Part of my dislike is the texture but no matter how ripe or how cold a watermelon is, I will pass.  My husband thinks I’m crazy.

Things that are flavored with watermelon are great, like slushies and Jolly Ranchers and these cupcakes, but that’s as far as I go.

Even though I’m not a fan of real watermelon, I am glad that I have this Watermelon Cupcake Recipe in my arsenal. It’s the perfect kind of watermelon that even I can’t resist.

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Watermelon Cupcake Recipe

There will definitely be no spitting out the seeds with this Watermelon Cupcake Recipe. They will be gobbled up fast - no contest!

Course Dessert

Author This Grandma Is Fun

Ingredients

• Cupcakes
  
• 6 tbsp softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 & 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Green food coloring
  
• 
  
• Buttercream Frosting
  
• 2 sticks of butter unsalted at room temperature
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp of powdered watermelon koolaid mix
• Red food coloring
• Mini chocolate chips

Instructions

• Cupcakes
  
• Preheat the oven to 375º F.
• Line muffin pan with cupcake liners of your choice. We chose green.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy.
• Add in the egg whites. Beat well
• Put in the sour cream and vanilla extract then fold into the butter and sugar mixture.
  
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and gently mix to incorporate.
• Add half of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Mix well
• Add the other half of the flour mixture and mix until you cannot see any dry flour.
• Add green food coloring to the color you desire.
• Fill your cupcake liners about 1/2 to 2/3 full.
• Bake at 375º F for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350º. Keep the cupcakes in the oven for another 8-10 minutes.
• Remove from oven.
• Let cupcakes cool.
• Buttercream
  
• Beat the butter and shortening with an electric mixer until smooth.
• Add in 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat until you do not see any clumps of sugar.
• Add in more powdered sugar, mixing frequently until there are no more lumps and it is a thick consistency.
• Add the watermelon Kool-Aid powder and a small amount of red food coloring (until you reach the color you desire) and mix well.
  
• Instructions
  
• Spoon the frostingHow to assemble down into a large piping bag with a tip. We used a 1m piping tip.
• Start in the center of the cupcake and swirl out to the sides and then back in to the center of the cupcake, stacking the frosting as you go
• Sprinkle some mini chocolate chips on top of the frosting.
• Makes 10-12 cupcakes.

Notes

This recipe has been adapted from The First Year Blog!

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Hey there! My name is Molly and I’m the recipe developer behind these place cards and all the recipes over on What Molly Made. I’m a huge fan of dessert, both indulgent and healthy:) I love to create new twists on classic recipes and I share all my baking tips along the way. Can’t wait to share this Thanksgiving dessert recipe with you!

My thought process behind these desserts is that that we’ll be spending a little more time on the decorating and creating the fun name tags so I wanted to keep the actual recipe pretty simple. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to keep all of the Thanksgiving recipes straight.

I wanted to create a fun and creative recipe that’s also not going to result in you slaving over the oven most of the morning. You can even make these a day or two in advance!

The base of these cookie cupcakes are pre-made refrigerated cookie dough. I used the Nestle Toll House break and bake refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough, but you can use any brand and flavor you want! The White Chip Brownie and Cherry Chocolate cookie dough from Nestle would also be delicious!

Make no mistake, even though this cookie cups are easy to make they aren’t lacking in size or flavor! I rolled up 3 (yes, 3!) of the squares to make one cup. It’s Thanksgiving, you guys. Go big or go home. Amiright?

I greased a regular size 12-count muffin tin and rolled the pieces into a ball and placed one rounded cookie dough ball in each muffin tin cup. They don’t necessarily look like they are going to fit, but when they start baking they spread and rise to the perfect height in the tin!

Next comes the fun part! Homemade chocolate frosting and the adorable candy turkeys! I’m a sucker for homemade frosting, it just elevates any dessert to the next level.  The trick to a great buttercream is to make sure your butter is nice and soft when you start. Then you have to beat it for a solid 3 or 4 minutes. This incorporates air in to the butter and gives you the light and fluffy frosting you need.

I always make sure to sift my cocoa powder (if I’m making chocolate frosting) and powdered sugar to eliminate any lumps in the frosting. The smoother the better! You obviously want to frost your cookie cup with this delicious frosting, but it’s also going to be used as glue for the creative turkey that goes on top.

