Holiday Baking

I just finished my holiday baking tonight. On this years list was: chocolate dipped shortbread, lemon cheesecake bars, persimmon bread and pillow cookies. I really love these shortbread cookies, I think I'll be making these every Christmas Eve. Wishing you and your families a blessed merry Christmas! God bless.

Lemon Meringue Tea Cakes

So I saw these gems, while I was watching Semi-homemade with Sandra Lee. Although I am not a fan of lemon desserts I knew my mom would love these. So I made these and the chocolate lava cupcakes for her birthday party on Friday and they were both huge hits. I even had one of my uncles request these for his birthday. So here they are.

Ingredients

one box of lemon cake mix

eight ounces of whipped topping

1 egg white plus one cup of egg whites

two cups milk

2 small packages of instant lemon pudding

1/4 cup of sugar

1/2 tsp of cream of tartar

zest of one lemon

Step one: Preheat the oven to 350 degree and spray two muffin tins with nonstick spray. In a medium bowl mix one egg white, whipped topping and cake mix. Place one tablespoon of mixture into each muffin cup. Flatten the mixture with a floured spoon or with the bottom of a glass if you have one that fits into the muffin cup. Bake for 9 minutes. Once cakes are removed from oven, raise the temperature to 425 degrees.

Step two: In a medium bowl mix 2 pudding envelopes with one cup of milk. Spoon mixture onto each cake.*

Step three: Beat the cup of egg whites until soft peaks form, then add sugar and cream of tartar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in lemon zest and pipe the meringue onto the pudding mixture and bake until the tops begin to brown, about 3-5 minutes.

* I found it easiest to place the cooled cakes on a baking sheet, then assemble them with the pudding and meringue.

On a side note, I am not able to add more than one picture to my posts, so as soon I figure that out I will add more pictures to the recipes.

Chocolate lava cupcakes

My mom has a sweet tooth and everyone that knows her, knows that she loves chocolate. So sure enough, while I was at her house she asked me to make her something sweet. She then brought me the cake mixes and frostings she had in the pantry for me, hmmm I don't buy that. Anyways, I gave these a try and she loved them. So much so that she asked me to make them for her birthday instead of buying her a chocolate cake (with chocolate frosting of course). So here they are adapted from Betty Crocker.

Ingredients

1/2 cup whipped topping

1 cup chocolate chips

1 box of devil's food cake mix (or chocolate)

1 cup water

one 4 oz applesauce container (I used the cinnamon one since that's what I had on hand, or you could use 1/3 cup of vegetable oil)

3 eggs

Chocolate frosting (I used vanilla since that's what I had)

Step one: Place chocolate chips in saucepan over medium heat. Add in the cool whip and stir often until chocolate chips are thoroughly melted.* Refrigerate for an hour for best results. **

Step two: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour (or use cocoa powder instead of flour) 2 muffin pans. In a large bowl mix: cake mix, water, eggs and applesauce for about 2 minutes. Spoon batter into each muffin cup, filling 3/4 of the way. Place one tablespoon of chocolate mixture on the center of each muffin cup.

Step three: Bake for 17-19 minutes. Carefully remove cupcakes from pan and frost while still warm. Serve warm and garnish with powdered sugar for a pretty presentation.

** I made this on two separate occasions. The first time I made these I did not refrigerate the chocolate and it came out great but the center was thicker and not as lava-y. The second time I made these I refrigerated the mixture for about 2 hours and they had a true lava center.

*If you'd rather melt the chocolate in the microwave add the chocolate chips to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds on 60% heat. Stir in 1/2 cup of whipped topping and Microwave for another 15 seconds on 50% heat. Chocolate should look smooth, if it is not, microwave in 15 second intervals until smooth. Refrigerate until thick, for about an hour for best results.