Choclate Marshmallow Cupcakes

Start with a regular Devils Food Cake Mix and a Milk Chocolate pre made frosting jar.. I know I know... not from scratch, but trust me will be worth it.

You will also need 7 oz of marshmallow Cream (Fluff) 3/4 cup of powdered confectioners sugar, 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening, 1/2 tsp vanilla & 1/2 tsp salt.



Mix & bake cupcakes as directed on box.
When finished baking, allow to cool 5 minutes.

While cooling mix the marshmallow cream, powdered sugar, shortening, vanilla and salt. Then spoon into a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip.

Mix the chocolate frosting and also spoon into a pastry bag fitted
with a large open tip.

Using a wooden spoon, puncture the center of each cupcake to make a hole.

Fill with the marshmallow frosting.

Creatively decorate the tops with the marshmallow and chocolate frosting in a pattern of your choice. I chose spirals.




I also piped some white chocolate letters for to nite and placed them on top.

Serve leftovers loosely covered.

Happy New Year all, no matter what you do, be safe.

Congrats to My Ghoul Friday

not only is she a very talented artisian, but her work has been showcased on page 14 of the January/February issue of Rue Morgue Magazine in their Needful Things section. You can visit Ghoul Friday on her blog or browse her items for sale in her Etsy Shop... But act fast if you see something in her shop that belongs in your own personal needful things collection get it now before she is bombarded with orders.

Congrats again.. wickedly excited for you!

Image borrowed from My Ghoul Friday

Formation

even without a sleigh my version of reindeer hold their positions.. even in sleep.


Meet the boxer trio in our family.

Voodoo

Lola

Dempsy

The smell of Christmas Morning

in our house is almost always a Sausage Braid. My family requests this recipe every year, and usually I pair it with a nice crab quiche, or peach stuffed baked french toast, but this year Elaina got to choose the sidekick... see below...

SAUSAGE BRAID RECIPE

2- 8 oz cans of crescent rolls pressed together to form a pastry sheet on a parchment lined baking pan.
2 rolls bulk sausage
1/2 cup diced green pepper (can also mix it up using orange, red and yellow if you like)
1/2 cup diced celery
2 cloves garlic minced
1 cup sweet onion diced.
6 oz cubed cream cheese
1 beaten egg
handful of shredded cheddar cheese.

Preheat oven to 375

line pan with parchment

unroll and press crescent rolls to form pastry sheet

using a sharp knife cut slits along the long sides of the sheet towards the middle about 2 inches long to create the "braid" pieces

meanwhile in a large skillet cook the sausage, peppers, onion, celery and garlic until meat no longer pink

drain well

mix in the cream cheese and stir until melted.

spoon down center of pastry

bring "braid" slits up and over the top

brush with egg and sprinkle with cheddar
(you will notice mine went on the inside this year... I had a 9 yr old helper)

bake 20-25 minutes or until top browned.

Use a Pizza Slicer to slice, Serve warm



This Elaina Mae requested Mrs. Claus's Blueberry Muffins.


Ok so I wimped out. But I must say they were not all that bad. I would make a couple of changes to the recipe such as add the milk a little at a time, we used Fresh blue's this am, and the batter was a bit too runny for my liking so the muffins didn't hold their puffy form when removed from the oven they sunk back down into their cups as they cooled.

Merry Christmas Eve

the first photo with Santa with both of my children since Elaina was born... PRICELESS

Christmas Eve confections.

Lemon Cheesecake with Fresh Raspberries and a Vanilla Custard Topping.

Butter Peacan cuppy's with Apricot Filling

Triple Stuffed Pumpkin Roll

Ambrosia Cheese Ball with Vanilla Nips.

It's official

Dempsey has outgrown his bed....

No not really, this is NOT Dempsey's bed.. It is the Kitty Kup...
Apparently Dempsey thought he needed to warm it up for master Oliver first.
Or else he just has a "little dog trapped in a big dog body" issue going on...


either way, I thought it would give you a giggle...

All of the Usual Suspects

Were rounded up today for this time of the year....

The eggs were not happy they had to be so close to the cocoa powder,
and the brown and powdered sugars were in constant disagreement as to which one was more popular...

at the end, everyone's personalities blended well-
even Peanut got into the brawl and we had a very productive snow day.

A Cheep Date

Under $10 this Merlot was a little bitey at first, but after a little air and the companionshiop of my witch stocking spider web stems... it panned out just nicely...Found it at the Big Bird... aka Giant Eagle for any of you wondering where to pick up a bottle or two or three...VOGA Italian Wine.

