Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes! (White Apple Cupcakes)

You know what's great about Memorial Day recipes? 

You can make them for Memorial Day OR Independence Day (a.k.a the Fourth of July). 

You can choose to make these for Memorial Day or wait until Independence Day. Don't worry, I've seen all the awesome treats that other creative souls have whipped up. 

Ready for a another choice? You can make the components of this cupcake all at once OR you can make the actual cupcakes the night before and then finish them the next day.

Personally, I'm bad at making decisions for myself. But I'm very good at making decisions for other people. I think you should definitely make these for Memorial Day and spread it out over two days. :)

Easy, right? Yes. Very easy.

Make your cupcakes tonight and then make your filling tomorrow... and you don't even have to make the frosting! It's just cool whip!

Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes (White Apple Cupcakes)

Ingredients for cupcake & icing:

1 ounce red food coloring (or more)

1 container of cool whip

1 box of white cake mix

    *with ingredients mentioned on box. My ingredients were:

3 large egg whites

1 cup water

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1. Prepare cupcakes according to box. For red color, add red food coloring to your batter to your liking. 

Ingredients for apple filling:

4 tablespoon white sugar

4 tablespoon light brown sugar

2 tablespoon flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

4 tablespoon salted butter (melted)

1 granny smith apple

1. Skin and dice your apple.

2. Mix all your other ingredients into a medium sized microwaveable bowl. Fold in your apples. Heat in  microwave for 3-4 minutes. Once done, mix in blue food coloring to your desire.

3. Remove the center of your cupcakes (see picture above.) I used a frosting tip to make a circle in the center of the cupcake. Fill the hole with apple filling. Frost with cool whip. 

Chocolate Pudding Mix Cupcakes w/ Reese's PB Cups Frosting

I love surprises.

But I'm really, really bad at them.

Well, I'm wrong. I'm really good at surprising people and keeping the surprise from them. But when anybody tries to surprise me, I ruin it without even trying. Somehow I always just figure it out. Sometimes something that the surpriser says tips me off and sometimes it literally just comes to me. 

But for once a surprise worked!

My grandma and aunt surprised me with a basket of baking goods that they had won at bingo. It was nothing grand, just a little surprise, but it still worked! I was so happy. In that basket, I got a box of chocolate cake mix that only makes 12 cupcakes. So I made these:

Chocolate Pudding Mix Cupcakes with REESE'S frosting! 

Chocolate Pudding Mix Cupcakes with Reese's Frosting

Ingredients

for the cupcakes:

Chocolate cake mix (that prepares 12 cupcakes)

1/2 packet chocolate pudding mix

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup water

1. Preheat oven according to package. Mix all ingredients in one bowl and fill cupcake liners about 3/4ths of the way full. Bake according to box. 

for the frosting:

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
handful of mini reese's (melted)
1 tablespoon milk

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and powdered sugar.  Melt the reese's in a bowl in the microwave. I put mine in for 30 seconds, stirred, then 30 seconds more. Mix in. Lastly, mix in your tablespoon of milk (or however much suits your liking.) Ice cooled cupcakes.

Seasoned Pretzels!

I'm sorry I haven't been keeping up with my blog lately. I ran out of internet. My family only gets so much bandwidth per month and well, this month's allotment is up.

Anyway, this recipe came from a family friend. She actually gave me a bagful of these pretzels at my graduation party this past summer... which was the day after I got my wisdom teeth removed. Yep, I had my wisdom teeth removed on a Friday and on Saturday I had my graduation party. So once I was able to eat again, I asked for the recipe and my family has been making them ever since. 

And for some people, these can be addictive. And I am one of those people.

They are really simple to make. My boyfriend and I made them quickly while making a bunch of other treats for that night. He also insisted I take a picture of him being a beautiful hand model. :)

Hand modeling is definitely in his future. ;)

Seasoned Pretzels

Ingredients:

1 bag of pretzels (I used Unique splits)

1 package of Hidden Valley Ranch Dips

    *Do not get salad dressing & seasoning mix

1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper

1/2 teaspoon dill weed

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

3/4 cup cooking oil

1. Preheat oven to 300º F. 

2. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, mix your cooking oil, garlic powder, dill weed, lemon pepper, and ranch powder. 

