End of The Rainbow!

St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow and whether you’re Irish or not, it’s the perfect holiday for getting a little festive!  We have a tradition of boiling up a big pot of corned beef and cabbage for dinner and then indulging on our favorite recipe of Irish soda bread!  But on top of that dinnertime fun, I love to have special holiday treats prepared for my family and friends when they stop by.  And even though the Leprechauns will be arriving in one day…I have the perfect snack that will satisfy anyone who might be paying you a holiday visit.  It’s such an easy treat to create and looks practically professional…but guess what?…it’s not!  You still have time to whip this one up and be ready for some St. Paddy’s Day fun!  Let me share what’s at the end of the rainbow…

lucky coin cupcakes!

i adore semi-homemade treats!  i do love baking too, but sometimes when you’re in a pinch baking up batches of cakes and cupcakes just doesn’t fit the schedule!  and now days the bakeries within the local grocery stores have the most delectable choices and for a fraction of what you’d pay in a specialty shop.  not that i’m against a unique & tasty treat from my favorite cupcake store…but often times you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two when it comes to the more typical flavors.  check out these vanilla beauties that are also stuffed with a creamy filling…

i’ll tell you that my boys are actually fairly picky when it comes to cupcakes.  shockingly there’s plenty of expensive ones out there that don’t meet their muster…but these Meijer store sweets were such a huge hit i had to go get more!  i also find mini cakes that my family loves at Kroger, Fresh Thyme, and Fresh Market.  just shop around to find your favorite go-to choice!

now to top ’em…

i found these fun, rainbow colored Twizzler candies…

and chocolate coins…it is St. Patrick’s Day after all!

look how fun the colors of these mini candy twists are!  they look so festive with the paper baking cups i picked up at Home Goods to keep in my pantry.  if you grab a few party supplies like these to keep on hand, it makes it even easier to dress up your treats!  they don’t take up much room and if they’re on sale or at a clearance store…they can be really cheap too!

now for the fun part…besides nibbling on the decorations!  i pulled together some extra supplies from the pantry to decorate those sweet cakes…

i almost always have a jar of jetpuffed mini marshmallows in my cupboard but you can easily find them in the baking section of any grocer…and they don’t dry out or get sticky so you can store them for a long time!  i’m using mine to make mini “clouds” for beneath the twizzler rainbows!  the candy is fairly stiff and won’t stay in the shape of a rainbow on its own.  you’ll need to use a toothpick or two to insert into each end of the candy…

this way when you pop it onto the treat, the toothpick will go deep into the cupcake and help hold the candy rainbow in place AND in the right shape…

now you can press in the mini marshmallows if you desire…and add a chocolate coin to represent the pot of gold!

so easy, so festive, so tasty!  get your kids in the kitchen and make a production line of “lucky coin” cupcakes…

i hope you find happiness at the end of your rainbow this holiday!

Have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!