I’ve said before that I know I’m not an artist, but I really wish I was. So, the way I satiate my desire to be creative with the fact that I’m not is that I craft. I do a lot of paint by the numbers projects and I’m happy as a clam doing so. Now every now and again, I go outside of the lines, you know, put my own spin on it, but typically, I chug right along following the directions.

Last Christmas I worked on handmade gifts that included knitted scarfs, hats, and jars of instant hot chocolate mix. I loved seeing my loved ones in items I MADE! And who knows one of these days, everyone will get a pair of knitted socks (don’t hold your breath).

For Mother’s Day this year, at the eleventh hour, I found inspiration for a Spa in a Box. I found tutorials on the Craft blog to make Lemon Sugar Scrub, scented drawer fresheners and I procured a batch of homemade lavender soap from a friend.

I loved the Lemon Sugar Scrub! It was so easy to put together and I already have plans to make more.

Lemon Sugar Scrub by Katie Goodman

Ingredients:

Sugar
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Lemon zest or other citrus zest
Lemon extract (optional)

One recipe makes 2 cups, enough for a 1-pint jar, or 2 half-pint jars.
Materials:

Microplane zester
Medium-sized bowl
Measuring cups and spoons
Mixing spoon
Container or jar for the finished product
Ribbon for decor

This project is great for reusing old jars that have been cleaned out (such as jam or sauce jars) or canning jars that you might have around.

Step 1: Combine 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup kosher salt, and 1 cup of olive oil in a medium-sized bowl. Stir until the oil is evenly distributed throughout the sugar and salt mixture.

Step 2: Using a microplane zester, grate the zest of 1 large lemon. Add zest to the bowl and stir to combine. If you would like a stronger scent, add 1/4 tsp lemon extract.

Step 3: Spoon the scrub mixture into a clean jar. Make sure to wipe up any spills on the outside of the jar. Tighten the lid on and decorate according to your tastes.

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I’ve got a bottle of Jim Beam Rye Whiskey sitting on my counter. It’s a little misplaced between my mixer, my canister of whisks and spatulas and jars of flour and sugar. But I kinda like it there. I can imagine someone walking into my kitchen, seeing a bottle of whiskey and thinking: “Ohh, she’s a little edgy.”

Reality is that I’m NOT edgy, but quite the opposite. I haven’t put the bottle of whiskey away yet, because I have a scary organizational obsession and I haven’t quite figured out where in the pantry I’m going to put a bottle of drinking whiskey.

For me, pressure can be the best catlysit for creativity. I was invited to a friends last minute surprise birthday party. I had pressure to make her something tasty and added pressure that there were going to several chefs (not cooks, not good cooks, but real chefs) at this party.

It’s one thing for me to play around and take cupcakes to work, it’s another thing to have someone who knows tastes and flavors trying one of your novice cupcakes. Yikes!

The sweet taste of pumpkin partners perfectly with woodsy, earthy flavors. After reading more about the flavor notes in Rye Whiskey, I decided to brush the tops of the cupcakes with it and add 2 teaspoons to a traditional chocolate frosting. I put a generous amount of toasted pecans on top of each one also.

Prep 20 minutes Bake 20 minutes 350 degree oven

2 cups flour, all-purpose
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
15 ounces pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin purée.
4. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool.

Other Pumpkin Cupcake Posts:

Pretty Pumpkin Cupcakes
Chinese Five Spice Cupcakes
Gingered Pumpkin Cupcakes

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It’s birthday week for my family. Starting September 20 and running through October 16, we have a ton of birthdays. Most notably, the girls in my family all celebrate birthdays within a 3 week window. I love having a fall birthday, because people start to buzz this time of year getting ready for Holidays, parties and cooler weather. And the fact that we have birthdays right at the beginning of all this is awesome.

This year is the first year I’m not going home for ‘birthday weekend.’ I opted for a trip a few weeks later to catch a Homecoming Football game in Texas. It’s my little sister’s senior year in high school and Homecoming games are a big deal.

I got to tell you, I’m feeling a little blue about not ponying up the extra air fare and just going home 2x in one month. And it doesn’t help that a good friend is in Texas this weekend and Twittering about good weather, good food and Blue Bell ice cream.

But, just because I’m a little blue this weekend, doesn’t mean I’m not motivated! I’m determined to hand make more Christmas gifts this year. So far, I’ve knitted one (uno, 1, primo) sock and I have the second one to go and I’m working on a few scarfs. I’ve got big plans for this yarn! I’m working this yarn in  K rows 1&2 and YO row 3 pattern. It’s starting to look so good.

I’ve got plans to catch the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting events over at SMOCA for a little inspiration. Perhaps dinner at The Orange Table. Thanks Wayne for the 411.

