Chocolate Espresso Bean Cookies

I have been obsessed with chocolate covered espresso beans lately. First, I made the Espresso Chip Cookie Dough Shortbread Bars. I loved the dough so much, I knew I had to make it into a baked cookie. Oh boy, am I glad I did. These cookies are soft, packed with espresso flavor and a hint of chocolate. As soon a I gave my taste testers a bite, they couldn’t help but say ” oh my God” at their eye rolled back into their heads. That’s when you know you have a good cookie.

The basic structure of my cookie was adapted from Picky Palate’s chocolate chip cookie dough; it is by far the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have found. I altered my cookie to add additional brown sugar, halved the vanilla and added some Kahlúa to compliment the coffee flavor. In addition to the chocolate covered espresso beans, I added some strong espresso to the mix. My favorite thing about these cookies is that even though they are packed with coffee flavor, the chocolate is still an important player. I’m basically telling you that you HAVE to try these.

Root beer Float Cupcakes

Ever since I discovered root beer extract I have been dying to make these cupcakes. Root beer is reminiscent of summer to me.  I love root beer but I don’t drink it often because of the added calories. Last week at the lake I enjoyed several thirst-quenching bottles. For lunch we would hop in the boat and drive across the lake to a little restaurant/shop called Miller’s Landing. I indulged myself with Oreo milkshakes, chicken strips, French fries and root beer; not all at once of course.

Favorite Things Birthday Giveaway

Hey everyone! I am so excited to be bringing you an awesome GIVEAWAY today (and my first giveaway on Beyond Frosting!). My friend Ashton over at Something Swanky asked a few bloggers to join her in a giveaway for her birthday. Happy Birthday Ashton! Check out the cool prize details below including a KitchenAid Mixer and Target gift card. I know my KitchenAid mixer is one of my favorite things! Click on the Rafflecopter giveaway below.

I “met” most of these bloggers through Online BlogCon which is an amazing network of bloggers from different avenues of the web. Online BlogCon is an online conference that you attend while sitting in your PJs from the comfort of your couch.  Well that’s how I imagine it anyway. Even if you can’t be present during the conference, you can view all the sessions at on your own time. This year will be my first year attending Online BlogCon, but I have already learned so much just from joining the group. Plus it’s super affordable. Check out the link below. Early bird pricing ends August 2nd.

And now for the giveaway!

Want to win some of my favorite things?! Here’s what’s up for grabs:

• KitchenAid Artisan 5 qt. Stand Mixer – Red
• A $300 Gift Card to Target
• All of the Blogger recipe books pictured above! (10 total)

How can you enter to win all of these goodies (an $800 value!)? Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below by signing in with your Facebook or E-mail account (you’re required to use one of those so we can contact you if you win!):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

No-Bake Mini Salted Caramel Ice Cream Brownies

I mentioned on Monday that I am on vacation at the lake for a week, and it is friggin’ hot! The area where I live is somewhat coastal, so it gets warm but not unbearable. The weather here is in the high 90s. I know everyone in inland California, Arizona, Texas and other part of the US are rolling their eyes right now, but seriously, I am not used to this and I don’t know how you deal with it! Thank god I can just jump in the lake at any given time during the day.  So there will be very little baking going on while I am on vacation. Grilling? Sure, all day long, but I am NOT turning on the oven. Therefore, desserts will be of the no-bake variety. I guess it helps that we can hop in the boat and cross the lake for some frozen mud pie!

How about these No-Bake Mini Salted Caramel Ice Cream Brownies? They couldn’t be easier to prepare. I used a container of store-bought brownies, some Haagen-Dazs Sea Salt Caramel Gelato and homemade whipped cream. These mini ice cream brownies are the perfect little snack. I usually feel less guilty when I eat things in smaller portions, until I eat 3 or 4 of them. Oops. Anyway, I am totally head over heels in LOVE with this Sea Salt Caramel Gelato ice cream. I am not usually a salted caramel type of person, but I could eat a pint of this ice cream about as fast as I could down a pint of Ben and Jerrys.

Lemon Blueberry Pie Cupcakes

Ah, vacation. Yes, I am on vacation for a whole week. This summer has been a busy one with lots of traveling but not really for vacation purposes; I don’t count weddings as vacation. So yeah. I am at the lake for a week trying to bronze my embarrassingly white legs, wakeboarding and eating of course. Speaking of eating, how about some cupcakes?

Perhaps one of the best summer treats is a slice of pie with a big ol scoop of ice cream. Today I combined two of my favorite desserts: pie and cupcakes. These are Lemon Blueberry Pie Cupcakes with a oatmeal crust crumble. I mean, the best part of the pie is the crust for me so I couldn’t forget that.

The lemon cupcakes contain an extra bag of lemon pudding mix for added flavor. Once cooled, the blueberry pie filling is added to the middle and topped with a lemon infused cream cheese frosting. I sprinkled it with the oatmeal crumble. Lemon and blueberry is such a great combination. The sweetness of the blueberry and tartness on the lemon balance each other out. For this recipe, I chose to use canned  Lucky Leaf blueberry pie filling.