The Viral Olympic Village Chocolate Muffins

PHOTO: Lorraine Elliott

These muffins from the Olympic Village went viral in Paris. Now it’s your turn to channel your inner Olympic hopeful and swoon over a village favorite.

Olympic Medal Popcorn Balls

Photo: A Beautiful Mess

If there was a gold medal for cookie consumption, call me an Olympic hopeful with these delights.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter

• 1 bag (10 oz.) marshmallows

• 4 oz popped popcorn, approximately 8 (0.5 oz) bags of popcorn

• Wax paper

• Nonstick cooking spray

• Gold and silver edible color mist

• Flexible wire

• Patriotic ribbon

Instructions

1. Before you begin, wash and cut the wire into 10 to 12 inch pieces. One piece for each medal you plan to make. This is going to go inside our popcorn ball, so that’s why we want to ensure it’s clean before use. The wire can be purchased from the jewelry section of a craft store. Just look for something bendable.

2. For the popcorn balls: Cut the butter into 4 pieces and place in a large pot, the larger the better. Melt over low/medium heat. Once the butter is nearly melted, add the marshmallows and stir with a wooden spoon until the marshmallows are nearly all melted.

3. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the popcorn. Take care to make sure the marshmallow mixture gets evenly distributed throughout. This is the glue that holds everything together, so make sure it gets on all of the popcorn pieces.

4. Pour all the popcorn onto a surface covered in wax paper.

5. As soon as it is cool enough to handle, remove about a cup of the mixture to a small piece of wax paper coated in nonstick cooking spray, add a piece of wire to the center and wrap the wax paper around the popcorn, pressing into a ball. (You can also butter your hands to form the ball).

6. Move to a cutting board covered in wax paper.

7. Now spray the popcorn balls with the gold or silver color mist. (Make sure to read the instructions).

8. Now wrap the wire around the back of the medal and loop it into place. Then, use the rest of the wire to create a small circle for your ribbon to go through. Cut your ribbons and assemble the medals. (Make sure to remove the wires before eating).

Kudos to A Beautiful Mess for this fun recipe idea. It’s great for the Olympics, but if you have festive ribbons, you can create them for any occasion.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Photo: AllRecipes

If there was a gold medal for cookie consumption, call me an Olympic hopeful with these delights.

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• ½ cup butter, softened

• ½ cup white sugar

• ½ cup peanut butter

• ½ cup packed brown sugar

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 tablespoons milk

• 40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.

2. Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk.

3. Add the flour mixture; mix well.

4. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.

5. Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Thanks to allrecipes for this recipe; it’s good no matter the time of year.

Kool-Aid Grapes

Photo: Bake It With Love

A new classic perfect for a poolside treat.

Ingredients

• 2-3 lbs green grapes (one bag, seedless)

• 6 oz Kool-Aid mix (2-3 flavors of Kool-Aid with 1 3-ounce packet per pound of grapes)

Instructions

1. To get started, freeze your grapes for 1 hour. After an hour, remove the stems by giving them a quick twist (it's much easier when they are frozen).

2. After the stems have been removed, add your grapes to a colander and rinse them with cool water.

3. Transfer the grapes to ziploc bags (one for each color/flavor), then add the Kool-Aid, seal, and shake them up.

4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and pour the grapes onto it. Return to the freezer for 24 hours. After 24 hours, pull them out of the freezer and enjoy!

There are many variations of this recipe online, but we chose this one from Bake it with Love because the clear directions set you up for success. Check out the website for tips or more incredible recipes.

Red, White And Blue Salad

Photo: Foodie Crush

Your friends will be grateful for a healthy dish to compliment the giant bowl of potato chips at the Independence Day party.

Ingredients

• 2 cups watermelon cubed

• 1 cup jicama peeled and cubed

• 1 cup blueberries

• 2 tablespoons lime juice

• 2 tablespoons honey

• pinch of chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped

• 1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions

1. Mix watermelon, jicama and blueberries in a large bowl.

2. Mix the lime juice, honey, chili powder and salt in a small bowl and pour over the watermelon mixture.

3. Add mint and more salt to taste and top with feta cheese crumbles. Chill for 30-60 minutes before serving.

Thank you Heidi at Foodie Crush for this recipe. Make sure you go check out the original recipe which includes tips and tricks as well as other fabulous dishes to try.

Pimm's Cup

PHOTO: Unsplash

We bring you the Pimm's Cup in honor of Wimbledon’s favorite gin-based liquor. (Wimbledon starts on July 1).

Ingredients

• 2 ounces Pimm’s No. 1

• 1/2 ounce lemon juice, freshly squeezed

• Ginger ale

Instructions

1. Add Pimm’s No. 1 and lemon juice into a highball glass over ice. Top with ginger ale and stir to combine.

2. You may garnish your glass with a cucumber slice, mint sprig, strawberry, lemon or orange wheel, or a combination of them.

Watermelon Lemonade

PHOTO: Unsplash

Summer served up in a glass.

Ingredients

• A 6 lb watermelon, cleaned

• 4 lemons

Instructions

1. Half your watermelon and scoop the flesh into a blender.

2. Process until smooth and strain through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the seeds.

3. After juicing the lemons, add the juice to the watermelon juice and a generous amount of ice cubes to a large pitcher.

4. Serve by adding a few slices of lemon and mint.

5. Should you want to make this a cocktail, add your favorite spirits.

Summer Strawberry Cake

Photo: Unsplash

Seasonal strawberries and cake, what’s not to love?

PS: Yes, I put this in the breakfast category, because it’s delicious for breakfast.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate

• 1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour (can swap 3/4 cup or 94 grams all-purpose flour with 3/4 cup or 75 grams of barley flour, see Note)

• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon table salt

• 1 cup (200 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1/2 cup (118 ml) milk

• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract

• 1 pound (450 grams) strawberries, hulled and halved

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 10-inch pie pan or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan (what I used). This cake would work, however, in a 9- or 10-inch springform or cake pan. The 10-inch would make a thinner cake.

2. Whisk flour or flours, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes.

3. Mix in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add dry mixture gradually, mixing until just smooth.

4. Pour into prepared pie plate. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer (though I had to overlap a few to get them all in).

5. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.

6. Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.) Let cool in pan on a rack. Cut into wedges. Serve with lightly whipped cream.

This is a favorite from Smitten Kitchen.