The Daily Herald, the newspaper of choice for those living in Utah County, UT, (which is a nice way of saying it's the ONLY newspaper - UT County is about 30 minutes south of SLC) has a feature article about the girl TODAY! Apparently her quest to get on the Ellen Show (her "life-long desire") got the attention of someone at the newspaper and they thought it was NEWS WORTHY...not a lot happens in Utah County...or else maybe they wanted to feature the girl, the original Kitchen Dough-Dough (as in dodo), because she bakes by Braille...kind of feeling her way through recipes - tossing in a little of this and a little of that, not really understanding that baking is a science (hence the dodo!) I'm not sure what their reasons were, but whatever, she's thrilled about the story and as her mom I couldn't be more proud. The Daily Herald sent out a photojournalist to take pictures of the girl in action...while Baby Max looked on with his sippy cup...I didn't realize how dark it was in the girl's kitchen until I saw this photo, the photographer didn't see the need for light - apparently her camera is better $$$ than mine.
The girl whipped up Eggnog Spice Cupcakes with Cider Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting...whew! That was a mouthful...and it was...as in delicious mouthful...she used a Duncan Hines Spice Cake mix (loves them she does) and mixed the cake according to the package directions except she substituted melted butter for the vegetable oil, the same amount, and then she added in 1/2 cup of eggnog and 1/4 cup of flour, plus a pinch of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg...I had my doubts, I really did...I mean, she'd never MADE these cupcakes before and there she was guessing about ingredients! But they were dang good. For her EXACT recipe, click here.
Sprinkling orange sugar crystals on top just made these look as good as they tasted. Yours truly made the frosting - the photographer was gone and the girl was busy wrangling Baby Max - and I'd been away from the kitchen too long so I jumped at the chance!
Cider Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting - Me
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
5 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons apple cider
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or to taste)
pinch of salt
In the bowl of an electric mixer blend cream cheese and butter together. Add in remaining ingredients and mix well. This recipe makes enough frosting to cover 30 cupcakes or a 2 layer cake. Once iced, the cupcakes (or cake) need to be refrigerated because of the cream cheese in the frosting.
The Wasatch Mountains are all lit up with color - this just doesn't do the vibrant reds and golds justice - but I wanted to show you what I saw every day while I was there...absolutely beautiful fall colors! I flew home to Seattle to rain, rain and more rain...it was rather heartwarming. There's no place like home. As soon as I tackle the mountain of dishes the boy left and the mountain of laundry the mister brought home, I'll get to posting those pictures of market - I promise!
