Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes - and an Announcement!

Hey every one! Thanks for checking back in to read about how to make a light, summery, fresh cupcake. This is a lemon cupcake with strawberry icing and according to my coworkers, and my moms homeroom - they're delicious! Yes, I tasted them and I think they're fantastic but that is a biased opinion!

This recipe comes from Baked Perfection at http://www.bakedperfection.com/2012/03/lemon-cupcakes-with-strawberry-frosting.html - I added my favorite cupcake ingredient - Pudding!

You will need:

For the cupcakes:

3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 package of instant vanilla pudding
2 cups of sugar
1 stick of butter
3 eggs
4 teaspoons grated lemon zest (aka pain in the butt)
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sour cream

For the icing:
1 cup of butter softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup of strawberry jam (I added more here...)
pinch of salt
6 cups of powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoon of milk

To begin, set your oven to 350 degrees. Begin by mixing together your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and instant pudding mix.

In a separate bowl, cream together your butter and sugar. Whisk in eggs one at a time and add you vanilla  Add your grated lemon zest and your lemon juice. I also added a little bit of lemon extract, which i know is cheating, but grating lemon zest is a workout I wasn't entirely in the mood for.

Begin combining your dry ingredients into your wet, while also adding your sour cream. This is honestly the thickest cupcake batter I have ever dealt with, but dont be discouraged!

Drop your batter into lined cupcake pans and bake for about 20-25 minutes. Keep an eye that the tops do not get too browned! You want these to keep their lemony complexion.

Once baked to a point where a toothpick, inserted near the center, comes out clean, allow the cupcakes to cool completely.

Meanwhile - mix up your icing! Cream together your butter and vanilla extract. Add in your strawberry jam. Mix in your powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Make sure to stay low speed on the mixer or you will end up with a winter wonderland in your kitchen! Once all of your sugar is mixed in, add in 2-3 tablespoons of milk at a time to your desired consistency.

Pipe the icing on your cooled cupcakes and enjoy!!

 Check my Instragram at Jessicalynn23 to see a finished picture of the cupcakes! Follow me for plenty of food pictures! 

And now for my announcement.
I just want to let you guys know that will summer coming up, I think I will be taking a little break from my blog. I dont think I will be able to keep up with blogging every week and I don't want to leave you all hanging if I dont get around to it. I hope to still post when I am able to get in the kitchen or find a great summer recipe I want to share.

I want to thank everyone who has been reading my blog thus far and I hope that you continue to check in when I am able to post. This has been a great way to keep me cooking on the weekends and I truly enjoy writing for you all. I love cooking and I love sharing my experiences with you. I hope you found some great tips and recipes and I look forward to continuing to share with you! 

Until next time, I hope you all have a great summer and spend lots of time with loved ones in the sun! 

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits!

Welcome back and thanks for checking in!! Read on to learn how to make some easy, delicious bacon cheddar biscuits, because lets face it - every day is better when there is bacon!


Tools you will need:
Pan/griddle
Mixing bowls - small and large
Muffin pans
Measuring cups

Ingredients you will need:

1 package of bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
1 cup of milk
1 egg
1/4 cup of oil

 I just used the remnants of over 5 cheese bags we have in the fridge! We never finish them up!

 

 Begin by cooking up your bacon! Yes - the whole package! 

Leave out the really fatty bits. 

In a mixing bowl, mix up you flour, baking powder and sugar. 

Add in your crumbled bacon and cheese.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together your milk, egg and oil.

Add you wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Don't over mix! 

Divid you mixture into your muffin tray. I actually suggest that you do not use the paper cups, The cheese causes the mixture to stick to the paper. Just grease your pan really well.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 17 minutes! 

Butter up and enjoy!! 

I hope you all enjoyed this double shot Sunday! Next Sunday is Mother's Day so I am not sure I will be posting, but I'll let you know! Thanks again for reading! 

Magnolia Bakery - Copy Cat Banana Pudding Recipe! (feat. Brendan)

Happy Sunday everyone! As a way of making up for not blogging as much as I could - I am doing a double shot Sunday! My second post will be up later this afternoon featuring a very easy and seriously delicious bacon cheddar muffin recipe. But here, you will get to see the recipe for making the famous Magnolia Bakery banana pudding! Brendan and I had gone to NYC for our anniversary about a month ago and stopped into Magnolia's and got this pudding. He loved it so much I thought I could try to remake it! I have made this once before but it was years and years ago.

Here we go!

Tools you will need:

Mixing bowl
Large clear glass bowl (or a regular large bowl will work)
Electric hand mixer
Measuring cups

Ingredients you will need:
1 package of instant vanilla pudding
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups of iced cold water
3 cups of heavy cream
1 box of vanilla wafers - Nilla's only! Dont get cheap!
4 cups of sliced ripe bananas

In your mixing bowl, beat together your iced water and sweetened condensed milk until well combined. 

