Strawberry White Hot Chocolate

I love everything Valentine's Day, mostly because I love pink and hearts, but we don't really celebrate it. It just isn't a priority. I'll make some treats and we will go out to dinner at some point, but nothing more than a normal date night. Of course, our anniversary and my birthday surround it and I better get treated like a queen those days! I'm just selectively high maintenance. It works well for us.

But......

I made you a present. I hope you like it. Since I can't give it to you, I gave it to my guys for Valentines Day.

It's super easy. And delicious.

To start go make this Strawberry Syrup. It's handy to have around.

And it's so much better than the fake stuff you can buy at the store.

Then make this hot chocolate but let's change a few things. 

See below or the full recipe! 

Strawberry White Hot Chocolate

serves 4

8 oz white chocolate, chopped 

1/2 cup strawberry syrup

2 cups milk

1 1/4 tablespoons cornstarch

In a a saucepan, over med/low heat, heat your chocolate and strawberry syrup. Stirring often, do not let the chocolate burn. Once the chocolate is melted, whisk in 1 3/4 cup milk, making sure that all the chocolate and milk combine evenly. In a small bowl stir the remaining milk and cornstarch together, making sure there are no lumps. Stir it into the hot chocolate and let it cook until thickened, stirring often. Serve warm with whipped cream, marshmallows or alone. (I prefer unsweetened whipped cream)

Chocolate Peppermint Chip Cookies

Peppermint is one of my favorite things and pair it with chocolate and I am all over it! I made this Chocolate Peppermint Chip cookies for my little Monkey's Cubbies class. I baked up a half a recipe of these guys and a recipe of these cuties, packaged them up in cute little bags that I stamped with a snowman and sealed with red washi tape and sent them to church with him. I hope the kids like them as much as we do. I can't keep my husband out of them. As I type this I have butter softening for a second batch. I may buy multiple bags of the Peppermint Chips to keep around the house so I can have Christmas in July with the babies.

 I scooped the remainder of the recipe into balls tossed them onto a cookie sheet and stuck them into the freezer just to firm up, then I moved them to a freezer bag so that I could pull them out of Christmas Eve and bake them up for family and possibly leave some for the big man in red, if they last that long, I can make no promises. ;-)

Chocolate Peppermint Chip Cookies
yields approximately 3 dozen if using a small cookie scoop
1 1/4 cups butter softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp peppermint extra
2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
 3/4 cup peppermint chips

Place butter and sugar into the bowl for your stand mixer and beat on medium speed around 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Stop and scrap down the sides, add in the eggs and vanilla and beat another minutes longer. In a separate bowl combine flour, soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients and mix on medium until the dough comes together and flour is no longer visible. Stir in the chips. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 F and top baking sheet with parchment paper and scoop cookies on keeping 2 inches apart. Bake 8-9 minutes, until edges have set. Allow to cool for around 5 minutes on cookie sheet before moving them to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely before putting hem in an airtight container. Cookies will keep for about a week, as long as they are kept in an airtight container.

Thick and Creamy Hot Chocolate

Long time no see! Life has been pretty chaotic lately and the desk top computer has not been plugged in for a week. I rearranged the living room and we just haven't set it back up yet. Luckily, we just got our laptop fixed. I have some good things planned for the next couple of weeks too. Cookies, candies, crafts and DIY gifts are all on the agenda from now until Christmas and I'll be sharing as much as possible. Then come January, I want to start juicing again. I won't be doing it as meal replacements this go around, I'll just be doing it to get some of the fruits and veggies that I don't feel I'm getting enough of.  So, that's the plan for upcoming posts but lets get to the current business at hand. HOT CHOCOLATE time!!!!

