Choc. Cherry Cupcakes



     I was really craving this flavor combination so I decided to make these. The cake is my go-to double chocolate cake and for the buttercream, I just added melted semisweet chocolate and finely chopped marichino cherries-strained of course-to my usual meringue buttercream recipe. Topped with salted marcona almonds and a whole cherry and VIOLA! Oh, and I stuffed  the cupcake w/ cherry pie filling.



I added 2 tbsp of the marchino cherry juice to the buttercream.

Canned cherry pie filling

Sports Theme Cookies

    

     Yes, it has been too long since my last posting. I don't really have an excuse besides the fact that I am a stay-at-home mom with 2 boys...I'm not a super mom and when I do finally get my 1 or so of down time in the evening, most of the time I just want to turn my brain off and sit and stare off into space. It's a very effective means of relaxing and re cooperating for me after a LONG day of chauffeuring, cooking, cleaning, diapers, tantrums, etc, etc. Of course when I have the energy, I bake.

I was asked to make these babies for a friend of a friend's son's 1st bday. I had fun making them. The soccer ball was a PAIN since I didn't have a soccer ball cookie cutter - the ones that leave an indentation of a soccer ball pattern in the dough so it's easier to color. I just cut out a pentagon shape out of cardboard and traced it in the middle of the cookie. The rest was easy.