Eggnog Cupcakes

It's starting to feel a bit Christmas-y around here. We've got our trees up, the Christmas playlist is back on my ipod, and of course the stores have been acting like it's Christmas since June. But mostly it's just that I've finally started buying Christmas presents and baking Christmas-y cupcakes.

So we've got eggnog cupcakes with eggnog cream cheese frosting. I got rave reviews from everyone who tried these, and I also thought they were pretty yummy.

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 1/4 cups eggnog
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Mix it all up and bake it. I may be late to the game on this but I've noticed they turn out a lot better if I bake them at like 325 or 330. Still don't keep track of time though :)

For the frosting:
1 stick butter
1/2 block cream cheese
1/4-1/2 cup eggnog
powdered sugar

First blend the butter and cream cheese and then add the eggnog. Start adding powdered sugar until you get a good consistency. I wasn't doing anything too fancy with the decorations on these so I left it pretty soft. Frost all the cupcakes and then use the green decorating icing pipe on leaf like shapes and top with a couple red cinnamon candy "decors."

And if I haven't mentioned it before, I'm always open to suggestions. I like a challenge so if you have an idea, please let me know!!!

-Happy Baking!

Churro Cheesecake Cupcakes

I just got back from a cruise to Mexico where we had a great time and ate lots of amazing food. Anybody know how to make Mayan pumpkin salsa? Or warm chocolate melting cake? I'm serious! Anybody?? No, ok then.. How about some Churro Cheesecake Cupcakes?

These have a secret ingredient, which is also one of my favorite breakfast cereals. Cinnamon Toast Crunch (or the Walmart off-brand which I bought).

For the Cake:
1 white cake mix
1/3 cup oil
1 1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1 cup crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch
a dash of cinnamon

Mix it all up, adding the cereal last. Bake the cupcakes at 350. No idea how long (as usual). When they are baked core the centers. Once I cored the cupcakes I decided to put a couple pieces of whole cereal into the bottom of each hole.


For the Filling:
6-8 oz whipped cream cheese (I bought the 12 oz tub)
1 cup powdered sugar
vanilla and cinnamon to taste

Fill the holes in the cupcakes with this mixture. What is left over will go into the frosting.

For the Frosting:
remaining filling
1 stick softened butter
remaining cream cheese (from 12 oz tub)
2 tsp vanilla (more or less to taste)
1 tbsp milk
powdered sugar to reach right consistency
cinnamon to taste

Pipe on cupcakes to cover the filling. Sprinkle with a light dusting of cinnamon over the top. Since these were intended to be Mexican cupcakes I decorated them with Spanish sayings and mustaches. These little conversation bubbles were $5!! I considered making my own but buying them was so much easier!

Candy Corn Cupcakes

It's that candy corn time of year! Cooler weather (ha! We got a whole 2 days of it), county fairs, and pumpkin everything! I'm not making any guarantees for or against a pumpkin creation showing up on the blog but my goodness Pinterest has been on pumpkin overload for about 2 months now.
Have you noticed how this time of year there are so many good baking flavors to use? Pumpkin, pecan, cinnamon, apple, not to mention fair food inspiration. Any good suggestions you'd like to see me try?

I've got a cute candy corn cupcake for you today. I'll tell you what I did, and give you a suggestion for what will probably be an infinitely easier way!

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix and required ingredients
1 bag candy corn (about 1 cup for the cake, 1 cup for the frosting)
red and yellow food color (1 drop red, 2 drops yellow)

What I did: Melted the candy corn (with oil to keep it soft) and mixed it in with the other *warm or room temp* ingredients. This was mostly a disaster. Candy corn melts great, but it is less than great at staying that way. As soon as it hit the other ingredients we had a solid lump of candy corn goop. So I mixed the mess out of it and got it to workable sized chunks.

Probably a better option: Mix either whole candy corn or chopped candy corn pieces into the prepared batter. Honestly not sure why I thought the other way would be better!

