Chocolate Sweet Heart Cupcakes

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Before I tell you about these super cute, super EASY cupcakes we need to go over some other things!

First - Have you heard Google Friend Connect is going away?  Not really sure why.  That is how I keep up with all of the blogs I am following.  I have installed the new Linky Followers tool and Networked Blogs tool you can use to follow me if you like.  They are on the sidebar.

Second -  just wanted to say how much I appreciate every feature I have gotten on other blogs.  It really makes my day.  I absolutely love knowing that someone else enjoyed what I baked and wants to share it with their readers.  I have a page that shows all of the blogs I have been featured on.  Thanks again!

Third - Bridger from Flour n' Friends has tagged me in this fun questionnaire!  Bridget's blog is great and I love having her as one of my blog friends.  She very supportive of me and I love supporting her back!  So here I go:

12 Facts About Me:

1. I have two great kids.  Alex who is 3 1/2 and Rachel who is almost 2.  They are the best part of me!

2. I am totally a type A personality.  Very competitive, which comes out all the time.  Especially if you are playing cards with me - or any other game!

3. I have 1 sister who lives in Chicago.  Hi Kimmy!!  I want her to move to Georgia - but so far no luck.

4. I graduated from Syracuse University with a B.S. in accounting.  And I am a CPA.  I still hold my license and keep it up just in case I need it again someday!

5. I'm trying to work out more.  I can't say more because I haven't been at all!  I still have baby weight from Rachel and really would love to get back into my old clothes.  You know - great move baking all the time :)!

6.   I live in a great neighborhood with a bunch of stay at home mom's and I love when my kids play outside because it is like happy hour for me - minus the alcohol!

7.   I said I would NEVER drive a minivan because I hate the way they look and I am now secretly totally CRAVING one!  I think sliding doors would make my life so much easier!!

8.   I met my husband at work.  He is British and yes, he does speak with an accent.  But I really don't hear it anymore.

9. I don't think I am a very good writer.  After all I am a math geek, CPA.  But I think this blog is helping me become better and I hope you will put up with me.

10.  Every time one of my sweets is featured on another blog I am amazed.  I can't believe that someone else likes what I have baked.

11. I don't think I am that creative!  I am good at getting inspiration from other people and trying to make it my own.

12. I think I am pretty laid back, calm and nice.  But don't mess with my kids.  Remember that movie - The Hand That Rocks The Cradle - ?  The one with Rebecca De Mornay?  I am her - breaking kids arms on the playground if they mess with my babies!

Bridget's Questions for Me:

1. Whose your role model?  Hmmm - that is a hard one.  I have to say my Mom.  She is the kind of Mom I want to be and she is a strong woman.

2. Savory or Sweet? SWEET!!!  Although - I do like savory too!

3. Besides blogging..what's your next go to hobby?  I love to scrapbook also.

4. Goals for 2012?  Finish Rachel's baby book (she's almost 2) and lose those baby pounds :0!

5. Favorite thing to eat?  Chocolate

6. What's your guilty pleasure? Time alone, a.k.a. peace and quiet!

7. Favorite T.V show?  NCIS, The Mentalist, Person of Interest, Modern Family and Parenthood.  I couldn't pick just one!

8. Favorite thing to bake/cook?  Cupcakes.

9. How did you get into blogging?  I took a Wilton cake class and decided to bake something every week to practice my skills and get better.  Blogging was a way for me to keep track of what I had done and for my friends to see.  It has become a much bigger part of my life that I thought it would and I had no idea such a great community was out there.

10. What's your favorite thing to do on a weekend?  Relax and actually spend time with my husband.

11. If you could go on vacation anywhere, where would you go? There are so many places I haven't been.  But I have been to Australia for 3 weeks and it was so great.  I would love to go back - 3 weeks was not enough!

12. What's your favorite website? PINTEREST!  I could waste spend months there!

OH MY!!!  Back to the cupcakes: 

I first saw these cupcakes on Glorious Treats and I fell in love with them.  They are so cute and sooooo easy to make.  Bake your favorite cupcakes and make your favorite buttercream.  Once the cupcakes are cooled use serrated knife to cut the top off.

Then use a cookie cutter of your choice, I chose a heart.  The cookie cutter should be about 1" in size.  If you aren't sure just make sure that it would fit on top of a cupcake leaving a cupcake rim around the edge of the cutout.

