Welcome back PSL...and a giveaway!

Even though it is only September 5th...today feels like the first day of fall.  Why you ask? Because today was the first day of the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte season!  To celebrate I made some crazy delicious pumpkin cream cheese muffins!

Your line-up...

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees F

Start by mixing the icing sugar with the cream cheese...beat until smooth.

Roll it up tightly in saran

  and then in tinfoil.  Put it in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

Add all of your dry ingredients to a bowl, and mix them up.

In a separate bowl add all of your wet ingredients and mix them up.

Add your wet to your dry...

and mix until combined...DO NOT OVERMIX.

Add a little bit of batter to the bottom of each muffin liner.

Add a slice of the cream cheese mixture.

Top with batter, and throw into the oven for 22 minutes.

YUMMERS!!!

RECIPE

Cream cheese mixture

1cup icing sugar

1 package of cream cheese

Muffins

3 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp allspice
1tsp baking soda
1tsp salt

2 cups pumpkin puree

1 1/4 cups oil

4 eggs

And now for the giveaway!

A $20 Starbucks giftcard is up for grabs.

To enter just become a follower and leave a comment telling me your favorite part of fall!

Contest closes Sunday night at midnight!

Peanut Butter Goodness

If you like chocolate and peanut butter, do I ever have a treat for you (cough cough AMBER hahaha).

I made this dessert for our father's day supper, and it got great reviews!

Start by making a batch of brownies, you can use your own fav, or mine.

Here is the line-up for your topping...

Start by mixing together 1/2 marg, 1 package of cream cheese, and a cup of PB.

Next add 1 cup of icing sugar...it doesn't look that different but the texture and taste sure is!

In a separate bowl whip your cream (250mL), and add 1/4cup sugar, and 1tsp vanilla.

Then fold your whipped cream into your PB mixture...when I tasted this I actually said "wow" outloud!

Once your brownies have cooled, add the PB topping, and garnish with cut up Reese PB cups (I used 2 king sized bars...but I did quality control test some of them :))

I took a piece out to get a picture, but before I knew it, it was gone, so this is what ya get!

Not quite sure what this should be called...if you have a suggestion leave it as a comment!

Cream Cheese Icing

Awhile back someone asked for the recipe that I use for cream cheese icing...so here it is!

Start my mixing 1 package of cream cheese, with 1/2 cup of marg....mix it together until it is smooth.

 Add 2tsp vanilla, and mix it in as well.

Then start adding icing sugar until you reach your desired consistency...for piping I usually add 3-4 cups.

PERFECT!

If you want to make chocolate cream cheese icing (which is my new FAV), just add about 1/3 cup cocoa before you start adding in the icing sugar!

And since this is a post about icing, I thought why not share this little tip...

When you are filling your piping bag put it into a cup and it is 1000 times easier, and cleaner to fill!

And here are the little beauties that I was making this icing for.  They were for a hot pink, teal, black and white rockstar themed baby shower that I went to this afternoon!

Margarita Cheesecake Freezes

What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a batch of Margarita Cheesecake Freezes!

This recipe was in a Martha Stewart Living magazine years ago, and you only have to make it once and it will instantly become a favorite!

Here is the line-up!

Start by beating your cream cheese until it is totally smooth...

Add your sour cream, icing sugar, lime zest, lime juice, tequila and triple sec...

 and mix until smooth!

 In a separate bowl whip your cream until stiff peaks form.

Fold the whipped cream into your cream cheese mixture, cover and throw it into the freezer for about 30 minutes.

While that is chilling you can mix up your melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, and sugar.

Put some of the frozen mixture into a dish, top with the crumbs and ENJOY!!!

Margarita Cheesecake Freezes

1 block of cream cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

1/3 cup icing sugar

1 tbsp grated lime zest

2tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice

2tbsp tequila

2tbsp triple sec

1/2 cup whipping cream

2tbsp sugar

6tbsp graham cracker crumbs

2tbsp margarine

Peanut Butter Pie

My sister and I hosted a "favorite things" anniversary dinner for my parents last weekend...and one of my dad's favorite things...Peanut Butter Pie!

Here is your line-up!

Start by mixing your margarine and oreo crumbs, and press it into your pan of choice.  You could really use any type of pan for this.

Mix your cream cheese, peanut butter, condensed milk (seriously the best combo of ingredients eva!!!), vanilla and lemon juice together.

In a separate bowl whip your cream until it forms stiff peaks, and then gently fold it into your PB mixture.

mmmm...perfection!

Spread your mixture out on top of your crust, cool for at least 4 hours...

and ENJOY!!!

PEANUT BUTTER PIE
Crust
1/4 cup margarine
2 cups oreo crumbs
Filling
1 block of cream cheese
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 can condensed milk
3 tbsp lemon juice
1tsp vanilla

Lucky Leprechaun Cupcakes

This morning I saw some green velvet cupcakes over at picky palate and just knew that I had to try them!

I followed her recipe but used vanilla yogurt instead of plain, just because that's what I had...

Here is the line-up...

I am not a big fan of "boxed" cakes but thought that I would give it a go anyways.  I started by mixing the dry ingredients (cake mix & pudding)

Then I added every other ingredient and mixed!

I added a little more food colouring at the end because I wanted them to be greener!

ahhh, thats better!

the batter in the adorable little polka dot liners

mmmmm...

be-oo-ti-ful!

{I did not include the recipe and steps for the icing because I just used my go-to cream cheese icing and I have already blogged about it...probably more than once! hahaha }

Valentines Day Cupcakes!

I have no pictures of the making of these cupcakes...they were made while the fellas were still up.  The boys LOVE the kitchenaid as much as I do...seriously! But they are not big fans of me stopping to take pictures!

Anyways here is the final product, and yes I used the sprinkle medley AGAIN!!!  I can't get enough of it!  I did add another type of sprinkle into the mix though so it is not the EXACT same!!!

All the cupcakes, yummy!  This batch is heading over to the school that I taught at before the boys were born!

 And for all you cupcake lovers out there if you don't have this cupcake carrier you NEED to find one!!! It holds 36 cupcakes and it is the same size as the wilton one that only holds 12!!!  I found mine at Costco awhile back but I know that you can get them on amazon!