Chai Latte Cupcakes

A few weeks ago, I saw a picture of some cupcakes that were decorated like they came from Starbucks on Pinterest and an idea was born!:

compliments of this blog :)

My dear friend, Meg, and I have a thing for Starbucks chai lattes. She's a teacher too (she's my mentor!) so we adore those early mornings when an icy chai can help us get through :)

She's also VERY pregnant right now, so I wanted to make these for her baby shower. Unfortunately, I noticed them too late and a cake was already ordered. So... I made them for my kiddos!

I've mentioned before that everytime my students spell out the word compliment (they get each letter by getting praised in the hallway or doing a great job at specials), I bake for them. I've got several kiddos who don't LOVE chocolate... so I've tried to be considerate of them and not make everything chocolate... although I want to. I badly want to.

I found the recipe on the Betty Crocker website and was a little skeptical.  I am SO glad I made them though... my kids thought they were AMAZING. They earn one sticker a day for good behavior; I had several kiddos offer up 20 stickers for one more. That means they were crazy good; my kids are greedy sticker-getters.

And yes, Meg did get one :) And she loved it.

Ingredients:

• 1 box french vanilla cake mix and all the ingredients listed on the back of the box (eggs, water, oil)
• 3 tablespoons chai latte mix (I have a big canister from Trader Joe's)
• Extra nutmeg, cinnamon, and cardamom if you like it spicy!

Frosting:

• 1 can buttercream icing
• cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom to mix in.

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Line your cupcake pan with liners or spray with cooking spray.
• Make the cake mix as directed, mixing in the chai mix with the batter.
• Pour into liners (2/3 full!) and then put into oven for time on back of box.
• Let cool and then mix frosting up. Ice them however you want :)
• I did frost some with a pastry bag and tip, but I frosted several with just a knife. A lot of my kids wanted the less-iced ones, surprisingly.

priorities... and all things Nutella.

Teaching requires a lot of mental energy... and a lot of time, in my little experience. I am working on budgeting my time and forming priorities. My job is a job... and I love it but it is not my first priority.

This weekend, I was forced to focus on other things. We had a Date Night for our young married group at church last night, so we were at church from 12:30-9:30 PM getting ready for that. It was so worth it, because it was amazing. So proud of my hubs for planning it all.

After Date Night, we went to some friends and played a board game called Quelf, which was hilarious to say the least. We are definitely going to buy it. The bad thing was: the game lasted two hours and we walked out the door of their house after midnight. Worth it? Yes.

Needless to say: we didn't get that much sleep last night, which translates to me being a space cadet all day. We brought some snacks to church today for our ABF... I pulled those pumpkin muffins out of the freezer, made a quick Nutella glaze, dipped them in, and went out the door. So easy... and they were yummy!

I have these cute little dragees to put on the top:

Very cute.

This evening, after a birthday party with friends and the required Sunday afternoon nap, I sat down to get my schoolwork done. In the past three days, I've re-read From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, and read Dollhouse Murders for the first time. So excited to have fifth grade 'Book Clubs'. So I finished getting that stuff together and began planning our week.

And then, in a fit of procrastination, I found this delectable creation. Obviously, I had to make it. Two ingredients, people. Two ingredients:

Put two tablespoons of nutella in a sauce pan, add a cup of milk, and whisk until frothy. Delish. And obviously, I had to use my milk frother to top it off:

After I had my hot chocolate and had planned most of the week, I had a craving for Nacho Popcorn. I started making Nacho Popcorn in high school with my darling sister and little brother... we would mix the taco seasoning with butter and then pour it on. And then top it with cheese. Not very healthy... at all. And, the popcorn (as delish as it was) would get soggy quickly. So... I figured out a new way to make it that is much better:

Cook the popcorn in the microwave normally and then sprinkle about a teaspoon or two of taco seasoning on top. Mix it up and it's good to go. So easy... and oh so yummy. The best part is: it saves really well so I'm going to take the rest to work tomorrow for snack ;)

Also, I would just like to say again that my husband is amazing... I am so blessed. Today, he took me to Starbucks after church because I was so tired and we used a gift card to get a cup of coffee. I spilled some on my shoe when I tried to sip it and realized it was hot. DUH. (Impatience.) Without any hesitation, he grabbed some napkins, got on his knees, and started to clean my shoe. So sweet.

Love you, AJ.