Vanilla Easter Cupcakes

I wanted to make something yummy for my grandchildren the other day, and since Easter is only a few days away, I thought cupcakes would be a good idea. The kids were thrilled with these, not just by their taste, but how festive they look, too.

These cupcakes are vanilla, and one of my favorite, basic recipes that I turn to over and over again. The buttercream frosting is a favorite too, sweet and creamy. I tinted the frosting with food coloring in pink and green, and the M&M's are Easter Pastel.

I love being the kind of grandmother who makes treats for her grandchildren. It makes me far happier than it makes them, I think, because they have no sense of time passing and I do. They just know that it's a great afternoon because Nana made treats, but I know this is a day I will remember, and a day that I hope they will.

Recipe for Vanilla Easter Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup sugar

6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 whole egg plus 1 egg white, at room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together the sugar and butter on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add the egg and egg white one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the milk in 2 additions, beating until just combined; scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat just until no traces of flour remain, about 30 seconds; do not overbeat.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full. Bake until the cupcakes are lightly golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting Ingredients:

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

8 Tbs. (1 sticks) unsalted butter

2 1/2 Tbs. milk, plus more, if needed

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. salt

Food colorings

 

Directions:

 

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, or using a hand mixer, combine the confectioners sugar, butter, the 2 1/2 Tbs. milk, the vanilla and salt and beat on low speed until combined, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

If the frosting is dry, add more milk, 1 tsp. at a time, until it is creamy but still holds peaks. Tint with food coloring as desired, and frost and decorate cupcakes.

 

Makes 12 cupcakes.

 

Easter Book Review: Lollipop Seeds That Sprout for Kind Deeds and Giveaway #sponsored

We have many traditions in my home when it comes to holidays throughout the year. We are very loyal to our traditions but do allow for new traditions to be added to make the holiday even more special. This year we learned about a book that tells a cute little story about how the Easter Bunny learns of a tradition long forgotten where the Easter Bunny brings special lollipop seeds that sprout when your child does kind deeds.

The book is colorfully illustrated and a fun way to teach children about doing good for others. My son enjoyed the story. He loved that the Easter Bunny had brothers, sisters and a Grandma in this story. I thought it was cute that they live on the East Pole where it is always Spring.

The last page of the book has room to write the year and the kind deed that was done by your family.

According to legend, the tradition of Lollipop Seeds goes back hundreds of years.  But, it was only recently re-discovered by the Easter Bunny when he asked his Grandma about the meaning behind other Easter traditions like eggs and candy.

Once the Easter Bunny learned of the Lollipop Seeds tradition, he couldn’t wait to hop on it and start delivering them to kids everywhere.

The magic of the seeds lies in the heart of the child who plants them.  They sprout into lollipops on Easter morning, not by water or sun, but by kindness instead.

After reading the book I talked to my 4 year old about what we could do as a kind deed to make our lollipop seeds grow. He had a few ideas, mainly ones about animals but he did say we could grow strawberries and share with Grammy ( his grandma that lives in CA). I thought that counted as a kind deed, to grow a plant with fruit to help feed someone he loves. We made a wish of happy thoughts and tossed our lollipop seeds into the dirt in the yard. The seeds are not for eating, they will grown into flowers, my son and I bought a strawberry plant to plant for the kind deed.

We had fun reading the book, planning a kind deed and sprinkling our lollipop seeds. I know next year we will do the same. I love to encourage my son to do kind deeds for others and this book is a great tool to start the conversation of helping others.

The book includes two Lollipop Seed packs and plant markers.

GIVEAWAY

To celebrate Easter and to encourage others to do kind deeds we will be hosting a giveaway for a copy of the book Lollipop Seeds That Sprout for Kind Deeds by Cherri Prince and illustrated by Marco Bester.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts April 10, 2014 and ends on April 17, 2014 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent a product to review for this post.

Gymboree Review and $50 Giveaway - Shopping for Easter/Spring #sponsored

 

Spring is here and with that comes all of the great Spring/Summer clothes! Gymboree has some great Spring and Easter clothes at 30% off, along with great sales throughout the entire store. I love seeing the trending colors and styles out for the season. We visited our local Gymboree and picked out our Spring and Easter clothes!

Gymboree has lots of great sales like 30% off the Easter line and a lot of $20 little girls dresses. Not to mention the clearance rack had a ton of steals! I got my oldest some shirts, pants and sweaters at more than half off. I love a good sale!

Here are my children all dressed up in their new Gymboree clothes, but getting a picture of all of them together is almost impossible!

I love the all turquoise this season, I took one look at the bright colors along with the clean lines and I was hooked. The boys got matching shirts (one is a size 6-7 and the other is a 3-4) at 30% off and my daughters sweet dress was on sale for only $20! Notice the hair barrettes in Ashley's hair? They also came from Gymboree, a simple clip that looks like I put a lot of effort into it. Perfect. I love dressing my children up in bright happy clothing for the Spring and Gymboree was the perfect place to shop for them!

You too can shop the latest styles at Gymboree, enter to win a $50 gift card to Gymboree!


GIVEAWAY



a Rafflecopter giveaway

 *Limited to US residents 18 years old and above. Giveaway starts April 4, 2014 and ends on April 17, 2014 at 12:01 am EST. Winner will be emailed and has 72 hours to respond before another winner is selected. I was not paid for this giveaway or post. The opinions on this item are 100% mine and may vary from others. The sponsor is responsible for providing the prize. I was sent a product to review for this post.

