Hot chocolate cupcakes with peppermint buttercream frosting

I have had an exciting and memorable yet busy December! Earlier in the month was Evan's 29th birthday. I made him Street Fighter cupcakes (they didn't exactly turn out how I imagined, so I didn't post them here). Then, my dad's side of the family came in for an early Christmas get together. My parents had more than 20 people at their house! It was so great seeing everyone. I spent s lot of time finishing up Christmas shopping and a bunch of DIY projects I was making for my family, Evan's family, and my friends. THEN, on Dec. 22, my wonderful Evan took me to the park to look at Christmas lights and he PROPOSED!! Needless to say, I've been a bit preoccupied and didn't get to post any of the Christmas-themed cupcakes I made this month.

For my day's family Christmas celebration I made hoot chocolate cupcakes (basically, they're chocolate with mini marshmallows baked in them) and then I made my buttercream frosting, but instead of adding vanilla, I added peppermint extract. SO YUMMY! Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love sprinkles, so this year I bought a bunch of different kinds so I could make s few different cupcakes. Personally, I think the ones with peppermint crunch looked especially adorable, but my absolute favorites were my snowflake cupcakes! I used some silver sugar sprinkles to look glistening snow and then sprinkled the snowflakes on top! They all turned out nicely. I made a lot of compliments on them.

I then made a dozen of just chocolate (no marshmallows) with peppermint buttercream for a good friend of mine who celebrated a birthday last week. I have been one very busy girl! Can't wait to start brainstorming new cupcakes for 2013!!

Thanksgiving turkey cupcakes

I have been attempting to post about these cupcakes for the last few weeks! I have been SO busy that I've had to put posting on the back burner. I had two Thanksgiving dinners this year: one with my family and one with my boyfriend's family. My parents went to their condo for the holiday to work on some remodeling projects, so our family Thanksgiving was the Saturday before the holiday. My uncle came in from Tennessee for dinner and there were a few other family members who were able to attend.

Anyway, on to the cupcakes. Last year my cousins and I attempted to make some turkey cupcakes that turned out awful. They didn't look anything like what they were supposed to. This year, I decided I needed something creative, but not impossible like the ones from last year. I found this idea on Pinterest! I LOVE Pinterest. So many cute ideas!

I used Wilton's candy eyeballs; Nutter butter cookies and Oreo cookies; Candy Corn; and I made some frosting dyed it yellow and orange, and made the turkey noses and necks (which, BTW, I learned the other day from my doctor is called a wattle).

The cupcakes themselves are two different recipes. The first recipe (with the smaller Nutter Butters) are vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting. The second recipe is one of my FAVORITE recipes! They're vanilla pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon buttercream frosting. The first time I made the turkeys, I used the tiny Nutter Butter cookies, but I like the bigger ones better, so when I made them the second time, I got those instead.

These cupcakes were a hit with everyone who tried them. I think I've got a new Thanksgiving cupcake to make from now on. :o)