Snack Attack!

 Remember I told you a while back that I'm not much of a baker...it's still true.  We've got a Birthday Party at our house today, so I'm going with the Perfect Cupcake.  I also wanted to do a little something extra, so when I went to a Birthday Party last weekend ('tis the season) I was on the lookout for something cute for our little June Bug's Backyard Beach Bash!  Enter these adorable (and yummy) chocolate covered pretzel snaps with M&M's.

 
It's the easiest thing ever so I thought I'd share with you:

Supplies:

One bag Snyder Butter Snap Pretzels
One bag Wilton Candy Melts in white
One Bag M&M's


Preheat your oven to 200 degrees.  While the oven is heating, lay the pretzels out on a baking sheet. Top each one with a candy wafer.  Pop in the oven for approx. 3 minutes, just long enough to make the candy wafer soft, but not melt through the pretzel. 

Remove from oven and press an M&M into the center of each softened candy wafer.  Move to a cooling rack.  Repeat! 

 

This one's my favorite - doesn't it look like a little fried egg on toast!?

Store these little babies in an airtight container until your party.  Make them ahead and they'll keep for several days.

So, now my wheels are turning.  Did you know that the Wilton Candy Melts come in different colors?  I'm thinking pink or blue for a baby shower, green for Christmas, pink for Valentine's Day.  And you know M&M's come in seasonal colors as well.  If you want a specific color combo, you can order M&M's in bulk in the colors of your choice.  How about football season?  Team colors anyone?  Here's another...white candy melts with Reece's Pieces for Halloween or Thanksgiving.  The possibilities are endless.  What are YOUR ideas?  Comment and have fun!

Happy Birthday June Bug!

Christine
www.etsy.com/shop/christineandcompany

Easy Party Planning Website - Punchbowl.com

Our little June Bug is turning ONE this month.  I can hardly believe it.  It seems like just yesterday that our 2 year old was hating my guts for bringing this little critter home.  They're best buds now, well, almost.

When you have two little ones under 3, time is at a premium, so I needed an easy way to get my invitations prepared and sent out.  I discovered Punchbowl last year for my 2 year old's birthday party.  Punchbowl is an awesome party planning website that allows you to create invitations that can be emailed.  You can also track your RSVP's, include a gift registry, plan a potluck and much more.  It also has party theme ideas for many different types of parties.  You can also grab a widget for your blog!  Check out my Reasons to Celebrate widget on the right!  Today is National Iced Tea Day...who knew????  Wonder if it's sweet tea? Mmmmm.  And I digress...

Punchbowl offers a free service as well as upgraded Premium and Platinum services.  I've used the free service and it's been great!

First, click "start planning a party".  You choose how soon your event is, give a little info about your event and Punchbowl selects some great options to get started.  You can choose to send Save the Date's and have your guests choose from a number of dates or you can just send your invitation.  There are many free invitations to choose from.  We chose a beachball theme for our Backyard Beach Birthday Bash!

Then you just edit the text with your custom info and Punchbowl does the rest!  You get to choose your envelope liner, a cute little postage stamp and a rubber stamp on the front of your envelope.  Punchbowl is by far the easiest online party planning website that I have found and I plan on using it again and again and again...

How to make the PERFECT cupcake! Seriously....

Ok...so, I'm not really a baker.  But it's that time of year...last day of preschool was yesterday and I volunteered to make cupcakes.  What was I thinking?  Actually, unless I don't have 457,000 things going on at precisely the same time, I'm really not happy.  Did I mention that we rent our beach condo and I had a 2 hour window to get out there and clean after our renters left in the morning and the others arrived after lunch?  Oh yeah, I had to pick up Happy Meals for the kids at school during that window too!  I know, I'm crazy!  But I love it!  I always wanted to be THAT mom...you know the one.  The mom that volunteers in the classroom, bakes the cupcakes from scratch, sews the kids clothes all while having perfectly manicured nails and wonderfully coiffed hair.   Whatever!
So, since I'm not THAT mom...I needed some easy cupcakes without copping out and buying them at Publix.  These are really the easiest cupcakes EVER!

First, gather your supplies:
Cake Mix of your choice (I told you I'm not THAT mom!)
Cupcake liners (did I mention that I love Jo-Anns?)
Eggs, Oil, Water, Sugar, Cream of Tartar, Vanilla Extract
Sprinkles

Follow the directions on the box, sort of.  Instead of heating your oven to 300 degrees, heat it to 400.  I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to dole out the batter...perfectly measured little cakes.  You could also use an ice cream scoop that holds approximately 1/4 cup.  Fill your cupcake liners.  I only had enough batter for 22 cupcakes...but that's OK.  I only needed 12 to take to school and I get to eat the rest myself!  MR. Company will probably help too.
Here comes the best part.  When you have your liners filled, pop them in the oven for 5 minutes.  Then lower the temperature to 325 and bake the cupcakes for approx 5-8 more minutes.  They are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Here's the scoop:  when you start baking at a high temperature, the outside gets done quickly and then as the inside cooks more slowly, there's only one way for the batter to go - UP!    What you get is a perfectly domed cupcake ready for frosting!

Next, the frosting.  My 2 year old can't eat traditional frosting...makes him sick every time. So I decided to make a 7 minute frosting.  Don't let the name fool you...it really takes about 20 minutes, but it is SO yummy.  Tastes like Marshmallow Fluff.  Here are the directions:  7 minute Frosting.  You can flavor it with any extracts...lemon, coconut, almond.  YUM, YUM, YUM!!!!
My cupcakes turned out really cute (if I do say so myself) and I imagine I'll be doing this again soon...my baby's turning one this month. UGH.