Lemon Raspberry and Almond Joy Cupcakes

So here's a story. Once upon a time there was a girl name Kristen (that's me!). Kristen had a best friend named Kiersten (yes it's confusing at times). Kiersten was getting married very soon and Kristen wanted to throw Kiersten and awesome bridal shower. After much thinking, Kristen decided to do a surprise bridal shower :) Kristen didn't really think about how bad she was about keeping secrets, so the next month was a challenge for her. Finally though the day arrived. Kiersten was surprised, we ate ridiculously good lemon raspberry and Almond Joy cupcakes that Kristen made, opened some fun presents, and had a surprise Chip 'n Dale show for everyone that Kristen thought of and her good friend, Thaddeus arranged for her :) Pretty much this was the best bridal shower that any of the guests, including Kristen and Kiersten had been too, so Kristen was pretty pleased with herself :) The end! Enjoy some pics.

 The raspberry frosting was super runny, so I think I'm going to try to adjust it a little in the near future. Just so you know :)

 The game Key Lime Pie is a must at these events :)

 Here come the strippers :)

 Mormon style, of course. 

Cupcake Maddness

Happy Birthday, Chaliece!! For her birthday I made some delicious cupcakes that turned out really pretty! I was super excited to use my new piping set and am very pleased with the turn-out :D

Applesauce Chocolate Chip Cookies

What a freakin AWESOME weekend!! Holy cow, so fun. Wanna hear about it? :) 

K, so Friday, Ben and I got to go and spend the day in St. George after classes! We visited my amazing family, went to the fastest temple trip ever (those baptistery workers let no time waste!), then went to the amazingly, fantastically, and wondrously delicious Sweet Tooth Fairy for some heavenly cupcakes! Ya. I will own one of those (or my own shop like it) one day. 

Saturday, boyfriend, friends, and I wanted to go make breakfast at Ben's grandparent's lot up the canyon. Well, it was freakishly rainy yesterday, so when we got up there, of course all the wood was soaking wet, so a fire was impossible to make haha

 But that didn't stop us from enjoying the absolutely gorgeous fall leaves and weather up there :)

 

  But we were still all starving, so we went back to mine and Kiersten's house and made a great breakfast with eggs, hash browns, blueberry Belgian waffles, sourdough bread w/ nuttela (drooooool. SO good.), and orange juice :)

 

 And what a better way to work off that filling breakfast than with some Just Dance 3??

  After a great Saturday Stake Conference session, there was a party in our house haha It was sweet! So Kiersten and I had already decided we would cheat our Friday rule, so a few friends and I made Applesauce Chocolate Chip cookies! Holy flippin bananas. These are so good. And they make so many!!!! It was awesome :) 

 What were the rest of the bajillion people in our house doing? Learning freakin legit line dances from this crazy good dancer, Thaddeus. If only pictures could capture exactly how awesome this dudes dancing skills are!

See? I told you it was a great weekend :) 

Behold: The Cinnamon Streusel Muffin

So my little sister, Sarah and I had the house to ourselves tonight. We had nothing planned, it was Friday, so what do we do? Make something delicious of course ;) I found this recipe in this book and HAD to try it as soon as I could. We most definitely were NOT disappointed. I actually think I did a little dance when I had my first taste ;)

Streusel topping:

asdf 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

3 TBS really cold butter

Muffin recipe:

2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar

1 TBS baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c milk

1/2 c melted butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 beaten egg

Heat oven to 400 degrees with oven rack in middle. Lightly spray12 cups in a standard muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. (I just used the paper muffin cups) 

Stresual Topping:

Combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until resembles coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces. 

Muffins:

Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in center of the flour by pushing ingredients out toward sides of bowl. 

Combine milk, melted butter, vanilla, and egg in a medium bowl. Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture, and stir only until the flour is moistened even thought the batter is not smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl.

Divide batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them about 2/3 full. Sprinkle about 1 TBS of streusel over each muffin.

Bake 18-20 min or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a couple of muffins comes out dry. Cool slightly and remove from the pan.

Run a small metal spatula around edge of each muffin to loosen it, and lift gently from the pan. Serve muffins warm with butter or jam.