Hummingbird Cupcakes with Dried Pineapple Flowers

(please excuse the iphone quality photo)

As I was baking these beauties on a late-night whim

and talking to my sister on the phone,

she exclaimed- "Hummingbird cupcakes?! That sounds gross!"

Well, have no fear ladies and gents.

No hummingbirds were harmed in the making of these cakes!

I made these for one of my students' 18th birthday

and since not all of my students are chocoholics like me

I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to test out this cake in cupcake form!

In the past, I've used this recipe from Southern Living and it received rave reviews

(but unfortunately both times I made it, I didn't get to try it!)

But this time I turned to my trusted source for all things delicious- Annie's Eats

The cake is deliciously moist

with bursts of refreshing banana and pineapple flavor 

and a perfect creamy cream cheese frosting.

It's perfect for celebrating spring time

and would also make a lovely addition at any bridal or baby shower!

What You'll Need:

For the cupcakes:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
11 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1¼ tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe banana
2/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted 

For the frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese
5 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; whisk together and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, vanilla, and sugar and beat until blended and smooth.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Mix in the mashed banana.  With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Gently fold in the pineapple and nuts with a spatula until evenly mixed.

Divide the batter between the prepared liners, filling each about ¾ full.  Bake for 20-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool in the pans 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Beat on medium-high speed until well combined and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until totally incorporated, increase the speed and then beat until smooth.  Frost cooled cupcakes as desired. 

Note- I made half of the cake recipe and the whole frosting recipe. If you love frosting as much as I do, you might increase your frosting recipe a little!

Now, the pineapple flower garnish is completely edible 

(pretty delish actually) and super simple to make!

Mine don't look too stellar because I did not leave myself enough time to let them set...  but even without being perfect they added a lot to the presentation of the cupcakes!

What You'll Need:

a fresh pineapple

What To Do:

• Cut the top and bottom off of the pineapple, using a large knife. 
• Slicing down, cut off the rind of the pineapple leaving just the fruit. 
• Pop out any remaining seeds or peel.
• Slice the remaining fruit into very thin rounds. (This is definitely the hardest part!)

• Lay rounds onto a baking sheet (line with parchment paper or a baking mat if desired) and bake at 225 for 30 minutes. Flip rounds a bake for another 30 minutes. 

• Watch the fruit carefully so it doesn't burn! It will be ready when the edges brown and they have dried out almost completely. 

• Set each piece in the round of a muffin tin to help it form a flower shape. They may need to sit for several hours to retain the shape. ( I skipped this step due to time restriants)
• Top your frosted cupcakes with a dried pineapple flower for added flair! 

Handmade Christmas Gift Idea #2: Infinity Jersey Scarf

If you thought the ruffle scarf was a simple T shirt project, check this out!

You'll need:

1 XL T shirt (or larger)

scissors

Cut the bottom hem off of the shirt completely. 

Cut across the T shirt, under the sleeves, leaving you with large loop of T shirt fabric (and a very tacky cut off shirt ;) )

Then, stretch the fabric! I stepped on the inside of the loop and pulled up. You can also loop it around a door knob and pull. After you stretch, you have a jersey infinity scarf. The rough edges curl in and won't fray. 

Wear it in one large loop

Or double loop it! 

So easy. 

T shirts 4/$10 at JoAnn's. 

Perfect accessory in so many colors!

Step by Step tutorial here. 

P.S. Lots of new items on the Etsy Store! Check them out here!

Handmade Christmas Gift Idea #1: Ruffled Jersey Scarf

I found this idea on Pinterest and 

I'm sure if you're a pinner, you've seen it. 

Well over Thanksgiving, my mother, sister and I 

all made scarves and wore them in our family photos. 

They took maybe thirty minutes each to make, 

(but we were watching football so we were a little distracted) 

involved no sewing and turned out really cute!

You'll need:
1 XL T-shirt (or larger)
Good scissors
fabric glue (optional)

Begin by cutting large circles from the T shirt. 

We used a paper plate as a guide. 

Don't worry if you have rough edges 

or if your circles aren't perfect. 

It won't matter later!

From the outside, cut a spiral in the circle, 

maintaining about the same width as you go. 

Gently pull on the two ends of the spiral to stretch the fabric slightly 

(but be careful because I ripped one of mine by stretching it too hard)

It forms a long ruffle!

The end which was the center of the circle will be

 more tightly ruffled than the outside.

Depending on your T shirt, you should be able to cut 8-12 circles.

Secure them together by tying a strip of t shirt fabric around the center with a knot

Or secure with fabric glue

Wear with your favorite fall/winter outfit for a cutesy pop of color!

We got our T shirts at JoAnn's for $2.50 each.

You could also upcycle old T shirts that you don't wear anymore.

Even if they have print on them, use several to make a multicolored ruffle scarf.

I did just that to make a gameday scarf for next football season!

This is definitely going to be a gift for my three roommates this year.

And at $2.50 each?

It might be a gift for all my aunts and cousins as well!

Have you attempted T shirt scarves? How did yours turn out?

Make-Your-Own-Pizza Party!

This past weekend, my student ministry's girls 

had a sleepover and we had sooo much fun!

The first thing we did when we all arrived was to make personal sized pizzas.

I'm going to share what we did because it was awesome

AND it'd be so easy to replicate for 

birthday parties

or dinner parties

or really any kind of social gathering!

We had:

• pizza dough
• red sauce (the HEB brand in a can)
• white sauce (alfredo sauce in a jar)
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• pepperoni
• bacon
• spinach
• mushrooms
• olives
• caramelized onions
• sliced tomatoes
• green bell pepper
• pineapple 
• grated Parmesan cheese

I used this recipe for the dough and made it the day before. 

It made enough for eight girls, 

and most of us didn't finish our pizzas.

(Although that may have been because we were 

scarfing down guacamole while they were in the oven.)

But if you have big appetites, adjust accordingly.

Or use naan instead and save yourself the trouble. 

Need gluten free? Use corn tortillas.

You can also forgo sauce and just brush with olive oil.

So much versatility!

The day before, I sliced the bell pepper, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

I caramelized the onions, baked the bacon and tore it into small pieces, 

and shredded some mozzarella cheese

Then I put everything in cute little containers .

It would have been even better if I'd made little matching labels

but that didn't happen. 

The girls loved it!

We sprinkled some olive oil on each pan before 

and let everyone roll out their own crust- thin, thick or stuffed crust 

and then create their own masterpiece.

Check out some of our pizza creations:

Jadzia's margherita pizza- it came out tasty!

 Yalani's was piled with pineapple!

 Bella and Mercedes made one monster pizza with everything on it.

 Olivia made a smiley face with olives.

Our host generously ran to Wal-Mart and bought several of these cute pizza baking sheets! I'm pretty sure they were under $2 each and were perfect for our project. They cool down really quickly out of the oven too!

We baked them at 400 for about fifteen-twenty minutes 

(thicker ones took longer).

I think next time I'd turn it up to 450 

and turn the broiler on for the last few minutes.

You could also throw them on the grill- 

perfect for summery get-togethers.

After baking:

the margherita pizza

 My half and half- one side white sauce with spinach, mushrooms and onions, 

one side red sauce with tomatoes, pepperoni, bacon and olives!

It was a fabulous night of:

movies and snuggling with puppies

experiments with nail polish

And fun facials

 

(photo cropped to protect green-faced students :) )