For the frosting:
Since the melted candy corn didn't work out for the cake I decided not to attempt that route for the frosting.
1/2 Crisco bar
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 tbsp milk
powdered sugar
red and yellow food color

Mix butter and shortening then add other ingredients. If you want to spend a little more time on it you could separate your frosting into 3 bowls and color one orange, one yellow, and leave one white. You could then frost the cupcakes to resemble candy corn. But since I topped the cupcakes with candy corn and mellowcreme pumpkins I opted for just orange frosting.

- Happy Baking!

Pomegranate & Papaya Cupcakes

Pomegranate. Papaya. Both weird fruits that are kind of fun to say. So I decided to throw them together in a cupcake. And it was delicious!

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix
ingredients listed on box, sub milk for water
2 tsp pomegranate flavor
1/4 cup diced dried papaya
Mix it all up, pour in cupcake liners & bake for about that long.

For the frosting: *NOTE* this is a fairly small batch of frosting. I had enough to do about 18 cupcakes, and I didn't put a ton of frosting on them.
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
juice from removing pomegranate seeds (mostly for color)
I also added 1 tsp pomegranate flavor
powdered sugar to reach desired consistency
Mix all this together, frost, and top with pomegranate seeds.

To get your pomegranate seeds (and juice) slice your pomegranate crossways (not through the stem) and whack the back of each half with a spoon. Your seeds will fall into the bowl along with the juice. I suggest straining the juice through a paper towel or something because there will be some little pieces you don't want.

You should try these. They are pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

-Happy Baking!

Cardiology Cupcakes

I just finished up my 3rd rotation. Getting closer!! This month was at the VA Hospital with a cardiology team. Of course I had to make cupcakes for them and I wanted something cardiology related. There aren't very many ideas out there for cardiology cupcakes though. I was thinking EKG or something, but then I decided to check chocolate molds online. I found one on amazon with anatomical hearts. Score! I opted for a red velvet cake with cream cheese buttercream.

For the cake:
1 box white cake mix
Red velvet bakery emulsion

So the easiest thing to tell you is to follow the box instructions. I did not measure anything so I'm of no help on this one. I did use the red velvet bakery emulsion (I found it at Hobby Lobby) thinking it would be easier than food coloring and cocoa powder. It was not. I used almost half a bottle and still had to add cocoa powder. Or I guess you could just start with a red velvet mix :)

For the frosting:
1 stick butter
8 oz whipped cream cheese
2-4 tbsp milk
powdered sugar
vanilla & almond flavoring

You know the drill. Mix it all up, add powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency. Vanilla and/or almond are optional. I used just a tiny bit of each.

For the hearts:
red, blue, and milk chocolate candy melts
candy mold

First I painted the blue in the mold, just randomly across the veins for a little color and at the top for contrast. Then I painted a layer over that with red candy melts. Make sure you allow time for each color to set before starting with the next one or they'll start running together. I filled the rest of the cavity with milk chocolate just for taste. I don't think the vanilla melts taste very good so I always fill in with chocolate. These little hearts would also be good for Halloween which is right around the corner!

-Happy Baking!

Nuts & Bolts & Cupcakes

Wow guys, I really suck at this. Sorry I haven't posted in basically a year (1 month, 5 days to be exact). So to get you up to speed- I've been in South Dakota for the month doing a rotation with Indian Health Services in Ft. Thompson. I absolutely loved it! But I am 15 hours from home and I've really missed KC. But today is the last day here then I'm heading home! So it'll take me a couple days but still. In honor of finally seeing KC again here are some cupcakes I made for him ages ago.

When I came across the nuts and bolts candy mold on amazon I knew I had to have it. KC works for Fastenal so nuts and bolts are his daily life. When doing these cupcakes, I tried to stick with Fastenal's colors as well as I could and still make them in KC's favorite flavor, mint chocolate.

First for the nuts, bolts, and letters I melted white chocolate melts with a little bit of black chocolate melts to get a light gray color. I painted the inside of the molds with the gray chocolate. It looked best with two coats of chocolate. After letting that set I filled the molds the rest of the way with milk chocolate. Once the chocolates were completely set, I painted them with pearl dust. To do this I mixed a few drops of vodka with the pearl dust to get a paint consistency then painted it onto the chocolate. Don't worry, the vodka evaporates! (I think)

The cupcakes-
Pretty boring this time chocolate cake mix, couple drops of mint flavoring. End of story.

