Lovin' From the Oven

From-Scratch Funfetti Cupcakes

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Happy belated Easter, everyone! My baby cousin came over (alright, so maybe he’s not so baby anymore.. he’s turning 5 this year) and we did a mini Easter egg hunt for him. I absolutely adore the little munchkin and spoil him quite a bit. He doesn’t eat much, but he LOVES cupcakes. He’ll finish a cupcake in no time at all. I wanted to make something that the adults would love too, something not too sweet. I settled for vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.

I’ve always been a fan of Pillsbury’s Funfetti cake mix, and when I saw this recipe on the community bakebakebake from livejournal, I knew I had to make it. This recipe is adapted from livejournal user bluemotion and the original recipe can be found here; thanks! I got about 17 cupcakes from this recipe. The cream cheese frosting is pretty much a basic cream cheese recipe. I usually just play around with it until I get the consistency/taste that I want since it’s very forgiving. You can’t really mess it up. The cupcakes were a huge hit– adult and children alike. I probably should’ve left my cupcakes in a bit longer, as they sunk a bit in the middle. Besides that, the cake was wonderfully moist and the frosting was perfect– creamy and not too sweet. The cake batter tasted exactly like that from the box, which is a huge plus in my opinion. These sure won’t disappoint!

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 XL egg whites
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/8 cup plain nonfat yogurt
  • a handful of rainbow sprinkles (jimmies), optional
  1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line muffin tins with paper liners.
  2. Mix together in a bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, beat together melted butter and sugar until combined. Add egg whites and beat until mixture is smooth and light. Stir in vanilla extract. Add flour mixture in two additions, alternating with the yogurt. Gently fold in sprinkles, if using. Scoop batter into prepared tins.
  4. Bake for 25 minutes, until cupcakes are barely golden on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out with a couple of loose crumbs. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes in tins. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cream cheese frosting:

  • About 1/3 cup and 3 T of softened butter
  • 10 oz cream cheese
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese together until well blended. Mix in the vanilla. Gradually incorporate the powdered sugar into the batter. Beat until smooth. Add more powdered sugar if necessary to get the desired consistency.

And just for kicks, here’s my little chubs (phone picture):
Devouring his cupcake, frosting first, as always:

Creamy Peanut Butter Cookies

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Now, it’s been a week since my surgery… so that means I can start eating normal food again! Hooray! My sweet tooth has been satisfied for the past week by McDonald’s vanilla ice cream cones. I know what you’re thinking.. “McDonald’s… Really?!” Well, truth of the matter is I go there quite often solely for this reason. The ice cream cones there are hands down my guilty pleasure. They’re dirt cheap and delicious! Plus, the McDonald’s by me is open 24:7.. perfect for that late night craving. I don’t recommend much of anything else from the menu, though.

My weekend officially started as of today since I don’t have any more classes for the week, meaning it was time to bake. Picking my brains on what was okay to bake (judging on what was okay for me to eat), I decided I wanted a soft cookie. It couldn’t have anything too crunchy or hard, as chewing is still a bit of a task for me. It couldn’t have anything too small mixed in, or it would get stuck in my fresh hole-like wounds (sorry for the unattractive picture). Peanut butter cookies it was!

This is the best peanut butter cookie recipe that I’ve used. They’re not too fragile, they can hold their shape once cooled, and are melt-in-your-mouth soft! This makes just over 2 dozen cookies. You can easily double the recipe if you want more, but I was just baking for me and my boyfriend so I didn’t need a million cookies. I used Trader Joe’s organic creamy butter to make these cookies, and they were fabulous! I usually use JIF for my peanut butter, but went for a little change thanks to my healthy eating boyfriend. Yup.. he’s converted me. I’m stuck on Trader’s Joes organic PB from now on (…like how I’m stuck on everything else at Trader Joe’s, LOVE that store!). Feel free to add in some chocolate chips or M&M’s to the recipe if you’d like a little extra kick to your peanut butter cookies.

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 medium sized eggs
extra sugar for rolling

  1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.
  2. Beat together the butter, peanut butter, and vanilla extract. Mix in both sugars, salt, and baking powder.
  3. Gradually mix in the flour, half at a time.
  4. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
  5. Roll into 1 1/2 inch balls and then roll the balls into sugar. Using a fork, flatten the cookie and make a criss-cross pattern. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet after taking them out for about 8 minutes before removing them with a spatula. Cool completely before storing. Enjoy!

Bakerella Cupcake Pop Bouquet

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A friend of mine at school asked me if I could bake something for his girlfriend’s sister’s birthday. He basically left it up to me and let me make whatever I wanted since he trusted my taste. Ahh, the beauty of boys getting girls gifts… they always let the girls figure it out for them! Nevertheless, I was excited because I had another reason to make Bakerella’s cupcake pops once again!

This time, instead of making a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, I made a devil’s chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. The result? I think these were better than the red velvet, if I do say so myself. The only thing missing was that I didn’t have the mini m&m’s to top them all off. I used a styrofoam base to stick all the lollipops in and to keep them from tipping over (you can find these bases at a crafts store in the planting section). I made the cupcake pops just like before, but stuck a lollipop stick through them once they hardened and were completely dry. If the chocolate was too thick to poke the stick through, I used the tip of a knife to carve out a tiny hole so that the stick would go in easier.

I haven’t been able to bake this weekend because of my wisdom teeth surgery, but I lucked out and only had 2 wisdom teeth instead of the usual 4 (both of mine were on the bottom)! The operation was definitely not as terrible as I thought it would be since they knocked me out. The last thing I remember was the doctor telling me, “You’re probably freaking out and wondering ‘Why haven’t I passed out yet?'” The next thing I knew, I was waking up and the procedure was done. Amazing how that works. I’ve been living off of tomato bisque, mashed potatoes, yogurt, ice cream, and macaroni and cheese for the past couple of days. Man, what I would do for a chili cheeseburger! I’m seriously craving some REAL food. Thank goodness I have a nice boyfriend who’s about to pick me up some creme brulee and caramel flan (my favorite desserts of all time) right now. :]

My family & friends have been amazing since I’ve basically been stuck in bed all weekend and I just want to say thank you! I even woke up from my nap today to find this from my boyfriend’s mom & grandma:

…a “feel better” bouquet (sorry for the crappy picture quality, it was taken on my phone)! How sweet is that?! They’re so precious. I’m recovering quite quickly compared to my friends’ horror stories about their experiences with wisdom teeth pulling, and I should be up and about in no time. Thanks for all your concerns and words of advice! :]

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