Cream Soda Cupcakes

So I learned about these "pop" cakes on Rachael Ray, she had a girl called "The Hungry Girl" on there (no I had never heard of her before I made my blog... apparently I live under a rock.. oopsie!) but anyways, this lady does  stuff for Weight Watchers so I'm surprised I'd never heard of her, and she puts together low fat recipes, or just healthy ideas for snacks, etc.

One of these healthier options is a pop cake. It's when you use a box cake mix and instead of adding the eggs, oil, etc. like the directions on the box says to, all you add is a can of pop (diet pop preferably). I guess it will take a cake that's like 500 to 700 calories and make it into something like only 100 calories. So I thought I'd give it a whirl!!

I love cream soda and I figured it would be a nice little flavor for my first pop cake. But you can use any flavor you like (orange or root beer are on my list to try!)

For the Cake 
1 box white cake mix
1 can of cream soda

Preheat the oven as per the instructions on the box. Line your muffin tins with cupcake liners.

Put the cake mix into a mixing bowl and add almost the whole can of pop (reserve a couple of tablespoons for the icing). Mix it thoroughly and pour into cupcake liners.

Bake as per directed on box.

Remove from muffin tins and let cool on racks.

For the Icing
1/2 cup butter
3 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp cream soda
1 tbsp vanilla
A couple drops of red food coloring.

Begin by mixing 2 cups of the icing sugar with 1/2 cup of butter. Once it's creamy add in the cream soda and vanilla. Add in the remaining cup of icing sugar.

Once everything is mixed to creamy add in food coloring until icing is pink throughout.

Ice your cupcakes and you're ready to go!

Enjoy!!

Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps

Do you love the Ginger Molasses Cookie at Starbucks?? Me too!! I promise you this recipe tastes (in my opinion) pretty much exactly like the Starbucks one.

These gingersnap cookies are soft and chewy and moist just like the starbucks ones, they're just a little smaller. But hey... if you want you could make yourself a giant ginger molasses cookie with this recipe if you wanted to.

1 1/2 cups butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
4 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar (for rolling cookies in)

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the egg one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the molasses.

In a seperate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Gradually add this to the creamed mixture (in about 3 or 4 additions). Mix well.

Refridgerate the dough for about 1 hour or until it's firmer and easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Roll into 1 inch balls and then roll in sugar. Place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until puffy and lightly browned.

Cool on baking sheet for about 1 minute, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Enjoy!!

Ooey-Gooey Turtle Bars

I made these little babies for our annual Christmas party this year and I've had a few requests for the recipe.

They are absolutely delicious... chocolately, caramely, nutty goodness!!

I got this recipe off the Pillsbury website a couple years back and it's become one of my favorite squares.

When you make these, it's a good idea to let them sit overnight before you cut them into squares. I had made them ahead of time last year and they cut perfectly, I made them the day of our party this year and they didn't cut and hold their form as well as they had after sitting overnight.

1 roll Pillsbury sugar cookie dough
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
3 cups chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 jar of caramel ice cream topping
1 cup graham cracker crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Press the cookie dough evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9" x 13" pan.

Sprinkle 1 cup of the chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of the pecans over top of the dough and lightly press them into the dough. Set aside.

In a medium sized saucepan melt the butter over medium-high heat, stir in the brown sugar, caramel topping and graham cracker crumbs. Bring this to a boil stirring contstantly. Pour over the crust in the pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with the remaining cup of chocolate chips and 1 1/2 cups of pecans.

Bake 25 - 32 minutes or until edges are deep golden brown and pecans are lightly toasted.

Cool these completely before covering with plastic wrap, then let the squares set overnight, especially if you're planning on cutting them into little squares for a platter or something. (It cuts better if it's left to set overnight).

Enjoy!!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

These tasty little treats are a cookie that my Mom has been making for years, they're super sweet and delicious.. just the right amount of cherry flavor to go perfectly with the chocolate.

I like to eat them while they're still warm so that the chocolate is nice and gooey!

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter (or margarine)
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp milk
1 jar of maraschino cherries (reserve 1/4 cup of cherry juice)
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a small bowl combine the flour and cocoa and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat the butter until softened. Add in teh sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda, mix until well combined. Add in the egg and vanilla, mix together then slowly add in the flour/cocoa mixture.

