No-bake Chocolate Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups sugar
  
• 8 tablespoon butter
  
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• 1/4 cup Unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
  

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup Nuts, if desired chopped

1/2 cup coconuts, if desired

3 cups Quick oats

In large saucepan, combine sugar, butter, milk and cocoa. Heat, stirring frequently until boiling. Boil 1-2 minutes; remove from heat and cool 1 minute. Stir in peanut butter, vanilla & salt and mix well. Add oatmeal (and nuts/coconut if desired). Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper and let cool until it hardens.

Crisp, Light and Fluffy Waffles

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, separated

1. Preheat waffle iron. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, oil and egg yolks until mixture is smooth. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gently fold egg whites into batter.
2. Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray. Pour mix onto hot waffle iron. Cook until golden; serve hot.

The Best Chocolate Cupcakes Ever!!

These yummy little cuties have devils food cake, chocolate pudding, sour cream, and oreos. How could they not be oh so good. I found them at The Idea Room. This blog really lives up to it's name. You can find this recipe here. They are sure to please.

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

So I have made this few times now and everyone always LOVES it. Cool and creamy, perfect for summer gatherings.

Strawberry Whipped Sensation

4 cups fresh strawberries, divided
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 (8 ounce) carton whipped topping , thawed, divided
8 Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookies, finely chopped
1 tablespoon butter, melted

Line 8 x 4 inch loaf pan with foil. Mash 2 cups of strawberries in large bowl. Stir in condensed milk, juice and 2 cups of the whipped topping; pour into pan.

Top with combined chopped cookies and butter; press into mixture. Cover.

Freeze at least 6 hours. To serve, invert onto plate. Remove foil. Frost with remaining whipped topping. Top with remaining strawberries, sliced.

Variations:
When I make it I use all the light stuff, like lite Cool Whip, light butter, reduced fat Oreos and everyone still loves it, so you may want to try it and save yourself a few calories. Also I like to add a dot or two of red food coloring to give it a pretty pink color. The other variation I like is chopping the strawberries on top smaller, just so it is easier to cut and stays prettier too.

ENJOY!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

To make these little cuties, use a cake mix/recipe of your choice. I used Pillsbury strawberry cake mix for these. Pre-heat oven to 350. Fill cones about 2/3 full and bake about 20 mins, until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. The cake will be just over the top of the cone. Then pour about a spoon full of batter in each cup of a muffin tin. They cook quickly so check on them after about 8-10 mins. Once they are cooled use a little frosting to stick the cupcake tops on the cones. Then use a pastry bag and a star tip to frost around the cupcake. Then using a butter knife in a circular motion mess up the frosting. You can just apply the frosting like you would normally frost a cupcake, but I think it looks a little better applying it with the pastry bags. Then add sprinkles.

The frosting I made for these cupcakes came out really yummy, but I made it up and am not sure exactly on the amounts. So if you are not familiar with making frosting this may not a good recipe to use, but if you can kinda figure it out for your own here is basically what I did.

1 package sugar free jello mixed with one cup hot water that has soft set in the freezer for about 30 mins. With a mixer combine a thing of lite coolwhip with the soft set jello. I used about a cup of the coolwhip mixture and mix in about 1/2 - 3/4 cup of shortening and powder sugar until desired texture is achieved.

Buttermilk Pancakes and Syrup

Buttermilk Pancakes

2 cups flour
2 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
4 TBS oil
2 TBS Sugar
2 tsp backing soda
1 tsp salt

Beat eggs until nice and fluffy and beat in the rest.


Buttermilk Syrup

1 cup buttermilk
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter
>>>>>>>>>>>>just throw ingredients in a bowl and microwave for 5 mins. Then add
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
>>>>>>>>>>>>stir them in. syrup will foam

Alan's Orca Wubbzy Dragon Cake

To make this cake you first have to make the fondant. Making fondant is inexpensive and easy. I make MM fondant. This is were I learned how to make fondant. You will want to make your fondant at least 24 hour before you want to use it. I also made raspberry buttercream frosting it fill it and for the crumb coat. The cake is a Birthday Butter cake. It is a very dense cake and great for holding the weight of the fondant.


Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

(this recipe makes about 3 1/2 pounds that is a lot of frosting, like enough for 3 wubbzy cakes so you may want to half it, although 3 pounds is great when making a huge wedding cake.)

-2 sticks butter, room temperature
-2 cups Crisco shortening
-1 teaspoon butter flavoring (Wilton’s makes the best flavored version)
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I use Wilton’s Clear Vanilla)
-1/2 teaspoon almond extract
-2 pounds powdered (confectioners) sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt

-Raspberry Jams about 1/2 cup

-Water as necessary (I usually add about 2 tablespoons but you may need more or less depending on the humidity in your neighborhood)

In the mixer, mix butter, Crisco shortening, and salt together to incorporate, about 5 minutes on low.

Add almond, butter and vanilla extracts. Mix together well. Add about 1 pound of powdered sugar and the meringue powder and mix.

Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar at a time and mix until you get the consistency you want.

Add the raspberry jam to taste. You can also omit it and you have a classic buttercream frosting.

Add a little milk, a teaspoon at a time, if necessary to thin the frosting. Blend well on low for several minutes.

Use immediately or cover and refrigerate. NOTE: Buttercream Icing will last for weeks as long as it is well sealed.

This icing is used for icing cakes and cookies as well as for borders and art work on cakes. It also makes a good tasting filling between layers of the cake and under fondant icing.

Birthday Butter Cake

(I doubled this recipe to make the Orca Wubbzy Dragon Cake)

2/3 cup butter

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon butter flavoring

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons backing powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk

about 1/4 a cup large rainbow sprinkles rainbow jimmies

Heat oven to 350. Grease and flour pans. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and butter flavor in large bowl until fluffy, on high about 5 mins. Beat in flour, baking powder, and salt alternately with milk on low speed. Pour into pans.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. About 30 to 35 mins. As soon as you take the cake out use a tea towel to press the cake so it is flat and even. Cool in pan about 10 mins and then remove it from the pan. Cool completely before frosting.

Put it all together

To make this cake I used one 10 inch, one 8 inch, and one 6 inch round cake. Each was about 2 1/2 inches thick. First frost the 10 inch cake with buttercream and then cover that with blue fondant. then on a separate plate stack the 6" layer on the 8" layer and using a knife cut/carve out where the cave will be. (Cut carefully because the cake you cut off will be needed later) Then unstack the layers, fill with thin layer of buttercream and restack. Pick out the best shape of cake from the cake you carved out and set it aside to from the Dragon's body. Use all the other leftover cake pieces to fill in the edges and form the island. Cover the whole thing in buttercream and once you have the shape you like cover the whole thing in sandy covered fondant (there will be folds around the cave area.) Trim off any extra fondant and place island on the water.