Lemon Cupcakes

Tomorrow is the start of June so let's kick start the summer with some lemon cupcakes! These cupcakes are perfect for any weekend barbeque you are hosting or attending (be a nice guest and bring something delicious). 

For the full post and quick recipe, hop on over to Double Blessing Boutique where I am guest posting today!

Have a great weekend friends!

Reese's Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies {May Bakin' Friends}

I found a new way to share my baked goods (like these peanut butter marshmallow cookies) and make new friends. I joined a fun group called Bakin' Friends, created and hosted by Steph of Steph's Bite of Bite. This group brings together bakers, bloggers, foodies or just anyone who loves sweets. Each month, you get matched with a Bakin friend at the beginning of the month and you bake goodies with a secret ingredient and send out to one another by the 16th of the month. Then, on the last day of the month, you post about what you received. What a great idea right?

My Bakin Friend was Maya of Chumpkin Butter. We had a great time emailing back and forth getting to know each other and bonded over our love for spicy Thai food. This is definitely my favorite part of the group. Unfortunately, Maya has had the most incredibly busy month with finals and some silly post office mix ups which lead to delayed shipment and Maya was unable to send her goods to me before today. Poor girl has baked three times already (I am so sorry). I can't wait to receive them this weekend, and I'm sure they will be delicious :)

UPDATE!!

I received my package from Maya today after work! It made my day and put a smile on my face after this not-so good week. She made the most moist cookies I have EVER had in my life. They are almond butter marshmallow cookie-wiches (Grain-free). Yeah, that's right they are super healthy, crunchy and have coconut, cranberries and raisins in them. I am in love.  Thank you very much Maya. I am going to remake these so I can share with my husband...they might not have survived by the time he got home :0

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As an alternative, I'm sharing with you instead what I mailed out. I was matched with Christine of Christine's Kitchen. All I will say is, that girl is my twin from another mother living in California (move closer!!). I baked her these Reese's peanut butter marshmallow cookies since the secret ingredient of the month was marshmallow.

These cookies are moist and chewy with chunks of peanut butter bites. If you are a peanut butter fan, then you need to make these cookies because you will love them. They are delicious to say the least!! And I was very happy to hear that Christine enjoyed them as well.

Chocolate Espresso Macarons

I hope you guys had a wonderful memorial day weekend. Summer is officially here and it is time to fire up the grill, bake pies and eat frozen desserts. However, I'm starting my summer with some macarons! Chocolate espresso macarons.

I am in love with these tiny cookies and I can tell our relationship is just the beginning to a very long one (I am planning our wedding already :P). This is my second time making macarons since this first try here.  I think I love making them because you can see a progression since the last time. If you haven't tried these cookies yet, you really should because they are full of delicious crunchiness.

I was at Barnes & Nobles a few weeks ago picking up some summer reads when I found a book called "Macarons & More" on cleareance for $2.99 and you know I had to pick it up!! I adapted this recipe from their double dark chocolate macarons by adding a teaspoon of espresso powder to the cookie recipe for a little kick and filled the sandwiches with chocolate buttercream.  

There is a good dose of chocolate in these and after 24 hours refrigerated they are chewy, crunchy and soft on the inside. Very decadent!

The possibilities of flavors and colors are endless with macarons so expect to see some summer flavors soon!

Frozen Lime Margarita Pie {Pass the Cook Book Club}

Last month I joined a club called Pass the Cook Book Club, created and hosted by Kita of Pass the Sushi. Each month, she selects three recipes from a cook book that club members test out and we all reveal our recipes on the same day either by posting on our blogs or on the Facebook group page.

The cookbook for May was Slushed!: More Than 150 Frozen, Boozy Treats For the Coolest Happy Hour Ever by Jessie Cross of The Hungry Mouse. A perfect selection for the warming weather and I was immediately drawn to the Frozen Key Lime Margarita Pie and knew I had to try it. However, I couldn't find key limes at my grocery store....tiny suckers are hard to find on short notice so I had to use regular limes.

