For My Pal

Tomorrow is my pal's birthday, so I sent her a large card made out of a page from my 2011 calendar.
The month of May:

I added a cardboard backing and placed stick-on daisies as a way of framing the back, where I wrote a special note to her.  I also made some paper castings with my Rycraft ceramic stamps and placed them on the front of the card.  I did a paper casting of the letter "R", her first name, and placed it right in the middle of the crown seal.  I also made a duck with a bow and canter of flowers.  Below are my collection of Rycraft ceramic stamps...so far.

I did take a picture of the baked goods I sent along with the card.  The original recipe is called Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes (found on blogs.babble.com/familykitchen, posted by Juliever).  I decided to make them in my heart shaped silicone pan.  As usual I make everything gluten-free, and I've also gotten into the habit of sifting my flour, baking powder, etc.  I find my batters come out better that way, even when the original recipe doesn't call for it.  In the end, I always go with my instincts.  The results were pretty surprising.  Here's the recipe with a couple of my adjustments in parantheticals...

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup canola or mild vegetable oil (I used canola)
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs (I decided to leave them out for room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sale
1/4 - 1/2 cup Nutella, room temperature (I followed my own instincts when it came to how much Nutella)

I found the batter to be too thick and despite what I used, I was unable to easily swirl in the Nutella.  Baked results...

I wanted the Nutella much more swirled into the batter, so I tried again with leftover batter.  This time I decided to mix the Nutella into the batter with my hands as if it were dough, just work it in a bit.  (FYI: messy.)  They turned out the other extreme, a little too mixed.  Up at the very top of this picture you'll see a couple where the Nutella is much more mixed in.  They almost look like marble hearts.

Either way, I think they turned out to be great little morsels.  Because they were tiny, the consistency turned out to be less of a cupcake and more of a cookie.  Which in the end I was happy with...and I think my pal will be happy too.  Happy 9th Birthday!

When last I wrote I mentioned a project I was going to embark in...I'm still working on it.  It has turned out to be more of an adventure than I expected.  It requires me to do a lot of research and decision making around photos and fabrics: persistance is key.  Eventually it will connect to baking.  I'm grateful for the challenge.  ....I leave you with a quote I recently heard Tavis Smiley from PBS read the other day.  It gave me food for thought.

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.  TALENT will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent.  GENIUS will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.  EDUCATION will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.  PERSISTENCE and determination alone are omnipotent.  The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."  by Calvin Coolidge