Reindeer Cupcakes

We aren't original for doing this but we definitely had fun making them!  B had a "cupcake wars" with her Brownie troop and we decided to make reindeer cupcakes.  We used our vanilla cupcake recipe and then decorated them.  They turned out so cute!

Here's B decorating them

Her finished product - Rudolph up front and some "snow" in the back

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups (lightly spooned in the measuring cup and levelled with a knife) flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tsps baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 Tbs (3 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
½ cup water
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 yolk from a large egg, at room temperature
1 Tbs vanilla extract
2 tsp Plain Greek Yogurt

For the decorations: Mini pretzels broken at the top for the antlers, mini Nilla wafers for the mouth, M&M's (a red one and whatever other color you want for the nose, candy eyes, black icing for lips, brown frosting

Directions:
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) – I have an unusually hot oven so I set mine to 180°C). Line 12 regular-sized (2 ¾-inch diameter) muffin cups with paper or foil liners (I used silicone cupcake cups).

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium or large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

Put the melted butter, water, egg and yolk, vanilla and Greek yogurt in a small bowl and whisk until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and whisk until well blended and smooth, about 1 minute.

Portion the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. (I poured the batter into a large measuring cup with a spout, which makes pouring easier and neater.) Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 14 to 16 minutes. Move to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan, set them on a wire rack and let cool completely.

Vanilla Cupcakes

B watches Cupcake Wars all the time and always says she wants to open her own shop someday.  We had some time this afternoon, so we decided to make cupcakes.  She wanted vanilla ones (seemed easy enough!) and we had most of the ingredients already.  A quick trip to the store for a couple things and we were baking!  She whipped the batter, filled the muffin tins; frosted them and decorated them!  A fun afternoon!  I found the recipe here for the cupcakes.

Edited to add - We made these again today and added 2 tsp of plain Greek yogurt to the batter.  They are so moist and much better with that in them.  The recipe below reflects that change.    

Here's B mixing the batter

B filling the muffin tins

Decorating the cakes

Her finished product

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups (lightly spooned in the measuring cup and levelled with a knife) flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tsps baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 Tbs (3 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
½ cup water
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 yolk from a large egg, at room temperature
1 Tbs vanilla extract
2 tsp Plain Greek Yogurt

Directions:
Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) – I have an unusually hot oven so I set mine to 180°C). Line 12 regular-sized (2 ¾-inch diameter) muffin cups with paper or foil liners (I used silicone cupcake cups).

Put the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium or large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.

Put the melted butter, water, egg and yolk, vanilla and Greek yogurt in a small bowl and whisk until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and whisk until well blended and smooth, about 1 minute.

Portion the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. (I poured the batter into a large measuring cup with a spout, which makes pouring easier and neater.) Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 14 to 16 minutes. Move to a wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the cupcakes from the pan, set them on a wire rack and let cool completely.