Pecan Pie Cupcakes

Now these are good. And easy. I love it when I can make cookies or cupcakes and don't have to break out the mixer. And they taste like pecan pie. The only change I will make is the next time, I won't bake them quite so long. Other than that though, they are perfect! So yummy!

Ingredients:
1 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. flour
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. butter, melted
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and line a mini muffin tin.

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full.

Bake 18 minutes.

Yield: 24 mini muffins

Source: http://www.bakedperfection.com/

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Mini Cheesecakes

Oy! I see how everybody gets behind on their blogging! Man have I been busy! So, last week was our monthly cooking contest at work. The theme was party food - in honor of March Madness. I had originally planned on making fried pickles. However, my bosses switched the day and we found out at 3pm the day before. So, no time to go to the store. That meant I had to make do with ingredients I had on hand. I happened to have two blocks of cream cheese, and mini cheesecakes seemed like a good idea. So, I went on a mission to find a recipe. Now let me tell you - this recipe lies. It said 15 minute prep time. If I had known it was a lie, I would've found a different recipe. The total time for this was supposed to be 40 minutes. Now, maybe I'm retarded, but this took me 2 freaking hours. That does not make for a happy baker!

So, I didn't win. The little cheesecakes weren't bad. I only brought home 3 out of the 50 or so I made, so I think that's a good sign. By the time I was done making them though, I didn't even want to think about cheesecake, much less eat any. Here ya go:

Ingredients:
1 c. chocolate graham crackers, finely crushed
1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 3 oz. package cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
1/3 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted and slightly cooled

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325.

Line 12 muffin cups with liners, or 48 mini muffin cups.

Spoon graham cracker crumbs into each cup and press to form crust. Set aside.

Place cream cheese in mixer. Beat until smooth - about 2 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Gradually add milk, then eggs one at a time. Beat for 30 seconds.

Transfer half of batter to another bowl.

Add peanut butter to mixer bowl. Beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Divide mixture among muffin cups.

Return reserved batter to mixer bowl (don't bother to clean bowl or beaters - I liked this part!) and added melted chocolate. Beat until well blended - about 1 minute. Divide mixture among muffin cups, spreading to cover peanut butter batter.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until centers are almost set. Cool completely on wire racks. Store covered in refrigerator.

Yield: 12 standard muffin cup sized cheesecakes, or 48 mini cheesecakes

Source: RecipeZaar

Cherry Limeade Cupcakes

These didn't turn out nearly as pretty as I was hoping for. The good side - I totally know what I did wrong so I can fix it next time. That always makes me happy! Our monthly cooking contest at work is this Tuesday. The theme is cake. I knew right off the bat that I wanted to make mini cupcakes so that it was truly bite-sized and easy for people to taste-test! I had several cupcakes that I wanted to try to choose from: Fluffernutter cupcakes, Pink Lemonade Cupcakes, Mimosa Cupcakes, and Pound Cake Cupcakes. I ended up choosing Cherry Limeade Cupcakes. I loooooooooooooooooove Sonic and cherry limeades. So these sounded absolutely delicious AND pretty. The cake is awesome. I have NEVER made cake that wasn't from a box before. I actually bought cake flour. Huge step! I even made the frosting - when I was piping it on, it ended up being a little runnier than I was hoping for. So, next time, more powdered sugar. Check. Since I made mini cupcakes, I didn't want to get big limes to garnish, so I bought some key limes. I only used like, three, so now I need a recipe that uses a LOT of limes.

Ingredients:
3 c. cake flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. + 2 tbsp. limeade concentrate (defrosted)
3 eggs
3/4 c. milk

3/4 c. limeade concentrate
1/2 c. powdered sugar

3 3/4 c. powdered sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
4 tbsp. maraschino cherry juice
red food coloring (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

Cream butter. Add sugar. Add limeade. Add eggs, one at a time.

Add in flour in three batches, alternating with milk. Begin and end with flour.

Spoon into muffin cups and bake 15-20 minutes (only about 10 if making mini cupcakes).

While cupcakes are cooling, combine limeade and powdered sugar. Whisk together.

Once cupcakes are cool, poke holes in the tops and drizzle with lime syrup.

For frosting, combine powdered sugar, butter and cherry juice. Mix on low until combined and then medium-high until smooth. Add red food coloring if desired.

Frost cupcakes and garnish with cherries and lime slices.

Yield: 24 cupcakes (or about 80 mini cupcakes - don't worry, I halved the recipe!)

Source: www.annieseats.wordpress.com

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

Woohoo! I can download pictures again! I had to buy an adapter thingamajigger to make it work. Best $15 I ever spent! So, I actually made these on Thursday night, so I could take them to work on Friday. No actual recipe. I was just proud of myself because not only were they very yummy, they actually turned out pretty!

So, basically, just go to the store. Buy a box of devils food cake mix, cream cheese frosting and a jar of maraschino cherries. Make cupcakes according to box. FYI, I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, BUT, whenever I make cupcakes, they are always tiny. The tops don't even reach the top of the little cupcake cakes. Well, in case you didn't know - you don't have to make 24 cupcakes like the box says. You can just make 18, or however many. Yes, it took me 26 years to figure this out. Don't laugh.

Okay, so back to the recipe. After cupcakes have cooled, mix some cherry juice into the cream cheese frosting. I really just wanted pink frosting, but I didn't have any food coloring. So I used cherry juice. The subtle cherry flavor turned out pretty good though. Frost cupcakes. Done. :)

You should all know - I am very excited. I ordered a really cute apron on Amazon and I am so psyched to start wearing it! I was afraid that it would look stupid on me or be too big, since I am practically a midget. But it is perfect! I know. I'm a complete dork.

Margarita Cupcakes With Lime Buttercream Frosting

So, the title of this post totally suggests that these should be AWESOME. And I think if someone else had made them, they probably would be. I apparently did something wrong, but I'm not sure what. The frosting is good though!! Also, I did not use the recipe for the frosting that is listed - I was lazy and just added some lime juice to some Pillsbury buttercream frosting. As you can see from the picture, I tried to be fancy and pipe the icing on the cupcakes, because I kind of suck at frosting. Well, it didn't work out so well, so I ended up frosting most of them. Also, if you go the lazy route and want to pipe your frosting on - get two cans of it! I would've run out if I had piped frosting on all of them!

Ingredients:
1 package white cake mix
1 can (10 oz.) frozen margarita mix, thawed
3 eggs
2 tbsp. oil
1 tbsp. grated lime zest

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 and line muffin cups with those little muffin cup thingies

Combine everything but the lime zest with a mixer, then stir in lime zest.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 of the way full and bake 22-24 minutes.

Let cool before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:
4 c. powdered sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
1/8 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. lime juice

Frosting Directions:
Mix everything with a mixer until fluffy

Cupcake source: http://www.cupcakefun.com/
Frosting source: http://www.jasonandshawnda.com/