Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes last week and they turned out really good.  The frosting makes these.  YUM.

Makes 12 cupcakes

 

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tsp grated lemon zest
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp lemon oil or lemon extract
1/4 cup raspberry puree (I didn't have any, so I used my raspberry freezer jam)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, and egg until smooth. Add yogurt, lemon zest and juice, and lemon extract, beating until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating just until smooth.
4. Scoop 1 tablespoon or so of batter into each prepared cupcake liner. Drop about a teaspoon of raspberry puree onto batter in each liner. Add another tablespoon or so of batter on top of raspberry puree, filling cupcake liners about 2/3 full. Top with additional teaspoon of raspberry puree, and swirl batter with a toothpick to make a decorative pattern in batter. Bake in preheated oven for 22 to 25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting.


Raspberry Lemonade Buttercream
Makes about 2 cups (16-20 cupcakes)

Ingredients:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tbsp raspberry puree (again with the freezer jam)
1 tbsp lemonade concentrate, thawed
½ tsp raspberry extract
Pinch of salt

 

Directions:
1. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together confectioners’ sugar, butter, raspberry puree, lemonade concentrate, raspberry extract, and salt until smooth.
2. Spread frosting over cooled cupcakes and set aside at room temperature until ready to serve or for up to 8 hours.

The frosting reminds me of the sweet tooth fairy cupcake... the cupcake is a little different though.  Still good, just not as dense of a cake.

Brownie Caramel Fudge Cheesecake

This is Steve's absolute favorite.  He swears you could order it at The Cheesecake Factory and be happy to pay for it.  So, I'll just take his word!  :)

Ingredients:

1 brownie box mix + the ingredients that it calls to make it (eggs, oil, water, etc)

1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
6 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup white sugar

3 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 eggs
1 cup chocolate fudge topping

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottom of a 10 inch springform pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix together brownie mix as directed on the back of the box. Spread into the greased pan. Bake for 25 minutes.
3. Melt the caramels with the evaporated milk over low heat in a heavy saucepan. Stir often, and heat until mixture has a smooth consistency. Reserve 1/3 cup of this caramel mixture, and pour the remainder over the warm, baked brownie crust.
4. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour cream cheese mixture over caramel mixture.
5. Place tin foil around the pan and put on a large cookie sheet.  Pour approx 1-2 cups water on the cookie sheet so it surrounds the cheesecake pan.  This will help prevent cracking and keep your cheesecake looking pretty across the top.  Bake cheesecake for 40-50 minutes until center jiggles but is still set when you touch it and the cheesecake is visibly browning on top. Chill in pan. When cake is thoroughly chilled (wait until chilled or you can cause a crack on the side of the cake!), loosen by running a knife around the edge, and then remove the rim of the pan. Heat reserved caramel mixture, and spoon over cheesecake. Drizzle with the chocolate fudge topping.

This cheesecake is really rich and can feed a lot of people!  Or, speaking from experience, it can feed you sitting in your fridge for DAYS.  ;)

ENJOY!

Ooey Gooey Butter Bars

My friend Cecilie brought these to a bbq a month ago!

I'm pretty sure my stomach and butt thank her for sharing this recipe!

The recipe is so easy and is delicious!

You use a box of yellow cake mix...need I say more?

We just made them today for the first day of school.

Proceed with caution: very addicting!

Mix together and press into a 9x13 pan:

1 yellow cake mix

1 egg

1/2 C butter

Next mix and then put over crust:

1 8 oz cream cheese

2 eggs

2-3 C powdered sugar

Bake at 325 for 45 minutes.

When cool, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

{They almost look like lemon bars}

Thanks for sharing Cecilie!

Schoolhouse Peanut Butter Fingers: makes 2 pans

This recipe is from a girl named Teresa Jordan. It's the recipe that the lunch ladies used to make for us when we went to elementary. Those were the good 'ol days. Anyway, if you grew up in Utah, you know what ones I am talking about. The only thing is, it makes 2 PANS! But they're really good and are perfect to take to any family party!

Schoolhouse Peanut Butter Fingers

2 ¼ c. margarine

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

2 ¼ c. sugar

2 ¼ cup peanut butter

2 ¼ c. brown sugar

4 ½ cups flour

¾ tsp. salt

4 ½ cups oatmeal (not instant)

2 ¼ tsp. baking soda

5 eggs

Cream together the margarine, sugars, eggs, vanilla & peanut butter. Add the dry ingredients and mix well. Batter will be thick. Divide the batter between two large silver cookie sheets. Spread and pat down. Bake at 325 degrees until the top gets slightly browned (usually takes between 15-25 min. depending on your oven). Only bake one pan at a time. Cool and Frost. Cut in bars. Make sure and frost with the Fudge Frosting below! YUMMY!

Peanut Butter Fingers

1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2/3 c. peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 c. flour
2 c. oats
1 (12 oz) bag of milk chocolate chips

Cream butter, sugars, peanut butter, eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients. Pat onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. Immediatley put chocolate chips on and let melt. Once melted, sread all over. Let stand and make icing.

2 c. powdered sugar
1 c. peanut butter
10-12 T. milk

Add all ingredients adding milk until consistency is right, spread on top of chocolate.

Lemonade Pie

This is a recipe that is so simple and good for a nice and light summer dessert.

Ingredients:
1 6oz. can frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1-2 drops yellow food coloring
1 8 oz. carton frozen whipped topping (thawed)
1 (9") graham cracker crust

Combine lemonade, sweetened condensed milk, and food coloring. Stir well. Fold in whipped topping. Pour into crust and freeze until firm, 4 hours or overnight. Garnish with lemon slices and whipped topping as desired. Serves 8.