Then frost the cupcake.  Carefully put the top of the cupcake back on over the frosting and sprinkle with powdered sugar.  That's it!!  Easy peasy.  I love these cupcakes and will be making them for every holiday :)

This post may be shared with: Flour Me With Love - Mix It Up Monday, Alderberry Hill - Make The Scene Monday, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms - Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Clairejustineoxox - Creative Mondays, Skip To My Lou - Made by You Monday, Sweetology - Tea Party Tuesday, Crazy for Crust - Crazy Sweet Tuesday, Uncommon - Uncommonly Yours, Mandy's Recipe Box - Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Reason To Skip The Housework - Tuesday Timeout, Inside Bru Crew Life - Trick or Treat Tuesday, Mrs Fox's Sweets - Sweet Party, Made Famous By - Famous Linkz Party, Junk In Their Trunk - Link It Up Wednesday, The Kings Court 4 - What's Cooking Wednesday, Hugs and Cookies XO - Wonka Wednesday, Food Corner - Midweek Fiesta, Something Swanky - Sweet Treat Thursday, These Peas Taste Funny - Link It Up Thursday, Talking Dollars and Cents - Sweet Temptations, Happy Hour Projects - Freestyle Friday, Tidy Mom - I'm Lovin' It Friday, Susie QT Pies - Happy Friday Link Up, Dwell On Joy - Dwell On Friday, Toys In The Dryer - Fun Stuff Fridays, Alli-n-Son - Sweet Tooth Friday, Crumbs and Chaos - Seasonal Inspiration, The Country Cook - Weekend Potluck, Mama Mias Heart 2 Heart - Sharing Saturday, Sweet As Sugar Cookies - Sweets for a Saturday, Randee's Organized Chaos - Sleepy Sunday, Country Momma Cooks - Saturday Link & Greet, Well Seasoned Life - Sweet Indulgences Sunday, Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo - Crafting Cooking From The Heart Contest, Southern Mom Cooks - Valentine Party

Box of Chocolates

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"Life was like a box of chocolates...you never know what you' re gonna get"  a famous line by Forrest Gump.  Did you know he said that in 1994?  Not trying to make you feel old - or make myself feel old.  I just can't believe how long it has been.  I think that quote is so true!  No matter what you get you have got to make the best of it and decide to be happy!

I'll tell you what I got.  One of my Christmas presents was the Hello Cupcake cookbook.

I love it!  So many cool ideas of how to decorate cupcakes.  I want to make them all.  I am amazed at how creative the authors are and am hoping some of it will rub off on me!  So you will see many designs from their book - I plan on eventually working my way through the whole thing - can't believe I put that in print :). 

The Box of Chocolates was my first recipe from the book.  It uses sixteen mini cupcakes, although the chocolate box I was using only fit fourteen. 

I frosted ten of the mini cupcakes with chocolate buttercream.  I put chocolate jimmies (my favorite sprinkle in the WHOLE world) and Valentine nonpareils in two separate plates.  Then I rolled the edges of the frosted cupcakes in the sprinkles and set them aside.

I used store bought frosting for the remaining four cupcakes.  I put one cup of the frosting in the microwave for about 15 seconds until it has the texture of light whipped cream.  Then I dipped the cupcakes into the frosting.  I gave them a super smooth, darker look.  To finish them off I decorated them with different Valentine candy. I found the Valentine candy corn at Walmart. Surprisingly my candy store didn't have it - but good old Walmart did!

For the chocolate candy looking pieces that adorn some of the cupcakes I used marshmallows. I cut the marshmallows in half and then dipped them in the microwaved frosting.  I chilled them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes so the frosting could harden.  Once they were chilled I piped on a candy looking design using the buttercream in a piping bag with no tip.  Then I used a toothpick (that I cut in half) to attach them to the cupcakes.

Arranged them all in my chocolate box and then filled the empty spaces in the box with more candy.  Happy Valentine's Day - just a few weeks early!!
 

This post may be shared with: Flour Me With Love - Mix It Up Monday, Alderberry Hill - Make The Scene Monday, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms - Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Clairejustineoxox - Creative Mondays, Skip To My Lou - Made by You Monday, Sweetology - Tea Party Tuesday, Crazy for Crust - Crazy Sweet Tuesday, Uncommon - Uncommonly Yours, Reason To Skip The Housework - Tuesday Timeout, Inside Bru Crew Life - Trick or Treat Tuesday, Mrs Fox's Sweets - Sweet Party, Made Famous By - Famous Linkz Party, Junk In Their Trunk - Link It Up Wednesday, The Kings Court 4 - What's Cooking Wednesday, Hugs and Cookies XO - Wonka Wednesday, Food Corner - Midweek Fiesta, Something Swanky - Sweet Treat Thursday, These Peas Taste Funny - Link It Up Thursday, Talking Dollars and Cents - Sweet Temptations, Happy Hour Projects - Freestyle Friday, Tidy Mom - I'm Lovin' It Friday, Susie QT Pies - Happy Friday Link Up, Dwell On Joy - Dwell On Friday, Toys In The Dryer - Fun Stuff Fridays, Alli-n-Son - Sweet Tooth Friday, Crumbs and Chaos - Seasonal Inspiration, The Country Cook - Weekend Potluck, Mama Mias Heart 2 Heart - Sharing Saturday, Sweet As Sugar Cookies - Sweets for a Saturday, Randee's Organized Chaos - Sleepy Sunday, Country Momma Cooks - Saturday Link & Greet, Well Seasoned Life - Sweet Indulgences Sunday, Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo - Crafting Cooking From The Heart Contest, Southern Mom Cooks - Valentine Party

Candy Cane Heart Lollipops

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I'm all about not wasting any candy or junk food.  We even try not to waste any healthy food either.  We do try to use what we have and eat our leftovers.  I buy a lot of sweets and sometimes I don't use them all in a recipe so I love to find another recipe to use up my leftovers, or eat them.  We had just a few leftover candy canes from Christmas.  All over the Internet I kept seeing cute candy cane lollipops.

