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Devil’s Fudge Cupcakes
These cupcakes have possibly the longest name ever. They are actually Devil’s Fudge Cupcakes, filled with Whipped Chocolate Ganache and frosted with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream. Holy Cow. They’re deserving of the long title. They earned it. They’re magnificent. The cupcake is moist and has a really wonderful chocolate flavor. The whipped ganache is light but rich, and pairs really nicely with the white chocolate cream cheese buttercream. Yes, you read that correctly. White Chocolate. Cream Cheese. Butter. What could possibly be wrong with…
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A Princess Party
Two of my favorite little princesses just turned three years old. My niece, Ruby Jane and my youngest daughter, Mia Kate, were born just 17 hours apart and have grown to be best buds. Well, usually. They get along when sharing isn’t involved. But that’s just a phase, right? When my sister and I asked the girls what kind of party they wanted, they barely skipped a beat before they decided it should be a princess party. And who are we to argue? This meant…
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Gnocchi with Roasted Red Pepper Cream Sauce
As I’ve mentioned in {previous posts}, I’m not a big seafood fan. But being desperate to not pass that on to my girls, my husband makes some kind of seafood for dinner at least once a week. I would really hate to deprive them of the health benefits of fish, so I don’t mind that they eat without me every once in a while. It’s usually on those nights that I get to whip up my own dishes that the rest of the family would…
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Apple Frangipane Tart
I’m so fancy. Ok, not really. Not at all, actually. But if I was, this is tart that would prove it. Guys, this tart is amazing. Apples, almond filling, shortbread crust. So, so good. The apples are juicy and sweet, the frangipane apple custard is firm and creamy, and the crust is thick and soft. I’m not sure how it gets any better. Frangipane is a baked almond cream. It’s much like a custard – maybe a bit more firm, but it has that lovely…
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Chocolate Chip Graham Cracker Bars
You can actually SEE how delicious these are. You can see the powdery sugar stuck to the gooey, chocolaty graham cracker cookie. You can SEE it, can’t you? And yup – they taste just as good as they look. Maybe better. I broke all of the July-in-Kansas rules today and turned my oven on. Yes, I turned my oven on even though it was exactly 900 degrees outside today. And with the heat-index, it felt like 950 degrees. But I just had to make these…
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Lemon Sunshine Cupcakes
If you follow along on my Facebook page, you now know that I am not a big fan of storms. In fact, that might be the understatement of the century. If I have a phobia, storms are it. Not just thunderstorms, I’m talking about full-on, hail and wind – tornadic storms. Growing up smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley, I’ve spent most of my life keenly aware of impending bad weather during the spring months. When I was a kid and before the Weather…
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Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting
First of all, I have to apologize for these, because I know they aren’t pretty. They’re very beige, kind of flat, the frosting has funky spatula-lines in it, but oh holy mother cow, these are so fantastically amazing that you have to make them right now. Like, RIGHT. NOW. Seriously, go.
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Mexican Hot Chocolate Cupcakes
You guys, what a week. What an up and down, crazy, emotional week. A week later, my heart is still raw and aching from the events in Newtown. Then, in a nearby town, two police officers lost their lives in the line of duty. And I sat at home, watching it all, with my young daughters (one of which is a 1st grader), and my police-officer husband. And I cried. A lot.
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A Playroom Makeover: Part 3 – The Reveal!
I can’t believe we are FINALLY done with the playroom! It’s been months of work – squeezing in an hour or two here and there after work, a few hours on the weekends. Yes, we could have paid someone to come in and just do it all for us, but we honestly do enjoy doing it ourselves – the end result always makes it worth it. There’s really nothing better than that sense of accomplishment after finishing a big project. If you want…
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Grandma’s Dinner Rolls
The other day I was cleaning one of the storage rooms in our basement and I came upon a basket of items I kept when we cleaned out my Grandma G’s house for the final time. I found a rosary, a couple of candy dishes, an old soapstone jewelry box she always kept on her dresser, and a blue apron that read “RUTHIE,” her first name. It immediately brought a smile to my face, and best of all, it still (9 years later) smells like her…
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Waffles. Really Delicious Waffles.
See the updated post, here! Waffles are one of those things that we never really had growing up. We had our fair share of pancakes and french toast, but I can only remember having waffles a couple of times in my childhood. They seemed to be more of a restaurant treat, usually topped with strawberries and whipped cream. After trying a number of recipes at home, I determined what I DON’T like in a waffle – a heavy, egg-y taste. These waffles were the result…
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Chocolate Covered Strawberry Ice Cream
So, relevant but irrelevant: last week I cleaned out my refrigerator. Like, REALLY cleaned it out. I took everything out, scrubbed it, sanitized it, threw away, organized, and made everything pretty and bright. In my cleaning frenzy, I uncovered four pounds of strawberries that we purchased the weekend before at the Farmer’s Market. The strawberries were clinging to life, on the edge of questionable, so I chopped them up and was racking my brain for strawberry recipes. I made a strawberry cake (that recipe is…
