Happy Halloween Earthlings!!

Haaaappy Halloween! Hopefully all of you celebrated eating tons of candy and doing something a LITTLE spooky! My wonderful hubby decided in spirit of the holiday we MUST see the new scary movie called Paranormal Activity! UMM lets just say lights on when going to bed for AT least a YEAR! haah Anyways we had tons of fun! I made cupcakes, with the help of a lovely friend, for a Halloween party we went to. Check them out!

Aren't these SO COOL!

Okay so this was pretty easy, but definitely do-able! You start with a cupcake, half a marshmallow, and a donut hole. Layer together with lime green frosting.

Then cover the whole cupcake with frosting and freeze in freezer for about 30 minutes.

After freezing, take a tub of melted frosting and dip the top of the cupcake in frosting. Place to chocolate covered sun flower seeds for eyes and 2 licorice peels for antenna's. Let sit in fridge for just a little. I also purchased these cute cups to put them in =] I got my idea from a pretty awesome book called Hello! Cupcake..

And here we are stylish and sexy for halloween! I was a flapper chick and my hubby was a 70's dude lol. I love his wig =]

Hope everyone had a safe and fun halloween!

BoW cHiKa PupPy ChOw

Happy Halloween Eve! I hope everybody has their costumes together. My hubby and I basically did our planning tonight...I guess you could say we are procrastinators. Well, I have done a few things and I haven't been able to put them up since my camera cord broke!! OH my gosh it was SO annoying! ... Anyways, long story short, I purchased a new one and everything is OKAY lol!

(p.s. my lovely hubby is currently watching a scary movie, so I am blogging as an excuse to get out of it. You see I LIKE being able to fall asleep at night haha)

Okay so I am sure many of you have experienced the child hood joys of eating **PuPpY cHoW** It is truly a favorite recipe.

Well I decided to make it a little seasonal and spice it up. Instead of the chocolatey-peanut butter flavor (which is still a fav) I switched it out for melted white chocolate and melted butterscotch. I also threw in some pretzels =]

All you do is follow the original recipe HERE, but instead take out the chocolate and peanut butter, and switch it for 3/4 cup melted white chocolate, & 3/4 cup melted butterscotch. MMMMmmm

Besides baking I decided to get SUPER crafty and make these adorable blocks for thanksgiving.

I got the idea from a cute little blog...click HERE for tutorial.

I also had left over crafts and made a frame =] Trust me I am NEVER this crafty!

Stay tuned for cute little cupcakes that I am making for a halloween party, as well as my husband and I's fantabulous constumes!! Happy Halloween! Eat tons of candy =]

Halloween Mint Brownies

I LOVE brownies...right out of the oven!! Anybody else agree. Ok so i usually do these brownies during christmas time because mint is more that time of year, but I saw a certain candy at the store, and couldn't wait to share! I am sure many of you have had a York Peppermint Patty before, well in spirit of Halloween, they have colored the middle orange =] So Cute! Well then I added them to brownies to make it even more BOMB! Here is how they turned out!

MOIST and MINTY =]

I added chocolate mint chocolate ganache to make it even more rich!

Ok so this recipe isn't hard at all. All you need is your favorite brownie recipe, whether it is a box or a homemade one. Then you need to buy a bag of mini peppermint patties and chop them up and throw them in your brownie mix. I like to shake the patties in flour so they don't sink to the bottom. You can ALSO pour half of the batter into the baking pan, and then place un-chopped patties on top of the batter, then top with the other half of the batter. This will give you a thick minty center! That is my favorite way to do it! Then Bake for the alloted time and remove from oven and COOL! (Only if you can wait) Add some ice cream to go along..oh HEAVENLY.

You can even drizzle mint chocolate ganache on top. Here is the recipe:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. Mint flavoring

Directions:

1. Melt chocolate and cream in double broiler over heat. Constantly stir until melted.

2. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in mint flavoring

4. Pour over brownies and ice cream

Ok Ok ill stop talking....ENJOY!!

