People keep asking me, "So for your birthday, do you have to make your own cupcakes?" Um... Ya! If I want special cupcakes to take to work and share with my friends, who else is going to make them?
On Thursday I traveled my very small city looking for vanilla beans to make these Double Vanilla cupcakes. Why is it so hard to find vanilla beans? Oh, ya, cause I live in podunk. I found them online for an amazing price, so I will no longer have to search around for them.
Saturday the 4th was my birthday. I'm Chaos Old now, and that's ok with me. I started off my birthday celebration with a Chaos Cupcake Tattoo (yes, really), designed by my friend Theresa. I also made my delicious cupcakes and took them to work Saturday morning. My fellow gymnastics instructors enjoy a cupcake or two.... or three ;) And then I also have a few other special people to share them with (like favored students, bosses, and Hunter's 1st grade teacher... no, I'm not sucking up at all...)
The few changes I made to the recipe are:
I had to double it because these cupcakes were going to feed about 20 people, and this recipe yields 12 cupcakes.
I used 1 1/2 vanilla beans in the cupcake batter, and then that leftover 1/2 vanilla bean in the buttercream.
I only had King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour, so the cupcakes had a bit of a different texture. Still yummy and very vanilla-y, though!
Then we come to Sunday. Super Bowl Sunday, that is! This certainly would have been my favorite day of the entire year, had we a repeat of last Super Bowl. My Packers, winning, game of their lives... that sort of thing. I have no love, or even like, for either the Giants or the Patriots. I had actually planned on boycotting the entire thing, until my 10-year-old, who all season had no interest in the Packer's amazing 15-1 run, suddenly had the urge to watch the Super Bowl and root for the Patriots. Yay. Me.
The highlight of my day was definitely watching the Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, though. Awwww!!!!!!!
I had already decided to ship Chaos Husband off to a Super Bowl party at his friend's house, well equipped with man-food like Buffalo Chicken Dip, and Jack Daniels Cupcakes. He made the dip, and I worked on the cupcakes, both of which were a hit, I hear.
I promised the kids an extra special treat at home to watch the big game with. I've been waiting for a fun occasion to try out Chocolate Covered Katie's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip (surprise ingredient included!) Yes, this is a vegan/vegetarian blog, so there are ingredients that us meat-eaters might not be used to. However, if one can bring oneself to get over it, and look past the fact that you're eating cookie dough with chick peas in it, it's all good. And deliciously good! I did not tell the kids any of the ingredients in the cookie dough, and they were eating it by the large scoop fulls. I also gladly let them have seconds, and thirds. Really, the worst ingredient was the brown sugar I used, and I didn't even use that much. I just added sugar "to taste".
Louisa ate it with pretzels, I kept scooping up moundsful with graham crackers, and Drew just licked it off his plate. I will have Chaos Husband try some today and see what he thinks, without telling him what the surprise ingredient is ;) I used regular milk in this, but I think it would be great with almond or coconut milk. Especially to keep it totally vegan.
My final Super Bowl treat was sort of an experiment. A combination of two "power cookie snacks" I found on Pinterest. First there's the No Bake Healthy Treats from Pretty Fluffy, and then there's the Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Cookies from Chocolate Covered Katie.
This is what I came up with:
Peanut Butter
Honey
Rolled Oats
Raisins
Dried Apricots
Coconut
(no idea what the measurements were. I eyeballed everything)
Throw it all in my brand new Kitchen-Aid Food Processor that my mommy and daddy bought me for my birthday... :) Mix it all up till it forms a ball. Then scoop it out, make little bite sized balls. and eat! It tasted like peanut butter cookie dough.
I am now half-way through my 30 Days of Pinterest project. 15 more days to go! More food, more crafts, and maybe more of looking at other aspects of Pinterest.
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[Special Birthday Cake made for me by Louisa. Chocolate Banana with Ganache frosting. Moist, dense, rich, layers of flavors, everything I love in a cake. She did a great job!}
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