Desserts for the Deserving 2012

I was lucky enough to be able to participate in

Desserts for the Deserving this year. 

A wonderful idea started last year by Amanda Rettke of iambaker.

What a generous and thoughtful heart she has!

It was really hard for me to choose something for this project.

I wanted it to be beyond yummy. And eye catching.

And really special.

In the end, I chose one of my favorite recipes and

did up a dozen in a way that I'd been wanting to try for a while.

Cupcakes in cute little jars. Not a new idea.

There's even a book out about it now.

But I hadn't gotten around to it yet so it was new to me.

Not quite as eye catching as I'd hoped but

perhaps it will still earn some points for yummy.

It had to be chocolate.

Isn't that the ultimate comfort food?

But how to mail chocolate anything in the heat of summer?

In jars! With teensy-tiny forks to stab even the smallest of morsels.

I froze everything before it was mailed in hopes it wouldn't be a gooey mess on arrival.

But even that wouldn't be too terrible unless you can't find a spoon.

What's not to like about chocolate and espresso?

A very large percentage of customers at the local Starbucks could answer that one.

I added in some chocolate vermicelli

(a really fancy name for jimmies)

since sprinkles almost always improve a situation.

And they're off in the morning to hopefully brighten

some one's day clear across the country.

Thanks Amanda for letting me play a very small part

in your plan to unite bakers together for a larger cause.

UPDATE:

from www.settingthemood.biz

from www.bhg.com

Really wish I'd have seen these ideas for the
jar toppers before I sent the package out.
It would have been so much cuter than my uninspired
(but matching!) scrapbooking circle toppers.
And so appropriate since there were cupcakes inside.
Oh well. Next time . . . 
Thanks for stopping by!