No Way Josessica!

Last night while working super hard I looked at my phone to see a text from my bff saying "leave work and bake with me." Only because I had been wanting to bake something pumpkin did I think this was a great idea! Who cares about making money at work, when you can bake delicious treats at home with a friend. Right???

So we rendezvoused at my house an hour later. After perusing through recipe books and Food Network Magazines we gave up and went online to find the perfect pumpkin treat.

This is where Rachel Ray sometimes comes in handy. The other times she's just loud and makes weird recipes with hot dogs...

Cheesecake-Filled Pumpkin Cupcakes

We read the comments and saw that the frosting was no bueno so I just whipped together some cream cheese frosting and it turned out great. You can never go wrong with cream cheese.

{My friend thought she could steal one before they were frosted.}

{the final product}

I'm saving mine for my lunch tonight at work. Can't wait.

Oh What Do You Do In The Summertime?

Yesterday in a phone interview for a job I was asked what I do when I'm not working. I'm pretty sure my future employer is not the only one who would like to know. I am frequently asked that question by friends and family. I'm done with school and have no job. What do I do everyday?!?!

1. Traveling. I have all this free time, so I am taking advantage of it. I have gone on a lot of fun trips in the past couple of months. From last minute trips to Utah and California to long awaited trips to Spain and Hawaii. I love to travel! There's nothing better than packing up and leaving for a few days. As long as I don't have a job, I will keep filling my time with fun (yet cheap) trips!

2. Running. Well at least that's what I used to do apparently. With all the above traveling, it is hard to stay on a steady running schedule. I am supposed to be training for a half marathon coming up in a few weeks. But can't seem to get back into my long-run groove. I wouldn't say that I love running yet, but I do love the escape. Hopefully Portland is done with it's monsoon rains so I can get back onto a good schedule.

3. Reading. School killed my love for reading. Textbook after textbook of boring material from boring GE classes made me never want to pick up a book again. But while in Hawaii, my friends and I had a little book club. We'd thought it would be fun to all read the same book and discuss. I wasn't too thrilled with the book choice so I skipped reading for the first few days. But as soon as I was forced, I was hooked. Now I find myself going to the library once a week to return a handful of books for a new handful of books. I love my new library card! Right now I am really into Jodi Picoult books thanks to Lindsay. I love her style of writing!

4. Baseball. It's baseball season. I have nothing to do. So now I can concentrate on it 24/7. I am able to catch a lot of the rare Cardinals games on TV out here. And I have been able to catch 2 A's games in Oakland already. In a few weeks I'll be going to St. Louis to catch a few Cardinals games at Busch Stadium. I. Can't. Wait.

5. Baking. I'm still making lots and lots of cupcakes. My grandma usually calls me about once a week to make an "order." So that gives me the opportunity to make a new kind or test my new decorating skills. I have been given a few fun decorating books recently so I have lots of ideas to try. I usually try and find something that will go along with my Sunbeam lesson every Sunday. Sometimes it's easy, and sometimes I have to really stretch to justify taking cupcakes to them all the time. I just got a few new accessories for my KitchenAid and can't wait to break them in. When I was in San Francisco last week I found myself spending a long time in Sur La Table. I don't know why, since we have one here. But I wanted to get everything in their baking section!

6. I'd never thought I'd say this but the Singles Ward. I thought I would just stick with the home ward and I would be good. But a few months ago I decided to try out the Canyon Road ward and had success. Love the people there. Lots of fun activities. We had an Amazing Race through Portland last week. Guess who's group won? That's right, mine! I've got the blisters to prove it. (I wore new shoes... and we literally ran from point to point) Yesterday we worked on floats for the Rose Parade. I got to cover a Native American's shoe with Walnuts. Now I must go to the parade to see the fruits of my labor. I am enjoying the singles ward and I'll take back almost every negative thing I've said about it in the past. The saying is true, don't knock it till you try it.

7. If I had a pool, that would cover #1-6. That's all I would do. Brings me back to my days at King Henry. When all we cared about was going to the pool and happy hour at Sonic.