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The similarities from these two pictures made me laugh.

The cupcakes were good, but not what I had expected to make. It was one of those do a quick Google search for marbled cake (my intention) and printing the recipe for something else and realizing that something didn’t seem right as I was mixing the flour into the butter/sugar mix. Oh well.

I found a recipe for Black and White cupcakes from Epicurious. The reviews were mixed. I thought they had a unique taste combination with lemon and chocolate flavored frosting. Most people didn’t prefer the chocolate addition to the cake and would have preferred a all lemon cupcake. But, giving full disclosure, I come from a family who for the most part, doesn’t like chocolate.

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So, it was one of those moments when I moved into my Dallas neighborhood and went to the grocery store. There was a sign out front that I knew in an instant, but everything else around it looked different.

I remembered this sign in front of the Dr Pepper factory in Dallas at the corner of Greenville Ave and Mockingbird Lane. But the factory wasn’t there, instead, Kroger grocery store had purchased the old factory and converted it into a huge store. As a nod to the building’s history, they kept the old sign.

I can remember driving by that sign when I was in kindergarten with my Mamaw and talking about how silly it was that they didn’t put all the numbers on their clock. Later, I would learn it was part of a brilliant 1930’s ad campaign to get people to drink a Dr Pepper at 10AM, 2PM and 4PM.

Even now I get nostalgic seeing that Dr Pepper picture. I remember warm summer days riding in the middle of the truck seat with my grandmother, looking out the window at that funny sign. And, I remember 20 years later as an adult living the neighborhood next to that sign. Both were really good times for me.

**snap out of it**

I owed someone at work birthday cupcakes.

I once watched SP down an Airborne tablet with a Dr Pepper (it makes my gut hurt just thinking about it) and so, it wasn’t a stretch that he deserved (cherry) Dr Pepper cupcakes for his birthday. I found several generic recipes online. I surfed to So Sweet it’s Sinful and created a recipe she claimed was a home run!

I read over the recipe and it read a lot like a traditional Texas Sheet cake, with Dr Pepper substituted for the liquid. I made these and although tasty. I felt like the cinnamon completely took over any other flavors in the cake.

Determined to make a stronger cherry flavored Dr Pepper cupcake, made a second batch. This time, I took a whole jar of marachino cherries and pureed them to add to the batter and subtracted the cinnamon. I think I got closer on this batch. I decided to make a swiss meringue buttercream frosting with Kirsch to add a little spike of cherry flavor into the frosting. Here’s my adapted recipe:

Chocolate Cherry Dr. Pepper Cupcake

* 2 ¼ cups of Dr. Pepper
* 2 cups of sugar
* 2 ½ cups of cake flour
* 2 eggs
* 4 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
* ½ cup of diced maraschino cherries
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks)
* pinch of salt
* 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
* ¼ cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 325º. In a medium size sauce pan bring Dr. Pepper & cherry syrup to a boil. Place chocolate and butter into a bowl and pour hot Dr. Pepper over, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Whisk mixture till smooth. Stir in sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and sour cream. Add flour in 2 parts alternating with the eggs and whisk till smooth. The mixture will be runny. Fill cupcakes cups and bake approximately 15-20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean

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Their website is nice and simple. It features cute shots of kids eating their vegetables with Pop’rs sprinkled on top. I thought the pop’rs would make great cupcake sprinkles and I had a birthday coming up that required a special cupcake, so I decided to place an order.

You have to order the Pop’rs in a set. The set has eight different flavors; Cocoa, Cinnamon, Raspberry, Strawberry, Color Burst, Butter, Taco and Buffalo. Since this was my first try, it didn’t bother me too much that I had to buy a whole box for $29.95 + shipping. But I must admit that it did seem a little steep.

I was coming up on two weeks since my order and the product still hadn’t arrived. And I was getting nervous. I put the shipping address to my office because in Arizona you don’t anything shipped to your house unless you’re there to pick it up. (it’s so hot here that things literally melt when left on your doorstep).

On day 10 after my order, I placed a call to the number. No answer. What  I heard sounded like a simple answering machine. So, I decided not to leave a message, but to email instead. I sent the email and didn’t get a response until the next day. And it was kinda vague.

I think it shipped. I will check. (no name attached)

Now I had all sorts of ideas floating around my head. Was this a small company that got picked up by a huge machine like Rachael Ray and they couldn’t keep up and they were going to shut their doors before I got my sprinkles and I was out $30 bucks? Was this just their idea of customer service? What’s going on here! I sent another email requesting confirmation that my product shipped on Day 11 and didn’t hear back. Ugh!

