Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake

If you read Monday's Post, you know that Blakely's half birthday was on Sunday!  I always make some sort of a treat for everyone's half birthday...and Blakely wanted cake!  Vanilla...not chocolate.  I decided to try something new!  

This recipe is so easy - one extra ingredient turns simple cake mix into something special!  

VANILLA BEANS! 

It's also Cake Mix Recipe #63

Your Shopping List for the Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake:

• 1 box white cake mix
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup veggie oil
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 2 vanilla beanpods, divided
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp half and half

Now Let's Make the Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a bundt pan with nonstick spray
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the cake mix, oil, eggs, and water
3. Use the whisk attachment and beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the bowl, beat on medium speed for an additional minute and a half
4. Split open one of the vanilla bean pods and use the flat edge of a knife to scrape out the vanilla beans
5. Fold the vanilla beans into your batter
6. Pour batter evenly into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
7. Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely
8. Once cake is cool, make the vanilla bean glaze
9. In a large mixing bowl, combine two cups of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of half and half and mix until it forms a thick glaze (you can adjust the amount of half and half depending on how thick or think you want the glaze)
10. Split open the remaining vanilla bean pod and scrape out the beans
11. Mix the vanilla beans into your glaze and drizzle glaze over cake 

I use this pan for all of my bundt cakes (and it's currently on sale):

I use this Stand Mixer:

White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies

For Easter, I set out to make a few new desserts that were spring/summer inspired!   I love strawberry cake mix and really wanted to use it in my new recipe!  

I decided to mix up my recipe for Orange Creamsicle Cookies and make these:

White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies!!!

They were so easy to make, they are PINK, and they are Cake Mix Recipe #62!

Your Shopping List for the White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies:

• 1 box of Strawberry Cake Mix
• 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• additional white chocolate for melting and dipping the cookies

Now Let's Make the White Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cookies:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the cake mix, butter, and eggs until a soft dough forms
3. Beat in the white chocolate chips on lowest speed
4. Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, drop dough onto lined baking sheets 
5. Bake in preheated oven for 10 - 12 minutes until cookies are lightly browned on the bottom
6. Remove from oven and allow to cool on pans for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
7. Once cookies are completely cool, dip half of each cookie in melted white chocolate (I used 2 Bakers White Chocolate Bars, melted in a double boiler)
8. Set cookies on wax or parchment paper and allow to sit for several hours until the chocolate is hard (you can pop them in the freezer for a few minutes to speed this process up)

I use this stand mixer for all of my baking:

I use (and LOVE) these cookie sheets:

I use this parchment paper (and it makes clean up so easy):

Lemon Blossoms

For Easter Sunday, I set out to make two new dessert recipes that would be perfect for spring/summer! 

The first one I made was Lemon Blossoms (which is a fun take on the traditional peanut blossom cookie recipe that we do not eat because of Lacie's allergy).

And I simplified them by using CAKE MIX! 

These cookies are Cake Mix Recipe #61!

Your Shopping List for the Lemon Blossoms:

• 1 box Lemon Cake Mix
• 1 stick butter, softened to room temp
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp baking powder
• yellow sanding sugar 
• 24 unwrapped Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses

Now Let's Make the Lemon Blossoms:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two cookie sheet pans with parchment paper
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the softened butter, beaten eggs, cake mix, and baking powder until a soft dough forms
3. Use a 1 inch cookie scoop to form 24 balls of dough and roll them in the sanding sugar
4. Place each cookie dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet
   
5. Bake in preheated oven for 9-11 minutes until just lightly golden on the bottom
6. Remove cookies from oven and immediately press a Hershey's Kiss into the center of each cookie
7. Cool for 2 minutes on pan and then move to wire racks to cool completely
8. Make sure the Hershey's Kiss is completely cooled and set before storing cookies in an airtight container

I use this stand mixer for all of my baking:

I use (and LOVE) these cookie sheets:

I use this parchment paper (and it makes clean up so easy):

Chocolate Chip Cherry Chunky Bars

I made these bars for Christmas Eve and they were a huge hit! 

Even John loved them, which is saying something because he usually questions any dessert that I put "fruit" in! 

They are also CAKE MIX RECIPE #59

Your Shopping List for the Chocolate Chip Cherry Chunky Bars:

• 1 box vanilla cake mix 
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 bag semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 8oz container red candy cherries, roughly chopped (you can find them in the baking aisle)

Now Let's Make the Chocolate Chip Cherry Chunky Bars:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray or butter
2. In a large mixing bowl combine the cake mix, melted butter, and beaten eggs until a soft dough forms
3. Fold in the chocolate chips and the cherries 
   
4. Press dough into prepared pan
5. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the edges of the bars are lightly browned
6. Remove from oven and use the back of the spatula to press down over the surface of the bars, making them flat
7. Cool completely in pan
8. Cut into 24 squares and store in an airtight container

All you need for this recipe is a rubber spatular, mixing bowl, and 9x13 pan!  No mixer required! 

