Homemade Twinkies

I have long had an obsession with Twinkies.  I think they're amazingly delicious.  They are soft, chewy, moist, and full of delicious cream.  

Mine are not the typical twinkies because I add a little bit of "Flair" to these puffed little cakes.  I hope you enjoy my version....I've yet to have a complaint.  I've included the cupcake and layer pan directions.

Ingredients

2 C. Cake Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 C. Butter, room temp.

1 C. Sugar

3 Egg Yolks

1 tsp. Vanilla

3/4 C. Milk, room temp.

Vanilla Buttercream filling (recipe below)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Cream butter and sugar until soft.  Beat until light, and then one by one add your egg yolks while mixing.  Mix until light and creamy.  Add vanilla.

Beat in the milk and the dry ingredients, until well incorporated.

Bake in a greased layer pan for about 25 minutes. 

You can also bake in a cupcake pan.  You fill the cupcakes 1/2 full and bake for 25 minutes.

Vanilla Buttercream Filling

2 sticks unsalted Butter

3-4 C. Powdered Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Mix with hand mixers in a bowl until soft and creamy. 

Take an apple core or paring knife and create a hole length wise in the twinkie or in the middle of the cupcake. 

Fill a ziploc baggie with the buttercream and cut off the corner.  Pipe into the cakes.  (Just a note, I have shown the cupcake, and layer pan style.)  Enjoy!!!

Corn Dog Recipe

Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!! In celebration of this great day, I am sharing my traditional Fat Tuesday recipe with y'all.  Every Fat Tuesday my husband and I make my corn dogs.  Not only are they delicious, and 100% NOT nutritious, but they're Amazing!  I know you'll try one bite and you're going to Love them! Have a Happy Mardi Gras!

Ingredients

2/3 C. Flour

1/4 C. Cornstarch

1/4 C. Cornmeal

1/4 C. Sugar

1 Tbs. Baking Powder

1/4 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder

1/2 tsp. Onion Powder

1 C. Buttermilk

8 Hot Dogs

8 Thick Wooden Dowels

Soy Bean Oil (I like to go with the healthiest oil when I'm making these, but you can use what you want.)

Directions

Preheat 4 inches of oil to 350 degrees.

Mix Flour, Cornmeal, Sugar, Baking Powder, Salt, Garlic and Onion Powder, and Buttermilk together, until well incorporated into a somewhat smooth batter.

Push each wooden dowel into the hot dog at least 3/4 of the way up.  I like to leave about 3 inches sticking out of the bottom.

Put Cornstarch into a pie plate and dredge each hot dog in the cornstarch.

Then dip and heavily cover each hotdog in the cornmeal batter. Circle around to get the top to twist a bit, and place in HOT oil. 

Fry for 3-4 minutes turning over 1/2 way through cooking.

After 4 minutes or when the outside is completely nice and really golden brown, pull out and place on a paper towel until it's cooled down a bit. 

Serve with Mustard and Ketchup.  Enjoy!

Chocolate-Almond-Coconut Milk

Coconut water is HUGE right now, and rightfully so.  It's extremely healthy, and has a lot of good nutrients, but I'm sorry, it's disgusting.  I needed something with a lot of potassium and electrolytes, and I came across this beautiful product...Sambazon Protein Chocolate-Almond-Coconut Milk.  It's nutritious AND Delicious!  My only problem was shelling out $3 a day for it when I'm drinking 2 of them a day.  

As I was walking down the aisle in Whole Foods to go pick some up, I walked passed CANNED coconut milk.  Well this got me thinking (which is something I really try not to do) and I figured, why not make my own?  I mean I have an amazing blender that will blend anything, and this canned coconut milk is only $1 a can, so I'm going to do it. 

I went and bought one of the bottles so I could see the ingredients on the back.  I figured that the only important things to have to make this was dutch process cocoa, powdered sugar, almonds, vanilla soymilk, vanilla extract, and coconut milk.  Turns out I was right.  So instead of spending a ton of money stocking up on these delicious bottles for the week, I stocked up on the ingredients to make it. 

As I checked out with my ingredients I realized that I had spent about $20 on everything, and I bought 6 cans of coconut milk so I would have it on hand.  I knew I better make this work or I just wasted money on what could have gone to the real deal.

I got home, pulled down the Blendtec to see if my Chocolate-Almond-Coconut Milk really would blend.  (I know, my sarcasm is hysterical.)  After I experimented a bit and tasted the final product I was VERY happy.  It literally tasted the exact same, and I only used 1 1/2 cans of coconut milk for 2 quarts of the finished product.  So my friends, I am here to share the wealth with all of you!  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 14.5 oz can Coconut Milk
1/2 of another 14.5oz can of Coconut Milk (I put the remainder in ice cube trays, froze them and saved them for next time)
1 1/2 Tbs. Dutch Process Cocoa
1/2-2/3 C. Powdered Sugar
1-1 1/2 C. Vanilla Silk Soymilk
1/2 C. Raw Almonds
2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
6 ice cubes (just to make it cold. this is optional)

Directions
In your Blender, blend up the coconut milk, almonds, and soymilk. Blend until the almonds have broken down. Then add remaining ingredients and blend until it's the consistency you want. 

If you want it runnier add more soymilk. If you want it thicker add more almonds.  If you want it sweeter more powdered sugar. Creamier? more coconut Milk....you get the idea.

Then I just pulled out some hand dandy mason jars, spaghetti jars, any jars, filled them up, and put them in the fridge to drink.  This recipe made 2 Quarts.

The best part is the little almond bits you get in every sip.  Put it on ice and drink it straight out of the jar. I hope you like it!!