Cupcakes for Two!

In light of Paula Deen's proclimation that today is National Vanilla Cupcake Day, I thought it only proper that we share a Vanilla Cupcake recipe. But not any old cupcake recipe. A recipe for two.

No one want to make a whole batch of cupcakes for one person, that is a lot of cupcakes, so why not just make two. I found this recipe on a fantastic blog: How Sweet It Is.
One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes for Two
serves 2
1 egg white
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla (yes, a full teaspoon – they are super vanilla-y!)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 heaping teaspoon of baking powder
pinch of salt
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with 2 liners.
In a bowl, add egg white and sugar and whisk until combined. Add in vanilla and melted butter and stir until mixed. Add flour, baking powder and salt and stir until smooth. Stir in milk. Divide batter equally between the 2 cupcake liners.
Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until cake is set. Let cool completely, then frost as desired.

I always have extra buttercream, fondant, cream cheese icing, you name it, it routinely sits in my fridge. So if you make these and need some icing, just give me a call.

You guys want some cookies

Snack day Friday is upon us, woot woot, one of my office's favorite time of the week. Each Friday one of my co-workers is responsible for bringing a yummy snack that we share during our morning meeting.

Snacks range from donuts, muffins, banana bread, monkey bread and cookies. Basically anything that can be eaten, we also include fruit, just for the added health benefit. Ha. For awhile we had stipulations, 1) couldn't be something we've had in 4 weeks, 2) must include bacon, 3) homemade is best, 4) try to out do the other snack people, 5) ensure snack passes snack czar's test.

I am snack czar, I really didn't care what people brought, as long as it was edible and was there on time. Ha. I am not sure who made up the crazy, unspoken, rules. My guess is the last snack czar.

Anyways, this week is my time to provide snack, I made pumpkin, cranberry, white chocolate cookies. I found the recipe on pinterest, they looked delicious. The recipe is from My Baking Addiction, a really good read if you have time.

Jari the Oiler's Monkey enjoying Friday Snack

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
yield | 48 cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter; softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pure pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cherries; roughly chopped

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy.
3. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract; mix well. Add flour mixture; combine until all ingredients are incorporated. Fold in white chocolate chips and dried cherries.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets.
5. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Storage: Cookies store well in an airtight container for up to three days.
Notes: Get creative! Add in whatever strikes your fancy, I can imagine a variety of chocolates, nuts, and dried fruits will really make the flavors and textures of this cook truly amazing.

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a fantastic thanksgiving. Here is Edmonton we had beautiful weather and a nice relaxing weekend. Friday evening, Mr. Toot Sweet's cousin came in for a visit from BC. Cousin Courtney is a minister in Tsawwassen BC, it was great to visit and meet her fiance. We had dinner, ate fresh BC Blueberry Crisp and drank some great BC wine from the Dirty Laundry vintners. The Blueberry Crisp was highjacked from a fellow Momstown mom Sarah's recipe for apple crisp.

2 cups of fruit
1tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon
1/8 cup ground flax seed
11/4 cup oatmeal
1. Peel and slice apples. Toss in lemon juice and sugar, put in a greased casserole dish.
2. Cream margarine. Add brown sugar and cream again. Add flour, flax and cinnamon. Mix well.
3. Mix in oatmeal. If you like a crunchier topping, you can use more oatmeal here too.
4. Spread topping on apples so that it completely covers them.
5. Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.

We spent Saturday at the St. Albert Farmers Market looking at fresh produce, awesome knits and some really beautiful blankets from Ella Mouse Designs. The Lil' Cupcake was quick to notice the cupcake designed blanket and kept pointing at it. So cute.

On Sunday, Mr. Toot Sweet and I celebrated our three year anniversary at the Melting Pot. Yum, if you haven't checked it out, I suggest you do. It is a great romantic meal with offset private booths and intimate atmosphere. We even scored some chocolate strawberries for being part of the Melting Pot club.

On Monday, we had our family thanksgiving with my parents and friends of the family. We had all the feastings typical of Thanksgiving, turkey, mashed potato, gravy, stuffing, southern sweet potato casserole and broccoli rice casserole. For dessert I made an apple pie to use up all the apples that we scored for free from a neighbour. It turned awesome for my very first pie. But I cheated. I was a week bit intimidated by crust, so I hang my head in shame to admit, I bought the crust. My goal for the end of the year is to learn to make crust. Nice buttery flaky pastry crust.

Also, I noticed Urban Infant on the racks at Sobey's on Sunday. Check out the magazine if you haven't. Toot Sweet Cupcake is featured along side some other fabulous blogs, including the awesome City and Baby.

Look who's smashing a cake

I love smash cakes. I especially love when children actually smash the cake to bits. So much fun, getting dirty, getting full of icing and maybe getting some of the cake in the mouth, hair and ears.

I met V through Momstown, I know you've heard me speak of that before, so when V asked me to do a special cake for her little man L, I jumped at the opportunity.  The B family booked the lovely Jen of Snow Pea Portraits for family fall photos and smash photos Thanksgiving weekend, what a great weekend for photos.

V asked me to make a vanilla spice gluten free cake for little man L, with three owls on top, owl inspiration was taken from a GroVia cloth diaper. One to represent L, and two to represent their puppies, a rotti and a shepherd. V sent me a picture of the pups and they are every bit as cute as L himself.

I was super nervous making this cake because of L's gluten allergy. To ensure no cross contamination, I checked with V a few times to ensure the ingredients I had on the list would be Ok and indeed gluten free. We went with a vanilla spice cake, which made my house smell like fall filled with fresh strawberries and strawberry preserve covered in a vanilla spice tinted buttercream.