3. In a large bowl, break your pretzels. Pour the rest of the ingredients over the pretzels and evenly distribute with your hands (you can also put the pretzels and ingredients in a bowl with a lid and shake to evenly distribute.)

4. Lay your pretzels out on a baking pan (preferably one with sides) trying not to overlap any pretzels. Bake for 7 minutes then turn the pretzels over and bake for 7 more. Let cool before eating. 

Cake Batter Cupcakes w/ Cake Batter Frosting

Yesterday, my friends and I decided to have a movie night. To prepare for the upcoming Men in Black 3 movie, we watched the first two. Three out of the four of us had already seen the movies so ultimately we were watching them for the fourth one's sake... except she fell asleep during the second one.

But these cupcakes were a HIT.

Let me break this down for you, a Funfetti cupcake with cake batter in the center topped with cake batter frosting.

Uh, yum.

Also, one of my friends who declared she "usually doesn't like frosting" said "I really like this frosting."

So, at least go for the icing, right?!

The first step is to make a box of Funfetti or vanilla cupcakes. Okay, okay, you can make cupcakes from scratch too.

Once the cupcakes are cooled (I put them in the fridge to cool faster), make a hole in the center of your cupcake. I used a frosting tip. Don't let the hole go down too far though!

Then, make up your cake batter dough, roll into balls, and put them right into the center of the cupcake!

Lastly, whip up your frosting... and frost!

Cake Batter Cupcakes w/ Cake Batter Frosting

for the Cupcakes:

1 box of Funfetti cake mix* (or vanilla/yellow/white cake mix)

   *as prepared on the back of the box

1/3 cup oil

1 cup water

3 eggs

1. Prepare cupcakes as directed on the back of the box. Let cool when finished (for faster cooling, I put mine in the fridge.)

for the Cake Batter Centers:

1 box of Funfetti cake mix (minus 3/4 cup. You will use this for the frosting.)

1/3 cup oil

Splash of milk

1. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix and oil until it forms a dough. Splash in some milk for a better consistency.
2. Remove the centers of your cupcakes. I used the back side of a frosting tip but you can use whatever method you like. With the frosting tip, I just pressed down a little on the center of the cupcake, twisted, and pulled it out. Most times the center comes out with the tip.
3. Once your centers are removed, roll the dough into balls and insert into the holes.

for the Cake Batter Frosting:

3/4 cup Funfetti cake mix 
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)


1. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Mix in cake mix. Mix in milk and vanilla extract.
2. Frost your cupcakes making sure to cover the cake batter centers completely. Then enjoy!!

Black Bean Brownies!

Right now, as I am typing this post, I am patiently (or not so patiently) sitting in front of the oven waiting for these brownies to be done. I am sitting ON THE FLOOR directly in front of the oven.

Bottom line, I really, REALLY like these brownies. 

What's so good about these brownies?

Number 1. There are only two ingredients.

Okay, technically three if you count water. So simple!

Number 2. They taste AWESOME! These are my favorite brownies ever. They are not cake-y, more fudgey... I'm not a fan of cakey brownies. And you don't taste the beans - at all!

EDIT: The day after I wrote this post, I was eating more of these brownies and I realized the texture of these brownies are just like prepackaged cosmic brownies! For those of you who don't know what cosmic brownies are, or what they are called, they come packaged individually in a long box and on top they circular, colorful candies. Another variation has chopped nuts on top (those were always my favorite.) So technically, these are a copy recipe of a grocery store brownie!

Number 3. They will blow people away. Seriously. They are the perfect treat to take to a party. Not only are the easy and quick to make (giving you extra time to get ready) but they are also mind blowing! People can't get over the black beans. Try it, you'll see!

Number 4. They are healthier than your average brownie! The black beans replace the oil and eggs in the recipe. Plus, they are a sneaky way to incorporate black beans into your diet.

I didn't think of these brownies myself. I work as a fitness instructor and one of the fellow fitness instructors shared these with some of us. I ate four on the spot (maybe more, I wasn't exactly keeping track.) She got the recipe somewhere on the internet, just so nobody thinks I'm too much of a genius!

