Easy Cheesy Lasagna

This is the lasagna my mom always makes. Try as I might, I have never found a tastier recipe (especially for how simple it is) It's great for kids because it doesn't use ricotta cheese and if your kids are picky (like I was/am) you can make it without chunks of tomatoes or onions depending on the sauce you like. This isn't your usual blog-worthy recipe. It's really easy and simple...basically combining store bought items and baking...but you Facebook fans asked for it so here it is!

Ingredients:
About 12 lasagna noodles (UNCOOKED: one of the major selling points of this recipe)
Meat sauce: either homemade, if you have it, or get 2 jars of store-bought and mix it with 1 lb. of cooked meat.
1 big tub of cottage cheese (I use 2% low fat, don't got fat free...no bueno)
2-3 cups shredded mozarella cheese
Parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top...or throughout if you're me.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a 9x13 casserole dish put a thin layer of meat sauce, then 4 or so uncooked noodles, just however many fit, then more meat sauce, cottage cheese, a healthy sprinkling of mozarella, and repeat until the dish is full (mine fits about 3 layers). Sprinkle the parmesan on top of the mozarella on the last layer, cover with foil and bake for 1 hour, taking the tin foil off for the last 15 minutes. Remove when bubbling and let sit for 10 minutes to solidify a bit, unless you like lasagna soup. Done!

The Fastest Beef Stroganoff

I admit, beef stroganoff is not one of my favorite dishes on earth but every once in a great while, it sounds delicious. The recipe I've used for years takes a couple hours and even then, is tricky to get get to reduce so often you are left with beef stroganoff inspired soup. I saw this recipe in my Our Best Bites Cookbook and was surprised how quick the instructions made it sound. I gave it a shot and had dinner done (start to finish) in less than a half hour. Seriously. My husband ate it up and said it was better than my stand by recipe! This one's a keeper for sure.

Ingredients:
1 pound top sirloin steak (I buy the thin-cut, it saves work)
salt and pepper
3/4 cup diced onion (about one small onion)
8 oz. sliced mushrooms
4 cloves minced garlic
3 tbsp. butter (divided)
3/4 cup water
1 tsp. beef boullion (1 cube)
2 tsp. worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp. flour
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:
Slice steak into strips that are approx. 2" long and 1/4" thick. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.
Melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat in a large skillet and saute the onions, mushrooms, and garlic for 4-5 minutes until the onions are soft and transparent. Empty out of the skillet onto a plate and set aside. Melt the remaining tbsp. butter in the skillet and cook the beef for about 5 minutes until it's no longer pink. While the meat is cooking, whisk together the water, boullion, worchestershire sauce and flour. Pour into the cooked beef and add the onion/mushroom mixture back in. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1-2 minutes until it thickens. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream. Serve over egg noodles or rice!

Slow Cooker Pudding Cake

I had a busy day on Saturday. I'm talking, leave the house at 8:30 and don't get home until late at night busy. One of my engagements was a BBQ at a friend's house where I volunteered to bring dessert. On Saturday morning it hit me that I wasn't going to be home to make anything....that's where my trusty slow cooker came in! This recipe is out of my Official Crock Pot Cookbook. The only reason I chose it was because I happened to have all the ingredients. It was HUGE hit at the BBQ. People I didn't know where asking me for the recipe. And what could be easier than cake in a crock pot?!

Slow Cooker Pudding Cake
Ingredients:
6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 Cup Flour
1/8 tsp. salt
4 eggs
1 1/3 Cup sugar
1 Cup (2 sticks) melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 Cup whipping cream
Vanilla ice cream for serving

Directions:
Coat your slow cooker with cooking spray and preheat to LOW.
Blend cocoa, flour, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Beat eggs with an electric mixer on medium-high until thickened. Graudually add sugar, beat 5 minutes until mixture becomes very thick and pale yellow.
Mix in butter and vanilla. Once incorporated, add the cocoa mixture and blend well. Add cream. and mix until blended.
Pour in crock pot and cover opening with a paper towel to catch the condensation (unless you like soggy cake). Put lid on and cook on LOW for 3 to 4 hours. Serve warm with ice cream.

