Black Bottom Cupcakes

These are the cupcakes that caught my husband. Shortly after we started dating, he took me to hear the National Symphony Orchestra play in the amphitheater in Rock Creek Park. I made these to take with us and that was all she wrote. My husband shared the leftover cupcakes with his sister and brother-in-law, and they told him not to let me get away.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Batter:
1 2/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 t. soda
1 t. salt
1 c. water
1 T. vinegar
1/2 c. oil
1 t. vanilla

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 c. plus 2 T. sugar
1/8 t. salt
6 oz. chocolate chips

In a medium sized bowl, combine all the ingredients for the batter and mix until combined.


In a smaller bowl, combine all the ingredients for the filling, except the chocolate chips. Beat until smooth. Fold in chips.
For regular sized cupcakes, add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of batter to each cup. Then add a heaping tablespoon of the filling to each cup. Do not overfill, or you will never get them out of the muffin tin. You can also make minis with a tablespoon of batter and a teaspoon of filling.


Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Easy Blueberry Cobbler

I make dessert each week to take to my sister-in-law's house for Sunday dinner. This week, I made my favorite blueberry cobbler, using blueberries that I froze last year. About this time of year, blueberries go on sale frequently here, so I put a bunch in the freezer for later. Sadly, we ate it all before I got a picture.

Easy Blueberry Cobbler

3/4 stick of butter
1 c. sugar
1 c. flour
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. milk
2 c. blueberries with 1/2 c. sugar

Melt the butter in a deep baking bowl or dish (I use my largest Pyrex mixing bowl). Make a batter of 1 c. sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and milk. Pour batter into the middle of the butter. Do not stir. Toss the blueberries with 1/2 c. sugar and add to the middle of the batter. Do not stir. Bake one hour at 350, or until crust is done (it took about 1 1/2 hours today). The crust will rise to the top.

Delicious warm with a scoop of ice cream, but it also makes a fantastic breakfast as a cold leftover.

Milky Way Cake

How can you hate a recipe that starts off like this? This is one of my mother's recipes. I have no idea where she got it, but my aunt and uncle specifically requested the recipe a couple of weeks ago after my Mom's memorial service, so here it is!

Milky Way Cake

6 Milky Way bars
1/4 lb. butter
1 c. chopped pecans
1 c. shortening
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 1/4 c. buttermilk
2 t. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. baking soda

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine candy, butter and nuts in a saucepan. Place over low heat until melted. Set aside.
Cream sugar and shortening well. Add eggs, one at a time. Combine milk and vanilla and add alternately with dry ingredients. Fold in the candy mixture. Pour into a greased and floured Bundt pan and bake for an hour and a half. (Note, this pan is too full. It either makes too much batter or my pan is too small.)

Allow the cake to cool before removing from the pan. This is what happens when you are impatient and try to unmold the cake when it's still hot. It looks terrible, but it still tastes fantastic.

Spicy Shrimp and Angel Hair Pasta

This a quick weeknight recipe that I got from Real Simple. The whole thing is done in 15 minutes. If you like a little more heat (like my husband does), feel free to up the red pepper flake, but I thought this was just right. I drank the same wine I used for the sauce with dinner.



Spicy Shrimp with Angel Hair Pasta

12 oz angel hair pasta
1 T. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb. peeled deveined shrimp
3/4 c. white wine
1/4 t. crushed red pepper flake
salt
2 T. butter

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to the pot.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring for 1 minute (do not let it brown).

Add the shrimp, wine, red pepper and 1/2 t. salt. Simmer until the shrimp are opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the butter. Toss the pasta with the shrimp mixture.

Fruitcake

This is my first post and I am going to start off with fruitcake. Now, don't run off! This is really delicious, I promise. It's the only fruitcake that I've ever eaten and enjoyed.

I got this recipe from my Mom probably ten years ago. She got it from our neighbor when we were little kids, probably 30 years ago. Lord only knows how long the neighbor had it before that.

Fruitcake
(it makes a ton, so this is half the recipe)

4 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 ½ c. flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
1 t. salt
4 c. pecans
½ pound candied pineapple
½ pound candied cherries (I use 4 oz. each of green and red)
1 pound chopped dates
½ T. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add fruit to dry ingredients and stir to coat. Add nuts and stir. In a small bowl, beat eggs and stir in vanilla. Add sugar to fruit mix. Add eggs and stir. It is very thick and hard to stir, but it gets better as the sugar melts in the eggs. Spoon into two greased 8 inch pans. Bake 1 1/2 hours at 250 degrees.

*note - for some reason, it took mine closer to two hours to bake