Graduation Cupcakes

We had two high school seniors graduate on Friday the 12th, so some celebrating was in order.

"Hello Cupcake's" blog has struck again. I found these adorable Graduation Cupcakes and had no trouble making them from Healthy Choice Devil's Food cookies, chocolate covered grahams, and a little yellow licorice.

I made the vanilla "from scratch" cupcakes, and they are amazingly delicious. Here's the recipe:

VANILLA CUPCAKES

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsps. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup milk (evaporated milk would be really good, or buttermilk)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1. Oven 350. Cream the butter and sugar; add the eggs.

2. Add the dry ingredients

3. Add the milk and oil, beat until smooth.

4. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full, and bake about 20-23 minutes until golden.

To make the little diplomas, I just took a box of Golden Oreo "Fun Stix" and cut each one in half, wrapping a bit of licorice around it. Our school colours are black and gold, and honestly, the black licorice would have probably worked better. But the yellow was fine -- just a bit gooey in the middle, and we had to get creative with scissors.

I absolutely love Hello Cupcake in all its many forms. The blog, the book, it's all full of amazing designs that work with real ingredients -- and they work for those of us who are sewers and not chefs! Or bakers!

xoxoxox