Snickerdoodle Cookie Cupcakes

These are going to be the second out of three types of cupcakes I made for my sister's birthday. It seems like all I do is spoil that girl! Last week, I talked about her favorite cupcakes- vanilla with root beer float icing.

This week, it's my favorite out of the three. snickerdoodle cookie cupcakes. Yes, there was a cookie at the bottom. Yes, it was delicious.

 

The icing was definitely the best part. I intend to make it again and again. Seriously, it would be amazing on zucchini, or carrot, or even chocolate cupcakes. It was light and fluffy, and the cinnamon really kicked it up a notch.


Alright, I'm drooling already.
 




The cupcake itself was okay. Not spectacularly moist, but still awesome. The best part was the cookie at the bottom.

Unfortunately, the recipe didn't make enough cookies to put in all the cupcakes, which was disappointing. I didn't have enough time to make more, so about half of my cupcakes were cookieless. Don't get me wrong, they were still awesome, it was just a little disappointing.

Next time I make these (because there will definitely be a next time, I'm going to cool the cookie dough longer and double the amount of dough. ...and try not to eat all the frosting before it goes on the cupcakes.

Mittens for my sister

The first project I turned in for a class in HPKCHC was a pair of spectacularly awesome fingerless mittens. Last winter, I intended to give my sister a pair of fingerless mitts for Christmas. She's at the age where she's starting to care about what she wears, and wants to be unique. Handknit mitts? Perfect!

Except, I kind of fell in love with them by the time I finished. I hated the quality of the yarn (poorly dyed! Super easily tangled! Pain in the neck!), but I adored the finished product. The best part was that they matched a cowl I had already made, both in design, and in color.

So... yeah, those mittens stayed in my closet. What my sister doesn't know won't hurt her, right?

While she was none the wiser, I knew I couldn't pull that again. She had been asking me for quite some time for awesome mitts, and I wanted to make her something she would like. During the summer, I went on a yarn crawl with my best friend, and picked up some Cascade 220 Sport in her color. She's lain claim on this color the past few years (and was very upset when I got a car in almost the right color; apparently, she still intends to steal the car as soon as she's able to drive), so I knew it was something she'd hands down like.

Because I'm a super sneaky sister, I told her that I wanted to make myself mittens, but I couldn't decide on which pair to make. I pulled up a list of potential patterns using the spiffy Ravelry search engine, and let her tell me which ones she liked the best. She wound up picking the pattern Seeta, something I was excited about. I had loved the pattern the first time I had seen it, and was really interested in finding out how the design was made.



After a rough start and a few frogs, I finally was on a roll. I whipped them out in no time! I was so excited about these mitts, and had to be persuaded by a friend to put them away and not steal them... again.

It took a few times of wearing them around the house (you know, to test drive them...) that I noticed I had made a major boo boo, even after  frogging so many times. Can you spot it below?



I had knit an uneven number of ribbed rows at the start of the mitts One had eight row, and the other had ten. Don't ask me how I wound up doing that. Whatever. It won't be noticable under her coat, and I doubt she'll ever even realize.

The only other changes I made in the thumb; I picked up the amount of stitches that the pattern called for, knit for two rows but I decreased during those rows get an even 2x2 ribbing. I then knit five rows of the rib, just to make it more cohesive.

The pattern was excellent- I adore the overall effect. It did take me several tries to understand how to do the  crosses- I suggest reading the projects rated the  most helpful before you tackle this pattern. I turned this in for the September DADA assignment of knitting something to help you pick out a loved in a crowd- the between the pattern and the color, Jennifer will certainly stand out!

I just keep having to repeat "I will NOT steal these mittens" to myself until Christmas...

Return of the Root Beer Float

A few weeks ago was my sister's birthday. For months in advance, she requested Root Beer Float cupcakes. I wound up driving up on the Friday night of her party, and was immediately put to work! My mom had bought a cookie cake for Jen, but she was afraid it wasn't going to be enough.

I whipped into action! I arrived at my parents house approximately the time Jen's guests were supposed to arrive, so we had them play games so we could stall on their pizza dinner. I wound up using a doctored up vanilla cake mix for the base (double the eggs and milk instead of water),  and Jen's favorite frosting



I wound up picking out these adorable cupcake liners- I loved them. So I made the frosting match!


It didn't hurt that Jen's cake was pink, teal, and green! For once, everything matched.The cupcakes were pretty bland, and not as moist as I expected, which was disappointed. I've yet to find a quick yellow cake recipe that doesn't require cake flour. Nevertheless, the icing totally made these cupcakes, which was the point. That's all Jen was concerned with anyway!





So after flying through these cupcakes.... the kids at Jen's party didn't even eat them. Talk about stressing for nothing! That was okay, my parents were throwing a volleyball party the next day, so they *did* get eaten, just not early enough to warrant me running around like a crazy person whipping them up after a three hour drive.

Detention: Swirly Hat for Dad!

Eek! I'm afraid I've been rather, well, lax with my blogging lately! Classes and work have been utterly exhausting lately, I just plain have been busy! But, here's a FO from (eek!) a month ago.





As I mentioned before, I joined the Harry Potter Knitting and Crochet House Cup as part of the Gryffindor team. As part of my detention, I finally finished a hat I had started long before that. It had gone through some serious frogging and reknitting before that, but it all turned out well.


The pattern was Swirly Hat, and I think it looks rather fabulous. The only changes I did was to knit a longer brim, and to only cast on 100 stitches. I used my absolute favorite yarn ever- Manos del Uruguay Maxima. It was so deliciously soft, I kept petting it. Because I made it for my father for Christmas, I'm really hoping that he enjoys it as much as I do. I specifically picked out the color because I think it'll look fabulous with his eyes, which will make my mom happy. He's yet to ever receive a knitted gift from me, so hopefully he'll like this one!