Andes Inspired Cupcakes!

 

I may not always be the best baker, but one thing that I always seem to get just right is cupcakes!  Over the weekend, my husband and I were wondering the mall with our twins when we noticed a new cupcake stand!  YAY!  We were thrilled to see the latest Ben and Jerry's stand pop up, this was just as awesome!  And that is where I first spotted her......the Andes mint cupcake.  Oh my gravy, did she look Delicious!  We were in a crunch, so I did not have a chance to stop and savor her, but my brain was stewing with ways to create them! 

 

We were on our way to the supermarket, and lucky for me, I know this recipe by heart, and I had a pretty good idea of what we had at home, but I always err on the side of caution when it comes to groceries.  That could be why I think we have enough baking soda to last through my grandchildren, but oh well! 

 

Mommies Little Helper <3

 

I knew I wanted to use my go do devil's food cupcakes for the base.  I have to be honest, I was ready to get tricky when it came to the frosting, but got lazy when I found the Betty Crocker create your own frosting in mint chocolate!  How easy was that?!  I know what you're thinking, "homemade frosting is the best", "I would never use store bought frosting".  I never make my own frosting, to me it's not that important because it's just going to get devoured anyway by a bunch of sugar crazed looney's.  But I'm sure these cupcakes would be SUPREME with a fabulous homemade ganache with mint.  I just don't have that much time, and have to pick my battles.

 

 

I topped these babies with an Andes mint, and served them to the kiddo's with a small scoop of Vanilla Bean ice cream.  These were so incredibly amazing!  I don't have very many pictures as we were creating this masterpiece, because Izobel decided that she needed to get in on the action too.  So, my hands were a bit full. 

 

For The Devil's Food Cakes, I used Martha Stewart's recipe.  I've been using this one for a long time now, and I really enjoy it. The directions may seem tedious, but they really are not.  These are just supreme! Like I stated, I used Betty Crocker's create your own frosting, and topped these babies with an official Andes mint and they are complete. 

 

What do you think?

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line standard muffin tins with liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. Melt butter with sugar over medium-low heat, stirring quickly. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.
3. I like to use a soup ladle to pour the batter into the liners. Bake until the inserted toothpicks in the centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

 

Just Another Mani-Monday!

Hey! Hi! Hello!  Oh MY!  I have missed blogging so much.  I cannot believe that it has been a month since I last visited my own page! I have neglected it so much.  Over the past month, I have not been in my right state of mind, and have taken some much needed time off.  But I'm "BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN"!  Que cheesy music here :) 

So, what better way to come back swinging than........Another Mani Monday!?! 

 

Yes, there's my sneak peek!  Before I could get here, I had some MAJOR damage control to attend to!  You see...about 2 weeks ago my adorable daughter Izobel asked me to take her life jacket off.  Her little mouth chattering away.  I reached down as I always do, and.....SNAP!  Broken nail.  Not just a little broken, broken off down to the quick, then partially down into the nail bed itself!  HOLY CRAP that hurt! 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's a picture of her after I got her all cleaned up as best I could.  Oh sweet mother in heaven how this one hurt!  After I had pulled myself together from the flood of tears the poured out of my eyes, I had to figure out how to fix this!  Calling on my girlfriends for support all I was told was something about layering nail glue and an empty tea bag and somehow it's mended.  Off to the Internet I was!  Fortunately I was told how to fix it, relatively the same way on every site I visited.  Easy enough, off to the surgery room!

 

 

 

I have gathered my supplies for this procedure :)  My 3 sided file, Sally Hansen's clear for take off, Kiss brush on nail glue, a tea bag, small scissors, and tooth pics to flatten down the tea bag.....you'll see in a moment.

 

 

 

 

 

Cut the top off the tea bag, and empty the contents.  Cut a shape to match your natural nail leaving room to trim excess to get a precise fit.

 

 

 

 

Coat your entire nail with the glue.

 

 

 

Now apply the tea bag and press down.  Now trim away any excess paper from the tea bag so you get a snug fit.

 

 



 







 Quickly apply another coat of the glue, and press down firmly using the toothpicks to push down any air bubbles.  I tucked the ends under my nail to provide extra support and applied an additional layer of glue under the nail as well. 

 

 

 

 

There ya go!  She's all mended!  Now from here I really babied my nails.  I wore rubber gloves to do the dishes, and I didn't use any nail polish at all.  Once the nail had grown out a bit I did feel a bit more comfortable.  As soon as the breakage was away from the nail bed I was finally able to pain the lil' ladies again!  It had been so long.

 

 

 

 

 

I knew I was on the look out for something super girly, and found this combo inspiration via Pinterest.  I had to customize my polishes a bit, which I have been experimenting with.  I had a bright pink, so I added a bit of white to tone it down a bit.  Then for the glittery gold.....now there is always my troubles.  Glitter always looks far better on everyone else, than it does on me. I can never seem to get it right.  This time I tried something new!  I started with my base coat, once that was dry I applied a layer of clear polish.  Immediately I dunked my finger into a bottle of gold glitter from the dollar store and pulled it out.  Using a tooth pick, I scraped away the loose glitter, and pushed down any flakes that looked loose.  After it had dried, I applied a layer of top coat in clear.  Viola! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm pretty happy with these ladies if I do say so myself.  Now if I can just stay onto of my blogging obligations better.  Self Discipline!  I must get better!!