they're cupcakes damnit!

Muffins everywhere! My roommate is on a muffin making frenzy. I'm doing my best not to eat them all. Lucky for me, she frosted them with chocolate so that helps me to not want them. Yes, I don't care for chocolate. But if the next ones she makes has vanilla frosting I'll be harder to not be all over them. I must stay strong! I do not need the cupcakes. (They're cupcakes don't know why I keep calling them muffins.)

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

• 1 (9 inch) prepared graham cracker crust
• 3 cups sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup key lime juice
• 1 tablespoon grated lime zest

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, combine condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, and lime rind. Mix well and pour into graham cracker crust.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 5 to 8 minutes, until tiny pinhole bubbles burst on the surface of pie. DO NOT BROWN! Chill pie thoroughly before serving. Garnish with lime slices and whipped cream if desired.

White Almond Wedding Cake

Ingredients

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 egg whites

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour an 11x13 inch cake pan.
2. Stir together the white cake mix, flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl until well mixed. Pour in the water, sour cream, vegetable oil, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg whites, and beat with an electric mix on low until all the ingredients are mixed and moistened but some lumps still remain, 4 minutes.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake in the preheated oven until the top is a light golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Allow to cool before frosting.

Wedding Cake Icing

Ingredients

• 1 cup shortening
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Mix shortening, water, vanilla, almond extract, and half of the powdered sugar with a mixer for 5-10 minutes. (it's very important to mix this long)
2. Add the rest of the powdered sugar and beat just enough to mix in.
3. Add additional water for desired consistency.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two nine inch round pans.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed of mixer. Stir in the boiling water last. Batter will be thin. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.
3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the cake tests done with a toothpick. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Calories: 157 | Total Fat: 5.7g

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Calories: 122 | Total Fat: 6.5g

Flowers

I took some pics of some flowers! ^.^

cupcake

Mom made cupcakes. They were yummy. But she didn't use the cute flower shape cupcake paper. She made some other ones with the flower paper but I didn't get any pictures. These were made for a birthday party for one of my moms friends.  Of course we had to taste test some of them ^.^

Cinnabon

Ingredients:
for the dough-
3/4 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast {use the fast acting kind!}
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 egg
1/3 cup canola or vegetable oil
4 1/2-5 cups all purpose unbleached flour


for the filling-
1/2 cup softened margarine
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cornstarch


for the frosting-
2 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup softened margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar






Making the Dough- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, pour in water, yeast and 1 tablespoon of the granulated sugar. Stir and proof 5 minutes. Once mixture looks bubbly and frothy, pour in remaining sugar and salt. Stir on low for 15-20 seconds. In a small bowl, measure buttermilk, oil and egg. Whisk ingredients together until egg is incorporated to other two ingredients. Pour contents into the water and yeast mixture. Stir another 20 seconds in the mixer. Pour 2 cups of flour into mixer and stir on low until incorporated. Sprinkle flour in by 1/4 cup increments until dough cleans the sides and bottom of the bowl. Dough should be sticky but not sticky enough to stick to your hands when touched. Once it has reached this stage, turn mixer on and knead for 5 minutes. Remove dough from bowl, grease and replace back into same mixing bowl {since it’s practically clean anyways.} Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. Rise 1-2 hours or until dough has doubled in size.


Filling and Cutting Rolls- In a medium size bowl, stir brown sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch together until combined. Set aside. Punch down dough. Flour a large clean table liberally with flour. Lightly flour dough as well. Roll dough out to be a 20×30 rectangle {or as close to that as possible} while moving dough around to ensure it’s not sticking to your work surface. If it’s a little short or uneven, feel free to cut off the edges to even it all out. {FYI-I cut off some dough on one side and filled in a spot that needed more dough on the other side to make a more even rectangle.} Spread softened margarine over dough, being sure to go right to the edges leaving a 1-inch strip untouched on one of the longer sides of dough. Dump brown sugar mixture onto the middle of the dough and spread with your hands, creating an even layer over top of the margarine, still leaving that 1-inch strip of dough untouched. If you have any filling that falls off the sides of the dough, use a bench scraper to replace. Lightly press the sugar mixture into the margarine using a rolling pin. Roll the dough up into a tight log, finishing with the plain dough on the bottom to seal the entire thing together. Cut off the uneven ends to even out the log. Score log every 2 inches and then slice your rolls using those marks. Place into parchment paper lined, margarine greased pans. 12 into a 9×13, 3 remaining into a loaf pan, or 8×8 with the small ends. Cover pans with plastic wrap and dish towels. Let rolls rise another 1-2 hours or until they are touching and have risen almost double. My rolls always spread out more than up, so just be aware that they will most likely spread out more than up. Bake in a preheated 350 degree for 17 minutes, or until tops start to brown. Watch them carefully!!


