Spring Fever Funfetti Cupcakes

Happy first day of Spring!!!! 

and it's snowing here...Mother Nature, you sure are funny. 

But I'm ignoring the snow because I certainly have spring fever and that's all I care about. To celebrate spring I made cupcakes that sure are colorful and make you "think Spring" so you can forget about snow! 

While shopping at the store this past week I noticed something new. Pillsbury had gluten free mixes out! Of course I had to try one. And funfetti caught my eye. 

Read my review here.

Of course I just followed the recipe and ingredients on the back of the box. And it was super easy! So I defiantly recommend following their recipe to make the cupcakes. 

They turned out so light and fluffy! I have to say...they are probably my favorite quick mix for making cupcakes and cake now. 

Vanilla Buttercream Icing

1 Cup Crisco Shortening
1 1 lb Bag Confectioners Sugar
Water
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Beat the shortening for 1 minute. Then add 1 cup of the sugar and beat. Add water and rest of sugar until consistency becomes light and fluffy. Then add vanilla. 

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a sincere love for chocolate chip cookies. But I'm so picky, they have to be soft. I hate hard crunchy cookies. Making gluten free cookies soft is a challenge. Until now. I discovered Betty Crocker's Gluten Free All Purpose Rice Flour Blend. It's amazing! From pancakes to cookies to biscuits. You can use it in so many different ways. I've tried Betty Crocker's gluten free cookie mix and it does make good cookies, but it doesn't make a lot. The baking mix made about two dozen cookies and they are medium sized. 

I was craving cookies today, and my amazing husband took it upon himself to make me cookies. Seriously, he's so sweet. Just like his cookies! The recipe is from off of the box. And it can be found on Betty Crocker's website.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies 

2 1/2 Cups Gluten Free All Purpose Rice Flour Blend

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1/2 tsp. Salt

1 Cup Packed Brown Sugar

3/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

1 Cup Butter(I use Earth Balance) 

1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 Eggs

1 Cup Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

Directions

• Heat oven to 375°F. 
• In large bowl, beat sugars, butter and vanilla with electric mixer on low speed, or mix with spoon, until well blended. Beat in eggs until light and fluffy.
• 
  
  In medium bowl, stir rice flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda and salt until thoroughly blended. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
• 
  
  On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. 
• Bake 7-9 minutes. Until cookies are just golden brown. Center should be soft. Let cool then transfer to cooling rack. 

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

You’ve probably seen the mini cinnamon rolls made from pillsbury crescent rolls, right? Well if you haven’t, I’ll be honest. They are the cutest cinnamon rolls. Probably because they are small and compact. People rave about them because they are so simple and really fast to make. But have you seen what is in those canned crescent rolls? Of course I’d never buy prepackaged, canned dough.

Well I decided that I wanted to make these mini cinnamon rolls, but without using crescent rolls. I still wanted to make the recipe easy and fast. So I used a prepackaged gluten free cinnamon roll mix. I reviewed the mix here.

Cinnamon rolls are defiantly on the list of my favorite baked goods. Warm dough, and ooey gooey cinnamon? Pretty good. Especially with a cup of hot tea or coffee. Most cinnamon rolls are packed with sugar and a lot of unhealthy ingredients. This recipe is taken from off the back of the box. I just switched oil, for coconut oil, and milk, for almond milk.

Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients:
1 Box Chebe Cinnamon Roll Mix
2 Eggs
3 Tbs Coconut Oil
2 Tbs Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Cinnamon
Mini muffin pan

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375° F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Blend Chebe Cinnamon Roll Mix with 3 tbsp. oil and 2 large eggs. Slowly blend in 2 tbsp. milk*/milk substitute.
3. Knead dough with hands until elastic and smooth.
4. Roll dough with a rolling pin into an 8″x12″ rectangle and evenly spread surface with 1 tbsp. softened butter.
5. Mix 1/4 cup brown sugar, 2 tsp. cinnamon and 1 tbsp. softened butter with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over dough.
6. Cut into 1″ slices and place cut side down in muffin tin cups.
7. Bake 16-18 minutes or until light golden brown. Remove from tin immediately, using a table knife. Turn over (sticky side up), let cool.

Enjoy!!