Anyway, stop reading this post and go make these!!! The only painstaking part about making these brownies is waiting for them to be done!

Black Bean Brownies (a.k.a the Best Brownies Ever!)

Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix (any kind)

1 14-15 ounce can of black beans
Water

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Spray a 13x9 pan with nonstick cooking spray. 

2. Drain your black beans and rinse. Then add the black beans back into the can (without the juice.) Next, fill the can of black beans with water until it reaches the top of the can.

3. In a food processor or a blender, puree your beans very well, trying to eliminate the grittiness of the beans.

4. In a large bowl, mix together your brownie mix and bean puree. Bake according to the back of the box (except for a 13x9 pan, I baked for 22-24 minutes. Just double check with a toothpick, if it comes out clean then you are okay to take them out!) Try to wait til they cool and enjoy!!!

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Hello and welcome to your new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! I'm just kidding.. a little.

Now, I don't mean to be conceited but these just feel like the perfect chocolate chip cookie to me.

Let me explain how these came to be.

I went over to my grandmother's house expecting to bake something completely different but we didn't have brownie mix (don't worry, I'll get some and share that recipe with you too.)

Then, as I was admitting defeat and figuring I'll just clean tonight and bake some other day, my grandmother suggested I could make a dessert for her bowling friends.

My grandmother is on a bowling league. At one point, she was on three leagues. Right now, she may be on two, I'm not sure.

Anyway, I jumped at the idea. I love baking for a reason. But then I didn't know what I was going to bake.

So I created these cookies which taste like regular chocolate chip cookies but have a extra hint of chocolateness.

And they are perfect for the bowling league because they can easily be dunked in coffee, just like they like! They are so light and fluffy that they will soak the coffee easily.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup salted butter (room temperature)

    *If you don't have salted butter, or choose not to use it, just add 1/4 teaspoon of salt in the flour mixture

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 1/4 cups AP (all purpose) flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 tablespoon vanilla pudding mix

4 tablespoon chocolate pudding mix

1/2 bag (or 1 bag) of semi sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter. Mix in your tablespoons of pudding mix, eggs, and vanilla.

3. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda (and salt if needed - see note above.) Mix into the dough mixture. Lastly, fold in your chocolate chips (you can certainly use a full bag if you want.)

4. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool & enjoy!

S'mores Truffles!

As I was making the truffles, I tasted the filling... and I knew these would be amazing.

A marshmallow buttercream center with crushed graham crackers mixed in and covered with chocolate screams s'more! And guess what, you don't even need a fire!

I live in the the Northeast and our weather has been crazy. We had a really warm week back in March and one day this month it felt like summer! But then the weather got yucky and cold again (and it's almost May!) I've been walking around in a sweatshirt and long pants. I long for the days where it is warm enough to enjoy making s'mores by the campfire!

But, until then we can whip up these truffles, right? :)

S'mores Truffles

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (room temperature)

2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup marshmallow fluff

1 sleeve of honey graham crackers

1 bag milk chocolate chips or candy melts (I used chocolate chips because I didn't have candy melts on hand but I'd suggest candy melts)
1 tablespoon Crisco shortening

1. In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter together. Mix in marshmallow fluff.

2. In a food processor (or any other method) crush your graham crackers. Mix into large bowl.

3. On a cookie sheet lined with wax paper or parchment paper, place balls of filling. Place tray in freezer to chill for 1-3 hours (I left mine in for 3.)

4. Once your filling has firmed up, melt your chocolate in a double boiler (or in the microwave, whichever you choose.) Stir in 1 tablespoon shortening to the melting chocolate.
5. Prepared another wax/parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Using whatever method you choose (fork or toothpick) dip your balls in the chocolate. I used toothpicks and left them in while the chocolate cooled (as you can see in the picture.) Use a spoon to pour chocolate over top of ball rather than swirling it around. Do not let your ball sit in the chocolate for too long or it will begin to melt into the chocolate.
6. Once your ball is covered in chocolate, place on cookie sheet. When done, let truffles sit in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
7. Store in airtight container. Choose whether to store them in or out of the fridge (I suggest in the fridge the most.)