What Our Family Has Been Enjoying and How We Celebrate Birthdays

My husband had a birthday last week, but he wanted to keep it very lowkey, so we just had a quiet dinner with family including 5 little nieces and nephews and our own two kids. Naturally, we made brownie cupcakes! My 3yo helped with all the steps and it was so sweet (see cover photo for his work! hah)

We bake with the Caraway muffin pan which is completely nonstick without forever chemicals, but I also like these silicone reusable muffin liners. Traditional cupcake liners have PFAs (I know, I'm sorry) but If You Care brand is a PFAs/PFOAs safe choice! However, the easiest way to make muffins and cupcakes without nonstick coatings, silicone, or paper products would be to use a well-seasoned, preheated cast iron muffin pan. (I have switched to a cast iron waffle maker and it's phenomenal!!) You could also try a stone or ceramic one and preheat and grease it well.

I usually bake from scratch, but for birthdays, we've been making this King Arthur gluten free brownie mix, and following the instructions on the box for more cake-like brownies (an extra egg, sub more butter in for the water), and baking them as cupcakes! When I tell you that they are absolutely delicious... My friend, I kid you not, told me she is hoping God will supply them in heaven hahahaha

If you want to go for ultra-decadent heaven on earth, top them with cream cheese frosting. Otherwise, for a little more balance, we love adding ever so slightly sweetened homemade whip cream on top and some fun dye-free sprinkles.

Just sharing the little, not so healthy, but very wholesome, fun thing we've been enjoying! We try to be intentional about what goes into our homes, and then beyond that, we live full of joy without fear or stress.