Sugar Overload!

I sort of got caught up in a sweets frenzy and all I want to do is make cute sugary things. Maybe this is a precursor to a vegetable frenzy...yea I didn't think so either :). It's been fun though, I've enjoyed making new things and trying out new flavors and decorations. So long as I'm able to give the majority of what I make away I'm good with it!

This post contains a few things I've made over the past few days. Some pretty easy, some super easy, but all really good!

Oreo Truffles


You will need:

• 1 package Oreos
• 1- 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 2-3 cups chocolate discs, milk or dark chocolate

Crush all but 7 cookies in a food processor, or in a bag with a hammer if you're having that sort of day. Blend in cream cheese until it comes together in loose chunks.

Roll into 1" balls and place on a baking sheet covered in wax paper and put them in the freezer.

On a double boiler, melt down your chocolate discs and then dip the balls into chocolate, tap of excess and lay on wax paper to dry. You can sprinkle them with the remaining cookies crushed, crushed candy canes, sprinkles- the options are endless. Make sure you sprinkle as you go because the chocolate will begin to harden quickly since they were in the freezer for a while.

Some of mine were a bit bigger then an inch. Oops :) I sprinkled them with white non-perils.

I happened to have some pretzel rods laying around and I didn't want the leftover chocolate going to waste. How convenient! I topped them with some non-perils and crushed candy canes.

These chocolate laden treats should be enjoyed sparingly. Don't want to get chocolate wasted now, do we friends?

Source: Bakerella

On to more cupcakes, cause you know, I can't get enough of them! It's a sickness. They're on my mind all the time and now that I went to the new cupcake shop in Orchard Park my mind is reeling with ideas for cupcakes...and how much better then theirs they'd be...There! I said it.

Turtle Cupcakes

Make your favorite chocolate cupcake and icing recipe, at this point I'm not going to post chocolate cupcake recipes, it seems redundant. If it were a special recipe I would but these are just plain chocolate cupcakes.

You will need:

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp caramel sauce
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, roasted or not.

I made a caramel whipped cream to fill the cupcakes and topped them with a mound of frosting. Sprinkle chopped pecans over top. Fill a bag with caramel sauce and cut a teeny tiny hole and crisscross the caramel over top.

That's for about 12 cupcakes, double for a batch of 24.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes

You will need:

• 1/8 tsp mint extract
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• red food coloring
• crushed peppermint candies
• sprinkles

This is pretty much the same deal, except I mixed the extract and food coloring into the whipped cream, filled the cupcakes, frosted them and then sprinkled sugar crystals and crushed candy canes over top. You could also make these and chop up refrigerated Andes Candies and put those on top, and make the filling green to match instead of red. 

I pretty much go to Olive Garden for the Andes Candies :).

I made these a day ahead of time for the flavors to intensify. Make sure you don't store them together, otherwise you'll get some strange turtle cupcakes with a hint of mint. Yuck. Keep them refrigerated due to the cream filling.

Treat Yourself!

Look at these cute cupcakes!

Black Forest Cupcakes

I filled 24 chocolate cupcakes with a cherry whipped cream. I just whipped up some cream and blended about 2-3 tbsp of cherry pastry filling into it. Make sure your filling doesn't have large chunks of cherry, you may want to chop it up some if it does.

I topped them with a creamy whipped frosting. A Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting works well.

Some mini chocolate chips.

And a maraschino cherry that's been drained and patted dry with a paper towel.

They're so adorable!

Here's a photo of the center. These were best the second day, the cherry flavor had some time to seep into the chocolate cupcake.

How easy is that? I love the way they look almost as much as the way they taste :). Oh, and make sure to keep them refrigerated!

There's Nothing Cuter Than A Cupcake!

I love a perfectly frosted cupcake. There are beautiful cakes and delicious looking pies and tarts, but nothing beats a cupcake for me.

I had the cupcake itch earlier this week and Matt suggested lemon raspberry cupcakes (his favorite combination). I really wanted to do a black forest cupcake, but I decided on the lemon/rasp. I'm a good wife like that ;).

For the decoration I wanted to do something other then just flowers, pearls or dragees. I thought it would look nice and simple to make candied lemon peel and use that for decoration.

Candied Lemon Peel

You will need:

• 3 lemons
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups sugar

Peel your lemons with a veggie peeler, make sure to not peel any of the pith (white sour part under the peel).

Meanwhile, bring your 2 cups of water to a boil. When it's reached a boil, add the lemon peels and boil for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Remove the peels and add in your 2 cups of sugar. Once it has returned to a boil, add the lemon peels back in and boil until translucent. Mine could have been cooked a little while longer maybe. Remove the peels and let dry completely before storing. I sprinkled them with some additional sugar to give them a little extra sparkle.

The syrup can be save and used as lemon simple syrup for recipes or cocktails. I grabbed an empty liqueur bottle, washed it out and funneled the syrup into it after it had cooled for a while. That night I made a lemon drop cocktail. Yum!

Source: allrecipes.com

On to the cupcakes! I just made a box recipe of lemon cupcakes. After they had cooled, I took my tip #230 and filled a pastry bag with raspberry jam. I was nervous about exploding one or two of them but thankfully that didn't happen. It was pretty easy to see the cupcake rise a little as it was filling out with the jam.

Here they are, all filled and ready to be frosted!

I used the Wilton butter cream recipe. Normally I use shortening and water, but I had some softened unsalted butter so I made one batch with butter and milk and a second with shortening and milk. I think the milk gives it a better flavor than the water, but to be honest I prefer the shortening to butter. I just whipped the two batches together at the end.

Cupcakes are just so happy to me:).

I sprinkled some Wilton white sparkling sugar on the cupcakes and then topped them each with a candied lemon peel.

"Eat Me!" 

I will edit this post later today. Matt's going to eat one before we take them to the party and I'll post a picture of it cut in half to see what the filling looks like from the inside.

Here's a picture of the cupcake cut down the center. Matt gives them 2 thumbs up.