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King Cake Cupcakes

February 7, 2013 in holiday

So I lied to you.

Valentine’s Day isn’t my favorite holiday after all. Mardi Gras is! I guess living in Colorado made me completely forget about Mardi Gras because it didn’t even occur to me that Fat Tuesday is next week until I started seeing photos from Mardi Gras balls in my Facebook stream. But yeah, it’s definitely my favorite and the one I most looked forward to when I lived in Mobile.

Since we don’t really get the opportunity to celebrate in Colorado, I had to make these super cute king cake cupcakes! (Please ignore the creepy babies. This should be the last year you have to look at them.) I used a box mix to make the cupcakes but made my cinnamon buttercream that I love so much to make them a little more king cake-like. And then I topped them with the tiniest little king cakes made from vanilla wafers!

If you are celebrating Mardi Gras this year (I’m jealous) you should totally make these! Everyone who saw them went nuts over how cute they were.

Nicole made hurriances! One time, many years ago, a friend of mine caught her hair on fire from a flaming hurricane at a bar. It was arguably one of the best nights of my life.* So go make hurricanes! Throw beads at whoever you live with! And have a good time!

*She was fine. It was put out quickly and we laughed about it for days. I’m really not heartless.

One year ago: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Two years ago: Banana Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
 Three years ago: Bourbon Chicken

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King Cake Cupcakes

Ingredients

24 white or yellow cupcakes (box mix or homemade)
24 vanilla wafer cookies
green, purple, and yellow food coloring
clear sprinkles
plastic babies, optional

Instructions

  1. To make the tiny king cakes, put about 1/4 cup of frosting into 3 bowls. Add green food coloring to one bowl, purple to another, and yellow to the last. Mix until you get your desired color.
  2. For each king cake, take a vanilla wafer and frost a small section with each color. Top with clear sprinkles and a plastic baby if desired.
  3. Frost the cupcakes as normal and top with a tiny king cake.
http://fakeginger.com/2013/02/07/king-cake-cupcakes/

 

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Cupid’s Crunch

February 4, 2013 in holiday

I’m sure I tell y’all this every year but Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday. I love any excuse to put hearts up in every room of my house.  And this year is even more exciting for me because I finally have a kid in school which means I finally have an excuse to buy those cute little cards. I don’t even know if my kid’s class is exchanging Valentine’s cards but you better believe I bought some as soon as they appeared on the shelves of my store. Because, lord knows, the last thing I need is for Walmart to run out of Power Rangers cards.

The only thing I’m not a big fan of on Valentine’s Day is cooking. I definitely believe in going out or getting McDonald’s or having my husband cook. Anything to get out of cooking and doing dishes on the big day. I did want to share this quick treat though because it’s so simple and so yummy.

It’s just like traditional muddy buddies but you use white chocolate instead of milk chocolate. Then once everything is good and coated in powdered sugar, you toss in some M&Ms and cute Valentine’s Day sprinkles.

One year ago: Fried Pickles
Three years ago: Lavash Crackers
Four years ago: Peanut Butter Hummus

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Cupid’s Crunch

Ingredients

4 1/2 Chex cereal
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup Valentine's Day M&Ms
2 tablespoons Valentine's Day sprinkles

Instructions

  1. Place cereal in medium bowl. In small microwavable bowl, microwave vanilla chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds, until melted and smooth. Pour peanut butter mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated.
  2. Place 1/2 of the cereal mixture in 1-gallon food-storage plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper or foil; cool about 15 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, stir candies and sprinkles into remaining cereal mixture. Spread on waxed paper or foil; cool about 15 minutes.
  4. In serving bowl, mix both cereal mixtures. Store in airtight container.
http://fakeginger.com/2013/02/04/cupids-crunch/

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What We’re Leaving for Santa

December 24, 2012 in holiday

I spent all day yesterday working on our Santa goodies and wanted to share that with y’all but since Christmas is tomorrow I’m gonna throw them all in one post and just link to the recipes I used. Hopefully this will inspire you if you don’t already have your Santa cookies ready!

