I love Friday the 13th!

I just got a formal offer for a new job! Woo Hoo!

So you don't have to (probably episode 1)

So as I was standing over my mixer last night looking at a particularly sad little fail in my mixing bowl, it occurred to me that, in addition to sharing the recipes that I love, I should probably share the recipes that are disasters. That way, anyone who reads, won't ever have to fail with that particular recipe!

Last night's recipe is the perfect place to start. Iron Cupcake Earth (ICE)'s ingredient for this month is apple. My first thought was, as my son would say, easy peasy! And then I started looking for recipes. I had already done peanut butter and apple for Cupcake Hero, so that was out. My first instinct was caramel apple, so I searched and found that almost every apple recipe included caramel. So ICE will probably have a zillion versions of caramel and apple.

So I sat and pondered... what can I do... And the next thing that came to mind was candy apples. And I was just sure that was the ticket. So I looked for a cupcake recipe that could be more apple-y and less cinnamon-y or spicy. And I found it. And then I looked for a recipe for frosting that was candy apple-ish.

Here's where the plan goes bad. I generally only use recipes that I get from bloggers (cause they tell you exactly how things turn out) or places like allrecipes.com (where there are comments and ratings and such). But I couldn't find anything in all the reputable places. So I just found this random recipe and it was rated decent, but there were no comments and even very little in the way of instructions. But it had the key ingredients for candy apples so I was determined to give it a try.

This is exactly what it said...

In top of double boiler, combine 1 egg white, 3/4 CUP sugar, 2 tablespoons red cinnamon candies, dash salt, 1/2 cup applesauce, and 1 teaspoon light corn syrup.
Beat 1 minute with electric or rotary beater.
Place over boiling water; beat till peaks form, about 4 minutes (don't overcook).
Remove from boiling water.
Beat till of spreading consistency.

And that's exactly what I did. At least till the beating part. I think I beat it about 10-15 minutes before I realized there would be no peaks, soft or otherwise. The result was a pan of pink, almost marshmallow creme like, goo that left little pieces of apple (from the applesauce) in your mouth once the rest dissolved and was gone.

So, just so you never have to go through it yourself, this recipe SUCKS! Consider that a half hour of your time that I just saved! No thanks necessary!

Exhaustion.

To put it simply, I am plum wore out today. I didn't have the best of nights yesterday, and my sleep was anything but good, so it took considerable work to get myself going this morning.

Once I made it to work, I realized I was going to have to spend the day on the phone. And there is nothing that I find more taxing than my nice, overwhelmingly helpful telephone personality. But I got the job done so I guess that's a plus.

The only thing that's helped is knowing that tomorrow will be a holiday so I can sleep in a little and then get some much needed kid time. And hopefully there will be more cupcaking as well since Iron Cupcake Earth is all about apples and that is sooooooo right down my alley!

So everyone enjoy their holiday!

A new fave!!!!

So I have been seriously in need of a new, good cupcake recipe. I've been having a bit of a drought when it comes to original ideas that actually turn out to be decent!

But this weekend's recipe (which is definitely gonna be heading to Cupcake Hero) made up for all the crappy cupcake experiments!

Without further ado, I present the Peanut Butter Boston Cream Pie cupcake (which is in desperate need of a better name)...

First off, the cupcake itself comes from here, but I made a tiny change cause peanut butter just NEEDS at least a little brown sugar...

Amy Sedaris' Cupcakes

1 ½ sticks of unsalted butter
1 ¾ cups of sugar (I used 1 cup sugar and 1/2 c brown sugar and that seemed good)

Beat well, then add:

Add 2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons of pure vanilla
½ teaspoon of salt
2 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
2 ½ cups of flour
1 ¼ cups of milk

Beat well, fill cups, and bake at 375 degrees for 18-20 minutes. You should get 24.

Now for the filling, which is my absolute favorite part! I modified a standard vanilla pudding recipe from allrecipes.com...

Peanut Butter Filling

INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 cup 2% milk

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten 1 1/2 teaspoons butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 c peanut butter

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a small saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly. Reduce heat; cook and stir 2 minutes longer. Remove from the heat.
2.	Stir a small amount of hot filling into egg yolk; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring to a gentle boil; cook and stir 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat. Gently stir in butter, vanilla, and peanut butter.
3.	Cool for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. For the frosting, I knew I'd need some form of ganache, which I normally don't care for. But this ganache was to die for! Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache 1 cup heavy cream 1 ½ cups chocolate chip morsels 4 tablespoons unsalted butter ¾ cup powdered sugar ½ cup smooth peanut butter In a small saucepan, combine the cream, powdered sugar, chocolate chip morsels and butter over low heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and add the peanut butter at the same time. Stir until smooth. Let cool.

Random Monday Musings...

I made it back to work on a very sleepy Monday morning. It was a rather busy weekend for a lazy little schmuck like myself and, now that I have some internet, I'm gonna fill everyone in.

