Froggy Cake Pops

My friend's little girl was turning 4, and she asked me to help her make Cake Pops for the party! It is a tedious task, so it's always more fun to make them with a friend :)

My friend had gotten all the supplies, so this was none of my creativity, I just showed up and supplied the labor :) We used the Wilton Markers and were sadly unimpressed with their sticking power on the chocolate.

Turkey Cookies

Late is better than never right? These are the adorable cookies my sister-in-law made via pinterest

cute, right? Have no fear, a few ended up "scary" looking

Rainbow Birthday Party

My older two munchkins have birthdays 7 weeks apart, but to try to simplify my life, I've usually given them a birthday party in the middle, so then the family only has to travel to their birthday once! As one is a boy and one is a girl, themes are difficult or non-existent...last year they requested a flag cookie cake so we went red, white and blue, this year my daughter is in love with rainbows...so we went that direction!

 I found rainbow fabric, that was perfect to make their birthday number shirts! (I made rainbow hats for D's friend party...but forgot to use them again here!)

Details were so fun! Rainbow cake, rainbow flowers, rainbow skittles, and rainbow balloons!  Simple but packed a punch for cheap!

I found votive holders at the dollar store that were perfect for my painted daisies!

The cake was the fun "surprise"!  I had an idea in my head, and went to pinterest and found lots of examples like I was envisioning.

It was 6 layers and turned out beautiful!  Due to a shortage of time, I used box cake mix, and used two boxes to make the cake.

split the cake into 6 even bowls. I used gel food coloring to get the desired rich colors. I read online to add vanilla yogurt for a moist cake and to make the colors POP. I did this...I had one single serving of yogurt that I split amongst the two cake mixes...I really don't know if it made a difference or not :)

Mix and bake all 6 layers. I made them the day ahead of time and placed in the fridge to keep. If I'd had more time I would have leveled the layers...my cake was a bit wobbly as the middle was taller than the sides!

Perfect!

For the frosting I used a Whipped Buttercream from a recipe I found at The Idea Room - her rainbow cake looks fabulous

2 sticks of salted butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp milk
1 tub of whipped cream

Cream butter until smooth. Add Vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar. It will be thick and lumpy. Add enough milk to make it a nice smooth, thick consistency. Fold in the Whip Cream.

This was just barely enough to frost this cake, and I did very thin layers in between so it wouldn't be too much!

The frosting is delicious and light! I received many compliments on the frosting :) Do note that because it has Whip Cream, it will melt. After frosting return to fridge, and after serve immediately return to the fridge otherwise it'll begin to melt!

Delicious! And Happy Birthday to my oldest two kiddo's!

Snicker Salad

My son's FAVORITE salad is Snicker Salad, my daughter doesn't like it because she doesn't like snickers....seriously, who doesn't like snickers?!?!

Snicker Salad

1 (3 oz.) pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1 c. milk
1 (8 oz.) Cool Whip
3 regular size Snicker bars (I prefer to use bite size bars as its less cutting!) - cut into bite size pieces.
3 apples - cut into bite size pieces

Mix Pudding and Milk well, fold in whip cream. Add cut up apples and snickers. Enjoy!

Best served that day. Can serve 1-2 days later, however it does start to get a little runny.

Sunny Cupcake

Happy Spring! This cupcake makes me feel bright and cheery :)

My kids and I made this for a preschool treat, so fun, so easy!

We were in a rush, so we used box cupcakes (preschoolers don't know the difference anyway!!)
Candy Corn for the sunrays
Rope Licorice for the smile
and
Mini Chocolate Chips for the eyes

Idea found in the Taste of Home Cupcake Magazine :)

I was Featured on:

Almond Bark Puffcorn

Here is the easiest recipe, and so yummy with Spring/Summer on the way!

Ingredients:
1 package of Almond Bark
1 BIG bag of puff popcorn

Instructions:
Melt the Almond Bark, start with 30 seconds, stir, then in 15 second intervals until a smooth consistency, do not over cook.

Pour over Puff Popcorn and stir. Add sprinkles if you like (I did but my bottle was too little and included yellow, so you barely see any!)

Lay out on wax paper to dry

Once dry, break apart and put in large bowl. Enjoy!

I ate a lot of this when I was pregnant last summer :)

Pumpkin Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yum, tastes like a cupcake, but called a muffin meaning you can eat it for breakfast :)

Pumpkin Muffins
Modified from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil

Directions

 In a large bowl, combine the flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Beat the eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil; stir in dry ingredients just until moistened.

Pour in 24 greased or paper-lined muffin cups.

Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpickcomes out clean. Cool 5 mintues before removing from pans to wire racks.

FROSTING:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Mix well and frost cooled muffins.

I love to freeze them, who needs 24 at one time? You can freeze them up to 2 months and they still come out as moist and as delicious as day one!

Lemon Cookies

Last week I mentioned these Chocolate cookies from Lil Liz-bits, well th kids wanted to make somethin, we didn't have much on hand (grocery store run necessary!) so we made Lemon Cookies. I wasn't sure if my kids would eat he lemon, but the loved them!

Lemon Cookies

1 box of cake mix

2 eggs

3/4 cup shortening

Powdered Sugar (I only used 2-3 large spoonfuls)

Preheat Oven to 350. Mix the cake mix, shortening an deggs together

until well combined

Roll into 1" balls and roll balls in powdered sugar

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Take out and leave on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Move to wax paper and let cool

YUM!

