Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars

I've been pretty lazy. Lazy on posts and lazy at life in general. I baked this entire weekend and ended up sleeping in a cupcake battered tee shirt just because I didn't feel like changing. Yep, I looked like a critter and I owned it. I'm sure you've all been there. Where nothing in the world will stand in the way of you and your bed, not even a change of clothes.

I've been meaning to share this doozie with you for a few weeks now. Creme Brulee Cheesecake Bars. If I could get stuck with one dessert for the rest of my life, it'd probably be creme brulee.  Mix up a little cheesecake with this beloved custard and you'll really make dreams come true. The recipe makes over two dozen bars and the combo of the cream cheese and the sweet crunchy toffee is just delightfully good. And they're low fat! {not really...but the best things aren't!}

(recipe from Betty Crocker)

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix

1 box (4-serving size) French vanilla instant pudding and pie filling mix

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 eggs plus 3 egg yolks

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup toffee bits, finely crushed

The How To:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, pudding mix, brown sugar, melted butter, 1 teaspoon of the vanilla and 1 whole egg until soft dough forms. Press dough in bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of pan.

2. In small bowl, beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add remaining whole egg, 3 egg yolks and remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla; beat until smooth. Spread over crust in pan.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until set in center. Immediately sprinkle top with crushed toffee bits. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate about 3 hours or until chilled. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.



Voila! Have any favorite bars you like to make? I'd love to hear about them!

love.love.love & happy baking!

Bridal Shower Bakes!

It's wedding seasssoonnnn! :)

I had the pleasure of helping out with my dear friend Tracy's bridal shower this past weekend. When she exchanges vows with her future groom in July, I will have the honor of standing at the altar beside her. It isn't very often you're able to share in special moments like that.

To add to the excitement, I was responsible for creating the shower cupcakes. You all know how stoked I was about this. After tossing around idea after idea, I decided to go with two different flavors/designs. And I'd have to say they turned out great!

Take a peek, will ya? :) 

The first ones were my Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes I made earlier in the year. I tinted the icing pink, added some sugar pearls and wrapped with some white lace wrappers. I custom made the cupcake flags by using some lace doily paper and some wedding sticker embellishments I found at Michael's. How cute riiighht?!

The second cupcake I did was a chocolate cupcake topped with vanilla buttercream.  I added some "I Do" cupcake flags and glued some royal blue rhinestones to them. (Tracy's wedding color!) I dusted with some black sanding sugar to match the black damask cupcake liner. looooveee these.

All the ladies at the shower gave me "oooh's" and "aaah's" and I have to tell you I was tickled pink. More importantly, the bride loved them! I seriously cannot wait to bake for my next event!

Even though the cupcakes were what I was most pleased with, I wanted to share with you the other "task" I was given. I was recruited to hand paint the wine glasses for the mothers and the bridal party. Let's be real people. I can't draw for crap. If the world depended on my artistic ability, we'd be completely screwed. I had no idea where to start. But, alas! I found this awesome tutorial that gave me some inspiration and I ran with it.

Not too shabby for my first go round, right? :)

I used one of Tracy's wedding colors, royal blue to paint the bases and added the wedding date to the bottom of the glasses.

The bride had her own special glass!

the bride to be digging into my baked goodies!

trace and her bow bouquet. what a trooper!

 All in all, I'd say it was a successful day! I hope the bride loved it as much as I loved doing it!

The bridal party: Myself (looking fierce in yellow!), Aireka (I want to steal your dress.), Tracy (the beautiful bride to be!), Amanda (her sister and maid or honor), and Andrea (her future sister in law).

What do you guys think? Did I do alright for my first cupcake bridal shower?

love.love.love & happy baking!

French Dip "Cupcakes"

So far my Sunday has consisted of coffee in bed and a Breaking Bad marathon. 

What is Breaking Bad you say? Where do I even begin?!! Do you have a couple hours? I would need to sit you down and explain how this completely whacked out television show has me so engulfed that I may need rehab. For real people, do yourself a fave and jump on the Breaking Bad bandwagon. I can't even tell you what you're missing. There's just no time! We need to move on...

Dinner cupcakes are starting to become the regular on our kitchen table. I spawned an obsession when I made these spag and meatball ones and then it became really ridiculous when I made those Buff Chicken ones. Then I came across some French Dip ones. Roast beef is probably my favorite deli meat. So I was game to try these out. And I have to say they're probably my favorite ones to date. These are the simplest things to whip up when you're short on time and they still seem to impress my hubs every time I make them. (I've done them three times already!)

The gooey Swiss cheese, the robust roast beef, and the melted mozzarella on top of those wonton beauties make them as flawless as a unicorn's tear. Try them... You'll like them...

French Dip Cupcakes
(recipe adapted from Emily Bites)

24 oz deli roast beef, thinly sliced and chopped into pieces (I used my store brand’s 96% fat free kind)
8 Laughing Cow Light Swiss wedges, chopped
2/3 c Au Jus gravy (I used Heinz)
32 wonton wrappers (typically found in the produce section)
8oz (2 cups) shredded mozzarella cheese


The How To:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375. Lightly mist 12 cups in a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a microwavable bowl, combine the roast beef, cheese wedges and Au Jus sauce. Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Stir to combine until cheese wedges are melted and roast beef mixture is fully coated with cheese and Au Jus sauce.
3. Push a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each of the twelves sprayed cups in the muffin tin. Spoon about half of the roast beef mixture evenly amongst the wonton wrappers. Sprinkle about half the mozzarella cheese evenly over the top of each cup. Press another wonton wrapper on top and repeat the layering steps with the remaining ingredients.

4. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin. Makes 12 cupcakes. (I suggested boxing half of these up for lunch tomorrow. They are super delish re-heated.)

Voila! Dinner in 20 and you really didn't have to do all that much!

Back to this Breaking Bad thing though, anyone else out there watching it? What do you think of it so far? I'm itching to get my hands on Season 4.  Speakkk to me!


love.love.love & happy baking!

Tie Dye Cupcakes

I am extremely sunburned as I type this. My bra straps feel like they are going to melt through my shoulders. My face feels like leather. Have I painted an attractive enough picture for you yet? I'm not sure there's anything more uncomfortable than being this red-faced. Next time, I'll use more sunscreen.

I'm hoping your Memorial Day weekend was a little less painful than mine. {i kid, i had a ball this weekend!}

One of my favorite "hippie" pals had a birthday on Sunday and I wanted the cupcake to reflect his free and fun spirit. I decided to play with my batter and give it a tie dye look. Everyone needs a little color in their life.  I swear, if my friend Michael was a cupcake, he may have looked just like this.

rainbow!! weeee!!!

I went with a basic vanilla cupcake and topped it with a vanilla buttercream, although you could really use any flavor you like. The process is pretty simple, just a tad time consuming, but the end result is pretty rad.

Preettttyyyy grooooovy if you ask me!

The How To:

1. Start by whipping up your favorite vanilla cupcake batter. I used this one. If you're short on time, you can always use a boxed cake mix, although I guarantee you they will taste better from scratch!

2. Have 1 packet of assorted food colorings or gels on hand. I used purple, green, red, blue and yellow for my batter colors.

3. Once your batter is mixed up, separate the batters into bowls so you can mix each color you'd like to use. For mine, I ended up with 5 bowls/colors.

4. Tint each bowl with a few drops of food coloring or gel. I used anywhere from 5 to 8 drops of food coloring to get my batter the right shade. Don't over mix your batter in this step, because you’ll develop the gluten in the flour and be left with a very tough, bread-like cupcake.Try and mix with minimal stirs.

5. Layer spoonfuls of each colored batter into the cupcake liners until they are 3/4 full. When all the liners are filled, use a toothpick to swirl the batter a few times.

