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Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes for St. Patrick’s Day ♣

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I usually don’t do anything for St. Patrick’s Day other than wear something green to avoid being pinched. This year, the holiday fell on a weekend and a delicious recipe popped up in my RSS Feed – these Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes from Oishii Treats.

I’ve been wanting to make green tea cupcakes for a while, but have been a bit wary. Green Tea is an acquired taste and I was worried how these would go over with my taste testers.

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I replaced half of the flour the recipe called for with whole wheat flour, which went well with the earthiness of the matcha, though it probably kept the cake from being more green. I also used almond milk instead of regular milk. Since green tea is an acquired taste, I opted to swirl the frosting so that it’d be half matcha and half regular cream cheese frosting. This kept the cupcake from being a matcha-overload while adding a nice flair.

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The best thing about these cupcakes are the smell. I love the way they smelled coming out of the oven and when I opened my carrier up to bring them in to the office. You’ll definitely want to use a nice quality matcha since they’re the star ingredient here. And, this is the way that you’re getting a dose of green, naturally!

Piña Colada Cupcakes – Happy 21st Birthday Ariel!

My sister recently turned 21 years old and to surprise her, my mom collected her friends, family, and Girl Scout troop at a local restaurant. Of course, she tasked me with bringing dessert. Since my sister turned 21, I figured I’d incorporate some booze in the cupcakes, but not too much since many people were still under age.

These cupcakes are not too sweet and are extremely moist. The coconut in the frosting keeps it from getting too heavy and while the cupcakes were cooling, I brushed some extra booze on top. My sister’s nickname is “Bear”, so I made some bear-shaped chocolates to go on top too. I put some almond extract in to simulate the orgeat syrup that is often used in tiki-style drinks.

I made some extra to bring in to work the next day; they keep great overnight because of all the moisture from the fruit.

Tagalongs® Cupcakes & 100 Years of Girl Scouts

This year is the 100-year celebration of lots of things, including Girl Scouts! I’ve been a Girl Scout for over 20 years and one of the best things about Girl Scouting is Girl Scout Cookies! Selling cookies teaches about budgeting, setting goals, and managing money. Another great thing about Girl Scout Cookies is that we get to buy them! They’re only available for for a short time during the year, which makes them test all the more better once you finally get your hands on them. My favorite are Samoas, followed closely by Thin Mints, but it seems that everyone else’s favorites are Tagalongs!

My sister’s Girl Scout troop was having a mini-celebration in honor of the 100 Year Celebration in March so I took these popular cookies and brought them over as a special treat for them. My sister’s troop (except for her) are all seniors in high school, so this will be their last year as “Girl Scouts”.  After they graduate high school, if they choose to remain in Girl Scouts, it will be as “Adult Girl Scouts”, not as participants. They loved these cupcakes and made their own “100-year” decorations.


This recipe has been deemed a "hit at home" and is one of the tastiest recipes on Hapa-tite!

Cupcake Exchange: Chocolate Chai Spice


The first snow of the year! (Dec 5th)

I went to a Cupcake Exchange/Bake-Off as part of a Yelp event. I really like Chai, but I don’t like buttercream frosting, so I was interested as to how these would turn out. The recipe, from The Cupcake Blog, had a recipe to make your own chai spice, but I chose to buy Chai teabags and cut them open.

These cupcakes turned out surprisingly delicious! The chocolate wasn’t too deep and the cake was firm (with a crust on top) yet soft on the inside. I didn’t really get the chai flavor, but it might be because of the chai that I used and the fact that this was a chocolate cake.

This was also my first attempt at piping frosting (which I think turned out alright). I tried to make chocolate mint leaves, but I didn’t put enough chocolate on the leaves so when I peeled the chocolate off, the leaves broke. I was able to salvage about three leaves from the fifty I attempted to make and put silver dragees on the rest.

I didn’t win first place, but I did win third (which I later learned was actually 4th place after some math was recalculated). The first place winner was a blow-torched graham cracker crust S’mores cupcake and second place was an Irish Car Bomb cupcake, which I couldn’t really compete with. If I had a molten lava center to this cake, I’m sure I would have won!

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Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate Mix

I gave these out this year for Christmas presents. It was a great project because I was able to give something handmade and also use up some of the fabric that I bought in Japan two years ago.

Glass jars can be found in various sizes in the produce section of supermarkets during canning season. They’re pretty cheap when bought by case like this. If you have to buy individual jars, they’re usually expensive and the incorrect size, so try to stock up during the summer and fall!

I made two versions that had vegetarian marshmallows in them. I also ran out of jars, so I purchased some plastic hinge ones from the Container Store (expensive and they were a different size). Some were packaged in plastic bags, some weren’t. I also included recipe cards for some people.