Cream-Filled Chocolate Cupcakes (Cupcake of the Month #9)

There's nothing quite as delightful as a chocolate cupcake.  Except maybe a chocolate cupcake filled with marshmallow-y cream.

The September cupcakes are a delightful cream-filled chocolate cupcake, reminiscent of Hostess cupcakes (but without the chocolate frosting).

After a couple months' worth of rather labor intensive cupcakes, these were - pardon the pun - a piece of cake.

Sauteed Baby Spinach with Garlic and Blue Cheese

There are times when I have leftover ingredients and need to play around in the kitchen to use them up.  A while back, I had about half a bag of baby spinach and perhaps half a cup of  crumbled blue cheese, and this is what I came up with.

It's very quick to throw together, and the amounts are adjustable depending on how many people you're serving.  Here's how I made it for two people.

Cheese Pennies

I came across this recipe a while back.  I had been asked to provide a small appetizer-type item for an evening event at my church, and these seemed simple and quick.

The original recipe came from the Cookie & Biscuit Bible, and the only major difference between my cheese pennies and the Cheddar Pennies recipe was my choice of cheese and the amount of chili powder.

Homemade Mayonnaise (also known as, "Why didn't I try this before?")

I have never been a fan of mayonnaise.  It always skeeved me out, and I really can't tell you why.  I never put it on sandwiches, and the only food I would eat with any mayo-like product was macaroni salad.  I would buy small jars, as my husband will eat mayo, but they would sit in the fridge, half used, for months, until the next refrigerator-clean-out day.  Then I would toss them.

It's really a waste.

Recently, I decided to host a little dinner party and wanted to serve tomato sandwiches as an appetizer.  The recipe called for homemade mayonnaise.

I was a little skeptical.  But I would be mixing crumbled crispy bacon into the mayo before spreading it on the little finger sandwiches, and everything is better with bacon.  So I dove in.

And guess what?

I freaking love homemade mayonnaise!

Well, maybe love is too strong a word.  But I'll eat it.  And it's ridiculously easy to make just the right amount with my little food processor, probably better for you and definitely easier on the wallet (at least in terms of how much we actually go through).

There are a myriad of recipes out there for homemade mayonnaise, touting a variety of techniques.  The recipe I used came from The Savannah Cookbook, which offers directions for a hand method and a food processor method.  I went with the food processor method because there's less margin for error.

Homemade Peach Ice Cream

I totally love the ice cream maker attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer.  It does amazing things.

Like help me make peach ice cream.

This happens to be the ice cream I used when I made those mini buttermilk vanilla cupcakes for my uncle's birthday a couple weeks ago.  The recipe came from The Savannah Cookbook.

Now, I'm not an ice cream snob who's going to turn up my nose at the mere mention of store bought ice cream.  But this homemade stuff is pretty dang good, and if you have the time, it's worth making.