Hummus

I think hummus is just scrumptious, but the thought of making it from scratch has always intimidated me. I think it's the unfamiliar flavor profile.

A few days ago, however, I put on a brave face and decided to give it a whirl? Why? Well, even though I love hummus, but am not particularly fond of the plain, boring, canned chickpeas I had in my pantry.

After doing some research, I concocted the following recipe. It was actually quite easy and was also very delicious. Win, win!

Ingedients:

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 can of chickpeas (reserve 1/4 to 1/2 cup of liquid - more liquid will result in thinner, creamier hummus)

4 TBSP lemon juice (fresh is best, but from concentrate will do in a real pinch)

2 TBSP Tahini (sesame paste - not only can you find this at most gourmet food stores, but some grocery stores carry it, too)

3/4 - 1 tsp salt

1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 - 3/4 tsp cumin

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender (or do as I do and use a bowl + an immersion blender).
2. That's it! See I told you it was easy! Serve with pita squares or pita chips, crisp bread, zucchini or celery sticks, red pepper spears... you name it! If you want to make it more authentic, garnish with a little olive oil drizzled on top.

Chex Lemon Buddies

I made these for a craft class I went to on Saturday and everyone demanded the recipe. They were a huge hit and a nice, refreshing summer departure from Muddy Buddies I usually make. The best part? They are really easy and QUICK. Make them for a get together and you will be the most popular one there!

Ingredients:

9 cups rice Chex cereal

1 1/4 cups vanilla (white chocolate) chips

1/4 cup butter
4 tsp. lemon zest

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Measure cereal into a large bowl and set aside.

Combine the white chocolate chips, butter, lemon zest and juice into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minutes. Stir and repeat in 30 second intervals until it can be stirred smooth. Pour over cereal and stir to combine. Place cereal in a gallon size Ziploc bag, pour in powdered sugar and shake to coat.

Mushroom Tostadas

We eat this all of the time at my house. It is quick, easy and delicious! Well, my family and I think so anyway. Lol! Enjoy! =)

Ingredients:
Flour Tortillas
2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1/2 Onion, chopped
6 Mushrooms, sliced (I love mushrooms, so I usually add more, but it is totally up to you)
1/2 Green Bell Pepper, sliced into very thin strips
1 Zucchini, thinly sliced
2 Carrots, cut crosswise into thin slices
fresh Cilantro, finely chopped (you can use 1 teaspoon dried cilantro if you can't find fresh or don't have it on hand)
dash Salt and Pepper
couple handfuls of shredded Jack Cheese

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
1. On broiler pan, lay tortillas flat and bake in hot oven for 2 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and set aside to be used later.
2. In large skillet, heat the vegetable oil on medium-high heat for 1 minute. Add onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, zucchini, carrot, and cilantro. Stir and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are brown and the moisture is gone from the pan. (Drain off any excess liquid)
3. Spoon vegetables over tortillas on broiler pan, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the jack cheese. (Don't roll them up.)
4. Return to hot oven and bake for 1 to 2 minutes, or just until the cheese is melted.

Cilantro Lime Salad Dressing

So you might just remember when I posted my last recipe for Pulled BBQ Chicken that I mentioned it might be pretty tasty in a salad? Well, tonight I tried a recipe for a dressing that mimics Cafe Rio's tomatillo dressing and guess what? It might not have been exact but it was DARN close. Husband asked to drink it. Maybe the best part is that I can pretty much guarantee mine's a whole lot lighter than the restaurant version. When I tasted it, I knew I was going to have to make a HUGE salad to eat it with. What did I have? BBQ chicken, black beans, tortillas and lettuce. Taco salad night!!! I literally threw this together in about 15 minutes with stuff I had on hand. Since I don't think anyone is interested in me telling them how to put together a salad, I will just post the recipe for the dressing. I got the recipe from those genius girls over at Our Best Bites. Check it out!

Ingredients:

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix

1 cup mayo (I used reduced fat) (sidebar, NEVER use fat free mayo in ANYTHING. It's wretched....Anyway, where was I?)

1/2 cup milk (I used skim)

1 lime

2 cloves garlic roughly chopped

1/2 cup cilantro leaves. Just rip the leaves off the stems, don't bother chopping them.

