Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

I got this recipe while listening to KLove. It sounded like so much fun to make. I have been waiting for over a month to have a reason to make these. Today we had the end of summer picnic at church and I thought these were the prefect way to send summer out.

 
Ingredients:
 For the cupcake:
1 box Lemon Cake Mix
For the cupcake filling: 
1 can Strawberry pie filling
1 jar Lemon pie filling
For the Glaze:
1 container frozen lemonade concentrate (thawed)
1 cup powdered sugar
For the Frosting:
1 jar Lemon Frosting
1 jar Strawberry Frosting

Directions:
Prepare, bake and cool the cupcakes according to package directions. After they’ve cooled, poke holes with a fork in the tops of the cupcakes. While the cupcakes are baking, puree the can of strawberry pie filling in a food processor or blender. Pour in the jar of lemon pie filling and blend the fillings together.
Also while the cupcakes are baking, mix together the lemonade concentrate and 1 cup powdered sugar until the sugar dissolves. Once the cupcakes have cooled, spoon the glaze over them. (I would recommend having something under your cooling rack to catch the runoff of the glaze.) Fill a decorating bag with the strawberry lemon filling. (Insert Bismarck tip 230 into the bag before you fill it with the filling.) Insert the tip in the top center of the cupcake and squeeze out a small amount of the strawberry lemon filling into the cupcake.
After all the cupcakes have been filled, you’re ready for the last step - frosting! Fill one decorating bag with the strawberry frosting and one decorating bag with the lemon frosting. I used tip 1M for both frostings. Pipe a spiral of the lemon frosting around the outer edge of the cupcake and pipe a second spiral of the strawberry frosting on the top center of the cupcake.

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:
4 cups peeled, sliced peaches
2 cups sugar, divided
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups milk
Ground cinnamon, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the peaches, 1 cup sugar, and water in a saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Put the butter in a 3-quart baking dish and place in oven to melt.

Mix remaining 1 cup sugar, flour, and milk slowly to prevent clumping. Pour mixture over melted butter. Do not stir. Spoon fruit on top, gently pouring in syrup. Sprinkle top with ground cinnamon, if using. Batter will rise to top during baking. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes.

To serve, scoop onto a plate and serve with your choice of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Blueberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

Cooking spray
1 (16-ounce) bag (2 cups) frozen blueberries (keep frozen until ready to use)
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup milk (regular, lowfat or skim)
Ice cream, for plating, optional
Blueberries, for garnish, optional

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9 by 12-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine the blueberries and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Toss to combine and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the remaining 1 cup sugar, the flour, and baking powder.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and milk together until smooth. Gradually beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then scatter the blueberries over the batter, letting them sink in, without mixing. Bake until the top is golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Spoon the cobbler into bowls and top with ice cream and/or blueberries, if using.

Blessing of the Care Packages

The care packages being blessed.  The packages are being mailed out today.  I hope that the soldiers get them quickly and enjoy them.

Some of the Boxes during Children's Time

Me talking about the Baking Project

The Boxes being Blessed

Baking for a Soldier

I have participated in a couple Baking Gals projects for servicemen who I did not know.  I found this to be such a rewarding project.  We just had a soldier from from church to get deployed.  I thought that it would be a great idea to do this for someone that I actually knew.  Therefore, I spoke at one of my United Methodist Women meetings about how awesome that I thought it would be to do a project similar to the Baking Gal's but on a smaller more local level.  They agreed to participate.  Tomorrow our boxes will be blessed at church and then they will be off to their intended soldiers on Monday.  I am so excited to see this happen.  I hope that we can continue to do this for local soldiers.

Here are some pictures of my box as I put it together:

My Empty Box

A Postcard from My Chinese Exchange Teacher Ting

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Sugar Cookies

Macadamia Nut Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chunk Cookies

Drink Mixes

My Card

My Finished Box

Tomorrow I will post pictures of the Blessing!!!!

Decorated Cakes

The Cake that I made for the Spring Meeting for the United Methodist Women.

The train cake that I made for one of my friend's son's second birthday. It is the cake that I am most proud of right now.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients:

18 chocolate sandwich cookies, plus additional as needed

Solid vegetable shortening, for greasing the pans
Flour, for dusting the pans
1 package white cake mix (18.25 ounces, with pudding)
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 cups heavy cream (whipping cream)

Directions:

Place the chocolate sandwich cookies, in batches, in a food processor and process until you have crumbs. You should have 2 1/4 cup crumbs. If not, process more cookies until you have the correct amount. Set aside.

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F.
Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess flour. Set the pans aside.
Place the cake mix, water, oil and eggs in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes more, scraping down the sides again if needed. The batter should look well combined.
Fold in 1 cup of the cookie crumbs until well distributed. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pans in the oven side by side.
Place a clean, large mixing bowl and clean electric mixer beaters in the refrigerator while the cake bakes. You will use these to prepare the whipped cream.
Bake the cakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger, 28 to 32 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 minutes.
Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and invert each onto a rack, then invert again onto another rack so that the cakes are right side up. Allow to cool completely, 30 minutes more.
Preare the whipped cream: Remove the chilled bowl and beaters from the refrigerator. Pour the cream into the bowl and beat with the electric mixer on high speed until it forms stiff peaks, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 minutes.

Gently fold in 1 cup of the remaining cookie crumbs, distributing them well. Chill the whipped cream until the cake has cooled completely.
Carefully slice the cake layers in half horizontally, using a large, sharp serrated bread knife or a long piece of unflavored dental floss. You will have four layers.
Place the bottom half of a cake layer on a serving platter, cut side up. Spread with some of the whipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread with whipped cream.

Next, add the bottom half of the second layer, cut side up and spread with whipped cream. Top with the matching top half of the layer, cut side down. Spread the top and sides of the entire cake with the remaining whipped cream using clean, smooth strokes.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup cookie crumbs on top of the cake. Place the cake in a cake saver or under a glass dome and chill until time to serve.

Store this cake, in a cake saver, under a glass dome, or lightly covered with a waxed paper, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Picture from my kitchen and recipe from the Cake Mix Doctor.