TWD: Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes

This week's selection for TWD came from my BBB (best blog bud) CB. She's a cupcake freak and I knew this one would be a natural choice for her. I also wasn't surprised when she asked everyone to decorate their cuppys for Halloween since she's so timely and what not.

At first, I was stumped. Then, when watching the news, it came to me! Halloween = scary, right? What is the scariest thing right now? Check out my cuppies to see...

Seriously, I'm freakin' scared about our economy, housing market and stock market. My retirement account is the toilet. Thank goodness I don't need it for 30 years! And I can't even think about Prop 8 passing and a McCain/Palin administration.... ::shudder::

These cupcakes scared the bejebus out of me so much so that I had to hide under my desk, in disguise, so the scary economy monsters couldn't find me.

However, while taking solace in the delightful frightfuls, I was busted...

Oh well. I guess it was worth it. Now if only my IRA retirement account was as rich as these cupcakes, things would be allllll riiight.

About the cuppys: This wasn't my favorite chocolate cuppy recipe but I like it OK and the chocolate lovers at work thought it was delish. But, you all know I'm a vanilla girl at heart.

Check out my other TWD bakers and see all the boo-tiful treats.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

TWD: Pumpkin Muffins

Excuse any typos; I'm typing with my toes. My hands are too busy shoving pumpkin muffin in my face to actually type out this blog. I pulled the muffins out of the oven 8 minutes ago and DANG they are delish. The recipe called for sunflower seeds on top but I couldn't find unsalted ones so I skipped them. Also, because my can of pumpkin was giant, I double the batch last minute which required a hodge podge. I used half walnuts and half pecans. I was 3 tablespoons short on the unsalted butter so I subbed 2 tables of regular butter and went 1 tablespoon short. The result? AMAZING, especially with butter on top. Yummola.

Head over to TWD to see how all my other baking buddies fared.

TWD: Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake

Hi. My name is Rachel and I ate way too much of this week's recipe. I mean, seriously. Wouldn't you want to eat this:



I'm not even much of a chocolate fan but D-A-N-G was this cake good.

The cake was easy peasy and I can't believe I actually made homemade caramel. I mean, hello homemade caramel! I should at least get some kind of award for this.

My hubs and I ate all we could without exploding. I gave a hunk to my neighbor and took the rest to work. It's another winner, for sure and WAY easier than it sounds. You should make this cake now. DO IT!


Major love to Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy for this week's selection. You can find the recipe on her blog. Also, make sure to check out the baked concoctions of my fellow TWD friends, all 300+ of them.

Side note about Tammy. She's is on the other side of the world from me and I remember when she first commented on my blog. I couldn't believe that anyone besides my Mom was reading what I wrote and I did a happy dance in my chair knowing I was connecting with someone so far away. She rocks!

PS I still have to write up last week. I'll do it when I can. TIA for your patience.

Pot Roast Disaster

Tonight, I made my first pot roast. I wasn't exactly sure how to do it and nothing I found online seemed like the way my Mom made it so I called her up. I followed her directions to the "T". I browned the roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Then I put it in the slow cooker with pearl onions, baby carrots, the little potatoes cut in half, some garlic and a cup or so of water. Four hours later, it smelled heavenly and looked like this:

Too bad the meat was like leather. Seriously, it was very very tough. The veggies were delish, though. What did I do? Maybe it was the cut of the meat? Who knows! I may just have to wait until I'm in Big D again to have a decent pot roast. :'(