The filling-
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
creme de menthe flavoring oil to taste

Melt chocolate chips and mix with marshmallow cream and condensed milk. Add creme de menthe oil as desired. After the cupcakes cool completely, core them and spoon in this filling. Save about 1/2 cup for the frosting.

The frosting-
remaining filling
1/2 cup shortening
1-2 tbsp milk
creme de menthe flavoring oil to taste
powdered sugar

Mix it all up to the desired consistency and frost those babies!

-Happy Baking!

Cherry Mash Cupcakes

Guys, I'm obviously the worst blogger ever. It's been a crazy couple weeks..ER visits, shigellosis (love that the wiki page for that says not to be confused with shingles. Trust me, no confusion there). Oh and bugs. Bedbugs to be exact. So yeah...the worst part is this post was all ready to go and I couldn't even click one button to make it live. Forgive me?

Anyway, on to more appropriate topics. My mom and my sister both love the cherry mash candy. I'm talking they put one in the fridge and anybody who values their life won't touch it. I like them too, but I never get to have any :( Nah, I'm joking. Mom buys them for me too. It may be that cherry mash just isn't that popular of a candy (outside of my family) but I've never seen them featured in any recipe. So here we go!

For the cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix, prepared per box directions (sub milk for water)
1 drop of cherry flavoring oil
      Seriously, this stuff is strong and you don't want too much!

For the cherry mash fudge filling:
1 cup cherry chips
1/2 cup marshmallow cream
1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt the cherry chips in the microwave. I found that they didn't melt well until I added the sweetened condensed milk. Stir in the marshmallow cream. This will stay un-set at room temp. I suggest letting your cupcakes cool *completely* before filling them. I did not and most of my filling melted into the cupcake. Core your cupcakes and add the filling. Save about 1/2 cup to start your frosting.

For the frosting:
fudge filling from above
1 cup shortening
1-2 tbsp milk
1 drop cherry flavoring oil
1 cherry mash candy, melted
powdered sugar

Mix the first 4 ingredients then add the melted cherry mash. Add powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency/flavor.

                             source: Wikipedia

I stupidly forgot my frosting gun but I had tips so I decided to use a ziplock bag for a frosting bag. That worked well for 1.5 cupcakes before the bag split down the side :( So here is my one prettily frosted one.

-Happy Baking!

Graduation Cupcakes

Yesterday was my first day of my last year of school EVER! So it was a pretty exciting day. But it also means that I won't be able to do a lot of cupcake baking, especially over the next two months since I'm living in hotels for the time being. I've got a couple things to post about during that time, but I need you guys to tell me what you want to see. I've got a stovetop and a microwave, so it's going to take some creativity :)

For today's post though, I've got some cupcakes I made for my little brother's graduation a couple weeks ago. Congratulations Eddie!

He wanted sour cupcakes, like the sour patch kids type candy. I went with a white cake and totally cheated and bought pre-made, colored buttercream. I did make my own sour sugar (does that even make sense?) with citric acid and colored sugar. I also colored my own sugar, because I didn't feel like driving to Hobby Lobby. Plus, money. So my process on this- Pour 1/2 cup sugar in a ziplock bag. Add some red food coloring. Shake it up. Add 1-2 tsp citric acid. Shake it up. I just tasted and added until it was sour enough. It doesn't take much!

This was probably the most basic cupcake I've made in a while. I focused more on decoration for this one. I used a white cake mix, prepared per box instructions (sub milk for water). And as I mentioned I bought the frosting.

I found a neat decorating bag set a while back and decided this would be the perfect time to use it. Each bag has a divider in the center so you can do two colors simultaneously. Since our high school's colors are red and white the contrast worked well for the frosting.

I also used some sour candy pieces on top of some of the cupcakes.

I hope you guys will give me some ideas of what you'd like to see while I'm not able to bake.

-Happy baking!

Strawberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

I'd promised some friends strawberry cupcakes a looong time ago. Just plain strawberry cupcakes sounded a bit boring for my taste though so I decided to turn this into a cheesecake deal. Not in that it is actually cheesecake, but the frosting is cheescake-y.

