Sugar
Lee’s Lemon Cupcakes
So, my oldest turned 11 today……………… 11 , y’all!
It breaks my heart………….. mostly because it means I’m getting old.
However,
It doesn’t break my heart to share the cupcake recipe I made for her birthday.
A little while back, I shared a recipe of a cake that was my cake version of this very cupcake. Confusing? Hopefully not.
We bought some cupcakes that were called “Lemon Bliss” Cupcakes at Sam’s Club. They were instantly a HIT! Problem is, they are a seasonal item and you can’t get them all the time. One of my favorite things is to try to recreate foods that I have tried and put my own twist on them in the process. The cake was awesome and we had it for her birthday last year. You can check that post out here.
This year, we decided to do the actual cupcake version so we made a few adjustments.
With the cake I made, I used whipped cream as the “icing”. This time, I decided to go with buttercream and lemon pudding in the middle and also filled the inside of the cupcake with the pudding like a hostess cupcake.
The result was pure AWESOMENESS! The great thing is this cupcake is not heavy at all! I didn’t say it was’t fattening, just not heavy. So, I guess you might want to be careful since you could probably eat a few without blinking an eye. 😉
Have fun and let me know how your’s turn out!
Recipe: Lee’s Lemon Cupcakes
NOTE: It may be helpful to read entire recipe before starting.
Makes 24 Cupcakes (filled half way) or 20 Cupcakes filled 2/3 way high
Ingredients:
– 1 Boxed Lemon Cake , plus additional items needed for cake such as eggs, oil, water (etc.)
– 1 Box Instant Lemon Pudding, plus 2 cups milk needed for Pudding instructions.
– Lemon Buttercream Frosting (Recipe Follows)
– Cupcake Liners
– 1 Cupcake filler tip
– 1 Tip for Buttercream Frosting
– 2 Large Freezer Ziplock Bags
Lemon Butter Cream Frosting:
– 2 Sticks room temperature softened unsalted butter
– 6 Cups Confectioners Sugar
– 1/2 Cup Milk (I use Skim)
– 1 1/2 Teaspoons Lemon Extract
Directions:
– Line Muffin Pan with liners and mix and bake cupcakes according to cake instructions. Allow to cool completely.
– Meanwhile, make Lemon Pudding according to package instructions and put in fridge for 15 minutes to allow to “set up”.
– Make Buttercream frosting by beating 2 sticks butter with a hand mixer until smooth (about 2 minutes). Slowly add confectioners sugar and alternate between milk and confectioners sugar until all has been used. Add lemon extract and beat until completely smooth and all lumps from sugar are gone.
– Once cupcakes have completely cooled, take a large ziplock bag, snip one corner of bag at an angle and insert large long decorating tip for cupcake filling into bag. Fill bag with Lemon Pudding Filling. Seal bag and set aside.
– Take other large ziplock bag and snip a corner of bag at angle and insert another large decorating tip of your choosing for Butter Cream frosting. Fill bag with Butter Cream Frosting and set aside.
– Take cooled cupcakes and inserting the tip of the Lemon Pudding bag into center of cupcake, gently squeeze bag until you can see the lemon pudding filling come out of top. Finish filling remainder of cupcakes. You should have left over. Do not throw away! We will use at end.
– Take Butter Cream Frosting back and make a swirl around top outer edge of cupcake twice, allowing for a “circle” to remain on center of cupcake. Finish frosting remainder of cupcakes.
– Take remaining lemon pudding filling bag and fill remaining center “circle” on cupcake until pudding is level with butter cream frosting.
– Your done! Enjoy!
Rustic Apple Pie
A lot has been happening around here lately. For starters………………..
MY BABY BROTHER GOT MARRIED!
We are so so so happy for him and his new wife. We gained a sister, friend, and an entire new family that we deeply care for and love!
Now they just need to start having babies and my life will be complete. No pressure, right? LOL!
Well, Mom and Dad were here as well and one of the last nights they were here, we had everyone over for Sunday dinner and mom made Apple Pie! I have made it before, but when Mom is in town, it’s best to just leave things like this to the “professionals”. 😉
I LOOOOOOOVE HER APPLE PIE!
It always has this Rustic quality to it and I love that she never tries to make it too “fake looking”. Everything is from scratch, including the crust.
Just let me set the stage for you. It’s a crisp cool day in Fall. The aroma from the kitchen is taking over the house as the cinnamon and sugar fills the air. As you bring your fork to your mouth filled with that bite of perfection…….. um YEAH! That happened here that day! The crust was slightly crunchy, while the filling was a thick cinnamon apple yumminess!
Come on y’all, it’s FALL!!!
Why not get in the kitchen and bake you up some Apple Pie?
You know you want too! And just in case, because I love you so much……..Here is Mom’s recipe!
