Boston Cream Cupcakes

We had friends over on Saturday for dinner and games, so obviously I had to make something cute and delicious! I went with a Boston cream pie recipe from my Hershey book and transformed them into cupcakes. Then I topped them with these little jack-o-lanterns that I made from orange melting chocolate. They were really yummy!

I also made bark one night, just for kicks, with the orange melting chocolate. I added a crumbled Crunch bar for a little 'crunch', which I really loved!

Boston Cream Pie

1/3 C shortening
1 C sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C milk
Rich Filling
Dark Cocoa Glaze

1. Heat over to 350. Grease and flour 9 inch baking pan.
2. Beat shortening, sugar, and and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture alternately with milk to shortening mixture. Beat well and pour into pan.
3. Bake 30-35 minutes. Cool completely.
4. Prepare Rich Filling and cool in fridge. Cut cake in half horizontally. Spread filling onto bottom half, then put the top half back on. Prepare Dark Cocoa Glaze and spread over cake, allowing glaze to run down sides. Refrigerate until cool, several hours.

Rich Filling
1/3 C sugar
2 T cornstarch
1 1/2 C milk
2 beaten egg yolks
1 T butter
1 tsp vanilla

Stir together sugar and cornstarch in medium saucepan. Slowly add milk and egg yolks until blended. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until it boils. Boil for 1 minute while still stirring. Remove from heat and add butter and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate several hours until cold.

Dark Cocoa Glaze
3 T water
2 T butter
3 T cocoa
1 C powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat water and butter in small saucepan over medium heat until it boils. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa. Slowly add powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat with whisk until smooth. Cool slightly before using.

Mummified

We have been "BOOed" several times recently where people anonymously leave us goodies and a ghost and we're supposed to spread the "Halloween Spirit". So the other day I made some seriously perfect sugar cookies (no really, they turned out awesome!) and mummified them. I just used some canned frosting, which made it an incredibly simple project and still really tasty. And M&Ms made great eyes! We picked a few neighbors and secretly left them on their doorsteps, knocked and ran! I hope they liked my little mummies!

Smoothies

I've been on a smoothie kick recently. It is fun because there are so many different kinds to make and I feel like it is a great afternoon pick up, that leaves me full. And I love how nutritious they can be with all that fruit and milk and yogurt! Besides, I'm trying really hard to cut back on the full-on baking these days. Two and a half people only need to eat so much flour and sugar before their waistlines start to notice! Don't be fooled though, I will still be making Halloween treats this weekend!

Anyway, so I figured I would snap a picture of the smoothie I made last night. Fresh pineapple, frozen strawberries, yogurt and milk. I also had maraschino cherries on top, but they sunk to the bottom before the picture was taken!
Actually, my most favorite smoothie I've made recently is now my arch enemy because I can't seem to get enough of it...Peanut butter banana! The only thing that stops me is that we don't always have bananas around. But It is 1/2 a frozen banana, 1 T peanut butter (sometimes 2T if I feel crazy), plus 1 C milk and you've got heaven!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

This weekend I made Peanut Butter Cup cookies. Yum! My sister, Cherie, shared this recipe with me a while back and I just got around to making them. Somehow my list of things I want to bake and eat just keeps growing longer and longer! I made these to share with Travis' class, since they have been working hard to earn a treat. I hope the kids like them, even though they didn't turn out especially pretty. I never have seemed to master the art of pretty cookies!


Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C softened butter
3/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 12 oz bag of mini peanut butter cups, chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Grease cookie sheets. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt, set aside. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Slowly add the flour mixture. Fold in peanut butter cups. Drop on cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes-until light brown on edges.

Cinnamon Rolls

I just wanted to share this picture of the terribly delicious cinnamon rolls I made this weekend. Cream cheese frosting made them especially sinful and we gobbled them up in less than 24 hours! I decided cinnamon rolls should be our new general conference tradition.