Dedication

Vendell has not abandoned his post.

Even with the 8 plus inches of snow, he stands vigil guarding my 9 year old's froggie pond.

Only in the mind of...

my child...


I downloaded photos today from the craft fair that I worked yesterday for my Scentsy Business. In the middle of the photos.. I found this one.. a single photo.. of party of my daughters breakfast... When I asked her about it, her response was.. "these were some of the prettiest blueberries I have ever eaten, I wanted to remember them forever" I heart her.

I think I am on...

some kind of crazy energy boost. Call it a fire lit underneath my broom or an internal panic that if I don't get it done another holiday is going to be gone before I know it. I managed to get a second tree up in the mud room last night.

If you look closely you will notice that all of the stemware hanging all have signature Halloween tags on them... And my prized possessions my hand painted web and witch stocking glasses. They stay out all year. And yes, I use them all year too!

This one, to appease the sprog-lets and my co-maker of the sprog-lets is much more "traditional". In color, style and decoration choice. I wasn't going for a theme other than ice blue and white, but I realized after it was done, it in fact has a wee bit of a theme.

Yes I am sadly aware that the bottom of the wine cabinet is empty. I am all out of reds at the moment. Hold on let me rephrase, I am all out of reds that I am willing to have on display to share at the moment...( I know that is very stingy of me)
Nothing my trip to my favorite winery in the area will not cure over the weekend.

A not so flattering night shot. I really couldn't get a good shot as my current "it must have more lights than the Times Square ball that drops on New Year's Eve" syndrome.

Stars, Sticks & Sparkle adorn the top of this little treasure.

Here is the heart of this tree. Not tucked in the middle, not on the right side, but none the less she is the focus. Her gown is made from thick paper that has been folded, wrinkled, pressed, and repeated over and over again to give the feel of fabric. Nestled in her grasp our my first daughters Tiny 20 weeker footprints.
Miss Gabrielle Elizabeth is celebrating her 12th Christmas in Heaven this year.
Angel wings for a tiny Angel Baby.

A partridge without her pear tree.

There are a lot of "wings" in this tree. Hummingbirds, Doves, Angel Wings, Dragonflies, and this lovely Feathered Swan. Very graceful and dainty.. Every year I pull her out of her resting box I am delightfully tickled that she has weathered another year.

No tree would be complete without a hooter or two. This little guy is only about 2 inches tall and perched with a watchful set of eyes. Might I just add too that I LOVED owls long before the Potter series elevated their appeal. I guess I could convince myself this is a Halloween decoration on a Christmas Tree. Even if him is snow white and not pitch black with red eyes.

A sprinkling of Blown glass Dragonfly's dance playfully through the tree. I have always had a fascination with them, and they have a new special meaning now that my daughter attends Dragonfly Academy.

Not sure what project I will get into next. I really really wanted to paint the powder room now that I have finally picked out a set of colors, only to find out that colors I selected are no longer stock colors and would need to be computer matched to mix... Apparently someone in the paint department had no clue that it was going to take me 2 months to decide on two shades of gray.

Reluctantly

I finally managed to put away the few Halloween decorations that I had scattered around the new house this year making way for the erection of "the tree". Everything about it seems totally wrong. I know I need to just suck it up and move on, but my internal clock is all catywompus. I think I am in mourning. There was just total unfinished this year for me. I am grieving the loss of Halloween.

Now don't get me wrong I lived vicariously through my Halloween Blog guru's Bean, Rot & Chris just to name a few. I oooe'd and awwww'd over the vast updated blogs, and posts by friends old and new. I squealed with delight as the projects came to completion all the while working on my visions of grandeur. But then to pack it all up and move it without using it, has crushed me.

My business has kept me semi occupied, but it is days like today choosing not to venture out in the first "real snow" when I have downtime that it hits the most. Wrapping up the wooden pumpkins and placing them in their crypts for the next 200 or so days was very difficult but needed to be done.. after all it is December already.




So I was half tempted to decorate the tree with all Halloween decor.. but I lost the vote 3:1. I realized that while I share an amazing love for Halloween with my spouse and my children, that somewhere I went terribly wrong on the path that they have chosen anything other than Halloween to decorate their Christmas tree.

However, I lost the war but not the battle. I might not have gotten Halloween decor, but I got Halloween color! Thats right! I went with an exotic theme to match the family room. Tones of copper and Black. It isn't quite finished, but it is a good start.