1. I got my cupcake mojo back! Woo Hoo! I have had cupcake failure after cupcake failure the past couple weeks! But last Thursday held a successful cupcake experiment and the weekend held the discovery of one of my favorite recipes thus far (which will be posted later today).

2. I did my homework. I was approached by someone that works helping small businesses get off the ground about starting a cupcake bakery. I put off and put off doing the pricing but sat down this weekend and figured it all out. Shew!

3. I have had a few job interviews and one finally began checking my references last Friday. I have my fingers crossed big time!

4. I went to a concert with the family last Friday night and had a ball. It wasn't really my kind of music, but there's really nothing better than sitting there holding my daughter's hand while my son falls asleep on my shoulder and Not-So-Ex softly rubs my back. I do so love being a family.

5. I have a very clean bathroom. I sat down with the kiddos and arranged weekly chores and we cleaned big time on Saturday. They were reluctant at first but were really proud when they were finished.

6. I went to church and no one got smited. There was a special program and announcement at my parents' church Sunday and the kids and I went. It was tough to get moving on a day off, but it was definitely worth it. My beautiful son was up there on stage being his normal, calm, awesome self. My daughter, who used to inspire a hand-wringing, terrified version of momma when she was on stage, stood on stage with her classmates and looked absolutely and completely normal. There are no words to describe the tears or the gratitude I felt as I watched them both.

7. Not only did I not get smited, but the sermon was even applicable. The sermon on Sunday was about not obsessively worrying and just letting go. Couldn't have been more perfect.

8. I said goodbye to Sam. Sunday afternoon was the wake and funeral for Sam Harshbarger (Meuwl). I went to the wake and checked on my friends who were closer to him than I was. Gave my hugs. Caught up on their lives. I met his parents for the first time and told them just how wonderful he was. And that was when the tears started. I tried to calm myself and was somewhat successful. I glanced at the casket but that was about all. I will remember him the way he was; full of life, animated, and with big hair. He may not have realized it, but everyone who knew him, even for a short time (like me), was better for it.

9. I have dreamed Hip-Hop all weekend. I apparently have a very active subconscious and, since Sam has been on the brain, I have had dream after dream about the Hip-Hop Boot Camp. Sometimes, when there is a death that touches me, I have terrible dreams. But, this time, the dreams have been happy and funny. It was only when I woke up that there was sadness and, even then, it was mostly replaced with gratitude for the time that I had.

10. I have a few kid-less days ahead of me! Hunt is staying with one grandmother and Rena is with the other! So Not-So-Ex and I are gonna get some time to just snuggle in and be together. I can hardly wait!

Pears and Caramel

So my grandparents gave me some fresh pears last week so I just had to make some cupcakes out of them. I found a great recipe here for apple cupcakes with caramel frosting and just changed them to pear. They were really good, but I'd love to find some way to really amp up the pear taste. A lot of the people who tried them didn't realize they were pear.

Pear Cupcakes

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

3 cups peeled, chopped pears

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the brown and white sugars; toss with the apples and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Stir the melted butter into the apple mixture. Beat in the eggs. Beat in the flour mixture just until combined. Add extracts.

Pour batter into cupcake pan and bake until cake tests done (around 20 min). Allow to cool before frosting.

Caramel Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup milk

2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Add brown sugar and milk. Bring to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar. Remove from heat. Cool.

Beat confectioners’ sugar into milk mixture until smooth. If the frosting seems too thick, add a little more milk, or cream, a little at a time until the frosting is of a good, spreadable consistency.

I made a mistake and put my frosting in the fridge for a bit after it was finished because it seemed a little liquidy. Then it became the consistency of fudge. So I had to remix it and add more milk but, in the end, it turned out fine.

Memories

Someone that I considered a friend passed away yesterday. He was young, vibrant, insanely talented, and possessed a large, kind heart. His death is saddening and shocking, but I wanted to use this little bit of space to remember him.

He was a rapper that went by Meuwl, a graffiti artist that went by Psst, and a really wonderful person that went by Sam Harshbarger.

The easiest way to try to explain the type of relationship I had with Sam is to say that, even when I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him out of frustration (which happened a couple times), I still had to hug him the second I saw him. And those who know me really well know that I don't hug unless I mean it. And I always meant it.

I didn't get to see Sam often but I remember the last time I saw him. I went to the closing ceremonies for the Hip-Hop Boot Camp this past summer. I didn't know Sam was going to be teaching, but was just thrilled to see him. I hugged him and said "God I've missed you!" I then proceeded to tease him about showing up the one year I couldn't be there.

I'm so glad I saw him that day. I had no idea it would be the last time but wouldn't have changed a thing even if I did. I feel for his family, both his biological family and his musical family. He was loved by many and will be remembered with as much laughter as there are tears.