Frozen Fruit Cups

I tried these frozen fruit cups yesterday and liked the versatility of them, so posting so I can make them again some time.  They are pretty, refreshing and fast to put together.  I like the individual ones, but if someone wanted to put the whole recipe in a 9 x 13 pan and freeze it, then cut into serving sizes, it would work great too.  You can vary the fruit to whatever you want and have in your cupboard or fridge pretty much I think also.  Berries would be good in them, cut up in tiny pieces.

FROZEN FRUIT CUPS:

In a medium/large bowl combine: (I used a hand mixer so sugar was completely dissolved)

1/2 pint heavy cream, softly whipped

1/2 pint sour cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

5 Tablespoons maraschino cherry juice (from the jar of cherries)

Add: 

1/2 cup seedless purple grapes quartered

1/3 cup chopped maraschino cherries

1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained

2 medium bananas, finely chopped (I didn't have these and used 2 fresh peaches I had)

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice 

1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds, optional

In a cupcake tin (18 cupcake size if you have it or enough to equal that) put 18 foil lined cupcake papers.  divide the above fruit mixture between them, sprinkle almonds on top if desired.  cover and freeze.  Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.  

Salted Caramel Brownies for Kevin's Birthday Dessert Request

My daughter, Kim's, boyfriend, Kevin requested salted caramel brownies for his birthday this year.  I found this recipe online with high ratings so after getting all the ingredients together, made them for his party today.  Everyone said they were really good, so I decided to post it just as written by the author, Sabrina Snyder.  I had vanilla ice cream with them too.  I did reduce the flake salt though.

SALTED CARAMEL BROWNIES:

1 cup butter-she recommends unsalted-I used salted because I had that.
14 ounces semisweet chocolate chips DIVIDED (I used mini chips because I had those)
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate-I used the bar type and chopped it up
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon instant expresso-I had a hard time finding this, so ordered it online-it has a very fine texture, so would recommend using it, but you maybe could use regular instant coffee if in a pinch.
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour DIVIDED
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt-I used regular
11 ounces wrapped caramels-one bag-unwrapped
2 Tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons flake salt-also ordered online

INSTRUCTIONS:
1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x 13 pan with parchment paper
2. In a larger sized microwave safe bowl add the butter, half the semisweet chips, and unsweetened chocolate together in a microwave in 30 second increments until fully melted and mixed. set aside to cool.
3. In a separate bowl add the eggs, instant espresso, vanilla and sugar and whisk well.-add to chocolate mixture.
4.  Add 1/2 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt also into the cooled chocolate mixture.
5. Mix the remaining 6 ounces of chocolate chips into the remaining 1/4 cup of flour in a small bowl and add to the chocolate batter.
6. Add milk to the unwrapped caramels and microwave in 30 second increments until melted and fully whisked together.  (mine took 3 times I believe)
7.  Add half the chocolate batter to the pan.  smooth out.  Pour HALF the caramel on top in a thin pour.  then top with remaining brownie batter.

Bake for 35 minutes, remove from oven and drizzle the rest of the caramel over it (you may have to re-melt the caramel to get it to drizzle) sprinkle with the salt.  (I didn't add as much salt, just a slight sprinkle). 

**I messed up when I made mine and put the whole batch of caramel in the middle-I have rewritten the directions here because I didn't get what she was trying to say on what to do with it and they turned out just fine doing it that way so don't worry.  I just sprinkled the salt on the warm brownie top lightly instead. 

Fireworks Birthday Cake for Shellie's 49th Birthday

The kids had their annual 4th of July/combo birthday party for Kevin (Kim's guy) and Shellie today.  I always make the lunch and desserts for it.  This year I made Shellie's traditional jello poke cake (recipe on blog) but decided to make some fireworks to put on the top to hold the candles.  They were so easy and I thought turned out cute!  All you have to do is use regular sized marshmallows and dip them in red melting chocolate, stick them on waxed paper and put the birthday black candles in them.  I found these with gold glitter on them, and let set in the fridge.  I sprinkled some americana sprinkles around them on the cake and at the party I added the happy birthday in the center of the cake.