5. Bake your cupcakes according to the recipe you're using.

6. Cool cupcakes completely before frosting.

I used this vanilla buttercream recipe and tinted my frosting orange with food gel. I iced the cupcakes and then garnished with rainbow sprinkles and peace signs.

The whole gang really loved the way they turned out. I'm sure these would dazzle at any kid's birthday party as well.

Have any fun, bright recipes I should know about? Hit me!

love.love.love & happy baking!



Buffalo Chicken "Cupcakes"

cupcakes dinners seem to be a regular thing in our house lately. i just can't resist. they're so stinkin' cute and the options for ingredients are endless. if you're really eager to try some yourself, i highly recommend checking out Emily Bites for some genius recipes! this chick has the most creative dinners mashed into cupcake form. just awesome. i am officially obsessed.

anyone who knows me is fully aware of how much i adore spicy things. if we're being completely honest, i actually tote around a bottle of Texas Pete in my lunch bag when i head to work. guys, you never know when you may need to toss some of that heavenly sauce on top of something. i load it on chips... on eggs... on spaghetti... the list goes on and on.

this spicy buffalo chicken "cupcake" is superb. it's gooey with layers of cheese. it's got that zing from the buffalo sauce. plus the crispiness from the wonton wrappers.  if you haven't gotten familiar with a wonton wrapper, i strongly suggest keeping a package in your fridge at ALL times. you won't be sorry.

these would be great at your next football party, cookout, book club meeting.. you name it. just be careful and don't go too hot with the buffalo sauce. i had a moron moment and bought the "red hot" buffalo sauce and had my husband in tears after he ate the first one of these. oops.

(recipe adapted from Emily Bites)

2 cups cooked boneless, skinless chicken breast, chopped up into small pieces (to make it even easier, you could buy a rotisserie chicken!)
4 Laughing Cow Blue Cheese wedges, chopped into small bits
3 T Buffalo wing sauce (I use Frank's Red Hot Buffalo sauce in "Classic Buffalo")
16 wonton wrappers (typically found in the produce section)
1/2  shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 pepper jack cheese



The How To:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375. Lightly mist 8 cups in a muffin tin with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a microwavable bowl, combine the chicken, cheese wedges and wing sauce. Microwave for 1 1/2 minutes on high. Stir to combine until chicken mixture is fully coated with cheese and wing sauce.

3. Push a wonton wrapper into the bottom of each of the eight sprayed cups in the muffin tin. Using about half of the chicken mixture, spoon evenly into the wonton wrappers. Sprinkle about half the cheddar and jack cheese evenly over the top of each cup. Press another wonton wrapper on top and repeat the layering steps with the remaining ingredients.

4. Bake for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin

There's a few more dinner cupcakes on the horizon. One for the next post and who knows when else. Maybe one I can add Texas Pete to?!?

Anybody have some awesome Buffalo Chicken recipes I should try? Love to hear from ya!

love.love.love & happy baking!

Chocolate Almond Cupcakes For Two

Whenever I want to try and make a new flavored batter, I always like to try the "two cupcake" route before I go all out and do a full recipe. I figure if the batter ends up tasting like chalk, then I only ended up wasting two cupcakes for it. Sometimes it's hit or miss. This one was a hit.

Mother's Day was this past weekend and I wanted to make something special for my giver of life. My mother is the reason I turned out to be such a functional human being (although that's debatable at times). She is also one of those gems that has an extreme addiction for chocolate. When I asked her what she'd like me to make for her, that was the first word to come out of her mouth. She'll kill me for telling you this, but she's a true champion of chocolate. She can demolish a family size bag of Raisinets in ONE sitting.

Sorry Mom.

But hey, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

In honor of my fabulous mother, I present to you chocolate almond cupcakes for two. I ended up making more for her later on, but if you're short on time, these are the perfect treat and don't take much of your day. It's a double chocolate cake with a chocolate almond buttercream. My hubs thought they had sort of a cherry taste to them. It's amazing how much almond, especially when it's extracted, can remind you of a cherry. I promise that you can't go wrong with these. Get to it!

