4th of July

Good evening all! I hope that everyone is having a fantabulous summer. . . I am still looking forward to hearing all the things you have been working on.

First of all, thanks to my amazing husband for uploading the pictures while I spent some time in my Bible Study. . . something else that I really slacked on during the season of incredible nauseousness.

So, here I am. . . blogging. Yeah, I can't begin to describe how thrilled I am to back in blogland. So thrilled! Stoked. . . overjoyed. . . okay, well you get the point. So my first blog of my return (besides yesterday's announcement of baby #2) is going to pick up where I left off.

4th of July! Happy Independence Day everyone!!!! (a little late, but all the merry!)

Every year, my husband's family gathers for a nice 4th of July celebration/barbecue. The past 2 years, we have not been able to make it due to traveling, so we really wanted to make it. Plus, I was only slightly nauseous at this point, since we found out only a few days before.

I saw cupcakes similar to these on Skip To my Lou several months ago and knew that I wanted to make something similar. . . I just didn't think it would be that hard (honestly . . . these are the easiest cupcakes to make. . . seriously!). The hard part was finding patriotic sprinkles in our lovely metropolis a week before the holiday! Also, our oven was still sitting on my living room floor when I started these.

Okay, so first things first. . .

Ingredients - White Cake Mix (I make the egg white version on the back of the box)

Coloring - I used Wilton frosting colors of red and blue

Buttercream frosting. . . I found a yummy one, but don't have any clue where I got it from.

Now for the directions:

1. Make cake mix

2. Divide into 3 bowls.

3. Color one red, one blue, and leave one white

4. Spoon your batter in the order you want them layered

5. Bake according to directions

6. Let cool

7. Frost with your favorite frosting.

I had a hard time finding patriotic sprinkles so, I made pinwheels out of some scraps of 4th of July cardstock and some red sanding sugar.
I also made red stars out of a candy mold and red melting candy from JoAnns (gotta love coupons. . . made it super cheap!)
This is what they all looked like. I think that they went over well. The kids all loved them! Jon's work ate the rest the next day.

I must note that I made the batter at home, and ran over to my friend Steph's house to bake them in her oven (she was at the beach and so graciously allowed me to break in with her house key). She was a lifesaver! (THANKS SO MUCH, STEPH!!!!). My oven was being installed that day by my amazing dad and husband! We gave up on the insurance people.

Happy Baking!

a love for candy

Hello All! I spent today shopping with my grandma, sister, and nephew, who are visiting from Wyoming. I am exhausted, to say the least. My grandma stayed the night last night as our first official house guest. It was so nice to sit and chat with her. She brought a bunch of pictures (OLD ones, too!) of her side of the family and recipes for the cookbook I am trying to put together before the 4th of July. I am really excited to have all these family recipes in one spot. . . like my grandma's sweet pickles and chili sauce recipes. . . I can't tell you how long I have craved these! Maybe this summer, I will get up the nerve to try them out and can some. . . hmmm. . . the wheels are turning.

My oven is still out of order, but I haven't had time to bake lately so I am not noticing it. I made some no-bake cookies yesterday for Jon's lunch and they are delicious! I will post the recipe soon! And hopefully things are slowing down (I can only pray!) so I can get my valance sewn for my kitchen window and some baby stuff for a dear baby boy that will be born in June.

Before my oven broke, I did make these:

Back in January, the Food Network Magazine showcased a selection of cupcakes that are to "satisfy your cravings" for candy bars. They all looked delicious and I had to pick one kind for a play date snack. I picked the Snicker's copy-cat since it is one of Jon's favorite candy bars.

They turned out really good and really tasty. . . but I think they were missing one vital ingredient . . . caramel! I didn't really think about this until after I had made them and eaten one. They were still amazingly good and quite similar tasting to the original bar.

Peanut Cupcakes with Nougat-Chocolate Frosting

Cupcakes:

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

10 tbs unsalted butter, melted

1 tbs vanilla

3/4 cup whole milk

2 cups chopped salted roasted peanuts, plus more for garnish

Nougat Frosting:

2 (13-oz.) jars marshmallow cream

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

pinch of salt

Chocolate Frosting:

6 oz. milk chocolate, chopped

4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1/4 cup whole milk

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 tbs vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Make the cupcakes by mixing ingredients together using your stand mixer or hand mixer. Don't over mix the batter. Line muffin tins with paper liners, filling liners about half way with batter. Bake at 350 for 20-22 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool completely.

Make the nougat frosting by beating the marshmallow cream , peanut butter, and salt with a mixer until smooth (I recommend a stand mixer for this as my hand mixer got really hot and almost overheated). Set aside.

Make the chocolate frosting by melting chocolates slowly and then adding remaining ingredients and mixing until smooth and creamy.

Spread the nougat frosting over each cupcake then top with chocolate frosting. Make sure to leave just enough of nougat exposed. Garnish with peanuts.

Enjoy and happy baking!!!