Fabulous Finds Friday-Cookies!!

I like having the opportunity to share with you great finds on Fridays.  This week I am sharing my new favorite cookie recipe.  YUM! I found the recipe on Pinterest, of course.  I have made them only twice, because I eat too many of them.  Last week I made a double batch, thinking I could freeze some, but they are so good we ate them before I could freeze any.  The recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction, and I have the link to the recipe here. I like how she goes through and explains why she uses the ingredients she does, how they work to make super soft cookies.  She even adds ideas for variations at the end.  The only change I make is the size.  She forms the chilled dough into balls about 3 tablespoons in size.  I make mine a bit smaller, using about 2 tablespoons of dough. I cooked them the same amount of time as she cooks the larger balls, since that is what is best in my oven. The cookies are great, and I look forward to using this recipe again.  Right now, I think I will see if there is a cookie left that I can eat.

~Gayle

Favorite Cupcake and Frosting Recipe

I love decorating cakes and cupcakes.  I am not a total professional or anything but I have taken multiple cake decorating classes and if I didn't have to make the cake, frosting, etc all the time then I would probably enjoy it even more.  I am usually stopped by time.  Isn't that true for everything we want to spend our time on though?  Anyway, I LOVE a good cupcake that is frosted in great frosting.  I have pinned a ton of recipes that I want to try to see which is best.  I want to share one frosting recipe I found that I use quite often.  I don't do cupcakes too often but when I do, as long as it doesn't matter that the frosting is pink, I do Strawberry Frosting.  Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
5-6 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup Red Barn Strawberry jam
red food coloring (enough to make it a pretty pink color)
Place butter and jam in a mixing bowl or an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream until well incorporated, about 2 minutes.
Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until you reach desired consistency. If frosting gets too thick you can add a little milk to thin it out.

This is from The Red Barn Recipes: http://redbarn-recipes.blogspot.com/2010/06/strawberry-frosting.html

I never use unsalted butter, I never have it so I just use salted.  Maybe it would be even better with the unsalted butter but then I would just eat more!

I love the flavor of this frosting.  I made them for a Scout fundraiser and had a few people stop me to ask about them.  It is so easy to do that I use it all the time and feel like I cheated when I get compliments on it!  Love it!

My favorite cupcake recipe that I have done is great to do if you want to use a box mix but want it a little better.  It is a recipe I saw on a local show called Studio 5.  The lady who showed it uses this recipe when she wants to get a really good color in her cakes or cupcakes.  If you put color in a normal box cake mix, the cake gets fluffy as it bakes and the color loses some of its depth. With this recipe, it is a little more dense but moist and helps that color stay stronger.  I have used it on a cake that I added color to and the color was great.  I usually just leave the cupcakes white but you could do some fun things with color using this recipe.

CREAM CHEESE VANILLA CUPCAKES(Mindi Original)
8 ounces cream cheese (about 1 cup), softened
2 egg whites
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 box white cake mix
1 cup water
1 t. vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12 count muffin tins with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl combine the cream cheese, egg whites and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, beat the ingredients until combined and creamy.
3. Add the cake mix, water and vanilla and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.
4. Fill the muffin cups to just below the rim and bake until puffed and golden, about 18 to 20 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly in the tin then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack.
6. When cook, frost with vanilla butter cream frosting (recipe below) or your favorite frosting.

This is from the blog Mindika Moments:
http://www.mindikamoments.com/2009/09/rainbow-bright.html

Hope you love them as much as we do!

~Andrea

Fab Finds Friday- Favorite dinner recipe

I am excited to share this find!  I am sure some of you have seen it and probably love it as much as our family does.  My husband has become a HUGE fan of Pinterest because of the new recipes I have found on there.  One of our very favorite is Ranch chicken.

There isn't a link for a blog on Pinterest, it was just a picture with the recipe typed up so I don't have a link to share.

Here is the recipe:


RANCH CHICKEN
 Combine: 3/4 cup crushed cornflakes, 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1 packet of hidden valley ranch dressing mix.
Dip 8 chicken halves in melted butter and then roll in cornflake mix. Place in greased 9x13 pan. Bake @ 350 for 45 min. might have to try this.

This recipe is super easy and so yummy!  I have 4 young kids and they gobble it up.

I usually slice the chicken into smaller strips and fairly thin so that they cook faster and I usually put them on a cookie sheet, not a 9x13 pan.  I serve them with steamed broccoli and whatever other side I have.

Hope you love it!

~Andrea