"P" is for Pop Rocks Cupcakes

Oh my goodness, I just found these on Noble Pig's blog and had to share. You can get her recipe with a ton of great photos and tips here. I've never thought of putting Pop Rocks on cupcakes before but it's a fabulous idea! I'm going to have to whip up a batch with the kiddos tomorrow! What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July. Happy Birthday, America! Thanks, Noble Pig!
In fact, Pop Rocks on cupcakes are a great way to celebrate any birthday....the kids will love 'em!
Pop Rocks Cupcakes
adapted from Patrick Decker

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1-1/4 cups sugar
8 egg yolks
2 teaspoons vanilla, divided
1 cup milk
1/2 cup rainbow candy sprinkles
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
About 3/4 cup blueberries, to garnish
About 3/4 cup raspberries, to garnish
Lots of Pop Rocks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line 12 muffins tins with paper baking cups.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then set aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until the mixture is fluffy, substantially increased in volume and lightened in color, about 3 minutes.

In another large bowl, use an electric mixer with clean beaters to beat the egg yolks and 1 teaspoon of the vanilla until thickened and pale in color, about four minutes.

Add the beaten egg yolks to the butter-sugar mixture and mix to combine.

With the mixer on low, add a third of the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.

Once mixed, add half of the milk, followed by another third of the flour. When well mixed, add the remaining milk, mix, then add the remaining flour.

Use a silicon spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure all ingredients are mixed in. Gently fold in the sprinkles.

Fill the prepared muffin tins with batter. Cook until a skewer inserted at the center comes out clean, about 22-25 minutes. Do not over bake.

Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Just before serving, in a large bowl combine the heavy cream, powdered sugar and remaining vanilla. Use an electric mixer to beat until thick.

Dollop or pipe whipped cream over each cupcake, then garnish with blueberries and raspberries.
Sprinkle each cupcake GENEROUSLY with POP ROCKS. Or serve each cupcake with it's very own pack of POP ROCKS which is what I would do!

Have fun with these, they seem to provoke a good time.

Chocolate Charlie & Lola Treats!

Yes, they're all chocolate! Yum!I have a great friend turning 30 next week (apparently 28, but I'm saying 30 because most of us are and I'm bitter:)). She's an amazing artist, a fun person, has a hilarious blog, and is generally inspiring. I wanted to make something fun for her birthday, so I decided on cupcakes with some kind of artistic garnish. I asked her about her favorite illustrators and she mentioned Lauren Child, the author of Charlie & Lola. These fun characters were just begging to be made in chocolate!! So, here's a great technique for making ANY kind of chocolate garnish. It's easy and looks professional. Here we go! I'll post a pic of the cupcakes next week when I make them.:)

Ingredients:
Candy Melts (or chocolate chips. You can use semi-sweet for the outline and white tinted with food coloring for any other color. Candy melts work the best, though, since they set-up harder. You can get them at Wal-Mart in the cake-decorating section.)
Wax paper
Tape
Quart-sized ziploc freezer bags
Your imagination!

Tape down a picture you want to make in chocolate. You can downlaod my Charlie & Lola template here. Something with simple lines is best. You can draw something yourself, use one of you kids' pictures, whatever you can dream up. I think a birthday cake for Grandma or Grandpa with your kids' art on it would be fantastic! There are also some other great ideas here. The frogs are to-die-for cute!
Bakerella also did fantastic cake garnishes using her daughters drawings as inspiration (see cake above). You can check it out here. BTW, if you don't read her blog, run, don't walk, and check it out! She's fabulous!



OK, now that the creative juices are flowing, back to business. Tape a piece of wax paper on top of your template. Keep in mind that whatever you do, it's going to be "backwards" when you finish it, so if you are making letters, be sure your template has been reversed.

Melt candy melts or chocolate chips in a bowl, 30 seconds at a time in the microwave until melted. Spoon into a quart-sized freezer ziploc bag. Snip a tiny end off of the bag and use it to "draw" the outline of your shape. When the outline has hardened, start to fill in with various colors using the same technique. Don't worry, this doesn't have to be neat. The basic outline is the only thing you really need to have neatly done. You'll think you're doing a terrible job, look how messy they are from the back!


After completely set, peel off and you have a fantastic garnish! Have fun!

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Bowls

What do you do with a crowd of hungry kiddos in the summer? Serve ice cream, of course! What do you do if you don't want to do dishes or waste paper bowls? Serve it in a chocolate chip cookie bowl, of course! This great recipe is from Family Fun and is perfect for an outdoor summertime treat. These are super easy to make so make a whole bunch ahead of time, grab some ice cream and spray whipped cream, and you have an unforgettable yummy dessert!!

Ice Cream Cookie Cups

Ingredients
1/4 c. shortening

1/4 c. butter, softened

2/3 c. white sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. miniature chocolate chips

Beat shortening, butter, and sugar in a large bowl. Add egg and vanilla. Add baking powder, salt, and flour. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide dough in half, shape each half into a flat disk and wrap in plastic. Chill the dough at least 2 hrs in the fridge. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Turn two 12-cup muffin tins bottom side up and cover 10 of the cups with aluminum foil (5 on each pan--leave every other cup empty so there's some space between them). Spray the foil with nonstick spray.

