These are the pretty flower cupcakes I told you about in an earlier post, Springtime and Easter Cupcake Cuteness. These were also made by my friend Continue reading
Here’s a roundup of 10 recipes that your Valentine–or Valentines–will love…some are healthy and some are not-so-healthy (but very yummy)!
If you’re wanting something sweet for your Valentine breakfast, try these Strawberry Yogurt Muffins–the strawberries on top look like hearts, so they’re perfect for Valentine’s Day!
Or if you’re wanting something healthy, try this Cranberry-Pecan Oatmeal, made with dried cranberries and chopped pecans. You can substitute dried cherries for the cranberries if you want.
Or make this Cranberry Almond Oatmeal Bake if you’re feeding a larger group.
You can also use your dried cranberries (or cherries) in these Cranberry Almond Breakfast Scones for a mid-morning or afternoon Valentine snack!
Since you may be eating lots of sweets on Valentine’s Day, you’ll want to include a healthy salad in your lunch or dinner menu–this Apple Pear Pecan Salad has dried cranberries in it too, but dried cherries would be yummy as well!
Savory Strawberry Salsa makes a great appetizer with tortilla chips, and it’s also really good served over grilled chicken!
Now you need some dessert ideas…Strawberry Cupcakes are just the thing!
But lots of people prefer something chocolate, and you can’t go wrong with these Chocolate Cupcakes with Fudgy Frosting!
If you want a healthier dessert, you could always make this Healthy Chocolate Shake…
But, hey, it’s Valentine’s Day–if you want to splurge, make these Dark Chocolate-Covered Cherry Swirl Brownies!
Hope you get a chance to try out some of these treats! Do you have a favorite Valentine recipe?
This is the time of year I start getting out my pumpkin recipes, like so many of you. But one thing I hadn’t tried making yet was pumpkin cupcakes. Since I’m a big cupcake fan, I thought it was about time to try this out! So I did some experimenting and was very happy with the results! The cupcakes puff up nicely with a rounded top and taste great with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting.
If you love pumpkin-flavored goodies, you’ll want to make these! This recipe gives you 22 yummy cupcakes. And you’ll have plenty of frosting if you like frosting your cupcakes generously like I do. If you just want to frost them lightly, you can halve the frosting recipe.
PUMPKIN CUPCAKES WITH CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING by NancyC
Makes 22 cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin pans (22 cups–you’ll have 2 less in one pan) with paper liners; set aside.
In medium bowl, blend the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In large bowl, blend canola oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Stir in the milk and pumpkin puree and blend well. Add the flour mixture into this pumpkin mixture and stir until blended. Pour batter into muffin cups, filling each cup about 2/3 full.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in pans for about 5 minutes, then remove to completely cool on a wire rack.
You can make the frosting while cupcakes are cooling…
CINNAMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
Makes enough to generously frost all your cupcakes! Halve the recipe if you want to frost your cupcakes more lightly.
Blend softened cream cheese and butter together until smooth. Add in vanilla and cinnamon, blending everything well. Gradually add confectioner’s sugar a cup at a time, blending mixture after each addition. Frost cupcakes when they have completely cooled. If you’re not serving these soon after frosting them, refrigerate until ready to serve (because of the cream cheese in the frosting).
Have you made any pumpkin recipes yet? What’s your favorite pumpkin treat?
Linked to Meal Plan Monday, Full Plate Thursday, Foodie Friday.
When I was asked if I’d like to review Hello Cupcake! by the publisher, I just couldn’t say no because I love cupcakes and cupcake cookbooks! Written by cookbook author and food stylist Leila Lindholm, the book is filled to the brim with sweetness and cuteness! The recipes are so yummy-sounding and the photos so delightful that I couldn’t wait to start baking! Some of the many cupcake recipes include Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes, Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes, Sticky Pecan Upside-Down Cupcakes, and Rocky Road Cupcakes. Not only that, there are also some great whoopie pie recipes sprinkled throughout the book, too…like Ginger Raspberry, Chocolate Mint, and Banoffee whoopie pies. I decided to combine two of Leila’s recipes…I made the Walnut Brownie Cupcakes, but instead of topping them with whipped cream and fresh raspberries (which would definitely be amazing), I decided to try her Nutella Frosting that she had as part of her Easter Cupcakes recipe.
The Walnut Brownie Cupcakes are rich and chocolatey, with chunks of dark chocolate, and the Nutella Frosting is pretty amazing too! The ingredient amounts in the recipe are written in ounces and grams, so I did have to make some conversions into cups and I’ve included my conversions below. The recipe also says it makes 12 cupcakes, but I ended up with 15, which was definitely a good thing, because these are so yummy! 🙂 I also filled my baking cups a little more than the recipe instructed, so my baking time was a little longer, and I’ve noted that below also.
