More showers, this time of the baby variety!

A little celebration with a lot of 4th graders and their teacher who is expecting her first, a boy!

A trip to the orthodontist

 

Thanks  to our incredible friends, we continue to have parties to plan and food to prepare!  Check out this set up for the Weld County Dental Society hosted by Richter Orthodontics.  Thanks especially to Cheri for thinking of us!

 

These teeth may be in need of some straightening!

Homemade White Bean Hummus served with

pita chips and fresh veggies.

 

Tomatoes stuffed with the wonderful BLT dip.

 

The famous turkey, cheddar, tomato and pickle skewers with the sweet honey mustard dip.

 

For the health nuts.

 

We even made the most of the dental utensils.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Oh my goodness. These may be the best cupcakes ever.  I am not even sure how the cake part turned out because I was too busy being amazed by the cookie dough filling and the the frosting that looks and tastes just like cookie dough.  There was just a lot of doughy goodness going on they were great! 

As I clicked back through to find the recipe to copy and paste for you, I ended up at Annie’s Eats.  One of my all time favorite spots for great sweets.   Trust me, you will want to move these to the top of your baking list for this week!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes
Printer-Friendly Version

Yield:24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
3½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp. salt
3 tbsp. milk
2½ tsp. vanilla extract

For decoration:
Tiny chocolate chip cookies
Mini chocolate chips

Directions:
To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F.  Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total).  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar.  Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.  Stir together to blend.  Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated.  Blend in the vanilla.  Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners.   Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake.  Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy.  Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth.  Beat in the flour and salt.  Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Time to try something new!

In my blog hopping this week I found two new cupcake recipes to try. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

and Cafe Mocha Cupcakes

So far so good on the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes.  The batter was thick and it didn't ooze all over the bottom of the oven so I would consider the baking part a success! Plus my I ended up with a dozen more than it said so I have some to experiment on.  I plan on filling and frosting tomorrow so stay tuned for a progress report and pictures! 

Oh, and I am going to give this little tool a try.  Wish me luck!



From Williams Sonoma of course :)

Some Good Advice

 

I am pretty sure that this woman wrote this post just for me.  I know we have never met, but I feel like she is fully aware of the small disaster that is my kitchen/dining room table when it comes time to decorate cookies.  

So hop on over to Sweetopia and read up on all her great tips on organized cookie decorating.  There are lots of other great ideas and suggestions so I bet you will be stuck there for a while!  Happy reading!

I only have one suggestion to add.  Don’t wait until 9:00pm to start your decorating like I do.  It only results in chaos and chastising from Green Bay fans.  (See example below)  And me committing to redo do them pending a Packers victory on Sunday. 

 

Bridal Shower Brunch

 

Saturday we hosted a bridal shower for one of the cutest, sweetest brides ever.  With the help of her family, his family and their friends, they pulled off planning a wedding in a week!  All in order for the couple to be happily married before he got deployed.  (Which he has yet happen and is a story for another post!) 

We decided a Pampered Chef shower was the way to go and they got everything on their list plus more!  

We borrowed several of the white serving pieces  from Ro, our consultant and the brunch buffet turned out beautifully. 

 

There are lots of people to thank for all their help with this. 

1.  Jennifer, for ironing all the tablecloths!

2. Brian, for buying Laura a Cricut for Christmas so we could make all the cute toaster, mixer and coffee pot picks.

3. Ro, for being such an accommodating Pampered Chef Consultant and spending an entire day with us.

4. Everyone who signed up to bring food and who stayed to wash the dishes.

5. Lauren, for the awesome granola recipe, and the idea for the party!  Keep those links coming!

6.  The bride, the groom and their wonderful families.

Did I mention Laura’s Cricut?  Oh, yes I did.  Thanks Laura!

All things Faux Bois

 

I have a slight love for all things faux bois.  Did you see this? 

 

This is what Mom had for us to test out over Christmas.  Of course, she had ordered all the necessary materials and all I had to do was make it happen. It turned out great and when we packaged it all up it looked just like the picture!

Here is another great idea, among thousands I am sure, but this one looks realistic and inexpensive.  They would be great for a centerpiece for a woodland themed party! 

 

Ok, back to work for me.  I am still trying to recover from Christmas, if you can’t tell by my lack of blog posts!