Vanilla cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream

After all of the candy I made for the Holidays I reallyyyy couldn't wait to get back in the kitchen wanted some time off. The past few weeks have been a nice break! I defnitely enjoyed not having to come home and clean the kitchen every night after work. I also needed to focus on my new calorie-counting regimen with My Fitness Pal app - one of those resolutions for the new year...

Now that my break is over - I was so happy to get back in the kitchen tonight and return to baking. Just needed to make a dozen cupcakes and I decided on the Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes recipe from Glorious Treats. I absolutely LOVE Glorious Treats! She is always making something beautiful and tasty - always with a lovely tutorial us newbies to follow as well.

The thing with trying a new recipe or altering a recipe that you have used in the past...you have to TASTE it to make sure tastes alright. A few swipes of icing here and there - I'm sure the calories were adding up but do I have to tell My Fitness pal? *sigh*

They turned out delicious! Here they are drizzled with a little caramel sauce.

The Caramel Buttercream is based off of a recipe from my Grandmother. I just changed a few things...

Salted Caramel Buttercream:
(makes enough to ice 16-18 cupcakes)

1 stick Butter
4 1/2 Tbsps (light) Brown Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
4-5 Tbsps Half and Half to smooth

Powdered Sugar
Kosher Salt

Melt 1/2 stick of butter with the brown sugar in a sauce pan on the stove on medium high. Once the two have come to a boil slowly add the vanilla and about 1 1/2- 2 Tbsps of Half and Half. (Milk or heavy cream would work as well.)

Once the items are melted together in the sauce pan, turn the burner off. In my mixing bowl, I started with 3/4 - 1 cup of powdered sugar and added the brown sugar mixture with the mixer on low. Once those ingredients were mixed together I wanted a fluffier texture so I added another 4 Tbps, one at a time, of room temperature butter. I continued mixing on medium and adding additional powdered sugar and half and half until I reached the consistency that I liked. (I used about 2 - 2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar and about 3 Tbsps of half and half.) I also added about 3 pinches of Kosher salt  - but again, this can be left out of the recipe or just added to your desired taste.

I also drizzled a little caramel sauce on top. If you would like a little bit of additional salt flavor and a crunch - they would probably be great with a little bit of crumbled pretzel added on top as well!

The cute cupcake liners were a gift I received, purchase from Sur La Table.

Delicious from every angle!

Enjoy! :)

Holiday baking and candy-making

I hope you had a break from your usual routine and had a chance to enjoy the Holidays. I had a chance to take a little time off to spend with family. I was also busy making cakes and candies though for all these family visits too! There is no way I can show up empty-handed or I could be in danger. :-P I had to take a day off of work to ensure I had time to get candy made for some Christmas gifts.

A family tradition each year are Ohio State Buckeye Candies...the perfect combination of chocolate and peanut butter. Here is a quick picture after dipping them and then another after I started to cover up the hole left by the toothpick.

Another candy I like to make and gift each year is Peppermint Bark! A quick and easy recipe and it is always a big hit. I found the recipe in a Martha Stewart book. The recipe is still available on her website here.

I also make puppy chow each year - I think that is MY favorite. Another favorite is a simple snack - peanut butter crackers - but then dipped in white chocolate, yum!

Here is a mix of all the candies together.

This year, at the request of my niece, cake pops were added to the mix. I used a spice cake with cream cheese icing.

I love the holidays and all the baking that comes with it, but now I need to get back on the treadmill to burn some of the calories from all the puppy chow I've eaten. :)

Happy Baking!