Slow-Cooker Sticky Wings

Found this on Pinterest and it looked super easy and the blogger said they're crazy good.


Ingredients
1 3" piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
4 lbs chicken wings, halved at joint and tips removed
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup tomato paste

Directions: 
Make Rub
Pulse ginger, garlic, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce and 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper in food processor until finely ground. Add mixture to slow-cooker insert. Add chicken and toss to coat.

Cook and Cool
Cover and cook on low until fat is rendered and chicken is tender, about 3-4 hours. Using slotted spoon, remove wings from slow-cooker and transfer to clean large bowl (discard liquid in slow-cooker). Let wings cool about 20 min (or cool briefly and refrigerate up to 24 hours).

Sauce and Broil
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat broiler. Set wire rack inside rimmed backing sheet and spray rack with non-stick cooking spray. Whisk water, tomato paste, remaining sugar, remaining oy sauce, and remaining cayenne pepper in a bowl. Add half the sauce to a bowl with cooled wings and toss gently to coat. Arrange wings, skin side up, on prepared rack. Broil until wings are lightly charred and crisp around the edges, about 10-15 minutes. Flip wings, brush with remaining sauce, and continue to broil until well caramelized, about 3 minutes. Serve.

Note: In step 3, rack should be 10" to 12" from heating element. Don't wander off while the wings are in the oven.

Serves 12.

Roasted Cauliflower

One head cauliflower, cut into florets; 1/2 tsp. each salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder. (I threw all the ingredients into a Tupperware container and just shook it up.) Roast at 400F for 10 minutes, stirring 1/2 way through.

Had this at a party and it was good - on the must try list!

Jim Beam Glaze

Got this recipe from Red Robin....YUM!

1 cup Jim Beam bourbon whiskey
1/2 cup brown sugar
Combine the brown sugar and bourbon in a 3 qt. sauce pot and bring to a boil. Simmer 2 minutes to burn off the alcohol.

Add to the pot:
1 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pinch dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

- Whisk the ingredients together and bring to a simmer. Cook the sauce over low heat for about 5 minutes or until the sauce begins to thicken slightly and the flavors have married.

- Remove the sauce from the heat and cool completely. Use to baste meat, especially chicken or salmon, while cooking

Oriental Salad

Oriental Salad:

1 lb. fresh spinach, washed (I used baby spinach - it looks nicer and doesn't have so many stems)

1 can water chestnuts, drained and sliced ( I buy the presliced ones)

3/4 cup drained bean sprouts ( I used fresh)

1/2 lb. fried bacon, crumbled

3 hard boiled eggs, diced

dressing:

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

1/6 cup catsup ( not the 1/2 cup I originally tried!)

2 T. vinegar

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

Toss salad ingredients together.  Mix dressing ingredients; add to salad.  Toss and serve. 

Eat immediately after adding dressing - not good the day after.

Asian Slaw Salad

Asian Slaw Salad:

2 pkgs. beef flavored ramen soup mix (3oz each)

16 oz cole slaw mix

1 cup sliced almonds (toasted - on cookie sheet in oven or toaster oven)

1 cup sunflower kernels/seeds (I used unsalted but the recipe says either)

1 bunch green onions - chopped

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup oil

1/3 cup white vinegar

Crush uncooked ramen noodles.  Layer noodles, slaw, nuts, seeds, and onions in a bowl.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl combine flavor pack from soup mix with sugar, oil and vinegar.  Mix well.  Pour dressing over salad and chill.  Serves 8-10 people ( if they eat a lot otherwise serves way more!).

Good the day after too.

White's Chili

Chili:

3/4 lb ground beef

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 16 oz. can tomatoes, cut up

1 16 oz. can dark red kidney beans, drained

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce

2 to 3 tsp. chili powder

1/2 tsp. dried basil, crushed

1/4 tsp. salt (optional)

1/4 tsp. pepper

 

    In large saucepan cook ground beef, onion, green pepper, and garlic until meat is brown.  Drain fat.  Stir in undrained tomatoes, kidney beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, salt, and pepper.  Bring to boiling, reduce heat.  Cover, simmer for 20 minutes.  Makes 4 main dish servings.  (I had doubled the recipe)

Smokey Sweet Potato Souffle

I keep seeing recipes that I'd like to try, so I'm adding a "TO BE TRIED" label for those recipes. Once I try them, I'll update the pose and remove that label.