 This hot chocolate is the most decadent hot chocolate I have ever had. It is super rich and creamy. It is intensely chocolate. I love the dark lusciousness of the semisweet chocolate but if you prefer milk chocolate you could easily switch it out or if you like the darkness of the semisweet, but prefer a little more sweetness add a couple of tablespoons of sugar to the chocolate at the beginning of the melting process. I made this little treat for my family yesterday while we relaxed in our jammies and watched cartoons. I added a little extra milk to my youngest's so that it wasn't too thick for the straw of his sippy cup. My oldest had his with whipped cream and marshmallows. I wanted whipped cream, but my husband preferred the unadulterated chocolate.  We all enjoyed our little treat that felt so decadent. Make it for your family and they'll believe you've crafted something amazing, but in reality its just a little melting and stirring. It can be our little secret. I'll be making it with white chocolate and peppermint on Friday, for just the hubs and myself, to go along with  Love Actually  for our date night and then we will be having again for our family movie watching Elf. 

Thick and Creamy Hot Chocolate

Serves four

8 oz semisweet chocolate chopped 

2 cups milk

1 tablespoons cornstarch

In a a saucepan, over med/low heat, heat your chocolate and 1/4 cup milk. Stirring often, do not let the chocolate burn. Once the chocolate is melted, whisk in 1 1/2 cup of remaining milk, making sure that all the chocolate and milk combine evenly. In a small bowl stir the remaining milk and cornstarch together, making sure there are no lumps. Stir it into the hot chocolate and let it cook until thickened, stirring often. Serve warm with whipped cream, marshmallows or alone. (I prefer unsweetened whipped cream)

Nutella Cheesecake Brownies Sprinkled with Pink Himalayan Sea Salt

 I made these for the, girls only crafty retreat, my mom and I usually go to twice a year. It is always a perfect combination of girl talk, crafting, relaxation, bad chick flicks, mostly from the 80s and tons of food. These brownies are based from my favorite brownie recipe, from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess, which also happens to be one of my favorite cookbooks. This recipes makes a large amount of brownies, not only do you use a 13x9 pan but they're thick too, so don't freak out when you realize you need 3 sticks of butter and half a dozen eggs. I usually cut them fairly small because they're so rich and fudgy this time I cut them larger than normal and got about two dozens brownies. I also made the "Elvis Blondies" that have been rolling around in my head but I think they need some serious tweaking before I commit to a recipe just yet. 

   We had a few brownies left since we had a massive amount of food as usual. In sweets alone we had these brownies and my blondies along with some butter pecan cookies that were delicious and addictive, a sinful chocolate cake with coffee filling, chocolate butter cream and chocolate ganache, banana pudding that was so light and creamy, grabbed that recipe up, some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, stole that recipe too, and guava and cream cheese empanadas that were redonkulously good. That was just the sweets, don't even get me started on the hearty stew, chips, onion dip, AREPAS, got that recipe too, HOLLA, muffins, bagels, veggies and Mediterranean salad that I need that recipe for, so good! Its amazing we weren't sick from gorging ourselves. So needless to say I had some brownie leftovers that I sent to work the mister, mostly to keep me from eating them ALL. According to what I heard back, his employees LOVED them too, like rolled their eyes back in their head and started muttering things, that kind of good. I highly recommend you make these for someone with a sweet tooth or for a chocoholic, they will be indebted to you for life! 

Adapted from: Nigella Lawson's Birthday Brownies

1/4 cup Nutella

1 1/2 cup butter (3 sticks)

14 oz super dark (but not unsweetened) chocolate, chopped

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup semi sweet mini chips or chopped hazelnuts

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup Nutella

1 egg

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon Pink Himalayan Sea Salt (or any type of Sea Salt, preferably a coarse grain)

Preheat over to 350° F. Butter and 9x13 baking pan and line with parchment paper. In a medium to large sauce pan, melt, Nutella, butter and chocolate over medium heat. Once melted remove from heat. In a separate bowl whisk together vanilla, eggs and sugar. Stir egg mixture, flour and chocolate chips or nuts into sauce pan. Pour batter into prepared pan and set aside. In another bowl, (I would recommend using a mixer here) whisk, cream cheese, Nutella and sugar together until smooth. Spoon medium sized dollops over the surface of the brownie batter and swirl with a knife and sprinkle on sea salt. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until mostly firm but not totally set.Allow to cool before slicing. Makes a maximum of 48 small brownies or 24 large brownies.

