Raspberry filled Cupcakes

So last night I needed to make a birthday treat to share with the young women group at my church that I am in charge of to celebrate one of the girls birthdays.

I have loads of great recipes I have found on blogs that I have been dying to try out! I decided on these delicious ones, Raspberry filled vanilla cupcakes, from Tidymom. They were sooooo wonderful, one of the girls even said they were the best cupcakes she has EVER had (I owe it to the great recipe, not my cooking skills).

Photo from Tidymom

There were no too overly difficult steps, just quite a few steps since you have to make the cupcakes, raspberry filling, and frosting. I guess you could cut back on a few of them if you used store bought frosting or even raspberry jam for the filling. However, I think the frosting and the filling are past of what makes them sooo delicious!

***Also, Tidymom does not follow the store bought cake mixes recipe, but uses the mix with her own recipe and I think this made the cupcakes HEAVENLY! I plan on following this next time I make ANY cupcakes! here is what she did:

1 box Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe French Vanilla

3 Large Eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted (use butter not margarine)

1 cup of water

Thanks Tidymom for the WONDERFUL recipe!!!!

My Dad's Delicious Buttermilk Cookies

So my dad used to give my mom "Sunday Dinners for a YEAR" for Christmas, meaning he would cook Sunday dinners for her. Not only did he cook, but he would go all out researching new recipes. His favorite recipes seemed to always come from little old ladies from the Midwest. It was soo cute to watch my dad do this each week and get so excited (i recommend this to all the husbands out there... it will win you bit points).

(picture of my Cute Mom and Dad)

Anyways... one of the recipes that is still repeated to this day at home is the Buttermilk cookies! My dad would always make them for me on special occasions or if I was home to visit. I have eaten my fair share of them... but FINALLY the other day I decided to make a batch.

So here is the yummy, delicious recipes (that I am sure was inspired by some old midwestern woman).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter-softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 buttermilk

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees
   
2. in a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light
3. beat in egg and vanilla
4. mix in salt and baking soda
5. mix in flour and buttermilk- alternating between the two to insure better mixing
6. drop rounded tablespoons full of dough on to a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (these cookies are not meant to look nice and perfect and round...so just slap the dough on there!)
   
7. cook for 10-12 minutes-until outside edges are lightly browned
8. remove and let cool on racks

Frosting

• 3 TB. butter- softened
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Just combine all ingredients together, beat until smooth, and then frost cookies.

These cookies are the BEST hot but are GREAT anytime!

"Kisses" for Rice Krispies

My husband has simple tastes when it comes to desserts... his favorites are brownies and RICE KRISPIES. I thought this idea I saw on Homemaking Fun would be a fun way to spice up (at least the appearance) of the usually mundane Rice Krispies. This would also be a great idea for Valentine's Day.

Images from Homemaking Fun