Pretty Paper Blog

AKA: “The Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting” post.  Or the “I am a cheater post”.

Sometimes cheating can be good.

I know, I know usually nothing about cheating is good but let me explain.

I made these delicious cupcakes using a box of Duncan Heinz Devil’s Food Cake Mix.

Seriously.  I’m a cheater.

I could have used my Grandmother’s Chocolate Cake recipe to make these decadent cupcakes but I did not.  Or maybe I did use my Grandmother’s recipe and I just don’t want to share it. No, that’s not the case,  I’m a cheater not a liar.  I used a cake mix.

I did, however, make HOMEMADE frosting.  Homemade frosting can make any “cake mix” cupcake taste like heaven.  Especially when you make Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.

Go ahead.  Try to tell me that you don’t want to buy yourself a box of Duncan Heinz cake mix and bake up some cupcakes right now. Go ahead. Try.

You know want cupcakes right now.

OK, not only am I a cheater today but apparently I’m a cupcake pusher too.

It’s alright, you can blame me for the cupcake envy you’re feeling right as well.

Just in case you want to cross over to the dark side with me, here is the recipe for…

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/4 cup butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 box confectioner’s sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 Tbsp milk

Have a wonderful day!

Love your friend, Christie (the dirty rotten cheater)

Here’s some of the project, food and family photos I should have blogged during the busy Christmas season but didn’t.  Better late than never, right?

I made the little circle box above with my beloved Graphic 45 paper.  I just cut, covered and used Mod Podge to seal it.  I added the little glittered flower with hot glue to top it off and then filled it with Chocolate from our local Sweet Shop.

Here’s another Layout I put in a shadow box as a Christmas Gift:

A closer look at the flowers:

My cousin Alyssa made this adorable teeny tiny little manger scene out of modeling clay:

I wish that I had better photos of the details…here’s a couple that turned out halfway decent:

The Wisemen

And here’s the Angel (My finger is in the photo, just so you can see how tiny these little figures are).

Izabelle and I made cinnamon rolls for our friends and neighbors this year.  We delivered them on Christmas Eve.  It was fun to do something different (we usually make cookies).

We left some of these delicious devils out for Santa.  He liked them.

Here’s a little peek at the kids on Christmas morning:

And of course, Marley, he was so happy with his enormous raw hide bone.

I think I am pretty much caught up now…I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and you have a fabulous New Year!

I’ve just landed on Santa’s Naughty List!  I couldn’t help myself, S’mores aren’t just a camping treat anymore. S’mores are the I’ve-Been-So-Busy-All-I-Can-Do-Is-Think-Of-Chocolate Treat!

Oh, you know you want to be naughty with me.

If you do want one of these delectable Not-So-Camping S’mores, all you have to do is stick some Hershey’s Bar and a marshmallow on top of half a graham cracker.  Then, heat your mini tower under your broiler for less than 2 minutes. Afterward, stick the other half of the graham cracker on top of your melty creation and squish it (that’s the fun part).

Congratulations, you have now made a Totally-Indulgent-Guilt-Ridden-Treat!  It’s OK, you’re in my boat now and we’re going down together.

BEWARE: The chocolate may just be so melty that it lands smake dab in the middle of your shirt. At this point the S’more Treat becomes the I-Just-Ruined-My-Shirt-With-A-Chocolate-Stain Treat.

I totally didn’t get melty chocolate on my shirt.

Alright, alright I did…but it’s just between me and you, K?

Naughty, naughty.

I’m taking a little “Pretty Paper” break this weekend and posting about my other favorite thing, COOKIES.

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I’ve baked the “Original Recipe” on the back of the Toll House Morsel bag for years now.  So much in fact, that I like to switch it up a bit.

About 7 years ago I started adding “Skor Bits” to the recipe.  It made REALLY TASTY toffee cookies.  Then after a few years of making the Skor Bits cookies, I could no longer find the Skor Bits in any grocery store so I switched to the Heath Bar English Toffee Bits (Just as good, I just prefer Skor over Heath).   But I didn’t stop there;  Still using the Toll House recipe I added the huge Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips, White Chocolate Melties and Heath Bar English Toffee Bits (I know sacrilege, so sorry Toll House).

