Pinterest Project: Sundae Cupcakes

To go along with our hamburger cupcakes and sugar cookie fries, Michelle and I decided to make some ice cream sundae cupcakes. I thought these two would go perfectly together. Check out the original tutorial here.

I just love these. The frosting is what really makes them. It looks like a scoop of ice cream with whipped cream on top, but really it is just two different frostings in different textures.

We made ours a little different. Since we already had a dessert with brownies, we made Dan's chocolate cake (as cupcakes) instead. YUM! The frosting turned out great, just like the original. The only issue we had was with the "whipped cream" frosting. I went ahead and bought a can of white frosting with the tip you can pipe right on. Unfortunately, it was sort of more of a clear/white and mostly just blended in with the other frosting rather than have a completely different look. No worries, they were still awesome. What do you think?

Everyone at the party today loved them.

Pinterest win.

Pinterest Project: Hamburger Cupcakes and Fries

I saw these great cupcakes on pinterest a long time ago and had been looking for an excuse to make them. We're having a big BBQ tomorrow for the fourth of July, and since we will not be having the traditional hamburgers and hot dogs (but rather the most delicious brisket, ribs, and chicken), I thought they would be the perfect addition to our meal.

Michelle came over yesterday to help me put these together. The idea is simple. Bake a yellow cupcake and cut it in half. Bake a pan of brownies, cut circles using a biscuit cutter. Place brownie circle between two pieces of cupcake and pipe frosting on to look like lettuce, ketchup, or mustard. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top to make the cupcake look a little more like the top of a hamburger bun. On the original website, she had a printable for the cute little baskets to put these in so of course I was all over that. And I went ahead and modified the fry package to say Happy 4th of July instead of Happy Father's Day.

The second part of these are the fries. Sugar cookie fries to be exact. The idea for these is also pretty simple. Buy sugar cookie dough, roll out, bake, cut into strips, and sprinkle sugar on top to look like salt.

Here is our finished product:

What do you think? I love them! They were a HUGE hit today at the BBQ! :)

pinterest win.

Pinterest Project: Brownie Batter Cupcakes

It had been awhile since I made any new cupcakes, so one afternoon last week when I got bored I decided to try a new recipe I saw on pinterest.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of these cupcakes after I was finished, but let me tell you, they were amazing. They looked super cute and they were delicious!! I used a yellow cake mix to make the cupcake but modified the recipe by adding some sugar, sour cream, and vanilla. The cake turned out moist and full of flavor (much better than the simple box cake mix by itself). In the middle of these cupcakes is a bite of brownie, yum! I accidentally made more brownie bites than I needed for the cupcakes so we kept some of those in the fridge to eat as a bite size treat. That is the first dessert I have found that I cannot keep Tony away from. Those brownie bites inside are DELICIOUS! You could make that as a treat all on it's own.

I sent a dozen of these to work with Tony (because we don't need to be fatties and eat 18 cupcakes all ourselves) and they were devoured by the end of the day. Definitely a hit. If you like the taste of brownie and are looking for a good cupcake, I suggest you try these.

another pinterest win.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

I saw this idea on a baking blog I read a few weeks ago and just knew I had to try it for our 4th of July Party!

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes!

I decided the presentation was the most important part of these, and since I was already doing a TON of cooking for the party I made it easy on myself and just used a store bought cake mix and store bought frosting.

For something that looks like such a simple idea, these were pretty tricky to pull off. First I dipped each cone in chocolate and added sprinkles. You could skip this step, but I think it really adds to the whole looks. After the cones were dry I popped a chocolate cupcake into each waffle cone. Now comes the trick part. First you have to use a knife to spread frosting over the edges of the cupcake showing outside the cone. Then using a piping bag (and the right consistency of frosting, which is more difficult than one might think) pipe on the frosting to make it look like soft serve ice cream. Finally add some sprinkles to the top. So cute!

I'm really happy with how these turned out. They really do look just like real ice cream cones! Hope everyone loves them as much as I do :)

First Day of Summer Break

Happy first day of summer break! Well, technically the first day of break was Saturday, but that was part of a weekend so it doesn't count. Today was the first day that I didn't have to get up and drive to school, that I normally would have.

