Thursday, February 11, 2010

A sweet Valentines treat - red velvet cupcakes in a jar.



Skylar and I made these happy, happy cupcakes for all the teachers for Valentine's Day.
It is simple to make, sweet, and definitely one of a kind.
Make any flavor cupcake you want and put it in a jar.
For Valentines, we had to make red velvet ones of course.

I used these 8 oz mason jars. They are the perfect size.
They are hard to find in my area so I had to settle for these with the ridges.
But they worked.

To decorate the jars, I simply cut out some circles to cover the top lid and some hearts to put in the center.

Then glue the circle on the top lid, being careful not to get any glue at the bottom.

See how sweet they are?

Okay, I took a shortcut and bought Barefoot Contessa's red velvet cupcake mix. Trust me, it's the next best thing to homemade from scratch. But if you are feeling ambitious and want to make it from scratch, try this recipe - it's the best!

Of course, my tasters had to get to work.
Vampires? No. Red velvet little devils? Yes.

Yummy!

I filled them up almost to the top. They came out too big. Try filling them only halfway if you are using regular muffin trays. The next time, I think I might even try the mini-muffin trays and just do two layers.

You have to trim off the side so it can squish in nicely inside the mason jar.
See what I mean about coming out too big?

Follow the directions for the cream cheese frosting. I added a little whipped cream to make it a little mushier. Then I put everything in a ziplock bag, cut one of the corners and used it to pipe out the frosting. Do a little layer at the bottom, then put the cupcake in, then pipe some more frosting on the top. Add some love by sprinkling in some valentines heart sprinkles. If you run out of frosting, follow this simple recipe here.

Divine!!!

Skylar did heart tags for each of the teachers

Then I tied a red ribbon and another circle tag outside the jar.

I got lucky and found these adorable bags on sale at Papyrus for .30 cents each!
I stuffed it with gift wrapping tissue and put the jar in the middle.
This prevents the cupcake from swishing around.

Done. Done. And done.
Skylar, Deacon, and Peyton gave them to the teachers today.
And they loved them!
Try them. And you will be guaranteed a smile!

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