Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Cupcakes

Meet the lone survivor. The last cupcake of the batch..... Oh so yummy :) It's not the best photo, but you all get that the taste is what's important, right?

The cupcakes:

3 eggs
½ C water
¼ C milk
½ C oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 C sour cream

Peppermint Ganache:

1/2 C butter
5 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
6 Tbsp buttermilk (or 5 ½ T milk, ½ T lemon juice)
3 C powdered sugar
½ tsp peppermint extract

Peppermint Buttercream:
8 oz cream cheese
½ C butter, softened
2 C powdered sugar
½- 1 tsp peppermint extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the eggs, water, milk, oil and vanilla together. Add in cake cake mix and sour cream until well blended.

Fill cupcake liner ¾ full and bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While cupcakes are baking, make the peppermint ganache.

In a bowl, sift 3 cups powdered sugar. In a small pan, melt butter and add cocoa and buttermilk and bring to a boil. Pour mixture over powdered sugar and, add peppermint extract and stir until smooth.

Dip the tops of the warm cupcakes into the warm ganache and let cool before frosting. You can also poke a hole in the middle of the cupcake with a wooden spoon and fill the whole with ganache. So good!! Extra ganache will keep fine in the refrigerator. (I found it was easier to poke the hole and lightly spoon the ganache in while spreading a thin layer over the top. Then it wont drip as bad. Dipping was an epic fail for me)

Frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar. Add extra sugar if needed for right consistency. Add peppermint extract and beat again.

Pipe frosting onto cupcake (I used my 1M frosting tip) and then top with candy cane kisses, crushed candy cane or even mint M & M’s.

adapted from home based mom (she has way more cool pictures than me and helpful tips)

Egg Nog Cookies

Oh my egg nog! Gotta love Mrs. Fields and her creative genius on this one. I'm a huge egg nog fan and these just hit the spot this time of year. Luckily there was lots of leftover delicious icing! Any ideas what I can do with egg nog icing? Otherwise I'll probably just eat it straight. Yes, it's that good.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup SALTED butter, room temp (Mrs. Fields calls for this)
1/2 cup eggnog
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 300F.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; mix well with a wire whisk and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream sugar and butter with an electric mixer. Add eggnog, vanilla and egg yolks and beat at medium speed until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased baking sheets, 1″ apart. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg or skip this step and sprinkle on the nutmeg after you ice the cookies. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until bottoms turn light brown.

Transfer to cool, flat surface immediately with spatula.

Eggnog Icing

3 C. confectioners’ sugar
1/4 C. softened butter or margarine
1/3 C. commercial eggnog (use as much as you need)

In small mixer bowl, beat confectioners’ sugar and butter or margarine until well blended. Gradually beat in eggnog until icing is smooth. Makes about 1 1/2 cups. (I waited until cookies were cool and used my cupcake star tip #1M because I'm a sucker for a pretty cookie)

Candy Cane Chocolate Chip Cookies

Are you ready??

1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant Candy Cane Pudding mix
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (if you like your stuff REALLY minty, you may want to add 1/2 tsp peppermint extract. I thought they were perfect the next day without the extract)
1/4 teaspoon salt
30 mini candy canes broken into chunks
1 cup Ghiradellli 60% cacao semi-sweet chocolate chips
food coloring, optional

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream together butter and sugars (add food coloring, if desired). Beat in pudding mix until blended. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix to combine. Stir in candy pieces and chocolate chips.

Place golf ball sized dough balls on a cookie sheet (I use a baking stone) lined with baking parchment (of course this is optional, but when baking with candy you'll have sticking if you dont). Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes. Do not over-bake! Let cookies cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before moving to a cooking rack. Store in air-tight container (I suggest doing this while they're still a little warm if you like your cookies on the chewy side)

Pudding Dinner Rolls

2 cups milk

1 small package vanilla pudding (cook n serve)

1 stick butter

6 cups flour

2 TB yeast

2 tsp salt

3 eggs

Mix pudding with the milk in a 4 cup pyrex or other microwaveable bowl. Microwave 3 mins. Stir. Repeat until pudding thickens.