This is the number 1 thing on my “must make” list every year. My mom has made it every Christmas for as long as I can remember and it’s probably what I look forward to most as far as holiday food goes. It’s Cocoa Puffs, Chex, pretzels, and peanuts coated in brown sugar and it’s amazing – I promise! Recipe is here!

I make these every year too. My husband loves peanut butter cookies and he loves peanut butter cups so these are always a winner.

This was my first time making these but they’re one of my new favorites. The minute I saw the recipe I had a flashback to some Christmas long ago. I don’t know if my mom made them or if I had them at school or what but I know I’ve had them before and loved them. They are Rice Krispies, marshmallows, and peanuts all wrapped in white almond bark. (My store was out of almond bark so I used white chocolate chips and it worked fine.)

I’m kind of scared of fudge so when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to give it a try. We loved it and it’s so quick and easy!

I also made oreo truffles but I think I’m the last person on earth to make them so no photo. I bet Santa is going to really, really love them though!

Have a Merry Christmas if you celebrate! :)

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Eggnog Bread

December 20, 2012 in breads

Eggnog is one of those things that I get excited about every year because I think that I love it. But I really don’t. And you’d think I’d remember that from year to year but it never fails: I rush out to buy a carton and then gag on the first sip. Someone please remind me of this next year so I don’t get my hopes up again.

So since I had a carton of eggnog to use up and eggnog is the Thirsty Thursday theme of the week, I decided to bake with it. Surprisingly, I really liked this bread. Until I put the glaze on it which is pretty much straight eggnog. But the bread itself just has a very subtle eggnog taste that’s perfect for those of us that want to like eggnog but just don’t. My husband and kids loved it with the glaze though so if you’re an eggnog fan, definitely add it.

Nicole made homemade cooked eggnog with bourbon!

One year ago: Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas
Two years ago: Caramel-Filled Chocolate Cookies
Three years ago: Pumpkin Caramel Coffee Cake

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Eggnog Bread

4 mini loaves

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups eggnog
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon rum extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (3.4 oz) package instant french vanilla or vanilla pudding
For the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
Enough eggnog to make a glaze to drizzle over bread

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottom of bread pan or mini loaf pans.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.
  3. Beat eggs, add sugar, eggnog, butter, rum and vanilla extract.
  4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well.
  5. Add the instant pudding and blend.
  6. Pour into greased mini loaf pans. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack before glazing.
    7. To make the glaze:
  7. Whisk together the powdered sugar and eggnog until you get a good consistency. Drizzle or pour over breads.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/12/20/eggnog-bread/

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Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

December 3, 2012 in cookie

Thanks for all the kind words about my husband last week. He still isn’t home – it’s actually become pretty funny. They were ON the plane the other day and then blah blah blah happened and they had to stay. Hopefully this week! My poor, sweet 3 year old is still waiting for his birthday party that was supposed to happen 2 weeks ago! Bless his heart.

I haven’t been doing much cooking lately but I’ve been baking tons and tons of cookies. I made two batches of these last week, one for me and one for my cookie swap people! They were really delicious but I forgot to take photos of either batch so yeah.

These cookies were on my to-do list last Christmas but I just ran out of time and they never got made. I wanted to get them done early in the season this year so it wouldn’t happen again! And I’m so happy that I did. They are definitely one of my favorite cookies I’ve made this year. Chewy and chocolatey and amazing!

One year ago:  Matafan
Two years ago: Peanut Butter Squares
Three years ago: Cranberry Apple Walnut Roll

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Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

from Martha Stewart Cookies, via Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Ingredients

7 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup dark-brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

  1. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Chop chocolate into 1/4-inch chunks; set aside. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and grated ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.
  3. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in 1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water. Beat half of flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking-soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate; turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Pat dough out to about 1 inch thick; seal with wrap; refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more.
  4. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Roll dough into 1 1/2- inch balls; place 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Refrigerate 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
http://fakeginger.com/2012/12/03/chewy-chocolate-gingerbread-cookies-2/

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