For the Frosting- While the rolls are baking, whip cream cheese and margarine together. Stir in vanilla, corn syrup and lemon juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Pour in powdered sugar and stir slowly until it starts to incorporate. Then mix on high for 5 minutes or until frosting starts to lighten in color. Scrape sides and mix again briefly. Once rolls have been removed from the oven, frost using half the amount made. Then after they have cooled a few more minutes, frost again with remaining frosting. The first frosting will melt down into the rolls and the second layer should stay put. Serve warm.

broken scale

my scale broke! Or it needs new batteries. But I just got the thing! >.< So now I have to go out and get new batteries for it and hope that's all that's wrong with the thing. I haven't been able to weigh myself and it's driving me crazy. Not that I think I lost any weight or anything. Actually I'm pretty sure that I've gained. I haven't been doing very good.  But anyway! I need to fix my scale.

cupcake ducks

fuller lip

weight loss Wed.

didn't do too good this week. Gained a lot of weight so that sucks. I find it's hard to stick to a diet when people keep wanting to feed you. Sure I could say no and run away screaming, but then that gets people upset and thinking that I've got some eating disorder. I think I'm going to have to avoid people I guess. Or at least avoid going to my parents house. You know how parents are, always wanting you to eat.

I should also start exercising. I wasn't doing that before. At my weight and with my health, working out is very hard. But I'm going to have to push through the pain if I want to see some results.

Tomorrow starts a new week so hopefully I do better. Wish me luck!

Kiwi pop

S’mores Cupcakes

Yields 24 cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes with Graham Cracker Base 
3 cups graham cracker crumbs 
1/2 cup granulated sugar 
10 tablespoons butter, melted 
Chocolate cupcake batter, enough to make 24 cupcakes (use your favorite homemade recipe or box mix)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Line a cupcake pan with baking cups.

In a large bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until evenly coated. Place a tablespoon sized scoop of the mixture in the bottom of each baking cup. Using a glass or bottle the size of the base of the cupcake, press down the graham cracker crumbs until they form a solid crust.

Bake for 5 minutes to allow the base to harden. Cool for 5-10 minutes before filling with cupcake batter.

Fill the rest of the baking cups 2/3 full of cupcake batter. Place in the oven and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature before glazing and frosting.

Chocolate Glaze 
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped 
4 tablespoons butter 
1 teaspoon light corn syrup

In a saucepan, melt together the chocolate, butter, and corn syrup over medium heat and stir until completely combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool in room temperature for about 30 minutes until chocolate thickens to a spreadable consistency. Stir occasionally.

Marshmallow Meringue 
4 egg whites 
1 cup granulated sugar

In a double boiler, whisk together the egg whites and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved and the egg whites are warm to the touch, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat, transfer to a medium mixing bowl, and beat the egg whites until they form stiff, shiny peaks, about 5-8 minutes.

To Assemble
Using a knife or off-set spatula, spread a thick layer of chocolate glaze on top of the cupcake, extending the chocolate to the edge of the cupcake. Let set for a few minutes.

Fill a pastry bag with the marshmallow meringue and pipe the meringue on top of the cupcake. Alternatively, you may fill a large sealable plastic bag with the meringue, snip off the corner, and pipe it on top of the cupcakes. Using a kitchen torch, lightly toast the marshmallow meringue to resemble a toasted marshmallow. Alternatively, if a kitchen torch is not available, turn the oven onto broil and place the cupcakes on a cookie sheet in the top shelf of the oven. It will only take a minute or two to get a nice toasty marshmallow look, so watch them very closely.