Photo Courtesy of Joy the Baker! Doesn't she make those cupcakes look delicious!

Its my daughters birthday today and in honor of her 12th Birthday, the last year before she becomes a teenager (although she already seems like one) I am asking you to make one of these awesome recipes from my favorite baker on the internet – Joy The Baker. I love all her recipes, but check out the cupcakes, I have baked most of them and am in love with these red velvet cupcakes and cinnamon cream cheese frosting. For the Red Velvet cupcake recipe click here. The frosting recipe is below.

Others to try:

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream

Brownie Bottom Ice Cream Cupcakes

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche Buttercream

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

adapted from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

double recipe to frost a 2 layer 9-inch cake

2 1/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature

4 ounces cream cheese, cold (I used room temperature)

scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Beat the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and butter together in the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a paddle attachment.  Mix on medium-slow speed until it comes together and is well mixed.

Add the cream cheese all at once and beat on medium to medium-high until incorporated.

Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes, or until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.

Do not over-beat as the frosting can quickly become runny.

Happy Birthday Emily – I couldn't ask for a better 12 year old! You amaze me!

But in the midst of all the dress revamping and apron sewing, I made some banana bread. I need sustenance to keep me going, what's better than banana bread? Nothing, absolutely nothing, ok maybe somethings, like chocolate, but I had a bunch of over ripe bananas that needed to be made into this beautiful banana bread.

I got this recipe from a friend, Bianca, who, along with her family, owns a winery rightly named Chateau Bianca. So of course you can guess what she has added to this recipe to make it a bit better than the normal everyday banana bread.

So if you aren't familiar with Port – here is a little helpful info: In terms of sweetness, Port wine can be very sweet, sweet, semi-dry, dry or extra dry. Port wine is often served as a dessert wine and has an above average alcohol content; ranging between 19% and 22% by volume. But as most know, when cooked the alcohol dissipates.

Continue reading for the recipe….

Banana Bread with Ruby Port

Ingredients

2/3 C softened butter

1/2 C mayonnaise

1 3/4 C sugar

3 eggs

3 bananas – mooshed

4 TBSP sour cream

1 tsp baking soda

2 C flour

1 TBSP lemon rind, grated

1 tsp salt

1/4 C ruby port

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X5 inch loaf pan.

2. In a large bowl, combine ingredients in the order listed. Mix until well blended and pour batter into the prepared loaf pan.

3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Ok, so this is not my normal type of post but I was so impressed with how these scones turned out. Last week while visiting Starbucks, they offered me a sample of their Maple Sausage Scones and I loved them. I decided I would have to try to find the recipe on line, I was sure someone would have made them before, but I couldn't find one recipe for them. So I decided to try to recreate them myself.

I took my favorite scone recipe from Martha Stewart's Food Magazine and added a few things. Here is what I came up with.

MAPLE SAUSAGE SCONES

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 5 tablespoons sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for topping
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup(plus more for tops)
• 2 breakfast sausage links with casings removed, cooked and crumbled.

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 1/2 cup half-and-half, 2 tablespoons maple syrup until just moistened. Gently fold in crumbled sausage.
2. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently, 5 to 10 times. Pat into a 1-inch-thick round. Cut into 8 wedges; place on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Brush tops with remaining maple syrup. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

These turned out great. Try them side by side with the scones from Starbucks and you will not know one from the other.