Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

When I get an idea for something to bake and manage to find a great recipe its all my brain can think of until I actually get to bake it. So when I wondered if there was such a thing as Pink Lemonade cupcakes and then found a recipe(So happy to find it and a great bake blogger too) I was very excited. I think I managed to work it into every conversation at work.  And finally! Dreams became reality. These are yummy, the ladies at work loved them. Its such a different kind of cupcake. They tastes just like pink lemonade!

I will point out right now that I included drops of red food coloring. Totally optional but please do not go crazy with them or else they will make the cupcakes go not so nice looking. Just 1-2 drops will enhance the pink thats already there!

These are seriously the perfect cupcake for BBQ's and pool parties!

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes   (makes 24 cupcakes)
From Sweet Tooth

1 box white cake mix
3/4 cup frozen pink lemonade concentrate (thawed)
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 egg whites
1 drop red food coloring (optional)

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 24 muffins tins with liners
- Combine all of the ingredients in an electric mixer and begin by mixing low for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to medium for another minute.
- Divide the batter evenly, filling the liners about 2/3 full
- Bake cupcakes for about 25 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean
- Allow cupcakes to cool before frosting

Pink Lemonade Buttercream frosting:

3 cups confectioners sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 tbsp frozen pink lemonade concentrate
Pinch of salt
2 drops red food coloring (optional)

- Combine all ingredients in an electric mixer fit with a paddle attachment and mix on low until combined
- Increase speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is light and to your desired consistency
-Frost away

Buttermilk Biscuits

Time for me to actually start posting recipes! Now I would have thought that I would start with something like cupcakes(cupcakes!!) or cookies but this ended up being next on the things I need to bake list. I had some buttermilk left over from a chocolate cake I had made and I didn't want it to just go to waste. So I thought biscuits would be a nice way to go.

I searched around and found a nice recipe on Canadian Livings website and while I was intimated by the "cut in butter" part they turned out quite nice! The boyfriend really liked them as well so its going on the to bake a again list. I'll probably play around with it as well, see what kind of goodies I can include!

Buttermilk Biscuits   (makes 12 biscuits)
From Canadian Living

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 cup buttermilk
1 egg

In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until in coarse crumbs*. Whisk buttermilk with egg; stir into flour mixture with fork to make soft dough.

With lightly floured hands, press dough into ball. On lightly floured surface, knead gently 10 times. Pat into 3/4-inch (2 cm) thick round. Using floured 2-1/2-inch (6 cm) round cutter, cut into rounds. Place on parchment paper-lined or floured rimless baking sheet. Bake in 400°F (200°C) oven until golden, 12 to 15 minutes. (I found mine good at 12 minutes BUT start checking the bottoms of the biscuits at about 11 minutes. The bottoms can darken/burn and you not even realize it till its too late.**)

Topping: Brush with butter; sprinkle with sugar. (I used about 1-1/2 tbsp of butter)

Notes/Tips
*) "Cut butter in" - I googled this and you can do it with a kitchen aid mixer(which I don't have) or use two knives. I started with two knives and just started cutting up the cubes into some bits mixing into the flour mixture. Then I got my handy dandy little whisk  and just kind smushed down on it. The thing you need to remember is that you need to leave pearls/beads of butter behind in the "crumbs".
**) I broke my batch up in two trays and cooked separately as my oven can be tricky when cooking on two different racks. The 2nd tray had a few bottoms, not burned, but dark enough to taste. Unless you like that kind of thing check your bottoms!

The beginning...

A friend of mine started his own cooking blog. He's a great cook and has a passion for it. With my recent need to bake I thought a blog would be fun as well. We'll see how it goes.

Now if this is my first post I should be posting an amazing success right? Instead I will share the opposite. I had some buttermilk left over from a chocolate cake I made on saturday and thought it would be nice to use it up. Buttermilk biscuits would end the weekend off nicely. But I don't have a cutter to cut them out and even though I thought I could probably manage without I didn't feel like getting all floury once I thought about it.

To keep the theme of using things up I still have some chocolate kisses from a few months ago that should really be used for something so I thought peanut butter kiss cookies. I found a basic recipes on allrecipes.com that was basically 1c white sugar, 1 egg, 1 c of peanut butter. A reviewer had a different take on it using other sugars and increasing the batch qty. I figured I would meet them in the middle and yeah.... the cookies should have stayed in round ball form and instead spread out like pancakes.

And while I still stuck on the kisses after, they look pretty sad. But still edible and are a nice chewy peanut butter cookie. Still I nice reminder to always make a recipe for the first time without "making your own adjustments" that haven't already been suggested by more then one reviewer.

Oh well, it scratched the itch and I got to learn a little bit more.