Greatest Dessert on Earth

Yeah. I'm a little boastful about these. I can't take credit for creating the recipe, but I am pretty proud I can make them without screwing up the recipe ;) I found them through the 'Queen of the Kitchen' Martha Stewart. She put out a Best Selling cookbook that was all about cupcakes. I couldn't believe she hadn't done this before! It's been a ton of fun creating these little bites of heaven ;)




Here's the recipe:

Makes 36
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 3 lemons)
3 tablespoons finely grated orange zest (from 2 oranges)
3 tablespoons finely grated lime zest, plus more for garnish (from 3 limes)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
9 large eggs, room temperature

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/4 teaspoon finely grated citrus zest, such as orange, lemon, or lime
3 tablespoons fresh citrus juice, such as orange, lemon, or lime

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour and salt.

2.With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl every few minutes. Add citrus zests. Reduce speed to medium, and add vanilla. Add eggs, three at a time, beating until until incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in four batches, beating until completely incorporated after each.

3.Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full; tap pans on countertop once to distribute batter. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 10 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

4.To finish, dip tops of cupcakes in glaze, then turn over quickly and garnish with zest. Cupcakes are best eaten the day they are glazed; keep at room temperature until ready to serve.

Ahhhhh.... Weddings

I really don't view myself as a hopeless romantic, but there is something about weddings that make me cry like a baby. Everything is so fresh in their relationship and everybody is so happy. It just touches my sensitive side ;)
This past weekend we were able to attend the wedding of a person we all refer to as "Rocky" ;) Hermana Rockwood and I were companions on the mission, and have stayed great friends these past 7 years or so. We were so excited to see her and Jarom get married (we've been rooting for him the past 2 years!). I'm not super happy he is whisking her away to New Zealand for the next couple of years, but maybe that will give us an excuse to do a little sightseeing down there.....

Life Hunting

Isn't it interesting how life works? We work our behinds off for 20 years through school, and then what? We have to search for our Life.... A very nerve wracking and stressful process. I went through a minor "Life Hunt" 3 years ago, when I graduated from college, but I found a job so quickly that I didn't have too much anxiety. However, Adam's Life Search is starting to really stress me out. This is the real deal. We've got to find a job, a house, figure out where the Lord wants us..... Then we need to see how it would affect us long term with children (school districts, is family close, etc)..... It's pretty overwhelming to say the least.

I think it's pretty ironic, since we've anticipated this time for SO long ;) When we got married over 4 years ago, there wasn't even a light at the end of the tunnel. No worries on trying to find our Life and pay off those student loans. Well, time does pass and it does sneak up on you. So, now we grow up and find our Lives. Here's where the Faith kicks in and we rely heavily on the Lord. Which helps my anxiety ;)

What will we do next winter?

This coming Saturday marks the end of a tradition Adam and I have had since we were married. Every winter we have made several trips to the Huntsman Center to watch our cousin Kalee Whipple play a little B-Ball (I hope it's not a sin to have too much pride in this girl, because we might be in trouble ;) Sometimes my sisters would come, or other family members, and it would turn into quite a party. Needless to say, we Whipples are not quiet at sporting events ;) But it has always been a pleasure, which has brightened our quite, slow January days. We've been able to watch her grow up and keep updated on how she is doing over greasy skillets from the Village Inn kitchen (at 10 o'clock, that is the only restaurant open ;), while laughing at the completely random topics that come up.

I will truly miss those times..... She has grown up on us and is now a Senior. Saturday will be her last game before the MWC tournament. I'm pretty proud of her. Not just how well she has played, but how well she has handled it all. It's been awesome to see her grow in talent as well has a person. She is known to be shy, but I'm impressed with how well she deals with random people walking up to her and asking for her autograph. It'll be fun to see how she does in the draft these next couple of months. Oh, our little Kalee......