S'more Cupcakes

My family and I recently went camping and of course we had to have s'mores. (Yes, I am one those crazy women that loves to camp.) So I thought why not make s'more cupcakes. They look yummy and it was a great excuse to try the little butane blow torch (so cool).

I am all about easy, so I mixed together a chocolate box cake and poured it onto a graham cracker base in the bottom of the cupcake wrapper. I then sprinkled the top of the batter with more graham crackers and a few chocolate chips(you can't have too much chocolate). I then baked them according to the box mix. While they are cooling I made a marshmallow frosting.

So here are the pros and cons- I thought the icing was OK, but I don't think I made it right because it was only suppose to take 7 minutes to make but it took me over 20. It also taste more like meringue than marshmallow. Maybe next time I will top them with homemade marshmallows or maybe put some marshmallows in the batter. I also was not a big fan of the graham crackers at the bottom of the cupcake. I did this because I have read about other smore cupcakes lacking in the graham cracker flavor. Maybe next time I will just put more graham crackers on top of the batter.
Having said all that, they still tasted yummy and I loved getting to used the mini blow torch. Now what else can I make with the blow torch??????

Graham Cracker Base
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp melted butter


Marshmallow Frosting
2 cups white sugar
3 egg whites
2 tbsp light corn syrup
3 tbsp cold water
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt

Combine all in a stainless steel bowl and set on top of a pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly (electric beaters would've been great here, but old fashioned elbow grease will do just fine!) until mixture is glossy and holds a stiff peak when whisk is lifted.

Cupcakes and Candy

I was recently asked to make the refreshments for a church youth activity. And as you can see I went for color! The colors actually represented something.
White- Faith
Yellow- Good Works
Orange- Choice and Accountability
Green- Knowledge
Red- Individual Worth
Blue- Divine Nature
Gold- Virtue
Purple- Integrity
I was able to find candy in all my colors. But I wasn't able to make Gold cupcakes, but it still turned out very cute.
By the way, I made 3 kinds of cupcakes; Chocolate, Vanilla and Red Velvet. They were all frosted with Butter Creme frosting.

Brrrrrr, Baby it's cold outside!

Here in the Tampa Bay area, we are setting new records for all time low temperatures for the month of January. The temperatures are currently in the 20's and my yard is looking pathetic! Yes, I know, I know, temperatures in the twenties are nothing for some of you, but for a 5th generation Floridian, it is like being in the Arctic! Not to mention many of my plants don't know what hit them.
I am really not very fond of this time of year because most of my plants have been burned or killed by the cold temperatures. Just a few months ago when I looked out at my yard it was lush and green and now it looks like a neglected waste land. Sadly enough we still have a few more months of this cold weather. I hope we don't have to many more of these drastic drops in temperature, I don't know how much more my plants can take and frost blankets only go so far.
As horrible as my yard looks now I know that everything is not as bad as it seems. Many of my plants will just lose their leaves, while others will die back to the ground and return in the spring, and the rest will probably die and go to plant heaven. So for now all I can do is wait for spring and hope that my plants are tough enough to endure this crazy weather.

By the way the pictures above are before and after pictures of the same areas. Soooo sad!

Lions Tial - Leonotis leonurus

Well the holidays are just about over and make baking has come to a temporary stop, so I thought I would share a plant that is currently blooming in my garden, Leonotis leonurus aka Lion's Tail. You can see from the picture why it is called Lion's tail. The orange flowers clustered together like the end of a lions tail. It can bloom sporadically through out the year but it's best display is in the fall when the day start getting shorter.
I like this plant for its unique appearance and because the tubular flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds, which I love. Lion's tail is a pretty tough plant surviving much of Florida's temperamental weather. If you have a hard frost it can kill it to the ground, but don't worry, it will rebound bigger and better in the spring. Lion's tail can grow 4ft-6ft and grows well in full sun.

Platter of Goodies

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

I wanted to share one more picture with you that shows some more of the goodies I made this year.

Reindeer Cake balls

Mini Pumpkin Pies

Mini Eggnog Cheese Cake

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows

"Turtle" Pretzels

Chocolate Peppermints Circles

and of course more Meringue Snowmen

Christmas Mice

My kids and I have been making Christmas Mice for a couple of years now. Everyone loves getting them because they are so different from all the other Christmas goodies you would normally get.

As some of you already know, my hubby is a cop and every Christmas I send in lots of goodies from them to eat. I love hearing about all these tough cops and how they "love the little mouse". Most of them wont eat the mice because they want to take them home to their kids. Don't let those cops fool ya! Most of them are just big softies like the rest of us. (Just don't speed...ha, ha.)

They are very easy to make, but they can be a bit messy because of the chocolate.

As you can see the mice are resting on half of a sandwich cookie such as an Oreo. The face is a Hershey's kiss, the body is a Maraschino Cherry with a stem dipped in chocolate and the ears are slivered almonds.

Meringue Snowman

So far, out of all the Christmas goodies I have made, the Meringue Snowman are my favorite. They are soo darn cute!!

To make the snowman, pipe your meringue onto parchment paper into the shape of a snowman. Next get a small bowl of water and wet your finger. You only want your finger to be damp, not dripping. Now lightly smooth out any ridges on your snowman. (The water helps you finger not stick to the meringue.)

After you are done smoothing out your snowman you can add some chocolate chips or sprinkles for his eyes and buttons.

Now it is time to bake them. I baked mine at 225 degrees for 1 hour.

After the snow man cooled I add and orange icing with a tooth pick for the nose and the scarf is made out of a fruit roll up.

This was my first time making meringue snowmen and as you can see some of my snowman are cuter than others. For most of my snowman, I used melted chocolate chips to make the eyes, mouth and buttons. While they still turned out pretty cute, the chocolate doesn't want to dry and I keep accidentally smearing the chocolate. Next time I will put chocolate chips or sprinkles on them before I bake them or I will use black royal icing on them after they are baked.

Good luck.