Confetti Sprinkled Cupcakes with Snowman Cookie Toppers

I had another birthday party this weekend – and I’m exhausted!  I’m an introvert, so the socializing bit is always hard on me.  It’s not that I’m shy, because I’m decidedly not that, it’s just that I need time to myself to recharge.

Moving on!  I wanted a white cake with rainbow sprinkles baked in, and I had to frost it with my favorite Italian Meringue Buttercream.  Then, I decided to add the snowman topper to compliment the gingerbread playdough party favor.

Confetti Sprinkled White Cake Adapted from Clinton St. Baking Company

2 1/4 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup whole milk

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large egg whites

3 Tablespoons of confetti/rainbow sprinkles

Cream the butter & sugar.  Add the egg whites, two at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in vanilla and oil.  Combine the flour, baking powder, sprinkles and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with the milk.

Pour into muffin liners and bake at 350 degrees for about 18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan.

*The cookies are baked sugar cookies frosted with royal icing.  So it was like eating two desserts in one!

Hot Chocolate Squares with Snowman Marshmallows

I saw a post with hot cocoa squares and homemade marshmallows – yum!  But I wanted my kids to get in on the fun, since I’ll be using these as gifts for their teachers this year.  So I added the package marshmallow with the “painted” on face.

If you prefer the regular size marshmallows, you can package them in their own separate bag to keep them from moving around and getting smudged by the chocolate.

Hot Chocolate Squares Adapted from here

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

18 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, chopped

1/2 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Line an 8 inch pan with parchment – the parchment should be covering the bottom and sides.  Set aside.

Heat the cream and milk together until very warm, but not boiling.  Remove from heat and add the chocolates.  Let set for a few minutes, then stir until combined.

Place back on the heat and whisk until the chocolate is thick and glossy, add vanilla and salt.

Pour the thickened chocolate into the parchment-lined pan and let set out until cool – about 30 minutes.  Place in the refrigerator overnight.

Cut into squares – I like mine big so I cut them into 2 x 3 inch squares.  Store in the refrigerator for 1 week, or freeze them for a couple of months.

To make the hot chocolate, add one cube to 1 cup of milk and heat slowly on the stove whisking frequently.  Top with a scoop of your favorite ice cream (to cool it down for the kids) and the marshmallow(s)!

Gingerbread Playdough

This playdough is so much fun, and I adore gingerbread.  So when I saw it posted here, I just knew I had to try it.  Lucky for me, my daughter’s birthday was coming up and I thought it would be the perfect party favor (and it was)!

Click here for the tutorial and recipe.

In the original post, glass jars were used to gift these – which were so cute.  But I’m dealing with little kids, so I opted for those twist top plastic tubs.  I just printed out some cardstock and used my handy scalloped punch and taped them to the lids.  Then I adhered a small cookie cutter to the top using glue dots.  Super easy.

*I bought the 1 1/2 cup tubs, and I was able to portion off 1 batch of playdough into threes.

Square Marshmallow Snowmen Pops

Is it just me or are things getting harder?  You know, like throwing a school Christmas party.  Nowadays it seems like everyone wants to be all PC, so moms are scrambling around trying to find holiday themes that don’t involve Santa.  If you’re one of those moms, or you happen to like snowmen (like me), then these are the pops for you!

Marshmallow Sucker Adapted from these cute suckers here, in case you’d rather buy them.

These are really quite simple, all you need is. . .

1 bag of square marshmallows

1 package of wooden skewers

Edible markers

*I made approx. 12 of these, so make the proper adjustments if you want more!  This also accounts for the marshmallows that I skewered to death.

Skewer the marshmallows, using the pointed end - carefully (the back of the sticks didn’t look pretty).  Then gently scoot each marshmallow down to make room for the next one.  Next, I simply drew on their faces (and scarves) with edible markers, and then dusted on some powdered food coloring (with a food-only brush) for the blushed cheeks.

You could also use regular marshmallows and rid yourself of the difficulty of skewering flat marshmallows, but I happen to like the look of the square ones.  However, if I were to make these for lots of kids I would (without hesitation) use regular marshmallows.

These would be super cute for kids to decorate at a Christmas party (just make sure you’ve already skewered them and have enough edible markers to go around – or a marker-station).  They would also make a cute party favor all wrapped up in cellophane.

Here’s a photo of my daughter’s rainbow one, she is so creative!  Looks better than mine, right?!

Linking to I Heart Nap Time