Special Occasion: Bananas Foster Cupcakes!

I haven't made cupcakes in a few months. I've been baking all kinds of other things, especially cheesecakes, because I want to open a bakery in a few years. When I do, I'm going to have a lot more than cupcakes there. Cupcakes are one of my favorite things to create, though! I like pretty much anything miniature, and I love sweets, so cupcakes are perfect for me!

However, living in the Deep South for most of my life has opened me up to a lot of Southern influences, especially Cajun influences. I live right outside of Mobile, AL, which means I'm about 4 hours away from New Orleans, LA. It's one of my favorite places to go in the U.S!

On one of the last trips I made to NOLA, I had an opportunity to eat at Chef Emeril Legasse's Delmonico restaraunt. It's that kind of restaraunt you see in movies or read about, where there's no price on the menu and the waiters attend your every need (they also have a little table shovel for crumbs!) For a party of three, we paid about $100 dollars each. The most memorable thing that we ate there was dessert:

BANANAS. FOSTER.

Oh my goodness, I've never forgotten the Bananas Foster that I ate at Delmonico's! That being said, I've created Bananas Foster cupcakes on behalf of my friend Tara's birthday!

These are by far, one of the fanciest and best-tasting batch of cupcakes I've ever made. If you ate about six of them, you would probably begin to feel a buzz from all of the rum! It's a spiced coconut cupcake with rum in the batter, spiced cream cheese icing with rum, and the bananas foster spooned on top. The whole package has hints of spicy cinnamon and nutmeg, and a smooth taste of coconut and rum. The Bananas Foster topping finishes it off!

Caution: These cupcakes are messy, delicious, and highly addictive! Click on the Recipes tab to view the recipe!

Comment with feedback and questions :)

Chocolate & Coconut Lovers Duo

I got a request for anniversary cupcakes for a friend's parents. She told me one likes coconut, the other likes chocolate. I really REALLY wanted to do a coconut chocolate mix but I decided I better stick with safe instead of risking sorry!

I wanted an elegant, romantic look for these little cakes. I wanted to express an emotion with them. In my imagination, I saw an elegant happy couple, eating dinner in candlelight on the terrace of a castle.

Basically, I imagined Beauty and the Beast (in his Prince form) NOMing on some of my decadent cupcakes.

With that in mind, I created these little Beauty's.. tee hee :)

Check my Recipes tab for recipes on these cupcakes and other decadent delights!

Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake

I finally found a recipe that I didn't feel too inclined to improve! It's sweet, creamy, fruity, and absolutely delicious!

I strive to make cheesecake's that compare to The Cheesecake Factory or better. I've been baking cheesecakes now since February (when I made Randy a Lemon Cheesecake for Valentine's) working to perfect my technique.

I think I finally did it!! Just make sure you have enough butter melted in with the graham cracker crumbs for the crust.

Fresh or frozen blueberries can be used, but fresh is best in my opinion.

The best part of this recipe (besides eating it) is swirling the blueberry sauce in the cheesecake before baking! I felt like I was creating a work of art, and I've been inspired to try it with paint.

To swirl, drop spoonfulls of blueberry filling onto cheesecake. Take a butter knife and, pointing straight down, swirl the blueberry filling around in the cheesecake, until you're satisfied with the design.

The recipe for this delicious cheesecake can be found here, or on the recipes tab!

Chicken Bacon Spinach Pasta Bake!

I am addicted to Pinterest; I find all kinds of recipes, art, DIY, etc. I found a recipe on there a few weeks ago that I've been thinking about making. Chicken & Spinach Pasta Bake.... Mmmmmmmmmmmm!
I decided to take this good looking pasta and make it a lil' more zesty. ;)

I added some spices, cooked everything in bacon grease ('cause that's healthy), and put extra cheese on it! In my personal opinion, the original recipe would have been too bland for me. I need FLAVOR! This recipe was a great start so kudos to the creator, I just had to add some zing.

Introducing... Chicken BACON Spinach Pasta Bake! Randy and I danced around in the kitchen listening to a Led Zeppelin Pandora station while making this scrumptious meal.

The simple things in life can often be the most precious moments

To view the recipe and instructions, click here or the Recipes tab at the top of the page.


This recipe was adapted from http://www.savingmoneylivinglife.com/2010/06/chicken-spinach-pasta-bake.html

Blueberry Peach Crumbles (BPC)

I was given a FULL gallon sized bag of fresh blueberries today; I can tell you now they will not be wasted!

Last week I bought 3lbs worth of peaches for 99 cents per pound at the grocery store. When I recieved my bountiful gift of blueberries this afternoon, my thoughts automatically went to Blueberry Peach Cobbler (I now dub the, BPC!). However, I was running low on milk and eggs so I decided to make individual crumbles instead of the cobbler. There aren't any great benefits to having the crumble in little ramekins; they are just really adorable that way and I can take them to friends as individual servings.

Here's the recipe:

First, go to Pandora and make a Black Keys Station.
Second, JAM OUT to Black Keys while baking.

Ingredients:

For the fruit filling:

2 pounds firm, ripe peaches (6 to 8 peaches)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup fresh blueberries (1/2 pint)

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

For the crumble topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Filling: Rinse the fruit clean, then peel the peaches and section (or to make it super easy, just cut it up in chunks.) Place peaches, sugar, and lemon juice in a non-stick pot on medium heat. Stir it up. When the sugar begins to melt and the juice begins to bubble, stir the blueberries in. Let the blueberry/peach mixture cook for about 3 more minutes, then remove from heat. Stir in vanilla extract and flour and spoon into ramekins

Crumble: combine the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the butter is the size of peas. Rub the mixture with your fingertips until it's in big crumbles, then sprinkle evenly over the fruit. Place the ramekins on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the tops are browned and crisp and the juices are bubbly. Serve warm or at room temperature.
If you want to make these early, store the unbaked crumbles in the refrigerator and bake before dinner.
Here's some pictures for reference

Cook and stir in sugar mixture

This is what it will look like when it is ready to go in the ramekins

Spoon into ramekins after adding flour

Add crumble topping (I made the mistake of not using parchment paper on the cookie sheet -_-)

All done!

This recipe was adapted from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/peach-and-blueberry-crumbles-recipe/index.html

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