Cinnamon Coconut Cupcake Recipes

Cinnamon Coconut Cupcakes

•  3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 5 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup milk
• 4 ounces sweetened shredded coconut

This recipe will make 2 layered cakes or 30 cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

• 2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

This recipe makes 1 cup of frosting

For the toasted coconut I toast mine at 300 degrees for about 8 minutes. But watch very carefully because coconut will burn in a matter of seconds.

 

Shake and Bake

Well more like bake and no shake, but hey it sounds fun right?

Ever since going back to work full time and finishing college I have not been on my cooking or baking game......at all.

By the time I get home all I want to do is kick off my shoes, take off my chefs coat and sit down. Who can feel me on that one?

Well not long ago something got into me and I have been wanting to do nothing but cook and bake.

One night I made these yummy treats.

Brownie Cupcakes with Cinnamon Whip Cream 

I made them for a girls night along with a pitcher of sangria and the girls had one with each glass they drank.

They didnt last long and the ones that made it to the next day my Husband made sure to swoop up.

A few days before that for no reason other then to satisfy my sweet tooth I made these.

Cinnamon Coconut Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream topped with toasted Coconut.

YUM!My kids loved them and so did the Hubby!

Watch for the recipes!

Sunday Funday

Sunday I headed up to Seattle for the day so spend some girl time with my 3 best friends Megan, Sam and Amber.

Amber flew in from South Carolina for a weeks visit so we spent the day hanging out and walking around Seattle.

The first place we stopped was called Golden Gardens. 

The best part of it is that it is a beach!

Even cooler then that is that it got its name becuase you can have bonfire's allday and night and at nighttime it creates a golden glow!

When it comes to Washington you can't be picky about spending some time at a beach!

Our next stop was the Seattle Waterfront/Piers for some local seafood!

Did anyone say Fish and Chips!

I wasn't impressed with The Crab Pots Jojo's they give you as their chips but their Cod was delish!

But out last stop made up for that!

Behold YOGURTLAND!

You walk in and choose a flavor of you liking from the wall of ice cream pumps and then load your toppings on. Finally you pay by the OZ!

I got the cookies and cream frozen yogurt with bits of brownie and cheesecake and of course sprinkles!

I only paid $2.50 for this amazingness!

Sunday Funday was a success!!

She is 3!!!

Our baby girl is 3.

Audrey and her Daddy the morning of her Birthday!

On Sunday the 20th we had Audrey's Birthday party! The theme was candy land and the fun was in the details!

The party was a hit and Audrey got a lot of great new toys to play with.

We Bought a Zoo??

Just kidding! But we did take our girls to the Woodland Park Zoo this past weekend!

Anytime I have to break out my avaitors we know its gonna be a good day!

The animals were all out to play especially the gorillas and Orangutan.

 How cute is he, he kept sticking his tongue out at all the little kids!

Don't let the photo fool you, she was literally 5 feet in front of us. She was batting her eyes at everyone.

Now I can't forget about the rest of the cute animals and boy were there a lot. It took us a total of 4 hours to go through the whole zoo seeing 90% of everything. We skipped all the birds minus the Raptor and only spent a little bit of time with the animals that were sleeping.

The elephants are Audrey's favorite becuase they too play with balls just like her and get to go swimming.

Look at those happy faces.

You can't tell but they have matching pigtails, they are so cute!

Lovers!It was the best day minus trying to drive around in Seattle, ugh number 1 reason we will never live there.

After the Zoo I introduced Nathan to Dicks Burgers and no suprise there he loved it!

My man is so easy to please which makes life easier!

Sunday morning I tried another Pinterest recipe.This time it was cinnamon rolls made from canned biscuits.

Super easy recipe but it took forever to bake because the sauce in the bottom of the pan was too much, it caused the bottom of the biscuits to stay mushy.

Before

After.

If  I ever make these again I will use half the sauce it calls for to make!

Biscuit Cinnamon Rolls

1 1/2 cans refigerator bisuits

1/2 cup maple syrup

3 Tbsp Melted Butter

1/3 cup Brown Sugar

1 Tbsp Cinnamon

 Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl combine syrup and melted butter, whisk to mix.

