It’s school vacation week here in Massachusetts. Are your kids sports fanatics? If so, here are a few recipes that they can help you make that are sports related.

Hockey Cupcakes:

(pinterest.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a muffin pan with paper or foil liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition, then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture alternately with the milk; beat well. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full.
3. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Frost with your favorite frosting when cool.

Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the butter until light and smooth. Beat in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth and creamy.

To Decorate:

After the cupcakes have cooled, frost them. Then, use pretzel sticks to make the hockey sticks and a chocolate chip (or even a brown M&M) for the hockey puck. It’s so simple that the kids can help you, and it is the perfect dessert for the next Bruins game.

Recipe courtesy of Foodnetwork.com

Now for all of those basketball fans, here are some delicious frosted sugar cookies to enjoy during the next Celtics game.  Again, this recipe, as well as the decorating, is easy enough that the kids can help you do it.

Basketball Cookies:

(the-crafty-penguin.com)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter (in this case, circles for basketballs). Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

To Decorate:

Use store bought vanilla frosting, or follow the recipe give for the hockey cupcakes. Using food coloring, dye the frosting orange. Spread a thin layer on each cookie. Using black icing in a decorating bag (or the ones you can buy in the store that come in the decorating bags), pipe the lines for the basketball. Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com

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