Unwrap 1 disk of dough, place it between 2 sheets of wax paper and roll it out to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out 4-inch circles of dough and place each one over a cup bottom, smoothing out any cracks. Repeat with the other disk, re-rolling and reusing any scraps. Bake the cookie cups for 10-12 minutes or until light brown. Let the cool for 10 minutes then remove the foil and cookies from muffin pan. Peel off foil and let cups cool completely. Fill with ice cream or your favorite dessert and enjoy!

Margarita Dip (non-alcoholic, of course!)

Need a quick, yummy, summery dip? I came across this and it's DELICIOUS! This would be a great dip for a Mexican-themed party or any summer get together. Serve it in a bowl or margarita glass with a sugar-coated rim. I think this would also make a great non-alcoholic dessert served in margarita glasses for the kiddos (and for the adults like me who don't drink:)).

Margarita Dip
Ingredients:
8 oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup frozen margarita drink mix, thawed
2 Tbsp. orange juice
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream, whipped

Directions: In a medium bowl, beat together softened cream cheese, margarita mix, orange juice and powdered sugar until smooth. Fold whipped cream into mixture until well blended. Cover and chill 1 hour to blend flavors.
To serve: dip rim of glass bowl or cocktail glass in grenadine syrup (or corn syrup). Shake off excess and dip in colored sugar. Spoon dip into bowl and serve with your favorite fruits!

Blooming Snacks

The girls had a ball making their own little mini "gardens" for snacktime today. It was a warmup for a party I'm doing this weekend (I'll let you know how it turns out:)). PARTY UPDATE: Major success! I made the little garden at the top as well as a fruit garden on half a watermelon with watermelon/cherry/pineapple flowers.

INGREDIENTS: (you can really use anything, it's a great way to clean out the fridge)
Apple
Toothpicks
Sliced Cheese
Grapes
Thinn sliced ham


Cut apple in half and core it. This is going to be the base for your "garden" and also a tasty way to end your snack. You can fill the center with peanut butter or cream cheese if you want.

Cut cheese into flower shapes. If you don't have pastry cutters, let the kids use butter knives to cut flower shapes out of the cheese.

Slice ham into strips and cut grapes in half. You're ready to assemble! Here's a little assembly video:

In case that didn't make sense, my daughter has some instructions of her own:

Happy Cooking!

I love church cookbooks!

For some reason, I am a church cookbook fanatic. I LOVE THEM!! Well, our congregation recently put one together and my fabulous friend who coordinated it was nice enough to send it to me in digital format to share with you all. You can download it here. There are some serious talented ladies that contributed to it. Enjoy!

In case the above link doesn't work, you can also get it here:
Ward Cookbook.zip
Free file hosting from File Den

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Cake

I wasn't going to blog about this cake, but I've converted many a cake-hater with this little number (unless you hate peanut butter, then you're out of luck:)). I've worked on perfecting this recipe for over a year, it's easy and the yummiest, fudgiest cake you'll ever find!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Fudge Cake

Cake:
1 box Chocolate Fudge cake mix (or any chocolate cake mix)
1 (3 oz.) box instant chocolate pudding
2 C. sour cream
5 eggs
1 C. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. chocolate chips (I recommend ghirardelli)

In a large bowl, beat first 6 ingredients until well blended. Mixture will be thick. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into three greased 9” pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-40 minutes. (Keep an eye on them so they don’t overbake). Cool completely. I actually like to pop them in the freezer for easy assembling.

Peanut Butter Buttercream Icing
Ingredients2/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
2/3 cup butter
1 3/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
6-8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 2 lb.)
Directions
Cream shortening and butter with electric mixer.
Add peanut butter, milk and vanilla.
Gradually add 6 c. sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry.
Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add more sugar (or milk) as needed until icing is desired consistency (should be firm enough to hold a shape but still smooth)
Keep icing covered with a damp cloth until ready to use. For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Re-whip before using.

TO ASSEMBLE CAKE:
First of all, if you don't have a canvas decorating bag and an extra-large star tip, I recommend getting one (you can get them at Wal-Mart, under $5 for all). The tip is Wilton size 1M. I use it for EVERYTHING. It makes super-fast, gorgeous cupcakes and is the very easiest way to decorate a cake (no crumbs!).

Place a small dab of frosting on a cake platter, set first cake layer on top (it's easiest to assemble if the layers are frozen but not necessary). Pipe out (or spread) frosting over top of layer and add next layer. Repeat with final layer. Spread a layer of frosting on the very top and sprinkle chocolate shavings on top (or chocolate chips or chopped reeses peanut butter cups!).

Using your large star tip, make stripes up and down the sides of cake. This is super-easy and you have no frosting crumbs! Hooray!

To finish, draw "S" shapes all around the top edge of the cake. Voila! You have decorated a professional looking cake in 5 minutes! Enjoy!