A Fun Week!

Our kids were off from school this week for Winter break. Who gets a break? It's been a fun one. We started off with my birthday earlier this week. My husband gave me the day off from laundry and kitchen duty. He even made me a special dinner. My daughter made these really good cupcakes for dessert. She loves to bake. They were so good I have to share the recipe.

This recipe is from Kitchen Aid - Great Baking and More

Cappuccino Fudge Cupcakes

1/2 C (1 stick) butter, softened

1 1/2 C sugar

3 eggs

3/4 C milk

1 T plus 2 teaspoons instant espresso or coffee granules

1 3/4 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Coffee cream (recipe follows)

Fudge Sauce (recipe follows)

Place butter in mixing bowl. Attach bowl and flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 6 and gradually add sugar, beating about 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Turn to Speed 4 and add eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition. Stop and scrape bowl. Dissolve instant espresso in milk. Set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Turn to Stir Speed and add a third of the flour mixture alternately with half of the milk mixture, mixing 15 seconds after each addition.

Spoon batter into 8 greased and floured custard cups (we filled 12 muffin cups). Place cups on baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Remove from custard cups and cool on wire rack. Top with Coffee Cream and serve with Fudge Sauce.

Coffee Cream

1 1/2 C heavy cream

1/4 C sugar

1 1/2 t instant espresso or coffee granules

Combine cream, sugar, and espresso in mixer bowl. Attach bowl and wire whip to mixer. Turn to Speed 8 and whip cream until stiff.

Fudge Sauce

4 squares (1 ounce each) semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 C whipping cream

1/2 t ground cinnamon

Place chocolate, cream, and cinnamon in small saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is combined. Enjoy!

We've been trying to do something with the kids each day (of course working around their social calender). Yesterday we saw Mall Cop. One of those silly but funny movies. Today with the weather so mild and around 50 degrees. We took a ride to the beach and walked to the Fire Island lighthouse. It's about 1/2 mile to the lighthouse. We then climbed 192 steps to get to the very top. I didn't think I would make it! Here are some pics I took along the way. It was so nice to see the deer so close up. They are not startled by people at all!