Thursday, December 29, 2011

Halloween mixtacular

As another halloween passes, i see all of the adorable costumes my friends are dressing their kids in and remember trick or treating as a child. Amazingly, i was one of two different characters every year until i was 13. The first, i used my cousin's old dance costume and went as a genie or jasmine. My second, i wore an old dress sewn by my grandmother with its matching yellow bonnet and apron and went as Dr Quinn Medicine Woman. I was in love with that tv show growing up.

The other thing i remember about Halloween is caramel apples and candy corn. So when i saw this recipe online for Caramel Apple Cupcakes, i absolutely had to make them for halloween. These delicious cupcakes are made with shredded granny smith apples and filled with homemade caramel. They were a huge success and well worth the 4 hrs of hard work.


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Holiday Baking

It's been a while since I've written anything, and you'll have to forgive me because I have been caught up in my kitchen. Mike handcuffed me to the stove so I could finish my holiday baking and get my goodie boxes out to my friends and co-workers. Over the past few weeks I have managed to make:

12 Dozen Snowflake Sugar Cookies (decorated)
8 Dozen Chocolate Chip Cookies
6 Dozen Molasses Cookies
6 Dozen Snickerdoodles (Sorry Hillary, they all got eaten)
2 9x9 pans of peppermint fudge
1 9x9 pan of rocky road fudge
60 dark chocolate covered candy canes
24 white chocolate covered Hershey's candy canes
24 chocolate mint cupcakes with mint icing


48 egg nog cupcakes with rum icing

  36 vanilla bean cupcakes with chocolate orange frosting

If you are interested in any of the recipes, let me know and I'll post them up here. I've also had the joy of selling 3 photograph prints this month! So far, it's been a good December and I've had a lot of fun with the great people in my life! Also, if you are curious how I get the frosting so pretty, I bought a kit that comes with a pastry bag and giant decorating tips. See Best Ever Cupcake Icing Kit at BakeItPretty.com