I've had such a productive day so far! I woke up, worked out, showered, went shopping for some new summer shirts, got my tires rotated (and the slow leak patched up), went grocery shopping, made homemade vanilla ice cream, and made chocolate cookies to use for ice cream sandwiches!

I'm waiting on the cookies to come out of the oven as we speak, so I'll probably be blogging about the ice cream sandwiches later on ... or at the very least the vanilla ice cream because it tastes EXACLY like bluebell and is AMAZING!

Hope all my teacher friends are enjoying their first day off! :)

Ice Cream Maker

I had a couple American Express giftcards I got for my birthday, so I decided to buy myself an ice cream maker for the summer! I took a trip to Sur La Table because I saw their ad that they had colorful Cuisinart ice cream makers, rather than just the normal white. When I got there I found out that they had a special going on, and if you bought the ice cream maker, you got a $15 gift card. Score! I ended up with all kinds of fun goodies! A turquoise ice cream maker, a matching ice cream scoop, an ice cream sandwich cookie pan, some cute red french fry baskets (we've been making a lot of homemade baked french fries lately), and some whiskey stones for Tony (since he had found them online and wanted them but we hadn't seen them in any stores). With my birthday money, and the free gift card, I spent under $20 for everything. So exciting!

I couldn't wait to use my ice cream maker yesterday after letting the barrel piece freeze overnight! Tony requested chocolate ice cream, since that's his favorite, and I figured if I make something he will eat then I won't have to be a fatty and eat the entire batch every time haha. So, milk chocolate it was! I researched recipes online and ended up finding a good one from a baking blog I read.

Let me just tell you, the ice cream turned out SO rich and creamy! I am in LOVE! It has such a yummy chocolatey flavor, but you can only eat a little because it is so rich. There is nothing about this ice cream I don't love. Tony had been joking with me all day that "it better be as good as Blue Bell, because that's the only ice cream I eat". I served him up a bowl to let him try it. His response? "Wow, this is bluebell quality". YAY! Ice cream success!

If you have an ice cream maker and are interested in the recipe you can find it here at this great baking blog: Brown Eyed Baker

I've already bookmarked TONS of ice cream recipes I cannot wait to try! What a fun summer treat!! :)

White Chocolate Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookies

I made some super yummy cookies this weekend! They are white chocolate cinnamon toast crunch cookies. I probably could have eaten the entire bowl of batter all by itself, but somehow I managed to make some cookies as well. Cinnamon Toast Crunch is pretty much my favorite cereal, so adding it into cookies was sure to be a winning recipe. yum :)

Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Cupcakes - Two ways! :)

What else is a girl to do with so much time off but bake? (and with my new mixer which I am TOTALLY in LOVE with, I could bake every single day!) I have been wanting to try a basic chocolate cupcake for awhile now, so, today was the day. I used the Hershey recipe for these, and while the flavor is good, the cake was a little spongy for me. A decent chocolate cupcake for sure, but I don't think it will be my "go to" chocolate recipe. I'll have to keep experimenting for that ...

As for the frosting? I went back and forth between wanting a good vanilla frosting to top the chocolate cupcake, or a rich chocolate frosting. So, I decided to try both.

I'm not a huge fan of buttercream frosting in general (never really have been), but vanilla can compliment a good chocolate cupcake well, and I do like it in small quantities. That's why I made the mini cupcakes this time. Aren't they cute? These are perfect because each one only has a touch of the vanilla buttercream. And then of course there is the chocolate. I do really like this chocolate frosting. yum! :)

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I got a new KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas and couldn't wait to try it out. What better excuse to make cupcakes than using my new mixer?!? I have gotten to the point that I have so many cupcake recipes I want to try that it is difficult to decide on just one to bake at a time. I went back and forth, and finally decided on peanut butter cupcakes this week. These are officially my favorite cupcakes EVER! Seriously, yum!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Fluffernutter Frosting

Next time I make these (oh, and there will be a next time!), I'll make a little more frosting. I had enough to cover the batch, but just barely. Plus, they would look much prettier if they had a larger dome of frosting on the top.

And let me just say, baking is SO much easier with my new mixer! I am in love! You just put the ingredients in and walk away to let it mix; it's wonderful! Thanks, Mom! :)

So here's the recipe in case you want to try these too. And trust me, if you like peanut butter, you NEED to try these. It's like a delicious peanut butter explosion in your mouth. yuuummm!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

6 T unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside

In a bowl of a mixer, on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Scrape down bowl and add egg and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute until batter is smooth. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture in 3 additions and milk in 2 additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix until flour is incorporated and batter is smooth.

Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter. Bake until tops feel firm and are lightly browned, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Remove cupcakes fro oven and place several chocolate chips on top of each. Allow chocolate to soften enough to spread. Spread to cover top of cupcakes and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 cup marshmallow fluff

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 t vanilla

1/4 t salt

1 1/3 cup powdered sugar

1-2 T milk

Directions:

In mixer bowl, on low speed, combine fluff, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until blended. Scrape down bowl, and add powdered sugar. Beat until blended. Add just enough milk to make frosting the desired consistency.

Mint Chocolate Puddles

I may have just made the best cookies in the entire world! I am not even kidding here ... if you like Andes mints, even half as much as I do, then you need to run, not walk, to the nearest store and get the ingredients to make these. Seriously, do it, you won't be disappointed.

Mint Chocolate Puddles

Oh my gosh these cookies are delicious! Quite possibly the best thing I have ever baked in my entire life. But of course, I LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate mint! I think the best way to describe these is like a thin mint girl scout cookie, but more thick and chewy. WAY better than a thin mint if you ask me (and thin mints are delicious!)

Ingredients:

12 T butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 T water

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

2 packages (4.5 oz) Andes Mints

Directions:

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter, and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in chocolate chips until melted, set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Pour chocolate mixture into large bowl and beat in eggs, one at a time. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut size balls and place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. When cookies come out of oven press one mint on top of each cookie, let sit for one minute, then use the back of a spoon to swirl the melted chocolate around. Let cool, and enjoy!

(makes about 40 cookies)

So, go make these ... right now!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

Last week it was pumpkin pancakes, this week it's pumpkin pie oatmeal. Let me just say, wow! This oatmeal is the best I have EVER had! It's incredibly sweet, more like a dessert than a breakfast really, but oh so delicious!

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

The oatmeal is like a big bowl of gooey pumpkin deliciousness, and the topping gives it a wonderful sugary crunch which makes for a great contrast to the gooey oatmeal underneath. There is not one thing I don't like about this meal, seriously!

I have been known to make oatmeal and mix in some canned pumpkin and spices many times before. It's simple and tastes great. But I must say, this recipe totally puts that to shame! If you like pumpkin and oatmeal you HAVE to try this.

For the Oatmeal:

Mix together:

1 cup oats

2 1/2 T brown sugar

dash of cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg, and salt

In a separate bowl mix:

1/2 t vanilla

2 T softened butter

3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree

3/4 cup milk

Pour pumpkin mixture into oats mixture and stir. Pour into individual ramekins, place on cookie sheet, and bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. While that is baking prepare the topping.

For the topping, mix together:

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1 T brown sugar

1 T softened butter

After 10 minutes, remove oatmeal from the oven. Divide topping equally over ramekins. Place in oven and bake an additional 7 minutes. Cool 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Super Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies a few days ago but didn't get around to taking the pictures off my camera until today. You already think I'm the crazy pumpkin lady over here, so why not live up to the title?!? haha

Super Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

As you can see, these cookies puff up quite nicely. They are almost cake-like they are so soft. It's quite literally like eating a piece of pumpkin cake, in cookie form. yum! I think these would be really good with some vanilla ice cream :)

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese

Another post about pumpkin?!? It's not like you should be surprised at this point. haha

Do you like pumpkin? How about bagels and cream cheese? Okay, wait for it ...

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread for Bagels!!

Are you excited?? If not, you should be! This is delicious!

