Simple Chocolate Cupcakes

It's always good to have a few recipes for home-made treats that are relatively quick and easy to make, and you know will turn out perfectly every time.  One of the best treats is a chocolate cupcake.  They're perfect for almost any occasion (including when you just need a chocolate fix).

My daughter wanted to visit her old preschool.  She wanted them to be able to see how grown up she is in her school uniform, and to wish them a Merry Christmas.  So the girls and I made chocolate cupcakes together.  This is the kind of recipe that still turns out well when you're letting your kids do all of the measuring and mixing.

For my simple chocolate cupcake recipe, click here.

We gave them the cupcakes with a Christmas card.  We wanted to individually wrap them so that all of the teachers and other workers could bring one home with them, and wanted to make them Christmasy.  Here's what we did.

To add a Christmasy feel, we made a mint chocolate icing.  I used a piping bag without a nozzle.  To be even more festive, add some crushed candy canes into the icing and then sprinkle a little on the top.  We sprinkled edible glitter on the top because it looked festive and reminded us of snow.

To individually wrap them, we used plastic sandwich bags.  We put them in then tied around the bag with scraps of festive ribbon.  This is great because you can use up any scraps you have leftover from wrapping presents or other festive activities.  We had a mix of different red and gold ribbons.

These made a delicious and really simple Christmas gift.