Chocolate-Peanut-Butter-Coconut-Banana-CUPCAKES

My version of Ashley's [@ (neverhome)maker's] delicious cupcakes! Here's the original recipe:Big Hunk o' Love Cupcakes!

I changed it a little bit and added a chocolate coconut drizzle and coconut flakes... basically it's just decoration, but I think it's JAZZY!

And this is WOLFY! :D he helped make the frosting and suggested the addition of more peanut butter. (his favorite)

chocolate coconut sauce:

1/2 c chocolate chips

2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil

Melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Stir occasionally to keep the chocolate mixture glossy and prevent it from burning. Once the cupcakes have cooled and you've frosted them, drizzle it over!

Apricot Mulberry Cream Tart

I wanted to make a tart. So I did.
A light filling of cream cheese and sugar with bluberries and homemade apricot butter (more on that later!) folded in made this tart a unique and delicious experiment! Topped with fresh strawberries and mulberries from my very own mulberry tree made this tart a fresh and fruity treat. Homemade whipped cream and macerated mulberries in sugar was the perfect topping. The crust is so easy - it's just a sheet of puff pastry!

Ingredients:

- 1 sheet of puff pastry (thawed)

Filling:

- 1 package of cream cheese, softened

- 3 tablespoons of sugar

- 2 tsp. vanilla

- 1 egg

- 3 tablespoons flour

- about 1/4 c of apricot butter (maybe a little bit less) (you can also use apricot jam, or whatever your favorite flavor of jam is!)

- 1/4 c fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix the sugar, egg, vanilla and cream cheese together until smooth. Add the flour, and then fold in the apricot butter. Mix in the blueberries. Chill in the refrigerator until you're ready to use it.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Gently mold the puff pastry into a buttered nine-inch tart pan. Place in the center rack of the oven and bake for fifteen minutes, until lightly browned. Take the tart from the oven. Don't worry if it puffs up! You can just deflate it with a spoon.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees. After you take the pastry out of the oven, pour the filling into the center of the tart and return it to the oven, and bake until the filling is set, about 20 minutes.

If you have a mulberry tree, like me, then go pick some mulberries! Blackberries or raspberries would make a splendid substitution if you are lacking in the mulberry tree department. Mash the berries together to form a sort of sauce. Add about a tablespoon of sugar to the mixture and chill in the refrigerator. When the tart comes out of the oven, pour some of the berry juice over the top, and watch as it soaks into the tart. Let the tart cool! Later, slice some strawberries on top, and make some whipped cream! Eat! Eat! Eat! and love.

True Blood Cupcakes

My vampire partner in crime (Brandon) and I decided to celebrate the third season premiere of what we consider to be the best show ever, True Blood. The vampires, the maynads, the shape-shifters, the telepaths, and now, the werewolves? We couldn't not celebrate! Our party was red-themed, because, well, vampires = a whole lot of blood! We had strawberries, watermelon, blood orange soda, red vampire pancakes (red food coloring with a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle of each cake = YUM), red eggs (food coloring and copious amounts of ketchup!), garlic bread with tomatoes, AND last but not least, RED CUPCAKES!!! These were dang tasty. While I did use a boxed white cake mix (whatever, they still taste wonderful!), I made homemade cream cheese frosting and it was to die for! (Or, to become a vampire for!) Add almost a whole bottle of red food coloring, and you've got some bona fide TRUE BLOOD CUPCAKES! I think everyone enjoyed them, because they were all gone by the end of the day and some people had two! (including myself).

1 white cake mix - I think I used Betty Crocker?

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 egg whites (I saved the yolks and made an omelette the next morning... success!)

LOTS OF RED FOOD COLORING! (as much as you want)

Frosting:

1 block of softened cream cheese

1 stick of sweet cream butter

Powdered sugar (as much as you want until you get the desired consistency/amount of sweetness)

red food coloring, lots of it.

Red sprinkles for decorating!

Make the cake mix and add the food coloring! Pour the batter into cupcake tins filled with paper liners. They say to fill the cups 2/3rds full, but I filled them up more because I wanted really big cupcakes.

Put them in the oven at 350 degrees and bake for about 18 minutes!

Let them cool completely before you frost them.

The Frosting

cream the butter and the cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and mix a little more. Add the drops of food coloring and mix with a wooden spoon until you reach the desired consistency. Spread generously on the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle the finished product with red sprinkles! Et VOILA! True Blood Cupcakes whenever you want them!