Sweet Easter Tweet

Happy Saturday, Sweets!  I just finished up some cupcakes that I'm bringing around to all of our family stops tomorrow, and wanted to share them with you.  I introduce my Easter Chick Cuppies!

I cannot take creative credit for these-- I saw the idea on Paris Pastry and had to try it for tomorrow.

They are super easy and come out so cute!

In case you're wondering, I used a box mix (gasp!!) for these - a Cinnabon swirl cake, and made my own cream cheese frosting to fill the centers and do the decorating.  Here's to hoping they taste as good as the buns in the mall smell!!

Happy Easter!

Kappa Tuesday - Mini Carrot Cupcakes

A couple of my college sorority sisters and I have a great tradition of meeting for dinner, dessert and wine every other Tuesday. We rotate apartments, and rotate duties. Each of the three of us provide one of the three key elements :) This past Tuesday, dinner was pasta with homemade sauce and a garden salad. For wine, we tried Ruffino Chianti, and for dessert, ohhhh dessert, gourmet mini carrot cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting. HEAVEN!

These beauties were leftovers from my friend's Easter dinner. Her aunt, Maura Kilpatrick, is an amazing pastry chef here in Boston, baking up treats at Sofra Bakery, and Oleana. I didn't see carrot cake on the Sofra menu, but if the other items match the quality of these cupcakes, my advice is to RUN THERE and try something!

Friends, wine, cupcakes, mid-week bliss.

(PS - The Bruins just beat the Canadiens in Round 1 of the Playoffs and I am so over-filled with bliss you have no idea. GO BRUINS!!!!)

Easter Dessert at Grammy's

Happy Easter Sunday! I hope that all who celebrated today enjoyed every minute of it. J and I were fortunate to spend today with my family (minus Mom & Dad who are off on a Caribbean cruise celebrating their 25th anniversary, yay!), and we will have an Easter part two next weekend with his family. After an amazing seafood lunch at the Dolphin in Natick, we all went back to my Grammy's house for dessert. The whole house was festive with lots of Easter and spring-time decorations. I love the vintagey look to the bunny above- so cute!

So, let me walk you through the experience known as "Dessert at Grammy's." One thing to know about me is that being a sweet-lover is a classic trait in my family, and I definitely take after my Grammy's taste for dessert. Maybe it was all of our trips to the Belmont Brigham's for coffee ice cream sodas when I was little, maybe it's just in my blood, it's probably both.

Grammy's main dessert (yes, we have main desserts, and side desserts, no matter the occasion) was home-made strawberry shortcake. Grammy baked the biscuits and prepared the strawberries yesterday, and whipped the cream fresh right before we sat down to eat. These.were.amazing. There is nothing better than a 100% homemade strawberry shortcake on a beautiful spring day. The recipes for all three pieces are very easy- if you're interested in seeing them, just leave me a comment and I'll gladly post.

It can't be dessert time at Grammy's without coffee or tea. Today I had coffee. In a NH mug. This is another "thing" about my family, we all LOVE the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Over the years my parents and grandparents have gathered a rather impressive collection of NH-themed goods. It's probably hard for you to go to either house and find a mug that is from somewhere besides New Hampshire or Maine. It's part of the charm, and the fun, to look at a mug, and then talk about all the fun things we've done or seen at that place.

Surprise birthday cakes are not a traditional part of dessert time at Grammys, but they are ALWAYS welcomed, especially by cake-fanatic, Boston Sweetie! To celebrate Grammy's birthday that was last week, my aunt picked up a birthday/Easter cake from one of their favorite bakeries, Ohlin's, in Belmont. This bakery has been there for "eons" (Grammy term) and is one of their favorites. Grammy loves the donuts the most, especially the glazed ones.

My Aunt's favorite thing from Ohlin's are their "Hermits" - ginger cookie bars with raisins. She said she was eyeballing their quiches this morning, but managed to avoid the temptation and left with just this really cute Easter/Birthday cake. She said it was the only one with chocolate frosting; the rest were all white. Important note: Grammy likes gold cake with chocolate frosting best. Other important note: Me too.

I'm pretty sure this was not my first Ohlin's experience, but it was the first one I was really paying attention to. The cake was REALLY good- light, delicate, almost spongy. The frosting was the best part- rather than a chocolately buttercream, this tasted like the chocolate frosting they put on donuts. It was the perfect amount, perfect texture, perfect all around. I was pretty psyched when Grammy packed up two slices for us to take home with us. Remember how I mentioned side desserts? Grammy also offered ice cream and fresh brownies. I was too busy chowing down to take pictures, sorry!

Dessert at Grammy's today concluded with Easter bags! This was a surprise that really made my day. I've been eyeballing Easter candies at the grocery stores and CVS every time I go in, and I have had a mean hankering for a Lindt Bunny. Grammy and my aunt presented J, my sister and I with bags full of the best of the best - Lindt mini lambs, York Peppermint Patties, CADBURY CREAM EGGS, Hershey chocolate eggs, Junior Mints and scratch tickets! We had so much fun picking through and feeling like kids opening up their Easter baskets.

I know it's hard to believe but after all that, all of our plates looked like this- scraped clean. We love our sweets, what can I say! Did you have an insane Easter dessert? Comment below and tell me what sweets made your day!