Since she couldn't be found for a comment, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make my own damn rainbows.

Rainbow cupcakes that is. These are very cute, super colorful, and a nice way to take my mind off the weather for a bit. Consider these little lovelies your sunshine, rainbow, and pot of gold all in one.

If you're waiting for Ms. Nature to send any of those gifts to you, you could be waiting a long time. 

I also think she may have stolen my garden gnome. 

You can certainly use a box cake mix for these as well. If you do, be sure to use a white cake mix. If you cannot find a white cake mix, no worries, you can still use golden or yellow cake mix, just be sure to use ONLY the whites of the eggs. The yolks will make it yellow and it will be difficult to get true colors.

½ cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
3 egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla
1½ cup flour
1½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup buttermilk (You can substitute sour cream here as well)

Preheat oven 350ºF.

In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt together; set aside. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar together until creamy. Add egg whites, beating well. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated.

Using mixer, add flour mixture and milk, alternating between the two - beginning and ending with the flour.

Using a ladel, spoon exact amounts of batter into 6 cups.

Once that step is done, use food coloring to make desired shades. The bolder and deeper the color, the better.

Line a 12 cup muffin tin with foil cupcake liners. (Mine are paper lined foil wrappers). Starting with purple (or blue if you choose to omit purple) carefully layer colors on top of each other, finishing with red. If you're a bit heavy handed, you can transfer colored batter into squeeze bottles. It will yield almost perfect layers.  

Bake cupcakes for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and it comes out clean. Don't worry if the colors bubble to the top. You can cover up any imperfections with frosting.

Allow to completely cool and frost cupcakes with desired frosting. I used a chocolate buttercream frosting.


CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING  - This recipe makes quite a lot of frosting, but you can freeze what you don't use.

½ cup shortening
½ cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
¾ cups cocoa, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Cream shortening, butter, and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar and cocoa on medium speed, scraping down bowl often. Add milk and corn syrup until light and fluffy.

Yield: 12 cupcakes.

Happy Baking!

Sunday is Mother's Day.

In honor of a few special Mama's I know, I made cake pops. If you've never heard of them before, you will now. These ingenious little treats are the brainchild of Bakerella. The flower idea I got from Bridget over at Bake at 350.

I've seen these cake pops making their way around the internet for a few years now; I've also noticed them recently popping up in a popular coffee house chain. Heck, I've even picked up Bakerella's how-to book a few times when I visited the book store, but they kept missing my 'need-to-make-these-like-yesterday' radar until I was looking for fun treat my daughter and I could make together. 

Well slap me silly for waiting so long and call me Crazy. I am in love. These pops have two of the three most important factors to earn the BB's stamp of approval: easy and delicious. I guess you could also classify them as authentic. The third most important factor. 

Be sure to treat your Mama real good this Mother's Day. Buy her something that she has had her eye on for awhile or something she wouldn't buy for herself and take her out for a delicious meal. Be sure to wear clean underwear, tuck in your shirt, and comb your hair.

She'll be so proud you've listened.

Happy Mother's Day to all you Yummy Mummies out there. You are beautiful. You are one of a kind. You are loved.



1 box of cake mix
1 tub frosting (or you can use your own) in the SAME flavor as cake mix

Assorted colors of candy melting wafers. We used orange, purple, and pink.

Happy Baking!

The Easter Bunny has gone back into hibernation for another year.

While I love to to fill my kids baskets with sweet treats, I tend to go overboard. Finding sugary surprises I know they will love to tear into come Easter morning is fun, but once the dust settles and the craziness passes, I'm left with chocolate oozing out every cupboard, drawer and closet. Of course, with bathing suit season lurking around the corner, it's imperative to get it out of the house as soon as possible. This is when I dig out recipes I keep for such occasions; recipes that don't mind if chocolate isn't in standard chip form and uses up a good chunk of the loot.

Despite the fact I have been baking these particular cookies what seems like forever, I only seem to make them around Christmas and Easter when said chocolate likes to crawl out of its hole and shout, "Here I am!".

Although I would prefer dark or milk chocolate, white chocolate adds the necessary sweetness to give amazing flavour to these cookies. I'm sure you'll agree. 

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY COOKIES

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks

1 cup dried cranberries
½ cup chopped pecans, optional

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

In a separate mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar together until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir into butter mixture.

Add in white chocolate and cranberries with a wooden spoon. This is a great time to use up some of that leftover chocolate. Just chop into chunks and throw into batter. (The chunkier, the better!) Add in pecans, if using. 