This pie is very easy to whip up and the hardest part was waiting for it to chill overnight. All you have to do is beat together the filling ingredients and add to the prepared graham cracker crust. Smooth the top and freeze overnight. The next evening, I set it out at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving it to some girlfriends who were over to watch the season finale of Grey's Anatomy (Yes, I am one of those people who have viewing parties, don't judge!).

The pie is very creamy, just like a cheesecake yet refreshing as a margarita. You could barely taste the hint of tequila so I'm sure you wouldn't miss it if you wanted to leave it out. It wasn't until the pie was almost gone that I realized I left out the whipped cream :o

On another note guys, I took these pictures with a big girl camera, the Canon Rebel T3, that my friend Amanda brought over for me to play with. Currently I use a two year old Sony Cyber Shot to take all the photos you see on the blog and I am hoping I can upgrade to a DSLR someday (hint hint Santa!). I've been thinking the Canon Rebel T3i would be a good first camera so it was great to play around a little bit with it. All I can say is WOW!! I want it! Of course the photos above don't represent what the camera can do since we were rushed/ had shaky hands/ poor lighting / yummy pie & Grey's anatomy finale awaited. Thanks Amanda for the test drive :)

Peanut Butter High Hat Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes this weekend for a small surprise graduation party we were hosting at our place. The graduate didn't want a party but her mother and I threw her a small get-together anyway to celebrate her Master's Degree!!

A little bit about the graduate. She is one of my best friends and is the kindest, most self-less person I have ever met. We met four years ago at graduate school orientation when she was drawn to my yellow dress and I to her infectious smile!  These days, we are together almost every day on a coffee or bubble tea date.  As her graduation neared, I worried about how empty my afternoons would feel without her around at school.  I was so relieved and happy when she landed a job in a lab right down the road! I'm beyond proud of her and know that she will be very successful in all her future endeavors.

The cupcakes are a fluffy vanilla yellow cupcake topped with a creamy peanut butter marshmallow frosting and coated with dark chocolate. Yummmmmyyyy!!!

Actually, they were her idea like six months ago. She bookmarked all the cupcakes she would like me to make in this cookbook (Betty Crocker The Big Book of Cupcakes) and these were at the top of her list. Since it was her day, she got them!!

And I think she loved them. Hats off Lovey!!

Congratulations to Chrissa, Laura and Nicole as well!! PhD recipients as of yesterday. So proud of all you :) And I promise you will all get your treats at your defense parties!

Now for the recipe:

Banana Coconut Macadamia Muffins

I'm not a big fan of breakfast. For a long time, I skipped it and went right to lunch...yeah those were my college days lol! But since I started baking, I am back on the breakfast bandwagon, thanks to the discovery of how easy muffins are to make.

These days I make muffins at least once every other week. They are just so easy to whip up and I always use random ingredients lying around the kitchen.

For these, I used two bananas that were going bad, left over coconut shavings from this project and some macadamia nuts from these cookies. 

Mash the bananas, whisk in egg, oil, vanilla bean and coconut. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, bake for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees and viola breakfast for an entire week!

They make for a great mid afternoon tea snack too :)

White Chocolate Rose Cupcakes

I bring you some white chocolate rose cupcakes today my friends. Are you familiar with rose water? It's OK if you are not, I wasn't aware of its existence until a couple of months ago when I stumbled onto these cupcakes and couldn't wait to experiment. I bought the extract a while ago and have been shying away from using it after I took a strong whiff that put me off.

As with most things, except chocolate, less is more with this flavor. Thanks to an inspiring Mother's Day week by Joy the Baker, I was excited to try my rose water. I started with a simple vanilla yellow cake, infused with rose water, and topped with a white chocolate swiss meringue buttercream with a dash of rose water as well!

The rose water gives these cupcakes more of a scent, than a flavor. A wonderful floral smell that just makes you very happy as you bite into the cake (well, it made me happy at least!). Oh did I mention there are white chocolate chunks in the cupcake? Yummm!

