Valentine's Cookies

The weekend before Valentine's Day I was going to have a party with some friends. Then it happened. It snowed in the area of Oregon I live in and I had to cancel the party. Now depending on where you live you're thinking, why would you need to cancel the party?  We don't get much snow and therefore don't have the equipment to clear the roads. I didn't want my guests getting in accidents so I cancelled. I intended to make lots of treats. One of those being Pillsbury Pink Lemonade Cupcakes. Or so I thought...

When I pulled out the box I realized it wasn't a cupcake mix but a cookie mix.  oops! Of course I was still going to make them.

Thinking the cookie mix might be too sweet and it being the holiday of chocolate, I decided to add some Cherry M & M's to the cookie mix. In my head this combination sounded good.

The first batch of cookies I made I just scooped them out and blobbed them on the sheet. They could look prettier.

For the second batch I shaped the cookies all pretty so when they were done baking they would be all ready to party.

How did the cookies taste?  Myself and friends who tried them all had the same reaction.  The first bite you think, hmm different, not sure if I like them. Then you take a second bite and think, mmm these are good. The Cherry Chocolate M & M's cut the sweetness of the pink lemonade.  With out them the cookies would be way too sweet.  Even with the Cherry Chocolate M & M's one cookie is all you really want. 

The Case of the Disappearing Cupcakes

My first BBQ invite of the season was Saturday.  Of course I had to bake something to bring.  With strawberry season kicking off in the Pacific Northwest I wanted to make something out of fresh strawberries. I made a strawberry pie,{screech} wait, I thought this post was about cupcakes? 

It is. Since I wasn't sure if the pie would turn out I made cupcakes too. I had picked up Pillsbury's Orangesicle cake mix a few weeks back and decided to make them.  The Cupcake Crusaders had recently made them too and I took a few ideas from them. 

 For the frosting, like the Crusader's I used  Duncan Hines' Frosting Creations Orange Creme and just mixed it right in to a can of frosting. I too thought that it wasn't quite orange enough and added a little orange extract to give the flavor some oomf. I'm not sure how much I used, I just eye balled it. 

I liked the Cupcake Crusaders idea of making a surprise middle. Instead of making my own I used Cool Whip Frosting in Vanilla. 

These were a HIT!  The cupcakes were disappearing before the grill was even fired up. I saw people going back for seconds and thirds!

The cake was moist and light with a hint of creamsicle flavor. Adding the orange extract to the frosting uped the creamsicle experience and by adding a vanilla middle, it was like a orange creamsicle ice cream bar   in a cupcake. 

For your summertime fun I highly recommend these cupcakes.