Don't Leave Without Me

Do you ever find yourselves making the best purchases on items that caught your eye on your way out of the store? It's almost as if they are calling after you to say, "Wait, don't leave without me!"

I went to Nordstrom Rack today to do a return. I told myself I would only return, not buy today. But as I was walking out of the store I passed through the home accessories and saw this:

$22 is a little steep for me right now, so I almost walked away from it. Then I remembered I had american Express gift cards from graduation and my birthday still. Oddly enough while running my errands today I thought about what I would use them for. I had to stop and get a bunch of essentials at Target and thought of using one then. But I thought that was way lame to use a gift card for boring stuff. But I still hadn't decided what items I would allow myself to purchase with these cards. As I was walking away from this stand it hit me that this would be the perfect way to spend one! Because I would have loved to get this for my birthday! So thank you to my mom or grandma or the others that gave me an Amex/Visa card. Whoever wants to claim this gift to me, THANK YOU!

I already have visions of cupcakes and cookies to place on this all the time. I am just going to leave it out on my counter in my kitchen and always have it filled for visitors ;)

p.s. This Rack only had one available. If anyone sees one in another rack let me know. I kinda want two for entertaining purposes maybe? Online they are $35, but at the Rack they are only $22. What a steal.

Also I went online to look up more stuff from this company. I want all three of these! But mostly the cake stand. Or mostly all of them.

{photos courtesy of Rosanna}

Baked With Love

I haven't blogged about cupcakes in a long time. That doesn't mean that I have stopped making them. Because if anything, I am making more lately. Ever since I got my new kitchenaid mixer, baking has been a thousand times easier and so I love doing it more. If that's even possible.

A few months ago my grandma asked me to make some cute cupcakes that she could take to a friend who had just adopted a baby girl. So my first thought was pink. After looking through my "bible" (my Martha Stewart cookbook) I decided to make little piggies. Obviously they didn't come out as perfect as Martha makes them, but they still were pretty dang cute! I used mini m&m's for the eyes and bubble tape for the ears. I made a ton extra so I could take them to my sunbeams the next day. I don't think they had anything to do with the lesson. But of course that particular Sunday the other teacher decided not to show up so I had double the number of kids and didn't have enough cupcakes. So I had to wait until after church and deliver them instead.

The last week I was in Provo I decided to make the s'mores cupcakes from the cookbook. I searched all over for graham flour the whole summer and finally found some at my favorite place in Provo, Sunflower Market! So all semester I planned to make these cupcakes. But I never had a special occasion for them. Since the marshmallow cream is torched, they had to be eaten right away to be able to fully enjoy them. Well I tried making them in December and failed miserably. Miserably. But once again, this kitchenaid has saved my life. I could not live without it. I tried them again to make them for my grandma's send out cards party. They tunred out a thousand times better. They are so fun to torch too!

Bill and Heidi came to town last month and we celebrated Jenna's birthday while she was here. She loves strawberrys so I decided to try out the strawberry cupcakes with strawberry butercream frosting.

It all started with some fresh strawberries.

Then we put them in the yummy batter.

This is the finished product.

Rebekah helped me frost some of them.

Jenna loved them. It was also Valentine's day weekend, so I took them to my sunbeams at church. When Spencer's brother picked him up after class he exclaimed, "You got cupcakes again!?!?!" It made me laugh.

Because it was Valentine's Day weekend, and Adrianne came out for the weekend, I wanted to send some cupcakes back to Provo for some of my friends. Once again, this batch was a rebake. My very first cupcakes that I made with the Martha Stewart book were the Chocolate Marshmallow cupcakes. The book says to mkae them jumbo, but they didn't turn out very well. Plus the marshmallow cream for the filling was gross. So I decided to give them a try again. This time I made them regular sized. They turned out great! And then I covered them with a chocolate ganache and my mom (who has better writing with frosting skills than me) wrote Valentine and I love you on all of them. It took me hours that night to get them secured perfectly for travel the next morning. But it was so worth it. I am glad I could send a special treat to some people in Provo.