If your local food store doesn't carry the red cherries, you can get them on Amazon here:

Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze

I love a good Bundt Cake!  Last week, we headed down the shore for a fun visit with some of John's family members and I knew I wanted to bring a dessert!  It had been a long time since I had made a bundt cake, so I decided to come up with a new recipe!  It did not dissapoint!

This Lemon Bundt Cake is CAKE MIX RECIPE #54!

Your Shopping List for the Lemon Bundt Cake:

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

Your Shopping List for the Lemon Glaze:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Now Let's Make the Lemon Bundt Cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and grease a bundt pan (I use Pam)
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together the eggs, milk, and cream cheese
3. Add in the lemon cake mix and beat on low for 30 seconds
4. Scrape down the sides and then beat on low for 1 minute
5. Fold in the white chocolate chips
6. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes
7. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely 

Now Let's Make the Lemon Glaze:

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon zest
2. Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla extract 
3. You can add additional powdered sugar to make the glaze thicker or add additional lemon juice to make a thinner glaze
4. Pour or spoon glaze over top of the bundt cake - I like to spoon one layer of glaze and wait about 20 minutes and do an additional layer of glaze

I use this Bundt Cake Pan - and I love love love it!  My cakes turn out perfect every time!

White Chocolate Funfetti Bundt Cake

For my birthday, my Mother-In-Law bought me a bundt cake pan!!!!!  For some reason, this was one baking pan that I did not get 5 years ago when John and I tied the knot, and I have been wanting one for some time now!

And since I know one of my sweet readers will email and ask what pan it is...this is the one she got!
So I set out to make my very first bundt cake in this new pan (which was amazing by the way)!  I also knew that I wanted my first bundt cake to be a cake mix recipe...Cake Mix Recipe #43!!!  It is so so easy and delicious!

Your Shopping List for the White Chocolate Funfetti Bundt Cake:

• 1 box Funfetti Cake Mix
• 2 boxes White Chocolate Pudding
• 1/2 cup veggie oil
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup sprinkles 
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I used mini ones) 
• extra white chocolate for drizzling 

Now Let's Make the White Chocolate Funfetti Bundt Cake:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease your bundt pan (I used PAM for Baking spray)
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add the funfetti cake mix and packets of pudding on low speed until the dry mixes are combined
3. Add the oil, water, and eggs
4. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down bowl, beat on medium speed for 2 minutes
5. Fold in the sprinkles and white chocolate chips
6. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan 
   
7. Bake in preheated oven for 50-55 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
8. Allow cake to cool in pan for 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely 
9. Transfer cake to plate and drizzle with melted white chocolate (I piped lines of melted white chocolate) before cutting and serving

Now you may notice that this cake was served on a Christmas Plate, but I promise you I truly just made it on Friday.  I actually don't have an everyday cake serving plate.  So just in case my sweet hubby reads this and is already planning my Christmas gift...I want a PINK cake plate to use everyday!  This is the one I have my eye on:

Soft and Chewy Butterscotch Cookies

This mama has been having a major BUTTERSCOTCH craving lately!  I mean a craving so strong that I baked not one but two batches of butterscotch cookies this week alone!  One type was the crispy cookie type, and I have shared that recipe with you before during my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies.  You can find the recipe for Blakely's Butterscotch Crispies by clicking HERE!

The other recipe I made is a new one!  And it's CAKE MIX RECIPE #40!!!

These cookies are honestly so so so easy to whip up and they were delicious!  Plus they only have five ingredients!  It doesn't get much easier than that! 

Your Shopping List for the Soft and Chewy Butterscotch Cookies:

• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 1 stick butter, softened to room temperature 
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• two eggs
• 1 heaping cup of butterscotch chips

Now Let's Make the Soft and Chewy Butterscotch Cookies:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. In the base of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter with the vanilla extract
3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until thoroughly incorporated
4. Add the cake mix and beat until a soft dough forms
5. Pour in your generous cup of butterscotch chips and mix until the chips are evenly distributed
6. Use a small cookie scoop to drop dough onto prepared cookie pans
7. Bake 8-10 minutes until cookies are lightly golden
8. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 3-4 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely 
9. Once completely cooled store in an airtight container

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

So on top of having two children under the age of three and being pregnant with Baby #3, we are also trying to sell our house!  It is crazy!  Last Sunday we had a house showing in the morning, so I decided to whip up a batch of homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies that would make the house smell scrumptious and also offer a snack to the people looking at our home.  At this point, I am willing to do just about anything to get our house sold as quickly as possible!  I would really like to move before I am 9 months pregnant and there is most likely snow on the ground (ugh)!

