Watch Those Ingredients

For my crazy make-too-many-things-all-at-the-same-time week, I made fun cupcakes for our office Dallas Mavericks championship celebration.

Yum, yum. And go Mavs! IT'S OUR TIME!!!!!!

Ahem.

As a slight reference to the champagne-fueled parties post-win, I decided to make Champagne Cupcakes from a new recipe book my mom and baby sister gave me at Christmas: Crazy about Cupcakes.

Champagne Cupcakes

• 2/3 c butter, at room temp
• 1 1/2 c sugar
• 2 3/4 c all-purpose flour
• 3 t baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 3/4 c champagne
• 6 large egg whites, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350. Insert liners into medium cupcake pan. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. In a separate medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Blend the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, alternately with the champagne. In a large clean bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of the whites into the batter until blended, then fold in the remaining egg whites until well blended. Fill the cupcake liners three-quarters full with batter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cupcakes comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the pan.

Toasted Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

• 4 T unsalted butter, at room temp
• 2 c flaked coconut
• One 8-oz package cream cheese, at room temp
• 2 c confectioners' sugar
• 2 t milk
• 1 t vanilla extract

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the coconut and cook, stirring constantly until golden brown. In a bowl, cream the remaining butter and the cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the confectioners' sugar, milk and vanilla slowly, beating after each addition. Beat until smooth. Stir in the toasted coconut. Note: I accidentally added 2 tablespoons of milk instead of 2 teaspoons. That may or may not be related to making champagne cupcakes prior to making the frosting. But the frosting still turned out ok.

I also custom made cupcake toppers using some simple graphics, printed on sticky labels and attached to toothpicks. I think they turned out very cute!!

When I showed these to The Boy and asked him what he thought, he just said: That's the kind of crazy I've come to expect from you.

Exactly.

(Anyone have ideas for what I can do with six egg yolks?}