Summer Recipes for Summer Celebrations!

We celebrated the first day of summer on Monday with Dave’s soon-to-be-famous, festive cupcakes. Too cute not to share the recipe! Please share your recipes below too, or let us know where you’ve found your favorite summer recipes.

Big thanks to Dave for sharing this great recipe!

Goldfish Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 box Cake Mix (or made-from-scratch cake, if desired)
• 1-2 can(s) of Butter Crème Icing
• 1 mini bottle of Blue food coloring
• 1-2 bag(s) of M&M’s Minis (or another small, circular candy, if desired)
• 1 bag Circus Peanuts
• 1 small box of Plain Cheerios

Instructions:

1. Take your favorite cupcake / cake mix (or make your own from scratch) and bake into cupcakes as you normally would. Be sure not to over-bake, or your cupcakes will be rock solid. Average bake time is about 16-18 minutes at 350 degrees.

(Add learning activities to the “mix” by asking your kids to help measure ingredients or help figure out how many minutes are left until the cupcakes are done!)

2. While the cake mix is cooking, mix a few drops of the blue food coloring into one can of Butter Crème Icing to create a light blue color. Think tropical Bermuda waters.
3. Open the M&M’s Minis bag and separate by color, making pairs of twos.

(You can add a learning activity here too by asking your child to arrange colors of M&M’s into rows to create a real-life, mouth-watering bar graph. Which color are there the most of? The least?)

4. The Circus Peanuts take the most time and effort. First, take out one Circus Peanut per cupcake made. You should have plenty left over, which you will need later. Take the Circus Peanuts that you have just set aside, and make them flat, placing the “Peanut” side up. These are the bodies of the fish.
5. Take the remaining Circus Peanuts and cut them into triangle slices (another great learning opportunity for the little ones!). Use these slices to make the fins by rounding out the flat end, then pinching the other end to make a point. Bend the point just a bit. You will need to make 4 fins per cupcake.
6. By the time you’re done squishing and bending, your cupcakes are probably done! Check to see if they are done by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cupcake – when done, the toothpick will come out clean. Let cupcakes sit to cool. They must be completely cool to begin the next step!
7. Once cooled apply the blue icing to the cupcake. Don’t be bashful.
8. Apply the flat circus peanut (one per cupcake) to the frosting on top of each cupcake.
9. Attach the fins to the body with icing, or if it’s getting too messy/difficult, place them directly into the frosting, but close enough to the fish that it gives the appearance that they are connected. Place two “fins” in the front, two in the back.
10. Use the can of extra frosting to place a dab on the “M&M’s” side of the M&M’s. You will do this twice per fish, as these are the eyes. Once completed, place the M&M’s on the front part of the Circus Peanut.
11. Stand a Cheerio right in front of the Circus Peanut, creating an open mouth appearance.
12. If you’re able to place these in the fridge before the family scoops them up, refrigerate to help the body stick to the icing.
13. When you’ve finished your masterpieces, share your pictures with us on Facebook!