French breakfast mini muffins with cinnamon sugar

Have you tried churros? They are fried pastry dough rolled in cinnamon sugar. So yummy, such a guilty pleasure. I'm all about finding alternatives to yummy fattening foods. I know I know, it's not going to be the same or it's not going to have the "real" taste as the original goodies. But I don't want to gain more weight or getting health problems by eating deep fried greasy foods. So I came across this recipe here. No frying, all baking! Perfect!

French breakfast mini muffins with cinnamon sugar
(24 servings)

Ingredients:
For mini muffins
5 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg (preferably room temperature)
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp.baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup non fat milk

Topping 1/4 cup sugar
1 - 2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350F. Spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray, set aside.
2) In a medium bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir until combined, but still a bit lumpy. Don't overmix. Pour batter into mini muffin tins about 2/3 - 3/4 full. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

3) For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Use another small bowl and melt the butter in a microwave. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter, then dip/roll the muffin in cinnamon sugar.

Heavenly soft mini bites.  Melts in your mouth.  ~ 80 calories each.  You may substitute margarine with butter, but be aware not all margarine are created equal!  Some have more trans fat.  Be sure to check the nutrition fact labels before you purchase it!

Happy baking :)

Dalmatian cupcakes

A friend of mine asked me for the recipe of Dalmatian cupcakes.
I originally found Dalmatian cupcakes on Betty Crocker's website.
I remember browsing through the website and looking for fun ideas then I came across with this recipe.  My dog is a Dalmatian and Black Lab mix, what a cute coincidence. 

This is Blaze when she was a puppy :)

Dalmatian cupcakes

(this recipe yields 28 cupcakes ~ 138 calories each)

Ingredients:

 For cupcakes

4 oz fat free cream cheese, softened

1 egg

60 g mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 box Betty Crocker SuperMoist devil's food cake mix or any chocolate favored cake mix

1/3 cup lite or fat free sour cream

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

4 egg whites

1 cup water

For toppings

2 cups Confectioner's sugar

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp unsweetened coco powder

2-3 tbsp fat free milk

3 tbsp toffee bits

Directions:

1) Pre-heat oven to 325 F. Place paper liners into regular size muffin pan.

2) In medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and egg with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Stir in mini-chocolate chips, set aside.

3) In a large bowl, beat cake mix, water, sour cream, applesauce and egg whites on low speed for 30 seconds, then switch on medium speed for 2 minutes. 

4) Divide batter among muffin cups about 1/3 full, then spoon about 1 teaspoon of the chocolate cream cheese mixture right on top of the batter, then cover up the cream cheese mixture with the batter again until each one is about 2/3 full. 

5) Bake 20-25 minutes, test the cupcakes by inserting a toothpick inside the cupcake, if it comes out clean, they are done!

6) Cool cupcakes in pans for 5-10 minutes, then remove from pans to cooling racks.  Cool completely before you start frosting them!

7) While the cupcakes are baking/cooling, beat the Confectioner's sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, coco powder, and milk until smooth.  Make sure the frosting has the right consistency for pipping.  If it's too dry, add more milk; if it's too wet, add more sugar.

8) Frost cupcake with frosting.  Sprinkle them with toffee bites.  Store them covered in refrigerator.



Chocolate cake with white cream cheese filling and mini chocolate chips resembling the pattern of a Dalmatian dog

 I have also baked another Dalmatian cupcakes with Devil's food cake mix and frost with vanilla buttercream frosting.  Played around with some chocolate and created a gift celebrating a friend's newborn baby :)

Cheesecake Stuffed Fresh Strawberries

A no bake dessert, easy, fresh, super delicious!

I recently found an app on iPhone called Foodgawker. This is totally love at first sight! I check it out whenever I have a chance. They have tons of food blogs with recipes. There are so many to try!
Got some leftover cream cheese in the fridge and bought some fresh strawberries at Costco yesterday, so I thought...hmm...this is one good recipe I can try out!

