30 Day Challenge! Day 1

I've been keeping up with my friend Mrs. A's 30 day challenge and now another friend is doing one over on Butterball Happenings is also doing one so I'm jumping in. Today will be the first post of my 30 day challenge!

About Mrs. T:

I grew up in a super small town with 6 brothers and 1 sister. My parents are separated but still live in a close vicinity of each other which is convenient for us! I really loved growing up with a large family and extended family. I truly believe that it takes a village to raise a child because I was raised by one!
I moved out of my Mom's house when I was 17 to go to school in "the big city" which was pretty thrilling for me. I absolutely loved college but found it really difficult to juggle full time classes, life and full time work. Eventually work won out and I have been lucky enough to work for 3 great companies since I stopped going to school. I've also been really fortunate in finding some great mentors that have really taken care of me in my career, including my current boss.

I met Mr. T through my roommates (and his best friends) in 2004 for a brief second and then sort of "re-met" him the following year at my BFF N's birthday party. N was trying to fix up Mr. T and another mutual friend. Luckily for me that plan didn't work and Mr. T and I started dating in the Spring of 2005. Unluckily for me Mr. T and I started dating two weeks after he was accepted at an out of state university. So began our two year long distance relationship after only four months of dating. The only thing I can say for long distance dating is that your communication skills will be EXCELLENT afterwards and its a great test of trust. I couldn't have done it if I didn't have complete faith in Mr. T. Mr. T graduated in May of 2007 and moved home. He proposed in December of 2007 in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland (one of the pictures is in my header). We were married and moved in together in May of 2008.

Bretta, our bull dog, was born October 1 of 2008 and we adopted her December 13 of 2008.

 10 weeks old

So far marriage has been very similar and very different than I thought it would be. Two years later I can say that I am very happily married to a wonderful man and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

As far as interests go I'm pretty eclectic. I love baking (obviously) and crafts. Next month I will be learning to sew and quilt on a machine and I am really looking forward to that. I love babies and kids in general, I can't wait until Mr. T and I can start adding to our family with human kids. I love weddings and everything that goes into them, I used to want to own my own bridal shop. We'll see if that wish ever comes true. I love music and dancing, my taste is pretty eclectic from Country to Rap, R & B, Classical, Alternative, 80's hair bands and even some Disco.

I love where we live but I do miss my family a lot. I would love to live closer to home so that I could see my siblings, their kids, and my parents more often. Two of my best friends (N and my HLM Maddy) also still live in our home town so that makes it hard to be so far away!

I think that just about covers it. Let me know if I missed anything ;)

Couldn't resist one more picture of Baby Bretta. 

Mimosa Cupcakes

I found these delicious cupcakes one day while browsing the nest for decorating ideas.
These are my favorite cupcakes I have made this year, and if you're counting I've made 17 other cupcakes up until now.
I LOVE Mimosas. Our love story began when I was living with my HLM, Maddy, and watching Desperate Housewives every Sunday before our school and work weeks began. We decided that we needed to up our classy factor since most of the time we were sitting on a twin bed that we turned into a couch and wearing our pajamas that looked nothing like the scimpy lingerie that Gabby was wearing every Sunday. Mimosas became our Sunday evening tradition.
I was pretty skeptical of this recipe but was more than willing to try it. First of all, how could a cupcake ever be as good as a cupcake? Second of all, it was found on a random newly-wed website, who knows where they get these from?! I am happy to say that all of my doubts were never confirmed. This cupcake was a moist citrusy-champagne taste of Heaven. As a point of reference, Mr. T's co-workers would now like me to bake both these and the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes that started my cupcake insanity so that they can do a side by side comparison.

You'll want to start with a sweet champagne, it can be an inexpensive bottle.

Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form

The Batter

This recipe yields around 20, I got 22.

I figured that it would only be appropriate to drink a mimosa while baking mimosa cupcakes...

I would recommend making this recipe in the winter when it's easier to find ripe oranges, like in your backyard if you're me.

Brush the still-warm cupcakes with champagne for an extra kick of flavor.

Making the orange curd

Champagne Buttercream Frosting, aka the Mother of all Buttercreams

I refridgerated the orange-curd for a little extra to make it stand up a bit better.

Don't mind the dab of chocolate cupcake batter that got onto one of them.... Ooops

It was a pretty hot day, the buttercream doesn't like the heat.

Pretty pink sparkles to distract the eye from the melting frosting and orange curd.

I love people that let me put pictures of them eating on this blog :) Thanks Holly

You'd look like this if you got ignored every Saturday night and didn't even get to try a cupcake for your suffering.

Mini Cheesecake Cupcakes and the Proposal

I've been looking forward to trying these ever since I laid my eyes on the recipe last December. The only reason I hadn't made these earlier is due to my cupboard's lack of extra large cupcake tin. Finally I was able to remember it on a shopping trip and picked one up at Target. The only problem? They don't sell liners for their extra-large cupcake tin, and neither does anyone else! So I had to improvise. You can use parchment paper, cut into large squares, your cupcakes will just look a little funny. And we all know that I'm not opposed to funny looking cupcakes.

I made these cupcakes while visiting my brother J and his (at the time) girlfriend A with my Mom, youngest brother K and his girlfriend, also K.

It was a very important weekend. The mimosas were flowing.

That's a glass of the finest champagne we could find right there. I believe it had "duck" in the title.

