Peanut Butter Cookies

These are a nice quick treat for the kids and family.  They go together very quickly and are soooooooooooooooo yummy.  You can use either the smooth peanut butter or the chunky.  Hope you give them a try.
 375 degree 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups flour, sift or stir before measuring

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside. Cream shortening, peanut butter, and sugars; beat in vanilla and egg. Stir in flour mixture, blending well. Shape mixture into 3/4-inch balls; place on greased baking sheets. Flatten each cookie with the tines of a fork; dip fork in flour periodically to keep it from sticking to the peanut butter cookie dough.
Bake peanut butter cookies at 375° for about 10 to 12 minutes.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Take the Time to do ALL the things YOU Love.
Donna

Grandson's Communion

We just returned from our trip to see my grandson Jake make his First Communion.  We had so much fun, I really miss them.  Just wanted to share a few pictures I took while I was there.  I will post a new recipe this weekend.  I've been sick so it took me a couple of days to get these posted.  Hope you didn't all think I had abandoned my blog.
My oldest grandson Josh  graduated from High School in December but his ceremony will be this Sunday.  Next week I'll post some pictures from that happy occasion.

This is my son, daughter in law and my two grandchildren.  This was taken just before the Communion.

This is inside the church

Jake

Opening gifts

Lyndsey and her new puppy Bella

Monica, my daughter in law and Lyndsey going to a Mother/Daughter Tea, how cute they look.
 

 Jake getting a goat ready

 Practice

 Hope you enjoyed the pictures.
Have a great day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Whip Cream Chocolate cupcakes

I made these for Mirna's 1st birthday celebration which was April 1st.  What a fun dinner we had.  As you can see by her face she loved them.

 This is a very easy recipe and it makes a wonderful moist cupcake.  I put chocolate ganache on the top....another YUM!

Printable

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup (50 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup (240 ml) boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

4 ounces (120 grams) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup (150 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups (160 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla

Fill each muffin cup about two-thirds full with batter and bake for about 16 - 20 minutes or until risen, springy to the touch, and a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with icing.  When cool fill with whipped cream and then drizzle chocolate ganache over the top.  You can also spread frosting on the cupcakes with a small spatula or if piping, use a large Wilton 1M open star tip to make lovely swirls. These cupcakes are best the day they are made, but can be covered and stored for a few days.
If you want to do frosting...... 

Chocolate Frosting: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes).

Makes about 16 cupcakes.

I made these without the liners and made them in the large muffin pan.  When they were done I took them out and turned them upside down so they looked more like a care, filled them and drizzled the chocolate on top.

Give these a try you'll be glad you did.  Very, very good.  Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to do all the Things YOU love.
Donna

Sopapillas

My daughter made these a couple of weeks ago.  These are wonderful.  I found this recipe here, she has some wonderful recipes to share so please take the time to look around.
Sopapillas
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon of butter, melted
1 tablespoon of sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
vegetable oil
sugar
cinnamon
honey

Method:
Mix the yeast with the warm water and let it sit for five minutes.
Combine the flour and salt.
Add the butter and sugar to the yeast/water mixture and then slowly add to the flour and salt.
Knead for two minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic. We use the Kitchen Aide Mixer for this.
Rise in a covered, greased bowl for one hour or until dough is doubled in size.
After dough has risen, punch it down, and on a floured surface, roll it out into a 1/4-inch thick rectangle.
Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut out 3 inch squares, and then cut squares on the diagonal into triangles.
Heat up three inches of oil in a big pot to 375 degrees.
Fry two triangles of dough at a time in the oil for one minute on each side. The dough should puff when it hits the oil.
Drain, and then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Serve hot with honey.
Makes about 18 sopapillas, depending on how big you make them.
Thanks for stopping by.  Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things YOU Love.
Donna

Apple/Cranberry Muffins

Seems I'm on a muffin kick these days.  I had some apples I needed to do something with and this is the end result.   I have decided to make the banana muffin recipe I use as my base recipe and just change ingredients.  They are so moist and yummy why change a good thing.

Bake 375 fir 20-25 minutes ---- makes 6 large muffins or 12 regular muffins. Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup AP flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 TBL corn starch 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp vanilla 1/3 cup oil (could use butter, melted) 1 egg 3/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 cup cooked apples (see below) 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/3 cup ginger ale soda (reg or diet) 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans) For the apples, peal and core them, slice and place in a skillet with some butter, about 2 TBL, add 1/3 cup of brown sugar, 1 1/2 TBL cinnamon ,  1 1/2 TBL AP flour.  After the apples have started to soften add 1/3 cup of ginger ale soda, let cook until you get a thick sauce coating the apples.  Set aside to cool.  Soak your cranberries in warm water so they will be nice and plump and juice.  Drain before you put into batter. Direction: Mix dry ingredients and set aside.  In a large bowl whisk the egg, sugar, vanilla.  Add the apple mixture and cranberries to incorporate.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.  Do not over mix, add nuts and mid.  Let set in bowl for about 10 minutes.  Fill lined muffin tins and fill 3/4 full bake and test with toothpick.  They should be golden brown and toothpick comes out clean. Sure hope you try this one, they are great and would be wonderful for breakfast or at brunch.  Great snack for the kids too. Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do all the Things you love. Donna

Reese's Chocolate Cupcake

As you can tell I've been on a cupcake experiment voyage.  This is a great cupcake, very moist and a nice surprise with the Reese's mini peanut butter cup.  The frosting is very tasty.  I've been having a hard time with icing's and I'm one of those people who doesn't give up on something until I get it figured out.
Ingredeints:

Chocolate Cupcakes:

1/2 cup  Dutch-processed cocoa powder

1 cup  boiling hot water

1 1/3 cups  all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup  unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup  granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F . Lightly butter, or line 15 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a small bowl stir until smooth the boiling hot water and the cocoa powder. Let cool to room temperature.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Then in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat only until incorporated. Then add the cooled cocoa mixture and stir until smooth.  Fill pan about 2/3 full.  Bake for 11 minutes, remove from oven, insert Reese's mini peanut butter cup into each cupcake and return to oven for exactly 6 more minutes.  Test with toothpick, from the side when comes out clean they are done.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting:

4 ounces  unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

2/3 cup  unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/3 cups  confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla 

Directions:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer,  or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes)

Hope you'll give these a try.  Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the time to do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna

Blueberry Crunch Coffee Cake

Sorry but I don't remember where I  found this recipe.  I thought I had it bookmarked but guess not.  :(   So whoever out there posted this thank you.

Blueberry Crunch Coffee Ring

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg
1/3 cup Butter, firm
1 cup Blueberries
1 Egg
1/2 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Powdered Sugar
***Pecan Streusel Topping***
1/2 cup Pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup Brown Sugar, firmly packed
2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
2 tablespoons Butter or Margarine

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Pecan Streusel Topping: Mix the finely chopped pecans, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon with the melted butter.
Pat half of the streusel mixture into a greased, floured 9-inch tube pan with a removeable bottom; set aside. (I didn't have a tube pan so just used my cheese cake one, it has the removable bottom)
In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gently mix in the blueberries.
Beat egg lightly with milk and vanilla; stir into berry mixture just until combined.
Spread half the batter in streusel-lined pan; sprinkle with remaining streusel, then with remaining batter.
Bake cake for about 40 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove pan sides. Dust cake with powdered sugar. 

 Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and remember to Find the Time to do ALL the things YOU love.
Donna