A favorite cupcake in our house is the flourless cupcakes. They bake like normal cupcakes but when they cool down they fall into the liner. And then you put a scoop of Tillamook Vanilla Bean ice cream. It's a delicious combination. I got these huge cupcake liners in my stocking this Christmas, and they are perfect for this recipe.

mmm. chocolate and butter.

turns into this.

and then poured into the egg mixture.

to make these yummy and easy treats.

Two weeks ago the sunbeam lesson was on flowers and trees, so I wanted to make some cute flower cupcakes. I decided this a little too late on a Saturday night, so I raced around town before the stores started closing to find the supplies I needed. I didn't find exactly what I wanted, but they still turned out pretty cute.

On Monday it was Howard's birthday and we had a bunch of people over for dinner. I was in charge of the cupcakes. Of course. He loves cherries and chocolate. So I made the black forest cupcakes sans the alcohol. These are very chocolately cupcakes that are then cut in half after baking. They are brushed with marishino cherry juice on each side. Then a handful of cherries are put on top on the both half. Followed by some pastry cream (think cream-filled donuts) Then I put the top back on and cover it with a layer of chocolate ganache. They were a hit. I don't really care for canned cherries, so I didn't actually have one.

There's still more yummy recipes to try. I picked up a few cupcake books from the library, so I keep adding to the list of recipes I need to try.

cupcake update

I realize i haven't posted about cupcakes in a very long time. this is not because i haven't been making them, but i am definitely still going strong! i have found a lot of favorites. but i must make them all before i can remake some of them. here are some pictures of what i have been up to lately in the kitchen.

i absolutely LOVED the peanut butter cookie cupcakes and the frosting that went with them. So i decided to try out the peanut butter and jelly cupcakes. the frosting was different, i didn't like it as much. i wasn't a big fan of these. i think they came out a little too dry. but they were ready for when my mom and carol came to town for education week.

luckily i was able to make up for them right away. i had been planning on making a summery cupcake right before i went to la and san diego so i could share them with my friend and his family that i was staying with. the triple-citrus cupcakes were soooo good! they had a nice citrus glaze over them. lemon, lime and orange zest came together to make these delicious, fruity cupcakes! my friend's dad said the only thing that could make these better was a little rum in them. haha. i'll be sure to try that next time... jk

while in la, i made sure to make a stop at sprinkles cupcakes to get my favorite pumpkin cupcake! and of course i bought a yummy chocolate marshmallow for later! soooo good!

i love snickerdoodle cookies, so i knew i would love the cupcakes. unfortunately this was the first batch of cupcakes i made with an old stand up mixer that grandma gave me. i didn't incorporate the ingredients well enough and the cupcakes came out weird. the frosting required being whisked, but the mixer only had beaters. so it turned out kinda weird too. but i think this process helped me find a good marshmallow filling for the chocolate marshmallow cupcakes i made this summer. these were still pretty good.
i have been eyeing the cookies and cream cheesecakes for a long time. i am not a big fan of straight oreos, but i died every time i took a bite of one of these. luckily this batch made 30, because they definitely were loved by many. these will definitely be made over and over and over again!

I made chocolate malted cupcakes for my friend, jimmy's, birthday. i couldn't find dutch process cocoa powder so i had to substitute regular cocoa for that. i hope that didn't alter the flavor too much.

Before i left for colorado with morty in september, i made some applesauce-spice cupcakes. these are made with a brown sugar cream cheese frosting. basically you just substitute brown sugar for powdered sugar. its delicious! i put them in the fridge so that they would be fresh for when i got back since most of the family would be in utah then also. so monday i brought them over to share with all the family and cousins at grandma's. mom frosted them. she put way more frosting than i usually put on them, but they turned out to be great! they were definitely a crowd pleaser.

