Snowflakes and Cupcakes

Today I actually ventured out into the snow (albeit for 20 minutes as that's just about how long I can stand!) and love love loved how pretty everything seemed! Even the somewhat ordinary village of Wall Heath was sprinkled with a little quaintness and was full of children actually enjoying the outdoors rather than sitting silently in front of their computers (hypocritical I know). Something that my friend Holly mentioned earlier really made me think - after seeing all those kids getting excited at the potential of sledging and building snowmen, when did we suddenly grow up and lose all that innocence? Here I am, 19 years old living away from home and finding myself already half way through my degree. Where did all that time go? I miss my childhood : (

Anyway, after having a slightly discomforting day where everything you pick up drops on the floor, and everything you plan to do is halted in some way or another, I thought I'd cheer myself up with some baking. I think I may have addiction - cupcakes anonymous anyone?!

Firstly I made some Very Cherry cupcakes using chopped maraschino cherries in a basic cake mix as well as adding their syrup to some icing.

They turned out perfect - the cake was slightly crunchy on the outside, but the syrup helped keep them moist and soft on the inside. YUM!

Next up I tried out a variation of a recipe that I've had my eye on for a few days. It's a recipe for Blondie cupcakes (think pale brownies) and is basically a cake topped with chocolate chips and nuts. But as we have an abundance of Christmas chocolates lying around i decided to chop these up instead, adding chocolate Brazils (also festive leftovers!) and chopped pecans. They look pretty scrumptious and I'm now typing this extra quickly so that i can go and try one!