Pink Champagne Cupcakes

Just in time for Valentine's Day!!

I think it's somewhat apparent that I LOVE cupcakes and one of my favorites is Pink Champagne.

 

I'm somewhat lazy so I found a recipe to alter a white cake mix and make it into Pink Champagne.

PINK CHAMPAGNE CUPCAKES

1 box white cake mix

3 egg whites

1 1/4 cup pink champagne

1/3 cup oil

3 or 4 drops red food coloring

Mix together and bake according to the directions on the box.

Before I mixed up the frosting, I took chocolate candy melts, melted them, and put them in an icing bag.  I then piped them into heart shapes and managed to write "love".  One thing I learned was, you need to let the chocolate cool for a bit before you start piping.  Otherwise it will "pour" out the bag and won't make pretty designs.

I frosted them with my favorite Salted Buttercream frosting and added the chocolate hearts.

Super easy!!  I think the hardest part is not eating them all at once.

Happy Valentine's Day!  

Added April 18, 2012:

 My Daughter volunteered my services for one of her friends Birthdays.  She wanted apple green frosting,  I just added Americolor's Electric Green to my Salted Buttercream recipe, sprinkled on some little pink pearls.  Super pretty and springy!

Linked to:

Junk In Their Trunk

 

 Renée

In Door S'Mores!!

Indoor S'Mores Bars!! 

 

Today it is suppose to be 115 in Phoenix and we have wildfires raging in Arizona...not a good time for a campfire.  But S'mores sound so good!!  A couple of weeks ago, I came across a recipe for S'mores bars and just had to try them!!

S'mores Cookie Bars

From Baking Bites http://bakingbites.com/2007/08/smore-cookie-bars/ via http://crepesofwrath.net/

 

1/2 c. butter, room temperature

1/4 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla, I used my favorite Pure Vanilla Bean Paste

1 1/3 c. all purpose flour, I used Spelt Flour  (less gluten)

3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs

1 t. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

4 regular size Hershey bars

7 ounce jar marshmallow Fluff (not melted marshmallows because they harden when they cool)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and/or line an 8 inch square pan. I lined mine with parchment paper. It's amazing how easy even the sticky marshmallow comes off.

2. In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture and mix at low speed until combined.

 4. Press half of graham cracker mixture into the bottom of your pan.

5. Line with chocolate bars, you will need to break some to make them fit.

6. Gently spread the marshmallow fluff onto the chocolate.

7. Then you can either pat out sections of the graham cracker mixture and lay it on the marshmallow, or crumble it across the top and press together.

 

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until lightly browned.  The pan that was more "crumbled" had Fluff that puffed up and turned a little brown and crunchy....Yum!!  

Cool completely before cutting into bars (I put mine in the fridge on a rack after cooling on the counter for a while.  I live in Phoenix).  If you do refrigerate them, let them sit for a bit at room temperature before serving.  The marshmallow gets gooey :) That's if you can wait that long!! Makes 16 to 20 bars.

  P.S. I did buy some glassine paper cups to put mine in.  They make it much easier for people to grab one without getting goo all over them.

I'm sure this will become a favorite in our family!

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Renee'