I realize that i missed taking pictures of a few of my creations. the peanut butter-filled chocolate cupcakes. i LOVED these ones. and i made a few batches of them to test out the different times for baking. so i took a batch into work one morning. i dropped them off on my way to class. when i got back to work they were gone. so i guess they liked them. they were so good i just had to show a picture. so here's one i stole from someone else's blog.

last week i made mint-filled brownie cupcakes. i don't remember if i had a specific reason for making these. these cupcakes didn't turn out like i imagined. i cooked the batch at two different times so i could get it just right, but i seemed to over cook both of them. so they were a little hard, and they were not thick like i imagined. i made them before i went down to vegas and la so i took the rest of them to the boy's house to eat. they weren't gone when i got back, so i guess they were no good. good thing i was able to go to sprinkles in beverly hills TWICE while we were down there. we got the chocolate marshmallow, black and white, pb chocolate, pb chocolate chip, red velvet and orange cupcakes. sooooooo good! i also probably gained 500 lbs in those two days. it was well worth it. :)

so there's the update. i still feel like i am missing some. oh well. these were the memorable ones i guess. until next time, happy baking!

You're The Meaning In My Life, You're The Inspiration

I have been inspired!  I just spent the afternoon watching Julie and Julia and was enraptured all 120 minutes of it! I walked out of the theater debating the pros and cons of going to cooking school.  Two years ago I was very interested in doing it so I went online to check out the ones in Portland.  Western Culinary Institute sent me information and called me a million times.  Finally I had to tell them that I was very interested, but at this time I could not make it work.  They eventually stopped calling me.  But I still get emails from them every once in a while.  I would LOVE to go to cooking school.  And not even to become a chef or professional cook.  I just want to learn for myself.  Isn't that was school is all about anyway?  Gaining knowledge, and in this case experience.  

But alas, I am almost done with my communications degree, which is what I really want to do in the workplace for the rest of my life.  Well as long as I can balance it with the happenings of my life.  So no cooking school for me.  But I wouldn't be surprised to find myself enrolling in a cooking school when I am older and all my children have gone off to college.  I think I would enjoy it more then also because hopefully I will have much more mature taste buds by then.  This will help in me actually enjoying cooking all different sorts of foods.  Currently I avoid any kind of seafood.  I, just a couple of years ago made myself a ham sandwich with leftovers from dinner, because there was no more turkey and I loved it!  I used to remember having ham and potato casserole for dinner and in order for me to have more potatoes I was supposed to eat some ham.  This just killed me.  Well at the time I thought it was killing me.  But now I enjoy eating ham.  So one day I do believe that I will actually like seafood.  One day...

Like Julie, I have already started to blog about my baking.  I LOVE my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book.  I have yet to find one that I love just as much.  I did spend a good 30 minutes looking through the recipe books at TJ Maxx yesterday and came away with three new books, 2 being cupcake books. I am returning one after looking closer and seeing that most recipes use cake mixes.  It's all or nothing for me.  As for now, all my recipes will be made from scratch.  I have however fallen behind on my updates.  I haven't talked about four cupcakes that I have made!  So here's a quick update.

Two weeks ago I drove with a friend to Fresno.  It was a surprise to everyone.  Except my aunt Carla. and Laura, because Carla told her... We drove through the night so we arrived around 6/6:30 in the morning.  Laura let me in the house, and when Reshea woke up she called for Laura's help and I walked in with her.  I loved her reaction. She said at first she didn't think anything of it because I am basically there all the time...  That is too true.  It was fun to surprise everyone and see newborn baby JJ.  And I brought treats!  I decided to make Martha's Cookie Monogram Cupcakes in honor of Joseph Jack's arrival! I spent the day before going to Michael's and other stores looking for tiny J cookie cutters, but could not find any.  So then I looked for cowboy cookie cutters.  Didn't find those either.  I need to find a specialty store in the area.  I settled for little tiny animals. Which actually turned out to be pretty cute!  

The day we left I took too much time walking to the grocery store to get the buttercream (it was a nice day and I didn't feel like driving), so I was pretty rushed in making them. The cupcake part was yellow buttermilk. mmm. :) My cousin was over and suggested that I put food coloring in the sugar cookie mix so that I didn't have to frost them.  I remembered a little too late so it wasn't completely mixed right with the dough and the color came out a little lighter than I had hoped.  Since I was changing the recipe so much, I decided to go with a quick and easy cream cheese frosting.  I picked up some blue sprinkles at the store and decided to cover the cupcakes in sprinkles and then set the animals in.  They came out alright.  I don't feel I can completely cross this one off the list, since I didn't do everything exact the same.  How am I ever going to learn if I do that?!?! But this day, desperate times called for desperate measures.  