Now that’s a cookie you can sink your teeth into. Definitely NOT a low-cal cookie, but oh, it’s gooooood!

Stay tuned, over the next couple months, if you’re lucky, I might just share my Grandma Crabtree’s Rice Krispie Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe and My Mom’s Soft Frosted Sugar Cookie recipe.

It’s FALL people!  Time to start baking & crafting!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Love, Christie

These are delicious right out of the oven:

And if you like them steaming hot…they’re even more delicious with butter:

This recipe is also perfect for those mini loaf pans.  It makes a fantastic holiday gift.

This recipe made 20 cupcakes + 4 mini loaf pans.

As promised, a recipe for DELICIOUS Pumpkin Muffins:

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins (or bread)

3 cups flour

5 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2  teaspoons salt

3 cups sugar

1 (15oz.) can pumpkin

4 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup orange juice

1 cup cranberries (I used craisens)

Preheat oven to 350

grease and flour pans (I just used paper cupcake holders)

In large bowl mix together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt

In large mixing bowl combine sugar, pumpkin, eggs, oil, and orange juice and beat until just blended - and pumpkin mix to flour mixture, stir until JUST moistened. Fold in cranberries.  Spoon batter into pans.

Bake for 30-35 minutes

Cool completely on a wire rack.

Note:  For the mini loafs, I cooled the oven to 325 and baked them for 65-70 minutes.

Enjoy!

Love, Christie

We heart cupcakes!  Izabelle wanted to make some Red, White and Blue Cupcakes for the 4th of July.  My first thought:  I’m going to have to use A LOT of food coloring to make red and blue frosting.  Then, inspiration hit.  While at the store I had picked up some raspberries and blueberries - perfect. 

I cheated a little on the cake (thank you Betty Crocker) but Belle and I made homemade cream cheese frosting.  Yum - so good with those berries!  Did I say Yum?  YUM!

Our family went to a party at a friend’s house to celebrate.  This kids had fun playing in the water and eating carnitas.  The best part of the party for Izabelle and Parker was the fact that they got to keep the flags that had been placed all over their yard! 

We drove to the fairgrounds to watch the fireworks.  Well, not exactly the fairgrounds…we parked behind the Costco right next to the fairground (along with half the town).  We ended up with the best seats ever! Although, we almost left at 10:30 pm (the kids were tired, OK I  was tired) but we decided to wait it out .

 The fireworks did not go off until almost 11pm - the kids had fun with their glow sticks (and fighting over the blanket) while they waited. 

I am always amazed at how beautiful fireworks are.  This year our family decided that the green and purple fireworks were the loudest.  And the white fireworks with the second explosion on the end were the prettiest.

I hope you all had a fun a safe fourth!

…thank you so much for reading and commenting on my blog!  It is so much fun to share life’s little details with all of you…I can’t believe you all are actually interested in viewing my projects (and my life for that matter…since I can’t help but share that too).  I appreciate your comments and all the “blog love” and hope you keep coming back to visit!

In other random news…

Orange Crush is my all time favorite soda.  I’ve always enjoyed a good soda, I admit I’m kinda a Pepsi girl too.   That is I was a Pepsi girl until about 2 minutes ago when I read THIS.  Now, Readers beware…if you click on the word “THIS” above you will most likely be shocked into never drinking soda again.  I’ve officially sworn it off myself…goodbye beloved Orange Crush.  *sniff* 

P.S.  - Enter to win, for details click HERE.

I first met Sandra Sage while scrapbooking at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique.  My Mother and I sat at the table next to her and chatted all day long.  Sandra just happened to be catering the “All Day Crop” we were enjoying so much.  We learned about the restaurant Sandra used to own, her catering business, the Memory Books she makes for her elderly friends and most of all her daughters and grandchildren.  Sandra’s food was amazing and my Mom and I begged her for recipes!  That is when we learned about her Cook Book.  At that time it had not been released yet but she did jot down our addresses so that she could inform us when it was published. 

