Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes are probably the tastiest caramel dessert I have made,
and were very well received at work! In fact, I need to reproduce them
for a coworkers daughters graduation party.

Chocolate Cupcakes:
1/2 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 cup Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Boiling Water
1 1/3 cups Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick Butter
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 t Vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together boiling water, chocolate and cocoa powder and refridgerate.

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

Beat the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla mixing until
smooth. Add the flour mixture and beat only until combined. Add the
cooled cocoa/water mixture and stir until combined.

Spoon mixture into mini cupcake pans (either lined or greased). Bake
for 15-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:
1 stick Butter
8 oz Cream Cheese
4 oz Dulce De Leche
3 cups Powdered Sugar

Mix butter, cream cheese, and dulce de leche together. Then add the
powdered sugar.

Once the cupcakes have cooled you can frost them. I also filled mine
with a little dulce de leche. To do so, put some dulce de leche into a
squeeze bottle, microwave for 20 seconds, and then fill away!

Grilled Sweet Sriracha Wings

When it is warm enough to grill (although last night was a little
questionable in the mid 30's), one of my favorite things to make is
chicken wings. I have found that my favorite method is to boil them in
a flavorful sauce, then grill, then toss in a thick spicy sauce. I
also like to take off most of the skin to make them a little bit
healthier. I wish they sold skinless wings.

Simmer the following ingredients for about 45 minutes to an hour.
2 packages Chicken Wings
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup Hot Sauce (I prefer Sriracha)
2 t Liquid Smoke
3 T Garlic
1/4 cup Water
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Soy Sauce

Grill the wings.

Then toss them in a bowl with the following sauce:
1/4 cup Sriracha Sauce
1/4 cup BBQ Sauce
2 T Balsamic Vinegar
2 T Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Sweet Chili Sauce

Drizzle with bleu cheese dressing, top with chives.

Vanilla Bean Creme Brûlée

I love Creme Brulee. When I eat at a nice restaurant, it is always my
dessert of choice if I have any room left to eat dessert. This is the
easiest recipe I have found.

1 quart Heavy Cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/2 cup Sugar
6 large egg yolks

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Place the cream, vanilla bean and its pulp into a medium saucepan and
bring to a boil. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 15
minutes. Remove the vanilla bean.

In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar and the egg yolks until well
blended and it just starts to look lighter yellow. Add about 1/2 cup
of cream to the egg mixture, stirring quickly to avoid scrambled eggs.
Then add the egg mixture to the rest of the cream, and cook on
medium/low until the mixture thickens.

Place in ramekins, and bake for 40-50 minutes in a water bath.

Cool for 3-4 hours. Then sprinkle sugar on each dish to cover the top
in a thin layer. Torch until browned. Cool 5-10 minutes and then
serve.

Could garnish with many things such as a caramel or berry sauce, or fresh fruit.

Lemon Raspberry Cupcakes with Lemon Curd Filling

Lemon Cupcakes:
2 sticks Butter
2 cups Sugar
5 Eggs
1/3 cup Lemon Zest
3 cups Flour
1 t Baking Powder
1/2 t Baking Soda
1 t Salt
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
3/4 cup Buttermilk
1 t Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and 2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, about 5
minutes. Mix in the eggs, 1 at a time, and add the lemon zest.

Add the remaining ingredients slowly.

Fill muffin pans and bake for 10-15 min, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Lemon Curd Filling:
3 Lemons
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1 stick Butter
5 Eggs
3/4 cup Lemon Juice
Dash Salt

Zest 3 Lemons and cream with the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, 1 at
a time, and then add the lemon juice and salt. Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a large saucepan and cook over low heat until
thickened (about 15-20 minutes), stirring constantly. Allow the lemon
curd to cool.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 stick Butter
3-4 cups Powdered Sugar
8oz Cream Cheese
Pint Raspberries

Mix together butter and sugar. In another bowl mix together
raspberries and cream cheese. Add cream cheese mixture to butter
mixture until you get desired consistency I added too much and it made
my frosting runny. Refrigerate frosting for a bit before frosting
cupcakes.

Fill cupcakes with lemon curd (I used a condiment container to squeeze
it in). Top with frosting and refridgerate.

Healthy Banana Coconut Pecan Muffins

Continuing on my coconut kick, here is a healthy coconut banana nut
muffin recipe.

2 cups Flour
2 t Baking Powder
1 1/4 t baking soda
3 Ripe Bananas
3/4 cup Coconut
1/2 cup Pecans
1 t Canola Oil
2 t Vanilla
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Coconut Milk (could sub plain milk)
1/2 cup Greek Yogurt
1/4 cup Orange Juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together all wet ingredients. Add in dry ingredients. Don't overmix.

Spoon into greased muffin tins. Top with coconut.

Bake 15 minutes.

Broil for a few minutes until coconut browns on top.



You can change up the kind of nut used, or leave out the coconut if
you aren't a fan. I really want to try them with chocolate chips mixed
in.

Coconut Caramel Fudge

I love this fudge, tastes a lot like Samoa Girl Scout cookies!

1 stick Butter
1 can Coconut Milk (full fat)
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 package Coconut Cream Jello Pudding Mix
1 bag White Chocolate chips
1 container Marshmallow Fluff
1 bag Caramels
1/3 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 bag Semisweet Chocolate Chips
1 cup Shredded Coconut (toasted in oven)

Heat the butter, coconut milk, sugar, and salt on medium. Stir
constantly, boil for 5 minutes. Place in mixing bowl with white
chocolate chips, fluff and pudding.

Pour the mixture into a 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper.

Melt caramels with sweetened condensed milk in the microwave (1
minute increments, stirring between). Pour this over the fudge mixture
and then swirl it in.

Let the fudge cool (can speed the process by placing in the freezer).
Melt the chocolate chips with a bit of shortening and drizzle it over
the fudge. Then sprinkle coconut on top.

Cool again and then you can cut into bite sized pieces. I have best
luck with a very sharp knife, and letting it cool overnight.