Saw this while I was watching 5 Ingredient Fix on Food Network with Little Lady #1 recently. Looks fantastic!

Ingredients

• 5 pounds sweet potatoes, pricked with a knife
• 1 pound sliced bacon
• 1 chipotle in adobo, chopped, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
• 1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
• 5 eggs, separated
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Roast the potatoes on sheet tray until fully cooked, about 1 hour. Set aside until cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile cook the bacon in large skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove and drain on paper towels, reserving the rendered bacon fat. Chop bacon and set aside, reserving 1/4 cup for garnish.

Peel the sweet potatoes and mash. Add the potatoes to a large bowl. Stir in the chopped chipotle, adobe sauce, maple syrup, chopped bacon and egg yolks. Mix together until combined. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

In a separate large bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Add 1/3 of whipped egg whites to sweet potato mixture and fold to create a lighter base. Fold in remaining whites until just incorporated, leaving some white streaks.

Grease a 2 quart baking dish with some of the reserved bacon fat and gently pour in sweet potato souffle mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining chopped bacon. Put the baking dish on a sheet tray and bake 40 minutes.

Slow Cooker Cider Applesauce

Like most New Englanders, we always have tons of apples come Fall. I made my very first apple pie this year and it was YUM! Another favorite is apple crisp - although I have yet to make one this year. Have to rectify that STAT!

Last year I started making apple sauce to use up apples we had sitting around, and then I freeze it. It's pretty good if I say so myself! Usually, I just cook the apples on the stove until they're good and soft and then call it a day. But this year I ran across a recipe on Pinterest for Cider Applesauce in the slow cooker! It's crazy easy and tastes delish.

I modified it a little bit, but the original recipe can be found using the link above.

Ingredients
enough apples to fill your slow cooker, any flavor of your choosing - peeled, cored and cut
2 tsp Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend*

Directions
Layer apples and spice blend until the slow cooker is full. Cook on high about 4 hours, or until apples have completely softened. 

Serve hot, or freeze for later use.


*The Cinnamon Plus Spice Blend is a Pampered Chef product that includes cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and orange peel. It's a great substitute when making apple pie or pumpkin pie.
The original recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp nutmeg.

Baked Pumpkin Donuts

Another recipe found on Pinterest. Seriously... that site is crazy addictive!!!

Original recipe is found at the King Arthur site.

The Little Ladies got me a donut pan for my birthday in June (with the help of their dad), and I finally decided to christen it. Little Lady #2 is down for a nap (which means it's quiet!!), so Little Lady #1 and I went to work!

It was a pretty easy recipe to make. We didn't have pumpkin pie spice, so we used the make-your-own method that's listed. I found that 12-13 minutes was a way better time than the 15-18 that's listed in the recipe. Speaking of... the recipe on Kind Arthur's site doesn't mention an oven temp (at least not that I saw), so I went with the 425 that's listed on the pan. I might try 400 next time though.

Little Lady #1

Place the following in a mixing bowl:

1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups pumpkin purée (canned pumpkin)
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice, or 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus a heaping 1/4 teaspoon each ground nutmeg and ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Beat everything together until smooth.

Add 1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour, stirring just until smooth.

Lightly grease two standard donut pans. (I only had one pan, so I just kept re-using it)

If you don’t have doughnut pans, you can bake these in a couple of standard muffin tins; they just won’t be doughnuts.

Fill the wells of the doughnut pans about 3/4 full, using a scant 1/4 cup of batter in each well; a tablespoon cookie scoop helps with this task. I found 4 scoops per donut well worked well.

If you’re making muffins, fill each well about 3/4 full; the recipe makes about 15, so you’ll need to bake in two batches (unless you have two muffin pans).

Bake the doughnuts for 15 to 18 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of one comes out clean. If you’re using self-rising flour, bake for the longer amount of time.

