipes with them before I decide how much I like them. But I do really enjoy this pound cake.

When I purchased these lemons, I debated for about 5 days on what to make with them. Finally I decided on a pound cake. I've never made one but was having a hankering for one, so I made one! I skimmed a few recipes online and the one I made, I adapted from a recipe I found on Oprah's website.

What I enjoy about this recipe, is that it's a refreshing dessert after all the chocolate and heavy desserts of the holiday. I definitely think you should give this a try, you will not be disappointed.

Ingredients
1 1/2 C. Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 C. Butter (softened)
1 1/2 C. Sugar
3 Eggs (room temperature)
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 C. Sour Cream and Meyer Lemon Juice*
Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon

Glaze
1 C. Powdered Sugar
Juice of 1 Meyer Lemon
Zest of 1 Meyer Lemon

Pre-heat oven 325*  Grease and flour bread pan.

*Squeeze the juice of zested lemon into a 1/2 cup measurer, fill the rest with sour cream.

In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.

In another bowl beat butter until light, add sugar and combine until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until combined. Mix in vanilla and zest. Alternately add in sour cream/lemon mixture and flour mixture to butter.

Pour into greased and floured pan. Bake for 1 hour, until an inserted knife comes out clean.

While cake is being baked, combine glaze ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth. If mixture is too thick you can either add more lemon juice or a little milk to thin it out. If mixture is too thin, add more sugar.

Allow cake to cool for 15-20 minutes in pan then transfer to cooling rack. Drizzle with glaze (if you want your mind to be blown with deliciousness)

You can eat this warm, but I recommend waiting until it's cooled. It's great for breakfast too!

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Pumpkin Dump Cake

Hey Ya'll with fall just around the corner I wanted to share with you this super duper easy recipe I found online. I am a huge fan of pumpkin desserts- HUGE! So when I was surfing pinterest and found this recipe, I knew I had to make it. Of course I changed it a little bit :) how could I resist?!

When I was younger my mom used to make dump cake and I would always sneak extra bites from the pan... guilty! I remember she made one with pineapple and coconut - ahh makes my mouth water just thinking about it. If you have never made dump cake, you have been missing out, it's super easy and way delish!

RJ isn't a huge fan of pumpkin so I was surprised when he said he was down for this dessert. I didn't ask twice, I didn't want him to change his mind. This dessert should be served room temperature, but we had it the first night a little warm with home made whipped cream (love homemade whipped cream) and he went for seconds! So I may have made a pumpkin lover out of him!

This is a great dish for your next potluck or family get together or holiday party!

15oz can Pumpkin
10 3/4oz can Evaporated Milk
1 C. Brown Sugar
3 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
3 Eggs
1 Box white cake mix
1 C. Melted Butter
1 C. Crushed Graham Crackers

Preheat oven to 350*

In a mixing bowl combine first 5 ingredients: pumpkin, evaporated milk, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and eggs. Pour into a lightly greased 9x13 pan.
In another mixing bowl combine the next 3 ingredients: cake mix, crushed grahams and melted butter. This is going to make a gloppy mess... drop (dump) mixture by the spoon full over pumpkin until the pumpkin is mostly covered. This step in the first picture.
Bake 35-40 minutes until a knife comes clean.

Serve with homemade whipped cream :)

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S'mores Cake balls

Gosh, I love this movie! I was just talking to RJ about it yesterday. He has never seen this movie... I know, CRAZY! This is a a perfect summer time movie.

I made these cake balls last month for my sisters birthday- yay, Happy Birthday! We all went to the beach, ate subs, drank beer and had s'more cake balls. I adore cake balls, because they are popable little bites. You don't have to worry about slicing a cake, just take a ball and 2 bites later it's on to the next one. Or you can wait to have another one. Maybe I like them more because I feel like a heifer when I keep slicing two-bite slices of cake.

Don't act like you don't know what I'm taking about... we all go back to the pan at some point and just slice a sliver because we want something sweet, but not a whole slice and then you go back like five minutes later and do it again, then again then you realize you've had the equivalence of a whole slice so all those trips were no pointless... okay maybe you don't do that - maybe I do - either, either, I don't judge. Any who, cake balls are rockin'.

I used a box of white cake mix, my toasted marshmallow frosting, chocolate melting candy, and crushed graham crackers. I prefer my grahams to be a chunky crushed. I think when you crush them too fine they loose the graham flavor, but that's just a personal choice. Feel free to crush them however you see fit.

If you've never made cake balls, they are kinda tricky. I suggest you go to bakerella's website and check out her tutorials. She will give you a much better explanation than I can. But a helpful hint: the stickier your marshmallow frosting, the better the cake balls hold together. I probably used close to 20 marshmallows to 3 cups of powdered sugar.

Directions:

Follow directions on cake box. Allow cake to completely cool before crumbling.

 

Frosting Recipe

 

Make frosting. Add frosting, very carefully not to add too much frosting, if you do, the balls will not hold up. I suggest adding a dollop or two at a time. When the cake starts to mush together and stay together without a lot of crumble, roll cake into balls. I roll mine about 1- 1.5 inches.

Place balls on a lined cooking sheet, cover and place in the fridge for a few hours. This allows the cake and frosting to make  a stronger bond, which you need since you are dipping them in warm chocolate.

Crush the grahams into a bowl. Melt the chocolate according to the package. Take the balls out of the fridge. One at a time, cover the balls in chocolate, shake off the excess then drop them into the graham. Once they have grahams on them, transfer them back to the cookie sheet so the chocolate can harden. When all the balls are covered and rested transfer them to a seal able container. If it is hot where you are living I suggest keeping them in the refrigerator.

These really are delicious! Make them for your next summer bash, they will be a hit.