1/4 cup green salsa (Salsa Verde)

hot sauce (optional - mine didn't need it)

Directions:

Put it all in the blender....blend until smooth. Try not to drink it.

Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

I was really torn about putting this up. I found it in a cookbook and was actually a little offended it actually made it into a cookbook because of how simple and common-sense it is. In fact, I wanted a dime back from the makers of the cookbook because I shouldn't have to PAY for such a recipe. But, here I am, using up internet space to post it here. Here's why: Even though everyone probably already knows to do this, it was the first time I actually tried it and it is actually in my top 10 recipes now because of the response it got! My brother came over last night and tried one, then between he and Husband, they went through 1 and a half loaves of bread making sandwiches. My brother thought I slaved away in the kitchen for hours and said it tasted just like something you would get in a restaurant. Music to my ears. Anyway, here it is. Don't judge me for posting it!

Ingredients:
4-6 chicken breasts (mine were still partially frozen)
1 (18 oz. or larger) bottle of BBQ sauce. You might have one you prefer but if not, I HIGHLY recommend Bull's Eye Original by Kraft.
My own addition: 1-2 onions, chopped

Ingredients for sandwiches:
Bread or rolls, provolone or mozzarella cheese, jalapeno peppers (from a jar) if you like it spicy! (husband and brother's creation)

Directions:
Put chicken in slow cooker.
Put onions on top of chicken, if using.
Dump BBQ sauce over the top.
Cook on LOW 8-9 hours.
About 30 minutes before serving, shred chicken with two forks.

Serve as sandwiches. I also thought after the meat is chilled, you could make a DELICIOUS BBQ chopped salad? Hmm.....

Bleu Cheese Dressing... From Scratch!

I have my fantastic mother-in-law to thank for this easy and super yummy recipe. As an added plus, with only five ingredients and two simple steps, this dressing is the definition of "easy-peasy." This is great as a salad dressing or a tasty dip for veggies (or plain potato chips, if you want a less healthy dipping option ^_^).

You can vary the amount of Bleu cheese if you want more mild or more potent Bleu cheese flavor.

Ingredients:

16oz container of Light Sour Cream

approx. 3/4 cups crumbled Bleu cheese

approx. 3/8 tsp. garlic powder (or to taste)

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Blend the light sour cream and 1/2 cup of the Bleu cheese in a blender.
2. Empty dressing into a bowl and add remaining 1/4 cup Bleu cheese crumbles, garlic powder, salt, and pepper, stirring with a spoon to combine.

Beef Taco Meat

No, I didn't take this picture. It's out of the America's Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook. But it IS a picture of what I made tonight for dinner! And this is exactly what it looks like (except with homemade soft flour tortillas). If you don't know what America's Test Kitchen is, you are in for a treat. It's on Sundays at 11:00 am on "Create" (Channel 11-3 for those of us without cable). I'm sure it's on other times too but that's the only time I watch. Basically, it's a show where they rigorously test recipes, kitchen gadgets, and ingredients to tell you the best of the best. I'm addicted! I tried this beef taco recipe and it was awesome and takes less than 30 minutes to prepare. I don't like taco meat (ground beef) but I now stand corrected. This has such a great flavor and I promise you will never want to use that packaged taco seasoning again!

Ingredients:

2 tsp. vegetable oil

1 small onion, minced

3 medium garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

1/2 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

Salt

1 lb. 90% lean ground beef

1/2 cup canned tomato sauce

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 tsp. vinegar, preferably cider vinegar

1 tsp. brown sugar

Ground black pepper

Directions

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 4 minutes.

Add the garlic, spices, and 1/2 tsp. salt; cook, stirring constantly until fragrant, about 30 seconds. (When I do this again, I will premeasure all the those spices into a bowl and add them all at once since you only have to cook them for 30 seconds before adding other ingredients)

Add the ground beef and cook, breaking the meat up into small pieces, scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent scorching until the beef is no long pink.

Add the tomato sauce, broth, and vinegar, and brown sugar, bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered, stirring frequently until the liquid has reduced and thickened, about 10 minutes (the mixture shouldn't be dry).

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with taco supplies!