Booooolicious Cupcake Minis {Dark Chocolate Dipped, Marshmallow Ghost Topped, Mini, Black Velvet Cupcakes}

Better late than never, right? These cupcakes were supposed to be up last week buuuuut I didn't get them done until this morning. I was going to finish them last night but at 10 pm, just as I was about to head into the kitchen, I felt the sudden urge to dress as Minnie Mouse for Halloween and scrambled around the house looking for costume pieces. Anyway, back to the cupcakes, I love love love these and they are delicious. This is my absolute favorite frosting to make and eat. And the ganache is so decadent tasting. It may look like a cute kiddie cupcake but it tastes like a grown up treat! My boys are all kinds of excited for trick or treating and I still have a LOT to do, so let's get to it!

For the Black Velvet Cupcakes:
1 3/4 cup a/p flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup hot coffee (I used hot water and a tablespoon of instant coffee)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Fill you mini muffin pan with liners and set aside. In a large bowl, but not the bowl for your mixer, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. In the bowl for your mixer add, sugars and butter and mix well. Add you eggs and vanilla, mix for 1 minute on medium speed. Stir in your dry ingredients until just moistened. Slowly drizzle in the coffee while mixing on medium-low speed. Scrape down sides and mix until just combined. Do not over mix. Fill your cupcake pan up 2/3 of the way. Bake for approximately 12 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Allow to cool before dipping in ganache.
*Yields 4 dozen mini cupcakes.

For Black Chocolate Ganache:
6 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz half and half
a few drops of black gel food coloring

In a double boiler, heat all ingredients on low heat, stirring constantly until smooth and combined. Once smooth and glossy remove from heat. Dip the tops of the cooled cupcakes in, coating all visible cake.
*Roll in sprinkles if desired.
* I can not stress this enough, do NOT use black liquid food coloring

For the Marshmallow Frosting:
4 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups corn syrup
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In the bowl for your mixer, beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Gradually add sugar, continuously beating until soft peaks form. In small saucepan, heat corn syrup to boiling. Pour in thin stream over egg whites while beating on medium-high speed. Continue to beat until frosting is stiff. Beat in vanilla. Allow to cool slightly, fill a piping bag fitted with a large round tip and pipe on frosting in tall peaks. 
*I used mini chocolate chips for the ghost's eyes.
*I would wait to top with the marshmallow within a couple hours of serving since the ghost like to lean. 

Mickey Party Part 3: Recipes and other fun

These are some of the recipes we used. I don't have links to all of the yet, but I will get them and update the post as soon as I do. We simplified this year by only having desserts on the menu. All of these recipes are really easy and most can be made in advance. You can freeze cakes and frosting, jello will keep for day before hand and cookie dough can be frozen as well.  

My boys love cupcakes, then again, what kid doesn't?As I mentioned before I wanted to simplify and I knew most of the kids wouldn't be able to tell the difference between cakes made from scratch and boxed mix so my Mother in Law made the cupcakes with a strawberry cake mix and I topped them with this Swiss Meringue Buttercream that I had frozen left from Liam's birthday dinner, I added a teaspoon for strawberry extracts and red food coloring and topped them with red sugar.

Once again, we had jello. We've had it in some form at Caleb's 2nd and 3rd birthday parties also. We used Food Librarian's Finger Jello Recipe (again) except we used Pineapple Jello and Strawberry Jello to make it in our color palette. 

If you know Caleb you know that boy LOVES doughnuts so we made Fudge Doughnuts (recipe to follow in a separate post) and Cherry Lemonade Doughnuts. I made a double batch the the recipe and baked it in a full size doughnut pan for about 8 minutes. I made the glaze thinner as well but that is just my preference. These doughnut are delicious and I high recommend them! 

