by Dana | Mar 21, 2018 | Desserts, Recipes
Lemon cupcakes, light as air angel food cake stuffed with lemon curd and topped with lemon whipped cream frosting! This lemon cupcake recipe is what spring dreams are made of! To me, spring is just light and airy and full of possibilities! That’s just how these easy lemon cupcakes are, like a ray of sunshine. Bursting with lemon flavor in every bite! I made these lemon cupcakes from scratch, but in all honesty you can cut a few corners with these and they will still come out amazingly! Instead of a homemade angel food cake recipe, just get a store bought one, no biggie. Boxed angel food cakes I think come out almost exactly like a from scratch version, they are super good! Then, just purchase a little jar of lemon curd, you can find it by the jams and jellies. The only thing you really should make homemade is the lemon stabilized whipped cream… yum! Stabilized whipped cream is a recipe I get asked about a lot. It is super simple to make and it will stay in your fridge for days and not lose any of that airy-ness. If you are going to make this recipe from scratch, you will not be disappointed! It super simple and I suggest starting off by making the lemon curd first. Once you get this recipe for lemon curd down, you can experiment with other flavors like Raspberry Lemonade Curd and Vanilla Bean Orange Curd! To stuff the angel food cupcakes, I just put some of the lemon curd into a piping bag with a...
by Dana | Mar 7, 2018 | Desserts, Recipes
Easy Easter Cookies, soft sugar cookies decorated with colorful fluffy buttercream frosting and sprinkles! Perfect for spring or Easter! How fun are these Easter cookies?! And so delicious too! You will be making this recipe again and again. Plus, you can change the color of the frosting to anything you wish making it perfect for every season and Holiday! For these Easter sugar cookies, I just took my basic sugar cookie recipe (because it’s the best!), then topped them off with yummy fluffy buttercream frosting. I colored the frosting with gel food coloring to make sure it had a nice pop! Then, I just sprinkled some spring colored sprinkles on top. I actually got my overall color palette from the sprinkles, so cute! Of course, you don’t have to make everything here from scratch, you won’t hurt my feelings! All you need to do for the store bought version of these is pick up a roll of sugar cookie dough, then bake them per the directions on the back of the packaging. Then, pick up 1-2 cans of white frosting, depending on how many cookies you are making. Then, divide the frosting between four bowls. Color each frosting bowl a different color. I used Wilton Icing colors in sky blue, pink, violet, and lemon yellow. One thing I do need to note is that after you color the frosting, it will darken a little as it sits. So, leave it just before you think it is the perfect color. Top with sprinkles of your choice and you’re done! So easy. This is also the...
by Lisa | Feb 19, 2018 | Desserts, Gluten-Free
These gluten free coconut macaroons are deliciously sweet and so easy to make! You will wonder why you didn’t make them sooner! When I made these coconut macaroon cookies for the first time I was amazed at how easy they are to whip up. All you do is combine all the ingredients (there are only three!) and then bake. It was amazing! I wanted to keep this recipe simple, but you could totally make these super fancy by dipping them in chocolate and adding some orange extract. Chocolate and orange go so good together (I even made scones with those flavor combos!) Or you could add vanilla extract and then melt down some Andes mints and dip them in there! Or you could keep them simple and just whip up the easy recipe above! The possibilities are endless! For this recipe I used unsweetened coconut flakes and you may be wondering why not use sweetened? I personally try to avoid sweetened coconut flakes because a lot of manufactures use propylene glycol to sweeten it and that’s a compound that is in antifreeze. Anyways, you won’t even miss the sweetness in these coconut macaroons- the sweetened condensed milk will take care of that! Since these coconut macaroon cookies are held together by the sweetened condensed milk they can be pretty sticky. However, they are oh so delicious and not to mention full of coconut flavor! I did notice after they were done baking that some of the condensed milk had come out of the macaroons and wasn’t the prettiest, but this was easily wiped away and no one was the...
