Star Trek Blog Hop: Cupcakes!

I'm so excited to be participating in Katie's Star Trek blog hop today! There are many other bloggers with great projects. To find the whole list, scroll to the bottom of this post. I'm happy to share with you my project, Star Trek-themed cupcakes! I've included a tutorial for several designs below!

Star Trek Uniform:

1. Ice in red, blue, or gold (eat the redshirts first!) The easiest was to get a smooth cupcake is to ice a very thick layer on first, making sure you go all the way to the edges, and then hold your spatula vertically against the cupcake and scrape off excess icing from the sides. Then, hold your spatula level horizontally with the top of the cupcake and very lightly skim across it for a smooth finish. 

2. The uniform details are quite easy, just a black triangle for the top and pipe on the insignia!

Star Trek Enterprise:

1. This cupcake is more show than tell, so ice the cupcake (as discussed in the previous tutorial), and then, using grey icing, pipe on the general outline of the enterprise. Fill in the shape.

2. Using black icing, add teeny details on the various parts of the ship.

Star Trek Faces:

1. Ice in skin-colored icing. Then pipe on the facial details. I found it easiest to pipe in this order: hair, face, eyebrows. Easy-peasy!

TIPS:

1. You can use a toothpick to mark out a pattern for piping. I did this with Kirk and Spock's hair and found it very helpful.

2. Get crafty and make speech bubbles! Our quotes are from the new series and were a cute addition to the Starfleet uniform cupcakes.

Thanks for reading! 

-Taylor

Bloggers Participating in the blog hop:
• Katie- Punk Projects
• Taylor- This Memorable Life
• Megan- The Nerd Nest
• Mandy- Chocolate and Cream Cake
• Kam- Campfire Chic
• Regena- The Distracted Domestic
• Melissa- Scrappy Jedi
• Emily- Oh! Emily Made That

Holiday Baking: Lemon Pie Cookies

These cookies are amazing. They taste exactly like lemon pie and they're best fresh out of the oven. Enjoy the recipe. 

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 tsp lemon extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 powdered sugar

1. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in vanilla, lemon extract, and egg. Stir in all dry ingredients. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again. Chill dough for two hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll into powdered sugar. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until cookies are no longer shiny. Cool 3 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack. 

Holiday Baking~Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/8 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with non-stick baking spray. Beat butter for 30 seconds, until smooth. Add brown sugar, spice, and salt. Gradually beat in flour.

2. Shape dough into 1 inch balls (no bigger!). Place balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Coat a cookie stamp with non-stick spray and then dust in white granulated sugar. Stamp each ball, flattening it. 

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Do not look for brownness, if they are brown they will be overbaked and very hard. This is shortbread, so they dough is already fairly firm. Test by touching a cookie for firmness. It should still be mostly firm,slightly soft, but not soft like raw cookie dough.

I found the original recipe on Better Homes & Gardens, but my recipe has some slight modifications. Find the original here. These cookies freeze really well, so I'm excited to just take them out and serve when my family visits for the holidays.