Earth Day Muffins - total time 45 minutes

Earth Day is April 22nd.  Do you do anything to celebrate?  Some people plant a tree (well, they might do that on Arbor Day which is April 26), others spend time outside (which is a win-win since you don't have to use electricity to enjoy the outdoors), or maybe commit to reducing, reusing, and recycling more.  I don't really do anything special on Earth Day... really, we should be thinking about the Earth and celebrating it everyday. But this year I made Earth Day muffins!

I actually saw a similar idea for this on Pinterest, although it was a cake with a lot of food coloring.  I thought maybe I could muffins with some natural coloring... but I couldn't get to a true blue or a true green without a little help.  The concept is pretty easy... start with a basic muffin batter, separate, add in your blue and green fruits and dyes, then plop alternating spoonfuls of muffin batter into muffin cups.  They end up looking so cute!  Perfect for Earth Day, but could be made any time!

Very Berry Cupcakes - total time 1 hour

These cupcakes are both light and rich at the same time.  It has that taste of summer from the berries and the buttercream is so rich and sweet.  Perfect for any summer party!

Cupcakes

2 cups flour

.75 cup sugar

.5 cup brown sugar

.5 tsp baking powder

salt

.25 cup juice from berrries

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

splash of milk

Buttercream Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar

.75 cup butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbsp cream

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl.  Add eggs and mix well.

2.  Smash berries in another bowl (frozen or fresh) and strain to get juice.  Add juice, milk, and vanilla to the bowl.  Pour mixture into muffin tray.  Bake for 22 minutes.

3.  While cupcakes are baking,  mix butter, cream, and vanilla together in a bowl.  Slowly stir in powdered sugar a little at a time.  You can try using a piping bag for the frosting, but my frosting was too thick to get through the icing tip.  Instead, I molded the frosting like fondant (this tastes so much better than fondant).  The add a couple berries on top for decoration (and more berry flavor) and enjoy!

Optional:  Since I already had melted chocolate from the chubby hubby truffles, I added some cream to the chocolate to make ganache.  I spread the ganache on top of the cupcake and then put the frosting over top for a tasty surprise!