Pumpkin Applesauce Cupcakes

Pumpkin Applesauce Cupcakes by frances robson

Good Saturday afternoon and come right on in to the 'Net porch and have a coke and a cupcake. It smells so good in here that I am having a difficult time not eating all 18 of the cupcakes. They will be delicious with a cup of coffee or glass of cold milk so take your choice.

I baked these this afternoon while watching Univ. of Georgia playing Auburn in football. Watching and hoping that UGA will win for that is our grandson's alma mater and most of our friends are pulling for them. Now I realize that I am a native of Alabama but Auburn is not my team but Alabama so it's not difficult at all to cheer for Georgia.

I just love SEC football but after all I am a Southern Lady and we are raised on football. There is no other way to spend Saturday afternoon except to watch and pull for your favorite team. You try hard not to be rude to the fans of the opposing team but to be a lady, you just grit your teeth, smile and say "Bless your heart" a lot. So come on in and watch the game with us.

I will share the recipe with you for the delicious cupcakes for they are tasty and easy. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Applesauce Cupcakes

1 Butter pecan Cake mix
1 tsp. Apple Pie Spice mix
1 cup chunky, homemade applesauce (I use my Microwave Chunky applesauce) Bought can be substituted
1 can pumpkin – not pumpkin pie
1 cup dried cranberries
1 egg

Makes 18 cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tins with cupcake liners or spray with cooking spray

Mix all the ingredients together and stir until well mixed. You don't have to beat. Fill cupcake liners or muffin tin cups 2/3 full and bake until top springs back when lightly touched – about 15 – 20 min.
Remove from muffin tins and let cool on rack. While still warm, sift brown sugar lightly over the tops, leave plain, or when cool frost with your favorite frosting. They are rich enough to leave plain.

The butter pecan mix is the best one to use for it is buttery tasting and the flavor of the pecans are wonderful with the pumpkin and applesauce.

To sift the brown sugar - place brown sugar in a small mesh strainer and use back of spoon to push the sugar through over the cupcakes. It adds a delightful taste and is less calories than frosting.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and come back to see us.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Chocolate Covered Cherry Mini-Cupcakes

Puddle Bird Bath by frances robson

Good evening and come on in the house for a visit and some little cupcakes I made yesterday. It is so hot outside even at 10:00 at night we can sit in the AC and I am drinking some peach tea I made today. It is so good and I have fresh mint I picked today in it and that makes is extra special. If you have mint, cut some and keep it in a vase on the window sill for it smells good and will root in about a week. Makes a good gift for someone but warn them it spreads like gossip and that spreads pretty quickly. It is good room freshener also - crush a few leaves and place them in a pretty dish and it will last a couple days.

Ya'll will have to help me this week for we are going to Roy's 50th class reunion in Selma, AL next weekend. You know how I begin to prepare to look my best and we are going to get him all gussied up too. There is a whole weekend of activities planned and we plan to enjoy all of them. Now to decide what to wear that won't make me look old, short and fat and it may be a losing battle.

There will be "casual dressy" attire for all of them. Now to me this seems to be an oxymoron for "casual" to me is jeans, t-shirt, flip flops and minimum makeup. "Dressy" indicates to any good Southern girl that you have to put on the Sunday clothes or fancier, heels, makeup, earrings and your best manners and smile a lot. You speak softly, look interested in what everyone is saying and mind your manners.

So how am I going to be "casual dressy?" Maybe if I wear some dressy pants, a pretty blouse, earrings, makeup and almost best manners it will do. What do you think? Of course I could wear my jeans, a pretty blouse, makeup, earrings and act like myself and see what happens. As you can tell jeans are my favorite things to wear and maybe I will just iron them well, sharp creases and go as myself. That will be alright with some, a little of shock to others and Roy will just shake his head. "Myself" is a little different from some.