 

3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda (just eyeball half of a quarter-teaspoon and it will be fine)
a pinch of salt

2 tablespoons cold water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/16 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons semi sweet chocolate morsels (i used mini!)

The How To:

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. In a second small bowl or spouted measuring cup, combine the wet ingredients and the chocolate morsels. Add the dry to the wet and stir til combined, whisking well. Divide batter between two cupcake liners. Bake for 18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Allow to cool before frosting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Almond Buttercream

 

1 1/3 cups powdered sugar

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 tablespoon of Duncan Hines "Chocolate Almond" cupcake flavoring (you can find this in the boxed cake mix section of your grocery store. it's the best evverrr.)

 

 

 

Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add milk and frosting flavoring and mix  until smooth. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

 

 

Did any of you guys make some delicious for the amazing mother in your life?

 

 

love.love.love & happy baking!

Spaghetti and Meatball "Cupcakes"

Savory stuff doesn't make it here too often. But there's just something about dinner in cupcake form that gets me all warm and fuzzy inside. This post was no exception. I wanted to hug these "cupcakes".

But that would have been messy.

Spaghetti and meatballs is a classic. It's comfort food. And what could be better than being able to pick up your dinner by HAND and eating it?!? Come on, people. There is nothing better than that.

I will just cut right to the chase. These are yummy. They aren't so bad for you either. I used whole wheat pasta and ground turkey for the meatballs. You won't feel guilty eating 3. or 27. Although the recipe doesn't make that many. I promise if you don't gorge, there will be some to bring to work the next day. It will be like opening a Christmas present in your cubicle.

Spaghetti and Meatball "Cupcakes"

(Thank you Emily Bites for this awesome recipe!)

1 lb 95% lean ground beef (I used turkey meat.)
¼ cup seasoned bread crumbs
1 large egg
1 T skim milk (I used 2 percent. It was fine!)
8 oz whole wheat spaghetti, broken into 2-3” pieces
3 egg whites
2 oz Parmesan cheese, freshly shredded

¼ cup 2% shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 ½ cups + 3 T marinara sauce, divided
Parsley or chopped fresh basil (optional garnish)

The How To:

 1. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil then lightly mist it with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs, egg and skim milk and stir until mixed. Add the ground beef and stir in until thoroughly combined. Split the meat mixture into 12 equal pieces and roll them into balls. Set the balls on the prepared baking sheet and put them in the over to bake for 25 minutes at 350.

3. While the meatballs bake, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the broken spaghetti pieces according to package directions. Drain the spaghetti and set it aside to cool (I actually stuck mine in the fridge for a few minutes. It doesn’t need to be cold, but you don’t want it to be too hot to handle when you press it into the cups).

4. When the meatballs are done, remove them from the oven and place them in a saucepot with 1 ½ cups of marinara sauce. Bring the meatballs and sauce over low heat on the stovetop, just to keep it all warm. Stir occasionally. Turn the heat on the oven up to 400 degrees.

5. When the pasta is cooled enough to handle, whisk the egg whites together in a large bowl and then add the pasta. Stir to combine and then add the Parmesan, Mozzarella, and 3 tablespoons of the marinara sauce. Mix together until thoroughly combined.

6. Lightly mist a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray. Place about 1/3 cup of the spaghetti mixture into each cup in the muffin tin. Using your fingers, press down on the center and up the sides of the spaghetti, forming cups. Slide the tin into the pre-heated oven and bake for 15 minutes at 400.

7. When the spaghetti cups are done, remove them from the oven and let them cool for a moment before removing them from the tin. When ready to serve, pour a tablespoon of marinara sauce from the pot into the center of a spaghetti cup, top it with a meatball, and follow it with another tablespoon of marinara.

If you make these, I'd love to know how they turned out. Does anyone have other "dinner cupcakes" they have tried out?

love.love.love & happy baking!