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Tiramisu Cupcakes

I am super sleepy today. I have not been sleeping well lately but today I finally slept in. *Phew* I was feeling so rested I went for a 6 mile run. About 4 miles in I was wishing I had only done a 4 mile run, but I toughened up and trucked through the final two. Then I went  to vote, doing my civic duty! Then I meet up with some friends for lunch, then came home and went on a two mile walk. So now, I'm sleepy. My New Years resolution was to run at least 30 miles a month, so far I'm ahead of schedule :) But let's face it, you don't want to know about my day. You want to know about these delicious cupcakes.

Turns out, I had no idea that tiramisu marscapone  was already coffee flavored. I thought marscapone was unflavored, just creamy dreamy cheese like cream cheese. But I'm glad that I was wrong, because this made making these cupcakes easier. These lovies are definitely in my top 5 favorites and I'm guessing they will be in yours too, if you make them.

I was having a tough- gotta be an adult day- yesterday and desperately needed to retreat to my sanctuary of baking. So I did a quick check in my fridge for inspiration and realized I had marscapone from when I thought about about making cupcakes earlier. Naturally the only thing I think of when I see marscapone is tiramisu and then ta-da tiramisu cupcakes. Trust me, this cake will get you out of any funk. I was literally jumping up in down in my kitchen I was so pleased.

Luckily RJ loves tiramisu and I love cupcakes, so we love this dessert. Do you have a favorite dessert you want to convert into a cupcake?  I also want to say and quick chat with some of my favorites really boosted my mood too :)  But if nothing else, make this frosting-oh who am I kidding, make these babies.

Cupcake:

Preheat one 350 line  24 muffin wells 

3 C. Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
3/4 C Butter (12 Tbs)
1 1/2 C. Sugar
4 Eggs
1 C. Buttermilk
3 tsp Vanilla

In a bowl combine and sift flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In mixer beat butter until light then add sugar, combine until fluffed. Add eggs one at a time until combined and then add vanilla. Alternately add milk and flour mixture to butter mixture, starting and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined. Fill muffin wells to 2/3 full and bake for 18-20 minutes or until and inserted knife comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Let cupcakes completely before adding filling.
Filling:
8oz Tiramisu Marscapone cheese
1 C. Powdered Sugar
3 Tbs Cream

Put ingredients into bowl and blend until smooth. Cut out a hole in the top of the cupcake, about the size of a dime. Insert knife at and angle and cut a circle. Do not throw away  this piece!  Fill the hole with the filling and press the cut out cake back into the hole. Top cake with Frosting. Dust with Cocoa Powder

Frosting:
1 Tbs Instant Espresso
3/4 C. Butter
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Rum
2 Tbs Cream
3 C. Powdered Sugar
Blend Instant espresso and butter. Add vanilla, rum and 1 cup sugar, mix well. Add cream and 1 cup powdered sugar, blend then add last cup of sugar. Add more powdered sugar or cream if needed.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I love these.

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Orange Chocolate Chip Cake

I love, love, love the combination of orange and chocolate. It rocks my world. As it so happens, oranges are super cheap here right now.(weird considering winter is their prime growing season) but hey I'm not complaining. I also happened to have a spare bag of mini chocolate chips hanging around- so my wheels went a-turning. Think Meghann, think. So I thought, "duh- Moms toll house cake"but add orange zest and orange glaze.

I perused my recipe box and found what I was looking for. I cannot guarantee my mom invented this recipe but then again I do not know where she found it. I adapted this recipe since her original one didn't call for oranges. But my changes aren't too much different, just a bit.

Let me start by telling you, this recipe is super simple, but I screwed it up. Whomp.. whomp...whamp. Every chef aspiring baker goes awry once in a while, this week was my turn. First  a little back story: While I was out getting some brown sugar for the cake, I decided to pick up a box of butterscotch pudding because I love that too.  When I got home from the store I followed the directions on the box, add 2 cups of cold milk, stir and put in the fridge. People this is probably the most simple recipe ever and I messed it up. Aye de me. Turns out if you use soy milk to make instant pudding you need to use less milk (awesome! I didn't know this) So my pudding never set up.

Next failure was my cake. I was super excited because the batter tasted amazing before I popped it in the oven. I had high hopes. I even told RJ, this is going to be awesome. 40 minutes later, the baking gods had set me up for disaster. It was U-G-L-Y it had no alibi. Depressed I swore off baking. Only to be reminded by RJ, if at first you don't succeed, try again. I rolled my eyes, gave a heavy sigh and walked out the door... to the grocery store. I needed more supplies, I wasn't going to let the cake get the best of me.

My second go round was a cinch (just like I thought the first one was) only I remembered to add all of the flour into my mix and not just part of it. PEOPLE - remember to put in the correct amount of ingredients if you want a happy product.

So the moral of this story is: sometimes you have bad cooking weeks, get over it and get back into it.

Chocolate Chip Cake:
2 1/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2c butter, softened
1 C firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/4 C milk
1 12oz pkg MINI (not the regular size!!) chocolate chips
Zest of 1 orange

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients; set aside. Save a little of the flour mixture to dust the chocolate chips with.  Mix butter and sugar until fluffy; add vanilla, eggs and zest, beating well. Alternately blend in flour mixture and milk to creamed mixture. Stir in chips. Bake in greased and floured Bundt pan for 45-50 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from pan

Orange Glaze:
2 C. Powdered Sugar
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Juice of half and Orange
Zest of half and orange

Stir ingredients together until smooth and set aside until cake is almost cooled. Once you flip the cake onto it's final resting place, drizzle half the glaze over the top, add more glaze if you like it sweet or add on to each individual slice as you go.

I'd like to say this combination is great. It's sweet and goes great with a cup of milk.

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