These are some candies that Katie sent me a few months ago. Aren't they the cutest?!
And these lovely handmade Valentine's are from Laura of Hey What's For Dinner Mom? and Christina of Dinner at Christina's. Thank you both so very much!
Hope you all have a wonderful day.
xoxo, Monica
Well my friends I am finally back home! We arrived late last night, exhausted but safe and sound. Thank you to all of you who left comments and emailed me privately to encourage me to keep my head up and stay positive and to not be bothered by petty anonymous commenters. I appreciate it more than you know. And I definitely felt an abundance of love. So to thank you and to send a little love your way I have these special little cupcakes for you!
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cupcakes- ah! Yes I know. I can't take credit for these though. I found them at My Baking Adventures and she got them from Cookie Madness. Either way, they're genius. They combine a wonderfully red and tender cake with a cream cheese center, so there's no need for frosting. They're not very sweet so I guess you could call these muffins but they're much more exciting. I made these before we left on our trip to DC but they would be perfect for your Valentine this weekend.
This cake is made with sour cream, which is unlike any red velvet cake I've ever made, but it worked. They rose and domed perfectly and the cream cheese filling accented them nicely. Since they have cream cheese in them they need to be refrigerated but their flavor tastes best with the chill taken off of them. So allow them to sit at room temp for a bit before serving or heat them ever so slightly. The only thing I would change next time is to add more filling and up the cream cheesiness. That's never a bad thing. Another good thing about these cupcakes is that this recipe has already been cut down to make 8-9 cupcakes so you don't end up with so many leftover.
Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cupcakes from Cookie Madness via My Baking Adventures
Filling:
Batter:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 (I needed 9) muffin cups with paper liners.
Prepare filling first. With a mixing spoon, beat together softened cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and stir until smooth. Set aside.
In a mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a second mixing bowl, stir together oil, sugar, vinegar, egg, red food coloring, vanilla and sour cream. Mix very well, then add the flour mixture and stir just until blended.
Measure out approximately 1/3 cup red mixture and set aside. Divide remaining red mixture among the 8 muffin cups – each cup should be a little over 1/3 of the way full. Spoon cream cheese mixture over red mixture, dividing evenly between all cups. Drop small spoonfuls of reserved red batter on top of cream cheese mixture, making a bulls-eye pattern.
Bake for 20-23 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack. Carefully remove lift muffins from cups.
Best served slightly chilled. – Makes 8-9
I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day with the ones you love. We plan on staying home and making dinner together (ie. I make dinner and Mr. H eats it!) or going to my moms for Sunday dinner, which is something we do often. Either way, there will be chocolate!
Sending lots of red velvet love to you all!
I don't like confrontation. I avoid it at all costs and when I am confronted or I have to confront someone else I feel sick to my stomach. I get flushed and my hands start shaking and I get extremely anxious. Obviously that is not who I am.
So when "Anonymous" left a comment saying she didn't appreciate my lack of insensitivity regarding the "blizzard" conditions in DC, I apologized. I apologized to her and those that may have been offended by what I said. But you know what? I stand by what I said and what I still feel towards the situation. Everyone is entitled to feel the way they want to. I don't feel that Anonymous is wrong in her feelings toward me but I don't necessarily think that she was correct either.
My apology was sincere, though she felt otherwise. My point was (and I thought I made that pretty clear) was that everyone is allowed to have differing opinions about recipes, weather, politics etc. I'm okay with not seeing eye to eye with everyone. But I am a people pleaser and it hurts a little to be befriended because I blogged about the snow and someone didn't like it. She is no longer a reader of mine because I "singled" her out in my last post. But I'm pretty sure that's what she did to me by singling out one thing that I said about the weather conditions. So should I stop being her friend? I don't have that option though because I don't know who she is. And even if I knew who this person was doesn't mean I would stop liking them. I realize that I allow people to leave anonymous comments but if someone feels that strongly about a situation then why not leave your name? Stand up for what you believe in and don't feel ashamed to defend that.
And just so you know, I am half white and half hispanic. I am 28 years old. But I've been known to lie about my age because I always feel older than I actually am. So really I'm only 27. I'm married with 2 pets and live in Texas. I am a mother but do not have any living children. I drive a gas guzzling SUV and I leave the water on while I brush my teeth. I like fake mashed potatoes and I just discovered the amazing qualities of the S.O.S. pad. I am a Democrat and have been for as long as I can remember. I am pro-life but believe a woman has the right to make her own choice. I do not smoke, drink or do drugs but I occasionally cuss like a sailor. I can be lazy and my husband does all the laundry while I sit on the couch and watch. I don't go to church as often as I should but that's between my God and I. I have big feet and don't like onions or peas. I am a part time nanny and I can't stand 3 pronged forks. This is who I am. Take it or leave it. That is your choice.
