Let's Play Catch UP!

March- St. Patrick's Day on the 17th, and my BIG brother's 21st birthday on the 18th. So, I made vanilla cupcakes and my favorite brownies (recipe below) and sent them with him to share with my Dad's office. (I would have taken them myself, but this blog is also about my lack of driving privileges.) Okay, stopping my self loathing now.

This was before I owned a proper icing tip, so the swirls (created with a snipped ziploc) look more like soft serve ice cream than light, fluffy frosting!

The cupcakes and brownies were soon devoured and all I had left was this picture, compliments of my dad:

My "go-to" brownie recipe: Brooke's Best Bombshell Brownies on http://www.allrecipes.com/

Ingredents

• 1 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.
2. Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.
4. Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.

Let's play catch up.

I didn't start baking because I wanted to start a blog; I wanted to start a blog because I started baking. So, I've got to get caught up on the last few "cupcake creations" I've made.

January 29th-- I was already on bedrest and getting my first taste of REAL cabin fever. My wonderful boyfriend was keeping me as much company as possible but I needed more human contact. So, I planned a birthday party. For my cats. Don't laugh.

Rosie (on the left) and Enzo (on the right) were turning 1 about a week apart.

Besides the fact that I treat my kittens as my biological children, I needed a reason to make some cupcakes. I found this adorable paw print candy mold by Wilton, which inspired me to create the following:

The cupcakes are white with a vanilla bean buttercream. I also made chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting that are not pictured. I made two types of paw prints: peanut butter with chocolate toes (pictured) and vice versa- chocolate on peanut butter. I'll have to dig up a picture of the other style somewhere from my family. Both were garnished with peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles. They were dee-licious!