In a round cake pan or Bundt cake pour half the syrup and butter mixture into the pan. In another small bowl combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle some of the sugar mixture over the syrup in the pan. Layer the biscuits over each other and pour the remaining sauce over the biscuits and sprinkle the remaining the sugar mixture on top. Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Like I said I kept having to put them back in to make sure the bottoms of the biscuits were cooked so you can try using only half the mixture all together and use the rest as a glaze.

Happy Cooking! 

5 under $5

I use these 5 things everyday and I love them!The best part is that they are all under $5!Eeeek

1. Hawaiin Aloha Fabreeze $3.99

2. Hazelnut Cream Candle by Mainstay $4.99

3. XXX Vitamin Water $1.29

4. Nivea A Kiss of Moisture Lip Balm $2.99

5. Creme Brulee Coffee Mate Creamer $2.69

What's Cookin Good Lookin

We have all heard of Taco Tuesdays but what about Taco Monday??

Taco's are good anyday in my book and with this weather we wanted something quick and small!

My Husband was obviously excited!

For dessert tonight I made my Mom's Peanut Butter Crunch Cupcakes.

Yum! These are great for breakfast on the go and high in protein from the peanut butter.

Keep posted for the recipe!

While doing the dishes I saw this out of our kitchen window!

How gorgous is this? The weather the last few days has been ridiculous, in the 70's!Shaw!

Audrey and I decided to head out to the porch to soak up the view and the last bit of warmth!

Happy Birthday Justin

Today is my best friend Justin's Birthday!!

Last night we did it up big for his big 26th

first we went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner! It was also fight night so the place was packed and loud and festive so it was the perfect place.

Justin and my husband did the wing challenge which is 12 of their hottest wings and you have to finish them in 6 minutes.

This would be Nathan after the challenge.

They could not drink anything, or eat anything besides the wings in the 6 minutes.

They both finished under 6 minutes and got their picture taken with the time on a card that will scroll on one of the tv's in the restaurant so everyone can see it!

After dinner we went bowling and of coarse I lost but I did tie for first place with the birthday boy in the first game!

Happy Birthday Justin! Love you friend!

Lets Talk Food

Tonight my Husband was really sweet and made dinner so I didn't have to.  Have I ever mentioned how lucky I am to be married to him. He always steps up and does more around the house when I need him and most of the time I don't even have to say anything. 

Tonight he made Cheese Stuffed Ravioli with an Alfredo Cream Sauce.

I apologize ahead of time for the crappy cell phone pictures.

Last weekend he also made his famous BBQ Pulled Pork.

He slow cooks it for 4 hours in a mixture of brown sugar, bbq sauce and water, then he pulls it and lets it sit for another 1 to 2 hours to marinate.

He makes enough so that we can have it for days as a quick meal or lunch for work.

I'm pretty sure we still have a container in the fridge.

Last week I also made Lasagna, which unlike pulled pork doesn't last past dinner.

Audrey's Fitting

On Tuesday the 17th Audrey finally was fitted for her Orthopedic Inserts to help correct the way she walks and stands. They had to cast each one of her feet much like they do for when you break your foot and need a cast.

Her Occupational and Physical Therapist hope that these inserts will help to correct her flat feet and prevent her feet from rolling in when she stands in place.

We hope that this will provide her with confidence and stability so that she can start to try and climb and jump and tumble around.

Audrey hated every minute of getting casted but the therapists were really great, they let her choose the color of her inserts and she is truly a child after my own heart. She picked PINK!

Sunshine Girls

If you live on the West Side of Washington you know the sun does not always shine and when it does EVERYONE and their mother breaks out the shorts and t shirts!

Well....the last 4 days have been so gorgeous, so much so that Audrey and I have been spending hours outside drawing with chalk and playing bubbles.

So it was only appropriate that after picking Hayley up from school we spend hours again outside playing and soaking up the sun.

I think my cheeks even got a little color, shaw!

 They crack me up! I love them!

I heart Sunshine!

Makeup for $1....Oh yeah

O yes, I do not lie.

I would like to introduce you to the E.L.F Elements cosmetic line from Target.

Their product starts at $1 and ranges from that to $3 and $5 is the most you'll pay for anything. 

They have brushes, eyelash curlers, eyeshadow, concealer and powder and much more.