In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, combine the sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips until melted. Stir in 1/4 cup of the reserved cherry juice and mix until completely smooth.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Press a cherry into the center of each cookie and bake for about 9-10 minutes.

Let cookies sit for about a minute after pulling them out of the oven and then cover each cookie with a spoonful of the melted chocolate mixture. Let sit on cookie sheet for another minute or so, then move to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Blossoms with Caramel Kisses

So it's that time of year again... my absolute favorite time of the year.. Christmas!!!!! I am loving the snow, the lights, the decorations, Christmas music, and the cheerful atmosphere. I love every single thing about Christmas and I look forward to it all year.

One of my other favorite things about Christmas is of course Christmas baking!! One of my fave recipes are these peanut butter blossom cookies, I've been making them for years and they're absolutely delish!! You can use any type of Hershey's kiss that you like, but I always like to use caramel kisses.. adds a little extra something when you bite into them!

The dough for these can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge over night, I usually do that. And once they're baked they freeze well too if you want to make them ahead of time. I tend to make all my baking a few weeks in advance and then freeze it until our annual Christmas party.

1 cup butter (or margarine)
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup white granulated sugar (for coating)
Approx. 55 Caramel Hersey's Kisses

In a large bowl cream the butter, add in the peanut butter and sugars and beat until fluffly (approx. 2 mins). Add in the egg and vanilla and combine well, then add in the milk and mix until it's completely creamed into the mixture.

In a seperate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add it to the peanut butter in a couple off additions until well combined.

Cover the dough and chill in the fridge for an hour or so (or you can make ahead of time and put it in the fridge overnight to save time).

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls and coat in the white granulated sugar and place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 8 - 10 mins or until lightly browned. Immediately after removing them from the oven press one Hersey's Kiss to the center of each cookie.

Let cool completely.

Enjoy!!

Pumpkin Pie

One of my very favorite desserts in the world is pumpkin pie, I could literally eat it every single day. I love the sweet yet spicy taste, the creamy texture..the all around deliciousness of this dessert.

I had always just bought my pumpkin pies, but this year I took a crack at making it myself and it turned out awesome, I don't think I'll ever buy it again. This pie turned out absolutely delish and it was super easy to make. I doubled up the recipe below and made two, because 1 pumpkin pie is simply not enough in this household.

1 (9") unbaked pie crust
1 can pumpkin puree
1 can light sweetened condensed milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Whisk together the pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs and spices in a large bowl until well blended.

Pour into the uncooked pie crust. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 F. and continue baking for another 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted an inch away from the crust comes out clean.

Cool completely and store leftovers in the fridge.

Enjoy!!

Chicken Souvlaki Dinner

Opa is one of my favorite places to eat.. love their tzatziki sauce (which you can buy at Sobeys for those of you who are interested) their calamari, their chicken pita wrap, the chicken skewers.. yum!

So I decided to make my own chicken souvlaki. It turned out great, I think I'll be making this a lot more in the future.

2 large chicken breasts
2 lemons
2 palmfuls of  greek seasong (you can use more or less)
pinch of salt
Olive oil
2 pitas
seasoning salt
1/2 cup tzatziki sauce
I recommend marinating the chicken a day in advance.

Cut your chicken into good sized chunks (enough for 4 skewers). Put them into a large zip lock bag (the freezer kind). Cut the lemons in half and squeeze into the zip lock bag taking care to prevent the seeds from dropping into the bag. Add in the greek seasoning, a little bit of salt and a generous drizzle of olive oil. Seal the bag and sort of move the chicken around in the bag using your hands (from the outside of course! lol). Let this sit in the fridge overnight to marinate.

When you're ready to make your skewers, pull your bag of chicken chunks out and begin to slide them evenly onto wooden sheesh kebob skewers. Heat up your pan over medium-high heat (or a George Forman grill if you have it - that's what I used). Once the pan is hot add your chicken skewers and let cook evenly on each side (about 4 or 5 mins per side).

While your chicken's cooking you can make your pita. Warm up a pan over medium-high heat and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over your pitas. Once the pan is heated toss in your pitas (oiled side down) and let warm for about 1 - 2 minutes on that side, drizzle the un-oiled side with olive oil, flip and season with seasoning salt. Let other side warm for about 1 - 2 minutes. Take out and cut into 4 quarters.

Serve alongside your choice of salad (greek, cesar, etc.) along with tzatziki and you're all set!

Enjoy!!