Belated Christmas Sweets

Well, I originally was going to write about something else today but the picture didn't come out because the lighting wasn't good, so I thought I would post something else.  I had a few friends over for a Christmas brunch/tea last month for which I made these mini-cupcakes and white chocolate covered strawberries:

The cupcakes are gingerbread with cinnamon brown sugar buttercream frosting.  I found the recipe here.  They were a huge hit!  As I mentioned, I used mini-cupcake tins (which I prefer because it gives guests a taste of a cupcake, but not too much if they don't want to eat a whole big one and I like the size for tea).  I used one of my favorite gingerbread cookie recipes for the gingerbread man and a small cookie cutter.  The cookie recipe I prefer has lemon or orange zest, whichever I happen to have on hand, which gives it an extra kick.

Just as a little side note, the three tier stand that the desserts are on is Christmas Tree by Royal Albert, which is my Christmas tea china.  I walked through the doors of my local Homegoods and this three-tier tidbit tray was right there.  My dish addiction is so great that my heart sped up.  I haven't seen it offered for cheaper since!  But I'll leave my love of Homegoods for another day...