Loaded Baked Potato Dip

ok ... i know this has nothing to do with sweets and sugar ... but i HAD to share this!!
i got this recipe out of a Kraft 4-in-1 Recipe Book and just by the picture ... i absolutely had to try it! lol.
i loooove baked potatoes!!! and this recipe was soooo super easy!!

look at all the melted cheeeese!!! omg! lol. and the bacon bits!

munched this deliciousness down with some Townhouse Crackers and it was aaammmmmmaaaaazzzziiinnnngg!! lol.

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

1/2 cup instant potato flakes
1/2 cup milk
1 cup sour cream
4 oz. (1/2 of 8 oz. package) cream cheese, softened
2 green onions, sliced, divided (i however, didn't add the onions. lol. bleh!)
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tbsp bacon bits
Crackers

1. Heat the oven to 350. mix potato flakes with milk in large bowl; let stand 5 minutes or until milk is absorbed. add sour cream, cream cheese and half of the onions (BLEH!!); mix well.
2. Spoon into baking dish or 9 inch pie plate; sprinkle with shredded cheese and bacon bits.
3. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and the dip is heated thru. sprinkle with remaining onions and serve with crackers.
4. Enjoy! i know i did!!

=)

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake! =)

i looooove cheesecake! especially Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cheesecake ... mmmmmmmm!!! lol
the one i decided to make today is just a regular Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.
went to work this morning for a couple hours and came home and cleaned up a little bit and my sister put it in my mind to make something "scrumdiddliumious" as she put it. lol. and that's how i got the cheesecake out of it. ha! i've only ever made one before this. and it was good. sooo i had my fingers crossed the whole time it was baking ...

Success!! look at all those chocolate chips!!!! =)

yuuum!

i think i did pretty good making this ... =)

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

2/3 cup (about 3 oz.) reduced-fat chocolate wafer cookie crumbs
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
3 packages (8 oz. each) nonfat cream cheese
1 can (14 oz.) nonfat sweetened condensed milk
3 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips

1. Combine crumbs and melted butter. Pat evenly over bottom and about 3/4 inch up the side of a removable-rim 8-inch cheesecake or cake pan (at least 1 3/4 in. deep).
2. In a food processor or bowl, whirl or beat cream cheese, milk, egg whites, and vanilla until very smooth. Stir in 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
3. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Evenly sprinkle batter with remaining chocolate chips.
4. Bake in a 350° oven until cake jiggles only slightly in the center when gently shaken, about 30 minutes.
5. Run a thin-bladed knife between cake and pan rim. Refrigerate cake, uncovered, until cool, at least 2 1/2 hours
6. Enjoy!

ha! All gone!! =)

Breakfast anyone???

i'm not really a breakfast person ... at all ... i'm more of a dinner for breakfast type of gal ... lol
there's a Thanksgiving Potluck tomorrow at work and guess whaaat?! lol ... i made cupcakes. but this time ... i made breakfast cupcakes ... only things other than cereal that i will eat for breakfast are waffles ... as you already know ... and french toast ... don't really care for pancakes ... bleh ...
i don't eat french toast all the time ... i prefer waffles ... lol. but on occasion french toast is amazing ... lol.
so i decided to put them into a cupcake =)
French Toast Cupcakes with a Maple Cream Cheese Frosting =)

my house smells soooo good right now! lol

French Toast Cupcakes
recipes adapted from Linda Peterson Designs

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinammon
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. maple extract
1/2 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your muffin tin with baking liners. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a mixing bowl
2. Whisk together butter, sugar, eggs and maple extract until nice and creamy.
3. Mix in 1/3 of the flour mixture
4. Mix in 1/2 of milk mixture
5. Mix in another 1/3 of flour mixture followed by remaining milk and finish with the rest of the flour.
6. Scoop batter into baking cups and bake for 20-23 minutes or until they spring back when lightly touched
7. Cool completely and frost with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup unsalted butter
Pinch of salt
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp maple extract
4 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar
cinnamon sugar for dusting

1. Beat together the cream cheese, butter and salt until creamy.  Add the maple syrup and maple extract.
2. Beat on low setting and add sugar 1/2 cup at a time until light and fluffy
3. Frost cupcakes =)
4. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar

mmmmmmmmmmmm .................

Spriiiiiiinkles!! =)

i love sprinkles ...
all different kinds ... lol.
even the rain sprinkles. =) haha!
it's supposed to rain today so i decided that i would stay inside and bake some Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes while i wait for Girls Night to begin. =)
Tonight is the big night ... there's a high school football game between the 2 biggest rivals in the county!! and it's supposed to rain ... fingers crossed that it doesn't POUR! lol. should be fun either way. =)
i saw this recipe on one of the blogs that i follow and decided that i wanna try it because i love funfetti!

 yuum ... =)

SPRINKLES!!!!
i filled these with the Vanilla Buttercream too. =)

packed away to sneak into the football game ;) haha!!
here's one satisfied customer ... =) love her!

Cutie even has a frosting mustache. =)


Homemade Funfetti Cupcakes
adapted from Sweet Tooth

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg + 1 egg white, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

2 tbsp rainbow sprinkles

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin with paper lines (either 12 full size or about 36 minis)

- In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.

- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.

- Add egg and egg white, one at a time, beating on low until well combined. Add vanilla.

- With mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture alternating with milk until just combined.

- Fold in rainbow sprinkles with a rubber spatula.

- Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake for about 15-17 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean.

- Remove from pan and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

 enjoy =)

Funfetti Cake Pops!!

today has been a reeeeaaaalllly loooooooooooooooong day ... lol. (did i emphasize enough???) haha!
what better way to unwind than to bake. =) .... along with some country music videos and a lil dancing around my little house ... =) lol.
last week a friend of mine gave me a cake pop that she made and with one bite i fell in love! so i decided to attempt making them myself. i've got my cake baked and it's cooling right now ... lol. the part i'm not looking forward too is mixing the cake and frosting ... works best if you use your hands! no worries ... CLEAN HANDS over here! =) lol.
crumble the cake ... i cheated ... i used a pastry cutter instead of my hands ... hahaha!
BEFORE ....

... ooooh yea ... lmfao!

...... AFTER.

all i gotta say is getting these cake pops to stay stuck is kinda hard!! lol.
they don't look very pretty but they do taste really good. lol

pretty pink!

and blue. =) hahaha!
don't be fooled if a recipe looks easy ... haha!

Cake Pops
1 cake mix of desired flavor
1 can frosting of desired flavor
1 bag Wilton Candy Melts
Cake pop sticks (sold at Wally World)
SPRINKLES!!

Bake cake mix as box says ... let cake cool ... crumble in a big bowl ... add can of frosting and mix together ... put in fridge for about an hour ... roll mix into balls ... melt candy melts ... dip stick into melted candy and place in center of each cake pop ... put in freezer for a couple minutes ... take out and dip each pop into the melted candy and sprinkle sprinkles on ... then put down on wax paper ... after candy has set place pops on a plate and place in fridge ...
enjoy!! =)

g'night friends! <3