Lasagna Cupcakes

I made these awhile back for a girl's night get together. They are super easy, not to mention super cute!

Ingredients:

Round Won Ton Wrappers

Your Favorite Sauce

Garlicky Spinach (optional- recipe below)

Grated Mozzarella Cheese

Ricotta Cheese

Cherry Tomatoes (halved) and basil leaves for garnish

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly spray muffin tin with cooking spray. 

2. Start assembling lasagnas. Line each cupcake mold with a won ton wrapper. Put a little ricotta, a little mozzarella, a little spinach, and a little sauce. Repeat layers until cups are full.

3. Top each lasagna with mozzarella cheese and bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is lightly browned.

4. Garnish with one cherry tomato half and a basil leaf.

Garlicky Spinach

Ingredients:

2 tbls olive oil

2 to 4 cloves garlic, peeled

pinch red pepper flakes

1 pound fresh spinach

1/2 small lemon, juiced

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large skillet. Add garlic and red pepper flakes.  Cook, stirring frequently, until garlic is golden. 

2. Remove and discard garlic. 

3. Add spinach, sit-fry until it wilts.  

4. Add lemon juice, then transfer to a colander to drain.

Pumpkin Pecan

And just because I know you can't get enough cheesecake...

Pumpkin cheesecake, with gingersnap crust and a pecan strussel topping!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate!

They are individual peanut butter chocolate cheesecakes. Like my pumpkin cheesecakes, these are made in a cupcake pan with a cookie crust. There is a chocolate cheesecake layer and peanut butter cheesecake layer, topped off with a dollop of chocolate ganache and mini peanut butter cup for garnish.

Here is the recipe, but beware - these are deadly rich!

Ingredients:

18 chocolate cookies (nilla wafer used to make a chocolate cookie, but I haven't seen it lately - oreos minus the creme filling work great though)

2 8oz packages Cream Cheese softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

8 to 10 oz melted chocolate

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tbs whipping cream

chocolate ganache (recipe below)

Directions:

1. Line cupcake pan with wrappers and place one cookie in each wrapper.

2. Using an electric mixer, combine 8oz of cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbs whipping cream, and melted chocolate. Spoon batter into cupcake pans, about 1/3 full.

3. In a clean bowl, using electric mixer, combine remaining 8oz of cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tbs whipping cream, and 1 cup peanut butter. Spoon batter into cupcake pans, on top of the chocolate batter, so that cupcakes are 2/3 full.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until set.

5. Cheesecakes will appear very poofy, but will settle, leaving a small indentation, when cooled. Once cooled, spoon a small amount of ganache into craters and top with mini peanut butter cup if desired.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

2/3 cup chocolate chips or squares

1/2 cup whipping cream

Directions:

1. Heat cream on stove top, using low heat, bring just to a boil (be careful not to scald the cream)

2. Pour cream over chocolate and whisk together until all chocolate is melted and fully combined

3. Allow to cool

Fall Treats

Here are a few fall themed treats I have whipped up over the last month or so.

Carmel Apple Slices:
I doesn't get much simpler than this - sliced apples dipped in carmel and rolled in nuts. For a little variety, try drizzling chocolate on top!

Chocolate Mousse in Phyllo CupsI piped this homemade rich chocolate mousse into store bought phyllo cups.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes:

As you know, i love cheesecake! And more than that - I love individual deserts! What better way to celebrate my love of these two things than combing them! Instead of a traditional crust, I just use store bought cookies as the crust (they are the perfect size!). I use gingersnaps for these, then made my pumpkin cheesecake and finished them off with a sour cream topping and a sprinkling of Cinnamon and nutmeg.

Apple Spice Cheesecake:This a 6 inch cheesecake, so not quite full size, but not individual sized either. I made a gingersnap crust using crushed cookies and melted butter, then pressed into the pan. The cheesecake is a simple plain cheesecake with Cinnamon and nutmeg stirred in. I layered the cheesecake with thinly sliced apples that I cooked up on the stove with butter, sugar, and Cinnamon. After baking, I arranged more thinly sliced cooked apples on top and drizzled with the sugary butter syrup that was left over from cooking the apples.

