Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes - #3

It was a busy cupcake baking weekend!

My father-in-law's birthday was this weekend and so to celebrate he picked out Martha's Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes. So, the Martha Cupcake Project was on in full force this weekend! Gotta say, they turned out pretty well. It was much easier cutting them in half than I thought it was going to be and the key to getting them out of the pan was definitely running a knife around their edges while they were still warm and right out of the oven. Next time I'll definitely pour the pastry cream filling on them before I let it set up in the fridge. It ended up looking bumpy & lumpy instead of nice and smooth like in Martha's picture. And, still haven't mastered that chocolate ganache. This was a chocolate ganache GLAZE, so maybe that's why it just looked runny instead of thick like a frosting. Hmmmm.... I'll work on that next time. Overall, pretty good and yummy.

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes -#2

I completed my 2nd Martha Cupcake Project cupcake tonight!

Tonight it was Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with

Dark Chocolate Frosting. For some reason, my dark

chocolate frosting didn't turn out at as near as dark as hers.

Oh, well. I garnished them on top with mini chocolate chips

and a homemade chocolate chip cookie wedge. I whipped up

some buttercream frosting to give our neighbor girl a cupcake

for her birthday since I had to head out the door, so I had some left

over buttercream...

So, TJ thought he'd get his Betty Crocker on and fix him up

a chocolate chip cookie sandwich with buttercream.

Pretty sure he had the shakes after all that sugar!

TJ thought the cupcakes were de-lish, but I haven't tried one yet.

Fingers crossed they are a hit tomorrow at our church potluck!

Mint-Filled Brownie Cupcakes - #1

So, today I made my FIRST cupcake recipe from my new Martha Stewart cupcake cookbook! The Martha Cupcake Project has begun!

She even got christened with a little cooking spray when I sprayed my Kitchen-Aid mixer

to loosen up the whisk which was sticking to the mixer caused by my marshmallow fiasco when I made my s'more cupcakes. I thought TJ had cleaned up the marshmallow mess, but guess not!

But that's neither here nor there... let's get to the brownie cupcakes!

So, followed all her directions to a "T"... well, except the fact that I didn't use semi-sweet

chocolate chips. I have to use milk chocolate, I can't do semi-sweet. Ick.

Filled my cups, smashed in the peppermint patty, covered it back up with

more brownie batter, popped them in the oven. The directions said to bake for

35 minutes at 350 degrees and to start checking at 30 minutes. I even turned

the pan halfway through, just like Martha told me to....who really does that?

Anyways, took them out at 30 minutes and the toothpick came out clean. Uhh ohh.

Now you may be thinking, Oh, yay! They are done! Well, Martha wanted the toothpick

to come out with a few cake crumbs on the toothpick. Oops! But I checked them at

30 minutes... JUST LIKE YOU SAID!

So, they were definitely done. I tried one while it was still warm and it was good.

Just good.

Then after they sat for awhile and cooled off, I could not get the cupcake wrapper off!

It was a struggle!

So... lessons learned:

• Start checking cupcakes at 20 minutes
• Maybe spray the cupcake liners with cooking spray?
• Try them with chocolate frosting on the top!
• Clean off the Kitchen-Aid mixer thoroughly instead of assuming your lovely cupcake tester of a husband will do it for you.

Now... which cupcake shall we try next?!?!?!

S'More Cupcakes

I know, I know... I've been on a S'More Kick lately! So, when I saw these cupcakes I KNEW I wanted to try them out for our potluck this Sunday at church. And...wait for it.... these are from scratch, baby. NO BOX. I got the recipe from HoosierHomemade. So, you'll have to go check it out and try these for yourself. There's a graham cracker cake batter on bottom, graham cracker crust crumbs, then half a marshmallow (I used a new chocolate swirl marshmallow!), topped off with chocolate cake batter and more graham cracker crust crumbs. Baked 'em up, topped them with a chocolate ganache and then a marshmallow buttercream frosting. Then as a garnish, I topped it with more graham cracker crust crumbs, a little hershey bar, and a cute little teddy graham. I took one bite and it was super hard to not eat the entire thing. (I had to share with TJ. Usually I have to share with the kids, but the beaters from the frosting satisfied them this time!) TJ was ubber impressed! He even said it tasted better than a real s'more! Oh, my...don't let the S'More police hear that, I think they may already be after me for buying chocolate swirl marshmallows today in an effort to save a few calories when making s'mores over a fire by eliminating the hershey bar! I first tried Hoosier Homemade's Marshmallow Cream Cheese frosting. For me, it was a bust. So, thanks to my girl, Betty C., I whipped up a marshmallow buttercream frosting. Super easy. One jar of marshmallow fluff, 2 sticks of butter, and 2 C. of powdered sugar. Mix it up, and Yum-O. Church friends, grab these up quick before my family does!!! (Now, will someone please help me take better pictures of my work??!?)

S'More Pops Recipe

Thanks to Christie for sharing this easy-peasy recipe...

S'More Pops

Ingredients:

Enormous Marshmallows

(or regular ones)

Melted Chocolate Chips

or

Chocolate Almond Bark

Graham Cracker Crumbs

Stick a lollipop stick in each marshmallow.

Dip in Chocolate.

Roll in Graham Cracker Crumbs.

Taaaa-Dahhhhh!!!

No fire necessary.... :)

Western Themed 1st Birthday

How darling is this cute Western 1st Birthday?

My friend, Christie, has yet again planned

another fabulous party! I will definitely

be trying those s'more pops! I bet she used these

enormous marshmallows! They look YUMMY!

My Baby Brother is Getting Married!!!!

Dustin & Stacy

When you first arrived, we had a photo
station set up to get your picture
taken and sign their guestbook. I
thought it would be helpful to Stacy
to put faces with names.


My first attempt at making cake balls. They
tasted much better than they looked!

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

White Cupcakes

Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookies

(in fish shapes of course!)

I made regular chocolate covered pretzels, and then

some I first covered in a caramel apple wrap, and then

dipped in almond bark. Chewy and yummy!

Strawberry Lemonade

Gotta have our cupcake pebble rice krispies!

Gummy sharks

Table Decorations

Now these cupcakes were de-lish!

They were a brown sugar cupcake with

a chocolate chip cookie dough filling, topped

with a cookie dough buttercream and a

mini fish chocolate chip cookie.

Is your mouth watering yet?

I got the recipe here.

Nautical Twins Shower

I was asked recently to help out with a twins shower for a friend. I came up with a nautical theme and think it turned out pretty cute!