Now, let’s talk about that adorable turkey topper!?? I’ve seen a million different ways on Pinterest to create a turkey out of candy/food, but I just think this one is so adorable! I love the actual googly eyes, they give the turkey so much life! Do you kind of feel like it’s staring at you?

You create this little guy by using a few different candies:

• Mini Reese’s
• Candy googly eyes
• Oreo’s
• Candy Corn

I started by un-sandwiching the Oreo’s and laying the no-cream side face up on a baking sheet. I unwrapped the Reese’s and “glued” the bottom of each one to the bottom half of the Oreo using the frosting. From there I  covered the rest of the Oreo with frosting and arranged about 6 candy corn pieces on the Oreo with the pointed side facing the Reese’s to create a fan effect that looks like the turkey’s feathers.

The only thing left to do is make the face! I “glued” on the googly eyes and cut the white tip off of a few candy corns and put them on right underneath to create the nose.

While those were setting I frosted all of the cookie cupcakes and then placed the finished turkeys in the frosting to sit perfectly on top of the cookie cups.

Now for the fun part! I used festive paper straws that I cut in half and a piece of paper with a sharpie to create the name tags. I just hot glued the paper to the straws and stuffed them in the frosting! Just make sure the straws aren’t too tall or the frosting won’t be able to hold them up.

At my house it’s always a big to-do figuring out who is going to sit where. If you’re hosting, these are perfect! You can arrange everyone’s seats ahead of time and they can feel free to move and swap seats as they please. Just place them on the plate at each seat and they instantly become part of the decor! And they taste delicious too.?

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Thanksgiving Cookie Cupcakes

Servings 12

Ingredients

• For the cookie cups:
• 2 packages of break and bake chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough
• For the frosting:
• 2 sticks unsalted butter room temperature
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• For the candy turkeys:
• 12 Oreos
• 12 Mini Reese's
• 1 cup Candy Corn
• 24 googly eyes
• 6 paper straws
• white construction paper and sharpies

Instructions

• To make the cookie cups, remove the refrigerated cookie dough from the fridge and allow to sit for approximately 10 minutes to soften. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a 12-count muffin tin with non-stick spray and set aside.
• Break 3 pieces of cookie dough off at a time and roll into a large ball. Repeat twelve times and place each ball in one muffin tin. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and tops are set. Remove and allow to cool completely.
• While cookies are cooling, make the frosting. Using a stand mixer or electric mixer, beat the butter on high speed for at least 3 minutes. Sift together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder and add to the butter. Beat on medium for about 2 minutes. Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract and increase speed to high and beat for another full 3 minutes. Transfer to a pastry piping bag and cut of a very small piece of the tip, about 1 centimeter. This will be your tip when you're glueing the turkey together.
• To make the candy turkey, un-sandwich the Oreo's and lay the no-cream side face up on a baking sheet. Unwrap the mini Reese's and "glue" the bottom of each one to the bottom half of the Oreo using the frosting. Cover the rest of the Oreo with frosting and arrang about 6 candy corn pieces on the Oreo with the pointed side facing the Reese's to create a fan effect that looks like the turkey's feathers. Using the frosting, glue the googly eyes and cut the white tip off 12 candy corns and put them on with the point facing up right underneath to create the nose. Allow to set 10 minutes.
• Cut a larger piece from the corner of the frosting bag to pipe the frosting on the top of the cookie cups. Swirl enough frosting on top to set the turkeys in. When turkeys are set, angle them slightly and place toward the front of the cookie cup, leaving a little room behind to add the name tag.
• Cut small pieces of construction paper and write the names on each one. Cut the paper straws in half and hot glue the names to the end. Place the other end of the straw in the frosting right behind the turkey.

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We’re sharing these ideas at:  Home Stories A to Z, A Bowl Full of Lemons

The post 11 Valentine’s Day Ideas We Love! appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

Ok I have to come clean and admit that I bought these cupcakes at the bakery department in Safeway store instead of making them myself. Sometimes you just have to cheat! Safeway was  kind enough to refrost these cupcakes with white icing  just the way I wanted. I came home and printed out some scroll hearts, cupid’s arrows, the words “Kiss”, “Love” and “Be Mine”.

Supplies Needed:

• Cupcakes
• Melting chocolate in your desired color.   I chose pink.
• Parchment paper
• Freezer Ziploc Bags
• Printout for tracing
• Wilton Colored Sugar Pearls

I taped my print outs down on my kitchen counter and then covered each one with a sheet of parchment paper.

