Happy 7th Birthday Nico!

Yesterday was our nephew Nico’s 7th birthday. Nico is such a great little nephew. We don’t know another little boy that smiles as much as he does. Since the day he was born, Nico would smile non stop. Not only does he love to smile, but he has a great little laugh too. If there’s one thing to know about Nico, it’s that once you get him to laugh, he won’t be stopping anytime soon! We remember when he was a baby, he’d laugh so much that we’d have to make him stop because he couldn’t catch his breathe!

Nico is such a happy kid and we love being around him. Since he was a baby he’s been super affectionate and loves to give you hugs and kisses. We all know that at a certain age boys stop kissing and hugging you, but never with Nico. You’ll always get a hug and kiss from him. He has such a big heart and we couldn’t imagine our lives without Nico.

Here’s a picture of Nico with Maria on her wedding day. This was one of her most favorite pictures. You can just tell what a loving kid Nico is!

Recently Nico has really been into soccer. He joined a team this year and did great. In fact, he did so well that his coach would have to take him out of the game, because he was scoring all of the goals! We can just imagine what a great soccer player he is going to be when he grows up! We love you Nico!!

Since we’ve been making so many cupcakes lately, we thought it’d be fun to change things up a bit. We were getting tired of the the same old cake cupcakes with buttercream frosting. We came across this recipe on Joy the Baker’s blog and knew that we had to make them. What kid doesn’t like ice cream? We knew Nico loved it for sure.

Here’s the Step by Step Situation:

Adapted from Joy the Baker

First make any brownie box mix.  Line two cupcake pans with the foil cupcake liners.  Into each cupcake liner, scoop 1 heaping Tablespoon of brownie batter.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about about 10 minutes or until the brownie is cooked through.

Let the brownies cool in the cupcake pans to room temperature.  Once cool, place in the freezer (still in the cupcake pans) for 30 minutes.  When you place the cupcake pans in the freezer, remove the ice  cream you’re using and place in the refrigerator to soften.

When ready to assemble the cupcakes, remove the cupcake pans with foil lined brownie cups from the freezer.  Remove the ice cream (we did half cookies and cream and half jamoca almond fudge) from the fridge.  Run the ice cream scooper under hot water and working quickly, portion a small scoop of ice cream into each foil lined cup, while still in the cupcake pan.  The cupcake pan will help the Ice Cream Cupcake hold its shape.  You may need to rinse the scooper under hot water in between scoops for easy portioning.  Quickly smooth the scoops of ice cream with the back of a small spoon also rinsed in warm water and return the ice cream cupcakes quickly to the freezer.

Let the newly formed Ice Cream Cupcakes refreeze for 45 minutes to an hour.  In this time you can make the chocolate ganache (recipe below).  Let the ganache come to just around room temperature.

Once the cupcakes are refrozen and nice and firm, remove from the freezer and top with a teaspoon of chocolate ganache.  Smooth over the cupcake.  Return once again to the freezer.

Before serving, remove the foil liners and serve on a platter!

Chocolate Ganache

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips (I used chocolate chunks)

1/4 cup heavy cream

Put chocolate chips in a small bowl.  Bring cream to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan.  Pour cream evenly over chocolate.  Let stand for one minute to soften, then stir until smooth.  If frosting is too loose to spread, let it sit at room temperature for 10 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, frosting will continue to thicken as it stands.