Tea cups and ice cream

I'm sorry I have been MIA the past week. Our school play is this week and we have been practicing like crazy and I haven't had time to bake! This weekend was relaxing and I decided to make tea cup cookies and ice cream cones. Random, I know, but who doesn't love tea parties and ice cream?

Be mine?

Valentines Day is my favorite day of the year. I love everything about it. I love the flowers, hearts, boxes of chocolate, and all the cheesiness.

Tucker took me out to dinner tonight and we had a great time! He is the best Valentine ever and I'm so glad I could spend this day with him! He does so much for me so I decided to make him something special for Valentines Day. I made him a crossword puzzle cookie with clues!

Happy Valentines Day to the best boyfriend EVER!!

Strawberry Cupcakes

Who doesn't love a fresh strawberry cupcake that tastes as good as it looks?

I found a very simple and easy strawberry cake recipe that tasted amazing and everyone loved.

Did I mention it's from Paula Deen?

Strawberry Cupcakes

1 box white cake mix

1 (3-ounce) box of strawberry flavored instant gelatin

1 (15-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed

4 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

Strawberry cream cheese frosting

1/4 cup softened butter

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 (10-ounce) package frozen strawberries in syrup, thawed and pureed

1/2 tsp strawberry extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

7 cups confectioners sugar

*fresh strawberries for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake pan with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and gelatin. Add pureed strawberries, eggs, oil, and water. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Use a large ice cream scoop and scoop batter into liners. 

Bake until toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

For the frosting:

Beat softened butter and cream cheese for a few minutes. Add 1/4 cup of the pureed strawberries (I added a little more than that). Add the extracts and beat until smooth. Gradually add the confectioners sugar, beating well after each addition.

Frost the cupcakes however you like and garnish with strawberries! 

Snickerdoodles

If that isn''t the cutest name in the world, then I don't know what is. My mom made snickerdoodle cookies very often when we were younger and they were always a favorite in my family. In my opinion, anything with cinnamon and sugar is amazing.

Snickerdoodle Cookies

1 1/2 c sugar

2 sticks of softened butter

2 eggs

2 3/4 c flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 T sugar

2 T cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture. Make into small balls and roll in cinnamon sugar.

Heaven on earth.

Butterflys and new friends.

Me and three of my friends attended the High School Leadership Conference in Auburn recently. It is a conference to help high school students become better leaders in life and to step up and make a change. Over 300 students attended and we were split up into groups and did many team exercises and learned new ways to be a better leader. We got the opportunity to meet so many new people from all over and talk about the challenges of high school. Overall, the conference was great and we all want to go again next year! We stayed with my wonderful sister, Jessica, and her three other roomates. They were so kind to let us come and we had so much fun with them. 

I made butterfly cookies and brought them to Jessica and her friends!

My first grooms cake

My awesome soccer coach got married today and I am SO happy for her! She not only is a coach, but she makes wedding cakes on the side and I have helped her a few times before. When she got engaged, she asked me to make the grooms cake for their wedding and my immediate response was "Are you kidding me?" I've never made a grooms cake or wedding cake in my life and I was scared to death. Finally the week came for the happy couple to get married and I had to make the cake. It was a very stressful week and I stayed up many nights worrying about this cake, but I prayed that it would turn out okay. I kept telling myself, "I am 17 years old. Why the heck did I agree to do this? I shouldn't be doing this." I honestly know God helped me through this and I couldn't of done it by myself! Tucker, my boyfriend, helped me deliver the cake and I don't know what I would do without him! He puts up with me when I'm a nervous wreck and he is so amazing!

The finished result:

I'm pretty sure I told everyone "This is my first grooms cake, and my last."

It was such a sweet wedding and I was so happy to be apart of their big day! Congrats Brad and Analyn, I love you both so much!

Is it Valentine's Day yet?

My favorite holiday of all times is Valentine's Day! It is a day filled with heart-shaped sandwiches, cheesy love poems, and for me, lots of cookies! I wish Valentine's Day was once a month. Today I was making cookies for a wedding basket and had some extra cookie dough so I decided to make heart cookies. I know its not Valentine's Day quite yet so I decided to give them to my best friends as a way of telling them "I love you."

Jessy, Anna, Rebecca, Me, Catherine, and Abbey!

My AMAZING sisters!

I love ya'll so much!

Me and the Boyfriend!

I'll blog about him later!

I have the best friends in the world and God has blessed me so much! I know we are all going to stay friends forever! I love you.