Marshmallow in the middle chocolate cupcakes

First, you start with a regular chocolate or devil’s food cake mix. Any brand will do. You’re going to mix it according to the directions (but I always add a TBS of vanilla to the mix because I swear it tastes better that way.) You’ll also need some regular size marshmallows and some chocolate frosting. Again, from scratch is fine, but I’m lazy and stuff.

After you mix the cake batter, fill cupcake liners 1/2 way with batter. Push a whole marshmallow into the center, then bake according to the directions.

When they are done, you’ll have a crater in the middle. It looks gross right now, but it’s worth it. Pinky promise! As soon as they come out, push a fresh marshmallow into the center, then pop them back into the oven for about 2 minutes. You want them to get all melted and fill in the hole.

When the come out, just know ahead of time that the marshmallow will fall a bit. You’re going to have a small dip in the top. It’s all good – don’t stress out .

Use a spoon to help coax the cupcakes out of the pan – gently – and put them on a cooling rack to cool.

Then, frost your cupcake as normal. It’s going to cover up all the ugly, but also add another level of yum.

Don’t hold it against me if you have to have an all day dance fest to work off all the calories…. the marshmallow in the middle chocolate cupcakes can be kind of addictive. You’ve been warned!

Recipe by:  http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/marshmallow-in-middle-chocolate.html



Best Baby Back Ribs in the Slow Cooker

 

These ribs will be some of the best you've ever had. The ribs will fall apart right out of the slow cooker, so be warned. Just a little prep work required - make the sauce first to pour some over the ribs at beginning of cooking. Then reduce on the stove-top toward the end of cooking for a thick Asian-inspired sticky sauce.

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 racks of pork baby back ribs
• Dry Rub
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• Sticky Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger
• 2 teaspoons ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce(found in the international section of the grocery store)
• ⅔ cup reduced sodium soy sauce, or regular if you don't have the low-salt
• ⅔ cup balsamic vinegar
• ⅔ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup honey
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon hot water

Instructions

1. Lay the pork ribs out on a cutting board and make sure that the membrane from underneath the ribs has been removed (most stores and butchers do remove this).
2. Make the dry rub:
3. Mix together all the ingredients listed above for the rub. Using your hands, massage the rub into both sides of the ribs, concentrating a bit more on the top, meaty portion of the rack. Let rest while you start the sauce.
4. Make the sauce:
5. In a bowl, stir together the ginger, pepper, and onion powder. Add the garlic and mix again. Add the sweet chili sauce, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and honey. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
6. Get ribs in the slow cooker:
7. Place the ribs in the slow cooker: To ensure that the ribs cook evenly, stand the racks up along the perimeter of the slow cooker with the wide end down and the meatier side of the ribs facing the slow-cooker insert wall. (The rib bones will be laying vertically and the slabs are now curled around each other in the cooker.)
8. Pour about 1½ cup of the sauce over the ribs and place the remaining half into a small bowl and put in the refrigerator for now.
9. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook at low for 8 hours. (I have cooked them on high for 2½ hours and then switched to low for 4 hours with perfect success as well.)
10. Remove the ribs from the slow cooker and place them on a tin foil lined broil pan or baking sheet, meaty side up.
11. Remove the sauce from the refrigerator and brush a little more of the sauce on top of the ribs until nice and shiny. Leave ribs alone for a minute while you finish the sauce.
12. Sticky Sauce:
13. Heat the saucepan to medium heat and bring the sauce to a boil. Once it starts boiling, whisk the cornstarch and water together in a small dish. Stir together and then while whisking in the saucepan, slowly drizzle in the cornstarch mixture. Whisk until it comes back to a boil and then turn to medium low and allow to simmer until it begins to reduce and thicken, about 5-8 minutes. Set aside.
14. Finish the ribs:
15. Place the meat under the broiler in the middle of the oven for a few minutes or until it looks sticky and broiled. Be sure to watch it carefully. Allow to rest, tented with foil for 3-5 minutes and serve with the sticky sauce on the side.

 Recipe by:  http://www.gooddinnermom.com/best-baby-back-ribs-slow-cooker/



Strawberry Upside Down Cake

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups crushed fresh strawberries
• 1 (6 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin mix
• 3 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 2/3 cup buttermilk
• 4 large eggs

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 350F degrees. Lightly spray 9 1/2 inch pie dish or 9x13 cake pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
Spread crushed strawberries on the bottom of a pie dish or cake pan. Evenly sprinkle strawberries with the dry strawberry gelatin powder, and top with mini marshmallows.
Using an electric or stand mixer, mix together the cake mix, buttermilk and eggs until combined. Pour cake batter on top of the marshmallows. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool cake in the dish/pan for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the dish/pan to loosen the sides, and turn the cake out onto a large serving plate. Place Nutella in a piping bag or large ziplock bag with a small hole cut on one end, drizzle Nutella on top of cake.

*Don’t have buttermilk!? No worries, all you need is 1⅔ cup heavy whipping cream or milk, 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar. Stir the lemon juice or white vinegar into the heavy whipping cream or milk, let stand at room temperature for 5-10 minutes. When it’s ready the milk mixture will be thicker and you will see small curd bites. Use in recipe as directed.

 

Recipe by:  http://deliciouslysprinkled.com/strawberry-upside-cake/

Granny Bliss Shortbread

Granny Bliss Shortbread

250g butter
1/3 rd cup castor sugar
1/4 cup rice flour
2 1/4 cups plain flour

Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Stir in sifted flours in two batches, when mixture becomes too stiff to stir, use your hands to combine ingredients. Turn onto a lightly floured board, knead lightly until smooth. Cook in moulds or in a tin and mark and prick decoratively with a fork. Bake this one in a slow oven for around 45 minutes or until lightly golden. Cool on wire rack. The more you cook shortbread the better you'll get at it. Everyone's ovens are slightly different etc.

 

 

Banana Coconut Cake

 

 

 

Banana-Coconut Cake

Free of gluten, dairy, refined sugar

2 oz coconut oil (1/4 cup)

2 ripe bananas

2 ½ oz honey (3 ¾ Tablespoons)

2 eggs, room temperature

1 t. almond extract

95 grams oat flour (scant 1 cup)

18 grams buckwheat flour (2 ½ Tablespoons)

33 grams almond flour (5 ½ Tablespoons)

42 grams unsweetened shredded coconut (about ½ cup)

1/8 t. sea salt

1 t. baking powder

1 ½ oz chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350° and grease two 6” cake pans with coconut oil. (Or substitute with one 9” cake layer and make a few muffins if you have excess batter)

Warm coconut oil in a small saucepan until smooth and clear. Move to mixing bowl, add ripe bananas and honey and mix (hand mixer is sufficient) for 1 minute. Add the eggs and extract, mixing well.

In small bowl whisk together all dry ingredients. Pour dry mix into the banana batter, mix well, then add chopped dates.

Pour into your two greased cake pans and bake 25 minutes or until skewer test is clean. Cool in pans 5 minutes, then place on cooling racks.

Frost after cooling completely (recipe link below) and store in refrigerator. *note that the frosting recipe will take about 2 hours to achieve the right consistency in the refrigerator, and a reminder that the Banana-Coconut Cake only requires less than half the original recipe

Agave Sweetened “Vegan Coconut Cream Frosting” Recipe from Elena’s Pantry

Recipe source:  http://raisedfromscratch.com