Cupcake Cones

Ingredients


1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix or your favorite recipe from scratch
24 flat bottomed ice cream cones
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or icing
1 ounce colored candy sprinkles
 
Directions


Prepare cake mix according to directions. Fill each cone about 3/4 full of batter, up to first ridge. Place cones in the cups of a cupcake pan or on cookie sheets.

Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 15 to 18 minutes.

Place 10 chocolate chips on top of each warm cone, and in a minute or two spread melted chocolate over top. Decorate with candies.

Fun, get creative recipe! Made a double batch using two different cake mixes and found that the mix calling for eggs, water and butter (not oil) baked better, yeiled a much better looking cone and had less overflow problems. Using 1.75 ounce cones, I got 25 cones from one box of cake mix. I filled them up to just shy of the top inside line, gently tapped the bottom of the cone to settle the mix and baked them in a cupcake pan with paper liners. The only time I had overflow was when the edge of the cone was broken. If one should overflow to the bottom, I found that if you take it out and replace the paper liner, it breaks the stream and stops. Just frost the drips, after all ice cream melts! Frosted with canned chocolate chip icing, the cones look really authentic! Tip for transporting: Use egg cartons. Cut off the top, then bottoms of each egg holder and you have a "collar" that holds the cones. Then I taped the egg carton collars into a box lid and it made for both easy transport and serving when sitting on a buffet table.

BLT Pizza

Yummy!

I stumbled across this and had to make it immediately.

Strawberry-Lime Cupcakes

Strawberry-Lime Cupcakes

Ingredients


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk

Icing:

1 1/3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 drop green food coloring
6 large ripe strawberries, hulled
Green sanding sugar
Fresh mint leaves or candied leaves

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line the muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.

In another medium bowl, beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until light and foamy, about 2 minutes. While beating, gradually pour in the butter and then the vanilla.

While mixing slowly, add half the dry ingredients, then add all the milk, and follow with the rest of the dry ingredients. Take care not to over mix the batter. Divide the batter evenly in the prepared tin.

Bake until a tester inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove. Cool on the rack completely.

For icing: Mix the confectioners' sugar and lime zest in a medium bowl. Add the lime juice and mix with an electric mixer to make a firm but pourable icing. (If needed, add up to 1 teaspoon more juice, but take care if the icing is too loose it doesn't set properly.) Add food color to make a pale pastel green icing.

To assemble: Remove cupcake from its liner. Cut and remove a strawberry (coned) shaped portion of cupcake from the top of each cupcake, leaving about 1/2 to 1-inch of cake in the bottom. Stuff each cake with a strawberry and cover with a little bit of cake. Spoon and spread icing over the top of the cupcakes. Sprinkle with green sanding sugar. Top with small mint leaves or candied leaves.

Cheesecake Cupcakes ~ Raspberry

Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes

Yield: 32 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the crust:

1½ cups graham cracker crumbs
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
3 tbsp. sugar

For the topping:

6 oz. fresh raspberries or other fresh berries
2 tbsp. sugar

For the filling:

2 lbs. cream cheese, at room temperature
1½ cups sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325˚ F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and sugar. Stir together with a fork until well blended and all the dry ingredients are moistened. Press 1 tablespoon of the mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner. (I like to use a small drinking glass to easily and evenly press the crumbs down. One of Andrew's sippy cups works wonderfully.) Bake until just set, 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack.

To make the raspberry puree, combine the raspberries and sugar in a blender or food processor. Process until smooth, then pour through a fine mesh sieve to remove the seeds.

To make the cheesecake, beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy. Blend in the sugar until smooth. Mix in the salt and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.

To assemble, spoon 3 tablespoons of the cheesecake batter over the crust in each cupcake liner. Dot a ½ teaspoon of the raspberry puree in a few dots over the cheesecake filling. Use a toothpick or a wooden skewer to lightly swirl and create a marbled effect.

Bake until the filling is set, rotating the pans halfway through baking, about 22 minutes. (They will look quite puffed initially but will return to normal quickly.) Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Transfer to the refrigerator and let chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Cinnamon Roll Clone Muffins

A scrumptious cinnamon roll shouldn't have to take hours of preparation and painful waiting for the dough to rise (no patience for sweets here) . . . It should be as easy as, well, making a muffin!

Cinnamon Roll Clone Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
3 to 3-1/2 cups flour

Filling

2 tbsp. butter, room temperature
2/3 cups brown sugar
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp. milk or cream


Directions

Preheat oven to 375° F

Measure the brown sugar, baking soda, salt, vanilla and egg into a mixing bowl. Add the buttermilk. Add the flour. Stir until thoroughly combined.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or two. Roll the dough into a 12-inch by 24-inch rectangle. Using a rubber spatula, spread with butter. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.

Roll the dough into a log and stretch slightly. Cut into two-inch pieces and put the pieces into greased muffin tins or muffin tins lined with cupcake papers.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes, and then remove from the muffin tins.

Drizzle with icing (if using) when cool. Makes 12 muffins.