Halloween Goodies

So I clearly have not updated here in a long time! Of course, I'm pretty sure that there are only 2 people who read this, so I probably haven't been missed too much. Regardless, I have been keeping busy and have oodles to share! Let's start with my Halloween goodies!


Dark chocolate and white chocolate crispy candies (think nestle crunch):
This basically entailed melting chocolate, stirring in little crispies (which I bought at my local candy/baking store, but I've seen them at craft stores, etc), placing a spoonful of the mixture into a mini cupcake wrapper, sticking a piece of candy corn on top. Super simple and super yummy!

Ghost and Bat Cookies:

I just used a simple butter cookie recipe, then melted up some dark and white chocolate with a small amount of oil and spread it on. The eyes are little orange sugar beads.

I packed up one of each in these adorable spider web bags (Martha Stewart Crafts of course!), punched two holes in the bags and tied them off with black ribbon. I made up the bat shaped gift tags in photoshop, punch a hole, and tied them on. They read: "Happy Haunting From Colleen"

Pumpkin Cakes (I made these for my company's Halloween party):

These little guys are pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. I baked them in mini bundt cake pans (roughly the size of cupcakes - slightly larger). The steams are mini pretzel sticks, and the final product is placed into candy apple wrappers.


There's lots more to come, I promise!

Another Cheesecake

Colleen's Cheesecakery has been very busy! Last week I made this Dulce de Leche cheesecake. It has a caramel shortbread crust, a layer of dulce de leche cheesecake, a layer of plain cheesecake, and caramel swirled sour cream topping!

Eleyn's Wedding

So, here are a few (OK, a lot) of pictures of what I was up to this past weekend. My co-worker Eleyn got married, and I contributed these monogrammed cookies (atop cupcakes) for her desert buffet. The "E" is for Eleyn (the bride), and the "B" is for Ben (the groom). They are a simple butter cookie with a blue tinted royal icing (it doesn't look very blue in the picture, but I swear it is), and white buttercream for the letters. Most of the cupcakes were gobbled up before I could get a picture, hence why the plate looks so bare.
I also did all of her flowers. I love doing flowers, I wish I had more reasons to make bridal bouquets! This wedding was very simple. All blue and white.

For the centerpieces I did blue and white daisies. The groomsmen had blue carnation boutonnieres. And the bridesmaids had matching blue and and white carnation bouquets. The groom got a white double white rose bout.And the brides bouquet was made with small white roses and white lillies.

I'm working on it!

So you may have noticed that I didn't do a new post last week. I am working on it, I promise! I am also thinking that I am going to abandon my plans for structured weekly topics (after only 3 months...I know, I know...). I have a back log of things to post about, and I am feeling a bit restrained by my own attempt at blogging organization.

Anyway, what I am trying to say is that I am going to stop being so anal, and just post stuff already. Keep watching, some good stuff is coming! (I promise!)

In the meantime, here is another alcohol themed cupcake for ya! This is a Margarita cupcake I made for a co-workers bridal shower a few months ago (it was a "fiesta" theme). Lime cupcake with keylime cream cheese icing, set in a margarita glass with green colored sugar.

Clothespins

So my co-worker discovered these giant clothespins, and I instantly fell in love. Basically they are photo holders, but they are just too fun to decorate! I started by taking them apart and painting them. Putting them back together after paining them is a bit of an ordeal, but so far it's worked out OK. After that, I used hot glue to attach ribbon, rhinestones, and other random embellishments.

As usual, the pictures suck...I'm getting a good camera one of these days...

Tiki Cupcakes

Last weekend a friend of mine hosted a tiki party (best tiki party I've even been too!). She went all out - full tiki bar, grass table skirts, even filled an area of her patio with sand. I was impressed! As my contribution to this shindig (because I can never go anywhere without baking something), I created some tiki themed cupcakes! Inspired by "Island" drinks, I made up a dozen Pina-Colada and a dozen mojito cupcakes! The pictures suck, but hopefully my tantalizing descriptions will be enough to make you drool (nope, no modesty here!).The Pina-Colada Cupcake: pineapple cake with a rum glaze, coconut cream filling and pineapple icing; finished off with sweetened coconut shavings, a cherry, and of course - a paper umbrella!

