Christmas Card display and a yummy treat

One of my top 5 favorite things about Christmas is getting everyones Christmas cards! I love them all... 

especially the ones with long letters describing what everyone has been doing for the past year

(like the kind my mom sends out)... 

Sometimes I wonder if we will ever write a long letter Christmas card...

I read them over and over thru the season and each time I am filled with thankfulness for these people... 

these people who have loved us for a long time or a short time...

these people that care for us and pray for us...

these people I may only hear from at this special time of year...

I cherish these people. They are OUR people. and I love them.

I hang them in the kitchen, the most used room in our house... 

a little bakers twine and some mini clothes pins.

 {my sweet Godson}

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This is my favorite holiday treat

besides fire candy, moms homemade chex mix, caramel corn and divinity...

ok, so maybe my 5th favorite. haha

Saltine Toffee

All you need:

1.5 sleeves of saltine crackers
1 stick (4 oz) butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups chocolate chips

nuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Arrange the crackers in a single layer on the baking sheet so that there are no empty spaces in between them. 

Place the butter and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir while the butter melts, and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Once boiling, carefully pour the sugar-butter mixture over the crackers trying to cover most of the crackers. 

Bake at 350 degrees for five minutes, until the toffee is bubbling all over. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for one minute. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the hot toffee, and allow them to sit for one minute to soften and melt. Once softened, use a knife to spread the melted chocolate over the entire surface of the toffee in an even layer. While the chocolate is still sticky, sprinkle the top with nuts or leave plain. Let it set and break into pieces. Enjoy!

Melting snowman smores...

I saw some super cute melting snowman cookies over at Christine & Co the other day 

and I decided I HAD to try some... so easy and so cute!

The eyes, carrot nose, buttons, and twig hands are all made with melted chocolate.... 

I wanted them to dry super hard so I could package and give to the little kiddos in my life.

The scarf is fruit roll up (tip: cut it with a pizza cutter) and of course everything is sitting on graham cracker and Hersey's bar!

Happy Wednesday! Only 10 more sleeps till Christmas!!

Pecan Pie Cupcakes and catching up...

My mother in law ripped a page out of her Taste of the South Magazine and sent it to me.... 

she said it made her think of me. (how sweet is that?!) 

I made these delicious cupcakes this weekend for our Reagan Family Christmas party.

You can get the "from scratch" recipe here at the Taste of the South website, however, I made mine using a pecan box mix and they turned out great. I did (as always) make the frosting from scratch. It was a brown sugar buttercream and it was an amazing compliment to the cupcakes (and really good with a  spoon!) The garnish are little pie crust bites and pecans and a melted chocolate drizzle.

Brown Sugar Buttercream Frosting:

1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, softened

3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 to 3 tablespoons whole milk

In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved, approximately 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in 2 tablespoons butter. Let cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat cooled brown-sugar mixture and remaining 1/2 cup butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Add confectioners’ sugar and enough milk to achieve a spreadable consistency.

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A few things I am excited about...

I am busy, busy working on Christmas cards... i absolutely love how they turned out and I cant wait to share them with you!

I have become obsessed with yarn projects and have several of them going on right now at the house....

see a few of my favorites here, here, and here.

I am almost equally obsessed with silhouette projects, but I'm only tackling one...

see my favorites here, here, and here.

I bought the hubs an early Christmas gift (really its more like a late wedding present since I used giftcards still left over from our wedding! haha) He has been wanting a Keurig coffee maker ever since his mom got one. He will NEVER buy stuff for himself. He is such a saver (I lovingly call him Dave Ramsey) but he was so excited when I brought it home! :) This is the one we got here.

My house is decorated for Christmas and I love the warm and cozy vibe it provides, I'll be doing my Christmas home tour the first part of next week!

Have an awesome day!

Christmas Tree Cakepops!

Yall know I've got nothing but love for Bakerella!

read about the time when we first met and became instant friends HERE.

Anyway... just wanted to share the latest cakepops that have come outta my kitchen...

Christmas Trees!

I followed the basic steps...

bake a cake, let it cool, mix in 3/4ths can of cream cheese frosting, roll into cone shape, dip stick in melted chocolate, insert into pop, let harden, dip entire thing into candy melts (I buy the Hobby Lobby brand) and then for these specific pops, I used a tooth pick on the side to spike up the tree and give it a more rustic look, add a few sprinkles and a star while it's still wet. Enjoy!

