Sunday, November 27, 2011

Baking Chocolate Owl Cupcakes

A few days ago, we had no school so my aunt came to our house and we baked chocolate owl cupcakes.  She brought a lot of delicious ingredients like oreo cookies and m&m chocolates.  Here are the ingredients to make chocolate owl cupcakes:

To make the cake:
  1. 2 cups of all purpose flour
  2. 2 cups of sugar
  3. 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  4. 1/2 cup of buttermilk
  5. 2 large eggs
  6. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  7. 1 teaspoon baking soda
  8. 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter
  9. 4 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder
To make the icing:
  1. 1 3/4 sticks of butter
  2. 4 heaping spoons of cocoa powder
  3. 6 tablespoons milk
  4. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  5. 1 pound powdered sugar
To decorate the cupcake:
  1. Oreo cookies
  2. chocolate covered macadamia nuts
  3. m&ms

First, we preheated the oven to 350 degrees.  Next, we took a large bowl and combined 2 cups of flour, and 1/4 of salt that my brother and I measured.  Next, my sister put the cupcake liners into the cupcake mold while I separated the Oreo cookies.  When my aunt wasn't looking I ate one of the Oreo cookies.

Later, we took another bowl and mixed the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla, and baking soda.  Then we melted the butter and poured it into a saucepan.  We added 4 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder into the saucepan to make chocolate.  When I put the cocoa into the butter I accidentally knocked down the cocoa container and all of the cocoa powder spilled onto the kitchen counter and floor.  Then I added water to the saucepan while I stirred it.

Next, we poured in the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture.  I liked the mixture so much I got to lick the bowl after.  Finally, my brother added the egg mixture while I continued to stir until  it was smooth. When itwas stirred my aunt poured it into the cupcake molds and  put it in the oven to bake.

While it was baking, we made the chocolate icing.  We melted some more butter and put in the cocoa powder. To make it sweet, we also added powdered sugar.  When my aunt added the sugar she spilled it all over the counter.  We had a delicious mess in our kitchen!

Next my aunt took the cupcakes out of the oven while my siblings and I put the frosting on the cupcakes.    We decorated the cupcakes with Oreo cookies as the  and  nuts as the owl's eyes and m&ms as the nose.  While the cupcakes were cooling, we helped clean up the kitchen.  There was a lot of cleaning up to do, but it was all worth it at the end. The cupcakes tasted delicious and were fun to make.

 







What do you think of our Owl cupcakes?

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

2011 Edublog Nominations

I am very excited to be part of the Edublog nomination process.  I have been blogging for a year and a half, and I have come across many interesting blogs that deserve an award.  

Here is my list of blogs that I nominated:

 

Best Class Blog

Mrs Yollis’ Classroom Blog

I have seen many class blogs but my favorite is Mrs Yollis'.  She has a new interesting post up every week and supports her student bloggers by leaving comments on their blogs.  She also comments back to many of her readers on her blog.

 

 Best Student Blog

BB Awesome Blog

One of my favorite student bloggers is Bianca, or BB for short.  Bianca and I have become blogging buddies ever since I started blogging.    BB publishes a new post every week and comments back to everyone. She even did a post about blogging etiquette that every blogger should read.  She also takes the time to comment on other blogs as well.

 

Best Twitter Hashtag


#comments4kids

I love the #comments4kids hashtag! When I publish a new post Mrs. Yollis tweets it out using this hashtag.  I always get some really lovely comments from everyone that received her tweet. It is wonderful!

 

Most Influential Blog Post

Family Blogging Month By: Mrs Yollis’ Class

Mrs. Yollis came up with the idea of having family blogging month a few years ago.  She does Family Blogging Month in the Spring and in the Winter. This is a great way for family to find out what we learn in class.  Last year a lot of my relatives participated in her blog. She also likes to compliment the family's comment by giving each child a point on a chart for every comment they received.  At the end, the student with the most points gets a prize and a chance to do a guest post on her blog.

Check out these great blogs and let me know what you think.