The Herring Household: February 2010

We did not do much this year for Valentine's. We decided to just stay home and spend a relaxing weekend at home together. However, I just couldn't not do something for my sweetie. So I decided to bake some Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing. They were delicious!

And Just in case you are interested here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon red food coloring
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

For the cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers. In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.

In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla with a handheld electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese, softened

2 sticks butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together until smooth. Add the sugar and on low speed, beat until incorporated. Increase the speed to high and mix until very light and fluffy.

*Frost the cupcakes with a butter knife or pipe it on with a big star tip.

And in 20 minutes folks you have delicious red velvet cupcakes!

This past weekend we headed back to Waco for a couple of days. On Saturday I decided to take Kinley to Build-A-Bear and then for a quick stop at our favorite restraunt for lunch.... Bush's Chicken! As soon as we walked in B-A-B she immediately picked out her new baby she wanted. It is a puppy that looks like my dog Spencer (who she loves) I tried multiple times to convince her to choose something different. But she was not havin' it. Her little mind was made up so that was that. I let her pick out what accessories she wanted for her new little buddy and she chose a cute little red/white dress which was very appropriate for V-Day. 2 little red bows, and a little red heart necklace. We opted not to do shoes sence this is a puppy with 4 feet and not a bear with 2. She thought stuffing her new little friend was hilarious, and she didn't quite understand why his "bath" did not have any water. We then came to the part of naming her puppy and much to my surprise(or not) she chose Spencer. a.ka Pencer as her puppy's name.

After B-A-B we headed over to grab some good ole' chicken. Everyone know how much I love me some Bush's Chicken, and after our little date I know this little girl is 100% my niece. She LOVES it too. I ordered 1 real deal for us to share and I swear she ate 3/4 of it. And was a little upset when I told her it was time to leave.

We had such a good day together and I cant wait to spend more days like this with her in the future.

Stuffing her puppy

And here you have it folks
Spencer Oliver