"Tie Dye" Mini Vanilla Cupcakes

These cupcakes were inspired by Olivia, this 10 year old I babysit. She loves anything tie dye. We even have a tie dye a t-shirt day every summer.
So on that note I brought the idea into my kitchen.
At first I didn't even know what I was doing but soon enough I was a girl with a plan!

Dividing the icing into small portions, adding food coloring and "tie dying" my vanilla cupcakes!!!
I had a lot of fun making this cupcakes and it came out great!!!  Hope you try this recipe!







Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

2 cups of all purpose flour

2 tsp of baking powder

1 tsp of salt

3 eggs
1 cup of sugar

1 cup of butter (one stick)
1 cup of milk 

1 tsp of good vanilla

1 tsp of lemon zest (optional)

Icing:

2 cups of unsalted butter
2 cups of confectioners sugar
1 tbsp of clear vanilla
2 tbsp of milk
3 or more different food coloring (I use powder)

How to:
Cupcakes

First separate the yolks form the egg whites,
beat the egg whites till foamy (not too stiff) and set aside
In a small bowl mix first 3 dry ingredients and set aside
Then in a bigger bowl, beat together the butter, sugar and egg yolks 

Add the vanilla and lemon zest (if using)
Add the milk and fold in the flour mixture
Then when totally combined fold in the egg whites


Spoon into cupcakes tin lined with cupcake baking paper


Bake for 20 min or until golden
remove from tin immediately and let it cool in a rack


Golden fluffiness aka perfect!



How to:
Icing

Beat the sugar and the butter until creamy
Add vanilla and milk beat just to combine (be careful not to over beat)
Spoon the icing into smaller bowls and add the food coloring beating a bit more to combine.


(My purple came out weird because I added too much blue into my red icing but gave a fun look to the cakes!)

Using a small spoon top the cupcakes with a small amount of each color of the icing side by side


Get a clean cupcake and sandwich the icing pressing and rotating the 2 cupcakes to mix the colors so it looks tie dye
Then run a knife over the icing to make it look pretty.
add some colored sprinkles (optional) and enjoy!

Lemon Poppy Seeds Madeleines Cookies

Madeleine cookies are prepared as cake but baked, served and enjoyed as cookies.
This recipe is so easy, I want to make this every day!!!
Plus it goes well just about any time paired with anything. I promise you! :)






Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/2 tsp of baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 of confectioner's sugar
• 1 large lemon or orange zest and juice
• 1 tsp of vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp of poppy seeds
• 6 tbsp of salted butter melted
• Butter for greasing or Pam*
• Set oven @350
• Bake time: 10 to 15 min

How to:

Mix the dry ingredients and set aside

In a large bowl, mix the eggs and the sugar until doubled in size
Slowly add the melted butter and beat until creamy



Add the fruit zest, the juice and poppy seeds folding it gently.



Fold in the dry mix (flour) and set aside for 10 min **we do that so the batter gets the spongy texture**



Grease the madeleine pan really well make sure to get all the edges.



Spoon the batter into the pan **you can wet your finger in cold water and smooth down the bater gently if you are the kind that likes perfection** :)



Bake for 10 to 15 min rotating the tray half way through.

Take the cookies out of the pan immediately after baking and let it rest on cookie racks for 10 min.

You may also sprinkle the cookies with powder sugar, drizzle it with chocolate, or dip it in lemon icing.

My Bedroom Decor.

First of all let me just make it clear that this still a recipe blog! I just have a like for pretty things and I'm all so proud of the outcome of my bedroom redo. Enjoy!!!

Here are some before and after pictures. 

Before

***Note that the messy room picture is from "during" the renovations since I forgot to take a before picture of the whole room. I'm not that messy! :)***
                                                 During AKA Before

                       Before right side wall:

                        After right side wall:

After:

V-Day Breakfast

Well Happy belated Valentine's Day to all! Today is President's Day (so Happy Birthday Mr. Washington)  and since I knew I didn't have to work today, I decided to post today and enjoy the city with my friends yesterday.
 I bought some bananas yesterday and didn't even realize that I had some at home that were going brown.
In the past, I would throw away the brown ones because I'm not the biggest fan of ripped fruit. But my aunt thought me how to make a banana jam with those old bananas.
and it goes perfect on top of pancakes or with toast.


Banana Jam:

3 or more really ripe bananas
1/2 cup of sugar
Pan and some water (about half a cup)

Directions:

Slice the bananas and pour into a sauce pan
add the sugar and cook it on low for about half hour to forty minutes adding the water and mixing it as the mixture starts to stick to the pan.  Set aside.





Caramelized Bananas:

1 Banana (not as ripe as the jam)
2 TBS of sugar
1/2 TBS of Cinnamon

Directions:

Cut the banana in half and slice them horizontally.
Mix the sugar and cinnamon and cover the bananas in the mixture.
In a frying pan pour some canola oil and fry the bananas until golden and crisp.
Set aside.









Pancakes:

Prepare the pancakes as package directions



Place the pancakes on a plate decorate with the caramelized bananas transfer the jam into a individual cup
add some personal touch and serve



***Served with coffee and Mimosa***