The Mojito Cupcake: key lime cake with a rum glaze, key lime curd filling, and a crushed mint cream cheese icing; garnished with a key lime slice and those adorable paper umbrellas!

Recipes you say? Sure! Since the mojito cupcakes seemed to be the biggest hit, I'll give ya those. If anyone wants the pina colada recipe, I'll gladly give it out upon request.Key Lime Cake
Use your favorite white cake (or box) recipe, and substitute key lime juice for the water. The cupcakes will come out a little denser than normal, but that's ok - you're going to dump rum on them in a little bit!

Key Lime Curd
Ingredients:
6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons fresh Key lime juice
1 teaspoon grated Key lime peel

Directions:
1. Whisk all ingredients in heavy small saucepan over medium heat until custard thickens and boils for 30 seconds, about 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally (mixture will thicken).
2. When cupcakes are cooled, spoon curd into a pastry bag and pipe into center of each cupcake.

Rum Glaze
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter
1/4 cup Water
1 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Rum

Directions:
1. In a saucepan, combine butter, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in rum.
2. After filling cupcakes, spoon glaze over the top of each one.

Crushed Mint Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Butter
8oz Cream Cheese
2 cups Powdered Sugar
2-4 tbs Mint (very finely chopped)

Directions:
1. Cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar together
2. Gently stir in mint.
3. Frost your cupcakes!

Cocktail Party

This post is a little late, but the Internet hasn’t been very kind to me the last few days. Regardless, I’ll be sharing a few “cocktail party” recipes. These are some creations I came up with for a cocktail party I hosted a while back. They key to a good cocktail party is lots of finger foods, a few sweet treats, and of course cocktails. I like to go simple, offer a small variety of drinks, rather than a full bar. This not only cuts down cost, but also ensures you aren’t pouring drinks all night. Likewise, finger foods keep you out of the kitchen and keep your guests mingling.

For this party, I had red and white wine (two buck chuck from Trader Joes of course), and Black Raspberry Martinis with a pink sugar rim (It was a girly party). Bottled water and a few non-alcoholic options are also a must!Also in that picture is the chocolate fountain I set up for dessert. Chocolate fountains are always a hit! I had fruit, ladyfingers, and cheesecake balls for dipping.

Cheese and crackers are a must at cocktail parties. I like to set out the usual sliced cheese, along with a little something fancy – brie, stilton, pesto torte, etc. Also, a variety of crackers can really spice up your platter. Olives and pickles set out in small bowls are a nice addition too.

Here are two of the recipes I created for this party. They are pretty easy and can be made up a few hours ahead of time. For this first one, I’ll be honest, I really didn’t measure anything. I just kept adding ingredients to the bowl until it tasted right.

Endive Cups

Ingredients:
Endive Spears
1 Pear (diced)
Gorgonzola Cheese
Prociutto
Sweet Vinaigrette (I used a papaya seed dressing from Maui, but any kind you like will work)
Caramelized Pecan Halves

Directions:
1. Cut prociutto slices into small pieces.
2. Toss desired amount of pear, prociuttto, and gorgonzola in a large bowl. Lightly drizzle vinaigrette and mix through.
3. Place a spoonful of the mixture onto each endive spear.
4. Garnish each with a caramelized pecan half.

Caprese Skewers

Ingredients:
Grape Tomatoes
Small Mozzarella Balls
Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinaigrette
Toothpicks

Directions:
1. Thread 1 grape tomato, 1 basil leaf, and 1 mozzarella ball onto each toothpick
2. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette over skewers, and finish them off with a little cracked pepper

Cooking For Two

Cooking for two is hard! Lord knows, I am notorious for cooking WAY too much food, only to end up throwing it out a few days later because we forget to eat it the next day. Of course, even for large groups I cook way too much. I am always paranoid that there won’t be enough, and I end up with a week’s worth of leftovers. In a few instances, however, I have actually managed to come up with a few things that work perfectly for two.

