Post-Holiday Humbug

I’ve literally sat in front of my laptop trying to write a blog for three hours.  The problem wasn’t getting my thoughts from my brain to my fingers and then onto the screen; it was getting them organized and well written.  You see, I’m a perfectionist and I know it well.  I love to write, always have, but I’ve always written and rewritten; often times rewriting FULL paragraphs if one word or sentence wasn’t just right.  It’s a bad habit to have and over the years I’ve been working on it and getting better at it.  College has helped me break that habit but here I sit, writing another blog after three hours and eight previous paragraphs.

This time, well, this time I know what I’m doing; I’m saving my previous ideas in my brain to form fully and be used later.  Since the winter blues haven’t quiet set in yet, I feel like the weird funk people are feeling is the “Post-Holiday Humbugs.”  For this blog, for now at least, we’re going light-hearted and yummy!

Every year, my mom and I make and decorate cupcakes on either Christmas Eve Eve or Christmas Eve.  They are then placed onto a decorative plate and we deliver them on Christmas Eve to my mom’s aunt’s house for her Christmas Eve dinner.  This year was my turn to take the lead on the project and with the help of PINTEREST, I was able to find the perfect cupcake idea. Surprisingly, we had all of the ingredients except one and that was no big deal.  The idea was pinned by the brilliant mind behind WithSprinklesOnTop : Annie.  Reindeer Cupcakes! I’ve documented my experience below! Read, Eat, Enjoy!

BAKE:  For the cupcake itself, I used a butter vanilla cake mix from a box and simply followed the baking directions for cupcakes. We had some cute Christmas themed cupcake papers with Santa on so I thought the Rudolph cupcakes would look adorable with them.

ICING: While you can find recipes in old cook books or else online, we had two cans of ready-made Chocolate Fudge icing.  I simply took a gallon Ziploc bag, placed one of the sealed ends into a large cup and folded the opening over the rim of the cup to make and open pouch.  I scooped the icing into the bag and sealed it. When I pulled it out of the cup, it looked like a piping bag (I have real piping bags but I didn’t feel like cleaning them :P). All I had to do was snip the tip of the icing filled bag and pipe the icing onto the cupcakes.

SNOUT:  Nilla Wafers were then placed onto the freshly iced cupcakes on the lower section of the cupcake tops.

RED NOSE: Small amounts of the icing were placed on top of and near the centers of the wafers.  A red candy coated chocolate candy was then placed on top of the small icing blob.

ANTLERS: Original, mini, pretzels were placed on the upper half of the icing, leaving enough room for the eyeballs between the antlers and snout.

EYES: While you could simply use white icing or white candy coated chocolate candies, we used mini marshmallows! We cut each of the marshmallows in half and placed the cut sides face-down on the icing between the antlers and snout. Using the remainder fudge icing, we piped tiny dots onto each of the eyes for pupils.

Like I said above, most were placed onto decorative, plastic, trays and plates before being delivered to my mom’s aunt’s house and a few other places but the remainder went into my handy cupcake carrier and taken to church on Christmas day.  The kids, and even some adults, LOVED these yummy treats! So now you know how to do these reindeer cupcakes and although Christmas is over, you now have an idea for next year, or even a Christmas in July party.

Well, that’s it for now. Read, Eat, Enjoy! God Bless and Happy New Year!

About lifeandacookie

I am a twenty-something who started blogging on xanga way back when and started lifeandacookie when I left the residential program at Liberty University and began the journey on recovery from a major car accident and being an online student. Even with a visual disability known as Uveitis and the many other struggles God's used to grow me, I graduated college in May 2014 and am now sharing my struggles and story to help other young people know that they are not alone and that no matter how the world makes you feel, God IS in control. NOT I BUT CHRIST.

View all posts by lifeandacookie →