Sugar Swings! Serve Some: January 2015

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Homemade Super Bowl Team Bracelets Made from Assorted Candies


The Big Game is right around the corner so root for your favorite team by "sporting" some candy bracelets.  They are simple to make and in case you're not a huge football fan you can just make bracelets in any way you like.  


Who do you think will win this year? The Seattle Seahawks or the New England Patriots??

See my kiddos' prediction and the How To for these fun bracelets here at sheknows!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Cupcakes Made with Rainbow Carrots



Hey Peeps! Sharing a really easy and yummy cupcake with you guys today.  You know how I love rainbows right?? Well I was at Trader Joe's the other day and found these cool Carrots of Many Colors!  Yup, rainbow carrots!! (Insert huge Squeee!) 


They come in a 2 pound bag for only 2 bucks and they're organic too.  Can't beat that.  AND did I mention the colors?? I roasted them for dinner one nite with a little honey drizzle at the end. So.Darn.Yummy.  

I had to do something with the rest so decided to shred them up and make some carrot cupcakes (or you can call them carrot muffins, whatev you prefer).  I love love (love!) the colors.  Orange, red, yellow, purple.  The purple one is actually yellow inside.  How fun is that?


And the batter for these mixes up so quickly.  You can be done in about 1/2 hour with everything!


Although not needed at all, you can add a little dollop of your fav frosting (I added a little coconut buttercream I had in the fridge).  To add even a little more color to these cupcakes I also added a little shredded green zucchini and some sweetened coconut to the mix.  

See all the fun rainbow specs inside?!


And of course I had to add a little carrot heart on top!


Calling it my first Valentines Day treat! V-Day treats don't always need to be pink and red, right?!  

Have a great week everyone!

Cupcakes Made with Rainbow Carrots (recipe adapted from Epicurious Carrot Cake)

Ingredients: 
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour 
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 3 cups of shredded rainbow carrots
  • 1/2 cup of shredded zucchini (optional)
  • 1 Tablespoon of shredded sweetened coconut (optional)
For Cupcakes:
    1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    2. Add flour to a bowl and add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice.
    3. Add brown sugar to mixing bowl and add/mix in one egg at a time until well incorporated.
    4. Add flour mixture, 1 cup at a time to the sugar/egg mixture until just incorporated.
    5. Stir in the carrot, zucchini, coconut.
    6. Fill cupcake tin/liners 2/3 way full and bake for 10 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
    7. Eat! (You can also add a dollop of your favorite frosting, but it's really not needed!)

    Sunday, January 11, 2015

    Cereal Snowmen made from Mini Wheats & Marshmallow Trees



    Happy New Year Peeps! Hard to believe it's now 2015, but I can tell its definitely Winter.   How? Well because it's SO.COLD.OUTSIDE!  Commuting into NYC in this weather is not so fun.  It's that painful cold where you can't move your fingers in a few minutes.  I think I'm gonna officially start my countdown to Spring - 67 days!



    But in the meantime I made some snowmen.  A little army of snowmen made from cereal.  Mini Wheat cereal to be more specific and as if mini was not small enough the fun folks at Kelloggs made Little Bites Mini Wheats that are half the size of Mini Wheats! They made mini minis!  Thank you Kelloggs people.  

    OK I know they might look a little like penguins, so feel free to call them Snow Penguins.
    You guys know anything mini works for me so I had to scoop up a box.


    The snowmen are made by "gluing" the mini wheats together with some melted vanilla chips/melting wafers.  To get them to stand, add a blob of melted candy to parchment paper and while still wet, add the snowman.  Once the candy hardens they will be sturdy and stand on their own. 


    Their scarves are made from fruit flavored Tootsie Rolls.  To make them, microwave a Tootsie Roll for 5 seconds (to make it flexible) then roll candy flat.  With a knife or pizza cutter, cut out strips for the scarves.  Trim the ends to make it look more scarf-like!


    Noses are a candy coated sunflower seed.  I use Sunny Seeds because they are so tasty!  Snowman eyes and buttons are different sized black sprinkles.  I also added little marshmallow trees for some extra wintery scenery.  They are just made by stacking star shaped marshmallows on top of each other and adding a yellow star sprinkle (also glued with melted vanilla candy wafers).


    Enjoy them on their own or add them to cupcakes! Hopefully they make enduring this bitter cold a little bit easier.

    Again happy happy New Year and have an awesome week!


    Sunday, January 4, 2015

    Rainbow Candy Cane Topped Sugar Cookie Cake and Cake Bites


    Hello 2015!! Did you have an awesome New Years?? We had a great time away this year on a ski/snowboard vacation up in Maine.  My twins are now 7 and my oldest kiddo is 10 so trips are very much easier now then when they were younger when eating, sleeping, and pooping consumed pretty much everything. We are trying to enjoy every second with them before they don't want to hang out with us all the time.  I still take a moment when they call me mommy - it's so rare these days.   Mostly they yell "MOM" at the top of their lungs because they need or misplaced something, so being called mommy is a little present to me these days.  

    And speaking of little presents, here's another little one for you all.  A sugar cookie cake topped with lots of crushed candy canes!  You know how you are always left with a boatload of candy canes after the holiday season? Well use them up in some fun treats.


    Top a sugar cookie cake with homemade vanilla buttercream frosting and a rainbow of candy cane colors.


    See the How To over at SheKnows here!

    AND

    If you have leftover crushed candy canes (like I did!) you can coat some cake bites with them.


    These are super easy because its just the cake bite/ball mixture (I used chocolate cake for this) rolled into balls then coated in the crushed candy canes.  No dipping in candy melting wafers.  Well you could, but that's my least favorite part of making cake bites so I skipped that step.  The candy cane was plenty to give it a little crunch and additional texture.


    Happy 2015 to you all, thanks for swinging by and can't wait to see what the new year brings!