America The Beautiful Cupcake!

These are an adaptation of Jack's Rainbow Cupcakes. I upped the vanilla ante by adding vanilla sugar and buttermilk. I changed out the colors and added sprinkles resulting in a very patriotic cupcake. I made the star cupcake topper by punching out 2 circles of printed paper (I found the star by googling "star clipart") and gluing them together with a flat toothpick in the center. Fun, huh?

Speaking of sprinkles. I have a confession to make. I have a problem. I really serious problem. I think I'm crazy. No, seriously. Wanna know what convinced me and my husband of this? You see those sprinkles in the cup and on all those cupcakes? Well I picked them out of a bottle of multi-colored sprinkles one by one. It was late and I didn't want to go to the store and I didn't think I'd need that many. I was wrong and very foolish. My eyes were playing tricks on me and my body was aching from being hunched over in a chair for a couple hours. Don't be as dumb as I. Go buy yourself some red, white and blue sprinkles. It'll be worth your sanity. I can attest.

These are cute, fun and are very Americana. Kids love them, adults love them and they'd be a hit at your 4th of July celebration. Or make them in any color combo you like or just plain vanilla. They're very tasty either way. But I have to admit, the colors make them much more exciting!

Triple-Vanilla Buttermilk Cupcakes adapted from Amy Sedaris

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. vanilla sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsps. pure vanilla
• 1/4 vanilla bean, scraped
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

In a medium bowl, mix together salt, baking powder and flour. Stir to combine then set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl, then add in egg. Add vanilla extract and the seeds of half a vanilla bean. Beat until well combined.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the butter/sugar mixture. Start with flour, end with flour.

If you're adding food coloring to your batter, evenly separate the batter into as many bowls as you need- one for each color. Add food color to the desired color and mix well. Repeat until all the colors are well mixed.

Spoon or pipe your batter into the muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes for regular cupcakes and about 15 minutes for mini cupcakes.

Makes 10 cupcakes.

Vanilla Bean Frosting from Cupcake Bakeshop

• 1 sticks (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 package (4 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 vanilla bean, seeds scraped out
• 2- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined. Then add the vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, and 2 cups of powdered sugar and beat at low speed, occasionally stopping to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Add more powdered sugar to arrive at the consistency and sweetness you like.

I put my frosting into a large freezer bag, snipped the end and piped the frosting onto the rainbow mounds. Add colored sprinkles for garnish (optional).

Makes enough to generously frost 12 cupcakes.

Be sure to stop by tomorrow. I'll have another patriotic surprise for y'all! So come back ya hear!