Today I baked homemade funfetti cake batter donuts. I recently bought a donut pan and have been searching for an easy but good recipe and finally found one. This recipe from Cookies and Cups was exactly what I was looking for. I obviously changed a few things from the one on her blog, but the recipe is basically the same. I used vanilla non-fat yogurt instead of buttermilk and I also didn't double glaze them... you'll see. Also, I halved the recipe and made 6 to see how they would turn out.

These can be made using plain cake mix and added whatever you like. Next time I make them, I'm going to use sugar free cake mix and brownie mix. In my house, whenever we bake we always go the sugar free route for health reasons plus sugar free doesn't taste any different. Overall, they turned out to be really good! I wouldn't say they're as good as a grocery store donut, which is hands down my favorite, but they stand up well. Atleast you know these are being baked, not fried, and you have some control over what goes in/on them.

Double Glazed Funfetti Donuts

(adapted from Wilton)

makes 12 donuts

Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups Funfetti Cake Mix
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp melted butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425°
2. Spray the donut pan lightly with cooking spray.
3. In mixing bowl beat all ingredients on medium speed for 30 seconds.
4. Transfer batter to a zip lock bag and cut the corner of the zip lock bag.
5. Fill each donut mold about 2/3 full.
6. Bake 10 minutes or until they spring back when you touch them. My tops didn't get too brown, but they were definitely cooked.
7. Cool in the pan for about 2 minutes then turn them out onto parchment paper. 
8. Glaze/ice/decorate as you like.

For the glaze: I did a simple powdered sugar/milk mix until it was thin and smooth. Instead of using the stove to heat the milk which helps with making the glaze extra thin, I microwaved the milk for 10 seconds and it worked just as well. I made one dipped in plain glaze and one in chocolate glaze. For the chocolate glaze, I put 3 drops of chocolate syrup into the mixture because I couldn't find the cocoa. 

For the icing: I used powdered sugar and milk again, but you want to use less milk so it's creamy like a buttercream. A chocolate icing could easily be made by adding cocoa. And sprinkles. LOTS of sprinkles. I love sprinkles.

Cinnamon/sugar mix: I made 2 donuts with a basic cinnamon/sugar mix. First I melted butter, brushed it on top of the donuts, and dipped the donuts into the cinnamon sugar mix. 

Originally Made: Today.

Source: Cookies and Cups

I LOVE frozen lattes and mochas, if only they could be made calorie free. Usually when I buy them at work, I get a sugar free caramel vanilla frozen latte with soy milk. We only use 1% in my house, which is fine with me, it's the only milk besides soy that won't make me sick. On one of my days off last month, instead of going out to buy one, I figured I could try to make one at home and it was a success! I used all the stuff in the picture plus a couple Splenda packets.

This is one of those recipes that really isn't a recipe. Like I said, I used 1% milk, Splenda, Sugar Free French Vanilla flavoring, Coffee House Caramel Macchiato, and a Van Houtte French Vanilla k cup. 

Basically, I brewed a k cup into an ice tray and then froze it overnight. I put half the tray into our Ninja blender and added the ingredients until it blended smoothly. I think it came out pretty well, plus it saved me $3-4. Currently I have a tray in the freezer and sometime this week I plan on making this again but with French Vanilla creamer and making my mom one with Irish Cream creamer. 

I love cinnamon rolls, big or small, I could eat them all day and never get tired of them. When my friends and I get together or go on vacation, this is one thing we always bake for breakfast one of the days. We just use the Pillsbury Rolls, but I made these with crescent rolls we had in the refrigerator. I edited this original recipe I found here and tweaked it to what I know I like/have. This is one of those recipes where you can use more or less of each ingredient. I did this and didn't follow the exact measurements. 

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:

1 tube crescent roll dough

2 Tablespoons butter

cinnamon

sugar

For the icing:

1 Tablespoon milk

3/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven according to crescent roll dough package directions. Layout half the dough  and pinch all the seams together. Flip over and pinch the seams on the back side together too.

2. Using a rolling pin, smooth the seams and roll the dough into a square about 1/4″ thick. Brush with the butter, and sprinkle with as much cinnamon and sugar as you want. Roll into a log and cut into pieces big or small enough to fit in your muffin tin.

3. Place mini cinnamon rolls into a non-stick sprayed mini muffin tin. Bake according to package directions.

4. Meanwhile whisk together milk and powdered sugar until desired consistency is reached. Drizzle over warm cinnamon rolls.

Originally Made: March 18, 2012

Source: Iowa Girl Eats

For my last trip to New York, in February, I baked this AMAZING New York Style crumb cake. I'm crumb obsessed. I'm probably the worst person to leave in the kitchen with a crumb cake because I could stand for hours picking off the crumbs, same goes for the crust on an apple pie... my mom hates that but I always sneak in for a piece. This recipe yielded the perfect crumb to cake ratio, which is the most important part of a crumb cake. I will say that I doubled it and cooked it for 45-50 minutes. It came out perfect.

New York-Style Crumb Cake
source: Cooks’ Illustrated free iPhone app and Cooks’ Illustrated May 2007

Don’t be tempted to substitute all-purpose flour for the cake flour, as doing so will make a dry, tough cake. If you can’t find buttermilk, you can substitute an equal amount of plain, low-fat yogurt. When topping the cake, take care to not push the crumbs into the batter. This recipe can be easily doubled and baked in a 13 by 9-inch baking dish. If doubling, increase the baking time to about 45 minutes. Cooled leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.