After my mediocre performance I was itching to prove myself in the kitchen.  I was dying to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookie cupcakes.  And I thought for sure Reshea would want me to make them too, because she practically yelled at me for not picking occ cookies at Hungry Bear last time I was in Fresno.  I even found special liners for the cupcakes for the girls.  Spiderman and Hannah Montana!  We had a plan to make cupcakes one day and I was really excited... until Reshea pulled out the box to make strawberry cupcakes! WHAT?!? you have me there. Someone who loves to make real cupcakes, and you are going to have me make them from a box!?! She claimed they were good.  I reluctantly made them.  They were not good.  Oh well, it's what she wanted.  

When I got home from Fresno, I was anxious to make the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Cupcakes.  They actually are Oatmeal Raisin, but I don't care too much for them, so I substituted chocolate chips. They turned out good!  I thought they were a little too dry at first, but then I realized its the cookie consistency... The next day another cousin was over and she helped herself to two of them.  That means that they're good.  Anyone can say they are good, but I don't really think that until they go for a second one!  It was fun to share these ones with my peeps. 

Then I went on a cupcake hiatus. My aunt and uncle were in town and staying at the grandparents and I didn't want to get in the way of what they were doing. Plus I was spending every evening up in Salt Lake watching baseball games.  Will blog later about my love.

Finally on Sunday I couldn't take it anymore and I had to make some more cupcakes. Unfortunately I didn't have any butter. Do you know how much unsalted butter I go through on a weekly basis??? You don't want to know...  So on my way home from Saturday nights game, I did the dreaded Saturday evening trip to Walmart.  I wonder if they have their best business that night?  It is always packed with people picking up stuff before the sabbath.  I got my items and left as fast as I could.  

Sunday after church I made Streusel Cupcakes.  mmm.  Reminds me of the coffee cake muffins from Costco that I loved.  I was so sad when they stopped making them.  The recipe book says, "All the features of a traditional coffee cake - tender cake base, crumbly, streusel top, and simple milk-and-sugar glaze - are packed into portable, single-size portions." Does that sound delicious??  And then the best part, "Try serving them for brunch." That makes them sound not as bad as a regular cupcake.  When eating these ones I didn't feel as guilty!  I like that. Like this lady, I felt that something more should have been in the actual batter. They were just too plain. I felt like i had to always get a bite of the topping in order to enjoy it.  But I have plenty left over and will be delivering some to my peeps tonight. They have one more day until the book says they go bad.  I don't really listen to that though... 

There's my "quick" update.  I hope to be more consistent with this now.  I can't wait to try another recipe!

Zucchini Spice Delight

when i was home i took advantage of a vegetable in the garden.  ZUCCHINI!  i wish i had a garden all the time.  it would be so much more fun to cook when i am using fresh fruits and veggies.  i decided to make the zucchini spice cupcakes since we had too many ripe zucchinis in the garden.  they were soooo good. and just like the blueberry ones, i felt like i was eating healthy when i ate them!  haha. well if i at them without the cream cheese frosting on top.  

the best part was i had plenty to take back to utah with me so i was able to enjoy them for days.  :)  i even brought two to fresno this weekend to share with everyone out here. i think they were skeptical of them being so old. but they were still moist and yummy. 

my favorite frosting in the world is cream cheese frosting.  that's why i love sprinkles so much. they use cream cheese frosting.  mmm... :) when i went to sweet tooth fairy cupcakes i was so disappointed. there frosting was nasty.  there oreo cupcake tasted too much like coconut. sick.

i remember having a birthday cake covered with coconut shavings when i was little and i cried because i didn't like it.  the only thing coconut i like is ocean water from sonic.  love that blue tongue goodness. :)

Enjoy!!