Caleb asked for an orange cake and I don't have the exact recipe to share since my Mom made it out of a few different recipes but it was a white cake with orange zest and orange extract with orange curd between the layer and a basic buttercream scented with orange zest and orange extract. It would be an easy thing to replicate with your favorite cake recipes and you could use this lemon curd and swap lemon juice and extract for orange.  

My Mom made these cookies. I know they were a cream cheese sugar cookie and they were delicious! But, I don't know what recipe she used on these either but when I find out I'll update and post it. We got the cookie cutter from The Disney Store. 

The punches were a Berry Lemonade and a Pina Colada Punch that was similar to this. The lemonade was a mix (simply because of sheer volume needed) with frozen berries stirred in that flavored it as they thawed.

Well, that is it for the food. This year was pretty simple. Of course most of the fun came in the form of the bouncy house. We love having it and so do the boys. We also love that my in laws do that for the boys as their birthday gift too. We may need to start looking into investing in one since we would be a third of the through paying for one by now. :) I believe the conclusion is that we need a slide next year though and as much as I hate to admit it, I have to agree. Although that injured back of mine did not love me after I got out of that thing, it was worth it to play with my boys. 

 It's hardly noticeable but I used my other Ikea end table by the bouncy house as a place to for people to leave their jewelry, glasses, drinks, etc and to store shoes underneath. I also placed another sigh that said Liam's and Caleb's Playhouse. I'll be making blank or generic forms of those signs and posting as PDFs soon. Then I will be done posting about the party, finally. :)

***UPDATE: for more info on the party look here, here and here. 

Mustache Bash {Liam turned 1}

Its been almost three weeks since we celebrated Liam's first birthday. We had a "small" dinner with Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, which is small for most families, it was 16 for us and that isn't everyone. To make things easier we did a pasta bar. We put out three types of pasta, three types of sauces, two toppings, salad fixings and homemade bread with a dipping oil for dinner and we had two desserts, cupcakes and chocolate pavlova. I made a couple of cute menus to go along with and called it a day. Easy right?

My menus looked like:

I grabbed a couple of snap shots of the food with my parent's camera since mine was dead and we were saving it for shot of the birthday boy and his "smash" cupcake. I'll try to update the post when I get those from them. But for now all I have is dessert shots. We didn't really decorate beyond that, we just used white serving dishes and mason jars. In fact any decor we used was just left out from our Family Cookout two weeks prior. Good timing huh? 

Vanilla Confetti Cupcakes with Swiss Buttercream and Chocolate mustaches. I bought my mold at Bake It Pretty. 

Chocolate Pavlova with whipped cream and strawberries. 

I know my husband took some pictures and/or a video with the camera with barely a charge but they have disappeared into oblivion. I've searched the entire computer and they are gone and I wiped the memory stick after I uploaded them. I don't know what I was thinking?!!? The one time I try to be efficient it backfires. Oh well, we have out pics from our phones

and the shots I put on Instagram and the pictures my sister put on there as well. 

Family Cookout

Well... Ok the title is a bit misleading. We did cookout on the grill that morning but about an hour before there was a huge downpour so we set up inside but luckily it stopped and we could eat out side and the kids could play in the pool. But it was still a bummer because we had a lovely table planned out and anddddd all of decorations clashed with my Mom's hideous wallpaper. (no that is not an insult to her it came with the house she just hasn't gotten it covered up yet) Thenn I went to print out my neon menus and they printed some wacky colors no where near what I designed but they still worked out. It's all good we still had amazing food and so much fun... Until my Granny had to go to the emergency room at the end but that's another story and no worries she is fine. She just gave us a bit of a scare.

You can see more shots on my Instagram feed, 

How about roasted veggie kabobs? Yum!

And I didn't take a good shot but COCONUT RICE y'all!!! 

So goood!

We had several homemade salsas for the chicken, pork tenderloin and sausages.

Pineapple Mango

Creamy Tomatillo

Spicy Red (Restaurant Style Salsa)

and 

Lemon

The "drink bar" had Sweet Tea

with Blackberry Syrup,

Peach Mint Syrup

and

Lemon and Lavendar Syrup

 and

Watermelon Coconut Cooler

For dessert we made S'mores.

