And the winner is..

The winner of the Singing Dog Vanilla giveaway is, comment number 54.

Christy of Christy's Kitchen Creations, come collect your prize!

Christy please send me an e-mail (ambersdelectabledelights@gmail.com) with your mailing address and I will notify Singing Dog Vanilla to send a sample of their vanilla bean paste your way.

Congratulations to Christy and thank you to all who entered.

Monkey Cupcakes

I first saw these cupcakes in a Taste of Home magazine I bought a few months ago. I thought they were so darn cute that I could not wait for a chance to make them. Last Saturday night was my monthly scrapbooking meet-up with some friends and I thought these would be the perfect treat to share.

I used this funfetti cupcake recipe (although I left the sprinkles out), because I love the almond flavor and thought it would be great with the chocolate frosting. Since pastel M&M's are not in season I grabbed a bag of Crazy Cores Skittles for the eyeballs. For the ears I bought a regular sized and mini sized bag of Nutter Butter cookies because I could not decide which size/shape I liked better for the ears. It turns out that I think both are super cute and now I have all kinds of cookies left that I have no clue what to do with.

It was fun giving all of the monkeys different faces, some were cross-eyed, some had kissy lips and one even had a beard. These cupcakes were a hit at scrapbooking night, everyone enjoyed them and thought they were really cute. For as cute as these cupcakes are they took pretty much no time to put together. Definitely a crowd pleaser.


Monkey Cupcakes
adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients
1 package cake mix
1 can chocolate frosting
Vanilla wafers (one per cupcake)
Black and red decorating gel
Pastel blue and/or green milk chocolate candies (2 pcs per cupcake)
Nutter Butter, peanut butter cream filled sandwich cookies (regular or mini size)

Directions
Prepare and bake cake batter according to directions for cupcakes. Cool completely on wire racks. Set aside 1/4 cup frosting. Frost cupcakes with remaining frosting.
With a serrated knife, cut off and discard a fourth from each vanilla wafer. Place a wafer on each cupcake, with the rounded edge of wafer near edge of cupcake, for face. Add dots of black gel for nostrils. With red gel, pipe a mouth on each. Place candies above wafers for eyes; add dots of black gel for pupils. Using reserved frosting and a #16 star tip, pipe hair. Carefully separate sandwich cookies; cut each in half. Position one on each side of cupcakes for ears.

Vanilla Pound Cake

I was approached by representative at Singing Dog Vanilla and asked if I would like to test out one of their products. Since I am always interested in trying new products I took them up on their offer and asked for a sample of their vanilla extract. After receiving a bottle of organic vanilla extract in the mail I set out on a search to find the perfect recipe to use it in. I knew that in order to really taste the product I would have to make something that showcased vanilla as a flavoring. I found this pound cake recipe, which happened to call for 2 whole tablespoons of extract, and I knew I had found the perfect recipe.

Any recipe that starts out with half a pound of butter has got to be good, right? That was my thought going into this recipe and also my afterthought once I tasted it. This cake was easy and quick to mix up, and it tasted divine. The glaze provided the cake with a nice sugary crunch on the outside and the inside was moist and delicious just like a pound cake should be.


The vanilla flavor was just amazing, strong and distinct with the perfect vanilla flavor! I would definitely recommend this product to anyone looking for a good vanilla extract. *hint, hint* check below the recipe for a bonus giveaway from the fine folks at Singing Dog Vanilla.


Vanilla Pound Cake
Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook

Ingredients
CAKE
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
3 tablespoons ( 1 1/2 ounces) light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 3/4 cups (7 1/9 ounces) unbleached all-purpose or cake flour
4 large eggs

GLAZE
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 ounces) water
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.

For the cake - In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugars, salt, vanilla, and baking powder until smooth and fluffy. Add the flour and mix well the batter will be almost like paste. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl after each addition the batter will be quite fluffy.
Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9 to 10 inch tube pan, 9 to 10 cup bundt-style pan, or 9 X5 inch loaf pan. Bake the cake for about 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes, while you are making the glaze.

For the glaze - Bring the sugar, water, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan and boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla

Turn the warm cake out onto a rack. Poke the cake all over with something long and thin, like a cake tester or ice pick. Slowly drizzle or brush the glaze over the cake, continuing to brush until all the glaze is used. Let the cake cool fully before slicing. Serve with sliced fresh fruit, if desired.



*** BONUS GIVEAWAY ***
The generous folks at Singing Dog Vanilla are offering one my my lucky readers a chance to sample one of their products. If you would like to be entered into a giveaway to win one of Singing Dog Vanilla's products, simply go to their website, search around a bit. After searching come back here and leave me a comment letting me know what product you would like to try and what you plan on making with that product.

The winner will be randomly selected and announced on Sunday September 27th. Only one entry per person please. Good luck!

Caramel Creams

Good gracious it has been forever since I have last shared anything on here. My only excuse is that I have been working some crazy hours and barely have time to eat let alone make any new exciting recipes. I have however purchased a couple of really cool recipe magazines that are packed full of super cute and delicious looking treats that I can not wait to start baking my way through. I found this particular recipe in a Taste of Home bake sale book.


This recipe was pretty easy to make and called for pretty common ingredients. It does require a bit of planning ahead which actually worked well for me. I made the cookie dough one day and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight then made the filling and baked the cookies the following day. I stored the cookies in the refrigerator to set the filling and decided that they tasted better cold than they did at room temperature. The browned butter in the filling really brings a great flavor to the cookie. Four thumbs up from my husband and I. This recipe is going into my stack of favorites and I will definitely be making them again.

By the way, isn't my new cake stand super cute? I got it on clearance at Target for less than $10! On an unrelated note, I really hope to be able to get into the kitchen more and make lots of delicious treats to share with you guys, especially with my oh so very long 3-day weekend coming up. :)

Caramel Creams
Adapted from Taste of Home

~makes about 3 dozen ~

Cookie ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling ingredients
2 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons butter
1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Combine the flour, pecans and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and beat well. Shape into two 10-in. rolls; wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Unwrap and cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. For filling, in a small saucepan, cook butter over medium heat until golden brown. Pour into a large bowl, beat in the confectioners' sugar, vanilla and enough cream to achieve spreading consistency. Spread on the bottom of half of the cookies; top with remaining cookies.