Today I picked up 4 new eyeshadows, a compact to hold them all and concealer, all for $6!

Even though their makeup is inexpensive they offer great products. The eyeshadow is bright and colorful and lasts a long time and the brushes are great quality.

Now go get some today!!!

Easter!

This was one of the best weekends. 

The weather was absolutley gorgeous. High 60's and not a cloud in the sky.

Saturday we took our daughters down to Chambers Bay Golf Course and Trail and took a nice long leasurely walk and went down to the water.

It was beautiful!

Easter Sunday was perfect.

The girls had an Easter egg hunt at our house before we left for the Grandparents house!

How cute are they before the big hunt?

The Easter bunny was funny and left eggs down the stairs!

Hayley with all her loot!

Audrey couldnt stop smiling!

Audrey took best dressed by far on Sunday! My Dad and Stepmom sent her this adorable dress!

After breakfast which was donuts and chocolate milk, Hey it was Easter so they got a special breakfast, we headed down to my Grandparents house for another huge egg hunt and a delicious buffet!

This was my only contribution to the buffet table! Cute huh? I think so!

After my Grandparents house we headed to Nathans Grandparents for Easter dinner along with some family friends. We laughed and watched cute videos of chickens for hours!

Officially the best Easter!

Slacker Status

I am such a slacker. My goal this year was to keep up with my blog as often as possible, no matter how people read or not ;)

This week has gone by slowly but I just couldn't find time to blog so here is a wrap up of the past week!

MONDAY

Audrey has Occupational Therapy every Monday afternoon, but this appointment brought to light some new obstacles.

Her Therapist was observing the way Audrey walks around and how she stands.

She paid very close attention to how both of her feet roll in and that when she is standing still her left heel does not fully touch the ground like it is supposed to.

She also noticed that Audrey's right side of her lower body is much stronger then her left causing her to drag her left foot while walking but still being able to clear it before taking another step.

I had been noticing that Audrey likes to flap her feet when she walks but I thought that was becuase she loved hearing her feet slap the ground.

This was all a concern to her OT and can help explain a lot of her instability and balance issues that she has.

Her recommendation was to get Audrey fitted for Orthotic Inserts in her shoes and start going back to PT regularly. We stopped PT about a year ago after she started walking and catching up.

Audrey is diagnosed Developmentally Delayed specifically her Gross Motor skills i.e walking, running, climbing and even playing and suffers from Hypersensativity.

She doesn't like loud noises, dark places, new people, her hands being dirty or things that move like a balloon. These are all things we focus on at OT.

We go in on Monday to get her fitted and start PT again. My hope is that with the inserts she will feel more confident running around and won't feel so unstable on the playground, or staircase or even just walking around.

For dinner I made cheesy meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Quick and Easy. We don't get home from OT until 4:30 and Nathan gets off at 6 so Mondays I always make something quick and easy.

TUESDAY

Tuesday was a normal day.

Audrey and I went out to lunch with my sister Lynn to FIVE GUYS Burgers and Fries.

They use all local ingredients and tell you exactly what farm their ingredients come from.

I like my burger simple, I put cheese, ketchup, carmelized onioins and lettuce on mine.

It tasted just like my Grandma's burgers and they even give you unlimited peanuts.

If you have one near you, you should try it.

For dinner that night I made homemade Calzones

I used a simple pizza crust recipe

Mild Italian Sausage and Onions & our favorite jar of tomato sauce and shredded mozzerella cheese

Simply make your crust a few minutes before stuffing in

Roll it out into an Oval shape, size of your preference and stuff with ingredients

Brush with butter and season with salt and pepper

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 to 30 minutes.

WEDNESDAY

For dinner we had Italian Meatballs with a Raspberry Jam Reduction

I used the leftover Italian sausage from the calzones and mixed it with eggs, italian bread crumbs and raspberry jam, just like you would with meatloaf.

I put the raspberry jam on the stove with a little bit of sugar to counter act the tartness and spice of the sausage. 

I baked them for about 15 to 20 minutes and served them with Mac & Cheese. It is Audrey and Nathan's favorite.

THURSDAY-FRIDAY

Thursday was my lazy day, I made Hamburger Helper and tonight my Husband was sweet and made dinner. Tator Tots and Chicken Sandwiches never tasted so good!