Mexican Wedding Cakes & Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes

Boy, does time fly! Here it is the end of the month & I haven't posted yet! Here goes: another 2-fer! We hosted a Mexican themed gathering this month and the food (and drinks) were outstanding! I'm posting 2 desserts: Mexican Wedding Cakes, an old favorite and Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes with Cinnamon buttercream frosting. I made the wedding cakes & my friend, Judy made the cupcakes. My daughter, Carrie found the original cupcake recipe (very vegan friendly) and Judy modified it to what she had in her cupboard!

Mexican Wedding Cakes:

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
Confectioner's sugar

Cream sugar, butter; add flour, vanilla, pecans. Roll in small balls. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-45 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven, roll in confectioner's sugar while still warm.

Mexican Chocolate Cupcakes:

3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons white vinegar

In large bowl, mox flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon & cayenne pepper. Add the oil, water, vanilla & vinegar to the dry ingredients & stir. Don't over mix, a few clumps are fine. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Makes 24 regular sized cupcakes. Cool then frost.

Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup (approx) of heavy cream

In a medium bowl, mix the cinnamon & powdered sugar. Add the butter, vanilla & cream, beating until fluffy & the consistency you like. Pipe onto cupcakes.

Mom's "Good" Sugar Cookies

My sister, Bonnie, and I were discussing our sugar cookie recipe the other day & I commented that mine was called Mom's "Good" sugar cookies. She said hers was called the same thing. We wondered if this was opposed to our Mom's "lousy" sugar cookie recipe! When we asked Mom, she said she labeled it "Good" because it WAS good as opposed to the other recipes she'd tried that weren't so good! Bonnie has made this one with all butter and used 2 tsp. orange extract and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. She said they were a bit richer tasting than the original and that the orange extract added a "brightness" to the cookie. I'm sticking with it made my way! Either is great! The frosting is a wonderful buttercream, great on cakes and cupcakes as well as cookies. I keep leftover frosting in the refrigerator, it keeps well.

Cookie Dough:

1 cup shortening

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

Cream the above & add:

3 - 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Mix well. Pat into a ball & chill at least an hour. Roll out & cut with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet & bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until golden. Cool & frost. Makes about 4-5 dozen, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.

Buttercream Frosting

2 sticks butter, softened

4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk

pinch of salt

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, milk & salt in electric mixer until moistened. Increase speed & beat until creamy & fluffy, about 1 1/2 minutes; scrape bow a few times. Frost & decorate cookies as desired.