Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

This is just a quick post and run. I have made this frosting a couple of times now and it's very possibly in the running for my favorite...edging out the raspberry cream cheese. And, I don't even like blueberry as a general rule. We've done it with lemon cupcakes (I would highly recommend this) and vanilla cupcakes (a slightly boring but safe choice) and both were really good. The level of purple coloring depends on how many blueberries you actually add to the frosting or you can cheat and add food coloring. I didn't do that so it's not as vivid as it could be.

I've got to confess that I caught myself eating this with a spoon after I'd frosted all the cupcakes. The recipe makes a big batch of frosting and it kept well in the refrigerator for about a week. I'm guessing that it would probably freeze just fine as well.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 cube butter room temp
1 tsp almond extract
3 T. cream or milk
1 bag (ish) powdered sugar
1/2 c. blueberries

Puree berries in a food processor and set aside. Cream the butter and cream cheese together until fluffy. Gradually add the powdered sugar alternating with the milk and almond extract. Add blueberry puree and adjust the thickness with additional powdered sugar until it's stiff enough to pipe. Refrain from squeezing frosting directly into your mouth...frost your cupcakes and enjoy.

Fettucini Carbonara

Soooo, I've been away so long that Blogger changed their format and now I'm completely confused. It's like starting over with the blogging thing. I have a bad habit of dropping things that I'm not good at but I'm going to try to persevere and figure this out. Surely I'm that smart, right??

I happened to have a few minutes of  "I need to take a brain break" time today and clicked on my Pioneer Woman bookmark. I love to spend hours catching up on PW's recipes, pictures and random thoughts but haven't had time to do that recently. Luckily for me the most recent post was one for Pasta Carbonara and I just happened to be in need of a dinner plan. I had all the ingredients in the fridge so it must have been destiny.

The first time I saw anything in a Carbonara sauce was on Diners Drive Ins and Dives. I love, love, love seeing all the different foods and places that they feature around the country. Anyway, I was intrigued but the instructions were a little bit too hazy for me to feel comfortable just winging so I didn't attempt it. Then I saw it again on The Best Thing I Ever Ate...and again on Rachel Ray. Then AGAIN today!! I printed the recipe out and went merrily on my way. I did lighten it up a bit by using Half and Half instead of heavy cream but I'm not convinced that it made a big enough difference nutritionally to do it again. It would be thicker with cream so use what you have. I wouldn't recommend using pregrated Parmesan (I'm something of a cheese snob) but it would probably work just fine.

Fettucini Carbonara
Serves 6
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

12 oz Fettucini
8 slices thick cut bacon, chopped into pieces
1/2 medium onion, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 whole eggs
3/4 c. grated Parmesan (grate your own if you can)
3/4 c. half and half or heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste (we like lots of pepper)
2/3 c. green peas

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. While the pasta is cooking, fry the bacon in heavy pan until barely crispy. Don't over cook. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Pour bacon grease from pan and turn heat to med low-ish. Cook onions and garlic until golden brown. Set those aside too.
3. Combine eggs and half and half and mix well. Add Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper. Mix all together and set aside.
4. Microwave peas for 1 minute; just until thawed.
5. Drain pasta (reserve 1 c. pasta water) and put in a large bowl. While pasta is hot, slowly drizzle egg mixture into noodles while stirring constantly. The sauce will start to thicken as the eggs cook and you stir. Halfway through add bacon, onions, and peas. Finish adding the last of the egg mixture and stir until combined.
6. Serve with additional Parmesan (lots)

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

These cupcakes were my contribution to the monthly birthday party at my mom's. I saw some similar on Pinterest but the original pin didn't actually link back to the right place. That's my pet peeve with Pinterest. If you are going to pin something, for heavens sake try to find the original website so that you can actually find the recipe or directions or whatever. There's nothing more annoying than clicking through 37 pins trying to find the original and never getting there. That's when I give up and call it a day. So, if you are going to pin, please, please, please use good pinning etiquette!! (Stepping down off soap box now)

Back to the cupcakes. I used my standard Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix with a few tweaks and Toll House break apart cookie dough. I'm lazy like that. :) If you have a fabulous recipe for either a chocolate cake that you love or an awesome chocolate chip cookie by all means, use that if you have time. The frosting was the real star in my opinion anyway. Shocking, I know. Jiggle loves frosting. Stop. The. Presses.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes
24 cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1 box Duncan Hines Devil's Food cake mix
1 package Toll House cookie dough, frozen (I did roll mine into balls to appear more homemade)
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. oil
3/4 c. sour cream
3 eggs

1. Mix everything together and distribute half of the batter evenly between 24 cupcakes. Put frozen cookie dough in each muffin cup. Cover with remaining batter. 

2. Bake 20 minutes (My oven is wonky so you are going to want to pay attention in case 20 minutes is too long) at 350 degrees. 

3. Let cool on rack.

Cookie Dough Frosting:

1 1/2 cubes softened butter

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 c. powdered sugar

1 c. all purpose flour

2 T. milk

1. Mix butter, brown sugar, salt, flour and vanilla together. 

2. Add powdered sugar a little bit at a time beating well. Alternate powdered sugar and milk until you reach a good frosting consistency. I always end up adding a little bit more sugar than I think I'm going to need.

Frost cupcakes and garnish with mini chocolate chips and a baby Chips Ahoy. I actually broke the cookies in half so they didn't stick up so far. That made traveling much easier!! 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

This is a total post and run kind of entry. :) In order for me to even think about blogging I'm going to have to do some time management kind of thing. *sigh*

Last week I was at a convention for work and one of the activities they planned for us was a river cruise. Well. I don't do water. I don't do boats. The whole thing makes me want to throw up. That said I was dragged onto the yacht by my coworkers and proceeded to go on this cruise. The scenery was beautiful and the water was calm but let's be really honest, the desserts were the highlight of the night for me. Chocolate kept me calm enough that I didn't need to have any Xanax and gave me some inspiration for when I got home. We had a cheesecake topped brownie that was so rich and chocolatey that I was in brownie heaven. This is my version, adapted from Duncan Hines, and I think the next time I do it I'm going to do a cookies and cream cheesecake topping. Cause everything is better with an Oreo!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Crust:
1 Devil's Food Cake Mix (reserve 1/4 cup mix for topping)
1 egg
1 cube butter

Mix all ingredients together with your hands or a pastry blender until crumbly. Press into a sprayed 9x13 baking dish and set aside.

Topping:
2 eggs
1 8 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 c. cake mix
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 c. Hershey's syrup

Mix eggs and cream cheese until well blended and smooth. Add cake mix and mix well. Add chocolate syrup and chocolate chips and gently blend together just until mixed. Don't overmix. Pour topping over crust mixture and bake at 325 degrees for 23-25 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting. Garnish with chocolate shavings. Refrigerate until served.