1st Year Wedding Anniversary =]

Oh LOVE is in the AIR!! This past weekend my studly hubby and I celebrated our ONE year anniversary! We had a great time spending time together. He was so sweet and romantic to me, and I am the luckiest girl in the world. Some may say we are still in the honeymoon stage, well if that maybe true, we are enjoying EVERY bit of it! Well of coarse I wanted to bake my husbands favorite treat for him, and you know what he said...FUNFETTI!! Haha I love him! But wait here is more...my adorable husband wanted a JIMMY DEAN breakfast with syrup =] It took me 1 1/2 minutes! He is so funny, but whatever makes me man happy!

Here is our delicious dinner which i slaved all day to make =]

And here is the funfetti cake. I just HAD to put a little twist on it and make it HOT pink =] He loved it!

Happy Anniverary Baby! You are one handsome stud and I am so happy to have you in my life!

Decorating

Ok so I am FOR SURE not the greatest decorator, BUT i enjoy doing it, and it's super fun! I am sure many of you out there could do ALOT better than I could, so do not be afraid to try any of these. Here is just a few decorating things I have done in time...

Cookie Dough Truffles

Now trust me when I say this, this next treat is DELICIOUS and definitely addicting! If you are one of those people who find them selves eating the cookie dough before it gets to the oven, well then this will truly be a favorite of yours! Now these taste like your eating cookie dough, but not to worry, there isn't any raw egg, or anything like that! =]

You can coat the truffles in chocolate

And then drizzle them in white chocolate =]

YUMMMM!!

LOOK! You can even make them for halloween!

This recipe is from one of my favorite ladies! Mrs. Paula Deen! I love everything about here. Click HERE for the recipe! Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes..SAY WHA!

Well let me just say I was in ONE bakin' mood the other day! I think I went into a sugar coma with all my tasting! Since then I have fully recovered and have come here to share some goodness =]

So tis' the season for fall because I have another fall lovin' recipe... Caramel Apple Cupcakes. They are so moist and really easy to make. Only a few ingredients, & nothing special you couldn't find around this time of year. I even added cute sticks to make them look authentic =]

You can even add your favorite topping as you would a regular caramel apple.

Have fun and get CREATIVE! Enjoy!

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 Box Duncan Heins Spice Cake Mix

1 1/3 Cups water

1/2 vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/2 Pkg. of Vanila Pudding (3.4 ounce pkg.)

1 Can Caramel Apple Pie filling (any brand will do)

Caramels to melt, or caramel ice cream topper, or caramel frosting.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix all ingredients together besides pie filling. Stir in pie filling.
3. Place in cup cake containers and bake for 18-20 minutes.
4. When cupcakes are done and cooled drizzle with melted caramel. Or Martha stewart has a caramel frosting recipe. Click HERE for recipe

Chocolate Caramel Pumpkin Spice Cookies =]

I just LOOOVE fall, and all the flavors that go along with it. MMMmmmm =] Okay so with seasons come really cool variations on candy. For example, I found a Pumpkin Spice favored Hershey's Kisses. OH baby! They are mighty tasty =]

Chocolate Caramel Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks softened unsalted butter

1 Cup brown sugar

1/2 Cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 Cups Flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Cup chocolate chips

1 Cup Chopped Pumpkin Spice Kisses

15 mini caramels OR sqeezable caramel topping (for ice cream)

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and combine, then add vanilla.
2. Add flour, baking soda, and salt to wet mixture and combine. Fold in chocolate chips and kisses.
3. Scoop onto baking sheet and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes.
4. If using pre packaged caramels, Melt caramel in saucepan over stove with about a teaspoon of water. Continually stir until melted. Drizzle over baked cookies. If using caramel ice cream topping, just drizzle over cooked cookies.
5. Cookies can get really sticky, so do not stack on top of each other, because they will get stuck :)
6. If eating the next day or two, it taste best if you heat up the cookie in the microwave for a few seconds to warm up the caramel!

