Baby Baked Goods

Later this week, my boss Kelly will head out on maternity leave to welcome a baby girl into her family! I wanted to celebrate with her at work, but didn't want to make a big over the top statement. My mom and I decided to make mini cupcakes and mini chocolate chip shortbread cookies to brighten up her work day with some tiny treats!

Monday was a holiday, so my mom and I ventured out to Hobby Lobby in Roseville. Hobby Lobby, in the old Mervyn's building, is basically the product of Michaels craft store, Joanne's Fabric store and Home Goods home decor store all mixed together. In Hobby Lobby you will find scrap booking materials, baking accessories, a large selection of fabric, fake flowers galore, hundreds of candles, baskets in various sizes, holiday decor, furniture (??), dinnerware, frames (frames and MORE frames)...are you tired of reading this yet? Because I'm exhausted from just listing the amount of items for sale within Hobby Lobby. If you plan a visit, make sure you have hours to spare and a snack or two to keep you fueled up!

Fortunately, my mom and I left the store with just a few items including purple food coloring, edible pearl sprinkles, purple napkins and adorable baking cups that resembled tulips.

Decorative supplies, including my new favorite discovery - food coloring! 

Vanilla cupcakes, baked per the directions on the back of the box :)

I made Vanilla Cream Cheese frosting from scratch, following the same recipe I used when I made the Christmas Cupcakes in a Jar.

Then I added four drops of purple food coloring. The color was perfect - fun, bright and girly!

Frosting 40 mini cupcakes.

The green edible pearl sprinkles were a unique and unexpected touch.

Ready to transport to work! 

As I was baking the cupcakes, my mom was busy baking Shortbread Chocolate Chip cookies. Click here for the recipe. We LOVE this recipe in our house. Discovered by my mom's coworker, we've incorporated these cookies into our family recipes. 

Dough and mini chocolate chips.

Wrap the dough in Saran Wrap and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Mom rolling the dough about 1/2 inch thick.

Butterflies.

Flowers.

After waking up earlier than usual and having great luck with the traffic, I made it to work before Kelly and was able to set up the sweets and flowers at her desk. Throughout the day, coworkers came by to say hi and congrats to my boss and grab a sweet snack. My coworker Lesley brought a cheese and cracker platter later in the afternoon that was a huge hit too! 

Even though we didn't bake anything new this week, it was fun to make mini cupcakes and mini chocolate chip shortbread cookies for a special occasion. Sometimes it is nice to have a few sweet staples to fall back on when you want to make a special (and tasty!) treat for a good friend.