'Tis the season to be baking! Since the 1st of December, my mom and I have been steadily baking, making at least two different types of cookies per week (all of which have gone into the freezer to keep fresh for Christmas). My mom made a list of what she wanted to make this year and it was pretty obvious who was making what: some were for her to make (like the Russian Tea Cakes/Mexican Wedding Cakes that I don't care for) and others were for me to make - like Peanut Butter Blossoms. I've always loved making these. What's not to like: Hershey's Kisses + peanut butter = yum!
My family is all about birthdays. Sure, we don't go all out and hold big blowout parties for each one, but we do get together to celebrate them. And that includes the only member of my mom's side of the family who lives up here in the Puget Sound: my grandma. Her birthday was last week and as always, we had dinner this weekend to celebrate it. We decided to go to Vince's Italian Restaurant in Renton. Because we were going to a restaurant, my mom suggested it'd be easier for me to bake cupcakes that we could hand out for dessert instead of having a cake to cut. After some searching through all of my cookbooks and recipe magazines (there's at least 3 dozen of them), I finally decided on the Chocolate Town Syrup Cupcakes from the Hershey's 1934 Cookbook (an updated version published in 1971). The recipe didn't include a frosting so I just purchased a can of Duncan Hines Whipped Chocolate at the store (frosting has always been hit and miss for me so this was for the better). I tried to decorate the cupcakes fancily with a pastry bag but, well, that didn't work out. One more try next time and then I'm sticking to my new frosting motto: you can't go wrong with a can and a spreader.