Craving Cupcakes!

I'm LOVING all the cupcakes out there, now if only my family would like sweets as much as me and help me eat them...my love of sweets and desire to lose the baby weight are not going together very well!

First off, this felt cake is a-dor-able! My kids love to play in their kitchen and would LOVE if I made them this :) There is Beauty All Around did a fantastic job coming up with this!

Now on to the Yummy Cupcakes!!

1. Vanilla Chai Cupcakes with White Chocolat Buttercream Frosting from Alison's Wonder Scraporium

2. Red Velvet with Cream Cheese Frosting from The Cupcake Challenge

3. Vanilla Cupcakes with Marshmallow Buttercream Frosting from The Farm Girl

4. Sweetheart Cupcakes from Midnight Maniac

5. Ice Cream Shoppe Cupcake from Savings and Stewardship

6. Salted Caramel Cupcakes from Prudently Painted Vintage

7. Hi Hat Cupcakes from The Mixing Bowl Diary

8. Nutter Butter Truffle Cupcake from Inside BruCrew Life

Awesome Decorations:

9. Noah's Ark Cupcake Tree from Sweetened by Kagi

10. Owl Cupcakes from The Madsen's

Yummy Cupcake Alternatives:

11. Mini Oreo Cheesecake from Mrs. Happy Homemaker

12. Cake Cookies from Lil Liz-bits

Can't wait to try making these!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

A while back I came across a recipe for Cinnamon Roll Pancakes that sounded delicious! I told my husband about them (he typically makes the kids pancakes on the weekend) and he was sold :)

Typically, this is what he does to spruce them up!

So, when the weekend came for Daddy's pancakes, he searched for the recipe without me and didn't find the same one I had found. His recipe called for flour, and it was pretty lumpy and difficult to put in the pancakes. We tried my recipe the next day, and there was too much butter and the mix was too runny!  This weekend we cut the butter WAY down, and here is what we got:

Perfect! (although a little messy this morning :) )

Here is our preferred recipe:
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Cream Cheese Icing:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 ounces cream cheese 

1tsp vanilla

4 Tbsp milk

We use Bisquick pancakes, I know lots of people out there make their own batter, but the Bisquick is so easy!  We tried it with frosty, and although delicious, we prefer in our house to use syrup and whip cream

or on just plain Maple Syrup :)



Yum! Enjoy :)

Cream Cheese Cookie Bars

Yum, Yum

I found this recipe at Amanda's Cookin' and it is fabulous!

Cream Cheese Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 t almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter softened
4 oz cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring or icing paste

Beat the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and egg until nice and frothy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla and almond extract and beat for 1 minute more.

In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat for 2 minutes. Press the dough into a large jelly roll (cookie sheet) pan. (Mine was 10.5x15.5) Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let the pan cool completely.

To make the frosting, in a medium sized bowl (or your stand mixer) combine the butter and cream cheese. Beat for 2 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla and food coloring. Mix for 1-2 minutes or until smooth. Frost your pan of cookies.

Cut the cookies into bars and serve.

Don't forget to lick the frosting bowl clean.

Add sprinkles if desired, like we did for this Valentine's treat.

Enjoy!

** You may want to ignore this part of the post. I did a little math (thank you to www.myfitnesspal.com) and calculated that if you cut the pan into 54 bars like I did, there are 136 calories per serving. Sadly, it is easy to eat 2 or even 3 bars without blinking, oops!

Freezing
I did freeze half my bars (so I'd stop eating them!!) and when I took them out a week later they were still fabulous as if they were freshly baked that day!

Cookies 'n Cream Cupcakes

Yum, Yum...this past week was my Dolly's 1/2 birthday, and she requested cupcakes. After rummaging through the cupboards, I realized I didn't have a box mix on hand, and would have to try cupcakes from scratch, yikes! Sounded scary to me, but was actually just as easy as a box!

my son walked in half-way through, and asked, "Where's the box mom?"  I replied, "There isn't one." Then he said, "then how did you make the cupcakes?" HA!  Shows how my cookies has been thus far :) Hopefully being at home now it'll improve!!

I found a recipe in my fun kiddy cookbook: "3 Books in 1: Silly Snacks, Classroom Treats, and Cookie Dough Fun"

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1-2/3 c sugar
1 c milk
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
3 egg whites
1 c crushed chocolate sandwich cookies (about 10 cookies) - this was enough for me for the garnish, too
1 container vanilla frosting (I used cream cheese - my favorite!)

1. Preheat oven to 350, line 24 regular muffin cups with paper baking cups
2. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together in large bowl. Stir in sugar. Add milk, butter and vanilla; beat with electric mixer at low speed 30 seconds. Beat at medium speed 2 minutes. Add egg whites; beat 2 minutes. Stir in 1 cup crushed cookies.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpicks inserted into centers coue out clean. Cool in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Remove to racks; cool completely
4. Frost cupcakes; garnish with additional crushed cookies

We decided to try making 12 big and 24 mini-muffins. I took the mini muffins out at 15 minutes, but it was still a touch too long. So I cut off the bottom part of the cupcake, as the top was still good. We then made sandwiches with these!

I let the kids decorate most of the cupcakes, and besides a mess, here is the "pretty" cupcakes I ended up with!

and of course I forgot to take a picture of the 1/2 birthday girl, who was mad at me because a 1/2 birthday does not equal presents and a party!