Birthday Fun!

 I can't believe my baby boy is 3 already! It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. He always brings a smile to face with his quick wit and imagination. He makes me proud to be his mommy for sure! The last few months I've been asking what kind of birthday he wanted to have, and all he would say was he wanted a Ben 10 birthday. Well, I don't watch Ben 10, Jake watches Ben 10 with him. When I went online to try and find some ideas for his birthday everything seemed too old for his age group. So, finally I talked him into a baseball party! While home a few weeks ago I went to Party City and picked up all the necessary Braves supplies! We even all wore Braves shirts for the party. With the theme picked, food was easy. We grilled! Hot dogs, burgers, chips, veggies, fruits, cupcakes, and cake ball (courtesy of Nanny)! Today I'm sharing a great burger recipe and one for homemade funfetti cupcakes. The burgers come from Southern Living's, "Comfort Food", and they are some of the easiest ones I've seen. The cupcakes came from Pinterest and the website SweetPeasKitchen. These were way better than anything that could have ever come from a box. I even got lucky and found red,white, and blue jimmies at the commissary! 

 The Perfect Burger

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds ground beef (75/25 or 25% fat)

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper

6 (1 oz) Cheddar cheese slices

6 hamburger buns

Toppings of choice

Directions

Preheat grill to 350 to 400 degrees (medium-high). Gently combine beef, salt, and pepper. Shape into 6 (4-inch) 1-inch-thick patties. Using thumb and forefinger, lightly press middle of patties, pressing in but not completely through, creating an indentation in center of patties. Let stand at room temp for 30 minutes.

Grill, covered with grill lid, over medium-high heat 6-7 minutes on each side or until no longer pink in center. Top each burger with 1 cheese slice, and grill, covered with grill lid, 1 to 2 minutes or until cheese is melted. remove from grill, and let stand 5 minutes, Serve on hamburger buns with desired toppings.

Funfetti Cupcakes

 

Ingredients

For the Cupcakes:

 

1 cup buttermilk

4 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

3 cups cake flour, sifted

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sprinkles, plus more for garnish

For the Buttercream Frosting:

20 tablespoons (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2½ cups Confectioners’ sugar

1/8 teaspoon table salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners.

In a 2-cup glass measure, combine milk, egg whites, and extracts and mix with fork until blended.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add butter and continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining.

Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed for 1½ minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium speed and beat 20 seconds longer. Fold in sprinkles. Divide the batter evenly among muffin pan cups.

Bake 18-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean. Transfer muffin pan to wire rack to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cool completely prior to frosting.

To make buttercream frosting, in standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Place frosting into a large decorators decorating bag fitted with the 1M decorating tip and approximately 1/4″ above cupcake top at a 90° angle to cupcake surface, pipe a spiral of icing, beginning at the outer edge and working inward. Sprinkle with remaining sprinkles.

Yields: 24 cupcakes or 1 two-layer cake

Prep Time: 1 hour and 30 minutes (includes cooling)

Bake Time: 22 minutes

 

 

It was great having friends and family here to help celebrate Wyatt's big day! Stay tuned for any amazing pecan pancake recipe!