Raspberry Cream Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 box french vanilla cake mix
1 1/4 cups raspberry lemonade
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup white chocolate morsels
1 cup mashed raspberries, divided
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 24 cupcake liners in muffin pans. In a large bowl or mixer, combine cake mix, raspberry lemonade, eggs, and oil and beat on medium speed for about 2 1/2 minutes, making sure to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl occasionally. Stir in white chocolate morsels. Place 1-2 tablespoons of batter in each cup. Using 1/2 cup of mashed raspberries, place a small spoonful on top of batter. Fill each cup about two-thirds full with remaining batter. Bake for 18-23 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack.
Whipped Topping
Beat heavy whipping cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in remaining 1/2 cup of mashed raspberries. Top cooled cupcakes. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes: These cupcakes were a quick creation for a friend's birthday (the card pictured above was made using a free birthday tag from The Crafting Chicks). I had some leftover raspberry lemonade that I had made with fresh raspberries, and initially wanted more of a raspberry lemonade flavor. Adding some lemon extract would probably achieve the right flavor, but I didn't have any on hand. The raspberry filling combined with the whipped raspberry topping really make this cupcake scrumptious! A little raspberry garnish would make these cupcakes look really cute, but I used up all my raspberries in this recipe.

Peach Raspberry Pie

Ingredients

¼ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Pastry dough for double crust (double this recipe here)

1 large egg

1 tablespoon milk

2 pounds peaches (or enough to mostly fill your pie)

½ pint raspberries (about 1 cup)

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out half the dough to a 1/4-inch-thick circle, about 13 inches in diameter. Gently place dough in bottom of pie dish.

2. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Whisk together egg and milk to make a glaze; set aside. Combine peaches, raspberries, sugar, and flour. Pour into pie dish. Dot with butter.

3. Roll out the remaining dough to the same size and thickness. Add an extra tablespoon of flour if the peaches are very juicy. Brush the rim of the crust with the egg glaze. Place the rolled-out dough on top, trim to 1/2 inch over edge of pan, and crimp the edges with a fork or your fingers. Brush the top with the egg glaze and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 30 to 40 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping, if desired.

Notes: This recipe is an adaptation of Martha Stewart's Peach Raspberry Pie recipe. I used fresh raspberries and peaches that we had picked at a local farm. The pie turned out really tasty, and looked beautiful with the glaze on top. Martha suggests chilling the dough before you add the filling, and then chilling the assembled pie before baking. I didn't do these steps, and it turned out just fine.

Peach Crisp

Crust:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. oats
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter

Cut butter into dry ingredients until well blended. Set aside.

Fruit:
4 c. sliced peaches
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter

1. Mix peach slices, sugar, and cinnamon. Put in bottom of baking pan (8x8 or 9x9).
2. Cut butter into little chunks and place over the fruit. Sprinkle crust mixture on top and spread evenly.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Enjoy with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping.

Notes: We used fresh peaches that we had picked at a local farm. Yummy! You can substitute apples in place of the peaches, as shown in this recipe.

Chocolate Soufflé Cupcakes with Mint Cream

This recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen. These cupcakes are not your ordinary cupcakes...they are flour-less. I had never made a soufflé prior to making these, and I had a lot of fun, even though the process was a little more work than simple cake recipes. And the results? Wow! So delicious!! I recommend this recipe to everyone. I doubled the cupcake recipe and got 24. Smitten Kitchen got 9 cupcakes out of a single recipe. I also did 2 1/2 times the original recipe for the whipped topping. I omitted the coffee powder.

Ingredients
Cupcakes:
6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used semisweet)
6 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 large eggs, separated
6 Tbs. sugar, divided
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract

White Chocolate Mint Cream:
2 oz. white chocolate, finely chopped
3 oz. heavy whipping cream
1/8 tsp. peppermint extract

Directions
1. Place the white chocolate in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Pour the cream over the white chocolate and let it sit for a minute until chocolate is melted. Whisk well. Add the peppermint extract and whisk again. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the cream. Chill until very cold, about two hours.
2. Line 12 standard-size muffin cups with paper liners. Stir chocolate and butter together in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until mostly melted. Remove from heat and whisk until it is fully melted and smooth. (Smitten Kitchen suggests putting the butter underneath the chocolate in the pan so that it protects the chocolate from the direct heat.) Cool to lukewarm, stirring occasionally.
3. Using an electric mixer (a hand mixer, rather than a stand mixer, actually works best here because the volumes are so small), beat egg yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl until mixture is very thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Briefly beat in lukewarm chocolate mixture, then vanilla extract into yolk mixture.
4. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and all of the salt, beating until medium-firm peaks form. (I think I may have over beaten the egg whites a little bit.) Fold whites into chocolate mixture in 3 additions. Divide batter among prepared cups, filling each three-fourths of the way.
5. Bake cupcakes in oven preheated to 350 degrees until tops are puffed and dry to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 15 to 20 minutes. Cool in pan on a cooling rack. When the cupcakes come out of the oven, they will almost immediately start to fall. It will be all the better to put your mint cream on them.
6. Once the cream has chilled at least 2 hours, beat it with electric beaters until soft peaks form. Remove cupcakes from pan and arrange on a platter. Fill each sunken top with a healthy dollop of white chocolate mint cream. Top with shaved dark chocolate if you would like. Enjoy!!