S is for Snickerdoodles

recently my boyfriend and I started a weekly tradition, sunday dinner at his mom's house. his mom makes a new fun dish each week and i bring the dessert. sunday dinners have become something that we plan around and look forward too. this week i made snickerdoodles for dessert...

side note: i used the ribbon and another box from my last trip to Michael's

until next time...happy baking xoxo

sometimes all you need is a can of paint.

happy monday to all and i hope you had a wonderful weekend...i know i did! for the last few weeks my boyfriend and i have been staring at our side table trying to figure out the perfect place for it in our apartment. it finally hit me last weekend....if i change the color i will probably be able to find a nice place for this piece in our home. our house is mostly grey and white with a little bit of black, so the original bright red color of this piece didn't exactly work well with anything. after much debate we decided that a couple coats of paint would be best and of course we agreed on white.

this saturday dustin and i headed to Vista Paint (they have the best prices!) to pick up a quart of paint. i assumed this would be an easy process, all i needed was a can of white paint. not as easy at it sounds, there are about 500 different shades of "white" and after going back and forth with the gentlemen that was helping me, i ended up with the perfect shade of Egg White (only $8 a quart and $0.84 for a brush). i started by lightly sanding and then painted a light coat of paint and waited for it to dry completely before i added a second and third coat. i'm pretty happy with how it came out and i can't wait to go to Ikea to stock up on goodies to add to my "new" side table.

before...

after...

 until next time...happy painting xoxo

they're called cupcake liners...not pancake liners

i don't know about you guys but i get so frustrated when my cupcake liners flatten and they no longer fit correctly in my cupcake pan, how can i possibly achieve the perfect cupcake with cupcake liners that look like pancake liners? so last night a sought out to find a way to make sure my liners stay in tact. i was going through my kitchen trying to find something, anything that would help....and of course i found one the thing that should have been my first guess....my handy dandy cupcake pan! i placed each stack of 25 in a separate spot and let them sit for 30 minutes and when i pulled them out they were good as new!

such an easy idea and you can use something that is already in your cabinet

until next time...happy baking xoxo

peanut butter birthdays

today is my friend Sarah's birthday and because she is a lover of all things purple and all things peanut butter i decided to combine the two for her on her special day. so i set out to find the perfect combination of purple party favors to jazz up her cubicle. here's what i found:

now that i have all of my supplies, the madness can begin. first i started by making chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter buttercream frosting, basically a large peanut butter cup.

the finished product -- all supplies from above were used (all from Michael's with a 40% off coupon)

don't you love the purple glitter bag with the matching ribbon and of course the monogrammed sticker! the bag has a loofa, bubble bath and a nail file from bath and body works (also used a $10 off coupon). i want people to know that it's not hard to put a fun gift together even when you are on a budget. in total this cost $30 and i have 10 more yards of ribbon, an entire set of stickers and 2 more cupcake boxes that i can use for the next birthday.

next time i think i'll do red on black...what do you think?

until next time...happy baking and happy birthday to my wonderful friend Sarah who inspired this post xoxo

it's all about the presentation

in my last post i talked about my house being the crafters version of hoarders. i have recently become very into ribbon and matching stickers. this probably seems pretty juvenile seeing as i am a almost 26 year old woman, but the stickers make great gift tags. i've never been a fan of huge gift tags that dangle around ribbon, i think it takes away from the elegance.

any time i am going to visit someone or even if i just feel like surprising someone with a sweet treat, i pull out my wilton cupcake boxes that i picked up at michael's with my 50% off coupon (if you haven't already downloaded the phone app, do it now, i save a ton of money!), a colorful ribbon that matches the person i am delivering too and of course a matching monogrammed sticker to address the box.

see my examples below.

boxes - pack of 3 $4.99 at michael's
ribbon - 1 spool $2.99
stickers - 1 pack $2.99
total price = $11.00/plus tax
but if you use your handy dandy michael's coupon you can save up to 50%

until next time...happy baking xoxo

s'more cupcakes, please...