Slow Cooker Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I came across this recipe when my office threw me a wonderful pot luck bridal shower. One of the ladies brought this dish and literally everyone there asked for the recipe. Including me. (that's like 30 people!) When she emailed it to me, I couldn't believe the ingredients! Two things you would never think go together but so so so delicious- and it's easy peasy too!

Ingredients:
1 14oz bag of Armour Original Meatballs (about 28 meatballs per bag), they can go right in the slow cooker from the freezer!
1 cup bbq sauce (my co-worker recommends using Famous Dave's Original Flavor)
1 12oz. jar of currant or grape jelly (I think the currant gives the best flavor but both are good)

Directions:
Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and heat on low for 5 hours or high for 2.

No Bake Cookies

Hello all Taste Bud readers! My name is Trevor, my friends call me Trevor Chan. I am the newest contributor to this fabulous blog, and am so excited to share some amazing recipes with you!

The title of this post is true! There is no baking involved in this recipe! There is a tidge of cooking, but nothing I'm sure you can't handle! Enjoy these easy and delicious cookies!

Ingredients

2 Cups Sugar

1/2 Cup Margarine or Butter

1/3 Cup Cocoa

1/2 Cup Milk

1/2 Cup Peanut Butter

3 Cups quick Oatmeal

1 tsp. Vanilla

Directions

1. Bring Sugar, Margarine or Butter, Cocoa and Milk to a boil.

2. Boil for 1 minute. Do not over boil.

3. Add Peanut Butter and stir until dissolved.

4. Add Oatmeal and Vanilla.

5. Drop desired size amounts on to waxed paper.

6. Let set about 1 hour.

Note: To help the cooling process along, toss em' in the fridge! They're delicious served cold!

Brownie Cookies with Chocolate Mousse Frosting

I just made this recipe up because I needed some cookies in a hurry. Yes. Made it up. Just now.

I confess, I am a little proud of myself and will lightly toot my own horn now: toot, toot! These are super fast to make and taste, well, pretty awesome if I do say so myself. And the frosting is really fluffy and delicious!

Okay, without further ado, the moment you've been waiting for! I give you: the recipe. Enjoy them (I certainly did)!

Ingredients

Brownie Cookies

1 pkg Devils Food Cake Mix (preferably with pudding in the mix)

2 eggs

1/4 cup veggie or canola oil

Chocolate Mousse Frosting

1 small package of instant chocolate pudding

1 cup milk (I used skim, but you could use 1% or 2%, I'm sure)

 1 container of Cool-Whip (approx. 1.5 - 2 cups)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix cake mix, eggs and oil together until it has moistened and formed a thick dough.
3. Using a scoop, measure out cookies.
4. Put cookies in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Don't let them over-bake! I pulled them out at 10 minutes.
5. While cookies bake, make frosting.
6. Empty pudding mix into a bowl and add milk. Beat together for 2 minutes until thickened.
7. Gently fold Cool Whip into pudding mixture. Frosting will be light and fluffy.
8. If cookies are rounded when they come out of the oven, use the bottom of a glass to lightly flatten them while they are still warm. Don't use too much pressure or they will harden as they cool.
9. After cookies are baked and cooled, frost each with a dollop of chocolate mousse frosting. Yum!

Flour Tortillas

Making homemade tortillas has always intimidated me. Try as I might, they just never seemed to come out right. Enter: the easiest tortilla recipe ever.

This recipe makes for some of the very best homemade flour tortillas I have ever tried. No boiling water, no resting, no super sticky dough. Awesome! Just know that you'll want to roll these out pretty thin, as they puff up when they cook. These are so much better than store bought tortillas and would be super tasty with Nikki's Taco Chicken or perhaps some refried beans! 

Ingredients
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 TBSP lard - if lard makes you feel a little icky (like it does me) use margarine or butter, NOT shortening or oil
1 1/2 cups water

Directions
1. Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the lard (or butter, or margarine) with your fingers or pastry cutter until the flour goes clumpy and resembles sand or cornmeal.
3. Add the water and mix to form dough.
4. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a minute or two until  it becomes smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into about 24 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.
5. Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat (a griddle works well for cooking more than one tortilla at a time).
6. Using a well-floured rolling pin, roll a dough ball into a thin, round tortilla. You'll probably want to roll a few times, then rotate the tortilla 90 degrees, then roll a few times, then rotate another 90 degrees, and so on and so forth.
7. Place into the hot skillet, and cook until bubbly and golden; flip and continue cooking until golden on the other side (each side will cook quickly, think 30 seconds or less).
8.Place the cooked tortilla on a plate and cover with a clean dishtowel to keep in warmth and moisture. Nobody likes a hard, dried out tortilla!
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 with the remaining dough balls. Viola! Chewy, yummy, fresh tortillas! That wasn't so hard, was it?