We set up a S'mores Bar that had so many options and was a hit with the kids and adults. 

Cookie options were:

Graham Crackers

Chocolate Chip (crispy and soft)

Pecan Sandies

and Butter Cake

Marshmallow options were:

Extra Large Plain

Strawberry

Keylime

Chocolate and Other Goodies options were:

Milk Chocolate

Dark Chocolate

White Chocolate

Mini Candy Bars

Lemon Curd

Toasted Coconut

Strawberries

(We were supposed to have a caramel sauce too but I forgot to get it out, oooppsss. Just pretend its there on the otherside of the lemon curd, okay? Thanks.)

We made a list of suggestions but some of the best ones were one of a kind creations!

My little monkey had Chocolate Chip cookie with milk chocolate, a strawberry marshmallow and fresh strawberries.

This one is chocolate chip cookies (soft batch) a plain marshmallow, a mini 3 Musketeers and toasted coconut.

The one on the right was the same as Caleb's first one but minus the strawberries.

On the left was butter cake, a huge marshmallow, Lemon curd and toasted coconut. No chocolate at all.

It was my favorite!

 My cousin, Keith, created this, it was an open face s'more with butter cake on the bottom, a lime marshmallow, lemon curd and toasted coconut. He may have also added a piece of pork tenderloin to it. Not for everybody but that sounds pretty good to me.

My Momma about to try to stuff all of that in her mouth. Her's was butter cake, plain marshmallow, lemon curd, coconut and strawberries.

I'm pretty sure the cake, lemon curd, coconut, strawberries and lime marshmallows were the surprise favorites among the options. I really think we may have to recreate this idea, sooner than later!

Homemade Christmas Part 2

So I'm a little late here. I feel like a major slacker but the last two weeks before Christmas included sick kids, exhausted husband and kinks getting thrown my way. The last 4 days before Christmas I came down with the plague. I almost cancelled Christmas morning brunch at my house but I just kept trucking along and made it through. I made it until December 26th and then I deflated like a popped balloon! So my head is all swimmy and things that are stationary seems to be moving, in fact the computer seems to be giving motion sickness. I felt worse this time last year but I had come down with morning sickness that time. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that is not this case this time! Wow! this year has been CRAZY!!!! Anywhoooo, I'm rambling, maybe its the cold medicine  These are a few of the handmade gifts we made but I plan to show you more. While wrapping the gifts at 2:00 AM Christmas morning I realized I never did take proper pictures of my work. So I'll have to borrow a couple of things back to take some shots and remake some of the food items.

Christmas Morning with my men!!!!

Apple Butter

This is seriously one of the easiest things I've ever made. Luckily I have a Pampered Chef apple slicer so the hardest work was the clean up. I started it at 1:30 am, went to bed got up at 8:00 am stirred it a few times and it was done by 11:30 am I blended it and it was ready to can. I have a timer on my slow cooker so I didn't have to worry about checking it. I may have stopped around eight hours but I wanted the flavors to be a deep and rich as possible.

What it should look like at each stage

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

7-8 lbs of apple (I used Gala and Red Delicious but a tart apple would be good also)

1 1/4 cups raw sugar (adjust according to the sweetness of you apples)

3 TBSP molasses

1-2 TBSP cinnamon (I like mine with alot)

*optional*

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cloves

(I didn't use them this time)

Peel, slice and core your apples. Place them into your crock along with the remaining ingredients cook on low for 8-10 hours. Stir occasionally. Once they are done either mash with potato masher or use an immersion blender to smooth. (If you like it with more of a chunky texture use the potato masher) You can either can or freeze. It will last up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator.

Peanut Butter Bacon Bark

This may be the ugliest thing I've ever made but it may also get me a "BEST BIG SISTER IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE" award. My little brother may just be obsessed with bacon. So I remixed peppermint bark, tossed out the normal ingredients and Davidified it. 

