Christmas isn’t Christmas till it happens in your heart
Somewhere deep inside you is where Christmas really starts
So give your heart to Jesus
You discover when you do
It is Christmas, really Christmas for you.
Christmas, my favourite season of the year. A time to be thankful, grateful for all that have happened – good and not-so-good – in the year and also to remember His goodness in my life.
Every year, we have Christmas party either at my place or at our friends’ place. This year, we had it at our friends’ lovely nest.
As most of us have children who are younger than 5 years old, we (mommies) decided to put up a puppet show on the birth of Jesus Christ for our children. It was meaningful and fun Christmas celebration for us all.
As every family was tasked to bring at least a dish, we decided to bring fruits and cupcakes.
I woke up early that morning to bake the cranberry pine-nut cupcakes for the party. My first time making this and I was thankful that they are still good to eat though I thought more nuts – not necessary pine nuts – should be added to add more crunch to the cupcakes.
I used this recipe and slightly modified the ingredients.
My slightly modified recipe for cranberry pine-nut cupcakes
Preparation time : 20 min
Baking time: 15- 20 min
Yield: 24 – 30 servings
Ingredients :
- 250g butter, softened
- 250g Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
- 200g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 250g all-purpose flour
- 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped pine nuts
Directions :
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; stir into creamed mixture just until moistened. Fold in cranberries and pecans.
- Fill greased or paper-lined cups three-fourths full. Bake at 180°C for 15-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.
This post is first published at Prune+Nurture (http://www.prunenurture.com).
