Samoa Cupcakes

Does it get better when you transform your favorite Girl’s Scout Cookie into cupcake form? I mean can you really go wrong with anything in cupcake form? I don’t think so! My cousin requested Samoa cupcakes for her graduation party and I delivered these bad boys. They’re everything you want in a cupcake; sweet, salty and savory all in one bite. My frosting fell all because I was impatient with getting them done, but they still tasted delicious. Haidyn loved helping out making these while I enjoyed devouring 'em. 

INGREDIENTS

For the Cupcakes:

•  1 box of Devil’s food cake and all ingredients needed to make cake
•   1 ¼  box of Keebler Coconut Dream Cookies

  

For the Salted Caramel Frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter 
•  1/2 cup caramel sauce 
•  1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
•   4 cups powdered sugar
•  1 tsp salt

For the topping:

• 1 cup) sweetened coconut flakes, toasted
• Chocolate sauce
• Caramel sauce

DIRECTIONS

For the Cupcakes:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line muffin tins with paper liners. In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients needed for the boxed cupcake mix.
2. Beat all ingredients together until smooth. * You may add coconut to the batter if you’d like more coconut. *
3. Place 1 coconut dream cookie at the bottom of each cupcake liner.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Spoon batter into cupcake liners and bake for 15-18 minutes or until toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs or clean.
   

For the Toasted Coconut Topping:

1. Place shredded coconut onto a lightly greased pan under the broiler. Watch carefully as coconut becomes toasted approximately 5-10 minutes.

For the Caramel Frosting:

1. Allow butter to set out at room temperature about 15 minutes.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth.

3. Add cream cheese and continue to beat until fully smooth and well incorporated.

4. While slowly mixing, pour in caramel sauce (should not be warm).

5. Add vanilla to the mixture and continue slowly mixing .

6. Add in powdered sugar (one cup at a time) allowing the sugar to blend a bit before adding each    additional cup.

7. Scrap down the sides of the bowl and then blend the frosting an additional 30 seconds. * The frosting should be fluffy mine was not since I didn’t let the butter sit out as I should have L .

Frost cupcakes for assembling:

1. Frost cupcakes with salted butter cream
2.  Drizzle caramel sauce and chocolate sauce over the cupcakes.
3. Sprinkle toasted coconut to finish off. * If you’d like you may take the other cookies and place them on top of every cupcake for decoration as well.  
   

Flashback Friday; Red, White & Blue Trifle

Last summer, my mother-in-law and I recreated this trifle for the family. We had such a fun time making it for everyone and had no problem eating it because it was our healthy alternative to the bad we’ve already had prior to dessert. This dessert is a light and simple addition to any Fourth of July gathering you’re having. It’s also a great recipe to get the kids involved in the kitchen!

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 prepared  angel food cake
• 1 oz box Jell-O Cheesecake Pudding
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk ( any milk will work just fine)
• 1 – 8 oz container Cool Whip Whipped Topping
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, halved

DIRECTIONS

1. Cube prepared angel food cake into 1 inch cube pieces.
2. In a large bowl, whisk Cheesecake pudding with almond milk. Mix for 2 minutes until pudding starts to thicken.
3. Fold in Cool Whip topping into pudding mix and combine well .
4. Store in fridge until ready to assemble.
5. Slice strawberries in half. Set aside.
6. Using a deep bowl / trifle dish start layering all ingredients in the following fashion;  I start with your cake on the bottom layer,  alternate angel food cake cubes, topped with berry mix and pudding mixture. Repeat the latter until you’ve completed the trifle.
7. Decorate the top of your trifle to your heart’s content. I decorated mine with a “4” for the Fourth of July!   

Better Than Sex Cake

I know what you’re thinking. How can this cake be better than sex? Oh, trust me if you love sweets as much as I do this cake will make you curl your damn toes. It’s that good. It’s sweet, delicious and will have you begging for more. I made this for a potluck and it’s so simple to make. I ended up having to make the cake ahead of time and the toppings the next day and it still turned out perfectly. This cake would be a great addition to any party. This is also kid friendly, Haidyn helped me design and make the cake. I love how easy it is to change up the ingredients for the toppings to make it unique. You will not regret making this cake.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box chocolate cake mix (already baked)  
• 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 (16 oz) jar caramel topping ( I used about half of my jar)
• 1 (8 oz) container cool whip (thawed to room temp)
• *optional * 3-6 Heath Candy Bars, chopped
• *optional * chocolate sauce

DIRECTIONS

1. Poke holes in cake with the handle end of a wooden spoon. ( You could also do this with a fork if you want the condensed milk spread a little more thoroughly throughout the cake)
   
2. Pour sweetened condensed milk over the top of the cake, ensuring that milk gets into all of the holes.  
   
   
   
   
3. Once cake is completely cooled, Spread cool whip over the top evenly.
4. Drizzle the caramel evenly over the entire cake slowly.
5. Sprinkle with Heath Candy bar pieces. (I drizzled chocolate syrup instead of the candy pieces).
   
6. Store in fridge until ready to eat.