OK, Blog Readers: I Have Questions!

I would like to sell some of my baked goods (cookies, cake balls, cupcakes, etc) this summer at our city's annual crafts fair. I remember last year I thought about selling crocheted items, but that is a lot of time to invest so I sorta scratched that idea. And I like cookies better anyway. :-)

But I don't know what the laws are like in my state (Georgia)... do I need a licensed or commercial kitchen? Or is my home kitchen sufficient? Do I need a permit to sell at this festival? It's just a one-time deal, maybe I'll do it again the next year if it's a success.

So if you know the answers or where I can find information, I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!!!

XOXO,
Kelsie

Brownie Cupcakes

Ta-Da! Here are the finished cupcakes that I alluded to yesterday, and they are all in their entirety (unlike yesterday, when I started eating the gingerbread man before I took a picture).

Oh, wait. That guy in front looks a little crippled.  Well, to be fair, they are irresistibly yummy.

I started out with a box of turtle brownie mix that my grandma gave me, and a sleeve of 500 Christmas cupcake liners. And so, the idea of brownies that look like cupcakes was born! Plus, it was a snow day, and I was stuck inside because of the below freezing weather and icy road conditions.

Be warned, though, that the brownies stuck to the cupcake liners. Maybe it was the caramel? Or maybe I should've sprayed Pam on them first? I'm really not sure about that odd phenomenon, but if you have any ideas, let me know so I can improve next time.

Then, since I had this really cute idea in my head about snowflake sprinkles and tiny gingerbread men, I wanted to decorate them...

You can't really tell, but that's a 2-foot piping bag I've got in my hands. When I decided I needed a bigger bag to ice cupcakes with, I figured I'd just go with the biggest size available. Well... maybe an 18" bag would've done the job just as nicely, but without being quite so intimidating.

Then came the sprinkles...

And finally, the finished product! And many thanks to Sarah, who helped me out and decorated some of these cute little guys with me!

I must warn you, though, that these are really sweet and rich. I think a normal chocolate cupcake would fare better with all the decorations, and leave the brownie cupcakes to stand on their own merit, with maybe a small swirl of fudge icing for garnish.

These Are Amazing

So, this isn't really a full-blown blog post, although I'll expand on the topic more once I upload the rest of the photos, but I just wanted to let you know  how amazing these cupcakes are.

It's turtle brownie mix, with blue buttercream icing and snowflake sprinkles and tiny gingerbread men decorated by Sarah & me.

<3

More adorable pics soon!!

More Christmas Goodies

I am well behind on my blogging, as I am quite aware.  I made these treats a whole year ago!

The cake was for my brother's class party; I made it the same week that I made the cookies, blueberry muffins, and the mentioned-later-on cupcakes. It was a busy week for me, to say the least, especially considering it was my first week on holiday.

Unfortunately, I waited until the night before to decorate or even come up with a design plan, so this is the best I could come up with on the spot. It's not bad, though.

Oh, and I LOVE the super red icing gel that I bought a few months back- making red icing is way easier now. :D

And with the leftover red and green icing, I made these cute little cupcakes, originally for another class party, but my brother didn't know I made them for him, and since I slept in that morning, we just had a miscommunication. However, I did give them to the office staff at Woodland Elementary, and I'm told they were delicious. :-)

I'm not so good at the 2-color swirl deal, but hopefully that will change with more practice. Some of the cupcakes really popped with the color and I like that effect a lot.

Also, I should probably make these goodies more photogenic-- you can totally see the mess I made in the background. Not very professional with sprinkles and cooing racks in the background. Just something else to improve on in the future!

Ah, the Annual Gingerbread House

I need to get better at time management.  I waited until two days before Christmas to bake the gingerbread house AND I ran out of butter.  To be fair, though, it's been a busy holiday season for me, catching up with family and friends, in addition to all the baking and Christmas shopping and being lazy that I've done.

Anyway, despite my lack of time, I think I made a pretty cute little house... and it's actually bigger than the houses I normally make (but smaller than last year's castle). One day I still wanna make a gingerbread Hogwarts, but I have to convince my sister (who's taking an architectural class in school) to make some blueprints with me.

The best pictures I have though are of the house being eaten/destroyed. I think that was more fun than putting it together (especially considering that I was terrified that it wouldn't make it through the night while the royal icing dried).