Red Velvet Cupcakes

Red Velvet Cupcakes

CUPCAKES:
1/2 cup shortening
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 bottle (1 ounce) red food coloring
3 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups cake flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa (I used dark chocolate, if you use regular your red will be vibrant.)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:
1 8oz brick of cream cheese
1 stick of butter
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
4 to 6 cups powdered sugar



1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Cream together the shortening and sugar.

3. Add in eggs one at a time. Mix until light and fluffy.

4. Add in food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.

5. In a separate bowl, combine cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt.

6. Add the dry mixture, alternately with buttermilk.

7. Scoop into cupcake pan, lined with papers.

8. Bake for about 22 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, for frosting, cream together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.

10. Add in sugar, one cup at a time.

11. Beat until fluffy, and whipped.

12. Frost cupcakes.

Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Martha Again. She gets all the credit for these soft little morsels. It's amazing how a small change in a recipe can alter the outcome. A little more butter, and you have giant, flat, chewy cookies. A little more sugar, and you have a more crisp cookie. Follow this recipe, and you have a soft, cakey, cookie.

Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
14 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

3. Add in vanilla extract, and salt.

4. Mix in eggs one at a time, mixing until combined.

5. Stir in flour and baking soda.

6. Add in chocolate chips and continue mixing until combined.

7. Drop by 2 Tbsp size scoop onto cookie sheet.

8. Slightly flatten, and bake for about 11 minutes.

Orange Chocolate Chip Scones

Simple and Delicious had a section of one of their magazines a few years back that had tons of different variations of scones. This is a take on one of them. Scones are really easy to make, and with a very basic recipe, you can mix and match and change them into just about anything.

Orange Chocolate Chip Scones

SCONE:
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp orange zest
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 1 /4 cup heavy whipping cream

GLAZE:
1 cup powder sugar
2 Tbsp orange juice

1. In mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and sugar.

2. Add in the orange zest and chocolate chips.

3. Mix in the whipping cream until a soft dough forms.

4. Divide dough into two equal portions.

5. Shape each portion of dough into a ball, and flatten slightly to create a disk.

6. Score each disk into 8 wedges.

7. Bake at 350 for about 15 to 18 minutes.

8. Cool completely.

9. Once cooled, combine ingredients for glaze and brush or pour over the top of scones.

Cinnamon Scones

Ok, so a few years back Simple and Delicious came out with a general scone recipe, and you could add to it whatever you'd like to make different flavors. There was a Raisin Cinnamon version that caught my eye. . .minus the raisins. I like raisins, but not in baked goods. It just grosses me out. It's the idea of a chunky chewy thing in my food. So when I made these, I omitted the raisins. When Dave came home from work he grabbed one right away and gobbled it right up. Said it was "so good!" Then, he said, "The only thing that could make these better is raisins." Ugh. I guess next time we do half with, and half without.

Cinnamon Scones

SCONES:
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cup of heavy cream

TOPPING:
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

GLAZE:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp milk

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

2. Slowly mix in heavy cream to create a soft dough.

3. Divide dough in half, and roll each half into a ball.

4. On a lightly floured surface, flatten each dough ball into a disk.

5. Score each disk into eight wedges.

6. Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes at 350.

7. Cool completely.

8. Brush with melted butter

9. Mix together cinnamon and sugar for topping and sprinkle over scones.

10. Whisk together all the ingredients for the glaze.

11. Drizzle over the scones.

Lemon Orange Bundt Cake

It's Friday! It's the end of the week, we have a great weekend coming up, and I feel the urge to bake. So. . .Today I'm baking, and freezing. I like to bake in bulk, and fill up the freezer with goodies. Today Ava requested this cake, so that's the first thing on the agenda. I'm also baking some scones, and some cookies. That way I get all work done in a day, and have goodies to last weeks.

Lemon Orange Bundt Cake

LEMON ORANGE CAKE:
1 box of Lemon Supreme cake mix
1 3oz box of orange Jello
2/3 cup water
2/3 cup oil
4 eggs

ORANGE GLAZE:
2 cups powder sugar
3 to 4 Tbsp orange juice

1. Whisk together the cake mix and Jello

2. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, water, and oil.

3. Slowly mix together the wet ingredients with the dry.

4. Pour into a Bundt pan sprayed with nonstick baking spray.

5. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

6. Glaze with orange glaze.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

Good old Martha Stewart. She's about the crankiest person I've ever seen, but boy can that lady bake a mean cookie! I'm honestly not a huge fan of her as a person, but I LOVE a lot of her recipes. Came across this one and it looked and sounded so good. I was right, these are just like strawberry shortcake. Soft, sweet, cakey, and full of sweet red strawberries. Who would have thought to put fresh berries in a cookie?

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

STRAWBERRY MIXTURE:
12oz fresh strawberries, hulled, and diced
1 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp sugar

COOKIE DOUGH:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
9 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp butter
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

TOPPING:
Additional sugar

1. Mix together strawberries, lemon juice, and sugar. Set aside.

2. In another mixing bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

3. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until course crumbs form.

4. Slowly add in heavy cream and mix until thick dough begins to form.

5. Stir in strawberry mixture.

6. Scoop onto cookies sheet using a 2Tbsp cookie scoop.

7. Sprinkle generously with additional sugar.

8. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.

Springtime Jello Clouds

Spring is indeed in the air!!! The weather's getting warmer, the snows begun to rapidly melt, the ice in out back is officially beginning to turn back to water, and the bikes, scooters, and strollers have been making their way around the neighborhood again. This excites me!!! And my kids!!! We've already gone on several walks and bike rides, and cannot wait to enjoy this spring and summer.

This Jello is, well, Jello. Nothing too special except for the fact that it's pastel, creamy, and reminscent of spring. It's an easy Easter thing to make with/for the kids too. Add the Cool Whip to any color Jello and you have a creamy dreamy Light Colored treat.

So today, Ava didn't have school and we decided to make a fun and easy springtime treat.

Springtime Jello Clouds

1 large pkg. of blue Jello
2 cups boiling water
2 cups cold water
1 12oz container of Cool Whip
Fresh Whipped Cream

1. Stir together Jello and boiling water until Jello is disolved.

2. Stir in cold water.

3. Cool for about 1 hour or until slightly chilled.

4. Add Cool Whip to Jello and, using a hand held blender, blend together. This will make the Jello more of a frothy creamy treat than a Jello.

5. Pour into individual cups and refrigerate until set.

6. Top with whipped cream. ( I like to make it using heavy cream and a few Tbsp of powdered sugar. Add in a dash of vanilla and it's great.)