Easter Egg Rice Krispies Treats!!

Easter Egg Rice Krispie Treats!!

The ingredients: All of the standard rice krispies treat ingredients (on the back of the marshmallow package) plus food coloring and plastic Easter eggs.

 Four bowls with the different food coloring added. We chose all the colors red, yellow, blue and green for ours.

Divided the krispie mix between the bowls, stirred them to get the food coloring mixed in really well.

Once they cooled off I let the boys help me fill the eggs. Not pictured was the olive oil spray I used to coat the inside of the Easter eggs so the gooey cereal wouldn't stick to the insides. It worked really well!

My boys hard at work :)

So simple, so fun and a great way to get the boys involved in making this special Easter treat!!

WONKA Easter Candy Review

When I think of Easter candy I think of Jellybeans and Chocolate. Growing up the we knew we could count on getting some sort of chocolate and tons of jellybeans in our baskets! I want my kids to associate the Easter Bunny with the same, memories and traditions are what make us a family.

We make a lot of cupcakes at our house so I whipped up thesee sweet little "nest" cupcake and I topped the "nest" with WONKA Nerds Bumpy Jelly Beans. Nerd Jellybeans sounded weird to me but they really do taste great, I am a huge fan of Nerds so this was a great way to in-cooperate the two! Crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle. Yum.

Are you still looking or needing to get your Easter candy for Sunday? If so I recommend anything the WONKA brand makes! There are so many choices out there but with their Butterfinger or Crunchy Bunny you can't go wrong. What about the NEW WONKA Laffy Taffy Jelly Beans...they are awesome and taste just like Laffy Taffy we expect.

And lastly do you have those "big kids" who are always finding the eggs first and feel like you can never hide them good enough? WONKA makes a Hard2Find Egg Hunt assortment. They are camouflage to look like concrete, grass or bark. What a great idea!! So if you like me and you have not finished your Easter shopping check out all of these great candy ideas.

Shari's Berries Gift Basket Review

Easter is almost here! We are getting so excited around our house. We are getting treats ready for next weekend and making sure all the gifts are being sent out. I like to buy gifts online so the items are sent directly to the recipient, no shipping for me. Have you purchased all your items yet? You can buy Easter Candy and Chocolate at Shari's Berries. Not only do they have delicious chocolate covered strawberries but they also have everything you need for Easter Candy and other gift baskets.

My husband is not a huge chocolate fan and my mother in law cannot eat chocolate so I always make sure to have other items like fruit and salty snacks to go around. I love the idea of a gift basket with fresh fruit in it. So many times during holidays that involve lots of candy I want to have healthy treats for my son as well.

We ordered the Special Treasures Gift Basket for Easter. I was happy to see the variety of items in the basket. I know my husband will enjoy the nuts and my son and mother in law the fruit.

• Cinnamon Almonds (3 oz.)
• Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds (3 oz.)
• Honey Roasted Peanuts (3 oz.)
• Butter Toffee Pecans (3 oz.)
• Demitasse Petit Fours
• Olive Oil/Sea Salt Crackers (2 oz.)
• Wisconsin Cheddar Cheese Round (4 oz.)
• 2 Comice or D'Anjou Pears
• 2 Red Sensation Pears
• 4 Fuji Apples

He declared all the fruit and the peanuts were his! 

The Demitasse Petit Fours were delicious. Tiny little cakes packed full of flavor and sweetness. I would definitely order another gift basket for a birthday or holiday from Shari's Berries. We LOVE their berries and I am glad to know they have the same quality to their other items. 

They have many cute Easter options and oh the chocolate options! They all look delicious. 

There are online coupons you can use for Shari's Berries HERE.

*I was sent the products mentioned above for my review. This is not a paid post.

Personal Creations Easter Gifts Review

Easter is on it way! Time has been flying by but in a good way. Each year that goes by I love the little things about holidays more and more. The small details like a personalized items on a gift make me smile. Items for my son with his name on it are things I treasure since I know one day he will grow up and those types of things will not be "cool". So for now I will indulge in my need to have cute little personal touches on items.

For Easter this year I knew we needed a personalized basket. The few Easters we have had as parents have been so fun. This year we want to go to a big Easter egg hunt in our neighborhood and him having his name on his basket will ensure no other little bunnies will try to claim his basket.

The Personalized Easter Basket from Personal Creations is the basket we selected. It comes with free candy inside and you can pick from pink, blue or green. When the basket arrived I was pleased with the stitching and the value of the candy we received. There was even a little plush bunny included.

Another great gift is a personalized family photo frame. Everyone loves a reason to be able to share pictures of their cute kids right?!? We ordered a nice frame that says Family Live Love Laugh and our last name. I was a bit surprised that the family name part was written up into the part that reads Live Love Laugh. The picture of the item did not do that. Most people it would not bother but small details like that catch my eye. It just needs to be written a tad lower. But I am sure they could fix that through customer service.

The "T" is over the LIVE part and the "H" into the E in love.

 Here is the picture of the stock photo:

Personal Creations has so many cute items. I spent hours looking at all the gift ideas they have. I saw kitchen items, baby stuff and more frames that I would love to have in my home. I think the personal touches to the items make great gifts for any home.




There are online coupons you can use at if you go to http://www.PERSONALCREATIONS.com/coupon-codes.aspx 

*I was sent the products mentioned above for my review. This is not a paid post.