Easy Slow Cooker Pork Chops

Pork chops are something I refused to eat as child....into adulthood. My poor mother would try to make them and I would throw a fit (sorry, Mom!) One day my husband made me a delicious dinner of stuffed pork chops and guess what? I devoured it. I know, I can hear my mom in my head, "How do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it?!" Ugh. Guilt for being an awful kid...Anyway, a friend of mine shared this recipe with me for slow cooker pork chops and it turns out the most delicious, flavorful, tender, cut-with-a-fork pork chops you will ever eat.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

Dashes of salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

4-6 pork chops

2 cans chicken and wild rice soup, undiluted

Rice or noodles for serving

Directions:

Combine flour, salt and pepper in a ziploc bag, put pork chops in one at a time and shake to coat.

Heat olive oil over medium-high heat and brown pork chops on each side (you just want to brown the outsides for looks, not cook them through)

Place pork chops in slow cooker, pour in both cans of soup, and cook on low 6 hours (Mine usually go 8 hours while I am at work and they are fine).

Serve over rice or egg noodles.

Olive Garden Salad Dressing...kind of.

I have created a food snob. In an attempt to get Michael to eat salad (yes, he's like my child) I started making my own salad dressing knowing that it's often tastier than the bottled stuff. Sigh....Now he insists I have at least homemade ranch in the fridge at all times and refuses to eat anything bottled. What have I done? I guess it worked, he eats lettuce almost every night with dinner. So, since I've done this I'm always on the look for new salad dressings. I found this one in a book called "America's Most Wanted Recipes: Favorite Restaurants" that I got for Christmas one year. It's supposedly the dressing recipe that Olive Garden uses. While I don't think it is, it does have a similar taste and it is quite tasty. This recipe does use a little bit of raw egg. The lemon juice and vinegar should kill any yucky bacteria that may be present but if you are the paranoid type, you can use pasteurized egg (Egg Beaters) and that will work fine.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups white vinegar

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/3 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup corn syrup

3 tbsp grated parmesan or romano cheese

2 tablespoons pectin (optional but preserves it a bit longer)

1 1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. minced garlic

1 tsp dry Italian seasoning (or just add a few shots of any Italian-ish dried herbs you like)

Directions:

Mix the whole shebang in a blender. Chill for at least an hour. Serve over salad!

Chicken Enchiladas

My mother has never been modest about the fact that she doesn't cook. She hates it and with cooking, practice makes perfect so if you don't practice...it's not going to be perfect. :) I love my mom's openness about the fact she has no desire to be a traditional housewife. She does, however, have 2 recipes I made sure to get when I flew from the nest. This is one of them. These are chicken enchiladas for people who hate cooking. Though they seem pretty fatty at the outset, you can use the fat free cream of chicken and low fat/fat free sour cream and it lightens this dish considerably with no sacrifice on the taste. Quick and very easy and you can even make them in the microwave....

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken (my mom uses canned chicken and it tastes great)

1 can cream of chicken soup

8 oz. sour cream

1 small can diced green chilis

2 cups shredded cheese

4-6 tortillas

Canned enchilada sauce (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 or don't if you want to microwave. Mix together all ingredients, reserving about half the cheese, fill and roll tortillas. Now, this part is like a Choose Your Own Adventure Book, remember those?! Loved them. If you want to top them with some of the filling, reserve about 1 cup of it and you'll get about 2 less enchiladas. I particularly like pouring store-bought enchilada sauce over the top. Whatever you choose, top with the remaining cup of cheese and bake for about 20-30 minutes until cheese is bubbly. If you would rather microwave them, microwave on high for about 10-12 minutes until heated through. The microwave technique tastes just fine and is great if you are in a hurry to get dinner on the table.

