Funfetti Whoopie Pies

Funfetti time! Because tomorrow is my birthday and nothing says happy birthday like sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles. I love whoopie pies but I haven't made them in ages. So since I got a new whoopie pie pan for Christmas (with my donut pan), I figured it was time. There are a handful of whoopie pie creations I'm looking forward to trying, but funfetti called my name. Soft, fluffy cakes oozing with marshmallow filling and rolled in more sprinkles seems like the right thing to do. The flavor is delicious and I think the marshmallow filling is just the right sweetness without making you want to pull your teeth out. My friend Rachel thought they could be sweeter. So just know going in that it'll either be spot on or little undersweet.

Baked Mini Chocolate Cake Donuts

It's a good thing these bad boys are mini. And baked. Because they are delicious and you might be tempted to eat a few. And then a couple extra to convince yourself they really are that tasty. Light and fluffy with delicious chocolate flavor and a perfect glaze, these mini donuts are one of my new favorite things. I got a mini donut pan for Christmas which means I need to make a bunch of donuts to make sure it works. So I started with a classic glazed chocolate cake donut, my absolute favorite. Forget the frosted and the cream filled, I will also grab at these chocolatey, glazed, cakey circles of yum first. They are also my go-to donut hole. I can't deny my chocolate habit in any form.

Pizza Chicken

This huge dish of deconstructed pizza is hearty, delicious and pretty healthy coming in at less than 300 calories when you used reduced fat cheese and turkey pepperoni. Not too bad for a meal ready in about 40 minutes or so. Dave and I both really enjoyed it and I'm glad I loaded it up on veggies to make it flavorful and super filling. I didn't even bother to make sides for this dinner, just serving it with some crusty bread which was used to shovel all the bits of goodness onto our forks. The chicken breast serve as a crust for this loaded pizza complete with sauce, two kinds of cheese, peppers, onions, mushrooms and pepperoni. This dish will definitely be a regular in our rotation and would also be perfect for company.

Cookies and Cream Fudge

Fudge is not that hard, people. I've made some pretty awesome fudge (so I'm told and yes, I think so too) and for realsies, it doesn't take hours of slaving in the kitchen or busting out candy thermometers to watch like a hawk and make sure the candy doesn't rise one tick above your intended temperature and be ruined. Four ingredients. Four. I don't do complicated when it comes to fudge. I want 3-5 ingredients please. Seriously, the funfetti fudge, perfect fudge and peanut butter fudge have just a handful of ingredients and are simple delicious. This cookies and cream fudge features great big chunks of Oreo cookies suspended in a creamy white chocolate base, exactly like a fudge version of my favorite ice cream flavor. this would be a lot of fun for a birthday party or just because. As a quick no-bake treat, you can keep these ingredients on hand for emergency dessert calls and save the day with a creamy, chocolatey treat.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Dave gets cupcakes for his birthday. Because I love him and he loves cake. So for his birthday this year, I made him these amazing cupcakes with a peanut butter cake speckled with chocolate chips and topped with a fluffy peanut butter buttercream frosting. I don't know how or why, but when these cupcakes baked up, the tops became firm and cookie-like in texture and the bottom half of the cupcakes were soft, fluffy and perfectly cakey. Maybe it was my stone muffin pan or maybe this recipe is magic, but either way, it's fine. The frosting is delicious on it's one, but I had a bit of chocolate buttercream frosting left over from a previous dessert, so for a few of these, I put both the chocolate and the peanut butter frosting in the piping bag for a yummy buttercream swirl of peanut butter and chocolate. Topped with some fun chocolate sprinkles and ta-da! Awesome peanut butter chocolate chip cupcakes for my honey's birthday.