Cupcakes: Take 2

Wait, where is Take 1 you might ask. Too bad, it's already been eaten! They were Chocolate Salted Caramel cupcakes, but I would call them more Mocha cupcakes with Salted Caramel frosting. They were yummy and are now gone.
I've been having this cupcake "thing" lately, I think it started at our school's auction fundraiser. Our table won a bunch of cupcakes from Cupcake Royale. I had the Lemon Drop (YUM!) and then split a Chocolate Salted Caramel one with frosting that was just amazing!! They've been on the brain since then.
So, today in an effort to test-drive a recipe for a friend's birthday treat, I made Carrot Ginger Cupcakes with an Orange Ginger icing both recipes from MarthaStewart.com.

I'm not sure how this is different from a muffin other than the frosting on top. I'd be happier calling it a muffin and eating it without the frosting. If you know the difference between a cupcake and a muffin, other than frosted vs. unfrosted, please leave a comment and enlighten me. Also, please know that I belong to the camp that believes that Costco muffins are cupcakes without frosting.
Now, don't get me wrong...the cake is yummy, but not quite what I'd consider a cupcake in texture. The frosting was really flavorful and yummy, but not super fluffy considering the amount of dairy in it, and a little too cream-cheesy for my liking, but great combo of flavors. The ginger and orange together...mmmmmm.
This would be really good over your favorite gingerbread recipe!
If I were to try this again, I'd halve the cream cheese, up the butter and conf. sugar, and use milk or cream to smooth as needed. Also, thinking this might make a good loaf recipe...
I'm on a roll, but I'm not going to be so ambitious as trying a different one each week, but 2 a month is pretty doable!
I definitely will be attempting a Chocolate-Bacon-Maple Buttercream concoction I tried from Whole Foods about a month ago...stay tuned!

Sunny days...

...sweepin' the clouds away! It's been a Sesame Street kind of week, you know friendly neighbors, sunshine, the occasional grouch. :)
Spent some time outside with the kiddos in the yard -had some fun, did some work.
Here is an example of fun my son and I had:

I was pretty pleased with my no-previous-practice Cookie Monster, but my son added the verbage and the giant chocolate chip cookie to make it even better! We had some other characters hanging out in the driveway too, but C.M was my favorite.

 Now, for a couple of challenges:

 A little Color Throwdown, and mix in some Mojo Monday

And you get:

Believe it or not, the green in this card is Old Olive...it looks way brighter, thanks to the fabulous sunshine we've got this morning. I loved the color combo in this weeks color throwdown, and the sketch was simple enough to my liking, but with enough elements to challenge me.
I used: Upsy Daisy set; Old Olive, Marina Mist, Naturals Ivory, Soft Suede c/s; Pumpkin Pie Patterns DSP (Brights pad); Old Olive & Versamark inks; 1 3/4" & 1 3/8" circle punches; Watercolor Crayons (Old Olive, Marina Mist, Pumpkin Pie, & a little Daffodil Delight); Big Shot Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder; Big Designer Buttons (Springtime Vintage -Olive); 1/8" taffeta ribbon -Marina Mist.

Enjoy!

Christmas is coming...

12/20/2010
Thought I would take a break from cookie baking, etc. to post what will likely be my last blog of the year.
I just wanted to share a few things I've been working on, but as I mentioned before, I can't post many so I won't spoil any Christmas surprises.

(fade to new year)

Happy New Year everyone!!

I started getting this post ready some months back and got swallowed up by the holidays and the busy-ness of whatever rolled my way.

I've missed you!

Here are a couple of bags I made as Christmas gifts:

Gifts I made also included button bracelets, ornaments, tons of cookies and goodies, snuggies for the kids, and one for my brother-in-law that included a matching one for his rifle. That was a hoot to make and give.

Hubby was busy too and made some beautiful wooden puzzles.

The new year has just flown by so far, I once again volunteered to lead  a class auction art project (same teacher, different child this time). Again, I opted to do a quilt. This time, instead of having the kids draw on it, they got to design their own squares, which my helpers and I translated to fabric. It turned out amazing!! Here's a sneak peek:

I'm so excited to attend the auction and see how it does -every dollar counts for the schools in this economy!!

If you missed it the first time, here's a link to the first class quilt I did.