Wire Wrapped Necklaces

These are one of the first necklaces that I made when I was starting my online shop. I think that these necklaces look amazing. Two of my co-workers, one is an anchor and the other is a reporter, and both of them own one of these necklaces. It looks so amazing on the air. I am so excited when I see one of them wearing a necklace that I made. I think that I will have to post a collage of photos of the jewelry on the air.

You can always go online to My Michelle Jewelry for some other colors.

~Michelle

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes and took them to work one day. I thought they were too sweet, at least the frosting. I put them on the table in the newsroom and added a note for disclaimer. "Warning: these Pink Lemonade Cupcakes are very, very sweet" Did that stop anybody? No. They loved them. I liked them and I loved the way that they looked.

So, there you go, you never know exactly what people are going to like. I used the recipe from Cast Sugar's blog.

It is an awesome blog and the photos are simply amazing.

~Michelle

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

I made these cupcakes a while back and shared some with the neighbors. I thought that they tasted pretty good although the frosting got hard quickly. The cake was very good.

The recipe is from "A Baker's Field Guide to Cupcakes".

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As I have said, I consider myself a 'recipe' follower and not really an inventor of recipes.

I will continue to bake because it really makes people happy. My family and my neighbors and my co-workers.

Here are a couple of pictures to show just how good they were.

Cookies 'n' Cream Cupcakes
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Cakes:
14 paper liners
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup milk, at room temperature
15 chocolate creme sandwich cookies (such as Oreos) chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Place paper liners in all wells of one 12-cup cupcake tin and one 6-cup tin.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl to aerate and combine; set aside.
3. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Beat in vanilla extract. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down after each addition, allowing each egg to be absorbed before continuing. Add the flour mixture in 4 additions, alternately with the milk. Begin and end with the flour mixture, and beat briefly until smooth on low-medium speed after each addition.
4. Fold 1 cup chopped cookies into cupcake batter. Divide batter evenly among 14 paper liners. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center shows a few moist crumbs. Cool pans on racks for 5 minutes, then remove cupcakes to cooling racks to cool completely.

Frosting: Classic confectioners' sugar frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
4 cups confectioners' sugar, plus an additional 1/2 cup if necessary, whisked before measuring
1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add 1 cup confectioners' sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl once or twice. Add 1 more cup of sugar and about half of the milk and beat until smooth and creamy. Add 1 more cup of sugar and remaining milk, and beat well, scraping down sides of the bowl. Add remaining 1 cup of sugar and vanilla extract and beat on high speed until very light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Assess texture. If it is too soft, add a portion or all of the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar.
2. Beat the frosting until it is smooth and light. Fold remaining chopped cookies into frosting. Frost cupcakes using a icing spatula or a spoon.

Enjoy
~Michelle

Muffins, Muffins, Muffins

The title "Muffins, Muffins, Muffins" reminds me of the episode from the "Brady Bunch" where Jan says "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia".

Anyway, I made a trio of muffins the other day and took them to work. (The people at my work will eat anything:) The first muffin I made was the same one that I made for my breakfast party , raspberry and dark chocolate. They are so delicious that I had to make them again for a different audience. (These muffins are in the first picture in the collage).

The second muffin I made was a blueberry cinnamon muffin. OHHH what a wonderful muffin, moist and full of blueberries and the topping was wonderful. I'm thinking of trying different fruits inside next time. Thanks evilshenanigans for the recipe. I got rave reviews at work and at home for this one.

The last one was an oatmeal apple muffin. It was moist and tasty. Well, no one at home liked them and there were some left in the container at work so I guess not popular there either. I can't remember where I got the recipe from. But here is a picture of the muffin.


~Michelle