Fun and Easy Summer Treats

I thought I'd take a break from blogging about my home remodel and share a few fun summer recipe ideas. The cupcakes are from Wendy Paul's "101 Gourmet Cupcakes in 10 minutes," a local cookbook author, while the pie filling recipe is from the Lion House Cookbook. Happy Baking!

#1: Root Beer Float Cupcakes with Root Beer Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients for cupcakes: 1 white cake mix and 1 cup of your favorite root beer
MIX together root beer and cake mix. Pour into paper liners and fill 3/4 full.
BAKE at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Ingredients for Root Beer Buttercream Frosting: 8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature; 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar, sifted; 3-4 Tbsp. milk or cream (I used 1% milk); and 1 tsp. root beer flavoring.
PLACE butter in large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer before adding sugar to avoid a large mess.
ADD sugar, 3 tablespoons milk or cream, and root beer flavoring. Beat frosting, starting on slow and increasing your speed until frosting is nice and creamy. Add up to 1 more tablespoon of milk or cream if frosting is too thick.
FROST cooled cupcakes. You can cut the long end of a bendable straw to place in the middle of the cupcakes for decoration.


#2 Cookies and Cream Dream Cupcakes with Oreo/Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients for cupcakes: 1 box chocolate cake mix; 1 cup sour cream; 3 eggs; 1 tsp. vanilla extract; 18-24 whole oreo cookies; 12 oreo cookies crumbled (I used a plastic bag and rolling pin, the crumbled cookies are for the frosting); and 1 recipe vanilla buttercream frosting.
MIX together cake mix, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla. Place a spoonful of batter on the bottom of each paper liner. Place a whole oreo cookie on the bottom lying flat. Cover with remaining batter until 3/4 full.
BAKE at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool on a rack completely.

Ingredients for Vanilla Buttercream Frosting: 8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature; 3 3/4 cups powered sugar, sifted; 3-4 Tbsp. milk or cream; 2 tsp. vanilla extract plus crumbled oreos.
PLACE butter in a large mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy, about 30 seconds. Stop beating before adding sugar to avoid a large mess.
ADD sugar 3 tablespoons milk or cream, and vanilla extract. Beat frosting starting on slow, increasing your speed until frosting is nice and creamy. Add up to 1 more tablespoon milk or cream if frosting is too thick. Add crumbled Oreos to buttercream frosting. Be generous and frost cupcakes nice and high.



This last dessert is Rhubarb Pie. I picked rhubarb from my garden that was a bit bitter, so be sure to choose ripe rhubarb. The pie crust is my "easy" version. I buy a Marie Calendars frozen pie crust. I set one pie tin upside down, and let the crust dethaw so that I can use decorative cookie cutters for the top crust. Hopefully the pictures will help you achieve the same look.



Ingredients for Rhubarb Pie: 1 1/2 cups sugar; 2 tablespoons flour, 1 egg; 3 cups fresh or frozen rhubarb, cut in 1-inch pieces; 3 drops of red food coloring; and 2 9-inch Marie Calendar pie crusts.



Combine sugar and flour. Beat egg and blend with flour mixture. Add rhubarb and red food coloring. Mix well. Pour into unbaked pie shell. Using the dethawed crust and a cookie cutter, cut shapes to cover the top of the pie. Brush the top of the pie with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until nicely browned. (I usually wrap a piece of foil around the edge of the pie, so that the edges won't burn, then take it off for the last 10 minutes of baking.


(Be sure to bake the pie on a cookie sheet incase the fruit filling spills over like mine did!)

The Rootbeer Float Cupcakes were such a hit, I didn't have any left to photograph!