Add in your vanilla pudding and mix well. You will then need to put that in the refrigerator overnight or you can rush it by sticking it in the freezer until it sets up. Be careful not to let the pudding freeze! 

When your pudding is set, whip your 3 cups of heavy cream in a mixing bowl. 

 Carefully add you pudding into the whipped cream. Fold in gently until there are no more streaks of pudding. Be very easy here, you do not want to deflate the whipped cream! 

Next, slice up your bananas! Make sure to leave out any bruised areas.

Once you have your pudding all mixed in and bananas cut up line your large serving bowl (I did not have a glass one) with Nilla wafers.

Now, layer some sliced bananas on top of the wafers. 

 And then add a layer of pudding, carefully! You don't want to disrupt the layers underneath! 

 Next, a layer of wafers...

 ... and a layer of bananas...

And another layer of pudding, and another layer of wafers... (I think you get the point now)...

 And the last of the bananas and the last of the pudding!

 Garnish with some wafer crumbs and set in the fridge to set up! 

Spoon out and enjoy! Warning: This pudding is not good for you so make sure you enjoy it before you head back to the gym! 

Keep an eye out later today for the double shot blog about Bacon Cheddar Biscuits! 

A special thanks to Brendan for taking the pictures! 

Fake It 'til You Make It - Tazo Passion Tea Lemonade

Hey there! Things have been really busy lately with the Easter holiday, my amazing time last weekend in Hoboken and New York and all my time spent enjoying this weather! I got to try out my parents new grill tonight with some fresh veggie and steak kabobs along with some warm blueberry muffins (obviously not grilled). With all that I have not had a ton of time to bake and cook for the blog and I apologize and am looking forward to giving you guys some great ideas for using fresh ingredients and making sure you get everything you can out of this season!

One thing I love about warmer weather is enjoying iced beverages. I love Starbucks Tazo Passion Tea Lemonade and picked one up the other day to the tune of over $4!!! I remember I saw some posts about a copy cat recipe on Pinterest so I thought I would give it a try and review it for you all. The recipe I found called for using all 20 bags of Tazo Passion tea. I thought that was absurd so I cut that in half and I must say it turned out really great. If you love this Starbucks drink - but hate breaking the bank for it - I would recommend you give it a try this spring!

You will need:
10 Tazo Passion tea bags - sold at grocery stores or Starbucks locations for about $6 for 20 bags
Simply Lemonade
Splenda

1.) Bring a small pot of water to boil and brew your ten teabags, letting them steep for an hour over very very low heat
2.) Pour your tea into a pitcher and fill your pitcher with water
3.) Let chill in the refrigerator until cold
4.) In a large glass with ice, fill your cup with 1/3 lemonade, 2/3 tea and one packet of splenda
5.) Mix well and enjoy!!

Here are links to the original post I used as inspiration and a link to the Tazo tea available on Amazon for much cheaper than in the stores:

Amazon Tazo tea: http://www.amazon.com/Tazo-Passion-Filter-24-Count-Packages/dp/B004EDBL3Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1365990905&sr=8-1&keywords=tazo+passion+tea

Original Post: http://itsthelife.typepad.com/my_weblog/2012/04/passion-fruit-lemon-tea.html

Thank you all again for reading and checking in! I will be posting again later this week as Brendan (my boyfriend) makes a special guest appearance and we try to recreate Magnolia Bakery's famous Banana Pudding!

Go-to Chocolate Cupcake Recipe!

Thanks for checking in to learn about my go-to chocolate cupcake recipe. I found this recipe about two years ago through stumble upon and I thought it was strange, but I figured I would give it a try. What I love about this recipe is that its not too far of a stretch  in that, its not completely from scratch. You start with a boxed mix and with a little love and a few extra ingredients you can have the best cupcakes you've ever made!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 boxed Devil's Food cake mix
1 package of instant chocolate pudding
1 cup of sour cream
4 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

AND THAT'S IT! Please note that you only use the MIX from the box, do not prepare the cake according to the box and then add the extra ingredients.

For this particular occasion I wanted to spruce these babies up for Easter! So before baking, I stuck a mini frozen peanut butter egg (Reese's) in the raw batter and baked for 18-20 minutes at 350 degrees. I topped them with a very simple peanut butter buttercream frosting and another peanut butter egg!

For the frosting I whipped 1 and 1/2 sticks of softened salted butter with 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter. I added two cups of powdered cugar, slowly, and then finished it with a tablespoon of vanilla extract and a tablespoon of milk. I whipped all of those ingredients together until the frosting was light and fluffy and used a large star tip to pipe the frosting on.

You can fill the cupcakes with any candy - just freeze them first! I hope you try this one out and let me know how it goes for you! The sour cream and pudding mix may sound a little odd but, trust me, its worth it! Let me know how it goes and thanks again for reading!