Cute Easter Cupcakes Recipe #ChooseSmart #CollectiveBias #spon

Easter is the perfect holiday for kids to help Mom or Dad in the kitchen! Family time, egg decorating, and baking complete the Easter holiday. I decided to bake cupcakes to celebrate spring and to do a test batch for Easter. I went with a simple recipe and with the help of my daughter we created “Easter Baskets” and designed candy carrots on our cupcakes. Smart & Final is one of my favorite places to shop and I went there to pick up the items I needed for my recipe. I also like visiting new stores and I was excited to see one of their newest locations at the Midtown Crossing in Mid City, Los Angeles.

What I love the most about Smart & Final is that this warehouse store does not charge a club fee. Everyone can be a member! The prices are competitive. Plus, you can find everything you need under one roof. I usually shop Smart & Final’s First Street label for the low prices. I found just about everything I need in the bakery isle that was well stocked. This Smart & Final store is celebrating their grand opening and gave out a free reusable tote!

It was time to bake!

• Easy cupcake recipe:
• 2 cups of First Street Flour
• 2 teaspoons of First Street Baking Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 cup of First Street butter, softened
• 3/4 – 1 cup of First Street Sugar
• 2 First Street eggs
• 1 cup of Milk (we actually used Almond Milk 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon of Vanilla (optional)

Frosting

• 12 oz of vanilla frosting

(or you can make your own from scratch)

Toppings

• Reese’s Pieces for carrots (for carrot design)
• First Street Baking Green food coloring (for carrot and easter egg design)
• Flaked Coconut (for Easter Basket)
• Cadbury Mini Eggs (for Easter Basket)

Directions

• 1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare the cupcake pan with liners.
• 2) I really don’t get fancy. I whip the eggs, butter and sugar together. Then I dump all of the other ingredients in.
• 3) Bake for 25 minutes. I always check to make sure nothing sticks to a toothpick and that the cupcakes look golden brown.

Easter basket design

1. Smooth frosting on top of cupcake
2. Add green food coloring to flaked coconut, then sprinkle on top of the cupcake
3. Add three cadbury eggs
4. Use strips of candy strips for basket handles (optional)

Carrot design

1. Insert 6 Reese’s Pieces vertically
2. Create the carrot greens with food coloring.

Ta-da! My daughter loved decorating the cupcakes with me. They are super cute and tasty! Since Smart & Final offers larger quantities, I have enough supplies to make another batch closer to Easter. I’m thankful Smart & Final included me in their campaign! This was definitely a fun “shoppertunity”.

Stay connected with Smart & Final

• Find more recipes here: Smart and Final Social Circular: http://community.smartandfinal.com
• Smart and Final on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/SmartFinal
• Smart and Final’s Facebook Page:  http://www.facebook.com/SmartFinal