Category Archives: Baking & Cooking

I Love Sprinkles Tampa Cupcakes

Sprinkles Cupcakes opened a location in Tampa on Thursday in Hyde Park Village and I attended the bakery’s grand opening …twice! I love Sprinkles Tampa! Yes I do! Yes I do! The Cupcake ATM is opening in a few weeks (which you may remember that I became obsessed with in Beverly Hills last year.) For “official research”, I tested the original Sprinkles Red Velvet Cupcake, a Sprinkles Gluten Free Red Velvet Cupcake, and a Sprinkles Vegan Red Velvet Cupcake. Let me tell you, the Gluten Free Sprinkles Red Velvet tasted just as phenomenal as the Original Red Velvet. The Sprinkles Vegan Red Velvet was out of this world! The icing tasted just like the original cream cheese icing but with a hint of cinnamon. YUM! YUM! YUM! Sprinkles Tampa for the win!

Sprinkles Tampa | Sprinkles Cupcakes Tampa | Southern Glam Meagan

I about died when I heard the Sprinkles jingle play in the store!

Sprinkles Tampa | Sprinkles Cupcakes Tampa | Southern Glam MeaganSprinkles Cupcakes Tampa | Southern Glam Meagan

So much deliciousness!

Here’s a tip: Sprinkles will tell you that placing your cupcakes in the refrigerator isn’t recommended because they do not use preservatives in their baking and could dry out the cake. BUT, I felt that the Vegan Red Velvet Cupcake’s icing consistency was too soft to the point that it was almost melting off the cake. I put it in the refrigerator because I had other cupcakes to “research” and the following day, it was PERFECT! The cake was still moist and the icing had firmed up nicely.

Sprinkles Tampa | Sprinkles Cupcakes Tampa | Southern Glam MeaganSprinkles Cupcakes Tampa | Southern Glam Meagan

Going to Sprinkles twice in one day may be a bit crazy. However, when Sprinkles Cupcakes tells you that they love you on Twitter, it’s all worth it!

Sprinkles Cupcakes Tampa | Southern Glam MeaganSprinkles Cupcakes Tampa | Southern Glam Meagan

 

 

Another tip: Sign up for Sprinkles Perks before going and you’ll get a free cupcake! Sign up here: Get a Free Sprinkles Cupcake. There may be a line out the door, but I promise you it’s worth it! Sprinkles Cupcakes are Southern Glam approved!

 

Chocolate Chip Waffles

Happy Valentine’s Day!

When deciding what to bake for Valentine’s Day this year for my honey, I decided to throw back to our dating years. Eight years ago (next week) Sean and I started dating and I made him waffles for breakfast one morning. To this day he swears those waffles were one of the reasons he married me! So ladies, if you’re looking for a proposal, try these waffles!

Chocolate Chip Belgium Waffles | Southern Glam Meagan

The recipe is for Belgium waffles so they are sweet. Being it’s Valentine’s Day, I threw in a handful of chocolate chips. Dessert for breakfast anyone? A heart shaped cookie cutter is required on this day of love!

Belgium Waffle Recipe

1 cup butter (I have found that Smart Balance Light butter works the best. And it’s vegan!)
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
2 cups flour
Mix butter and sugar in a mixing bowl of stand mixer. Cream together on medium-low.
Add vanilla and salt. Increase speed to medium.
Add eggs and mix well until smooth.
Decrease speed to low, add flour. Mix well.
Bake in waffle iron for about 3-5 minutes or until steam no longer escapes. Yields 4 waffles.

Chocolate Chip Belgium Waffles | Southern Glam Meagan

Tip: The unfancy the waffle maker, the better! I started making these waffles in a Sunbeam maker and used that heavenly machine until it’s last waffle. Sean and I were gifted a high-end waffle maker for a wedding gift that flips over and it just isn’t the same. I became so frustrated with it, that I stopped making this breakfast staple. For our fourth anniversary (which coincided with the “appliance” gift) Sean included an Oster waffle iron alongside a new purse. I wasn’t sure which one I was more excited about receiving! And he was excited to have waffles again!

Have a sweet Valentine’s Day from the Southern Glam Kitchen <3

A throwback to one of our first photos together about this time eight years ago at Tampa Bay Lightning hockey game.

Southern Glam Meagan

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies – Recipe

When it comes to Christmas cookies, my favorite are gingerbread cookies. Each year I countdown to having a Gingerbread Latte in my Starbucks red cup and GB cookies baking in my oven. When it comes to a recipe, I don’t waiver at all from Paula Deen’s recipe – it’s on point, yall!

Christmas Gingerbread Cookie

 

Ingredients

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 stick butter or margarine, softened
2 large eggs
1/4 cup molasses
3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting work surface
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Using an stand mixer at low speed, cream the sugar and butter until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs and molasses and mix until combined. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and combine gently, this is a thick dough.

Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap in plastic wrap; place in the refrigerator until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes, until pliable. Take about 1/2 cup of dough at a time and roll onto a floured board until about 1/8-inch thick. Cut out with a gingerbread cookie cutter. You can re-roll the scraps. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies from the board to the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes, until just beginning to brown at the edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

Christmas Gingerbread Cookie

Tip: Don’t double the recipe as this dough is thick and will give your stand mixer a workout! As far as the icing, every year I dream of making my cookies gorgeous with royal icing but it just never happens. I go the powdered sugar + milk route to pipe and flood the cookies. It does the trick and they taste DELICIOUS!