Zucchini Spice Cupcakes
Yields: 24 cupcakes 

3 cups all purpose flour 
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 cups packed grated zucchini
1 cup walnuts (about 3 ounces), toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

To finish, use an offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight containers; bring to room temperature before serving.

blueberries and cream

i went home to beaverton for a few days last weekend.  it was so much fun. probably one of my favorite trips there because i feel like there was always something to do.  of course right when i got in we went to the nordstrom sale and my mom bought the nicest jacket ever.  totally an sjp jacket. i CANNOT wait for the fall. THANK YOU MOM!!!  i also got a few necklaces.  i love my juicy locket necklace that my grandma got me.  this weekend i put a picture of emma and ava in it until i find one that i want to keep in there forever.  

i also got my hair done.  LOVE IT!  part of my loves to go blonde. but then once fall hits i go back to brunette.  this time i will keep it for a while. i really like both the cut and color. best part of the cut was the hand massage afterward.  

among all the other things i did while in beaverton, i shared my cupcake making skills. :)

i chose to make blueberry cupcakes because we have blueberries in our garden.  nothing better than fresh berries! :)  these ones were by far the best batter i have ever had!  grandma and i loved it!  sometimes when the batter is that good, the cake doesn't turn out well. but that was not the case this time. 

these cupcakes were bomb!  they came out of the oven looking so good.  i cooked the second batch just a few minutes longer, but i couldn't really taste the difference in the two.  

fresh blueberries. 2 cups go into the batter.  then another cup for decorating the tops.  howard picked lots of them.  plenty for eating while baking too! 

fresh whipped cream tops the cupcakes. i don't do cool whip from the store, so i whipped up my own.  

don't they look delicious!!?!?  they almost look like they are a healthy snack too!  it was hard not to eat all of them!  i am glad there were plenty of people around that wanted to try them.  plus we took them to my friend allison and her family.  kelli got to taste them too!  lucky peeps :) 

overall. these cupcakes were delicious.  i would say the best ones i have made so far, but i LOVE peanut butter more than most things in this world. :)  but they were definitely good enough to share the recipe.  enjoy!  

Makes 30 standard or 60 mini

For the cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising), sifted

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature

2 cups fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish

Whipped cream

For the whipped cream

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

Method

Make the cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line standard or mini muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt. With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two additions of milk, and beating until combined after each. Fold in blueberries by hand.

4. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until pale golden, about 25 minutes for standard and 15 for mini.

5. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes. Cupcakes can be stored up to 3 days at room temperature in airtight containers.

Make the whipped cream

1. Whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add confectioners’ sugar, and whisk until combined. If not using immediately, whipped cream can be refrigerated, covered tightly, up to 3 hours in an airtight container.

2. To finish, dollop cupcakes with whipped cream, and garnish with berries. Serve immediately.

A Peanut Butter Lover's Dream

aka my dream.

i love peanut butter

i just found lauren's blog and read her ode to the red chair. 

i am tempted to write one for my peanut butter cupcakes now. but i will spare myself. and you.

pb cookies are my favorite.  so when i saw martha's recipe for pb cookie cupcakes i thought wow. combine my 2 favorite things. this oughta be good! and they were!

I had one right after i made them.  and i planned on that being enough for the day. which i was able to do.  but the next day... a whole other story. what made it worse was that i was reading out of my history textbook all day to catch up on missed reading.  so of course i am not paying attention to what i am reading, but rather the pb cupcakes upstairs.  so i had to give myself goals.  30 pages= another cupcake.  :) thank goodness i only got to 30 pages that day!

I went home last weekend and was able to take the remaining dozen to people that would actually eat them.  everyone enjoyed them.  except grandma didn't like the pb frosting on top...

i definitely recommend anyone that likes peanut butter to try these. i used a WHOLE 16 oz jar of pb for them.  :)

PEANUT BUTTER CUPCAKES

1. 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
5. 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
6. 1 1/3 cups sugar
7. 2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
8. 3 large eggs
9. 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
10. 1/2 cup sour cream
11. 12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
12. 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more for decorating
13. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
14. 1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 3 standard 12-cup muffin tins with paper liners.
2. Make the cupcakes: Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Reduce speed to low. Mix in peanut butter. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Add flour mixture; mix until combined. Mix in sour cream.
3. Spoon scant 3 tablespoons batter into each muffin cup. Bake until pale golden and a cake tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 13 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool completely.
4. Make the frosting: Put cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and butter into the clean bowl of a mixer fitted with the clean paddle attachment; mix on medium- high speed until pale and fluffy. Stir in peanut butter with a rubber spatula.
5. Spread 1 1/2 tablespoons frosting onto each cupcake. Refrigerate until frosting is firm, about 10 minutes. Using tines of a fork dipped in confectioners' sugar, score each top in a crosshatch pattern. Cupcakes can be refrigerated in single layers in airtight containers up to 2 days.

