Rubber Ducky, You're the One!

This cake was super easy to make!  It would be so fun at a baby shower or birthday party.  Alyssa is on a rubber ducky kick and this was her idea! We made it for a mother-daughter cake decorating night at church.  Blue frosting, marshmallows and rubber duckies are all it takes!  A cracker covered with frosting becomes a bar of soap!  Adorable!

Mason Jar Cakes

These are so adorable!  I whipped them up for the 4th of July and somehow forgot to ever blog about them so here they are 6 months later!  I made them for a cooking class as well and people loved them... they're just so dang fun!

You can use different cake and frosting colors for different holidays or occasions!  They make fabulous gifts as well (think Valentine's Day gifts for lonely single people who will be sitting home eating cake!).  You'll want to refrigerate if you're using homemade frosting or if you plan on making them ahead of time.  Vintage silver spoons look great with the jars or you can use plastic.  If you're serving them immediately don't even worry about the lids!  They look great without!

Mason Jar Cakes
 

24 regular cupcakes made from a cake mix or homemade

2 cans frosting, or homemade frosting in a contrasting color, use whipped frosting if you can find it

Sprinkles or mini chocolate chips

12  8 oz straight mason jars (NOT wide-mouth), with lids and rings (lids don’t need to be new)

12 x 12 sheet decorative scrapbook paper

Ribbon, string or twine (coordinate with your paper/theme)

12 plastic spoons

Bake the cupcakes without paper liners, making sure to grease the muffin pan well.  Let cool.  Use a jar lid (not ring) to trace 12 circles onto the scrapbook paper and cut out.  If you laminate your paper or cover it with contact paper your circles be reused over and over again.  Place your frosting in a ziplock baggie and cut the corner for easy piping.

tray can be found here

To assemble:   Place one cupcake inside the jar, pipe enough frosting on top it will be seen well through the side of the jar.  Add a second cupcake.  You may have to squeeze the cupcakes to fit them in the jar.  Top with more frosting and add sprinkles or mini chocolate chips.  Place a jar lid on the jar and top with a paper circle.  Add the ring and tie a spoon to the jar using ribbon, string or twine.

Easy Apple-Blueberry Cobbler

This is such an easy way to make apple cobbler!  It almost doesn't even need a recipe and it's made with ingredients you should have on hand!

Apple-Blueberry Cobbler
 
1 quart apple pie filling (recipe follows if you want to make your own)
1 muffin mix packet (I use Martha White's blueberry)
1/4 c (half cube) butter, melted

Pour the pie filling into an oven proof dish.  Top with dry muffin mix.  Drizzle melted butter evenly across the top.  Bake at 350 until done (at least 20 minutes) and golden.  Top with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy warm!

Apple Pie Filling Per Quart:
This is the pie filling I can every single year.  We love it!

5 apples
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. corn starch
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 c. water
3/4 c. apple juice
2 TBSP lemon juice

Core peel and slice apples. Place in boiling water for 1 minute. Set aside and keep hot. Boil remaining ingredients until desired thickness. I barely let mine reach a full boil. Fill hot sterilized quart jars alternating apples and syrup until it is almost full. Run a knife down the side to remove air bubbles. Add more apples and syrup. Process 25 minutes.

Simple Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

These easy muffins only take five ingredients and they come out super moist and delicious! I don't know that there is another flavor as reminiscent of autumn as pumpkin... Make sure you enjoy them with a nice mug of hot cocoa!

Simple Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 box cake mix, spice cake flavor
1/4 c. flour
2/3 c. milk
1 c. pumpkin
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients and bake in prepared muffin tin at 375 for 18-22 minutes.  I like to prepare my muffin cups by lining them with cupcake papers AND spraying the papers with cooking spray so the muffins look nice and slide right out of the papers.

Cake in a Jar: A Great Care Package and Gift Idea

First thing, I want to put a disclaimer out there. For years people used this method to "can" cakes. These really aren't safe to put on your shelves for years as food storage. There... got that out of the way :)

These are a super fun and easy gift idea. Make sure you use wide mouth jars. I used pint jars, sprayed the inside with cooking spray and filled the batter (from a cake mix) to the 1 cup or halfway mark. I baked them at 350 for 30 minutes and topped them with new sterilized lids and rings. The lid will actually seal which keeps the cake nice and fresh while it travels through the mail in a care package. Once you open the jar the cake slides out perfectly and can be sliced and frosted. I tried one out and they came out perfectly.


What an awesome way to send baked goods! Wrap carefully and very well in bubble wrap when mailing. Don't forget the frosting and knife. I added in paper plates and napkins as well.

Artichoke Dip & Yummy Cakes

Artichoke Dip
I got this recipe at a gallery opening in my building. The dip they were serving was so yummy I had to make it myself. I think it's the green chilies. I may just start adding green chilies to my own dip recipe :)

1 c. mayo
1 4oz can diced green chilies
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
14 oz (or so) jar of artichoke hearts, drained
3-4 0z shredded parmesan
salt & pepper

Mix all together. Bake, microwave or crockpot until hot. Serve with tortilla chips or french bread.