Then on the afternoon of Day 11, I received a call from Jim. He works for the manufacturing company that distributes Pop’rs. He asked me about my email. I told him my situation and he offered to ship me a box of sprinkles overnight from Wisconsin! And he called me the next day to confirm that the package arrived. Can you believe it!?!

Within an hour of that phone call, the box was delivered to my office. How cool! We immediately tore into the package. We decided to be bold right out of the gate, we sampled the buffalo flavor first. And guess what? It totally tastes like a buffalo chicken wing. I’m not kidding!

So, what was the big fuss about? Why did I have to get this package come hell or high water? It was Holly’s birthday. She had been leaving me subtle and not so subtle messages for a whole month. She wanted cupcakes and she wasn’t shy about wanting them to be delicious and unique. Heck, she even said she wanted a blog post!

I think adding these sprinkles was a huge hit. There were times I’d walk by her office and see people with heads tilted back taking shots of sprinkles and pounding their chests like King Kong afterwards (men are so strange).

Happy Birthday Holly!!!!!!!!

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You know she’ll pull out the rock fist at her wedding. That’s a given. I wanted to do something special for Karrin’s birthday and I had this grand idea of making rock fist fondant cupcakes with sparklers and they were going to be the most rad cupcakes ever.

One problem…I’m not really a cupcake artist…I’m just a baker. But inspiration came and hence came the Karrin Rock Fist Commemorative Cupcake Collection. From left to right we have Karrin moving into her new house throwing I have a huge mortgage OMG double rock fist, Karrin at an elegant party throwing the couture rock fist and finally Karrin at the hospital carrying around an oxygen bag rock fist. Happy Birthday Karrin!!!!!!!!!!

So, in the spirit of rocker girl cupcakes. I need some help. I haven’t updated my iPOD in a year. I need some new tunes. What are some of your favorite songs to have playing when you’re cooking or working out?

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I can’t remember which artsy fartsy magazine I grabbed this idea. I think it was a Better Homes & Gardens. The eyeballs are made of meringue and M&Ms, candy apple flavored candy corns from Target and cherry Twizzlers.

Here are some blogs that are going to inspire me over the next few weeks. Check out these spooky creations:

The Cookie Jar in Houston

52 Cupcakes 2005 Halloween Collection

Not Martha- How to and Walk-throughs

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Sara and I ran a lot in high school. Not only for the school, but in the summers we would trek off to University of Texas to track camp and we did countless fun runs. Two of our favorites were the 5Ks hosted by Amy’s Ice Cream and Blue Bell. Not to brag, but we were the reigning champs two years in a row.

She had come back to Texas for summer break our Freshman year at college and we took a road trip over to Brenham. Taking a tour that was geared for kindergärtners (like the umlaut over the A) as college freshman made us giddy and giggley.

And their motto really is “Eat all you can and we’ll sell the rest,” and we tried!

I guess what I’m trying to convey is that this little Blue Bell obsession I have comes naturally. I have more little stories and I might be feeling a bit nostalgic since I’m back home in Texas this weekend and it’s nice to remember these things.

Hmm. But there must have been a trigger. Something that made me recall these memories. I wonder if it was the four gallons of Blue Bell I found in my parents freezer this morning while rummaging around for breakfast!

Clockwise we have: Coffee, Dutch Chocolate,(Ja)Mocha Almond Fudge and Sugar Free Vanilla.

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GreenAppleKitchen.com is an environmentally friendly kitchen company. I found them featured on my companies Web site. I’ve started taking my plastic shopping bags back to the grocery store, but I think this would help cut down on those bags.

ThinkGeek is a Web site, I usually reserve when I’m buying my husband things, but I love this t-shirt. I think you can figure it out.

Who doesn’t love cupcakes? I think this guy is awesome.

I do think I need to get better with using knives in the kitchen. I have a great Kyocera ceramic knife that I use for everything, but I still don’t think its the essential knife I’m looking for. But I think these from Sur La Table might do.

The Cupcake Queen in my blogging world is the girl who does everything too perfect. If we were in high school, she’d be the girl with the perfect hair, wear the perfect clothes and have all the right friends. She makes the yummiest looking food, takes the best pictures and on top of all of it, she’s talented and designed these t-shirts. Don’t get any “fresh” ideas!

The other thing that I always want to do, but never have time to schedule is cooking school from Sur La Table. They have some baking classes offered in October I think would be fun or even the Moroccan night, yummy.

And, finally, I think there’s a lot of cooking related stuff above, but where’s the prissy part, well I’ve thought of one last little gem; A spa package from the Royal Palms. Or really any of the hotels right off of Camelback and Lincoln. Both are easily assessable, so don’t worry about any of them being a bother for me to get to.

Cheers!

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