Sunday, December 5, 2010

It's beginning to look a lot like....

.....Christmas!
Christmas decorations are up and we're hoping to get our first real Christmas tree today! We had a fake tree in the apartment, it was easier and we were never there for Christmas. This year will also be the first year that my husband and I wake up Christmas morning at our own house. We've always had to travel Christmas eve and stay at a family members house. We have our stockings hung and we'll be decorating the tree soon.
This week we celebrated my Dad's birthday. He recently purchased a kayak so his presents revolved around that. We celebrated with a family dinner and Hot Chocolate Cupcakes for dessert (future blog posting). I had a great time and I hope he did, too.

Gingerbread Cupcakes
from Family Circle Magazine December 2010
Makes 12 cupcakes
Oven 350

1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup boiling water
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspooon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs

Spary muffin pan or use baking liners(makes 12 cupcakes). Blend molasses, water, and baking soda in a small bowl; this will bubble.



Mix flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in another bowl.



Beat butter and sugar in large bowl, 2 minutes.




Beat in eggs. Stir in flour mixture and molasses mixture, beginning and ending with flour.





Pour into prepared pan.



Bake for 22 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting.



To make the icing blend together 2 cups confectioners' sugar and 3 tablespoons water. Dip cupcakes into icing and let harden before serving.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I like how the gingerbread man makes an appearance in each picture- very cute and appropriate. I'm guess I must have still been sleeping when you took these. Everyone at work says these gingerbread muffins were 10x better than the Dunkin Donuts ones that an unnamed person brought in last week in her attempts to suck up to our boss.

Love you-
Pat