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We don’t watch a ton of sports around here during the year, but that all changes during March. My husband is a huge fan of basketball so we definitely tune into the tournament every year. I have even found myself enjoying the games! One of the funniest stories I have is that one year Ben invited one of our friends over to watch the final game and was so excited about it he grilled ribs and the neighbor showed up to watch… and we didn’t even have the channel the game was on! Talk about embarrassing! Thankfully the neighbor was gracious about it.
During any sports-watching, the food is one of the highlights, at least for our family! I LOVE game-day food and when I went to Sam’s and spotted the 54-oz bag of Skittles, my wheels began turning about what delicious treat I could whip up using Skittles. I decided that cupcakes masquerading as basketballs would be fun, and settled on Citrus Vanilla Basketball cupcakes. The kids and I took one of these rainy afternoons that have been in abundance lately and made the cupcakes. They’re a fun way to make basketball sweeter!
Don’t let this Norman-Rockwell pose fool you- there was plenty of arguing about whose turn it was to stir and important things of that nature. But overall, it was fun baking together.
Anyway, the combination of citrus and vanilla in these little bites was so delicious. And cream cheese icing is our favorite, and I amped it up a bit with some citrus flavoring as well.
As I was getting ready to photograph the cupcakes, I had the idea of making Strawberry Milk to go with the cupcakes. And? I used Skittles for it as well! I have to admit, I loved, loved it.
We’ll definitely have fun munching on these while watching the games this weekend! Ben is really excited because his Alma Mater is playing for the second year in a row.
What is your favorite game day fare?
- Cupcakes:
- 1.5 cups flour
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ Tbs. baking powder
- 1 stick butter cut into cubes
- ½ cup milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 tsp. lemon extract
- zest of one lime
- zest of one mandarin orange, halved
- Cream cheese icing:
- 1 8 oz block cream cheese, room temp
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- remaining zest of the orange
- a few drops red and yellow food coloring
- Miscellaneous: Orange skittles and black icing for decorating
- Strawberry milk
- for each serving:
- 8 oz milk
- 10 strawberry skittles
- To make the cupcakes:
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Combine flour, sugar, baking soda in a stand mixer.
- Add in butter and mix just until butter is fairly incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, combine remaining cake ingredients. (Reserve half of orange zest for icing)
- Combine wet and dry ingredients until fully incorporated.
- Bake in mini-cupcake pan for 9-12 minutes, just until set in the middle.
- Icing:
- Combine all ingredients in stand mixer or use hand beater to mix until smooth and orange.
- Once cupcakes have cooled, ice them. Use orange Skittles and black icing to create a basketball on top.
- Strawberry milk:
- Combine milk and Skittles. Allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir and then strain the Skittles if desired.
Check out more about Skittles here, and have fun following them on Facebook!
About Kelli Hays
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