Bacon with Chocolate with Bacon

Sorry about these last few dessert posts, but what else do I have to write about? I'm pretty sure you don't want to see photos of my piles of laundry on the couch, the piles of dirty laundry in my bedroom floor, and dirty dishes in the sink, right?

Remember I mentioned in the previous post that Dr. Adams asked Paula to find me another recipe? Well, here it is: Chocolate Bacon Cupcakes. I know. I cringed at first, too. But, they were surprisingly good. Not only was there bacon sprinkled on top, but there were bacon pieces in the batter as well. What's a little more fat, huh? Oink, oink...

Some Malted Milk Love

Another new recipe...this one found in a magazine at the chiropractor's office. These are Chocolate Malted Milk Brownies. Aren't they cute?

First thing Jeff said was, "They're round." Of course I replied, "Thank you, Captain Obvious." : )

The very roundness of them is what makes them enticing if you ask me. Well, that and the chocolate swirl on top and the malted milk ball...feel the malted milk chocolate love.

I took a dozen of these on my visit to the chiropractor on Monday. It's only fair since I found the recipe in his office, right? And his receptionist LOVES chocolate. She started grinning the minute I walked in and said, "I was hoping you were going to try those!"

As Dr. Adams walks you out of his office, he says the same thing every time..."Paula, make her next appointment."  As we walked out Monday, he said, "Paula, show her the magazines and help her find another recipe." Gotta love it!

Some Favorite Things

This may be one of my most convoluted posts ever. I was thinking the other day that some things just make life so enjoyable. Usually it's a small thing, but often the brightest spot in a day can come from a little taste of something, from part of a song you hear on the radio, or from a simple item you see sitting on a store shelf. Many times those things for me are edible. Don't judge me. I love food.

Here are a few of my favorite things, for now anyway...

Soundtrack from "Pride and Prejudice"

Colorful striped paper straws...they're just so happy!

Turquoise blue mason jars...I've had my eye on them for weeks and finally couldn't stand it any longer and put them in my cart at Target last week.

Bread and butter pickles -- somebody stop me, I want the whole jar!

 Discovered this last week...gourmet white popcorn. Delicious!

Pickled baby corn...again, someone take the jar away!

Buy a baby pumpkin. Tie some ribbon around it. Put it out where you can see it daily. I promise your life will be better for it.

Chocolate and toffee - go buy one now. Do it. Now.

What are your favorite "little" things?

Feel the Cupcake Love

As I might have mentioned previously on this blog, I find baking to be very therapeutic. When you throw creativity into the mix, I'm even happier! Several cupcakes have been made in the last week or so. 

First up, cupcakes for my sweet sixteen birthday girl, Abigail. Her request was strawberry cupcakes with Granny Cannon icing. (my grandma's secret recipe known only to a few and no, you cannot have it because I promised)

She did not want a theme birthday and picked these basic black and white striped cupcake liners, which I thought went very well with the pink cake. I tinted the buttercream a light pink, sprinkled edible glitter flakes on top and added a royal icing rose. Pretty!

And what's not to love about a pretty pink cupcake under glass? 

Pink plaid -- another good use of the color pink. Butter pecan is quickly becoming one of my standard choices when I need cupcakes in a hurry.

Rebecca found this recipe for Apple Cider Cupcakes on Pinterest. They are everything that is good about fall, and since I needed gifts for teacher goody bags, and it's fall, and so on...

I love the uniformity of this picture. I use an ice cream scoop to put batter into my cupcake liners because I am extremely picky and like my cupcakes to be all the same size.

Topped with Maple Spice Buttercream...delish!

I have a few more fall-ish cupcake recipes lined up to try. The possibilities are endless.