I'm finding so many great pumpkin recipes that I love, I swear I am going to get fat eating them all! Seriously, it's getting a little out of hand! Just a little fyi, I currently have 27 recipes saved involving pumpkin. 27!! Thus far I have made 6 of them. That leaves 21 to go haha! No worries, I promise I won't make all of them (not this season at least), but I do have a number more different types of things I want to try. Clearly I have the canned pumpkin stock to do it. :-P Anyway, on to the recipe:

Pumpkin Spice Cream Cheese Spread

Ingredients:

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup pumpkin purée

3 T brown sugar

2 T maple syrup*

1/4 t vanilla

pinch of cinnamon

pinch of pumpkin pie spice

*the actual recipe called for maple syrup. As I stated earlier, I don't really like maple syrup, so it seemed silly to buy a huge bottle when I only needed two tablespoons. I did a little research and came up with a substitute. Mix together:

2 T boiling water

2 T brown sugar

1 t granulated sugar

Beat all ingredients together with a mixer until smooth. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Slather generously on top of a bagel (if you buy mini bagels like me, this would make for a great snack!). Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pancakes and a Pumpkin Spice Latte

It may be possible that I have a real problem here:

I may or may not have bought the entire stock of pumpkin purée when I saw it at the store today. What does this mean for you? LOTS of pumpkin recipes coming your way over the next week!

I started off today with a wonderful pumpkin breakfast. First, pumpkin pancakes!

yum yum yum! These are light and fluffy with a light flavor of pumpkin that is not at all overpowering (although we all know how much I LOVE pumpkin, so maybe if you hated pumpkin it might taste overpowering, I don't know). I'm sure they would be good with maple syrup, but I'm not really a fan at all. I thought about whipping up some whipped cream to dollop on top, but decided that since I wanted to make this next treat, I would pass on the whipped cream calories this morning, and simply sprinkle the pancakes with cinnamon and sugar instead. I wasn't disappointed. :)

Next, Pumpkin Spice Latte!

Just like Starbucks, but only a fraction of the cost! (And since I used Starbucks coffee, it really was JUST like Starbucks haha). This was really simple, and turned out really good. One of my favorite fall drinks is a pumpkin spice latte, so I was pretty excited to stumble upon this recipe. All you have to do is mix a cup of coffee, 2/3 cup evaporated milk, 1/4 cup pumpkin purée, 1-2 T sugar, 1 1/2 t vanilla, and a pinch of pumpkin pie spice together, and heat in a sauce pan until hot. Put the mixture in a blender, blend for one minute to make the nice frothy topping, sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!

Confession here: I have NO idea how to make coffee! NONE! I don't drink it. I don't like it. I love coffee flavored drinks, but I hate plain coffee. So, I never learned how to make it. My mom gave me a small coffee pot (just in case) and I pulled it out and didn't even know how to go about pretending to use it. Therefore, I bought some of these (which you can find at Starbucks, but also in the coffee section at Target):

Individual instant coffee pouches. This was totally made for me! If I was going to make this a lot, or drink coffee more, I'd learn to use a coffee pot because it would be less expensive. But these are just under $3 for 3 packages and I figure for how rarely I would need coffee, that's not a bad deal. Plus, it's Starbucks! $1 per pumpkin spice latte is much cheaper than the $4 I'd spend buying it there, so it works for me. haha

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies

As promised, pumpkin spice cheesecake brownies!!

Having tried these, I am not sure why a person would EVER want to eat a plain chocolate brownie again. These are delicious!! They are incredibly rich, which means you can really only eat one at a time or you might get sick (not being tempted to eat a whole batch is a good thing, I promise!). I took them to school today for our birthday luncheon and received multiple requests for the recipe. They were really easy to make, so I'm telling you, you have to go make these now! The pumpkin taste is not overpowering as it is blended nicely into the cream cheese. I promise, you won't regret making them (well, unless you love them so much you eat the whole pan, then you might regret it haha)

Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake Brownies

Brownie Batter

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar

1 T pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 t cinnamon

Cheesecake Batter

6 oz cream cheese, softened

1 egg

1/3 cup sugar

1 T flour

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 t pure vanilla extract

1/2 t cinnamon

1/4 t each ground ginger and ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8x8 square metal baking pan.