If you’re making muffins, they’ll need to bake for 23 to 25 minutes.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven, and after about 5 minutes, loosen their edges, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

While the doughnuts are still warm (but no longer fragile), gently shake them in a bag with cinnamon-sugar. Or better yet, pumpkin-spice sugar, made by combining the aforementioned pumpkin pie spice (or substitute) with granulated sugar.

If you’ve made muffins, sprinkle their tops heavily with the spiced sugar of your choice.

Buffalo Chicken Rolls

I've been M.I.A. for a while. Trying to figure out the new normal for me and my Little Ladies. We're getting there ;-)

Another Pinterest recipe! This one's from Can You Stay For Dinner.

I've become a big fan of Buffalo Chicken over the past few years. When I saw this recipe, I just had to try it.... especially since we've had egg roll wrappers hanging around for a while.

I made a version for the Little Ladies that had the slaw, plain chicken and shredded cheese on it. Little C liked them, but Little M did not.

We had them for dinner, but they'd be really good for a party! They were super easy to make too. I whipped them up in about 15ish minutes, after a veeerrrrryyyyy long day out with the Little Ladies.

Ingredients

12 egg roll wrappers (roughly 4 square inches)

1 cup cooked and shredded chicken (6 ounces)

1/3 cup Frank’s Red Hot Sauce

1 cup crumbled blue cheese (4 ounces)

1 cup broccoli slaw (dry)

Small bowl of water

Nonstick cooking spray

Blue cheese dressing, for serving

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lay egg roll wrappers on a clean work surface. In a small bowl, stir chicken* (see note below) and hot sauce until well coated, using more or less sauce depending on your spice preference. The meat should be moist with sauce.

Begin by placing one tablespoon of the broccoli slaw on the diagonal of the bottom right corner of one of the wrappers. Next, place 2 tablespoons of shredded spicy chicken evenly on top of the slaw. Spoon 1 tablespoon of the blue cheese crumbles over the chicken. Do not overfill.

To fold: Fold the bottom right corner over the stuffing mixture so that it covers it completely, with the tip of the corner now pointing to the center of the egg roll wrapper. Fold in the bottom left corner, followed by the right, so that you now have formed an envelope. Roll the wrap upward one time, leaving the top left corner open. Wet your index finger in the small bowl of water and press to moisten the top left corner. Now fold that down on top of the filled roll, sealing it like you would an envelope.

Repeat with remaining rolls.

Place the rolls on a wire rack set on top of a cookie sheet (or just on a greased cookie sheet) coated with nonstick cooking spray. Spritz each roll evenly with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the rolls crisp and turn a light golden brown.

*Note: To make the chicken, place 1/2 lb of uncooked chicken breast in a small pot and fill with enough water just to cover it. Bring to a boil on your stovetop, reduce the heat slightly, then simmer for about 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Drain and let cool before shredding with two forks, pulling against the grain of the meat.

S'mores Cupcakes with Graham Cracker Buttercream

Who doesn't love s'mores??

My niece's 9th birthday was last month, but her party with her friends is tomorrow. She's having a make-your-own-pizza party - how fun!

I offered to make cupcakes for her party to give her mom a little break on the party planning. I had to find something that was gluten-free since she has Celiac Disease, and also nut-free since so many kids have nut allergies. I didn't want to risk something happening with that at all.

I offered her mom a few choices and this was her pick.

I tweaked the original recipe just a bit. I used a box of King Arthur Gluten-Free chocolate cake mix instead of making a from-scratch cake like the recipe called for, along with GF graham crackers. I'd probably do the same thing if I was making a regular cake. The box I used called for 1 1/3 cups of water (plus eggs and oil), but I used only 1/3 cup of water and 1 cup of sour cream. I think the sour cream adds nice moisture to a cake!

The below recipe is how I made it, and the original can be found here at Your Cup of Cake.