I love, love, love these frozen strawberries in syrup. I use them all the time- waffles, cupcakes, toast, even frosting. I got them at Kroger, but I'm pretty sure you can find them in any grocery store.

So here's the deal. Boxed cake. Strawberries. Done.
Cake:
1 box golden vanilla cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
*1 cup strawberry milk
frozen strawberries- let them thaw. Your life will be much easier. I did not.

*For the strawberry milk- I poured up about 1/8 cup of the syrup from the frozen strawberries and added milk to get 1 cup.

I mixed the cake with the liquids. I mixed by hand because I the cake turns out much better because I'm too lazy to clean the beaters twice. Then I stirred in a few spoonfuls of strawberries. I'd tell you how much but mine were still pretty frozen so I just stirred a little in. Feel free to add a lot for more strawberryness.
Threw them in the oven at 350 for... about that long (sorry, somebody buy me a kitchen timer).

Frosting:
1 tub of Strawberry cream cheese
1 stick butter
3 tbsp syrup from the frozen strawberries
Powdered sugar to reach desired consistency
Add strawberry pieces to taste

I did a really thin frosting and spooned it on, but go ahead and add more powdered sugar if you want to pipe on some pretty frosting.

Use a cupcake corer (or a knife) to core the cupcakes. Fill the resulting hole with strawberries, then cover with frosting. Top with a sliced strawberry.

-Happy Baking!

Biscoff Cupcakes

Have you tried this Biscoff spread I've been seeing everywhere? I've seen a lot of recipes on pinterest that call for it so I decided to get some. It's pretty tasty. I also got some of the Biscoff cookies, and they remind me of something but I can't figure out what...

So Biscoff cupcakes. You're probably going to want to buy two jars because you'll use pretty much all of one for these cupcakes and the frosting.

For the cupcakes:
1 box butter yellow cake mix
6 tbsp butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup Biscoff spread

Heat the butter and water in a microwave safe bowl until it bubbles. Stir in the Biscoff. Mix until smooth, heat for about 30 more seconds if needed. Now mix in the rest of the cake ingredients. Fill cupcake liners (no more than half full) and bake at 350 until golden brown. This batter was really thick so I got my liners a bit too full. Luckily the cupcakes fell in the center when I pulled them out of the oven, making the perfect cavity for the topping.

For the topping:
1/2 stick butter
2 tbsp milk
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup Biscoff spread
powdered sugar

Melt the butter, milk, and brown sugar and stir well. Mix in the Biscoff then add powdered sugar until you reach a thick, but pourable consistency. Go slowly, it doesn't take much.

-Happy Baking!

Mashup of Past Projects

So, it's finals time. And it's not exactly my idea of fun. I've decided to just save a little time and put together a post with some of the cupcakes I've made in the past.  I won't go into details about many of them but if you see something you're interested in, let me know and I'll try to work it into a real post.

First up, these mermaid cupcakes that a made for a sweet little girl's birthday. All the decorations are handmade from fondant, and the frosting is blue buttercream. I don't remember if it was bubblegum or cotton candy flavored.

Also these were pretty popular. So much so that I actually made them twice in a few weeks. It's a chocolate chip cookie with a peanut butter cup on top, all covered by a brownie.

This was one of my first cupcake baking experiences. It did not go real well, but they were edible and looked nice enough. I wasn't real big on the flavor. They are decorated with conversation hearts and have a heart baked into them.

Lastly in this mashup is one of my favorite spur of the moment creations. When making the second batch of cookie-peanut-butter-cup-brownies above, I had some of the brownie batter left over. So I made some brownie bottom white almond cupcakes. They were delicious! And I don't even remember what kind of frosting I made for these. Nutella maybe...

As always, let me know if you have anything you'd like to see me bake. 

Happy Baking!

Cupcake Cones

So I know it's been a while since my last post. All I can say is this- Life. Life happens and gets in the way sometimes. I've been busy with school and work, not to mention the little free time I had was spent doing absolutely nothing. I've had a hard time finding my motivation for anything lately. However, this past weekend I got my niece Rosie and brought her to stay with me for a couple days. We had a full two days of fun, part of which included making cupcakes.

