Festive Christmas cupcake set: Meri Meri via Nordstrom (on sale for 40% off, sold out online but possibly available in-store) Also available here
Oh the weather outside is frightful, but these sweets are oh so very delightful! To me, Christmas is synonymous with baking fanciful and delicious treats. My grandmother and granddad taught my mother how to bake, and my mother taught my sister and I how to whip up a batch of just about anything. My husband, Shawn, always brings up the fact that my family has a knack for baking delicious food without recipes. Thanks grandma and granddad Teel for passing down your talents! Anyways, I was shopping at Nordstrom with my friend Alexis and she showed me this ‘Very Merry’ cupcake set by Meri Meri and I couldn’t wait to buy them and bake Christmas cupcakes! It has been quite chilly and snowy here in Salt Lake and I have been craving hot cocoa. While sipping on some by the fire, I was inspired to make peppermint hot cocoa cupcakes with a marshmallow stuffed in the middle. They are such a festive and tasty treat and I can’t wait to share them with my friends and family!
Hot cocoa peppermint cupcake recipe from yours truly:
1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
12 regular size marshmallows
Directions: Preheat oven to 350. Line cupcake pan with cupcake wrappers. Whisk together dry ingredients. In a separate bowl of a stand mixer, beat together sugar, oil, and egg. Whisk in dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternating, begining and ending with the dry ingredients. Beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Scoop into prepared cupcake pan so it is filled about half full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back lightly when touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 5-10 minutes. Scoop out a 1/2 teaspoon of the top the cupcake and insert one marshmallow. I just lightly pushed the marshmallow to the middle of the cupcake while the cupcake was still in the pan. Be careful, pan will be hot. Remove cupcakes and cool completely on rack.
*Yields about 12 cupcakes. Double the recipe in order to make enough cupcakes for the Christmas wrappers.
Fluffy vanilla frosting recipe:
1 cup salted butter at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, I use Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract via Williams-Sonoma (I do not recommend imitation vanilla)
1-2 tablespoons milk
Directions: In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar for about 5 minutes, starting out on low speed so the powdered sugar doesn’t fly out of the bowl and work your way up to a higher speed. Add vanilla and milk and whisk on low speed for 10-15 minutes (it makes it super creamy and fluffy).
*Yields about 3 cups of frosting
I topped the cupcakes with crushed peppermint candy canes 🙂
Merry Christmas and happy holidays,
~Kathryn, The Sugared Lemon
Welcome! I’m Kathryn Elizabeth Parry and I run The Sugared Lemon. A Sugared Lemon is someone who is lovely and sweet combined with a mixture of sass and class. I love talking, learning, and sharing thoughts about fashion, cooking, travel and fun with people so JOIN IN! And remember, keep it classy ladies and gents