For the Crumb Topping:
1/3 cup granulated sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (2 2/3 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted and still warm
1 3/4 cups cake flour (7 ounces)

For the Cake:
1 1/4 cups cake flour (5 ounces)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick), cut into 6 pieces, softened but still cool
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup buttermilk
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

To make the topping: Whisk sugars, cinnamon, salt, and butter in medium bowl to combine. Add flour and stir with rubber spatula or wooden spoon until mixture resembles thick, cohesive dough; set aside to cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes.

To make the cake: Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 16-inch length parchment paper or aluminum foil and fold lengthwise to 7-inch width. Spray 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and fit parchment into dish, pushing it into corners and up sides; allow excess to overhang edges of dish.

In bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt on low speed to combine. With mixer running at low speed, add butter one piece at a time; continue beating until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no visible butter chunks remaining, 1 to 2 minutes. Add egg, yolk, vanilla, and buttermilk; beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping once if necessary.

Transfer batter to baking pan; using rubber spatula, spread batter into even layer.  Break apart crumb topping into large pea-sized pieces between your thumb, pointer, and middle fingers and spread in even layer over batter, beginning with edges and then working toward center. Bake until crumbs are golden and wooden skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack at least 30 minutes. Remove cake from pan by lifting parchment overhang. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

Note: Cake flour makes a HUGE difference and I went through almost a whole box to make this crumb cake. It really does leave the cake a lot more moist. I didn't use buttermilk partially because I'm lactose intolerant and because we didn't have any in the house. I used vanilla low-fat yogurt and I think it worked just as well. The picture above is the only inside picture I have of the cake and this was the 2nd time I made it for Easter. As you can tell, it didn't exactly cook completely which was frustrating. I plan on remaking it this summer and hopefully it'll turn out correctly.

Originally Made: February 28, 2012
Source: Smells Like Home

Source: fitbodynow.wordpress.com via Jen on Pinterest

Clearly I found this on Pinterest... hellllooooo I'm obsessed! I check it way more often than FB and Twitter, which is pretty bad! I really really want to participate in a 5K sometime in my life. I'm in no shape to run it now, but walking would definitely be possible and even some jogging. The Color Run looks like SO much fun!! I can only imagine how awesome the "white" shirts look when you're done. I'm definitely going to look into doing the DC or NYC run!

For the same Christmas party, I also baked S'more Brownies which I found on Pinterest. These were INCREDIBLE!! They're perfect when they're still fresh and warm but still last pretty well for a couple days.

With any recipe, I've of course altered it. I used a 9x13" and one box of mix barely covered half my pan, so I had to make a second mix. I also cooked the brownies til they were basically finished, added the topping and then cooked it for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the marshmellows browned.

Ingredients

• 1 (21.5 ounce) package brownie mix
• 6 graham crackers
• 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
• 8 (1.5 ounce) bars milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare brownie mix according to package directions. Spread into a greased 9x13 inch pan.

• In a medium bowl, break graham crackers into 1 inch pieces and toss with miniature marshmallows and milk chocolate. Set s'more mixture aside.

• Bake brownies for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove, and sprinkle the s'more goodies evenly over the top. Bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow brownies to cool before cutting into squares.

For a Christmas party two weeks ago, I made Cake Batter Brownies and used a recipe I found from Pinterest. If you haven't used Pinterest yet, please do so quickly! It's this amazing website where people "pin" things they find all over the internet for other people to find. I'm addicted. I have SO many boards made of things I like or want to try.

These were super easy to make and even easier to cut into bars. I wish I would have tried them before putting icing on top. The brownie itself was very sweet, in my opinion, so adding the icing was going really over board. I knew they weren't such a great hit because I ended up dropping off most of the platter at work.

I used a french vanilla cake mix and added red and green sprinkles to it. I also used can frosting, which I tend to like more than homemade frosting. I also baked this in a 9x13" because I needed to get more out of this, by doing so I used 2 boxes of cake mix and doubled everything. Since I used 2 boxes and a larger pan, it took much longer than 30 minutes to cook. The only advice I can give is to check the brownie with a toothpick and cook at 10 minute increments after 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 1 box yellow (or Funfetti!) cake mix
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup rainbow sprinkles (if you use a yellow cake mix, add these in)
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• Sprinkles for the top
• Frosting

Directions: Combine the cake mix, oil, and egg in a large bowl. Add the milk slowly – you want the batter to remain as dense as possible. Then mix in the rainbow sprinkles and white chocolate chips. Spray pan (either 8x11" or 9x9" pan ) with non-stick cooking spray. Dump batter in pan and spread to the edges. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. (They will be a little soft/gooey in the middle- just let them sit for about 20-30 minutes and they will set up. But I guarantee that you will not be able to wait that long.) Frost when cooled if desired.

I'm obsessed with Pinterest...

Source: Uploaded by user via Lindsey on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Connie on Pinterest

Lady Gaga

Source: google.com via Emilee on Pinterest

is my

Source: images.google.com via Justin on Pinterest

idol <3

Seeing her at the Monster Ball twice was the most amazing experiences I've ever had. I CANNOT wait until next years tour.

This mirror is incredible. The border is made of vintage jewelry.

I'm pretty proud of myself for actually posting seven days in a row, let alone even wanting to post. I find that it's really easy to write when I'm watching certain shows on tv, which sounds weird but it works for me.

A couple days ago I discovered this website called Pinterest. I've been obsessed since! I love all the pictures I find, all the DIY projects I find and the recipes I keep finding are incredible. I love baking and I love trying new things to bake, so my "baking" board is full of ideas that I can't wait to try. Of course there's an entire category for wedding related stuff which is not helping my current obsession with weddings.

Two blog posts in one day? How 'bout that! I've been trying to kill time before my usual Tuesday night shows, so I figured writing might take up a bit of time.