When I went about picking a recipe, I specifically wanted soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies since they would make for less crumbs than crispy cookies.  I searched around over on Pinterest and found that many recipes recommend adding corn starch to the dry ingredients in order to get the texture that I wanted.  So I did, and they came out just perfect!

Your Shopping List for Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 3/4 cup salted butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Now Let's Make the Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper
2. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy
3. Add the egg and vanilla extract and heat until well incorporated
4. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt
5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat on low until a soft dough forms
6. Add in the chocolate chips and mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough
7. Using a cookie scoop, drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto prepared cookie sheets
8. Bake in your preheated oven for 8 - 10 minutes until just lightly golden
9. Cool on cookie sheets for 3-4 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely 

My sweet little cookie helpers (and eaters)!

*recipe adapted from http://americanheritagecooking.com

Lemon Oatmeal and Blueberry Jam Bars

I may be just a tad obsessed with all things lemon!  I have been buying lemons by the bag at Wegmans and using them in everything from baking to my drinking water.  Even little Lacie Jane is requesting lemon slices in her ice water...and drinking lemon and honey tea!  Her two year old palate is very sophisticated!  So last week when I was thinking about what I wanted to bake, I knew I wanted it to have LEMON!  I thought about some of the things I have already made, and decided to mix up my original recipe for Oatmeal and Jam Bars to make them lemon bars!  And what goes better with lemon than blueberry!  

These delicious bars come together with just 4 ingredients!!!  They also mark Cake Mix Recipe #36!!!

Your Shopping List:

• 1 box lemon cake mix
• 2 1/4 cups oats (I used old fashioned because I wanted these bars super chewy)
• 2 sticks butter, melted
• 1 cup blueberry jam

Now Let's Make the Lemon Oatmeal and Blueberry Jam Bars:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the cake mix and the oats
3. Add the melted butter and stir until a dough forms
4. Divide the dough into thirds
5. Press two thirds of the dough into the bottom of your prepared baking dish
6. Spread blueberry jam on top of the dough - spread it almost to the edge 
   
7. Crumble the remaining one third of the dough on top of the jam layer 
8. Bake in preheated oven for about 25 minutes until the top is nice and golden
   
9. Allow pan to cool on a wire rack completely, cut into squares, and store in an airtight container

If you can't find blueberry jam (or if you just don't like it) you could definitely make this with strawberry or raspberry jam!  

And since this has oats in it, you can totally eat it for breakfast!  

Chocolate Coconut Neiman Marcus Bars

One of the other desserts I served at Easter Brunch were these amazing Chocolate Coconut Neiman Marcus Bars!  I have blogged about my love of these bars before!  Traditional Neiman Marcus Bars have a yellow cake base with a plain cream cheese topping.  But I like to mix the flavors up by experimenting with different combinations.  And when I was trying to decide what to make for Easter, I knew I wanted coconut!  Then, I decided to use a chocolate base so that would be reminiscent of Coconut Cream Chocolate Easter Eggs...except BETTER! 

Oh and these bars are CAKE MIX RECIPE #35

Your Shopping List:

• 1 box chocolate cake mix 
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 3 eggs, divided 
• 1 8oz block of cream cheese, softened to room temperature 
• 4 cups powdered sugar 
• 1/2 tsp coconut extract 
• 2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Now Let's Make the Chocolate Coconut Neiman Marcus Bars:

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and grease a 9x13 baking dish
2. In a mixing bowl, combine the cake mix, melted butter, and one beaten egg until a dough forms
3. Press the chocolate dough into the prepared pan and set aside
   
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the softened cream cheese, two remaining eggs, and coconut extract until fully incorporated 
5. Beating on the lowest speed, slowly add the powdered sugar until it is completely mixed with the wet ingredients 
6. Fold in the shredded coconut
7. Pour cream cheese mixture on top on the chocolate dough
   
8. Bake for 40 - 50 minutes until the top has formed a crust, the edges are set and brown - the middle will appear to not be quite set, that's okay!
   
9. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before transferring pan to the fridge to cool and set completely - at least an additional 2 hours (I left it in the fridge overnight and cut the bars in the morning)
10. Cut bars and serve or store in the fridge until you are ready to serve! 

If you are looking for more Neiman Marcus Bar Ideas:

Lemon Neiman Marcus Bars

Red Velvet Neiman Marcus Bars

Butterscotch Neiman Marcus Bars