Cupcake Snow Globes....and some sad news

I was so excited to makes these cupcakes! I got the idea from my Hello, Cupcake! Cookbook. I had been wanting to make another cupcake from the book and decided that my upcoming holiday party gave me the perfect excuse!


These cupcakes did take A LOT of patience. I had to adjust several of the ingredients (just because I was on a time crunch and didn't have time to go to a specialty candy store - my adjustments are listed below), I think that my substitutions worked great! I can't say whether or not they tasted good (I was too afraid to eat one because they were so pretty and took so much time!), but they were well received! I can't imagine they didn't taste good!

On a side note, Heggy my beloved pup, has to be put down in the morning. She has been so sick for so long and she recently took a turn for the worse. It hasn't been an easy road for the hubs and myself, and we honestly don't know how we are going to get through it tomorrow. I have cried more over the past couple of months (especially the last couple of days) than I think I have in my entire life. I just look into her eyes and see a dog that wasn't even given a chance to have the life she deserved. She is only 1 1/2, but has given the hubs and I a joy not even describable in words. Heggy changed our lives, for the better. Her unconditional love with never be forgotten. She was definitely one of a kind, and anyone who got the pleasure of meeting her knows what I am talking about. I will miss her "kisses", her "scratching - pick me up", her determination to find a way onto the couch, her sitting at the door waiting for mommy to come home (and not even letting me put my stuff down when I walk in the door), her love for her sweaters, her "hold me like a baby", her "oh yes scratch my belly", her sleep smell, her nickname "Hegster", and most of all her snuggling ...insisting on always being under the blanket with an arm around her belly. Heggy I will love you all my life and I hope your kisses will greet me in Heaven when it's my time. In honor of Heggy, the hubs and I have decided to make a commitment to run the Music City Half Marathon next spring. We are going to do it for her, and I will be wearing a chain around my next with her "Heggy" charm attached. I love you Heggy.

Snow Globe Cupcakes

(adapted from Hello, Cupcake!)

**I made 20 cupcakes, but feel free to make more or less. The original recipe called to make only 6, but I was going to a party and knew I would have enough stuff to make more.**

20 cupcakes baked in silver foil cupcake liners (I just used a boxed yellow cake mix.)

2 cans of vanilla frosting

3/4 cup of coarse white decorating sugar

snowflake decors (or white stars like I used)

red and green non pareils (or color sugar like I used)

20 chocolate-covered graham crackers (Keebler)

Tint 3/4 cup of the vanilla frosting green, using the food coloring, and spoon it into a ziplock bag. Spoon several tablespoons of plain vanilla frosting into another ziplock bag. Press out the excess air in the bags of frosting and seal.

Spoon the coarse white decorating sugar in a small shallow bowl. Spread remaining frosting on the top of the cupcakes. Roll the edges of each frosted cupcake in the sugar. Sprinkle the tops with some snowflake decors and the red and green non pareils.

To make the Tree:

small bag of tootsie rolls

small yellow stars

Gently warm tootsie rolls in microwave...like maybe 5 seconds per piece. Roll (I just used my fingers to flatten out the tootsie roll) the tootsie roll out flat. Using a sharp knife cut out pieces for the trunk of the tree. You will need 10 trunks total. Gently press one trunk into the bottom of 10 of the cupcakes. To make the tree, use the green frosting bag (cut a small slit in the corner of the bag) and pipe the frosting starting in the center of the cupcake (the top of the tree) and moving downward for the branches. Continue piping this way moving closer to the trunk and making a tree shape. Top each tree with a yellow star.

To make the Snowman:

white spice drops

orange spice drops

tootsie rolls

red round sprinkles

Cut each white spice drop in half crosswise. Roll out the bottom half to make the disk slightly larger in diameter than the top half. For the body of each snowman, press the flattened disk at the bottom edge of the cupcake, cut side down. Place the top half of the spice drop , cut side down, above the bottom disk to make the head. Cut the orange spice drop into small triangles to make the noses. Attach each nose to the head with a small dot of vanilla frosting.

Gently warm tootsie rolls in microwave (again maybe 5 seconds per piece). Roll (I just used my fingers to flatten out the tootsie roll) the tootsie roll out flat. Using a sharp knife cut out square pieces to make the top part of the hat. Roll thin slices into the bottom portion of the hat. (make 10 of each so you have a total of 10 hats.) Carefully place bottom part of hat at an angle on the head of the snowman. Place square part of the hat onto of the bottom part of the hat.

Pipe a green scarf across the neck. Add two dots of vanilla frosting down the middle of the bottom of the snowman and attach the red sprinkles for the buttons. Add snowflake decors and red and green non pareils.

To Assemble Cupcakes:

For each cupcake, arrange 1 chocolate covered graham cracker (longways so the cupcake has more space to rest) on a serving platter. Using your small baggie of vanilla frosting, pipe a dollop of frosting onto each graham cracker. Carefully place the cupcake on its side onto the graham cracker, with decorations upright.