Cupcakes 3 ways

For those that know me, they know I love to make cupcakes. So many different varieties, flavors, decorations, and what not...they are just GREAT! Ok so below are the different cupcakes I made: Ready to start drooling?

**Chocolate chip ganache filled cupcake with butter cream**

**Cookie dough filled cupcakes with cream cheese frosting**

**Cookie Cupcakes with chocolate ganache**

Okay so these cupcakes are super easy!! You can either use store bought mixes OR can make homemade cupcakes. Either way you do this it will be AWWWWSOME! I used my chocolate cake recipe that I always use, homemade ganache, and a store bought cookie mix. Okay less chit chatin' it's recipe time!

Cupcake #1(Chocolate cupcake, ganache filled, vanilla butter cream frosting)

Chocolate Cupcake

Ingredients: Directions:

1 box devils food cake mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk

1 small pkg. chocolate pudding

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Beat all ingredients together and place in cupcake tray. Bake for 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes. (Give or take)

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

8 oz chopped semi sweet chocolate

1 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Melt ingredients in a double broiler on stove. (Fill a pot with water and place a heat proof bowl on top filled with ingredients)

2. Constantly stir until ingredients are melted and have thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.

Vanilla Buttercream

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 sticks softened butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1-3 TB. Milk

Directions:

Beat all ingredients together until frosting consistency.

Assembly:

I used a wilton tip and placed the ganache in a frosting bag and piped the ganache into the cupcake. Then i toped with buttercream.

Cupcake #2

Using the same chocolate cupcake recipe place only a small amount of batter in cupcake holder. On top place a tiny rolled ball of cookie dough on top. I used a pre packaged betty crocker mix. Top with a little more cupcake batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Same as vanilla butter cream except replace 1 stick of butter for 8oz. cream cheese.

Cupcake #3

With the left over batter from the chocolate chip cookie mix, place dough in cupcake pan. Bake until golden brown 10-12 minutes. Cupcakes will fall in center a little when taken out of oven. That is good because its where the ganache goes :)

Assembly:

Use the same piping method with cupcake #1 and sqeeze a little ganache into center of cupcake and drizzle remaining ganache in center of cake.

Now stop droolin' and go satisfy those cravings :)...I think I am going back for 2nd's!

Reeses of Pieces of Reeses Oh MY!

This is the MoThErLoAd of cakes! It is sinfully delicious, rich, chocolatey, peanut buttery, and did I mention GOOD! I have seen this cake on a few different blogs, but of coarse I added my own twist to make it my own! Enjoy!

Reeses Mother Load Cake

Ingredients:

1 box devils food cake mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup milk

1 box (3.4 ounce) chocolate pudding

4 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup chopped Reese's Pieces

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients(except chocolate chips and candy pieces) into mixing bowl, and beat until combines. Careful not to over mix.

2. Stir in chocolate chips and and chopped Reeses Pieces.

3. Grease 2 desired sized pans and divide batter into each.

4. Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees. (Or until center comes out clean)

Reeses Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

4 cups Powdered Sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 sticks unsalted butter (softened)

2 TB whipping cream/milk

1 tsp. vanilla

5-6 melted Reeses Pieces

Directions: (The idea with frosting is sometimes you have to play around with it to get the desired consistency you prefer. Adding more powdered sugar will make it thicker, and adding more milk will make it thinner. Adding more chocolate powder will give it a more rich flavor.)

1. Beat butter, cocoa powder, and powdered sugar until combined. (Will sort of look like crumbs)

2. Add melted candy, vanilla, and start with 1 TB of milk or whipping cream. Beat all ingredients, until desired consistency is reached.

Cake assembly:

**Will need about 2 cups chopped Reeses. Can add more/less depending on your mood =]**

1. Frost top of one cake and sprinkle chopped candy. Add next cake on frosting layer. Frost whole cake and stick chopped Reeses all over cake

2. Grab a glass of milk and ENJOY!!