smell that?

Christmas is coming. I know this because the (cold, cold, cold) air is permeated with the scents of pine, peppermint, and baking spices. Food blogs are peppered with cookies (and sometimes, they're peppered with peppered nut cookies!)(isn't Pfeffernüsse a fun word?!).

Upon leaving a building, my nose promptly turns pink and simultaneously decides to run and stuff up. Plus, I can't even go to the grocery store without hearing "Santa Baby" (no...just no), "Christmas Shoes" (probably my absolute least favo[u]rite), or "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas" (which you may not have to suffer through if you don't live in the Land of Rednecks)(be thankful for that).*

*Before you call me out for being a grinch, I should say that I can tolerate just about any Christmas song, just not before the beginning of December, please and thank you.

Don't get me wrong--I love the holiday season! Almost everyone is more kind and generous and it seems like I see my family more than in December than three or four other months combined. For some reason unbeknownst to me, the colo[u]rs red and green have come to symbolize this particular holiday, making red velvet cake a very appropriate dessert choice!

If you're looking for a good recipe for red velvet cupcakes, look no further. Those lovely Brits are at it again--Baking Mad has a terrific recipe via Eric Lanlard. If fluffy, chocolatey red velvet ain't yo thang, there are plenty of other recipes for cupcakes and Christmas recipes (even mince pies!). Sure, you have to do a little converting, but we mustn't let our brains (or conversion calculators...) go to waste!

I should note that I made one addition--red food colo[u]ring! I like my red velvet cake to be vibrantly red, more so than the colo[u]r yielded from the reaction of the baking soda with the vinegar. I also carved out the center of each cupcake and filled it with green-tinted sweetened whipped cream and used cream cheese frosting on top. To each her own!

There's still time to enter my $50 NOVICA gift card giveaway, you know, if free stuff is of interest to you.