A Cherry Vanilla Valentine

I love Valentine's Day!!!

This year I made Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes, based on this recipe from Sweetapolita.  There is just something about Cherry Vanilla Cake that sounds fun and delicious, and pink!  This must have been a popular cake some years back because several people remember having it as kids.  I asked my mom if my grandmother used to make one.  She said yes, and it was my mother's birthday cake every year!  So, there is a recipe somewhere we need to find!

I wanted to serve the cake to small group on Wednesday, and then have it for our Valentine's dinner on Thursday, so I made cupcakes rather than a layer cake.  I made buttercream frosting and used cherry juice in place of milk.   The picture of the inside of the cupcake is not a good one, but it shows the cherry pieces and gives an idea of how it looks.   The cake is amazing!!!!

The cake recipe made 40 cupcakes using a large scoop; I baked them for 20 minutes at 350.

I am done using regular red food coloring because the pink isn't near as pretty/vibrant as when I use the gel food coloring.  I didn't have a red gel coloring, so I used the regular red food coloring which was OK, but not the deep color I wanted.  So, I guess I will just have to make these again!  I am sure I won't get any complaints! ;)

Small group loved the cupcakes!  I sent a dozen to work with Mr. SBQ and got all kinds of rave reviews, which of course made my day!

We celebrated Valentine's Day at home, as a family.  For dinner we had Kielbasa Wild Rice Soup with Butternut Squash, Waldorf Salad, and the cupcakes.   I made our placemats for a simple table decoration.  It was fun and Little C loved it!  Tonight I get my Valentine's Date! :)

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

Cherry Vanilla Cupcakes

Cherry Vanilla Cupcake - inside

Valentine Table

Valentine Sprinkle Sugar Cookies & School Valentines

Little C and I made her Valentines this year, and we added a homemade sugar cookie to each.
I cut 2 sided paper for each cellophane bag, and then we stamped strips of white paper for her to write her message on.   Then we made sugar cookies, which she rolled in the sprinkles.  We wrapped each cookie in plastic wrap and placed it in the back of the Valentine; then we sealed the bag with a sticker.

I baked the rest of the sugar cookies this morning at 5AM, and broke my cookie scoop!  A Valentine tragedy because I need it for the whoopie pies I am about to make.  Hopefully it will still work enough for that task.  Kitchen Lesson - don't try to scoop cookie dough when it is still hard from being in the refrigerator! :)

These are the new sugar cookies that I talked about the other day.  Click here for the recipe from Baking Bites.  The cookies have excellent texture and are pretty easy to make.

I hope your day is filled with lots of pink and red Valentine fun!

Valentine Sprinkle Sugar Cookies

School Valentine Front

School Valentine Back

Summing Up

I didn't quit baking and crafting with the new year, it's just been flying by without a blog!

Here's a little bit of what I have been working on.....

I am slightly obsessed with Carta Bella's Paris Girl paper.  I had bought a few pages, and then the package of the collection.  I made a few cards and was thinking about different ways I could use the papers.  Then.........Little C and I started working on the plans for her 9th Birthday.  She picked Paris themed plates, and my obsession went in to overdrive!  That Saturday I overdosed on all things Eiffel Tower!  I ordered almost all the Eiffel Tower Paper the one site had, Paris themed dies, Eiffel Tower bling stickers and a ton of pink paper.  I have since bought more pink paper as the first 20 sheets were not the right shade, blossom pink bakers twine, and tag dies (which I love).  The final draft of the invite is pretty much done, but I will save the details for the post that shows the Birthday invite in all it's Pink Paris Prettiness!

Paris Birthday Card

Several weeks ago I was about to make brownies for a meeting I was going to.  It was early and also grocery day.  I didn't realize I only had 1 egg until I had already melted the butter for my brownies which use 3 eggs.  Luckily I had not gotten any further than melting the butter, so I decided to make a 1/2 batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies which only needed one egg and the same amount of butter I had just melted.  I had the thought - this is how new things get discovered.  Oh my goodness!  These cookies were amazing!  I think I had tried another recipe last year that had called for almost melted butter, but pairing the melted butter with the best CCC recipe is incredible!  I have done this several other times now, with great results.  The last batch I made was with 1/2 chocolate chips and 1/2 Valentine M&Ms - very good!

Chocolate Chip Cookies Revisited

I tried yet another new sugar cookie recipe and I love it!  I will try to find where I got it and share it soon.  Even though it looks like we made the cookies for the Red Hat Society, Little C and I made them for her big-girl-sitter's birthday.   We are making them as part of her school Valentines, so more on that later.   Speaking of Valentine's, I have made the new whoopie pies again and they were dreamy good, but the pictures weren't.  I am making them for the school party and will get a good picture.

Pretty Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

I have made a couple calendars I will share soon.  Between Valentines, the party invites, and trying out all my new Paris themed items, paper has been flying at my craft desk!  And, I just got a printers tray at an antique store, that I am going to transform in to something really amazing (I hope).  So exciting!

The test kitchen is going to be hopping the next few days with Cherry Vanilla Cake, Whoopie Pies, Sugar Cookies and maybe some brownies.

Happy Valentine's week!