I decided to try the cupcakes in ice cream cones that I've seen so often. It seemed fairly simple and I knew Rosie would like them. I went the total cheater route on these! Boxed cake exactly per box instructions and canned chocolate frosting. I did add blue Wilton colorburst batter bits to the cake. And of course we put sprinkles on top! A couple of them turned out well and we were able to add frosting so that it actually looked like ice cream in a cone. The rest of them though, not so much. I forgot to take a picture of them because I was so wrapped up trying to keep frosting off my floor :) The cake baked up well on one side of the cones, but poured out the other side. It was pretty sad. But still, I let Rosie frost them herself and take them home with her.

She managed to get frosting pretty much everywhere! But it was worth it. I enjoyed having her here and she was already talking about what she wanted to do next time she comes. So now I'll try to get back into the routine and start posting regularly again.

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes & White Chocolate Buttercream

I'm going to start by saying I don't like Peeps. They're just weird. But I will admit, they do make for a cute cupcake topper. And I'm pretty sure nobody's complaining about these cupcakes. I also decorated a few with Cadbury mini eggs.

You may be wondering why I only made half a cake mix last time, and where is the rest of it. This is just the other half of that chocolate cake mix with some semi-sweet chips added in.

Cake:

1/2 chocolate cake mix

1 egg

1.5 oz vegetable oil
4 oz milk
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Again, double for the whole cake mix (2 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, 1 cup milk).
This made 12 cupcakes and I just baked according to the directions on the box.

Frosting:

3 oz white chocolate chips, melted

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 cup milk
about 5 cups powdered sugar

Cream shortening and butter with vanilla. Add the melted chocolate and some powdered sugar. Mix in the milk and continue to add powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency. I decide to color it green to contrast my Peeps. I used leaf green gel color.

Happy baking!

Chocolate Red Wine Cupcakes

I've got big plans this weekend! I'm going to the 1st Annual Chuckwagon Races at the Rockin' L Arena in Lacey, AR. I've got a couple people going with me and we'll be hanging out with the family so I'm sure we'll have a big time. And you know I had to make some cupcakes to take with me.

I pinned a red wine cupcake on pinterest a while back. My friend Casey offered these as a choice for cupcakes for this weekend. I'll be honest, I was a little iffy on them. But I decided to give it a shot.

I started with a basic chocolate cake mix. I actually only prepared half the batter. I mixed up half the cake mix, by basically halving the ingredients on the box. Well except the wine. That's definitely not on the box :)

Cake:

1/2 chocolate cake mix

1 egg

1.5 oz vegetable oil

4 oz Cabernet 

I mixed it all up and poured it into 12 lined cupcake wells. It came out perfect for 12 cupcakes. Double this if you're making the whole cake mix. (Comes out to 2 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, 1 cup Cabernet)

As for the Cabernet, I'm not even going to pretend to know anything about wine. I just went to the liquor store and asked the guy for a little bottle of Cabernet. He suggested a box wine, and it was pretty cheap, so I went with it.

Frosting:

3 oz white chocolate chips, melted

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup butter

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 cup Cabernet- more or less to taste

about 5 cups powdered sugar

Cream shortening and butter. Add vanilla and 1 cup powdered sugar. Pour in melted chocolate. Add an additional cup of powdered sugar. Mix in the wine and continue adding powdered sugar until frosting reaches the desired consistency. It was a rather boring shade of pink, so I added pink gel food coloring to brighten it up a bit.

If you decide to try these, let me know what you think in the comments :)

Happy Baking :)

King Cake Cupcakes

So it's the Mardi Gras time of year. We always have king cake multiple times per year it seems. My grandma brought one up in January, but I thought Mardi Gras would be an appropriate time to make my own. And obviously it had to be in cupcake form! Since we had an ice day (the Arkansas equivalent of a snow day) and I was stuck at home, I literally lived in sweatpants and baked all day. These king cakes are easy to make and only took all day because I've been exceptionally lazy. And I've just gotten word that tomorrow is another ice day. Yay.

