Christmas cupcakes…but make them Catalan. ♡

This December marks our fifth holiday season living here in Barcelona…and Teo’s very first! We had such a fun time this past weekend taking him to the central Christmas market, buying his first tree, adding to our nativity set, and watching his eyes light up seeing all of the twinkly lights around the city. But of course, it wouldn’t be the Christmas season here without one of the best and quirkiest Catalan traditions that we absolutely love…the arrival of Caga Tió, the famous Catalan pooping log.

If you’ve never heard of Caga Tió, Barclay and I actually recorded a video learning about the tradition when we first moved here (see below). But in a nutshell, kiddos across Catalonia spend the month of December feeding their Caga Tió oranges and food scraps each day, while trying to be on their best behavior under his watch all month long. Then on Christmas Day, the kids all gather to sing a song and (yes) whack Tió repeatedly with a stick. Then if they were good and their Tió is nice and full…he “poops” out presents for everyone.

It’s a centuries-old tradition that everyone here still has so much fun celebrating. (As our friends say, is it really that much weirder than a dude from the North Pole sliding down your chimney?) So this weekend, we had a great time finally introducing our Teo to our Tió. And together, we started feeding him early so that he’ll be ready to do some excellent pooping this Christmas. Then I got a little carried away…and made cupcakes to celebrate.

So for anyone here in Catalonia or around the world who wants to celebrate Caga Tió in an extra sweet way this year, here’s a quick tutorial for how to make these cupcakes!

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Usually, I kick off the holiday season by baking dozens and dozens of my favorite Christmas cookies. But this year, I randomly decided to dust off my set of piping tips and decorate a few rounds of Christmas cupcakes instead.

And it’s been surprisingly fun! ♡

I used to be really into cake decorating in my early twenties, and had forgotten how much I enjoy getting lost for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon in the world of frostings, food colorings, piping tips and sprinkles galore. It’s been a fun creative hobby to pick back up this holiday season…with some very merry and delicious cupcakes to enjoy as a result!

So for any of you who might interested, I thought I’d share a few batches of my favorite Christmas-themed cupcakes that I’ve made lately. These simple Christmas tree and Christmas wreath designs in particular are very beginner-friendly, if you’re new to the world of working with piping tips, and relatively quick and simple to make. Or if you happen to be interested in an even more basic option, I’ve also provided instructions below for how to make similar designs using just a ziplock bag and a butter knife. I’ve included my favorite vanilla cupcake and a simple vanilla buttercream recipes below, but feel free to use whatever homemade cupcake and frosting recipe sounds best to you here. (Or hey, if you want to save a step and go with a box mix, no shame here.)

Let’s bake some Christmas cupcakes!

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One of the questions I am most asked as a food blogger is what my recommendations are for desserts to serve at an event. You know, those crowd-pleasing, guaranteed-to-disappear-quickly, everyone-asks-you-for-the-recipe, “winning” sort of recipes? Well, when it comes to dessert, I’ve learned that you pretty much can’t go wrong with anything chocolate and peanut butter. I don’t know what it is, but people lose their mind over all things chocolate peanut butter!! Just say those magic words, and the world is your oyster. Well, your oyster if it’s filled with chocolate and peanut butter. :)

So get ready to lose your mind today, because this fantastic Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes recipe has officially arrived on the blog.

And oh friends, it’s a good one.

And even better, these cupcakes are part of an amazing Virtual Bake Day with Gold Medal Flour that I’m participating in with some of my favorite blogging friends. We were all asked to bake up some delicious scratch recipes to share during the holidays. So I decided to go for the “gold” with this fantastic chocolate peanut butter cupcakes recipe. Here’s the scoop, and the how-to!

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I’m not usually a recipe dedicator, but I wanted to give a big shout out with this recipe to my friends Monica and Eric who just tied the knot this weekend. Their wedding gift from me was a super-cool cupcake carrier, and I’m pretty sure these would be the perfect cupcakes to fill it. ;)

But instead of talking about these yummy cupcakes today, I would really love to share with you about my friend. Can I tell you a story? (more…)

I love coming up with creative new cupcake flavors. And I love being served creative new cupcake flavors. But at the end of the day, if given a choice between, well, pretty much any kind of cupcake and a vanilla cupcake, that delicious little white cupcake almost always wins.

I don’t know what it is about it, but I love a good vanilla cupcake. Always have. Always will.

But I feel like I need to make a confession. When it came to homemade, I was a closet “box mix” girl for years. Yep. Would show up to a party with “homemade “vanilla cupcakes, and everyone would oooh and ahhh and think that they were from some fancy homemade recipe. But the reality was that I had just never been able to find a recipe that rivaled the taste, texture and (admittedly) the ease of a box mix…until now.

I think I have finally figured out my favorite homemade vanilla cupcake!! And I kind of wanna shout it from the rooftops, because this recipe is amazing!!! It has all of the wonderful vanilla flavor and the light texture of a box mix. But it happens to be made from scratch with all normal everyday ingredients, plus a vanilla bean and some Greek yogurt. Easy peasy. And to stay pure, I topped these with a classic vanilla buttercream.

