North Pole Cupcakes

The Holiday Bake, Craft, Sew Along is BACK!

The amazingly talented Cindy and Kelly and I have teamed up again to bring you 30 days of Handmade Christmas gift ideas!

Do you want some Sewing Inspiration for Holiday Gift Ideas? Skip To My Lou has those!

How about some new Craft Ideas for handmade Holiday Gifts? According to Kelly has those!

Need ideas for Homemade Food Gift ideas for the Holidays? I’ll have those here!

You can visit each of our blogs every day in September for great inspiration for all your Handmade Holiday Ideas!!

Happy Monday, y’all!  I’m tickled pink to introduce y’all to today’s special guest, Kristan.  I met Kristan at BlissDom this past February and I completely fell into utter adoration.  While some might call her pocket-sized, there’s nothing small about her personality or her talent.  I’m not sure whether I should apologize to your waistlines and wait for y’all to Thank me.  Well, enough chatterin’ from me.  Welcome, Kristan!

Hi Southern Fairytale readers!! I’m Kristan from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen and I’m so excited to be here sharing a fun Christmas cupcake with you today. Christmas and cupcakes are two of my most favorite things in all the land, so combining the two is like magic with sugar on top.

 

Also, I don’t know if you can tell by looking at him, but Santa likes stuff with butter and sugar in it. Like…a lot. So….there’s a good chance that making these will seal the deal on those $300 boots on your Christmas list.

 

(Yes, $300 boots are a perfectly normal thing to ask for. Or a life size cut out of Gerard Butler. Whatevs)

 

 

These cupcakes are so cute and impressive looking, but are actually very, very easy to put together.

 

You’ll need:

 

Cupcakes, obviously. Baked in festive liners (I used red foil liners) and frosted with a big ol’ pile of frosting. You can use canned frosting, or make your own. I have a Buttercream tutorial on my site, if you need a good recipe. I sprinkled mine with white sugar sprinkles too, to give them that snowy look.

 

Graham crackers. One little rectangle (fourth of a sheet) per cupcake. Cinnamon sugar graham crackers were all I had at home, and that’s just fine. You cover them anyways.

 

Fondant. I know some people make their own, but for a project this small, it’s probably easier to buy it at your local craft store or Walmart. Spread the flat side of each graham cracker with a thin coat of frosting, and cover with a rectangle of fondant.

 

 

Peppermint sticks and red gumballs. Again, one per cupcake. I bought the gumballs at Michaels craft store (they sell bags of individual colors) and you can buy bags of Bob’s Soft Peppermint sticks at Walmart for $1.00 around Christmas time.

 

 

White almond bark or candy melts. Melt your almond bark or candy melts (you won’t need much, so just melt a little) and attach a gumball to the top of each peppermint stick. Spread a bit of melted candy on the uncovered side of your graham cracker rectangles and attach to the sticks, near the top. Allow to set until the melted candy is firm.

 

Black frosting or a black food marker. Using a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (I used #2) OR a black food marker, write North Pole on each sign. I also colored some frosting red and piped a border around the edges of the sign. You can do this too, or even make a border from small candies or sprinkles.

 

Insert the poles in the cupcakes.

 

 

I found these at Michaels also, right by the cash register. They are paper thin and entirely edible. SO cool!! Once my cupcakes were finished, I placed a few here and there on the frosting. But if you can’t find these, any snowflake sprinkles would work, or just leave off the snowflakes all together.

 

Keep in mind that these cupcakes are very flexible. You could use regular candy canes for the poles or substitute red M&Ms for the gumballs. Santa will still love them, I promise.

 

If you’re in need of more Christmas inspiration, I have more cupcake ideas on my site, Confessions of a Cookbook Queen.

 

Like these….

 

Or these.

 

I hope that whatever you decide to make, you find tons of inspiration during the Handmade Holiday Bake, Craft, and Sew Along. Thanks so much for letting you share my creations with you and Merry (early) Christmas!!

Happy Mouthwatering Monday, y’all!!! This linky is one of my favorite parts of Monday – I love seeing what y’all are sharing.
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