Almond Joyful Cupcakes

Danielle @ DiningWithDani — Tue, 19 Nov 2013 07:38:32 +0000

Wednesdays have officially become movie night. Movie night started after I was obsessively talking about my love for actor Paul Dano to my friend Jason, who may quite possibly love film even more than I do. When he asked what I thought of Dano in There Will Be Blood and I mentioned that I hadn’t seen it, a beautiful weekly tradition was born. Wednesday nights I go to Jason’s apartment and we gather his other roommates to have “Family Dinner”, watch a movie I have never seen, and bake something. I really, really wanted to make these cupcakes for them last week, and then found out they all hate Almond Joys. It was devastating. (Luckily, they all enjoyed the s’mores cupcakes I brought instead.) Hopefully you love Almond Joys more than the boys do, because I really wanted to share this easy recipe with you today.

Recipe: Almond Joyful Cupcakes

Makes 20 cupcakes

What You Need:

1 box Golden Vanilla cake mix
1 tub Betty Crocker Almond Joy frosting
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/3 cup shredded coconut

What To Do:

1. Mix your cake mix according to the packaging.

2. Add in coconut extract.

3. Bake. (Mine took 18 minutes).

4. After letting the cupcakes cool, Spread a thick layer of frosting onto eack cupcake and sprinkle coconut on top.

5. Refridgerate for 30 minutes before eating so that the coconut can firmly stick to each cupcake.

Soft and Chewy Milky Way Cookies

Danielle @ DiningWithDani — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 08:50:22 +0000

Today is my half birthday! I’m going to use that, along with my crazy work schedule at my new job, as an excuse to eat a ton of my newest cookie concoction. While extreme couponing a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a way to get a few bags of the new Milky Way Bites for free. They were immediately thrown in my cart, ripped open, and half-eaten before I made it to the check out line. They are unwrapped already, so there’s no effort required to eat all of them.

In a last ditch effort to not eat both bags by myself, I threw together a batch of cookie dough for the remaining chocolate morsels and ended up with the softest, chewiest cookie recipe I have ever made. I had done some research and decided to try cornstarch in the batter. You can definitely taste it in there, but it does not take anything away from the candy or the rest of the vanilla extract-fueled dough. You have to chill the batter for a while before you bake it so that the bite-sized bars keep their shape, but the payoff is worth it. Recipe: Soft and Chewy Milky Way Cookies adapted from Center Cut Cook

Makes about 3 dozen

What You Need:

2 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 package Milky Way Bites

What To Do:

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients.

2. Add in the eggs, butter, and vanilla extract until creamy

3. Gently mix in the Milky Way Bites, being careful not to break them.

4. Chill the batter in the fridge for an hour. This will harden the candy enough so that they keep their shape in the oven.

5. Form dough into tablespoon sized balls, making sure there is at least one candy bar in each.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies will look like they are not quite ready to come out yet, but once you let them cool down they will look awesome!

Dining With Dani » vanilla

Almond Joyful Cupcakes

Soft and Chewy Milky Way Cookies