Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Boris and Natasha!

Simple, but Delicious, Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for my biology study group last week and they seemed to be a big hit. I'll admit, I used box mixes for both, but doctored them both up a bit. I made the Chocolate Covered Cherry cake from The Cake Mix Doctor as cupcakes (Ignore what's on the back of the box and mix together: chocolate cake box mix, 2 eggs, and a can of cherry pie filling), but made a standard vanilla icing. In the spirit of the holidays, I thought about making some eggnog cupcakes that I read about on Baking Bites, but thought that might be eggnog overload. I've been on a red velvet kick, so I used a red velvet box mix (with an extra teaspoon of almond extract - love!) and experimented with different eggnog icing recipes with some Pennsylvania Dutch until I finally came up with something I liked. The red velvet eggnog cupcakes went first, but everyone who had the chocolate covered cherry cupcakes said they were the best. I loved them both ;)

Eggnog Icing
-1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
-1 1/2 c powdered sugar
-1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1/4 tsp almond extract
-Pinch ground cinnamon
-Pinch kosher salt
-1/4 c Pennsylvania Dutch Egg Nog1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Soften butter in a mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, gradually mix in the powdered sugar. Mix in remaining ingredients until well blended and fluffy.

After decorating your cupcakes with the eggnog icing, garnish them with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Things I'm Thankful for:

- My awesome family*
- My dependable friends
- My needy affectionate dogs
- The occasional afternoon nap
- Super sweet lindstrom pliers that are smooth like butter
- Good conversation, accompanied by good whiskey
- Sunday brunches

*My family spent the Thanksgiving holiday at my cousin's house. Aside from the obvious awesomeness that is Thanksgiving dinner, this family get-together was especially great because I was able to spend quality time with my cousin and his family, who I don't see on a regular basis since they moved. We took advantage of this time by trading skills. I went over color theory with him and his two beautiful and incredibly bright children as we made color wheels and he taught me how to weld.

These are the color wheels that we made. I'm going to try to put together a smaller scale template that you can download and print on cardstock to make your own color wheels. I also included areas to practice mixing complimentary colors and shading. We had lots of fun and I'm looking forward to doing some actual painting with them next time.

Here I am in some fashionable welding garb with my cousin. He welds to make parts for his jeep and has made some things around his house, like a lamp made from a wrought iron fence. Apparently I have a steady hand, which I learned is needed for pretty and consistent lines. We also played with a plasma cutter - awesome!