Minty Chocolate or Vanilla Butter cream Frosting

*This post contains affiliate links*

 Note: This post contains affiliate links. I alternated a recipe from the following recipe found here.

Introducing...

Butter Cream Frosting! :D

But not just any butter cream frosting....

Minty Chocolate and/or Vanilla Butter cream frosting!

Lol, got your mouth watering yet?

Okay, before I share my amazing recipe, let me explain why I'm doing this post in the first place first. (optional reading, I'm sure 95% of you won't read it to avoid wasting time, and that's okay, If you have time feel free, but who cares, I like typing stories!)

When I go to bake something with frosting, I rack the internet for the perfect recipe for frosting. Even if I found something perfect last time, I always alternate it and then I always loose it. Now here I am, bookmarking it for myself, and sharing it with you! Its a win-win. :D

The recipe I alternated this time can be found here.

The reason I alternated this recipe was because I didn't have chocolate chips like they called for and even if I did, I probably wouldn't have wanted to mess with melting them and dirtying up another dish just to put it over the stove's eye when...I can just use cocoa powder!!

So looking for a decent recipe that follows these guidelines:

-Must have no more than one stick of butter (1/2 cup)

-Not more than 3 cups of powdered sugar

-Dairy Free? Depends. We have two in our family who are dairy free (and just while we're at it, four who are gluten-free so if you're gluten-free check back occasionally for random recipes) ;P

And now, finally, a truly delish butter cream frosting that does not require four sticks of butter. Here you will find what you have been looking for and can actually afford:

Butter cream frosting that only requires half a cup, or, one stick, of butter.

So here I have for you, like, four different variations of different butter cream frostings. Just watch the colorful headlines for the recipe that suits your fancy. It will pass the guidelines mentioned above! If you are not dairy-free, don't worry! Check out the recipes. ;)

Doesn't it look so good???!!! You know this is what you're going to make for your little brother's yellow birthday cake...

Each of these recipes allow you to frost a two layer cake made of eight inch round pans, with frosting in the middle and on the outside, with some leftover. Serves about 15 (one pound of frosting), I would say. Perhaps more, but we made a cake (like mentioned above) that served 12, and had just a little leftover.

For each recipe the method remains the same:

Put all ingredients in a medium sized bowl and use the beaters to blend together until creamy and as few lumps as possible.

***If you are dairy-free, simply replace the whole milk with almond milk, using same amount as mentioned for whole milk.

If you really don't want it to be minty, it will not effect the recipe if you leave it out. We just added it as a little twist. ;)

Here they are:

Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting

(With, or without diary)

1/2 Cup (one stick) unsalted butter

3 Cups powdered sugar

1/4 Cup whole milk*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon mint extract

Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting

(With, or without diary)

1/2 Cup (one stick) unsalted butter

3 Cups powdered sugar

1/4 Cup whole milk*

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon mint extract

Simply Mint Butter Cream Frosting

(With, or without diary)

1/2 Cup (one stick) unsalted butter

3 Cups powdered sugar

1/4 Cup whole milk*

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon mint extract

Enjoy and let me know if you liked it or not! :)

Freebies: 3 Autumn Wallpaper Photos Freebies

Introducing...

FREEBIES!! :D

I've been taking some neat pictures lately and wanted to share a few with you. I'm sharing them as Free "Autumn" Wallpapers, you have my permission to download them and use them as what you see every time you turn on your laptop or computer or check your phone. Below each picture is a description. :)

^^For laptop or computer, an "autumny" scene :)

^^Best for phone, another nice autumn picture

^^Another one for laptop or computer

I hope you like them and let me know if you use them or not! :D

Journey through the Journals Progress | 30 days of Thanksgiving Challenge

Happy November!

Here's a two part post for ya...;)

Part one:

So I've sent in my manuscript to be edited and they're working on it right now...how fun! They've designed my cover and I've set up Facebook pages and emails and everything! I don't have a website or blog, that may come later. I think a Facebook page is enough for now, being so young, people will understand. Maybe once my second book is out I'll graduate to a website/blog. Wanna read my teaser? Yeah? Okay! At first I was hesitate, I was afraid someone would steal my story, but its too late for that now!

Here it is:

________________________

Fourteen-year-old Grace Lyn Burnes’s life has just made an interesting turn. All she has, including close friends and family, is helplessly slipping through her fingers like sand when her parents make the sure decision to move from a small Tennessean town to a larger city in North Carolina. Believing living in Eden just won’t ever work out for her, someone has other plans for Grace, and things begin to go quite unexpectedly. An invite from a mysterious woman strangely causes Grace to wind up with a box of real handwritten journals from girls of the past. Scanning the pages of one of the journals, Grace is astonished to find how much she has in common with the young writers based on their entries, and she begins taking notes by underlining lines that express how alike they are. But before she can pick up the pen, she’s pulled in with a strong force and finds herself in another home. The author of that journal’s home.

   As Grace 

Lyn ventures her way through the difficult journey to find her way back home, she also finds her way back to her friends, her family, and her heart. 

________________

Whaddaya think? I like it, honestly. Its about 50 thousand words long, average for teenage novels. I plan on doing a giveaway here sometime, so, look out! ;)

________________

So here's part two:

As most of you know (hopefully) today is November the first! And twenty-five days from now is...you guessed it, Thanksgiving. I'd like Thanksgiving to be about what Thanksgiving is about! :) So, I challenge you, (I'm doing it too) to grab a pretty, fall-decorated (if possible) piece of paper and write down things you are thankful for each day, starting today. Number them, and try to think of little things, things besides "a roof over my head", or "two loving parents". I want to look for little things this year. Things more like, "The soft touch of my kitten's fur" and "starry nighttime skies", things like that. But you have to actually be thankful for them. :)

If you can, do a post on December first about them, as I would enjoy reading them! But its optional, and this is mainly just for fun, and to help us notice the little things in life we should be very grateful for, and realize how much of an impact the really make.