Drop by heaping spoonfuls or use a small scoop with a retractable mechanism onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 9-10 minutes. Do NOT over bake. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Yields: About three dozen. Cookies will keep for several days in an airtight container at room temperature.

Once in a while, a dessert that is just too amazing for words will present itself to you.

Tres Leches cake is one of those desserts. I am so not kidding.

My friend, Daniela, who hails from Mexico, introduced me to this gorgeous cake about 4 years ago. She thoughtfully brought me a piece that was leftover from a party she had with her family. True story, I licked the dish clean.

I was so very fortunate to be reunited with this mouthwatering masterpiece a few months later at her daughter's birthday party, but this time, the cake was made by a close friend of hers who happens to be pastry chef...and Mexican, so we are talking authenticity at it's finest. 

I moaned through every single bite. In front of complete strangers. In a building that echoes. Loudly.

Dignity - Nil. Stomach - 1.

½ cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

5 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1½ cups all purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 cup milk

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk OR coconut milk

TOPPING

1 ½ cups whipping cream

¼ cup powdered sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy; mix in eggs and vanilla.

Combine flour and baking powder; add gradually to butter mixture, stirring to blend.

Bake for 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Pierce cake with a fork all over....and I mean all over! I used a skewer and realized I would be there all day!

Combine the 3 milks, and pour on top of cake; cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 4 hours or overnight.

I told myself that if I ever started a blog, I would only stick to making sweets and desserts since there are so many baked goods I would love to share and would love to try.
However, there is one savory recipe that cannot go by without speaking of. One of my most favorite restaurants is Chili's. Top 2 for sure.

Unfortunately, where we live, the chain doesn't exist. Actually, I lie. There is ONE Chili's about an hour from us in the city, but if I decide to drive that far, I might as well go over the border and do some shopping Stateside where everything is cheaper.

When we do have the opportunity to go to Chili's, I am so predictable when it comes to ordering what I want there. My favorite dish is actually an appetizer.

The Southwestern Egg Rolls are just ridonkulous! It's like a meal packed neatly into a tortilla. They're AWESOME! If you've been and enjoyed them, can I get an Amen? If you haven't, give me one anyway. You will once you have them - I'm just saving you some time.

When I was pregnant with my son, I was craving these ALL the time. Sucks when there isn't one on the corner. Since the need to have them was nagging me incessantly, I had to find a recipe that was thisclose to the real deal that I could be satisfied with. I couldn't bring myself to have my husband make the hour trek over the border every time I needed them.

3 times and a hefty speeding ticket was enough.

SOUTHWESTERN EGG ROLLS
 

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, cook chicken approximately 5 minutes per side, until meat is no longer pink and juices run clear. Remove from heat and set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoon vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in green onion, jalapeno peppers, and red pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until tender.

Dice chicken and mix into the pan with onion and red pepper. Mix in corn, black beans, spinach, parsley, cumin, chili powder, salt and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat and stir in Monterey Jack cheese so that it melts.

Spoon even amounts of the mixture into each tortilla. I used egg roll wrappers. Fold ends of tortillas/egg roll wrappers, then roll tightly around mixture.

Arrange on a baking pan and brush generously with oil over the top using a pastry brush.

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Serve with ranch dressing.

If you wish, you can also deep fry them. To do so:

Spoon and fold as stated above. Secure with toothpicks. Arrange in a medium dish, cover with plastic, and place in the freezer. Freeze at least 4 hours.

In a large, deep skillet, heat oil for deep frying to 375ºF. Deep fry frozen, stuffed tortillas/egg roll wrappers for 6 minutes each, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels before serving.

Happy Baking!

This past weekend, I was busy making DOZENS of chocolate covered Easter eggs. Peanut butter, coconut cream, and chocolate ganache are among my favorite flavors, so I make them every year. The recipe is no secret, but it's so time consuming.

Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), I'm always left with extra chocolate once the last egg is dipped. Once upon a time, I would scoop all the leftovers into a zippered plastic bag and keep it for my next recipe. Not a big deal, unless you forget about them and discover 8 bags in the bottom of the pantry. Not that it's happened to me or anything like that.

About 10 years ago and 3 months into my relationship with my then boyfriend, now husband, my mother-in-law made these gorgeous little nests for Easter. Apparently, this is also how they make crispy rice cereal treats in England. Not a marshmallow to be had, only chocolate. It took her all of 10 minutes from beginning to end to make these adorable little treats. She decorated each of them with yummy confections like jellybeans, chocolate mini eggs and coconut and topped each one with a little chick. They were so cute and very tasty.

Suffice to say, over a decade later, the nests are a staple at Easter in my home.

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Just when my thighs were starting to speak to me again, I go and blow it.