You see, I don't know most of these folks for Roy graduated with several hundred and I graduated with 50 and that was a big class for Camden. There are a few close friends of his that I know but haven't seen them for years and after you ask about their mamas, children and grandchildren that's about it. Maybe I better take a tote bag full of knitting and a couple of books, find a corner and just entertain myself but then who is going to watch Roy as he meets all his old girl friends and there were several before me. Not sure I trust them as much as I trust him for he still looks good to me.

Now don't worry for I will behave and dress like my "good Southern mama" would want me too for I don't want her to send down lightening from up above. I sure don't want anyone to say, "Bless her heart, her mama must be so ashamed of her for looking and acting like that." In the South, mamas always get the blame for their children's misbehavior and bad manners even if they did their best and ours did. I will not wear my jeans, and I will smile a lot, try not to drop my plate, keep my knees together, not wear too much makeup, and enjoy it all. Bless my heart, ya'll pray for me.

That's enough about that but I will be sure and let ya'll know what I do wear and if I behaved at the Country Club and the St. James hotel for we will be stepping in "high cotton." Don't get to do this much so will enjoy it.

I promised you a recipe so I will quit rambling and get to it. This is my version of a recipe I saw several months ago and I think mine is better. The original recipe calls for chocolate covered cherries but because all I had was the maraschino I tried these and they are really good, so here it is.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Mini-Cupcake

1 pkg. your favorite brownie mix - family size
2 eggs
2 Tbsp. cold coffee or water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 small bottle of cherries
1/2 cup walnuts or pecans finely chopped

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Line the mini cupcake cups or spray with cooking spray
Drain the bottleof cherries and spread them on paper towels to dry.

Mix the brownie mix according to directions on package except use 2 eggs, cold coffee, vanilla and add the chopped nuts. I put the walnuts in a plastic bag and pounded them with rolling pin for they need to be small. Don't over mix, just until well combined.

Put about tsp. brownie mix in each cup, place a cherry in each cup and press down in the dough. Top with another spoonful of batter. I used regular teaspoons not the measuring spoon. The top doesn't have to have a lot of batter for it will rise. Just be sure they are covered. Just use about half the batter on the bottom and half on top. It might be easier to divide the batter in half and divide it among the cups but you don't really have to be that precise.

Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until done but not too done, remove from oven and place pans on cooling racks. If you have not used cupcake liners, take a small knife, run around the edges of the cupcakes and lift them gently out to cool.
You can frost them with your favorite frosting or I sprinkled them with powdered sugar. They are moist, rich and delicious.

I hope you try them and let me know what you think.

Ya'll have a good night and be careful going home.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Cupcake Wars

Tulip Tree by frances robson

Good evening ya'll. Come on in for a visit for it is a warm and beautiful night down here in South Georgia and we had a great supper at the Catfish House. They have a delicious grilled shrimp and we sure enjoyed it. It is warm enough to have to turn on the AC and I am looooving it and hope we don't have anymore cold weather but I am afraid we will.

As you can see the flowers are beginning to burst out all over. The picture at the top is our tulip tree or Japanese magnolia. I love these beautiful pinks against the blue sky and this tree will go from buds to blooms in a matter of a few days. A friend of mine says if you stand still long enough you can watch it open up and that is almost true for they bloom so quickly. To me it is one of the most beautiful signs of spring we have.

There is a new show this year that has captured my attention - The Cupcake Wars. I didn't know there were so many ways to make a cupcake and how many different kinds of ingredients you can add and some of them sound like they would taste good. Some of them sound awful and the judges seem to agree with me. I just don't see turkey and dressing in a cupcake and that was one of the loser's idea. That is just not a cupcake or at least what I think of as a cupcake. My idea of a good cupcake is sugar and chocolate and the rest is just icing on the cake....

This week I saw a recipe from Paula Dean for a brownie cupcake and she put peanut butter chip in the center and that sounded so good but I didn't have peanut butter chips and I sure didn't want to run to town for one ingredient so I decided to have my own cupcake war. It was fun and they turned out pretty well so I thought I would share them with you.

