Corn dog muffins

I came across this idea for corn dog muffins on Pinterest. (I am REALLY loving that site!) It's easy, and MUCH healthier than the fried alternative. I used mini-muffin tins for it instead, I like the crispiness of the mini ones better than the large muffins (I made some of both).

Here's what you need.

Hot dogs

Muffin mix (boxed will work just fine, I like the recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.)

If you're using regular sized muffin tins: Put liners in your cupcake tin. Cut each hot dog in half. Put in a little bit of corn bread batter, put the hot dog in, and cover it with more corn bread batter. 

If you're using mini muffin tins: Spray your tin really well. Cut your hot dogs into coins (I cut each one into 10 pieces). Fill each spot with some cornbread batter, place the hot dog in it, and spread a little more batter on top.

Bake according to the instructions on the corn bread recipe. Enjoy!

It turns out that Emma likes the hot dog, and not the corn bread, so she picked all of hers apart!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope your holiday weekend was good. We had lots of fun over here! We had the family over for a cook out, and I made a delicious flag cake! I decided to do this one a little simpler. It was my first time making an Italian Meringue Buttercream (outside of class, that is), and it turned out really well! It was such a rich icing though, and maybe not the best choice for such a hot day. The way I decorated it was completely un-original, but still gorgeous!

 We made bubbles from this recipe.

 Emma watched some fireworks with her big cousin.

 Charlie enjoyed being a lady's man.

Watermelon Spritzer

I made a tasty new discovery earlier this week. Muscato wine goes amazingly well with watermelon. I fixed me this refreshing little spritzer, perfect for a hot summer day!

What you need:

Muscato (I used Jacob's Creek Muscato, a sparkling wine)

Juice from a watermelon

Mix 1 part watermelon juice, and 1 part sparkling white wine. Drink chilled. It makes a refreshing pick me up on a hot day!

New York Time's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe has been going around blog land, and I've seen it a lot especially pinned on Pinterest. You know I had to make it! The first batch I made, I used crisco in place of the butter, and I used dairy-free chocolate chips (Ghirardelli semi-sweet). They were good, but not spectacular. I wanted to know what the real recipe tasted like. I wanted to have just a bite of one of those cookies. So I made a whole batch. Yup, I made an entire batch, just so I could try a bite. I sent most of them to work with my hubby, and pawned the rest off on my family.

Let me say, THESE were spectacular. The butter and sugar meld together to make an almost (chocolate covered) toffee-like bliss. They were amazing, still warm from the oven. Ya know what my husband said when I asked him what he thought? "They taste like a chocolate chip cookie". About 5 minutes later, I caught him with his eyes rolling back in his head saying "these are sooooo good" about the Nacho Cheese Doritos he was shoveling in his mouth. Needless to say, he's lucky he woke up with both his testicles in tact. ;)

Anyway, the cookies were amazing. They were especially good straight out of the oven. The people at my husbands work apparently loved them, they've now started a list of things for me to make! (I've already sent in my practice Flag Cake, and some Turtle Cheesecake).

Now it's your turn to go make these cookies! You can find the recipe here. It's a pretty large batch, I suggest cutting it in half (unless you have lots of people to eat them!) I made the entire batch, baked half last night, and refrigerated the other half to bake up this morning. I wrapped it in wax paper in a log, like this. When I was ready to bake them, I just unwrapped and sliced them up with a chef's knife.

Personally, I liked them better when they were baked fresh from the original batter, the refrigerated ones seemed to bake up funky. But that's just me, they were both delicious!

Pizza braid

Tonight we had this delicious pizza braid for dinner. It was sooo good. It's like pizza and bread sticks all in one.

Prepare you pizza dough. I used this recipe.

Roll it out into a rectangular shape. 

Using a pizza cutter, cut the edges into strips.

Put your pizza toppings down the middle.

Braid it by taking a piece from the right and laying it across the middle and then from the left. Repeat this until all of the side strips are folded into the middle.

Put it a warm place to rise, and rise for about 45 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Brush with garlic butter, and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. I liked to pick off the top pieces and eat them like little mini delicious bread sticks. The bottom part I ate like a thin crust pizza. YUM! 

I can't wait to see what other foods I can make into a braided treat!