Mounds Brownie Cupcakes Inspired by Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

 I saw the most amazing sounding recipe recently on the blog Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. If you haven’t visited her, GO but don’t do it on an empty stomach or a full bladder! She’ll have some tantalizing recipes and she’s funny as heck.

The recipe was for Almond Joy Brownie Bites. For me the only thing better than chocolate, or chocolate and peanut butter, is chocolate with coconut! So these went immediately onto my Recipes To Try board on Pinterest.  If you haven’t used Pinterest  you should. That’s a whole ‘nother post.

I ended up modifying the original recipe because *gasp* , I didn’t have any melting chocolate. No chocolate chips. Nada. How that happened I don’t know but I think it has something to do with peanut butter cups.

Improvisation time. Started out with a box of brownie mix which I made according to directions and spooned into a muffin tin lined with cupcake liners.

I mixed 1 can of sweetened condensed milk and enough flaked coconut together to be able to form truffle sized balls. I put one of each of those in each cupcake

and then covered with the remaining batter

Baked @ 350 for 27 minutes ( because that’s what I usually bake regular brownies at when I use a mix) and let cool. Normally I would have made a ganache topping but didn’t have any cream and did I mention I was out of chocolate chips because of peanut butter cups? That’s what the emergency can of frosting in the pantry is for. I melted about 1/2 can of frosting in the microwave and then spooned over each cupcake

And here’s the ooey gooey inside:

And as soon as I re-stock my chocolate chips, I’ll try the original recipe!

Royal Wedding Printable

Are you planning on watching the Royal Wedding ? We're going to DVR it because it's on in the wee hours and while we're not obsessed with royalty, we like this couple and wish them all the best and like one of my BFFs teases me "it's yet another reason to have cake".

So for kicks and giggles, I made a variation of the "Keep Calm" sign.  It seemed fitting since the Keep Calm phenom is British in origin. I made two versions; one with the couple's initials and one without. I used "C" vs "K" since the bride's formal name is Catherine. Sized to 8x10. Click on image to bring to full size. Right click to "Save As".

Here are some other fun and free Royal Wedding printables from Design Editor

Wishing You All A

Happy Birthday Mumster

For those of you who are new readers, “The Mumster” is my mom. Today is her birthday ( don’t worry M, not gonna tell how young you are) but what’s the point of having a blog if you can’t use it to say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to your mom? Especially since she reads my blog faithfully. Thanks Mom. Not just for that, but for all the things you know I am thankful to you for. For being such a great mom and Grandmom and friend and confidante and supporter and , and and….

By now, she will have received her card, so I’ll share it here. Thank you KandCO for making these gorgeous 3D Iris stickers since the Mumster lurves irises and I love K&CO. Win Win! Knew these were going on her card the minute I saw them!

They’re  from Tim Coffey’s Cottage Garden series. Whenever I see irises I think of my mom. I’m not sure if she loves purple because she loves irises or if she loves irises because she loves purple. Did I mention she loves purple?

And while she’s not a member of the Red Hat Society, she could totally be the poster child for the poem they use:

WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Taken from the book
When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple
Edited by Sandra Martz
Papier Mache Press--Watsonville, California 1987

By no means do I consider you an old woman Mumster…I wish I had some of your energy, but I’m glad you wear purple and do what you like and set a great example for me as a mom. Thank you for not spitting though!

Love,
YOPF ( which is and will remain an inside joke)

How Did I Not Do These Chocolate Printables Before?

I was out the other day and saw a bumper sticker with this saying and thought: "Woman, how on earth have you of all people NOT made a printable of this?"

I mean seriously! So I did and here they are. What was I thinking? Er, or not thinking.

If you use, link back and show whatcha did! Click to bring to full resolution; right click to Save As.

Interest in Pinterest?

When I made my Social Networking Subway Art printables, I included “PIN” as one of the words. I received a few comments that people were unfamiliar with it ( my bad!). It relates to one of the coolest ( I think) sites on the internet…Pinterest! What the heck is it you ask? AMAZING, I answer.

OK really it’s an online bulletin board where you can “pin” (aka bookmark) all the great things you find while visiting your favorite blogs and websites! But I already use bookmarks you say. Yes, but this allows you to pin pictures much like you would to a memo board as well as create multiple boards. For example, I have an “Inspiring Ideas To Try” board:

And a "Recipes To Try" Board:

Along with others for Grad Party Ideas, Printables, etc. You can group your pins however you want and you can add a tool to your bookmarks bar so that when you’re on a blog or site with something you want to pin, you click on that tool : and you can pin from wherever you are.

Your pins will always capture the source location so you can go back to wherever you originally found the idea from your pin board. But wait…there’s more!

You can also follow your favorite bloggers pinboards! So when they find something super cool you can re-pin it to your own board and those who follow you can do the same. You don’t have to follow someone in order to re-pin a pin. But wait…there’s more more!

As soon as you’ve pinned something to a board, you can Tweet it or post it to Facebook with a single click! OK I’m letting my Geek flag fly a little here but I think it’s pretty cool.

I knew zippo about it before I started pinning so I’ve learned through trial and error. I’m sure there’s tons I don’t know! You do need an invite so the first 6 people who comment that they want invites ( leave your email if it’s not linked to your blog!) I’ll send invites to! It’s all free and I’m sharing it because I love playing with it…nothing more!

Easter Cards and Supporting Japan

Around the time I started thinking about my Easter cards for this year, I saw that Paper Source was donating a portion of their proceeds from the sale of the handmade Japanese papers they carry to organizations assisting with the relief effort.

I have always been drawn to Japanese washi papers so I knew I would enjoy incorporating some into my cards while supporting Paper Source’s efforts.

I created a focal point for my cards using my PrintShop Deluxe program to go with this gorgeous cherry blossom paper I picked up at Paper Source:

I went to my stash and pulled out some other coordinating papers and embellishments including some of the twine I got from The Twinery when they were also donating some of their proceeds to Japan’s relief efforts.

Each card I made has some combination of the washi paper and the focal image. Some are embellished with twine, others with coordinating K&CO self adhesive scrapbook borders.

Each card is finished off with a light tan paper flower and glittered brad from the Recollections collection at Michaels

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