To begin with you can use your favorite brownie mix or your favorite brownie recipe. Follow the directions on the box and I use cold coffee rather than the water and I usually add an extra egg to give it a little extra volume. If you add a teaspoon of vanilla, it adds even a little more flavor.

After you mix the brownies, the fun begins. I had a 12 muffin pan and I lined the cups with cupcake liners after preheating the oven to 350 degrees. I halved the mixture into 2 bowls so I would know how much I had to divide among the 12 cups.

To 4 of the cups I added 1 tsp. crunchy peanut butter
To another 4, I added 1/2 marshmallow that I had cut in half with scissors - easier than a knife.
To the last 4, I added about 5 dried cherries

Divide the remaining dough among the 12 and be sure the middle ingredients are covered with the top layer of dough. Bake for about 20 minutes. Remember this is brownie dough and to me it looks half done when you take them out of the oven but don't overcook.

Remove them from the muffin pan and let cool on a cooling rack. You can ice them with your favorite frosting but I just sprinkled them with powdered sugar.

I called the ones with marshmallows - Chocolate Marshmallow Delight. The next time I am going to add a few chopped pecans and that would be rocky road delight. You could also use about 3 little marshmallow instead of the 1/2 of the large one.

The peanut butter one I called the Peanut Butter Delight and be sure and use the chunky peanut butter.

The cherries are Chocolate Covered Cherry Delight and this is my favorite.

The idea of being able to make 3 different kinds with one pan and one mix is a good deal to me and you could use whatever you like in the center. If you try these, let me know how you liked them and if you used different ingredients.

Join the cupcake wars with me and let's see what we can create.

Now ya'll be careful going home and come back to see me soon.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Sweet Potato Cupcakes

Well, good friends, I didn't do my intentions to post more often but last week was rather busy. There was a death in our extended family and we had to go out of town. We spent a couple of days taking care of our great-grandchildren so that their mother could take care of funeral details. So I was a tad tied up.

Our 2 year old, Noah, was in daycare most of the day but when he came to the motel all quiet was gone. His mother immediately put him in the tub for he brought most of the sand pile home with him. When he got out of the tub there was layer of sand in the tub which took 2 days to get rid off. I felt like we were at the beach. He likes to pour sand over his head, kick it with his feet, wallow in it, and just get down and dirty - a typical 2 year old, little boy.

Josie, his little sister who is 4 months old is a little doll. Her cheeks are like a chipmunk's with a walnut on each side. Her great bit blue eyes are so pretty and she has us wrapped around that little pinkie. As long as you keep her fed and dry, she is a happy baby but when she is hungry you have to have it ready, now, not later. She begins with a little cry but if you don't hurry it grows into a full grown holler. Her face turns red, the hands and the feet begin to wave and you best get that bottle in the mouth. Then she gives you a big grin around the nipple and all is well in her world.

I will say, we enjoyed being with our family but it was a little tiring. Yesterday, we rested most of the day. You know that old saying that "God knew what he was doing when He gave babies to young people", it is surely true. It is a lot of fun but I couldn't do it every day all day even though the perks of hugs and kisses are priceless.

We were brought plates with delicious funeral foods of the South. We had barbecue, chicken and dumplings, creamed corn, 12 layer stack cakes, fried chicken and , lots more. In the South we always carry food for deaths, babies, illness, and when you are new in town. Food is our way of saying, we are sorry, we hope you get better, and welcome to our town. It is a tradition which has been a part of our way of life for generations and I hope we never lose it.

Now there are always some foods you take to homes where there has been a death. Potato salad, fried chicken, stack cakes and deviled eggs are always taken. Some of the ladies will see just how many layers they can get on a "stack" or layer cake and I believe 13 is the most I have seen. The icing is always home made and that lemon layer cake I had last week was the best I have ever eaten.

Chicken and dumplings are always brought by one of the older ladies and of course the dumplings are start from scratch and light, fluffy and out of this world. Many will bring them in a great big pan and if you don't get to the front of the line, you don't get any for that dish goes quickly. This one we were privileged to enjoy was everything Southern cooking is all about. Thank you whoever brought it for we surely enjoyed it.