Beat together melted butter, sugar, and vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time. Combine dry ingredients and then gradually stir into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. In a separate bowl, beat together cheesecake batter ingredients.

Spread about 2/3 of chocolate batter into prepared pan, and spoon cheesecake batter over. Dollop remaining brownie batter over cheesecake batter. Swirl both batters together by running a knife back and forth through the pan.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely on wire rack and chill before cutting and serving. Keep refrigerated.

Enjoy! :)

Pumpkin Cupcakes

Okay so I admit it, I have a secret love affair for all things pumpkin. After I made those pumpkin muffins a few weeks ago I had been DYING to try out a recipe for pumpkin cupcakes but I just hadn't had the time. Plus, have you heard about the pumpkin shortage of 2009?!? Every time I went to the store to buy canned pumpkin it was nowhere to be found! How is that even possible?? So sad!

Anyway, I finally found some canned pumpkin at Target (although they still only had something like 6 cans of it!) and decided to get to baking.

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

The batter for these tasted exactly like pumpkin pie, it just had a different texture. yuuuummm. The cupcakes turned out incredibly moist (I think that's due to the pumpkin purée) and the cinnamon cream cheese frosting complemented them perfectly. This is probably my favorite frosting thus far (but I'm also partial to a cream cheese frosting, not a huge fan of buttercream). Will I make these again? You bet! Will I probably make them again very soon? Most definitely! Now if someone could just work on finding an excuse for me to make them again that would be great! Mom, how do you feel about pumpkin cupcakes instead of pie for Thanksgiving? hehe

*recipe available upon request :)

Stay tuned for pumpkin spice cream cheese brownies to come later this week. I'm super excited to try this recipe and have to bring something to school this week so I think it might be perfect!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Fall is officially here, and we have the weather to prove it! A crisp cool breeze blew in the other day, which made me start thinking about all things fall. My most favorite thing about fall: pumpkins! Specifically, food made with pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin spice lattés etc. You may be seeing a few different pumpkin recipes this month. :)

Anyway, tomorrow is my day to bring a breakfast snack to bible study, so I decided to do some baking today. No cupcakes this week, but I do have some wonderful muffins to share! Give you one guess what the star ingredient is ... pumpkin or course!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Muffins

These are GREAT! I know I say that about everything I bake, but it's true (plus, the things I've baked that I didn't like I just don't post about haha). These are moist and delicious. A great mix of pumpkin and chocolate. YUM!! I think they are going to be a big hit tomorrow at my ABF.

For those interested in the recipe, here you go:

Ingredients:

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

15 oz can pumpkin puree

1 cup melted butter

1/2 cup applesauce

3 cups all purpose flour

2 t baking soda

2 t baking powder

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t allspice

3/4 t salt

1 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With wire whisk, beat the eggs in a large bowl, and mix in the sugar, pumpkin, applesauce, and better. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, and chocolate. Stir the flour mixture into the egg and pumpkin mixture until just combined. Transfer batter into lined muffin cups. Bake about 13 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Coconut Cupcakes

It's Sunday, and you know what that means ...

CUPCAKE TIME!

I know I'll have sort of a limited audience with these, because it's one of those flavors you either love or you hate, but these coconut cupcakes are delicious and SO moist! The batter itself was delicious (trust me, I could have just had that with a spoon and been a happy camper), and the frosting is the same light meringue type frosting I made for the snickerdoodle cupcakes, but it has some coconut extract added in. And of course, as you can see, they are sprinkled with shredded coconut. YUM! If you like coconut, you HAVE to try these! I promise, you won't be disappointed!

It has come to my attention that some of you may want the recipes to some of these cupcakes, so I'll start posting them. If you wanted the recipe for one I already made, just leave a comment and I can get that recipe to you as well.

Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup packed sweetened shredded coconut

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/3 cups sugar

2 large eggs plus 2 large egg whites

3/4 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Mix remaining wet ingredients in a bowl. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 16 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2/3 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

6 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

Frosting Directions:

Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running add remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, beating to combine.

