So, it is Super Bowl weekend. And for those of you who don't know, (as I didn't) the New York Giants and New England Patriots are playing. (I actually had to Google that!) 

Party food is big for the Super Bowl. Wings, nachos, dips, pizza; all centre around this sporting event. I wanted to make some kind of dessert or cookie for the occasion, then I decided on cupcakes. Cupcakes are great because you get a lot of sweetness in a small package! And there's always room for a cupcake.

This particular recipe was for chocolate cupcakes. I liked the denseness and intense chocolate flavour in the finished product. The only chocolate in the recipe is cocoa. They are easy to make and mix up in one bowl. The recipe makes about 20 cupcakes. I used football cupcake liners, iced them with green buttercream icing and added a candy football (purchased at Bulk Barn). For the football picks, I downloaded the free pdf from 9to5mom blogspot. You can then cut out the individual logos, etc and attach to a toothpick with glue or tape before inserting into the cupcake. These would also be great for a boy's birthday party.

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 3 Tbsp canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line muffin tins with the liners. Sift all dry ingredients together. Add eggs, water, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and mix together until smooth. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full. Bake for approx. 20 mins. 

Buttercream Frosting

• 1 cup butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups icing sugar
• 2 Tbsp milk

Mix all together. If icing appears too dry add a little more milk. Colour with green gel food colouring. I used the Kelly Green colour gel paste from Wilton® to achieve the green colour. I used a tip 233 for the grass. Cover the cupcakes first with a spatula of green icing then add grass. Add football candy and picks. Enjoy!

Featured on the cover of the December 2011 Downhome magazine are my saltbox house cookies. Many hours and days of planning, design and decorating went into the 14 houses. Below is the recipe and directions as taken from the December issue so you can make your very own. Enjoy!

SaltBox Gingerbread Cookies

• 1/2  cup shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses and the egg. Combine all the dry ingredients and add to the wet. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 1 hour. Flour a sheet of wax paper. Roll out dough to 1/8" thick on the wax paper. Flour the rolling pin frequently, as well as the paper, so the dough does not stick to either. Place stencils onto rolled-out cookie dough. Using a sharp knife or cake spreader, cut out cookies by cutting close to the edge of the template. Carefully remove each cookie and place on cookie sheet. This may take a little practice as the cookies are quite large and may become soft when rolled out. (I used a large spatula.) Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes or until they start to lightly brown on the edges. Remove promptly to wire racks and let cookies cool at least 24 hours.

Royal Icing

• 4 cups icing sugar      
• 3 tbsp meringue powder
• 5-6 tbsp warm water

Mix all ingredients for icing in a grease-free bowl. If using a stand mixer, set it to medium and let it mix for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl promptly with a wet cloth, as the icing will dry out if left uncovered.

The Decorating

Begin by outlining the entire house with royal icing. The icing can be tinted to match the colour of the house you are making (e.g. I made my houses red, green, yellow and blue, so I tinted my icing in small batches). Trace the windows and doors in white. Allow to dry completely before moving on to the next step.

Next, add water to royal icing to get the consistency of pourable (but not runny) icing, and flood the cookies with the rich colours. Spread to all corners using a small spreader or butter knife, careful not to touch the outlines as they may break. This step needs at least an hour or two to dry completely. (Remember to always keep icing covered between uses.)

Use pourable icing to colour doors, and fill in windows with icing tinted black. (I used an icing bag and a #3 writing tip so icing would flow into the small spaces.) Spread to corners of windows using a toothpick before icing dries. Add black doorknobs to doors.

Using a basketweave icing tip, re-outline the edges of the houses to create trim; add trim around windows and doors where space allows.

Now you may add fun, festive adornments to your houses, such as coloured Christmas lights around the house, door and windows. Perhaps add a Christmas tree, wreath or snowman – the possibilities are endless! (When using sprinkles to add that special touch, place quickly, before the icing dries.) 