I have a recipe I want to share with you and no it is not for chicken and dumplings but a cupcake. When I was attending Weight Watchers we were given a pumpkin muffin recipe which I liked but it is more of a cupcake than a muffin. Last week I wanted to make some to take to the church but did not have any pumpkin but did have a can of sweet potatoes and thought why not? The turned out really well and the kids at the church ate every one of them. I'm glad Roy and I sampled them before the teens got them. It is simple, easy and delicious.

Sweet Potato Cupcake

1 box carrot cake, cake mix
1 can sweet potatoes or yams – no sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 tablespoons orange juice
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Pre-heat oven – 350 degrees

Place 16 cupcake liners in muffin tins

Drain the sweet potatoes and whip with mixer until smooth.
In large bowl, mix the dry cake mix and the cinnamon until combined well. Add the whipped potatoes and orange juice and mix well. Stir in the raisins and nuts. The dough will be fairly stiff.

Place one ice cream scoop of dough in each cupcake liner and bake about 20 min. Check with toothpick to see if done. Don’t overcook.
Remove cupcakes and cool on racks. While still warm, sprinkle with powdered sugar. They are so sweet, you don’t need an icing but if you want an icing, I recommend a cream cheese icing.
Copyright by Frances Robson 2010

It really is good and you can use spice cake mix also but I prefer the carrot cake.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and let me know.

Ya'll be careful going home and come back to see us.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach

Sour Cream Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes

Bumper on the Keys by Frances Robson

Good evening. Come on in and sit a spell for it is sprinkling rain outside. It's that strange rain with sunshine in part of the yard and cloudy in the other part and raining occasionally. When it does that, the old saying is that the Devil is beating his wife with a frying pan. Have no idea where it came from but I guess the sun is the wife smiling, the clouds are the husband frowning and the rain is his tears of pain. If that is the scenario, I am sure he deserved it.

I am enamoured with the new Food TV show - Cup Cake Wars. Some of those cupcakes sound soooo good and I never knew you could make so many flavors and add so many ingredients. Not all of them turn out just right but most sound delicious and so yesterday I concocted a new cupcake.

Now I didn't start from "scratch" like they do for I believe in "keeping is simple stupid" as the old saying goes. I used a mix and they are really good and I sure am glad for they are to take to the church tomorrow for the Son's of Jubal Concert snack time. I will take pictures of them when I get them arranged on a plate but you have got to try them.

SOUR CREAM CHOCOLATE MOCHA CUPCAKES

1 package devil’s food or chocolate cake mix or chocolate cake mix of choice
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sour cream
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup strong, cold coffee
3 large eggs
1 tsp. black walnut or vanilla flavoring

Makes 24 cupcakes – line cupcake pans with cupcake liners
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Place cake mix, cocoa powder, sour cream, oil, coffee, eggs and flavoring in large mixing bowl and blend with electric mixer on low for 1 minute then increase speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of pan with spatula as needed.

Fill each cup 2/3 way full. 1 ice cream scoop of batter per cup works fine.
Place pans in pre-heated oven and bake until the cupcakes spring back when lightly pressed with your finger and toothpick inserted in the middle cones out clean: 25 – 28 minutes.

Remove from oven and place cupcakes on wire racks until cool.

Frost with chocolate, cream cheese frosting.

Let me know what you think about them when you try them.

Well, I'm going to go get ready for prayer meeting and choir practice and I need to brush my hair really well. Robert worked his magic with a cut and blow dry this morning but it looks like a white football helmet with all the hairspray and I just can't stand that. If a tornado comes through, my hair will still look good when it's gone but because there are none in the near future, I am about to brush the hair spray out. I like the naturally tousled look so off to brush and then run my fingers through it.

Ya'll be careful going home and come back to see me. Enjoy the cupcakes and add a cold, glass of milk along with them.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach