Cream Cheese Frosting

Mmmmm. Cream cheese frosting is the best. And so yummy on so many things.

These cupcakes I made last weekend for Linc's FINAL birthday celebration were diet and rather blah. Maybe not that bad but not great by any means. But they had GREAT frosting.

I even lightened it up a bit. :) I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese and half the butter of my regular recipe. It was still delicious.

The recipe:

8 oz. package, 1/3 less fat cream cheese. Softened.
4 T. butter. Also softened.
2 1/2 to 3 cups of powdered sugar

Cream cream cheese and butter. Begin adding sugar a cup at a time. Adding the last cup just a half cup at a time. Deciding if it needs the full three cups or not quite. You'll know when it's right.

Cream cheese frosting is kind of weird :) - it seems really thick at first but the more you mix and the more powdered sugar you add, the creamier and more frosting like it gets. This reduced butter recipe made a little less than a normal recipe but it was plenty (actually more than enough) to frost the 23 small diet cupcakes I made.

Give it a try - on your favorite cupcakes, on sour cream cookies. Really on anything. It is one of the things my dad has always said you could eat on sawdust. :)

Birthday Treats: Jello Cake and Milkshakes

My second son turned two this week. He has a St. Patrick's Day birthday. I made a jello cake to celebrate with my family last weekend. I thought about using lime jello, so it would be green, but I just hate lime flavoring. :)

I didn't get a good picture of just a slice of the cake so this one with sweet Lincoln will have to do.

I wanted this to be a cake I could eat while still attempting weight watchers so I tried to lighten it up. It's about 4 points a piece if it serves 16. And because I was sort of playing with the proportions of things - I'll give you the recipe the way I would do it next time.

The recipe:

yellow cake mix
10 oz. diet uncola (like Sprite Zero or diet 7UP)

Mix the cake mix and soda together. Pour into a lightly greased and floured bundt pan.
Bake as directed for a bundt shaped cake on the cake mix box. Allow cake to cool. Use a toothpick to poke holes all over the cake.

1 small package of sugar free strawberry gelatin
1 c. boiling water
1/2 c. cold water

Dissolve gelatin in the hot water and then add the cold. Pour over the baked and cooled and poked cake. Refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours.

Frost with:

1 large package of sugar free vanilla pudding
1/4 c. confectioner sugar
1 c. cold milk
8 oz. lite cool whip

I can never remember - check the pudding box, but if you add the milk/pudding mix in the wrong order it will get lumpy. I think you need to add the milk than the pudding. Beat on low speed until combined. Add the confectioner sugar until combined. Then fold the pudding mixture into the cool whip. This actually was a little bit too much frosting for my diet soda cake. It is just the right amount for the cake mix prepared in the usual way. Have fun eating the extra. It's yummy. :)

Refrigerate until serving. Serves 16.

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And on Linc's birthday we had homemade mint shakes - instead of more cake. I just thought this was a fun picture, so I had to share. They were really yummy too!

Jazzing Up a Boxed Brownie Mix: Mint Brownies

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This is such a simple thing - it really isn't a recipe but it is one of my favorite things to make.

Bake a box of brownies that have the chocolate chunks in them as directed on the box. Cool.

Whip up a batch of frosting (kind of like you can read about here) but instead of almond and vanilla flavorings at 1 t. of mint extract. And a couple drops of green food coloring.

Frost the brownies. And for a final, wonderful touch - melt one square of unsweetened or semi-sweet baking chocolate with 1 T. butter. Drizzle on top of the frosting and smooth into an even coat.

Refrigerate until serving. These are so yummy cold. Love them!!!!

Making Baking Healthier: Chocolate Cake with an unusual ingredient

I have decided to do Weight Watchers for a few weeks and I don't want it to mean I can't bake.

So I want hunting for some Weight Watchers dessert recipes and I found LaaLoosh. While searching her dessert recipes, I found a Weight Watchers' Dark Chocolate Cake.

I gave it a try - even though it has a very unusual ingredient, sauerkraut. Yes, you read right - sauerkraut. I don't know why exactly but it works and you'd never know it was in there. Jace even ate two pieces of it (though he said it had a weird after-taste - Ella and I didn't agree).

Be brave and try it yourself. It serves 14 and only has 4 weight watchers points per serving. Even with a little sprinkle of powdered sugar and drizzle of Hershey's syrup.

Here's the recipe:

2 c. of all-purpose flour
1 1/3 c. sugar
1 1/2 t. baking soda
2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 1/2 c. hot water
1 t. vanilla
1 c. sauerkraut, pureed until smooth (think applesauce consistency)
1 t. unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Coat a Bundt pan with non-fat cooking spray with flour (I didn't do that - I was careful to hardly coat it with a bit of canola oil and a bit of flour, I'm sure that added a bit more to the point count but hardly and I just didn't have any spray on hand).

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and 2/3 c. cocoa together. Add melted butter, hot water, and vanilla. Mix well.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake in center of the oven for about 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pan at least 20 minutes before turning out onto serving platter. Sprinkle with 1 t. cocoa.

So good!!!