Finish off your saltbox gingerbread cookies by adding full-strength (not pourable) untinted royal icing to the eaves, the bottoms of the windows and around the doors to look like freshly fallen snow. I added some sparkling white sprinkles to give the “snow” that special, frosty twinkle. Finally, sit back and admire (or eat!) your outport winter scene. 

Believe it or not I have never cooked a turkey. I have made many a dish, baked many a dessert but never ever attempted a turkey. I eat turkey. Thanksgiving, Christmas and even Easter has a turkey meal involved at our house but I personally never have cooked one. I thank my husband for taking on this gigantic task and he does it quite well.

So, this is the only turkey that I have ever attempted! Made famous by the blogger, Bakerella®, cake pops have taken over the baking world. While trying to come up with a Thanksgiving sweet treat I remembered seeing these in Bakerella's book, Cake Pops®. They take a little bit of time to make, and a lot of patience but are so worth it!

First off be prepared that they will not come out perfect. There were no two turkeys alike in my flock! But this makes each one unique. You will need to allow yourself a lot of time. From baking the cake, creating the balls, melting the chocolate to the finished turkey cake pop it will probably take a few days or one full day. 

To make these little turkeys...

1. Bake a cake from a cake mix. Use any flavour you like.
2. Allow cake to cool, crumble, then mix with some purchased container spreadable icing (as much or as little as you like).
3. Roll into balls, cool in fridge.
4. Melt chocolate or candy wafers to a smooth consistency.
5. Dip candy sticks into chocolate, insert half way into cake ball. Dip entire ball on stick into chocolate. 
6. Insert two pieces of pretzels for legs. Stand cake pop in piece of styrofoam until dry. 
7. Add "feathers" or candy corn pieces to each turkey with dabs of melted chocolate to attach. 
8. Attach face (I used a chocolate covered raisin) with melted chocolate.
9. Attach eyes (I used confetti sprinkles for the eyes and coloured black pupils with an edible marker or use a tiny dab of chocolate on a toothpick).
10. Attach nose (I used sprinkles from a harvest coloured sprinkle collection).
11. Add beard. I used an upside down heart sprinkle. 

Now your turkey is complete. These make great gifts for young and old. I wrapped some in plastic and attached a ribbon and tag for Thanksgiving treats. 

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Fall baking...Well, it's not officially Fall yet but it's starting to feel like it. Once the kids go back to school and labour day is over it's Fall for me. With Fall comes the urge to bake. I LOVE to bake. I love it even more when I create something that is both eye-catching and delicious. 

I own a lot of Fall baking pans. Maybe too many! So, this is just one of many creations that I will share. I added to my collection recently with the addition of a Nordicware pumpkin shaped muffin tin. I was waiting for an opportunity to use it and then came across this recipe. The muffins turned out perfect. The aroma emitted in your home as the muffins are baking is breathtaking! The cream cheese glaze is the icing on the muffin, enhancing the spice flavour within. And of course, having pumpkin muffins shaped like little pumpkins is an added bonus. :)

Pumpkin Muffins

• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 (16 oz) can packed pumpkin
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Cream Cheese Glaze

• 1/4 cup cream cheese, softened
• 1 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• Orange Food Colouring

Heat oven to 375°F. Grease and flour muffin tin. I used my pumpkin shaped muffin tin but you can also use a regular muffin tin. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt; set aside. In medium bowl whisk eggs and brown sugar together until smooth. Mix in pumpkin and butter until blended. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir until blended. Spoon batter into prepared tin, dividing evenly. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan before removing and cooling completely on wire rack. 

To make the glaze, combine the cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla in bowl. Mix well until a nice consistency. Add orange food colouring. I used the gel type so it does not thin out the icing too much. Place wax paper under the rack before drizzling the muffins. Makes clean up a whole lot easier later! Drizzle teaspoon full of icing over tops of muffins. 

Once drizzled, I added some pumpkin sprinkles to compliment the pumpkin muffin and also some Fall leaves. Seemed a little early for the sprinkles but they just went together so well! And who says you can't eat or decorate pumpkins all year round!