As soon as the sugar syrup reaches 230 degrees, remove from heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool and stiff peaks form, about 7 minutes. Add coconut extract, mixing to combine.

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

I woke up this morning to a massive list of things to do for school. It was 8:30, and I told myself I needed to get at least half of it done by lunchtime. So, instead of getting right on the computer and playing around, I started grading papers. 11 sets of papers to be exact. *note to self, do NOT put off grading papers!* After I got all my papers graded I took a break from school work to shower, and once I was showered and dressed I started on lesson plans. Surprisingly enough, the lesson plans did not take nearly as much time as last week! I was expecting that to take up half my day alone, but I totally busted them out in about an hour. yay! :) Probably helped that I had actually done a little thinking about my upcoming week before I left school on Friday.

Since I had already accomplished so much, when Darren called and asked me to meet him for lunch I was able to say yes with a clear conscience. (I would have gone anyway mind you, but now I didn't have to feel bad about it or get really stressed out.) I had a great time catching up with D at lunch, and then headed home to do some more school work. I got all of my Words Their Way pretests graded and grouped my kids according to ability. The only thing I had left to do was choose words for the week, and do some planning on how I am going to incorporate this program into my daily 5 schedule. I decided that meant I could do something fun. So, in typical end of the week fashion, I baked some cupcakes!

Today's treat: Snickerdoodle Cupcakes!

I was actually surprised by how much I liked these in the end. They are very light, so they are quite different than the cupcakes I have made before, but I think that's what I like about them. You can eat one and not feel like you just had a major sugar overload. The cake part tastes just like a snickerdoodle cookie. Sort of a mix of vanilla and cinnamon. The frosting is similar to meringue, but a little different (descriptive, I know). And then they are sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar mixture.

I didn't have the piping tip I wanted to pipe the frosting on these, and the bake shop is closed for the holiday, so I just had to make do with what I had. It turned out okay, but next time I make these I'll make sure to have the piping tip I want. (honestly, only about half of them came out looking like I wanted, the rest look a little strange haha) I'll take the pretty ones to school tomorrow and keep the not so pretty ones for me to eat.

Oh, and I've decided on which "crazy lady" I am going to be when I am old. The crazy cupcake lady! hehe. I don't like animals so I can't be something like the crazy cat lady, but I do like cupcakes so I can be the crazy cupcake lady. :-P

Now I'm off to finish up the last of my school work for the day, and then I'm going to lay around and watch tv until I go to bed. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me :)

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

After this week is over and all the changes have been made, I will blog about what has been going on at my school this week. If you have talked to me, you already know, but if you are one of those people who gathers all information about my life through my blog, you will just have to wait.

Because of what is going on at school this week, we are having a "we're going to miss you party" after school tomorrow, and I volunteered to make the cookies. I had this oatmeal chocolate chip m&m cookie recipe I had been wanting to try, and when a certain person mentioned they love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I knew this would be the perfect occasion to bake them.

The recipe is really simple, which is why I thought they would be so good to make. However, this turned into a baking disaster. In retrospect, I should have used my brain and I probably could have avoided this. I'm definitely no pro baker though, so I pretty much always stick with the recipe. So, I mixed up all the dry ingredients and then started to add the wet ones. The recipe said to add "half a cup of butter, melted" so I did just that. As soon as I put the melted butter in I thought "this can't be right!" because it made the batter way to goopy, plus, it was melting all the chocolate chips. I figured I would try it anyway. This was the result:

They aren't burned like they look; they are so dark because of the chocolate melting as I mentioned before. They couldn't even come off the cookie sheet without breaking into like 5 pieces though. (they actually tasted okay ... not amazing, but okay, despite how they look).

Obviously, these were NOT going to cut it for tomorrow. And I obviously had to have something to bring, so I whipped up another batch really quickly. This time, I defrosted the butter until it could be mixed by spoon, but was NOT melted. This worked MUCH better! haha Here is the result:

These are delicious! Exactly what I was hoping for! Seriously, how much better do they look?!? haha!

And then, just to do something nice for someone, I made a gift to go along with them:

For when they need something to brighten up their day :)