Irish Cream “Ice Cream” Mocha Cupcakes!

In keeping with the theme of the blog, I always try my best to find unique recipes that look as interesting as they taste.  Simplicity is also always the key.  Although I occasionally have some difficult to make recipes, I try to post recipes that can be done by a working mother of two.

With St. Patty’s Day les then 24 hours a way I figured something green with alcohol is in order.  The unique part about this recipe is the Vanilla ice cream mixed with Irish Cream Creamers.  You actually have to mix the creamers with vanilla ice cream and sprinkle in bits of toffee.  If that sounds good, it is.  That in itself is just a great tasting treat.  Haagen Dazs also makes a great Baily’s ice cream. The issue with using the Haagen Dazs is the color is brown which doesn’t look good on the cupcake, but tastes amazing.  You have to balance out what matters more to you.

Remember to keep everything in the muffin tin until ready to be served. I recommend freezing them overnight.  The more frozen the ice cream is, the more pronounced the ridges in the ice cream will show when  you are ready to serve them.

Use your favorite decorating tip for the whipped cream frosting.  It goes on just like any other frosting.  I recommend applying it just before serving these up.  Click the RECIPE button to go to the detailed recipe.  Happy Baking!

Stout Soaked Caramel Corn Cocoa Cupcakes with Stout Buttercream Frosting [Recipe]

If you want to blow the doors off of St. Patrick’s Day then this is the right recipe, however this is not for beginners.  This is one of those recipes that you have to plan for because it’s time consuming and actually hard work.  There are four phases:

• The cupcakes
• The Stout Reduction
• The Stout Buttercream
• The Stout Caramel Corn

I suggest breaking the recipe up because the reduction alone can take as much as 45 minutes.   That’s 45 minutes of monitoring everything closely.  The good part is that after you make the reduction, you can store that in the fridge for 2 or 3 days.

When it’s said and done the finished product will look great.  I’m all four anything that I don’t have to pull out the decorating tips for.  Just stick the popcorn to the top and you have caramel, salty, crunchy with a hint of a stout after taste.  Oddly Delish!!  Hit the Recipe button and BAKE!!

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie [Recipe]

I realize that this isn’t a cupcake, but this isn’t really a cookie either.  This thing deserves its own dessert name.

REWIND: My daughter was having a bake sale, an event where I am hands down usually the star of the show.  My little table is always swarmed; my little tin box of money is usually overflowing with bills.  I can’t keep the cupcake platter stocked.  I’m in my element!  I’ m in my world baby!!  UNTIL TODAY…….

What’s going on over there?  There is a table across the room that is getting all the attention.  From my seat, I can see that they are not even selling cupcakes.  Who’s trying to outdo me?

Irritated, I get up and March across the room to see what’s going on.  Low and behold, it appears to be a thick-ass chocolate chip cookie.  So what!  What’s the big deal here?  Mrs. Lucy who is manning the table, tells me to try one.  Frustrated by all the hub-bub over what appears to be just a chocolate chip cookie, I grab one and shove it in my mouth.

OH MY!  OH MY WORD.  There is a freakin’ OREO inside this cookie!!!  I was going to divorce my husband and leave my kids and runaway with the cookie platter.  Not giving Mrs. Lucy the satisfaction of knowing she had just given me my first “Big O”reo aka a Mouth-gasim, I had to find this recipe and create it for myself.  Of course as soon as I tracked down the recipe I had to share it with my fans.

Here a picture is worth a thousand words – could it really be that easy?  Yes.

That’s really the key to the cookie but for all the delicious details, hit the Recipe button below and you will get a play by play complete with pictures.  You can thank me later.

Caramel Candy Apple Cupcakes [Recipe]

Does anyone know what the number one problem with a caramel apple is?  They are just so dar-gone hard to eat.  I don’t know about you, but half the time I want to throw away that stick and just grab the apple and eat it!  I end up biting it at all weird angles, getting sticky knuckles and getting caramel all over my face….don’t ask.

I think I look like this

But I really look like this:

This recipe puts an end to all that madness.  My issue here was dealing with the caramel.

THE CARAMEL SAUCE!!

In the recipe there are two warnings about working with the caramel.

The first says not to heat it up too hot because then it would be really hard when it cools.  The second advice is to serve the cupcakes the same day that you bake them.

Well after making some super sticky, super hard caramel like mess, I decided to use my own recipe for caramel.  It’s called, Trader Joes Caramel Sauce!

This way if I want to wait a day, I can warm the cupcakes, warm the caramel sauce and Voila!  I’m not saying it tastes better then making the caramel yourself, I’m just saying it was a lot easier and tasted pretty dang good.  Click the Recipe button and get to baking!

Apple Pancake Cupcakes with Maple Bacon Frosting [Recipe]

This was a surprise hit of the weekend. These might look like ordinary cupcakes but they are cupcakes made from pancake mix!! Everybody was going crazy over these and wanted more.

Six was definitely not enough for my family.

FROSTING OR NO FROSTING

This is a win win depending on how much time and energy you have. I would say make the frosting and frost every other one. I had one hot with butter and syrup and then one with frosting and couldn’t tell you which one I liked more.

If you are like me, as soon as you eat the first one, your mind will start wondering if Bananas or blueberries would work. I think so. Why Not!

This goes on the list of little work and a lot of reward. Best of all these lil babies are ready in about 12 minutes. What are you waiting for – hit the button and bake!!

“2 Rise” Monkey Bread Cupcakes [Recipe]

These are essentially little Monkey Breads, but made and sized individually.

I call them “2 Rise” because this recipe involves yeast!  I hate yeast but as I mature into a sophisticated baker the use of yeast, flowering tips, and various other things I find a pain the rear become a necessity.

WARNING: This recipe is work. I didn’t know that before I started – Now I know! It involved me rolling and dipping about a million balls into a sugar and butter dip.  This is not a recipe that you will bang out quickly.  In fact, if you have kids, this is something that they can help with.  They can be your rollers and dippers.  After you fill the cupcake liners up, you have to cover them and let them rise, then you have to bake them and let them rise again.  Hence – 2 Rise.

Recruit a little one hit the recipe button (below) and Get to Work!

Cheesy Jalapeno Cornbread Muffins [Recipe]

You know I always say that the muffin is the cousin to the cupcake right?  So how about a spicy cousin?

I promise you that these bad-boys are every bit as tasty as they look.  The mixture of Parmesan and cheddar cheese in the cornbread is good enough, but the little punch that the jalepeno packs puts this recipe over the top.

Here are my watch outs for this one:

1. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.  If you don’t like “spicy” then half a jalepeno will serve you just fine.  Less pepper more cheese is the way to go on this recipe.
2. Do not be afraid to experiment with various cheese combinations.  I tried cheddar and monetary jack, and cheddar and mozzarella.  I can’t decide which was better.
3. If you have your own cornbread recipe, don’t be afraid to try that either.  My own recipe is a little sweeter and that is just what this recipe needs…just a little touch of sweetness.  Imagine the cornbread from KFC.  Yeahh, now we’re talking.

Don’t just sit there, hit that recipe button and BAKE!!