Katie's Cupcakes

Currently I am jobless.  While it is not fun to have no income right now, it is kind of fun to have time to do whatever I want, whenever I want.  So one day while strolling through Costco -for some free samples :) - i saw a book that i just needed to get. 

i am OBSESSED with cupcakes. and i always will be. this obsession will not go away when the popularity of them decreases. i think they are the perfect treat.  just enough to satisfy the craving.   mmmm.... 

so i have made it a goal this summer to use this free time to prefect my baking skills.  lots of friends have already volunteered to test the cupcakes.  of course.   i will post each time i make a new batch of cupcakes and share the recipes of the ones that were my favorites.

my favorite cupcake from sprinkles is their chocolate marshmallow.  

i could have one of those a day.  the marshmallow creme inside is just to die for.  so when i got the book i looked through it for a similar recipe. they were the first cupcakes to try out.  i was unhappy with them.  the marshmallow creme was too buttery tasting so i tried just adding a little bit of butter instead of how much the recipe called for. still the buttery taste. then i tried just doing straight marshmallow creme and the consistency was not good.  so i have searched for a new recipe for just the marshmallow filling and will retry them again another time.  

I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL MID MAY?!?!?

So today i woke up WAY early to get in for an early morning shoot at Busch Stadium. we were previewing the new food at the stadium and the cheap options in the clubhouse score.

i thought this shoot would be so much fun. get some free food. check out the store (for the 1,000th time). walk around busch stadium. be in heaven. like yesterday. :) can you see the trend?

i was wrong about one thing. we didn't get any food. no. they had tables full of YUMMY food out for us to get on camera, but we couldn't touch. LAME. they have something new this year! CUPCAKES! huge ones! you better believe the first game that i go to sit and watch that i will be buying myself a cupcake. mmm. :) i'll take a picture when i get one.

so after watching food being cooked in front of us and not being able to eat it (on an empty stomach mind you) we walked up to the clubhouse store.

my first question to them: where are the david freese jersey t-shirts?? they didn't have any!! he was just announced to be the starting 3rd baseman to replace the injured troy glaus and you don't have anything with his name on it? come on. millions of tshirts are distributed only seconds after a team wins a championship game or moves on to the final four, but you don't have just 100 shirts for a starting player? come on cardinals!! all i want is this: with freese and his number (hoping he doesn't keep 66)


well apparently he has to play 5 1/2 innings first to be apart of the players club or something and then mlb can officially distribute David Freese memorbilia. i need to find the st. louis black market. i need a david freese shirt! also apparently you can't make one for a player. but they don't check your id when you go make a custom one. so tomorrow i might be katie freese in order to get a shirt to wear. i would say that someone has to support him. but he's from the stl area.

so the buyer for the store liked me. we clicked. she loved my enthusiasm for freese and the cardinals. she gave me her name and email to contact her about the t shirts. first she asked me for my card. i was like. i'm just an intern. haha. lame. but we walked around the store together and i showed her some things that i love. and told her a gift idea i was thinking about for someone's birthday coming up. and she was showing me some cool ideas. pulled something off the shelf. ripped the tag off. put it in a bag. and handed it to me. i love this lady.

so i came away with something free. good thing. because i wouldn't have paid money for it. but it can be cute for who it's going to!

so i also may have promised her that i will buy 10 shirts if she can get them in quickly for me... uh oh. christmas presents! haha. we'll see. i think i will go email her right now though. she was way tight. maybe she can get me hooked up with a part time job??? it sure pays off to be enthusiastic and upbeat!