like most girls i often catch myself dreaming about my future home, picket fences, black shutters, a beautiful garden, a kitchen that will allow more than two people comfortably and last but not least, a huge fireplace. my moms old house had a beautiful fireplace, it was the center piece of our living room, my sister and i often found ourselves sitting in front of it for heat or just because we knew it was the only place other than the table that we could have food and mom wouldn't say "are you crazy, take that in the kitchen", in her defense, i do spill all the time.

so last week i found myself daydreaming yet again, except this time i was inspired to make a cupcake that matched my mood at that moment. since i was thinking of all things snuggly, a fireplace instantly came to mind, and what is the all time most amazing thing that can be made with a fireplace...s'mores...i give you the s'more cupcake with homemade marshmallow fluff frosting

pre-heat oven to 350 degress

chocolate cupcake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
3/4 unsweetened cocoa (i use trader joe's brand)
1 1/2 tspns baking powder
1 1/2 tspns baking soda
1 tspn salt
3 eggs
1 cup milk (i used skim)
1/2 vegetable oil
2 tspns vanilla (i like the bourbon vanilla from trader joe's)
3/4 cup hot water

1. stir together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt
2. add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla - beat on medium speed (i like to use medium high but whatever you prefer)
3. once combined, stir in the hot water (batter will be very runny at this point)

fill your favorite cupcake papers (i used red) 3/4 way high and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean
(let cool completely before icing, i let them sit for 3 hours)

the fluff part seems tricky but is actually pretty simple

marshmallow fluff:
2 egg whites
1 cup sugar
6 tbspns water
1 tbspn light corn syrup
1/2 tspn cream of tartar
1/4 tspn salt
1 1/ cup mini marshmallows
1 tspn vanilla (i use bourbon vanilla from trader joe's)

boil a cup of water in a small sauce pan - this is for step 2 below

1. in the metal bowl from your mixer combine egg whites, sugar, water, corn syrup, cream of tartar and salt
2. place the metal bowl on the small sauce pan (make sure bowl is not submerged in the water) stirring
constantly until sugar has dissolved (i set the timer for 5 minutes and that seemed a perfect amount of time)
3. pull bowl from sauce pan, using your electric mixer blend on medium high for 2 to 3 minutes (i blended
until it was fluffy and peaking)
4. place mini marshmallows in small bowl and heat in the microwave for 45 seconds (just make sure you
don't burn the marshmallows)
5. place the heated marshmallows in the fluffy mixture and continue to mix on high for 3 to 5 minutes

the mixture will appear liquidy but is actually a very firm fluff

place in your piping bag with your favorite tip (i didn't use a tip) and pipe on cooled cupcakes

i added a hershey square and a cinnamon sugar pita chip for decoration

happy baking and until next time xoxo...

in this house we eat cupcakes for breakfast...

i have this idea that cupcakes are perfect for any occasion...breakfast, lunch, dinner, brunch, fourth meal (thank you very much taco bell)...so i have been trying to find a cupcake that is perfect for breakfast that isn't too sugary and will make them want to come back for seconds. last week i tried a brand new cupcake, brown sugar with a brown sugar cream cheese frosting. the brown sugar made me think of a cinnamon roll without the mess (i don't know about you, but i hate getting my hands dirty with food). this was a super easy recipe and they are super moist...enjoy!

 

Oven Temp - 350 degrees

Brown Sugar cupcake -

1 stick butter, softened

2/3 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract (i prefer the vanilla-bourbon extract from Trader Joe's)

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

2/3 cup milk

combine butter and sugar until fluffy, add vanilla

add eggs one at a time

sift flour and baking powder together

fold the flour mixture into the butter mixture,

alternating with milk, 

start and end with the flour 

spoon into cupcake liners

bake for 18 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese frosting - 

1 8 oz. package of cream cheese

1 stick unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup light brown sugar

blend until fluffy 

enjoy and until next time...xoxo