Letter to My Son – Happy 4th Birthday!

Today our little munchkin turns four years old. Hard to believe … sometimes it seems like just yesterday he was a baby, and other days, it seems like so long ago. Nicholas celebrated his birthday by bringing a batch of cupcakes to Summer Camp, and then my parents came over for dinner. Because it’s his birthday, it was up to him to decide what to do for dinner. All day long, he vacillated between Chinese food and salad, having a hard time making up his mind. We ended up doing both, and he ate both, happy as a clam.

Last night, in between the power outage, we baked up a batch of Golden Butter Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting. The cupcakes were light and airy and the frosting, delicious. Not as good as Costco’s buttercream frosting, but still tasty nonetheless.

Off to spend some time with my little Kitchen Monkey. Tune in tomorrow for this week’s nod for New (to Me) Blogger on the Block, and my Rediscovering My Library segment. Until then…

A year ago today … the Birthday Boy went bowling.

Golden Butter Cupcakes
Recipe courtesy of Good Housekeeping
Makes 2 dozen cupcakes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter or margarine (1-1/2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup whole milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350. Line twenty-four 2-1/2 inch muffin-pan cups with fluted paper liners. In large bowl, with mixer at low speed, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Add butter, milk, vanilla and eggs, and beat just until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 1-2 minutes or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Spoon better into mufin-pan cups. Bake 20-25 minutes or until cupcakes are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove cupcakes from pans and cool completely on wire rack. When cupcakes are cool, prepare choice of frosting and frost cupcakes.

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
Recipe courtesy of Good Housekeeping
Makes about 2-1/2 cups

1 package (16 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick) softened
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4-6 tablespoons milk

In large bowl, with mixer at medium-low speed, beat confectioners’ sugar, butter, vanilla, and 4 tablespoons milk until smooth and blended. Increase speed to medium-high; beat until frosting is light and fluffy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Beat in additional milk as needed for easy spreading consistency.

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