Mini Cupcakes

Here are some mini cupcakes I made. Cupcakes have become increasingly popular in the past few years, largely due to their "cuteness" factor, and the popular concept of everyone getting their own individual serving. They are easy to portion out and serve, are much easier to eat (no plate and fork required), and can be a lot quicker to decorate than one big cake. They are bite-sized and fit perfectly in the palm of your hand. I even went a step further and made miniature cupcakes. These cupcakes are probably two-bite cupcakes, or they may even be small enough to just eat all at once. They are quite cute, and are remarkably quick and easy to decorate.

When it comes to muffins and cupcakes, it is always nice to have some variety. Size is one way to achieve this. Muffin tins tend to come in three different sizes: regular, giant/jumbo, and miniature. Of course, the capacity of each of these tin sizes will vary depending on the manufacturer, but generally you will be able to find paper liners that will work for your pan. Paper liners come in more than just three sizes; they have tiny ones, miniature ones, regular, medium, large, and giant. They also come in a wide variety of colors and patterns, including holiday-themes. You can even get heavy-duty cups that don't need to be placed in a muffin tin for baking - they will hold up on a cookie sheet on their own. I like to use paper liners for baking all of my muffins and cupcakes because it is a lot faster than greasing each individual cup, makes them easier and neater to eat, and provides a little bit of decoration to the baked product. They are also inexpensive and readily available.

Cool Contraption

Recently I discovered a newfangled use for an ordinary, everyday dish I have just lying around in my cupboard, and I thought I would share it with you. In fact, I have several of them around somewhere. These little handy-dandy utensils are plastic drinking cups with a pop off lid that has a covered hole for a straw and a small compartment to open for drinking. It is meant for kids to use as a step up from sippy cups, because they are small, durable, easy to use, and (almost) spill-proof.
I like to use this to mix small quantities of a few ingredients together, such as spice mixtures for a spice rub, oil and vinegar for a dressing, and graham cracker crumbs with butter and sugar for a graham crust. Just throw all of the ingredients in, pop on the lid, and shake it, shake it, shake it! My absolute favorite use for this however, is to make cinnamon sugar coatings, toppings, and streusels. The cinnamon and sugar incorporate beautifully in this cup. For a cinnamon-sugar topping I recently used on a cake, I mixed it up in this cup, then opened the little compartment in the lid. This made the perfect size opening for the cinnamon sugar to sprinkle evenly over the cake, much like using a salt or pepper shaker. So there you have it, an ordinary item that collected dust is now being used as a nifty tool in the kitchen! Now, I must go examine all of my other cupboards...