Add the butter. Allow to soften in hot pudding. Does not have to melt completely. Transfer to mixer bowl.

Add eggs and two cups of flour. Knead in machine with dough hook.

Continue to mix and add the following: yeast (I like to proof my yeast first but it's not necessary), two cups flour, and salt. (If you are making cinnamon rolls, you can add 1/4 cup of sugar now)

Continue to add flour until the mixture pulls away from sides of the bowl. Amount of flour will vary.

Knead an additional 5 min.

Transfer to greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in warm place for 20-30 mins or until doubled in size.

For crescent rolls, roll half the dough into a circle, spread with melted butter, cut into sixteen triangular slices. Roll up from the large end and place on greased cookie sheet. Repeat with 2nd half of dough.

Let rise for 20 minutes or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 350 until golden brown.

Brush tops with butter.

(this makes about 32 rolls. for larger batch, 48 rolls, use a large package of pudding, 3 cups milk, 1 1/2 sticks butter, 5 eggs, 3 TB yeast and 3 tsp salt. more flour as needed)

Naan

1 TB active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 TB white sugar

1/4 cup white sugar
3 TB milk
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cup bread flour
1/2 tsp baking soda

2-4 tsp garlic
1/2 cup butter, melted

In your mixer bowl, proof yeast in 1 cup warm water with 1 TB sugar (about 10-12 minutes).

Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, soda and 4 cups flour. Knead for about 5-8 minutes. Add the additional 1/2 flour if dough is too sticky. Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with damp towel and let rise about an hour, until doubled in bulk.

Punch dough down. Pinch off golf ball size balls. Roll and place on a tray at least an inch apart. Cover and let rise about 30 minutes or until doubled in size.

Stir garlic into melted butter and let sit for at least 20 minutes before using.

Turn on your grill. (I turn on high to heat it up, then I cook the naan between low and medium). Take the dough outside and roll balls as flat as you can and place on grill. Grill for about 2-3 minutes brushing with garlic butter. Flip and butter other side cooking for another 2-5 minutes.

You want the naan to remain whitish in color with only the parts touching the grill to be brown.

I promise I'll post pics the next time I make this!!!

Frog Eye Salad

sorry, no pretty photos because i ATE it too fast.

1 (16oz) package Acini De Pepe pasta
1 TB vegetable oil
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
2 TB flour
1 3/4 cup pineapple juice
2 eggs, beaten
1 TB lemon juice
3 (11oz) cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 (20oz) cans pineapple chunks, drained (use the juice for the pineapple juice)
1 (20oz) can crushed pineapple, drained (if you need a little more juice, you can top it off with this)
1 (8oz) carton cool whip
1 cup mini marshmallows, optional
1 cup coconut, optional

Cook pasta according to package directions. (the 2 tsp salt and 1 TB oil go in the water with the pasta to prevent it from getting sticky). Drain and rinse with water. Drain again and bring to room temperature.

While pasta is boiling, combine sugar, flour, 1/2 tsp salt. Gradually stir in pineapple juice and eggs. Cook over moderate heat stirring until thickened. Add lemon juice. Cool to room temperature.

Combine pasta with egg mixture lightly and refrigerate overnight in air tight container.

Add remaining ingredients. Mix lightly but thoroughly. Refrigerate until chilled in air tight container.(I usually mix all the fruit together in another container and put that in the fridge too, so I don't have to wait for it to chill again, but it does taste better after it sits for a few hours).

Consume within one week.

Baked Parmesan Jumbo Shrimp

 

• 12 jumbo shrimp (10 to 12 per lb)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove minced garlic
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• melted butter
•  lemon, cut in wedges

Peel and devein shrimp, leaving tails intact. Rinse. In a bowl, mix oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Toss shrimp in mixture to coat. Refrigerate 30 mins- 1 hour. In a shallow bowl, mix breadcrumbs and cheese. Heat oven to 475. Place each shrimp in mixture to coat lightly on both sides and place shrimp in an ungreased 9x13 pan (or larger if you're doubling). Shrimp should not touch. Drizzle with melted butter and bake on center rack for 10 minutes. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Eat. Repeat. Lick fingers.