by Dana | Feb 14, 2018 | Appetizers, Desserts, Recipes, Salads, Side Dishes
Easy Waldorf Salad is bursting with fresh fruit in an addictive pineapple yogurt dressing! The original Waldorf salad recipe might have you asking lots of questions. There is fruit.. with mayonnaise… and a whole lot of different things going on. Today’s recipe is slightly different from the original, yes there is still fruit (and celery! trust me… it’s good!), but it’s my version of the Waldorf salad dressing that makes it updated and oh, so yummy! Greek yogurt, crushed pineapple, honey, and a touch of parsley really sets this salad apart! Still sounds a little weird? Believe me, I get it! But, once you try this Waldorf salad recipe you will be hooked! It’s basically a fruit salad with a little extra pop! It’s crunchy, creamy, sweet, fresh, and delicious! A mixture of apples, golden raisins, grapes, celery, and walnuts all tossed in a sweet Greek yogurt dressing… I mean that sounds pretty darn good to me! Waldorf Salad Recipe Directions: Dice Gala apples, slice celery, slice grapes, and toast walnuts if needed. Place into a large bowl with golden raisins and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt, crushed pineapple with juice, honey, and parsley. Pour dressing on top of salad ingredients and toss to combine. Serve classically in lettuce cups or eat on it’s own! One of the ingredients that is actually my favorite is probably the one you think is the strangest. The addition of a little chopped flat leaf parsley in the dressing gives the whole salad this super fresh taste that I just can’t describe. Do NOT...
by Dana | Feb 9, 2018 | Desserts, Recipes
This rich chocolate cake recipe will have your friends and family asking for this recipe, guaranteed! Is there anything better than chocolate cake? I think not! This homemade chocolate cake recipe is one of the best I have ever tasted! You might find there are a couple ingredients you wouldn’t expect in a chocolate cake, but trust me, it is so good!! This chocolate cake is rich, moist, and decadent. If you don’t like chocolate, this is not the recipe for you! I have to be honest, layer cakes and I have not always been besties. I’ve had many a failed layer cake in my kitchen, I am not embarrassed to admit it. What I have finally come to find out, is that you need about double the amount of frosting you think you need. Having some leftover frosting is way better than not having enough then having to make another batch of frosting. At that point, I always just gave up and said the heck with it! But, now that I learned from my mistakes I can pass that wisdom on to you. You’re welcome. 😉 Ugh, you can just tell from the photos how rich and moist this chocolate cake is. You can obviously decorate it however you want, but I wanted this cake to just scream chocolate at you so that’s why I added the candy bars on top, totally optional. Best Chocolate Cake Recipe Ever Directions: First, make the cakes in advance. Bake, and let cool completely. You have to make sure they are completely cooled before frosting. Once they are...
by Kami | Feb 8, 2018 | Desserts, Recipes
Delicious gingerbread with a fluffy pudding filling and strawberries! Um, where do I sign up?!?! This gingerbread trifle recipe is everything you could want in a dessert! Who says gingerbread is only for Christmas? Not me! Did you know gingerbread goes really well with strawberries and vanilla pudding AND cool whip? This gingerbread trifle is amazing and because it is a trifle it has so many delicious layers that it feels like it will never end! And that is a great thing. I had never tried trifle until late in my college years. I was at a dear friend’s house and after dinner she pulled out this huge glass dish filled with fruit and cool whip. It was so beautiful and I couldn’t wait to try it! Well, it did not disappoint! Ever since I have eaten trifle whenever I get the chance and this gingerbread trifle recipe is wonderful and simple to make. I know you might be thinking, simple? There are like a million ingredients! But really there aren’t, I promise. The gingerbread cake part is the “busiest” part of the recipe and it’s really just a cake with all the cake ingredients. You can even make it the day before. Actually, I recommend that since it has to cool completely. To make the vanilla filling, simply make instant vanilla and then let it chill. Right before the trifle assembly, simply fold cool whip into the vanilla pudding. Oh man, it is so hard not to eat this right out of the bowl. I won’t tell if you sneak a spoonful! Wash, rinse, and slice the...