Chicken Tenders
When buying frozen chicken (lets face it, it’s cheaper and easier than foster’s farms), get the tenders instead of breasts. The tenders are much easier to work with and portion control is much easier (2 tenders per person is one serving, although my husband usually eats three). When you buy the breasts, sometimes you get 8 moderate sized breasts, some times you get 4 breasts that look like they came from a mythical beast-sized chicken. So yeah, tenders all the way!

Make Your Own Rice-a-Roni
Stay away from those boxed flavored rice and noodle deals (ie: the San Francisco Treat), and make your own. Those boxes have more than two servings, not to mention WAY too much sodium. Buy a big bag of plain white rice (or brown), store it in a Tupperware container. When you cook it, only measure out what you need for TWO SERVINGS. To change things up, try cooking it in chicken broth or pineapple juice instead of water. Those little bullion cubes are great to have on hand, just toss one in with your rice and water. Don’t be afraid to add some spices and herbs to your cooking rice, or even some onion and veggies. Adding some peas and Parmesan cheese right at the end of cooking is great little treat!

Say No to Mold
Stick to non-perishables. Whatever you do, don’t stock up on food that is only good for a week, in an amount that you could never possibly eat. I have thrown out enough moldy and expired food in my time to know my limits. Yes those little veggie flat bread pizzas from Trader Joe’s are yummy, but I can’t eat all 8 of them before the green fuzzies come and be dammed if Chris is going to eat them. That’s not to say you should never get anything fun like that, just don’t fill up your fridge with them, it’s a waste of money and makes for one stinky trash day.

Make a Plan
When cooking, make a plan before hand and think ahead. Since you can’t freeze EVERYTHING, come up with something to do with those leftover ingredients. If you need to open a can of black beans to complete that fiesta meal, instead on letting the other half of the can rot in the fridge, plan to make chili sometime that week. Be creative with your meal planning – you don’t have to eat the same thing every night, but you can reuse the ingrediants!

I’ll leave you with my favorite “meal for two.” Everyone loves lasagna right? But it can be a lot to store in your fridge if there are only two of you eating that mega sized casserole. Instead, I make “lasagna roll ups.” Portion control is easy (two roll ups per person), and there are endless combinations of meats, veggies, cheeses, and sauces. Here is my basic, cheese-sauce recipe, but feel free to get creative and try adding ground beef or turkey, diced chicken, spinach, mushrooms, Alfredo sauce, etc. Have fun with these!
Lasagna Roll Ups

Ingredients:
4 Lasagna noodles
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 egg*
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup marinara sauce

Directions:
1. Boil noodles according to package directions.
2. Mix ricotta and egg until blended (you can also some basil oregano, pepper, etc for flavor). Spread a spoonfull of ricotta onto each noodle (cover the noodle, but not too thickly).
3. Spoon sauce onto the length of the noodle and sprinkle desired amount of mozzarella cheese.
4. Roll up the noodles and top with a spoonful of sauce and a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until cheese is slightly browned.

*(Why the egg you ask? I’ve noticed that a lot of people skip this step in lasagna making. Basically the egg keeps the cheese together, instead of leaking out of your lasagna in a melty mess. This is especially important for these roll ups.)

Fun with Rhinestones

So I've posted plenty of wedding stuff already, but I wanted to show some of the more "crafty" wedding projects I've done. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of everything (I am terrible at remembering my camera), so I'll have to stick to things that I do have pictures of.

Since it is the most recent, here is some stuff from Liana's wedding. Hers was heavy on the "bling" - so lots of rhinestones! It's not the greatest photo, but this an acrylic "M" I decked out with rhinestones. Here is her unity candle - just dollar store candles that I jazzed up with ribbon and rhinestones.
All of us bridesmaids bought matching silver flip flops which I decked out with rhinestones too. Sadly, I have no picture of those (OK, so I COULD get my pair out of closet and take a picture...), so instead, here are the program fans!
I also made a rocking "cake" card box (a box made to look like a cake with a slit in the top for people to put the cards into), but alas, no pictures of that either.

