Holiday Snowman Cookies...

Thanks to a certain...ahem...Disney Flick, snowmen are all the rage at all times now. This holiday I think it would be super fun to hone in on some snowman themed cookies/candies/desserts since it will definitely peak the interest of the littles and because they are just so darn cute. This Melting Snowman Oreo Cookie ball from Cookies & Cups looks amazing and would be a good holiday themed project to do with the little ones.

These uber adorable melting snowman cookies are easy to whip up in a pinch and let the littles decorate to their Olafs content..errr... I mean hearts content. I found these cute guys over at Swanky Recipes.

Last but not least I love this unique twist on a holiday snowman cookie. Its a snowflake with an adorable snowman face. Kids and adults alike will love this and all you need is a snowflake cookie cutter and some polka dot making skills.  You can read about these guys over at Redbook.

Here is to yummy, scrumptious, kid pleasing snowman cookies! XoXo.

Itty Bitty Baker: Rainbow Chip Cake

Lets face it we dont always have time to bake from scratch even though its much better for you, tastes better and is way more trendy. Today the Little insisted on baking but momma just wasn't having it. Compromise? Box mix rainbow chip cake. 

Baking with the itty bitties in your life is such a cool way to bond whether it be over separate bowls of flour, sugar and salt or just a good old box of preservative filled cake mix. My little loves getting to bake and cook with me and its something I want to incorporate more into our life.

I have to say she really does have cracking eggs down pat at the age of 3! 

I am going to start a once a week series featuring the goodies we bake together to not only be able to look back upon one day but to hopefully inspire you and your littles to get in the kitchen and get messy!

I have to admit this cake came out pretty darn good. Moist, puffy and full of flavor. I justified this box mix cake with the fact that she only had 1 slice of it. Everything in moderation right?

See you next week with another Itty Bitty Baker post. XoXo.

Mini Cupcake Carousel...

Last week in Joanns Fabrics I spotted this adorable Egg Carousel in the Easter section. It is of course meant to hold eggs however I thought it would be a super cute way to hold mini cupcakes! Thus I purchased it at its 40% discount price (still going on, on all their holiday themed items) and happily brought it home. I think it looks super adorable with the cupcakes in it and probably looks equally adorable with colored eggs in it for Easter as well. I used it for my Welcome Little Sweetie party.
I am LOVING Joanns holiday themed items. They are super precious and pretty much never full priced.

You can check out the banner I made for my Welcome Little Sweetie Party.

XoXo.

Happy 4th of July!

We spent our 4th doing some shopping, some relaxing and some strawberry shortcake cooking!

Hope you all had a terrific day!

Pinteresting Picks: 4th of July Edition

My Fourth of July Pinteresting Picks most certainly has to include this cute and classic patriotic inspired outfit from the one and only Atlantic-Pacific. Im absolutely loving the polka-dots and the DIY clutch. Wish I was this put together!

Yes please. I'll take a heaping serving of salty sweetness that is almost prettier than fourth of July fireworks. This visual delight comes from Cupcakes and Cashmere. 

And I thought I was Martha Stewart by simply knowing how to create chocolate dipped strawberries. Occasionally Crafty

Sweet Easter Treats...

Pinterest never ceases to amaze me. The things I find on their showcase such amazing talent. Here are my top picks for amazingly sweet looking and Easter treats.

Rainbow colored Jello Eggs. How brilliant is that? And if you are on a diet (like me) you could even make them with sugar free Jello! Source.

 So that's what to do with all those Peeps I get but never eat during Easter season! Source unknown as the Pinterest link for this item did not work.

These adorable bunny cookies have a distinct vintage vibe going on. Would be amazing for a vintage'esqe Easter themed gathering/party/birthday. Source.

Simple and chick..er chic. Would be fun to make these as a vanilla cupcake with lemon creme frosting. Source.

Yay! Here is one for us adults. Chocolate mousse in golden egg cups designed by Wolfgang Puck. Easter Couture. 

Main photo courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens.

DIY: Simple Marbled Cupcakes

Marbling cupcakes is really so easy and fun. First choose which two flavors you want to marble together. For mine pictured above, I just stuck with a simple cocoa batter and a vanilla batter. The possibilities really are endless though and that is the fun part. I was thinking of the following flavor combinations:

• Chocolate & Hazelnut
• Lemon & Strawberry
• Vanilla & Almond

You can also color your batter with food coloring. Its hard to tell in this picture ( and because I ran out of food coloring) but I dyed my vanilla batter a nice shade of orange since these ones were for Halloween.

Take your first layer of batter and place a spoonful of it on the bottom of the cupcake tin then take a spoon of your second flavor and place on top of first. Then use a toothpick or any other utensil that is long and relatively thin and gently swirl the two flavors together. Yes it is really that simple.

DIY: GraveYard Plot Cupcakes

A easy, fun DIY Halloween cupcake activity that the kids can participate in! As you can see above we got a little tired of writing RIP on all the headstones so we got imaginative and put some ghost and pumpkin faces on some of them. Hey its Halloween, you can be as creative as you want.

The Plots ( Chocolate Cupcakes)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or with butter and a little bit of flour. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. 

The Dirt ( Frosting & Topping)

Your plot (cupcake) will be topped with soil (frosting & oreos). I went with a cream cheese frosting which is really easy to work with. Once its time to top each cooled cupcake with the frosting you can put your frosting into a ziplock bag and zip the corner edge off for easy frosting. This works wonders and no expensive piping bag  is needed.

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

About 20 oreos, with filling scraped out. Take your oreos sans filling and put them in a ziplock bag. Crush them up into a fine texture (its ok to have a few chunky pieces left).

Beat cream cheese with your mixer until smooth and creamy. Add in butter and vanilla. Mix this at a medium to high speed. Lastly, add in your powdered sugar a little bit at a time and voila you have homemade frosting. Frost your cooled cupcakes and generously douse each one with your crushed oreos...errrr dirt.

The Headstones

You will need a bag of Milano cookies and a black gel icing tube. Cut 1/4 end off of each Milano cookie. Use your black gel icing tube to write on each headstone. Place cookie firmly into the icing. Voila!

Place finished cupcakes on a cupcake stand or on a platter and garnish platter with remaining crushed oreos for a very earthy graveyard appearance.

I had left over chocolate cupcake batter, so I quickly whipped up a vanilla cupcake batter, dyed it orange with food coloring (yellow + red) and created a Halloween themed marbled cupcake. Those are the ones you see below mixed in with my extra GraveYard Plot cupcakes.

Eat & Enjoy.

Happy Haunts.

Kill My Diet Now: Halloween Cupcakes

Today's Halloween themed post is all about cupcakes! I absolutely must make some sort of Halloween themed cupcakes this year. As my mouth is watering looking at these pictures I just need to decide which ones to attempt. I found the above picture on Pinterest and my brain is straining to figure out how they got that perfect pumpkin shape.

Im a huge cupcake in a jar fan. Like huge. I think the possibilities when you take a Mason jar and a cupcake are endless. I might just do a post one day all about jars of cupcakes. I love making these. These festive ones came from Glorious Treats.

I love owls. I love cupcakes. Enough said.

Im from Pinterest.

I absolutely adore this black and orange marbled cupcake. I think I may just have to go for these ones and then get creative with the frosting and toppings. Can I just say one more time how much I love cupcakes?