I used these floral cupcakes on Sunday to celebrate some of the wonderful mothers in my life. A small treat to show them how much I appreciate and love them!

Homemade Fried Donuts

Last weekend, we went over to my in-laws for a lesson on how-to make Grandma Storms' famous homemade donuts. I've heard of these donuts from my husband and he always said they were the best donuts he's ever had. So I was very excited to learn how to make them from my father-in-law (Thanks Wayne!). 

My father-in-law dug out the recipe from a pile of hand me down recipes he keeps. We went through the box and it felt like a treasure trove. So many baking recipes and I was able to copy some of them and will be sharing up on the blog soon. 

Grandma's donuts were very easy to make. We started by combining melted butter, sugar and eggs in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, we mixed together flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt. I heard nutmeg is the secret ingredient.

Next was adding in the sour milk to the wet ingredients, followed by the dry ingredients.  The hubby proceeded to mix until the dough was formed (I was busy writing down directions and taking pics :)).

Then it was time to roll out the dough.  We floured our surface and the rolling pin and again the hubby was so generous to do the dirty work (and the clean up lol!). 

We used a donut cutter to cut out the donuts and stacked them on wax paper.

Then it was time to fry! We broke out a 100-year old pot (Grandma's of course!), heated some vegetable oil and went to town deep frying the donuts until they were golden brown. 

And here they are all done. 

They turned out so good and there was no stopping myself from eating a few too many. I know, I know they are not good for you, but I just had to indulge.  Oh did I mention they tasted even better the next morning with a cup of tea? 

Since I haven't tested this recipe in my kitchen, I won't be sharing the recipe just yet. For now, this family secret recipe is going to remain a SECRET!
 
Have a good rest of the week and don't forget Mother's Day is this Sunday May 12th. Be thankful for the wonderful mothers in your life and appreciate their many sacrifices. Maybe make them a cupcake? Or a cake?

Vanilla Bean Cake with Raspberry Filling and Whipped Vanilla Bean Frosting {Octopus Birthday Cake}

Just a short post today guys, I have a sick husband on the couch to tend to. I wanted to share two wonderful recipes that go along with this cake. I made the cake for a birthday party I attended this weekend. As you can see, it was inspired by my friend's love for octopi (??).

I didn't want it to be extremely 'under the sea'-themed because she is really just into octopi, so I kept the decorations simple. A fondant cut out of the octopus and 'star' fishes and a few buttercream additions.

But the real star here is not the decorations but the cake itself. I made a vanilla bean cake with a fluffy whipped vanilla bean frosting, both recipes from Sweetapolita. I added a layer of raspberry compote inside the cake for a little extra flavor and it complemented the light and airy vanilla cake very nicely.

This is a recipe that will go down in my books for a great vanilla birthday cake and bakery-style frosting!

Here is the recipe:

Chewy Toffee Bars

Nostalgia hit last week and I found myself thinking about my childhood and missing home. It's been so long since I've been home and had food from my mom's kitchen. This led me to thinking about (and missing) my dad, who would always bring home toffee after work and it was just the best treat ever!

To be honest, I have never been a 'sweet' kind of girl. I don't know why because my little sister is a chocolate magnet and yet we grew up in the same house. But for some reason, toffee is different. It was my go-to candy growing up.

 
Toffee, most commonly called English toffee in the US, has just the perfect amount of sweetness without being overly sweet. I've not had one in a very very long time and I was prepared to fix that.

So when I saw these chewy toffee bars in this month's Food Network Magazine, I knew I had to make them. Finding the toffee was the most difficult part of the recipe; I spent hours looking down candy aisles at different grocery stores. In the end, I found chopped pieces at a local frozen yogurt dessert bar (totally not kidding).

The recipe is pretty straightforward and it took only 20 minutes to assemble the ingredients, mix and get them into the oven. The resulting brownie-like bar was chewy, crunchy, perfectly sweet, and brought back to so many happy memories!