Alright friends, I am more than well aware that my posting schedule has been… “unique” as of late.

That will be remedied come Monday, I promise you! Until then, here are some awesome recipes from other people that I’ve been dieing to make on Pinterest! I only Pin things I would and could actually make, no matter how delicious something sounds – if I can’t make it, I won’t pin it.

If that interests you at all, feel free to Follow Me and we can be friends!

(Photos taken from the Pinterest links, all photos copyrite the individual blogs. If you see a photo and would like it taken down, pop me an email!

Coconut Margarita

Sushi Salad by Two Peas and Their Pod

Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken Breast

Banana Bars with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

 

And last, but certainly not least,

Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake by Our Best Bites

Whaaat why is life so self-hectic right now?! It’s not at all – what am I talking about… well I’ve given myself a cyclical routine – study LUSH products, go to customer service job (4MOREDAYSTHENIAMFREE), watch horror movies while making Christmas crafts, wash dishes, repeat. They’re all small things, but I’m just happy to be actually doing them! Oh, I guess throw a little Team Fortress and Battlefield 1943 in there as well.

On one of my breaks, I finally got around to making a Pinterest recipe I’ve been dreaming about making. Wow, it was so easy – and also turned out way more delicious than I could have ever imagined. I did over cook the caramel a little bit, but it was still tasty and now I know for next time! Oh – hey, want to know the recipe?

Mini Pineapple Upside-Down cakes! eee!

So cute. Well… cute in an ugly way, like most dogs. Sorry if I lost some followers on that one.

They really are easy, and although I think a Pineapple Upside-Down cake is one of the ugliest desserts ever – it’s soooo tasty! Oh my! Throw in a healthy amount of Rum, it tastes even better that way

I used “fresh” pineapple! I’d been saving it in the freezer for a special recipe. I was also afraid I had filled the muffin tin too high – but they didn’t overflow at all – it was the perfect high actually – it’s about half an inch from the top.

Without further babbling – here’s the recipe!

Mini Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes (Cupcakes)

Adapted from Big Mama’s Home Kitchen via Pinterest!
Makes 8-10 cupcakes

 Ingredients

2/3 cup white sugar
2 tbsp dark rum (optional but delicious)
4 tbsp pineapple juice (or extra rum!)
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1 can pineapple (rings or pieces… or fresh! I used fresh and just squeezed some juice out. mmm)
Marachino cherries (optional – I had none!)
1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease your muffin tins liberally.

In a large bowl, cream together sugar with rum, vanilla and pineapple juice. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix until just combined. Set aside batter while you make your topping.

Topping time! Add brown sugar and butter to a pan or skillet and let melt over medium heat- stir once! When it starts to bubble – let it cook for 1 minute only. Time it well and don’t stir! After one minute, immediately add to the bottom of 8 tins to be safe, in case there’s only enough batter for 8! You can make more if you have more batter left over).

Place some pineapple bits and marachino cherries (if you have them) on top of the caramel and fill muffin tins to just over 3/4 full. Repeat by filling more tins until you’re out of filling.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted into a cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 3 minutes. Prepare a sheet of parchment or aluminum foil (to minimize mess) and, after running a butter knife around the edges, invert onto the sheet! Now you can let them cool and eat them up! They will be messy but ohh soo worth it. The more rum the better! Serve alone or with icecream.

 

Lemony crinkly goodness! This is the delicious-looking Pinterest recipe that has been floating about for quite some time. The original is from Lauren’s Latest, an amazing food blog that has me drooling. It’s dropped off my Pinterest front page, but it has not dropped out of my mind! I think about these cookies all the freaking time. I’ve made them 3 times in the past 2 months (which makes for a ridiculous amount of dozens!) , and yet, I can’t wait to make them again!

It’s the sweetness, the softness, the slight chewiness – or maybe it’s the way they melt in your mouth with a zing of tartness from the lemon zest & juice! So many –nesses!

I take this recipe a very important step farther and glaze them with a super tart lemon glaze. Guuuh. It’s over the top! Sadly the glaze takes away the pretty icing sugar crackle that the cookies have – so I tend to do half with and half without. Half pretty and half OMIGAHD delicious. Until I save and glaze them all – the glaze is so. Freaking. Good.

Okay I’m going to stop teasing myself and get right into the recipe already

 

Recipe Tips:

+ Taste the cookie and it’s not quite lemony enough? Like I mentioned above, take this recipe a step farther and try the lemon glaze. You might not be able to go back

+ Don’t be afraid if the cookies appear slightly undercooked. As long as there is a nice crackle on top, they are done! Now let them cool and they will become the soft, chewy morsel you’re craving. Trust me on this one. Mmm.

+ Make enough to share! That is all.

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

Recipe by Lauren’s Latest (contest winning cookie!)

(My glaze recipe is at the bottom!)

Ingredients

½ cups Butter, Softened
1 cup Granulated Sugar
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 whole Egg
1 teaspoon Lemon Zest (I zest my whole lemon, more zest is more flavour, don’t be shy!)
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice (I squeeze all the juice I can from one half of the lemon)
¼ teaspoons Salt
¼ teaspoons Baking Powder
⅛ teaspoons Baking Soda
1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
½ cups Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease light colored baking sheets with non stick cooking spray (or line with parchment paper) and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Whip in vanilla, egg, lemon zest and juice. Scrape sides and mix again. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined, excluding the powdered sugar. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again briefly. Pour powdered sugar onto a large plate. Roll a heaping teaspoon of dough into a ball and roll in powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough.

Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottoms begin to barely brown and cookies look matte {not melty or shiny}. Remove from oven and cool cookies about 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Optional: Lemon Glaze!

Mix 2 tablespoons icing sugar (left over from rolling the dough) and 1 tsp lemon zest with 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Add more icing sugar if it’s too thin, but keep it pretty watery as it is a glaze. Simply dip the tops of the cooled cookies into the glaze, swirl around and let dry. It will be shiny! And very tart and delicious!

 

Enjoy these summery cookies – they are light and lemony and AMAZING so make them and you will be so happy!