Vanilla Cheesecake Crunch-Top Cupcakes 
found in The (now famous) Cupcake Deck

Egg, Egg Yolk and Sugar. I don't know why I wasn't using an electric mixer like the recipe calls for...

Sifted dry ingredients

I don't know how I got sideways, but this is the filling. Cream Cheese, Sugar and egg.

Fresh out of the oven. Notice the improvised parchment paper liners.

Delicious!

In honor of my making cupcakes my brother J thought it would be a good time to propose.

Oh, you think he had planned it before I mentioned cheesecake?

Okay, maybe you're right. It probably took him a little time to find that beautiful ring...

Even the dogs were excited.

Well, all the dogs except Bretta. She had to stay home that weekend.

Congratulations you two. Love you both. 

Mostly because you let me take pictures of you in sage brush.

Strawberry shortcake cupcakes

To celebrate the season opening of our favorite Strawberry patch I had to make some kind of cupcake involving Strawberries. I hit the jack pot when I found this one in the cupcake deck.

I read through the recipe (as always) prior to making these and thought that it looked pretty straight-forward, and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about over making sponge cake. Well let me tell you, it's kind of a bitch. Maybe it was my circumstances: trying to make them mini, and not having the proper tools for the job (specifically jumbo cupcake liners) but these were by far my most interesting project. Even when I've gotten the recipe wrong, or over baked, cupcakes before they have never come out so.... Disappointing. Sponge cake is Mr. T's favorite and I think that fact is the only thing that kept him from realizing that my sponge cake was sub par. Or maybe it was the heaping spoon fulls of strawberries and whipped cream... Don't tell him okay?

Even if they did turn out less than fabulous in my opinion, the flavor was good. Mr. T will be taking the remaining cupcakes that he doesn't eat to work tomorrow to get a real reading, I'll update this post after I get some feedback. In the mean time, see for yourself:

Strawberry Short Cake Cupcakes from the Cupcake Deck

you'll need 8 cups of strawberries, cleaned, de-stemmed and sliced

start by beating the eggs and sugar

and then adding the dry ingredients, followed by the warmed milk

I couldn't find extra large muffin tin liners in my town, so instead I improvised by cutting squares of parchment paper. It worked out pretty well.

this recipe was supposed to yield 12 extra large cupcakes.

the actual yield was 10 and I probably could have used a regular sized muffin tin.

Here's where it got a little worrisome:

notice the color and consistency as compared to the next shot

this is from the same bowl as above.

The ingredients had settled while I prepped the cups, I ended up with my vanilla and almond oil sitting in the bottom of my bowl. Luckily, the taste turned out the same in each batch. *phew!* The batter is very thin, definitely be sure to mix well and often!

Now for the fun part, the whipped cream.

Mix until firm peaks form.

I was pretty happy with how the cream turned out at least!

Et Voila- not exactly picture perfect but not the worst I've done right?

We took Bretta to the "dog beach" for the first time. I don't know who had more fun, her or us.

Patriotic Cupcakes with blueberries, raspberries and fresh whipped cream!

Since we are swiftly approaching the celebration of our nation's independence I thought I would take advantage of the Cupcake Deck's red, white, and blueberry cupcakes. (You'll remember my most recent endeavor from the cupcake deck: White Mountain Chocolate Cupcakes)
A direct quote from one of my tasters: "This could be your best cupcake yet Mrs. T"
I could stand to hear that a few more times and if you would like to, you should make this for your 4th of July BBQ!

What I really loved about these is that they were quick and simple to make, so if you do make these for a party you'll still have plenty of time to prep your other food. Because the frosting is whipped cream I gave the cupcakes extra time to cool, bringing my time from start to finish to about two and a half hours.


Red, White, and Blueberry Cupcakes
Makes 12 Cupcakes (seriously this time!)
Oven @ 350F
For the cupcakes:
1/3 cup fresh blueberries
1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder (not soda)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (or 1 stick) of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites, at room temperature also *side note- what do you do with the extra yolks?*
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup fresh raspberries

For the topping:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1/3 cup fresh blueberries

Put the blueberries (washed, of course) in a small bowl and stir them gently with 1 tbsp of the flour; set aside. Sift the remaining 1 cup plus 3 tbsp of flour, the baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Beat in the egg whites in two additions, mixing until smoothly blended. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat for 2 minutes. The batter should look smooth but foamy. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the milk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold the blueberries and raspberries into the batter.

Fill each paper liner with 1/4 cup of batter, to about 1/2 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the top feels firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and set them on the rack to cool completely.

For the topping:
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla until firm peaks form. (Queen Helen was at home so I had to rep the $7 Long's Proctor Silex hand mixer. What up!)

Use a small spatula (or whatever you have) to spread a generous 3 generous tablespoons of whipped cream evenly over the top of each cupcake. Gently spoon (or hand place, I found that easier) several raspberries and blueberries over the whipped cream. Refrigerate and serve cold. <-- Very important!

We took B over to my in-laws' last night. They have a cat, named cat, that Bretta has seen several times through the glass door but never in a face to face situation.
As you can see, she doesn't quite understand why she can bark at the cat through the glass door.

You can also see that the cat could care less about her at this point, he's just bitter that she's in his house and he's forced to eat outside.

Happy fourth of July everyone! Don't forget to thank a soldier!