Ingredients

Chocolate Cakes:

2-layer box mix of chocolate cake plus ingredients on back minus 1 cup of water

1 cup of sour cream

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sour cream

Graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

Marshmallow Cream Centers:

4 oz cream cheese

½ cup Fluff (marshmallow cream for you non New Englanders)

1 ½ - 2 cups powdered sugar

Graham Cracker Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese

½ cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

¾ cup graham cracker crumbs (fine crumbs)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 tablespoons whipping cream or milk

mini marshmallows and chocolate for decoration

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 360 degrees and line cupcake pans with liners (24).
2. Mix cake mix, ingredients from back of the box and sour cream together in a mixer until fully combined.
3. Spoon ¾ teaspoon of graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Shake pan to spread evenly.
4. Fill liners ¾ full and bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Mashmallow Cream Centers: Beat cream cheese, marshmallow cream and powdered sugar. Add more powdered sugar to taste. This mixture should not be thick like a buttercream, because it will be in the center of your cupcake.
6. When cupcakes are cooled, cut out a small area from the top of the cake and pipe marshmallow cream into each cupcake.
7. Graham Cracker Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter until light and creamy. Add powdered sugar, vanilla and graham cracker crumbs. At this point, the buttercream will look like cookie dough. Add heavy cream a little bit at a time until buttercream consistency is reached.
8. Pipe onto cooled, marshmallow filled cupcakes and top with mini marshmallows and melted chocolate.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Cloud Frosting

My niece turned 9 last week and today we celebrated. She was diagnosed with Celiac's Disease when she was about 2 and I always try to make her something "normal" for her birthday.


She LOVES Nutella, so when I found this recipe, I had to try it!


The reviews: My mom thought the cake was a little bitter on its own, but with the frosting she thought it was good. Another guest said he thought it tasted fine. I also thought the taste was fine, but the texture was a bit tough. I've never really tried any of my niece's GF stuff, so I don't know if this is a normal texture or not. It wasn't anything terrible, just not light and fluffy like most cakes.


But the person who mattered most loved them. She ate 2 and I think she would have kept going if her dad had let her!


NOTE: I topped half of the cupcakes with Ferrero Rocher chocolates (chocolate with hazelnuts). These are NOT gluten free, so make sure you keep that in mind.

Cupcake Ingredients
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour mix (I used King Arthur's)
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract


Cupcake Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.
• In a large bowl, combine cocoa powder, flour, xanthan gum, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add eggs, warm water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla to dry ingredients. Mix until batter is smooth.
• Fill prepared baking cups 2/3 full. Bake around 20 minutes, until tops spring back when touched.

Frosting Ingredients (Makes enough to frost 12-15 cupcakes - double for above cupcakes)

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

1/3 cup Nutella

1 tablespoon milk

Frosting Directions

• In a large bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar for a minute until well combined. 
• Add vanilla and mix until combined. 
• Add the melted (and cooled) chocolate and beat on medium speed until frosting smooth. 
• Finally, add Nutella and beat until well combined. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and enjoy!

Recipe from 52 Kitchen Adventures

Traditional Slaw Salad

I love Cole Slaw and was introduced to Broccoli Slaw last year - not bad! I found the recipe below on a bag of Broccoli Slaw and tried it out. It's pretty good!


(I know this isn't some fancy recipe, and it came off the back of a bag of shredded broccoli, but remember that this is a place to compile recipes)


Like all Cole Slaws, you could definitely add raisins, golden raisins or dried cranberries to the mix.


Ingredients
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/4 cup vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
2 tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste
12 oz Cole Slaw or Broccoli Slaw mix


Directions
Blend together first 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add slaw mix and gently toss until coated. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Asparagus with Lemon Vinaigrette

A friend told me about a recipe he found in a grocery store magazine for a lemon vinaigrette for asparagus and it sounded amazing. I decided to give it a shot for Easter dinner and it was fantastic!

Ingredients

1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon fresh Thyme leaves, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt or sea salt

pinch fresh cracked pepper

2 pounds fresh asparagus stalks, washed and trimmed

Directions

In a jar, combine olive oil, lemon juice, Thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover and shake vigorously until combined. Store in the refrigerator and serve at room temperature.

Steam asparagus until crisp-tender; do not overcook! 

Drizzle vinaigrette over asparagus to coat lightly.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Easy Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

Found these for Easter dinner.


Ingredients
16 ounces baby carrots
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup water
dash salt
pepper, to taste


Directions
In a medium saucepan, combine the baby carrots with remaining ingredients. Stir to blend ingredients. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling (uncovered) for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until carrots are tender and the liquid has evaporated.
Serves 4 to 6.

