Easy Soft Mints

If you are one of those people who think that everything mint tastes like toothpaste, then this isn't the one for you. For everyone else, here is an extremely easy soft mint recipe.

Soft Mints

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, room temperature

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

2 lbs powdered sugar

3/4 tsp Creme de Menthe Oil

2 drops green food coloring

Beat cream cheese and butter until well-creamed, about two minutes. Slowly add powdered sugar and stir until well-incorporated and smooth. Add flavoring and coloring. Stir until color is even.

Put mixture into the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Once chilled, roll into small balls. (Optional) Toss in additional powdered sugar. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Makes about 50 small balls.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

We had a little birthday party for my sister-in-law Rachel yesterday, and I made red velvet cupcakes for dessert. This is the first time I've used a cake decorating tip to frost cupcakes, but I'm definitely converted. During WWII beets were used to achieve the red color. I'll try that next time in honor of Dwight Schrute.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

1 cup butter

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup milk

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

1 oz liquid red food coloring

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

2 Tbsp sour cream

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

16+ ounces powdered sugar

Combined softened butter and sugar. Beat until fluffy--about five minutes.

Add eggs. Mix. Add sour cream and milk. Mix. Add vanilla and food coloring. Mix.

Add cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Mix.

Add flour 1/2 cup at a time and stir just until combined. Don't over-stir.

Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 22 minutes worked perfectly for me and 23 was a bit too much.

Cool in pan for five minutes and then remove from pan.

When cupcakes are completely cooled, make frosting.

Beat softened cream cheese, butter, and sour cream until smooth.

Add vanilla. Stir.

Add powdered sugar until the frosting is as thick as you would like. Less powdered sugar will create a runny frosting, and more will create one that holds its shape. For this recipe, I used about 20 oz.

Yield: 28 cupcakes

Pesto Pastry Chicken

This chicken recipe is my own creation, and I'm rather proud of it. It looks (and tastes) like it is a fancy dish, but is actually rather fast and easy to prepare. It can easily be adapted for any size of crowd. My rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Pesto Pastry Chicken

4 chicken breasts
1 Tbsp butter
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup pesto
1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 egg
salt
pepper

Get the frozen puff pastry out of the freezer and let it start thawing. It needs to thaw for about 35 minutes before using it.

Melt butter in a large frying pan. Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts. Place chicken in melted butter and cook for about 3 minutes per side. The chicken should be browned but does not need to be completely cooked.

Combine pesto and cream cheese in a small bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Set both aside.

Roll out puff pastry sheet to a large rectangle that is big enough to cover all four chicken breasts. No need to be exact--just get it bigger than it is now.

Cut the puff pastry into four equal rectangles.

In the middle of each rectangle, spread 1/4 of the cream cheese mixture. Leave a 1.5" border on all sides.

Place a chicken breast in the middle of each puff pastry on top of the cream cheese. Brush 1.5" border with beaten egg.

Fold the puff pastry around the chicken. Try to keep the puff pastry at the same thickness all the way around the chicken. Place, seam side down, on a cookie sheet that is lined with foil.

Brush top and sides of each chicken "packet" with beaten egg.

Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes.