Apple Shaped Cupcakes for Teacher Appreciation

Make these cute apple shaped cupcakes to show your children’s teachers how much you love them.

 Teachers are my heroes and I love showing them how much we appreciate them.  When my children were younger, my favorite parent volunteer job was being in charge of Teacher Apprecation Week.

I am now the mother of a teacher and have even more appreciation for teachers!  Today I am here to share with you a fun idea to show the teacher’s in your life how much you appreciate them.

Apple cupcakes are easy to make.  You can of course make everything from scratch or you can used a cake mix and canned frosting.   You can use any flavor cake mix you like but I love using a red velvet cake mix for the color.

I made my favorite buttercream frosting and tinted it red.  They are so easy to make the kids will have fun making them for their teachers.

How to Make Apple Shaped Cupcakes

• Bake cupcakes per directions on back of box.
• Use some cute little red and white polka dot cupcake liners.  
• Mix up frosting. Tint with red food coloring.
• Pile on the frosting.  Make the frosting higher in the middle to make it look more like an apple. Make sure the frosting reaches all the way to the edges of the cupcake liner.

• Dip the frosted top into a bowl full of your red sprinkles.

• Use a pretzel stick as your apple stem.

• Create an apple leaf with some spearmint leaves candy cut in half.

Then because it’s all in the presentation, you can package the cupcake in a cute little box and tie it up with some ribbon and your teacher will love it.

Read Full Post »

Elvis Cookies -Peanut Butter, Banana, Bacon, Chocolate and Pretzel Cookies

Peanut Butter, Banana, Bacon and Chocolate Cookies

CourseCookiesPrep Time25 minutesCook Time12 minutesTotal Time37 minutesServings2 dozenAuthorLeigh Anne Wilkes

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 C sugar
• 1/2 C butter softened
• 1/2 C peanut butter crunchy or smooth
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• small pinch of baking powder
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 3/4 C semi sweetchocolate chips
• 3 ounces pretzels smashed (about 1/2 cup pretzel crumbs)
• 10 strips bacon cooked crisp and cut into small pieces.

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a baking sheet or sheets with cooking spray.
• In a big bowl, mix the sugar, butter, peanut butter, molasses, vanilla, baking powder and salt until well combined.
• Add the bananas and make sure they are well mashed and incorporated.
• Add the flour and gently mix until incorporated, with no lumps.
• Fold in the chocolate chips, pretzel pieces and bacon.
• Place balls of cookie dough on a parchment lined baking sheet, about the size of a golf ball. Place the sheet(s) in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
• Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden on the outside. They should still be gooey in the middle Elvis would have liked it that way.
• Remove from baking sheet onto wire cooling rack

Read Full Post »