Taco Chicken

This here is a little something I invented last night. That's right. I INVENTED it. I'm pretty proud of myself and it turned out REALLY yummy. If you haven't noticed by my posts, we eat A LOT of Mexican food in my house. Like, a lot, a lot. My other half literally eats a burrito every day so I always try to keep beans, rice, and taco meat in the fridge for when he needs a snack.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
3-4 chicken breast halves, cut up into bite-size pieces
1 cup salsa
1 cup water
4-5 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp sugar (probably not necessary but it did add a bit of sweetness that was a nice compliment to the citrus from the lemons and limes)
2 small limes
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. cumin

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat until it starts to smoke, just a few minutes. Add the chicken and saute a few minutes until the outside looks cooked.
Add the salsa, water, lemon juice, sugar, squeeze the juice out of the limes, the garlic salt and the cumin. Bring to a boil and let simmer, covered, until cooked through - about 15-20 minutes.

May I suggest serving with Brittney's Refried Beans?

Candy Bar Fudge

Before you say it, yes, I have noticed a trend in my posts up 'til now: lots of desserts. I promise I will post some more substantial, and healthy, recipes later (I swear we don't just eat candy at our house), but I just had to share this super easy and YUMMY gem. I found the original recipe on a can of Pillsbury frosting, tweaked it a bit, and discovered that making fudge can be really easy... and very delicious!

Ingredients:

1 (12oz) package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (16 oz) can of milk chocolate frosting (NOT the whipped variety)

approx. 4 roughly chopped Snickers bars (or a "bunch" of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, again roughly chopped)

Directions:

1. Line an 8x8 pan with foil, extending the foil over the sides of the pan.

2. Spray foil very lightly with no-stick cooking spray.

3. In a medium sauce pan, melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Resist the urge turn the heat up; scorched chocolate doesn't suit this recipe well...

4. When chocolate chips are melted, remove from heat and immediately stir in frosting and chopped candy (if you want, reserve a couple of tablespoons of the candy bits to sprinkle on top of the fudge).

5. Working quickly, spread mixture into the foil-lined pa, spreading it evenly.

6. If you reserved some of the candy pieces, sprinkle those on top of the fudge.

7. Allow fudge to set for at least an hour before using the foil to remove it from the pan.

8. Slice fudge into squares and enjoy!

Cookie Dough Stuffed Cupcakes

I found a recipe for these on allrecipes.com, but that recipe used genuine cookie dough for the stuffing of the cupcakes. Since the dough is supposed to remain, well, dough in a cookie dough stuffed cupcake, I decided to make a variation using the Eggless Cookie Dough recipe I posted earlier this week.

These are pretty easy to make, but you have to follow a couple of "rules." First, you need to make little (approx. 1/2") dough balls, using a small scoop or your hands. These MUST be frozen! If they are not frozen when you put them in the cupcake batter, they will bake and come out dry and y.u.c.k.y.!

Secondly, don't over bake these. Don't use a toothpick to test "doneness" of these bitty cakes, since the inside of the cupcake is cookie dough and should remain doughy. Instead, look at the edge of the cupcake to see if it's set. I would recommend baking for 16-18 minutes. If you over bake these, you will get the aforementioned dry, "y.u.c.k.y." center.

Ingredients:
-1 cake mix ( I used chocolate, but I think yellow would also be delicious - I'm sure you could make cake batter from scratch, I was just feeling lazy ^_^)
-Ingredients needed for cake mix prep (usually water, oil, and eggs, in some combination)

-Frozen dough balls from Eggless Cookie Dough recipe (I've found using mini chocolate chips in the dough works best for this recipe), one for each cupcake
-Frosting

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Prepare cake mix per box instructions.
3. Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.
4. Scoop/pour about 1 tablespoon batter into each cupcake liner.
5. Place one frozen cookie dough ball into each cupcake liner, on top of the cake batter.
6. Cover each cookie dough ball with approximately one more tablespoon of batter. You may need to use a spoon to make sure cookie dough balls are covered.
7. Bake cupcakes for 16-18 minutes. Remember, don't over bake!
8. Let cupcakes cool. Frost and enjoy!