Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

  Yes, I just love cupcakes...and when I saw these I knew that I had to make them! They were so cute! =)  I needed a snack to take to an apple butter boiling at my parents on Saturday and thought these would be perfect. I had to make a quick trip to the store that morning to get candy canes and then I got busy baking.

Hot Chocolate Cupcakes

yield: 12 cupcakes

 1 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

6 tbsp butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup milk

Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until smooth & creamy. Add eggs and vanilla beating until fluffy. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Mix in on low speed alternately with the milk; beginning and ending with the flour. Fill paper lined tins and bake @ 350* for 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
Topping:
2 cups 10x sugar
1/4 cup shortening
2 tbsp+2 tsp milk 
1 1/4 cup mini marshmallows
3 peppermint candy canes*
Beat sugar, shortening and milk until smooth. Spread on the cupcakes. Top with 8-9 marshmallows. With a serrated knife cut the unwrapped candy canes into 2" pieces. Unwrap and tuck a piece into each cupcake.

* I couldn't find regular size  candy canes so I just used mini ones. I cut off the curved part and crushed it up and sprinkled it over the icing before topping with the marshmallows. Gave them a bit of a mint flavor that was quite yummy =)

**I also made a recipe and a half because I wanted some to take to our church fellowship meal on Sunday. Hence the more that 12 cupcakes that you can see...

 

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I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For He has clothed me with garments
of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe 
of righteousness....
~ Isaiah 61:10a


Much love =)
♥ Sheila 

Doughnut Muffins

  October 29 and SNOWING?!?! No, I am definitely not ready for that! It was very pretty, but it is still October after all! It was snowing a bit Friday night, but I really was not expecting it to amount to much at all....well, to my surprise when I woke up Saturday morning it was still snowing and the ground was white. Not cool, especially when it is still supposed to be fall. Thankfully it didn't last too long and the sun soon melted most of it. Have you figured out yet that I am not a big fan of winter? =) I try not to complain too much though because it is a part of God's planning and creation.
   Daren was getting off shift and I wanted to have breakfast ready for him when he got home. I hadn't made muffins for awhile, {at least not for ourselves} and wanted to try some that I had never made. I found this recipe and it sounded easy and good so decided to try them.

Doughnut Muffins

 yield: 24 mini muffins

   1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, melted

3/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup flour

Topping:

1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Mix sugar, butter and nutmeg in a bowl. Stir in the milk. Mix in baking powder and flour just until combined.

Grease 24 mini muffin cups. Fill about half full with the batter. Bake @ 350* for 15-20 minutes until tops are lightly golden.

Meanwhile melt the butter. In a separate bowl mix the sugar and cinnamon. When the muffins are finished baking remove from the tins, dip in butter and roll in the sugar mixture. Let cool.

  They turned out great....really did taste kinda like a doughnut. {I think it's the nutmeg} I love the small size too, especially when your serving other things as well. A regular sized muffin can be a bit too much. For breakfast this morning I stuck them in the microwave to warm them up a little and ate them with a cup of hot tea....almost enjoyed them more the second time around! =)

 

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Better is one day in Your courts

than a thousand elsewhere.

~Psalm 84:10

Blessing on your day! =)

♥ Sheila 

Tangy BBQ Chicken Wings

   I was at Mom's the other day and saw this recipe. She said they really liked them and I had some wings in the freezer, so I copied it off and brought it home hoping to give them a shot in the near future.
  We had an appointment last evening to get our photo taken for the new church directory and since these wings are done in the crockpot I thought it would be great to come home and have dinner waiting. Dug the wings out of the freezer to thaw, prepared everything and stuck them in the crockpot to cook.
  Put some potatoes in the oven on time bake and got broccoli out of the freezer to thaw, so when we got home all that I needed to do was cook the broccoli. {which I just fried in a skillet with olive oil and seasonings until tender crisp} We were sitting down to eat in a little bit of no time which was great because I was hungry!! ;) 

Tangy BBQ Chicken Wings with

Homemade Ranch Sauce

•  5 lbs chicken wings, thawed
• 2 1/2 cups ketchup
• 2/3 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2-1 tsp liquid smoke {optional}

Place the thawed wings on a greased 11x15 baking sheet. Bake uncovered @ 375* for 25 minutes. Drain. Turn wings and bake for 25 minutes until juices run clear. Combine BBQ sauce ingredients and boil for 5 minutes. Place half of the wings in crock pot and cover with half of the sauce. Add remaining wings and sauce. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours. {I cooked them for 4 and they were almost too done so think 3- 3 1/2 hrs would be good}

Ranch Sauce:

1 1/4 cups sour cream

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp cilantro

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Blend together well and serve with wings.

    I made them just like the recipe this time, but when I make them again I'm going to spice them up a bit. They were really tasty like this, but we like spicy food and I think it would make them even better.

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Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will worry about itself.

each day has enough trouble

of its own.

~Matthew 6:34

Much love! =)

♥ Sheila