Red Velvet cup cakes with cream cheese frosting!

What could make a day any sweeter than a cupcake? They are Mashas favorite dessert ever! Here is the recipe for a particularly AMAZING kind. Beautiful deep red with a touch of chocolate flavor,and to top it off, the best Cream Cheese frosting you will EVER taste!!! Great for a Christmas tea party or the 4th of July! We hope you enjoy it and make them soon!

Red Velvet cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of sea salt
1 cup  butter (no substitutes!) room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs (room temperature)
1 cup sour cream (again, room temperature)
1/2 cup butter-milk
1 bottle (1 ounce) Red food coloring, yes the ENTIRE bottle!
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (Never ever use artificial)
Oven at 350* Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together and set aside. Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, add sour cream, milk, food color and vanilla. Mix just till combined. Slowly add flour mixture till combined, spoon into 24 paper lined muffin tins to 2/3 full. Bake 20 minutes or till toothpick comes clean. Cool 15 minutes, frost with Cream cheese frosting and top with a few crumbs to make them look extra pretty.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 package cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 cup butter (room temp.)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Beat till smooth, add 4 cups powdered sugar slowly and whip till fluffy and well combined. Now frost those cupcakes! Enjoy! We will see you next time!

Mashas Granola

Masha wants to share her recipe for crunchy sweet home made granola. You can be creative and substitute dried fruit or leave out the nuts if you wish.
8 cups of Old fashioned oats
2 cups walnuts
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup almonds
1 cup pepitos
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Mix all together, spread onto a cooking dish that was sprayed with non stick spray or lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes or until golden.

Masha!

Masha looks out the window at the beautiful sunny spring day. Much too pretty to eat her lunch inside! This is her kitty she calls Dusty Pepper. Cats don't like strawberries much, but Masha does. See the Wish flower? What do you wish for when you blow the seeds off? Masha is wishing for another lovely day like today...

A picnic with Masha and Dusty Pepper

Masha bakes pumpkin bread

Even though Masha lives in the desert, it still gets very cold in the winter. Sometimes it even snows. On cold windy  days like today, she likes nothing more than to have something tasty hot from the oven to share with her friends. Today she decided to make pumpkin bread. Here is the recipe:
Mashas pumpkin bread
3 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
2 t baking soda
3/4 t sea or kosher salt
2 cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
3 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2/3 cups water
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup chopped pecans if desired
Stir dry ingredients together, in a separate bowl gently beat the eggs. Then to the eggs, add remaining wet ingredients. Stir together and add dry ingredients just till combined. Pour mixture evenly into 3 loaf pans sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 350*  1 hour.