Here’s the recipe…enjoy!
WALNUT BROWNIE CUPCAKES with NUTELLA FROSTING from Hello Cupcake!
Makes 12- 15 cupcakes
- 200 g (7 oz) walnuts, or 1 3/4 cup
- 175 g (6 oz) butter, or 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
- 150 g (5 oz) granulated sugar, or 3/4 cups
- 150 g (5 oz) light muscovado or brown sugar, or 3/4 cups, packed
- 150 g (5 oz) good-quality cocoa powder, or 3/4 cups (I used Hershey’s Natural Unsweetened Cocoa powder)
- 50 ml (1 3/4 fl oz) golden syrup (substitute honey or light corn syrup) or 3 1/2 Tablespoons
- a pinch of salt
- 3 eggs
- 150 g (5 oz) all-purpose flour, or 1 1/4 cups
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 200 g (3 1/2 oz) good-quality 70% dark chocolate (I used a 4 oz Ghirardelli bar of 60% dark chocolate)
Preheat oven to 175˚C or 345˚F.
Toast the whole walnuts in a hot and dry frying pan (I skipped this step).
Whip the butter, sugar, and brown (or muscovado) sugar until creamy. Add the cocoa, syrup, and salt. Whisk in one egg at a time.
Mix the flour with the baking powder and sift it into the other ingredients. Coarsely chop the chocolate and add it and the whole walnuts to the batter.
Line muffin tin(s) with paper cup liners and fill the cups 2/3 full with the mixture (I filled mine closer to 3/4 full, and I still ended up with 15 cupcakes instead of 12; if you fill them 2/3 full, you may get 16 or 17).
Bake them in the middle of the oven for about 15-20 minutes (if you fill your cups 3/4 full like I did, your baking time will be 25-28 minutes). Test cupcakes with a toothpick; they should be a little sticky in the middle. Remove from oven and cool completely.
You can either garnish these cupcakes with whipped cream and fresh raspberries or top them with Nutella Frosting (see recipe below)…
NUTELLA FROSTING
- 100 g (3 1/2 oz) Nutella, or 1/3 cup
- 400 g (14 oz) icing (confectioners’) sugar, or 3 1/2 cups
- 4 Tablespoons good-quality cocoa (I used Hershey’s Natural Unsweetened Cocoa powder)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 150 g (5 oz) cream cheese, softened
- 1 Tablespoon coffee
Mix the Nutella, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, and cream cheese until creamy (I think it works best to blend the Nutella and softened cream cheese first, then add the other ingredients). Add the coffee and whip until fluffy (this is a thick frosting; if you’d like it thinner you can add a little more coffee). I went a little lighter on the frosting and had a good amount left over, so feel free to frost these heavier–you should have plenty to do that!
I love chocolate cupcakes, and these brownie cupcakes are a new favorite of mine! What’s your favorite cupcake flavor?
Linked to Sweets for a Saturday.
Here are a few yummy desserts I found over at MarthaStewart.com. All of these great photos are from Martha’s site, too. Some of these don’t involve any baking, so even if it’s really hot out you can still make some yummy no-bake treats! The Red, White, and Blue Berry Trifle (shown above), is one of the no-bake desserts, and it’s so fun and festive, even without the sparklers! (The sparklers shown are special cake sparklers, recommended for outdoor use only!)
I love these Flag Cupcakes, decorated in a simple and easy way with piped blue buttercream dots and red licorice stripes!
These Pretzel Sparklers are a lot of fun, too! All you do is melt 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate, then coat the top third of each pretzel rod with the chocolate, using a pastry brush. Cover with sprinkles, stand upright in a glass and refrigerate about 5 minutes, or until firm. You could also use white chocolate instead of semisweet chocolate and add some edible glitter to make them more sparkly if you want.
Here’s another Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle…this one is made with cream cheese; the other trifle (the first photo in the post) is made with mascarpone cheese.
These Red, White, and Blue Parfaits look cool and refreshing with their red and white striped layers!
I like the idea of using raspberries and blueberries to decorate these Fouth of July Cupcakes…such a simple and easy idea, and so pretty!
These are just a few of many ideas at MarthaStewart.com…there are 30 fun and patriotic ideas for you to take a look at!
Wishing you a sweet Fourth of July! What kinds of treats will you be making for your celebration?
