Maple cupcakes

Another fabulous recipe from my Martha Stewart Cupcake book. Have I mentioned how much I love this book!?? Probably a million times. The pictures are so fabulous and inspiring, and she has the cutest ideas ever!!! I made her marshmallow Turkey cupcakes last year, and although they were cute, they were a pain in the butt! All of those little Turkey features drove me crazy!!! So I decided to try the maple cupcakes.




Here's a fun fact, maple syrup is PRICEY!!! I couldn't believe it. Over $20bucks at Safeway for a relatively small container! I almost nixed the maple cupcakes right then and there, but I figured they might just be worth it. I think they were! I took them into work, and I think my co-workers agreed.





They weren't your average cupcake. They were almost like a muffin in that they weren't super sweet. The maple buttercream was decadent!! I think my brother nailed it by saying that they tasted like a heavily buttered waffle. Delish!



As most of Martha's recipes are, they were slightly involved, but worth making at least once! The marzipan leaves were a cute idea, but not totally necessary. I didn't have the right size cookie cutter, so my leaves ended up being a little warped. I think I need a little practice with Marzipan for future projects :)

Something different

Lately, I've been feeling adventurous and baking some pies! My family is a BIG pie family, so I think it's kind of weird that I had more of a cake/cupcake calling. Maybe it's because I know I'll eat the whole pie if I make it, and I really like fitting into my clothes.

I've made a few pies over the summer using the ready-made pie crusts. However, I went to a cooking demo with my friend Maria recently. It was hosted by King Arthur Flour company. We had such a great time! After the demo I was so inspired that I came home and baked a pie the next day. Voila- a homemade apple pie with homemade crust! It was delicious, messy and lots of fun!! I'm definitely hooked.





Bradley is too!

Halloween cupcakes continue!

It seems that I got a little cupcake crazed this Halloween! My friend Maria, and blogging expert!!, sent me this fabulous link with all sorts of creative ideas! I only tried one of them due to time, but I would have loved to try them all! Next year!




These were the cupcakes i tried from the website. I followed the recipe for the chocolate cupcakes, which originated from Country Living. MAJOR disaster. I don't even know what happened, except that I didn't have a German Chocolate Cake mix. I didn't think it would make a huge difference if I used a Devils Food. Well it did, and these poor cupcakes turned into mini grand canyons. I tossed them and repeated it with a basic chocolate box mix. The frosting was a chocolate buttercream. The webs were actually very easy! I tried using a pastry bag to pipe them, which was also a huge mess! I stopped half way through and went back and used a ziploc bag like the recipe suggested. Much better! It was so easy and clean after that!




I made these chocolate with buttercream frosting cupcakes for Momma Linda, one of the Unit Secretaries that I work with! It was her birthday, and she lovess cupcakes! I had these adorable Martha Stewart treat boxes that I was dying to use! The treat box with the cupcakes in it was a big hit!

Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

These cupcakes were RICH!


They really turned out more like muffins almost because they were so dense. I love the idea of chocolate and pumpkin together, so this recipe seemed perfect. I used my own cream cheese frosting, but I bet the spiced frosting per the recipe would be pretty good! I would definitely leave out the chocolate chips next time. They overpowered the pumpkin flavor for sure. I'll probably play around with this recipe again next year.