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Dark Chocolate Truffle Center and Vanilla Bean Frosting

Found these for my dad's birthday. Added the truffle center that I saw in another cupcake recipe because I'm just that awesome!


This was my first time using a real vanilla bean for something. It has an amazing aroma and was pretty easy to use!

Ingredients

Cupcakes

1 box chocolate cake mix

3 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup stout beer

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk
1 vanilla bean

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Place paper baking cup in each of 24 regular-size muffin cups.
2. In large bowl, beat cake mix, eggs, oil and beer with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
3. Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cut an "X" in the top of the cupcakes and insert a truffle into the center. Cool 10 minutes; remove cupcakes from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.
4. In medium bowl, beat butter and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium-low speed until combined. Gradually beat in milk. Cut vanilla bean in half and scrape out seeds. Discard bean; add seeds to frosting. Beat on medium speed until fluffy. Pipe or spread frosting on cupcakes.

Original recipe from Betty Crocker.

Spicy Honey-Roasted Chicken and Sweet Carrots

Both of these recipes were crazy easy and very delicious. I hated carrots as a kid, but have learned to love them as an adult.

I cooked my chicken in the Deep Covered Baker (remember, we talked about that earlier) and when it was done, I took it out of the oven and put the cover on it till the rest of dinner was done. Perfection!

Spicy Honey-Roasted Chicken (recipe from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 (6 pound) whole roasting chicken
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Rinse and pat dry the chicken; place in roasting pan.
2. In a bowl, mix together the honey, chili powder, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and garlic powder. Using your hands, rub the honey mixture all over the chicken. Baste chicken with the melted butter.
3. Roast the chicken in the preheated oven until the skin begins to brown, 30 min. Baste the chicken with juices in the roasting pan.
4. Reduce heat to 350F, and roast until no longer pink at the bone and the juices run clear, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Baste occasionally during roasting. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 180F. 
5. Remove the chicken from the oven, cover and allow to rest in a warm area for 10 minutes before slicing.

Sweet Carrots (recipe from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups baby carrots
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon butter or stick margarine
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar or cider vinegar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon minced chives

Directions

1. Place carrots in a steamer basket. Place in a saucepan over 1 in. of water; bring to a boil. Cover and steam for 5-8 minutes or until tender. 
2. Transfer carrots to a bowl. Add the brown sugar, butter, vinegar and salt; toss until butter is melted and carrots are coated. Sprinkle with chives.

Easy Garlic Chicken

Another recipe found on Pinterest. It was pretty good, but keep your eyes open for a Take 2 version sometime in the future. 

Original recipe found on Food.com


Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

3 teaspoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

4 tablespoons brown sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500°F and lightly grease a casserole dish.
2. In small sauté pan, sauté garlic with the oil until tender.
3. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar.
4. Place chicken breasts in a prepared baking dish and cover with the garlic and brown sugar mixture.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
6. Bake uncovered for 15-30 minutes.
7. Broil on high until garlic and brown sugar topping start to brown and caramelize.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cupcakes

Cinnamon Toast Crunch has been in my top 5 cereals for as long as I can remember. The other top choices (in no particular order): Honey Nut Cheerios, Golden Grahams, Frosted Flakes and Total Raisin Bran.


When I saw these cupcakes, I had to pick my jaw off the floor. One of my favorite cereals turned in to a cupcake (this woman also has a Golden Grahams cupcake that's on my list to try).


This is cupcake #3 for the 2nd Annual Cupcake Swap.

Ingredients

Cinnamon Cake:

3 eggs

1/3 cup oil

¾ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup sour cream

Vanilla Cake Mix (not white cake mix)

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

(There used to be cereal pieces in the batter, but that has been removed due to comments saying it's better without it)

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Buttercream:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

2/3 cup Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder

(Crush the cereal in a bag and then sift out 2/3 cup)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with 20-22 cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl, gently combine eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla.

3. Mix in sour cream.

4. Add cake mix and cinnamon and mix until smooth.

5. Stir in lightly crushed cereal.

6. Fill cupcake liners ¾ full and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

7. Buttercream: Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add Cinnamon Toast Crunch powder. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Adjust the consistency using milk if it is too thick.

8. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes and top with cinnamon sugar and Cinnamon Toast Crunch squares.

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