Next I melted my pink candy melts and put it in a freezer Ziploc bag. Then I cut off a small piece off the tip of the bag. I used a regular sandwich bag first but I didn’t like how the chocolate was coming of the tip. The thickness of the freezer bag gave me more control when tracing with the melted chocolate.

When I started tracing the hearts and words on the parchment paper, I quickly found out that my hands are somewhat shaky!  With a little practice I was able to get some consistent results. If the chocolate was too hot it came out of the bag too fast and made a mess.

If I waited too long it hardened and wouldn’t work. Once my chocolate was melted I put it in my bag and waited 2 to 3 minutes before I began my tracing.

Sometimes just the chocolate in the tip would harden, I  pinched out the hardened chocolate with my fingertips and then kept on tracing.

If the whole bag of chocolate hardened I warmed it up in the microwave, waited 2 to 3 minutes to let it cool a bit and started tracing again.

The traced chocolate hardened within 5-10 minutes, without refrigeration. These toppers are easy to make but very fragile! I made my first set of hearts with a very thin line of chocolate then most of them broke when I tried to push them into the icing on top of my cupcakes. I used a thicker line of chocolate on the second batch and that worked much better! Keep in mind that these are very fragile when choosing your design. The thicker lines hold up much better.

For the final touch I added some soft pink Sugar Pearls from Wilton.

My store bought cupcakes are now a beautiful treat! The best part is I didn’t spend hours making them giving, me more time to enjoy Valentine’s Day. Oh yeah that means……

This Pin Totally Rocks!

Free  Printable                                                                                                         Free Printable

The post Quick Valentine’s Day Idea – DIY Chocolate Cupcake Toppers! appeared first on TGIF - This Grandma is Fun.

Which brings me to my point. Yesterday, I posted instructions on how to make Oreo Turkey Cupcakes.They are perfect for bake sales. Except…bake sales like things to be individually packaged. How would you wrap these goodies without ruining your beautiful gobbler? This idea for a cupcake holder from Home Cooking Memories got my attention, because it uses items that are easy to get a hold of, can be for any holiday depending on the ribbon you use. You will need two clear cups, ribbon and a hole punch. Make sure you use the old kind of hole punch. My more modern looking ergonomic jobbie was not wide enough to fit the plastic rim through the opening of the hole punch. On the edge of each cup at opposite sides, punch a hole near the rim. Run ribbon through the holes and tie on one side. Now carefully place your cupcake in cup. Put the second cup on top and put ribbon through the other side and tie. Now your cupcake is safe for travel and will stay fresh. Perfect for gift giving, bake sales and school parties. How easy is this? Too cute! Eat your heart out DC Cupcakes!

This Pin Rocks!

This is post has been shared at these link parties: Hun, What’s for Dinner, Memories by the Mile, Naptime Creations, Inside BruCrew Life, Mandy’s Recipe Box, SugarBee Crafts, Cupcakes and Crinoline, Chef in Training, BlackBerry Vine, BeBetsy, Homestories A to Z, Cornerstone Confessions, The DIY Dreamer, Made in a Day, Fluster Buster, The NY Melrose Family, And Sew We Craft Together, Cassidy’s Cooking Collection

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Start by baking some mini cupcakes from any flavor of  cake mix you would like.   I chose to make mine from a Yellow Cake Mix.

Next, get your toppings and frosting ready.  I used just regular vanilla canned frosting and added in the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations Flavors.  The blue is Cotton Candy, the pink is Bubble Gum and the light purple is the White Chocolate Raspberry flavor.  I found these flavor packets at Wal-Mart for about $.99 a piece.  Below are the toppings that  I used:

Give your guests or family members some straws or forks to poke into the mini cupcakes and then let them dip away! First into the frosting…

And then into a topping!  The possibilities are endless!

A big shout out to Hoosier Homemade for this great pin that I pinned from them.

Yup.  This pin definitely ROCKS!

Are you looking for some other fun cake ideas?  Took a look at these!

Polka Dot Cake

Kit Kat M&M Cake

Homemade Marshmallow Fondant

It’s a party today with these sites!

The NY Melrose Family – Fluster Buster – Worthing Court – Ducks n a Row – Ivy and Elephants – Buns in my Oven – Lady Behind the Curtain – Adorned from Above – Southern Lovely – Seven Thirty Three – Kitchen Meets Girl

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