C is for Chocolate: Snickers Mini Cupcakes (Jennifer)

Hello readers!

Is everyone warm and dry tonight? I hope so. What a terrific storm we had roll through this evening! We're talking a full-blown storm, complete with thunder, lightening and rain--oh my! I'm sure all of our readers outside of CA are rolling their eyes, but really, it was pretty big news and a fantastic way to start out the week.

Alright, this week's challenge was chocolate, which I'm not sure is much of a challenge considering how much I enjoy the ingredient. Jessica and I attended a chocolate festival a few weeks back and that was a lot of chocolate. I never thought the day would come, but by the end of our stroll through the plethora of booths, I can honestly say I had eaten more than my fill and couldn't stand the thought of another bite. Lucky for me, my chocolate fix had worn off when Jessica announced my secret ingredient and I was more than happy to make something with chocolate this week.

These cupcakes were inspired by one of the students in our office who was celebrating a birthday. His preferences were Snickers, chocolate, macademia nut and the color blue. I'm happy to say these cupcakes foot the bill for two of his four preferences. Hopefully the taste made up for the rest!

C is for Carrots: Carrot Bran Muffins (Jessica)

Ciao!

This week I wanted to make something healthy. You know, low-fat, low-sugar, etc. How dull, right? WELL, maybe. But sometimes, that's what I crave. Especially for breakfast. Nothing better than a nutrition-packed breakfast muffin in the morning. 
This recipes does the trick. It combines my ingredient (carrots) with bran! I know what you're thinking: bran, how boring is that? But adding something like all-bran cereal to a muffin does NOT mean the muffin is terrible. I promise. That being said, this recipe was good, but I wasn't blown away...But I'll let you make a decision for yourself... :)

C is for Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (Jennifer)

Hello from the kitchen!

Tonight, I share with you a delicious recipe for Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting that I'm hoping you'll enjoy. It started with some carrots, and some applesauce, and then I threw in some crushed pineapple for good measure (like my colleague, Shannon, did in her Hummingbird Cake). The result? A delightfully moist cupcake (did I mention they are relatively healthy as well??)--yum!

C is for Chipotle Cheddar Biscuits (Jessica)

Dear Cheese Lovers,

I've got a (not so) secret for you: I love cheese. Cheese is in my all time top five list of favorite foods (probably number 3 or 4, depending on my mood).
I think it started in 2004 when my family took a trip to England and France with my grandparents. Trying to be all adventurous, I ate all kinds of weird food in France (most notably, pigeon) and expanded my food horizons. My sister ordered the dessert cheese plate as her main course for most of our meals. I remember thinking at the time that she was missing out, but after that trip, I gave cheese more of a chance and I think she had it spot on! Goat, Brie, Gouda, oh my!
So the moral of the story is, of course, cheese is delicious and don't make fun of your younger sister ;)

When a new cheese store opened up about 8 months ago in my area, I was thrilled. They have a lovely glass walk-in refrigerator to display their cheeses and they are happy to give me lots of yummy tastes!
For this week, I decided to go cheddar. I sampled some different kinds at the cheese store, and went with a lovely very sharp white cheddar as the inspiration for this recipe!