It doesn’t get any more “vanilla” than that, people! But if you’re like me, you will love it too. Enjoy!

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What to do with leftover butternut squash?

Why, make cupcakes of course!

(Of course!)

And I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get any better than this recipe for Spiced Butternut Squash Cupcakes, topped with a heav-en-ly maple cream cheese frosting. Really, I was blown away by how these little desserts turned out (as was evidenced by my Instagram photo below of a little snacking “recipe development” while photographing). The butternut squash puree functions almost identically to your typical pumpkin puree, giving tons of delicious sweet flavor and also making these cupcakes perfectly light and moist.

And then there’s the frosting. Oh, the frosting. You all know how much I adore a good cream cheese frosting, and when accented with some maple syrup, this one was a melt-in-your-mouth total winner. Rich, creamy, and wonderfully sweet. Definitely a perfect “icing on the cake” with this recipe.

My friends all agreed that these need to be made again, and very soon. Believe me, I am all for that. Hope you enjoy them too!

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Calling all cookie dough lovers!!!

Today is a super-exciting day, as food blogger Lindsay Landis is releasing her first cookbook — The Cookie Dough Lover’s Cookbook. Yep. An entire cookbook dedicated to “anyone who’s ever been caught with a finger in the mixing bowl”. Brilliant. To celebrate, a bunch of us food bloggers have decided to officially name today “National Cookie Lovers Day” — my kind of holiday!!

So as my contribution to the day, thought I would offer you some more cookie dough goodness in the form of a rockin’ peanut butter cookie dough frosting. Well, “frosting” may be a generous term. These are pretty much scrumptious chocolate cupcakes topped with a heavenly scoop of peanut butter cookie dough. But hey, it’s egg-free! So you can enjoy it guilt-free, right?!? ;)

Seriously, these may be one of the best creations to ever grace your mixer. So. Ridiculously. Delicious.

Cheers to cookie dough!

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I absolutely love chai. Ever since college, it is still hands-down my favorite drink to order at coffee shops. (And even lately – I’ve been experimenting with recipes making it at home!)  Whether it’s cool and iced in the summer, or warm and cozy in the winter, a good chai is definitely my “comfort” food of the warm drink world!

So when I recently saw some chai cupcake recipes popping up on the blogosphere, I knew I had to give them a try. Then I also found out the theme for this week’s Holiday Recipe Exchange was vanilla, I figured this was the perfect week to try some vanilla chai cupakes – yum!

Unfortunately, to be honest, my first batch was a total disaster, thanks to accidentally adding just 1/2 cup flour instead of 1 1/4 cups flour. Arggggg. But thankfully once I actually followed the recipe, they were extraordinary! The vanilla and chai spice flavors are absolutely delicious, and the cupcakes came out with a perfectly light and fluffy texture. Then once they were iced with this simple but rich cinnamon buttercream…look out. Completely irresistible. :)

So if you love chai, you must give these a try!

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I’ve made cupcakes with all sorts of icings on my cupcakes over the years. But until now, I’ve never tried this fun idea from Martha Stewart — using whipped cream as icing! :)

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked ever since I first saw Martha Stewart’s Cupcake Book (which I highly recommend to everyone!). I’m a huge fan of blueberry muffins, so assumed I would love the slightly modified recipe for cupcakes. And then who doesn’t love whipped cream?!?

But alas…as you can plainly see…someone was multitasking a bit too much in the kitchen that day, and kind of forgot to keep a close eye on the whipped cream. So sure enough — rather than having beautiful, smooth dallops to grace the top of these cupcakes, my cream went a step too far and got a little grainy. Oops! (A lesson to not text in the car or the kitchen!!)  But that didn’t deter any of my friends from trying them. :)

They were delicious!!! Totally loved the cupcakes filled with the fresh blueberries (although frozen would work too). And the cool cream and extra blueberries on top were a fantastic “icing on the cake” – soooo rich and tasty. A delightful spin on “berries and cream!”

Would definitely recommend these to anyone! Just keep a close eye on your mixer while it’s whipping the cream. ;)

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And….voila! Here is the final recipe from the Cupcake-A-Thon!

In addition to being “pretty in pink” (love those cute wrappers!), these strawberry lemonade cupcakes turned out to be oh-so-berry delicious. The cupcakes were perfectly light and moist, with a great balance of the sweet strawberries and oh-so-slight tang of the lemon juice. But the fresh strawberry buttercream was what had everyone at the concert talking. They loved it!! And I’m still getting emails for the recipe…so I suppose that’s a good sign. :)

So in summary, here are the three cupcake recipes from the evening! I hope you enjoy them!

• Mayan Chocolate Cupcakes with Cocoa-Cinnamon Buttercream
• Vanilla Almond Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Buttercream
• Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes with Fresh Strawberry Buttercream

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