Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies

I love baking. Baking is one of my absolute FAVORITE things to do. Ever. I love learning new recipes and using my family and friends as guinea pigs for perfecting them. One of the recipes I have recently tried and perfected (in my own and in my guinea pigs' opinions) is my Strawberry Cheesecake Cookie recipe. Since they are such a hit (and since everyone is asking for it), I figured I would share! :D

Strawberry (or Whatever) Cheesecake Cookies
Warning: These cookies make your house smell like magic. This is your only warning. :)

Ingredients

- 2 packages of Martha White muffin mix (you can honestly use any flavor. They all work. I just chose Strawberry for these cookies. :) I have also used Blueberry and plan on using Mixed berry and Apple cinnamon in the future!)
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 4oz cream cheese
- 1 stick butter
- 1/2 brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips (Or more. I usually just chunk a whole small bag of chips in my cookies. ;) )

Directions

1) Cream together butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar. :)

2) Add each egg, one at a time, until well blended.

 I love watching the yolk get obliterated by the mixer. >:3

3) Add in muffin mix and flour. Mix well. :)

4) Fold in white chocolate chips with a spoon or spatula, and place in fridge for at least an hour or freezer for 30 mins. (This dough bakes best when cold. :) )

 Haha. My preggo belly is too big to keep out of pictures. xD

5) Place on greased baking sheet and bake on 325. Bake for about 13-15 mins or until they start to brown. FUN TIP: I like my cookies to be round. I think they are prettier that way. In order to do this, I lightly coat my hands with flour, roll the dough into a ball, and smoosh it on the pan some. :) It makes me happy.

6) Let them cool. and EAT ALL OF THEM!! 8D

Doesn't that look amazing? :3

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Homemade Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Ok.. ok... Today is totally NOT Tuesday. :/ But I have a reason for my tardiness! :D Mostly I forgot to take tutorial pictures when I made these the first time... BUT! I remade them JUST FOR YOU (and also my husband who was very upset that he couldn't eat any of the first batch because they were special)! :D

Here's the scoop: July 2nd is/was one of my bestest friend's birthday! Since Aimee ADORES her doggie daugther, Kiki the Corgi, (and because she requested) I decided to make her some special Corgi Cupcakes! :D One of her favorite noms is anything with peanut butter, so when I found this recipe over at The Pioneer Woman's Blog, I knew she had to have THOSE cupcakes. I also knew she needed to have my chocolate buttercream icing (slightly modified from Lauren's Latest) to go on top because who doesn't like to imagine eating Reeses cake for their birthday, right? So for Tutorial Tuesday (Wednesday?), I will share BOTH recipes with you guys and the modifications I made! :D

BUT FIRST! Corgi Cupcake Pictures!! :D

 Aren't they freaking adorable?!?! 

The corgi candies are made from white candy melts and milk chocolate chips! 

A friend drew an outline of a corgi for me,

and I just filled it in! :D

The Pioneer Woman's Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Side Note: On The Pioneer Woman's Blog, she also explains how to use this recipe to make chocolate cake. O.O' I am so excited! :D

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 whole eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 sticks butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup boiling water

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. ;)

2) Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.

3) Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and baking soda in small bowl.

4) In medium saucepan (a.k.a. a pot), melt the butter on medium heat. Then stir in the peanut butter until it's smooth. While peanut butter mixture is still on heat, add the boiling water, and let it bubble for like 10 seconds. Then remove the pot from the heat. :)

I like to boil my water in my kettle because it makes me feel fancy. :) 

The bubbles!! 8D 

5) First pour the peanut butter mixture onto the dry mixture. Combine until about half mixed. Then add the buttermilk mixture. Combine until it's smooth. THEN I learned to let the batter cool a bit before baking the cupcakes/cake. You can either let it cool in the bowl or in the pan the batter will be baked. Either way, letting it cool allows the batter to rise better while baking and makes for prettier cupcakes/cake. :)

6) Bake the cupcakes/cake for about 20 minutes or until they look like the most beautiful peanut butter cookies you have ever seen. :3 The toothpick test can also determine if the cupcakes are done. :D

Chocolate Buttercream Icing

Side Note: If you ever want to make plain Buttercream Icing, simply don't add the cocoa! 8D Isn't that neat!? Also if you want pure white icing, use clear vanilla or almond extract instead of the brown vanilla! :D You are welcome. ;)

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
5 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbsp milk (I don't even measure this. I just pour until it looks right. xD)

Directions:

1) Cream together butter and cocoa until smooth. :)

2) Mix in vanilla and powdered sugar. I usually let it do one cup at a time. As you mix in the powder, you can also mix in the milk. I usually just estimate the milk and pour until the icing looks right.

