Cookie Dough Cupcake Goodness

  

It has been far too long since I shared a cupcake recipe. After posting this baby on Instagram, it quickly became the most requested recipe I have ever had. It deserved its own blog post and - as you can see - I anticipated that. After all, who doesn't love cookie dough? I personally cannot make cookies without taking bites of the dough...raw eggs or not. (Yes, I know, I know...) But in this recipe the "faux dough" as we will call it, does not have any eggs in it! Hurray for edible cookie dough.

Here are the ingredients you will need:

Chocolate Cupcake Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 oz.) box Devil’s Food (or other chocolate variety) cake mix
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 4 eggs

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough “Frosting” Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Savannah was my happy helper while we made these...which means that she was happy to eat the chocolate chips while I made cupcakes. Love this girl so much!

Make your cake mix as usual, fill your liners 2/3 of the way full for normal cupcake size...I always fill mine a little bit more to make them fluffier on the top, but you won't get 2 dozen doing it this way. Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. While they are baking you can work on the best part...the frosting. Beat together butter and sugars until fluffy, then mix in peanut butter, vanilla, and milk. Stir in flour and salt by hand or on low speed. Extra milk can be added if the mixture seems to thick, but I did not have to do this. Stir in chocolate chips last and wha-la. Cookie dough that you can eat by the spoonful. Just don't forget to save some for your cupcakes!

To "frost" the cupcakes, I used an ice cream scoop and generously topped each cupcake. This recipe screams for a tall glass of milk, so make sure you grab some before you take a bite. Yum.

(*Credit for recipe goes to www.gimmiesomeoven.com. Great recipe source!)

Savannah's Lemonade Party

As you may have read in a previous post, my baby girl turned three just a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to share some pictures with you from her super cute party! It is so much fun to have a little girl and get to do girly things like this. The theme that I decided to go with with "Cupcakes and Lemonade."

I used pink and yellow decor, lemon candy, mason jars, burlap, and lots of lemons for my sparkling strawberry lemonade and for decorations! 

This was my first time making the tissue pom poms and I think next time I'll try to make them a little bit more full, but I love how whimsical they look. Perfect for a birthday party or a shower!

Food was just finger food - sandwiches, chips and dips, and cupcakes of course! 

I made pink lemonade cupcakes. They were very yummy! I love lemon desserts! You can find the recipe here on this awesome food blog. 

But the best part of the party wasn't the decorations, or the food, but the company! We invited just a few people who are special to Savannah and she had a fabulous time.

She just smiled and took it all in as we all serenaded her with "Happy Birthday..."

I'm so thankful to all of our dears friends who came, and I'm especially grateful for the blessing of having grandparents living close by! I know that Savannah will treasure these memories when she is older.

With Papa and Ju-Ju. (My mom and dad.)

Letting us know she is three years old! 

By the time I was able to get a picture with her she was over pictures...so Craig snapped this random shot. I may have a little bit of a bittersweet expression...I was probably thinking how I can't believe that my baby is three years old and definitely not a baby anymore! How time flies...

With Grammy and Grandpa (or Pi-paw as Savannah says - Craig's parents.)

And finally the measure of a successful birthday party...the birthday girl fast asleep on the couch. Priceless.

Home for Christmas - Candy Cane Cupcakes

I wanted to share a simple cupcake recipe that is very festive and perfect for all of the holiday parties and dinners you'll be attending over the next couple of weeks. You'll have to excuse the not so great photos. When I made these a couple of weeks ago for a work event I was in a hurry and didn't get great shots. By the time I got to editing my photos the cupcakes were long gone so I couldn't re-take them.  At any rate, they did look pretty! Here are the ingredients you'll need:

For Cupcakes:
Candy Cane Hershey Kisses (Yum!)
One box chocolate cake mix and required ingredients
For Frosting:
1/3 cup butter
2 cups confectioners sugar
6 tablespoons baking cocoa
2 to 4 tablespoons milk
For Decor:
Small candy canes - crushed
Mini-chocolate chips (optional)

I love these kisses and of course you can only find them at this time of year. Make your cupcakes according to your cake mix and simply place one Hershey's Kiss in the center of each cupcake.

The flavor of the peppermint really bakes into the chocolate cupcake giving the whole treat a minty flavor! While your cupcakes bake (I baked mine according the the mix instructions) you can mix up all of your frosting ingredients. I always double the recipe to get plenty of frosting because I pipe mine on and make it fluffy. One batch would be sufficient to spread on with a spatula. When your cupcakes are baked, cooled, and frosted, top with crushed candy canes. I had some mini-chocolate chips so I used those as well. These cupcakes look cute and taste awesome. Happy Holiday treat-eating!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blog-readers. I have always loved this holiday. I have to admit that this year my week leading up to the holiday has been for some reason a very stressful one...I have had minor disasters, crazy busy days, and lots of day-to-day "what next" moments. But even in the midst of this I know I should be so thankful... We always spend this holiday with Craig's family and they make a huge spread! However, Monday, I attempted to make a mini-thanksgiving day meal for my parents so that I could choose some of my traditional favorite Thanksgiving foods. I didn't think of the fact that I would be home alone with the kids all day and the preparations wouldn't go as smoothly as I had imagined...still, it all turned out okay. (I say "okay" because I had planned on another dish that didn't get made, and on setting a much more elaborate table, but we didn't quite get to that.)

I made "holiday brew" or a spiced punch. I call it wassail (you know like "here we come-a-wassailing among the leaves so green...") I thought maybe I had made this name up so I googled it, and it is an actual name for this punch. At any rate, it is Cran-Apple juice with a blend of holiday spices and cinnamon that is served hot.  I also made an appetizer that is quite unusual for me. I bought mushroom caps and stuffed them with an imitation of The Melting Pot's "Green Goddess" dip. Its unusual because I don't care for mushrooms, but I have found a way that I love them! I think I'll try them again and attempt to perfect the recipe even more.

There was turkey - of course! However, since this meal was only for three people I simply bought a turkey tenderloin and baked it. It wasn't as yummy as the traditional Thanksgiving turkey in my opinion but it was really flavorful and juicy. I also made stuffing. I find that adding a few dried cranberries, some apples, and if you like them - onions and celery - make an ordinary box stuffing a little extra special.

I like cranberry sauce. I know that not everyone does, but I really enjoy it and wish I ate it more often. I threw some crushed pineapple in for extra flavor.

Smashed potatoes - So good! I left just a little bit of the skin on and added some chives, sour cream, and parsley. There was gravy too, naturally.

I had some rolls... As an example of my "what next" moments - I opened one of my grocery bags to find that my rolls were completely smashed because they were in the bag with the Cran-Apple juice. Really?... Oh well, we ate them and they tasted the same I suppose.

Probably my favorite part of the meal...dessert! I made pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin cream cheese frosting and caramel drizzle.

These cupcakes tasted like a tiny pumpkin pie! They were so moist. Honestly, this is one of my favorite cupcake recipes yet. It is definitely recipe worth sharing so I am posting a link to the recipe here! The only chages I made were that I used a Butter Pecan cake mix (so good) and I added a drizzle of caramel on top. Again, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! I am thankful for each of you for taking the time to read my thoughts and for commenting, encouraging me, and for being so supportive! Whether or not the bread gets smashed, or Savannah spilled a bowl full of my first dip all over my freshly mopped kitchen floor...(yup, lol) I  enjoyed dinner with my family, and will enjoy time with more family today. ...I truly have so very many reasons to be thankful.