Archive for March, 2012

May means Mother’s Day, and the way to this mother’s heart is through chocolate!  As much as I love chocolate, though, I’m not a huge fan of chocolate cake. But give me some vanilla cupcakes with chocolate accents, and now we’re talking!  I found this Chocolate Chip Cupcake tasty treat that can easily be adapted in all kinds of fun ways to make moms’ mouths’ water.

Instead of chocolate chips, substitute Snocaps! (non-pareils) You’ll still get that bittersweet bite, but with an added sweet surge from the white candy micro-beads as well.

Or, how about some sweet Sixlets, in any color of the rainbow? Take it one step further and add a splash of your mom’s favorite color with food coloring to your batter and/or icing. Imagine pale pink cupcakes with pink Sixlets in the cupcake as well as in [or on top of] the frosting.

You will need: (for an easy alternative, see below *)

> 3 1/4 cup sifted cake flour (not self-rising)

> 1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

> 1/4 teaspoon salt

> 7 ounce (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

> 1 3/4 cup sugar

> 1 cup + 2 tablespoons milk

> 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

> 5 large egg whites, room temperature

> 2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (Or, use nonpareils or Sixlets)

> Chocolate Chip Icing (Or, use basic vanilla or buttercream icing, and mix in Sixlets or crushed non-pareils in place of chocolate chips)

Directions:

> Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

> Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. In a separate bowl, mix milk and vanilla together. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in three additions, alternating with milk mixture, and ending with dry ingredients.

> Beat egg whites to stiff peaks, and fold into batter. Fold in chocolate chips, Sixlets, or crushed non-pareils. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

> Bake cupcakes 22 minutes or until toothpick test comes out clean. After cooling, frost with icing.  For best results, keep cupcakes in refrigerator until a few minutes before serving.

* If you are in a hurry, hate to bake, and/or are working with children on the project, use a simple white cake boxed cake mix, but add in the non-pareils or Sixlets (and the food coloring, if you choose), and follow the baking directions on the box for cupcakes.

We recently saw a great Rice Krispies commercial with the fabulous suggestion of making moldable Rice Krispie treats into egg shapes, and then stuffing them with Easter candy goodies!  The idea called for tasty Easter M&M’s, but we had a few suggestions of our own:

– How about some pastel Skittles? Pick your favorite Easter colors.

– Not a fan of chocolate? Gummy bears, Swedish fish or Sour Patch Kids may do the trick.

– One of our very favorites is peanut butter, so bring on the Reese’s Pieces, please.

– Tic-tacs will also fit nicely, and are a fresh alternative to traditional Easter candy.

– For the sports-oriented, make larger Krispie eggs and stuff them which chocolate baseballs, soccer balls, basketballs, or footballs. We have them all!

– Of course, you can never go wrong with a long-time favorite, Easter jelly beans!

– Do your loved ones have a sour tooth instead of a sweet one? Nerds are the answer.

– Want to taste the rainbow? Stuff your surprise eggs with Skittles.

Let your imagination run wild, and let the creative ideas flow. Fun and easy project for kids, too! (NOTE: Always be aware of choking hazards.)

Don’t forget to leave a special surprise Krispie egg for the Easter Bunny himself!

Get innovative with this year’s Easter baskets! Our Bunny’s helpers put together a list of easy ideas to make your Easter baskets ones they’ll never forget…

> Do you have a service member in your family? Consider a basket filled exclusively with Made in the USA Easter candy!  From chocolate basketballs to Cella’s chocolate covered cherries, and caramel creams to Clark bars, the Easter Bunny delivers some sweet American pride! Fill basket with red, white and blue basket filler, and you’re all set. (We ship to military PO boxes, if you prefer.)

> Have someone on the list who remembers the “good old days”? We have a huge selection of nostalgic Easter Candy, and even have a pre-assembled nostalgic candy Easter basket!

> Everyone has a favorite color, so why not create an Easter basket that is bursting with that hue? Shop Easter candy by color, and you’re on your way to an impressive presentation they will believe took the bunny hours to put together.

> Do you have a diabetic in the family? We have a sweet solution; easily put together a sugar-free selection with sugar free Easter candy and gum.

> If you have a loved one like we do (Candy Pam) who doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, go for a snack food Easter basket. The Easter Bunny will prove he appreciates the sweet and the salty tastes of his good little boys and girls. (Great for college students, too!)

We just love the fresh feeling of renewal that comes along with the Easter holiday, and we can’t help smiling happily that it’s another candy-coated holiday, too! We’ve been so busy helping the Easter bunny stock up on all his goodies for his Easter morning candy hop that we just seem to have forgotten how hungry we are for an Easter-themed dessert! Easter is tasted best with a bit of indulgence on top, and we searched the Internet over (okay, FoodNetwork.com), for the very best vanilla cupcake and buttercream icing recipe. We of course added our own BlairCandy.com twist to it – complete with Reeses Easter eggs and all 😉

The Easter Bunny’s Favorite Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes

Courtesy of:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/saras-secrets/magnolias-vanilla-cupcake-recipe/index.html

Yields 24 cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients:

• Easter-themed muffin cups
• 1.5 cups self-rising flour
• 1.25 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks softened, unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Icing Ingredients:

• 2 sticks softened, unsalted butter
• 6 to 8 cups confectioners’ sugar
• ½ cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extra
• Gel icing in pastel Easter colors
• Your favorite Easter candy varieties to top it off!

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. While you’re waiting for the oven to pre-heat, tell the following Easter joke:

Q: How did the eggs leave the highway?

A: They went through the “Eggs-it”!

2. Line two, 12-capacity muffin tins with the Easter-themed muffin cups.

3. Combine the flours in a small bowl.

4. In a separate large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to blend the butter until smooth and creamy. Slowly add the sugar, and beat about three minutes, until it has more of a fluffy consistency – like the Easter Bunny’s tail! Then, add the eggs one at a time, continuing to blend after each is added. Start adding the dry cupcake ingredients, alternating between the milk and vanilla. Beat until well blended.

5. Once blended, use a rubber spatula and spoon to fill the Easter-themed cupcake liners with your batter mixture, so that they’re each about ¾ full.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until you can insert a toothpick in and it comes out clean.

7. While you’re waiting for the cupcakes to finish baking, whip up your Extraordinary Easter Icing!

8. Place the 2 sticks of butter in a large bowl, and then add 4 cups of sugar, milk, and vanilla. Use an electric mixer on medium and mix until creamy, around 3-5 minutes. Start adding the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the icing is up to par and can be spread easily on the cupcake.

9. Add a few drops of the Easter-themed gel icing to your buttercream mixture. You can even separate the mixture at this point into a few small bowls, and add different Easter-themed gel icing colors to each bowl!

10. Make sure the buttercream is safely guarded from the Easter Bunny, or it’ll be gone in the flash of a hare!

11. Once the cupcakes are completely cool, start icing them. Top them off with your most scrumptious Easter candies – think Mike and Ike Jelly Beans, Reeses Easter Eggs, Cadbury Mini Easter Crème Eggs, oh, the list is endless!

The Easter Bunny is licking his lips over these “egg-celent” Easter Cupcakes, with Easter candy yumminess on top. Our Blair Candy staff is ready to take a little break from stocking our shelves full of bags and bags of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans, and is happy to take a bite out of these vanilla cupcakes – before the Easter Bunny hops away with them!