3) Put in gallon ziplock or icing bag, and pipe it onto your cupcakes! Or put the icing on however you want. :) I just like to find excuses to use my icing tips. ;)

Once I got finished making these, I realized I had some candy molds I had never used before! Since I had plenty of candy melts and chocolate chips from Aimee's batch of cupcakes, I decided to use those neglected molds! :D Check it out!

Used a mixture of candy melts and milk chocolate chips to fill in the hearts and mouths of the bears... :) 

...aaaand the centers of the daisies! :) 

Then I filled them all in with candy melt! :D 

 Once they were filled, I put them in the fridge for a few minutes to make sure the candy stuff hardened. :)

 My Rose candy. :)

 My Bear candy. :)

My Daisy candy! :D

 The finished products! :D

Mounds Cake

Here is my first Tutorial Tuesday!! I hope you guys like getting recipes and tutorials every Tuesday! :D

My mom's 60th birthday was on June 26th! We had an awesome time with family and friends that day! All mom wanted was a special menu of food (though we did buy her the Scrabble board game too because that lady could play Scrabble until her eyes bled!) :3 So we had hot dogs with chili and cheese, Peach Mango Lemonade, and Mounds Cake! The cake was an immediate hit! I even got a request to make one for a bake sale! :D Here is the recipe for the Mounds Cake!

Mounds Cake

Ingredients:

1 box chocolate cake mix (I prefer Betty Crocker's Chocolate Fudge. :) )
Eggs, oil, and water necessary for your specific cake mix
2 cups sugar (divided)
24 large marshmallows
1 1/2 cups Milk (divided)
14 oz. package of coconut flakes (optional since not everyone likes coconut. ;) )
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups of milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Gather ingredients! Here are some of them. :3 I forgot to take a picture of the others.

2) Bake cake mix according to instructions on the box. ;)

3) Combine 1 cup sugar, marshmallows, and 1 cup milk in saucepan. Cook over low-med heat until marshmallows are melted. :) Add optional coconut flakes! Then poor mixture on top of cake. :D (Warning: This may be more topping that you really need for the cake, but it goes great with ice cream so just save it! :D)

Be sure to eat the extra marshmallows. :) This is very important.

This looks so yummy. <3

This looks so gross. D: LOL!

4) Combine butter, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup milk in saucepan. Cook on med heat until butter is all melted and mixture is warm. Add in chocolate chips, and stir until melted. Then pour it on top of the coconut mixture! (Warning: This may be more chocolate topping than you actually need for your cake. It also goes great with ice cream so save it! :D)

This looks yummy too. :O

Like I said... might be more than you need... xD Notice my chocolate stove?

5) While still warm, eat a piece of cake with some delicious ice cream. :D (This is the most important step. Just so you know. :) ) This cake is also amazing chilled in the fridge. :) I did NOT get a picture of this step because everyone ate the cake before I could!! D: I guess that's a good thing. ;)

Butterfinger Cake

A few weekends ago, I had a sleepover with 2 of my nephews and my husband! That weekend, we made the most amazing, fabulous, savory cake ever: A Butterfinger Cake. The best part is that it is SO EASY TO MAKE! So I'm going to share the recipe! :D

Butterfinger Cake

Ingredients:

1 box plain Jane chocolate cake mix (the more generic/basic the better)
Stuff to make the cake (eggs, oil, and water)
1 jar caramel topping
1 can condensed milk
1 tub whipped cream
1-5000 Butterfinger bars (depends on the amount you want on/in your cake)

Directions:

1) Gather ingredients! I got all of my stuff from Walmart. :) Obviously.

2) Bake the cake like you normally would.

3) Stab the cake to death with a fork. :) (This is especially therapeutic if you have had a bad day. :) )

4) Mix the caramel topping and condensed milk together and pour most of it on the cake. (I save some for decoration on the top later. :) ) This is also when you should crush up your Butterfinger bar/bars and crumble a ton of it on. If you want. :)

5) Cover the cake with Whipped Cream. :)

6) Sprinkle Butterfinger on top and drizzle with caramel stuff. :D Then put it in the fridge or freezer until cool! Then EAT IT!! :D

All of the boys felt that they needed to eat some of this cake ASAP. So I let them. :) They LOVED it! It was made on Saturday. Half was eaten by Sunday, and the rest was taken home with the boys! xD