Peanut Butter Bacon Bark

1 pack of bacon

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cinnamon

12 oz Reese's peanut butter chips

6 oz white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F. Start by layering bacon onto a broiler pan. In a small bowl combine sugar, cinnamon and chili powder. Top the bacon with sugar mixture and pat down so that all the bacon is covered. Bake 15-20 minutes. Watch carefully the sugar will burn easily. Pull out and let cool. Once bacon has come to room temperature, chop bacon into fairly small pieces. Cover a baking sheet with wither wax paper. Pour peanut butter chips into a medium sized microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until chips are melted. (My microwave takes 1:00 to 1:30 minutes) Pour melted peanut butter chips onto wax paper smooth out into a flat rectangle shape. Top with your chopped bacon. While that cools melt your white chocolate chips in the same manner as peanut butter chips. Drizzle melted white chocolate over and let cool. Refrigerate until cool and hardened. Once hardened break into bite sized pieces. 

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mix
(I made a double recipe which makes between 14-16 cups)

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mix
5 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons salt
26 oz box of powdered milk
32 oz powdered creamer
2 cups cocoa
16 oz instant chocolate pudding
2 cups brown sugar
12 oz semisweet morsels
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside. In a large heavy bottom skillet heat sugar over medium heat stirring often. Cook until sugar has liquefied and turned a dark amber. Pour onto baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and let cool and set until hardened. Once hard break into chunks and place into a food processor. Pulse into a powder. (I had to do it in batches) Combine all ingredients in a huge bowl and process in food processor in batches until all ingredients are combined and a fine powder. ( I used a medium plastic box with a lid to hold it all until ready to bottle) I poured mine into 16 oz powdered creamer containers that had been washed and cleaned with the label removed.


I also made this Praline Sauce, Coconut Lime Sugar Scrub and these Oatmeal Fudge Bars I did change a couple of things for the recipient, I added chopped macadamia nuts to the crust and swapped white chocolate for the dark. I have made the bars a couple of time by the recipe and I love, love, love them! 

Chai Pumpkin Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting

 Break out the knee boots and cardigans, fall is HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Leaves are falling, pumpkins and apples are everywhere, warm colors are ready to be worn, cool breezes are blowing!!!! I love fall! I can't get enough of oranges, golds and browns right now.

I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin though. I hate pumpkin pie but I love pumpkin bread and muffins. Weird, right? Hot tea is something else I have to have in the fall. In fact as I write there is a cup of Chai steeping in the kitchen with my name on it. Lee loves Chai so the inspiration for the these cupcakes came from him. Until I bought the tea for him this week I'd only had a few sips of Chai here and there; I'm usually a Green tea type of girl. But he LOVES Chai and kept trying to get me to drink it but I always went for a mocha of some sort. Now that I have finally had it,  I knew it was a perfect pairing for pumpkin. And man was I right. I think it is the best spice cake I've had. Like ever. No. Seriously. Best. Spice. Cake. Ever.

 And I'm totally obsessed with the Nutella Cloud Frosting from Caleb's party cupcakes. Suddenly it hit me, combine my new cupcakes with that frosting and these little beauties were born!

Chai Pumpkin Cupcakes

6 tablespoons butter at room temperature

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup self rising flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2  teaspoon baking soda

2/3 cup pumpkin puree

1/3 cup vanilla Greek yogurt

1 Chai blend tea bag

3 tablespoons buttermilk

Yeilds 12 standard size cupcakes.

Preheat oven 350 F. Line a standard muffin tin with liners. Pour milk into a small bowl with the tea bag and for 30 seconds and let steep.
Beat butter, sugar and eggs until fluffy.
Sift together all dry ingredients.
Mix together pumpkin and yogurt. Before you pour in the milk squeeze the tea bag to make sure you get as much Chai flavor as possible. Stir the milk into the pumpkin mixture. Add dry ingredients and wet ingredient and mix until thoroughly combined.  Scoop into muffin pan and bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool before icing.

For the frosting visit Sweetapolita. If you have nut allergies in the family a basic cream cheese frosting would be amazing also.