Favorite Chocolate Cake
I know I've blogged this before, but it is one of my very favorite cake recipes. We LOVE it and it gets rave reviews from everyone that tries it. Mmmmmmm

1 box instant chocolate pudding mix
2 c. milk
chocolate cake mix
chocolate chips

Make the pudding as directed on the box. Stir in the dry cake mix. It will be thick. Mix well. Spread in a 9x13 pan sprayed with cooking spray and sprinkle the top with chocolate chips. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. This cake is so moist and yummy.

Soda Pop Cake
This is a variation on my chocolate pudding cake recipe. I've made it with Sprite, root beer and now Coke. You can simply substitute the pop for the water in a cake mix or you can make it extra moist with my pudding cake recipe.  The frosting is fantastic too!

1 box instant vanilla pudding
2 c. soda pop
1 yellow or white cake mix

Mix the pudding powder and pop together. Stir in the cake mix until well mixed. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until done.

Frosting

You can make a really good pop flavored frosting using 1 c. of pop, 1 box of pudding and an 8 oz tub of cool whip, but I like to make mine using my Spiff-E-Whip or Dream Whip.

Spiff-E-Whip is a powder that whips up with water to make a whipped cream-like topping. I always have it in my food storage and we really like it. Dream Whip is the same, just a little pricier. You simply use the pop of your choice in place of the water and whip. It's great on Soda Pop Cakes. Yummy!!!

Easy Cake Mix Banana Bread

Banana Bread

white cake mix
2 eggs
3 bananas
1 6oz container vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. flour (I used whole wheat)

Mix the eggs, bananas and yogurt together until well blended. Mix in cake mix and flour until mixed. Bake at 350. My eight mini loaves took about 30 minutes.

Cake Mix Applesauce Muffins

As you all know, I adore using cake mixes in my baking. I whipped these up the other day when I needed to take a snack to a school meeting.

Cake Mix Applesauce Muffins

yellow cake mix
1/4 c. flour (I use whole wheat)
2/3 c. water
1 c. applesauce
1/2-1 c. chocolate chips
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix all ingredients together. Spoon into muffin tins sprays with cooking spray or lined with papers. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Makes 18 muffins. The kids LOVED them :)

Cake Mix Cowboy Cookies and Ranger Cookies

I'm not sure why I call these cowboy cookies, I'm not even exactly sure what cowboy cookies are, but whenever I make cookies with cornflakes in them I call them cowboy cookies. I looked it up online and in the cookbook I originally got the recipe from years and years ago and I guess cookies with oatmeal and cornflakes are really called Ranger Cookies, but I call them cowboy cookies, so whatever...

Cowboy cookie dough is the BEST cookie dough to munch on. I have to admit I have made the dough in the past and eaten the whole bowl with my kids. If you are eating the dough plain, add a ton more cornflakes... makes it extra crunchy and yummy for your tummy.

Feel free to mix and match on the chips. Just chocolate is great or you could use any combo.

Cowboy Cookies

1 yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 c oil
1/4 c water
1/2 c choc chips
1/2 c white choc chips
1/2 c peanut butter chips
1/2 c oats
1/2 c cornflakes

Mix everything together and bake on sprayed cookie sheets at 350 for 8-12 minutes until golden brown. Cake mix cookies are usually pretty soft when they're done. You usually want to pull them out when they look almost done to you.



And here's the original recipe for Ranger Cookies which looking at it today, looks nothing like what it's merged into... haha. I used to make it all the time but I haven't made it in years.

My brother was over one time when I was making these cookies and he looked at me like I was insane when I dumped cornflakes into them. He said, "What crazy person was like, I think cookies would be better with cornflakes in them?". I laughed because that's the type of person I am...

1 c butter or margarine
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 c oats
2 c cornflakes
1/2 c coconut

Heat oven to 350. Beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add remaining ingredients. Beat well. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls (this makes large cookies) onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool one minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool.

Pumpkin Oreo Muffins

Pumpkin Oreo Muffins

1 yellow cake mix
1/4 c whole wheat flour
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 c skim milk
1 c pumpkin

Mix together. Stir in:

1 c crushed oreos

Spoon into prepared muffin tins. I like to line them with paper muffin cups and then spray the paper with cooking spray. Bake at 375 for 13 minutes for mini muffins and 18-20 for regular muffins.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I created this recipe one day when I was looking for a yummy banana bread recipe and couldn't find any I liked.

1 (8.5 oz) pkg Jiffy corn bread mix
1 (9 oz) pkg Jiffy yellow cake mix
2 ripe bananas, smashed
2 eggs
½ c chocolate chips
1 c flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Grease eight mini loaf pans (or two loaf pans). Mix all ingredients together just until moistened. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes for small loaf pans, longer for regular pans, until a toothpick entered in comes out clean.