Our baby boy surprised us a month early, arriving just a few days before Easter this year. We have been fortunate to have a steady stream of family and visitors helping us. Our nieces were a huge help, especially by entertaining our older son. And they made these adorable Easter cupcakes to boot! Though Easter has already come and gone I thought that these cupcakes were too cute not to share.
I know what you’re thinking: spinach or beet juice in my buttercream frosting?! Yuck! But you will be amazed at how you don’t even taste them, especially with the small quantities being used. As far as I’m concerned, I would much rather have my family consume a little spinach, beet or other natural dye than a chemically-produced version.
This Easter I decided that it was time to continue a family tradition and make my family’s pineapple meringue tarts in honor of Great Aunt Tadsie. Similar to lemon meringue pie, there is something light and refreshing about these tarts. And the bright yellow color and sunny pineapple flavor make them a perfect spring treat.
The recent April snow flurries got me daydreaming about hot chocolate and the creamy chocolaty flavor of whipped cream melting into my hot cocoa. These bites of swirled cream and chocolate are always my favorites. So, I decided to flavor my homemade whipped cream, incorporating that rich hot chocolate taste into each spoonful of whipped cream.
My family loves banana bread and the recipe that I grew up with is a classic that we never get tired of. Sometimes I stir in some chocolate chips to make it extra special.
These soft snickerdoodles will literally melt in your mouth. The addition of brown sugar to the cinnamon-sugar mixture in which the cookie dough is rolled adds a wonderful complexity to the flavor.
My inspiration for this chocolatey version of the croissant came from the popular French pastry, pain au chocolat, which is essentially a chocolate-filled croissant in the shape of a rectangle instead of a crescent. En lieu of plain chocolate I decided to try Nutella which turns out to be a popular croissant filling in Germany.
The oatmeal helps to keep these rich chocolate cookies chewy and as long as you don’t overbake them, they will be soft and tender.
Making chocolate with molds is an easy way to decorate cupcakes, especially when you are trying to make an intricate design. I found generic mermaid chocolate molds and colored them to look like Ariel from The Little Mermaid for an Ariel-themed birthday party.
Dessert sushi was the perfect addition to a treat table that I recently did for an Ariel and Under the Sea-themed birthday party. The sushi is easy to make and something that your kids will have fun helping you prepare.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
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