The candy canes that I had were full size.  I think most of the suckers are made with mini candy canes.  I had to cut my candy canes so they would make a decent looking heart.  I used a serrated knife and just did a rough measurement.

Then I positioned them in the shape of a heart on my cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and stuck them in the oven.  I baked them for 5 minutes at 300 degrees or just until they begin to melt.  Pull them out of the oven and right away put the lollipop stick in place.  You have to squeeze the melted candy cane around the stick.  Be careful they are hot! 

Make sure, before you bake them, when you are lining them up on your cookie sheet, that you leave enough room for the sticks.  I used 4.5" sticks and you can see in one spot I didn't leave myself enough room!  It was really hard to get the stick into that one.

Then I melted a few white candy melts in a disposable bag in the microwave and piped the candy into the center of the heart.  While the candy was still wet I added sprinkles.  Because everything is better with sprinkles!!

This post may be shared with: Flour Me With Love - Mix It Up Monday, Alderberry Hill - Make The Scene Monday, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms - Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Clairejustineoxox - Creative Mondays, Skip To My Lou - Made by You Monday, Sweetology - Tea Party Tuesday, Crazy for Crust - Crazy Sweet Tuesday, Uncommon - Uncommonly Yours, Reason To Skip The Housework - Tuesday Timeout, Inside Bru Crew Life - Trick or Treat Tuesday, Mrs Fox's Sweets - Sweet Party, Made Famous By - Famous Linkz Party, Junk In Their Trunk - Link It Up Wednesday, The Kings Court 4 - What's Cooking Wednesday, Hugs and Cookies XO - Wonka Wednesday, Food Corner - Midweek Fiesta, Something Swanky - Sweet Treat Thursday, These Peas Taste Funny - Link It Up Thursday, Talking Dollars and Cents - Sweet Temptations, Happy Hour Projects - Freestyle Friday, Tidy Mom - I'm Lovin' It Friday, Susie QT Pies - Happy Friday Link Up, Dwell On Joy - Dwell On Friday, Toys In The Dryer - Fun Stuff Fridays, Alli-n-Son - Sweet Tooth Friday, Crumbs and Chaos - Seasonal Inspiration, The Country Cook - Weekend Potluck, Mama Mias Heart 2 Heart - Sharing Saturday, Sweet As Sugar Cookies - Sweets for a Saturday, Randee's Organized Chaos - Sleepy Sunday, Country Momma Cooks - Saturday Link & Greet, Well Seasoned Life - Sweet Indulgences Sunday, Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo - Crafting Cooking From The Heart Contest

Valentine Pretzels

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Valentine defined by Dictionary.com as - a card or message, usually amatory or sentimental but sometimes satirical or comical, or a token or gift sent by one person to another on Valentine Day, sometimes anonymously.

Valentine defined by Me - a reason to make and eat as much chocolate as possible!!

So the holiday is coming up and I thought I would make some Valentine themed sweets.  We'll see how many I get through - my list is huge, of course.  But these pretzels are easy.  Easy peasy to be exact.

Go to the store and buy a bag of pretzels, bag of Wilton Candy Melts and sprinkles.  Melt candy melts.  I use my double boiler but you can also use your microwave.  Dip pretzels in candy, sprinkle with sprinkles and lay on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Wait a few minutes for candy to set and done.  Now eat!

This post may be shared with: Flour Me With Love - Mix It Up Monday, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms - Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Clairejustineoxox - Creative Mondays, Skip To My Lou - Made by You Monday, Sweetology - Tea Party Tuesday, Crazy for Crust - Crazy Sweet Tuesday,Reason To Skip The Houswork - Tuesday Timeout,  Inside Bru Crew Life - Trick or Treat Tuesday, Mrs Fox's Sweets - Sweet Party, Made Famous By - Famous Linkz Party, Junk In Their Trunk - Link It Up Wednesday, Hugs and Cookies XO - Wonka Wednesday, Food Corner - Midweek Fiesta, Something Swanky - Sweet Treat Thursday, These Peas Taste Funny - Link It Up Thursday, Talking Dollars and Cents - Sweet Temptations, Happy Hour Projects - Freestyle Friday, Tidy Mom - I'm Lovin' It Friday, Dwell On Joy - Dwell On Friday, Toys In The Dryer - Fun Stuff Fridays, Alli-n-Son - Sweet Tooth Friday, The Country Cook - Weekend Potluck, Mama Mias Heart 2 Heart - Sharing Saturday, Sweet As Sugar Cookies - Sweets for a Saturday, Country Momma Cooks - Saturday Link & Greet, Well Seasoned Life - Sweet Indulgences Sunday, Bacon Time With The Hungry Hypo - Crafting Cooking From The Heart Contest, Itsy Bitsy Paper Blog - I Heart Linky Party