Checking more things off my list!!

I made two varieties of cupcakes for the holiday potluck we went to. I actually had decided to make two flavors so that I could send some to some good friends in the Midwest that we miss hanging out with. I got rave reviews when I did that for some family member’s birthdays a couple months ago AND this will help me to start to mark another item off my list. One of the things on my list is to send baked goods to friends or family members at least three times in the next 6 months.

I did hear that everyone’s cupcakes stuck to the lid when they opened the jars. In an effort to fix that problem, I placed a piece of waxed paper between the frosting and the lid. I just used the lid as a stencil to cut the paper. I’m hoping that will help prevent the frosting from pulling half of the cupcake off when the lid is opened.

I sent them two of the chocolate peppermint cupcakes, and two spice cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting. For the chocolate cupcakes, I decided that Swiss meringue buttercream probably wasn’t stable enough for traveling. I decided to use up the leftover white chocolate cream cheese frosting. I added some peppermint extract and again added red stripes. As you can see in the picture, the food coloring “sticks” to cream cheese frosting much better than it does to Swiss meringue buttercream. Of course that makes sense. The buttercream is very slippery. These stripes are very intense, but I like them!

1 Order Denver trip plane tix by 12/31 (finished 12/20)
2 Order Europe trip plane tix
3 Start kitchen remodel
4 Make creme brulee
5 Work out 3x/wk for 6 wks (one / two / three / four / five / six)
6 Eat no french fries for a month (and I LOVE french fries)
7 Read my D40 manual, and start applying what I’m learning from it – started
8 Finish the major craft project I started 2 years ago
9 Go to a dr about my wrist
10 Send baked goods to family/friends (one sent 12/27 / two / three) – started
11 Read 1 book/month (Jan / Feb / Mar / Apr / May / June)
12 Learn to ski
13 Plan/Host a girls night (in or out)
13.5 Send at least 5 birthday cards (one / two / three / four / five)