Happy Mother’s Day weekend! Moms are the best, aren’t they? If you don’t want to buy your mom real flowers, make her some in cupcake form! I saw these cupcakes in “What’s New, Cupcake” and had to give them a try. They are SUPER easy to make, but are time-consuming. You can cut some of the time down by making cupcakes from a box mix and using store-bought frosting. Here’s how I made mine.

Mum Flower Cupcakes
Recipe source: What’s New Cupcake
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1 box cake mix (I used white cake)
1 tub store-bought vanilla frosting
1 package of fruit-flavored Twizzlers (optional)
1 bag mini marshmallows (you can use the colored marshmallows or the plain white, it’s up to you)
Variety of sprinkles/sugars

1. Make the cupcakes according to box directions and frost.
2. Cut the marshmallows on the diagonal. Dip the sticky side of the marshmallow into the sprinkles or colored sugar. Repeat this process until you have many “petals” to work with.
3. Place the marshmallow petals around the outside of the cupcake; repeat with a second and third row until you get to the center of the cupcake.
4. Optional: Separate the green Twizzlers and use them as stems!

These cookies don’t directly involves caramel corn… but have flavors to match! I was sold when I saw the words “butterscotch chips”. :)

Caramel Corn Cookies
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1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped honey-roasted peanuts
Coarse sugar or turbinado sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine shortening and butter. Beat with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt. Beat until combined, scraping bowl occasionally. Beat in egg, honey, and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with a mixer. With a spoon, stir in any remaining flour, the butterscotch chips, and peanuts.
3. Place coarse sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 1-1/4 inch balls. Roll balls in coarse sugar to coat. Place balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until tops are golden and edges are firm. Cool on cookie sheets for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire racks for complete cooling. Makes about 48 cookies.

Ahh, springtime. Flowers, rain, green-er grass, and worms! I may be in the minority on this, but I always like seeing the worms come out of the ground after a big rainstorm. If you aren’t a fan of real worms, hopefully you like gummy worms. The cupcakes are super simple to make because I went the semi-homemade route.

Worms in the Dirt Cupcakes
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1 box Oreo cookies
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 tub of chocolate frosting
1 bag gummy worms

1. Bake cupcakes according to box directions; frost when cooled.
2. Crush the Oreo cookies in a food processor. Dip the frosted cupcakes into the Oreo crumbs to coat.
3. Place gummy worms on top of the the cupcakes. You can cut some of the worms in half to make it look like they are coming out of the cupcake.

This week will be all sorts of crazy for me. Graduate school is wrapping up, which means final papers, presentations, thesis defense, and many other “fun” tasks. I don’t have much to say about this recipe except that it was a keeper. So delicious! Snickerdoodle cookies have always been a favorite of mine, so I was excited to try making them in blondie form! Have a great week, everyone!

Yield: About 18 bars

Snickerdoodle Blondies

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Cinnamon lovers unite for this easy-to-make dessert!

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2-2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9x13" baking pan (or use a nonstick cooking spray).

2. In a medium bowl, sift and whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Beat in vanilla.

4. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add in the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Give a final stir with a rubber spatula to ensure any crumbly bits on the bottom of the bowl are incorporated.

5. Spread dough into an even layer in the baking pan.

6. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the top of the batter.

7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed. Transfer pan to a wire rack and allow blondies to cool completely before cutting

Notes

Your yield will depend on how big or small you cut your bars.

Recipe credit: Ryan's Baking Blog. This blog is no longer operational, but I wanted to provide credit anyway!

My mom’s birthday was on April 11th. Her favorite desserts always involve lemon, so I decided to make her this adorable lemon poppy seed layer cake. The cake turns out to be relatively small, because each layer is only 3 or 4″. It was the perfect cake for my parents and I to share on her birthday. And for fun, we’ll pretend that she was turning 5… as I couldn’t fit sixty one candles on that little cake!

Citrus Layer Cake
Recipe source: Seasons and Suppers
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Cake:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 eggs
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Cream cheese frosting:
3/4 cup butter
8 ounces cream cheese
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
4 cups icing sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla

Citrus Glaze:
2 cups icing sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat a 9 x 12 (or 13)-inch baking spray..
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add juice, vanilla, zest and eggs and continue beating. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In another bowl combine milk and yogurt.
4. Add milk mixture and flour mixture alternately to butter mixture and beat well to combine. Fold in poppy seeds. Pour batter evenly onto pan and bake for 35 minutes. Remove and cool.

Meanwhile, prepare frosting and glaze.
5. For frosting, in a medium bowl cream butter and cream cheese by using a mixer, then add lemon juice and vanilla and incorporate. Sift icing sugar into butter mixture a cup at a time. Mix until smooth.
6. For glaze, simply combine all ingredients and stir until smooth. Cover and set aside.

Assemble cake.
7. Cut 3″ or 4″ rounds out of the 9×13″ cake.
8. Place one cake round on a serving plate, top with a generous layer of cream cheese frosting. Layer each round and leave the top without frosting. Pour glaze over the top of cake until it begins to run down the sides.
9. Garnish with orange or lemon peels — or birthday candles!