Crescent rolls and cream cheese play a starring role in several of my most popular non-cupcake desserts. These cupcakes are really no different. Crescent rolls with cinnamon sugar and cinnamon cream cheese filling. And in trying this experiment I just realized that crescent rolls only have 8 rolls per can...

Cupcakes:
2 cans of crescent rolls
cinnamon and sugar for dusting

Filling:
1 package cream cheese (8 oz)
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

To prepare the filling mix room temperature cream cheese with brown sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. I laid out the crescent rolls and sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. I always keep some cinnamon sugar on hand because it is good for so many things. I simply pour some granulated sugar in a bowl and add a small amount of cinnamon and shake it up. I dropped a spoonful of filling on the larger end of each triangle and wrapped the small end over the filling. I tried to seal the bottom as best I could because I didn't want all the goodness to leak out. It really doesn't matter how you wrap them, just get them in a cupcake liner. I baked them at 350 for probably about 15 minutes. I'm terrible at timing things because I never look at the time when I put them in :)

Cinnamon sugar dusted crescent rolls

Into the oven they go

I mixed up the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla and spooned the icing over the top of the cupcakes. I sprinkled the wet icing with colored sugar. Which, in case you didn't know, is ridiculously hard to get enough sugar to make pretty colors. I hid the babies in several of the cupcakes. I just have to make sure everybody knows to look for them!

How many babies can you see?

These cupcakes would make a good alternative to cinnamon rolls any time of year. And you could play around with the flavors for different tastes and occasions.

Happy Baking!

Mississippi Mud Cupcakes

Mississippi- one of those words I still can't spell and one of those states we all love to hate on :) But with something as delicious as this being named after it, the state can't really be all that bad. After all, what does Arkansas have named after it? *googling* Nope, can't find anything. We need to get on that!

I was trying to come up with something yummy, easy, and fun. Something that I haven't tried yet. K.C. suggested Mississippi mud cake. He rarely even eats cupcakes so I was a little surprised when he made a suggestion. I did tell him that this means he HAS to eat one!

As always, I started with a box mix, Betty Crocker's Chocolate Fudge cake this time.

Cake:
1 box chocolate cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/4-1/2 cup pecan pieces
1/4-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

I filled the cupcake tins and baked at 325 F for about 25 min. When finished I pressed mini marshmallows into the tops of the cupcakes. I placed the pans back in the oven and turned it off. The marshmallows melted some but didn't burn or melt completely.

Frosting:
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate chips
powdered sugar

Mix the milk, butter, vanilla, cocoa, and 1 cup of powdered sugar. Stir in melted chocolate and continue adding powdered sugar until the frosting reaches a pudding-like consistency. This frosting doesn't stand up well for piping so just plop a spoonful on top. Trust me, you won't care what they look like.

Pretty sure these are the best cupcakes I have EVER tasted. If you don't make anything else, you need to make these! You can thank me later :)

Drunk Chocolate Covered Cherries

It's almost Valentine's Day, and whether you celebrate it or not you should make these. I got the idea from Kristan over at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

I bought a few boxes of Queen Anne cherries and played around with the best method to fill them with amaretto. I determined that if you poke a hole in the top (where the liquid filling is most likely to be) and hollow it out a little you can suck the filling out with a syringe. It works best if the hole is the same size as the syringe tip, but be careful that you don't collapse the bottom of the cherry.

Then I filled my syringe with amaretto and went to work figuring out the best way to refill the cherries. It would be much easier with a syringe and needle but I was just using jello shot syringes (that I've only ever used for cupcakes!) so I ended up wasting quite a bit of amaretto when it dribbled down the sides of the cherries.

I let them sit overnight to dry so the melted chocolate wouldn't get that funky texture when it hit the amaretto. And also because I was tired :)

I melted a few chocolate candy melt wafers in a small bowl and just spooned a little chocolate over the holes. A couple of them I had to come back with a second coat, but they all seemed to seal up nicely. I wrapped them individually in little foil wraps I picked up at Hobby Lobby and put them in 1/4 lb candy boxes, also from Hobby Lobby.

Enjoy! If you decide to try this let me know how it works for you.