Throwing a party for your mom and her friends tops the list of “How to Celebrate Mother’s Day.” That’s all well and good for older children, but it might not be so practical for an 8- or 9-year-old child – unless you’re a Brownie Girl Scout!

Tomorrow our Brownie troop – 19 members strong – is hosting a Fancy Nancy Tea Party. We’ll be breaking out the boas and bringing the bling. “Pink” will be the theme of the day because Nancy wouldn’t want it any other way!

Fancy Nancy is a fictional character in the best-selling books by Jane O’Connor. Nancy loves everything fancy, from clothing and accessories to activities and words. (Yes, she’s a girl after my own heart! Nothing makes me smile like a fun pair of shoes, and I’ve always loved using fancy words – even before fancy words were cool.)

To keep with our theme, we’ll be serving a menu of fancy foods including:

• Pink mints – thanks to Laura Cunningham for sharing her grandma’s recipe;
• Pink Lemonade Cupcakes – thanks to Leslie Maynes for sharing the recipe below;
• Strawberry Sherbet Punch – thanks to Mary Schumacher for sharing her family tradition; and
• Ribbon sandwiches – thanks to my own mother for this one; plus
• PB&J, using a Pampered Chef® Cut-N-Seal® to make them fancy, too!

While our Brownies are busy in the kitchen with food preparation, their mothers will be treated to manicures. We’ll also show a PowerPoint presentation that highlights our troop’s activities throughout the year. In addition, each girl will have the opportunity to have a “party pic” taken with her mother.

Tomorrow’s tea is sure to be Très Magnifique! How will you make your Mother’s Day extra fancy?

Special thanks to all of the special ladies below, who are helping make our Fancy Nancy party extra special:

• Michelle Carlson Hartman, Michelle’s Country Cookin’;
• Cathy Carlson, Cathy’s Country Cookin’;
• Lori Sanders, Forever Yours Flowers & Gifts;
• Sharon Sanders & April Sanders, Sanders Photography; and
• fellow Brownie leaders, Beth Strike and Tracy Dirksen.

Cream Cheese Mints

Ingredients:
2½ c. powdered sugar
3 oz. cream cheese
½ tsp. flavoring
Coloring as desired
Rubber mint molds in desired shape

Directions:
Mix together sugar and cream cheese well. Add in flavoring, then coloring. Dust molds with powdered sugar. Press dough into mold, remove and chill on a cookie sheet. This recipe yields approximately 70 mints.

Note: If you don’t have rubber molds, the following method will yield great-tasting mints as well: Roll into balls and flatten with fork onto cookie tray. Sprinkle on powdered sugar. Chill 1 1/2 hours, flip and chill another 1 1/2 hours.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
Pinch salt
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 egg whites
1/3 c. thawed frozen Pink Lemonade Concentrate
1/4 c. buttermilk
2 or more drops red food coloring

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pan with liners. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, egg whites and lemonade concentrate. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and buttermilk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of buttermilk, beating until just smooth. Add just enough food coloring to turn the batter a light shade of pink.

Scoop batter into liners (fill about three-fourths full). Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting (see below).

Lemonade Buttercream:
3 c. + 3 Tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. pink lemonade concentrate
Red food coloring

Add the butter, confectioner’s sugar, salt, lemon juice, and a few drops of food coloring to the stand mixer and mix on low using the paddle attachment until combined. Turn the speed to med-high until the buttercream is fluffy and uniformly pink. Pipe or spread onto cooled cupcakes.