Random Ramblings – Fourth Edition

Ohhhhhh what a week.  I wasn’t even going to write a Random Ramblings post for this weekend because I have just been feeling so not happy.  Brace yourself, because I am going to be whiney here for a few.  I have had a few horrific migraines this week (thank goodness for Imitrex).  But when I take my meds, they pretty much knock me out for the whole day.  So I take my meds, go to sleep because I feel so horrible, then wake up feeling like I am in a fog.  Finally several hours later, I become somewhat functioning.  If you suffer from legit migraines like I do, then you get me.   So besides that, I have just been unhappy…with life, with everything.  I told James the other day that the only time I was happy was when I was sleeping, because then I was unconscious.  I think he thought that was disturbing.  But seriously that has been my mood.  So James in all he sweetness decided to try and cheer me up….and surprised me with this:

Yeah.  So James went to Raley’s and bought 40 bags of Brach’s Candy Corn for me from the Halloween clearance cart.  That equals 27.5 pounds of Candy Corn.  Anyone want some Candy Corn? Hahahaha.  I know it’s one of those things you either love or hate, and I loooooove it.  And can only get it twice a year (Halloween and hello Pastel Easter Candy Corn).  So James succeeded in making me smile 🙂

To go along with my awful mood, I have had some pretty tragic baking fails in the kitchen this week.  First, I had a chocolate cupcake order for a birthday party.  I made the batter for the two dozen cupcakes and as I was making them, I thought “Gee this just does’t seem like enough baking powder” but I didn’t think much of it because it’s a recipe I make all the time and is on the blog here.  Well after the first dozen came out of the oven I knew instantly that I must have messed up the baking powder because the cupcakes were super dense.  Yep….after looking back at the recipe, I completely missed the 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda.  Kind of a big deal.  So I had to start ALL over.  Luckily the next two dozen turned out perfect.  While my new batch of cupcakes was in the oven, it got me thinking of what I could do with my messed up cupcakes.  They still tasted good, they just weren’t cupcakes.  So I had the great idea to cut the cupcakes in half and top one half with a marshmallow, melt it in the oven under the broiler for a few seconds, then topped it with a graham cracker square and the top half of the cupcake.  I turned lemons into lemonade.  James loved them….which doesn’t surprise me, because he loves my over the top ideas!  He is still talking about my “S’mores Cupcakes” a few days later.

Oooooey Goooooey yumminess!  My S’mores Cupcake “failure.”

Here’s the finished cupcakes….my chocolate cupcake recipe, filled with a chocolate ganache and topped with a chocolate buttercream.  Ganache and chocolate buttercream recipe coming soon!  Oh and I topped them with sprinkles (duhhhhhhhh) and made the Happy Birthday toppers out of vanilla fondant I dyed purple.  Aren’t they pretty????

On to the next kitchen disaster…we are celebrating my dads birthday this weekend and I made him a pumpkin pie  per his birthday request!  Daddy wanted a traditional pastry crust, which I have made from scratch before with no issues…..but just like everything else this week– DISASTER!  Too much butter/shortening?!  I have no clue.  But I scraped it out of the dish after 10-minutes of blind baking it and it was mush.  I put the pie dough on a cookie sheet and back in the oven while I made my graham cracker crust.  No time to make another pastry crust.  So I switched gears to make my pumpkin pie with graham cracker crust recipe (which is amazing and you need to make for Thanksgiving!!) topped with cookie cutouts of my baked disaster pie crust.  There may have been screaming and crying coming from the kitchen today….I was so frustrated.  I threw a tantrum like a 3-year old child in a toy store when they find out they aren’t getting anything.  Glad there were no actual witnesses to this!

On a happy note…anyone else just loving all the Christmas movies 24/7 on the Hallmark channel?!?!  My DVR is on overdrive right now #sorrynotsorry.  Christmas-time just makes me happy!  So what are you up to this weekend??  Anyone else want to share some of their baking fails with me?  Because misery loves company hehehehe 🙂

XOXO,

Kelly Lynn