Turkey Cupcakes (Nutter Butter Style!)

I know yall are over looking at my free Christmas Card post.... 

so I thought I would go ahead and get this one up tonight!

But seriously, you should get 50 free cards from Shutterfly.... that's a darn good deal!

This weekend I made Nutter Butter Turkeys (that I originally saw here from The Party Animal) and then used them as toppers for my Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes! They turned out awesome... even the hubs was impressed.

Everything is candy melts that I piped on from a ziplock bag (cut the tip off) and the eyes are round sprinkles and a black dot with an edible ink pen. They were a HUGE hit!

And, if you are in the market for a cupcake carrier, this one is super versatile...

I usually use it with all 3 trays... that's 36 cupcakes... 

but it comes in super handy for HUGE cupcake toppers like this too!

You can get them here.

Cinamon & Pumpkin Swirl Cupcakes

yum.yum.yummy.

I was walking around Walmart yesterday and I passed this huge display they had on a center isle... the banner above it said "Holiday Baking" so you know I stopped to see what they had going on... mostly filled with chocolate chips and pie crusts, but I spotted some pumpkin spice jello pudding (yall know how I love some pudding filled cupcakes) so whipped these up last night and they are delicious!!

(I lost my mind and put the entire can of pumpkin puree (it's the smaller size not the jumbo) in the cake mix, but you should probably only do about 1 cup because they were so moist they fell a little flat. still yummy though)

The Hello Fall printables are free to download here from it is what it is.... aren't they super cute!?!

 

 

I'll be back this afternoon with the lipgloss winners and what I'm thankful for today....

also, a BIG Happy Birthday to my friend over at Delicious Ambiguity. Pop over and wish her a wonderful day if you can!

Happy Halloween!!

 I have really been enjoying Halloween this year... just decorating a few things around the house, attending party's, and trick or treat last night have just made me so thankful for all the sweet little babies in my life and all the time I am blessed with to do fun projects and spend time with friends. 

Hope you guys are all having a wonderful Halloween!

Made these cute candy corn cupcakes for tonight... 

one last hurrah before we start singing "Jingle Bells" for 13 hours a day!

Halloween Cupcakes

Super easy and super cute!!

I made the bats out of chocolate.... just put some melted chocolate into a ziplock bag, sniped the end,

piped it onto wax paper laid over a template I made, and put it in the freezer to set up.

I wish I knew how to add the template as a downloadable link...

if anyone does, please let me know so I can share!!

Cupcakes in a Jar {2} the info you asked for...

I have a lot of new followers {and people stopping by} from last week when I was featured on Tatertots & Jello (see that post here ...there are so many adorable Halloween treats!!) and many people have been asking for some additional information on the cupcakes in a jar post.... I aim to please so here ya go!

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes:
Spice box mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup oil

1/2 cup water

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
 
Vanilla Butter cream Frosting:
(this is the recipe I use for almost all of my cupcakes)
3 sticks butter (room temp, very important)
1 stick Crisco
1 and 1/4 bags of powered sugar (I use 2lb bags)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3-4 tbl spoons of milk
 
I think the trick to better frosting is to beat the butter, beat it real good! 6-8 minutes good. If you have a kitchen aid then no problem, just walk away... but if you don't, get a buddy because your arm is gonna be really sore! Then add the Crisco and beat for another minute or two and add the rest of the ingredients. Leave the milk for last and only add it if you need to. A good way to tell if the frosting is too thick is when you pop the mixer up, if most of the frosting stays on the paddle... it's too thick. Add the milk one table spoon at a time, mix and lift the mixer again.
 

When you are assembling the jars...

Cut the cupcake in 1/2

put the bottom in

then a swirl of frosting

spoonful of crumb topping

then the top 1/2 of the cupcake

swirl of frosting

crumb topping

 

Hope this helps! I'm looking forward to checking out all my new friends blogs! Leave me a comment if I have not visited you yet so I can pop on over!! Have a wonderful week! Can't wait to see how your cupcakes turn out!

Dear Bakerella,

I didn't mean to practically sit on top of you at your Atlanta book signing the other day.... I was just so excited... and you looked so cute... my apologies. Hope we can still be friends.

Lovies,

Pam

and if you don't know who Bakerella is...

BAKERELLA!!!