Cheesecake

Last month I talked a bit about cheesecake, after making a cheesecake wedding cake, and thought I would devote a whole post to it. Cheesecake is seriously the greatest dessert ever! OK, so that is just my opinion, but if you don't agree, hopefully my cheesecake can sway you :)

I especially love cheesecake, not just because it tastes great, but because it is so fun to make. It is so versatile, that the possibilities are endless. Here are a few examples of what I have done with this truly fabulous dessert so far.

Pumpkin Cheesecake:
This is a cross between pumpkin pie and cheesecake. It has a gingersnap crust and a bourbon sour cream topping, garnished with pecans and whipped cream (that is a maple leaf made with crushed pecans in the center)

Key Lime Cheesecake:
I made this one with my basic cheesecake recipe and shortbread crust. It has a layer of key lime curd on the bottom, and a sour cream topping, garnished with whipped cream and key lime slices.

Creme Brulee Cheesecake:
Again, my basic cheesecake recipe and shortbread crust. Instead of my standard sour cream topping, I topped this one off with a simple homemade creme brulee custard, with the burnt sugar topping of course. It is garnished with whipped cream and raspberries.

Peach Cheesecake:
My boss brought me a bunch of peaches from his tree (which were amazing I must say!), amd asked me to make him a cheesecake with them. I used basic cheesecake and shortbread crust again. I made a peach sauce with the peaches (basically you cook up the peaches on the stove with a little sugar, lemon, and cornstarch), then layered it into the cheesecake. First I poured about 1/3 of the cheesecake batter into the crust, then the peaches, then the rest of the batter. I finished it off with a sour cream topping, peach glaze, and thinly sliced peaches. My boss actually dove into this one (for breakfast of all things) before I could get a picture, hence the missing piece.

Other "flavors" of cheesecake I have done include tuxedo (cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and chocolate cake layered up and finished up with chocolate dipped strawberries), strawberry, lemon raspberry, and tiramisu. There are hundreds more I would like to try, and I am constantly thinking up new ideas. All I need is a reason to make a cheesecake! Anyone got a good reason?

Eleyn's Baby Shower

Last month we threw an office baby shower for one of my co-workers. I love showers because the possibilities are endless when it comes to themes, decorations, and of course - food! We decided to go with an afternoon dessert party (instead of the usual pot luck lunch), asking co-workers to bring in various desserts and drinks. As for the theme - baby monkeys! Eleyn is a monkey fanatic and registered for lots of jungle/safari baby stuff, so went from there.

The colors were baby blue, pale yellow, and brown. Using tissue boxes I created these "baby blocks," featuring a baby monkey and the letters of the baby's name - Apollo. I stacked them up on the tables as centerpieces and stuck a monkey mask on them. Basically I saw the monkey masks at the store and just HAD to have them. There was no real plan there, but they worked.

For my dessert, I made a monkey cake, inspired by Martha of course. Instead of using her chocolate banana recipe (which I am a bit Leary of), I went with my own chocolate raspberry creation. It was a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and chocolate raspberry buttercream icing.And finally - the gifts! We took up a collection from the office and went crazy buying stuff from Eleyn's registry. I must say - she made out like a bandit! We got her a playpen and filled it to the max with bottles, blankets, grooming and first aid kits, etc. And of course, topped it off with an adorable stuffed monkey! Other people brought their own gifts as well, including clothes, diapers, etc. I wanted to add my own personal touch, so I painted up these letters for the nursery wall. Keeping with the jungle theme, I had a ball doing these! And yes, those zebra stripes are all free handed! I must admit, I am rather proud of that "L" :)

Chocolate-Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (melted)

1 tsp. raspberry extract/flavoring

Cream butter with electric mixer. Add chocolate and vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed and beat until light and fluffy. If frosting is too thick or too dry, add milk or cream, one teaspoon at a time, until desired consistency.