Photo Challenge Days 29 and 30: The End

Yay!

I finished. I would be *really* bad at any sort of year-long challenge, since the 30 day challenge took me more than 30 days, and well, that IS part of the challenge. I still completed it. I may search out another one, but later.

Day 29 was black and white. I really liked the idea of the Oreo cookies and milk, alas, I did not have any Oreos. I thought of a piano a little too late, so I just took a picture of my shirt and converted it :) I am more than ready for some football!

Day 30 was the same as Day 1: self-portrait. I don't take these type of pictures nearly as much as I used to, so it was a bit hard (both for Day 1 and Day 30). Hair is down and glasses are on, and I got a hair cut (not that you can tell) since the last picture.

I'm sure I'll be back soon with some other ramblings about cupcakes or something.

Snickerdoodle cupcakes

Oh, yes.

I have a confession to make.

I used to not like cake. Seriously.

I know, right? It's crazy.

Then I brought my younger daughter home from the hospital on my older daughter's birthday, and there was cake at home. Having just escaped hospital food, I had to have some.

Then I couldn't stop. My habit transformed to cupcakes... and I tried a few gourmet cupcake shops. I don't have anything against them, in fact I love those. However, those suckers add up, and quickly. Another thing I discovered on Pinterest, was a crazy amount of different cupcake recipes. Plus, I like to bake, so here we are!

Today is America's birthday, happy birthday America!!! It is also my mom's birthday, so I let her pick which flavor off my "to try" list she wanted, and she wanted snickerdoodle.

With some additional help from google, I found a few different recipes, they all are pretty similar. The first was Martha's, and then I found an adaptation of that one by Bakerella. She took Martha's recipe and made it a little easier and smaller. I was all set to do one of these two recipes, but they both used a 7-minute frosting. Another thing that I am NOT, is a pastry chef. So, I have not ventured into the world of frosting that isn't just butter and sugar. My plan was to make a basic frosting and possibly add some cinnamon. *Then* I found this recipe that is the same cupcake as the previous two I mentioned, but with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting. Winner!

Ok, getting started, you will need:

CAKE:1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups cake flour1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups whole milk

(and yes, I use my Kindle to read a lot of my recipes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 28 muffin tins with paper liners.

Here, I obviously went with 325 and only 24 liners - don't worry, I didn't have any batter left over.

Sift together both flours, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Beat in vanilla.

Add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with additions of milk, beating until combined after each addition.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about 3/4 full. About ¼ a cup.

Bake about 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into the center of one of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely before icing.

ICING:

8-12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 pound powdered sugar, sifted2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

TOPPING:
2 Tablespoons sugar + 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

FOR FROSTING: In a medium bowl, use electric mixer to blend cream cheese and butter.

Add sugars, vanilla and ground cinnamon. Spread onto cooled cupcakes, or scoop into piping bag and pipe on the frosting decoratively.

FOR TOPPING: Place sugar-cinnamon mixture in a fine sieve (or you can always just use your fingers) and tap it lightly over the cupcakes to give them a light sprinkle.

I only used 8 ounces of cream cheese, and was a bit generous with my frosting, so I didn't have enough for the last 4 cupcakes. I am going to try to whip up a quick plain buttercream without the cream cheese to see which option I like better.

Photo Challenge Days 27 and 28

I think the challenging part for me might be actually sharing this with other people!

I am not in love with my photo for day 27, but like I mentioned before, it is balancing out.

Day 27 was from a distance. I was going for the tractor, hopefully that comes across.

Day 28 was flowers. Well, my favorite photo focuses on ONE flower, but there actually is another flower in the photo at the very top ;) I was working out in the flower garden today getting rid of all of those pesky weeds (why don't THEY need water to go crazy??) and snapped this shot.

Only two more days left!

Photo Challenge Days 24, 25, and 26! (almost there)

Hello!

Coming along now, and almost at the end of the challenge. Those that started on June 1st are obviously done now. I started a few days late, and skipped a few days here and there, so I'm a bit behind, but it is a cool thing to see.

Day 24 was animal. I am glad I had easy access to an animal to photograph. I could have always tried for the obnoxious birds outside our office, but well... they're obnoxious. So, here is Z dog chillin' outside. Wondering what random thing she can sniff next.

Day 25 was something pink. Now PINK, I have a lot of things that are pink. I decided to take a picture of a pink letter A. A is for Audra, and she's in the forefront of my thoughts, even more than usual, so it was fitting I used something to represent her.

Today, Day 26 was close-up. Quite a few of my pictures were already close-up, but I love these guys that live on top of my refrigerator. Who knows what they are up to at night when the lights are out!

Photo Challenge Days 22 and 23

Well, that will teach me.

Counting my chickens before they hatched.

I had a great idea for the hands photo. Of course, I could not get everyone to cooperate, hence I missed a day *again*. Sigh. Hopefully I will not miss any more. (fingers crossed)

I am still determined to get the picture I had in mind one day.

Instead, I ended up with this.

I did edit it some. I have no clue what I am doing, I just push buttons until it is something I kinda like.

Sisters <3

Day 23 was sunflare. Once again, no clue what I was doing. See the never ending trend yet?

To be perfectly honest, this challenge quite literally gave me a headache. This picture was the last one I took before I decided the pain was a bit much and headed back inside.

Buffalo Lucy is having a giveaway!

Remember my first picture for the challenge, the self-portrait where you could see my awesome Buffalo Lucy earrings?

Well, now she is having a give away for a beautiful necklace.

You can go check out all the deets here.

I am already imagining wearing it to a wedding in a few weeks, I think it'd go perfect with my dress!

Photo Challenge Days 19, 20, and 21

I missed another day in there somewhere.

I will admit that this time it was more because I was intimidated by the challenge.
I know I still didn't do as great as I could have, but I did it, and that to me is still pretty damn cool.

Anyway, for starters, day 19 was something orange. I surprisingly don't have many orange things. I decided to take a close up of part of a dress I recently got.

Day 20 was pretty challenging for me, and the one I am not 100% happy with it, but I really like what I did for day 21 (faceless self portrait), so it all balances out.

I guess I am not feeling to chatty right now, I might be back later with today's photo. The challenge is hands, and thanks to pinterest, I already have my idea for that!