Sweet Treats: Coconut Lime Cupcakes

With summer right around the corner, I am starting to dream to fruit, delicious, sweet things. And what is more summertime that coconut and lime? Combine them in a drink and they are great. In cupcake form, just as good! So, with Memorial Day weekend coming up, you may want to make these to share at a barbeque ... or maybe, just make them for yourself.

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooke Time: 25-35 minutes

Yield: 24 cupcakes

(via Two Peas and Their Pod)

Ingredients

2 cups granulated sugar

Zest of 1 large lime

3/4 pound (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

5 extra-large eggs at room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 teaspoon coconut extract

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup shredded coconut

For the Coconut Lime Buttercream Frosting

1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract
6 cups powdered sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
3/4 cup coconut, for sprinkling on top of cupcakes

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Set aside.

2) In a small bowl, combine sugar and lime zest. Rub together with your fingers, until fragrant. In the bowl of an stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar mixture together on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla, coconut extract, lime juice, and mix well.

3) In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Stir in coconut.

4) Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to wire cooling rack and cool completely.

5) While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, vanilla, and coconut extract until creamy. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, alternating with lime juice, beating until combined.

6) Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with coconut.

*Note: The frosting is made to taste. Make sure that you taste the frosting after adding each tablespoon of lime juice so that it is just right for you.*

Sweet Treats: Butterscotch Walnut Cookies

One of my favorite things in life is butterscotch pudding. I rarely have any, but when I do, it's just so good. So, when I found this recipe, I just knew that I would have to try it. And while it's not butterscotch pudding, these cookies are pretty good. They are the perfect non-sweet. (And now you are wondering, what the heck is a non-sweet?) A non-sweet is a baked good that isn't too sugar or decadent, something that it is a treat but doesn't make you think that you are eating something rich or sweet. And these cookies are just that. For me, I think they go perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea.

Butterscotch Walnut Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Yield: about 48 cookies

{via She Wears Many Hats}

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats

11 ounces (about 1 3/4 cup) butterscotch chips

1 1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2) Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

3) In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

4) In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium until smooth, about 2 minutes.

5) Add eggs one at a time, beating a full minute after adding each egg.

6) Lower the mixture speed and add the oats, making sure to combine well.

7) Add the dry ingredients, mixing only until just combined.

8) Gradually add the butterscotch chips and walnuts by either turning the mixer on and off quickly or stir in with a rubber spatula.

9) Place rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto the lined baking sheets about 1 1/2 - 2 inches apart.

10) Bake in the oven for about 15-18 minutes (depending on your oven), turning the sheets halfway through baking time. The cookies are down with the edges are golden brown.

11) When cookies are down, let cool on baking sheet for a minute then transfer to cooling rack.

(These are my dough balls. As you can see, they vary in size, but I prefer it when my cookies are not all the exact same size.)

(And there you have it! Delicious, butterscotch-y goodness!)

Sweet Treats: Butterfinger Cookies

Butterfingers are one of the weridest candy bars to me. While combining two of my favorite things in the world (chocolate and peanut butter), I don't really like the candy bar. Now, when you cut it up and add it to other things (ice cream, milkshakes, cookies), it becomes this amazing thing. So, like I said, it's kinda weird.

So, when I found this recipe, I was very interested. It sounded like it had a lot of potential, but I was a little skeptical that perhaps the Butterfinger pieces wouldn't cook properly and be too chewy. However, these cookies were so good. Peanut buttery, sweet, chewy ... pretty much everything I look for in a cookie. 

Butterfinger Cookies

Yield: about 40 cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

(via My Baking Addiction)

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

2/3 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

2 egg whites

1 1/4 cups peanut butter

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

5 (2.1 ounce) Butterfingers, chopped

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg whites and beat well. Beat in the peanut butter and the vanilla, mixing until well combined.

3) In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the chopped candy bars.

4) Use a medium cookie scoop (or make balls roughly 1 1/2 tablespoons), shape the dough into balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

5) Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove cookies from oven and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheets before moving them to a cooling rack. 

**The recipe calls for chunky peanut butter, but I substituted creamy and they turned out really well. So, whichever peanut butter you prefer and have on hand, I would just go ahead and use that.**

Sweet Treats: Blueberry Breakfast Cake

While I always enjoy decadent desserts, there's something simply decadent about baked blueberries. Whether it be in muffins, cupcakes, or in this cake, there is nothing quite as delicious as warm blueberries with some sugar. And since summer is just around the corner, just imagine those big, fresh blueberries that will be so plentiful and wanting to be eaten.

I discovered this recipe on Pinterest (seriously, what did I do before Pinterest?!?) and knew that I would just have to try it. It was an easy recipe to throw together and everyone loved it. It's so good that you won't be able to wait until breakfast to eat it!


Blueberry Breakfast Cake
 Yield: 9-12 bars (depending on how big you cut the bars)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes

(via Alexandra's Kitchen)

Ingredients

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Sweet Treats: Nutella Cookies

One of the things that I enjoy doing in my free time (what little I have) is baking. I like trying out new recipes and making something delicious, and I figured that I would share some of the recipes with you guys! So, first up ...

Nutella Cookies
(from Lovin' In the Oven via Pinterest)

Ingredients:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• ½ cup Nutella
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter with both sugars until light and fluffy. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and Nutella.
3. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt into the wet mixture until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. 
4. Drop the dough by tablespoons onto baking sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes.

These cookies turned out so well! Instead of using mini chocolate chips, I used regular size chocolate chips and they were still amazing. And for me and my oven, the cookies were done at 6 and a half minutes. You have to watch them very carefully or they will burn.

(these are the cookies that I made ... I wish you could smell them through the computer!)

If you are looking for an easy cookie that takes a few minutes to whip up and tastes amazing, then I would recommend this recipe! I have made it several times in the past few weeks and everywhere I take them, people love them!