Hey you Cupcake! Convo Hearts & Cinnamon Buttercream Recipe

Starting to get the warm & cozy feeling of Valentine's around here so I wanted to start to share recipes & ideas to inspire & help you!

One of my favorite things to do is have conversation with the old time Valentine Candy favorites the Convo Hearts.  Here is a little convo & a cinnamon buttercream recipe to make with your favorite chocolate cupcake!

I.....

To Make this recipe!   

1 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon (more if you would like)

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 tablespoon of vegetable shortening ( if you want to sub the shortening add ¼ stick of butter)

Cream butter and shortening or just the butter very well

Add 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract & a pinch of salt (I use Kosher)

Mix together

Adding the Sugar:

Total of 4 cups or 1 pound

Some recipes call for you to sift the sugar, I don’t find that necessary. What I do is~ pour the sugar into a mixing bowl 1^st to loosen it up. 

Add the sugar to the butter 1 cup at a time on Medium Speed

After you are done it should be crumbly a bit and big chucks of sugar and butter~

Next the cream~

Add 2-3 tablespoons to start.  Again this is where buttercream becomes personal to me with the texture of it.  Mix again on medium until you get the desire of flavor and texture you want.  Only add 1 tablespoon additional at time to reach it. 

{TIP: if you add to much cream, just add more powder sugar.  But again a little at a time}

I used Penzey's Spices Ceylon Cinnamon because it is less strong, its hint of citrusy flavor and lack of any bite.  I thought it would work best with a buttercream.  But for sure any cinnamon would work nicely.  

Peace, Love & Convo Candy Hearts, 

Stacy

Happy New Year!!!!! Ring in Twenty Eleven!

It is almost time for the ball to drop and get ready for a fun filled night tomorrow!  

Here is a Freebie 8x11 printable I am able to share with you!  Thanks to Jane Piotrowski of The Garden Girls who created this graphic upon my request!

Enjoy and be safe!  Love to all and I am very very excited for a fantastic Twenty Eleven!!  

Please feel free to share this image and link up to my blog.  Right click to save it to print.   Let me know you are a follower and LIKE my fan page on Face Book along with The Garden Girls!  Let us know you were there!  Thank you again!  

Love, Peace & Ring in Twenty Eleven~


Stacy

Happy Birthday America!!

My family & I celebrated and sang Happy Birthday to our country with a lunch today before we go to a BBQ at my Aunt's then off to fireworks tonight!  Wish I would have been able to post somethings soon but my computer had a bad bug get into it!  Better late then never........ Here we go!!

I picked up the fans to keep cool at Joanne's and the visors & foam stickers all at Micheal's, the girls really enjoyed putting them together.  Both certainly came in handy at lunch with the 95 degree heat, but we stayed in the shade and brought on the breezes with our patriotic fans!

Now onto our lunch!  We had hotdogs with caramelized onions, fries & watermelon that we scooped with an ice cream scooper, placed in a patriotic cupcake liner & put then in the freezer for a bit~ perfect to keep us cool! 
I had wrapped the utensils in red, white & blue napkins and tied them with cute cupcake & peace sign red, white & blue ribbons.  I also had some lolli pop sticks that I stuck a felt star on and added to the roll-up...the girls loved them!

I hung some red, white & blue stars from the umbrella with an Uncle Sam hat!

Most importantly of course DESSERT!  My scrumptious lemon drop cupcake with Jersey Fresh blueberry buttercream and a red white & blue fondant topper that I made! So Happy Birthday USA & I hope you all have a blessed and safe holiday with your family & friends!  Peace, Love & USA!