Less than a year later I received a beautiful invitation to her book signing.  My Mom received one also and called me at once!  I was taking a night class at the time and had to miss the book signing but my Mother and Sister went.  They told stories afterwards of how beautiful the tables were, how wonderful the food was and how touched they were when they listened to Sandra talk about her book. 

My Mom purchased my signed copy of the book and then held on to it for a couple of weeks (I think she was trying to torture me a little).  When I finally got my hands on the book the anticipation was so great that I had to starting reading right away. 

Sandra’s Cook Book is not only full of fabulous recipes, the first half of it is made up of her personal stories.  Sandra talks about her life’s journeys and inspiration while paying tribute to those she has served and have touched her life.  I mush admit, I didn’t get through very many pages without being touched to the point of tears.   While reading her book I felt an overwhelming need to serve love to my family.  I started serving our dinners at the table again, no more meals in front of the television.  I was amazed at how much my children responded to this.  Dinner time has become such a treasured time of closeness and conversation for me and my family.  Sandra reminded me how important that family time is.

Soon after I got my hands on Sandra’s book my family left on a trip to Idaho to stay with my parents.  I took “Love on a Plate” with me and read it cover to cover.  I felt an immediate bond to Sandra through the love of her Grandmother.  My relationship with my own Grandmother (Louise Crabtree) is so similar, I almost felt as though she was telling my story. 

I have had the oportunity to get to know Sandra because of our similar interest in Scrapbooking.  I’ve been blessed to spend time with her, talk to her about her book and witness her acts of selflessness and kindness. 

Over the weekend Sandra catered my brother’s wedding.  The tables were gorgeous, the presentation of the food was breathtaking and the food was incredible!  Best of all…I took pictures!

You asked for it…Seriously people, this is the BEST cake ever!  It smells WONDERFUL when it is baking.  This recipe is a treasure from the kitchen of my Grandma Louise Hobbs Crabtree.  Enjoy! 

Banana Cake with Lemon Buttercream Frosting

The Cake:

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees

1/2 cup shortening

1-1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups flour, sifted

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

Beat shortening, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.  Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt.  Add sour cream to batter, then add flour mixture alternatley with mashed bananas; beating at low speed until blended.  Batter will be thick.  Pour into greased 9×13 pan.  Bake for aprox 35 minutes. 

When the cake is cooled completely, make THE FROSTING!

Lemon buttercream frosting:

1/2 cup butter or marg. softened

1 box powdered sugar (not sure how many ounces…I use the blue C&H box)

1 tsp. vanilla extract (you can’t leave this out…it’s MAKES the cake!)

1 tsp. lemon extract

2-4 Tablespoons of milk.

Beat together with electric mixer adding milk slowly until the frosting is the consistancy you prefer.  I usually start with very little milk and add a little as needed.  Spread this lovely frosting over the cake and take a bite!  Mmmm mmmm  yummm mmmm  ohhhh  good!

It’s 10:15 pm and I just took these banana cupcakes out of the oven.   I used my Grandma Crabtree’s recipe…mmm mmm my favorite!  I love the smell of banana cake baking…it takes me back to when I was just a little girl, the smell reminds me of my Grandmother, she always had something baking.

This is the first time I’ve used her recipe to make cupcakes.  I’m participating in Relay for LIfe this weekend and tomorrow we’re having a bake sale.  I thought it would be fun to make cupcakes instead of cutting apart the cake into individual slices…I can’t wait to put the frosting on…they just need to cool off a little more.  Yum!

I actually get to visit with my Grandparents this weekend (driving from Provo, UT)…they’re coming out here to California for my brother’s wedding.  Yep…a Wedding, Relay for Life, and I have my cousin, her husband and their five kids staying at my house this weekend, they’re flying out from Salt Lake.  I’m not busy at all…really…

I hope you all have a wonderful day.  Don’t forget to enter to win my T. Collins Mini Album (click HERE for deatils).  You may comment on any post you chose and I will enter your name in the drawing!