Recipe: Rustic Apple Pie
– 2 Homemade or Prepared Deep Dish Pie Crusts (*You will need 2 crusts, one for the bottom and one for the top. *NOTE: Crusts perform better when refrigerated well. If frozen, make sure to thaw completely and chill in fridge until you need it.)
– 15 Granny Smith Apples, Peeled, Cored and Sliced (*NOTE: Slice no larger than a 1/2 inch in thickness or apples will not cook properly)
– 1 Heaping Tbsp. Cinnamon
– 2 Cups Sugar
– 1 Tbsp. Cornstarch
– 4 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter
– 2 Tbsp. Milk
– Small amount of additional cinnamon and sugar for dusting the top of pie.
Directions:
– Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
– Take a 9in. pie plate and spread first crust evenly over bottom. Refrigerate.
– Place apple slices into a large mixing bowl.
– In a separate bowl, combine cinnamon and sugar and cornstarch.
– Add Cinnamon mixture to apples and mix well using hands, making sure all apples are coated well.
– Remove pie plate from fridge and add apple slice mixture. *NOTE: Apples will mound up in dish. This is normal and makes for a great pie!
– Cut 4 Tbsp. Butter in half and dot over apple mixture evenly.
– Top apples with remaining pie crust. Pinch all around edges of pie to “seal” crusts together. *NOTE: This can be done by using a fork or by index finger and thumb method all the way around.
– Brush top of pie with 2 Tbsp. Milk.
– Lightly dust top of pie with additional cinnamon and sugar.
-Cut 2-3 slits (1 in. long) in top of pie crust for steam to escape during baking.
– Bake pie in oven for 15 minutes.
– Turn temperature down to 350 degrees and continue baking pie for an additional 45 minutes.
– If at end of baking, pie is not golden brown, turn temperature back to 400 degrees and watch closely for 5 minutes. *That should do the trick! 😉
*APPLE PIE ALWAYS TASTES BETTER WITH VANILLA ICE CREAM! ……….. just sayin !
I hope you enjoy the recipe!
XOXO,
Esther
Mom’s Southern Stewed Apples
The other day was Em’s 7th Birthday!
I cannot believe enough time has passed to be able to say that.
I always try to make everyone’s favorite dinner for their birthday. My mom has always done that and it always made me feel so special. I have tried to continue this tradition with my own family.
One of her favorite things is my Mom’s Stewed Apples. She can eat enough to make her sick…… and I don’t blame her. I have to hold back myself.
They are SOOOOO good!
First, take some Granny Smith Apples. (I use the whole bag because I like to make a lot)
Peel, core, and slice. ( I use a peeler first, then put them under this handy little baby made by Pampered Chef)
I fill them up in the pot first to see how high they go. Then I put them into a seperate bowl while I ……..
Melted half a stick of butter in the saucepan,
Added some Cinnamon,
And for whatever reason, felt there wasn’t enough butter, so I added another half stick of butter. Yes, there is now 1 whole stick of butter in the recipe and YES! I’m SORRY! : D
Then I added a 1/2 cup of sugar and mixed until it was dissolved.
Add the apple slices.
Toss the apples until they are completely coated in the cinnamon/sugar mixture and allow to simmer for 45 minutes.
This is what they looked like after 20 minutes.
And this is what they looked like after 45 minutes. Softened and DELICIOUS!
Complete YUMMINESS!
Recipe: Mom’s Southern Stewed Apples
Inredients:
– 1 Bag Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
– 1 stick Unsalted Butter
– 3 Tablespoons Cinnamon
– 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
Directions:
– In a medium saucepan, melt butter on medium heat.
– Add cinnamon and sugar and mix well.
– Add apples and stir, mixing well in cinnamon/butter/sugar mixture. *Bowl will be very full, so be careful mixing.
– Allow to simmer on medium low, stirring occasionally for 45-50 minutes, or until apples are soft and tender.
*Make sure you stir occasionally! If not, sugar/butter mixture may burn.
Sweet Tea Biscuits
My next entry for “Sweet Tea Week” is none other than a tribute to this sites namesake. Well part of it.
It’s no secret that I love biscuits. Hence, one of my previous blogpost about, you guessed it! Buttermilk Biscuits. Here is a link to it in case you missed it before: http://babiesandbiscuits.com/buttermilk-quick-biscuits#more-564 . I have already proclaimed this at the top of my lungs and will continue to FOR – E- VER! (Remember that part in the movie, “The Sandlot”? Where Squints tells the story and he says,”FOR-E-VER”!) ????? That is the kind of forever I mean.
Anyway, moving on…..
I wanted to do a biscuit, but REALLY wanted to incorporate Sweet Tea somehow. I decided to use Paula Deen’s Buttermilk Yeast Biscuits as a base and then I tweaked it.
SO! This is what I did:
I must say, they turned out pretty nice.
First, I boiled 1 cup water and then added 3 Family Size tea bags. › Continue reading
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