Cheesecake Stuffed Fresh Strawberries
Makes 25 stuffed strawberries
(original recipes from thesweetslife.com)

Ingredients:
25 Medium fresh strawberries
4 oz. fat-free cream cheese
2 tbsp Confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Reduced fat graham cracker crumbs
1 tbsp mini chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
1) Wash and dry strawberries, remove the top part with the leaves and hollow the inside with a small knife. Cut the bottom of the strawberries so they can "stand" on a serving plate.

2) In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, Confectioner's sugar, and vanilla extract until creamy. Add cream cheese mix to a Ziploc with the corner snipped off. Fill strawberries with cheesecake mixture.

3) Once the strawberries are filled, dip the top in graham cracker crumbs. If not serving immediately, refrigerate until serving.

4) Optional: before dipping them in graham cracker crumbs, you may push a few pieces of mini chocolate chips with a toothpick right into the cheesecake mixture for a little sweet surprise!

Cheesecake stuffed fresh strawberries
Cheesecake stuffed fresh strawberries with mini chocolate chips

I gobbled 4 of them right after I took the last picture. YUMMY! A healthy delicious treat for ~20 calories each =) I love dessert!

Sunflower cupcakes

Today is the day...
That I start blogging about FOOD!

Never thought I would have done this, but seeing how others blogging about foods and learning from new recipes seems so much fun.  I started baking in the beginning of this year.  Baking is fun, it's actually dangerous!  Once you start, you can't stop!  =)

The other day I stopped by a local grocery store and saw some very beautiful cupcakes in their bakery department.  "These look gorgeous!  I've got to try this!" I thought.  So I Googled it and found some recipes and put together my own version.  Here you go, my latest cupcake creation: Sunflower cupcakes!

Sunflower Cupcakes
(my recipe yielded 28 regular size cupcakes)

Ingredients:
For cupcakes
1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist French Vanilla cake mix
2/3 cup water
1/3 cup non-fat sour cream
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 egg whites

For green buttercream frosting
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1.5 cup Confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1-2 tbsp non-fat milk
5 drops green food coloring

For yellow flower petal buttercream frosting
3.5 tbsp unsalted butter
2.5 cup Confectioner's sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp non-fat milk
7 drops yellow food coloring

For toppings
28 reduced fat Oreo cookies
28 red colored M&Ms
1-2 tbsp semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven at 325 F.  Line a regular size muffin pan with paper liners, set aside.
2) In a large mixing bowl, put together the cake mix, water, sour cream, applesauce, and egg whites. Mix everything together by using a electric hand mixing on slow speed for 30 seconds then switch to medium speed for 2 minutes. 
3) Pour cupcake batter evenly into lined muffin pan (I used an ice-cream scoop to make sure they have an even amount). Bake for 20-23 minutes.  Insert a toothpick in the cupcake after 20 minutes of baking time, if the toothpick comes out clean, your cupcake is done! Let them cool for 5 minutes then remove the cupcakes from the muffin pan and let cool on a cooling rack. Continue baking the rest of the cupcakes.
4) While the cupcakes are baking in the oven, prepare the ladybugs by putting the chocolate morsels inside a Ziploc bag, microwave it in a 20 second interval.  Check it to make sure they are all melted but not burnt.  Cut a little hole at the corner of the Ziploc bag and start pipping on the M&Ms. Let dry.

5) While the ladybugs are drying, prepare the frosting.  In two separate bowls, mix the buttercream frosting by using an electric hand mixer, whip the frosting until it's the right consistency so it's easy for pipping.  If the frosting is too dry, add more milk; if the frosting is too wet, add more Confectioner's sugar.

6) Let the cupcakes cool down completely before you start frosting them with green frosting.

7) Stick an Oreo cookie right on top of the green frosting

8) Pipe on the sides of the Oreo cookie with the yellow frosting to make sunflower petals, pipe a little extra at one corner for the ladybug to stick on it.

Yum!  These cupcakes can be store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for a few days.  The Oreo cookies get soften and I think they taste better that way. Each cupcake is roughly about 206 calories by using non-fat sour cream, non-fat milk and applesauce in oppose to oil and whole fat milk. 

Happy baking!