Easter: Cupcakes and Bacon Deviled Eggs

Happy Easter! I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. I spent the weekend with Mike's family for Easter. It was a great time and lots of great food. Typically one meal here and you are set for the rest of the day. My contributions included cupcakes and deviled eggs. :)

~CUPCAKES~

I used Betty Crocker's white cupcake mix. I think it's pretty tasty for box cupcakes. For the first variation, I used Nutella (works amazing as icing) topped with coconut M&Ms. Doesn't it look like nests of bird eggs? For the second, I made my own strawberry whipped butter icing (will post a recipe when I perfect it) and made an attempt to top the cupcakes with roses. I think I did alright on my first try. Here is a great site that I used to help me learn a little about how to frost cupcakes: Cupcake Basics - How to Frost Cupcakes.

~BACON DEVILED EGGS~

The first time I ever made bacon deviled eggs for Mike and a friend during an impromptu BBQ, it blew their minds. Anytime we talk about appetizer or bacon in general, Mike loves to brag about this moment. It's so sweet and endearing and might even make me blush a little. :) Here's how I make it:

Ingredients:

• 12 eggs
• 1/2 C of mayonaisse (I like the kind with Olive oil)
• 1 TB of mustard
• 5 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 TB paprika, extra for dusting over completed eggs

Instructions:

• The first thing that you need to do tape up a carton of eggs and turn the carton on the sides the night before. The reason I do this is so that the egg yolk will settle in the center of the egg for a better presentation. You won't run the risk of part of the wall being too thin and the white breaking as you scoop the yolk.
• Place the eggs in a large pot and pour enough cold water in to just cover the eggs. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and cover for 12-14 minutes. Remove eggs and put in a bowl of cold water to cool.

• Scoop the yolk into a large bowl and mash it with the mayo, mustard, and paprika with a potato masher. Mix in the bacon.
• Put the mixture in a ziplock bag, cut off a corner, and pipe it into the shell.

• Dust some paprika over them, garnish, and you will have yourself some fine deviled eggs which are sure to impress. This is another example that goes to show that bacon makes everything better.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

I love cooking meals, but I'm not much a dessert person or baker. I can make fancy cheesecakes, but my cookies always turn out burnt or flat. I made a large batch of chocolate mint cookies that I think was probably my best batch of cookies ever. The outside was slightly crispy, but the inside was so soft. It could also be that I finally have good cookie sheets. I got these Calphalon cookie sheets from Target. They work so well and they are huge, so they fit a bunch of cookies. I was able to make 25 per sheet for smaller-medium size cookies.

I made a bunch of cookies as a way of saying thanks to the neighbors for being sooooo nice and patient while Winston is getting crate trained. I got the recipe from Allrecipes.com, Chocolate Mint Cookies I. I pretty much followed the recipe to the T, except that I used only 1 cup of brown sugar. I have been stuffing my face all day with the leftover cookies. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C butter
• 1 C packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp water
• 2 C semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 package of Andes mint chocolate

Instructions:

• In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl (or your mixer bowl, if using a stand) and let stand 10 minutes to cool off slightly.
• At high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about 1 hour. Prepare the dry ingredients while it is chilling.

• Roll dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart (I did 1-in balls and that yield 56 cookies). Bake 8-10 minutes. While cookies are baking unwrap mints and divide each in half (1 pkg of Andes has exactly 56 halves!).

• When cookies are brought out of the oven, put 1/2 mint on top of each cookie. The mint may slide off, so watch for this. Swirl the chocolate around when melted. Let the frosting harden before storing away.