Appetizers & Cupcakes

Here are some simple ideas to make cupcakes more special or personalized, as well as some really easy appetizers!

When I'm making cupcakes for someone or an event I try to personalize them for the party or friend.  This weekend we celebrated my roommate's Birthday so knowing Funfetti Cupcakes were her favorite, I made those.  Then to make them more special I asked her what color her dress was and colored the frosting to match it along with festive sprinkles.  For Halloween last year, I made orange frosting and topped each Cupcake with candy corn.  If the Birthday boy or girl has a favorite candy you can put that on top, or if you're going to a 4th of July Party, why not use blue or red sprinkles.  It makes the cupcakes or cake all the more fun and totally personalized for every party!

Tricuit Bites

Depending on your taste, get a box of Triscuit crackers, I love the Rosemary & Olive Oil, and had never seen the Dill & Sea Salt so I also got a box of those, along with a log of Goat Cheese and picked up some red and orange peppers, (I had some leftover zucchini at home and arugula).  

For the Rosemary & Olive Oil Triscuits I picked out the full square ones that weren't broken or anything and put some Goat Cheese on them.  Then I used a tiny piece of the arugula and placed it on top of the Goat Cheese.  I had chopped the peppers into half inch pieces and placed one of each color on top of the arugula.  It was a nice punch of flavor but still very easy and involved no baking or anything.

For the Dill & Sea Salt I also put a small amount of Goat Cheese on top and then put a zucchini on top of the Goat Cheese.  Then I used some fresh black pepper and sprinkled that over them.  These were almost like mini cucumber sandwiches!

Both appetizers felt very light!  My only qualm was that because we were outdoors for the party and it was an hour drive and very hot outside, the goat cheese soaked up into the crackers so they weren't as crisp as when I first made them.  What was even stranger was that the cupcakes sat in the sunshine for a couple hours while we were celebrating at the vineyard and were no longer pink when everything got packed up; the sun had actually faded the color and the frosting looked white.  What a crazy science experiment!

Both dessert and appetizers were a big hit and made me more excited to try new ways to spice up your simple Triscuit cracker :)